𝓘'𝓶 𝓨𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓒𝓪𝓼𝓪𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓪 {𝓗𝓮𝓻𝓶𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓖𝓻𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓻}

34

3rd Person's P.O.V

It was scarcely less gloomy than the hall above, a cavernous room with rough stone walls. Most of the light was coming from a large fire at the far end of the room. A haze of pipe smoke hung in the air like battle fumes, through which loomed the menacing shapes of heavy iron pots and pans hanging from the dark ceiling. Many chairs had been crammed into the room for the meeting and a long wooden table stood in the middle of them, littered with rolls of parchment, goblets, empty wine bottles, and a heap of what appeared to be ragged. Mr. Weasley and his eldest son Bill were talking quietly with their heads together at the end of the table.

Mrs. Weasley cleared her throat. Her husband, a thin, balding, red-haired man who wore horn-rimmed glasses, looked around and jumped to his feet as soon as he saw Harry.

"Harry!" Mr. Weasley said, hurrying forward to greet him, and shaking his hand vigorously. "Good to see you!"

'"Journey all right, Harry?" Bill called, trying to gather up twelve scrolls at once. "Mad-Eye didn't make you come via Greenland, then?"

"He tried," Tonks said, striding over to help Bill and immediately toppling a candle onto the last piece of parchment. "Oh, no-sorry-"

"Here, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, sounding exasperated, and she repaired the parchment with a wave of her wand. In the flash of light caused by Mrs. Weasley's charm, Harry caught a glimpse of what looked like the plan of a building.

"This sort of thing ought to be cleared away promptly at the end of meetings," she snapped, before sweeping off towards an ancient dresser from which she started unloading dinner plates.

Bill took out his wand, muttered, "Evanesce!" and the scrolls vanished.

Chase had taken his seat beside Hermione as all of them took their seats at the table.

"And if you want dinner before midnight I'll need a hand," Mrs. Weasley said to the room at large. "No, you can stay where you are, Harry dear, you've had a long journey-"

"What can I do, Molly?" Tonks said enthusiastically, bounding forwards.

Mrs. Weasley hesitated, looking apprehensive.

"Er-no, it's all right, Tonks, you have a rest too, you've done enough today."

"No, no, I want to help!" Tonks said brightly, knocking over a chair as she hurried towards the dresser, from which Ginny was collecting cutlery.

Soon, a series of heavy knives were chopping meat and vegetables of their own accord, supervised by Mr. Weasley, while Mrs. Weasley stirred a cauldron dangling over the fire and the others took out plates, more goblets, and food from the pantry.

"Fred-George-NO, JUST CARRY THEM!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked.

They looked around and, within a split second, they had dived away from the table. Fred and George had bewitched a large cauldron of stew, an iron flagon of Butterbeer, and a heavy wooden breadboard, complete with knife, to hurtle through the air towards them. The stew skidded the length of the table and came to a halt just before the end, leaving a long black burn on the wooden surface; the flagon of Butterbeer fell with a crash, spilling its contents everywhere; the bread knife slipped off the board and landed, point down and quivering ominously, exactly where Sirius's right hand had been seconds before.

"FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!" Mrs. Weasley screamed. "THERE WAS NO NEED- I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS- JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERY TINY LITTLE THING!"

"We were just trying to save a bit of time!" Fred said, hurrying forward to wrench the bread knife out of the table. "Sorry, Sirius, mate-didn't mean to"