For a moment Harry felt a pull on his head, as if the floo was attempting to suck him into the flames, but that soon ended and he was was left staring into a dark void for a few moments. Although he knew his body was not moving he still felt as if he were being thrown down some long, dark tunnel. Finally he saw light ahead of him in the distance and as it approached he could see that he was looking at someone's living room. He looked around at the room, which appeared to be quite formal and expensively furnished, and wondered if they had any way of knowing he had just floo called.
"Who is it?" a feminine voice called from the hallway.
"Hello? This is Harry!" he shouted, hoping that they'd hear him.
"No need to yell." the girl, who Harry realized was Daphne's sister Astoria, said as she walked in the room. "How's it going, Harry?"
"Not bad. Is Daphne around?" he asked, eager to speak to his girlfriend.
"Yeah, I'll go get her." Astoria answered. Harry could clearly hear her yelling "Daphne! It's Harry!" as she walked out of the room. Harry chuckled at the girl's antics and waited for Daphne to arrive. He did not have to wait long for her to run into the room looking even more beautiful than Harry had remembered. They both grinned at each other as Daphne sat down next to the fire so she could more easily talk to Harry.
"I missed you." Daphne said once she was seated.
"I missed you, too." Harry answered. "But I'm with Sirius now and I'll be able to see you whenever we want."
"How was the Dursley's?" she asked, hoping they had not lived up to their reputation.
"No fun, but it could have been worse." Harry answered. "On the bright side I never have to go back."
"Good." Daphne said with a smile. "Oh, Neville sent me a letter saying that he is going to get his wand tomorrow. Are you still going?"
"Definitely." Harry answered. "You'll be able to make it won't you?"
"Yes, on one condition. My parents want to have you and Sirius over for lunch before we go to Diagon Alley." Daphne replied. "Oh don't make that face, Harry. You know they're going to like you."
"I know no such thing, I just hope so. I'll have to tell Sirius, but I doubt he will have a problem with it. We should be there." Harry said. "How are things with your family? I heard about your uncle escaping on the radio…"
"We're fine." Daphne assured him. "And my uncle hasn't tried to contact us at all, not that my father really expected him to. He won't be able to get past the wards over our house anymore even if he did try and come here so we should be safe. It's strange though, I've never seen my father so angry."
"You don't think he'll go looking for your uncle, do you?" Harry asked.
"Maybe." Daphne answered with a worried look. "There's something about my uncle that my father isn't telling me, that's what I think. There has to be for him to react this way, but I don't know what it is."
"I hope he'll be careful." Harry said thoughtfully. "It's going to be dangerous out there."
"I know, and so does he." Daphne said. "Don't forget that my father is a powerful wizard, and I'm not just saying that because I'm his daughter. He can take care of himself."
"I believe you." Harry answered with a smile. "So, tell me what else has been going on." From there Harry and Daphne launched into a long conversation which forced each of them to consider how much they had missed talking to the other during the last two weeks. For the most part they stayed away from the important subjects that had taken up the first part of their conversation and instead focused on catching up with each other. It was easier and happier for them to temporarily ignore the troubles of their world and focus on the good.
After almost an hour of talking, Daphne's mother's voice was heard in the background asking her to come help with something. Reluctantly the couple said their good-bye's and ended the floo call with assurances that they would see each other again tomorrow. Harry pulled his head back from the fire and found that ending a floo call was much easier than starting one. The trip back through the dark tunnel was almost instantaneous and the only problem he had was that he had pulled back far too strongly, resulting in him tumbling back away from the fireplace and crashed into a nearby chair. He looked around and noted with relief that no one had been there to see his little accident.
After getting up and shaking off the soot from the fireplace Harry walked back downstairs to the kitchen where he found Sirius sitting at the table reading the Daily Prophet and Mrs Weasley busy cooking lunch. The Weasley children were nowhere to be found.
"Where'd everyone go?" Harry asked as he sat down at the table.
"They're upstairs getting rid of some doxies that had infested a spare bedroom. Once they realized they could do magic again handling some annoying fairies didn't seem like such a bad job." Sirius explained. "My guess is they are seeing who can get rid of them in the most creative way possible."
"Sounds interesting, but I'll pass for now." Harry said. "Anything interesting in the Prophet?"
"Just the usual trash." Sirius answered with a sigh. "Voldemort hasn't been making obvious moves since the Azkaban breakout. We think he's taking the time to rebuild the Death Eaters and recruit more allies. Unfortunately that shouldn't take long."
"Is the Order doing anything about it?" Harry asked.
"Just gathering information, mostly." Sirius answered. "Speaking of which, there's a meeting scheduled for tonight. I tried to get you permission to sit in, but Dumbledore and a few others don't think you should. There isn't really anything I can do about that, but I'll pass on anything I know that I think you need to hear."
"Thanks, Sirius." Harry replied. "I have a strange request to make. Daphne's parents want to have us over for lunch tomorrow before we go to Diagon Alley to get Neville's new wand. Will that be ok?"
"Ah! Meeting the girlfriend's parents are you?" Sirius said with a laugh. "Are you sure you want me there? I might be unable to behave and will make a horrible impression."
"Very funny, Sirius." Harry said. "I know you can act like an adult when you have to."
"Yes. That's unfortunately more often then I'd like." Sirius agreed. "Sure, I'd be glad to go with you Harry. Remus and I were going to come with you to Diagon Alley anyway."
"As chaperones or just bodyguards?"
"A little bit of both, I guess." Sirius replied. "You can't afford to let your guard down Harry, you know that."
"You're right." Harry agreed with a sigh. "But that doesn't mean I can't wish you weren't."
"Fair enough." Sirius said. "Now I've got a little project for us to work on for today. The basement of this house is huge and I was thinking that if we could get it cleaned up it would be a perfect place for us to practice dueling over the summer. I was an Auror once, I'm sure I have some tricks I could teach you."
"That's brilliant, Sirius!" Harry said happily. "Let's go!" Sirius laughed and together they went down to the basement. Harry found Sirius's description of it was quite accurate. With its large, open floor plan and high ceiling it would be perfect for their intended use if they could ever get it clean. Unfortunately it appeared that a hundred years worth of junk had been thrown in the space and it all had to be sorted before moving it. Harry knew that even with magic it would take several days to finish the task but the reward at the end would be well worth it. He couldn't wait to face Sirius and hopefully beat his godfather in a duel.
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