I was woken by Fred the next morning.
"Hey Rory, did you want to go get breakfast" I shook my head as I sat up, I noticed George sat on his bed.
"I'm going to head to my dorm, talk to Pads" They both looked at me as I got up still in Georges t-shirt and shorts not caring about how I looked. My dorm was empty as I laid on my bed before sitting up to grab the mirror.
"Pads" I called out and was surprised when Moony appeared "Moony" I smile at him.
"Hey Wolf"
"How are you" He laughs slightly.
"I'm fine Wolf, Sirius told me you've been worried about me"
"Of course I worry about you"
"So how's school"
"Fine"
"Really Wolf"
"No"
"What's going on"
"Umbridge"
"I've heard she's the new defence teacher. Sirius told me she's not really teaching"
"She's trying to show that she's the one in charge"
"What do you mean"
"Okay don't get mad at me for fighting and don't tell Mrs Weasley please"
"What happened" I tell him all about the match and what happened after as he sits there listening.
"So you got a week's detention"
"Yeah"
"That hardly seems fair"
"Moony she hates me. I've had more detentions than anyone else, I don't even have to do anything to get one"
"Just hang in there Wolf"
"I am"
"Anyway we have an Order meeting later and Charlie's going to be here if you want to talk to him"
"What time"
"Meeting starts at 5"
"I've got detention at 6"
"It should be a quick meeting but we'll see. Tell you what if he gets here earlier than the others you can talk before the meeting"
"Thanks I'll be in my dorm all day anyway, got some homework to do"
"Okay Wolf"
"Anyway where's Pad's"
"He's somewhere around he thought you might want to speak to me alone seeing as it's been a while" I smile.
"Tell him I said hi"
"Will do Wolf, speak to you later"
"Bye Moony" He disappears. I place the mirror down on my bed and start working on my homework. After a few hours I'm distracted from my potions essay when someone calls my name.
"Nova" I glance at the mirror and quickly pick it up when I see Charlie.
"Hey Charlie" I prop it up and continue to finish my essay before I go for my detention.
"What you up to?"
"Potions essay. I've got a detention later and it's due tomorrow so trying to get it finished"
"Detention with who"
"McGonagall" I lie knowing he'll tell Moony about my hand if I say Umbridge.
"Fun what did you do this time"
"Punched Malfoy" He puts his head in his hands and groans.
"Nova seriously"
"Sorry Charlie, he just knows how to push my buttons"
"I know love, you just need to try and ignore him"
"I know it's just so hard sometimes"
"I know Nova but it's your last year and then you'll be away from him and hopefully with me in Romania" He smirks at me.
"So you want me in Romania with you then" I tease.
"Definitely"
"I'll think about it, I might fail my exams for all you know"
"I doubt that very much and even if you did you can still come live with me maybe work with the dragons with me"
"Always good to have a backup I guess"
"Anyway Darling, I've got to get to this meeting although I need to know how Sirius did these mirrors would be so much better to actually be able to see you rather than just write"
"You'll have to ask him. Love you Charlie"
"Love you too Nova, speak to you later"
"Bye"
"Bye baby" I smile at this as he disappears. 6 o'clock comes round to fast as I head for yet another detention.
"You know what to do" Umbridge says as I sit down and start writing almost numb to the feeling of the pain now. After a few hours she speaks again. "Hand" She looks at my hand "Very good I'll see you the same time tomorrow" I head back to the common room and find Fred waiting outside for me.
"You okay"
"I'm fine Freddie"
"I hate her, I hate what she's doing to you Rory, it's not right" I wrap my arms around him.
"I know Freddie" We head in and up to their dorm and find George and Lee working on products. George looks up and points at the bowl on his drawers. "Thanks Georgie" He winks and goes back to what he was doing.
December arrived, bringing with it more snow and a positive avalanche of homework. We arrived at the D.A. meeting to find the others already there.
"Okay," Harry said, calling everyone to order. "I thought this evening we should just go over the things we've done so far, because it's the last meeting before the holidays and there's no point starting anything new right before a three-week break"
"We're not doing anything new?" Zacharias Smith said, in a disgruntled whisper loud enough to carry through the room. "If I'd known that, I wouldn't have come"
"We're all really sorry Harry didn't tell you, then," Fred said loudly as I smirked. Several other people sniggered.
