MANIA - HJP

CHAPTER III

Harry felt very uncomfortable as they set off along Privet Drive together, despite the fact that he had spent the previous few days wishing fervently that Dumbledore would come to take him. Outside of Hogwarts, he had never had a full chat with the Headmaster; there was typically a desk between them. Harry's sensation of humiliation was heightened by the memory of their last face-to-face contact; he had shouted a lot on that occasion, not to mention tried to shatter some of Dumbledore's most valued belongings.

Dumbledore, on the other hand, appeared entirely indifferent.

 "Keep your wand at the ready, Harry," he said gaily.

"But I thought I'm not allowed to use magic outside school, sir?"

"If there is an attack," said Dumbledore, "I give you permission to use any counter-jinx or -curse that might occur to you. However, I do not think you need to worry about being attacked tonight. "

"Why not, sir?"

"You are with me," said Dumbledore simply. "This will do, Harry."

At the end of Privet Drive, he abruptly came to a halt.

  "You have not, of course, passed your Apparition Test," he said.

"No," said Harry. "I thought you had to be seventeen?"

"You do," said Dumbledore. "So you will need to hold on to my arm very tightly. My left, if you don't mind--as you have noticed, my wand arm is a little fragile at the moment. "

Harry gripped Dumbledore's proffered forearm.

"Very good," said Dumbledore. "Well, here we go."

Harry felt Dumbledore's arm twist away from him and redouble his grasp; the next thing he knew, everything went dark; he couldn't breathe; iron bands tightened around his chest; his eyeballs were being driven back into his head; his eardrums were being pushed deeper into his skull; and then—

He inhaled deeply and opened his watery eyes, inhaling large gulps of frigid night air. He felt as if he'd been squeezing his way through a really tight rubber tube. Privet Drive had vanished for a few seconds before he recognised it. He and Dumbledore were now standing in an empty village square, which featured an old war memorial and a few benches in the centre. Harry knew, as his understanding caught up with his sensations, that he had just Apparated for the first time in his life.

"Are you all right?" asked Dumbledore, looking down at him solicitously. "The sensation does take some getting used to. "

"I'm fine," said Harry, rubbing his ears, which felt as though they had left Privet Drive rather reluctantly. "But I think I might prefer brooms. . . "

Dumbledore smiled, drew his travelling cloak a little more comfortably around his neck, and said, "This way. "

He set off at a quick pace, past a deserted inn and a few houses. According to a clock on a nearby church, it was almost midnight.

"So tell me, Harry," said Dumbledore. "Your scar. . . has it been hurting at all?"

Harry raised a hand mechanically to his forehead and rubbed the lightning-shaped mark.

"No," he said, "and I've been wondering about that. I thought it would be burning all the time now Voldemort's getting so powerful again. "

He glanced up at Dumbledore and saw that he was wearing a contented expression.

"I, on the other hand, thought otherwise," said Dumbledore. "Lord Voldemort has finally realized the dangerous access to his thoughts and feelings you have been enjoying. It appears that he is now employing Occlumency against you. "

"Well, I'm not complaining," said Harry, who missed neither the prophetic dreams nor the startling flashes of perspicacity into Voldemort's mind.