“Mum that hurt!” Harry and Hermione heard Ron shout. They looked and saw that Ron and Mrs. Weasley were standing near a pillar away from a group of people standing over Lupin’s body.
“That didn’t hurt nearly as much as you deserve, Ronald Weasley!” Mrs. Weasley yelled, livid in the face. “What were you thinking in joining the Order?”
“I was thinking about doing my part do get rid of Voldemort!”
Mrs. Weasley flinched badly, but recovered, saying, “We have enough people doing that! This is dangerous! You are still too young!”
“I’m old enough to make my own decisions, Mum!” Ron shouted back. Harry was rather taken aback by the way Ron was speaking to her mother; he had never seen any of the Weasley children do so. Ron was now acting as tall as he looked.
“You two need some medicine, too,” said the deep voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt, who had left the group and was examining Harry and Hermione’s bites, which were now turning purple.
“That would be a good idea,” Hermione said, feeling her forehead and looking drowsy.
“How’s Lupin?” Harry asked.
“He’ll be fine. All he needs is some potion and a few days rest.”
Harry looked around Kingsley and saw that the group included Mad-Eye Moody, Mr. Weasley, Elphias Dodge, and a very teary Tonks. It seemed Mr. Weasley was trying to ignore his wife’s constant plea to join her row with Ron.
“Molly,” he said, finally acknowledging her, “I’m not happy about this either. You know that. But what’s done is done. And right now we have more urgent matters.”
Mrs. Weasley was frustrated, but didn’t give up and turned back to Ron. “The fact of the matter is”Oh, my goodness!” she cried, her eyes swelling with tears, for Ron was now leaning against the pillar and straining to breath. The doxy venom must have acted faster due to Ron’s shouting match.
Harry was worried, but also felt like he was coming down with a fever and it was becoming a labor to breath. Next to him, Hermione looked even worse. Lupin was resting, so he thought it might take longer for him to get worse.
“Molly,” Kingsley said urgently, looking at Harry, “do you have any cure for what appears to be doxy bites at your house? Am I right, Harry?”
“Yeah,” Harry said hoarsely, clutching at his chest and dropping the scepter, “doxy venom.”
“Yes, I do,” she answered, and then turned to her husband. “Arthur, take Ron home so I can go ahead and get ready.”
Moody came over to Harry and took him by the arm. Harry felt the pressure of Apparation come and go. When the blackness left he saw that he was back in the front lawn of the Burrow, being pushed forward by Moody. Mrs. Weasley already entered the house ahead of him when Hermione and Ron appeared to the right, both escorted by Kingsley and Mr. Weasley.
In next to no time, Harry was lying in a bed back in Ron’s room, with Ron in the next bed. Harry’s chest felt constricted and forehead as if it were on fire; Ron was just as bad. He barely remembered how he had gotten there and was sure it had happened no more then twenty minutes ago. But then, Mrs. Weasley came in carrying two bottles, which she put the ends of into Harry and Ron’s mouths.
Harry drank down the potion and he felt his chest fall and rise with air again, his forehead cooled, and his head started to clear. When his head cleared completely and his memory came back, Harry sat bolt right up.
“Where is it?” he half-shouted at Mrs. Weasley. “Where’s that scepter I was carrying?”
“It was taken by Elphias Didge back to the headquarters,” Mrs. Weasley said, pushing Harry back down. “And your system still has to get rid of the venom, so you are going to stay in bed until tomorrow morning.”
“Blimey, it felt like a hippogriff trampled me,” Ron said, trying to sit up, but Mrs. Weasley went over to him and forced him back down.
“You are not to leave this bed until I say so,” she said fiercely. She took out two more small bottles of potion and force-fed them to Harry and Ron. Harry suddenly felt woozy and fell back onto his bed, asleep.
When Harry had awoken again, it was a beautiful new day outside. The kind of day that would normally be spent playing Quidditch, but that did not come to pass. As soon as Harry and Ron met back up with Hermione in the kitchen, a letter from the Council greeted them.
