He trusted her implicitly, of course, but a promise was a promise. He supposed it was his own way of hanging on to his connection to Dumbledore, but he felt he still needed that. He ran his hand through his tousled hair and groaned.
"Things that bad, are they, lad?" Moody’s voice croaked.
Harry looked up to see the grizzled ex-Auror standing in the doorway, squinting his one good eye as he scrutinized Harry.
"Things could be better," Harry replied wryly.
"Aye, that they could," Moody said, sitting down at the table with Harry.
"Can I ask you something?" Harry asked.
"Appears to me you just did," replied Moody.
"When an Auror is on a case, is there a spell he can perform to detect if Dark Magic has been used?" Harry asked, thinking back to a cold, dank cave on a chilly spring night.
"Of course there is," Moody said shortly.
"Can you teach me?" Harry asked.
Moody’s glass eye narrowed as he studied him. He was silent for a moment before he waved his wand towards the open door. A moment later, a small black case came zooming into the kitchen. Moody opened it and pulled out what looked to Harry like a pair of theatre glasses.
"This is used by upcoming Aurors during training. It’s a Spell Detector. When you wear it, you can see traces of a magical imprint surrounding objects. Dark magic shows as red," Moody said, pushing the glasses towards Harry. "As an Auror becomes more proficient with them, some can even use their wand and a Revealo spell to detect the imprints, but you need to be able to achieve a unique level of concentration to detect the colors."
"Professor Dumbledore did it with just his hands," Harry mumbled, his mind in the not-so-distant past.
"Well, that was Dumbledore, wasn’t it?" Moody said gruffly.
"It can have a feel to it, too, can’t it? Just enough to cause a shiver, maybe?" Harry asked, searching for the words to relate his meaning.
Moody glanced sharply and appraisingly at Harry. Harry had the vague feeling that Moody was somehow impressed. "Anyone able to feel a magical imprint would have to be mighty powerful, indeed. That would be a highly useful skill for anyone who wanted to be an Auror. One would want to keep such abilities quiet. That kind of information should be kept from the wrong hands."
"Indeed," Harry replied, his eyes widening. Had he really felt something that night in the cave when Dumbledore was looking for the traces of Voldemort’s concealment? Harry couldn’t be certain, but he at least now had a way to attempt to find out.
"Can I borrow this?" he asked, holding the Spell Detector.
"I don’t think I’d notice if it went missing," Moody replied, shrugging.
Harry nodded and tucked the black case into his shirt pocket. "Where is everyone this morning?" he asked.
Moody slowly poured himself a cup of coffee. "Avoiding me, most likely," he said at last. "None of the Weasleys are too happy with me right now."
"Because of Percy?" Harry asked. He knew Percy had finally managed to leave headquarters the previous evening, and he could tell that Mrs. Weasley hadn’t been happy about whatever arrangements had been made.
"I understand he’s Molly and Arthur’s boy, but he’s a liability. It’s my job to concern myself with liabilities," Moody said gruffly.
"You used a Memory Charm, then?" Harry asked.
"No, but I still think we should have. Molly was adamant that he be allowed to remember reconciling with his family. Memory Charms are tricky business, mind, so I couldn’t promise her that. We finally settled on an Unbreakable Vow. Arthur agreed to it, but Molly was livid. I don’t envy being in Arthur’s position this morning," Moody said with a grimace.
Harry sniggered over the idea that battle-scarred Mad-Eye Moody was intimidated by Molly Weasley. Not that Harry wasn’t, as well, but still…
"She probably won’t speak to me for days before she lets loose again," Moody said. "I’ll miss the meals. I haven’t eaten this well in years."
"I don’t know. I don’t think Mrs. Weasley could let anyone go hungry, no matter how angry she was," Harry said.
Moody chuckled. "Let’s hope you’re right. She doesn’t have a soft spot for me like she does you."
Harry grinned and said cheekily, "Lucky me, then."
The kitchen door swung open again, admitting Ginny and Hermione. Both girls looked rather disgruntled and only half-awake. Harry poured them both cups of coffee, and they accepted gratefully.
"Morning, ladies," Moody said.
Both merely grunted.
"Why did you get up if you’re still so tired?" Harry asked.
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Do you know my mother? She’s on a rampage this morning about cleaning this place up before we go back to the Burrow."
