A Love at Stake

Chapter 3

Without bothering to change his clothes and without bothering to think twice, Harry went scurriedly out of the room and sprinted downstairs until he reached the fireplace. Even though flooing isn’t his favorite way of traveling, he scooped a handful of floo powder on the flowerpot, stepped up to the fire, threw the powder into the flames, and he vanished.

The usual feeling when traveling by floo powder made Harry nauseated and spinning very fast made his head ache. Then finally, he fell onto the cold stone, which is already normal to him for years, he stood up and looked around quickly. Trying to stay calm, he wondered what to do because people began to notice his sudden appearance and some started pointing and whispering.

“That’s rude you know.” Nymphadora Tonks, an Auror and Harry’s friend, tapped lightly the arm of a young boy who obviously been whispering and pointing his finger to Harry. The boy jumped in surprise and ran out on the opposite direction.

Tonks, who had a pale heart-shaped face, dark twinkling eyes, and a short blonde hair, walked in front of Harry and said, “Wotcher, Harry.”

“Tonks,” said Harry, stepping out onto the fireplace.

Minding their own business, people began to take off and the usual memos zoomed past them as they entered the lift.

“You’re not in trouble, are you?” asked Tonks as she eyed Harry warily.

“No.” said Harry, and then asked quickly. “Have you seen my mum?”

“Oh, I haven’t seen her yet, why?”

“She has a meeting today and she forgot to being this with her.” said Harry, showing Tonks the folder.

“Meeting?” Tonks asked thoughtfully. “Oh, yes, there’s a meeting going on.”

“Can you tell me where?”

“Come with me,” said Tonks, walking to the lift. “I’ll lead you to it.”

“Thanks.” said Harry, following Tonks as they entered the lift.

Tonks was looking at him interestedly, and then asked, “Have you been doing something messy, Harry?”

Harry looked at her then examined his reflection on the door in front of him. “Oh,” he brushed off the dirt. “I was cleaning the house and I never thought to clean up myself when I found this.” He held up the folder.

Tonks smiled at him.

And they heard a woman’s voice saying, “Level two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters, and Wizengamot Administration Services.”

“Here we are, Harry.” Said Tonks, and they went out of the lift into a corridor lined with doors. They turned a corner, walked through a pair of heavy oak doors and emerged in a cluttered, open area divided into cubicles; the Auror Headquarters.

Harry has been here before but Tonks beckoned him to follow her through a second set of oak doors, which led to another passage. They stopped beside a glass door where a grim-looking man sat beside it, reading a newspaper.

“I’ll leave you here, Harry.” Tonks told him. “I believe that’s Lily.” She looked on the glass door where Lily is indeed standing in the middle of all the Ministry officials, her back facing the door. “See you later, Harry.”

Harry nodded and said thank you before Tonks left.

Harry’s heart was hammering fast. He walked closed to the grim-looking man and said, “Good morning, sir.”

The man set down the newspaper and said in a hoarse voice, “Morning, Mr. Potter.” and began to examine Harry’s appearance.

Harry was expecting the man to say something after he was greeted but nothing came, and the man just looked at him as though bored. So Harry pressed on.

“Excuse me, sir. Could you, um… take this folder in the conference room for me?” Harry held out the folder in front of him. “My… um, Lily Potter is expecting it.”

Not taking the folder, the man raised his eyebrows and made a small grin. He said, “I’m sorry but that’s against headquarters’ policy.”

“But –” Harry didn’t know what to say. Then, “But she could lose her job.” He said quickly.

“Oh, that’s tragic,” said the man and made a gesture as though he’s scared, but then he smiled widely and said, “But not my problem.” Then the man continued to read the newspaper as though nothing had happened.

Harry was taken aback. You’re nasty just like Snape… he said to himself while eyeing the man coolly. Then, he looked back on the glass door, oh no… she’s looking for something over her file case –

And hurriedly, Harry opened the door, took a deep breath and went inside.

The atmosphere inside the conference room changed abruptly when they saw a boy entered the room all of a sudden as though he was quite lost and entered the wrong room by accident. But Lily was too busy looking inside her file case that she didn’t notice the changes.

Harry stood in the spot, eyeing the crowd nervously and said, “Excuse me for interrupting,”

Hearing the familiar voice, Lily stood frozen; eyes went wide as though she’s seeing a ghost.

“Um… this is for you,” said Harry, handing the folder to her mom.

Very slowly, Lily turned around.

Then, Harry continued, “I just thought that you might need this folder that you –” Harry saw, to his astonishment, that Lily was holding the same folder in her hand after looking inside her file case. “– already have…” and Harry’s voice tailing away feebly.

Oh great… Harry told himself. This is pretty unexpected – nightmare!

Lily looked startled. She gave Harry a “what-the-hell-are-you-doing?” look over her shoulder.

Harry took a step back, eyed the Ministry officials tensely and said, sounding slightly nervous, “Er, false alarm… terribly sorry. I… I just thought you – I mean, she –” Harry referred to her mom, who now looked as though she’s going to faint at any moment. “– have anything she needed, because…” Harry was thinking fast on what to say next. “… she worked so hard in it, I mean, really dedicated –” Lily cast him a cold stare but Harry continued. “This is my fault. I’m really sorry for the interruption.” And Harry left the room.

There was a moment silence then Lily took a deep breath, faced the crowd once again and said, “Shall we proceed?”

Harry looked very troubled when he left the conference room that he didn’t exactly paid any attention to where he was going. He turned a corner and collided into someone with bushy brown hair.

“Hermione?” Harry panted, getting to his feet.

The girl turned around, only she wasn’t Hermione but –

“Tonks!”

“Harry!” Tonks straightened up. “What’s up?”

“I thought you were Hermione.”

“Well, I only got her hair but not her brains,” said Tonks, beaming.

“But that looks nice, though.” Harry told her. “You’re doing great.”

“Thanks,” said Tonks, but she noticed Harry’s change of tone and his gloomy look. “What’s with the face?”

Harry raised the folder.

“Oh,” said Tonks, getting the point.

“My mum already have this folder,” said Harry. “I-never-want-to-see-it-again.” He gritted his teeth.

Harry and Tonks were silent for a moment, then Harry spoke in a mocking voice, “I think that went well, the meeting.”

“Did it?”

“Yeah,” said Harry, sounding ridiculous. “The glaring, the awkwardness, the cold stare from my mum. Just what I’ve been hoping for.”

“That’s quite alright. Don’t worry about it.”

“I think I talked too much,” Harry told her.

“You did?” said Tonks incredulously.

Harry nodded.

“Well,” Tonks patted him on his shoulder. “Don’t let your mind become cluttered with worry, Harry. It leaves less room for the good stuff.” said Tonks brightly and winking at him.