OH MY WIZARD GOD! I AM SORRY! My computer is in the shop...again. And, I'm sorry for not updating earlier. My mom had me doing chores for hours. Anyways, hope for you forgiveness, and...ON WITH THE STORY! (BTW, sorry for any incorrect spelling in any of my stories!) CHRIS COLFER SHOULD HAVE WON THAT EMMY! Oh, and most of this chapter is quotes from the book, but I can't really make that noticeable otherwize the chapter would just look weird.


Previously on The Southern Country Belle:

Huh, so this is Harry.


Chapter 5: Getting the boy who lived

"Lower your wand, boy, before you take someone's eye out," said Moody.

Harry's eyes widened. He obviously recognized the vioce, but he did not lower his wand.

"Professor Moody?" he said uncertainly.

"I don't know so much about 'Professor'," growled Moody, "never got round to much teaching, did I? Get down here, we want to see you properly." I looked at him questioningly, but he waved my look off.

Harry lowered his wand slightly but did not relax his grip on it, nor did he move.

But before he could make a decision about what to do next, Lupin's slightly hoarse voice floated up the stairs.

"It's all right, Harry. We've come to take you away."

Harry's eyes widened even more.

"P-Professor Lupin?" he said disbelievingly. "Is that you?"

"Why are we all standing in the dark?" said Tonks. "Lumos."A wand-tip flared, illuminating the hall with magical light. I blinked. He could see us below since we were crowded around the foot of the stairs, gazing up at him intently, some craning their heads for a better look.

Remus Lupin stood nearest to the stairs.

Though still quite young, Lupin looked tired and rather ill; he had more grey hairs than my dad and his robes were patched and shabby.

Nevertheless, he was smiling broadly at Harry, who tried to smile back despite his state of shock.

"Oooh, he looks just like I thought he would," said Tonks who was the one who was holding her lit wand aloft. She looked the youngest there; she had a pale heart-shaped face, dark twinkling eyes, and short spiky hair that was a violent shade of violet. "Wotcher, Harry!"

"Yeah, I see what you mean, Remus," said a Kingsy – he had a deep, slow voice and wore a single gold hoop in his ear – "he looks exactly like James."

"Except the eyes," said a wheezy-voiced, silver-haired wizard, who I never bothered to remember the name of, at the back. "Lily's eyes."

Moody, who had long grizzled grey hair and a large chunk missing from his nose, was squinting suspiciously at Harry through his mismatched eyes.

One eye was small, dark and beady, the other large, round and electric blue – the magical eye that could see through walls, doors and the back of Moody's own head, or at least that's what he told me earlier.

"Are you quite sure it's him, Lupin?" he growled. "It'd be a nice lookout if we bring back some Death Eater impersonating him. We ought to ask him something only the real Potter would know. Unless anyone brought any Veritaserum?"

"Harry, what form does your Patronus take?" Lupin asked.

"A stag," said Harry nervously.

"That's him, Mad-Eye," said Lupin.

Harry seemed very conscious of everybody still staring at him as he descended the stairs, stowing his wand in the back pocket of his jeans as he came.

"Don't put your wand there, boy!" roared Moody. "What if it ignited? Better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know!" I snorted at the image that comment gave me,

"Who d'you know who's lost a buttock?" Tonks asked Mad-Eye interestedly.

"Never you mind, you just keep your wand out of your back pocket!" growled Moody.

"Elementary wand-safety, nobody bothers about it any more." He stumped off towards the kitchen. "And I saw that," he added irritably, as Tonks rolled her eyes towards the ceiling. I chuckled at her childishness.

Lupin held out his hand and shook Harry's.

"How are you?" he asked, looking closely at Harry.

"F-fine…"

He glanced at us as we all were surrounding Lupin; we were still gazing avidly at him. He looked as if he hadn't combed his hair for four days.

"I'm – you're really lucky the Dursleys are out…" he mumbled.

