Okay so Hi (: Thank you for those who reviewed, and like I promised here is another chapter. Like I said in the previous chapter I have another chapter done but I dont want to upload to soon, so review this one so I know you guys wan the next one, okay?
ENJOY
Also ! I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER BUT I SURE AS HELL WISH I DID
"Chapter Nine – A place to hide" Neville read out.
"Why is it starting at chapter nine?" George asked.
"Because Dumbledore said it would start after the death eaters ruined the wedding" Ginny told her brother. Everyone nodded in understanding then turned back to Neville as he began to read again.
Everything seemed fuzzy, slow. Harry and Hermione jumped to their feet and drew their wands. Many people were only just realizing that something strange had happened; heads were still turning toward the silver cat as it vanished.
"Well its obvious why. That cat was scary, everyone panicked" Luna commented.
Silence spread outward in cold ripples from the place where the Patronus had landed. Then somebody screamed. Harry and Hermione threw themselves into the panicking crowd.
"Always's being the noble one" Ginny muttered "Hermione too" The others looked at Ginny and she blushed under there gaze.
"What you know its true" she replied. Nobody disagreed with her logic.
"Gets it from his father" Lily muttered.
"I say it's a good thing" James defended himself. Now everyone was watching them, Neville even stopped reading.
"Its not" Lily and Ginny said together, both girls looked at each other then blushed.
Guests were sprinting in all directions; many were disapparating; the protective enchantments around the Burrow had broken.
"Ron!" Hermione cried. "Ron, where are you?"
Molly's eyes widened. She looked so white that everyone in the room noticed.
"Mom calm down this already happened. We know he got out alright" Bill told his mother. Molly gave him a stern look but visably calmed down.
As they pushed their way across the dance floor, Harry saw cloaked and masked figures appearing in the crowd; then he saw Lupin and Tonks, their wands raised, and heard both of them shout, "Protego!", a cry that was echoed on all sides
Even though they already lived through this, some of the people in the room shuttered.
"An Auror will always be the first to help" Tonks said proudly. Of course her and her husband will begin to help out the guest.
"Mad-Eye would be proud" Kingsley said making Tonks smile widen.
"Yea then yell at us about CONSTANT VIGILANCE" Sirius said making Tonks laugh.
"Ron! Ron!" Hermione called, half sobbing as she and Harry were buffered by terrified guests:
"Are we missing something?" Fred asked with a small grin.
"Yea Mione seems to be very very worried about Ronnikins" George teased.
"Ronnikins?" Fabian asked his nephew.
"Hey Fabian leave are nephew alone Gerogistin is not good with nicknames" Gideon laughed as George blushed.
"Well-" Fred began to defend his twin from their twin uncles when there mom stopped him.
"Shut it all of you" Mrs. Weasley scowled. "There are deatheaters and she cant find Ronald id be worried too. I was worried too" After she finished lecturing both twins Neville continued.
Harry seized her hand to make sure they weren't separated as a streak of light whizzed over their heads, whether a protective charm or something more sinister he did not know. And then Ron was there.
"I could image both of there reliefs" Remus said.
He caught hold of Hermione's free arm, and Harry felt her turn on the spot; sight and sound were extinguished as darkness pressed in upon him; all he could feel was Hermione's hand as he was squeezed through space and time, away from the Burrow, away from the descending Death Eaters, away, perhaps, from Voldemort himself...
"Like head show his face here" Mr. Weasley snarled. It was quiet an unusal sight. Arthur Weasley never snarled at anything nor anyone.
"Now we get to find out were they went" Fred yelled excitedly.
"Bet they go to my place" Sirius muttered to James and Remus.
"Bet he goes to Godric Hallow" James betted. Remus rolled his eyes at his dead bestmates. (A/N that sounds weird dead bestmates)
"Bet he goes neither" They all betted their amounts then listen to Neville again.
"Where are we?" said Ron's voice. Harry opened his eyes. For a moment he thought they had not left the wedding after all.
Everyone shifted in there seats. Remus decided he should sooth them.
"It said he thought they hadn't left not that they hadn't" Molly threw him an aprecate look.
They still seemed to be surrounded by people. "Tottenham Court Road," panted Hermione. "Walk, just walk, we need to find somewhere for you to change."
"She is very bright" Kingsley commented "The best place to go if you want to get away from death eaters is the muggle world."
Harry did as she asked. They half walked, half ran up the wide dark street thronged with late-night revelers and lined with closed shops, stars twinkling above them.
Lily, Ginny and Tonks smiled "That sounds beautiful"
A double-decker bus rumbled by and a group of merry pub-goers ogled them as they passed; Harry and Ron were still wearing dress robes.
"They should really find some clothes to change into" Luna said suddenly "If they want to blend in that is"
"But they left suddenly. They probably don't have clothes nor money" Mrs. Weasley said quickly. How was her baby going to survive with no proper clothes or money to eat?
"Hermione, we haven't got anything to change into," Ron told her, as a young woman burst into raucous giggles at the sight of him.
