1. JK Rowling
2. maker of aspirin
3. actually a Ghoul, though my name suggests differently
4. owner of Harry Potter or any of the characters in my story
5. as wonderful at betaing as Amber0_o or ix3hpseries. Thank you two so much!
Death Eaters, Weasels, and Rumours, Oh my!:
All thoughts of doxies were erased from their minds. Hestia and Dedalus drew their wands, trying to deduce the meaning of the message.
The Dursleys wanted information. They weren’t sure what the message meant, but they could tell it was not good.
“How could they find us here,” Hestia whispered, creeping to the front windows and lifting the blinds. “Dedalus,” she said shakily, beckoning him over.
They looked down at the street for some time, whispering to each other. Dudley was getting restless. He wanted to know what the message was about, what they were staring at, and if they were in any danger.
He cleared his throat several times, but to no avail. In an effort to remind Dedalus and Hestia that he and his parents were still in the room, Dudley casually knocked a few books off of their shelf. Hestia and Dedalus whipped around, wands aimed at Dudley. Dedalus shouted, “Stupefy!” and a jet of red light soared straight at Dudley’s chest.
The next thing he knew, his mother was draped across his body, Hestia was standing over him with her wand aimed at his chest, and his arse was sore.
“Oh, Duddykins!” his mother wailed, “Are you okay?”
His father was furious. “”creatures attacked me! My wife! And now my son!”
“I thought it was an intruder,” choked Dedalus, but Vernon wouldn’t hear of it.
“AN INTRUDER! What gave you that idea? That bloody cat that nearly ran me over a minute ago?”
“Yes, actually, if you would let me explain”“
“NO! WE ARE LEAVING! NOW! Petunia, Dudley, pack your trunks!” Vernon yelled, as he made his way to the hall.
“You’re not leaving,” Hestia said calmly.
“What?” Vernon turned to face her, the purple color of his face deepening. “You want to tell me what to do now, is that it? Well, let me tell you, Vernon Dursley does not take orders from anyone.”
“Fine,” she said, after Vernon had finished ranting. “But why don’t you take a look out of the window before you make your decision.”
Vernon stepped heavily toward the window, huffing all the way, lifted the blinds, and stared for a moment. Dudley could tell his father was doing some quick thinking. He turned around and said, “I suppose there will be no need to pack tonight.”
Petunia looked at him fearfully for answers, but he had none.
“What the bloody hell is going on?” he asked impatiently.
“How did they find us here?” Hestia asked, ignoring Vernon’s question and turning to Dedalus. “We’re protected, the building is unplottable.”
“I don’t know. I don’t know.” Dedalus nervously ran his fingers through what was left of his thin grey hair.
“Who are those people?” Vernon demanded.
“Death Eaters,” Dedalus said dismissively. “You don’t think someone leaked the location?”
Petunia gripped Dudley’s arm so tight he thought it might fall off. “Death Eaters?” she asked faintly.
“Kingsley, Mad-Eye, and Arthur Weasley are the only ones who know. Mad-Eye’s dead, Kingsley must be safe, because he sent the message, and Arthur… he would never tell.”
“Arthur Weasley?” Vernon inquired. “Is that the red-headed bloke? I bet he did it; I knew he was trouble from the moment I saw him!”
“Yes, but how could they find us then?” Dedalus asked, wandering over to the window.
Vernon was losing patience. “Do you even realize that we are still IN THE ROOM!”
“There are things of more importance,” Hestia said, brushing him off. “For now it seems like we’re okay as long as these enchantments hold. They can’t come upstairs or see us, but they certainly know we are here.”
She turned to the Dursleys. “If you were looking forward to a wonderful vacation in Paris, that’s shot. You three are on lockdown.”
“YOU CANNOT TELL ME WHAT TO DO!”
“Please,” Dedalus asked. “Please, we are simply trying to protect you.”
“Then tell me what the bloody hell is going on!”
“Well, you saw the Death Eaters out of the window”“ Dedalus started.
“Yes, I saw them,” Vernon said bitterly, barely controlling his temper.
“And Harry explained why they might be after you”“
“Yes,” Vernon said through clenched teeth, “but I’m not quite sure I believe”“
“Somehow they found us here,” Hestia interrupted. “We’re not sure how yet, but they can’t get to you while you are in the apartment.”