"We can practice in pairs," Harry said. "We'll start with the Impediment Jinx, just for ten minutes, then we can get out the cushions and try Stunning again." Everyone divided up obediently and I partnered with Neville as usual. The room was soon full of intermittent cries of "Impedimenta!" People froze for a minute or so, during which their partners would stare aimlessly around the room watching other pairs at work, then would unfreeze and take their turn at the jinx. Neville had improved beyond all recognition. After ten minutes on the Impediment Jinx, we laid out cushions all over the floor and started practicing Stunning again. Space was really too confined to allow everyone all to work this spell at once; half the group observed the others for a while, then swapped over. Neville managed to Stun Padma Patil rather than Dean, at whom he had been aiming, but it was a much closer miss than usual, and everybody else had made enormous progress. At the end of an hour, Harry called a halt. "You're getting really good," he said, beaming around at them. "When we get back from the holidays we can start doing some of the big stuff maybe even Patronuses." There was a murmur of excitement. The room began to clear in the usual twos and threes. I decided to sleep in the twins dorm where I'd been sleeping a lot lately.
We were woken suddenly by Professor McGonagall.
"All three of you need to come with me now and we'll deal with you sleeping here another time Aurora" We all got up and quickly followed her, Ginny was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. I wrap an arm around her shoulder as we follow McGonagall to Dumbledores office.
"Harry — what's going on?" Ginny asked, she looked frightened as I wrap my arms around her tighter. "Professor McGonagall says you saw Dad hurt"
"Your father has been injured in the course of his work for the Order of the Phoenix," Dumbledore said before Harry could speak. "He has been taken to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. I am sending you back to Sirius's house, which is much more convenient for the hospital than the Burrow. You will meet your mother there."
"How're we going?" Fred asked, looking shaken I wanted to hug my best friend but I didn't want to let go of Ginny so I held out my hand for him which he took as I squeezed his. "Floo powder?"
"No," Dumbledore said, "Floo powder is not safe at the moment, the Network is being watched. You will be taking a Portkey." He indicated the old kettle lying innocently on his desk. "We are just waiting for Phineas Nigellus to report back. I wish to be sure that the coast is clear before sending you" There was a flash of flame in the very middle of the office, leaving behind a single golden feather that floated gently to the floor. "It is Fawkes's warning," said Dumbledore, catching the feather as it fell. "She must know you're out of your beds. Minerva, go and head her off tell her any story" Professor McGonagall was gone in a swish of tartan.
"He says he'll be delighted," said a bored voice behind Dumbledore; the wizard called Phineas had reappeared in front of his Slytherin banner. "My great-great-grandson has always had odd taste in houseguests."
"Come here, then," Dumbledore said to us. "And quickly, before anyone else joins us" we all gathered around Dumbledore's desk. "You have all used a Portkey before?" asked Dumbledore, and we nodded, each reaching out to touch some part of the blackened kettle. "Good. On the count of three then one two three," I felt a powerful jerk behind my navel, the ground vanished from beneath my feet, my hand was glued to the kettle; we were banging into eachother as we sped forward in a swirl of colours and a rush of wind, the kettle pulling us onward and then our feet hit the ground so hard that our knees buckled, the kettle clattered to the ground and somewhere close at hand a voice said,
"Back again, the blood traitor brats, is it true their father's dying?"
"OUT!" roared a second voice. We all got to our feet in the gloomy basement kitchen of number twelve, Grimmauld Place. The only sources of light were the fire and one guttering candle, which illuminated the remains of a solitary supper. Kreacher was disappearing through the door to the hall, looking back at them malevolently as he hitched up his loincloth; Pad's was hurrying toward us all, looking anxious. He was unshaven and still in his day clothes; there was also a slightly Mundungus-like whiff of stale drink about him. "What's going on?" he said, stretching out a hand to help Ginny up. "Phineas Nigellus said Arthur's been badly injured"
"Ask Harry," Fred said.
"Yeah, I want to hear this for myself," George added. The twins and Ginny were staring at him. Kreacher's footsteps had stopped on the stairs outside.
"It was, I had a a kind of vision." Harry told us what he had seen. Ron, who was still very white, gave him a fleeting look, but did not speak. When Harry had finished, Fred, George, and Ginny continued to stare at him for a moment.
"Is Mum here?" Fred said, turning to Pad's.