"Well that was rude" Lily stated.
"Girls always laugh at Ronnikins" Fred said as George and Ginny bursted into laughs. "Nothing different with muggle girls." He would have continued had Mrs. Weasley not sent him a very terrifying glare.
"And that was rude too" Lily said making the twins slightly ashamed. Just slightly.
"Why didn't I make sure I had the Invisibility Cloak with me?" said Harry, inwardly cursing his own stupidity. "All last year I kept it on me and-"
"Why did he keep the cloak on him all last year?" Bill asked curiously. When no one answered James took a guess.
"Maybe Dumbledore told him he should?" No one knew for sure but that did seem like a good guess.
"It's okay, I've got the Cloak, I've got clothes for both of you," said Hermione.
"She does?" Remus asked shocked "Did anyone see her with a huge bag?"
"No all I saw her was with a cute small pouch. That would hardly fit Harry's cloak let alone clothes for Harry, Ron and Hermione." Ginny piped in.
"Just try and act naturally until, -this will do." She led them down a side street, then into the shelter of a shadowy alleyway.
"When you say you've got the Cloak, and clothes..." said Harry, frowning at Hermione, who was carrying nothing except her small beaded handbag, in which she was now rummaging.
"Told you" Ginny said smugly. Though no one had disagreed with her.
"Yes, they're here," said Hermione, and to Harry and Ron's utter astonishment, she pulled out a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, some maroon socks, and finally the silvery Invisibility Cloak.
"Wow" The Weasley boys said. "How did she do that?" George asked.
"How the ruddy hell?"
Molly scowled at the language
"Undetectable Extension Charm," said Hermione. "Tricky, but I think I've done it okay; anyway, I managed to fit everything we need in here."
Sirius and Remus smiled. "Hermione really is the smartest witch of her age." Remus said as the others nodded in agreement.
"The boys will be fine, they have her with them." Arthur said and to Mrs. Weasley' and Lily's surprise they felt that those words gave them a small comfort.
She gave the fragile-looking bag a little shake and it echoed like a cargo hold as a number of heavy objects rolled around inside it. "Oh, damn, that'll be the books," she said, peering into it, "and I had them all stacked by subject..."
The room laughed. That was so Hermione.
"Oh well... Harry, you'd better take the Invisibility Cloak. Ron, hurry up and change..."
"Yes mother" The twins and Sirius coursed in unison, making the room laugh again. Molly and Lily shook there heads.
"When did you do all this?" Harry asked as Ron stripped off his robes.
Sirius and James started wolf whistling while both twins started singing
"Ron and Mione sitting in a tree" After three strong silencing charm and sticking charms to keep them in there seats they continued.
"I told you at the Burrow, I've had the essentials packed for days, you know, in case we needed to make a quick getaway. I packed your rucksack this morning, Harry, after you changed, and put it in here... I just had a feeling..."
"Better to be safe then sorry" Tonks said. "Hermione would really make a good Auror." Remus shook his head.
"I think she'd make it good in Law Enforcement" Nevillle, who had stopped reading laughed at them.
"What?" Charlie asked.
"Hermione would make it good in the department of Magical Creatures." At there confused faces he continued "She and her S.P.E.W she cares to much" When no one disagreed he continued to read.
"You're amazing, you are," said Ron, handing her his bundled-up robes.
"Always the tone of surprise" Tonks said quietly though she suppressed the urge to giggle and blush, at the sound of young love.
"Thank you," said Hermione, managing a small smile as she pushed the robes into the bag. "Please, Harry, get that Cloak on!"
"Yes mother" The twins yelled together.
"How did you take the charm off?" Mrs. Weasley yelled annoyed.
"Gave us these sweets" Sirius said, as his and James charm seem to have come off as well.
"What is it?" James asked as he chewed "Taste like cherry's" Fred and George grinned.
"Sweet tooth" Fred explained "Its our new product, it can lift any spell placed on your mouth and allow you to annoy those who placed it there"
"We have different flavor's though we only had cherry today" George added.
"Really" Fabian and Gideon started "And the joke shop it going good? I had to admit I wanted-" But Molly cut off her brother.
"We are READING" Molly yelled.
Harry threw his Invisibility Cloak around his shoulders and pulled it up over his head, vanishing from sight. He was only just beginning to appreciate what had happened.
"Well it was a shocker" Luna said as though it was obvious. Neville only nodded at her then countined.
"The others, everybody at the wedding-"
"Oh Harry" Molly moaned her hands covering her mouth.
"We can't worry about that now," whispered Hermione. "It's you they're after, Harry, and we'll just put everyone in even more danger by going back."
"Her logic is as good as always" McGonagall commented happily at one of her favorite Lions.
"She's right," said Ron, who seemed to know that Harry was about to argue, even if he could not see his face. "Most of the Order was there, they'll look after everyone."
Said Order grinned.
Harry nodded, then remembered that they could not see him, and said, "Yeah." But he thought of Ginny, and fear bubbled like acid in his stomach.
