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‘I do worry,’ said Arthur, several glasses into the solemn bottle of whiskey they were sharing, drinking to Sirius’s memory, ‘about sending him back there.’
‘To Surrey?’ growled Moody.
‘Yes. Molly’s quite concerned too.’
‘I think we all are,’ said Remus hoarsely, who had barely spoken all evening. ‘Can’t he-?’
‘Molly asked if he could come straight to us, but Dumbledore said no. I think there are certain protections on him there that we can’t offer.’
‘Even the strongest magical protections can fail,’ said Remus bluntly. His voice was slurring slightly - he was several glasses in too, Arthur realised, for he was not even trying to hid the fact that Tonks was absently rubbing his back and onto the nape of his neck. ‘And more than that, we all saw him, last summer, didn’t we? Saw what it was like.’
Moody grunted in agreement. ‘I didn’t get the impression they treat him right. Wasn’t bothered about not saying goodbye, was he?’
‘I knew he wouldn’t be,’ said Remus bitterly. ‘Leapt at the chance of living with Sirius, he’d known him all of two hours.’
‘I’ve had concerns for years,’ said Arthur heavily. ‘Molly and I both have. My boys were so worried about him they snuck out in the dead of night and rescued him one year, and he ran away the year after that. And then,’ he added darkly, ‘when I went to collect him the summer after that, for the Quidditch World Cup, you know, the way they treated him even in front of me… barely looked at him, didn’t wish him goodbye… barely disguised contempt.’ He took another sip of the whiskey, and continued. ‘Course, there was a bit of bother - Fred and George’s work, you know, but the man - Vernon Dursley - such a temper on him. He flew into such a fit of rage, shouting, swearing, throwing things around. Harry just laughed and made a quick escape when I told him to, but it took some time to calm him down, even once Harry was gone. And then do you know what he shouted at me?’
They all looked at him, Remus’s eyes fixed upon him in a dull kind of dread.
‘Don’t bother bringing the wretch back,’ Arthur echoed coldly. ‘That’s what he said. Don’t bring the wretch back, ruddy keep him for all I care.’
There was a brief, angry silence. ‘I’m glad you never told Sirius that,’ said Remus hollowly, seizing his glass again. ‘He’d have gone round there to commit some of the murders he was imprisoned for.’
‘It’s not right,’ said Tonks. ‘To treat a kid like that.’
‘Not right to send him back, but Dumbledore knows best,’ said Moody gruffly.
‘We could at least have a word though,’ said Arthur, spurned on by the drink and the bitter unfairness of it all. ‘Quite honestly, Molly and I have tried to be polite to that family, tried to be friendly, they’ve consistently let us down - let him down. Never replied to any of Molly’s letters over the past year when she was worried, sent Ron into a spin a few years ago when he tried to call and got shouted down the fellytone at - we could barely calm him down for worrying about what the consequences would be for Harry. No, I’m sorry,’ he said loudly, as though any of them were arguing with him, ‘the time has passed for giving them the benefit of the doubt and trying to pretend that we think they care about him.’
‘Well, let’s then,’ said Tonks. ‘Let’s have a word with them. We’ll all come to meet the train - corner them in King’s Cross.’
Remus raised his eyebrows, and for a moment Arthur thought he would sigh heavily and tell them that they shouldn’t, but he simply said, in a very pleasant voice, ‘yes, I think that’s probably the right thing to do. We don’t need much… I think we can just remind them that we’re keeping an eye on him.’
‘Too bloody right,’ growled Moody.
‘Then it’s agreed,’ said Arthur, satisfied. ‘A nice little crowd of us ought to do the trick, I think. No need for anything illegal. Like you said, Remus, we’re just letting them know we’re keeping an eye on things.’