brooms! If we keep going off-course we're not going to get there until next week!
Besides, we're nearly there now!'
Time to start the descent!' came Lupin's voice. 'Follow Tonks, Harry!'
Harry followed Tonks into a dive. They were heading for the largest collection of lights
he had yet seen, a huge, sprawling crisscrossing mass, glittering in lines and grids,
interspersed with patches of deepest black. Lower and lower they flew, until Harry could
see individual headlights and streetlamps, chimneys and television aerials. He wanted to
reach the ground very much, though he felt sure someone would have to unfreeze him
from his broom.
'Here we go!' called Tonks, and a few seconds later she had landed.
Harry touched down right behind her and dismounted on a patch of unkempt grass in the
middle of a small square. Tonks was already unbuckling Harry's trunk. Shivering, Harry
looked around. The grimy fronts of the surrounding houses were not welcoming; some of
them had broken windows, glimmering dully in the light fro the streetlamps, paint was
peeling from many of the doors and heaps of rubbish lay outside several sets of front
steps.
'Where are we?' Harry asked, but Lupin said quietly, 'In a minute.'
Moody was rummaging in his cloak, his gnarled hands clumsy with cold.
'Got it,' he muttered, raising what looked like a silver cigarette lighter into the air and
clicking it.
The nearest streetlamp went out with a pop. He clicked the unlighter again; the next lamp
went out; he kept clicking until every lamp in the square was extinguished and the only
remaining light came from curtained windows and the sickle moon overhead.
'Borrowed it from Dumbledore,' growled Moody, pocketing the Put-Outer. That'll take
care of any Muggles looking out of the window, see? Now come on, quick.'
He took Harry by the arm and led him from the patch of grass, across the road and on to
the pavement; Lupin and Tonks followed, carrying Harry's trunk between them, the rest
of the guard, all with their wands out, flanking them.
The muffled pounding of a stereo was coming from an upper window in the nearest
house. A pungent smell of rotting rubbish came from the pile of bulging bin-bags just
inside the broken gate.
'Here,' Moody muttered, thrusting a piece of parchment towards Harry's Disillusioned
hand and holding his lit wand close to it, so as to illuminate the writing. 'Read quickly
and memorise.'
Harry looked down at the piece of paper. The narrow handwriting was vaguely familiar.
It said:
The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve,
Grimmauld Place, London.
—.CHAPTER.FOUR.—.
Number.Twelve,.Grimmauld.Place
.What.s.the.Order.of.the.‐?..Harry.began..
.Not.here,.boy!..snarled.Moody...Wait.till.we.re.inside!..
He.pulled.the.piece.of.parchment.out.of.Harry.s.hand.and.set.fire.to.it.with.his.wand‐tip..As.the.message.curled.into.flames.and.floated.to.the.ground,.Harry.looked.around.at.the.houses.again..They.were.standing.outside.number.eleven;