Chapter 7: All forgotten – quite forgotten.
How did life have this amazing capacity to kick you so hard in the testicles, that it felt like you'd gained extra tonsils?
How could the day that had started so well and seemed so full of promise now be one of wretchedness and depression?
Jules and his Aunt Ginny said nothing to each other in the car as he travelled down the main road back to his great-grandparents'. He'd considered just apparating back to The Burrow but the Muggle car journey helped him collect his thoughts. Using the Muggle road signs, he reckoned they'd be home in half an hour.
Enough time, perhaps, to try and make sense of what this now all meant – and how to explain it to his great grandparents. That was going to be the hardest thing.
Focusing carefully on the road ahead, he let part of his mind wander back a couple of hours or so.
He'd had an idea that things were not going to go right or, at least, they weren't going to get the result that they so desperately needed.
He wasn't the superstitious type but the large raven sitting on the roof of his car that morning had not put him the right frame of mind – call it a bad omen perhaps, a bird of ill omen – though, strangely he was usually fond of ravens, finding them and their habits fascinating: some of them had even been used by the Auror Department to send messages.
His Aunt had been in a buoyant mood and seemed not to notice his slightly pensive look as they got in the car and set off. Actually, it helped him focus as they rehearsed the dialogue and ideas they were going to use if Reginald Watkins turned out to be Ronald Weasley. So they discussed and discussed all the ploys they'd planned the night before, as their car swept down the beautiful roads and lanes of Somerset.
They'd arrived at 11.30, pulled slowly into the car park and used that opportunity to look for any problems.
'All clear?' asked his aunt.
'Yes, think so – on-one's gone in yet, and Jayne said he arrived at 11.45 usually? Think we're clear to go in and wait somewhere quiet.'
'Stop smiling, Jules.'
'What?' he turned to look at her.
'Every time you say her name you smile,' replied his aunt.
He blinked rapidly. He didn't smile. Did he? He found himself thinking about Jayne – he see her hopefully in a couple of minutes…
He was snapped out of his reverie by the sound of the car door opening as Ginny got out. It was as if she could read his mind.
'Yes, you do. You're smiling now,' she said, closing the door and promptly walking off towards the reception. Bloody woman, he thought with deep affection, looking at the retreating back of his aunt. She'd stopped and turned back towards him. Cone on, she'd gestured with her hand. He suddenly felt nervous – like he'd not felt since the early days of training or the day of a major exam back at Hogwarts. Ginny had already gone inside and no doubt would be following their first tactic – finding Jayne and locating the tea room. They'd decided the previous night to go through a careful plan but also, if necessary, to improvise where possible. In particular, this had been Ginny's view. 'With Bellatrix Lestrange or the Carrows trying to kill you, Jules, best laid plans tend to go out of the floo – backwards! It's just do it or not! So, we'll plan but we'll be prepared to improvise – but, for now, let's just get it done! Enough waiting, yes?' Well, looking at the speed and determination his aunt had just shown, improvisation could very well be on the cards, as Muggles say. He just wished he felt more prepared or alive to the fact that he was about to get what he longed for so long: he would meet his grandfather at last.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, he undid his seat belt, removed the ignition key and got out of the car, locking it quickly and jogging off after his aunt, into the reception.
Later, when he'd met Ronald Weasley, he'd realised he'd forgotten his nerves completely because the shock of this first meeting had totally taken them away.