Emma Potter; Going to War

8: Events Explained [Pt.2]

I did not look at Mrs. Weasley. I had been touched by what shehad said about us being as good as children, but U was also impatient ather mollycoddling. . . . Sirius was right, we were not children. 

"Very well," said Mrs. Weasley, her voice cracking. "Ginny —Ron — Hermione — Fred — George — I want you out of thiskitchen, now." 

There was instant uproar. 

"We're of age!" Fred and George bellowed together.

 "If Harry and Emma're allowed, why can't I?" shouted Ron.

 "Mum, I want to!" wailed Ginny. 

"NO!" shouted Mrs. Weasley, standing up, her eyes overbright. "Iabsolutely forbid —"

 "Molly, you can't stop Fred and George," said Mr. Weasley wearily."They are of age —"

 "They're still at school —" 

"But they're legally adults now," said Mr. Weasley in the same tiredvoice. 

Mrs. Weasley was now scarlet in the face."I — oh, all right then, Fred and George can stay, but Ron —" 

"Harry and Emma will tell me and Hermione everything you say anyway!" saidRon hotly. "Won't — won't you?" he added uncertainly, meeting our eyes. 

For a split second, I considered telling Ron that we wouldn'ttell him a single word, that he could try a taste of being kept in thedark and see how he liked it. But the nasty impulse vanished as we looked at each other.

 " 'Course we will," Harry said. Ron and Hermione beamed.

 "Fine!" shouted Mrs. Weasley. "Fine! Ginny — BED!" 

Ginny did not go quietly. We could hear her raging and stormingat her mother all the way up the stairs, and when she reached the hallMrs. Black's earsplitting shrieks were added to the din. Lupin hurriedoff to the portrait to restore calm. It was only after he had returned,closing the kitchen door behind him and taking his seat at the tableagain, that Sirius spoke. 

"Okay, Harry, Emma . . . what do you want to know?" 

I took a deep breath and asked the question that had been obsessing us for a month."Where's Voldemort? What's he doing? we've been trying to watchthe Muggle news," I said, ignoring the renewed shudders and wincesat the name, "and there hasn't been anything that looks like him yet,no funny deaths or anything —" 

"That's because there haven't been any suspicious deaths yet," saidSirius, "not as far as we know, anyway. . . . And we know quite a lot."

 "More than he thinks we do anyway," said Lupin. 

"How come he's stopped killing people?" I asked. I knewthat Voldemort had murdered more than once in the last year alone.

 "Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself at the moment," said Sirius. "It would be dangerous for him. His comebackdidn't come off quite the way he wanted it to, you see. He messed itup."

 "Or rather, you both messed it up for him," said Lupin with a satisfiedsmile.

 "How?" Harry asked perplexedly. 

"You weren't supposed to survive!" said Sirius. "Nobody apart fromhis Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But you both survived to bear witness." 

"And the very last person he wanted alerted to his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore," said Lupin. "And you both made sureDumbledore knew at once." 

"How has that helped?" Harry asked. 

"Are you kidding?" said Bill incredulously. "Dumbledore was theonly one You-Know-Who was ever scared of!"