The Lewis House 91 страница

Sirius smirked and, to Ginny's immense disquiet, so did Remus.

She hurried to the front door and smoothed her hair, and was immediately irritated with herself for doing it. She opened the door.

Harry was standing in the garden in the dark, and he looked as uncomfortable as she felt. He came to the bottom of the steps and looked up at her.

He looked so tired.

"I heard that Remus…" he began. "Ron got it from Sirius that…"

"I ruined the Wolfsbane Potion," Ginny said matter-of-factly. "Remus was a full werewolf last night."

Harry blew out a breath. "Is he all right?"

"His leg's broken, he hit his head, he's got bruises and sick stomach, and he nearly ripped all his nails out."

Harry looked aghast, and another wave of guilt washed over Ginny. She had been the cause of all that, no matter what Remus said. The blame was hers. And it was just as well that Harry should know that she wasn't as gifted as everyone had believed. Perhaps it would make him see that her feelings for him had had nothing to do with her Healing powers. They weren't the most amazing powers in the world after all. They failed sometimes.

"Are you all right?" he asked more softly, looking up at her with real concern.

Ginny's stomach fluttered. "Yes," she said. But she wasn't sure what else to say, and Harry had already looked away from her and fixed his eyes on the steps. He fiddled with something in his pocket, opened his mouth, shut it, and shook his head.

"Well, I… just wanted to be sure," he said.

So he was leaving already. A wall went up around Ginny's heart. "Thanks for stopping by," she said automatically, and then she remembered something else. "I won't be back to Azkaban."

He glanced up at her. "You won't?"

"No. I'm finished with the dragons until after my N.E.W.T.s."

Harry looked surprised but satisfied, and Ginny crossed her arms. He didn't have to be so happy about it - but then, he was probably just glad she wouldn't be on the broom with Malfoy anymore. Not that she'd been anywhere near Malfoy since Sunday afternoon.

"I wouldn't've had an escort anyway," she muttered. "Malfoy wasn't going to take me up anymore. And -" Ginny hesitated, met Harry's eyes, and forced the words out. "And you might as well know that I went over to Malfoy's house last week. I did a bit more work on him. Just so you know."

Harry's mouth dropped open. "At - at his house?" he said heatedly. "I mean, I overheard when you… and Ron said that you… but I didn't think you'd go." His eyes flashed. "Ginny, that was really -"

"Stupid," she finished for him. "Yes, I've had a speech from Sirius already. And from Remus."

"Good," Harry muttered, and Ginny couldn't help wondering if he was actually concerned about her, or if he was just angry that she'd seen Malfoy in private. She decided not to try and work it out. "How did Ron know that I worked on him?"

"Malfoy told him," Harry said, still looking as if he would have liked to give her more of a lecture.

But it was Ginny's turn to gape. "Ron talked to Malfoy? Why?"

Harry scratched his head. "Well… Malfoy was arrested and put in Culparrat today. They pulled him right off his dragon, hauled him off and replaced him with a new rider. It was… really something." Harry looked away at nothing, but his eyebrows went up as if he was seeing it happen again, and he pushed up his glasses. "Ron questioned him after that, but I wasn't allowed any of the particulars."

Ginny couldn't fathom it. She stared at Harry for a long time. "Arrested?" she finally repeated.

"Right."

"For… what?"

Harry peered up at her. "I'm not entirely sure." He narrowed his eyes. "But Ron seems to think you might know something about it."

"Me?" Ginny said blankly.

"Seeing as you worked on Malfoy and all. It would make sense if you… knew things." Harry tilted his head a little. "So, do you?"

Ginny was so taken aback that it took her a while to answer. Did she know things? In her mind's eye she saw a flash of gaudy gold marked with an M, and she got a terrible feeling in her heart. "I signed a confidentiality contract," she said, when she got her wits back. "I can't… even if I did know, I couldn't." And she didn't know. Not really.

"Right," Harry said again, and looked away from her. "Well. I'd better… get some sleep."

"I'd… better go and study," Ginny replied, wishing she could think of something else. Something that would make him stay, even if she didn't know how to talk to him. It occurred to her that, if she was able to work on a werewolf, then she might be strong enough to open up to Harry. All she needed to do was let her guard down, and she would know how he felt. She wouldn't have to guess. He wouldn't have to sort it out for himself.

