| As he clutched his forehead and closed his eyes, a voice screamed inside his head
"\iYou told me the problem would be solved by using another's wand!\i"
And into his mind burst the vision of an emaciated old man lying in rags upon a stone floor, screaming, a horrible drawn-out scream, a scream of unendurable agony
"No! No! I beg you, I beg you
"You lied to Lord Voldemort, Ollivander!"
"I did not
"You sought to help Potter, to help him escape me!"
"I swear I did notI believed a different wand would work
"Explain, then, what happenedLucius's wand is destroyed!"
"I cannot understandbetween your two wands
"\iLies!\i"
"Please
And Harry saw the white hand raise its wand and felt Voldemort's surge of vicious anger, saw the frail old main on the floor writhe in agony -
"Harry?"
It was over as quickly as it had come: Harry stood omega seamaster titanium watch shaking in the darkness, clutching the gate into the garden, his heart racing, his scar still tinglingIt was several moments before he realized that Ron and Hermione were at his side
"Harry, come back in the house," Hermione whispered, "You aren't still thinking of leaving?"
"Yeah, you've got to stay, mate," said Ron, thumping Harry on the back
"Are you all right?" Hermione asked, close enough now to look into Harry's face"You look awful!"
"Well," said Harry shakily, "I probably look better than Ollivander
When he had finished telling them what he had seen, Ron looked appalled, but Hermione downright terrified
"But it was supposed to have stopped! Your scar - it wasn't supposed to do this anymore! You mustn't let that connection open up again - Dumbledore wanted you to close your mind!"
When he did not reply, she gripped his arm
"Harry, he's pink and black chanel purse taking over the Ministry and the newspapers and half the Wizarding world! Don't let him inside your head too!"
\p\C0="Chapter Six: The Ghoul in Pajamas"
\bChapter Six
\iThe Ghoul in Pajamas\i\b
The shock of losing Mad-Eye hung over the house in the days that followed; Harry kept expecting to see him stumping in through the back door like the other Order members, who passed in and out to relay newsHarry felt that nothing but action would assuage his feelings of guilt and grief and that he ought to set out on his mission to find and destroy Horcruxes as soon as possible
"Well, you can't do anything about the" - Ron mouthed the word \iHorcruxes\i - "till you're seventeenYou've still got the Trace on youAnd we can plan here as well as anywhere, can't we? Or," he dropped his voice to a whisper, "d'you reckon you already know where the chanel bucket tote bag You-Know-Whats are?"
"No," Harry admitted
"I think Hermione's been doing a bit of research," said Ron"She said she was saving it for when you got here
They were sitting at the breakfast table; MrWeasley and Bill had just left for workWeasley had gone upstairs to wake Hermione and Ginny, while Fleur had drifted off to take a bath
"The Trace'll break on the thirty-first," said Harry"That means I only need to stay here four daysThen I can -"
"Five days," Ron corrected him firmly"We've got to stay for the weddingThey'll kill us if we miss it
Harry understood "they" to mean Fleur and Mrs
"It's one extra day," said Ron, when Harry looked mutinous
"Don't they realize how important -?"
"'Course they don't," said Ron"They haven't got a clueAnd now you mention it, I wanted to talk to you about that
Ron glanced toward the door into the hall to check coco chanel necklace that MrsWeasley was not returning yet, then leaned in closer to Harry
"Mum's been trying to get it out of Hermione and meWhat we're off to doShe'll try you next, so brace yourselfDad and Lupin've both asked as well, but when we
said Dumbledore told you not to tell anyone except us, they dropped it
Ron's prediction came true within hoursShortly before lunch, MrsWeasley detached Harry from the others by asking him to help identify a lone man's sock that she thought might have come out of his rucksackOnce she had him cornered in the tiny scullery off the kitchen, she started
"Ron and Hermione seem to think that the three of you are dropping out of Hogwarts," she began in a light, casual tone
The mangle turned of its own accord in a corner, wringing out what looked like one of Mr
"May I ask \iwhy\i you are abandoning your education?" said chanel jewellery Mr |
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