Chapter Twenty-Two
Teddy Marrok Black Lupin stood in the drawing room of 12 Grimmauld Place and reached his arms up toward his Dad.
Dad was speaking to Andromeda, and turned at once toward Teddy, bending over and lifting Teddy up onto his hip. Teddy buried his face in his Dad’s jumper—chocolate-brown—and whispered, “You go. Teddy stays.”
“That’s right,” Dad whispered, rubbing a hand on Teddy’s small back.
“Padfoot too?”
“Yes, and Auntie Tonks, Ted, Ayala, and Diana,” Dad told him, “Auntie Fleur and her family will be meeting us.”
“Where?”
“Hogwarts,” Dad answered and leaned back a little to sweep Teddy’s turquoise and curly hair out of his eyes.
“When come home?” Teddy asked.
Dad hummed softly, “I’m not sure, little one. But as soon as we can, we’ll come home to you.”
“Okay,” Teddy sniffed, rubbing his eyes. Teddy pointed to his pile of drawings by the fireplace, “I drew something for Auntie Fleur.”
Dad lifted one hand into the air and the top piece of parchment in the pile floated into the air into Dad’s waiting palm. Dad tucked it into his trouser pocket.
Padfoot came to stand beside them then, and gave Teddy a kiss on his forehead, “Be good for Andy, eh tyke?”
“I’ll be good,” Teddy assured Padfoot.
Padfoot smiled and that was Very Good because Dad wasn’t smiling and Teddy wanted Dad to smile too…because if Dad smiled then it would all be Okay.
“I’ll be so good,” Teddy stammered, looking up at his Dad’s weary face, “I’ll eat the vegetables and no pudding—”
“Have as much pudding as you like,” Dad said, his hand coming to cup Teddy’s cheek tenderly. Dad’s hand was so very warm as always…
And then Dad smiled, and that was The Best.
His Dad’s eyes were twinkling—soft brown with flecks of green, like a forest, Teddy thought.
Teddy barely concentrated as he shifted his features to mirror Dad’s. He watched those kind, twinkling eyes look over Teddy’s (Dad’s) face and Dad smiled still wider.
“I love you,” Dad said, his voice so clear and strong, “Beyond the stars, beyond the moon…”
“I love you,” Teddy said, “beyond the whole galaxy.”
Andromeda had told Teddy about galaxies the night before—she was even named after one!
Dad chuckled softly and ruffled Teddy’s (Dad’s) brown-and-grey hair.
“Got you beat with that,” Padfoot said, his dark eyes shining with silver.
“We’ll come home to you as soon as we can,” Dad repeated and then Teddy felt his Dad move his arms—moving Teddy toward Andromeda—
“Wait!” Teddy cried, clinging to Dad’s jumper, “Wait, I’m not ready—!”
“It’s alright,” Dad whispered, looking into Teddy’s eyes, “All is going to be alright. There will be time, little one. So much time, I promise you.”
Teddy stared up at Dad’s face, and he Trusted. Just as he had that night when the wolf had come into his old bedroom, and he had seen what lay within the yellow eyes of the wolf…Protect, Protect, Protect.
It shone in Dad’s brown eyes now. I will protect you. I am going to take care of you.
Teddy nodded and let Andromeda slowly take him out of his Dad’s long, skinny, strong and scarred arms…
Teddy watched as Padfoot took his Dad’s hand, intertwining their fingers, and Padfoot and Dad looked at Teddy and Andromeda…
And then, with a crack, Teddy’s parents vanished into thin air.
Teddy let out a whimper; he couldn’t help it.
“Come now, child,” Andromeda said, walking them toward the table in the corner where the record player rested, “I haven’t shown you the song Heroes yet…”
Harry and Luna hurried up the staircase within the cupboard that led away from the Room of Requirement and at last reached what appeared to be solid wall.
“Get under here,” Harry told Luna, pulling out the Invisibility Cloak and throwing it over both of them before giving the wall a push.