"She probably doesn't even know what's happened yet," Pad's said. "The important thing was to get you away before Umbridge could interfere. I expect Dumbledore's letting Molly know now."
"We've got to go to St. Mungo's," Ginny said urgently. She looked around at her brothers; they were of course still in their pajamas. "Sirius, can you lend us cloaks or anything?"
"Hang on, you can't go tearing off to St. Mungo's!" Pad's said
" 'Course we can go to St. Mungo's if we want," Fred said, with a mulish expression, "he's our dad!"
"And how are you going to explain how you knew Arthur was attacked before the hospital even let his wife know?"
"What does that matter?" George said hotly.
"It matters because we don't want to draw attention to the fact that Harry is having visions of things that are happening hundreds of miles away!" Pad's said angrily. "Have you any idea what the Ministry would make of that information?" Fred and George looked as though they could not care less what the Ministry made of anything. Ron was still white-faced and silent. Ginny said,
"Somebody else could have told us. We could have heard it somewhere other than Harry"
"Like who?" Pad's said impatiently. "Listen, your dad's been hurt while on duty for the Order and the circumstances are fishy enough without his children knowing about it seconds after it happened, you could seriously damage the Order's"
"We don't care about the dumb Order!" shouted Fred.
"It's our dad dying we're talking about!" yelled George I grabbed both twins hands as they stood either side of me.
"Your father knew what he was getting into, and he won't thank you for messing things up for the Order!" Pad's said angrily in his turn. "This is how it is this is why you're not in the Order — you don't understand there are things worth dying for!"
"Enough" I said raising my voice slightly as everyone looked at me "Arguing isn't going to help anyone. Yes I understand that you're worried about your dad but you need to wait for your mum to let you know what's going on. I know that's easier said than done but that's what you need to do right now"
"Wolf's right I know it's hard, but we've all got to act as though we don't know anything yet. We've got to stay put, at least until we hear from your mother, all right?" Fred and George still looked mutinous as they pulled their hands from mine. Ginny, however, took a few steps over to the nearest chair and sank into it. Harry looked at Ron, who made a funny movement somewhere between a nod and shrug, and they sat down too. The twins glared at Pad's for another minute, then took seats on either side of Ginny. "That's right, come on, let's all . . . let's all have a drink while we're waiting. Accio Butterbeer!" He raised his wand as he spoke as 7 bottles came flying toward us out of the pantry, skidded along the table, scattering the debris of Pad's meal, and stopped neatly in front of us. The others all drank whilst I left mine where it was not really wanting to drink anything, for a while the only sounds were those of the crackling of the kitchen fire and the soft thud of the others bottles on the table. Then a burst of fire in mid air illuminated the dirty plates in front of them and as they gave cries of shock, a scroll of parchment fell with a thud onto the table, accompanied by a single golden phoenix tail feather. "Fawkes!" Pad's said at once, snatching up the parchment. "That's not Dumbledore's writing it must be a message from your mother here" He thrust the letter into George's hand, who ripped it open and read aloud,
"Dad is still alive. I am setting out for St. Mungo's now. Stay where you are. I will send news as soon as I can. Mum." George looked around the table. "Still alive." he said slowly. "But that makes it sound" He did not need to finish the sentence. It sounded as though Mr. Weasley was hovering somewhere between life and death. Still exceptionally pale, Ron stared at the back of his mother's letter as though it might speak words of comfort to him. Fred pulled the parchment out of George's hands and read it for himself, then looked up at Harry. Pad's suggested once that we all go to bed, but without any real conviction, and the Weasleys' looks of disgust were answer enough. We mostly sat in silence around the table, watching the candle wick sinking lower and lower into liquid wax, now and then the others raised their bottles to their lips, speaking only to check the time as I rested my head on Pad's shoulder. I noticed Fred fall into a doze, his head sagging sideways onto his shoulder. Ginny was curled like a cat on her chair, but her eyes were open. Ron was sitting with his head in his hands, whether awake or asleep it was impossible to tell. I noticed Harry and Pad's looking at each other every so often. And then, at ten past five in the morning, the kitchen door swung open and Mrs. Weasley entered the kitchen. She was extremely pale, but when we all turned to look at her, Fred, Ron, and Harry half-rising from their chairs, she gave a wan smile.
