Chapter 183
Chapter 183
Suer accompanied Hermione on another trip around Diagon Alley. By the time they returned, Ron had already left through the fireplace with Scabbers.
“Mr Weasley took him to the Ministry of Magic. They’ve been extremely busy lately, trying to catch the prisoner who escaped from Azkaban.”
“Sirius Black?” Hermione asked. While she and Suer had been walking through Diagon Alley, they heard many people discussing the escape. That name kept appearing in the conversations.
“Yes.” Harry nodded. “Mr Weasley said everyone in his department is working on it. Oh, and cars will collect us for King’s Cross tomorrow. We won’t have to take the Underground ourselves.”
Tom was an excellent cook. Suer, Harry and Hermione enjoyed a delicious dinner, which was included in the price of their rooms.
Afterwards, the three gathered in Harry’s room and opened the Gobstones set he had just bought. It was a game of marbles for several players, and the stones sprayed a foul-smelling liquid into the face of anyone who lost points.
Early the following morning, loud voices outside woke Suer. Soon someone pounded on his door. He yawned and climbed out of bed. As he passed the mirror on the wall, it shouted at him.
“You had better straighten those pyjamas! Your bottoms are slipping down. What a mess!”
Suer ignored it, unhooked the security chain and unlocked the door.
Two figures shot inside one after another: Fred and George.
“Good morning.”
“My dear fellow, how wonderful it is to see you–” Fred gave Suer an exceedingly formal bow.
“Beyond words.” George pushed Fred aside, seized Suer’s hand and pumped it vigorously while Suer stared in confusion.
“That’s enough!” Mrs Weasley appeared outside. “Good morning, Suer, dear. We’d better hurry. It’s time to leave for the station.”
“Mother–” Fred darted forwards and clasped Mrs Weasley’s hand. “Oh, my dear, the sight of you fills my heart with joy.”
“I said, enough!” Mrs Weasley snapped. “I don’t care how you carry on at home, but you will behave yourselves in public.”
Suer watched blankly as Mrs Weasley dragged Fred and George out by their ears.
Fred even struggled to look back and give Suer a mysterious gesture.
Suer had no idea what performance the twins had been staging in his room so early in the morning.
At least it woke him completely. He dressed, washed and checked that he had left nothing behind.
When he passed the mirror again, it said approvingly, “There, that’s much better. A handsome young gentleman. Have a pleasant day.”
Downstairs, Percy looked sour, and the new badge was missing from his chest. Ron appeared equally unhappy. Neither brother looked at the other, suggesting that they had quarrelled.
“What happened?” Suer nudged Harry beside him.
Suppressing laughter, Harry repeated every detail of Ron’s complaints from when he had burst into Harry’s room that morning.
Percy had discovered the previous day that his badge was missing and suspected Ron of taking it. Ron had never even seen Percy’s new badge, and because he was already angry, neither brother spoke kindly. The argument had quickly escalated.
“Actually, we did it,” Fred whispered as he sidled over. “We stole the badge.”
“While Percy was finding an owl to send a letter to his prefect girlfriend.”
“We’ve made some major improvements, but they aren’t finished. We plan to give it back after we reach school.”
“Percy is frantic. He treasures that badge,” George said.
“He turned Ron’s room upside down but couldn’t find it. Then Mum made Percy apologise to Ron,” Fred concluded.
The twins doubled over with laughter.
Suer did not fully understand the Weasley brothers’ mixture of affection and warfare, but he silently gave the twins a thumbs-up. With Fred and George at the Burrow, every day must be filled with chaos and a very particular kind of “joy”.
“So it was you two?” came a resentful voice beside them.
“Ha! Little Ronnie, you misheard us. Let’s see whether the cars have arrived.” Fred reacted instantly, grabbed George and fled.
“Now that you know where the badge is, aren’t you going to tell Percy?” Harry asked.
“Why should I?” Ron’s expression remained foul. One hand guarded Scabbers inside his robes, while his eyes kept drifting towards Hermione as she descended the stairs carrying Crookshanks.
“Here.” Suer handed Ron a red bottle. “Scabbers’s tonic.”
“By the way, I thought of a possible solution to your rat’s condition last night. I read about it in a book… I think it might solve Scabbers’s problem.”
“What is it?” Ron asked eagerly.
Before Suer could answer, a slightly stout middle-aged man leaned through the door. It was Mr Weasley, who worked in the Ministry of Magic’s Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office.
“Children, they’re here,” he said urgently. “Quickly, we must go.”
Everyone filed out of the Leaky Cauldron. Mr Weasley led them along a short stretch of pavement to two dark-green vintage cars parked beside the road.
“You get in first, Harry.” Mr Weasley watched the passing pedestrians with nervous attention.
Harry climbed into the back seat, followed by Ron and then Suer. Hermione squeezed in close beside Suer.
“You’d better hold on to that cat. Scabbers has nowhere to hide in the car,” Ron said nervously, staring at Hermione’s lap.
“Why don’t you keep your rat shut away?”
“As long as your rat doesn’t suddenly come out, nothing will happen.” Hermione glared at Ron, settled against Suer’s right side and closed her eyes.
“It’s all right. I’ll keep watch. If you’re truly worried, you can ask someone in the other car to look after Scabbers.” Suer placed a hand on Crookshanks’s furry head and rubbed vigorously.
“Prrrr…” Crookshanks raised a large round face and narrowed both eyes in pleasure.
“Move your hand.” Hermione put on a stern face and slapped Suer’s hand away.
“I have no intention of sitting with Percy and looking at his miserable face,” Ron muttered. He shifted into the corner and completely shielded Scabbers with his body.
He seemed terrified that Crookshanks might suddenly reach into his pocket and drag the rat out to eat.
The old-fashioned engines started, and the cars set off for King’s Cross.