The Weasley boys did not know whether to growl or smile at the fact that Harry cared so much for there little sister. Ginny only smiled fondly at the book.
Lily and James sent Ginny a searching look that caused Ginny to blush at there gaze.
"She's beautiful" James whispered to his wife "The Potter tradition to marry a beautiful red head" Lily smacked him playfully. She could hit him as they were both ghost. Though they continued to hear the story her eyes kept turning back to the girl who stole her sons heart.
"Come on, I think we ought to keep moving," said Hermione.
They moved back up the side street and onto the main road again, where a group of men on the opposite side was singing and weaving across the pavement.
"Just as a matter of interest, why Tottenham Court Road?" Ron asked Hermione.
"Ronald" Molly said shaking her head.
"I've no idea, it just popped into my head, but I'm sure we're safer out in the Muggle world, it's not where they'll expect us to be."
"True" Tonks said "But wouldn't they feel you know exposed right in the open?" Tonks asked
"True," said Ron, looking around, "but don't you feel a bit exposed?"
Tonks blinked.
"Where else is there?" asked Hermione, cringing as the men on the other side of the road started wolf-whistling at her.
The Weasley boys growled lightly. They thought of Hermione as much as a sister as they did Ginny. Remus, James, Sirius, Arthur and Kingsley put on a face of disgust. As Tonks, Mrs. Weasley, McGonagall, and Lily rolled there eyes. Boy will always be boys.
"We can hardly book rooms at the Leaky Cauldron, can we? And Grimmauld Place is out if Snape can get in there... I suppose we could try my parents' home, though I think there's a chance they might check there... Oh, I wish they'd shut up!"
"As they should!" Bill yelled annoyed.
"All right, darling?" the drunkest of the men on the other pavement was yelling. "Fancy a drink? Ditch ginger and come and have a pint!"
George snorted. "Ginger? I prefer red head thank you very much"
"Let's sit down somewhere," Hermione said hastily as Ron opened his mouth to shout back across the road.
Molly began to look worried, she felt something was going to happen.
"Look, this will do, in here!"
It was a small and shabby all-night café. A light layer of grease lay on all the Formica-topped tables, but it was at least empty. Harry slipped into a booth first and Ron sat next to him opposite Hermione, who had her back to the entrance and did not like it.
"Smart move" James and Kingsley said together.
"Ha we thing alike bolts" James added.
"Dead for years and you still feel the need to call me Bolts?" Kingsley asked with a smile.
"Being dead don't change my nickname for you" James teased.
She glanced over her shoulder so frequently she appeared to have a twitch.
Sirius, Fred, and George grinned. That sounded funny.
Harry did not like being stationary; walking had given the illusion that they had a goal. Beneath the Cloak he could feel the last vestiges of Polyjuice leaving him, his hands returning to their usual length and shape. He pulled his glasses out of his pocket and put them on again.
"Ah he's a scrawny git again" Fred exclaimed. "Oh how we missed him" Everyone let out a small laugh though James pouted.
"My son's not scrawny" he said.
"Yes he is, like his father" Sirius said loudly. James mumbled something like 'Im not scrawny' though no one heard.
After a minute or two, Ron said, "You know, we're not far from the Leaky Cauldron here, it's only in Charing Cross"
Ginny rolled her eyes at her brother.
"Ron, we can't!" said Hermione at once.
"Not to stay there, but to find out what's going on!"
"We know what's going on! Voldemort's taken over the Ministry, what else do we need to know?"
Molly smiled slightly "He's worried about us"
"Okay, okay, it was just an idea!" They relapsed into a prickly silence. The gum-chewing waitress shuffled over and Hermione ordered two cappuccinos
"Um two?" Tonks asked
As Harry was invisible, it would have looked odd to order him one.
"Never mind" she said.
A pair of burly workmen entered the café and squeezed into the next booth.
Remus frowned slightly.
Hermione dropped her voice to a whisper. "I say we find a quiet place to disapparate and head for the countryside. Once we're there, we could send a message to the Order."
"Can you do that talking Patronus thing, then?" asked Ron.
"I've been practicing and I think so," said Hermione.
"Smart witch" Kingsley nodded in approval.
"Well, as long as it doesn't get them into trouble, though they might've been arrested already. God, that's revolting," Ron added after one sip of the foamy, grayish coffee. The waitress had heard; she shot Ron a nasty look as she shuffled off to take the new customers' orders.
"Ronald" Mrs. Weasley scowled making everyone laugh.
The larger of the two workmen, who was blond and quite huge, now that Harry came to look at him, waved her away.
Odd Tonks thought as her Auror training started to kick in.
She stared, affronted.
"Let's get going, then, I don't want to drink this muck," said Ron. "Hermione, have you got Muggle money to pay for this?"
"Yes, I took out all my Building Society savings before I came to the Burrow. I'll bet all the change is at the bottom," sighed Hermione, reaching for her beaded bag.
The two workmen made identical movements, and Harry mirrored them without conscious thought.
"That's my godson" Sirius said proudly. "Kick there ass Harry!" Sirius said caught up in the book.
