The Carnival ⌁ Draco Malfoy [1/4] ✔

18

For the rest of the morning everyone slept, and afterwards ate lunch before their trip to St. Mungos. Emma suggested that she stay back with Sirius as she did not know Mr. Weasley nor did she want to intrude, but Mrs. Weasley insisted that she come along and meet him. 

It was lucky that everyone's trunks had arrived from Hogwarts otherwise Emma would be walking around the streets looking like a prostitute. She changed into a long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans, and tied a jumper around her waist in case she'd need it later on. A happy but clumsy woman named Tonks, who Emma learned was a metamorphmagus, and a man named Mad-eye Moody, who creeped Emma out a little bit with that eye of his, showed up and were coming along for the trip. 

Emma happily talked with Ginny as they sat in the train. It was a rough trip; all these muggles bustling about, intent on nothing but to continue their Christmas shopping.

Mr. Weasley seemed to know who Emma was, too, before she even got the chance to get a word out. He was explaining what happened with the other hospital patients when Fred and George kept interrupting him, clearly searching for a reaction. 

"That's enough," Mrs. Weasley scolded. "Mad-Eye and Tonks are outside, Arthur, they want to come and see you," she then looked to the children and said, "you lot can wait outside while they talk. You can go and say goodbye afterwards. Go on."

They obeyed and walked outside into the corridor as Mad-Eye and Tonks marched inside and closed the door behind them. Fred huffed lightly and raised his eyebrows, clearly insulted. 

"Well alrighty then," he said slowly, his hands rummaging in his pockets. Emma raised an eyebrow. "Be like that. Don't let us in on anything."

"Looking for these?" said George, holding string that looked strangely like it was made out of flesh. 

"You read my mind," Fred grinned. "Let's see if St Mungo's puts Imperturbable Charms on it's ward doors, shall we?"

Fred and George handed around six of what Emma prayed were not real ears. Emma, horrified, reluctantly took one. 

"Please don't tell me these are real," Emma grimaced. "I take it they're for eavesdropping?"

"Yep," George replied, inserting the end of the string in his ear. "Extendable Ears. Quite useful, though."

"Go on, Harry, take it!" Fred was telling Harry who was also hesitant. "You saved Dad's life. If anyone's got the right to eavesdrop on him, it's you."

Emma inserted the end of the string in her ear, copying what everyone else had done. 

"OK, go!" Fred whispered. 

Emma watched the strings wriggle and disappear under the door. It was hard to hear anything at first, but voices soon became quite audible, as though someone were speaking directly into their ears. Tonks was heard first.

"...they searched the whole area but couldn't find the snake anywhere. It seemed to have just vanished right 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," came Moody's growl. "'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 got to face and if Arthur hadn't been there the beast would've had a lot more time to look around. So, Potter says he saw it all happen?"

"Yes," Mrs. Weasley said uneasily. "You know, Dumbledore seems almost to have been waiting for Harry to see something like this. He still has a lot to be let in on."

"Of course he does, Molly," said Tonks. "We haven't spoken about it enough, and I do trust Dumbledore's word but what if he's wrong on this one? I say we tell him - the both of them."

Moody started to protest but Tonks cut him off. Emma was growing interested. Confused, but interested, and she could tell the others were as well. 

"Wouldn't you want to know you had a twin, Mad-Eye?" she growled, almost in the same tone he used. It was quiet for a moment, and Emma was feeling quite caved in. They clearly weren't talking about Harry anymore...they can't have been..."That's what I thought. Keeping this a secret doesn't depend on their safety no matter what Dumbledore says. Those two are going to grow up hardly knowing each other."

"Tonks," said Mrs. Weasley in a warning tone. 

"Harry and Emma need to know, Molly."

Emma froze. She was certain Harry did, too. She didn't know what to think of the situation - her mind was blank. But if it were true, if Harry and she were twins, why did her entire life feel so...right? She'd never have guessed she had a twin brother. For a moment, Emma was feeling utter disgust and hatred toward the man and the woman who raised her all her life. They were very good people, but she couldn't help it. They lead her on to believe they were all a family. Of course, it was clearly for a good purpose, but Emma was certain she'd feel this anger toward them for a very long time. 

She sneaked a look at Harry, whose eyes were wide but focused entirely on the floor. Fred, George, Ginny and Ron were watching them, wide-eyed, unable to speak. But if they were wide-eyed at this, then they didn't expect what was coming next...

The topic was switched back to Dumbledore and Harry. 

"Dumbledore seemed worried about Harry when I spoke to him this morning," said Mrs. Weasley in a quiet voice. 

"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 -"

Emma's Extendable Ear was yanked out of her ear by Harry, who accidentally yanked everyone else's Extendable Ear out, as well.

The Weasley's went from wide-eyed to fearful in a matter of seconds.