The wall melted away at Harry’s touch and they slipped outside; Harry glanced back and saw that it sealed at once. They were standing in a dark corridor and Harry quickly unfolded the Marauder’s Map. He held it close to his nose as he searched and located he and Luna’s labeled dots.
“We’re up on the fifth floor,” Harry whispered, watching Filch moving away from them, a corridor ahead, “Come on, this way.”
They crept off. As they made their way, Harry expected to encounter an obstacle at any moment; his worst fear was Peeves, and he strained his ears with every step to hear the first, telltale signs of the poltergeist’s approach.
“This way, Harry,” Luna breathed, taking his sleeve and pulling him toward a spiral staircase.
They climbed in tight, dizzying circles; Harry had never been up here before. At last, they reached a door, a plain expanse of aged wood, adorned with a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle.
Luna reached out a pale hand and knocked it once, and in the silence, it sounded to Harry like a cannon blast. At once the beak of the eagle opened and a soft musical voice said, “Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?”
“Hmm… what do you think, Harry?” Luna asked, looking thoughtful.
“What? I dunno…”
Luna hummed, “Well, then I think the answer is that a circle has no beginning.”
“Well reasoned,” said the voice, and the door swung open.
The deserted Ravenclaw Common Room was a wide, circular room, airer than any Harry had ever seen at Hogwarts. Graceful arched windows punctuated the walls, which were hung with blue-and-bronze silks. The ceiling was domed and painted with stars, which were echoed in the midnight-blue carpet. There were tables, chairs, and bookcases, and in a niche opposite the door stood a tall statue of white marble.
The statue of Rowena Ravenclaw stood beside a door that led, Harry guessed, to the dormitories above. Harry strode up to the marble woman and she seemed to look back at him with a quizzical half-smile on her face, which was beautiful, yet intimidating. A delicate-looking circlet had been reproduced in marble atop her head. There were tiny words etched onto it and Harry stepped out of the Cloak and climbed up onto Ravenclaw’s plinth to read them: “Wit beyond measure is humankind’s greatest treasure.”
“Which makes you pretty skint, witless,” A cacking voice said.
Harry whirled around, slipped off the plinth, and landed on the floor. The sloping-shouldered figure of Alectro Carrow was standing before him and even as Harry raised his wand, she pressed a stubby forefinger to the skull and snake branded on her arm.
The moment her finger touched the Dark Mark, Harry’s scar seared savagely and the starry room vanished from sight.
He was standing upon an outcrop of rock beneath a cliff and the sea was washing around him and there was triumph in his heart—They have the boy.
A loud bang brought Harry back to where he stood. Disoriented, he raised his wand, but the Witch before him was already falling forward; she hit the ground so hard the glass in the bookcases tinkled.
“I’ve never Stunned anyone except in D.A. lessons,” Luna said, sounding mildly interested, “That was noiser than I thought it would be.”
And sure enough, the ceiling had begun to tremble. Scurrying, echoing footsteps were growing louder from behind the door leading to the dormitories: Luna’s spell had woken the Ravenclaw’s sleeping above.
“I need to get under the Cloak!” Harry whispered urgently.
Luna’s feet appeared out of nowhere and Harry hurried to her side and she let the Cloak fall back over them as the door opened and a stream of Ravenclaws, all in their nightclothes, flooded into the Common Room. There were gasps and cries of surprise as they saw Alecto lying there, unconscious.
Harry closed his eyes and as his scar throbbed he chose to sink again into Voldemort’s mind…he was moving along the tunnel into the first cave…he had chosen to make sure of the locket before coming…but that would not take long…
There was a rap on the Common Room door and every Ravenclaw froze. Form the other side, Harry heard the soft, musical voice say, “Where do Vanished objects go?”
“I dunno, do I?” A voice snarled behind the door, “Alecto! Alecto! Have you got him? Open the door!”
The Ravenclaws were whispering amongst themselves, terrified. Then, without warning, came a series of loud bangs.