"He's going to be all right," she said, her voice weak with tiredness. "He's sleeping. We can all go and see him later. Bill's sitting with him now, he's going to take the morning off work." Fred fell back into his chair with his hands over his face. George and Ginny got up, walked swiftly over to their mother, and hugged her. Ron gave a very shaky laugh and downed the rest of his butterbeer in one. I stood up walking over to the kettle.
"Would you like a cup of tea Mama Bear" I ask her.
"Yes please Rory" She smiles at me. I make her a tea quickly and hand it to her.
"Breakfast!" Pad's said loudly and joyfully, jumping to his feet. "Where's that accursed house-elf? Kreacher! KREACHER!" But Kreacher did not answer the summons. "Oh, forget it, then," Pad's muttered, counting the people in front of him. "So it's breakfast for let's see eight . . . Bacon and eggs, I think, and some tea, and toast" Harry hurried over to the stove to help. Harry had barely taken plates from the dresser when Mrs. Weasley lifted them out of his hands and pulled him into a hug.
"I don't know what would have happened if it hadn't been for you, Harry," she said in a muffled voice. "They might not have found Arthur for hours, and then it would have been too late, but thanks to you he's alive and Dumbledore's been able to think up a good cover story for Arthur being where he was, you've no idea what trouble he would have been in otherwise, look at poor Sturgis" She soon released him to turn to Pad's and thank him for looking after her children through the night. Pad's said that he was very pleased to have been able to help, and hoped they would all stay with him as long as Mr. Weasley was in hospital. "Oh, Sirius, I'm so grateful. They think he'll be there a little while and it would be wonderful to be nearer. Of course, that might mean we're here for Christmas."
"The more the merrier!" Pad's said with such obvious sincerity that Mrs. Weasley beamed at him, threw on an apron, and began to help with breakfast.
"Sirius," Harry muttered, unable to stand it a moment longer. "Can I have a quick word? Er now?" He walked into the dark pantry and Pad's followed. Fred walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me pulling me in for a hug.
"Thank you Rory"
"What for"
"For being there even when there wasn't much you could do" George walks over as well pulling me into a hug as Fred lets go.
"Yeah and thank you for shouting at us. We were all a bit angry and you managed to make us all see sense"
"Glad I can be of help" I joke slightly as George lets me go.
Everyone spent the rest of the morning sleeping. The twins and Ginny coming to sleep in my room. Our trunks arrived from Hogwarts while we were eating lunch, so that we could dress as Muggles for the trip to St. Mungo's. I grabbed a leather jacket from my cupboard and paired it with my usual boots, tank top and skinny jeans before joining the others downstairs. We all greeted Tonks and Mad-Eye, who had turned up to escort us across London, gleefully laughing at the bowler hat Mad-Eye was wearing at an angle to conceal his magical eye and assuring him, truthfully, that Tonks, whose hair was short and bright pink again, would attract far less attention on the underground. Tonks was very interested in Harry's vision of the attack on Mr. Weasley, something he was not remotely interested in discussing.
"There isn't any Seer blood in your family, is there?" she inquired curiously, as they sat side by side on a train rattling toward the heart of the city. I sat between the twins resting my head on Georges shoulder.
"No," Harry said
"No," Tonks said musingly, "no, I suppose it's not really prophecy you're doing, is it? I mean, you're not seeing the future, you're seeing the present. It's odd, isn't it? Useful, though" Harry didn't answer her as we got out at the next stop, a station in the very heart of London, and in the bustle of leaving the train we all followed Tonks, who was leading the way. We all followed her up the escalator, Moody clunking along at the back of the group, his bowler tilted low and one gnarled hand stuck in between the buttons of his coat, clutching his wand.
"Not far from here," grunted Moody as we stepped out into the wintry air on a broad store-lined street packed with Christmas shoppers. He pushed Harry a little ahead of him and stumped along just behind. "Wasn't easy to find a good location for a hospital. Nowhere in Diagon Alley was big enough and we couldn't have it underground like the Ministry unhealthy. In the end they managed to get hold of a building up here. Theory was sick wizards could come and go and just blend in with the crowd" He seized Harry's shoulder to prevent him being separated by a gaggle of shoppers plainly intent on nothing but making it into a nearby shop full of electrical gadgets. "Here we go," said Moody a moment later. We had arrived outside a large, old-fashioned, red brick department store called Purge and Dowse Ltd. The place had a shabby, miserable air; the window displays consisted of a few chipped dummies with their wigs askew, standing at random and modelling fashions at least ten years out of date. Large signs on all the dusty doors read closed for refurbishment.
