Nox

Chapter 3 - The Morning After

About half an hour after Harry Potter had been kidnapped from the Dursleys' home, Vernon Dursley was getting ready for his midday nap. He vaguely wondered where Harry was, and what kind of trouble was he up to. A satisfied smile appeared on his face as he thought of suitable punishments.

A knocking sound was heard from the front door. "Who could it possibly be, in this time of the day?" he thought aloud in resentment. He looked at his wife, who was lying on the bad, reading a magazine, mumbling an agreement. The knocking was heard again, and with a sigh, Mr. Dursley got out of bed and went to see who it was, maybe yell at them too.

Dudley was lying on the sofa, watching the telly, and not making any move to stop the door-knocking, which was heard once again. "Gruff," snorted Mr. Dursley in irritation, and opened the door. At the doorway stood three men. One with light brown hair, very shabby, and about his forties. Another one had flaming red hair in a pony-tail, young and tall, and had a hideous earring. The third one was a shady-looking man, with graying black hair, and shifty little eyes. The men were escorted by a huge black dog, looking ready to attack.

"What do you want?!" barked at them Mr. Dursley.

"Where is Harry Potter?" asked the brown-haired man, not unkindly.

"What is it to you?" said Mr. Dursley suspiciously. "...You're them aren't you?" he said with loathing, giving them all a dirty look. There was a moment of silence, and then the red-headed man spoke.

"Where is Harry Potter?" he repeated the other one's words.

"I don't know where the bloody boy is!" said Vernon indignantly. "Hopefully he got ran over by a truck, or something," he added.

Immediately the black dog started barking at Mr. Dursley, and made to jump on him. The brown-haired guy got hold of him before he could. "Padfoot!" he cried out, "stop that, now is not the time!" The dog stopped barking and stood still, but he was flashing his fangs out at Mr. Dursley.

Now the three wizards took out their wands subtly, and pointed them at Mr. Dursley. At this point Dudley, who was watching the event, had the irresistible urge for a soda, and took a run-off to the kitchen. Mr. Dursley shifted uncomfortably.

"He bloody should be in the garden, working!" he said.

The three men and the dog all looked back at the lawns. Mr. Dursley also peered out, but there was no one there, except for old Mrs. Figg from down the street, who was strolling on the road.

"If he's not there then I don't know where he might be," hurried Mr. Dursley to say.

The brown-haired man brushed past him, the dog hurrying behind him. "Where is he living?" he asked, and Vernon pointed at the steps. The dog already started sniffing around and was running towards Harry's room. The two other men stepped outside, and were looking for the boy. One of them was talking to Mrs. Figg. Vernon shut the door quickly, but she already got a glimpse of him.

In the meanwhile; the dog opened the door using his paw, and jumped inside, sniffing some more. He gave a little whimper as he didn't find what he was looking for.

"Don't worry, Padfoot," said the brown-haired wizard, petting the dog's head. "We will find him." The dog started sniffing around the room, as the man looked through the closet. He took out Harry's trunk, and went through it. "We better take this somewhere safe," he said to the dog. "They might come back for his wand."

They rummaged through the room, leaving it a total mess, and taking everything that looked worth saving.

Remus thought they covered the entire room when Sirius smelt something on the floor and started barking and scratching the floor.

"All right, what is the matter?" Remus asked him, and the dog pointed at a floorboard under Harry's bed, and moved aside to give his friend space. The Werewolf kneeled to check the floorboard: it was loose. He took it off and found a stash hidden beneath it. Sirius barked. Hidden were a couple of Chocolate Frogs, a photo album containing photos of Lily and James in the good days, Sirius' "wanted" ad (which Remus gave a sad smile to), a quill, an ink bottle and Harry's Potions homework for the Holidays.

~*~*~

Pain; a lot of pain. Blood, screams, cruel laughter. Coldness. People, two of them; dying. Green light. More and more pain. All spinning, blurry rush. The Dark Mark. A lot of screams. Death. Cold laughter. Everything melting into blackness. A soft whisper - "Avada Kedavra". A cold voice speaking. "Knight to c6" echoing. Blood and screams. Unbelievable pain.

Harry woke up screaming, covered in cold sweat, and panting loudly. It was already morning, and he couldn't remember falling asleep.

~*~*~

On Dumbledore's desk stood a bunch of selected puffing, smoking, buzzing and shaking instruments. One of these instruments was what looked like a small silver, twirly vase. The vase had words in French engraved on it. They said; Je pense que ce vin déjà a etait bu., meaning "I think this wine has been drunk before." - The silver vase, which was quiet until then, gave a choked cough, and stated puffing purple smoke. This gesture probably would have gone unnoticed by any other person, but Dumbledore was well aware of it, and it worried him greatly.

He gave the vase a sad look, then touched it with his wrinkled ancient hand, and it went dead. He reached for a leather bag standing on a shelf, and took a pinch of floo powder. After throwing the powder into the fireplace he said loudly and clearly, "The Flow's Home." The green flames roured, and then calmed down.

"Remus?" Dumbledore said, "Sirius? Come here quick!"