"She is rather adamant about leaving," Hermione said sleepily. .
Ginny took the tiara from Harry’s hands. "This belongs to my Auntie Muriel. There is a great story behind it. It–,"
"She wants us busy so we don’t look around too much," Hermione said, suddenly wide-awake.
"Pardon?" Ginny asked, frowning and placing the tiara back on the table.
"Your mum. She doesn’t want us looking around here too much," Hermione said, raising her eyebrows significantly.
Harry suddenly remembered the conversations about a guest staying at Grimmauld Place.
"Good morning," Remus said, entering the kitchen with Tonks following closely behind him. "You’re all up bright and early today. I would have thought you’d all have wanted a lie-in after all the dancing last night."
"Who else is staying here?" Harry asked sharply, his eyes locked on Remus. Remus lowered his gaze to pour a cup of coffee.
"The Weasleys and the Delacours are here until the wards at the Burrow can be checked," Remus replied calmly.
"This is m-my house," Harry stated with a slight tremble in his voice that he hoped no one else heard. "I may have agreed that the Order could use this house, but I want to know who this mystery guest is; I want to know why he is here, and I want to know now."
Remus looked at Moody, who shrugged. "It is his house, and he appears to know more about what Dumbledore was up to than any of us."
Remus’s shoulders sagged. "I know," he said. "And Harry, we need to know what you’re planning in order to help you. We want to protect you."
"You can’t. No one can. I can’t tell you what I was doing with Professor Dumbledore, Remus. I promised him I wouldn’t. If he’d wanted the Order to know, he would have told you himself," Harry said firmly, feeling slightly uncomfortable in denying Remus.
Beneath the table, Ginny took his hand and squeezed it slightly. He gave her a weak smile, appreciating her support.
"Of course," Remus replied, and Harry could easily read his conflicting emotions. He trusted Dumbledore implicitly, but he also wanted to protect Harry. When would they ever understand that it was beyond them to do that now? It always had been.
"Who is the Order protecting?" Harry asked again.
"Draco and Narcissa Malfoy," Tonks said, speaking for the first time. Her face contorted into an ugly scowl. "My family."
Harry’s jaw dropped open. He wasn’t certain what he’d been suspecting, but that wasn’t it. Draco Malfoy? Here? Malfoy, the one who’d plotted Dumbledore’s death all last year? The one who’d led the Death Eaters onto school grounds in search of a little glory? And Narcissa! The one who’d plotted with Kreacher to get Sirius killed? Here? In Sirius’s house?
"What?" Harry exploded, pushing back his chair and causing it to clatter to the floor. He was at the door in two strides, ready to mount the stairs and strangle Malfoy with his bare hands.
Remus grabbed him by the shoulders and held him back. "Listen to me, Harry."
"What in Merlin’s name is he doing here?" Ginny demanded, her eyes blazing in fury.
Hermione’s face had turned chalk white, as she stared back and forth between Harry and Remus.
"He’s supplied us with some valuable information," Remus said, struggling to hold Harry back.
"Whatever it is, he’s lying," Harry snarled.
"He’s not. It’s information that has been confirmed," Remus said. "We were able to stop several deaths because of it."
Harry stopped struggling, breathing heavily. "Why would Malfoy give you any information? There has to be something in it for him."
"Of course there is. He has strong survival instincts. Voldemort ordered his death for failing to complete his orders. According to him, Snape helped him and Narcissa escape. They were trying to go into hiding when we caught them," Tonks said.
"Snape?" Harry snarled, seeing red again. "Why would he help them?"
"He’s always had a soft spot for Narcissa. Voldemort ordered her death, as well, for asking Snape to help Draco," Remus said softly.
"He killed Dumbledore, and Malfoy helped him do it," Harry said. He was physically shaking with fury.
"He got in over his head, Harry," Remus said, sighing wearily. "Look, I don’t believe he’s helping us out of any great desire to right past wrongs, but he does want to live. His only hope of being able to do that now is if we win; otherwise he knows he’ll be hunted for the rest of his life. And it won’t be a long one. It’s a forced partnership with mutual benefits for both sides. He doesn’t want to die, and he does want to protect his mother."
สมัครสมาชิก:
ส่งความคิดเห็น (Atom)
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น