Brewing Storm

"Harry! Harry! Wake up!" Ron said as he nudged Harry in his bed. It was three in morning on a smouldering August day. Harry woke with a start and glared at Ron with a wild look in his eyes.

"Umm... ah... sorry Ron," Harry said as he rubbed his lightning-bolt shaped scar, "I was just having a nightmare, I suppose. It was different this time." Harry looked at Ron with a painful expression, "Hermione, she...died. Voldemort killed her."

"Harry I don't like this, you've been having nightmares all week and now...this," Ron gasped with a worried look. "You don't think something bad is going to happen, do you Harry?" It was early August and Harry was staying at his best friend's house for the remainder of the summer. Everyone had been anxious to get back to school, but now it seemed, danger was just around the corner.

"I don't know Ron, but every time this has happened before it meant danger was coming," Harry replied uncertainly. "Maybe we should tell someone."

"Well we can't tell my mum, she'd get worried sick and call in the Ministry. What about Sirius?"

"No, I don't want him worrying. He's got enough problems of his own," Harry said. "Let's at least tell Hermione she would want to know what has been happening, and besides if this is a warning..."

"No!" Ron exclaimed, "It was just a dream Harry, nothing bad is going to happen to any of us and - "

"Ron," Harry interrupted, "we can't pretend that this isn't going on. We both know that I have a connection with Voldemort, now more than ever. I think we should tell Dumbledore, he would know what to do."

"You're right Harry," Ron admitted. "We should send Hedwig to Dumbledore because she's faster and I'll send Pig to Hermione to let her know what's been happening...And Harry I'm really worried with the Dark Lord strong again..."

"I know," Harry said solemnly, "I know."

Three days after the incident...

"Hey look, Hedwig's back!" Ginny exclaimed as Ron, Harry, Fred and George all looked up from their breakfast. Harry and Ron both jumped to their feet as Hedwig flew towards them. They had been waiting to hear back from Dumbledore about Harry's dream. Hermione had already responded to their owl saying that she would be there that weekend to stay with them. She had also suggested contacting Sirius, but Harry still thought that was a bad idea.

"Come on Ron lets go upstairs," Harry said, grabbing the note brought by Hedwig and running up to Ron's room.

Once they'd reached Ron's room and had secured the door so no one could barge in unexpectedly, Harry began to read Dumbledore's letter.

Harry.

Harry I don't want you to worry but I believe that this could be a problem. I recently spoke with Cornelius Fudge who was getting quite worried about the recent deaths involving the Death Eaters. Here's what I want you to do for now. Firstly, I want you to get in touch with Hermione and have her stay with you at the Weasley's. Just as a precaution I've owled Sirius and have informed him of your situation. I imagine he is on his way to the Burrow. When he arrives he will stay out of sight but will be close to you at all times, just in case he is needed. Harry these are indeed dark times I want you to be on full alert since Voldemort and his Death Eaters may be after you. Harry, be careful and at the first sign of danger send me an owl if you can, and find Sirius. I will see you at the start of the term.

~Albus Dumbledore

After finishing the letter, Harry turned to Ron who looked as abashed as he did. Finally, Harry spoke, trying to humour the situation, "Well, at least we won't be bored for the rest of holidays, with the Death Eaters after me, haha."

Ron looked shocked, "Harry, I can't believe that you are trying to make a joke out of this...this, this is serious Harry! You and Hermione may be in danger, just think about what Dumbledore said!"

"I know. But Hermione will be here tomorrow and Sirius will be here soon, too. This is a house full of wizards, Ron. We'll be fine as long as we're together." Harry tried to express this with confidence. "In the nightmare, Voldemort transformed himself from Percy, except that would be impossible, I mean Percy's been up in his room ever since he got fired from his job at the Ministry." That made Ron smile, at least a little bit, Ron had found it funny that after how much Percy had boasted about his position at the Ministry, he was fired for insubordination.

Ron replied, "OK, so it does seem impossible, but I would still feel better if..." Just then, someone knocked on the door.

"What are you two doing in there?" Came Ginny's voice through the door.

"Nothing!" Harry and Ron shouted in unison.

"Don't lie to me," replied Ginny. "Every time you two do this it means trouble and I want know what's going on." Harry looked at Ron who saliently agreed and got up to open the door to let Ginny inside.

"So, what's the matter, Harry?" Ginny asked, noticing the pained look on Harry's face. Harry reluctantly agreed to share the events of the past few days with Ginny. When he had finished he gave her Dumbledore's letter to read. "That's awful Harry," Ginny stated with a scared look on her face. "What are we going to do if the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who are going to come here, to our house? We have to tell Dad and Mum."

