XLVII ; questions and answers

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            THE DINING ROOM WAS ONE OF ELARA'S FAVORITE ROOMS IN TWELVE GRIMMAULD PLACE. it was scarcely less gloomy than the hall above, a cavernous room with rough stone walls. most of the light was coming from a large fire at the far end of the room. a haze of pipe smoke hung in the air like battle fumes, through which loomed the menacing shapes of heavy iron pots and pans hanging from the dark ceiling. many chairs had been crammed into the room for the meeting and a long wooden table stood in the middle of the room, littered with rolls of parchment, goblets, empty wine bottles, and a heap of what appeared to be rags. mr. weasley and his eldest son, bill, were talking quietly with their heads together at the end of the table.

            mrs. weasley cleared her throat. her husband, a thin, balding, red-haired man, who wore horn-rimmed glasses, looked around and jumped to his feet.

            "harry!" mr. weasley said, hurrying forward to greet him and shaking his hand vigorously. "good to see you!"

            elara saw bill, who was still wearing his long hair in a ponytail, hastily rolling up the lengths of parchment left on the table. "journey all right, harry?" bill called, trying to gather up twelve scrolls at once. "mad-eye didn't make you come via greenland, then?"

            "he tried," said nymphie, striding over to help bill and immediately sending a candle toppling onto the last piece of parchment. "oh no — sorry —"

            elara sniggered.

            "here, dear," said mrs. weasley, sounding exasperated, and she repaired the parchment with a wave of her wand: in the flash of light caused by mrs. weasley's charm, elara caught a glimpse of what looked like the plan of a building.

            mrs. weasley had seen her looking. she snatched the plan off the table and stuffed it into bill's heavily laden arms.

            "this sort of thing ought to be cleared away promptly at the end of meetings," she snapped before sweeping off toward an ancient dresser from which she started unloading dinner plates.

            bill took out his wand, muttered "evanesco!" and the scrolls vanished.

            "sit down, harry, lara," said sirius. "you've met mundungus, haven't you, harry?"

            the thing elara had taken to be a pile of rags gave a prolonged, grunting snore and then jerked awake.

            "some'n say m' name?" mundungus mumbled sleepily. "i 'gree with sirius. . . ."

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