Phoenix Tears

Chapter 8: Dissipation

Why had Bill been flying around the room? What did he give Mr. Weasley? Why didn't Mrs. Weasley approve? What was the little noise that was coming from the spot where he imagined Auror Bones was standing? It sounded like a mouse worrying at a nut husk. Could it be Scabbers?

Harry wanted to shake out his staff and ask it to take him to Scabbers... but he was still holding his teacup and wasn't sure if there was room on the tea table to set it down. He turned toward Mrs. Weasley and cleared his throat.

"Er, Mrs. Weasley, is there a place where I can set down my teacup?" he asked, holding it out a bit.

"Of course, dear. I'll put it right over here." She took it from him and he heard it settle on a low table. "But what is it you need?"

"I just thought of something," he said as he shook out his staff and muttered "Navigant Scabbers." But instead of directing him, the staff informed him that it couldn't perform the task as the requested object was outside of the scope of the staff.

Then he had an idea... "Navigant Sirius Black," he said in a louder voice and the conversations around him hushed. He took his aftí out of his ear and pushed it into the storage of his staff so that everyone could hear what his staff was telling him, quickly changing the navigation from vibrations to words with a tap of his fingers.

"Turn left and take two steps, now turn right..." the lyrical voice rang out in the room.

"Oh, my! Harry, what are you doing?" Mrs. Weasley said, alarm making her voice squeak.

"Black's close enough to navigate to!" Harry said, through gritted teeth, his heart rate rising rapidly as he thought about the wards on the Burrow... they hadn't fortified them yet.

"What's the range on your staff, Harry?" Bill asked, hurtling himself to Harry's side and nearly bowling him over.

"No idea," Harry answered. "I think Godric said that it was a few city streets, but I'm not sure."

"That's too close," Mrs. Weasley said, rising in alarm.

"Get everyone down here at once!," Mr. Weasley shouted.

Bill turned away from him and there was a pop of apparition and he just felt the empty space where Bill had been.

"How is it that you have Sirius Black in your navigation's memory," Auror Bones questioned as she drew closer to Harry.

"I added him... from the albums I found in my parent's vault," Harry said.

"How did you...?" Mrs. Weasely started to ask and then stopped herself mid-sentence. "Nevermind, if he's close enough for you to walk to him, then he's too close and we need to get you to safety. All of us."

"Yes, that's what we need to do. Bill, tell them to be ready to listen and to be quiet. We've got to do this quickly," Mr. Weasely was using his disembodied voice to talk to Bill... it sounded in the room and also echoed above them in the rooms above the sitting room.

Auror Bones was also talking to someone else who wasn't in the room... presumably sending a message to the Ministry.

"The Auror department is on its way... we need to evacuate the premises immediately. I think floo will be the most secure method. Let's go to your fireplace," Madam Bones announced.

Harry waited a moment to let the others go through the door before him, but Mrs. Weasley hung back, managing the tea tray by the sound of it.

As he whispered to his staff to navigate to the door, she sighed behind him. "Oh, Harry. Your birthday cake. It's not done yet. I wanted to have a proper celebration for you."