Harry Potter and the Sacrifice of the Traitor

Harry Potter and the Sacrifice of the Traitor

Chapter Three

Harry felt his feet crash down heavily upon the ground - he stumbled, but just managed to stay upright. Beside him, he heard an excited shriek from Hermione, and felt Ron scrambling back to his feet. When his vision cleared a bit, he looked around him to see Hermione enthusiastically hugging two people who Harry immediately realised must be her parents. Mr Granger was quite short and stout, with straight grey hair, which was starting to thin out on top. Mrs Granger was taller, with short curly brown hair. Harry could tell however that it would be quite wild and bushy, like her daughter's hair, if it wasn't kept so short. Clearly Hermione had inherited her bushy brown hair from her mother's side of the family. Ron was looking round him in excitement, obviously thrilled to be in his first Muggle house. Harry felt that you couldn't really count their second year, when Ron had helped Harry escape from his uncle's house, as he hadn't really been inside, and certainly not by invitation.

Hermione's parents managed to disentangle themselves from their daughter, and came forward to greet Harry and Ron. They looked pleased, and perhaps just slightly nervous. Harry supposed it must be quite difficult to cope with a group of wizards and witches if you were a Muggle, even if you weren't as set against magic as the Dursleys were.

'Pleased to meet you both at last, Hermione's told us so much about you,' said Mr Granger.

'You must be Harry, and you must be Ron. Did you have a good, er, journey?' asked Mrs Granger. They were doing a good job of hiding their surprise at the way that the three of them had suddenly appeared in the hallway.

'Yes, thank you,' said Harry politely. Ron was still too busy goggling at the Grangers and their house to reply. Harry trod on his foot and Ron hastily shook hands and said hello. Harry looked around as well - it looked like dentists earned a fair bit more than Uncle Vernon did at his drill company. The hallway, where they stood, was large and elegantly furnished, with a chandelier lighting it brightly. Harry could see several rooms opening off the hall. One of them had a very pleasant smell coming from it.

'I had better send Hedwig off to Lupin,' he said, before he forgot. He wrote a brief note saying they had arrived safely and that he would see him soon. Then Hermione opened the front door briefly so Hedwig could fly out and away over the rooftops.

'Would you like any breakfast, or have you eaten already?' asked Mrs Granger.

'We have eaten, actually,' said Harry.

'But I'm sure we could manage a bit more,' said Ron, eagerly.

'Right then, I'll just make you a little breakfast then,' said Mrs Granger.

Hermione rolled her eyes, but followed the others into what turned out to be the dining room. Mrs Granger went back out and shortly returned with a trolley, upon which were plates and tureens. Ron looked fascinated by the sight of the food being wheeled in, rather than appearing magically as it did at Hogwarts, or being levitated to the table as it was at his home. They had a substantial second breakfast, Hermione busily chattering to her parents about her first few weeks' holiday at Grimmauld Place. Harry didn't like to join in too much in case he gave anything away. He didn't know how much they knew about Hermione's life at school. Did they know anything about the fight at the Ministry, or Sirius dying? Ron was too busy finishing off the last of the sausages to say much, so the conversation was mostly dominated by Hermione.

After their second breakfast, they all helped the Grangers clear away the plates. Ron seemed rather less excited by this part. Harry would have thought he was used to carrying plates around, but perhaps Mrs Weasley usually did all the setting of tables and the clearing up.

'Now then darling, what have you planned for your friends to do?' asked Mr Granger.

Hermione immediately told them all about her plans for visiting the cinema, walking around the neighbourhood, and playing some Muggle games. After some discussion they decided to watch a film first, and go out later. Ron, of course, had never seen a television before. He was absolutely thrilled, and spent quite a lot of time poking around the back of it, trying to work out where all the wires went. After he gave himself a small electric shock though, he listened to Hermione's pleas to leave the wire alone. He then investigated all the buttons on the television, and was even more pleased when he found the remote control. It was obvious he could have spent several hours switching it on and off, and switching from one channel to another, if Hermione had not grown bored of this and insisted they choose a film to watch. Hermione's parents had been quite amused by all this activity, and Harry had seen them trying not to laugh at Ron several times.

