DPASW BOOK FOUR:The Gray's Secret

The Gray's Secret - Chapter 7

“Monsieur Weasley! Monsieur Weasley.”

Arthur Weasley turned in the corridor to find a pair of Wizards who were very obviously French trotting to catch up to him. Well, one of them was trotting. The man who’d called his name looked out of breath to find him, while his partner—a much shorter man with a black moustache—maintained that cool, detached face Mister Weasley had come to associate with wizards from across the channel.

They’d never gotten over the whole, Albion Family Magic Expansion, thing.

“Monsieur Weasley it is so very good to meet you at last,” the first man opined, reaching for his hand and shaking it vigorously. “My name is Louis François Kama. And this is Henri Delacour. We spoke before by owl.”

“Ah, yes!” Arthur returned the shake and beamed. “From the Quidditch Association.”

“La Association Internationale de Quidditch,” Mister Kama corrected, though with no apparent annoyance. “And I congratulate you, Monsieur Weasley, on having such a spectacularly talented daughter.”

“Ah. Yes. Thank you,” Arthur replied reflexively. “Molly and I are very proud of her.”

“As you should be, Monsieur!” The enthusiastic Frenchman put a whole arm around Mister Weasley, causing him to momentarily stiffen before finding himself being led the way he’d originally been going, down the corridor, towards the hearing room.

He tried politely to shrug the arm off, but found his sudden opponent distressingly skilled in the art of social entanglement.

“I remember when I first saw my chérie on a broom, I fell in love at first sight, I tell you! It was like magic!” The wizard continued and by the time they’d reached the door, Arthur had been subjected to a short summary of the man’s love life, his family, his family’s family, and his family’s family’s family. Arthur Weasley knew he had a large family by Magical British standards, but even he was taken aback by the reach the wizard beside him had achieved. That didn’t stop him from wanting to extradite himself from the overly friendly arm still pinning him to the Frenchman’s side.

“Well, thank you for that,” Arthur said quickly, somehow managing to find an opportunistic lull in the very one-sided verbal barrage. “I assume there are no problems with what we discussed? If not I’ll be heading for my seat.”

“Non, Monsieur. No problems at all!” Mister Kama said, finally letting Arthur go, allowing him space to retreat several steps.

“Good,” Arthur replied, now angling himself towards the open chair on the far side of the room. “I’ll just—”

“—Though there was one small thing,” the French official said, almost off-handily.

Arthur hesitated in mid-retreat. “What thing?”

The man ummed and ahhed for a moment before throwing up his hands. “Oh, it’s nothing, I’m sure. Just a small conversation I had with my friend Monsieur Delacour here. Rien d’important.”

“What conversation?” Arthur asked urgently, starting to pivot back around again to face Kama, but was far too late. The man was already in full retreat himself. The more serious-looking Monsieur Delacour had already taken up his seat on the other, other side of the room.

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Kama called out, just as the far-side door opened and Amelia Bones stepped into the room, looking very different than normal in a full judge’s robe along with her monocle.

“Everyone settle down, please!” The witch called out around the space.

There were about three dozen wizards and witches crammed into this room, including the even smaller gallery above. While many people had a passing interest in the proceedings here, the real show was a few rooms down with the basilisk hearing.