"Lucky, ha!" said Tonks. "It was me who lured them out of the way. Sent a letter by Muggle post telling them they'd been short-listed for the All-England Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition. They're heading off to the prize-giving right now…or they think they are." HAHA! I thought.

Harry turned to look at me. Oops. I said that out loud, didn't I?

"Who are you?" He asked me politely. He stuck out his hand and I hesitantly took it.

"Devin. I'm from the states. Gunna be joining Hogwarts this year in your grade. By the way, why are they all staring at you like you're kung-fu action Jesus?" I answered back, raising my eyebrow questioningly.

"Nice to meet you, Devin. And what the hell is Kung-fu Action Jesus?" I gasped in shock.

"WHAT! Not knowing who Kung-fu Action Jesus is, is like never knowing the wonder that is a Red Vine!" I exclaimed in shock.

"A Red what?" I gaped at him in shock.

"You know what, I am no longer talking to you until further notice!" I exclaimed turning away from him while taking a redvine out of my pocket and began to chew on it. "Not knowing what a Red Vine is. I swear, if Taz wasn't a made up character and from hundreds of years in the future, I would sooo have her come kick his arse..." I muttered to myself causing the wizards and witches in the room to look at me funny. Harry then turned back to Lupin.

"We are leaving, aren't we?" he asked. "Soon?"

"Almost at once," said Lupin, "we're just waiting for the all-clear."

"Where are we going? The Burrow?" Harry asked hopefully. What the hell is a burrow? Do some wizards live in rabbit holes? I wondered.

"Not The Burrow, no," said Lupin, motioning Harry towards the kitchen; We followed, most still eyeing Harry curiously. "Too risky. We've set up Headquarters somewhere undetectable. It's taken a while…"

Moody was now sitting at the kitchen table swigging from a hip flask, his magical eye spinning in all directions, taking in the house's many labor-saving appliances.

"This is Alastor Moody, Harry" Lupin continued, pointing towards Moody.

"Yeah, I know," said Harry uncomfortably.

"And this is Nymphadora –"

"Don't call me Nymphadora, Remus," said Tonks with a shudder, "it's Tonks."

"Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be known by her surname only," finished Lupin.

"So would you if your fool of a mother had called you Nymphadora," muttered Tonks. I snickered at her misfortune quietly, but she heard me and in turn, stuck out her tounge at me.

"And this is Kingsley Shacklebolt." He indicated to Kingsy, who bowed. "Elphias Doge." The wheezy-voiced wizard nodded. Oh, so that's his name...

"Dedalus Diggle –"

"We've met before," squeaked the excitable Diggle, dropping his violet-colored top hat. "Emmeline Vance." A stately-looking witch in an emerald green shawl inclined her head.

"Sturgis Podmore." A square-jawed wizard with thick straw-colored hair winked. "And Hestia Jones." A pink-cheeked, black-haired witch waved from next to the toaster.

Harry inclined his head awkwardly at each of them as they were introduced.

"A surprising number of people volunteered to come and get you," said Lupin; the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

"Yeah, well, the more the better," said Moody darkly. "We're your guard, Potter."

"We're just waiting for the signal to tell us it's safe to set off," said Lupin, glancing out of the kitchen window. "We've got about fifteen minutes."

"Very clean, aren't they, these Muggles?" said Tonks, who was looking around the kitchen with great interest. "My dad's Muggle-born and he's a right old slob. I suppose it varies, just as it does with wizards?"

"Er – yeah," said Harry. "Look –" he turned back to Lupin,

"what's going on, I haven't heard anything from anyone, what's Vol—?"

Several of the witches and wizards made odd hissing noises; Dedalus Diggle dropped his hat again and Moody growled, "Shut up!"

"What?" asked Harry and I.

"We're not discussing anything here, it's too risky," said Moody, turning his normal eye on Harry. His magical eye remained focused on the ceiling. "Damn it," he added angrily, putting a hand up to the magical eye, "it keeps getting stuck – ever since that scum wore it."

