Preparations for the wedding that they hardly had any time to think. The kindest

Explanation of this behavior would have been that Mrs. Weasley wanted to distract them

All from thoughts of Mad-Eye and the terrors of their recent journey. After two days of

Nonstop cutlery cleaning, of color-matching favors, ribbons, and flowers, of de-gnoming

the garden and helping Mrs. Weasley cook vast batches of canapés, however, Harry

Started to suspect her of a different motive. All the jobs she handed out seemed to keep

Him, Ron, and Hermione away from one another; he had not had a chance to speak to the

Two of them alone since the first night, when he had told them about Voldemort torturing

Ollivander.

“I think Mum thinks that if she can stop the three of you getting together and

planning, she’ll be able to delay you leaving,” Ginny told Harry in an undertone, as they

Laid the table for dinner on the third night of his stay.

“And then what does she think’s going to happen?” Harry muttered. “Someone

else might kill off Voldemort while she’s holding us here making vol-au-vents?”

He had spoken without thinking, and saw Ginny’s face whiten.

“So it’s true?” she said. “That’s what you’re trying to do?”

“I – not – I was joking,” said Harry evasively.

They stared at each other, and there was something more than shock in Ginny’s

Expression. Suddenly Harry became aware that this was the first time that he had been

Alone with her since those stolen hours in secluded corners of the Hogwarts grounds. He

Was sure she was remembering them too. Both of them jumped as the door opened, and

Mr. Weasley, Kingsley, and Bill walked in.

They were often joined by other Order members for dinner now, because the

Burrow had replaced number twelve, Grimmauld Place as the headquarters. Mr. Weasley

Had explained that after the death of Dumbledore, their Secret-Keeper, each of the people

to whom Dumbledore had confided Grimmauld Place’s location had become a Secret-

Keeper in turn.

“And as there are around twenty of us, that greatly dilutes the power of the

Fidelius Charm. Twenty times as many opportunities for the Death Eaters to get the

secret out of somebody. We can’t expect it to hold much longer.”

“But surely Snape will have told the Death Eaters the address by now?” asked

Harry.

“Well, Mad-Eye set up a couple of curses against Snape in case he turns up there

again. We hope they’ll be strong enough both to keep him out and to bind his tongue if he

tries to talk about the place, but we can’t be sure. It would have been insane to keep using

the place as headquarters now that its protection has become so shaky.”

The kitchen was so crowded that evening it was difficult to maneuver knives and

Forks. Harry found himself crammed beside Ginny; the unsaid things that had just passed

Between them made him wish they had been separated by a few more people. He was

Trying so hard to avoid brushing her arm he could barely cut his chicken.

“No news about Mad-Eye?” Harry asked Bill.

“Nothing,” replied Bill.

They had not been able to hold a funeral for Moody, because Bill and Lupin had

Failed to recover his body. It had been difficult to know where he might have fallen, given

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 607