"We will," said Ron, "besides, we still have to tell them that Hermione is coming over."

"Alright," Harry said has he stood up from the bed, "let's go and tell the others."

Harry, Ron and Ginny all walked down the stairs towards the kitchen. They were almost at the bottom of the staircase when they heard a scream. It was Mrs. Weasley. Harry, Ron, and Ginny fearing the worst ran towards the kitchen with their wands drawn. When they got there Harry was surprised to see not the Dark Lord standing in the doorway, or even one of the Death Eaters, but only Mrs. Weasley, holding the Daily Prophet with a horrified expression on her face.

"What is it Mum?" Ginny said as she put away her wand and ran up beside her.

All Mrs. Weasley could manage to say was: "It has started again." Then she slid silently into a chair and began to write on a piece of parchment what looked like a letter to Bill, mumbling how everyone must come home as she wrote. Harry walked over to the paper and was barely able to stifle a scream himself as the top headline read:

Several Muggle Born Witches and Wizards Murdered

He looked at Ron and Ginny and began to read the article outloud.

In the early morning of August the 18^th, six Muggle born witches and wizards of two families were murdered in their homes by what appears to be an attack by Death Eaters. The ages of the victims include two infants and a young second-year student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The surviving relatives of those killed made it their wish that the names of the victims would remain anonymous until a thorough investigation had been conducted. It is the opinion of this reporter that...

Harry couldn't go on any further as he felt as though he was going to be sick. He glanced up at Ron and Ginny who looked as he felt. "What are we going to do, Mum?" Ginny asked almost in a whisper, "Are we going to be OK?"

The sound of her daughter's soft voice seemed to strengthen Mrs. Weasley as she now spoke with determination. "Everything is going to be fine, Ginny. I'm writing to your brothers asking them to come home in light of what has happened. I'm sure they'll be here soon. And once everyone gets here, we'll all be fine." She smiled weakly as she continued, "The Death Eaters wouldn't dare attack a home with five fully trained wizards in it." Mrs. Weasley stopped, and suddenly looked very worried. "Oh no, what about Hermione?!"

"Well that's what we came down to tell you," Ron said. Ron explained as they had to Ginny everything that had happened including the parts about Harry's dream and Dumbledore's letter and watched as his mother's face continued to contort with worry. "So," Ron concluded, "Hermione will be her soon if everything went alright with her parents bringing her here the Muggle way."

Harry added, "Sirius will be getting here soon as well and he'll know what to do. And if its alright," Harry asked, "would Sirius be able to stay inside the house? That way he can be close by, in case..." Harry stopped himself and said "...just to be safe."

"I just hope Hermione's alright," Ron said solemnly. "You don't think..."

"No, I don't think anything has happened," Harry interrupted. He was about to continue, when he, along with everyone else in the room, jumped as a loud crashing noise came from outside the door. Everyone quickly drew their wands in anticipation. They relaxed when they saw it was Percy who opened the door and not a Death Eater. Everyone, that is, except for Harry, who was clutching his burning scar.

Percy looked unusually pale, as he stood slumped in the doorway. Just as he was about to open his mouth to say something, he collapsed on the floor, where the rest of the family could clearly see a hole, burned in his back. Mrs. Weasley screamed in terror as she moved around the table to get to Percy who was trying to pick himself up on his hands and knees. Harry's scar sent out a wave of pain. He felt like his head was going to catch fire. He stopped Mrs. Weasley just in time as a bolt of green light hit the already injured Percy square in the back, killing him. It was then that Ron did something that no one expected. Pushing past his screaming mother, sister and his best friend, Ron ran outside and pointed his wand at the back of a figure dressed all in black and yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!" The figure managed to Disapparate before the bolt of silver-blue light reached him. Ron, after looking around for more targets, ran back inside the house where he discovered his mother and sister both wailing over Percy's dead body. He looked over at Harry who also had tears in his eyes and began to cry himself, moaning between sobs, "No, this can't be happening, it just can't."

"Percy!" Ginny wailed, "You can't be dead!" But it was too late for Percy. He was gone, and no amount of magic or tears could bring him back. Mrs. Weasley had run out of tears and was now attempting to contact her husband and to send another message with Hedwig to Bill. Fred and George had taken to trying to comfort Ginny and Ron in the midst of their own sorrow.

"Perfect Percy" mumbled Fred as he fought back his own tears.

