Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [12]
“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.