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nd all of the? they39ll say snape isn39t really tryg to help alfoy, he was jt tryg to fd out what alfoy39s up to”
”they didn39t hear hi,” said harry ftly ”no one39s that good an actor, not even snape”
”yeah i39 jt sayg, though39 said ron
harry turned to face hi, frowng ”you thk i39 right, though?” ,
”yeah, i do!” said ron hastily ”serioly, i do! but they39re all nvced snape39s the order, aren39t they?”
harry said nothg it had already ourred to hi that this would be the ost likely objection to his new evidence he uld hear herione now: obvioly, harry, he was pretendg to offer help he uld trick alfoy to tellg hi what he39s dog
this was pure iagation, however, as he had had no opportu-nity to tell herione what he had overheard she had disappeared fro sghorn39s party before he returned to it, or he had been rd by an irate en, and she had already gone to bed by the ti he returned to the on roo as he and ron had left for the burrow early the next day, he had barely had ti to wish her a happy christas and to tell her that he had very iportant news when they got back fro the holidays he was not entirely sure that she had heard hi, though ron and vender had been sayg a thoroughly nonverbal good-bye jt behd hi at the ti
still, even herione would not be able to deny one thg: al-foy was defitely up to thg, and snape knew it, harry felt fully jtified sayg ”i told you ,” which he had done sev-eral tis to ron already
harry did not t the chance to speak to r weasley, who was workg very long hours at the istry, until christas eve night the weasleys and their guests were sittg the livg roo, which gny had derated vishly that it was rather like sittg a paper-cha explosion fred, e, harry, and ron were the only ones who knew that the anl on of the tree was actually a garden gno that had bitten fred on the ankle as hr pulled up carrots for christas dner stupefied, pated gold, stuffed to a iature tutu and with sall gs ged to ils back, it glowered down at the all, the ugliest anl harry had ever seen, with a r bald head like a potato and rather hairy feet
they were all supposed to be listeng to a christas
oadcast by rs weasleys favorite sr, celesta warbeck, whose voice was warblg out of the r wooden wireless set fleur, who seed to fd celesta very dull, was talkg loudly the rner that a swlg rs weasley kept potg her wand at the vo n-trol, that celesta grew louder and louder under ver of a par-ticurly jazzy nuber called ”a cauldron full of hot, strong love,” fred and e started a ga of explodg snap with gny ron kept shootg bill and fleur vert looks, as though hopg to pick up tips anwhile, re p, who was thner and ore ed-lookg than ever, was sittg beside the fire, starg to its depths as though he uld not hear celestas voice
oh, e and stir y cauldron,
and if you do it right,
i39ll boil you up hot strong love
to keep you war tonight
”we danced to this when we were eighteen!” said rs weasley, wipg her eyes on her knittg ”do you reber, arthur?”
”phf?” said r weasley, whose head had been noddg over the satsua he was peelg ”oh yes arvelo tune ”
with an effort, he sat up a little straighter and looked around at harry, who was sittg next to hi
”rry about this,” he said, jerkg his head toward the wireless as celesta
oke to the chor ”be over on”
”no proble,” said harry, grng ”has it been by at the istry?”
”very,” said r weasley ”i wouldn39t d if we were ttg anywhere, but of the three arrests we39ve ade the st uple of onths, i doubt that one of the is a nue death eater — only don39t repeat that, harry,” he added ickly, lookg uch ore awake all of a sudden
”they39re not still holdg stan shunpike, are they?” asked harry
”i39 afraid ,” said r weasley ”i know dubledore39s tried appealg directly to scriour about stan i an, anybody who has actually terviewed hi agrees that he39s about as uch a death eater as this satsua but the levels want to look as though they39re akg progress, and 39three arrests39 unds better than 39three istaken arrests and releases39 but aga, this is
all secret ”
”i won39t say