Harry Potter 05 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

before?’ asked Dumbledore, and they nodded, each reaching out to touch some part of the blackened kettle. ‘Good. On the count of three, then … one … two …’
    It happened in a fraction of a second: in the infinitesimal pause before Dumbledore said ‘three’, Harry looked up at him – they were very close together – and Dumbledore’s clear blue gaze moved from the Portkey to Harry’s face.
    At once, Harry’s scar burned white-hot, as though the old wound had burst open again – and unbidden, unwanted, but terrifyingly strong, there rose within Harry a hatred so powerful he felt, for that instant, he would like nothing better than to strike – to bite – to sink his fangs into the man before him –
    ‘… three. ’
    Harry felt a powerful jerk behind his navel, the ground vanished from beneath his feet, his hand was glued to the kettle; he was banging into the others as they all sped forwards in a swirl of colours and a rush of wind, the kettle pulling them onwards … until his feet hit the ground so hard his knees buckled, the kettle clattered to the ground, and somewhere close at hand a voice said:
    ‘Back again, the blood-traitor brats. Is it true their father’s dying?’
    ‘OUT!’ roared a second voice.
    Harry scrambled to his feet and looked around; they had arrived in the gloomy basement kitchen of number twelve, Grimmauld Place. The only sources of light were the fire and one guttering candle, which illuminated the remains of a solitary supper. Kreacher was disappearing through the door to the hall, looking back at them malevolently as he hitched up his loincloth; Sirius was hurrying towards them all, looking anxious. He was unshaven and still in his day clothes; there was also a slightly Mundungus-like whiff of stale drink about him.
    ‘What’s going on?’ he said, stretching out a hand to help Ginny up. ‘Phineas Nigellus said Arthur’s been badly injured –’
    ‘Ask Harry,’ said Fred.
    ‘Yeah, I want to hear this for myself,’ said George.
    The twins and Ginny were staring at him. Kreacher’s footsteps had stopped on the stairs outside.
    ‘It was –’ Harry began; this was even worse than telling McGonagall and Dumbledore. ‘I had a – a kind of – vision …’
    And he told them all that he had seen, though he altered the story so that it sounded as though he had watched from the sidelines as the snake attacked, rather than from behind the snake’s own eyes. Ron, who was still very white, gave him a fleeting look, but did not speak. When Harry had finished, Fred, George and Ginny continued to stare at him for a moment. Harry did not know whether he was imagining it or not, but he fancied there was something accusatory in their looks. Well, if they were going to blame him just for seeing the attack, he was glad he had not told them that he had been inside the snake at the time.
    ‘Is Mum here?’ said Fred, turning to Sirius.
    ‘She probably doesn’t even know what’s happened yet,’ said Sirius. ‘The important thing was to get you away before Umbridge could interfere. I expect Dumbledore’s letting Molly know now.’
    ‘We’ve got to go to St Mungo’s,’ said Ginny urgently. She looked around at her brothers; they were of course still in their pyjamas. ‘Sirius, can you lend us cloaks or anything?’
    ‘Hang on, you can’t go tearing off to St Mungo’s!’ said Sirius.
    ‘Course we can go to St Mungo’s if we want,’ said Fred, with a mulish expression. ‘He’s our dad!’
    ‘And how are you going to explain how you knew Arthur was attacked before the hospital even let his wife know?’
    ‘What does that matter?’ said George hotly.
    ‘It matters because we don’t want to draw attention to the fact that Harry is having visions of things that are happening hundreds of miles away!’ said Sirius angrily. ‘Have you any idea what the Ministry would make of that information?’
    Fred and George looked as though they could not care less what the Ministry made of anything. Ron was still ashen-faced and silent.
    Ginny said, ‘Somebody else could have told us … we could have heard it somewhere other than Harry.’
    ‘Like who?’ said Sirius impatiently. ‘Listen, your dad’s been hurt while on duty for the Order and the circumstances are fishy enough without his children knowing about it seconds after it happened, you could seriously damage the Order’s –’
    ‘We don’t care about the dumb Order!’ shouted Fred.
    ‘It’s our