The Reunion

As per her parents' arrangements, Astoria had accompanied the Weasley children, Hermione (who had cancelled her ski trip with her parents) and Harry to Sirius's house at 12 Grimmauld Place after disembarking from the Hogwarts Express in London, the normal way, on Friday the 20th in the evening. But to their collective shock, the person who welcomed them at the door was none other than their ex-headmaster, who was for some reason wearing a frilly apron.

"Professor?" Harry gasped, as he beheld the tall white-bearded man before him. "I— we— we all thought you were—"

"—in Azkaban?" Dumbledore answered mirthfully. "To be perfectly honest, I decided to let myself out in advance, in light of my exemplary behaviour. Spending the Christmas holidays alone in that dreary place did not appeal to me in the slightest, and at this time of the year, it gets much too draughty in the North Sea for an old man such as myself. I'm fairly certain that Cornelius wouldn't blame me overmuch for wanting a change of scenery."

In other words, he had broken himself out of Azkaban. How? Only he knew.

(It was Fawkes)

"Professor, we haven't had any news since yesterday," said Fred Weasley urgently. "Is our dad going to be okay…?"

"Arthur Weasley is expected to make a full recovery!" Dumbledore said, beaming at him.

Maybe it was just Astoria imagining things, but Dumbledore seemed to have aged by a good dozen years. He was smiling, but his expression seemed slightly strained, and his wrinkles seemed more pronounced. Azkaban wasn't the kind of place that one could enter without exiting a changed man…

And about this whole Arthur Weasley story…

Astoria had heard the details on the bus ride from King's Cross Station to Sirius's house. Two days ago, Harry had experienced a vivid dream, where he had witnessed Arthur Weasley being attacked by a gigantic snake. He had alerted Professor McGonagall, their Head of House, and she had made the necessary calls. But after that, they had received no updates on the situation, so the Weasley children and their friends had been desperate for good news.

"Professor, I—" Harry began, trying in vain to make eye contact with Dumbledore, who, oddly enough, seemed to be looking at her, instead of him.

"Ah, but where are my manners?" said Dumbledore cheerfully. "I'm sure that you would rather be inside, spending some time with your families, rather than being stuck out in the cold listening to the blithering of an old man."

To Astoria, it very much looked like Harry wanted to do more than just listen to Dumbledore's blithering, but Dumbledore quickly turned on his heel before Harry could say anything more, marching back into the house and whistling a jaunty Christmas tune as he did so.

"Professor…"

Harry tried to catch Dumbledore's attention again, but his voice trailed off upon seeing two familiar faces peeking out from the dining room. Daphne and Ginny!

"Daphne!" Astoria shrieked, before jumping into her older sister's arms.

Harry was then nearly squashed by the Weasley brothers scrambling against each other to be the first to hug their little sister, whom they hadn't seen in such a long time. Ginny looked extremely awkward, buried under all those mops of red hair.

"Sorry I couldn't write," Daphne whispered into Astoria's ear as she hugged her tightly. "You know how Umbridge intercepts letters…"

==============================================

Half an hour later, they were all sitting around the dinner table, nursing Butterbeers; Daphne, and mostly Ginny, were finishing recounting their adventures on the run from the Aurors.

"…and that's when Hagrid ran into us while we were out camping in Northern England," Ginny recounted. "He had a giant with him, imagine that!"

"My poor baby!" gasped Mrs. Weasley, turning as white as a sheet. "That must have been terrifying!"

"How tall?" Fred asked eagerly.

Everyone was having a great time, and Harry was trying his best to put on a smile for everybody. Make no mistake, he was happy that everything had turned out fine, that nobody had died, but he couldn't help but feel sick to his stomach about his… dream.

He hadn't exactly lied when he had told everyone about his vision, but he had omitted the point of view from which he had seen this dream; he had been the snake that had attacked Arthur Weasley! He had seen what it had seen, felt what it had felt… tasted the blood it had tasted.

He was beginning to think he was going mad…

"…and then Hagrid came back for us in that big motorcycle of his—"

"I'm the one who gave it to him, you know," said Sirius smugly, pointing at himself.

"—and that's pretty much it," Ginny concluded.

"A fascinating tale indeed," said Dumbledore, "but I believe it is now our stomachs that require filling, and not our ears. Molly, shall we take that succulent steak and kidney pie I was helping you with earlier out of the oven?"

So that's why he had been wearing a frilly apron!

"It should be about ready," said Mrs. Weasley, checking her watch. "I'll go take a look."

She stood up from her chair and went to check on their dinner, while Sirius amused himself by magically setting the table. Harry supposed that he must have had plenty of time to practise housework magic, stuck as he was inside the house…

"Where's Oleandra, by the way?" he heard Daphne ask Astoria.

It was slightly morbid of him to think of it this way, but Harry couldn't help but cheer up slightly, thinking that perhaps, he wasn't the only one to be having these strange visions. And then he felt guilty, frustrated at himself for feeling relieved that he might not be the only one suffering…

"She just jumped out of the train while it was running, like it was nothing," Astoria responded, sounding slightly worried. "She didn't tell us why…"

"Do you have any idea where she might have gone?" Sirius cut in. He glanced briefly at Dumbledore, adding, "You know, I could take a look around, Magical Law Enforcement isn't going to be looking for me in out-of-the-way places…"

"You know it isn't safe, Sirius," said Dumbledore gravely. "Lucius Malfoy recognized you in your animal form at King's Cross in September. The Ministry knows you've returned to British soil, and they will be on the lookout for you."

Sirius was a man of action; he couldn't stand being under house arrest. He even felt indebted to Ginny and Daphne for being better company than the old man Dumbledore, so he wanted to do something for them…

"However, it would be in Miss Greengrass's best interest if we could locate her as soon as possible," Dumbledore continued, turning to Astoria. "Miss Greengrass, do you have any idea where your sister might have gone? Anything would help; even the most seemingly unimportant detail could prove vital…"

Dumbledore had correctly guessed that Voldemort wanted Oleandra, if only to use her to lure out Daphne. Voldemort was a narcissist; Dumbledore understood this very well. Knowing that they had both imbibed the Bloodline Atavism Potion, Dumbledore was fairly confident that Voldemort had seen a bit of his younger self in Daphne, since she was following the same perfect path to immortality that he had laid out, so many years ago…

Astoria hesitated. Where could Oleandra have gone? Not home, surely; there would be no one there. And then, she remembered how her sister had seemed so oddly concerned about a strange, still-beating heart…

"Our summer home in Dorset, maybe?" she said with uncertainty.

"That's where You-Know-Who's pack of Werewolves attacked me," said Daphne, frowning. "And they burnt down half of our greenhouses before I could stop them."

Sirius and Dumbledore exchanged grave looks.

"Dumbledore, hasn't Mundungus reported the appearance of the Dark Mark above a house in Dorset, earlier in the day…?" Sirius said hesitatingly. "The place ought to be crawling with Aurors, by now…"

"We can only wait for Kingsley's report…" said Dumbledore soberly.