Change the Future

OOTP 17

"When you say you were 'on duty,' " Fred said in a low voice to his father, "what were you doing?"

"They are not dropping it are they" Ted says smiling slightly.

"Nope" Rory says smirking at George.

"Like you dropped the argument with Umbridge" He glares at her.

"We both know I didn't and that I even had another one with her" 

"You heard your father," whispered Mrs. Weasley, "we are not discussing this here!"

"You were guarding it, weren't you?" George said quietly. "The weapon? The thing You-Know-Who's after?"

"George, be quiet!" snapped Mrs. Weasley.

"Didn't you say You-Know-Who's got a snake, Harry?" Fred said, looking at his father for a reaction. "A massive one? You saw it the night he returned, didn't you?"

"That's enough," said Mrs. Weasley crossly. "Mad-Eye and Tonks are outside, Arthur, they want to come and see you. And you lot can wait outside," she added to her children, me and Harry. "You can come and say good-bye afterward. Go on." They trooped back into the corridor. Mad-Eye and Tonks went in and closed the door of the ward behind them. Fred raised his eyebrows.

"Fine," he said coolly, rummaging in his pockets, "be like that. Don't tell us anything."

"Looking for these?" George said, holding out what looked like a tangle of flesh-coloured string.

"You read my mind," Fred said, grinning. "Let's see if St. Mungo's puts Imperturbable Charms on its ward doors, shall we?" He and George disentangled the string and separated six Extendable Ears from each other. Fred and George handed them around. Harry hesitated to take one. "Go on, Harry, take it! You saved Dad's life, if anyone's got the right to eavesdrop on him it's you." Harry took the end of the string and inserted it into his ear as the twins had done. "Okay, go!" Fred whispered. The flesh-coloured strings wriggled like long skinny worms, then snaked under the door. For a few seconds they couldn't hear anything, then we heard Tonks whispering as clearly as though she were standing right beside them.

"they searched the whole area but they couldn't find the snake anywhere, it just seems to have vanished after it attacked you, Arthur. But You-Know-Who can't have expected a snake to get in, can he?"

"I reckon he sent it as a lookout," growled Moody, " 'cause he's not had any luck so far, has he? No, I reckon he's trying to get a clearer picture of what he's facing and if Arthur hadn't been there the beast would've had much more time to look around. So Potter says he saw it all happen?"

"Yes," Mrs. Weasley said. She sounded rather uneasy. "You know, Dumbledore seems almost to have been waiting for Harry to see something like this."

A few people look at Dumbledore who just shrugs with a small smile.

"Yeah, well," Moody said, "there's something funny about the Potter kids, we all know that, the boy more than the girl."

"That's just rude" Alice exclaims whilst James and Fleamont glare at Mad-Eye.

"Dumbledore seemed worried about Harry when I spoke to him this morning," whispered Mrs. Weasley.

" 'Course he's worried," growled Moody. "The boy's seeing things from inside You-Know-Who's snake. Obviously, Potter doesn't realize what that means, but if You-Know-Who's possessing him" Rory and Harry both pulled the Extendable Ear out at the same time not wanting to listen anymore. All the others were all staring at him, the strings still trailing from their ears, looking suddenly fearful.