A short while later, a scream came from upstairs.
Ginny came racing down, still holding a tightly wrapped, broom-shaped object.
Ron stared in disbelief. "You bought her a broomstick?"
"Percy, can I open it?" Ginny asked eagerly.
Percy, of course, didn't mind.
Never underestimate how fast a girl can open a package. In just a few seconds, the paper wrapping the broom was torn to shreds and sent flying everywhere.
Inside was a brand-new Nimbus Two Thousand, still carrying the faint scent of maintenance oil.
Ron's eyes widened.
Percy was that rich?
Even though it wasn't the latest Nimbus Two Thousand and One, it was still far from cheap.
Ginny was overjoyed. Now she wouldn't have to worry about Slytherin's trident tactic anymore.
Harry was happy for her as well.
Percy's return had been at Arthur's invitation.
Arthur had knocked on the door of his office and invited his son to come home for the holidays.
George and Fred pulled faces at Percy.
Charlie went up to hug his brother, and Percy took a seat beside Fleur.
Sirius and Lupin sat down as well, their gazes sweeping over the Constellation Society badges the two of them were wearing.
There seemed to be a faintly awkward atmosphere.
Mrs. Weasley helped Mr. Weasley take off his coat.
Mr. Weasley said, "The department was busy again today, George, Fred."
He singled out the twins and added, "Don't forget the review for your anti-jinx hats."
After Percy sat down, Mrs. Weasley served him a portion of pasta.
"Try this. Your mother made it very well," Fleur said as she pushed the gravy toward Percy.
Ron, who had been about to help himself to a ladle, looked deeply aggrieved.
"I thought you'd go back to France," Percy said in surprise.
Fleur glanced at Bill, and Percy understood.
With two people from the Ministry of Magic at the table, it was inevitable that the conversation would turn to Ministry affairs.
Percy's position was one of the most important in foreign relations, and he was very familiar with overseas matters.
Mr. Weasley finished the last bite of gravy, used a piece of bread to scrape the sauce from his plate, and put it into his mouth.
"The werewolf community is being rebuilt," Mr. Weasley said. "Most of their buildings are practically relics from the last century."
"Silverhand Style Construction will handle the expansion," Percy said, glancing at Mr. Weasley. "The Ministry of Magic barely needs to pay anything."
"Yes, Silverhand Style Construction," Mr. Weasley said displeased. "Silverhand has practically infiltrated the entire wizarding world."
"That's not infiltration.." Percy cut him off. "At the very least, what they're doing genuinely benefits magical society."
The scraping of knives and forks against plates grew much quieter.
Charlie glanced at his younger brother, then at his father.
Mrs. Weasley tugged at her husband's sleeve in a pleading gesture, and Mr. Weasley took a deep breath.
The two of them had nearly gotten into an argument over the course of a single meal.
Neither of them spoke further.
Fleur could also tell that the relationship between father and son was tense, their positions clearly opposed.
Naturally, she stood on Percy's side, which only made things harder for Bill.
After the meal, they sat down on the sofas.
The children went off to open their presents.
Ron checked again and again, only to confirm that he really hadn't received any presents from his dear older brothers.
He complained to Harry, "I can't believe it. Not a single one of them gave me a present. Ginny even got a Nimbus Two Thousand."
George and Fred had also given Mrs. Weasley a very nice hat.
That left Mrs. Weasley torn over which hat to wear.
Charlie received a bag of Galleons delivered by an owl. When he opened it, there were a full five hundred Galleons inside.
He was astonished at who could have sent it.
Looking at the note attached, it said the donation was for dragon keepers injured during the Romanian dragon escape incident.
Ron was deeply envious, feeling that becoming a dragon keeper might be worth considering.
Unfortunately, he hadn't chosen Care of Magical Creatures.
Ron's gifts still included the knitted jumper Mrs. Weasley had made, and Harry had one as well.
Fleur, however, didn't receive one. It seemed that would have been too much of a drain on Mrs. Weasley's time.
Sirius was complaining to Lupin about how irritating that house-elf, Kreacher, was.
"Percy, could we talk?" Lupin asked after brushing Sirius off with a few perfunctory responses.
Percy glanced at Mr. Weasley, then nodded. "All right."
They stepped outside and into the garden of the Burrow.
The garden was filled with trees coiling along the base of the walls, tangled weeds and overgrown grass, a large pond, and swarms of garden gnomes.
