Harry Potter and the Desideratum Crusade [Harmione]

31. The New Order of the Phoenix

By the time Harry got down to the village he was cold and tired. Lupin peppered him with questions, half of which Harry couldn't remember answering. He finally managed to convince Lupin that he would tell him everything tomorrow if they could go home now.

They arrived back at Grimmauld Place to find that everyone had gone to bed. Harry mumbled a goodnight to Lupin and headed towards the stairs. He stopped as he reached the landing and looked down the hall longingly towards Hermione's room. Her light was off, and as much as he wanted to see her, he decided he didn't want to disturb her. He slowly continued upstairs to his room, to where he could hear Ron snoring. Harry was so tired that he was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Harry sat up and rubbed his eyes. It was still dark, but when he looked beside him, the bed was empty. He felt like he had just gone to bed and he was still tired. He wasn't sure what had woken him up. He grabbed his glasses and crawled out of the bed. Where was Ron?

He padded down the hallway and stopped. The stairs were not there. It was just a dead end. Harry looked around, confused, before turning and going back the way he came. He went past his room, to the end of the hallway to find a set of stairs there. He moved slowly, and silently, trying to figure out what was going on. He came to the next landing and headed down towards Hermione's room. He tapped on the door, and when he didn't receive an answer, he opened it.

There was no one there, and the room was empty of any of her personal belongings. Now he was really confused. He backed out of her room, and headed back to the stairs at a trot. He was beginning to feel uneasy. Something was wrong, and he could feel the panic building in his stomach.

He stopped as he hit the main floor, nothing looked right. Was the house able to change its shape like the school? He could see a flickering light coming from the fireplace at the end of the hall. In front of the fire was a high-backed winged chair. Harry somehow knew that someone was sitting in it. He approached slowly; wary of the danger signals he seemed to be getting from somewhere, but his curiosity overpowering the warning. As he came around the side of the chair he saw a long pale bony hand holding a wine glass. Harry suddenly realized he wasn't really awake at all. Surprisingly, he wasn't as scared as he thought he should be.

"You," he said.

"Good evening, Harry, it seems like such a long time since we've had a visit," Voldemort said as he sipped his wine.

"What do you want?" Harry said, silently cursing himself for not putting up his mental barriers before going to sleep.

"It's quiet, isn't it Harry?" Voldemort said, swirling his glass and watching the liquid dance around the sides.

"What's your point?" Harry asked as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"It can be so lonely when it's quiet, did you know that?" Voldemort took another sip of his wine.

Harry didn't answer; he was busy scanning the room. He saw a map on the wall with several areas circled. He slowly moved towards it, trying to see what was there.

"Feeling a little melancholy tonight?" Harry asked, as he tried to act nonchalant.

Voldemort didn't answer, he seemed do be staring distractedly into the fire, sipping his wine.

Harry took a quick look at him and then bent over towards the map. As he read it, his heart sank. He knew most of the families associated with the circled areas, including the Grangers and the Burrow. He traced the circles, trying to memorize them.

"I'm going to take them away from you, Harry," he heard and turned to see a pair of red eyes glowing at him.

"I won't let you," Harry growled.