Jasmine waited anxiously in front of the black door, her arms weighed down by her suitcase. She could not hear any bloodcurdling shrieking from inside, which meant that Mrs Black was either still asleep, or Sirius had finally managed to undo the Permanent Sticking Charm that was keeping her on the wall. Jasmine's heart leapt at the thought of seeing Sirius again, along with Lupin, the Weasleys, Tonks...
The door suddenly opened, startling Jasmine out of her reverie. She was greeted by Hermione's welcoming smile.
"Jaz!" she exclaimed brightly, opening her arms to hug Jasmine, who obliged awkwardly; the bulky suitcase was difficult to manoeuvre. "Come in!"
Jasmine stumbled clumsily through the hallway, her case banging against the walls. She winced – would the noise be enough to wake the portraits? As if reading her mind, Hermione spoke.
"I wouldn't worry about Mrs Black, she's taken care of for now. Silencing charms."
Jasmine raised her eyebrows in surprise. "How? I thought they didn't work?"
Hermione smiled. "Well, one didn't. Try getting half the Order of the Phoenix to fire them at her simultaneously. She's been sulking for days now, opening the curtain all the time to try and irritate us."
"It's about time," Jasmine said grimly. They had come to the kitchen door. Feeling oddly apprehensive, she pushed it open. The sight that greeted her calmed her slightly; it felt familiar and cosy. Seated around the large wooden table in the centre of the kitchen were most of the Order members she knew: Tonks, Kingsley, Sirius, Mundungus, Lupin, the Weasleys...
"Jaz!" came the voices of Harry and Ron. They got up from their seats and ran towards her, both putting their arms round her and clapping her on the back. Fred and George saluted her from the table, each wearing identical wide grins.
"Excellent," Fred muttered to George.
Dinner seemed to have come to a temporary halt due to the commotion. Mrs Weasley had risen from the table and approached Jasmine, beaming warmly.
"Jasmine, dear, it's lovely to see you!" she said kindly, embracing her affectionately. "My, you just get prettier every day!"
Ron groaned loudly.
"Mum, stop embarrassing her and let her eat," he said plaintively, rolling his eyes. Mrs Weasley gave him a nasty look as she ushered Jasmine to a seat between him and Fred. As she sat down, Jasmine felt extremely uncomfortable; all eyes were still on her. She looked around the table. Several of the Order members smiled politely at her. Tonks, her hair in a short, brown bob, was grinning. Lupin gave her a small smile; Jasmine noticed that he looked extremely tired. Mundungus was snoring, his head on the table next to his plate; Mrs Weasley was eyeing him with obvious disapproval, watched in amusement by her husband. Ginny smiled at Jasmine and gave her a small wave, which she returned.
Her eyes then fell on Sirius, and she felt a small jolt in her stomach. He was smiling cheerfully at her, his dark hair falling in tousled waves to his shoulders, his grey eyes shining. She smiled back self-consciously. She had always looked up to Sirius; he was like a brother to Harry, and as one of Harry's best friends, Jasmine admired him too. Her admiration had increased significantly when she had seen Sirius risk his life to save his godson at the Ministry of Magic a few weeks earlier. It had been Dumbledore's quick thinking that had prevented him from being trapped forever behind the mysterious veil in the Department of Mysteries. She tore her eyes away to look at Hermione.
"How long have you been here?" she asked Hermione quietly.
"A week," Hermione replied. "Mum and Dad wanted me to go back home for a bit first."
"Have Harry and Ron been here since school ended?"
"Yeah. I don't think they even go back to the Burrow much these days."
Jasmine started to eat her dinner, glad that everyone had stopped staring at her and conversation had started to break out around the table.
"Oi, Jasmine," came Fred's voice from beside her. She turned to face him. He looked unhappy, his eyes closed, a pained grimace on his face. "No words of welcome?" he asked in a mournful voice.
"No unabashed proclamation of the joy you experienced in your heart upon seeing us?" George asked, in a tone that was laced with sorrow.
"No declaration of the relief you felt when you entered this humble abode, knowing that you would be spending the next few weeks in the company – "
"Enough!" Jasmine said, grinning despite herself.
"Good to have you back," George said, winking at her.
"Did you bring – " Fred began.
"Yes, I brought them," Jasmine smiled, rolling her eyes.
Fred and George's latest plan for Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes was to bewitch Muggle objects and sell them to the public to play jokes on innocent Muggles. Hermione had been shocked at the idea ("If your mother finds out!"), and Jasmine too had been a little concerned, until Harry reminded her that there were Muggles out there like Dudley Dursley, who needed their come uppance. It was this point that had made Jasmine agree to bring the twins Muggle items from her home for them to mess about with.
"Excellent," George said, giving her the thumbs up.
"Better not let Dad find them," Fred said darkly, glancing at George. "Remember what happened when he found Hermione's electric toothbrush?"
George chuckled. "Took her about an hour to get it working again."
Jasmine smiled. "Don't worry, they're in my suitcase. I'll give them to you after dinner."
Dinner passed uneventfully (with the exception of an incident involving Mundungus and a precariously placed dish of stew, which clattered to the floor and caused him to incur the wrath of Mrs Weasley) and soon Mrs Weasley was clearing the table.
"We'd better get this lot tidied up," she said, piling plates on top of each other and carrying them to the sink. "Severus will be here soon for the meeting."
"That ought to brighten up the evening," Sirius said sarcastically, pushing his plate away. Mrs Weasley gave him a reproving glance. Jasmine caught Harry's eye and they both grinned.
