The Other Side
The ghosts are crawling on our skin
We may race and we may run
We'll not undo what has been done
Or change the moment when it's gone
Jenny
9/2/10
1:45 p.m.
"Mr. Arthur Weasley…" Umbridge's voices rang out in a lofty, infuriating tone, making me tense then bite my lip as the sore muscles in my legs started to cramp.
"How may I be of service?" Mr. Weasley said calmly, setting down his file, and backing up slightly, giving me slight room to stretch out, hardly daring to breathe. I heard a deep snort, but Umbridge continued as if she hadn't heard it.
"Mr. Weasley, were you unaware that the Ministry had intruders?" She asked, and the question was loaded with almost a triple meaning. There was a threat, the actual question, and the question asking if he had known before hand that there was a breach.
"I was aware, but seeing as the matter did not concern me, I kept working." Mr. Weasley said flatly. His tone reminded me on how I currently addressed Kingsley. Umbridge laughed, and it sent hair up on the back of my arms. It was far too girly.
"Not concern you? Mr. Weasley, if there was a breach in the Ministry, you could have been put at risk! Are you afraid of this happening?" She switched topics so fast, it made me blink, and I wasn't the one being addressed. She knew how to play people. It made me hate her even more, if that was possible. I had seen the scars on Harry's hand.
"No." Mr. Weasley said just as lifelessly. "If there was to be an attack on employees, I doubt that it would happen on this floor. Now, Dolores, if you weren't aware, I am a very busy man. Is there anything else I can help you with?" Tension raced through the air in a moment of frosty silence.
"Mr. Weasley, it is no secret that Undesirable No. 1 is very close to you. If you helped him get into the Ministry today, no one close to you will be safe." A deep voice that I recognized as the real Runcorn sent more chills up my spine. "You have been warned. Actions like that will not be tolerated again, Mr. Weasley." He continued, and I heard the footsteps die away and leave, but I still didn't move, not even when Mr. Weasley continued working like nothing had happened, in case we were being watched yet. When Mr. Weasley dropped a piece of paper, I waited a minute before inching forward slightly to read it.
Come out slowly, and poke me. I'll Disillusion you again.
Almost at a snails pace, I inched out to right beside his chair, and poked his knee. He lifted his wand lightly at his side, and I put my head under it. Feeling that I was there, he rapped me on the head sharply, and the coldness returned, and the wave lengths of me in the background vanished. My knee ached as I curled up behind his desk in front of a drawer, trying to calm my beating heart. Smashing in Yaxley's jaw had been worth it, 100%, even though I was starting to get achy and sore from the full moon. I had lied to Kingsley and the Order, I was still tired and sore from my moonlit excursion. I had yet to tell Lupin about the potion thing too.
As the minutes passed, I thought about Hermione. They got their locket thing, but why would they need that to bring down Voldemort? Why was it at the Ministry? Was she and Harry and Ron safe now? More questions raced silently through my head as Mr. Weasley continued to work calmly, despite the serious threat he had just received. At four o'clock, he stacked all his files and put them away, then took his coat off the back of his chair and stretched. I got up and did the same, stiffer than ever. His office was freezing, and my joints had become stiff and slow. I trailed him out the door, and instead of using fireplaces, which were still sealed, he joined the throng waiting to get out through other exits to Apparate, I lightly pinched his jacket tail the whole time, so that we wouldn't get separated. After a tense ten minutes, we got outside, and I wrapped both of my arms securely around one of his as he stood calmly, putting on his hat in the rain. He Apparated without warning.
The feeling of the airless vacuum made me want to throw up as we appeared out in the middle of nowhere. I heaved for a moment, gasping. "Sorry, Jenny, I had to act normally. I would have warned you otherwise." He felt around in the air for a minute before he found my head as I trembled, hands on my knees, and with another sharp rap, the charm was lifted. I swam back into view for the first time all day. "Now, listen carefully. We are standing right outside the Burrow, in Ottery Saint Catchpole." He said this quietly, almost whispered it into my ear, and when I blinked, the whole building appeared. It was topsy turvy, and it looked like it was held up with magic. Chickens were just outside the fence, and there was another sagging building that I recognized as an old garage. I straightened, and followed Mr. Weasley unsteadily into the garden, and kicked away a chicken that tried to peck me. I tiptoed around many pairs of Wellington garden boots in front of the door to stand behind Mr. Weasley as he knocked.
"What did Fred do to Ron's teddybear when he broke his broomstick?" It was definitely Mrs. Weasley's voice who answered, unwavering and uncharacteristically cold.
"He turned it into a giant spider. And our blond friend is with me, ask another question." He said calmly, and there was a moment of silence.
"What color is the tea I made you?" She asked, and I winced as I remembered the violent orange color.
"The sickest orange you will ever see." I said, and the door opened, and Mrs. Weasley ushered us inside.
"Why didn't you go straight to the Order, Arthur? Jenny shouldn't be here, it's more dangerous for her!" Mrs. Weasley hissed quietly, flicking her wand at a pile of dishes, and they started to scrub themselves. Their house was amazing, cozy and small, but full of more wizarding things than I had seen in my life. The grandfather clock in the corner finished moving one of its 9 arms to 12 o' clock, which was titled home. The arm had Mr. Weasley's head on it.
