"If your whole life turns out to be a lie, what will you do then?"
"If everything you knew turns out to be a hoax, what will you do then?"
Graciana Duerre Weasley, twin sister of Ron Weasley, is a troublemaker. Mischievous but a little introvert, bo...
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THEIR LUNGS WERE COMPRESSED and bodies squished through a tunnel as they apparated away from Privet Drive. Grace, doing it for a third time, wasn't that much affected by it, but Harry was, so they had to take a few moments to allow Harry regain his composure.
"Are you all right?" asked Dumbledore, looking down at him solicitously. "The sensation does take some getting used to."
"I'm fine," said Harry. "But I think I might prefer brooms. . . ."
"Me too." said Grace with a smile.
Dumbledore smiled, drew his traveling cloak a little more tightly around his neck, and said, "This way."
He set off at a brisk pace, past an empty inn and a few houses. According to a clock on a nearby church, it was almost midnight.
"So tell me, Harry," said Dumbledore. "Your scar . . . has it been hurting at all?"
"No," he said, "and I've been wondering about that. I thought it would be burning all the time now Voldemort's getting so powerful again."
"I, on the other hand, thought otherwise," said Dumbledore. "Lord Voldemort has finally realized the dangerous access to his thoughts and feelings you have been enjoying. It appears that he is now employing Occlumency against you."
"Well, I'm not complaining," said Harry.
They turned a corner, passing a telephone box and a bus shelter.
"Where exactly are we, Professor?" Grace asked.
"This is the charming village of Budleigh Babberton."
"And what are we doing here?"
"Ah yes, of course, I haven't told you two," said Dumbledore. "Well, I have lost count of the number of times I have said this in recent years, but we are, once again, one member of staff short. We are here to persuade an old colleague of mine to come out of retirement and return to Hogwarts."
"How can we help with that, sir?" Harry asked.
"Oh, I think we'll find a use for both of you," said Dumbledore vaguely. "Left here."
They proceeded up a steep, narrow street lined with houses. All the windows were dark. The odd chill that had lain over the rest of the country for two weeks persisted here too.
"Professor, why couldn't we just Apparate directly into your old colleague's house?" Harry asked.
"Because it would be quite as rude as kicking down the front door," said Dumbledore. "Courtesy dictates that we offer fellow wizards the opportunity of denying us entry. In any case, most Wizarding dwellings are magically protected from unwanted Apparators. At Hogwarts, for instance —"
