a/n. Wow... Thanks so much for the reviews! 8 for two chapters... the most yet... *grins widely* I think this is going to be a good fic... I think...
Ch. 3- Canary Creams
Uncle Vernon looked at Harry, then at Brevland, and back at Harry. The large squishy opening of a mouth formed just one word.
"No."
He then slammed the door in their faces with a huge force.
"Er... Shall I knock again?" Brevland asked uncertainly.
"We can just go in, if Uncle Vernon sees that you're a wizard he'll let us get anything," replied Harry.
Brevland pushed the door open slightly and peeked in. "Hello?"
Uncle Vernon thundered into the hall and shouted, "I told you not to come back, boy!"
Harry cringed, but Brevland took initiative and stepped forward. "Mr. Dursley, I am not here to bring Harry back into your care-"
Uncle Vernon looked down at the 4-foot tall man and his expression turned to a mixture of amusement and anger."You're damn right you're not! And you're not here to order me around, little man," he bellowed, "You are not here to do anything!" He started to push Brevland out the door.
Brevland took out his wand and, to Uncle Vernon's fearful surprise, put the full body-bind on him. While Uncle Vernon just lay there with a loke of terror on his face, Brevland said, "Excuse me for the curse, Mr. Dursley. As I was saying, we have come to get Harry's school things, not to drop him off. Finite Incantatem." Uncle Vernon cautiously got up.
Eyeing Brevland's wand, Uncle Vernon said shakily, "Now- now y-you can just leave, I'm- I'm sure- well, I don't really h-have Harry's things here, I- I'm so sorry-"
"And I'm sure you don't want magical things laying around the house, Uncle Vernon, in case someone finds them," Harry said, a smile playing on his lips.
"Oh... yes, I- I forgot... they're in here..." Uncle Vernon took out a key and led them to the the cupboard.
Brevland looked amused. "So they're locked up, eh?"
It was now Uncle Vernon who was cringing. "Er- yes, they- they looked very- er, valuable, and- you know- don't want p-people taking them..." He opened the door and showed them the contents of the cupboard. "Here y-you go."
"Thank you kindly," Brevland said with a bit of sarcasm. He reached in and pulled out Harry's trunk, while Harry pulled out Hedwig's empty cage. "Got it?" Brevland asked, and Harry nodded. Brevland held out his hand and Harry grasped it. "The Weasley's, right?" Harry nodded again. Uncle Vernon looked on in terror as the two wizards, the trunk and the cage dissappeared.
Brevland and Harry apparated a few seconds later on the dry, gold lawn in front of the Burrow. They walked to the door and knocked a few times.
The door opened to reveal, not one of the flame-haired Weasleys, but Professor Dumbledore.
"Ah, Harry, Brevland, welcome! I thought you would arrive by fire..." Dumbledore raised his eyebrows at Brevland, who gave a small smile, "But, in any case, you got here alright-"
Dumbledore was interrupted by Molly Weasley brushing past him to pick him up in a tight hug. "Oh, Harry, I am so glad to see you well!" The plump woman put him down again. "My, you've grown so much! Your hair, too-" Harry reddened.
"Well now, I've just been talking with Molly. She's happy to have you stay until we find a place for you," Dumbledore said.
Harry smiled politely and said, "Thank you very much, Mrs. Weasley."
"No problem, dear. We love having you around."
Dumbledore stood up and brushed off his robes. "Well, I do believe Brevland and I should be going-"
"Oh, do stay for a while! I'd love to hear what's been going on lately. Arthur has been ever so busy these days. Here, I'll get a cup of tea going." Mrs. Weasley bustled into the adjoining kitchen. She took out an old copper tea kettle and, with a flick of her wand, the water inside bubbled pleasantly.
Dumbledore sat down again. "Ah, thank you, Molly, in fact a cup of tea sounds very good indeed." Mrs. Weasley came back in and handed Dumbledore a cup.
She also offered a cup to Brevland, but he answered, "No thank you, I really must be going now." He bid them good bye and hurried out the front door.
"Ron! Harry's here!" Mrs. Weasley called up, and in a few seconds Ron could be heard bounding down the stairs.
Ron's head poked in. "Harry's Here? Oh! Professor Dumbledore!"
Mrs. Weasley gave Ron a reproving look. "Ron... that's not the way to greet your headmaster."
Ron took a seat next to Harry. "Hello, Professor Dumbledore, sir," he said. "Hi Harry- whoa!"
