Harry Potter 03 - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

gone,’ said Percy, rounding on Harry.
    ‘So’s Scabbers’s Rat Tonic,’ said Ron, throwing things out of his trunk to look. ‘I think I might’ve left it in the bar –’
    ‘You’re not going anywhere till you’ve found my badge!’ yelled Percy.
    ‘I’ll get Scabbers’s stuff, I’m packed,’ Harry said to Ron, and he went downstairs.
    Harry was halfway along the passage to the bar, which was now very dark, when he heard another pair of angry voices coming from the parlour. A second later, he recognised them as Mr and Mrs Weasley’s. He hesitated, not wanting them to know he’d heard them rowing, when the sound of his own name made him stop, then move closer to the parlour door.
    ‘… makes no sense not to tell him,’ Mr Weasley was saying heatedly. ‘Harry’s got a right to know. I’ve tried to tell Fudge, but he insists on treating Harry like a child. He’s thirteen years old and –’
    ‘Arthur, the truth would terrify him!’ said Mrs Weasley shrilly. ‘Do you really want to send Harry back to school with that hanging over him? For heaven’s sake, he’s happy not knowing!’
    ‘I don’t want to make him miserable, I want to put him on his guard!’ retorted Mr Weasley. ‘You know what Harry and Ron are like, wandering off by themselves – they’ve even ended up in the Forbidden Forest! But Harry mustn’t do that this year! When I think what could have happened to him that night he ran away from home! If the Knight Bus hadn’t picked him up, I’m prepared to bet he would have been dead before the Ministry found him.’
    ‘But he’s not dead, he’s fine, so what’s the point –’
    ‘Molly, they say Sirius Black’s mad, and maybe he is, but he was clever enough to escape from Azkaban, and that’s supposed to be impossible. It’s been a month now, and no one’s seen hide nor hair of him, and I don’t care what Fudge keeps telling the Daily Prophet , we’re no nearer catching Black than inventing self-spelling wands. The only thing we know for sure is what Black’s after –’
    ‘But Harry will be perfectly safe at Hogwarts.’
    ‘We thought Azkaban was perfectly safe. If Black can break out of Azkaban, he can break into Hogwarts.’
    ‘But no one’s really sure that Black’s after Harry –’
    There was a thud on wood, and Harry was sure Mr Weasley had banged his fist on the table.
    ‘Molly, how many times do I have to tell you? They didn’t report it in the press because Fudge wanted it kept quiet, but Fudge went out to Azkaban the night Black escaped. The guards told Fudge that Black’s been talking in his sleep for a while now. Always the same words: “He’s at Hogwarts … he’s at Hogwarts.”Black is deranged, Molly, and he wants Harry dead. If you ask me, he thinks murdering Harry will bring You-Know-Who back to power. Black lost everything the night Harry stopped You-Know-Who, and he’s had twelve years alone in Azkaban to brood on that …’
    There was a silence. Harry leant still closer to the door, desperate to hear more.
    ‘Well, Arthur, you must do what you think is right. But you’re forgetting Albus Dumbledore. I don’t think anything could hurt Harry at Hogwarts while Dumbledore’s Headmaster. I suppose he knows about all this?’
    ‘Of course he knows. We had to ask him if he minds the Azkaban guards stationing themselves around the entrances to the school grounds. He wasn’t happy about it, but he agreed.’
    ‘Not happy? Why shouldn’t he be happy, if they’re there to catch Black?’
    ‘Dumbledore isn’t fond of the Azkaban guards,’ said Mr Weasley heavily. ‘Nor am I, if it comes to that … but when you’re dealing with a wizard like Black, you sometimes have to join forces with those you’d rather avoid.’
    ‘If they save Harry –’
    ‘– then I will never say another word against them,’ said Mr Weasley wearily. ‘It’s late, Molly, we’d better go up …’
    Harry heard chairs move. As quietly as he could, he hurried down the passage to the bar and out of sight. The parlour door opened, and a few seconds later footsteps told him that Mr and Mrs Weasley were climbing the stairs.
    The bottle of Rat Tonic was lying under the table they had sat at earlier. Harry waited until he heard Mr and Mrs Weasley’s bedroom door close, then headed back upstairs with the bottle.
    Fred and George were crouching in the shadows on the landing, heaving with laughter as they listened to Percy dismantling his and Ron’s