The Traitor's Blood

CHAPTER NINE

The sun had barely escaped from behind the mountains when Harry awoke the next morning. Ron was still fast asleep, snoring quietly behind his bed hangings. Harry got up and dressed in the dim morning sunlight.

As he descended the stairs and entered the common room, he saw something moving in one of the chairs by the fire.

"Hermione?" he whispered to the back of the chair.

Hermione lifted her bushy head and blinked up at Harry. "I must've fallen asleep," she mumbled, stifling a yawn.

Harry took the seat across from her and looked around the small table between them which was covered in books and pieces of parchment.

"Just a little bit of research," she said, seeing the look on Harry's face.

"Research for what?" Harry asked.

"Oh, just stuff for the NEWT's," she replied, while hastily gathering up the pieces of parchment and closing the books.

Harry decided it best not to ask any more questions about what she had been doing all night. He did not want one of her lectures about how he should be studying more and how he and Ron wasted too much time playing Wizard Chess or Exploding Snap or anything else they could occupy themselves with.

"I wonder where Dumbledore's got to," he said, expressing in a casual tone the one thing that had been on his mind all night.

"I'm sure he's just really busy," Hermione replied. "I mean, the meeting at the Leaky Cauldron is the only time I've seen him all summer. And what with everything that's happened recently, I'm sure he hasn't had much spare time."

"I guess," said Harry. "It's just, the night he brought me back here he said he would talk to me again later. Then he disappeared without a word. I just wish I could've asked him a few more questions."

"Like what?" Hermione sat up attentively and rubbed her eyes.

"I dunno," Harry mumbled. "I've just been finding it difficult to piece things together."

Crookshanks appeared at Harry's feet and began rubbing across his ankles. Harry picked him up and placed him in his lap. Crookshanks pawed gently at the legs of Harry's jeans, then curled up into a ball, purring contently.

"I know what you mean," said Hermione thoughtfully. "Ron hasn't spoken much about what happened in the warehouse, but from what I've heard it sounds ... well, strange. I mean, why did that muggle kidnap you? Why didn't the Death Eater kill you? Why set you up like that?"

"I guess they just wanted me to rot in Azkaban," said Harry bitterly.

"I don't know. That just doesn't make any sense. The Death Eater could have killed you easily. No, it's like they were trying to keep you for something. I just can't figure out what."

"I wish we knew who was guarding Azkaban," said Harry.

"That would be interesting to know," replied Hermione, rising from her chair. "I'm going to get changed." She stifled another yawn and began climbing the staircase to the girls' dormitories. She stopped halfway up the staircase, by a small window which overlooked the grounds.

"Hey, Harry," she called excitedly. "Looks like Hagrid's back. There's smoke coming out of his chimney."

Harry leapt to his feet, accidentally knocking Crookshanks to the floor in his haste. Crookshanks mewed angrily at him, jumped back into the empty chair and curled up into a ball again.

Harry ran excitedly to the common room window and looked out across the grounds to Hagrid's hut. There was definitely smoke coming out of the chimney.

"Go on," Hermione called down to him from the stairs. "I'll come down later when Ron and Ginny wake up."

Harry grinned up at her then turned and ran across to the portrait hole. He scrambled through and headed straight for the stairs to the Entrance Hall, which he took two at a time.

As soon as he stepped out of the castle he could feel the heat of the sun on his face. It was a gorgeous day. He sprinted across to the hut on the edge of the forest and tapped lightly on the door. He was greeted by a booming bark and when the door opened, Fang, Hagrid's over-sized boarhound, leapt at Harry so hard that he was knocked to the ground.

"Fang, gerroff." Hagrid pulled Fang back inside the hut and grinned down at Harry. "Was wonderin' how long it'd take yeh ter visit me."

Harry scrambled to his feet and followed Hagrid inside the hut. Everything inside Hagrid's home was as enormous as Hagrid himself. Harry sat down on one of the large chairs surrounding the big wooden table in the centre of the room.

"Cuppa tea?" Hagrid indicated the large copper kettle that was hanging in the fireplace.

Harry nodded. Fang wandered over and sat at Harry's feet, resting his slobbery chin on Harry's lap. Harry automatically began stroking Fang behind the ears.

"Did you get back last night?" he asked.

"Yep," Hagrid replied, pouring milk into Harry's tea. "Jus' a few hours ago."

"Where've you been?" Harry asked daringly.

