A Meeting And A Plan

Harry Potter woke up with a start; he was shaking all over as beads of sweat were making their way down his face. He’d just seen an incredible vision;in which Voldemort planned to open a portal into another world. Harry knew that this was not possible-he had stopped getting visions of any kind since last year, when he had mastered Occlumency-Proffessor Slughorn had instructed him in the basics while he had, after months of practice, accomplished that which he had earlier considered insurmountable. He could now completely block Voldemort from his mind; which,in his opinion, was the reason why he was still alive. Gradually, panic started to set in as Harry strengthened his mental shields against Voldemort. He had to see Remus.

Remus Lupin was, at the present, in the uppermost bedroom of Shell Cottage; the home of Bill and Fleur, and the current place of refuge of the Weasleys, Hermione and the few remaining members of the Order, who evaded the trap set by the Death Eaters. He was looking forward to breakfast; after all, Molly’s cooking was excellent as always. He could hear Dora downstairs, joking around and knocking things over. He smiled. It was these things about her that he loved more than anything else; her happy go lucky persona;she had the ability to make people laugh in every situation. They had been married for over a year now, and she was pregnant with their child. Remus was eagerly awaiting the arrival of their child; it was one of the bright points in his life at the present.

He was brought out of his thoughts by a voice calling “Remus Lupin“. Remus looked around, before identifying the source as the two-way mirror on his bedside table. His heartbeat quickened as he rushed to the mirror.

“Harry! You can’t imagine how relieved I am to hear from you!”
Remus felt a mixture of anger and happiness as he gazed on Harry’s face-the only remaining link to James and Lily. Harry smiled at him beforre replying,”My apologies Remus, I’ve been rather busy;and haven’t been able to contact you in a while. But something catastrophic has happened. If we don’t do something now we may as well give up the fight. We need to meet immediately.”

Remus was shocked. Harry had never, in two years, come to him for any help; even when he had given Harry the two-way mirror, there had been barely any communication between them. Remus supposed it was the way Harry was-always wanting to protect his loved ones. Remus felt dread as he thought of what Voldemort had done, or was planning to do, that made Harry sound as desperate as he did.

“Where do we meet?”, he asked.

“At the Hog’s Head, in an hour.”

“But Harry, surely you wouldn’t want to risk getting caught in such a public place, so close to Hogwarts.”

“Don’t worry Remus, I have it covered. Just be there.”, Harry said and then his face vanished.

Remus sighed and hoped that whatever Harry had come up with, it had better be good. He went down the stairs and found all the Weasleys and Hermione at the breakfast table.

Clearing his throat, Remus said,”Harry contacted me today.”

The reactions around the table were random and were gasps from Hermione and Mrs Weasley. Ron and Bill looked as if they had seen a ghost. Kingsley’s and Percy’s faces were pale. Ginny got up slowly, and came towards Remus.

“Are you sure?”, she asked, shock showing on her face.

“Bloody Hell! I’ve had enough of his ‘saving-people thing’!Tell that git to come home or there’ll be hell to pay!”

“Is he well? Where is he now?”

Ron and Hermione had come up behind her. There was hope in their gazes.

Remus replied,”He didn’t say. But we are meeting today. It seems that You-Know –Who has started something which, if not stopped, will seriously hinder any chance of a fightback.”

Their faces were full of concern as he prepared to leave. Tonks kissed him passionately and told him to come back safely. The others told him to convince Harry to come back with him. However, Remus knew that after the events of last year, Harry would never return home until everyone was safe and the war was over.

Harry checked his glamour charm again, making sure that his scar was hidden, and that the colour of his hair was brown. His glasses were replaced by lenses. After performing the protection and stealth spells around his tent, he vanished with a pop. Harry reappeared in front of the Hog’s Head, and was immediately hit by a wave of nausea. Hogsmeade looked so very different than before. The streets were practically empty;and there were cloaked and hooded figures all over the place. Harry , however, was not recognised as he looked like any other passerby, not special in any way. He entered the pub and ordered a butterbeer. The bartender gave him the once-over before grunting and taking out a chilled, dusty bottle, which he proceeded to clean with an equally dusty rag. Taking a couple of glasses, Harry sat down at the table in the furthest corner from the entrance. Looking around, he saw that the place was full of men in long black cloaks-after looking at him furtively for a moment or two, they resumed their conversations and he was no longer taken any notice of. A few minutes later, a tall man with a short beard, and grizzly hair entered, saw Harry, and made straight for his table.

“Password?”

“Mischief managed”, Harry replied.

A huge grin broke out on Remus’s face.”So. Harry, I see you are quite the master of disguises.”

Harry replied with a smile of his own,”I learned from the best.”

“So, what happened?”

A solemn look fixed itself on Harry’s face as he looked around to see if anyone was eavesdropping. Not that he had left anything to chance, of course, performing the Muffliato charm as soon as Remus had sat down. Finding no one, Harry proceeded to tell Remus all about his vision and Voldemort’s plans.

Remus’s face was pale as he took a moment to digest the import of Harry’s words.

“When is it?”,he asked in a hoarse voice.

“Next week”, Harry replied.

“We have to stop it.”

“I have a plan. We attack Stonehenge, since that is the best chance we have;You-Know Who being at Troy.”

Remus agreed.”Then we can sabotage the spell with less chance of us being caught”

“It will be only you and me Remus”, Harry said.”I don’t want anybody else involved.”

“I understand , Ron, Hermione and Ginny want to see you and they were very relieved when I informed them that you were safe.”

Harry’s eyes misted over as he thought of his friends,”I want to see them too, Remus;but everytime I decided to contact you, the guilt kept holding me back; the blood on my hands.”

“Harry, you are not to be blamed for any of this. You are one of the kindest and bravest people I know”, Remus said.

Disregarding this, Harry spoke,”So we meet five days later at the same place. Come half an hour before midnight.”

With this arrangement between them, the two men departed to their respective homes, neither knowing that they had set off a chain of events, which would decide the future of the very world in which they lived in………..