Whispers

Thirty-Three

"Thank you for tuning in tonight listeners and welcome to another episode of Potterwatch. I am once again joined by our frequent guest Rare," said Lee Jordan into his wand which he was using as a makeshift microphone for the duration of the broadcast. "As our frequent listeners will know, our friend Rare here had a unique insight into the movements of our friend Harry Potter, so Rare, got any updates for us?"

"To be perfectly honest with you River, I do not," Calliope said into her own wand, "as I have said before I am certain that he is not dead, because our friend the Chief Death Eater would want to celebrate killing the Boy Who Lived, but other than that there is nothing more to say. I can assure everyone, however, that wherever Harry Potter is he is doing his best to take You Know Who Down."

"So you're still certain that he's not just in hiding then?" asked Lee, "which if I may say so, he's doing a very good job of."

"No, he's definitely working hard to take down the Chief Death Eater," said Calliope, "the very best thing that any of us can do is offer him our full support and make helping Harry Potter our number one priority." 

"Thankyou Rare," said Lee, "now we come to a sadder segment of our programme. I am sorry to announce the deaths of the Clearwater family, who were found in their homes by members of the Order of the Pheonix last week, also found with them was Gerad Hurrel. Reports of those suspected missing have increased, with Holly Lane, Muhammad Abad, Julianna Wilbert-Xntha and Killian West's names being added to the ever-increasing list. Let us take a moment of silence for the Clearwater family, Gerad Hurrel and the families of those missing."

The three of them fell silent for a while.

"Thank you," said Lee, "now onto our popular segment, pals of Potter, with a new guest Robin. Robin, do you have any more information than Rare on the whereabouts of Harry Potter?"

Ron held his wand up to his mouth and cleared his throat. "Well, as Rare said, I can confirm to all listeners that Harry is doing what he can to take the Chief Death Eater down. Like the rest of us, he is in hiding, but he will come back when he's done what he needs to do to end You-Know-Who."

"And Rare, you might have some input into this as well. Do we know any more about the movements of the Chief Death Eater."

"Well obviously he's keeping in the dark isn't he," said Ron, "hiding behind puppets at the ministry."

"He is searching for ways to expand his power," interjected Calliope, "and as for all the people reporting to have seen him, I think that very unlikely. As Robin said, the Chief Death Eater is staying out of public view so it is not likely that you're going to see him walking down your road in Warwickshire."

"Thank you both of you," said Lee. He then launched into a lengthy description of how on the run muggle-borns could avoid detection, offering several protective spells for them to use. "And listeners, that brings us to the end of our programme. As always, I don't know when we will be able to broadcast again but keep twiddling those dials. The next password is Calliope."

Lee dropped his wand and leant back in his chair. The lights on the radio set beside him went off. 

"Did you really have to make the next password my name?" Calliope sighed.

"Well you're well-known Callie, the passwords have got to be well-known people," said Lee, grinning at her. 

Calliope sighed again and got to her feet, leaving Ron and Lee in a discussion about possible content for the next broadcast. Calliope walked towards the kitchen, where the twins were both looking over a cauldron, in which they were clearly working on a new product for the joke shop. 

"Bravo Callie, good show," said George as she walked into the room.

"You guys are doing it next time," Calliope replied, perching herself on the worktop beside the cauldron and peering into it, where she saw a large lump of congealed goo.

"That is clearly stated in the terms of our contract," George agreed, "we alternate."

Calliope sniffed the potion, "what are you trying to make?"

"Nothing, we just figured we'd throw a bunch of ingredients in a cauldron and see what happened," said Fred.

"We're trying to make a drink that makes your tong fall off," said George, "the only problem being that it is not currently the right consistency to drink."