It clearly instructed the three of them to spend the next three days recuperating in the Burrow. None of them were to go out. And after the three days were up, they were all to head back to Grimmauld Place indefinitely. They were told that details about the scepter would be divulged later.
Of course, none of them were happy about this news, especially Ginny, for some reason. She had helped make breakfast and was there to read the letter.
After it became apparent to Harry what was wrong with her, he took action. And then when it came to leave the Burrow once again, he broke the news to Ron.
“You gave her your what!” he exclaimed, after ending up back in the gloom of Grimmauld Place.
“My Firebolt,” Harry said to him again. “I have no use for it at the moment, so I had Dobby bring it over when I asked him to feed Hedwig. I mean I couldn’t not give Ginny a birthday present.”
Ron was about to say something again but was interrupted by Hermione. “I didn’t really think she would appreciate a second-hand broom,” she said.
“Hermione,” Ron said to her as if she were crazy, “it’s”a”Firebolt. Not some cruddy robes.” He seemed to have a change of heart in record time. The subject wasn’t brought up again, and they entered the confines of the house.
As the weeks passed and August turned into September, Harry felt much more gloomy in Grimmauld Place than in his previous stays. Ron and Hermione were his best friends, and he has shared a roof with them for the best part of the past six years, but the fact of the matter was that they were now the only ones around. Harry started to miss his usual contacts: Ginny, Fred, George, Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Luna Lovegood. They weren’t his best friends, but they were around if you wanted somebody else to chat with.
The habits of Ron and Hermione that Harry barely noticed anymore were now starting to show up. It turned out that Hermione had snuck out of the Burrow despite orders not to for a brief period the day before they left, so she could go to Flourish and Blotts and purchase Standard Book of Spells, Grade Seven. Now she kept pushing the book under Harry’s nose every chance she got, and urged him to learn from it himself.
Ron was now seemed to be chewing too loudly during meal times, and his snoring could be heard from different parts of the house. He was also being urged by Hermione to read Standard Book of Spells, but unlike Harry, he always got into a row with her when she tried.
“They’re standard spells, Hermione. Standard,” said Ron on the evening of the first of September. “I doubt they’ll help out too much.”
“Don’t try to deny that they have been useful, Ron,” argued Hermione.
Harry was already in a much fouler mood than usual, because the Order denied his request to see to go back to the Burrow and see off Ginny before she left for Beauxbatons a few days previously, and wasn’t in the mood to hear the fight. He was also annoyed with Ron, due to the fact that Harry kept trying to make the Lectun Repalo work, and Ron kept scoffing him at his attempts. Only the day before Harry almost hit Ron because when he coughed it sounded like another scoff.
“Harry, please!” Hermione said, trying to persuade him again. “It’ll be a better use of your time than practicing a spell that doesn’t work.”
“I’ll get it to work,” he said defensively. “Maybe it takes a certain situation to get it to work. Or I have to think something specific, like the Patronus.”
“Surely you must have tried everything by now,” she retorted. “You’ve had plenty of time to practice.”
“Apparently not enough. Look, we probably have weeks in this house left to go. Why can’t I use that time to do this?”
“Because you won’t have enough time,” said a voice in the fire.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione jumped again and saw Lupin’s head among the flames once more. They bolted and kneeled in front of the grate.
“You’re all right!” Harry said excitedly. “We never got any news of whether you were fine or not.”
“I wouldn’t think so,” said Lupin. “Now, the scepter has slowly been detonating since we got it. Hopefully, it won’t take much longer.”
“Is that all?” Hermione asked. “Did you figure out another possible place for a Horcrux.”
“We would, but we’re stuck in here,” Harry said resentfully.
“Don’t worry,” Lupin assured them, “we’ve already started looking for another one.”
“And that work paid off!” Ron said, practically ready for another life threatening mission.
“Sadly, no,” he answered. Ron slumped looking put-down.
“Then why are you here?” asked Hermione.