“ALECTO! If he comes and we haven’t got Potter—d’you want to go the same way as the Malfoy’s? ANSWER ME!” Amycus Carrow bellowed, shaking the door for all he was worth, but it did not open.
The Ravenclaws were backing away, and some of the most frightened began scampering back up the staircase to their beds. Then, just as Harry was wondering whether he ought not to blast open the door and Stun Amycus, a second, most familiar voice rang out behind the door.
“May I ask what you are doing, Professor Carrow?”
“Trying—to—get—through—this—damned—door!” Amycus shouted, “Go and get Flitwick! Get him to open it now!”
“But isn’t your sister in there?” Professor McGonagall asked, “Didn’t Professor Flitwick let her in earlier this evening, at your urgent request? Perhaps she could open the door for you> Then you wouldn’t need to walk up half the castle.”
“She ain’t answering, you old besom! You open it! Do it now!”
“Certainly, if you wish it,” Professor McGonagall said with awful coldness.
There was a genteel tap of the knocker and the musical voice said again, “Where do Vanished objects go?”
“Into nonbeing, which is to say, everything,” Professor McGonagall said.
“Nicely phrased,” the eagle door knocker replied and the door swung open.
The few Ravenclaws who had remained behind sprinted for the stairs as Amycus burst over the threshold, brandishing his wand. He let out a yell of fury and fear as he spied his sister sprawled out on the floor.
“What’ve they done, the little whelps?!” He screamed, “I’ll Cruciate the lot of ‘em till they tell me who did it! She’s gone and sent for me, I felt me Dark Mark burn, and he thinks we’ve got Potter!”
“Got Potter?” Professor McGonagall said sharply, “What do you mean?”
“He told us Potter might try and get inside Ravenclaw Tower, and to send for him if we caught him!”
“Why would Harry Potter try to get inside Ravenclaw Tower? Potter belongs in my house!”
Beneath the disbelief and anger, Harry heard a strain of pride in her voice, and affection for Minerva McGonagall swelled up inside him.
“We was told he might come in here!” Amycus said, “I dunno why, do I?”
Professor McGonagall straightened and her beady eyes swept the room.
“We can push it off on the kids,” Amycus said, “yeah, that’s what we’ll do. We’ll say Alecto was ambushed by them kids and we’ll say they forced her to press her Mark, and he can punish them. Couple of kids, more or less, what’s the difference?”
“Only the difference between truth and lies, courage and cowardice,” Professor McGonagall said, her face turning pale, “a difference, in short, which you and your sister seem unable to appreciate. But let me make one thing very clear. You are not going to pass off your many ineptitudes on the students of Hogwarts. I shall not permit it.”
“Excuse me?” Amycus moved forward, “It’s not a case of what you’ll permit, Minerva McGonagall. Your time’s over. It’s us what’s in charge here now, and you’ll back me up or the pay the price.”
And then Amycus Carrow spat in her face.
Harry pulled off the Cloak and raised his wand, “You should not have done that.”
As Amycus spun around, Harry shouted, “Crucio!”
The Death Eater was lifted off his feet. He withered through the air like a drowning man, thrashing and howling in pain, and then with a crunch and a shattering of glass, he smashed into the front of the bookcase and crumpled, insensible, to the floor.
“I know I did what Bellatrix said,” Harry said, his heart thundering in his chest, “I really meant it.”
“Potter!” Professor McGonagall whispered, clutching a hand over her heart, “Potter—you’re here! What…how?” She struggled to pull herself together, “Potter, that was foolish!”
“He spat at you,” Harry said.
“Potter, I—that was very—very kind of you—but don’t you realize—”
“Yeah, I do,” Harry assured her, “Professor McGonagall, Voldemort’s on his way. The Order are coming too. Sirius and Remus are already in the castle.”
“Oh, are we allowed to say the name now?” Luna asked, pulling the Cloak off herself.
The appearance of a second outlaw combined with Harry’s news seemed to overwhelm Professor McGonagall, who staggered backward and fell into a nearby chair, clutching at the neck of her tartan dressing gown.
“He already knows where I am,” Harry told Luna.