Harry looked at him questioningly. "What's the matter?"
"Your hair! I mean, you told me it grew, but... Did you have to make it look so much like-" His voice dropped to a whisper. "Snape?" He glanced nervously around his shoulder, and, luckily, Dumbledore and his mother were engaged in their own conversation.
"It was that hair-growing potion that I took home, remember?" Ron nodded. "It probably looks like Snape's because it's so oily. My-my potion blew up last night," he said.
"Oh. Well, you can just take some of mine to class, I bet he won't notice. But- you still kind of look like Snape- all you need is a sour expression and a crooked nose- Oh! That was uncalled for!"
"What?"
"Your- your nose, just, bent when I said that. I said, 'All you need is a crooked nose,' and it went crooked- Hey! There it goes again!" Ron pointed to his face.
Meanwhile, Fred and George had come in and sat down next to them. "Hi, Harry," said George, while Fred dumped a handful of sweets into an alreay- full dish.
"Oh... maybe, did you eat some of the sweets? There might've been some Snape- look-alike ones in there. I know I accidentally ate something that turned me into McGonagall. "
Harry looked at the candies that Fred had poured in the dish. He hadn't eaten anything, and frankly, he had no idea what was making him look more like Snape. "Er... yeah, I did," he lied, just to get off the topic. "Did you all make them?"
"Yep," said Fred loudly. "Mum's letting us make them now. And, Harry-" Fred whispered, "Thanks a bunch. It helped."
"Did you make some that turn you into Snape?" Ron asked. "I think Harry ate one of those."
Fred and George both said "no" and "yes" at the same time.
"Yeah, we made some-"
"No we didn't!"
"I did! While you were making the ones that turn you into Flitwick, remember?"
"Oh yeah! Those were great."
"Not as good as my Snape ones! See how well they worked on Harry?"
"It's faulty though! He kept his scar, see-"
Harry laughed at the twins' bickering, and Ron rolled his eyes. Harry turned and listened to Dumbledore's conversation with Mrs. Weasley.
"-And he was promoted to head of the department this summer," Mrs. Weasley was saying.
"Ah, so I heard. Department of International Relations, is it?"
"Yes. He's quite excited, really."
"I believe a few of my spies informed me that there will be a Death Eater attack on a meeting of his next Tuesday," said Dumbledore. "I do think that Cornelius will notify the department, so he will most likely know when he gets back," he said, sipping his tea.
"A Death Eater attack? I will personally make sure that he does not go to work that day."
"If she can stop him," Ron said to Harry. "Percy's obsessed with his work these days, ever since he was promoted to head of his department." Ron rolled his eyes. "I don't know how he got to be head. One of the youngest ones, too- uh, oh-"
Harry looked over to Dumbledore, who had reached for a sweet from the dish. "What kind of candy do you have today, Molly?" He turned the wrapper over over in his hand. "Mind if I have one?" He asked, loking around and unwrapping it.
"Wait! Don't eat it, sir!" George said hurriedly. When Dumbledore gave the two an inquiring look, Fred quickly said, "Well, you can eat it, but I'd recommend that you not-" The twins gulped as Dumbledore popped the candy into his mouth.
"Well, it can't be worse than a particularily nasty blood-flavored jellybean I had the other day, can it?" He smiled. "Ah, an innocent custard cream-"
And, to Fred's and George's deep embarassment, Dumbledore promptly turned into a bright canary.
Mrs. Weasley shot them a horrified look. "Fred and George! I told you not to leave those things laying around where people might eat them!"
The large canaray started to shed feathers, and soon Professor Dumbledore was back, beaming. "Marvelous! I've never seen the likes of those in my life! Did you two, by any chance, create these?"
George smiled shyly. "Yes, professor, we call them Canary Creams." Ron tried to hold back a snicker.
"They're ingenious, the way you turn back! What was that again, Canary Creams?" The twins nodded fervently.
While they and Dumbledore started up a conversation, Ron turned to Harry. "Thank goodness he didn't pick one of the Snape ones."
"This Tuesday we shall attack," an icy, blood-curdling voice called out to the soot-colored Death Eaters. "I expect to see each and every one of you there."
As if on cue, the Death Eaters filed up in a straight line, each dropping to his knees and kissing the hem of the Dark Lord's robes.
As Snape came to the front of the line, he dropped and stayed there a few seconds longer, as was the custom for new Death Eaters and rejoining Death Eaters.
"Especially you, Severus."