Jupiter | Harry James Potter

lxi ; luna lovegood

    "Oi! You lot better hurry up, Mum's going ballistic, she says we're going to miss the train!"

Jupiter and Harry quickly woke up and scrambled at out of the bed as Ron stood in front of them, already fully dressed. "C'mon, mate," Ron said, leaving the room and Jupiter watched Harry's hand rush to his forehead as he hurriedly followed him out.

There was a lot of commotion in the house. From what Jupiter heard as she dressed at top speed, she gathered that Fred and George had bewitched their trunks to fly downstairs to save the bother of carrying them, with the result that they had hurtled straight into Ginny and knocked her down two flights of stairs into the hall; Mrs. Black and Mrs. Weasley were both screaming at the top of their voices.

"— COULD HAVE DONE HER A SERIOUS INJURY, YOU IDIOTS —"

"— FILTHY HALF-BREEDS, BESMIRCHING THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS —"

"WILL YOU LOT GET DOWN HERE NOW, PLEASE!" Mrs. Weasley bellowed after a moment, and Jupiter jumped as though scalded and hurried out of the room, carrying her trunk behind her.

She reached the staircase at the same time as Harry, Ron and Hermione, who all looked equally flustered as they went down them. Walburga's portrait was howling with rage but nobody was bothering to close the curtains over her; all the noise in the hall was bound to rouse her again anyway.

"Harry, Jove, you're to come with me and Tonks," shouted Mrs. Weasley over the repeated screeches of "MUDBLOODS! SCUM! CREATURES OF DIRT !"

"What, why?" Jupiter asked, her voice raising to be heard over all of the chaos.

"We're to have a guard come with us," Harry muttered in her ear angrily, causing Jupiter's mouth to fall open.

Before she could argue in defiance, Mrs. Weasley butt in. "Leave your trunk and your owl, Alastor's going to deal with the luggage. . . . Oh, for heaven's sake, Sirius, Dumbledore said no!"

A bearlike black dog had appeared at Jupiter's side as she and Harry clambered over the various trunks cluttering the hall to get to Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh honestly . . ." said Mrs. Weasley despairingly, "well, on your own head be it!"

She wrenched open the front door and stepped out into the weak September sunlight. Harry, Jupiter and the dog followed her. The door slammed behind them and Walburga's screeches were cut off instantly.

"Where's Tonks?" Harry said, looking around as they went down the stone steps of number twelve, which vanished the moment they reached the pavement.

"She's waiting for us just up here," said Mrs. Weasley stiffly, averting her eyes from the lolloping black dog beside Jupiter.

An old woman greeted them on the corner. She had tightly curled gray hair and wore a purple hat shaped like a porkpie.

"Wotcher," she said, winking. "Better hurry up, hadn't we, Molly?" she added, checking her watch.

"I know, I know," moaned Mrs. Weasley, lengthening her stride, "but Mad-Eye wanted to wait for Sturgis. . . . If only Arthur could have got us cars from the Ministry again . . . but Fudge wouldn't let him borrow so much as an empty ink bottle these days. . . . How Muggles can stand traveling without magic . . ."

But the great black dog gave a joyful bark and gamboled around them, snapping at pigeons, and chasing its own tail. Jupiter couldn't help laughing. Sirius had been trapped inside for a very long time.