Not a minute had passed and Remus Lupin's head popped into the fire. "Professor Dumbledore," he said hurriedly. "Is everything all right? What is the matter?"

"Is it Harry?" asked Sirius' voice, out of breath and urgent. "Is something wrong with Harry?"

"Sirius, calm down," Dumbledore sighed. "I'm afraid Mr. Potter is no longer in the Dursleys resident, and for now I do not know where he is." Remus' face paled a little, as far as he could tell with all the fire. "I need you both to gather up everyone you can and go to Number four, Privet Drive, as soon as you can. See if you can find him, or any evidence of his current whereabouts. I myself shall contact Arabella Figg and alert her. Now hurry up."

"A-all right, sir. We will do as best as we can," said Remus and disappeared from the grate. The flames returned to normal. Dumbledore was already scribbling a letter on a piece of parchment.

~*~*~

Half an hour later found Remus, Bill Weasley, Mundungus Flatcher and Sirius in his dog form (for it was still dangerous for him to be out in the open.) at the front door of Number four, Privet Drive, in Little Whinging.

Remus knocked on the door once, twice, three times before anyone had bothered to open it. At the doorway stood a very grumpy man, wit very little neck and a thick moustache. He glared at them one at a time.

"What do you want?!" barked at them Mr. Dursley.

~*~*~

"I want to see Professor Dumbledore."

"No."

"I demand to see Professor Dumbledore!"

"No, Potter."

"But--"

"Professor Dumbledore is a very busy person, Potter. He doesn't have time to meet any random student for a cup of tea. You of all people should know what he has to deal with right now."

"But that's why I wanted to see him! You don't understand, Professor, I have something important to tell him," said Harry desperately.

"You can tell it to me, and I promise I will deliver the message to the Headmaster."

"No, I have to tell him it personally," Harry insisted.

"Very well, then you'll wait until the Headmaster will have time to see you," she said. "Right now it looks like you have visitors." Harry looked around, and saw Ron and Hermione, followed by Ginny, entering the Infirmary, smiles breaking on their faces as they saw that Harry was up and about.

"Have a good day, Potter," Professor McGonagall said, and left the Infirmary. Harry let his head fall down in frustration.

"Harry!" said Hermione, hugging him tightly. "I'm so glad you're ok!"

"Yeah, mate," said Ron, appearing on the other side of Harry's bed. "You had us really worried!"

"How long was I out?" Harry asked, remembering that he hadn't asked this before. He had other things on his mind.

"You missed the first day of school," Hermione said regretfully. "I've brought you all of the homework, and my notes so you can copy them." She pulled a large pile of parchment out of her bag, and dumped it in Harry's hands. Harry put them aside and decided to look at them much, much later.

There was an awkward silence for a moment, but it was broken by Hermione sighing. She examined Harry carefully with her gaze, and said seriously, "So how are you?"

"Fine, I guess," he answered, running a hand through his messy hair.

"You look awful," Ron chipped in.

"Why, thank you, Ron. You always know how to pet the old ego." Harry half smiled.

"Well you do," Ron insisted.

Ginny didn't participate in the conversation. She stood a safe way away from the trio, and was practicing not making any sound at all. She was very much succeeding.

"Ginny!" she whimpered as Harry called her. "Why don't you come closer?" She did, but still hadn't said a word.

They talked for about an hour. About the first day of school, and last night, and apparently Hermione was a Prefect. Harry congratulated her when he noticed the shiny badge on her chest. The other Gryffindor Prefect was Dean Thomas.

"You know," Ron was saying, nipping on a Chocolate Frog (When Harry woke up the final time there were four big boxes of sweets from Honeydukes lying next to his bed.). "Dumbledore really kept your disappearance hushed, I don't really know why," he added thoughtfully.

"Oh, don't be a moron, Ron," Hermione interfered, before Ron got a chance to continue. "The Ministry is working very hard in denying You-Know-Who's return, they'd love to have the only proof of it dead."

"But that's ridiculous!" Harry said, "There are lots of new evidence of his return! What about those three Muggles found dead, no apparent reason why - that's Avada Kedavra! And the Dark Mark appearing on the sky at July, and--"

"Harry, calm down!" Hermione said softly. "We know about all that, but the Ministry still insists on denying the obvious truth."

"Anyway, as I was saying before being so rudely interrupted," Ron said, glaring at Hermione, and focusing back on Harry. "There was nothing about the kidnap at any of the Newsletters, and it's you, right? Dad was helping Dumbledore, and he said that no one at the Ministry knew. Except for Our Guy, of course," he added with a conspirative smile.

"Er, 'Our Guy'?" Harry asked, bewildered.

"There's a stupid rumor," Hermione explained, rolling her eyes. "That we have one ally at the Ministry. A wizard from the inside, working for Dumbledore."

"He's sorta like a spy," added Ron, "no one knows who he is. He's supposed to be in a very high place," he raised his eyebrows conspiratorially.

"Yes, he is probably working in their Owlery," Hermione said sarcastically.

"Oh, be quiet, you!" answered Ron, angrily.

Before they could start a fight Harry spoke. "You really think," he said slowly, "that there is only one person on our side, in the whole Ministry of Magic?"

