Muggle | 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑊𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

Chapter 37

I jumped abruptly off the stairs and Fred followed my action, nervously placing the Extendable Ears back in his pockets.

     "Lexi —"

     "–I'm fine. It's fine." I breathed heavily a few times. "What they said – it's not true. How can it? It's not possible. I can't be related to a Black. There is no Black in our family."

     Then why did Kreacher bow and obey you? a nasty voice said in my head, but I shook the thought away.

     "Well..." Fred hesitated at first.

     "What? Tell me." I insisted.

     "Well, today at lunch when I payed attention to Sirius, I did see... you know... a few similarities."

     "What?"

     Seeing the shocked look on my face, Fred quickly said, "But so what? I bet there are a thousand people out there with the same color and shape of eyes as you. It doesn't mean anything."

I hesitated at first. My father was an orphan. For all I knew, he could be related to the Black family.

But then I shook my head, remembering that Dumbledore had done his inquiries and had said that the name Hooper didn't trace back to any magical families.

     "Then how did he know my mother's name?" I frowned.

     "Just a lucky guess," Fred shrugged. "Lisa's a common name. It's the first name that will come to my mind if you asked for a girl name that starts with L."

     I folded my arms and raised a brow playfully, "What about Lexi?"

     "Who's Lexi?" Fred said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin.

     I shook my head in disbelief and chuckled before leaping forward and kissing him out of the blue, catching him off guard.

     It took him a few seconds to come to himself and realize what was happening, but then Fred closed his eyes as well and melted into the kiss, wrapping his arms around my waist as mine were around his neck.

     I never noticed how tall he actually was until I had to stand on my tiptoes to be able to connect our lips together.

     But then we abruptly jerked away from each other when we heard someone clearing their throat.

     Looking behind us, we saw George leaning against their door frame, his arms folded as he grinned at us.

     "Get a room, you two," he said teasingly, making us chuckle and step apart.

***

We were so tired that we all fell asleep immediately when we returned to our own rooms. But I was shook awake by Mrs. Weasley not too long after.

     "Lexi, dear," she called out quietly above me, trying not to wake Ginny and Hermione up. "The meeting's about to start. Dumbledore wants to talk to you before it begins. He's waiting for you downstairs."

     By those words, I forced myself up and yawned, following Mrs. Weasley downstairs.

     She then led me into the same parlor that Fred and I had been in a few hours ago, where Dumbledore was alone and was pacing around with his hands behind his back.

     "Professor?" I knocked on the open door, making him turn around and face me, smiling. "You wanted to see me?"

     "Yes, of course, Miss Hooper," he said kindly, his eyes twinkling down at me. "Please come in and close the door behind you."

     I did as asked and sat on the couch on which he gestured me to and he sat down on the one before me.

     "Professor, I wanted to ask you something," I said, but before I could wait for his reply, I went on, "Earlier this week when we were going to the Burrow from Kings' Cross, I was able to see the Knight B–"

     "–Miss Hooper, I beg you to pardon me for my interruption," said Dumbledore patiently, "but there are more important matters that we must attend to first. Perhaps that can wait?"

    I nodded, trying to hide my disappointment.

     "We need all the help that we can get from you," he said. "Nothing specific. Nothing about things that might change our perspective towards our future. Just tell us the small details that went wrong. Only answer once I've asked for your opinion. Can I have your word?"

     Once I nodded fervently, he smiled at me again and led me out of rhe parlor towards where the meeting was being held.

     Everyone was there; Professor McGonagall, Snape, Moody, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, and even Madam Maxime and Hagrid, along with so many others that I didn't recognize.

     I sat down in a far corner, trying to avoid everyone's eyes on me.They all kept throwing me weird glances every now and then.

     "Kinglsey, Arthur," Dumbledore called upon them. "Any news from the ministry?"

     "They are still trying their best to hush it all up," said Mr. Weasley. "They're even talking about taking away your Order of Merlin, First Class, Dumbledore, if you don't stop."

     "Well," Dumbledore started brightly, "I don't care what they do as long as they don't take me off the Chocolate Frog cards."

     Bill and Charlie sniggered, but it was obvious that others were more concerned.

     "We have a few new members joining from the Auror department," said Kingsley. "We can trust them all."

     "Good, good," Dumbledore nodded before turning to Elphias Doge and Mundungus Fletcher. "I want you two to watch over Harry over the next few weeks. I want exact reports on anything irregular and you are not to leave your post at all unless there's someone else to fill in for you."

     I opened my mouth to tell him it was a terrible idea to put Mundungus for the job; because I knew he would get distracted and leave his post right before Dementors were going to attack Harry.

     But I closed my mouth and decided to remain quiet, knowing that Dumbledore had ordered me to talk only once he had asked me to.

     He then turned to Madam Maxime and Hagrid. "Any news on the Giant Colony?"

     "They live in minsk, Professor. But that's all we could figure out 'till now," said Hagrid.

     "Very well," Dumbledore nodded. "I want you to go to them right after this meeting. Bring them gifts and go with peace. Don't travel by magic; it will allow Death Eaters to track you that way. What do you have to say on the matter, Miss Hooper? Anything we must know?"

     Suddenly, all eyes turned on me and all I wanted to do was crawl down the table and disappear.

     But I just cleared my throat and said plainly, "It's not going to work."

     Everyone's glances became more serious as they stared at me. "Now why is that? What goes wrong?" Dumbledore asked.

      "I-I don't remember precisely," I started, "but I know that their leader will accept their offers at first. But after a few days, Death Eaters will show up and kill their leader. Their next leader, however, will be more interested in what Lord Voldemort has to offer."

     Some shuddered at the name and some were looking at me curiously, but none more than Sirius, whose eyes were piercing through mine, as if there was something in them he couldn't understand.