She wasn't sure why, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Night, then," Harry said, after a minute.

"Goodnight." And, as Ginny watched, Harry turned and walked down the road without looking back.

~*~

"Did you want to talk to me?"

The sudden appearance of Ginny's head in the fireplace of their tiny office made Ron tense with surprise. But the sight of his sister was more than welcome; he had been trying to find time to talk to her all weekend, but ever since Remus's transformation she had apparently decided to be a hermit. She was always busy, she wouldn't come over to the Notch – Ron suspected that had more to do with Harry than anything else - and he had finally told Hermione to give her a message.

He wanted to talk to her about Malfoy. Ron strode to the fireplace and crouched down to get her at eye level.

"I have some questions," he said. "Apparate over here."

"I can't, I only have two minutes. Remus is in charge of my schedule until I'm finished with school."

"Are you still in class? It's nearly four o'clock, you must be finished," Ron protested.

"I mean until I'm actually finished with school." Ginny gave him a look. "Until I take the N.E.W.T.s. But yes, actually I have to finish a potion. You come over here."

"I can't, I'm busy." Ron gestured behind him to Sirius, who was bent low over his desk, half-buried in a sea of papers. "Malfoy doesn't want us to represent him, but we've still got to prepare our -"

"Ron," Sirius said sharply. "Quiet."

Ron sighed loudly. It was harder for him than anyone realized, this secret-keeping business. Not telling things to Hermione and Harry was absolutely excruciating, and not being able to have a candid conversation with his own sister… well, it was just ridiculous. But he wanted Malfoy to stay in prison as much as he wanted the Cannons to win the league - perhaps even more than that - and whatever it took, he would do it.

"Hey, did you really quit Azkaban?" he asked keenly. "Harry said you -"

"Yes." Ginny gazed serenely at him. "I'm not doing any more extracurricular activities until Remus says it's all right - I'm not doing personal work, I'm not going back to Azkaban and I'm not… making the Wolfsbane Potion anymore." She paused, and her eyes flitted over Ron's shoulder, towards Sirius. "Nothing except for my work on the Grangers."

Ron raised an eyebrow. She sounded awfully obedient all of a sudden - she must've felt really guilty.

"I'm going to be late," Ginny fretted, turning her head a little and looking away. "Come over later if you want to talk, I've got to go."

"No, wait." Ron leaned closer to the fire. "Ginny… Malfoy said you were over at his house. And then Harry said it was true - is it true?"

Ginny glanced at him, and her eyes darkened. "Yes, all right?" she finally said, very stiffly. "I went - once. But you'd better save the lecture, I've already had three."

Furious, protective anger surged through Ron, but he fought it down as hard as he could. Ginny never reacted well to being babied, and just now he needed her in her right mind. "What did you see over there - what did you… you know, feel from him?" he asked, half excited at the prospect of finding out something that might seal up his case, and half sickened by the fact that his sister might have any intimate knowledge of Draco Malfoy. "I know there has to be something - what can you tell me?"

"Nothing," Ginny said simply, and turned her head again. "I signed a contract - look, I really have to go. Sorry. See you."

"Ginny, wait a minute -"

But her head vanished as abruptly as it had appeared, and Ron was left, chagrined, in front of the empty fireplace. "She can't just withhold information," he began, but Sirius interrupted at once.

"Yes she can, and it would compromise our case if she didn't."

"But -"

"But? There are certain things we all have to keep quiet, in order to preserve the integrity of our work. Think about what you've kept secret."

"But it's Malfoy." Ron stood and straightened his robes, still irritated with Ginny for being so elusive, though he supposed he shouldn't have asked her anything in the first place. After all, if she had her own professional ethics, then that was a good thing. Sort of. "It's Malfoy," he repeated, feeling that somehow there should be an exception to the legal rules in cases of hateful, pointy little bastards who deserved to rot for life.

Sirius looked up at him. "I know the feeling, Ron, but that doesn't change things. And if you really want him, you'll have to play clean, because I have a feeling that whoever he hires won't miss the smallest chink in our armor." He rubbed his head. "And as Ginny's going to have to stand as a witness in the first hearing, you can tell her absolutely nothing."

"She's a witness?" Ron narrowed his eyes. "I thought she signed a contract?"