"Right," Tonks said, beckoning us forward to a window displaying nothing but a particularly ugly female dummy whose false eyelashes were hanging off and who was modelling a green nylon pinafore dress. "Everybody ready?" We nodded, clustering around her; Moody gave Harry another shove between the shoulder blades to urge him forward and Tonks leaned close to the glass, looking up at the very ugly dummy and said, her breath steaming up the glass, "Wotcher . . . We're here to see Arthur Weasley." The dummy gave a tiny nod, beckoned its jointed finger, and Tonks had seized Ginny and Mrs. Weasley by the elbows, stepped right through the glass and vanished. Me, Fred, George, and Ron stepped after them followed by Moody and Harry. There was no sign of the ugly dummy or the space where she had stood. We had arrived in what seemed to be a crowded reception area where rows of witches and wizards sat upon rickety wooden chairs, some looking perfectly normal and perusing out-of-date copies of Witch Weekly, others sporting gruesome disfigurements such as elephant trunks or extra hands sticking out of their chests. The room was scarcely less quiet than the street outside, for many of the patients were making very peculiar noises. A sweaty-faced witch in the centre of the front row, who was fanning herself vigorously with a copy of the Daily Prophet, kept letting off a high-pitched whistle as steam came pouring out of her mouth, and a grubby-looking warlock in the corner clanged like a bell every time he moved, and with each clang his head vibrated horribly, so that he had to seize himself by the ears and hold it steady. Witches and wizards in lime-green robes were walking up and down the rows, asking questions and making notes on clipboards like Umbridge's. I noticed the emblem embroidered on their chests: a wand and bone, crossed.
"Are they doctors?" Harry asked Ron quietly.
"Doctors?" Ron said, looking startled. "Those Muggle nutters that cut people up? Nah, they're Healers."
"Over here!" called Mrs. Weasley over the renewed clanging of the warlock in the corner, and we followed her to the queue in front of a plump blonde witch seated at a desk marked inquiries. The wall behind her was covered in notices and posters saying things like a clean cauldron keeps potions from becoming poisons and antidotes are anti-don'ts unless approved by a qualified healer. There was also a large portrait of a witch with long silver ringlets that was labelled DILYS DERWENT st. mungo's healer 1722–1741 headmistress of hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, 1741–1768 Dilys was eyeing the Weasley party as though counting them; when Harry caught her eye she gave a tiny wink, walked sideways out of her portrait, and vanished. Meanwhile, at the front of the queue, a young wizard was performing an odd on-the-spot jig and trying, in between yelps of pain, to explain his predicament to the witch behind the desk.
"It's these ouch shoes my brother gave me ow they're eating my OUCH feet look at them, there must be some kind of AARGH jinx on them and I can't AAAAARGH get them off" He hopped from one foot to the other as though dancing on hot coals.
"The shoes don't prevent you reading, do they?" the blonde witch said irritably, pointing at a large sign to the left of her desk. "You want Spell Damage, fourth floor. Just like it says on the floor guide. Next!" The wizard hobbled and pranced sideways out of the way, the Weasley party moved forward a few steps. A very old, stooped wizard with a hearing trumpet had shuffled to the front of the queue now.
"I'm here to see Broderick Bode!" he wheezed.
"Ward forty-nine, but I'm afraid you're wasting your time," said the witch dismissively "He's completely addled, you know, still thinks he's a teapot. Next!" A harassed-looking wizard was holding his small daughter tightly by the ankle while she flapped around his head using the immensely large, feathery wings that had sprouted right out the back of her romper suit. "Fourth floor," said the witch in a bored voice, without asking, and the man disappeared through the double doors beside the desk, holding his daughter like an oddly shaped balloon. "Next!" Mrs. Weasley moved forward to the desk.
"Hello," she said. "My husband, Arthur Weasley, was supposed to be moved to a different ward this morning, could you tell us?"
"Arthur Weasley?" said the witch, running her finger down a long list in front of her. "Yes, first floor, second door on the right, Dai Llewellyn ward."
