Splintered Flames

Chapter 5

The shock of losing Mad-Eye hung over the house in the days that followed; I kept expecting to see him stumping in through the back door like the other Order members, who passed in and out to relay news. I felt that nothing but action would assuage my feelings of guilt and grief and that we ought to set out on our 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 Hermione's been doing a bit of research with Lyra," said Ron. "She said she was saving it for when you got here."

We were sitting at the breakfast table; Mr. Weasley and Bill had just left for work. Mrs. Weasley had gone upstairs to wake Hermione, Lyra and Ginny, while Fleur had drifted off to take a bath. Oliver had been ordered rest for the day in bed.

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

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

I understood "they" to mean Fleur and Mrs. Weasley.

"It's one extra day," said Ron, when we 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 us.

"Mum's been trying to get it out of Hermione, Lyra and me. What we're off to do. She'll try you next, so brace yourselves. Dad and Lupin've both asked as well, but when we said Dumbleodre told you not to tell anyone except us, they dropped it. Not Mum, though. She's determined. Oliver's so lucky to be hurt and bedridden right now."

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. He returned quickly after and then I was called to check on my wound. Once she had me cornered in the tiny scullery off the kitchen, she started.

"All of the others seem to think that the six of you are dropping out of Hogwarts," she began in a light, casual tone.

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

I winced as Mrs Weasley added another layers of healing cream onto my vanishing wound, Oliver had done a good start but it still hadn't healed fully.

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

"Well, Dumbledore left me and Harry... stuff to do," I mumbled. "Lyra, Ron, Oliver 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. I had been afraid of the "concerned parent" attack.

"Dumbledore didn't want anyone else to know, Mrs. Weasley. I'm sorry. The others don't have to come, it's their choice -"

"I don't see that you and Harry have to go either!" she snapped, dropping all pretense now. "You're barely of age, any of you! It's utter nonsense, if Dumbledore needed work doing, he had the whole Order at his command! Melissa, you must have misunderstood him. Probably he was telling you something he wanted done, and you took it to mean that he wanted you -"