And with a nasty squelching sound much like a plunger being pulled from a sink, he popped out his eye.

"Mad-Eye, you do know that's disgusting, don't you?" said Tonks conversationally.

"Get me a glass of water, would you, Harry," requested Moody.

Harry crossed to the dishwasher, took out a clean glass and filled it with water at the sink, still watched eagerly by some wizards.

"Cheers," said Moody, when Harry handed him the glass. He dropped the magical eyeball into the water and prodded it up and down; the eye whizzed around, staring at them all in turn.

"I want three hundred and sixty degrees visibility on the return journey."

"How're we getting – wherever we're going?" Harry asked.

"Brooms," said Lupin. "Only way. You're too young to Apparate, they'll be watching the Floo Network and it's more than our life's worth to set up an unauthorized Portkey."

"Remus says you're a good flier," said Kingsley Shacklebolt in his deep voice.

"He's excellent," said Lupin, who was checking his watch. "Anyway, you'd better go and get packed, Harry, we want to be ready to go when the signal comes."

Tonks followed Harry back into the hall and up the stairs, while we waited in the kitchen.

When they got back in the kitchen Moody had replaced his eye, which was spinning so fast after its cleaning.

Kingsy and Podmore were examining the microwave and Jones was laughing at a potato peeler she had come across while rummaging in the drawers.

Lupin was sealing a letter addressed to the Dursleys.

"Excellent," said Lupin, looking up as Tonks and Harry entered. "We've got about a minute, think. We should probably get out into the garden so we're ready. Harry, I've left a letter telling your aunt and uncle not to worry –"

"They won't," said Harry.

"– that you're safe –"

"That'll just depress them."

"– and you'll see them next summer."

"Do I have to?"

Lupin smiled but made no answer.

"Come here, boy," said Moody gruffly, beckoning Harry towards him with his wand. "I need to Disillusion you."

"You need to what?" said Harry nervously.

"Disillusionment Charm," said Moody, raising his wand. "Lupin says you've got an Invisibility Cloak, but it won't stay on while we're flying; this'll disguise you better. Here you go-

He rapped him hard on the top of the head and Harry promptly turned into a human chameleon.

"Nice one, Mad-Eye," said Tonks appreciatively, staring at Harry's midriff.

"Come on," said Moody, unlocking the back door with his wand.

They all stepped outside on to the disgustingly beautifully kept lawn.

"Clear night," grunted Moody, his magical eye scanning the heavens. "Could've done with a bit more cloud cover. Right, you," he barked at Harry," we're going to be flying in close formation. Tonks'll be right in front of you, keep close on her tail. Lupin'll be covering you from below I'm going to be behind you. The rest'll be circling us. We don't break ranks for anything, got me? If one of us is killed –

"Is that likely?" Harry asked apprehensively, but Moody ignored him.

"– the others keep flying, don't stop, don't break ranks. If they take out all of us and you survive, Harry, the rear guard are standing by to take over; keep flying east and they'll join you."

"Stop being so cheerful, Mad-Eye, he'll think we're not taking this seriously" said Tonks, as she strapped Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage into a harness hanging from her broom.

"I'm just telling the boy the plan," growled Moody. "Our jobs to deliver him safely to Headquarters and if we die in the attempt –"

"No one's going to die," said Kingsley Shacklebolt in his deep, calming voice.

"Mount your brooms, that's the first signal!" said Lupin sharply pointing into the sky.

Far, far above them, a shower of bright red sparks had flared among the stars. I swung my right leg over the broom I was given, gripped its handle tightly and felt it vibrating very slightly.

"Second signal, let's go!" said Lupin loudly as more sparks, green this time, exploded high above them.

I kicked off hard from the ground. The cool night air rushed through my hair as the neat square gardens of Privet Drive fell away, shrinking rapidly into a patchwork of dark greens and blacks, insignificant to the vast, starry sky.

