Chapter 16: Dinner and the Rat
Chapter 16 –
The Burrow was located on the outskirts of Ottery St Catchpole, a small village located in Devon, England. It was so well hidden that the Weasley's doubted that the postman even knew it existed. Nestled amongst rolling hills and fertile meadows, other wizarding families in the area included the Diggorys, the Lovegoods, and the Fawcetts. The building itself might once have been an old stone pigpen, which had several crooked stories attached to it. Four or five chimneys dotted the roof of the house, and the entire building was most likely held up by magic due to its crazy construction.
It was Christmas eve, and the family of redheads that lived inside the Burrow was expecting guests for dinner.
Arthur Weasley, a stout balding man, was seated by the fireplace, watching as his twin boys fumbled with the decorations of the Christmas tree. His wife, Molly Weasley was bustling about in the kitchen, frantically completing the final preparations of the delicious Turkey, Yorkshire pudding, and treacle tart, that she wanted to serve to her guests. He was also keeping a keen eye on his daughter who was reading one of her favorites 'Harry Potter, storybooks'. His eldest son, Bill was going through a list of job applications that he wanted to pursue after finishing his final year at Hogwarts. Charlie Weasley, his second eldest was pacing by the fireplace waiting for the guests to arrive, Arthur knew that in actuality he was anxious to be able to spend time with his girlfriend, the daughter of the wizarding family that was about to arrive.
Just as he was about to ask Charlie to calm down, he heard a voice coming from the fireplace.
"Arthur! It is me Ted, are the wards open for us to come in?" He heard his old friend, Ted ask him.
Quickly heading to the floo, absently noting that his wife had doubled down on her efforts in the kitchen, he replied "Yes, Ted. I've just opened them to allow you entrance."
"Alright, we're coming through," Ted informed him.
Stepping back, as the flames turned green, Arthur watched as a young boy, probably a year younger than Percy, stepped through the first, stumbling a little, followed by an old woman, who reminded Arthur of the transfiguration professor from Hogwarts, accompanying them were his old friends from during the war, Ted and Andromeda Tonks, alongside their young daughter, Nymphadora, if he remembered correctly.
Ted decided to introduce the two new guests "Nathan, Mrs Shephard, this is Arthur Weasley, and his wife Molly, and their seven children." Indicating to him, and stepping forward to shake his hand. "And Arthur, Molly this is Nathan Frye and his adoptive mother, Jolene Shephard."
"It is great to finally meet you, Mr. Weasley, Charlie, and Bill told me a lot about you and your family. Merry Christmas sir, and thank you for inviting us to the Christmas Dinner." The young man, stepped forward to greet him.
"Oh, it was our pleasure, young man. Charlie was ecstatic to have invited you, and it gave me a great opportunity to finally talk shop with a muggle as well!" He enthused. "Would you be kind as to tell me, what exactly is the function of the Rubber Duck?"
oOOOOOOOOOOOOOo
Nathan Frye, was seated at the dining table, his mind distracted over the eye-opening talk he had with Ted Tonks. He had assumed that starting a business in the wizarding world would be easy. But it was far from it. If it had been, then the muggle-born and half-blood demographic of the community would have already taken over their economy, due to their majority in demography. But that was not the case. The wizarding world had set up proprietary laws, synonymous with those in Dictatorships, where a non-citizen of the country was unable to own more than forty-nine percent of the business, disregarding the capital they put forth. They would need a license and registration for the business to be considered legal, and the wizengamot gave those only to businesses owned in majority by pure-bloods.
Nathan did have other ideas for securing the money required for going about and getting a powerful pureblood to back him, in the wizengamot. Problem was, that person was currently, wrongly incarcerated in a magical prison. Fortunately, Nathan was in just the right position to grant him his freedom.
" – so, you're saying that it is used a device to calm the mind while taking a bath? Fascinating." He heard Mr. Weasley say. They were seated around the magically enlarged dining table.
"Uhmm, kind of? It isn't necessary, for calming the mind per say, but it helps." His mum, was trying to explain.
"You hear that Fred!"
"Yes George, this means that, we are"
"Going to have to get Percy some of these"
"Rubber ducks! His mind needs a little bit of"
"Calming as is!" Fred and George, were planning. They had attempted to hand Nathan a pair of berty botts every flavor beans, that they knew were all disgusting flavors, when he'd arrived, but Nathan had politely refused, knowing their pranking tendency and due to his genuine dislike of the candy.
Nathan spotted Scabbers, who was beside the table on the ground, he too had a plate filled with toast and slices of ham in front of him. Apparently, they'd been feeding him food by the table ever since he'd been found by Percy, all those years ago.
"Hey, Percy. That's your rat over there isn't he?" Nathan asked.
"Hmm, oh yes, but I've given him to Ron now that I am about to finish second year, I would not have the time to take care of him, I will have a lot of studying to do, if I want to prefect by my fifth year. Why do you have a problem with rats? Shall I have him locked in his jar?" He asked, after bragging, puffing his chest, and putting on airs.
"Oh, no. I have no problem with pet Rats, but if you could, please lock him up, I am a little nauseous about having one by the dining table." He tried to explain.
As soon as Percy got up to lock up the rat, Nathan asked "How long have you had him again?"
"That will be almost seven years now, why?" Percy asked, confused about the sudden change in topic.
"Oh, that's a remarkably long-lived rat then, most die when by the end of three years." Nathan complimented, feigning nonchalance.
By now, the entire dining table was listening to the conversation.
"That is a little strange Arthur, do you think he's magical?" Molly asked in wonder.
"It could be dear, I will have to take him to Magical Menageries tomorrow and get him tested for its species. It has been living with us for some time, so it is not a problem." Arthur shrugged.
