Chapter Four “ An Unexpected Visitor
The following day began earlier than usual, with Katie waking Clare up in an unexpected good mood.
“What are you so happy about?” Clare mumbled, her words running together. She rubbed her eyes and ran a hand through her dark hair before adding, “Normal people like sleeping, you know.”
“I do know,” Katie said. “I’m not happy that it’s early.”
“Well, could it be the glorious weather that’s got you in such a chipper mood?” Clare asked, stumbling out of bed. She smiled sarcastically and gestured to the small window in their room. Rain was pouring down in sheets, giving no sign that it would let up soon.
“Very funny,” Katie said, “but no. The dinner party is tonight.”
“That’s what you’re excited about?” Clare’s eyebrows shot up. She wasn’t really dreading the party “ it would be nice to see other people, even if from a servant’s point of view - but preparation for the dinner that night would take all day, and although not too tasking, it would be tedious and most likely boring. “Why are you happy about the dinner?”
Katie glanced at the small clock on the wall opposite the window and then quickly at their closed door. “Well, I haven’t told you this before because I wanted to make sure I could trust you not to go running to the Ashwoods. No offense, of course,” Katie added with a grin.
“None taken,” Clare said, returning the smile.
Katie didn’t say anything further. Instead, she glanced once more at the door to make sure it was still closed, and then moved towards her cot. Reaching one hand under the thin mattress, Katie rummaged around for a moment until she finally pulled her hand back. In her palm, clutched tightly, was something small. Clare took a step closer to Katie and watched curiously as her friend opened her hand to reveal a delicate, golden band.
“You’re married?” Clare asked, incredulity flooding her voice.
Katie smiled, and her face transformed, making her look years younger. “Yes, his name is Oliver.”
“Is he a Muggle-born?”
“No,” Katie said. “He’s a pure-blood. We went to Hogwarts together; he was a few years ahead of me. It was different then, you know, blood didn’t matter.” Katie paused for a moment. “As much.”
Clare didn’t reply at once. For a moment, she was caught up in thinking about how different her life would have been had she grown up in Katie’s time. She could have gone to Hogwarts, played Quidditch, made friends. A small flicker of envy flashed through her, before she wondered if Katie had it any better after all. How must it feel to know what it was like to have everything, and then have it taken away? Clare couldn’t imagine “ not really, at least “ what it was like before Harry Potter had lost. She shook her head slightly; no use thinking of it now. “So, how long have you been married?” Clare asked. She sat down on the bed and Katie did the same next to her.
“Five years,” Katie said. She smiled again, but this time it didn’t reach her eyes. “We married six months before You Kn “ Voldemort “ defeated Harry. Then the Ministry was taken over, and I was deported to Mulvane Village. They declared our marriage invalid, so technically, I suppose I’m not really married anymore.” Katie stopped talking, the good mood she’d been in before seemingly deflated. There was silence for a few moments before she began to speak once more. “I haven’t seen Oliver in two years, and that’s only because we saw each other when I was running an errand. I got to say, “I love you, I miss you,” before someone shoved me out of the way and told me it was prohibited to talk to anyone above my station. He could have remarried by now, for all I know.” Katie said this in a bit of a rush, the words tumbling out bitterly and jumbled together.
“I’m sorry,” Clare said softly. “I’m sure he’s still waiting for you.”
All at once, Katie’s mood returned to the happy one it had been when she had first woken Clare up. “I’ll find out tonight, actually. The dinner party, well, it’s in celebration of a closed deal at the Ministry, and Mr. Ashwood’s invited most of his coworkers.”
“Oliver works for the Ministry?” Clare asked. That couldn’t be good; the Ministry was overrun with Death Eaters and other pure-blood maniacs.
“Sort of. We both joined the Order after Hogwarts, although it’s not as if I can do much for them now. But Oliver, he and a few other members began working for the Ministry, as a way to get information. None of his family had ever been connected to the Order, so Voldemort’s lackeys haven’t been suspicious. At least not that I’ve heard.”
Clare didn’t really know how to respond, which, she realized, was becoming a bit of a habit in this conversation. “Oh,” she said lamely.
There was a pause, both girls lost in their own thoughts, before Katie spoke. “We’d better get going,” she said. “If we don’t get started cleaning and cooking, we’ll never be done by six, and Merlin knows there’ll be hell to pay.”
Clare nodded and dressed in her work robes and waited for Katie as she tucked the ring back underneath the cot.
When they were both ready, they walked without talking out of their room. The rest of the day passed in a flurry of cleaning, cooking, and shouted orders from the Ashwoods. Everything had to be perfect for the dinner party, and Clare would have been miserable had it not been for Katie telling her stories about Oliver and her life before Voldemort. After one of these stories, one about a Hogwarts Quidditch match, Clare decided that Katie had it better after all. It was like that saying her mother used to say, it was better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all.