“You must flee,” Professor McGonagall whispered, “Now, Potter, as quickly as you can! If you say your guardians are here, they can help you escape—”
“No,” Harry said, “I can’t run. There’s something I need to do. Professor, do you know where the diadem of Ravenclaw is?”
“Of course not—hasn’t it been lost for centuries?” She sat up straightened, “Potter, it was madness, utter madness for you to enter this castle! I must say if Black and Lupin supported it—”
“I had to,” Harry insisted, “Professor, there’s something hidden here that I’m supposed to find—Remus and Sirius know it too—and it could be the diadem—”
There was a sound of movement, of clinking glass; Amycus was coming round. Before Harry or Luna could act, Professor McGonagall rose to her feet, pointed her wand at the groggy Death Eater and said, “Imperio.”
Amycus got up, walked over to his sister, picked up her wand and then shuffled over to Professor McGonagall and handed it over along with his own. Then he lay down on the floor beside Alecto. Professor McGonagall waved her wand and a length of shimmering golden rope appeared out of thin air and snaked around the Carrows, binding them tightly together.
“Potter,” She said, turning to face him again, “if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named does indeed know you are here—”
As she said, a wrath that was physical pain tore through Harry, setting his scar on fire, and for a second he looked down upon a basin whose potion had turned clear, and saw that no golden locket lay safe beneath the surface—
“Potter, are you alright?” A voice said, and Harry came back. He was clutching Luna’s shoulder to steady himself.
“Time’s running out, Voldemort’s getting nearer. Professor, I’m acting on Dumbledore’s orders, and as I said, Sirius and Remus know it too. I must find what Dumbledore wanted me to find! But we’ve got to get the students out of the castle—it’s me Voldemort wants!”
“You’re acting on Dumbledore’s orders?” Professor McGonagall breathed, “And Black and Lupin know this?”
Slowly, she drew herself up to her full height, “Then I and the other teachers shall help them secure the castle against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named while you search for this—this object. Come. We must alert the other Heads of Houses. You’d better put that Cloak back on.”
She marched toward the door and as she did so, she raised her wand. From the tip burst four silver cats with spectacle markings around their eyes. The Patronuses ran sleekly ahead, filling the spiral staircase with silver light as Professor McGonagall, Harry, and Luna hurried back down.
Along the corridors they raced and one by one the Patronuses left them. They had descended two more floors when another set of quiet footsteps joined theirs. Harry, whose scar was still prickling, felt for the Map in his pocket but before he could take it out, Professor McGonagall seemed to become aware of their company. She halted and raised her wand, ready to duel, and said, “Who’s there?”
“It is I,” A low voice answered.
From behind a suit of armor stepped Severus Snape.
Hatred boiled up within Harry at the sight of him. He had forgotten the details of Snape’s appearance due to the magnitude of his crimes. His greasy black hair fell lank to his shoulders around his thin face—far thinner now than Harry had ever seen it. His black eyes had a cold, dead look that sent a shiver down Harry’s spine with its familiarity. Snape’s eyes looked exactly as Regulus Black’s eyes had in Sirius’ memory in the Pensieve…
Snape was dressed in his usual black cloak and he too was holding his wand aloft, ready for a fight.
“Where are the Carrows?” Snape asked quietly.
“Wherever you told them to be, I expect, Severus,” Professor McGonagall said.
Snape stepped nearer, and his dead eyes flitted over Professor McGonagall into the air around her, as if he knew Harry was there…Harry held up his wand too, ready to attack. He wanted to send for Sirius and Remus, but he couldn’t send a Patronus message…
“I was under the impression,” Snape said, “that Alecto apprehended an intruder.” Snape made a slight flexing movement of his left arm, where the Dark Mark was branded into his skin.
“I did not know it was your night to patrol corridors, Minerva,” he said.
“You have some objection?”
“I wonder what could have brought you out of your bed at this late hour?”
“I thought I heard a disturbance.”
