Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [13]
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