CHAPTER EIGHT: THE DEATHDAY PARTY
"The Deathday Party" Bill read.
"Cool. I've always wanted to go to one" Tonks said eagerly.
"No you don't" the trio chorused.
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"Gee. Thanks" Ginny said sarcastically.
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"Forty-five?" Tonks gasped.
"Oh yeah." Sirius said. "In fact, Nick had written his own song telling the story of his death."
"Bill. Read. NOW!" Remus said frantically. "Before Sirius sings it."
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"Why does he keep trying?" Charlie asked.
"Apparently it's a great honor." Remus answered.
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"I've heard worse from Nick" Sirius mused.
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"That's a lovely description" the twins chorused jokingly.
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"Most being the operative word" George said.
"You too huh?" Sirius asked before sharing a high-five with the twins.
"Don't encourage them!" Molly and McGonagall chorused.
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"Pathetic." Sirius said with a smirk as Molly glared at her two boys.
"Excuse us?" the twins asked.
"He and James had an entire drawer EACH." Remus said. "Peter and I had another drawer to ourselves."
"That's a combination of 3 drawers!" Tonks gasped having a whole new respect for her cousin-once-removed and his friends.
"You don't mess with the best." Sirius said.
"The Marauders are the best." Fred and George chorused.
Sirius was about to say something, but then noticed Molly and McGonagall both giving him and Remus a 'tell them and you're dead' look.
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"It wasn't even his fault!" Ginny said indignantly. "Wood was the one who had the team out in that bad weather!"
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"Ew" the younger crowd chorused.
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"I wouldn't have followed through with this anyways." McGonagall said rolling her eyes. "How come this wasn't brought to my attention earlier Mr. Potter?"
"Let's just say…I had a bit of outside help to get out of the situation." Harry said.
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"That seemed almost too perfect." Sprout said.
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"HARRY!" the Weasley kids, Tonks, Hermione, Remus, and Sirius chorused.
"In hindsight, I probably SHOULD have left" Harry sighed remembering how quick Filch was to accuse him due to the Kwikspell letter he had read on top of being at the scene.
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"That's the oldest excuse in the book" Sirius said with an eyeroll.
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"He let you go?" Charlie asked Harry.
Harry nodded.
"LUCKY!" all those who had been subject to Filch chorused.
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"Did what work?" Arthur asked.
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"That's Sir. Nicholas for you" McGonagall smiled proudly. "He looks out for the Gryffindors."
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"Depends on the ghost." Dumbledore stated. "Sir Nicholas is one who celebrates the day of his death as is the Fat Friar. However, ghosts like the Bloody Baron and the Grey Lady would rather not reflect on how they died. Not even I know their stories."
"So, I guess Myrtle goes with the latter group." Tonks mused.
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"I wish Nick didn't offer for us to show." Ron muttered.
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Sirius and Remus laughed.
"What?" Flitwick asked.
"This is going to be good." Sirius said laughing.
"Nick's NOT that frightening." Remus explained. "And Harry's a terrible liar."
"HEY!"
"It's true" Hermione stated.
"And you weren't really that convincing Mate." Ron admitted.
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"Lame" the twins said.
"What?" Tonks asked.
"I think they mean a 'deathday' party being 'dead' depressing." Remus answered.
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"FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY!" Molly scolded.
"Superca…Hermione? What was that word again?" Fred asked.
"To keep a person out of trouble?" George added.
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"Only a rumor" Ginny informed them.
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"So glad I wasn't there." Remus muttered thinking of his sensitive hearing.
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"Now that I think back, I wonder if that was King Harold II." Hermione mused.
"He wasn't a wizard." Remus explained. "But I think that ghost fought alongside him."
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"RUN!" Remus, Sirius, Bill, Charlie, Tonks, and even Molly chorused.
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"And the Prefect's bathroom." Bill said.
"And the boy's bathroom on the sixth floor." Charlie added.
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"She's another who's story is unknown" McGonagall said.
Dumbledore remained silent knowing that the truth would come out soon enough. He had recognized Myrtle instantly having taught the girl himself. But over the years, her story was lost and nobody put her name to the story of the girl who had died when the Chamber had been opened.
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"Why doesn't this surprise me?" Molly sighed at Ron's mention of the food.
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"I think that was the first time Ron turned his nose up at food" Harry teased.
"You didn't eat that stuff either." Ron argued.
"I don't think any mortal can eat that stuff…not without getting food poisoning." Hermione stated.
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"Wow. I'm glad I managed to avoid her." Arthur said.
"If one could be so lucky" Harry said having had more than one encounter with the ghost.
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"It was actually kind of sick." Hermione mused.
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"Real convincing Harry" Charlie teased.
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"That was rude." Ginny huffed.
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Silence fell over the room. Ginny went deathly white as she remembered the date of the incident.
The first attack.
She wondered just how close she had been to being caught writing those horrible words.
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"That's what you were hearing?" Ron asked. "No wonder you were freaking out thus freaking us out."
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"Hold on. It's going to kill something and you're going TOWARDS it?" Remus asked Harry.
"I was thinking maybe who was going to be killed could be saved." Harry said. "There wasn't any time to get a teacher."
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"Oh s***." Sirius swore. He had grown up on stories about the chamber.
Molly pulled her daughter into a hug.
"Sirius. That's the name of the book" Remus reminded his friend.
"I didn't think it would be OPENED!" Sirius defended his reaction. "I thought probably the entrance would be found and then sealed for good!"
"With my luck?" Harry challenged.
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"What happened to her?" Tonks asked.
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"Leave the scene. You'll look suspicious" Moody advised.
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"And Harry's luck catches up to him" Sprout sighed.
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Snape wrote that down. That sure made Draco seem suspicious and that boy, especially in these times, didn't need to be looking suspicious.
"Are you going to be okay Ginny?" Arthur asked his daughter.
"The sooner this book is over the better." Ginny said.
"We'll take a lunch break after this next one." Molly said before addressing the masses. "Who's reading next?"
"I will" Flitwick said taking the book.
