"Go back? Right now?"
Inside the tent, protected by layers of defensive magic, Harry looked up from the map in his hands and stared at the slightly breathless Sirius Black in confusion. He could not understand why Sirius wanted them to return to Order of the Phoenix headquarters immediately.
"Did something happen?"
Hermione was far sharper and quicker-witted than Harry and Ron. The moment Sirius told them to return to Order of the Phoenix headquarters, she had already guessed that something might have happened.
But the news Sirius brought was a huge blow to the three of them, who had been thriving outside these past few days.
None of them had expected things to end so abruptly. They had been looking forward to striking at the Dark Wizards, yet they had not even caught sight of a single one.
"Harry, our enemy isn't that group of Dark Wizards."
"But..." Harry trailed off.
"No buts."
After they packed up the tent, Sirius directly Apparated the three of them back to the Order of the Phoenix. Only after confirming that the area was safe did he explain why he had called them back to headquarters.
"We suspect that group of Dark Wizards is bait The Dark Lord threw out to lure us in."
"Bait?"
The three exchanged looks.
"We can't help every wizard." Sirius turned around, placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, and continued, "What everyone needs most isn't The Boy Who Lived, but courage. Only they can save themselves. All we can do is deter those Dark Wizards, make them restrain themselves a little, buy everyone some time, and help awaken their courage to stand up and resist the enemy."
"That really sounds like something Albert would say," Harry muttered.
Sirius paused at that, then shook his head with a bitter