The Siren's Call (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

119. Mollywobbles

Letting the smile fall, he asked, "Have you heard from Draco?"

"Not a word," Dioleh said with a sigh. "I know he probably wants space to process but I expected more than this."

"Well, he was rather upset," Harry said.

"Yes, I know," Dioleh sighed. "Did he ever say anything to you?"

"Yeah, actually," Harry admitted awkwardly. "He blames me for what happened."

"Of course he does," Dioleh sighed, rolling her eyes. "I thought we were past all this mess between the two of you."

"Apparently getting his father arrested went too far," Harry remarked. Dioleh let out a humourless chuckle.

"Technically you didn't get his father arrested," Dioleh countered. "Dumbledore did that."

"Well, he can't exactly go after Dumbledore," Harry remarked.

Serving Harry up some soup, Mrs. Weasley asked, "Would you like some as well, dear?"

"No thank you, Molly," Dioleh replied with a smile. "Thank you though. I'll just get myself some more tea."

As she was getting some, Mrs. Weasley sat down by Harry and said, "So, you persuaded Horace Slughorn to take the job?" Harry nodded.

"New potions teacher?" Dioleh asked.

"Potions?" Harry said in surprise. "I thought he was teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"No," Dioleh replied. "I spoke to Dumbledore at the end of term. Snape is taking over that class."

"Seriously?" Harry exclaimed incredulously. Dioleh nodded, sitting down again and stirring honey into her herbal tea.

"He taught Arthur and me," Mrs. Weasley explained. "He was at Hogwarts for ages, started around the same time as Dumbledore, I think. Did you like him?" Harry merely shrugged. Dioleh smiled slightly, biting her tongue to hold back a comment about how asking Harry questions while he was eating wouldn't be very informational. "I know what you mean. Of course, he can be charming when he wants to be, but Arthur's never liked him much. The Ministry's littered with Slughorn's old favourites. He was always giving them legs up, but he never had much time for Arthur, didn't seem to think he was enough of a highlifter. Well, that just shows you, even Slughorn makes mistakes. I don't know whether Ron's told you in any of his letters, it's only just happened, but Arthur's been promoted!"

"That's great!" Harry exclaimed. Dioleh smiled, taking a small sip of her tea. Molly had been telling everyone who stopped by the house.

"You are sweet," Mrs. Weasley said. "Rufus Scrimgeour has set up several new offices in response to the present situation, and Arthur's heading the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects. It's a big job. He's got ten people reporting to him now."

Seeing Harry's confusion, Dioleh explained, "A lot of people are using all the recent fear with the war to make money off of objects they claim are spelled to protect people even though a lot of them are phoney and don't actually do anything."

"Is that where Mr. Weasley is now? At work?" Harry asked, looking back to Mrs. Weasley.

"Yes, he is. As a matter of fact, he's a tiny bit late. He said he'd be back around midnight." She glanced over at the clock but before there was much time to worry, there was a knock on the door. Getting to her feet, Mrs. Weasley went to the door and called softly, "Arthur, is that you?"

"Yes, but I would say that even if I were a Death Eater, dear. Ask the question!" he replied wearily.

"Oh, honestly," Molly scoffed.

"Molly!"

"Oh, all right," she sighed. "What is your dearest ambition?"

"To find out how aeroplanes stay up," he replied. Molly nodded and attempted to open the door but Mr. Weasley must have been holding the handle tight for it did not move. "Molly, I've got to ask you your question first." Dioleh, who had more than once been privy to this question, quickly got up and went over to the sink. Despite her attempts for distance, she could still hear him ask, "What do you like me to call you when we're alone together?"

Glancing over, she could see that both Harry and Mrs. Weasley were flushed. Biting her bottom lip, she quickly turned away to hide her amused expression as she busied herself making tea and Harry began loudly eating his soup. "Mollywobbles," she whispered through the crack. Dioleh's cheeks were slightly flushed from the embarrassment of intruding upon such a moment.

"Correct," Mr. Weasley replied. "Now you can let me in."