| So Voldemort was looking for a celebrated wandmaker and Harry did not have to search far for a reasonIt was surely because of what Harry' wand had done on the night that Voldemort pursued him across the skiesThe holly and phoenix feather wand had conquered the borrowed wand, some thing that Ollivander had not anticipated or understoodWould Gregorowitch know better? Was he truly more skilled than Ollivander, did he know secrets of wands that Ollivander did not?
"This girl is very nice-looking," Krum said, recalling Harry to his surroundingsKrum was pointing at Ginny, who had just joined Luna"She is also a relative of yours?"
"Yeah," said Harry, suddenly irritated, "and she's seeing someoneYou wouldn't want to cross him
"Vot," he said, draining his goblet and getting to his feet again, "is the point of being an international Quidditch player if all the good-looking girls are taken?"
And he strode off leaving Harry to take a sandwich from a passing waiter and make his way around the edge of the crowded dance floorHe wanted to find Ron, to tell him about Gregorovitch, but he was dancing with Hermione out in the middle of the floorHarry leaned up against one of the golden pillars and watched Ginny, who was now dancing with Fred and George's friend Lee Jordan, trying not to feel resentful about the promise he had given Ron
He had never been to a wedding before, so he chanel jewelry necklace could not judge how Wizarding celebrations differed from Muggle ones, though he was pretty sure that the latter would not involve a wedding cake topped with two model phoenixes that took flight when the cake was cut, or bottles of champagne that floated unsupported through the crowdAs the evening drew in, and moths began to swoop under the canopy, now lit with floating golden lanterns, the revelry became more and more uncontainedFred and George had long since disappeared into the darkness with a pair of Fleur's cousins; Charlie, Hagrid, and a squat wizard in a purple porkpie hat were singing "Odo the Hero" in the corner
Wandering through the crowd so as to escape a drunken uncle of Ron's who seemed unsure whether or not Harry was his son, Harry spotted an old wizard sitting alone at a tableHis cloud of white hair made him look rather like an aged dandelion clock and was topped by a moth-eaten fezHe was vaguely familiar: Racking his brains, Harry suddenly realized that this was Elphias Doge, member of the Order of the Phoenix and the writer of Dumbledore's obituary
Harry approached him
"May I sit down?"
"Of course, of course," said Doge; he had a rather high-pitched, wheezy voiceDoge, I'm Harry Potter
"My dear boy! Arthur told me you were here, disguised\a133I am so glad, so honored!"
In a flutter of nervous pleasure Doge poured Harry a goblet of champagne
"I thought of chanel cambon bag writing to you," he whispered, "after Dumbledore\a133 the shock\a133 and for you, I am sure\a133"
Doge's tiny eyes filled with sudden tears
"I saw the obituary you wrote for the \iDaily Prophet\i," said Harry"I didn't realize you knew Professor Dumbledore so well
"As well as anyone," said Doge, dabbing his eyes with a napkin"Certainly I knew him longest, if you don't count Aberforth - and somehow, people never \ido\i seem to count Aberforth
"Speaking of the \iDaily Prophet\i\a133 I don't know whether you saw, MrDoge -?"
"Oh, please call me Elphias, dear boy
"Elphias, I don't know whether you saw the interview Rita Skeeter gave about Dumbledore?"
Doge's face flooded with angry color
"Oh yes, Harry, I saw itThat woman, or vulture might be a more accurate term, positively pestered me to talk to her, I am ashamed to say that I became rather rude, called her an interfering trout, which resulted, as you my have seen, in aspersions cast upon my sanity
"Well, in that interview," Harry went on, "Rita Skeeter hinted that Professor Dumbledore was involved in the Dark Arts when he was young
"Don't believe a word of it!" said Doge at once"Not a word, Harry! Let nothing tarnish your memories of Albus Dumbledore!"
Harry looked into Doge's earnest, pained face, and felt, not reassured, but frustratedDid Doge really think it was that easy, that Harry could simply \ichoose\i jumbo chanel flap bag not to believe? Didn't Doge understand Harry's need to be sure, to know \ieverything\i?"
Perhaps Doge suspected Harry's feelings, for he looked concerned and hurried on, "Harry, Rita Skeeter is a dreadful -"
But he was interrupted by a shrill cackle
"Rita Skeeter? Oh, I love her, always read her!"
Harry and Doge looked up to see Auntie Muriel standing there, the plumes dancing on her hair, a goblet of champagne in her hand"She's written a book about Dumbledore, you know!"
"Hello, Muriel," said Doge, "Yes, we were just discussing -"
"You there! Give me your chair, I'm a hundred and seven!"
Another redheaded Weasley cousin jumped off his seat, looking alarmed, and Auntie Muriel swung it around with surprising strength and plopped herself down upon it between Doge and Harry
"Hello again, Barry or whatever your name is," she said to Harry, "Now what were you saying about Rita Skeeter, Elphias? You know, she's written a biography of Dumbledore? I can't wait to read itI must remember to place an order at Flourish and Blotts!"
Doge looked stiff and solemn at this but Auntie Muriel drained her goblet and clicked her bony fingers at a passing waiter for a replacementShe took another large gulp of champagne, belched and then said, "There's no need to look like a pair of stuffed frogs! Before he became so respected and respectable and all that tosh, there were some mighty tiffany knockoff funny rumors about Albus!"
"Ill-informed sniping," said Doge, turning radish-colored again
"You would say that, Elphias," cackled Auntie Muriel"I noticed how you skated over the sticky patches in that obituary of yours!"
"I'm sorry you think so," said Doge, more coldly still"I assure you I was writing from the heart
"Oh, we all know you worshipped Dumbledore; I daresay you'll still think he was a saint even if it does turn out that he did away with his Squib sister!"
"\iMuriel!\i" exclaimed Doge
A chill that had nothing to do with the iced champagne was stealing through Harry's chest
"What do you mean?" he asked Muriel"Who said his sister was a Squib? I thought she was ill?"
"Thought wrong, then, didn't you, Barry!" said Auntie Muriel, looking delighted at the effect she had produced"Anyway, how could you expect to know anything about it! IT all happened years and years before you were even thought of, my dear, and the truth is that those of us who were alive then never knew what really happenedThat's why I can't wait to find out what Skeeter's unearthed! Dumbledore kept that sister of his quiet for a long time!"
"Untrue!" wheezed Doge, "Absolutely untrue!"
"He never told me his sister as a Squib," said Harry, without thinking, still cold inside
"And why on earth would he tell you?" screeched Muriel, swaying a little in her seat as she attempted to focus upon tiffany heart tag necklace Harry |
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