"Doesn't matter. The point of the first hearing will be to disprove that she ever breached her contract - we'll have to insure that the evidence against Malfoy cannot be suppressed. Malfoy's Advocate, I'm sure, will want to prove that Ginny breached her contract, so that everything that was discovered in the raid of Malfoy Manor will have to be struck from the record. That way, Malfoy will have to be released."

"That's crap. She never told me anything."

"And that's just the way we want it, for now... until we can find a way to nullify that contract." Sirius sifted through another handful of papers, and he narrowed his eyes at a tiny slip of parchment. "Do me a favor - check the archives for any files the Ministry might have on Galfrid Thinstone."

"The Hogsmeade jeweler?"

"He comes up in Lucius Malfoy's receipts again and again. It's probably nothing, but some of those Dark objects were -"

"Pretty fancy." Ron frowned. "You're right. I'll be right back."

He left the office with a thick roll of parchment and a couple of Self-Inking quills, and he headed up the wide, polished stairways that led to the Ministry's top floor, where the archives were located. He was glad they weren't stuffed away in some rotting basement or shut up in a windowless library - he was here so often that he was grateful for the skylight. He immediately asked Mr. Doyle where he could find information on Galfrid Thinstone - he had learned that, if he only asked, he would get more help than he ever could have dreamed of - and waited as the pensive archivist went off in search of papers.

"Just these," said Mr. Doyle, returning with a trolley full of books and files, most of which, Ron knew, probably only referenced Galfrid Thinstone in some microscopic way. But just in case… He sighed, laid out his parchment, and with a flick of his wand he set his quills to work in midair. A few precise words and the books began to turn their own pages as the quills flew rapidly from foot to foot of parchment, making note of everything Thinstone had ever done.

"That's a handy pair of spells," said Mr. Doyle, looking impressed.

"My girlfriend taught me."

"Oh?" Mr. Doyle asked indulgently. "And what does your girlfriend do?"

Ron gave a half-smile. "Oh, nothing much. She's just a book lover, you know…" He paused for effect. "And a Thinker. You've heard of Hermione Granger?"

Mr. Doyle went round-eyed, and Ron bit back a grin. It was always fun, springing Hermione on people. She was impressive even when she wasn't there. And as it was very rare to come across anyone who didn't know that they were dating, Ron basked in the satisfaction of the archivist's obvious awe.

A half-hour was all it took before the notes were complete. Ron rolled up the parchment, thanked Mr. Doyle, and headed back down to his office, detouring only slightly to say hello to his father. He didn't really have time, but his dad had looked more and more frustrated lately - the debates about who would make the most appropriate new Minister still raged among the P.C.s, and Ron sometimes wondered if his father even wanted to be considered for the position any longer.

"Is my dad available?" he asked Lawrence, who opened the door at once.

"There's an emergency meeting – Mr. Weasley, is it all right if – "

His father looked up. "Come in, Ron."

Ron's curiosity was piqued. "Okay..." He hurried into his father's office and his eyebrows went up.

Nearly everyone who headed the P.A.P. was there. Harry, Charlie, Cho Chang and Mick O'Malley stood around the Minister's desk in their dragon gear; Rose Brown hovered anxiously at his father's side with her clipboard; Moody was beside her, looking grim, and even Sirius had been summoned. Lawrence closed the door behind Ron, who joined the rest of them around his father's desk.

"What's going on?" Ron asked, rolling his stack of parchment a little tighter and shoving it into the pocket of his robes. He caught Harry's eyes and immediately wished he hadn't. Harry looked dead on his feet.

"It's the Dementors," Harry said faintly. He didn't look like he was going to be able to stand up much longer.

A horrible chill shot through Ron's heart. "No one's hurt, are they?"

"Not… yet." Harry swayed slightly, and Ron pointed his wand at once, floating a chair towards the desk. Harry sat down in it, looking more than a little embarrassed. But it seemed he had no choice. He leaned back, and it seemed he was only concentrating with incredible effort; his eyes were glazed over.

"They've gone wild," Charlie said grimly. "Out of control. All of them - worse than it was at the beginning. Far worse."

"They're hungrier," Sirius said quietly.

"But that doesn’t explain why they've suddenly started shooting out of the prison in hordes," Cho said, pushing a hand through her short hair. "They've been getting hungrier all this time. Why would they snap now, all at once? Why are they suddenly escaping by the dozens? We could hardly turn them back today - it took everyone on shore to keep them at bay, and to be frank, I'm really worried for the people in Stornoway. We need to get people out there -"

"Tonight," Charlie finished. "She's right, Dad. There's no time to waste."

