Dawn Rivera

The Parting of the Ways

Mrs Weasley, Bill, Ron, Hermione and I group a harassed-looking Madam Pomfrey. We are demanding to know where Harry and Danny are and what happened to them.

All of us whip around as Harry, Danny, Dumbledore and the black dog enter, and Mrs Weasley lets out a kind of muffled scream. "Harry! Dathaniel! Oh, boys!"

She starts to hurry towards them, but Dumbledore moves between them.

"Molly," he says, holding up a hand, "please listen to me for a moment. Harry and Dathaniel have been through a terrible ordeal tonight. They just had to relive it for me. What they need now is sleep, and peace, and quiet. If they would like you all to stay with them," he adds, looking around at Ron, Hermione, Bill and I, too, "you may do so. But I do not want you questioning them until they are ready to answer, and certainly not this evening."

Mrs Weasley nods. She is very white.

She rounds on Ron, Hermione, Bill and I as though we are being noisy, and hisses, "Did you hear? They need quiet!"

"Headmaster," says Madam Pomfrey, staring at the great black dog that is Uncle Sirius, "may I ask what -?"

"This dog will be remaining with Harry and Dathaniel for a while," says Dumbledore simply. "I assure you, he is extremely well trained. Harry, Dathaniel - I will wait until you get into bed. I will be back to see you as soon as I have met with Fudge, Harry and Dathaniel," says Dumbledore. "I would like you to remain here tomorrow, until I have spoken to the school." He leaves.

As Madam Pomfrey leads Harry and Danny to nearby beds, I catch sight again of the real Moody lying motionless in a bed at the far end of the room. His wooden leg and magical eye are lying on the bedside table.

"Is he OK?" Harry asks.

"He'll be fine," says Madam Pomfrey, giving Harry and Danny some pyjamas and pulling screens around them. Ron, Hermione, Bill, Mrs Weasley, the black dog and I come around the screens and settle ourselves in chairs on either side of them. Ron, Hermione and I are looking at them almost cautiously, scared of them.

"It's all right," Danny tells us. "Just tired."

Mrs Weasley's eyes fill with tears as she smooths their bedcovers unnecessarily.

Madam Pomfrey, who bustled off to her office, returns holding two goblets and two small bottles of some purple potion.

"You'll need to drink all of this, Harry and Dathaniel," she says. "It's a potion for dreamless sleep."

Harry and Danny take the goblets and drink a few mouthfuls. They look drowsy at once. Before they can finish the Potions, before they can say another word, their exhaustion has carried them off to sleep.

*********************************************

"They'll wake them if they don't shut up!"

"What are they shouting about? Nothing else can have happened, can it?"

Mrs Weasley is on her feet.

"That's Fudge's voice," she whispers. "And that's Minerva McGonagall's, isn't it? But what are they arguing about?"

People are shouting and running towards the hospital wing.

"Regrettable, but all the same, Minerva -" Cornelius Fudge is saying loudly.

"You should never have brought it inside the castle!" yells Professor McGonagall. "When Dumbledore finds out -"

The hospital doors burst open. Mrs Weasley, Bill, Ron, Hermione, Uncle Sirius and I stare at the doors as Bill pulls back the screens.