Harry of course did know how a television worked, but it was still quite a novelty for him to be able to help choose what was to be watched. They took quite a long time deciding, partly because Ron kept prodding the pictures on the front and asking why the characters didn't move, as they would in wizard pictures. They eventually decided on a film, and settled down on a large settee to watch it. Harry couldn't help noticing that Ron sat down much closer to Hermione than he did. She didn't seem to mind, leaning back comfortably against him for most of the film. He did see Hermione's parents glancing at the three of them from time to time.

After watching the film, they had some lunch, and then the Grangers had to get back to their surgery for the afternoon's work. Harry, Ron and Hermione went out for a walk, as for once the rain had stopped. Hermione obviously lived in quite a rich part of her town, wherever they were. The houses were much larger than the ones around Privet Drive, and most people seemed to have two or three cars in the driveways. Harry wondered whether the Grangers being rich would make them suitable friends in the eyes of the Dursleys, and decided that the fact that their daughter was a witch would make this impossible. They went to the park near Hermione's house, and spent quite a long time trying to teach Ron to play Hopscotch. It turned out that wizards did play a version of this game, but of course it was quite different. It involved a hovering marker stone, which also moved from square to square at times to increase the challenge. They had great fun playing the Muggle version though. Then the weather started to turn wet again, and they had to walk quickly back to the house before they got soaked through.

Soon it was time for dinner again, after which they all sat in the lounge and talked for a while. Harry had managed to get hold of Ron and tell him not to mention anything too dangerous, like Voldemort, or fights in the Ministry. The Grangers were keen to know more about the wizarding world, and with Hermione as usual leading the conversation, Ron was able to tell them a lot about growing up as a wizard. He of course had a huge number of questions about almost everything in their house, which the Grangers and Harry tried to answer.

It had been quite an exciting day though, and it wasn't long before they were yawning. Hermione showed them upstairs, where their trunks had been placed in two guest rooms, next to each other.

'My room's at the other end of this corridor,' she explained.

She led them along the corridor and they looked at Hermione's room, which unsurprisingly was full of books. There were several paintings on the wall as well - Harry wondered whether they were her choice or her parents'. Then she said good night to them, and they went back to their rooms. Harry wondered briefly whether Dudley was enjoying his cruise, and rather hoped that there was a storm and they would all get seasick. He was so tired, probably from all the fresh air, that he fell asleep almost as soon as he got into bed.

The next week or so passed without too much happening. Hedwig returned from her visit to Lupin, and they used her and Pigwidgeon every couple of days to let Lupin know that they were OK. In return they got notes saying that Lupin was fine too, and that he expected to see them soon. Harry had a few nightmares about Sirius and the Ministry of Magic, but nothing bad enough to wake the others up with.

Hermione still seemed to have something on her mind. A few times while they were out, Harry caught her staring at animals and muttering to herself things like 'Must ask Professor McGonagall about that.' When they asked her why she was so interested in the horses in the field at the end of the road, she just shrugged and said it was for a school project.

On Wednesday morning, Harry woke up with a feeling of great excitement. It was his 16th birthday that day, and although he knew he couldn't have what he most wanted, Sirius, he did at least expect to have more fun than his birthdays at the Dursleys usually were.

The door burst open. 'Happy birthday, Harry!' shouted Hermione and Ron, rushing into his room.

As he sat up groggily, he disturbed a small pile of presents at the foot of his bed.

'Thanks,' he said, pulling them towards him, and putting his glasses on quickly.

He had a lovely time opening his presents. Mrs Weasley had sent him some homemade sweets and a comb. Harry thought this a bit odd, until he realised it was a magical one, which promised to make even the most unruly hair behave itself. However, it seemed to have met its match with both his and Hermione's hair, when she borrowed it. They both found it helped to make their hair a little tidier, but nothing would make Harry's hair lie down properly. Ron had given him a large box of Chocolate Frogs and Fizzing Whizbees. Hermione had found him a book called Best Seekers of our Century, by Frederick Flyfast, which Harry had a quick look through while munching a Frog. There were lots of pictures in it of daring dives and Wronski Feints, and advice on how to improve on your speed at catching the Snitch.