"It's critical," Cho went on. "We don't even have time for this meeting, we need help right now."

Ron listened. He had a lot of questions, but he had a feeling that they would be answered if he just paid attention, and everyone seemed so worried and afraid that he didn't want to break their focus.

"Could it be the new rider?" Arthur rubbed his chin. "Is he honestly prepared to be out there, or did you give him the position too soon?"

"What, Joe?" Charlie snorted. "We've been putting him through the wringer for months, he's a fine dragon rider. Hasn't missed a beat, has he, Harry?"

Harry shook his head.

"Granted, he's only been out there for five days -"

"It's not Joe." Harry let out a tired breath. "He's doing far better than I am."

"Harry…" Cho began.

"No, he is," Harry said matter-of-factly. "He's the best of us right now. He has more energy than the rest of us because he hasn't been out there."

Mick shrugged. "True enough." He looked exhausted too. "He made up for the two of us today. Let's not put the blame on Joe."

"Is it Ginny's absence?" Arthur leaned back in his chair and looked around at all of them. "She came to me on Friday night and turned in her Ministry badge. She said that she has no intention of returning to work until she's completed her studies, and I agree that it's probably the wisest thing…"

"But if we need her," Rose said, "then we need her."

Harry sat up straighter, and his eyes gained back some of their focus. "It's not Ginny," he said. "This has nothing to do with the dragons. Norbert was better behaved today than he's been in months - she did her job."

"Viking's in great shape too," Mick put in.

"The dragons are perfectly healthy." Cho shrugged. "But if it isn't Joe and it isn't Ginny, then I don't know what's caused this sudden shift."

"Well, you're all blind as bats." Moody's callous interruption got all their attention at once; several heads turned towards him as he crossed his arms and humphed. "Or else you just don’t want to name the truth, and I can't say I blame you, but honestly. A bunch of intelligent officials like yourselves, ignoring the obvious answer. What's the world coming to?"

Everyone was silent, and Ron met Sirius's eyes. He had a feeling that he knew what was coming, and he was sure that he had no desire to hear it.

"Malfoy." Moody eyed each one of them in turn. "He was arrested on Thursday?"

"That's right." Arthur pushed back what little hair he had.

Moody nodded. "And since his arrest, the Dementors have gone wild, as you put it, Mr. Weasley."

Charlie shrugged. "I suppose, but Malfoy could hardly have been responsible for -"

"I'm not going to jump to conclusions either way." Moody's magic eye rolled across each of their faces. "I'm just pointing out the facts. Malfoy was there, and the Dementors were controlled. Malfoy's gone, and the Dementors are rushing to shore in massive groups."

Harry slumped back again. "Bring Malfoy back then," he muttered.

"Hell no," Ron said, before he'd thought about it.

They all turned to look at him, and Ron's ears went hot.

"I just mean - you know -" he stammered. "He's got to stand trial first. We're not just sending him back out there a free man, not until he's proven he deserves it."

"And how could it have been Malfoy?" Charlie demanded. "It's not like he was there twenty-four hours a day, he went home at night. If it was something he was doing, then the Dementors would have gone mental every time he left."

"How did they behave on Friday?" Moody countered. "Is there a log book?"

"Well, yeah..." Charlie scratched his head and Cho pulled the log book out of her rucksack.

"Friday saw a slight increase in Dementor activity, but nothing too out of the ordinary…" she mused, turning pages. "Saturday… was worse. Yesterday was bad – we saw a few big groups trying to escape and we weren't sure what was causing it. But today was absolutely out of control."

"So if Malfoy was doing something, it might have worn off by now?" Harry looked up at Moody, who shrugged.

"I don't have answers, Potter," he said. "Just observations."

Mick rolled his head from side to side, and his neck cracked. "Well, I'm not sorry Malfoy's gone," he said bluntly. "But I'll tell you, if today is any indication of what it's going to be like out there from now on, then we're going to need all the help we can get. Harry nearly -"

Harry's head snapped up and he glared at Mick.

"Harry nearly what?" Sirius said, stepping forward. "Go on."