“As you should have known, the Horcruxes weren’t going to be your only responsibility. We have of another use for you three.”
“And what will that be?” Harry said, afraid it was just going to be busy work.
“Guard duty.”
“Excellent,” Ron said, ready once more. “So what it’s going to be? Something like the prophecy? Another Ministry official about to be killed?”
“You’ll find out after you get to headquarters,” Lupin said. He pulled his head back and vanished from the fire.
“Well, let’s go,” said Ron; he looked the liveliest he’s been in weeks. “Can’t wait to get out into the world again.”
“I would have thought that after what happened to your dad, that you wouldn’t want to do something like guard duty,” said Hermione.
“Yeah, but the snake’s dead, isn’t it?”
“Still, I don’t have a good feeling about this,” she said, getting to her feet.
Harry got up too, and said, “Think we’ll all be killed this time.”
“It has nothing to do with how dangerous the mission is going to be,” she said thoughtfully.
“The sooner we get to headquarters, the sooner we find out what we have to do,” Harry said, leading the way out of the kitchen.
He, Ron, and Hermione stepped out into the cool evening air and the orange glow of the nearby street lamp. They Apparated and ended up back at Exeter. After entering headquarters, going upstairs, and going in the second door on the left, they were back in front of the Council.
“Welcome back,” McGonagall greeted them. “You three are undoubtedly curious about what we have in store for you.”
“So, what do we have to do?” asked Harry.
“As you three know,” Moody began abruptly, “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named wouldn’t hesitate for a second to murder an entire family, but luckily the one I’m talking about hasn’t been killed yet. But we know for sure that he has been itching to have them murdered for some time now.”
“So are we to help evacuate them?” Hermione said to Lupin. “That’s not exactly guard duty.”
“Hermione,” Lupin said patiently, “please let Alastor finish.”
“It would be wrong of us,” Moody continued as if there was no interruption, “to let them get killed if we knew about it and did nothing. So, we set up a post that you three will take over starting tomorrow night.”
“You want us to baby sit?” Ron said, outraged.
“Ron,” Lupin said in the same patient tone, “what did you think it was going to be if it was something like the prophecy you had to watch over.”
“Exactly, this is baby sitting,” Moody growled. “Now, we set up this post months ago, even though Dumbledore had told us at that time that it wouldn’t be necessary for a while. But we went ahead with it.”
An icy dagger of truth stabbed Harry in the heart when he realized whom Moody was talking about. Hermione looked as if she had figured it out as well. Ron said ignorantly, “Who are we staying with, then?”
“I didn’t say that you’re going to stay with them,” said Moody. “These people have no idea that they’re being watched, and we want it remain that way. What we have done is purchase a house across the street to have a good vantage point in case any enemies call upon them.”
“Fine,” Ron said, “where are we staying?”
It was Sturgis Podmore who made himself noticed, and said, “Number seven, Privet Drive. You will be watching over the Dursleys.”
Harry froze, and was just as immobile as if the Freezing Charm was on him. Yes, he knew that those names were coming, but actually hearing it was hundreds of times worse. He wanted to groan into his hands and lean on the wall in agony, but kept face.
“But I don’t understand,” said Hermione after a second. “If you were posted across the street for months, then why didn’t you give us an escort over the summer?”
Moody waved off the question and said, “Simple. We figured that you three were going straight back to the Weasley’s house. Not much need for an escort.”
“Don’t tell my mum that,” said Ron, who had gotten over a shock that was less than Harry’s.
“We don’t intend to,” said McGonagall. “You three should go back and get your things ready to leave tomorrow night.”
Harry was going to open his mouth again, but McGonagall gave him a stare that told him the conversation was over. So he left in the low spirits with the prospect of having to back to Privet Drive the next day.
“I can’t believe they’re doing this to us,” Ron complained back in the basement kitchen. “They’re just wanting to make us feel like we’re being useful, when we’re being cast aside.”
