The Summer Before the War

(August 16, 8:05 pm)

Harry emerged, coughing, from the fire, and looked around. The Burrow didn't quite seem the same as the last time he'd been there. For a moment, he couldn't quite put his finger on what was different, until he realized that it wasn't bustling with Weasleys. In fact, it was almost eerily quiet.

"Harry! Good, you made it," said Arthur Weasley's voice from the kitchen, nearly giving Harry a heart attack. Harry turned and gave Arthur a small smile, which Arthur visibly tried to return, but failed miserably. Arthur looked far more frightened than Harry had ever seen him.

"Where is everybody?" Harry asked, when Arthur didn't seem able to say anything for a moment.

"Getting ready to leave. See, you'll be taking a portkey from here to wherever you're going - " Harry cringed. He was not looking forward to that. He didn't much like portkeys. Since last year, he discovered he much preferred when he knew exactly where he was going. Arthur continued, " - but the problem is, both Floo powder and portkeys can be traced. It's time consuming, but it can be done. So everybody's going to a different place by portkey at about the same time as you, so they have more than one trace they have to follow to find you. The plan is, by the time they figure out which portkey was you, and figure out where it went, you won't be there anymore."

Harry nodded, than realized something. "But... won't that put all of you in danger?"

Arthur visibly had a hard time figuring out how to answer this. "No... you don't need to worry about us, Harry..." He gave what he obviously hoped was a reassuring smile.

"... He's not gonna find us," said a light, carefree voice from the stairway. Fred trotted down the stairs, followed by George and Ron. Ron and Harry were waving to each other when a loud crash sounded from upstairs, and everybody jumped and paled. Ron gave Harry a frightened glance as if expecting him to go up in smoke.

"Sorry!" came a tinny voice from upstairs, and all of them sighed in relief. George angrily grabbed a sweeping broom and hit the handle against the ceiling, hard. Upstairs, Ginny screamed in fright.

"Sorry!" yelled George up to her, sarcastically.

"That's enough, George," Arthur said, frowning. "Now's not the time. Now, let's see..." He rummaged through a pile of stuff on the table. "Harry, this is yours." He handed Harry an old copy of The Daily Prophet. Harry was just about to ask what important thing in the issue he was supposed to read, when Arthur said, "It should take you wherever you're going in," he checked a timepiece on the wall, "about ten minutes."

"Where's Harry going?" asked Ginny, coming down the stairs.

"I don't know, Ginny. I wasn't told where the portkey goes. Oh..." He turned back to Harry. "And Harry, I'm supposed to tell you that we have arranged things with the Improper Use of Magic Office, and you are permitted to use magic if you need to. Just don't mention it to anyone at school, and especially don't mention it in front of Fudge, ok?"

"But Dad, Harry lives to get you in trouble, haven't you figured that out by now?" Fred asked. Ron, Harry, and the twins grinned, and Arthur smiled his first genuine smile of the evening. While the joke certainly wasn't up to Fred or George's usual standards, it did make this situation feel a bit more normal - almost as if Harry were there for a visit.

"Do the rest of you know where you're going?" Harry asked.

"I'm going to see Charlie," Ron said. "Should be kind of fun, actually. Ginny's going to stay with our great-aunt Minnie, Fred is staying with Bill, and George is staying with Max - he's a friend of Bill's."

"Kind of wish I was staying with Max," grumbled Fred.

George grinned. "Max has to be the greatest person alive. You should meet him, Harry... legend has it that when he was at Hogwarts, he invented a potion that would make a person sing uncontrollably about whatever they were thinking, at the top of their lungs - and then he slipped it in Snape's drink. In the Great Hall at dinner one evening."

Harry and Ron both burst into incredulous laughter, trying to picture this scene.

"...And Bill was blamed and given three weeks' detention, as I recall," Arthur muttered. Through this conversation, Arthur had been rummaging in the stuff on the table, and now Ron was holding a bent fork, George a roll of Spellotape, Fred a blank piece of parchment, and Ginny a Famous-Wizards card. "All right... the portkeys should all activate shortly. Harry, do you have any questions?"

Harry shook his head, then said, "Er... thanks, all of you. You didn't need to do this..."

