Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [42]
"Now lets get out of here, Harry," she said, stuffing the cube back into her pocket. Harry nodded in agreement: he wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. As she put the box in her cloak pocket, and started walking down the stairs, she put out her arm, signaling Harry to stop. He froze right where he was on the staircase. What happened? Was someone coming?
Someone was definitely coming. Harry could hear footsteps coming from far down the hallway that were getting closer every second. As Harry saw Mrs. Figg turn invisible, he slipped his cloak back on. Harry heard Arabella open the door just a tiny bit more, and then run out it. Harry followed her, and closed the door behind him. As Harry ran across the hallway, he glanced down to see who was coming. It took him by surprise to see who it was: Tci. What was he doing here at this time?
However, Harry didn't have time to ponder this. He heard Arabella continuing to run down the halls, and Harry did not stop following her. He didn't want to fall behind. They ran all the way to her office, and then, Harry heard her finally stop. She became visible again.
"Good job there, Harry, I'm glad you weren't caught," she said, panting slightly. "We just need one more phoenix now. I'll contact Lupin and Sirius about that later."
"About them," asked Harry, "how did their trial go?"
"Very well Harry," she said. "Sirius presented his side of the story regarding killing Wormtail, and Lupin presented his story regarding the thought that everyone though Sirius was trying to kill Harry. If they aren't found innocent, I will be very surprised."
"That's great," said Harry, feeling relief flow through him.. "One other thing, why don't we just get another clone of Fawkes for the other necessary phoenix? Won't that save time?" Arabella laughed.
"Harry, oh, there's still so much you don't understand about magic. Clones, while they share the same physical and chemical attributes of the original, do not contain the same magical properties. So, if we were to use a copy of a phoenix, it would be just as good to use an ostrich. Understand?"
"Yeah, I think so," said Harry, his head spinning. "One last question though: did you figure out how all the people in Diagon Alley saw Sirius?"
"No Harry," she said, "that is still a mystery. All witnesses said they saw Sirius Black, not one of them mentioned a dog. But, enough of that, I guess you'll be wanting to go to bed now, you've had a very exciting night."
"Yeah, see you in class tomorrow," said Harry as he walked off, not really wanting to leave, but also wanting to rest as well. When he came back into the Gryffindor room, no one was there, they had all gone to bed. Harry decided to do the same, and headed up to his room. As he collapsed on his bed, he felt something under his stomach. He stuck his hand under it, and grabbed a piece of parchment. It read:
"I know what you did Harry Potter, I know what you did…"
CHAPTER 11- Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff
Harry didn’t get much sleep that night, he was so worried over the note. Not only was he scared of who saw him and Arabella steal Fawkes, but he was also worried that he’d be sent back to the Dursleys, his mom wouldn’t be brought back, and he’d never see Sirius, Ron, Hermione, or anyone else again. Worst of all, he couldn’t tell Hermione or Ron. Sirius, Lupin, and Arabella made it very clear that they didn’t want Harry saying anything about the Order.
So, Harry awoke the next morning, after what felt like two seconds of sleep, and waddled downstairs to the great hall where breakfast was being served. He took a seat next to Hermione and Ron, who had each already almost finished breakfast. Ron was engaged in conversation with Hermione.
“So, Hermione, what every happened to S.P.E.W?” he asked. S.P.E.W. was the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, a club that Hermione had started as a small protest group for elf right. She believed that all elves should be paid and given days off from work. However, they were all horrified at even