Harry Potter and The order of Phoenix-Unseen

ลำดับตอนที่ #6 : Chapter 3 : The Letter

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Chapter 3- The Letter

                Harry jumped back in fear. The lightning made the night sky appear to be day, and the face glowed bright. Just as Harry was about to yell in terror, he quickly gained control of himself, took a closer look at the face. It wasn’t a human face, it was an owl!

                Harry opened the window and let the owl in. Instead of fluttering about and hooting as Harry expected him to do, it slowly and silently flew in as though it was trying to keep its presence a secret. Harry knew that this owl must have something important to deliver to the Weasleys, so he let the owl perch on his arm, and he walked downstairs to deliver it to them.

                The lights coming from downstairs showed that someone was down there and Harry hoped that it was Mr. and Mrs. Weasley so he could give them the owl. As Harry got closer to the door leading to the bottom floor, he heard voices. It was Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and they were talking.

                “I just don’t know Arthur,” said Mrs. Weasley to her husband, “it just doesn’t seem like the kind of thing they’d make up.”

                “They didn’t make it up Molly,” replied Mr. Weasley, “The only people that know about black phoenixes are either victims of Voldemort‘s attacks with them, or members of the Ministry of Magic during that horrible time. So, how could they now about them without seeing one? So, they either did see one today, or…”

                “Or? Or what?” she asked.

                “Or, Harry saw it and didn’t want to tell us directly.”

                Harry felt his blood go cold and his body stiffen. He suspected him!

                “Now Arthur, why would he do a thing like that?”

                “Well, why did Harry come here in the first place. I’d bet everything I had on that he came here originally to ask us, then thought about it, and believed he’d sound weak and afraid if he did ask us, so he made up the story about seeing it through the telescope.”

                “Well,” replied Mrs. Weasley, sounding a little angry, “Harry told me the reason he is here is because the Dursleys went on vacation to Hawaii, and he didn’t want to stay with the lady that usually watches him.”

                “Molly, I’ve worked with Muggles enough to know that they do not take spontaneous trips like that. A trip anywhere, much less Hawaii, would probably take years of planning for them.” They both stood there for a minute in silence pondering Mr. Weasley’s comment.

                “Well, if he did see it,” said Mrs. Weasley quietly, “then what should we do about it Arthur?” Mr. Weasley put his hand to his chin, and Harry could tell he was thinking.

                “I don’t know Molly, I just don’t know. Black phoenixes only meant one thing in my day: You-Know-Who. They were his symbol before the Dark Mark was, and they assisted in his destruction wherever he went. If he saw one, either Voldemort is near us, or spying on Harry.”

                Harry decided this was not the best time to deliver the owl, so he headed back upstairs, all the way thinking about what Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had been talking about. Obviously, they did know something about the black phoenix but were unwilling to tell him. Why? Why did everyone still think he was a baby? Sure, he wasn’t a legal adult yet, but still, he had faced Voldemort four times and gotten the best of him at every occasion. Why couldn’t people treat him with more respect?

                Just then, the owl that had delivered the letter bit Harry’s finger, causing him a small amount of pain. Harry shook his finger, and as he did, the letter fell off of the owl’s leg. Harry looked down at it, and saw his name written on the front of the small envelope, not Mr. or Mrs. Weasley’s.  Maybe the letter was for him.

                Harry grabbed the letter and the owl, and ran back to Ron’s room, careful to be quiet enough to not wake him up. He sat down on his bed, and opened the envelope, taking out the small piece of parchment inside. It read:

                Be alone at the front of your Aunt and Uncle’s house tonight at midnight.  

                That was it. There was no signature, no anything that would indicate who sent it. Then, it came to Harry. It must be a letter from Hogwarts telling Harry to go back with his Aunt and Uncle for the rest of the Summer.

                Dumbledore told Harry that he had used a very powerful charm on him so that whenever he was near family, Voldemort could not touch him. Now, with Voldemort rising again, Harry assumed that Dumbledore thought that even the Weasleys were not enough protection for him. Dumbledore could find a way to get the Dursley’s back and be with him, even all the way from Hawaii.

                But then, Harry thought, if it was a letter from Hogwarts, why didn’t it have the Hogwarts seal on it, or the professor’s signature on it who sent it? Harry guessed that they wanted him back in a big hurry and they didn’t have time for anything like that.