"Hard left, hard left, there's a Muggle looking up!" shouted Moody from behind me. Tonks swerved and I followed her, watching Harry's trunk swinging wildly beneath her broom. "We need more height…give it another quarter of a mile!"

My eyes watered in the chill as they soared upwards; I could see nothing below now but tiny pinpricks of light that were car headlights and streetlamps.

"Bearing south!" shouted Mad-Eye. "'Town ahead!"

We soared right to avoid passing directly over the glittering spider's web of lights below.

"Bear southeast and keep climbing, there's some low cloud ahead we can lose ourselves in!" called Moody.

"We're not going through clouds!" shouted Tonks angrily, "we'll get soaked, Mad-Eye!"

I was relieved to hear her say this; my hands were growing numb on the brooms handle. I wish I had thought to put on a coat; I was starting to shiver.

We altered our course every now and then according to Mad-Eyes instructions. My eyes were screwed up against the rush of icy wind that was starting to make my ears ache.

"Turning southwest!" yelled Moody "We want to avoid the motorway!"

I was now so chilled I thought longingly of the snug, dry interiors of the cars streaming along below.

Kingsy swooped around me, bald pate and earring gleaming slightly in the moonlight…I looked over at Harry to find Vance was on his right, her wand out, her head turning left and right…then she, too, swooped over him, to be replaced by Sturgis Podmore…

"We ought to double back for a bit, just to make sure we're not being followed!" Moody shouted.

"ARE YOU MAD, MAD-EYE"'

Tonks screamed from the front. "We're all frozen to our brooms! If we keep going off-course we're not going to get there until next week! Besides, we're nearly there now!"

"Time to start the descent!" came Lupin's voice. "Follow Tonks, Harry!"

Harry and I followed Tonks into a dive. We were heading for the largest collection of lights he had yet seen, a huge, sprawling crisscrossing mass, glittering in lines and grids, interspersed with patches of deepest black. Lower and lower they flew, until I could see individual headlights and streetlamps, chimneys and television aerials. I wanted to reach the ground very much, though I felt sure someone would have to unfreeze me from this broom.

"Here we go!" called Tonks, and a few seconds later she had landed.

I touched down right behind her and dismounted on a patch of unkempt grass in the middle of a small square. Tonks was already unbuckling Harry's trunk. Shivering, I looked around. The grimy fronts of the surrounding houses were not welcoming; some of them had broken windows, glimmering dully in the light fro the streetlamps, paint was peeling from many of the doors and heaps of rubbish lay outside several sets of front steps.

"Where are we?" Harry asked, but Lupin said quietly, "In a minute."

Moody was rummaging in his cloak, his gnarled hands clumsy with cold. "Got it," he muttered, raising what looked like a silver cigarette lighter into the air and clicking it.

The nearest streetlamp went out with a pop. He clicked the unlighter again; the next lamp went out; he kept clicking until every lamp in the square was extinguished and the only remaining light came from curtained windows and the sickle moon overhead.

"Borrowed it from Dumbledore," growled Moody, pocketing the Put-Outer. "That'll take care of any Muggles looking out of the window, see? Now come on, quick."

He took Harry by the arm and led him from the patch of grass, across the road and on to the pavement; Lupin,Tonks, and I followed, carrying Harry's trunk, the rest of the guard, all with their wands out, flanking us.

The muffled pounding of a stereo was coming from an upper window in the nearest house. A pungent smell of rotting rubbish came from the pile of bulging bin-bags just inside the broken gate.

"Here," Moody muttered, thrusting a piece of parchment towards Harry's Disillusioned hand and holding his lit wand close to it, so as to illuminate the writing. "Read quickly and memories." I looked down at the piece of paper over Harry's shoulder. The narrow handwriting said:

The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.


Finally! And sorry if I got timing wrong in some parts of the chapter, like how the dinner was almost done when she arrived but when Harry got there, there was an order meeting going on with dinner not even done yet...Anyways, What do y'all think? Please Review, comment, give critique..anything really!
~Percabeth :D