Scar on his forehead was still throbbing.

"Hagrid?"

He opened his eyes and saw that he was lying on a sofa in an unfamiliar, lamplit

Sitting room. His rucksack lay on the floor a short distance away, wet and muddy. A fairhaired,

Big-bellied man was watching Harry anxiously.

"Hagrid's fine, son," said the man, "the wife's seeing to him now. How are you

feeling? Anything else broken? I've fixed your ribs, your tooth, and your arm. I'm Ted, by

the way, Ted Tonks – Dora's father."

Harry sat up too quickly. Lights popped in front of his eyes and he felt sick and

Giddy.

"Voldemort –"

"Easy, now," said Ted Tonks, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder and pushing him

back against the cushions. "That was a nasty crash you just had. What happened,

anyway? Something go wrong with the bike? Arthur Weasley overstretch himself again,

him and his Muggle contraptions?"

"No," said Harry, as his scar pulsed like an open wound. "Death Eaters, loads of

them – we were chased –"

"Death Eaters?" said Ted sharply. "What d'you mean, Death Eaters? I thought

they didn't know you were being moved tonight, I thought –"

"They knew," said Harry.

Ted Tonks looked up at the ceiling as though he could see through it to the sky

Above.

"Well, we know our protective charms hold, then, don't we? They shouldn't be

able to get within a hundred yards of the place in any direction."

Now Harry understood why Voldemort had vanished; it had been at the point

when the motorbike crossed the barrier of the Order's charms. He only hoped they would

continue to work: He imagined Voldemort, a hundred yards above them as they spoke,

Looking for a way to penetrate what Harry visualized as a great transparent bubble.

He swung his legs off the sofa; he needed to see Hagrid with his own eyes before

He would believe that he was alive. He had barely stood up, however, when a door

Opened and Hagrid squeezed through it, his face covered in mud and blood, limping a

Little but miraculously alive.

"Harry!"

Knocking over two delicate tables and an aspidistra, he covered the floor between

Them in two strides and pulled Harry into a hug that nearly cracked his newly repaired

ribs. "Blimey, Harry, how did yeh get out o' that? I thought we were both goners."

"Yeah, me too. I can't believe –"

Harry broke off. He had just noticed the woman who had entered the room behind

Hagrid.

"You!" he shouted, and he thrust his hand into his pocket, but it was empty.

"Your wand's here, son," said Ted, tapping it on Harry's arm. "It fell right beside

you, I picked it up…And that's my wife you're shouting at."

"Oh, I'm – I'm sorry."

As she moved forward into the room, Mrs. Tonks's resemblance to her sister

Bellatrix became much less pronounced: Her hair was a light’s oft brown and her eyes

were wider and kinder. Nevertheless, she looked a little haughty after Harry's

Exclamation.

"What happened to our daughter?" she asked. "Hagrid said you were ambushed;

where is Nymphadora?"

"I don't know," said Harry. "We don't know what happened to anyone else."

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 594