Another Dursley

The Deathly Hallows

As I had expected Hermione's anger did not disappear overnight, and was unsurprised that she communicated mainly by dirty looks and pointed silences the next morning. Ron responded by maintaining an unnaturally somber demeanor in her presence as an outward sign of continuing remorse.

In fact, when all four of us were together It felt like the only non-mourners at a poorly attended funeral we Harry and I. During those few moments I spent alone with Ron collecting water and searching the undergrowth for mushrooms, Ron became shamelessly cheery.

"Someone helped us," he kept saying. "Someone sent that doe. Someone's on our side. One Horcrux down, mate!"

Bolstered by the destruction of the locket, we set to debating the possible locations of the other Horcruxes, and even though we had discussed the matter so often before, I felt optimistic, certain that more breakthroughs would succeed the first.

The sudden upswing of our luck, the appearance of the mysterious doe, the recovery of Gryffindor's sword, and above all, Ron's return, made me feel lighter.

Late in the afternoon Harry, Ron and I escaped Hermione's sulking under the pretense of scouring the bare hedges for nonexistent blackberries, we continued the ongoing exchange of news.

Harry and I had finally managed to tell Ron the whole story of our various wanderings, right up to the full story of what had happened at Godric's Hollow; Ron was now filling Harry and I in on everything he had discovered about the wider Wizarding world during his weeks away.

". . . and how did you find out about the Taboo?" he asked us after explaining the many desperate attempts of Muggle-borns to evade the Ministry.

"The what?"

"You two and Hermione have stopped saying You-Know-Who's name!"

"Oh, yeah. Well, it's just a bad habit we've slipped into,"I said truthfully. "But ewe haven't got a problem calling him V —"

"NO!" roared Ron, covering my mouth before I could speak further causing me to flinch at the sudden jerk of his hands to bump into Harry who fell into the hedge and Hermione (nose buried in a book at the tent entrance) to scowl over at them.

"Sorry," said Ron, pulling his hand away noting I had flinched as Harry wrenched himself back out of the brambles, "but the name's been jinxed, that's how they track people! Using his name breaks protective enchantments, it causes some kind of magical disturbance — it's how they found us in Tottenham Court Road!"

"Because we used his name?"

"Exactly! You've got to give them credit, it makes sense. It was only people who were serious about standing up to him, like Dumbledore, who ever dared use it. Now they've put a Taboo on it, anyone who says it is trackable — quick-and-easy way to find Order members! They nearly got Kingsley —"

"You're kidding?"

"Yeah, a bunch of Death Eaters cornered him, Bill said, but he fought his way out. He's on the run now, just like us." Ron scratched his chin thoughtfully with the end of his wand. "You don't reckon Kingsley could have sent that doe?"

"His Patronus is a lynx, we saw it at the wedding, remember?"

"Oh yeah . . ."

We moved farther along the hedge, away from the tent and Hermione.

"Harry . . . you don't reckon it could've been Dumbledore?"

"Dumbledore what?"

Ron looked a little embarrassed, but said in a low voice, "Dumbledore . . . the doe? I mean," Ron was watching Harry out of the corners of his eyes, "he had the real sword last, didn't he?"