'Wow, thanks Hermione, and thanks for the sweets, Ron,' he said.

Harry then quickly opened his other presents. Hagrid had sent him another model dragon to go with his model Horntail from the Triwizard tournament, and a note saying that he would have liked to get him a real one, but the school rules wouldn't allow it. Tonks had sent him a miniature Foe Glass, which Harry immediately set up on his bedside table. Lupin had sent him another knife like the one Sirius had given him, which was supposed to unlock any door. Harry thought he liked it on the whole - he was of course reminded of the one he had broken, but it was nice to have a knife just like his old one again.

He chased the others out of his room while he quickly got dressed, and then they all went noisily downstairs. The Grangers wished Harry a happy birthday, and had made him a special breakfast with all his favourite things.

Hermione said, 'I wondered if you wanted to go to the cinema today, Harry. We'd have to go early in the afternoon of course, so that we'd be back in time.'

'In time for what?' asked Harry.

'Oh, um, just in time for dinner of course,' said Hermione hastily, turning rather red. She jumped slightly, as if Ron had kicked her under the table. Harry didn't know what that was all about, but eagerly agreed to the idea of a trip to the cinema.

They watched a comedy, or at least Harry and Hermione did. Harry didn't think Ron saw much of the film, as he spent most of it trying to work out how to casually drape his arm along the back of Hermione's chair. Even the popcorn machine in the cinema foyer didn't seem to take his mind off Hermione. Harry had to admit she looked nice today, she had managed to tame her hair a bit, and was wearing a nice blue outfit which set off her eyes.

When Harry got a chance, while Hermione was looking at some sweets, he muttered to Ron, 'why don't you just ask her to go to Hogsmeade with you or something?'

But Ron just turned red and claimed not to know what Harry was talking about. Harry rolled his eyes, but didn't push the subject. It wasn't as if he desperately wanted Ron and Hermione to admit their friendship was becoming closer than being just friends, but he thought that it would be easier to have it out in the open than to put up with all the subterfuge.

Hermione was in a very cheerful mood on the way back home. She kept grabbing their hands and swinging them wildly, giggling a bit. Harry thought this was a bit odd, she wasn't usually like this, but he decided she was just happy to have her friends with her. Of course, after her comment about getting back in time, he was starting to wonder whether she was planning a special dinner for his birthday.

When they reached the house, she insisted that Ron and Harry wait outside, claiming to have heard a funny noise. Harry wouldn't have let her go inside alone, but he was now sure she was just planning something special for him. When he and Ron were eventually allowed inside, he found it was much more than a nice tea though.

'SURPRISE!' shouted a chorus of voices, as he stepped through the door. Harry blinked in amazement - the lounge was full of red haired people, with a few others as well. He was immediately assaulted from all sides, and when he managed to work out who had invaded the Grangers' house, he was delighted. Mr and Mrs Weasley were there of course, with Fred, George and Ginny. Lupin was there, grinning widely - so that was why he had kept saying he would see them soon, thought Harry. Tonks, Shacklebolt and Moody were there as well, smiling at him, which in Moody's case was a most alarming sight. Hagrid was sitting gingerly on the sturdiest chair in the room, looming over every one else. The Grangers had been cornered by Mr Weasley, and were repeating their tour of the house in great detail.

Harry didn't know where to look or who to talk to first. Of course it had been lovely being back with Ron and Hermione, but he had never in his life had a party for his birthday. It was made even better by having all his favourite people there.

'How did you all get here?' he asked Lupin.

'We just got a temporary connection to the Floo network for the evening, Harry. We wanted to give you a proper birthday party,' Lupin answered.

Fred and George got hold of him pretty quickly, and told him all about the joke shop and how well it was doing.