"Thank you," Mrs. Weasley said. "Come on, you lot." We followed through the double doors and along the narrow corridor beyond, which was lined with more portraits of famous Healers and lit by crystal bubbles full of candles that floated up on the ceiling, looking like giant soapsuds. More witches and wizards in lime-green robes walked in and out of the doors they passed; a foul-smelling yellow gas wafted into the passageway as we passed one door, and every now and then we heard distant wailing. We climbed a flight of stairs and entered the "Creature-Induced Injuries" corridor, where the second door on the right bore the words "dangerous" dai llewellyn ward: serious bites. Underneath this was a card in a brass holder on which had been handwritten Healer-in-Charge: Hippocrates Smethwyck, Trainee Healer: Augustus Pye.
"We'll wait outside, Molly," Tonks said. "Arthur won't want too many visitors at once. It ought to be just the family first." Mad-Eye growled his approval of this idea and set himself with his back against the corridor wall, his magical eye spinning in all directions. I was stood beside Tonk's as Harry drew back too, but Mrs. Weasley reached out a hand and pushed him through the door whilst grabbing my hand and pulling me after her, saying,
"Don't be silly, Harry, Arthur wants to thank you and Rory you're basically my daughter so come on" The ward was small and rather dingy as the only window was narrow and set high in the wall facing the door. Most of the light came from more shining crystal bubbles clustered in the middle of the ceiling. The walls were of panelled oak and there was a portrait of a rather vicious looking wizard on the wall, captioned urquhart rackharrow, 1612–1697, inventor of the entrail-expelling curse. There were only three patients. Mr. Weasley was occupying the bed at the far end of the ward beside the tiny window. He was propped up on several pillows and reading the Daily Prophet by the solitary ray of sunlight falling onto his bed. He looked around as they walked toward him and, seeing whom it was, beamed.
"Hello!" he called, throwing the Prophet aside. "Bill just left, Molly, had to get back to work, but he says he'll drop in on you later."
"How are you, Arthur?" asked Mrs. Weasley finally letting go of my hand and bending down to kiss his cheek and looking anxiously into his face. "You're still looking a bit peaky."
"I feel absolutely fine," Mr. Weasley said brightly, holding out his good arm to give Ginny a hug. "If they could only take the bandages off, I'd be fit to go home."
"Why can't they take them off, Dad?" Fred asked.
"Well, I start bleeding like mad every time they try," Mr. Weasley said cheerfully, reaching across for his wand, which lay on his bedside cabinet, and waving it so that seven extra chairs appeared at his bedside to seat them all. "It seems there was some rather unusual kind of poison in that snake's fangs that keeps wounds open. They're sure they'll find an antidote, though, they say they've had much worse cases than mine, and in the meantime I just have to keep taking a Blood-Replenishing Potion every hour. But that fellow over there," he said, dropping his voice and nodding toward the bed opposite in which a man lay looking green and sickly and staring at the ceiling. "Bitten by a werewolf, poor chap. No cure at all." I cringe thinking about how close I was to that being me.
"A werewolf?" whispered Mrs. Weasley, looking alarmed. "Is he safe in a public ward? Shouldn't he be in a private room?"
"It's two weeks till full moon," Mr. Weasley reminded her quietly. "They've been talking to him this morning, the Healers, you know, trying to persuade him he'll be able to lead an almost normal life. I said to him didn't mention names, of course but I said I knew a werewolf personally, very nice man, who finds the condition quite easy to manage."
"What did he say?" George asked.
"Said he'd give me another bite if I didn't shut up," Mr. Weasley said sadly. "And that woman over there," he indicated the only other occupied bed, which was right beside the door, "won't tell the Healers what bit her, which makes us all think it must have been something she was handling illegally. Whatever it was took a real chunk out of her leg, very nasty smell when they take off the dressings."
"So, you going to tell us what happened, Dad?" Fred asked, pulling his chair closer to the bed.
"Well, you already know, don't you?" said Mr. Weasley, with a significant smile at Harry. "It's very simple I'd had a very long day, dozed off, got sneaked up on, and bitten."
"Is it in the Prophet, you being attacked?" Fred asked, indicating the newspaper Mr. Weasley had cast aside.
"No, of course not," Mr. Weasley said, with a slightly bitter smile, "the Ministry wouldn't want everyone to know a dirty great serpent got"
"Arthur!" said Mrs. Weasley warningly.
"got er me," Mr. Weasley said hastily.
"So where were you when it happened, Dad?" George asked.
"That's my business," Mr. Weasley said, though with a small smile. He snatched up the Daily Prophet, shook it open again.