The Traitor's Blood

CHAPTER FOUR

At lunch, many conversations circled the table, but nobody mentioned Voldemort or any activity from his Death Eaters. Harry was surprised to find that Percy was not joining them for lunch, but Mrs Weasley assured him that Percy had a lot of work to do at the Ministry. Percy was Junior Assistant to the Minister, and Harry supposed that Fudge must have been keeping him on his feet.

Harry spent the rest of the afternoon simply enjoying the company of the Weasley family. After lunch they returned to Diagon Alley, where they wandered around the shops buying new school supplies and books. Hermione and Ron treated Harry to an ice cream sundae at Florian Fortescue's Ice cream Parlour, but he ended up letting Ginny eat most of it for him.

They were all thoroughly drained of energy when they finally got back to the Leaky Cauldron. Harry had almost forgotten about the meeting until he walked through the door to see Dumbledore standing at the bar in deep conversation with the bald, toothless bar tender, Tom. It had only been four weeks since Harry had last seen Dumbledore, but somehow he looked as though he had aged several years.

Harry felt someone pulling on his sleeve and was drawn out of his contemplation. Ginny was attempting to tug him towards a door that Harry knew led to a private room off the side of the pub. As they approached the room Harry could hear the sound of many voices talking at once.

Ron and Hermione must have gone ahead of them because they were already inside. Ron beckoned Harry and Ginny over to two empty chairs on one side of a large table that stood in the centre of the room.

Harry sat down in the chair between Hermione and Ron, and looked around. The small room was filled with students from Hogwarts, all chatting brightly with each other. The Creevey brothers, Colin and Dennis, waved at Harry excitedly from the other side of the room.

"It seems to be everyone from the DA," Hermione whispered to Harry.

Harry looked again at the faces surrounding the table. Hermione was right; everyone there seemed to be from the DA, a secret Defence Against the Dark Arts society they had formed last year.

The door opened again and Dumbledore entered the room, causing the students to fall immediately into a hushed silence. Dumbledore stood at the head of the table, his long silver beard shining in the candlelight, as he surveyed them over his half-moon spectacles.

"Thank you all for coming," he began. "I called this meeting to discuss recent events before we return to Hogwarts. As you all know, the Ministry of Magic has now accepted that Lord Voldemort has indeed returned to power."

Harry noticed several people wince at the sound of the Dark Lord's name, but Luna Lovegood, an odd fifth year girl from Ravenclaw, let out a small squeal which Harry thought sounded more like delight than fright.

"Also," Dumbledore continued, "you are probably aware that things have been very quiet over the last few weeks. I can confirm that the Dementors have left Azkaban. But so far the Ministry have successfully prevented anyone escaping from the prison. I am unsure how long these efforts will last, but for now we can be certain that Voldemort's numbers are low.

"But this does not mean that we are safe. It appears Voldemort is waiting. For what, I do not know. Possibly until he can gather more Death Eaters, or possibly to trick the Ministry into believing he will not attack at all.

"So we must be on our guard. I would like you to continue with your meetings at school and continue to recruit more students. Even though Voldemort's return is now widely known I do not fool myself that people are adequately prepared. We need to spread the news to students without drawing too much attention to the school. Remember, if a Death Eater hears that we are training students to fight them, we will be simply writing our own death warrants. We need to create the illusion that the school is not a threat. That will buy us all some crucial time."

"Excuse me Headmaster," Cho Chang, a pretty Ravenclaw seventh year, put her hand timidly into the air.

"Oh yes, may I introduce to you all, our new Head Girl," said Dumbledore happily. "Yes, Miss Chang?"

"I was just wondering why you aren't telling this to the whole school," Cho asked. Her face now had a slight tinge of pink to it.

"Because, I am afraid to say that we can not trust everyone," replied Dumbledore. There was a note of sadness in his voice. "That is why I am asking you all to be very careful, even with students in your own houses. You will need to continue training in secret and be cautious of who you invite to meetings."

He stopped speaking and let out a deep, exhausted sigh.

