Chapter 21: Ar
Dumbledore is running late. That is in itself an unusual occurrence as he usually kept to the time he mentioned.
Of course there have been times when he was inevitably delayed, but in each of the situations then, he had let whoever he was supposed to meet next know that he was running late as early as he could and profusely apologizing for the same.
It is one aspect of the man that I particularly liked.
Compared to the rush and the tension in reaching places at the last minute, particularly the train station when I go to see off my kids with my wife.
It is a trip I have been making every year for the past decade or so now. I haven't been really calculating how many years I have gone for.
It has become an annual ritual and once something becomes an annual ritual, that is something that you possibly don't want to change.
It is going to be hard in a couple of years though, when the last of my kids would have also finished schooling. They would all be adults, would be of age.
I do hope that at least a few of them decide to stay with us. That is what I would like, but I think I am also practical enough to realize that if they wanted to move out and find their own space, they are most welcome to do that as well.
Ah, look at me. Being all melodramatic and sentimental.
It is something I never become.
I must be becoming old.
And all my previous training must have worn off by now.
Being assigned to the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office wasn't particularly something I looked forward to when I got my posting.
But then again, they needed eyes and ears at all places.
No, not the Ministry itself.
This is for the Unspeakables.
Yes, you got that right. I am/was an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries before I was given this assignment to stay at the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office.
Arthur Weasley here, at your service, by the way.
Ah, you didn't expect that? You expected that I am just another simple minded man going about my life?
Part of it is true, I am a simple minded person.
For most part what you see is who I really am. I really do have a great interest in muggle stuff. I collect plugs because I find it fascinating. And although I have never spelt electricity (hang on a second! I just spelt the 'e' word perfectly! Hurrah!) correctly before now, it doesn't mean that I am any less enthusiastic about it.
What is hidden is my above average intellect.
Molly does a fair good job of it as well. She too is quite intelligent, though I think I am s shade smarter than her in the intellectual sense. Don't be fooled by her personality.
She deliberately chooses to be a little loud and obnoxious in the hope that you underestimate her. But don't be fooled by that.
You do realize that the brains behind Bill, Charlie, Percy and the Twins had to come from somewhere. (I still strongly believe that Ginny had potential. She is a lot like her mother, what she projects isn't a true reflection of her strengths. Ron on the other hand, seems to be the odd one out, although he is definitely a prodigy in the game of chess)
Oops. Looks like I have probably spoken too much about her already.
Things that she would definitely have preferred I keep my mouth shut about or at the very least let her do the honours for.
Oops.
It isn't of much concern though. I will explain it to her later.
For the moment, let me explain why the act.
Very simple.
To protect the family.
The Weasleys have been around for a very long while and while we have never had the same power or status as say the Malfoys, the Blacks or the Potters, we have been a fairly influential family.
But then circumstances changed. One of our ancestors ended up gambling away the family fortune leaving most of us with a pittance if not a loan to repay. And when you don't have that much money, your influence reduces significantly. As the muggles are wont to say, power and influence are both a function of money.
As time went by, we still made sure our voices were heard when we felt something was wrong. But then we noticed a problem. Every time we opposed, our numbers would go down.
And since the wizarding world only cared about pureblood families with money, the destruction of the Weasleys became less and less of a news item to more and more of a footnote, before being ignored completely.
Which left the rest of us with only one choice - to play dumb.
Oh, if you came and spoke to us, we would give you our honest opinion, but otherwise we kept to ourselves and didn't make ourselves heard like before.
And it paid off for us.
We managed to survive.
So you see, for the most part, we play the role of the dumb wizard to protect the family.
You can of course question if there wasn't an ally or friend of House Weasley who could have come to our aid. The short answer was no.
There were offers of help, notably from House Potter, but in most cases House Weasley refused the help.
We were too proud to seek help when we truly needed it.
And we paid for it dearly.
From that time on, we have always made sure to underplay our intellect, and when needed and as far as possible provide anonymous help.
We do not want to become victims again.
Anyways, where were we? Ah yes, Dumbledore is late.
Surprising, but the man did say he had a couple of errands to run.
And that he would be bringing Harry with him to stay with us for the remaining short period of the summer break.
Unfortunately, we couldn't have him here earlier. Again, Dumbledore did not make his reasons clear and interestingly enough, Harry himself did not make it as clear like the last time.