"Sirius!" Lily said "Don't cuss"
Molly started to shake, why were the workmen attacking them?
All three of them drew their wands. Ron, a few seconds late in realizing what was going on, lunged across the table, pushing Hermione sideways onto her bench.
"Aww" Tonks, Ginny and Lily said as they couldn't help themselves.
The force of the Death Eaters' spells shattered the tiled wall where Ron's head had just been
"No" Molly whispered. "That was too close! How did they find them so fast?" She half cried out.
"I don't know" Kingsley said. "Did someone follow them?"
"I don't see how, unless some one grabbed Hermione when she was apperating out" James said joining in the conversation.
"No they would have noticed" Lily said picking up where he husband left off.
"Well then how did two death eaters find them in the muggle world? I don't think they would be there on there own" Sirius said. No one knew what else to say, no one knew how the teens had been found so they decided to keep reading. Maybe they would find out in the book.
As Harry, still invisible, yelled, "Stupefy!" The great blond Death Eater was hit in the face by a jet of red light.
James smiled proudly, a smile that was mirrored in every face in the room.
He slumped sideways, unconscious. His companion, unable to see who had cast the spell, fired another at Ron.
Molly was shaking so bad that Arthur had to hold his wife to keep her from falling of the couch.
Shining black ropes flew from his wand-tip and bound Ron head to foot, the waitress screamed and ran for the door.
No one said a word, as they listened, hoping and praying that the teens got out.
Harry sent another Stunning Spell at the Death Eater with the twisted face who had tied up Ron, but the spell missed, rebounded on the window, and hit the waitress, who collapsed in front of the door.
"Poor woman she must have been terrified." Lily said sadly.
"Expulso!" bellowed the Death Eater, and the table behind which Harry was standing blew up: The force of the explosion slammed him into the wall and he felt his wand leave his hand as the Cloak slipped off him.
"NO" Lily, Molly, Ginny, and Tonks cried just as Sirius yelled
"SHIT" The woman were to worried to scowled him about his language.
"Petrificus Totalus!" screamed Hermione from out of sight, and the Death Eater fell forward like a statue to land with a crunching thud on the mess of broken china, table, and coffee.
Everyone in the room breathed out a breath of relief.
"Thank god they have Hermione" Bill said as Charile and the others nodded.
Hermione crawled out from underneath the bench, shaking bits of glass ashtray out of her hair and trembling all over.
"I can imagine why" Lily said sadly "That poor girl"
"She's strong, she will be okay" most of the room told her.
"D-diffindo," she said, pointing her wand at Ron, who roared in pain as she slashed open the knee of his jeans, leaving a deep cut.
James and Sirius winced. Molly was shaking her head and muttering under her breath about being to young to fight so many.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, Ron, my hand's shaking! Diffindo!" The severed ropes fell away. Ron got to his feet, shaking his arms to regain feeling in them.
Harry picked up his wand and climbed over all the debris to where the large blond Death Eater was sprawled across the bench.
"Please be careful" Lily moaned. James drew in a fake breath
"Lily! He is my son, so he has my genes and I am always careful" Lily only smacked him upside the head.
"I should've recognized him, he was there the night Dumbledore died," he said. He turned over the darker Death Eater with his foot; the man's eyes moved rapidly between Harry, Ron and Hermione.
McGonagall had a few tears in her eyes. "I still cant believe he saw the headmaster die" She said sadly.
"He is a strong boy, but I know that that must have hurt him deeply." Molly added. The room fell silent as they remembered there once beloved friend and
headmaster. After a moment they continued to read.
"That's Dolohov," said Ron. "I recognize him from the old wanted posters. I think the big one's Thorfinn Rowle."
Fabian and Gideon growled. That bastard was the one that killed them.
"Stupid idiotic son of a bitch" Every head turned to Mrs. Weasley who was raging.
"What?" She asked when they continued to stare "No one and I mean no one hurts my family. When they do, they have no respect in my book" The spark in her eyes
told everything, she would kill if she got the chance to hurt the ones who had hurt her family.
"Never mind what they're called!" said Hermione a little hysterically. "How did they find us? What are we going to do?" Somehow her panic seemed to clear Harry's head.
"Why is Harry good under pressure but not good when not?" Fred asked curiously.
"Its just how his brain works" Ginny answered.
"Lock the door," he told her, "and Ron, turn out the lights."
He looked down at the paralyzed Dolohov, thinking fast as the lock clicked and Ron used the Deluminator to plunge the café into darkness. Harry could hear the men who had jeered at Hermione earlier, yelling at another girl in the distance.
Bill growled "Will someone do something about those drunk idiots?"
"What are we going to do with them?" Ron whispered to Harry through the dark; then, even more quietly, "Kill them? They'd kill us. They had a good go just now."
Lily shook her head as did James. They knew there son was not a killer. He proved that when he save Wormtail from Sirius and Remus.
Hermione shuddered and took a step backward. Harry shook his head. "We just need to wipe their memories," said Harry. "It's better like that, it'll throw them off the scent. If we killed them it'd be obvious we were here."