                Since the letter said to be there alone, Harry didn’t wake Ron, but scribbled a note for him telling him that he was being forced to stay with the Dursley’s for the rest of the summer. Harry slung his cauldron over his broom (with all his stuff in it), and started on his way downstairs.

                Just then, he remembered. Mr. And Mrs. Weasley were down there, and they would probably question him some more about the phoenix, and where he was going. Harry really feel like dealing with that right now, he was very tired. He had to find another way out.

                Harry turned around, and saw the window in Ron’s room that the owl had come through. Since it took up almost half of the wall, he, along with all his other stuff, could easily fit through it. Harry walked over to the window, and opened it. A brisk summer night’s wind blew by him causing his teeth to chatter. Harry threw Hedwig (who was now well enough to fly) out the window, and then he jumped out after him. They both flew as fast as they could all the way back to the place Harry had just tried to get away from.

                It was a little after midnight when Harry finally arrived back at the Dursley’s house. It took him less time to return than going since he didn’t have to decode Ron’s map, he just remembered the way to go. Harry dismounted from his broom, and sat down on the stoop in front of the Dursley’s house, feeling extremely disappointed and unhappy.

                Harry waited for a few minutes, and just when he was about to fall asleep, he heard footsteps coming closer from down the street. Harry stood up, and tried to see who was coming. Was is Dumbledore. Was it Hagrid? Who?

                Harry grabbed his stuff, and started walking towards the figure. As he got closer, it came into focus, and as soon as Harry saw who it was, he turned around and walked in the opposite direction, trying to get away from it as fast as possible without being seen.

                “Harry? Harry Potter? Is that you?” came the creaky old voice behind him. The voice that belonged to Mrs. Figg, the woman that the Dursley’s were originally going to leave Harry with. Harry couldn’t try and go the other way now, it was too late, she had spotted him. All he could do now was stand where he was, and wait for her to come over to him. Within seconds, she was right next to him.

                “Why, hello Harry!“ she said. “Fancy meeting you here at this time!”

                “Hello Mrs. Figg,” replied Harry with a  sigh.

                “Oh, why the sigh Harry?,” she asked.

                “Well, it’s just that I was expecting to meet someone and-” She cut him off.

                “Well that’s very nice Harry,” she said. “Why don’t you come in for some tea and cookies? You look like you’re awfully cold.”

                It was true. Even though it was a summer evening, Harry was very cold. In fact, the more he thought about it, the colder he got. Also, he thought to himself, Mrs. Figg’s house wasn’t too far away from where he was supposed to meet whoever was coming, so he could see them through the window, then come back when they arrived.

                “Alright,” said Harry.

                “Excellent,” said Mrs. Figg. She led the way to her house which was just as Harry remembered it. It was a perfectly green lawn with pink flamingos placed all over the yard, as if guards for the house.

                When Mrs. Figg opened the door, Harry didn’t hear something that he had expected to. Mrs. Figg owned many, many cats, as some old women do, and whenever she used to open the door, Harry would hear all of the cats ‘meow’ in unison as if saying hello to her. This time, however, when she opened the door, there was just silence. Harry guessed she must’ve put her cats in the basement or something.

                They walked through the door, and into the house. Harry sniffed, and for once, could not smell a single cat. He could, however, smell the cookies, that were baking and the tea that was boiling. Before he could ask her what happened to her cats, she asked Harry a question:

                “So Harry, how have you been?” she asked nicely. Her voice seemed different. It was not weak and old anymore, but stronger and louder.

                “Oh, okay,” Harry responded, not daring to tell her anything about the phoenix, Hogwarts, or anything else magical. “Um, Mrs. Figg, may I ask you a question?”

                “Certainly Harry,” she responded in the same voice.

                “Um, what happened to your cats?” Mrs. Figg gave Harry a look he didn’t expect, she smiled.

                “Well Harry,” she said, still smiling, “I had to get rid of them all.”

                Harry, not understanding how someone could get rid of their only friends and be happy asked, “But why? Why did you get rid of them?”

                “Because,” she responded, “I got a dog.”

                Harry, who liked dogs, smiled and followed Mrs. Figg who was leading him into the kitchen. Right in the middle of the kitchen was a black dog whom Harry was positive he’d seen before. Wanting to continue with some conversation, Harry asked her, “What is his name?”

                “Well,” replied Mrs. Figg, now with a bigger smile, “I use the name he called himself before, Sirius Black.”

 
 

TO BE CONTINUE