"Well, aside from Dad--"

"And Percy."

"Not really," said Ginny in a small voice. They all looked at her, surprised. She looked at the floor, sadly.

"All of the Ministry workers are Fudge's puppies, they'll believe whatever he says."

"That's not true!" said Ron indignantly. "Some of them believe Dumbledore. They're just afraid of Fudge."

"Ha!" Hermione said.

"Well, it's not like they really can stand up to him. He is the Minister of Magic."

"But they can--"

And they went on and on, until the conversation died.

~*~*~

Bill and Mundungus were looking for Harry, or at least a clue as to Harry's whereabouts, outside. Mundungus was asking Arabella Figg if she saw anything that could help them while Bill was having a look around.

"It's useless," he told Mr. Fletcher, as he joined him in a walk around the street, asking random Muggles whether they noticed anything. "They're long gone. We won't find Harry around here."

"Well, son, there isn't much we can do. Just hope that everything will work out in the end."

'Hope won't help us at all,' Bill thought angrily. 'Oh, Mum is going to be so upset.'

Suddenly they both turned around as they heard a scream. They hurried toward the source of the noise - a terrified Muggle. His hand was stuck in a letter box, and Bill helped him free it.

"I don't know what happened," he explained, a bit confused and hysterical. "I slipped my hand in to get the Mail and the lid suddenly fell on it and got stuck, and I couldn't take my hand out." He looked painfully at his sore, red hand. "It's really weird, I tell--"

That moment an obliviation spell sent by Mundungus hit him. "We don't have time for this," he told Bill, walking away.

"You do know what this means," Bill said. "There were wizards here. They must have been Death Eaters."

~*~*~

After a few minutes where no one seemed to find something to say, the silence was broken:

"Harry," Ron bit his lip. He finally decided to ask what he really wanted since he first walked in there. "What really happened?" His voice quivered, but his eyes shone with curiosity.

Harry frowned. He looked at Hermione and Ginny, they too looked curios. He sighed.

"About two weeks ago I was working in the garden..."

And half an hour later he finished telling them everything that happened until last night. Almost everything, he left out the parts where the Cruciatus Curse was used at him. He simply didn't want them to give him that look. A mixture of pity, sorrow, anxiety, awe, horror and fear; all directed at him.

"What I don't get," he mused. "Is what is the meaning of 'knight to c6'?"

Hermione jumped up, she already figured it all out. "It's in--"

"Chess," Ron cut her out. "It's a classic opening."

"Yes," Hermione glared at him. "Chess is used a lot as a metaphor for war."

"So he's basically saying that he's made the first move at the war?" Harry said slowly. "But what does he mean, the kills?"

"No," Hermione thought about it for a moment. "It has to be something big. You said he did a spell on you - he penetrated your mind. He probably found something in there that he can use against us. But what?"

Harry was horrified. His blood froze in his veins, he felt cold in the pit of his stomach and his body was stiff and numb.

"Oh, Harry," Hermione said, "I didn't mean... It's probably some other thing...."

"You know what's interesting?" said Ron very tactfully. "That You-Know-Who said 'knight to c6'; that's on the white side of the board. He chose to play white rather than black."

"Em... yeah," Hermione said. "That's weird. I wonder why he did it."

~*~*~

On the walls of Dumbledore's office were portraits of old Headmasters and Headmistresses, they were all sleeping, some even snoring loudly. Harry tried to imagine that one day there would be a portrait of Dumbledore right there. He shuddered at the thought. Instead, Harry averted his eyes to look at Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix. Fawkes had beautiful crimson and golden feathers, shining brightly in the beam of light coming from the window. He was sleeping peacefully on his perch, his head bent down. He turned to look at the shelves on the walls. On one of them stood what looked like a round stone clock - it had four hands, and instead of numbers there were signs. On another were the old Sorting Hat and the sword of Godric Gryffindor. He looked at the weird silver puffing and smoking instruments. And finally, when there was nothing more to look at, he looked at Dumbledore. His light blue eyes staring fixedly back.

Harry had just finished telling him the full and uncensored version of the story, and was waiting for Dumbledore's response, which never came. Dumbledore just nodded after Harry stopped talking and said nothing. The thick silence went on for ages in Harry's mind, though it was really less than a minute.

"Sir, can I ask you a question?" Harry asked finally.

"Certainly, Harry," Dumbledore replied kindly.

"Why-" Harry's throat was dry,"why did Voldemort let me go? Why didn't he kill me?"

Dumbledore sighed. "That's a good question, Harry," he said. But he never continued because at that moment the door to the office opened and in came a wrinkled old lady that reminded Harry old Mrs. Figg. But it couldn't be Mrs. Figg, she was a Muggle.

"Hello, Dumbledore," she said, and looked at Harry.

"Harry Potter, Arabella Figg," Dumbledore said, his eyes shining. "I believe you two have met."

"Yes, yes," said Mrs. Figg dismissively and seated herself on a chair.

"But," Harry said, staring at Mrs. Figg. "But you're not.... You're not... are you? You can't be... a...."

"A witch?" asked Mrs. Figg. "But I am, of course."