Perhaps he had grown to anticipate that we would come and get him only when we ourselves had gotten the word.
Molly was extremely agitated over that, I remember quite clearly.
To her, Harry is another son and she sees him as such.
And Hermione, another daughter.
The two have stuck by Ron's side and Ron has been their side for the most part of five years now. And considering that they both have spent a lot of time with us over the past five summer breaks, I guess it is but natural to think of them as our family members as well.
In fact, Molly had repeatedly asked both myself and Dumbledore if she could invite Hermione's parents as well. She wanted them too to feel included in the strange new world that their daughter had been sent to.
While I had no qualms about it, Dumbledore had been a little reluctant. I do not know why, nor did I ask him the reason for it, but every time Molly brought up the topic, he would always use the delaying tactic and say it wasn't the time now and that the right time was approaching soon and would quickly change the subject.
Eventually both of us stopped asking about it and Dumbledore has not mentioned a word to us on that topic since.
I don't understand the man at times.
Again coming back to the point, I hope they get here quickly. Harry's birthday celebration did not take place this year, and so we want to do it when both he and Hermione are here. Hermione has promised to visit us over the next couple of days.
The Weasleys, at least the ones from my loins, will be here.
Well mostly.
Percy is still too stuck up in his way of thinking that I doubt he will attend. Molly had insisted that I extend the invitation to him as well, and so I had.
But I really hope he doesn't turn up.
That boy's adherence to the rules and being blind to the obvious is seriously mind-boggling. I have no idea how he ended up that way.
And to think of what all he had told me, that I lacked ambition and that was the reason we were still poor.
I can still hear those words in my ears. I doubt I will forget them for a long time.
Dumbledore is very late. I really hope it is nothing serious that is holding him up.
And I hope Harry is keeping well too. I have been meaning to write to him the whole of the summer, especially to make sure he is alright after the tragedy around Sirius, but I haven't written that letter.
I need to have a long talk with him about everything. He has been alone for far too long now. I know Ron sent him a couple of letters, and like I said, I should have too.
But no point crying over spilt milk.
Look into what needs to be done. In the case of the milk, vanish it and start over.
Sirius' death was a disaster. I was completely taken unaware by it.
And to think Harry rushed to him because he believed the vision to be true. How could he not after he saved my life after my rookie mistake during guard duty.
I still don't know what it was that I was guarding (not everyone who works for the Unspeakables knows what is there in the Department of Mysteries. Except for a select few, the rest do not know what happens in the other branches in the Department)
But what I do know is that I should never had fallen asleep on the job no matter how tired I was.
I should not have fallen asleep. Perhaps then, Harry would not have rushed to the Ministry believing his vision to be real.
Perhaps then, Sirius would not have rushed to the Ministry absolutely sure that his godson needed him.
Perhaps then, Sirius would not have fallen through the Veil.
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.
No! I will not dwell on the perhaps! I will dwell only on what happened and prepare for what is to come.
It is possibly the time now for the Weasleys to shed the image of underachievers that they have built over the years.
It is time to fight back.
As cliched as it may sound, now was the time to take a stand.
And as Harry seems to be at the centre of that fight, I need to talk to him. Make sure that he does not bite off more than he can chew.
Dumbledore is late. And I am getting worried.
As I begin to conjure a Patrnous to send to Dumbledore to ask him where he is, one arrives towards me.
Relieved that it was Dumbledore himself with a message I cancel mine.
As the Patronus approached I notice that it is one that I have not seen before and it definitely was not the Headmaster's.
The message it delivered knocked the wind out of my sails. The only thoughts going through my head, even though my body was automatically moving were 'No! No! No! This can't be happening!'
I knew I had very little time to react.
Quickly conjuring my own Patrnous, I sent it to the remaining members of the Order as I rushed upstairs to find Molly and ask her to prepare for the worst.
I only hope that we reach the place in time.
The message the Patronus carried was a simple one: "Help me! Save us! Death Eaters are attacking my home!"
The Patronus was shaped like an otter.
The distraught voice in the Patronus was that of my daughter in everything but blood - Hermione Granger
A/N: The idea for Arthur Weasley's 'secret' role was inspired from one of the stories that I had read on . Unfortunately, I do not remember the name. If you do find out the name, drop me a message and I will credit the story and author for the original thought