Muggle | 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑊𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

Chapter 36

Seeing me in such state, Fred quickly stood off the couch and raised his hand for me to take.

"C'mon, lets go and try out our Extendable Ears," he said. "George and I just finished them last night, though we still haven't tested them."

Nodding weakly, I took his hand and got off the couch.

But just when we left the parlor, we heard noises from the end of the corridor and moments later, an old and grim looking house elf came to sight.

"That must be Kreacher," I muttered to Fred.

"Who?" Fred said rather loudly, getting the attention of the elf.

Kreacher looked at us bitterly and mumbled to himself, "Mudbloods and bloodtraiters in the house. My poor mistress, only if she was here to see all the scum..."

"Oh, shut up!" I huffed loudly as he got near us.

I was expecting him to give me a big insult, call me a Muggle Scum, but instead, he did something that caught both me and Fred off guard.

Kreacher looked up at me and then slowly, bowed so low that his nose nearly touched the ground. And then, without another word, he left the corridor.

I frowned in confusion. "Well, that was weird."

Fred and I went upstairs again and I waited for him outside as he went into his room and returned a minute later with the Expendable Ears in his hand and a mischievous grin on his face.

"Who are you gonna try those on, anyway?" I asked quietly as we sat on the stairs near our rooms. "Everyone's asleep."

"Remus and Sirius are awake and I think they're downstairs," said Fred, examining the ears. "We can try to see what they're saying."

Grinning, I nodded at him. But little did I know that I would regret agreeing on hearing their conversation in a few minutes.

It took us a few minutes to get it going, but at last, we started hearing voices from downstairs.

"–can't just sit in this place when everyone else is out there!" said Sirius's voice, rather impatiently.

"We can't risk your exposure, Sirius," said Remus gently. "They are still after you and to take people's attention off Voldemort, your arresting would make a great topic and distraction. Dumbledore said it himself–"

"–well, Dumbledore can be wrong sometimes." Sirius cut him off.

"About what? Like the Muggle girl?"

Fred and I gave each other a look as they mentioned me, though I felt a bit irritated at the way Lupin had addressed me.

Although I tried to shake the thought away; he had just met me, and therefore had no reason to seem too friendly toward me.

"What, Lexi? No, I was actually talking about the fact that he trusted Moody last year, but turns out he wasn't who we thought he was. Anyway," said Sirius. "You see what's off about Lexi too then, don't you?"

That got me frowning. "What do they mean, something's off about me?" I hissed, but Fred shushed me and gestured me to keep listening, because Remus had asked Sirius the same question.

"Something's off with her? Like... that she didn't warn Dumbledore about Voldemort returning?"

"No. Dumbledore said it himself; he asked her not to. He thinks that she's not supposed to be meddling with anything yet."

"Then what's even the point?" Remus asked.

"Dumbledore thinks that there was a specific moment that she was sent to change," said Sirius, "yet he still doesn't assume that the moment's arrived. Reckons we have to wait and see."

"Then how should we know when the moment's right?"

"He says that there's going to be an obvious sign." Sirius then said after a short pause, "and don't ask me what sign. Because none of us know yet."

"Alright," Remus sighed. "Then what did you mean, saying that something's off with her?"

"Well..." there was a long pause as Sirius thought to himself. "She – didn't she seem – a bit... you know? Familiar to you?"

Remus chuckled. "Yes, I thought so as well. But I'd be damned."

"Exactly!" Sirius huffed. "I mean... it's been years since the last time I saw–"

"–hang on," Remus cut him off. "Who are you talking about?"

Sirius took aback. "Who are you talking about?"

"Isn't it – isn't it obvious?" said Remus. "I mean... I know it must be just a coincidence. But there's no mistaking those eyes."

My heart was throbbing fast against my chest as I listened with every ounce of attention I could muster.

"Do you know who her parents are?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Yeah, Dumbledore mentioned them," said Remus. "Her dad's name is Roger Hooper. And her mum was – er – something Goldman. It started with an L. Leyla? Lily?"

     Sirius gulped and said in a whisper, "Lisa Goldman?"

     "Yeah – hang on," Remus paused. "How do you know?"

     There was more silence before Sirius said in a hesitant voice, "Who – who were you talking about, anyway? Whose eyes did she remind you of?"

     Another pause, and then–

     "Yours, Sirius. Those eyes belong to a Black, and there's no mistaking it."