"Yes, we did." Arthur smiled. "Harry..." he trailed off, then said, "Good luck." Harry had the definite impression Arthur had wanted to say something else instead.

"Ta ta, Harry," said Fred cheerily, almost jauntily, and George winked and waved, before Fred, then George, disappeared.

"See you soon, Harry," said Ron, not quite hiding the worry in his eyes. Ginny wasn't so successful - her eyes were full of tears as she stared at Harry speechlessly, as if convinced this were the last time she was going to see him alive. Harry was just about to say something encouraging to her when he felt the pulling sensation of the portkey, and he was abruptly pulled...

...to what seemed to be a ruined house. It looked eerily familiar, although he couldn't remember ever having seen it before. He got up, turned around, and saw Professor Lupin. Harry smiled, almost impossibly happy to see him again.

Lupin didn't see him at first; he was too busy studying something on a piece of parchment. A moment later, he tapped the parchment, which burst into white flames and disappeared, then looked up and smiled at Harry.

"Harry, how are you?" he asked casually, as if Harry had just recovered from a cold. Harry grinned more widely.

"I'm all right," he answered, just as casually. "Where are we?"

"Godric's Hollow. Or," he added, rather sadly, "what used to be Godric's Hollow. Have you got James' cloak?"

Harry blinked at this sudden change of subject, wondering what Godric's Hollow was and why it looked so familiar. "Yes," he said aloud, indicating the lump under his left arm.

"Good. You'll need it in a moment, best to get it ready now. I'll be leading you on broomstick to your next point, and we don't want you to be seen. We need to leave immediately - Godric's Hollow is a rather obvious place for the Death Eaters to look - I'm rather surprised Dumbledore chose it. I'll be leading you along a predefined route, but you'll be landing somewhere along the route - I don't know where. You need to follow me closely, but keep a close eye on the ground as well. When you see someone you trust on the ground, land. Don't say goodbye to me, don't indicate to me in any way that you are landing - just land. I will continue on my route. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded, reluctantly, as he mounted his Firebolt. This was the first time in over a year that he'd seen Lupin - he didn't want their meeting to be cut so short.

"Very good," Lupin said, than looked at Harry more closely as he mounted his own broom, almost as if he were committing Harry to memory. Harry was beginning to think he would go crazy if one more person told him, 'Good luck,' but all Lupin said was, "you've grown a lot in the last year." He sounded sad.

Harry couldn't think of a good response to that, and he didn't have the chance anyway, as Lupin abruptly kicked off and soared into the air. Harry hastily threw on his Invisibility Cloak and kicked off to follow.

It wasn't a short route. Nor, as Harry discovered, was it an easy one. Lupin seemed determined to fly straight through the trees, instead of over them the way most intelligent people would. Harry was about to say something to this effect when he realized he wasn't supposed to say anything on this route. He supposed Lupin thought he would have an easier time seeing somebody on the ground if the treetops weren't in the way. Which was a good point, but it made for rather difficult flying.

On and on they rode. It was quite fortunate that Harry had a background in Quidditch, which enabled him to keep an eye on Lupin, the trees, and the ground at the same time, but after what seemed like several hours, Harry was getting quite tired - particularly since he was tired to begin with. He was just about to abandon all thought of safety and ask Lupin if he could please take a break, when he saw a very large figure pacing directly below him.

Remembering Lupin's instructions, he stopped himself just in time from calling goodbye. With one last look at Lupin's back, he swerved and landed right next to the figure on the ground. Removing the hood of his cloak, he said, "Hi, Hagrid."

Hagrid jumped and let out a yell that must have awakened half the forest. After several hours of either dead quiet, or speaking in hushed voices with his "guides," Harry was so startled he also jumped, staggered backwards, tripped on a branch, and fell.

"Sorry Harry," said Hagrid, helping Harry up, before adding, unnecessarily, "Yeh scared me. How are yeh?" He looked at Harry closely.

"Ok."

Hagrid looked at him even more closely than before. Apparently satisfied with how Harry looked, Hagrid then looked around nervously, and muttered, "Maybe yeh better put that cloak back on. And hold on t' me, so I know I didn't lose yeh an' all."

Harry replaced the hood of his cloak and grabbed Hagrid's cloak. "Where are we?" he whispered.

"Danny's Place. I don't know nobody here, so yeh better stick close," Hagrid said in an undertone, and they walked out of the clearing in silence.

A long and very scary while later (apparently Danny's Place, like the Forbidden Forest, was full of dangerous creatures, and Harry's nerves were already so raw that he jumped at the slightest noise), Hagrid and Harry reached another clearing.

"Yeh still with me, Harry?" Hagrid asked under his breath.

"I'm here," said Harry from beneath his Invisibility Cloak.

"Good. Stay there for a sec..." Hagrid left the center of the clearing and searched all the edges. What he was searching for, Harry didn't know, and didn't particularly want to ask.

"All clear," Hagrid muttered, looking anything but happy. "I'm supposed teh leave yeh here, Harry. Dumbledore - he said yer s'posed to be picked up by someone else after I go. Not too keen on leavin' yeh here, teh tell the truth, but..."

Harry wasn't too keen on Hagrid leaving him in the middle of that forest, either. "Couldn't you stay until they get here?" Harry asked, trying not to sound too scared.

"Dumbledore said no..." said Hagrid. Harry could see the internal battle going on. Hagrid, like Harry, trusted Dumbledore implicitly, and he would never, ever, dream of disobeying him. But he would never dream of leaving Harry alone in danger, either. Harry watched, silently pleading with Hagrid to disobey Dumbledore, just this once. But Hagrid, who after all couldn't see Harry, came to a decision, although he obviously wasn't happy about it.

"...Dumbledore said no," he repeated. "So I'd better get goin'. Yer goin' teh be fine, Harry," he said seriously to a spot a foot to Harry's left. Then he cleared his throat and said, rather gruffly, "So, I should go. So... bye, Harry... I'll see yeh at Hogwarts fer school."

"Bye, Hagrid," Harry said, reluctantly. Now that Hagrid had made up his mind, Harry could see that he was right. He certainly didn't know what was going on in this journey Dumbledore had put him on, so he should trust the person who did.

But he really didn't want Hagrid to leave him here!

Hagrid sniffled and wiped one of his eyes, cleared his throat again, and said, "See yeh soon, Harry. I got to leave yeh here. Dumbledore said..."

Harry nodded, though Hagrid couldn't see him. Then, realizing that Hagrid was still not making a move to go, Harry decided he should help him along. "See you soon, Hagrid," he said, trying to make his voice sound casual.

Hagrid smiled shakily, cleared his throat again, and said, again, "See yeh soon, Harry." And, as if this had finally given him the strength to do what he didn't want to do, he turned away, checked the entire edge of the clearing again, and then disappeared into the woods.

Harry stood alone in the middle of the dark clearing, trying not to let his nervousness overwhelm him. Once, he was certain he saw a dementor approach, but whatever it was just passed the edge of the clearing without entering it, disappearing into the forest after a moment. "Someone will come pick you up soon, Harry," he muttered to himself, wand out, hoping fervently that the 'someone' would turn out to be friendly, and vividly picturing all the not-so-friendly 'someones' who might possibly come to get him.

So when, what seemed like an eternity later, he heard the sound of something approaching him from behind, he wheeled around and very nearly hexed a large black dog with every single hex he knew, before he caught himself.

"Siri... Snuffles?"

The dog lifted one paw in greeting, and dropped a piece of paper from his mouth. Harry bent down to pick it up.

Harry,

Keep James' cloak on and follow me. Whenever I stop, touch me to let me know you've caught up. Don't talk while we're walking... we'll be able to talk soon, I promise. But if you run into trouble, call - I won't be far.

Don't worry... you're almost to the end.

Sirius

PS. Keep this note on you... we'll need to destroy it later.

"Ok," Harry said, putting the paper into his pocket.

Sirius scratched his paw against the ground in acknowledgement and took off into the clearing. Harry ran to catch up.

He followed Sirius for a very, very long time. Again and again, Sirius would run ahead, then stop just within Harry's line of vision so Harry wouldn't get lost. Harry would catch up, pat Sirius' head, and Sirius would take off again. Harry had rarely felt so exhausted in his entire life - and that was really saying something. They left the forest, ran through a field, across at least six streams, into some mountains that left Harry completely befuddled as to just where he was supposed to be. Finally, when it had reached the middle of the next day and Harry didn't think he could run any longer, and was beginning to seriously wonder why he had followed Sirius on foot in the first place when he could have just flown, he saw that Sirius had led him to a pool and waterfall in the mountains. Sirius waited next to the waterfall, and when Harry ran up to him, panting, and patted his head, Sirius transformed.

"Hi, Harry."

Harry gave a start. Over the last several hours, he had grown rather accustomed to patting Sirius' head and having Sirius respond by running off again.

Sirius looked haggard, but relieved. He looked, in fact, exactly like Harry felt. He gave a ragged smile. It looked like it hurt.

"It's safe to remove the cloak now. This is a safe area - it's an unplottable area Dumbledore set up many years ago as a refuge for those running from Voldemort. The Death Eaters never found it. There are several extremely strong anti-tracking and repelling charms and barrier spells that activate against anybody who's not specifically exempted. Right now, that means Dumbledore, you, and I can enter, and nobody else. Especially not Voldemort. Nobody can even find it, even if they were previously invited. You'll be staying here until school starts. Take off your cloak and get some rest. There's a lot we need to teach you before school starts, but we don't need to start right away." And with that, Sirius proceeded to follow his own advice, taking off his cloak and lying against a tree, using his cloak as a pillow.

It was over? No more running? Harry felt like rejoicing, but he was too tired. He took off the Invisibility Cloak with relief (he'd never realized how heavy and hot it could get before), then his school cloak. Sirius smiled when he could finally see Harry, then closed his eyes tiredly. Harry followed Sirius' example and found a good tree to lie under, not too far from Sirius, and was asleep almost before he'd finished making a bed for himself.

"Harry."

Harry groaned, not wanting to wake up. Sleeping was so nice. He was feeling warm. Safe. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this way.

He didn't want to wake up.

"Harry, it's time to wake up," repeated the voice, more urgently. A hand shook his shoulder. He recognized the voice.

"Dumbledore!" he yelled, fully awake in an instant. "Er... Professor Dumbledore. Hi." He grinned, very happy to see Dumbledore in front of him. Professor Dumbledore smiled in greeting. Or at least, his mouth smiled. His eyes were unusually grave.

"Good morning, Harry. Or rather, good afternoon, as it is after two. Sirius tells me you've been asleep for almost 24 hours."

Well, that explained how he felt so rested. "Did anything happen since..."

Dumbledore looked past him, gravely. "Nothing definite. There are some... concerns that have arisen. But nothing that you need worry about just yet - certainly not until we know more. It may very well be nothing."

Harry stared at Dumbledore, trying to figure out from this vague statement whether he should be worried or not. Dumbledore's face gave nothing away - but then, it never really did. "Professor..."

"Until school begins, Harry, I would like you to concentrate on learning to Apparate," Dumbledore uncharacteristically interrupted. Harry forgot all about his previous worries.

"Apparate?? But... I thought people weren't allowed to Apparate until after they got their N.E.W.T.s and passed a test..."

"These are rather special circumstances, Harry. I believe we'll all feel a little better knowing that if you found yourself in an unknown place, you'll be able to get back out again. Even if there isn't a portkey around... Sirius will be able to teach you the basics, and in a week I will give you the test. If you don't pass, I'll give it to you again the next week, just before term begins. All right?"

Harry nodded. It wasn't really a question.

Dumbledore smiled again, and a little of the old twinkle reappeared in his eyes. "And you'll be happy to learn we've been able to retrieve your homework from your relatives' house, so you won't need to redo the homework that is already done. The finished homework is already at the school. The house, incidentally, is still more or less in one piece, as are your relatives. They are thoroughly enjoying their stay in one of Gringott's lower vaults." The twinkle in his eyes was quite pronounced at this point.

Harry amused himself for a moment picturing Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley locked in a vault with goblins. He almost felt sorry for them for a moment. For a moment. Almost.

"I've brought your schoolbooks and unfinished homework... I would advise that when Sirius is not teaching you how to Apparate, that you work on that. School will be starting soon. And I must return to it now; there's a great deal to do. I'll return in a week to see how well you've learned to Apparate. Is there anything else you would like to ask me, or tell me, before I go? Anything at all?" He looked at Harry closely.

Harry shook his head with complete honesty. He would like to know what 'concerns have arisen,' but he knew Dumbledore well enough to know that Dumbledore simply wasn't going to tell him until the time was right.

"All right," Dumbledore said, and smiled at Harry as he stood up. "I'll see you next week. Work hard." He held up his wand and vanished.

"Ready to start working hard, Harry?" asked Sirius with a grin. He looked much better today - he'd obviously had a good sleep as well.

Sirius' grin was rather infectious, and for the first time, he strongly reminded Harry of Fred and George Weasley. He grinned back. "Of course... I live to work hard."

Sirius chuckled, and they got to work.

It was really quite hard to learn to Apparate. By the second hour, Harry was beginning to understand why people were only allowed to take the test after their N.E.W.T.s. By the second day, Harry was beginning to think that maybe, if he found himself in a strange place in front of Voldemort again, it might be easier just to sit and pray.

"I know it doesn't seem like it, Harry, but you're really making good progress," Sirius kept saying.

It certainly didn't seem like it. Harry flicked his wand until his wrist grew sore, and each time, Sirius found something infinitesimally wrong with the way he was doing it. Without his wand (for Sirius didn't want to risk Harry splinching himself by actually casting the spell before he was ready), he was made to repeat the word, "Apparat" until his voice became hoarse, and Sirius would say something like, "the first syllable is pronounced, 'ah,' not 'ah.'" And Harry would point out that both ah's sounded exactly the same, and Sirius would say, grinning, "Listen more closely, Harry..."

Despite the hard work, Harry had rarely been happier in his life. In the evenings, when he had finished both the Apparating lessons and his other homework, he and Sirius would sit and eat and talk. Sirius was still in the habit of devouring his food in huge bites, but this didn't bother Harry in the slightest. For the first time, he was really getting to know Sirius. Sirius his godfather, his parents best friend. Not Sirius the fugitive who couldn't talk to Harry for any decent amount of time, for fear that he might be spotted. For the first time ever, Harry could sit and listen to stories of his parents. Stories of their lives, not just the story of their deaths. Sirius was full of them, and he seemed to come alive when he told them to Harry.

Later, Harry would look back on that week, and say that he should have realized that it was all too good to last.

Dumbledore arrived a week later, just as promised, looking extremely grave. He looked, in fact, exactly the way he had looked during the Leaving Feast the previous year, during the toast to Cedric Diggory.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked immediately.

Dumbledore visibly considered his answer for a moment. "I'm afraid I cannot tell you immediately, Harry. It would interfere with the test. I'll tell you after the test. Right now, you need to concentrate on my instructions."

Harry was about to protest, but he saw that it would do no good. So he obediently followed Dumbledore's instructions to concentrate on some strong and distinctive feature of the place he wanted to be, and he was finally asked to cast the spell with his wand.

The first time, Harry ended up two feet in the air. Dumbledore told him that very few people get it right the first time, and asked him to try again. The second time, it worked. Rather miraculously, Harry thought.

"Good, Harry. Good."

At Dumbledore's request, Harry did it one more time, after which Dumbledore smiled rather gravely, and told Harry that he'd passed. "Now, Harry, if you ever find yourself in a strange place outside of Hogwarts grounds, you should Apparate directly to Arabella Figg's house. Do you believe you can do that?"

Harry nodded, relieved that he didn't need to work on Apparating any more. Then he returned to the worry that had been nagging him for the past week. "Professor Dumbledore... what's wrong?"

Dumbledore sighed heavily, looking suddenly very old. "You should sit down, Harry."

"No, I think I'd rather stand..."

"Please sit down, Harry."

Harry sat on a nearby rock. Dumbledore hesitated, then apparently made the decision to just plunge into the bad news. "Harry, shortly after you arrived here a week ago, three members of the Weasley family disappeared. Specifically, George, Ginny, and their father Arthur." He hesitated again, then continued slowly and heavily, "This morning, Molly found them back at the Burrow, under the sign of the Dark Mark. Ginny and George were apparently both hit with the Cruciatus Curse for such a prolonged period that their nerve endings burned out. Arthur was hit with Avada Kedavra." He looked at Harry sadly. "All three of them are dead, Harry. I'm sorry."