"Smart as always" Kingley praised. McGonagall smiled proudly at her lions.
"You're the boss," said Ron, sounding profoundly relieved. "But I've never down a Memory Charm."
"Good" Molly muttered quietly
"Nor have I," said Hermione, "but I know the theory."
She took a deep, calming breath, then pointed her wand at Dolohov's forehead and said, "Obliviate."
At once, Dolohov's eyes became unfocused and dreamy.
"Is there a spell she doesn't know?" Gideon asked the room. Everyone looked at each other, but it was Luna who answered.
"She knows lots but because she over thinks most she doesn't know all" She said softly. Gideon didn't know weither that was a yes she knew everything or no she didn't.
"Brilliant!" said Harry, clapping her on the back. "Take care of the other one and the waitress while Ron and I clear up."
"Clear up? Why?" Fabian and Fred asked. Neville snorted then laughed. When they asked what was funny he just read they next line.
"Clear up?" said Ron, looking around at the partly destroyed café "Why?"
Fabian and Fred looked at each other then blinked. The room only laughed at them.
"Don't you think they might wonder what's happened if they wake up and find themselves in a place that looks like it's just been bombed?"
Remus, Lily, and McGonagall smiled. It seemed that not only had Harry inherited his mothers eyes but also her witty thinking as well.
"Oh right, yeah..."
Ron struggled for a moment before managing to extract his wand from his pocket. "It's no wonder I can't get it out, Hermione, you packed my old jeans, they're tight."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," hissed Hermione, and as she dragged the waitress out of sight of the windows, Harry heard her mutter a suggestion as to where Ron could stick his wand instead.
The twins laughed as Sirius said "I wonder where Hermione would want to stick Ron's wand up" At his raised eye brows and smirk Lily, who was the only one that could smack him did.
"Thank you Lily" Molly, McGonagall, Ginny and Tonks said.
"My pleasure" Lily answered as Sirius pouted.
Once the cafe was restored to its previous condition, they heaved the Death Eaters back into their booth and propped them up facing each other. "But how did they find us?" Hermione asked, looking from one inert man to the other.
"That's what I would like to know" Kingsley and James said together again. James opened his mouth but Kingsley stopped him
"Not another word" James only smirked at his former friend.
"How did they know where we were?" She turned to Harry. "You don't think you've still got your Trace on you, do you, Harry?"
"He cant its against the law to but a trace on an adult, and anyways who could have put it on Harry? No ones been close enough to do it" Remus ranted
"He can't have," said Ron. "The Trace breaks at seventeen, that's Wizarding law, you can't put it on an adult."
Remus blinked as the twins, Fabian, Gideon, James and Sirius laughed at him.
"As far as you know," said Hermione. "What if the Death Eaters have found a way to put it on a seventeen-year-old?"
"Cant" Remus muttered.
"But Harry hasn't been near a Death Eater in the last twenty-four hours. Who's supposed to have put a Trace back on him?"
Remus blinked twice.
"Wow Moony your just like Ron" Sirius teased his werewolf friend.
"Padfoot if you weren't dead id kill you for teasing me" Remus growled playfully."You always were a moody werewolf" James added "Then again it was your time of the month when you were crabby" Fred and George bursted out laugh as Remus turned pink.
"Moving on from Professor Lupin's time of the month-" Neville said as he began to read again.
Hermione did not reply. Harry felt contaminated, tainted: Was that really how the Death Eaters had found them?
"If I can't use magic, and you can't use magic near me, without us giving away our position" he began.
Ginny let out a huge breath "He we go" she said loudly. At her family and friends confused looks she said "You'll see"
"We're not splitting up!" said Hermione firmly.
"Ahh" was said around the room as they understood. Harry was being a noble git again.
"We need a safe place to hide," said Ron. "Give us time to think things through."
"Grimmauld Place," said Harry. The other two gaped.
"I would to" Sirius said "I hate my old house" He glared at the floor but when he felt a hand on his shoulder he looked up. His friends hazel eyes stared at his own.
"You okay Padfoot?" James whispered to his friend.
"Yea im fine Prongs" Sirius told his best mate "Thanks" James only smile at his friend. The turned to look at Remus who was watching them with hungry eyes.
"Merrs. Padfoot and Prongs would like to say that we miss Mister Moony dearly" Sirius said wish more then to go and hug his life time friend.
"Merrs. Moony would like to say that I miss you both too" Remus whispered. Fred and George stared at there idols but before they could say anything or ask for autographs Neville continued reading.
"Don't be silly, Harry, Snape can get in there!"
Lily sighed softly. She had spied on her old friend when she died and found out that he was good. When she tried to tell James he said he didn't want to hear anything about the greasy haired git.
"Ron's dad said they've put up jinxes against him and even if they haven't worked," he pressed on as Hermione began to argue "so what? I swear, I'd like nothing better than to meet Snape!"
James and Sirius smiled proudly while Fred andd George cheered. The others in the room would have defended the man had he not murdered Dumbledore.
