Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [10]
Harry walked over to Ron’s bed to see what he was reading. The book was laying cover-up on top of the covers, it was Quidditch Tips and Tricks. Seeing the look of confusion on Harry’s face, Ron spoke.
“Well, it’s a new year, and since there’s an open spot on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, I guess I might try out.” He shrugged his shoulders, and looked at Harry for his approval. Harry had been the youngest player on a Hogwarts Quidditch team, and his team had only lost one game while he was on it. He was the unspoken champion of Hogwarts Quidditch.
“Sure, you’ll do great Ron,” said Harry who wasn’t absolutely sure if that was true. Ron was an okay player, but Harry never seen him show the level of skill necessary to be on a team. Just then, one of the reasons Harry had come to the Weasley’s, besides to be with Ron, came to his mind: the black phoenix.
“Uh… Ron?” proposed Harry.
“Yeah Harry,” replied Ron, who began looking at his book again.
“Um… well… your dad’s a wizard, and so are three of you brothers and I was just… well… wondering if any of them had ever come across a… black bird before…”
Ron lifted up his head from the book, and raised an eyebrow.
“What kind of ‘black bird’,” he asked.
“More of a… black phoenix,” said Harry.
“A black phoenix? What are you talking about Harry…” then suddenly his face dropped and went white, “did you see something Harry? What was it? Does it have something to do with You-Know-Who?”
Harry didn’t know what to say to this, so he just decided to tell the truth. He told Ron about what he saw when he entered his room, and what it had done to Hedwig. Ron was silent throughout the whole thing until the very end.
“Well, I’ve never heard of such a thing, Harry. But-”, he was cut off by the “dong” of a clock somewhere. Harry knew from previous experience that this was an alarm to signal when someone arrived home.
“Hey! Dad’s home!” said Ron excitedly. “If anyone of us knows anything about it, it’d be him!” Ron jumped up, and burst through the door when Harry stopped him.
“No Ron!” he yelled after him. “I don’t want them to think I’m crazy or anything, seeing a black phoenix, or that I got scared of a bird if it turns out to be nothing!” Ron turned around and looked at him.
“Harry,” said Ron, “this is more serious than a bird, an unknown phoenix somehow got into your room, attacked your owl, and put you into a state of unconsciousness! We have to know what it was!” He looked up, and saw the look of pleading on Harry’s face. “Fine!” said Ron, changing hid mind. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll make up some other story.”
“Thanks Ron,” said Harry.
They walked downstairs quietly, and when they got to the bottom, Harry and Ron saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley at the table talking quietly. Harry and Ron came up to them.
“Hey dad,” said Ron, “uh… guess what Harry and I think we just saw through my… uh… telescope.”
Mr. Weasley looked at Ron suspiciously, stabbed a piece of meat with his fork, put it in his mouth, and started chewing. As he did so, he replied, “What? What did you see?”
“We think we saw a black phoenix,” said Ron.
At this reply, Mr. Weasley swallowed his meat quickly and Mrs. Weasley dropped her fork that was almost to her mouth.
“Now, what makes you think that son?” said Mr. Weasley in a loud voice.
“Well um… uh…” mumbled Ron.
“It looked just like a normal Phoenix,” said Harry, “only, it had black flames instead of red.”
Both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley’s eyes fell upon him, and then Mr. Weasley spoke,
“Well then,” he said, “if you ever see this ‘black phoenix’ thing again, um… call me up and I’ll have a look, alright?” Harry and Ron nodded, and they sprinted back up the stairs not saying anything until they reached the top.
“What was that about?” Ron asked Harry when they arrived back in his room.
“Well,” said Harry, “they either know nothing about it, or they do know something and they don’t want to tell us.”
“Yeah well, I’ll go with the second