forty-one

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Marina and Harry entered the Diggorys' tiny kitchen to find Amos hiding his face behind a copy of The Daily Prophet

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Marina and Harry entered the Diggorys' tiny kitchen to find Amos hiding his face behind a copy of The Daily Prophet. "Did you sleep well?"

Marina had not slept a second because she had been too afraid that nightmares would haunt her pretty little mind if she closed her eyes, and Harry had woken up at least a hundred times because he had struggled to breathe properly. But she didn't want to bother Amos with their struggles, so instead, she asked him what had happened to Cedric while they had been asleep.

Amos put his paper down on the table, pointed his finger at an article, and then explained that the Ministry had found seven young witches and wizards dead in the hallways of Hogwarts. No names had been written in the paper, but Amos confirmed that Cho had been one of those who had passed away. Marina could not remember what happened after Amos had turned silent again. The pain of knowing that she had opened the Floo Network that the Death Eaters had used to get inside the school had caused to have a panic attack. When she came to her senses, she lay on Harry's lap while he read aloud from her father's diary to her.

Kreacher came back to her that morning after Apparating Draco to the manor. The Malfoy had been ready to go home and therefore had not put up any resistance when Kreacher came to help him out of the castle.

When Marina looked at the house-elf, she couldn't help but dream about long days at 12, Grimmauld Place. She wondered if it was safe there now. If the Death Eaters had been searching for her and Harry, they had probably already been in the house - and left after finding nothing but dust on rotting furniture.

She asked Harry what he thought: would it be okay to go back to Grimmauld Place just for a day to sort their thoughts out? It seemed like they were going to be on the run for quite some time. Besides, where else were they supposed to go?

After some minutes of thinking, Harry agreed that it was a good idea. The pair left the Diggorys a short hour later with the help of Kreacher's Apparation.

"WHAT IS A FILTHY HALF-BLOOD DOING IN MY HOUSE? TAINT OF SHAME ON THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS-"

"Good morning to you, too, Grandmother." Marina blew air out of her nose and ran to cover the portrait of Walburga with a cloak that hung beside it. She turned back to Harry to discover that he was stiffening up behind her - and it wasn't because of Walburga's words. It was because he had understood that they were not alone in the house. And it was clear that the lion's first instinct was to protect his loved, and hunt down the enemy: not showing a sign of fear, he ran up the stairs.

"Stupefy!"

Harry cursed loudly as he arched backward. Marina took a step back just as his head hit the ground.

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