Harry Potter and the Mortal Enemy

He gasped, and quickly scanned the story.

Last night, supposed Death Eater activity occurred yet again, although the wizarding community has not seen anything like this for years. It seems that their target is The Boy Who Lived, Harry Potter. Sources reveal that there were activities at Number Four Privet Drive, in Surrey, where Mr. Potter normally resides with his relatives, Vernon and Petunia Dursley. The Daily Prophet can exclusively reveal that Mr. Potter left the house at some point yesterday to stay at friends, although his location is classified information that is currently withheld by the Ministry of Magic.

Another source, who resides near Privet Drive, has revealed to us that the Dursley family had left the residence less than twenty-four hours beforehand.

Tragically, all that remains of the property is a pile of rubble, and the wizarding community can only hope that this will be the last attack, although many people fear that this is just the first of many, the target: Harry Potter.

Something in Harry's brain clicked, and he realised what his dream had been about. He spoke aloud. "So this is the attack I dreamed about...whoops. I didn't want to tell you, I thought it would scare you. I guess that it doesn't matter anymore, now that this is out in the papers." Seeing Hermione's confused face, he elaborated. "Last night, I had a dream. I saw Wormtail, and he had a whole team of Death Eaters. Seems that he's been promoted to second-in-command. Apparently they were trying to kill, well, me – as per normal. Obviously they didn't find out that I was gone until it was too late. Wormtail used the Killing Curse, Avada Kedavra on the house, and for some strange reason it turned the house into a pile of rubble, like they said."

Hermione's brown eyes looked troubled. "But I thought that there were all of these spells on the house, and that was the reason that they haven't tried this before. Because that is the reason that you were able to come here – remember I told you Dumbledore put all of these spells on the house? Unless...." She trailed off.

Now Harry was curious. "Unless what?"

"Oh, I think Dumbledore said something about not needing to put protective spells on your house because of your blood relatives or something. But since we're not related, he had to put some on here. So maybe, since the Dursleys went away, and didn't take you with them, the house didn't have the protection on it that it should have."

He nodded in reply. "That makes sense. But the other thing that I want to know is, who on earth is this mystery source? I mean, how would they know that I had left, or that the Dursleys had gone on holidays?"

She looked puzzled, then said "Well, let's think about this logically. Who do you know that lives near you?"

He smiled. "Do you work out everything logically? Well, let's see. Obviously the Dursleys, and Dudley's friends, who liked to use me as a punching bag. I think that that's pretty much everyone I knew – I wasn't really friends with anyone at my old school before I found out that I was a wizard, because nobody wanted to be friends with anybody Dudley didn't like. And I didn't really know anybody else from the neighbour hood, because the Dursleys all thought I was weird, they knew about me being magical, so they tried to keep me out of sight of any visitors. No, hang on, I also knew one other person – apart from my Aunt Marge. Mrs Figg, my old babysitter. But I thought that she went away for the holidays – that was one of the reasons that I was able to come to your house. She seemed to hate me though...and that's about everyone I knew. Can you work out who it is? Because I can't seem to."

She looked confused, as though she was trying to work out something, or remember it. She started to think out loud. "Mrs. Figg. Where have I heard that before? I know! Didn't you say that when you were in the hospital wing last year that you heard him tell Sirius something about getting the old crowd together?"

He frowned, trying to remember. "Yeah, something about alerting Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher – and all of the old crowd. Hang on – Arabella Figg? Could that be Mrs. Figg?"

Hermione blinked. "Now I remember. Yes, I think that it is. But why would she act like she hated you all of these years? And what about after you found out that you were a wizard? Oh, hang on,you probably haven't seen her, have you?"

He was cut off for the second time as a brown owl with a letter bearing the Hogwarts crest on its leg flew in the window. "Would that be our booklist? It's a bit early if it is, and why is there only one?"

Hermione reached up and took the letter from the owl. Unlike most Hogwarts owls, this one sat down near the sink, as if it was waiting for a reply, rather than flying back out the window, like most of the other ones.

She glanced at the address on the letter, which was written in emerald green ink. "It's addressed to both of us," she said, as she opened it. She quickly scanned the first few lines, and her face went pale, as Harry took it out of her hands.

Mr. Potter & Miss Granger,

By now, I am sure that you are aware of the article in the Daily Prophet, and I am not surprised if you, Harry, did not know about it already – through your scar.

Unfortunately, we have heard through one of our secret agents that now Voldemort has risen again, he is keen to focus his efforts on killing you. For the safety of you, and your best friends' families, we have decided that it would be best if you take refuge at Hogwarts. It would also be wise for the Grangers and the Weasleys to join you.

I can assure you that the highest precautions would be taken to ensure your safety. I await your reply.

Sincerely,

Professor Dumbledore

Headmaster of Hogwarts

Harry looked into Hermione's troubled face. "Does he mean that Death Eaters will target your house next, just because I'm staying here? What do you think that we should do?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, Harry. I don't know."

*****

Thirty minutes later, Mr. and Mrs. Granger had arrived home from work, anxious to know what this ‘emergency call' they had got while they were at work. Hermione just handed her mother the letter from Professor Dumbledore, and watched her face to see the reaction.

Mrs. Granger took one look at the letter, handed it to Mr. Granger, who was looking even more curious at his wife's reaction, and said, "Well, that settles it, doesn't it. We will all have to go to Hogwarts. It is the only place that Harry will be safe, and Hermione too."

Hermione looked surprised at the quick decision her mother had made. It was as if she had known something like this would happen, and she had already worked out what to do. "But, Mum, Dad, what about you. It sounds like you have already worked what you are going to do before you even knew about this. You aren't going to stay here, are you?"

Her mother laughed. "Oh, of course not.It wouldn't be safe to stay here, now that the Death Eaters know that Harry is here. As you of course would know, they don't care about the innocent – anybody who gets in their way will be killed. Dumbledore warned your father and I that something along these lines could happen when we agreed to look after Harry. Hence, we had a plan ready in case this happened. But now, I strongly advise that we all get packed. It would be best if we all left for Hogwarts today – as soon as possible."

They all went to their different rooms, and packed. In no time at the entire house was in a flurry of activity.

*****

Harry, Hermione, Mr. and Mrs. Granger all met up at the front door and went out to the car. Suddenly, Harry realised something. They didn't know how to get to Hogwarts by car. The only way they had ever gotten to Hogwarts was by the Hogwarts Express, but he was pretty sure that it only operated in school time, and at the beginning of the holidays, not all through them. "Excuse me, but how exactly are we going to get to Hogwarts?"

Mr. Granger laughed. "Oh, it's quite simple actually. Dumbledore told us about a location in London, which would transport us directly to Hogwarts, which we were to use if we ever needed it. It works much like the entrance to Diagon Alley, through the Leaky Cauldron, or the entrance to Platform 9 and ¾. Actually, we are very close to it now." As he said this, he turned the car off the road into what looked like a wood so thick a young child would have trouble getting through, but as soon as the front of the car touched the edge of the wood, the surroundings changed almost instantly.

They emerged from the front of another forest, one that Harry recognised from his encounters with the creatures who lived in there. They were in front of a huge castle, one that both Mr. and Mrs. Granger looked mystified at the sight of. Hermione noticed this, and grinned.

"Mum, Dad, welcome to Hogwarts."