Harry had spent most of Dumbledore's speech just staring at his own feet. When Dumbledore finished speaking, Harry looked up and was surprised to find Dumbledore's sparkling eyes staring directly into his. Harry looked away. Last year he would have given anything to have Dumbledore look directly at him, to acknowledge him. But now Harry felt he would give anything just to be ignored. He wanted to go back to his room in Privet Drive, away from his headmaster and away from his school friends. He just wanted to fade into the background forever.

"So," Dumbledore continued, "I have things to attend to. Thank you all for coming today and if you need me at any time this year, I invite any of you to visit me at any time in my office. My password this year is 'Sugar Quill'. I look forward to seeing you all at Hogwarts very soon."

And with that, Dumbledore turned and left the room, which immediately erupted into a gabble of excited conversation.

"Hey there, Harry."

Cho Chang had appeared behind Harry. He reluctantly looked up again from his feet.

"Hi."

"Harry, I'm really sorry about your godfather," said Cho, gently placing a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"How...?"

"It was in the Daily Prophet last week," Cho replied quickly. "They did an article about Sirius Black, how he was innocent and how he died before his name was cleared..."

"He is not dead," Harry found himself saying, much louder than he had intended.

"Oh ... sorry." Cho looked around hopelessly. "It's just ... the article said..."

"He was still alive when he fell through the veil," said Harry, rising from his chair.

"Harry?" Hermione said gently, rising slowly from her own chair.

But Harry had already pushed past Cho and was fighting his way through the throng of students in the small room.

"Wait..."

Someone had grabbed hold of Harry's sleeve just before he reached the door. He swung around to see Luna Lovegood standing innocently behind him, the same dreamy look on her face that she always had.

"What?" Harry spat.

"Um, I just wanted to ask how your summer had been so far." Luna looked very hurt by Harry's harsh reply.

"Great." Harry did not attempt to disguise his annoyance. "Really great."

He shook Luna's hand off his sleeve and pushed through the door. He did not stop until he had walked right out of the Leaky Cauldron and was standing on the street outside. He stared up at the sky. The sun was just beginning to set and the sky was still threatening to rain.

It was not long before Ron and Hermione came hurriedly through the door behind him and stood panting on the street.

"It's a madhouse in there," said Ron, with the air of someone who had no idea what to say and had just said the first thing that came into his head.

Hermione shot Ron a scathing look.

"We should have told you about the article," she said soothingly, "but we weren't sure if you'd been reading the Daily Prophet."

Harry said nothing. He had not bothered reading the Daily Prophet this summer. The wizard newspaper had spent the whole of last year reporting that Harry was an attention-seeking lunatic.

"Dumbledore has been re-appointed Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and he made it his priority to clear Sirius's name," Hermione continued, "but well ... I see now that we should have told you about it."

"It's fine," said Harry irritably, "I'm going home now."

"OK, but just wait until I get someone to escort you," said Hermione, turning back to the door behind them, "I don't think it's a good idea for you to travel alone, and Dumbledore would be really angry if we let you."

She disappeared back inside the Leaky Cauldron, leaving Harry and Ron alone on the street. There was a rumble from the clouds above them and it began to rain softly. Then the sky erupted into a heavy downpour.

"Quick. Under here." Ron pulled Harry underneath a nearby bus shelter.

They both stood in silence for a moment and Harry busied himself by staring at the bus timetable.

"It's quiet out here tonight," Ron commented.

"Yeah," replied Harry. "Oh damn, I just remembered, I left my shopping inside."

"Don't worry; I'll go back and..."

Ron trailed off. He seemed to be staring at something over Harry's shoulder. His eyes narrowed, as if trying to focus on something. Then they widened in terror.

"LOOK OUT!" Ron shouted. He leapt forward at Harry.

Harry tried to turn around and see what Ron was pushing him away from. At the same time he instinctively pulled his wand from the waistband of his jeans.

Then something hit Ron across the head and he fell to the ground, knocking Harry's wand out of his hand. The wand hit the floor and rolled away. Ron hit the pavement, too, and lay there unconscious.

Now released from Ron's grip, Harry span around to see what had hit his friend. But before he knew what had happened, THUD. A sharp pain seared across Harry's head. Then everything went black.