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The moment it was ten to six, Mrs. Ashwood thundered into the kitchen and shouted at Katie and Clare to set everything on the table and prepare to greet the guests. When Mrs. Ashwood left, Katie smiled thinly at Clare, clearly nervous about seeing Oliver. Clare smiled back bracingly, and the two brought the cooked food into the dining room.
Once done, there was nothing to do but stand in the foyer and wait for guests to arrive. With the minutes until six slowly ticking away, Mr. Ashwood appeared by their side and ran them through the proper way of greeting those above their station.
“You are not to meet anyone’s eyes,” he explained, his voice cold. “Under no circumstances are you to speak other than to say, ‘Good evening, may I take your coat?’ and direct them to the living room. Once the guests have all arrived, you are both to slip unnoticed into the kitchen until you are needed to bring the main dinner out and clear away the appetizers. If anything goes wrong because of you both, there will be hell to pay tomorrow.”
Without waiting for a response of any sort, Mr. Ashwood left to join his wife in the living room where they would meet the guests and mingle before sitting down to begin eating. Once he was out of sight, Clare muttered, “Aye, Captain,” causing Katie to slip into a fit of giggles and mock salute Clare.
When the doorbell rang, however, they instantly became serious and Clare stepped forward to open the door. “Good evening, sir, ma’am,” she said solemnly. “May I take your coats?”
The couple looked at Clare as though she had just asked to steal their coats, but then grudgingly handed them to her. She led them to the living room where the Ashwoods were waiting, and then set the coats in the guest room, as she’d been instructed. Returning to the foyer, Clare could hear Katie’s voice.
“Good evening, sir,” Katie said, echoing Clare, her voice quavering ever so slightly. “May I take your coat?”
It didn’t take her seeing the tall man who was unmistakably the same one Katie had described to her earlier for Clare to realize this was Oliver. Katie’s smile, hastily hidden, had given her away. Clare watched, happy for her friend.
Oliver returned the smile almost unnoticeably and said, “Please.” He removed his coat and handed it to Katie, and when she took it, their hands lingered a little longer than necessary.
If she hadn’t been listening closely, Clare would have missed the murmured, “I missed you,” from Katie, or the, “I love you,” from Oliver. They disappeared to the living room, and Clare was immediately needed to greet the next guest. She nodded slightly to Katie when they passed on Clare’s way to the coatroom.
When all the guests had arrived and their coats appropriately placed, Katie and Clare made their way to the dining room to begin serving the food they had already set out. It was a tedious task, full of requests to run and get this or that from the kitchen, but for the first time in months, Clare had the chance to listen to news of the outside world.
Clare also had the chance to listen as Gavin and his two friends (who had fathers who worked for the Ministry) talked about Hogwarts and their classes, going on about the spells in Transfiguration and other classes Clare had never heard of. She wondered if Gavin noticed her lingering a little longer than necessary while serving them, just for the sake of hearing a little more of what they were talking about.
Once, when she came to bring one of the boys another drink, she could have sworn Gavin gave her a small, half smile and launched into a story about the most recent spell they had learned in Charms, carefully saying the incantation and showing the hand movement. It might have been a coincidence, but Clare couldn’t help but wonder if he was indirectly teaching her something new.
In the off chance Gavin actually was being uncharacteristically nice, Clare later cut him an extra large piece of the pie; and then had to hide a smile as one of the other boys complained about his slice being too small.
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That night, after the guests had left and they had spent more than an hour cleaning and dishwashing, Katie and Clare were able to return to their room to sleep. Clare was exhausted after the endless orders and commands of the night; Katie, however, was moving around the room as though she had enough energy to play a game of Quidditch.
“Have a good night?” Clare asked, plopping down onto her cot.
“As a matter of fact, it was wonderful,” Katie replied, finally settling onto her own bed. “I managed to talk to Oliver a few times.”
“What did he say?”
“Well, that he hadn’t remarried“”
“Told you,” Clare cut in with a grin.
““ and that there’s talk of Harry Potter fighting Voldemort again,” Katie continued. “Apparently, his power is beginning to come back “ albeit very slowly. But the news has been enough to stir the resistance movement again, and there have been rumors of a rebellion against the Death Eaters in the Ministry.”
“I can’t believe it,” Clare murmured.
“I know, but Oliver said it was really happening,” Katie said. “Just imagine “ a world where people like the Ashwoods will be forced to do their own laundry.”
Clare laughed. “Or Merlin forbid, do their own grocery shopping.”
They stayed up for a few minutes longer, laughing and smiling over thoughts of the pure-blooded Death Eaters having to make due without their servants.
And although Clare tried to stop herself from wishing what Katie said was true, she couldn’t keep a small flicker of hope from flaring. The growing resistance, everyone fighting back “ maybe an end to this hell was closer than she’d thought.