One gnome scurried past Percy's feet and was kicked aside by him.
"Don't blame your father, Percy," Lupin said. "He only wants to protect his family."
"John would never harm us. You should be clear about that as well," Percy said flatly, casting Lupin a sidelong glance. "As a werewolf, you of all people should understand what kind of person John really is."
Lupin let out a bitter smile. "Yes. I've only just realized that, as a werewolf, I shouldn't have reacted like that."
He looked up at Percy. This was a student he had once taught, and he knew just how outstanding Percy was.
"The more I understand, the more I see why you're willing to follow him so wholeheartedly," Lupin said with a sigh. "I can't deny his charisma."
"So I want to know—what is his true ambition?"
Lupin couldn't help but ask.
The people of the Constellation Society were the ones who understood John best.
That made this answer important to him.
"Ambition?" Percy thought for a moment, then said calmly, "Does it really matter?"
Hearing that reply, Lupin froze slightly.
Percy continued, "He's a good friend, a good person, and someone worth following. Isn't that enough?"
Lupin fell silent. Clearly, this wasn't the answer he had been hoping for.
Percy glanced back at the Burrow, which looked like an illegal construction, and said calmly, "Dumbledore and John aren't that different. The only difference is that John only ever wants to be good to his own people."
Compared to Dumbledore, John was more human. He had personal bias, and any benefits would always go to his own circle first.
Unlike Dumbledore, who was selfless to the point of being impartial.
So selfless that he felt almost like a god.
After saying this, Percy turned to leave. He had come back simply to spend Christmas, not to be interrogated one after another.
Lupin couldn't keep him, and Fleur was preparing to leave as well.
Bill asked in confusion, "Where are you going?"
Fleur rolled her eyes at him. "Your mother doesn't welcome me. Of course I'm going somewhere else for the holidays."
She said it bluntly. Her pride didn't allow her to put on a false front.
Bill was about to explain when he saw Percy leave the Burrow as well.
Both members of the Constellation Society had left.
Ginny ran downstairs, the Nimbus Two Thousand never leaving her hands.
Harry and Ron came downstairs, Harry carrying a bundle of old clothes.
He had stayed at the Burrow for a while before, and these old clothes were leftovers from that time.
As he stepped over one of the stairs, his footing slipped and he nearly fell.
The clothes tumbled down, and a small bottle filled with black powder rolled out of a pocket.
The bottle rolled to Ginny's feet. She picked it up, puzzled. "What's this?"
Harry gathered the clothes and froze when he saw it as well.
Lupin came back in, saw the bottle, and said, "It looks like some kind of magical substance."
"I don't remember anything like that at school," Ron muttered.
While they were discussing it, Harry placed the clothes on the sofa, planning to take them to Grimmauld Place that evening.
He walked over, took the bottle, and said, "This is called stardust. It's a magical item used to detect whether someone is spying."
"Oh." Hearing what it was for, Ron immediately lost interest.
The sky gradually darkened, and time passed quickly.
By dinnertime, those who had gone out returned.
This time, Fleur didn't come back, and Mrs. Weasley's mood was noticeably better.
She hummed A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love as she stirred the thick soup in the pot.
Ginny was very curious about the contents of the bottle and asked, "How do you use it?"
Harry picked up the bottle, the method John had shown him when he gave it flashing through his mind.
He opened the bottle and poured out a fingernail-sized amount of stardust.
Then he scattered it into the air around them.
He had expected the stardust to fall to the ground, but instead, he saw it drifting toward the window.
The swirling stardust was as conspicuous as stars in the night sky.
Ron leaned closer and asked in confusion, "Where's it going?"
"I don't know," Harry said, equally puzzled.
He suspected the thing had been stored for too long and had stopped working properly.
The three of them stood by the window, following the drifting trail with their eyes.
Under their gaze, the stardust floated into the garden outside the Burrow and clung to something behind a tall patch of wild grass.
The sight caught Harry's attention, his eyes fixed on that clump of weeds.
Suddenly, the wild grass shifted.
Harry saw it. A wand was pushing aside the wild grass.
"There's someone there—" Harry had just begun to speak.
Then he saw the wand fire a spell straight toward the Burrow.
The Weasley family clock jerked violently, all its hands snapping to Mortal Peril.
Boom! An explosion rang out.
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