THE TRUTH UNTOLD | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

𝘃 | 𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗸𝘆 𝗖𝗮𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗻

  'And last,' Fred muttered under his breath.

  'I don't doubt that,' his mother said, frowning. 'I notice you too haven't made Prefects?'

  'What do we want to be prefects for?' said George, looking revolted at the very idea as he took the spare chair next to Gwen. 'It'd take all the fun out of life.'

  Ginny giggled.

  'You want to set a better example for your sister!' snapped Mrs Weasley.

  'Ginny's got other brothers to set an example, Mother,' said Percy, loftily. 'I'm going up to change for dinner...'

  He disappeared and George heaved a sigh, slinging and arm over the back of Gwen's chair. 'We tried to shut him in a Pyramid,' he murmured in her ear. 'But Mum spotted us.'

  She laughed.

• • •

Dinner that night was very enjoyable. Tom the innkeeper put three tables together in the parlour and the seven Weasleys, Gwen, Harry and Hermione ate their way through five delicious courses.

  Mrs Weasley was fussing over Gwen, probably due to the events of last year and what had happened at the end. She refrained from mentioning the nightmares she'd been plagued with. They had mostly gone away now, save the odd memory of Tom's face pushing its way to the background of her dreams.

  'How are we getting to King's Cross tomorrow?' Fred asked as they dug into a chocolate pudding.

  'The Ministry is providing a couple of cars,' said Mr Weasley.

  Everyone looked up at him.

  'Hopefully not flying ones,' Gwen murmured. George grinned at her.

  'Why?' said Percy.

  'It's because of you, Perce,' said George seriously. He was sitting next to Gwen again and their knees kept bumping under the table. 'And there'll be little flags on the hoods with HB on them.'

  '--for Humongous Bighead.' Fred finished.
  Everyone except Mrs Weasley and Percy snorted into their pudding.

  'Why are the Ministry providing cars, Father?' Percy asked again, his tone dignified.

  'Well,' Mr Weasley said. 'We haven't got one anymore... and as I work there, they're doing me a favour...' His voice was casual but Gwen noticed his ears turned red, just as Ron's did when he was under pressure.

  'Good thing too,' Mrs Weasley said briskly. 'Do you realise how much luggage you've all got between you? A nice sight you'd be on the Muggle underground... You are all packed, aren't you?'

  Percy looked up. 'Ron hasn't put all his new things away yet. He's dumped them all on my bed.'

  'You better go and pack properly, Ron. We won't have much time in the morning.' Mrs Weasley called down the table to her son, who scowled at Percy.

  After dinner, everyone was feeling full and sleepy, and one by one they made their way upstairs. Gwen was in the process of ensuring all her things were packed up and sharing a packet of crisps with Orion, when she realised she could hear angry voices from down the hall. She finished what she was doing, gave the rest of the bag to Orion to finish off, and wandered down the landing to see what was going on.

  As she approached room twelve, she could see the door was ajar. It was Percy and Ron's room, and she could hear the brothers shouting at each other.

  'I haven't touched it!' Ron was saying.

  'Well you'd best find it!' Percy cried.

  Gwen was about to open the door when she heard muffled laughter coming from further down the landing. She looked up and saw Fred and George crouching in the shadows of the landing, something silvery glinting in George's hand.

  'We've got Percy's badge,' Fred whispered, beckoning her closer. 'We've been improving it.'

  Gwen peered down at the badge, which now said Bighead Boy.

  She couldn't help herself laughing, doing her best to stay quiet. She felt a bit bad for Ron, who was in the process of dismantling his and Percy's room, but she had no time to consider that when Harry walked past, his face grave, clutching Ron's bottle of rat tonic.

  The twins showed off their work to him, and he very clearly forced a laugh, stopped at room twelve to drop off the bottle, then slipped into his own room, shutting the door behind him.

  She wanted to go and speak to him, to check he was OK, but the look on his face told her he wanted to be left alone. Whatever was bothering him she knew he'd tell her in his own time, but she made a mental note to check on him in the morning just in case.

  She left the twins then, not missing the wink Fred threw her way as she disappeared to her own room. She lay in the dark that night, sleep not finding her as she listened to the arguing from a few doors down. Eventually, Fred and George had returned the badge, and Percy had blown up once more. She then heard the clambering footsteps of the twins sprinting down the corridor to their own room.

  She was looking forward to going back to Hogwarts. She'd been in Diagon Alley for a couple weeks now, and she missed her brothers and sister. She was looking forward to seeing them again. She hadn't seen them at Diagon Alley, but she was sure they must have gone at some point.

  Eventually, she drifted off to sleep, dreaming of a giant chocolate pudding sporting a silvery badge that kept changing from Head Boy to Bighead Boy.