“Really? But all seems calm,” Snape said, and then looked into her eyes, “Have you seen Harry Potter, Minerva? Because if you have, I must insist—”
Professor McGonagall moved faster than Harry could have believed: her wand slashed through the air and for a split second Harry thought that Snape must crumple, unconscious, but the swiftness of his Shield Charm was such that Professor McGonagall was thrown off balance. She brandished her wand at a torch on the wall and it flew out of its bracket just as Harry was about to curse Snape—he was forced to pull Luna out of the way of the flames, which became a ring of fire that filled the corridor and flew like a lasso at Snape—
But then it was no longer fire but a great black serpent that Professor McGonagall blasted to smoke, which re-formed and solidified in seconds to become a swarm of pursuing daggers; Snape avoided them by forcing the suit of armor in front of him, and with echoing clangs the daggers, sank one after another into the iron breastplate—
“Minerva!” A voice that Harry had only ever heard cry out on the Quidditch pitch shouted, and looking behind him, Harry saw Madam Hooch, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Sprout sprinting up the corridor in their nightclothes, with Professor Slughorn panting along behind them.
“NO!” Professor Flitwick squealed, raising his wand, “You will do no more murder at Hogwarts!”
Flitwick’s spell hit the suit of armor behind which Snape had taken shelter and with a clatter, it came to life. Snape struggled free of the crushing arms and sent it flying back to his attackers—Harry and Luna had to dive out of the way as it smashed into the wall and shattered. When Harry looked up again, Snape was in full flight; McGonagall, Hooch, Flitwick, and Sprout thundering after him.
Snape hurtled through a classroom door and moments later Harry heard Professor McGonagall cry, “Coward! COWARD!”
“What’s happened? What’s happened?” Luna asked.
Harry dragged her to her feet and they raced along the corridor, trailing the Invisibility Cloak behind them into the deserted classroom where McGonagall, Hooch, Flitwick, and Sprout were standing at a smashed window.
“He jumped,” Professor McGonagall said.
“You mean he’s dead?” Harry sprinted to the window, ignoring Hooch’s, Flitwick’s, and Sprout’s yelps of shock at his sudden appearance.
“No,” Professor McGonagall said bitterly, “Unlike Dumbledore, he was still carrying a wand. And…he seems to have learnt a few tricks from his Master.”
With a tingle of horror, Harry saw in the distant night sky a huge bat-like shape flying through the darkness toward the perimeter wall.
There were heavy footfalls behind them, and a great deal of puffing as Slughorn caught up.
“Our Headmaster is taking a break,” Professor McGonagall said, turning to Slughorn.
“Professor!” Harry shouted, his hands on his forehead. He could see the Inferi-filled lake beneath him, and he felt the ghostly green boat bump into the underground shore, and Voldemort leapt from it with murder in his heart—
“Professor, we’ve got to barricade the school, he’s coming now!”
“Very well,” Professor McGonagall said, turning to the other teachers, “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is coming.”
Hooch nodded, looking determined; Sprout and Flitwick gasped; Slughorn let out a low groan.
“Potter has work to do on Dumbledore’s orders. He says the Order is on their way—some are already here—and we need to put in place every protection of which we are capable while Potter does what he needs to do. I suggest we put up basic protection around the place, then gather the students and meet in the Great Hall. Most must be evacuated, thought if any of those over age wish to stay and fight, I think they ought to be given the chance.”
“Agreed,” Professor Sprout said, already hurrying toward the door, “I shall meet you in the Great Hall in twenty minutes with my House.” And as she jogged out of sight, they could hear her muttering, “Tentacula…Devil’s Snare…and Snargaluff Pods…yes, I’d like to see the Death Eaters fighting those…”
Madam Hooch turned to Professor McGonagall and Harry noted with curiousity a grim look of understanding pass between each of them before Madam Hooch turned on her heel and followed Professor Sprout, calling over her shoulder, “Bludgers! The whole lot of ‘em! And Charmed Quaffles and Broomsticks—”
“I can act from here,” Professor Flitwick said, pointing his wand through the smashed window and muttering incantations of great complexity.