"But-"
"Hermione, where else is there? It's the best chance we've got. Snape's only one Death Eater. If I've still got the Trace on me, we'll have whole crowds of them on us wherever else we go."
"There so worried now they have the fake idea that he is being magically tracked!" Molly yelled.
She could not argue, though she looked as if she would have liked to. While she unlocked the cafe door, Ron clicked the Deluminator to release the cafe's light. Then, on Harry's count of three, they reversed the spells upon their three victims, and before the waitress or either of the Death Eaters could do more than stir sleepily, Harry, Ron and Hermione had turned on the spot and vanished into the compressing darkness once more.
The room stayed quiet as they read and hoped for good news.
Seconds later Harry's lungs expanded gratefully and he opened his eyes: They were now standing in the middle of a familiar small and shabby square. Tall, dilapidated houses looked down on them from every side. Number twelve was visible to them, for they had been told of its existence by Dumbledore, its Secret-Keeper, and they rushed toward it, checking every few yards that they were not being followed or observed.
Kingsley, Tonks, Remus, Sirius, James and Lily nodded in approval.
They raced up the stone steps, and Harry tapped the front door once with his wand. They heard a series of metallic clicks and the clatter of a chain, then the door swung open with a creak and they hurried over the threshold.
As Harry closed the door behind them, the old-fashioned gas lamps sprang into life, casting flickering light along the length of the hallway. It looked just as Harry remembered it: eerie, cobwebbed, the outlines of the house-elf heads on the wall throwing odd shadows up the staircase.
Sirius shook, he hated his old home, and reading about it made him feel terrible.
Long dark curtains concealed the portrait of Sirius's mother. The only thing that was out of place was the troll's leg umbrella stand, which was lying on its side as if Tonks had just knocked it over again.
The room laughed Sirius the loudest. Tonks only pouted.
"I-I" she huffed "I didn't do that all the time" The room only laughed at the blushing witch. Remus smiled at his wife and kissed her lightly, then when he realised what he was doing he with drew from her quickly. Sirius wanted to punch his werewolf friend when he saw the hurt look on his cousion's face.
"I think somebody's been in here," Hermione whispered, pointing toward it.
"That could've happened as the Order left," Ron murmured back.
"So where are these jinxes they put up against Snape?" Harry asked.
"Maybe they're only activated if he shows up?" suggested Ron. Yet they remained close together on the doormat, backs against the door, scared to move farther into the house.
"Well, we can't stay here forever," said Harry, and he took a step forward.
Lily and Molly held their breaths while everyone else was on the edge of their seats.
"Severus Snape?"Mad-Eye Moody's voice whispered out of the darkness, making all three of them jump back in fright.
"I can imagine" Luna said.
"We're not Snape!" croaked Harry, before something whooshed over him like cold air and his tongue curled backward on itself, making it impossible to speak.
"Please be okay, please be okay" Lily repeated over and over again. James put an arm around his wife and whispered soothing things into her eyes. He lifted his head to see Arthur doing the same to Molly.
Before he had time to feel inside his mouth, however, his tongue had unraveled again. The other two seemed to have experienced the same unpleasant sensation. Ron was making retching noises; Hermione stammered,
"Tongue tying curse" Remus said out loud.
"That m-must have b-been the T-Tongue-Tying Curse Mad-Eye set up for Snape!" Gingerly Harry took another step forward. Something shifted in the shadows at the end of the hall, and before any of them could say another word, a figure had risen up out of the carpet, tall, dust-colored, and terrible;
Ginny closed her eyes as Neville continued to read.
Hermione screamed and so did Mrs. Black, her curtains flying open; the gray figure was gliding toward them, faster and faster, its waist-length hair and beard streaming behind it, its face sunken, fleshless, with empty eye sockets.
Lily and Molly whimpered as Fabian and Gideon vomited on the floor. They had always had a weak stomach. McGonagall vanished the mess as the twins gave their uncles some of their products.
"It helps with the nausea." George told them at there uneasy looks. They shrugged and ate the candy.
Horribly familiar, dreadfully altered, it raised a wasted arm, pointing at Harry.
"No!" Harry shouted, and though he had raised his wand no spell occurred to him. "No! It wasn't us! We didn't kill you"
"Oh god is that-" Lily whimpered out.
"It must me" Sirius said.
"What the bloody hell was Mad-Eye thinking?" James yelled.
"It was made for Snape not Harry or the kids" Tonks said defensly.
"Still an image of Dumbledore?" Charlie asked, though no one had an answer.
On the word kill, the figure exploded in a great cloud of dust: Coughing, his eyes watering, Harry looked around to see Hermione crouched on the floor by the door with her arms over her head, and Ron, who was shaking from head to foot, patting her clumsily on the shoulder and saying, "It's all r-right... It's g-gone..."
"Hes terrified!" Molly shrieked "And I cant help my baby!" Arthur held his wife.
"Its alright, hes alright." He repeated.
