Grindelwald's Burden (Books 1-7)

121. The Ghoul in Pyjama's

The shock of losing Mad-Eye hung over the house in the days that followed. Harry kept expecting to see him stumping in through the back door like the other Order members, who passed in and out to relay news. Harry felt that nothing but action would assuage his feelings of guilt and grief and that he ought to set out on his mission to find and destroy Horcruxes as soon as possible.

"Well, you can't do anything about the..." Ron mouthed the word Horcruxes. "Till you're seventeen. You've still got the Trace on you. And we can plan here as well as anywhere, can't we? Or..." he dropped his voice to a whisper. "d'you reckon you already know where the You-Know-Whats are?"

"No." Harry admitted.

"I think Y/n and Hermione have been doing a bit of research." said Ron. "She said they were saving it for when you got here."

They were sitting at the breakfast table, Mr. Weasley and Bill had just left for work. Mrs. Weasley had gone upstairs to wake Hermione, Y/n and Ginny, while Fleur had drifted off to take a bath.

"The Trace'll break on the thirty-first." said Harry. "That means I only need to stay here four days. Then I can..."

"Five days." Ron corrected him firmly. "We've got to stay for the wedding. They'll kill us if we miss it."

Harry understood 'they' to mean Fleur and Mrs. Weasley.

"It's one extra day." said Ron, when Harry looked mutinous.

"Don't they realize how important..."

"'Course they don't." said Ron. "They haven't got a clue. And now you mention it, I wanted to talk to you about that."

Ron glanced toward the door into the hall to check that Mrs. Weasley was not returning yet, then leaned in closer to Harry.

"Mum's been trying to get it out of Hermione, Y/n and me. What we're off to do. She'll try you next, so brace yourself. Dad and Lupin've both asked as well, but when we said Dumbledore told you not to tell anyone except us, they dropped it. Not Mum, though. She's determined."

Ron's prediction came true within hours. Shortly before lunch, Mrs. Weasley detached Harry from the others by asking him to help identify a lone man's sock that she thought might have come out of his rucksack. Once she had him cornered in the tiny scullery off the kitchen, she started.

"Ron, Y/n and Hermione seem to think that the four of you are dropping out of Hogwarts." she began in a light, casual tone.

"Oh." said Harry. "Well, yeah. We are."

The mangle turned of its own accord in a corner, wringing out what looked like one of Mr. Weasley's vests.

"May I ask why you are abandoning your education?" said Mrs. Weasley.

"Well, Y/n's finished his education technically..." Harry started as he remembered only a few days before when Y/n's N.E.W.T results arrived by owl. Hermione had nervously paced the kitchen as Y/n kept them all in suspense before revealing he had passed every exam with top marks. "And Dumbledore left me...stuff to do." mumbled Harry. "Ron, Y/n and Hermione know about it, and they want to come too."

"What sort of 'stuff'?"

"I'm sorry, I can't..."

"Well, frankly, I think Arthur and I have a right to know, and I'm sure Mr. and Mrs. Granger would agree!" said Mrs. Weasley. Harry had been afraid of the 'concerned parent' attack. He forced himself to look directly into her eyes, noticing as he did so that they were precisely the same shade of brown as Ginny's. This did not help.