“How do you know they can’t get to us? Maybe they’re waiting for something!”
While his father argued with Hestia, Dudley’s curiosity got the better of him. His mum tried to pull him back, but he was too strong, and he dragged her all the way to the window.
Parting the blinds slightly, Dudley looked to the street below. He could only see a small patch of light below the street lamp, but as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he began to discern dark shapes on the sidewalk. Three masked, cloaked figures stared up at the building.
“So these are Death Eaters,” he whispered.
“Oh dear, what will the neighbours think!” Petunia squeaked. “Dudley, get away from the window.”
“Don’t worry, they can’t see you,” Dedalus said, surprising Dudley and making Petunia jump. Neither had realized he was listening. “The seventh floor isn’t visible from the street.”
“But how do you know they won’t get into the lift and do some of that hokey-pokey you did to build another floor?” Vernon asked. He was still unconvinced that the Death Eaters wouldn’t get to them in the middle of the night.
“We didn’t build another floor; that would be absurd,” Hestia laughed. “It’s just invisible.”
“Oh, building another floor is absurd, but an invisible one makes perfect sense!” Vernon scoffed.
“Well, magic doesn’t work that way,” explained Dedalus. “If you’re going to build, it takes time, more than one wave of the wand, and it should really be done by a professional.”
“A professional!” Vernon muttered under his breath as he left the room. “You want a professional, you come down to Grunnings. There you’ll find professionals.”
That night, Dudley lay awake in his bedroom waiting for sleep to come. Thoughts raced around in his head as he tried to understand what was happening. He was getting a headache.
With intentions of going to the loo to take an aspirin, he pushed back the covers and pulled on a bathrobe. Slowly opening his creaky bedroom door, Dudley heard hushed voices from the living room.
“…If they knew a way in, they would have come by now,” Dedalus whispered.
“Unless they are waiting for more people, or to be sure we are asleep,” said Hestia. “I’d like to hear from someone from the Order, someone who knows what is going on.”
“Mundungus said”“
“Yes, Mundungus being such a reliable source,” she said sarcastically.
Taking steps forward to hear the conversation better, Dudley stubbed his toe on the doorframe, making an Oomph sound. The scratching of chairs indicated that Hestia and Dedalus had heard, and a moment later, for the second time this night, he was staring down the tips of both of their wands.
He threw his hands into the air, like one would do for the Muggle policemen, but they relaxed their wands.
“What are you doing awake at this hour?” Hestia asked suspiciously.
“Getting an aspirin,” he replied nervously.
“Right,” Hestia replied, disbelieving. “You can put your arms down.”
“Oh it’s alright if the boy is curious,” said Dedalus, stepping forward. “We were never able to explain the situation properly earlier. Do you have questions?”
Dudley had questions, many questions, but he was not sure where to begin. “Harry told us You-Know-Who might come after us to get to Harry, but, er… what does Harry have to do with him? Why does he want Harry so badly?”
“That’s a good question,” Dedalus replied enthusiastically.
Hestia rolled her eyes. “You two will be up all night if you’re going to try to explain that. I’m going to sleep; wake me up if you get any news.”
Taking a seat in the living room, Dedalus began the story. “Harry’s parents were in the Order of the Phoenix, that’s the group fighting You-Know-Who, years ago. They found out that he was after them, so they went into hiding. But You-Know-Who found them and killed Harry’s parents. But when he tried to kill Harry, the curse back-fired and You-Know-Who disappeared…”
He continued the story for another hour, with many interruptions from Dudley, who had questions. He covered the Tri-Wizard Tournament, Harry witnessing You-Know-Who’s return, the Ministry’s insistence that he hadn’t returned, and the Battle at Hogwarts. Dudley felt overwhelmed by everything he was hearing, yet excited to hear more.
When a silver weasel leapt into the room, Dedalus paused the story to receive the message. “Meeting Sunday, Do not use Floo, They have been tapping it for weeks. Do not reply, We are being watched.”
“What are those?” Dudley asked.
“Patronuses,” said Dedalus, as he went to wake Hestia.
