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  like undung hotelier, who39ve never done an honest day39s work their lives and are takg advanta of how frightened everybody is, but every now and then thg really nasty turns up the other day arthur nfiscated a box of cursed sneakospes that were alost certaly pnted by a death eater you see, it39s a very iportant job, and i tell hi it39s jt silly to iss dealg with spark pgs and loasters and all the rest of that le rubbish” rs weasley ended her speech with a stern look, as if it had been harry estg that it was natural to iss spark pgs
  ”is r weasley still at work?” harry asked
  ”yes, he is as a atter of fact, he39s a ty bit te he said he39d be back around idnight  ”
  she turned to look at a r clock that was perched awkwardly on of a pile of sheets the washg basket at the end of the table harry regnized it at once: it had ne hands, each scribed with the na of a faily ber, and ually hung on i he weasleys39 sittg roo wall, though its current position ested that rs weasley had taken to carryg it around the hoe with her every sgle one of its ne hands was now potg at ”ortal peril”
  ”it39s been like that for a while now,” said rs weasley, an un-nvcgly casual voice, ”ever sce you-know-who ca back to the open i suppose everybody39s ortal danr now i don39t thk it can be jt our faily  but i don39t know anyone else who39s got a clock like this, i can39t check oh!”
  with a sudden excation she poted at the clock39s face r weasley39s hand had switched to ”travelg”
  ”he39s g!”
  and sure enough, a ont ter there was a knock on the back door rs weasley juped up and hurried to it with one hand on the doorknob and her face pressed agast the wood she called ftly, ”arthur, is that you?”
  ”yes,” ca r weasley39s weary voice ”but i would say that even if i were a death eater, dear ask the estion!”
  ”oh, honestly”
  ”olly!”
  ”all right, all right  what is your dearest abition?”
  ”to fd out how airpnes stay up”
  rs weasley nodded and turned the doorknob, but apparently r weasley was holdg tight to it on the other side, becae the door reaed firly shut
  ”olly! i39ve got to ask you your estion first!”
  ”arthur, really, this is jt silly ”
  ”what do you like to call you when we39re alone tother?”
  even by the di light of the ntern harry uld tell that rs weasley had turned
  ight red he hiself felt suddenly war around the ears and neck, and hastily gulped up, ctterg his spoon as loudly as he uld agast the bowl
  -=-”ollywobbles,” whispered a ortified rs weasley to the crack at the ed of the door
  ”rrect,” said r weasley ”now you can let ”
  rs weasley opened the door to reveal her hband, a th, baldg, red-haired wizard wearg horn-rid spectacles and a long and dty travelg cloak
  ”i still don39t see why we have to go through that every ti you e ho,” said rs weasley, still pk the face as she helped her hband out of his cloak ”i an, a death eater ight have forced the answer out of you before ipernatg you!”
  ”i know, dear, but it39s istry procedure, and i have to set an exaple thg slls good ?onion up?”
  r weasley turned hopefully the direction of the table
  ”harry! we didn39t expect you until orng!”
  they shook hands, and r weasley dropped to the chair beside harry as rs weasley set a bowl of up front of hi too
  ”thanks, olly it39s been a tough night idiot39s started sellg taorph-dals jt slg the around your neck and you39ll be able to chan your appearance at will a hundred thoand disguises, all for ten galleons!”
  ”and what really happens when you put the on?”
  ”ostly you jt turn a fairly unpleasant oran lor, but a uple of people have al sprouted tentacle like warts all over their bodies as if st ungo39s didn39t have enough to do already!”
  ”it unds like the rt of thg fred and e would fd funny,” said rs weasley hesitantly ”are you sure ??”
  ”of urse i a!” said r weasley ”the boys wouldn39t do anythg like that now, not when people are desperate for protection!”
  ” is that why you39re te, taorph-dals?”
  ”no, we got d of a nasty backfirg jx down