John suddenly thought of something and sighed. "Great. Looks like it's my turn to explain things to someone else."
He stood up and called out to his parents, "I'm heading out."
Watson, wearing his starry pajamas, froze for a moment. "I thought school wasn't in session?"
"There's something I need to take care of," John said, glancing at the grey owl called Qiqi. "If anything comes up, just write to me."
He waved to his parents, and the black and white owls flew over to perch on his hands.
Tom came scrambling over in a clumsy rush.
John walked to the fireplace in the basement and blew into it.
The flames turned blue. John stepped inside and arrived at Silverhand Manor.
When Tommy saw John return, he hurried over to report, "The residence of Ministry official Arthur Weasley was attacked. The entire house was destroyed."
John nodded to show he already knew. He took a couple of steps, then stopped and said, "If Barty Crouch Sr. comes by, send him straight to the study."
He knew that over this matter, Barty would definitely come to question him.
Come to think of it, he'd been meeting Barty far more frequently lately, and every time it was because something had happened. That was hardly a good sign.
Sure enough, Barty arrived at Silverhand Manor wrapped in wind and snow.
The moment he stepped through the door, he got straight to the point. "This attack—was it your doing?"
"Barty," John said helplessly, "I want to know who did it too."
Barty looked at John with suspicion. After all, John had conflicts with the Order of the Phoenix.
And this method did resemble something John would do.
The Dark Marks that had appeared over five families before were still vivid in his mind. Barty couldn't help wondering whether John had once again used Voldemort's name to attack the Burrow.
With the Order of the Phoenix tied up with Dumbledore, Barty had no choice but to handle the matter with great caution.
"I hope you're being honest with me," Barty said sharply.
John gave a helpless, bitter smile. Spend all day hunting geese, and sooner or later one pecks you back.
This time, Voldemort had turned the tables on him.
He hadn't expected that after using the Dark Mark a few times, it would now become a case of the boy who cried wolf.
Fortunately, John had one very good trait—he was honest with people.
He said sincerely, "Barty, you know I've never hidden what I've done from you."
Hearing that, much of Barty's suspicion melted away.
Indeed, despite John's deep schemes, when it came to what he had done and whether he had done it, he had never lied.
The last time five families were wiped out, John had admitted it openly.
More importantly, no bodies from the Weasley family had been found.
There was a chance they were still alive.
As long as no one was dead, it wasn't a major issue.
Barty's tone softened. "Since it wasn't you, then we'll hand this matter over to Amelia Bones. You don't object, do you?"
"Suit yourself," John shrugged. A straight back had nothing to fear from a crooked shadow.
Seeing this, Barty trusted him a bit more.
As Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Bones had advocated taking charge of the investigation herself.
That made sense. Amelia had quite a good relationship with Dumbledore.
If Barty refused, it would make him look guilty instead.
Someone might even think he was trying to exclude others.
The news quickly made it into the papers.
The front page featured the burning ruins of the Burrow.
When Fleur and Percy heard about it, they both rushed toward the Burrow to search.
Their family and boyfriend were all inside.
Fortunately, although the newspaper needed a sensational headline, it still respected the facts. It didn't label it as a family massacre, but as a disappearance.
Otherwise, Percy would have gone mad.
"Was it Bellatrix who did it, or has Voldemort returned?"
John fell into thought. Even if the Order of the Phoenix wasn't at full strength, they weren't something that could be taken down easily.
The attackers must have deployed a powerful force. In that case, had Voldemort managed to gather people again?
"Sticking with Voldemort at a time like this…" John could only say the guy had ideals.
Still, he didn't mind it at all. After all, only if Voldemort grew strong enough would that coward who clung to life crawl out from whatever hole he was hiding in.
The next day.
The incident continued to escalate, plunging people into panic.
It was as if overnight, everyone had been thrown back more than a decade, to the era when Voldemort roamed freely.
There were more Ministry officials on the streets.
What should have been a bustling time now felt eerily empty.
John arrived at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Seeing the doors tightly shut, he shook his head and turned away.
Percy hadn't slept all night. The Ministry searched the surrounding area but found no sign of the people from the Burrow.
John went to Grimmauld Place, only to find that the house had not appeared.
That meant the Fidelius Charm was still intact, and since Sirius, the Secret-Keeper and owner, wasn't dead, the others were most likely fine as well.
He told Percy this, and the tight knot in Percy's chest finally loosened.
"Yes. Sirius is with them," Percy's reply carried unmistakable relief.
