Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003585181
Chapter 2: https://harrypotter.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000003585386
Tags: @MeowTasticCat @Bellatrisblack @Diantha Angelina Black
Chapter Three: Mould-on-the-Wold Cottage
By seven o’clock the next morning, Harry’s travel bag was packed with everything he could possibly need for the next couple of days—wizarding robes that matched the colours of the Irish team, pyjamas, his wand (just in case), the last of his cookies and chocolate frogs, and his copy of Quidditch Through the Ages in case he gets the chance of having one of the athletes sign it. Last minute he also found himself packing his Invisibility Cloak, he wasn’t sure why but he couldn’t shake the dream from the previous night and decided having the Cloak he inherited from his father James couldn’t hurt.
The atmosphere inside number four Privet Drive, as Harry waited to be picked up, was a happy one, any day where Harry won't be around tended to lift their spirits quite high. Since it was daytime Harry had to make his way to a nearby rarely used underpass so no muggles would see what was about to happen. As he arrived the sound of a motorcycle approaching could be heard, but both ways he looked there was nothing coming. Then rumbling sound of the engine stopped and Harry now found himself staring at a late seventies motorcycle with a side car, in the main seat was a man in his mid-thirties with shoulder length black hair, a well kept beard and moustache, and grey eyes.
'Let's get you too Mould-on-the-Wold, we have a very busy day ahead of us,' His godfather Sirius called out to him. 'And I believe we have a nightmare to discuss on the way.'
Realizing Sirius had now read his letter Harry felt a bit nervous. He hopped into the sidecar and placed his packed bag onto his lap.
‘Are you sure you got absolutely everything, you double checked.’ Sirius asked somewhat jokingly.
‘I am all set. Can I hit the invisibility switch?’ Harry asked, in the past Sirius had said he couldn’t hit the switch until he could reach it from the cockpit, and Harry recently had a really big growth spurt.
‘Go right ahead,’ Sirius took his hands off and Harry reached over and flicked the switch Arthur Weasley had installed almost five years ago. There was a slight shake that let them know the enchantment had been activated.
Sirius then pressed down on the gas pedal and pulled up on the handlebars. The next moment they weren’t just moving forward, but they were gaining altitude as well. Soon Privet Drive was out of site and it was just Harry, his godfather, and the clouds.
‘So, has your scar hurt anymore since you woke up from that nightmare?’ Sirius asked in a calm but interrogative way.
‘No, but it took a while for it to stop hurting completely, I could still feel it almost an hour later.’
‘Ok,’ Sirius started, ‘You wouldn’t tell me in the letter, but what was in your dream, because from the secrecy I feel that was what worried you the most and not the pain itself.’
‘Well...’ Harry started, ‘I can’t quite remember everything anymore, but I think I was seeing through someone or something else’s eyes. I was in this run down mansion and Voldemort was there, and I think he was plotting something but I couldn’t figure out exactly what became his snake then attack a random old man and that was when I woke up.’
Sirius looked very grim, ‘That is very worrying, I am sure that everything will be ok though...’
‘No, you don’t fully understand,’ Harry interrupted, ‘it wasn’t seeing Voldemort or watching a person get attacked that frightened me the most. What scared me was in normal dreams things may feel real but once you wake up you realize how odd or ridiculous parts of it was, but the dream I had felt like it actually happened in both while I was asleep and once I had woken up. I think Voldemort somehow was actually at an old mansion and was plotting something dark.’
Sirius slowed down the motorcycles speed so he could focus more on Harry. ‘Ok, I believe you Harry. There is nothing I can currently do, but if this ever happens again what I want you to do is immediately write down what you saw and then tell me or Sirius, you understand. You either use the mirror or send an owl.’
Harry nodded in agreement. He then asked something he hadn’t been able to get out of his mind since the dream. ‘Sirius...Do you think Voldemort is back?’
Sirius did not answer right away, he instead focused his energy on his flying. Only after several minutes did he finally give a partial response. ‘I think we have to be careful Harry, you especially. Times are once again getting darker and if we ignore that it could result in tragedy. I know you are still so young, but I must ask that you start keeping your guard up Harry when you aren’t at the Dursley’s, promise me that.’
‘I promise Sirius.’
Sirius then forced a smile, ‘Good, now wipe that frown off your face, these next few days may be a once in a lifetime experience. I what you to have a good time.’