Dust swirled around Harry like mist, catching the blue gaslight, as Mrs. Black continued to scream.
"Mudbloods, filth, stains of dishonor, taint of shame on the house of my fathers"
"SHUT UP" Sirius yelled at the book. Neville spit on the floor.
"Sorry but saying the words out loud left a horrible taste in my mouth"
"SHUT UP!" Harry bellowed, directing his wand at her, and with a bang and a burst of red sparks, the curtains swung shut again, silencing her.
Sirius smiled.
"That... that was..." Hermione whimpered, as Ron helped her to her feet.
"Poor Mione" Ginny whispered as Luna layed a hand on her hand.
"Yeah," said Harry, "but it wasn't really him, was it? Just something to scare Snape." Had it worked, Harry wondered, or had Snape already blasted the horror-figure aside as casually as he had killed the real Dumbledore?
McGonagall sniffed and dabbed at her watery eyes. It was so sad that Harry saw that but she couldn't image how he felt at that moment seeing a ghost Dumbledore explode.
Nerves still tingling, he led the other two up the hall, half-expecting some new terror to reveal itself, but nothing moved except for a mouse skittering along the skirting board.
"Well Kreacher never liked cleaning" Sirius said coldly "Or not for me anyways"
"Before we go any farther, I think we'd better check," whispered Hermione, and she raised her wand and said, "Homenum revelio." Nothing happened.
"That's good" Bill said smiling at the book.
"Well, you've just had a big shock," said Ron kindly. "What was that supposed to do?"
Everyone laughed lightly.
"Ronald" Molly shook her head with a small smile. She dabbed her eyes then sat up straight.
"It did what I meant it to do!" said Hermione rather crossly. "That was a spell to reveal human presence, and there's nobody here except us!"
"Good" Everyone yelled.
"And old Dusty," said Ron, glancing at the patch of carpet from which the corpse-figure had risen.
Luna's smile faltered "I hope they don't get nightmares, I would"
"Let's go up," said Hermione with a frightened look at the same spot, and she led the way up the creaking stairs to the drawing room on the first floor.
Hermione waved her wand to ignite the old gas lamps, then, shivering slightly in the drafty room, she perched on the sofa, her arms wrapped tightly around her. Ron crossed to the window and moved the heavy velvet curtains aside an inch.
Kingsley nodded "They should check to see if anyone was outside."
"Can't see anyone out there," he reported. "And you'd think, if Harry still had a Trace on him, they'd have followed us here. I know they can't get in the house, but what's up, Harry?"
James and Lily tensed.
Harry had given a cry of pain: His scar had burned against as something flashed across his mind like a bright light on water. He saw a large shadow and felt a fury that was not his own pound through his body, violent and brief as an electric shock.
"No no no" Lily yelped.
"Its okay, he's been through this" James whispered to her though even he knew it wasn't okay.
"Its his scar?" Sirius asked. James nodded. Everyone looked at Neville who got the message and read.
"What did you see?" Ron asked, advancing on Harry. "Did you see him at my place?"
"No, I just felt anger he's really angry"
"But that could be at the Burrow," said Ron loudly. "What else? Didn't you see anything? Was he cursing someone?"
"Oh Ron you have no tact!" Ginny yelled out "He doesn't know every bloody detail, just leave him alone!"
"No, I just felt anger, I couldn't tell" Harry felt badgered, confused, and Hermione did not help as she said in a frightened voice,
"Your scar, again? But what's going on? I thought that connection had closed!"
"Its not that simple" Remus frowned.
"It did, for a while," muttered Harry; his scar was still painful, which made it hard to concentrate. "I…I think it's started opening again whenever he loses control, that's how it used to"
Sirius wanted to go to his godson and hold him. Harry and he had talked about everything from girls to pain. He had told him about his scar but Sirius never imaged it to be this bad.
"But then you've got to close your mind!" said Hermione shrilly. "Harry, Dumbledore didn't want you to use that connection, he wanted you to shut it down, that's why you were supposed to use Occlumency! Otherwise Voldemort can plant false images in your mind, remember-"
Ginny glared at the book "Hermione should know that that's like a slap in the face"
"Yeah, I do remember, thanks," said Harry through gritted teeth; he did not need Hermione to tell him that Voldemort had once used this selfsame connection between them to lead him into a trap, nor that it had resulted in Sirius's death.
Sirius flinched. "It wasn't his fault"
"We know that Pads but he blames himself" Remus said.
"He shouldn't I was the idiot who-"
"Your not an idiot for wanting to save my son, your godson!" James yelled.
"Yea, and Harry should know that as should you" Lily ended with a soft sad smile at Sirius. She had watched him when he died and seen him beat himself up for
leaving Harry behind. It took them forever to make him stop just watching Harry when he arrived at Heavan. He didnt even want to talk to James at first.
He wished that he had not told them what he had seen and felt; it made Voldemort more threatening, as though he were pressing against the window of the room, and still the pain in his scar was building and he fought it: It was like resisting the urge to be sick.
Molly frowned as did the others.