Harry sat alone hoping that Hermione was all right. He wasn't sure if he could take the loss of another friend. The family stood in silent disbelief for several minutes until Mr. Weasley arrived in shambles. Harry couldn't remember him ever looking so bad. Mr. Weasley bent briefly over his son before he spoke to his family, "Did you see who did this?" He asked them sternly, trying to fight back a cold anger that Harry had never seen before. "Well did you?"

No one spoke until Ron piped up, "I'm sorry dad I tried to stop him, but he Disapparated before I could get a good look at him," he said ashamedly.

Mr. Weasley's expression softened as he took Ron into his arms. "Its OK, there was nothing you could do," he said sympathetically. The scene was too much for Harry, so he stood up and started to walk outside. But as soon as he opened the door, a man and a woman bumped into him coming into the house, pushing Harry back in. Harry at once realised that it was Sirius but the other woman was someone who only looked vaguely familiar. Then he recognised her. It was Mrs. Figg.

Sirius took one look at Percy's dead body and frowned, "I am very sorry for your loss," he said to everyone, letting his gaze settle on Mrs. Weasley's face. "Percy was a good person and a good wizard, too. He will be missed in this time of need. But," he continued, "although we must all mourn the loss of Percy we cannot for a second let our guard down." This time when he paused he looked directly at Harry. Harry felt a pang of guilt for not trying to save Percy, but almost as if Sirius read Harry's thoughts he continued, "There was nothing that anyone could have done to save Percy." Another pause, "I have with me Mrs. Figg. She is a powerful witch and will be helping to ensure your safety. She will also retrieve Hermione from Remus Lupin's home where she has been kept safe since the first attack." Harry looked at Sirius in bewilderment because he thought Hermione was on her way to the Burrow. As Harry was contemplating the situation, Mrs. Figg Disapparated to collect Hermione with some floo powder. Harry thought of asking Sirius how he knew where to find Hermione, but he thought the better of it and decided to wait to talk to Sirius alone. Sirius went on, "I would ask that for now on no one is to go outside alone even if they are just going to stay in the garden, it would not be safe. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley," he asked gently, "would you mind assisting me with some business outside?"

Once they were outside he looked at them with great remorse and said, "There is something that you must know about Percy.

"Now, what I have to tell you is not easy for me to say," Sirius began once the Weasley's were out of earshot of the Burrow. Sirius took a deep breath and said, "We have reason to believe that Percy may have been working willingly for the Dark Lord." He paused as Mrs. Weasley began sobbing again.

"But why!" Mr Weasley exclaimed.

"Arthur, I'm not sure why he would cooperate but I do know that he was," Sirius interrupted. "We have been following Percy now for a month ever since a known Death Eater contacted him. At first, we followed him for his own protection, but as time wore on it was evident that he was carrying out his activities willingly. We also have reason to believe that Percy may have known about the murders that were about to take place. We further believe that he may have had information about the next target. This might explain why he tried to return here." Sirius stopped to let the news soak in before he continued, "We believe that, because he risked his life in trying to get to you the information, that target may be Hermione."

Mrs. Weasley who had been trying her best not to interrupt Sirius couldn't hold back anymore, "NO!" she cried. "Not Hermione!"

She continued with her sobs as Mr. Weasley stepped in, "Are you sure Sirius? I mean could it be someone else?"

Sirius looked gravely at Arthur and shook his head. They all stood in silence for a moment before Sirius cleared his throat to speak again, "Now I want your help with something," he said changing the subject. "We need to find something that we can use as a Portkey for the kids since they don't know how to Apparate yet. Just in case one of them gets separated outside."

"Well," Arthur Weasley said regaining his senses, "we could use the chicken coop. Now that all the chickens are gone we don't use it anymore."

"I agree," said Sirius. Arthur and Sirius got to work on turning the chicken coop into a Portkey as Mrs. Weasley walked inside to break the bad news.

While Sirius and the others were outside, Hermione along with Mrs. Figg had arrived at the Burrow. Harry rushed forward to greet Hermione, but Ron beat him to it and was already exchanging a big hug with her. It wasn't until Harry had his turn to greet Hermione after Ron and Ginny, did he notice tears in her eyes. Since, Harry thought, we haven't told Hermione about Percy, there must be something else. "What is it?" Harry asked softly. Hermione just shook her head and collapsed as if she had just finished a very long marathon.

Ron took notice of her reaction to the question, and sat down next to her. "What happened?" he asked, with rare sense of seriousness in his voice. Hermione couldn't even answer, she merely looked at Mrs. Figg. Mrs. Figg, who had been standing by the fire, looked up to see several faces that looked far to aged with grief to belong to such young people. She took a deep breath before replying to their unspoken question.

