Charlotte Weasley

Chapter 6 - A Nighttime Visitor

Charlotte was gifted, and in some cases cursed, with a heightened sense of hearing. Many days, this came to great use and she could overhear conversations that she wasn't meant to hear. Tonight, however, it provided her with a nuisance and an inability to fall back asleep. 

Four floors below her, someone had just entered the house, and Charlotte could hear the creaking floorboards all the way up in her bedroom. She had been deep asleep as well, dreaming lovely dreams about being sorted into Gryffindor, winning the house cup, and one day convincing the Minister of Magic to reinstate the Triwizard tournament-- and her winning that too. But it was all cut short by the scratching noises of rough boots on the worn cobblestones and wooden planks and then followed by the indistinguishable mutterings of a conversation that the newcomer wanted to keep unknown. 

Since Charlotte was already wide awake, she decided to do what any other Weasley in her family would have done at her age-- find out what they were talking about. Perhaps it pertained to the secret meeting that herself and Victoire had witnessed earlier in the night. 

Charlotte quietly slipped out of the bedroom, pausing only when her door gave a loud (for this time of night) creak. When Victoire didn't wake up, Charlotte made her way carefully down the stairs, skipping over the particularly creaky stairs. When she was just above the first floor, she could make out two figures talking quietly through the bars of the banister. 

One was clearly Harry and the other she couldn't quite pinpoint. When he shifted his head, however, the light made his strikingly blonde hair glint. 

"So, who showed up?" Harry asked, his voice betraying a hint of anxiety. 

"Well, as you know, the majority of the Death Eaters were imprisoned directly after the wizarding war. So that's the worrying part." The other said, wringing his hands.

"You don't mean to say... They can't have." Harry said resolutely.

"That's what I thought as well but they were there." 

"But we would have heard! I would have been the first to hear about a break out!" Harry's voice got louder but then he quieted down, remembering there were other people in the house. "So who was there."

"The Carrows, Dolohov, Augustus Rookwood, and they spoke of others. So there must be more." 

"How did we let this happen..." Harry spoke his thoughts aloud. "We must get the Aurors onto them immediately. Put them back into Azkaban before anyone finds out."

"I'll advise that is a bad idea. We have to figure out how they escaped first before we put them back in there. If we imprison them again without any clue how they escaped the first time, they'll just do it again. And then they'll also know there is a mole, and I will be their first suspect. It's better to just have some select Aurors do some background stuff; tail them discreetly, and try to figure out how they escaped. We can't let Skeeter get ahold of this one."

Harry took in what the stranger said. "That's a good point. Okay, we must keep this completely under wraps. If the public finds out that there was a mass breakout from Azkaban.. It'll be hopeless. As for the Aurors, we should have the members of the Order do it. We can't risk there being a mole amongst our own."

The stranger nodded, turning back towards the door. 

Harry put his hand on his shoulder and he turned back around, the light hitting his face so that it came into view. "Thank you, Malfoy. I know this information comes at great personal risk."

Charlotte had heard the name Malfoy many times and had even met him on a few occasions. She was shocked that she hadn't recognized the white-blonde hair-- he was the only one she knew with hair like that. Except perhaps Luna. 

"Not a problem, Harry." And then he left, apparating into the night. 

Harry sat down at the table and poured himself a cup of tea attempting to soak the information in. Charlotte was equally as shocked, she didn't understand all  of it but she knew that a mass breakout of Death Eaters from the supposed inescapable Azkaban was not good news.