“Isn’t that what Harry used against the dementors?” asked Dudley.
“Yes; they have multiple uses.” He knocked and it only took a moment for her to answer the door.
“What’s happened?”
“There is a meeting Sunday. When you went to the meeting the other day, did you use the Floo?” he asked.
“Yes, why?”
“That must be how they found us. Arthur Weasley said the Death Eaters have been tapping the Floo Network for weeks.”
“That makes sense. They’ve been everywhere else in the Ministry, why not the Floo department? I should have been thinking.”
“It’s not your fault. Anyway, this means they probably don’t even know Dudley’s family is here.”
“They know I am here and probably that the house belongs to Kingsley,” she reasoned. “I can’t believe you two are still awake. I told you it would take all night.”
“I’m almost finished. Now, rumour has it, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are off on some mission they were given by Dumbledore. Hopefully, this is what will finally stop You-Know-Who.”
“Remember the other day, from that comic strip, you said Harry is ‘The Chosen One’. What does that mean?”
“A lot of people believe that Harry will be the one to defeat You-Know-Who, so he changed from ‘The Boy Who Lived’ to ‘The Chosen One’.”
“Do you believe it?” Dudley asked anxiously.
“Yes, I do,” he answered simply.
“I do too,” Dudley said excitedly. “If he can face You-Know-Who three times and live, that has to mean something.”
“He’s faced him more than three times,” said Hestia.
Dudley thought for a moment, then said, “No, it’s just three. When he was a baby, when You-Know-Who returned, and at the Ministry.”
“Dedalus didn’t tell you about the Basilisk?” she asked, feigning shock. “Or the Sorcerer’s Stone?”
“I thought I would save that for another time,” Dedalus said.
“Why not now?” Dudley complained.
“I’ll tell the story,” Hestia offered. When Dedalus gave her an odd look, she said, “Now that I’m awake, I might as well. In Harry’s first year at Hogwarts, there was this magical stone, called the Sorcerer’s Stone, which produces the Elixir of Life, making the drinker immortal. It was being stored at the school, because… well I don’t really know why, but it was.”
“Well, because You-Know-Who was trying to steal it,” Dedalus explained. “Do you remember when someone broke into Gringott’s? They were trying to steal the stone. It was because Dumbledore took it out in time that he didn’t get it.”
“Oh, okay,” she agreed. “The Stone was being protected by many things in the school. Rumour has it, all of the teachers contributed different spells and obstacles so that anyone trying to steal it couldn’t get to it”“
“That’s not how it was being protected,” Dedalus interrupted, “there was a dog guarding it.”
“A dog?” Hestia asked sardonically. “You’re telling me that the Sorcerer’s Stone was being protected by a dog?”
“Not just any dog. It was Hagrid’s three-headed dog, Fluffy.”
“A three-headed dog named Fluffy?” Dudley asked curiously.
“That’s just silly,” said Hestia. “Harry, Ron, and Hermione got wind of their Professor Quirrel trying to steal the stone and went after him the night he was going to steal it.”
“They didn’t actually know it was Quirrel; they thought it was Snape,” Dedalus said. “And Hagrid went with them. They needed him to get past the dog.”
“There was no dog!” said Hestia. “They went after Quirrel and they had to play a game of Wizard’s chess, fight a troll, and duel Quirrel for the stone.”
“No, after they got past the dog, they went through a trap door which led them to an underground maze, and they split up to get to the stone before Quirrel.”
“That’s ridiculous. Dudley, don’t listen to him. When Harry killed Quirrel in the duel, he took the stone and the three of them left.”
“Harry didn’t kill him,” Dedalus said, aghast, “he couldn’t stand for Harry to touch him, and then he died. Harry didn’t duel him.”
“What do you mean Harry couldn’t touch him?”
“I don’t know. It had something to do with You-Know-Who being on the back of his head.”
“You are joking,” said Hestia. “I am going to sleep. Three-headed dogs, You-Know-Who on Quirrel’s head. The things you come up with!”
After she left, Dedalus leaned close to Dudley and said, “Don’t believe a word she said, it’s just rumour.”
If Dudley was having a hard time sleeping earlier, it was nothing compared to how he felt now.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Please tell me what you think in this lovely review box!