Darcie roughly shoved her key into the lock, and swung open the door. Dumping her bags of shopping on the floor, she collapsed into the bed. After lying motionless for a while, she took off her shoes and somehow slipped under the quilt, drifting in and out of sleep until finally dozing off into slumber. She was awoken by frantic desperate laughter. It reminded her of something. Then there was strange muttering. But they sounded random, as if spoken to someone who wasn't there. Then suddenly there was a burst of sounds - high pitched wails, low moans and other peculiar noises Darcie hadn't heard before. She still couldn't open her eyes, but now she felt cold, and it was draughty and damp. And it wasn't just freezing; she felt cold inside, as well.
Her eyes opened for a millisecond , but that was all she needed to take in her surroundings. Then she snapped awake shaking, and sitting up in her bed, her quilt crumpled at the bottom of her bed. She was shocked at what she saw. She couldn't see much for the gloom, but there was light coming from somewhere. There was a heap of clothes on the floor, it might have been a body but she couldn't tell, and there was something else in the room.
To someone else, it might not have been so provoking, in fact she didn't know herself why it effected like that; she was confused.
Undramatically her stomach rumbled loudly, and she remembered she hadn't had any dinner. She had probably missed the Weasleys but it didn't matter.
She fumbled around for her door key, and then stepped outside into the long corridor. The one thing she didn't remember about The Leaky Cauldron was the size and shape. The corridors moved around haphazardly, as if trying to fit round the rooms instead of the rooms round it, and the floor wasn't exactly flat. And the stairs seemed to reach the first levels of the gigots mines, however some of the parlours near the bottom still had first floor views.
Darcie smiled, remembering what fun she had had as a child, as she made her way along the corridor for the nearest staircase. No one was about, but Darcie amused herself by looking at the different shaped and oddly painted doors.
As she made her way down the stairs she became aware of raised voices, but she dismissed them as unimportant. Then as she came into a small landing facing a parlour, she bumped into a boy she instantly recognised by his untidy jet black hair, green eyes and thin lightning shaped scar on his forehead.
"You must be Harry Potter. Are you here with Ron? I've heard you two were friends."
But before he could answer, the two of them moved irrevocably towards the door of the parlour.
" … makes no sense not to tell them." Mr Weasley was saying heartedly. "Darcie and Harry have a right to know. I've tried to tell Fudge, but he insists on treating them like children. They're both thirteen, soon."
"Arthur, the truth would terrify them both." said Mrs Weasley shrilly. "Do you really want Harry and Darcie - it's her first year for goodness sake - to go to school with that hanging over them? They're happy not knowing!"
"I don't want to make them miserable, I want to put them on their guard!" retorted Mr Weasley.
"You know especially what Ron and Harry are like, wandering off by themselves - they've ended up in the Forbidden Forest twice! But Harry mustn't do that this year! And think what sort of impression this must have on Darcie! When I think what could have happened to him that night he ran away from home! If the Knight Bus hadn't picked him up, I'm prepared to bet he would have been dead before the ministry found him."
"But he's not dead, and neither is Darcie, they're both fine, so what's the point - "
"Molly, they say Sirius Black's mad and maybe he is, but he was clever enough to escape from Azkaban, and that's supposed to be impossible. It's been three weeks, and no one's seen hide or hair of him, and I don't care what Fudge keeps telling The Daily Prophet, we're no closer to catching Black than inventing self spelling wands. The only thing we know for sure is what Black's after -"
"But they will be perfectly safe at Hogwarts."
"We thought Azkaban was perfectly safe. If Black can break out of Azkaban, he can break into Hogwarts."
"But no one's really sure that Black's after either Darcie or Harry - "
There was a thud on wood, and Darcie glanced at Harry. She was sure Mr Weasley had banged his fist on the table.
"Molly, how many times do I have to tell you? They didn't report it in the press because Fudge wanted it kept quiet, but Fudge went out to Azkaban the night Black escaped. The guards told Fudge that Black's been talking in his sleep for a while now. Always the same words : They're at Hogwarts… He's at Hogwarts. Black is deranged, Molly, and you know what he going to do to them - he wants Harry dead, and who knows what he wants to do with Darcie - probably something to do with You - Know - Who. If you ask me he thinks using those two will bring You - Know - Who back to power …"
Mr Weasley faded away, not wanting to expand on the uncomfortable subject, and left a silence in his wake. Darcie watched as Harry desperately leaned closer trying to hear more, but the silence in his ears was loud enough.
"Well, Arthur, you must do what you think is right. But you're forgetting Albus Dumbledore. I don't think anything could hurt those two at Hogwarts while Dumbledore's Headmaster. I suppose he knows all about this?"
"Of course he knows. We had to ask him if he minds the Azkaban guards stationing themselves around the entrances to the school grounds. He wasn't happy about it, but he agreed."
"Not happy? Why shouldn't he be happy, if they're to catch Black?"
"Dumbledore isn't fond of Azkaban guards" said Mr Weasley heavily. "Nor am I if it comes to that … but when dealing with a wizard like Black, you sometimes have to join forces with those you'd rather avoid."
"If they save Darcie and Harry - "
" - then I will never say another word against them." said Mr Weasley wearily.
Darcie tugged at Harry's sleeve - they had to go. " It's late, Molly, we'd better go up …"
They heard chairs move, and finally Harry seemed to realise the urgency. They crept up the stairs and went to find their rooms, not before running into the twins.
Fred and George were crouching in the shadows on the landing , heaving with laughter as they listened to Percy dismantling his and Ron's room in search for his badge.
"We've got it." Fred whispered to them. "We've been improving it."
The badge now read Bighead boy. Darcie smiled at them, and waved bye-bye before trotting up to her room and leaving Harry to be quizzed by Fred and George.
She pushed the door quietly open as if someone was in there and shut it behind her, slowly sliding down and sitting on the floor.
Darcie didn't know what to think. It was entirely unexpected. As she listened to the muffled voices talking next door, she remembered Mrs Weasley mentioning, rather embarrassedly, that they were getting a couple of ministry cars to the station tomorrow. She would like to talk to Harry as well. She would like to talk to Harry as well. She didn't know what his opinion was, but this was serious stuff. She would talk to him tomorrow. Right now, all Darcie wanted to do was sleep.