 

They found Mr. Weasley sitting in the bar, reading the Daily prophet. 

"Harry!" he said, smiling as he looked up. "How are you?" 

"Fine, thanks," said Harry as he, Ron, and Hermione joined Mr. Weasley 

50 



with A their shopping. 

Mr. Weasley put down his paper, and Harry saw the now familiar picture 
of Sirius Black staring up at him. 

"They still haven't caught him, then?" he asked. 

"No," said Mr. Weasley, looking extremely grave. "They've pulled us all 
off our regular jobs at the Ministry to try and find him, but no luck so 
far." 

"Would we get a reward if we caught him?" asked Ron. "It'd be good to 
get some more money --" 

"Don't be ridiculous, Ron," said Mr. Weasley, who on closer inspection 
looked very strained. "Black's not going to be caught by a 
thirteen-year-old wizard. It's the Azkaban guards who'll get him back, 
You mark my words." 

At that moment Mrs. Weasley entered the bar, laden with shopping bags 
and followed by the twins, Fred and George, who were about to start 
their fifth year at Hogwarts; the newly elected Head Boy, Percy; and the 
Weasleys' youngest child and only girl, Ginny. 

Ginny, who had always been very taken with Harry, seemed even more 
heartily embarrassed than usual when she saw him, perhaps because he had 
saved her life during their previous year at Hogwarts. She went very red 
and muttered "hello" without looking at him. Percy, however, held out 
his hand solemnly as though he and Harry had never met and said, "Harry. 
How nice to see you. 

"Hello, Percy," said Harry, trying not to laugh. 

I hope you're well?" said Percy pompously, shaking hands. It was rather 
like being introduced to the mayor. 

"Very well, thanks --" 

"Harry!" said Fred, elbowing Percy out of the way and bowing deeply. 
"Simply splendid to see you, old boy --" 

51 



"Marvelous," said George, pushing Fred aside and seizing Harry's hand in 
turn. "Absolutely spiffing." 
Percy scowled. 


"That's enough, now," said Mrs. Weasley. 
"Mum!" said Fred as though he'd only just spotted her and seizing her 
hand too. "How really corking to see you --" 


"I said, that's enough," said Mrs. Weasley, depositing her shopping in 
an empty chair. "Hello, Harry, dear. I suppose you've heard our exciting 
news?" She pointed to the brand-new silver badge on Percy's chest. 
"Second Head Boy in the family!" she said, swelling with pride. 

"And last," Fred muttered under his breath. 

I don't doubt that," said Mrs. Weasley, frowning suddenly. "I notice 
they haven't made you two prefects." 
"What do we want to be prefects for?" said George, looking revolted at 

the very idea. "It'd take all the fun out of life." 
Ginny giggled. 
"Yo u want to set a better example for your sister!" snapped Mrs. 


Weasley. 


"Ginny's got other brothers to set her an example, Mother," said Percy 
loftily. "I'm going up to change for dinner..." 
He disappeared and George heaved a sigh. 
"We tried to shut him in a pyramid," he told Harry. "But Mum spotted 


us." 
Dinner that night was a very enjoyable affair. Tom the innkeeper put 
three tables together in the parlor, and the seven Weasleys, Harry, and 
Hermione ate their way through five delicious courses. 


52 



"How're we getting to King's Cross tomorrow, Dad?" asked Fred as they 
dug into a sumptuous chocolate pudding. 
"The Ministry's providing a couple of cars," said Mr. Weasley. 
Everyone looked up at him. 


"Why?" said Percy curiously. 
"It's because of you, Perce," said George seriously. "And there'll be 
little flags on the hoods, with HB on them" 


"-- for Humongous Bighead," said Fred. 
Everyone except Percy and Mrs. Weasley snorted into their pudding. 
"Why are the Ministry providing cars, Father?" Percy asked again, in a 


dignified voice. 
"Well, as we haven't got one anymore," said Mr. Weasley, 
"-- and as I work there, they're doing me a favor --" 
His voice was casual, but Harry couldn't help noticing that Mr. 


Weasley's ears had gone red, just like Ron's did when he was under 


Pressure. 
"Good thing, too," said Mrs. Weasley briskly. "Do you realize how much 
luggage you've all got between you? A nice sight you'd be on the Muggle 
Underground.... You are all packed, aren't you?" 


"Ron hasn't put all his new things in his trunk yet," said Percy, in a 


long-suffering voice. "He's dumped them on my bed." 
"You'd better go and pack properly, Ron, because we won't have much time 
in the morning," Mrs. Weasley called down the table. Ron scowled at 
Percy. 


After dinner everyone felt very full and sleepy. One by one they made 


53 



their way upstairs to their rooms to check their things for the next 
day. Ron and Percy were next door to Harry. He had just closed and 
locked his own trunk when he heard angry voices through the wall, and 
went to see what was going on. 

