CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 9, The Woes of Mrs. Weasley - Chapter Summary

[abigailnus]

No: HPFGUIDX 88304

Chapter 9 - The Woes of Mrs. Weasley

Chapter Summary:

Harry, nonplussed by Dumbledore's abrupt departure from the 
courtroom, waits to be told that he may leave.  When he realizes 
that no one is paying him any attention, he makes a quick 
getaway, and is met by an anxious Mr. Weasley.  Upon learning 
of Harry's acquittal, Arthur congratulates him heartily - it is clear 
that he was truly concerned.  Arthur is shocked to discover that 
Harry was tried by the entire Wizengamot, who file out in front of 
him.  When they leave, Fudge ignores Harry and Arthur, 
Umbridge (although Harry doesn't know her name yet) gives Harry 
an appraising look, and Percy pointedly walks past his father 
without acknowledging him.

Arthur announces that he will take Harry back to Grimmauld Place 
before going to deal with an exploding toilet.  He begins to talk 
about the attitudes underlying Muggle-baiting.

"...Muggle-baiting might strike some wizards as funny, but it's an 
expression of something much deeper and nastier..."

Arthur stops speaking when he and Harry spot Fudge in 
conversation with Lucius Malfoy.  Malfoy greets Harry jeeringly as 
'Patronus Potter', and tries to upset Harry by making references to 
his 'snakelike' escape.  When Harry asks Malfoy about his business 
at the MoM, Malfoy tells him to mind his own business and 
smoothes his robes.  Harry hears 'the gentle clinking of what 
sounded like a full pocket of gold.'  Malfoy and Fudge leave for the 
latter's office.  After they leave, Mr. Weasley states that Malfoy was 
probably trying to sneak into the courtroom, and notes bitterly 
that Fudge's business with Malfoy probably involves gold.

"'Gold, I expect,' said Mr. Weasley angrily.  'Malfoy's been giving 
generously to all sorts of things for years ... gets him in with the 
right people ... then he can ask favours ... delay laws he doesn't 
want passed ... oh, he's very well-connected, Lucius Malfoy.'"

Harry suggests that Fudge might have been placed under the 
Imperius Curse, but Mr. Weasley responds that Dumbledore claims 
otherwise.  They arrive at the MoM atrium, where Harry dumps out 
his entire moneybag in the fountain.  While doing this, he takes a 
closer look at the statue, and revises his opinion of the characters 
depicted in it.  The witch and wizard seem vapid and foolish, 
respectively, and Harry doubts that a goblin or a centaur would stare 
so soppily at humans.

Everyone at Grimmauld Place is ecstatic at the news of Harry's 
acquittal - Ginny, Fred and George even start a victory dance.  Mr. 
Weasley tells Sirius about Lucius Malfoy's presence at the Ministry, 
and Sirius promises to relay the news to Dumbledore.  Harry notes 
wistfully (and feeling rather childish about it) that he wishes 
Dumbledore had stayed after the hearing to talk to him.  As he 
thinks about this, his scar hurts so badly that he clutches at his 
forehead.  He dismisses this outburst to the others by saying that it 
happens all the time.

Over the next few days, Harry notices a change for the worse in 
Sirius' mood.  He becomes moody and surly, and spends more and 
more time with Buckbeak.  Hermione, when questioned about this, 
suggests that Sirius had allowed himself to hope that Harry might 
stay with him at Grimmauld Place if he were expelled.  She suggests 
that this is selfish of Sirius, and echoes Mrs. Weasley's statement 
that Sirius seems to confuse Harry and James - a comment that raises 
Harry's ire.

As the holidays draw to and end, Harry finds himself wishing more 
and more for Hogwarts - life at Grimmauld Place is beginning to 
weary him, and he's been kept completely in the dark with regards to 
Order business.  On the last day of holidays, the book-lists arrive.  
There are only two new books on the list, including a DADA textbook.  
Fred and George apparate into Harry and Ron's room and wonder 
aloud who had set that book.  The tell Harry and Ron that Dumbledore 
had been having trouble filling the position.  As they're talking, Ron 
finds something startling in his school letter - a Prefect's badge.

