Summary: Chapter Nine: A Place to Hide
The crowd panics and flees. Masked and cloaked figures
appear—the Death Eaters. Harry, Ron, and Hermione join hands and
Disapparate (teleport) under Hermione’s direction. They arrive in
Tottenham Court Road, a busy street in London, in the Muggle rather
than the wizarding world.
Though they have been forced to flee the Weasley household
with no notice, Hermione reveals that they are better prepared than
Ron and Harry think, because Hermione has packed clothes, Harry’s Invisibility
Cloak, all the books they might need, a magic tent, their supply
of Polyjuice Potion, and many other things, all in a tiny beaded
handbag that takes up little space and weighs nothing.
The three friends go to a cafe to plan their next move,
debating where they might go now that Voldemort has taken over the
Ministry. Two burly workmen suddenly pull out wands and attack them, revealing
themselves to be Death Eaters. Harry, Ron, and Hermione fight these
attackers off with difficulty, having no idea how the Death Eaters
could have found them so quickly, or how to evade them better in
future.
Harry and his friends decide to go to Number Twelve Grimmauld
Place, the house that Sirius Black left to Harry in his will. They
can only hope that the jinxes and charms on the house will be enough
to hide them from Snape and the other Death Eaters. Inside the house,
small signs, such as a knocked-over umbrella stand, give Harry and
the others the impression that someone has been in the house, but
it appears to be empty now. Suddenly they feel their tongues raveling
and then unraveling, the effect of a Tongue-Tying charm Mad-Eye
Moody put upon the house to prevent them from revealing its secrets.
(Snape, as a trusted friend of Dumbledore’s, has entered the house
before and so may be able to do so again, but Mad-Eye’s spell should
prevent Snape from telling anyone else about it.)
Harry feels a burning pain in his scar and vicariously
experiences Voldemort’s rage—the connection between their minds
is apparently opening up again. Ron badgers Harry about what Voldemort is
doing, fearful that Voldemort has attacked Ron’s family, while Hermione
scolds Harry for exposing himself to a dangerous connection that
he had previously worked so hard to close using the technique of
Occlumency.
Ron’s father’s Patronus arrives to say that the family
is safe but being watched. Sick with the painful sensation in his
scar, Harry excuses himself and goes to the bathroom so he can have
his vision in peace. Harry sees through Voldemort’s eyes as Voldemort
tortures one of the Death Eaters who attacked them in the cafe,
punishing him for summoning Voldemort but then letting Harry escape.
