‘Don't think it hadn't occurred to us, Harry,’

‘Don't think it hadn't occurred to us, Harry,’ said Mr. Weasley quietly. ‘But Dumbledore thinks Fudge is acting of his own accord at the moment—which, as Dumbledore says, is not a lot of comfort.... Best not talk about it any more just now, Harry....’

The doors slid open and they stepped out into the now almost-deserted Atrium. Eric the watchwizard was hidden behind his Daily Prophet again. They had walked straight past the golden fountain before Harry remembered.

‘Wait....’ he told Mr. Weasley, and, pulling his moneybag from his pocket, he turned back to the fountain.

He looked up into the handsome wizard's face, but up close, Harry thought he looked rather weak and foolish. The witch was wearing a vapid smile like a beauty contestant, and from what Harry knew of goblins and centaurs, they were most unlikely to be caught staring so soppily at humans of any description. Only the house-elf's attitude of creeping servility looked convincing. With a grin at the thought of what Hermione would say if she could see the statue of the elf, Harry turned his moneybag upside-down and emptied not just ten Galleons, but the whole contents into the pool at the statues’ feet.

‘I knew it!’ yelled Ron, punching the air. ‘You always get away with stuff!’

‘They were bound to clear you,’ said Hermione, who had looked positively faint with anxiety when Harry had entered the kitchen and was now holding a shaking hand over her eyes, ‘there was no case against you, none at all.’

‘Everyone seems quite relieved, though, considering you all knew I'd get off,’ said Harry, smiling.

Mrs. Weasley was wiping her face on her apron, and Fred, George, and Ginny were doing a kind of war dance to a chant that went: ‘He got off, he got off, he got off—’

‘That's enough! Settle down!’ shouted Mr. Weasley, though he too was smiling. ‘Listen, Sirius, Lucius Malfoy was at the Ministry—’

‘What?’ said Sirius sharply.

‘He got off, he got off, he got off—’

‘Be quiet, you three! Yes, we saw him talking to Fudge on Level Nine, then they went up to Fudge's office together. Dumbledore ought to know.’

‘Absolutely,’ said Sirius. ‘We'll tell him, don't worry.’

‘Well, I'd better get going, there's a vomiting toilet waiting for me in Bethnal Green. Molly, I'll be late, I'm covering for Tonks, but Kingsley might be dropping in for dinner—’

‘He got off, he got off, he got off—’

‘That's enough—Fred—George—Ginny!’ said Mrs. Weasley, as Mr. Weasley left the kitchen. ‘Harry, dear, come and sit down, have some lunch, you hardly ate breakfast....’

Ron and Hermione sat themselves down opposite him, looking happier than they had done since he had first arrived at Grimmauld Place, and Harry's feeling of giddy relief, which had been somewhat dented by his encounter with Lucius Malfoy, swelled again. The gloomy house seemed warmer and more welcoming all of a sudden; even Kreacher looked less ugly as he poked his snoutlike nose into the kitchen to investigate the source of all the noise.

’ ‘Course, once Dumbledore turned up on your side, there was no way they were going to convict you,’ said Ron happily, now dishing great mounds of mashed potato on to everyone's plates.

‘Yeah, he swung it for me,’ said Harry. He felt it would sound highly ungrateful, not to mention childish, to say, ‘I wish he'd talked to me, though. Or even looked at me.’

And as he thought this, the scar on his forehead burned so badly that he clapped his hand to it..

‘What's up?’ said Hermione, looking alarmed.

‘Scar,’ Harry mumbled. ‘But it's nothing.... It happens all the time now....’

None of the others had noticed a thing; all of them were now helping themselves to food while gloating over Harry's narrow escape; Fred, George, and Ginny were still singing. Hermione looked rather anxious, but before she could say anything, Ron had said happily, ‘I bet Dumbledore turns up this evening, to celebrate with us, you know.’

‘I don't think he'll be able to, Ron,’ said Mrs. Weasley, setting a huge plate of roast chicken down in front of Harry. ‘He's really very busy at the moment.’