The door of number twelve was ajar and Percy was shouting. 

"It was here, on the bedside table, I took it off for polishing 

"I haven't touched it, all right?" Ron roared back. 

"What's up?" said Harry. 

"My Head Boy badge is gone," said Percy, rounding on Harry. 

"So's Scabbers's rat tonic," said Ron, throwing things out of his trunk 
to look. "I think I might've left it in the bar --" 

"You're not going anywhere till you've found my badge!" yelled Percy. 

"I'll get Scabbers's stuff, I'm packed," Harry said to Ron, and he went 
downstairs. 

Harry was halfway along the passage to the bar, which was now very dark, 
when he heard another pair of angry voices coming from the parlor. A 
second later, he recognized them as Mr. and Mrs. 

Weasleys'. He hesitated, not wanting them to know he'd heard them 
arguing, when the sound of his own name made him stop, then move closer 
to the parlor door. 

"--makes no sense not to tell him," Mr. Weasley was saying heatedly. 
"Harry's got a right to know. I've tried to tell Fudge, but he insists 
on treating Harry like a child. He's thirteen years old and --" 

"Arthur, the truth would terrify him!" said Mrs. Weasley shrilly. "Do 
you really want to send Harry back to school with that hanging over him? 
For heaven's sake, he's happy not knowing!" 

"I don't want to make him miserable, I want to put him on his guard!" 

54 



retorted Mr. Weasley. "You know what Harry and Ron are like, wandering 
off by themselves -- they've ended up in the Forbidden Forest twice! But 
Harry mustn't do that this year! When I think what could have happened 
to him that night he ran away from home! If the Knight Bus hadn't picked 
him up, I'm prepared to bet he would have been dead before the Ministry 
found him." 

"But he's not dead, he's fine, so what's the point 

"Molly, they say Sirius Black's mad, and maybe he is, but he was clever 
enough to escape from Azkaban, and that's supposed to be impossible. 
It's been three weeks, and no one's seen hide nor hair of him, and I 
don't care what Fudge keeps telling the Daily Prophet, we're no nearer 
catching Black than inventing self-spelling wands. The only thing we 
know for sure is what Black's after 

"But Harry will be perfectly safe at Hogwarts." 

"We thought Azkaban was perfectly safe. If Black can break out of 
Azkaban, he can break into Hogwarts." 

"But no one's really sure that Black's after Harry 

There was a thud on wood, and Harry was sure Mr. Weasley had banged his 
fist on the table. 

"Molly, how many times do I have to tell you? They didn't report it in 
the press because Fudge wanted it kept quiet, but Fudge went out to 
Azkaban the night Black escaped. The guards told Fudge that Blacks been 
talking in his sleep for a while now. Always the same words: 'He's at 
Hogwarts... he's at Hogwarts.' Black is deranged, Molly, and he wants 
Harry dead. If you ask me, he thinks murdering Harry will bring 
You-Know-Who back to pow er. Black lost everything the night Harry 
stopped You- Know-Who, and he's had twelve years alone in Azkaban to 
brood on that...." 

There was a silence. Harry leaned still closer to the door, desperate to 
hear more. 

"Well, Arthur, you must do what you think is right. But you're 

55 



forgetting Albus Dumbledore. I don't think anything could hurt Harry at 
Hogwarts while Dumbledore's headmaster. I suppose he knows about all 
this?" 

"Of course he knows. We had to ask him if he minds the Azkaban guards 
stationing themselves around the entrances to the school grounds. He 
wasn't happy about it, but he agreed." 

"Not happy? Why shouldn't he be happy, if they're there to catch Black?" 

"Dumbledore isn't fond of the Azkaban guards," said Mr. Weasley heavily. 
"Nor am 1, if it comes to that... but when you're dealing with a wizard 
like Black, you sometimes have to join forces with those you'd rather 
avoid." 

"If they save Harry then I will never say another word against them, 
said Mr. Weasley wearily. "It's late, Molly, we'd better go up...." 

Harry heard chairs move. As quietly as he could, he hurried down the 
passage to the bar and out of sight. The parlor door opened, and a few 
seconds later footsteps told him that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were climbing 
the stairs. 

The bottle of rat tonic was lying under the table they had sat at 
earlier. Harry waited until he heard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's bedroom door 
close, then headed back upstairs with the bottle. 

Fred and George were crouching in the shadows on the landing, heaving 
with laughter as they listened to Percy dismantling his and Ron's room 
in search of his badge. 

"We've got it," Fred whispered to Harry. "We've been improving it." 

The badge now read Bighead Boy. 

Harry forced a laugh, went to give Ron the rat tonic, then shut himself 
in his room and lay down on his bed. 

So Sirius Black was after him. This ex