Soon they were descending upon the countryside Harry was so familiar with, the modest cottage he had grown up in coming into view. They landed and Sirius hit the switch so that they were now visible.
Harry had just gotten out of the side car and was picking up his bag when the front door flew open and his little sister came running. Canini joyfully gave him a big hug.
‘I missed you, I can not believe this is actually happening. Tomorrow he are going to see the World Cup! Come in, come in, your friend is already here.’
She pulled him by the arm back through the front door. There was so much excitement in the air as Harry entered, along with the smell of freshly baked goods including bread and chocolate chip cookies.
Terence Higgs was sitting in the living room, next to the entrance, having tea with Theodore and Remus. When they all saw Harry enter, all three stood up and gave Harry a hug.
‘Missed you my growing fawn.’ Remus said.
‘It’s good to see you.’ Theodore added.
‘Harry, thank you so so much for inviting me to the game! This is the absolute best week of my life and I haven’t even gone yet!’ Terence said gratefully.
‘Hey, don’t I get a welcome back,’ Sirius asked humorously as he entered the door.
‘Of course,’ Remus said, walking over and giving Sirius a welcome home kiss, ‘Hope you had an enjoyable flight, love. Now, we still have a lot of preparation to do so let’s let the kids hang out for now. Oh and children...’
‘Yes,’ all four answered.
‘The bread and sweets are for tomorrow, if I see even a single one missing you won’t be going to the game.’ He was kidding, but his point was made.
To hyped up to think about anything else, the four of them found themselves grabbing brooms from the closet and making their way to a clearing in the trees on his parents property. From the outside it looked like a think orchard, but just past a couple trees it was a big open field where they could fly around as long as they didn't go higher then the tree line.
They decided to play a smaller version of Quidditch, Harry and Terence being far more skilled then the others, split up. Harry was teamed up with Theodore, who wasn’t the best flyer but is an excellent strategist, and Terence partnered up with Canini, who although often got motion sick she had quick reflexes.
They all played for the remainder of the morning and into the early afternoon. Harry’s team had won fifteen games, but Terence’s had won twenty-one. Harry and Theodore were just about to lose another game when Sirius called them inside for lunch.
Along with some lemonade Harry and his friends just had some sandwiches, there was butter and cheddar, as well as smoked salmon with cream cheese. As they ate they regaled Sirius and Remus of the matches they had played with more drama than had actually occurred.
After eating however their collective adrenaline rushes all crashed, and so instead of finishing Quidditch match number thirty-seven they decided to do a marathon of indoor games. This included Exploding Snap, Runok Ko, Wizard Skittles, as well as some logic and thinking games such as Pygmy Puff Pelmanism and Rune Riddles. These games were almost more fun as the playing fields were more even.
Supper wasn’t anything special as Remus was still very busy preparing for the next days adventure. They had spaghetti with tomato sauce, fresh spinach, and mozzarella. They were going to go back to playing immediately after they finished eating, but Sirius stopped them.
‘Oh no you don’t, you are all going to triple check you have everything, and then you will help me and Remus finish preparing everything else.’
They groaned but did as they were told. Terence went to immediately help Remus, Canini went to her room, while Harry and Theodore went to their shared room to get any last minute things into their bags. It was a nice sized room with a decent sized bunkbed. The room used to be Harry’s alone but once Theodore started living with them Harry got a roommate, and he didn’t mind this because he was often either at Hogwarts or the Dursley’s anyway.
Theodore had forgotten to pack socks, and Harry embarrassingly realized their was only a single shirt in his bag instead of enough to last the whole trip. So they quickly grabbed what they needed and stuffed it into their bags, then went downstairs to help.
The four of them spent a better part of an hour helping getting the last of everything ready. Packing the tent, putting food in an enchanted cold box, and collecting any other supplies they would be needing.
When it was all done Remus suggested that instead of Terence sleeping in the guest room and everyone else in their own rooms, that they get out the sleeping bags and have all four of them sleep in Harry’s room. Harry thought this was a great idea and soon they were all in their pyjamas and wrapped in the cozy sleeping bags. They were joking and telling stories, and eventually started playing Truth or Dare, and when Harry’s turn came around he picked date and Canini looked at him with a scheming expression.