By now, the rat in Percy's hand was struggling, and Nathan was frantically thinking of things to expose his true nature.
"May I see him, Percy?" Nathan asked, getting up from the table and heading towards the older boy.
"Didn't you say, that you were nauseous because of him?" Percy asked, suspiciously.
Nathan internally panicked, "Uhhh, yeah I am, but I thought I could recognize the breed of rat it is by its color, I've read about them at the library."
"It's true, Nathan has read a lot about biology and animal taxonomy from the library. He'll probably be able to recognize him." Jolene tried to support Nathan, curious about the abnormally long-lived rat.
"Mum, what's biology?" Little Ginny asked.
"It's a muggle thing, dear. Probably about animals." Molly tried to explain, in truth she had no idea either.
"If that's the case...." Percy said, eventually, "I guess, you can take a look." Still a little hesitant.
Nathan inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Taking the rat from Percy's hand, Nathan firmly grasped the rat, who tried to struggle in his clasp.
"Careful! Loosen up a little!" Percy requested.
Nathan nodded but didn't loosen up his hold on the rat, and he started walking around to the living room, so that he could examine him in a better light, and think about how he'd proceed from there.
That's when suddenly, Ron decided to get up from his seat, to reach over to grab the turkey leg on the other side of the table, in the process knocking over his own chair. He had already started eating the meal as soon as everyone has sat down. The chair, just so happened to be in the path Nathan, was walking on, which caused him to trip, while the rat simultaneously bit his hand.
Due to the pain of the bite, and the sudden accident he'd suffered, Nathan inadvertently flung the rat, right into the fireplace, in the room. Setting the rat on fire.
For a moment, there was silence as everyone stared at either Nathan or the fireplace, but then there was a man on fire in the fireplace, and Ginny screamed.
A short balding man, whose pants were on fire, emerged from the fireplace and ran through the kitchen, tumbling through the people that had gotten up to help the fallen Nathan, while also flinging away some kitchen utensils, and supplies, in search of water trying to put out the fire that'd caught on his robes, and stopped in front of the kitchen sink. As soon as he was halfway through climbing the sink, to use the tap water, a red bolt of light, followed by a small stream of water hit him and the man crumpled like a pile of rocks.
"Well, looks like the rat was indeed Magical." Bill quipped, having been the one to stun the man, and put out the fire.
By now, almost everyone in the home had abandoned the dining table, Ron had elected to take a turkey leg with him, while he tried to get a good view of the drama unfolding in his house. Mrs. Weasley was panicking and was thinking of somehow herding the kids up the stairs, into a room alongside her and Jolene.
Arthur and Bill were preparing to search the unconscious body to get an idea of his identity, while Ted and Andromeda, were making a floo call to the DMLE, office.
"I know who that is! That is Peter Pettigrew, but he should be dead! Sirius Black killed him!" Arthur cried, upon identifying the man.
"Dad, look at his arm!" Bill said in a grim voice, pointing out the skull tattoo that was visible on his right arm.
Upon inspecting the arm, Arthur sucked in a breath, and Ted, who'd successfully made the call to Madame Amelia Bones, in the DMLE office, returned by his side and gasped.
"Impossible, that truly is Peter Pettigrew, as I live and breathe!" Ted spoke, "And he was your rat!"
oOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo
It took fifteen minutes, under the combined effort of Arthur, Charlie, Bill and Ted, to completely search the stunned and tied body, of the supposedly dead, Order of Merlin Awardee, Peter Pettigrew. He had been presumed murdered by Sirius Black, on the night Voldemort's reign of terror ended. Upon searching his body, they'd found two wands on his person, one greyish black, made of chestnut wood, and the other ashen white, made of yew and bone.
Jolene, Molly, Fred, George, Ginny, and Ron had been sent upstairs into the rooms, to avoid the hubbub and provide a safer place for a non-magical, away from the possibly dangerous man inside the home. Nathan too was asked to go upstairs, but he'd elected to stay, to ascertain the way the events unfold with this unveiling and make sure, nothing further goes wrong in arranging the repatriation of Sirius Black.
The fire roared green again, and a woman with a square jaw, close-cropped grey hair and a monocle on her left eye, followed by Aurors dressed in red Auror robes, among whom Nathan could identify, the tall, dark and bald Kingsley Shacklebolt arrived.
And after her, in a flourish of fire, and a Phoenix's cry outside in the garden, Albus Dumbledore showed up, for Arthur Weasley had thought it prudent to invite him as well. He justified it, as Peter Pettigrew was a member of the Order of the Pheonix, and he believed Albus Dumbledore could help clarify the matters, to most people present.
"What is the matter, Edward? Why did you call me in such a hurry, I don't usually do house calls you know?" Amelia Bones demanded after Dumbledore had been allowed entry inside the residence.
"Oh, Amelia we all were gathered here, for Christmas dinner, when Nathan over there pointed out that the Weasley family rat, of all things, was a little too old for a rat. And when he tried to inspect it, he accidentally tripped over a chair, flinging the rat –"
"Did you seriously call me here, to discuss a rat, Edward?"
"Let me finish, so he flung the rat into the fireplace, but the rat wasn't a rat, it was an animagus. And you won't believe this, Peter Pettigrew, is alive and has been hiding as a rat, at the Weasleys for over seven years!" He finished under one breath.
After that tirade, Amelia Bones' reaction seemed apt and described the thoughts going through everyone's mind.
"What?"
*****
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I Would appreciate constructive criticism for improving my writing. Thank You for all the comments telling me where I can make this better in the previous chapters, they helped alot.
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