Prankster's Champion - A Harry Potter Fanfiction

Chapter Four

The morning of departure was odd. Not only was Magnus used to quick and easy travel from his home to the train platform, but the instant he was awake he could feel that he wasn't too happy to be leaving the Burrow. Of course he loved Hogwarts, what wasn't even a question, but the Burrow had been so warm and welcoming since he'd gotten there. He could feel the gloom from the others as well as he headed down the stairs with the other boys.

They had just gotten to the first story balcony when Mrs. Weasley yelled up from the base of the stairs. "Arthur! Urgent message from the Ministry!" Magnus blinked a few times before having to step aside quickly to let Arthur pass as he came rushing down the stairs with robes on backwards. Magnus found himself standing rather close to George once Arthur had passed and had to jump to the side before his cheeks could heat up too much.

Once in the kitchen, they were all watching as Molly went rummaging through drawers, talking about having a quill somewhere, while Arthur had bent down over a fire and was talking to something in it. It wasn't exactly a surprise to Magnus, but he glanced at Harry to see the bewilderment on the boy's face and he couldn't help but chuckle. Magnus turned his eyes back towards the adults, focusing on the conversation Arthur was having, with a head that looked like Amos Diffory in the flames.

"Muggle neighbors heard bangs and shouting, so they went and called those what-d'you-call-'ems, please-men. Arthur, you've got to get over there-"

"Here!" Molly pushed some things for Arthur to write with over to him, breathless from the hurry to try and find it all. In her rush she'd partly crushed the quill too.

"-it's a real stroke of luck I heard about it. I had to come into the office early to send a couple of owls, and I found the Improper Use of Magic lot all setting off- if Rita Skeeter gets hold of this one, Arthur-" Amos was talking so quickly it was sort of hard to understand him from so far back, but Magnus continued listening.

"What does Mad-eye say happened?" The name Arthur mentioned sounded familiar to Magnus, and he started thinking on it, not quite catching half of what Arthur and Amos were talking about once he had turned to his thoughts instead. He was snapped out of thinking once Arthur moved, and he heard the man calling hurried farewells. A few minutes later Arthur was back in the kitchen, robes on right and now combing his hair. "I'd better hurry, you have a good term, boys."

After a quick word with Molly, Arthur disapparated out of the kitchen, just as Bill and Charlie entered the kitchen. "Did someone say Mad-Eye?" Bill asked. "What's he been up to now?"

Molly had caught her breath by now, "he says someone tried to break into his house last night."

"Mad-Eye Moody?" George had started spreading marmalade on his toast, thinking out loud in a thoughtful voice, "isn't he that nutter-"

"Your father thinks very highly of Mad-Eye Moody," Molly said, a stern tone and slight stare at George.

"Yeah, well, Dad collects plugs, doesn't he?" Fred muttered as Molly left the room, earning a chuckle from Magnus. "Birds of a feather.."

"Moody was a great wizard of his time," Bill said.

"He's an old friend of dumbledore's, isn't he?" Charlie asked.

"Dumbledore's not what you'd call normal, though, is he?" From there, Magnus sort of zoned out as he got his own toast, thinking over where he might have heard Mad-Eye's name before. He shrugged it off finally as just something he'd heard from his parents about the old strange auror.

After a short breakfast, Percy apologizing for not seeing them off to the train, and Molly having braved the muggle telephone, it was time to head to the station. Bill and Charlie had decided to accompany them to the station, so the crowded taxi ride was even more crowded, though the worst part was likely for the poor drivers who had to deal with putting the luggage in their trunks.