'You must come and visit us, Harry,' said Fred.

'Yeah, we could give you a special financier's package or something,' said George.

'Well, I'll probably have to go to Diagon Alley to get my books for next year, when I get the list. I'll try and come then,' said Harry, grinning cheerfully at them.

He went over to Mrs Weasley and thanked her for her gift.

'Oh, it was nothing, Harry. That comb seems to be working a gradual improvement on your hair, dear,' she said smiling at him fondly.

Mr Weasley went past on his way to explore the kitchen.

'Hello Mr Weasley, are you enjoying the party?' asked Harry, trying not to laugh. Mr Weasley was carrying several old plugs and fuses that the Grangers appeared to have donated to his collection.

'Oh yes Harry, I'm having a wonderful time,' he replied enthusiastically.

'Honestly Arthur, you'll get your hands all dirty,' fussed Mrs Weasley. 'Did we tell you that Arthur's been promoted, Harry? Fudge has been trying to make it up to all Dumbledore's friends for not believing them, and Arthur's been made Head of the Muggle Affairs unit at the Ministry.'

'Well done, Mr Weasley,' Harry called after Mr Weasley, as he headed off towards the kitchen.

Ginny and Hagrid were chatting in a corner with Hermione, so Harry went over and said hello. He thanked Hagrid for the model dragon and said hello to Ginny.

'I thought you were staying with Dean,' he said curiously.

'No, I wasn't staying with him, just visiting him for the day and coming back after supper by Floo. I did stay one night, but I had to share a room with his little sister, Jessica. She's starting Hogwarts this year, you know. I wouldn't miss your first birthday party, would I?' she answered. 'Besides, Mrs Thomas is even stricter than Mum, she followed us everywhere. I'm not even all that serious about Dean anymore, to be honest.'

'Well, Ron will be pleased to hear that, I expect', said Harry with a grin.

Harry then found himself talking to Lupin, Moody and Tonks for some time. He managed to keep them off the subject of last June fairly well. Ron came over to join them, and quizzed them keenly about Auror training. Moody just growled something about how the wand safety lecture wasn't as complete as it should be, but Tonks told them several funny stories about how her training had gone.

In the middle of a hilarious tale, which Lupin seemed to already know as he was adding comments, there was an odd strangled shriek from the kitchen. They all stopped talking and listened. There was an odd whirring noise, then another cry of dismay. Harry started towards the kitchen, but Tonks and Moody managed to get in front of him.

In the kitchen, Mr Weasley was standing by the food processor, with his robes in a very tattered state. Mrs Weasley arrived hot on their heels.

'What on earth have you been doing, Arthur!' she cried.

'Ah, hello Molly,' he said sheepishly. 'I'm awfully sorry,' he said to the Grangers, who had now arrived as well. 'I was just testing how well this food percolator works on chopping things up, and the edge of my robes somehow got into the bowl.'

They all laughed, very relieved to find that it was nothing worse than a ruined set of robes that had caused all the disturbances. The Weasleys decided it was time that they went, and they travelled back to the Burrow by Floo powder soon after that. Mrs Weasley's shouting at her husband seemed to echo around the room even after the fire had flickered back to normal.

Before too long, the others decided that they ought to be going, as it was getting late. Lupin gave Harry a hug.

'I hope you had a nice party, Harry,' he said.

'It was great, thanks. I've never had a party before, and this has been the best birthday I've ever had,' replied Harry.

Lupin helped with a bit of magical clearing up, winking at Harry when the Grangers came back into the lounge and were startled to find the place all pristine again. Then he and the Aurors left.

'Thanks ever so much, Hermione. And thanks for letting us use your house, Mr and Mrs Granger,' said Harry.

Ron yawned hugely, and decided that he was too tired to finish off the cake he had been eyeing earlier. They slowly climbed the stairs and said good night to each other. Harry pulled off his clothes and got into bed. He lay awake for a while, smiling happily as he thought back over his day, and especially his party, and soon he fell asleep.