Have been able to answer in front of him, his brain slow and unresponsive. Was there

something he had missed in the long talks with Dumbledore last year? Ought he to know

what it all meant? Had Dumbledore expected him to understand?

"And as for this book." Said Hermione, "The Tales of Beedle the Bard … I've

never even heard of them!"

"You've never heard of The Tales of Beedle the Bard?" said Ron incredulously.

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, I'm not," said Hermione in surprise. "Do you know them then?"

"Well, of course I do!"

Harry looked up, diverted. The circumstance of Ron having read a book that

Hermione had not was unprecedented. Ron, however, looked bemused by their surprise.

"Oh come on! All the old kids' stories are supposed to be Beedle's aren't they?

'The Fountain of Fair Fortune' … 'The Wizard and the Hopping Pot'… 'Babbitty Rabbitty

and her Cackling Stump'…"

"Excuse me?" said Hermione giggling. "What was the last one?"

"Come off it!" said Ron, looking in disbelief from Harry to Hermione. "You

must've heard of Babbitty Rabbitty –"

"Ron, you know full well Harry and I were brought up by Muggles!" said

Hermione. "We didn't hear stories like that when we were little, we heard 'Snow White

and the Seven Dwarves' and 'Cinderella' –"

"What's that, an illness?" asked Ron.

"So these are children's stories?" asked Hermione, bending against over the runes.

"Yeah." Said Ron uncertainly. "I mean, just what you hear, you know, that all

these old stories came from Beedle. I dunno what they're like in the original versions."

"But I wonder why Dumbledore thought I should read them?"

Something cracked downstairs.

"Probably just Charlie, now Mum's asleep, sneaking off to regrow his hair," said

Ron nervously.

"All the same, we should get to bed," whispered Hermione. "It wouldn't do to

oversleep tomorrow."

"No," agreed Ron. "A brutal triple murder by the bridegroom's mother might put a

bit of damper on the wedding. I'll get the light."

And he clicked the Deluminator once more as Hermione left the room.

The Wedding

Three o’clock on the following afternoon found Harry, Ron, Fred and George

Standing outside the great white marquee in the orchard, awaiting the arrival of the

Wedding guests. Harry had taken a large dose of Polyjuice Potion and was now the

Double of a redheaded Muggle boy from the local village, Ottery St. Catchpole, from

Whom Fred had stolen hairs using a Summoning Charm. The plan was to introduce

Harry as “Cousin Barny” and trust to the great number of Weasley relatives to

Camouflage him.

All four of them were clutching seating plans, so that they could help show people

To the right seats. A host of white-robed waiters had arrived an hour earlier, along with a

Golden jacketed band, and all of these wizards were currently sitting a short distance

Away under a tree. Harry could see a blue haze of pipe smoke issuing from the spot.

Behind Harry, the entrance to the marquee revealed rows and rows of fragile golden

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 663