“Do you think I feel any better, Ron?” Hermione asked. She took a swig of butterbeer and continued. “I’d rather be doing something more useful. I mean, I’m not saying the Dursleys should be left for dead, but they have other people to do this sort of thing.”
Harry, who was barely paying them mind, smirked as he remembered a passing comment Uncle Vernon made.
“What are you smiling about?” Ron asked curiously.
“My uncle said told us that number seven had some new occupants. Now we know who.”
As the rest of the day passed, Harry was still far from accepting this unfortunate turn of events. But either way, he had no choice in the matter.
Finally, after midnight the next day, the doorbell sounded. After muffling Mrs. Black’s screams, Harry found Lupin, Tonks, and the woman Harry recognized from Hermione’s Polyjuice Potion, the one who had saved him at Godric’s Hollow.
“Good evening, Harry,” Lupin said, stepping in, and was followed by Tonks and the woman.
“Wotcher, Harry.”
“Name’s Bethany,” said the woman, extending her hand to Harry. “Bethany Williams. Nice to meet you, Potter.”
“Likewise,” Harry greeted back, shaking her hand, and taken back by her powerful introduction.
“And you must be Hermione,” Bethany said when Hermione came into view with Ron. “As you must know, I donated that lock of hair for you to use…. And you are?” she said to Ron.
“Um, Ron Weasley,” he said, also taken aback by her forceful approach, and also very much noting that Hermione had turned into her.
“Molly’s kid?” she asked, shuddering. “Of course you are. Had the unfortunate luck of telling her I supported membership for you and your friends.”
Ron, who seemed to have taken a liking to her, said, “Bad move.”
“Enough talk,” declared Lupin. “Have you three got your things ready?”
“Yes, we do,” answered Hermione suddenly. “Let’s got our things.” She and Ron went upstairs to get their trunks.
Harry went into the basement and got his trunk and owl, while Ron and Hermione went to their rooms. In less than a minute Harry was back in the main hallway, when the other two came downstairs with their trunks, Pig, and Crookshanks.
“I’ll take those,” Tonks said. “Locomortor trunks.”
Once outside in the cloudy night, the front door clicked and the house melted behind them. Tonks led the way, followed by Harry, Ron, and Hermione carrying their pets, and Lupin and Bethany bringing up the rear with their wands out. Tonks lifted the spell, grabbed two of the trunks, and Disapparated. Lupin grabbed the last and followed.
“Apparate to the start of Privet Drive,” Bethany said, keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of trouble, wand at ready. “From there, follow the love birds.”
Harry stifled a laugh, and said to Hedwig, “Brace yourself.”
He turned on the spot with Ron and Hermione and ended up under the same sky, but in a completely different neighborhood filled with identical houses on either side of the street. I’m back, Harry thought miserably.
Crack. Bethany appeared behind him. “Keep moving!” she whispered.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed Lupin and Tonks, who were a little farther up. They went down Privet Drive until, right across the street, Harry could see number four, where Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley were undoubtedly sleeping, unaware of the unwelcome party.
Lupin went to the front door of number seven and rapped its door with his wand to unlock it. He opened it and entered with Tonks and the trunks.
“In!” Lupin whispered, keeping the door open until Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Bethany were inside.
“That went more smoothly than expected,” Bethany said freely, stowing her wand in her robes and turning on the lights. “Didn’t really need all of us, did they?”
“Better safe than sorry,” said Lupin. “Okay,” he said to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, “the wireless we installed a few weeks ago is located in the living room, and through it you can hear inside number four. So, if any Death Eaters decide to come in from the back, you three can hear it and help the Dursleys”hopefully there won’t be more than one or two. The front windows are bewitched so that from the outside it looks as though the curtains are closed, so you don’t have to worry about being spotted unless you leave the house.”
“But what if the Dursleys are out?” asked Hermione. “What then?”
“You’ll have to rely on your smarts,” Lupin answered, tapping his forehead. “Hopefully you’ll know beforehand where they are. Remember, you can’t let them know that they’re being watched. It would be unfair to them to deviate them from their regular life styles if nothing has happened.”