Mick gave Harry an apologetic glance, then fixed his attention on Arthur. "I lost contact with him for about a minute, at the end of our shift," he said. "So I told Joe to keep an eye on both my section and his, and I flew around to Harry's side of the island." He shook his head. "I can't tell you what happened. All I know is that I saw Norbert getting very close to the water - it looked like he was driving back a group of about four Dementors all on his own."

"Harry wasn't on him?" Sirius demanded.

"Oh, he was on him." Mick gave a weak laugh. "Lying flat across his harness on his stomach. It looked like… well, I can't be sure. I only know what I saw. But it looked like Norbert had just caught him from a fall."

Ron looked at Harry in alarm, and was unsurprised to see that his friend's face had become an emotionless mask.

"Harry," Sirius said, his voice shaking. "Is that true?"

Harry kept his mouth shut.

"Harry," Ron began, but Harry shot him a look so venomous that Ron could not continue.

It was Arthur who got his attention. "Harry, you need to explain to me what Mick saw," he said, in a quiet voice that Ron knew very well. It was a voice that always got an answer, no matter how difficult the question was. It had worked on all of them for as long as Ron could remember, and it was doing its magic on Harry now; Harry drew back in his chair but his mouth opened slightly.

"It wasn't anything," he began, but Arthur raised his eyebrows and Harry went silent.

"You won't jeopardize your peers, Harry," he said. "You won't put me in a position where I'm forced to make a decision without crucial information. Will you."

Harry shook his head and dropped his gaze. "I…" He rubbed his eyes. "All right. I passed out."

Sirius drew a sharp breath and took another, manic step towards him.

"Sirius." Arthur's voice was hard. "Not now. Go on, Harry. What exactly happened?"

"There were… there had to be ten of them. I would've called for help, but I didn't think it would be a problem." He laughed, and the sound was somewhat mad. It made Ron's skin crawl. "I mean, I've done better." Harry laughed again. "I used a Patronus, but it didn't work on all of them. There were still three coming towards me, and I raised my wand, but I couldn't say the words." His breath came quickly. He kept his eyes on his knees. "I could hear… in my head. Things I couldn't get away from."

The room was terribly still, and Ron wasn't sure whom to look at: Harry, who was at this moment incredibly vulnerable, or the rest of them, who were watching in shock as Harry came apart.

"I didn't have anything left," Harry said. "And they just came closer. I tried to get away, I tried to get out of my harness, but before I could grab my broom…" He gripped his knees. "It all went black."

Ron was strongly reminded of third year, and of watching, terrified and unable to help, as Harry had gone unconscious and plummeted towards the hooded beings on the Quidditch pitch.

"And you fell?" Arthur asked, though his voice was not as steady as it had been a moment ago.

"I don't know," Harry said. "I think so. When I came to, I was lying on my stomach, on my harness. I heard Mick calling for me, but I just had enough energy to climb back in and buckle up."

"And how did you get onto your stomach?"

"I can't remember. But I think…" Now Harry looked up. He shrugged at Charlie. "I think Norbert caught me. I know he drove off the last of the Dementors on his own. You were… right about dragons."

Charlie looked torn between horror and joy.

Ron was only horrified. And it was clear, from the anguished expression on Sirius's face, that he was not the only one who felt that way.

"Harry," Rose said shakily. "Why didn't you tell Mick? Or anyone?"

Harry blinked at her. "What good would it have done?"

"You could have gone to shore - you could have been replaced -"

"No I couldn't." Harry gave another unhinged sort of laugh. "Replaced? There's no one else ready to be out there. Please replace me, if that's an option."

Ron's mouth dropped open. Had he ever heard Harry demand help like that? He tried to think of a time. He drew a blank.

"It's not an option," Charlie said faintly, after a moment. "There are two other riders in training, and they'll be ready in… Harry, it'll be weeks. At least. I can't in good conscience put them out there until - well, possibly by May, but -"

"May?" Sirius rounded on Charlie. "May? Did you hear him?"

Charlie stood up straight. "It's May," he said stoutly. "Or it's bring back Malfoy."

Moody gave a gruff bark of a laugh. "Bringing Malfoy back isn't an option at the moment," he said. "So we'll send reinforcements to shore. That should take the pressure off the riders. I'll spare what Aurors I can tonight, and they'll stay out there until you can replace them, Arthur. Until then, Black, your trials will have to wait, and so will the Imprisonment Enchantment, because there won't be enough of my people at Culparrat."

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04