Ron is speechless, and Fred and George are dismayed, telling Harry 
that they had been certain he would be chosen for the position.  Ron 
holds the badge out to Harry as if seeking confirmation, just at the 
moment at which an overjoyed Hermione bursts in to announce her 
selection as Prefect.  She sees Harry holding the badge and assumes 
that it belongs to him, which causes an uncomfortable moment.  Ron 
gets over his shock, and even looks defiant as he tells Hermione 'It's 
my name on the letter'.

The next person to be shocked is Mrs. Weasley, who is well pleased 
by the news of Ron's selection.  She is beside herself with joy, and 
offers him a present as a reward (one of her suggestions is 'a new rat.  
You always liked Scabbers').  Ron bashfully requests a broom, and 
after a moment's consideration Mrs. Weasley agrees.

Fred and George are quite contemptuous towards Ron after their 
mother leaves, saying that they'd love to see him try to put them in 
detention, to which Hermione hotly responds 'He could if you don't 
watch out!'.  After they leave, Ron notes ruefully that they've always 
said that only prats become prefects.

Ron leaves the room, and Harry finds himself unable to meet 
Hermione's eye.  In an artificially cheerful voice, he congratulates her 
on her selection, and lets her borrow Hedwig so that she can give her 
parents the good news.  Left on his own, Harry admits to himself that 
he would have expected to receive the prefect's badge himself instead 
of Ron, and wonders whether this makes him as arrogant as Draco 
Malfoy.  

Harry argues with himself.  On one hand, he asserts that the only field 
at which he's better than Ron is Quidditch - they do equally well at 
lessons.  Then he thinks about the things that happen outside of 
lessons - the adventures he's had with Ron and Hermione.  He notes 
that while Ron and Hermione were with him most of the time, when it 
really came down to it, he was alone.  He begins to feel very ill-used, 
but then considers that Dumbledore, when he selects prefects, might 
not look for people who '[get] themselves into a load of dangerous 
situations' and concludes that Ron must have something he doesn't.  
He remembers Fred saying that 'No one in their right mind would make 
Ron a prefect' and gives a snort of laughter.  Then he feels sickened.

"Ron had not asked Dumbledore to give him the prefect badge.  
This was not Ron's fault.  Was he, Harry, Ron's best friend in the 
world, going to sulk because he didn't have a badge, laugh with 
the twins behind Ron's back, ruin this for Ron when, for the first 
time, he had beaten Harry at something?"

When Ron returns, Harry genuinely congratulates him.

That evening, the Order holds an impromptu party to send the kids 
off to school and in honor of the new prefects.  Harry notes that Mrs. 
Weasley seems in a better mood then he's seen her in all holiday.  
The party is attended by the Weasleys (parents, younger children and 
Bill), Sirius, Lupin, Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mundungus and 
Mad-Eye Moody.  Mrs. Weasley asks Moody to look through the 
locked writing desk in the drawing room, and he informs her that 
there is indeed a Boggart inside.  Mrs. Weasley says that she will deal 
with the Boggart herself later, and proudly informs Moody of Ron's 
selection as prefect.  Moody's reaction is to swivel his magical eye in 
Harry's direction, and congratulate Ron by saying that Dumbledore 
must think Ron can handle himself, as 'authority figures always 
attract trouble'.

Mrs. Weasley toasts Ron and Hermione, and the conversation 
turns to prefects of the past.  Sirius announces that both he and 
James were too troublesome to be made prefects, and that Lupin 
was selected in the hopes of curbing their excesses.  Lupin notes 
that he failed at this task, and Harry is heartened to hear that his 
father was also not a prefect.

The party continues.  Ron waxes eloquent about his new broom.  
Hermione and Lupin discuss elf rights, and she compares the elves' 
treatment to werewolf segregation, Mrs. Weasley nags Bill about 
the length of his hair.  Harry spots Fred and George buying 
Venomous Tentacula seeds from Mundungus, which they need for 
their Skiving Snackboxes but can't get legally because they're a class 
C non-tradable substance.  Harry warns the twins that Moody might 
spot them, which prompts Mundungus to sell the goods cheap and 
the twins to take them upstairs.  Harry begins to wonder what will 
happen when Mr. and Mrs. Weasley discover who backed the twins' 
joke shop enterprise, and fears that he might lose Mrs. Weasley's 
affections.

