Dawn Rivera

Mayhem at the Ministry

He heaves a deep sigh. "Molly, I'm going to have to go into the office, this is going to take some smoothing over."

"I'll come with you, Father," says Percy importantly. "Mr Crouch will need all hands on deck. And I can give him my cauldron report in person."

He bustles out of the kitchen.

Mrs Weasley looks most upset. "Arthur, you're supposed to be on holiday! This hasn't got anything to do with your office, surely they can handle this without you?"

"I've got to go, Molly," says Mr Weasley. "I've made things worse. I'll just change into my robes and I'll be off..."

"Mrs Weasley," says Harry suddenly, seemingly unable to contain himself, "Hedwig hasn't arrived with a letter for me, has she?"

"Hedwig, dear?" says Mrs Weasley distractedly. "No...no, there hasn't been any post at all."

Danny, Ron, Hermione and me look curiously at Harry.

With a meaningful look at all of us, Danny says, "All right if we go and dump our stuff in your room, Ron?"

"Yeah...think I will too," says Ron at once. "Hermione? Dawn?"

"Yes," says Hermione quickly, and the five of us march out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"What's up, Harry?" says Ron, the moment we have closed the door of the attic behind us.

"There's something I haven't told you," Harry says. "On Saturday morning, I woke up with my scar hurting again."

Hermione and me gasp and start making suggestions at once, mentioning a number of reference books, and everybody from Albus Dumbledore to Madam Pomfrey, the Hogwarts matron.

Ron simply looks dumbstruck. "But - he wasn't there, was he? You-Know-Who? I mean - last time your scar kept hurting he was at Hogwarts, wasn't he?"

"I'm sure he wasn't in Privet Drive," says Danny. "But Harry said he was dreaming about him...him and Peter - you know, Wormtail. I can't remember all of what you said now, Harry, but they were plotting to kill...someone."

Me and Hermione are horrified.

"It was only a dream," says Ron bracingly. "Just a nightmare."

"Yeah, but was it, though?" says Harry, he and Danny turning to look out of the window at the brightening sky. "It's weird, isn't it...my scar hurts, and three days later the Death Eaters are on the march, and Voldemort's sign's up in the sky again."

"Don't - say - his name!" Ron hisses through gritted teeth.

"And remember what Professor Trelawney said?" Danny carries on, ignoring Ron. "At the very end of last year?"

Professor Trelawney is our Divination teacher at Hogwarts.

Hermione and I's terrified looks vanish as we let out derisive snorts. I say, "Oh, Harry, Danny, you aren't going to pay attention to anything that old fraud says?"

"You weren't there," says Harry. "You didn't hear her. This time was different. I told you, she went into a trance - a real one. She said the Dark Lord would rise again...greater and more terrible than ever before...and he'd manage it because his servant was going to go back to him...and that night Wormtail escaped."

There is a silence in which Ron fidgets absent-mindedly with a hole in his Chudley Cannons bedspread.

"Why were you asking if Hedwig had come, Harry?" Hermione asks. "We're you expecting a letter?"

"He told Uncle Sirius about his scar," says Danny, he and Harry shrugging. "I'm waiting for his answer."

"Good thinking!" says Ron, his expression clearing. "I bet Sirius'll know what to do!"