Hagrid shook his big, grizzly-haired head. "Now yeh know I can' discuss it wiv yeh," he said gruffly. "Jus' some business fer the Order. Soon as I 'erd you was kidnapped, I was gonna come straigh' back. Bu' Dumbledore tol' me ter stay where I was. Said it were all under control.

"Bu' I spoke ter him since an' he tol' me wha' 'appened. Filthy scoun'rels at the Minis'ry. There's a lotter conivin' goin' on there if y'ask me. Riddled wiv Death Eater's already ..." He trailed off and began hastily drinking his tea out of a cup the size of a bucket. "Bu' you ain't gotta worry 'bout tha'," he continued. "You jus' need ter concentrate on yeh school work an' let us do the worryin'."

"You sound like Hermione," Harry groaned. "All she ever talks about is school work. School hasn't even started yet."

"Yeah, well yeh star' yeh NEWT's classes this year. Yeh go' a tough couple o' years ahead o' yeh."

"I don't care about the NEWT's. I just wish I wasn't being accused of a murder I didn't commit."

They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Fang lifted his head from Harry's lap and barked loudly. Hagrid got to his feet, his chair groaning from the release of weight, and opened the door to reveal Hermione, Ron and Ginny waiting eagerly on the other side.

"Come in," said Hagrid happily.

The three of them entered the hut and joined Harry at the table. Ginny sat down gingerly and looked apprehensively around the one-roomed hut. Harry was not sure if Ginny had ever been inside Hagrid's hut before. He caught her eye and she grinned at him. He looked away.

"So, where've you been, Hagrid?" Ron repeated Harry's question.

"Now come on, like I said ter Harry, I can' tell yeh. Jus' some work fer the Order. Now, who else wan's a cuppa?"

They ended up spending most of the day with Hagrid, helping him weed the pumpkin patch and clean out some old crates, which Harry was sure Hagrid had used to house some Blast-Ended Skrewts in their fourth year.

By the time they arrived back in the Gryffindor common room that evening they were completely exhausted and very hungry - Hagrid's cooking left much to be desired, so they had not eaten much for lunch.

They had barely sat down in the moth-eaten armchairs when McGonagall came bustling in.

"I thought I would join you for dinner again tonight," she announced, taking a seat in an empty armchair. "I trust you already know that Hagrid is back."

"Yeah, we've been down there all day," Ron replied. As he spoke, the small table in front of them filled suddenly with dishes of steaming food. Everyone began immediately dishing themselves plates of chicken, rice, jacket potatoes and other delicious items of food.

"Professor?" Harry spoke quietly to McGonagall as he helped himself to a chicken drumstick. "I was just wondering if you'd heard from Dumbledore. I thought he might be back by now."

"Sorry, Potter, but the headmaster hasn't been in contact with me recently. But I expect he will be back soon."

"Do you know where he went?" Harry knew he was pushing the subject a little too far, but he did not care. He was really anxious to speak to Dumbledore again.

"Even if I did know, I could not tell you," McGonagall replied simply, pursing her lips slightly.

Harry decided to leave the subject there. He did not want to test McGonagall's patience with him any further.

They all ate in relative silence; the only sound was the constant crunching and chewing of their mouths. Ron let out a small belch, then turned scarlet and quickly apologised. McGonagall let a small grin sneak across her usually taut face.

Harry licked the last scrap of custard off his dessert spoon and threw it back into his bowl defeatedly. "I'm stuffed," he announced in a satisfied tone.

The dirty plates and scraps of leftovers vanished from the table.

"Well, thank you all for a pleasant meal." McGonagall rose from her chair. "But I should be returning to my study. I have a lot of work to catch up on and it's only two weeks until term starts."

She was about to climb through the portrait hole when she stopped dead in her tracks. She was listening to something. Harry strained his ears. He could hear it, too. It sounded like people arguing in the corridor outside.

"What the ...?" McGonagall seemed unsure as to wether she should open the portrait or not. She slid her wand out from the inside of her robes. Instinctively the others followed suit, rising from their seats, wands held out ready. With slight difficulty McGonagall climbed into the portrait hole and swung the portrait open, her wand still held steadily in front of her.

"Lupin!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" She backed up into the common room again to let Lupin enter.

Lupin crawled inside and stood up next to her. He looked a mess. His robes were torn and partly singed, his hair dishevelled and his face black and filthy. He was panting heavily, as if he had just run a long distance.

"Stupid ... portrait. Didn't ... know ... password," he said, struggling to catch his breath. "Been ... attacked ... Grimmauld Place ... gone."