Still feeling uneasy, Harry overhears Kingsley Shacklebolt 
wondering why Dumbledore didn't choose him for prefect, saying 
it would have shown confidence in him.  He begins to feel even 
less comfortable and starts to think of going upstairs.  Ron 
continues to describe his broom, as Mrs. Weasley announces that 
she's going to deal with the Boggart.  Just as Harry tries to make 
his own getaway, Moody waylays him, and shows him an old 
photograph of the original Order of the Phoenix.  He begins listing 
the names of the people in the picture, including their sometimes 
gruesome fates.

The members of the Order mentioned:

Moody
Dumbledore
Dedalus Diggle
Marlene McKinnon - killed two weeks after the picture was taken
Frank and Alice Longbottom
Emmeline Vance
Lupin
Benjy Fenwick - 'he copped it too, we only ever found bits of him'
Edgar Bones - brother of Amelia Bones, killed with his family
Sturgis Podmore
Caradoc Dearborn - vanished six months after the picture was taken
Hagrid
Elphias Doge
Gideon Prewett - killed with his brother Fabian by six DEs
Aberforth Dumbledore
Dorcas Meadows - killed personally by Voldemort
Sirius

The last three people in the picture, which Moody says he thought 
would interest Harry, are Lily and James Potter sitting with Peter 
Pettigrew between them.  Harry is shaken, although Moody seems 
to believe that he's given him something of a treat.  Harry makes 
a quick getaway, aided by Sirius' interest in Moody's photograph.  
As he makes his way upstairs, Harry wonders why the picture 
should have had such an effect on him when he'd seen pictures of 
his parents before.  He concludes that he was disturbed by having 
seen them, and the other members of the Order, so happy and 
unaware of what was to come.  As he tiptoes up the stairs, Harry 
hears sobbing in the drawing room.  He walks in and finds Ron 
dead.  

After a moment of shock, Harry realizes that Mrs. Weasley is being 
tormented by the Boggart, who is showing her images of her dead 
family.  Ron turns into Bill, then Mr. Weasley, the twins, Percy and 
Harry.  Before Harry can get Mrs. Weasley out of the room Lupin 
walks in, followed by Sirius and Moody.  Lupin understands what's 
going on in an instant and banishes the Boggart.  Mrs. Weasley 
collapses on Lupin's shoulder.  She confesses that she sees and 
dreams of her family's deaths constantly, and asks Lupin not to 
tell Arthur.  Sirius is still staring fixedly at the spot where the 
Boggart in the form of Harry's dead body had lain.

Mrs. Weasley continues to cry.  She worries about half her family 
being in the Order, about the possibility of one or all of them 
dying without making it up with Percy, and about the fate of Ron 
and Ginny if she and Arthur were to die.  Lupin tries to reassure 
her by telling her that things are better for the Order this time 
around.  They are better prepared and know what Voldemort is 
up to.  Last time they were outnumbered twenty to one by the 
DEs and were being picked off one by one.  

Sirius assures Molly that Percy will come around.  Once 
Voldemort moves into the open the Ministry will be begging for 
forgiveness.  Sirius notes that he doesn't know if he'll accept 
the apology.  Lupin tells Mrs. Weasley that the other Order 
members would take care of Ron and Ginny if something were 
to happen to her and Arthur.

Mrs. Weasley is somewhat appeased, and states that she's being 
silly, but later that night Harry wonders if this is true.  He thinks 
about the picture of the order, and can't stop seeing the Boggart 
taking the form of various dead Weasleys.  His scar throbs again, 
and Harry feels 'older than he had ever felt in his life and it 
seemed extraordinary to him that barely half an hour ago he had 
been worried over a joke shop and who had got a prefect's badge.'

Abigail

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