“I think a little change in Dudley’s routine would be good for him,” Harry said darkly.
“No change, unless necessary,” Lupin simply answered. “Also, the owls would be a dead give away to your aunt and uncle that there are wizards about.”
Hedwig hooted in annoyance
.
“And don’t worry,” Lupin went on, “we might decide to pull any of you away at any time to do something else for while.”
“One more thing,” Harry added, “why couldn’t we have just stayed at Mrs. Figg’s house? It’d be a simpler move.”
“And I have no doubts it would be. Unfortunately, this house obviously has a better view of the Dursleys, which is why we acquired it in the first place. And that’s about it,” he finished. “Oh, and one more thing,” he said, turning to Ron, “the Council would like a word with you, Ron. Mind coming back to headquarters with me?”
That comment took everybody in the house by surprise.
“Why me?” Ron asked, bewildered.
“Remus, this wasn’t in the agenda,” Bethany said.
Lupin ignored her. “You’ll find out when we get there.”
“Okay, I guess,” he answered suspiciously. “When will I be back?”
“It won’t take long. Now, if you will,” Lupin said, leading him to the back door.
“See you two in a bit,” he said to Harry and Hermione. Ron then left out back with Lupin, who flicked his wand in the air. They both then turned without the usual sound of Apparation.
“Did you know about this, Harry?” asked Hermione accusingly.
“No.”
“Anyway,” Tonks said, throwing off her confused expression, “I’d better going, too. Have work in the morning.”
“No problem,” Bethany replied, “I’ll stay and make sure these two settle in. I don’t have to come in for work until noon.”
“Thanks, Beth.” Tonks left through the backdoor and Disapparated at the same spot Lupin and Ron had, using the same flick of her wand.
“Are you an Auror?” Harry asked Bethany.
“Huh?” she said, jumping a little at the sudden question. “Oh”no, I work at another part in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I sometimes have the unfortunate job of having to report to Dempsher.”
“I’m sure that thing last month was only a mistake,” Hermione insisted, though she too had agreed it was blunder.
“If that was a mistake, then I don’t why he’s still head of the Department. If the Aurors had gotten there earlier then maybe more than four Death Eaters could have been captured. You see, the longer the attack goes on, the more they expect reinforcements to come.”
Bethany grabbed Ron’s trunk and started to take it up the stairs, and signaled for Harry and Hermione to do the same with theirs. The entire layout of the house was exactly the same as the Dursley’s house; the only difference was the decoration. Harry had decided to take the version of his small room out of habit, and because it had a good view of the street. Hermione took the master bedroom.
“So tell me,” Harry said to Bethany, who was waiting out in the hall after putting Ron’s trunk in the room that would have been Dudley’s, “how did the Order convince the old owners of this house to sell?”
Bethany chuckled. “Remus explained to everybody that he visited Hogwarts and asked Nearly Headless Nick to pay a visit here. In exchange, Remus put in a good word for Nick at the Headless Hunt, because a werewolf’s recommendation was very good. So, the next day, Remus came by posing as a Muggle interested in buying a house. The old owners sold right on the spot.”
“Good,” Harry said, laughing. “I never liked those people.”
“How come the Ministry didn’t do anything?” Hermione asked, coming out of her room.
Bethany chuckled again. “Do you know how many Muggles claim their homes to be haunted? We usually just ignore them. Well,” she said, peering into Harry’s and Hermione’s rooms, “I think this would count as ‘settled.’ I’ll be going now, ‘night.”
She went back downstairs, and Harry heard the backdoor open and close. Now they were left alone in the neighborhood that had never treated Harry right.
A/N: To let everybody know, Harry will still be working on the Horcruxes. The Order won't provide some instant solution that leads to one.
And the Dursleys are exposed now that the protection is gone. I see no reason why Voldemort shouldn't try and have them killed. Just explaining my actions.
Harry Potter and the Secret Spell by Phoenix 86
Chapter Notes: Please bare with me here. I know what I am doing.