"Hermione's parents," she started but paused briefly as Hermione began to sob softly into her hands, "were caught in a crossfire when myself along with several other witches tried to sneak Hermione away from her home to a safe place before the Death Eaters could locate her. I fear that we acted too slowly. When we arrived, the Death Eaters were already there." She paused to catch her breath and to wipe a lone tear from her dark eye. "Hermione's parents died trying to protect her from these unknown assailants. I'm afraid that their Muggle weapons were no match for a powerful wizard." She slowly turned back to the fire and softly told Hermione that she was sorry. Harry, Ron and Ginny looked at each other and each could tell that they wanted to say something to Hermione but couldn't think of the words. Ron did the only thing that seemed right to him. He placed his hand on Hermione's back and pulled her into a light hug. Ginny and Harry, sensing that there was nothing for them to say that would be right, remained silent.

Mrs. Weasley had walked in just in time to hear the bad news. She sat down in the nearest chair and began to prepare herself for what she was about to tell them. "Percy," she muttered, "Why..."

The fire in the hearth reflected Ron's intensity as the images of Percy's death came back to him in a flood of emotions. He barely heard the word "traitor" come out of his mother's mouth. Then it dawned on him. Percy was the traitor. "No!" he suddenly shouted aloud. "He would never..." his voice failed him as Sirius gave him a nod of confirmation.

"It's true," Sirius confirmed verbally. "Percy has been giving out information about Muggle-born witches and wizards, information that he received from his contacts at the Ministry, to known Death Eaters." Sirius paused. Ron hoped that he was finished, but his heart sank when Sirius continued, "We also have reason to believe that Percy may have known that Hermione was the next target, and that he risked his life trying to get this information home." Hermione let out a stifled cry. "Percy may have been a traitor but at the thought of the death of Hermione he finally came to his senses. Unfortunately, the Death Eaters found out before we did."

Mrs. Weasley had heard enough. "Well," she asked with unexpected confidence, "would anyone like some tea?" With out waiting for anyone to answer, she hurried into the kitchen to make some. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, George, Arthur, Sirius and Mrs. Figg waited in silence for the tea. Any thoughts that they might have wished to express were deemed inappropriate so they remained silent. Even Fred and George, normally so full of life, were still. Then the silence was broken, by a muffled scream that could been Mrs. Weasley.

Sirius was the first to arrive on the scene. What he saw shocked him. He counted five Death Eaters, two of which were holding Mrs. Weasley at wand point. But his biggest surprise came from the one who seemed to be in charge of the Death Eaters.

"Percy!" Sirius exclaimed. By this time everyone else had arrived and was sharing Sirius' disbelief.

Percy just laughed. It was inhuman. He pointed at the dead body on the floor, "You are all so gullible," he laughed again. "Did you really think that I would betray my Master?" He looked a Harry and said, "You of all people should know his power." His eyes glowed red as he looked Harry up and down. "That poor git," he said with a nod towards the dead body, "It was my idea you see, to give him some Polyjuice potion." He glanced around the room his gaze lingering on Ron. "Yes, my Master was quite pleased with me. You see I suggested that we fake my own death to make you lower your guard, and now I shall hand deliver you all as a gift to my Master." Percy looked over at Hermione who was clutching Ron's arm. "Perhaps its better that you weren't vaporised, now I give Harry Potter's best friends to my Lord as well."

Harry could hardly believe what he was hearing. Percy was a traitor. No, Percy is a traitor, Harry painfully corrected himself. Mr. Weasley spoke breaking his thoughts, "You can't do this Percy," he said with tears in eyes, "We're your family. We love you." Percy, caught off guard by these words, was distracted for a moment. That was all Sirius was waiting for.

Percy, along with the Death Eater who was closest to him, were ploughed over by a large, black dog. Fred and George were on top of the Death Eaters holding their mother like a pair of wild cats. They knocked them over, pulled out their wands and pointed them at the Death Eaters, daring them to move. The lone Death Eater left standing stood motionless, staring at the six wands which were now pointed at him. Sirius, still in his dog form, was pinning the last Death Eater down with his weight. Through the window in the kitchen, they could see no less than twelve more figures, clocked in black, Apparate not far from the Burrow. "Run!" Mr. Weasley shouted. They didn't need much encouragement. Fred and George, though reluctant to leave their mother's assailants unharmed, backed out of the room and broke into a sprint towards the rest of the family.

Arthur and the children gathered around the chicken coop as Mrs. Weasley, Mrs. Figg and Sirius, no longer in his animal form, stood their ground guarding the exit for the others. Once everyone was ready, they all touched it and were whisked away to safety.