Chasing the Chaser - Molly and Arthur

7

Arthur Weasley was fleeing again, this time from the library where he might have accidentally just confessed to Molly Prewett. He was following James Potter and Sirius Black as they dashed through what looked like a solid wall. The lads had been trying to be sneaky but couldn't seem to keep from laughing too loudly.

As he emerged on the other side of the false wall, Arthur staggered, scuffing his feet against the dusty stone floors of a secret passage where Filch had never mopped.

James and Sirius were not laughing anymore, both of them gaping at Arthur. James was scrambling to fold up a large parchment while Sirius jammed a quill into his pocket in a frantic hurry.

"Weasley!" Sirius said. "How did you – you didn't follow us in here, did you?"

Arthur nodded, squinting in the dim blue light. "Blimey. I heard the castle had passage ways. You found this yourself, lads?"

"No, no," Remus Lupin said, rushing in behind them. "We're just after our runaway pet rat."

"That's right!" Sirius said, pouncing on the excuse. "Wormy, old boy, Weasley's here, with those huge feet! Don't let him tread on you!"

"He's quite the explorer, our Wormtail," James took it up, unable to resist bragging, even when they were caught at something. "They say no one's been in the dungeons but Slytherins in hundreds of years but, I wouldn't put it past our Wormy to know every nook and cranny."

"That's a valuable familiar. Shall I help you find him then?" Arthur offered, eager to distract himself and ever curious. He looked over the lads' heads, shifting on his feet as if to set off into the depth of the castle himself. "How far does this passage go, anyway?"

"You can't!" said Sirius, hopping in Arthur's path.

"Why ever not?" he asked.

From behind Arthur, Remus bugged his eyes and shrugged. They had to get him out of there in case Peter came back from scouting for the map and slipped out of the rat form. He was not yet expert in holding onto it. If he slipped in front of Weasley, all their secrets might be revealed.

"Ha!" James burst. He had it. "Don't tell me you came through the wall with your wand still in your pocket, Weasley. We all knew to leave ours in the dorm."

Arthur felt for his wand. Yes, he had it.

James shook his head. "Sorry to tell you this, mate, but there's magical interference in the passage entrance."

"That's right," Sirius said, catching on. "Any wand that passes through is untrustworthy for about 24 hours afterward. Trust me, we learned that the hard way."

"Yeah," Remus said. "If I was you, I wouldn't use that on any spell that has to do with a living body for at least 24 hours. No healing or disillusioning or apparating – "

"Or disapparating," Sirius finished.

"And the interference gets worse the longer you leave a wand back here," James added. "I reckon if you don't leave in the next ten seconds, that wand will make a mess of anything NOT living too. Imagine that, no use of a wand at all for 24 hours."

Arthur inspected his wand, frowning. "You're having me on."

They were all speaking at once, pledging their sincerity and edging toward him, crowding Arthur back toward the passage entrance.

Before he realized what had happened, Arthur was back in the corridor. He raised his hand to the stone wall and found it solid again, as if the passage was never there. Those mad third years...

Shrugging, he tucked his wand into his pocket and went to dinner resolved to sit right below the teachers' dais where no one ever wanted to be. He'd eat as quick as he could and be gone so Molly wouldn't be put off by the sight of him and skip another meal. If she skipped too many, her cheeks might lose that apple-y look, and she might lose some of that bounce, that adorable wobble when she went flouncing around.