Harry approached the Charms Master, “Professor, I’m sorry to interrupt, but this is important. Have you got any idea where the diadem of Ravenclaw is? Have you seen it?”
“Protego Horribilis—the diadem of Ravenclaw?” Flitwick squeaked, “Seen it? Nobody in living memory has seen it! Long since lost, boy!”
Harry felt a mixture of desperate disappointment and panic. What, then, was the Horcux?
“We shall meet you and your Ravenclaws in the Great Hall, Filius!” Professor McGonagall said, beckoning her and Luna to follow her.
They had just reached the door when Slughorn rumbled into speech, “My word. What a to-do! He is bound to find a way in, Minerva. Anyone who has tried to delay him will be in most grievous peril—”
“I shall expect you and the Slytherins in the Great Hall in twenty minutes, also,” Professor McGonagall said, “If you wish to leave with your students, we shall not stop you. But if any of you attempt to sabotage our resistance or take up arms against us within this castle, Horace, then we duel to kill.”
“Minerva!” Slughorn cried, aghast.
“The time has come for Slytherin House to decide upon its loyalties,” Professor McGonagall said, “Go and wake your students, Horace.”
Harry and Luna ran after Professor McGonagall, who had taken up a position in the middle of the corridor and raised her wand.
“Piertotum—oh, for Merlin’s sake, Filch, not now!”
The aged caretaker had just come hobbling into view, shouting, “Students! Students in the corridors!”
“They’re supposed to be, you blithering idiot!” Professor McGonagall shouted, “Now go and do something constructive. Find Peeves!”
“P-Peeves?” Filch stammered.
“Yes, Peeves, you fool! Peeves! Haven’t you been complaining about him for a quarter of a century? Go and fetch him, at once!”
Filch evidently thought Professor McGonagall had gone round the twist, but he hobbled away, muttering under his breath.
“And now—Piertotum Locomotor!” Professor McGonagall cried.
And all along the corridor the statues and suits of armor jumped down from their plinths, and from the echoing crashes on the floors above and below, Harry knew that their fellows throughout the castle had done the same.
“Hogwarts is threatened!” Professor McGonagall shouted, “Man the boundaries, protect us, and do your duty to our school!”
Clattering and yelling, the horde of moving statues stampeded past Harry. There were animals too, and the clanking suits of arms brandished their swords and spiked balls on chains.
“Now, Potter,” Professor McGonagall said, “You and Miss Lovegood had better return to your friends and bring them to the Great Hall—I shall rouse the other Gryffindors.”
They parted at the top of the next staircase. Harry and Luna ran back toward the concealed entrance to the Room of Requirement. As they ran, they past crowds of students, most wearing traveling cloaks over their pajamas.
“That was Potter!”
“Harry Potter!”
"It was him; I swear, I just saw him!”
But Harry did not look back, and at last they reached the entrance to the hidden room. Harry leaned against the enchanted wall, which opened to admit them, and he and Luna sped down the staircase.
As the room came into view, Harry stared at the crowd that now packed the room. Sirius and Remus were looking up at him, and behind them were Kingsley, Sturgis, Tonks, Ted, Ayala, and Diana, as well as Oliver Wood, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, Bill and Fleur Weasley, and Molly and Arthur Weasley.
“Harry, what’s been happening?” Sirius said, meeting Harry at the foot of the stairs.
“Voldemort’s on his way now, the teachers are barricading the school, Snape’s run for it—” Sirius growled so loudly at this, Harry didn't try to continue to speak over it.
“What first, Harry?” George called, “What’s going on?”
“They’re evacuating the younger kids and everyone’s meeting in the Great Hall in twenty minutes,” Harry said, “We’re fighting.”
There was another great roar and a surge toward the foot of stairs and Harry fell back against Sirius’ chest as the mingled members of the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore’s Army, all with their wands drawn, headed up the staircase.
“Come on, Luna,” Neville called as he passed, holding out his hand; she took it and followed him up the stairs.
