A Stolen Past

Confrontation

This one is pretty long. And I guarantee that you will explode with anger at at least one point in this chapter. And it isn't because of me this time, Sam.

"Molly, if you'll excuse us, I believe Harry and I have an important appointment that we don't want to miss," Professor Dumbledore said, suddenly coming to his feet. "Come along, Harry."

Harry stood and followed him out into the garden of the Burrow.

"Albus, wait," Mrs. Weasley cried as she hurried after them. "Where are you going?"

"To do something I ought to have done a long time ago," Dumbledore said mysteriously. He waved his wand in a circle, and a long, charcoal gray traveling cloak with a large hood appeared from thin air. "Put this on, Harry," he instructed. "I don't want you being recognized - at least, not yet." While Harry fastened the cloak around his shoulders and hid his face with the hood, Dumbledore conjured a matching cloak for himself and did likewise.

"We may be awhile, but don't worry; everything will be just fine," the Headmaster called to Mrs. Weasley, who still stood next to the door looking torn between relief that Dumbledore was finally doing something about Harry's predicament, and indignation at being kept in the dark about it. "Say hello to Arthur for me if he gets home before we return."

Turning to Harry, he said, "Now, hold tight to my arm if you would. We're going to Apparate."

Harry, who had no idea what 'Apparate' meant, simply did as he was instructed. A moment later, everything went black and he had the alarming sensation of being squeezed through a very small rubber tube. He clutched Dumbledore's arm tighter and struggled to draw breath. He was suffocating. An instant later, however, he was suddenly out of the tube, breathing fresh air and standing in the sunlit outdoors once again.

After taking several huge gulps of oxygen, Harry rounded on the Headmaster. "Why didn't you warn me that I wouldn't be able to breathe?"

"Shhh!" the old man commanded from the shadows beneath his hood. "We wouldn't want someone recognizing your voice," he quickly added in a hoarse whisper. "I didn't warn you because the inability to breathe is merely an illusion brought on by a brain that still wants to think in Muggle terms. In time, you will learn to easily Apparate without the slightest discomfort. I do apologize for frightening you like that, but the fact that your first experience with Apparition came as such a surprise will only serve to help you learn more quickly. Now, I suggest we get indoors; it is not advisable to be seen loitering in front of this particular pub."

It was at this point in the conversation that Harry finally looked around and realized, to his great astonishment, that they were no longer standing in the garden of the Burrow. Instead, they stood in a dirty side street of an unfamiliar town, in front of a shabby inn. The inn sported a large sign depicting a wild boar's severed head which was leaking blood onto a white cloth. Harry shuddered involuntarily, wondering what sort of place Dumbledore had brought him to, and placed his senses on alert. He had resolved not to use magic in front of anyone for fear of running afoul of Wizarding law, but that resolution did not extend to circumstances where self-defense was necessary.

Staying close behind Dumbledore, Harry entered the dimly-lit pub. It was a small, dirty room, which smelled strongly of wet animal hair. The smell made him gag. As he followed the Headmaster to the bar, Harry glanced around at the other patrons, and noted that he and Dumbledore were not the only ones who thought it prudent to conceal their faces.

When he reached the bar, Dumbledore leaned over close to the barman and said, in the same hoarse whisper he had used outside, "Canary Cream." Harry was completely confused by this statement, but the old barman seemed to understand. He nodded curtly and led the pair through a back door and into a shabby bedroom, where he left them and shut the door.