‘I dare you to sneak downstairs and steal four of Remus’ cookies for us to share.’
‘But they are probably still down their, I haven’t heard them come upstairs.’ Harry protested.
Terence gave him a little nudge, ‘A dare is a dare.’
So reluctantly Harry got out of his sleeping bag, quietly opened the door, and started slowly making his was towards the stairs. The kitchen was right next to the bottom of the stairs so all he had to do was quickly sneak in, and sneak out. When he reached the bottom of the stair he listened to see if Sirius and Remus were in their but didn’t hear anything at first. He was just about to leave the stairs and enter the room when he heard Remus sigh.
‘Pads, you aren’t understanding what today’s paper means.’
‘I guess I don’t, Bertha Jorkins is missing, but I remember a paper every few years saying the same thing. She seems to go on adventures without telling anyone and stays longer then she meant to, but I don’t see why this has you so worried, love.’
‘It’s not that she is missing, it is where she went missing. Her last known location was in Albania, Sirius.’
Harry didn’t understand the significance of this location, but Sirius obviously did as his tone instantly matched Remus’ in level of concern.
‘Dumbledore, he had said that was the last known location of Voldemort. This isn’t good. First Harry’s nightmare and now this-‘
‘What nightmare?’ Remus interrupted with a great deal of panic and apprehension.
‘Oh, it was probably simply that, a scary but harmless dream, but it dealt with You-Know-Who. It might just be a coincidence, but we must be cautious incase it isn’t.’
‘Are you suggesting we not go tomorrow, I doubt we could come up with an excuse that would satisfy the kids.’
‘No, we shouldn’t miss a one in a lifetime opportunity solely based on a bad dream and a missing woman who is often missing. What I just meant was keep Harry and the others close to us the entire time.’
This was a lot to process. Remus and Sirius were becoming worried that Voldemort may return, and that they are even hesitant to go to a tournament that would have close to a hundred aurors and guards for safety. What should he tell the others, if something bad is about to happen they deserve to know, but on the other hand he didn’t want to worry them if it really was just a coincidence.
As he reached his bedroom once more he decided that he would keep it a secret for now, but if anything happened he’d tell them right away. He entered with no cookies.
‘Sorry everyone, they were in the kitchen, I couldn’t get the cookies.’
Terence let out a sigh, ‘Dang, I was really looking forward to those cookies.’
Harry smiled a bit and went to his bag, he pulled out the tin holding the remainder of his own cookies.
‘They might be a couple days old, but I have some of my aunt Andromeda’s cookies here if you all still want cookies.’
Everyone’s faces lit up like a light and they all got to fill their cookie cravings. The topic of discussion as they started winding down changed to who they think would win the World Cup.
‘Sorry mates, but it is going to be Ireland, hands down,’ said Terence proudly, face covered in crumbs. ‘We absolutely devastated Peru in the semifinals this year.’
‘I think you are a little biased,’ Theodore teased, while using a fake Irish accent. ‘Besides, Viktor Krum is on the Bulgarian team.’
‘No offence to you Quidditch nerds,’ said Canini in an intro to her question, ‘But who is Viktor Krum?’
‘He is a young skilled Seeker, but Ireland is full of talent!’ Terence said with passion, ‘I don’t see anymore of this “United Kingdom” playing, only Ireland came out on top!’
It was true. England was humiliated in their match against Transylvania, three hundred and ninety to ten. Wales did decently but still lost to Uganda, and Scotland was just devastated by Luxembourg.
They all kept chatting, bragging about which player on which team was better. Theodore though eventually turned to Harry, ‘Haven’t had the chance to ask yet, anything interesting happening at Privet Drive this summer, something that shakes up the norm?’
“Yeah,” said Harry, suddenly reminded of the nightmare and the pain that had accompanied it, and for a moment was on the verge of telling Theodore, Terence, and Canini about his scar hurting again, and about the dream that had awoken him...but at that moment Remus knocked and entered with a tray carrying glasses of warm milk.
‘Thought you all could use some before going to sleep. Once you are done with them you should really try setting down, it is an early and long day tomorrow. Have a good night everyone.’
‘Goodnight Remus,’ Harry and Canini said in unison, followed by Theodore, then Terence said, ‘Goodnight Professor Lupin,’ which put a smile on Remus’ face.