"Too dangerous. I'm being tracked, Molly. If I keep strangely disappearing in London, the Death Eaters will start staying in front of the place 24/7. And because Ron, Hermione and Harry somehow infiltrated the Ministry today." He said tiredly, taking off his coat and hanging it up as Mrs. Weasley stood in shocked silence.
"What?" She hissed, looking livid, and prodded both of us to the living room, and one of her more violent pokes nearly sent me into a pair of knitting needles crocheting all by themselves. I tried not to gaze around their living room in fascination at all the magic items inside.
"You'll have to wait for a meeting, Molly. You too, Jenny, don't open that bag; leave it on you until we can leave. This is beyond just us now, Molly. I trust Ginny got to school alright?" Mr. Weasley said tiredly again, putting his feet up and rubbing his eyes, hastily changing the subject. Mrs. Weasley gaped at him before sighing and nodding. She left, and returned after a moment with three mugs of tea. Mine was orange. Thinking about why mine was orange brought me back to Lupin as I took a sip and shuddered. He was going to be furious when he found out my huge lie to Kingsley. I was slightly mad at myself too; I knew that I only increased some of the danger for him, because I knew that he would follow me when I turned, at his own risk.
"How was your day, Jenny?" Mrs. Weasley asked me as I took another sip of my tea and pulled a face.
"I hope it was…profitable. I was in a few offices, followed a few people. It will be harder to get back though, now that there was the breach. And I know that they won't print it in the Prophet." I sighed, and stretched out my leg, making Mrs. Weasley gasp and point. I had blood on my knee from smashing Yaxley's face. "That's nothing, really Mrs. Weasley, don't get up. I smashed in Yaxley's face with my knee is all." I protested, but she had already gotten up, grabbed her wand and cleaned off my knee, but then stiffened and looked at me when she processed what I had said; Mr. Weasley choked into his tea. "Long story short, it helped our little trio get out." I sighed before they could start questioning me. Before they could say anything, the fire erupted in green flames, making me jump, barely holding onto my tea. I still wasn't used to the magic thing.
Kingsley's face was looking mighty smug as he appeared. "I see everyone is home safe," he smirked, and I wiped my face clean of any emotion, even when I sipped my tea again. "Jenny, did you get anything?"
"I did get a few things, yes. I don't know how useful they will be, but I decided to take it slow considering I had no idea what I was doing." I didn't even look at him as I hid my face with the teacup, taking another sip, the vile shit inside almost blinding my eyes with its horrid color.
"Then we want you to come in right away. That information is very highly valued here, and if we were to lose it…the situation would be grave. We'll also want synapses on your day as well." He vanished with a pop, and I glared at the fireplace once he had vanished. How dare he imply that I would lose the information I had risked my life to get for him? Git.
"Ready, Jenny? We'll have to Apparate again, sorry." He apologized when he saw me wince as I got up. I wasn't about to contradict him; he thought it was a reaction to Apparating, when it was really a reaction to my stiffness. The dizzying Apparition made me want to puke, but it was crowded on the front step to Grimmauld Place, so I just ducked inside and leaned against the wall for a moment to stop the dizziness. Then I followed the Weasley's into the kitchen, were the Order members were waiting. I silently stopped at the end of the table with the empty chair for me, and remained standing as I took off my bag and reached inside, flinching when my fingertips hit the eyeball. I closed my eyes as I took out the two papers and the eye, and set them on the table.
I heard plenty of gasps and swearwords, and people seizing the eye. "Do you have any idea what this is? Where did you find it?" Kingsley's demanding voice rocked through my head, as I opened my eyes. Everyone was either looking at the eye or at me.
"I don't know why it was in the Ministry, not to mention Umbridge's door—" Tonks' snarl of fury made me flinch. I had never seen her so angry.
"This eye," she said, trembling with rage as she pointed at it sitting in Kingsley's palm, "belonged to one of our greatest members and Aurors of all time, Alastor Moody. He died getting Harry safely to the Burrow earlier this summer. We never recovered his body. This eye is magical, he lost one fighting Dark Wizards. Umbridge, what was she using it for?" She said this all in a forced patience.
"It was in a hole in her door with a telescope in the back-" I said unwillingly, and the eruption of voices made me flinch again as the Order went into an uproar.
"If I had known-" Mr. Weasley had turned incredibly pale.
"That sick, twisted, disgusting, fucking-" Tonks was snarling, Lupin's hand gently on her arm. Kingsley was staring at the source of her anger, the eye in his hand, looking actually remorseful for once.
"Enough! Come on, she has more." Charlie managed to roar over the hubbub. Gradually, everyone sat back down. Someone had gotten a little dish and cover for the eye, and it sat in the center of the table as everyone turned back to me.
"This is a list of Undesirables from the Minister's desk." I started, and Kingsley raised an eyebrow at me as he took it.
"I thought you said you were starting slow?" He asked as the paper was passed around after he scanned it.
"It was a good opportunity. Then this is a paper giving an order to place a Taboo on the word listed. It was dated yesterday, so I don't know if that word is safe anymore." I passed that piece of paper around too, and silence descended as the Order members pondered the two sheets in front of them…