Chapter Seventeen - The Marauder
Uncle Ron, Luna, and I sat on a large couch, in the living room of Remus Lupin's hut. Said man sat across from us, on a smaller couch. He stared at me sadly. He seemed very troubled and aged. If anyone asked me, I would have said he was in his middle fifties.
"Care to explain what he was doing here?" my uncle asked irritably, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Has he been living here all this time?"
Lupin frowned. "No, he wasn't," he asnwered, tone stern and hurt. "Don't forget I was one of the many who searched for him," he said. "He came to... visit. He's actually trying to set things right..."
Uncle Ron snorted. "How long ago did he leave?"
"A couple of hours... And no, he didn't tell me where he was going," Lupin said quickly.
"Did he say where he had been?" I asked, almost shrinking against Luna when everyone turned to look at me.
My grandfather's friend shook his head and sighed. "He said he had things to do, and that he wasn't sure if he'd come back."
I looked at my uncle, and realized he was not in a good mood. I knew why, and I almost felt guilty for not being angry at my father for not finding me. But, at the same time, all these situations were making me feel dreadful... Something had to be happening, all the places, all the clues, and my father going back and forth... What was going on?
"Well, thanks for your help, Lupin," my uncle said, getting up. "I'm guessing we'll have to figure out where he went."
"We could ask Hedwig to fly to Harry," Luna said, also standing. With a sigh I jumped off the couch.
Lupin looked up at her quizzically. "You've seen her?"
"Yeah, she's with us, we found her on our way here," Uncle Ron said casually. "She seems to like John."
Lupin smiled, almost sadly. "That wouldn't be a surprise," he said softly. However neither my uncle or Luna seemed to notice, since they were already heading towards the door.
We were back on the road in a matter of minutes. Uncle Ron was driving aimlessly, scowling. Luna was calm, like always, and said nothing. We had asked Hedwig to fly to my father, but she didn't want to. My father was somewhere, and we couldn't get to him...
"Look, this is what we are going to do," Uncle Ron started. He seemed tired, defeated. But, at the same time, it seemed like he was just taking a deep breath, to keep moving on. "We're staying at the Leaky Cauldron. If Harry's been going around, he might also go to Gringotts, or some other place like that."
Luna nodded, and I did my best to hide my disappointment. Next to me, Hedwig nibbled at my hand, softly. Crookshanks looked at me through a half-opened eye, and then went back to his sleep.
It was nearly night when we arrived to the Leaky Cauldron. Tom quickly gave us a medium sized room, and we prepared to go to sleep. But we never quite got to even discuss where each of us were going to sleep (the room had a large bed and a couch.)
There was a loud knock on the door, and a familiar voice called out for us.
"Ronald Weasley!" came the muffled female voice. "Open up! In the name of the Ministry of Magic, we're here to place you under arrest!"
Both Luna and my uncle - and myself, of course - were too stunned to do anything. The door opened violently, and two Aurors entered the room. I knew who they were...