The crowd was thinning, only a small group of people remained now in the Room of Requirement. Sirius put his hands on Harry’s shoulders, steering him toward where Remus stood beside Molly, who was struggling with Ginny. Arthur, Fred, George, Bill, and Fleur hovered.
“You’re underage!” Molly shouted at her daughter, “I won’t permit it! The boys, yes, but you, you’ve got to go home!”
“I won’t!” Ginny’s hair flew as she pulled her arm out of her mother’s grip, “I’m in Dumbledore’s Army—”
“You’re sixteen!” Molly shouted, “She’s not old enough! What you two were thinking, bringing her with you—”
Fred and George blanched a bit.
“I can’t go home!” Ginny shouted, “My whole family is here, I can’t stand waiting there alone and not knowing and—” her eyes met Harry’s for the first time. She looked at him beseechingly and Harry opened his mouth—
There was scuffling and a thump: someone else had clambered out of the tunnel, overbalanced slightly, and fallen. He pulled himself up on the nearest chair, looked around through lopsided horn-rimmed glasses and said, “Am I too late? Has it started? I only just found out, so I…I…”
Percy Weasley sputtered into silence. Evidently, he had not expected to run into most of his family.
Fleur turned to Remus and said with a wildly transparent attempt to break the tension, “So—‘ow iz leetle Teddy? I mizz ‘em!”
Remus blinked at her, momentarily startled. The silence among the Weasley’s seemed to be solidifying like ice.
“Oh—yes, he’s fine!” Remus said loudly, and Sirius bowed his head, his shoulders shaking with the effort of holding in his laughter as Remus continued, uncharacteristically unsettled, “He’s with Andy at Headquarters!”
Percy and the other Weasley’s were still staring at one another, frozen.
“I’ve a drawing of his,” Remus shouted, pulling out the piece of parchment from his trouser pocket and showing it to Fleur and Harry, who each saw a scribbled drawing of white-blonde-haired Fleur and turquoise-haired Teddy playing in a tree-filled park.
“I was a fool!” Percy roared, so loudly that Remus nearly dropped Teddy's drawing, “I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I was a—a—”
“Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron,” Fred said.
Percy swallowed, “Yes, I was!”
“Well, you can’t say fairer than that,” Fred said, holding out his hand to Percy.
Sirius crossed his arms and grinned wickedly.
Molly burst into tears. She ran forward, pushed Fred aside, and pulled Percy into a strangling hug while he patted her on the back, his eyes on his father.
“I’m sorry, Dad,” Percy said.
Arthur blinked rather rapidly, then he hurried to hug his son.
“Well, we do look to our Prefects to take the lead in times such as these,” George said in a good imitation of Percy’s pompous manner, “Now, let’s go upstairs and fight, or all the good Death Eaters will be taken.”
“So, you’re my sister-in-law now?” Percy said, shaking hands with Fleur as they hurried off toward the staircase with Bill, Fred, and George.
“Ginny!” Molly barked.
Ginny had been attempting, under cover of the reconciliation, to sneak upstairs too.
“Molly,” Remus said, having recovered his composure, “Why doesn’t Ginny stay here, then at least she’ll be on the scene and know what’s going on, but she won’t be in the middle of the fighting?”
“That’s a good idea,” Arthur said, “Ginny, stay in this room, you hear me?”
Ginny did not seem to like the idea much, but under her father’s unusually stern gaze, she nodded. Arthur, Molly, Sirius, and Remus headed for the stairs as well.
“Where’s Ron?” Harry asked them as he followed, “Where’s Hermione?”
“They said something about a bathroom,” Sirius called over his shoulder, “not long after you left.”
“Bathroom—?”
But then Harry’s scar seared and the staircase leading out of the Room of Requirement vanished. He was looking through the high wrought-iron gates with winged boars on the pillars at either side, looking through the dark grounds toward the castle, which was ablaze with lights. Nagini lay draped over his shoulders, and he was possessed of that cold, cruel sense of purpose that preceded murder.