Fleur was reassured as well. They both trusted John's judgment.
After the attack, sales at the Silverhand Johnny specialty stores surged even higher.
John had Tommy use his charms to get a copy of the investigation report from the Auror Office.
Looking at the destroyed house, John noted a massive crater in the ground, as if something extremely heavy had smashed down.
Which meant the giant really had been brought in by Voldemort?
He tapped his fingers against the table, considering the motive.
"Attacking the Burrow… was it meant to wipe out the 'Chosen One,' Harry, along with the Order of the Phoenix in one stroke?"
Harry was certainly important enough to justify that, but how had Voldemort known Harry would be there?
Fleur told John that Harry and Sirius had been staying at Grimmauld Place. It was only because Kreacher had cleaned away all the Christmas decorations that they went to the Weasleys' instead.
So Harry's appearance at the Burrow had been an accident?
That meant the original target had been the Weasley family.
Because of the Order of the Phoenix?
Or was Voldemort killing the chicken to warn the monkeys?
As John's thoughts raced, Harry and the others, after a night of terror, finally began to calm down.
…
A huge black cylindrical house stood there, like an enormous stone.
From a distance, it looked like a massive black chess piece.
This was Luna's home. Xenophilius Lovegood was just as peculiar as Luna herself.
The house was filled with all sorts of strange objects. When Harry and the others appeared, they found themselves inside a fuzzy nest-like structure hung with many wood-like fragments.
Their heads were spinning, and Ron couldn't help but vomit again.
When Xenophilius saw such a large group suddenly appear, the goblet of eggnog in his hand slipped and fell.
Harry said that when he'd asked for just anywhere, they'd been transported straight to Luna's house.
After that came sheer chaos—those who needed bandaging were bandaged, those who needed to stay alert stayed alert.
The flurry of activity prompted Luna to join in and help as well.
They didn't even dare send out an owl. Luna's house wasn't far from the Burrow.
They were afraid of being discovered by that group.
Because of this, they had no contact with the outside world.
Ginny even suggested turning off the lights in Luna's house.
"It's all right," Luna said, stroking the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, which had collapsed like a dead dog from exhaustion after the teleport. "There are Anti-Intrusion Charms and Protective Wards here."
Several times, dark shadows passed overhead, yet it was as if they couldn't see the very obvious house at all.
Luna asked curiously, "What happened to you?"
Seeing how safe it was here, they finally managed to relax.
George's wound had been stopped with dittany, though part of his ear was missing, as Ginny recounted what they'd been through.
"That's terrible," Luna said. "You should've bought some wooden shields."
"Ahem." Mr. Weasley coughed.
Because Molly had wanted to buy them originally, but after purchasing a signed dog statue, there hadn't been enough money left.
Harry looked over and was stunned to see an entire wall of wooden shields in Luna's house.
Mr. Weasley also noticed at least fifty protective talismans, as well as no fewer than ten wooden dog sculptures.
There were also two boxes of Wizard's Chess.
Those were usually sold individually, yet the Lovegood household had two full sets.
Three pretty necklaces hung by the window, fashioned into wind chimes.
"This place is richer than the Auror Office," Mr. Weasley commented.
Luna enthusiastically took Ginny on a tour of the house.
Mr. Lovegood, meanwhile, leaned into his role as a magazine editor and started digging for news from the group.
For instance, The Quibbler had once reported that Sirius was actually a rock singer. After seeing him in person, Mr. Lovegood was somewhat disappointed.
This did not look like a rock singer at all.
By the time daylight arrived, the search parties had disappeared.
The family felt as though they had been given a new lease on life and hurriedly arranged to send Mrs. Weasley to St Mungo's.
Luna said goodbye to Ginny and remarked that she looked even cooler with short hair.
Ginny kissed Luna on the cheek to thank her for the help, which made Harry feel oddly sour.
Ron apologized for vomiting on the Crumple-Horned Snorkack's cushion.
The Crumple-Horned Snorkack butted him in response, and Ron's backside immediately swelled up.
The group left with their nerves on edge.
The Quibbler also reported on the incident.
But it had always been treated as a joke magazine, so it wasn't until The Daily Prophet covered it that more people truly took notice.
The Weasley family, who had "survived," became a frequent topic of discussion.
Sirius went to Hogwarts to speak with Dumbledore.
Lupin warned Harry not to go out.
The current situation outside had completely snapped the Order of the Phoenix out of the complacency they'd fallen into.
After learning what had happened, Dumbledore asked Harry to personally handle a certain matter.
~~~
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