The Forgotten Twin

Chapter 4

Delilah slipped past them both into the kitchen. She didn't care what Sirius was going to say to Harry. It wouldn't impact her in any way. All that mattered was that she figured out whose house it was. It must have been Sirius's family house.

The kitchen was scarcely less gloomy than the hall above, a cavernous room with rough stone walls. Most of the light was coming from a large fire at the far end of the room. A haze of pipe smoke hung in the air like battle fumes, through which loomed the menacing shapes of heavy iron pots and pans hanging from the dark ceiling. Many chairs had been crammed into the room for the meeting and a long wooden table stood in the middle of the room, littered with rolls of parchment, goblets, empty wine bottles, and a heap of what appeared to be rags. Mr. Weasley, a thin, balding, red haired man, who wore horn-rimmed glasses, and his eldest son, Bill, were talking quietly with their heads together at the end of the table.

Delilah sat down away from them. A few minutes later Harry came in.

Mrs. Weasley cleared her throat. Mr. Weasley looked around and jumped to his feet.

"Harry!" Mr. Weasley said, hurrying forward to greet him and shaking his hand vigorously. "Good to see you!"

Bill, who still wore his long hair in a ponytail, hastily rolled up the lengths of parchment left on the table.

"Journey all right, Harry?" Bill called, trying to gather up twelve scrolls at once. "Mad-Eye didn't make you come via Greenland, then?"

"He tried," said Tonks, striding over to help Bill and immediately sending a candle toppling onto the last piece of parchment. "Oh no — sorry —"

Here, dear," said Mrs. Weasley, sounding exasperated, and she repaired the parchment with a wave of her wand: In the flash of light caused by Mrs. Weasley's charm, Delilah caught a glimpse of what looked like the plan of a building.

Mrs. Weasley quickly snatched the plan off the table and stuffed it into Bill's heavily laden arms.

"This sort of thing ought to be cleared away promptly at the end of meetings," she snapped before sweeping off toward an ancient dresser from which she started unloading dinner plates.

Bill took out his wand, muttered "Evanesco!" and the scrolls vanished.

"Sit down, Harry," said Sirius. "You've met Mundungus, haven't you?"

Delilah zoned out. As bad as it sounded, she did not care.

She snapped out of her trance as everyone started getting up.

"No, you can stay where you are, Harry dear, you've had a long journey —" Mrs. Weasley stated.

"What can I do, Molly?" said Tonks enthusiastically, bounding forward. Mrs. Weasley hesitated, looking apprehensive.

"Er — no, it's all right, Tonks, you have a rest too, you've done enough today —"

"No, no, I want to help!" said Tonks brightly, knocking over a chair as she hurried toward the dresser from which Ginny was collecting cutlery.

Soon a series of heavy knives were chopping meat and vegetables of their own accord, supervised by Mr. Weasley, while Mrs. Weasley stirred a cauldron dangling over the fire and the others took out plates, more goblets, and food from the pantry.

"What can I do to help?" Delilah asked, not wanting to be left at a table alone with Harry, Sirius, and Mundungus who looked like a pile of rags.

Mrs. Weasley looked up.

"Hm? Oh, you can go help with plates."

Delilah hurried over and took a pile of plates from Ron and started to help set the table.