He turned his back on Ron and Hermione, pretending to examine the old tapestry of the Black family tree on the wall. Then Hermione shrieked:
Everyone in the room went tensed and Neville could not read fast enough.
Harry drew his wand again and spun around to see a silver Patronus soar through the drawing room window and land upon the floor in front of them, where it solidified into the weasel that spoke with the voice of Ron's father.
"Family safe, do not reply, we are being watched."
The Patronus dissolved into nothingness.
"God Arthur your Patronus gave me a heart attack" Tonks said. Mr. Weasley only smiled sheepishly at her.
Ron let out a noise between a whimper and a groan and dropped onto the sofa: Hermione joined him, gripping his arm.
"They're all right, they're all right!" she whispered, and Ron half laughed and hugged her.
Molly smiled at the book.
"Harry," he said over Hermione's shoulder, "I-"
"It's not a problem," said Harry, sickened by the pain in his head. "It's your family, 'course you were worried. I'd feel the same way." He thought of Ginny. "I do feel the same way."
Lily's eyes again drifted to the young read head who stole her son's heart. At the moment she was blushing as everyone was looking at her but Lily could see that she had a twinkle in her eyes that matched her sad smile.
The pain in his scar was reaching a peak, burning as it had back in the garden of the Burrow. Faintly he heard Hermione say
"I don't want to be on my own. Could we use the sleeping bags I've brought and camp in here tonight?" He heard Ron agree. He could not fight the pain much longer. He had to succumb.
"Normally I would disagree with boys and girls sleeping in the same room" McGonagall started sternly "But I don't think they should separate" She finished.
"Bathroom," he muttered, and he left the room as fast as he could without running. He barely made it:
"He's such a bad liar" Fred teased. Lily laughed
"Gets it from his father" James smirked.
"Does not, you on the other hands Lils are the worst liar ever" Lily blushed but said nothing more.
Bolting the door behind him with trembling hands, he grasped his pounding head and fell to the floor, then in an explosion of agony, he felt the rage that did not belong to him possess his soul, saw a long room lit only by firelight, and the giant blond Death Eater on the floor, screaming and writhing, and a slighter figure standing over him, wand outstretched, while Harry spoke in a high, cold, merciless voice.
The room flinched and held their breaths.
"Is he?" Charlie asked.
"Yes, in Voldemort's mind" James said his voice cold.
"More, Rowle, or shall we end it and feed you to Nagini? Lord Voldemort is not sure that he will forgive this time... You called me back for this, to tell me that Harry Potter has escaped again? Draco, give Rowle another taste of our displeasure... Do it, or feel my wrath yourself!"
McGonagall's breath drew in. "He's is making Draco? How could he? He is just a child!"
"He's a Malfoy" Sirius and the twins spat
"It matters not he is still a child" Molly said with a glare at her boys.
"So? He was born a death eater" Sirius growled.
"Like you?" Lily asked
"I would NEVER. How dare you-" Sirius didn't get to finish
"You were born a Black so you are a Black. Your family is all death eater lovers are you?" Sirius shook his head "Then why is the name Malfoy different from Black?
Why is Draco a bad person for being forced to do something?" Sirius had no answers so he just stayed quiet. Lily was proud of her argument.
A log fell in the fire: Flames reared, their light darting across a terrified, pointed white face with a sense of emerging from deep water, Harry drew heaving breaths and opened his eyes.
Relief filled everyone in the room. Happy now that Harry was not in the mind of the murder and phycopath.
He was spread-eagled on the cold black marble floor, his nose inches from one of the silver serpent tails that supported the large bathtub. He sat up.
Malfoy's gaunt, petrified face seemed burned on the inside of his eyes. Harry felt sickened by what he had seen, by the use to which Draco was now being put by Voldemort.
Lily smiled slightly. Her son was thinking just like her. Sirius seemed to think so as well because his shoulders slumped in defeat.
There was a sharp rap on the door, and Harry jumped as Hermione's voice rang out.
"Harry, do you want your toothbrush? I've got it here."
The mothers in the room and the woman smiled. Hermione would defenitly take care of the boys.
"Yeah, great, thanks," he said, fighting to keep his voice casual as he stood up to let her in.
Neville read the last line then looked up. He handed the book to Tonks
"Well that was interesting" Bill commented. "Though now we know were they went."
"I hope the next chapter wont be as actional as this one" Molly said with out thinking. All of a sudden the room groaned.
"What?" The mother of seven asked.
"You just jinxed it!" The three remanding Marauder's yelled.
"Now we just have to read and find out" Tonks said in a bright voice.
"Who should read next?" She turned the page and read the title "Um nevermind I think Sirius should read the next chapter"
"Me?" Sirius asked "Why me? What's the chapter called?"
"Kreacher's tale" Tonks said grimly.
So what did you think? What did you think about the whole Malfoy thing at the end? And is it just more, or does Sirius sound more happy now that he is dead? If you think yes he does, let me know why you think he does!
Review (:
Update will be probably be tomorrow if I get reviews if not then Ill update on Sunday (: