Order From the Phoenix

CHAPTER TWO

Slowly the days dragged by, but drag by they did, and, eventually, the 31^st of August did arrive, although it was a long and tedious wait. That morning, Harry awoke early, but tried to stretch out sleep as long as it would let him, a trick he'd learned to pass the time more quickly. Sure enough, it was already 10:00 when Harry got out of bed. Slowly, Harry got ready for breakfast, wondering what Sirius and Mrs. Figg planned to do to get him out of the house. The Dursleys hadn't mentioned any plans that would require babysitting, in fact, they hadn't mentioned leaving the house at all today. Sirius, of course, had refused to let Harry in on it, wanting it to be a surprise. Harry grumbled under his breath, feeling very left out (Hagrid wouldn't tell him who the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher was either, wanting that to be a surprise as well). After getting dressed, Harry went downstairs to the kitchen, where the Dursleys were still sitting.

"It's about time you got up!" barked Uncle Vernon, when Harry walked in. "Make yourself useful and get the mail. Go on!" Knowing it was better to get the mail than start an argument (and end up locked in his room today, of all days), Harry turned around and went to the mail slot. Picking up the envelopes, Harry glanced through them and a mysterious parchment envelope addressed to Uncle Vernon caught his eye. Harry strongly suspected this had something to do with Sirius's plan. Harry walked back to the kitchen and handed the mail to Uncle Vernon. Sitting down, Harry took his slice of grapefruit (Dudley was still on his apparently ineffective diet), and waited. Uncle Vernon glanced at and tossed aside a bill, library notice, and catalog. Aunt Petunia picked up the catalog and leafed through it while Uncle Vernon looked first at the parchment envelope, and then suspiciously at Harry.

"What is this?" he asked, a dangerous quiver to his voice. "And why are they writing to me?"

"I don't know," said Harry truthfully. "Why don't you open it and find out?"

"Don't get smart with me, boy," warned Uncle Vernon, but he opened the envelope anyway. "I'm warning you, if this is some letter from that school of yours..."

"I told you, I don't know what it is," Harry repeated, but no one listened, as no one ever did. They were instead focusing on the letter in Uncle Vernon's hands. Still glaring at Harry suspiciously, as if determined to blame him for this abnormal letter somehow, Uncle Vernon broke the seal and took out the letter within. The letter, to Harry's surprise, was not written on parchment, but typed on glossy paper that muggles used for advertisements.

"Dear Vernon Dursley... thank you for participating... out of many entries you have been chosen... we are pleased to inform you..." Uncle Vernon skimmed the letter, mumbling to himself. Then, as he neared the bottom of the letter, his eyes popped. Aunt Petunia, who'd been reading over his shoulder, went pale and looked faint.

"Well? What is it?" asked Dudley, impatiently. After a moment, Uncle Vernon regained his composure.

"We are pleased to inform you that you have won a one week, all expenses paid, trip to Majorca. Please stop by 555 Keap Dreemin Lane at 2:00 PM on August 31^st to pick up your prize," Uncle Vernon read in disbelief. Dudley looked shocked. For that matter, so did Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. Harry struggled to keep from laughing.

"What contest did we win?" asked Dudley, curious.

"It doesn't say," answered Uncle Vernon, looking over the letter. "But Petunia, can you imagine- a whole week in Majorca, free."

"It is amazing," agreed Aunt Petunia, still sounding a bit breathless. "But Vernon, what will we do with him?" At this, she pointed at Harry.

"We'll drop him off at Mrs. Figg's," replied Uncle Vernon, waving a hand at this petty inconvenience. "She could use the company, she's all alone." Harry, used to being spoken of in such a manner, said nothing, marveling at how quickly Sirius's plan had worked. The one flaw was that Harry wouldn't be around to see the Dursleys faces when they realized that there was no 555 Keap Dreemin Lane, and no prize. Harry finished his grapefruit and went back up to his room. Harry took up the floorboard in his floor and took out the last meat pie from the package Mrs. Weasley had sent (again) to keep him from starving. Sitting down on his bed, Harry decided to reread Quidditch Through The Ages At Hogwarts to pass the time until the Dursleys left and took him to Mrs. Figg's.

Three hours later, Harry heard Aunt Petunia shouting at him from the bottom of the stairs. Harry got up quickly, but paused at the sight of his packed trunk and Hedwig's cage. How were they going to get them to Diagon Alley? He obviously couldn't take them to Mrs. Figg's, or the Dursleys would definitely suspect something. Assuming that she must have a plan for this, Harry patted Hedwig's beak and whispered "I'll be back later, okay?" She hooted softly in his ear, which Harry took as consent.

"I'm coming," he yelled down the stairs, where Aunt Petunia was still shouting, and walked out of his room. Five minutes later, Harry was squashed in the backseat with Dudley on the way to Mrs. Figg's house. When they got there, Harry jumped out of the car, ran to the front door, and rang the doorbell. Tapping his foot anxiously, he was unaware at the strange looks the Dursleys were giving him- never before had he wanted to go to Mrs. Figg's house. Slightly suspicious, but too eager to get their prize to keep Harry from Mrs. Figg's, they settled for glaring at him, and at Mrs. Figg, who had just opened the door.

"Come in, come in," she said to Harry, gently pushing one of the many cats that were crowding the doorway away. With a merry wave to the Dursleys, she closed the door behind him.

"I need to get my Hogwarts stuff," Harry said immediately.

"I know that, dear," replied Mrs. Figg, "But we need to give your aunt and uncle a few minutes to clear out before we go barging into their house."

"Oh," said Harry. "We're... we're just walking over there like muggles then?"

"Of course, dear, it's less than a block away," said Mrs. Figg, calmly scooping up one of the dozens of cats entwined around her ankles.

"But I thought... Floo powder..." started Harry, but Mrs. Figg interrupted him.

"Oh, no, dear, it would be silly to spend all that energy on reconnecting your aunt and uncle's house to the network, when we could just walk, especially considering all the more important things that energy could be spent on nowadays, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I know," said Harry, quietly.

They stood in relative silence for a couple of moments, the only sounds being the cats meowing and Mrs. Figg crooning to them. Then Mrs. Figg looked at her watch.

"I reckon we've given them enough time now, don't you?" she asked Harry. "We can't wait too long, or they'll be back, and we don't want to be around when they come back." Part of Harry actually did want to be around to see the Dursleys when they realized they'd been tricked, but another part of him wanted to be far, far away, so that they couldn't take their anger out on him. The part that wanted to be far, far away overruled, so Harry didn't say anything else until he saw Mrs. Figg take out a cat carrier.

"What, are you taking all of your cats?" he asked, unable to remain quiet any longer. Mrs. Figg looked thoughtful for a moment, as though she were considering his question.

"Hmm... I suppose I could, now that you mention it. But they'd only be in the way at Hogwarts, so I'm only taking Tibbles," Mrs. Figg answered. Turning to her cats, she began to talk to them. "Yes, I know, Snowball, you want to come too... I'm sorry, Cuddles...I know you'll miss me Tigger...I wish I could bring you too, Fluffers...I'll bring you next year, Kitty..." This went on for quite a while, as Mrs. Figg had dozens of cats, and she said goodbye to each and every one. When she had finished, she looked at her watch again.

"Oh, dear me!" she exclaimed. "We have to run, your aunt and uncle have been out for nearly half an hour already. You don't have any idea how long they'll be gone, do you?"

"No idea,' replied Harry, as he tried to squeeze through the narrowly opened door and keep the cats inside at the same time. "They were pretty excited about that prize, but Uncle Vernon gets frustrated quickly."

"In that case, we'd best hurry," said Mrs. Figg, following Harry out the door and waving goodbye to her cats. She set the cat carrier containing Tibbles on the front step, and followed Harry towards 4 Privet Drive. "We'll just grab your trunk and bring it back to my house, then travel to Diagon Alley by floo powder. Hopefully we'll beat your aunt and uncle. Alohomora," she added, as they had just reached the front door of Harry's house. The door swung open and Harry led the way up to his room. They both stepped into the room, and Harry saw another problem. How on earth was Harry supposed to drag his trunk all the way down the block with only help from an old lady? It was all well and good to say that it was just one block, but when dragging a heavy trunk without wheels down it, it seemed like quite a distance. Mrs. Figg, however, didn't look at all phased at the weight of the trunk. She took out her wand and sized up the trunk. Nodding to herself, she muttered "Petitia," and the trunk shrunk to the size of a Tic-Tac box. Harry gaped at the teeny trunk, but Mrs. Figg, who was quite unruffled by this bit of magic, simply picked it up and tucked it in her pocket.

"Now, if you'll just grab Hedwig dear, I don't think she'd like being shrunk, so you can just carry her," Mrs. Figg instructed. Harry, still a bit dazed from the shrinking of the trunk, took Hedwig's cage and followed Mrs. Figg back to her house. Mrs. Figg picked the cat carrier up off her front step, and carefully opened her front door. Immediately, dozens of cats were meowing around their ankles. Blowing kisses at them, Mrs. Figg took a coffee mug off of the mantel and offered it to Harry.

"After you dear," said Mrs. Figg, holding the mug out to him.

"Umm, you need to light a fire," Harry pointed out.

"Oh, right," said Mrs. Figg, unabashed. "I always forget that part. Hang on." She took her wand, pointed it at the fireplace, and muttered a spell. Instantly, there was a cheerful fire crackling in the fireplace. "There you go dear. Now, go on." Harry took a pinch of sparkling green floo powder and threw it into the fire. He stepped into it and said clearly "Diagon Alley." The last thing he saw before he closed his eyes was Uncle Vernon's car careening down Privet Drive, as if driven by someone who just found out that he'd been seriously tricked.

The next thing Harry knew, he was spinning into the fireplace of the Leaky Cauldron, Mrs. Figg right behind him. Stepping out of the fireplace, still slightly dizzy, Harry brushed himself off. Quieting Hedwig, who was much more riled by the trip than he was, Harry turned to see who else was in the Leaky Cauldron. Only a number of odd people that he didn't know were in the room. Harry guessed he'd have to meet up with Ron and Hermione at Gringotts, like he'd said in his letter. At that moment, Tom the bartender came over to them.

"You'll be wanting a pair of rooms, then, Mrs. Figg, Mr. Potter?" he asked politely. "Rooms 10 and 11 are free, if you'd like them."

"Thank you, Tom," said Mrs. Figg, handing him a couple of Galleons and a handful of sickles. They followed Tom down a hallway, and he showed them their rooms. First, they went into Harry's room, where Mrs. Figg set down his Tic-Tac-box-sized trunk and muttered the enlargement spell ("Engorgio").

"There you go, dear," said Mrs. Figg. "Now, just let me get settled in my room and then we'll go and get your school stuff, alright?"

"Okay," agreed Harry, setting down Hedwig, who looked very grateful to have a steady perch. Having nothing else to get settled, Harry went out into the main room to wait for Mrs. Figg. While he was waiting, he looked around with interest at the other customers. He saw, to his disappointment, only witches and wizards, and no hags, vampires, trolls, fairies, giants, or any other interesting creatures. Harry laughed as he thought that- he was beginning to think like Hagrid. His smile quickly faded when he saw a rat scamper across the floor. The memory of the night before his birthday came back to him, and he watched the rat with growing apprehension. Here, in this pub, he was away from the Dursleys, Dumbledore, and Mrs. Figg was several rooms away. He might have been surrounded by wizards, but he was pretty sure Mrs. Figg was the only one who could pull a portkey to Hogwarts out of her pocket if the need arose. Harry shivered. All of a sudden, he felt very vulnerable. Fortunately, before he could think on it anymore, Mrs. Figg came in.

"Alright dear, I'm ready. Do you have your school list?" she asked.

"Er..." Harry thought for a minute. He'd gotten the letter and put it... "It's in my trunk," he said, finally, starting back to his room to retrieve it.

"Don't bother dear, As a professor, I have a book list, we can use it. Do you need new robes, or anything other than books and new potion ingredients?" Mrs. Figg asked.

"Nope," Harry answered, after thinking for a moment.

"We can use the book list then, c'mon," said Mrs. Figg, beckoning Harry out of the Leaky Cauldron. When they got outside, she took out her wand and tapped the third brick from the garbage can. The bricks rearranged themselves to form an entryway into Diagon Alley. Harry and Mrs. Figg stepped inside, and walked toward Gringotts as the entry closed behind them. When they reached the vast, white marble building, Harry ran up the steps, Mrs. Figg walking more slowly behind him. Harry passed the goblin at the doors, and after a reproving look from the goblin, began to walk again. Harry looked around the large, busy room, searching for Ron and Hermione as Mrs. Figg came in behind him.

"Come on, dear, let's get a cart to your vault, or we'll be here all day," Mrs. Figg urged, hurrying him along. With a last hopeful glance around the room, Harry followed Mrs. Figg to the desk, where they got a goblin named Tipwheel to take their cart down to Harry's vault. On the roller coaster ride down, Harry thought he caught a glimpse of red hair, but he wasn't sure. Once they reached his vault, Harry filled his moneybag with gold Galleons, silver Sickles, and copper Knuts. Then it was another wild cart ride up, with Harry thinking that he'd have to run into Ron and Hermione somewhere, when he heard someone shout his name from across the room.

"Harry! Over here!" Harry looked up and saw the Weasleys and the Grangers standing at the other end of the room. Harry waved happily at them, and ran over.

"Hi Harry!" said Hermione excitedly. "Did you get our presents?"

"Yeah, thanks," replied Harry. "I was starting to think I wouldn't run into you until tomorrow."

"Did you try the chocolate frogs?" asked Fred, eagerly.

"Or give them to your cousin?" George chipped in.

"No," answered Harry. "I'm trying to think of someone to try them on. Dudley wouldn't eat one even if I'd tried- too obviously wizard candy."

"We could try them on Crabbe and Goyle," offered Ron. "They'll eat anything."

"Nah, we don't want to go giving any Slytherins our candy till we start our joke shop- might give them ideas," Fred said. Harry looked up at Mrs. Weasley, whom Harry expected to get upset at the mention of the twins starting a joke shop- she'd wanted them to go into the ministry. Ron saw this, and explained.

"Mum doesn't want any of us to go into the ministry anymore, since, well, you know," Ron told Harry. "She reckons a joke shop is safer."

"Hi Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, "Thanks for sending pies again."

"It was no trouble, dear," replied Mrs. Weasley, smiling at him.

"Umm, Harry," Hermione asked tentatively, pointing at Mrs. Figg. "Who is that?" With a start, Harry realized that Mrs. Figg was still behind him, and that he was the only one who knew who she was.

"Oh! This is Mrs. Figg- she was my babysitter for thirteen years and I found out last month that she's a witch and the new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher. Mrs. Figg, this is Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, Mr. and Mrs. Granger, and Hermione," Harry introduced everyone, pointing at each in turn. After the introductions had been made, they went from store to store, buying their school supplies and filling each other in on their summers. That night, they all went to their separate rooms, still laughing and talking as they made their way down the hall. Harry's spirits were further lifted that night by the fact that he hadn't seen a single rat since that afternoon in the Leaky Cauldron. However, he didn't see the rat lurking in the corner of his room, seemingly watching him intently. It had all of its toes, but one of its front paws was a strange silver color.