Dawn Rivera

Draco's Detour

I remain within the confines of The Burrow's Garden over the next few weeks. I spend most of my days playing two-a-side Quidditch in the Weasleys' orchard and my evenings eating triple helpings of everything Mrs Weasley puts in front of me. Not to mention the time alone Harry and I get to have together.

It would have been a happy, peaceful holiday were it not for the stories of disappearances, odd accidents, even of deaths now appearing almost daily in the Prophet. Sometimes Bill and Mr Weasley bring home news before it even reaches the paper. To Mrs Weasley's displeasure, Harry's sixteenth birthday celebrations are marred by grisly tidings brought to the party by Remus Lupin, who is looking gaunt and grim, his brown hair streaked with grey, his clothes more ragged and patched than ever.

"There have been another couple of Dementor attacks," he announces, as Mrs Weasley passes him a large slice of birthday cake. "And they've found Igor Karkaroff's body in a shack up north. The Dark Mark had been set over it - well, frankly, I'm surprised he stayed alive for even a year after deserting the Death Eaters; Sirius's brother Regulus only managed a few days as far as I can remember."

"Yes, well," says Mrs Weasley, frowning, "perhaps we should talk about something diff - "

"Did you hear about Florean Fortescue, Remus?" asks Bill, who is being piled with wine by Fleur. "The man who ran - "

" - the ice-cream place in Diagon Alley?" Harry interrupts. As he speaks, an unpleasant, hollow sensation forms in the pit of my stomach. "He used to give me free ice creams. What's happened to him?"

"Dragged off, by the look of his place."

"Why?" asks Ron, while Mrs Weasley positively glares at Bill.

"Who knows? He must've upset them somehow. He was a good man, Florean."

"Talking of Diagon Alley," says Mr Weasley, "looks like Ollivander's gone too."

"The wand-maker?" says Ginny, looking startled.

"That's the one. Shop's empty. No sign of a struggle. No one knows whether he left voluntarily or was kidnapped."

"But wands - what'll people do for wands?" Misty says.

"They'll make do with other makers," says Lupin. "But Ollivander was the best, and if the other side have got him it's not so good for us."

The day after this rather gloomy birthday tea, our letters and book lists arrive from Hogwarts. Harry's includes a surprise: he has been made Quidditch captain. I cry with delight and launch myself on him, hugging him tightly.

"That gives you equal status with prefects!" cries Hermione happily. "You can use our special bathroom now, and everything!"

"Wow, I remember when Charlie wore one of these," says Ron, examining the badge with glee. "Harry, this is so cool, you're my captain - if you let me back on the team, I suppose, ha ha..."

"Well, I don't suppose we can put off a trip to Diagon Alley much longer now you've got these," sighs Mrs Weasley, looking down Ron's book list. "We'll go on Saturday as long as your father doesn't have to go into work again. I'm not going there without him."

"Mum, d'you honestly think You-Know-Who's going to be hiding behind a bookshelf in Flourish and Blotts?" sniggers Ron.

"Fortescue and Ollivander went on holiday, did they?" says Mrs Weasley, firing up at once. "If you think security's a laughing matter you can stay behind and I'll get your things myself - "

"No, I wanna come, I want to see Fred and George's shop!" says Ron hastily.

"Then just buck up your ideas, young man, before I decide you're too immature to come back with us!" says Mrs Weasley angrily, snatching up her clock, all nine hands of which are still pointing at mortal peril, she balancing it on top of a pile of just-laundered towels. "And that goes for returning to Hogwarts, as well!"