"Here you go, Molly, I – oops!" Tonks exclaimed, dropping the plate that she had intended to pass to Mrs Weasley.
"Just like old times, eh?" Ron grinned. Jasmine nodded. Gradually, the crowd around the table began to disperse.
"Shall we go upstairs?" Hermione suggested. Ron grunted, rising from the table. Harry and Jasmine followed suit.
"Where am I sleeping?" Jasmine asked.
"With me and Ginny," Hermione replied. They left the kitchen.
Ten minutes later, Sirius remained at the table, alone except for Remus, who sat poring over a sheet of parchment, and Mundungus, who was still snoring. Absorbed in his thoughts, he barely noticed the sounds of clinking plates and rushing water as Mrs Weasley washed up.
Jasmine and the others had just left, and once again Sirius was contemplating just how much Harry and his friends reminded him of himself, Remus, James and Peter at Hogwarts, and some of the girls they used to hang around with. At times, Hermione reminded him of Lily Potter; the way she used to chastise James for his rudeness or his nonchalance. He wasn't quite sure where Jasmine fitted into the equation. She was of a similar height to Hermione, and they both shared a rather fiery temper. Sirius had barely noticed her looks before until one day Fred described her wistfully as having "legs like a baby Unicorn", and he had had to give him a hugely hypocritical lecture on "not treating women as objects". She had fair brown hair that he thought was probably naturally curly, and eyes that seemed, startlingly, to bore right through you into your very soul and seek out everything you attempted to conceal.
"Do you need any help, Molly?" he asked Mrs Weasley politely, withdrawing from his thoughts.
"Actually, Sirius dear, if you could bring the plans through from the drawing room, that would be very helpful," she said gratefully.
"I'll help you," Remus said, pocketing the parchment he had been reading and rising from the table.
"So, what's been going on here?" Jasmine asked. She, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were sitting on the beds in the boys' room. Ron shrugged.
"Not much, really. We're still not allowed to go to the meetings, so we've been doing more cleaning." He didn't look too happy about this.
"I thought it was done?" Jasmine said, puzzled.
"Well, it was," Hermione said, sighing, "until Kreacher started putting spells on everything in sight."
"He's still here?!" Jasmine exclaimed, outraged. "After what he did?!"
"I know," Harry said dully. "Filthy little – "
"You know there's nothing we can do, Harry," Hermione sighed, putting a hand on his shoulder. "He knows too much about the Order."
"Yeah, so why can't he join his batty old ancestors on the wall?" Ron said savagely. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Why did he start putting spells on everything?" Jasmine asked.
"Well, after Sirius...left...he thought he'd better start repairing the 'damage' the Order had done to the house," Hermione said.
"But...it looks normal?" Jasmine said. "What happened?"
The corners of Hermione's mouth twitched.
"Er...well...Sirius came back, and he wasn't too...pleased with Kreacher."
Ron and Harry snorted.
"Sirius chased him all round the house hexing him," Harry said.
"It was brilliant," Ron grinned.
"He made Kreacher reverse most of the spells, but we had to do the rest," Ginny said.
"Did Sirius hurt him?"
Ron snorted. "He tried. Almost hit him with a Headless Hex. But Mum stopped him."
"Unfortunately," Harry said bitterly. Hermione shot him a reproachful glance.
"He's still living here," Ginny said, "but he's got someone watching him day and night."
"And an Anti-Disapparition Jinx on him," Hermione added. Harry opened his mouth, looking as if he was about to launch into an angry tirade about Kreacher's treachery.
"So we don't know what the Order's up to?" Jasmine asked, changing the subject quickly.
"Not really. Snape turns up practically every day," Ginny said, idly stroking Crookshanks.
"Unfortunately," Harry and Ron said simultaneously.
"Bet Sirius loves that," Jasmine smirked.
"I think Mum had a word with him. Told him that it was partly 'cause of Snape that he's still here. Doesn't stop him looking like he wants to rip off his greasy head every time he sees him, though," Ron said.
The door opened, and Fred and George entered.
"Hello, children," George said, sitting down next to Ron.
"Why hello, Jasmine. May I say that you are looking absolutely lovely today," Fred said pointedly.
"I suppose you want – " Jasmine began.
"Yes please," Fred grinned. Jasmine rolled her eyes and started to rummage through her suitcase, eventually pulling out a large plastic bag which she handed to Fred, who gazed wide-eyed at it as if it were a sack of galleons.
"Well let's see, then," George said, opening the bag and pulling out an iron. The Weasleys gazed at it in wonder.
"What is it?" Fred whispered. Harry and Hermione chuckled.
"It's an iron," Hermione informed them.
"What does it do?" George asked, still gazing at the object in awe.
"You iron stuff with it," Harry said unhelpfully.
"It heats up, then you run it over clothes to get rid of the creases," Jasmine explained.
"Excellent," Fred said. "This will be extremely useful." He put it back in the bag and pulled out another object – a hairdryer.
"I've seen one of those!" Ron said excitedly. "You put bolts and stuff in with them!" Hermione, Harry and Jasmine stared at him.
"Er...Ron, mate," Harry said, "that's a hairdryer."
Everyone laughed except Ron, who had gone rather pink.
"Oh, okay then," he said sullenly. "Well, I bet I can guess the next one!"
"Okay," Jasmine said, pulling out a cheese cutter. All eyes were on Ron, who looked as if he had no idea.
"Er..." he said, staring at the object, "Something for putting paint on walls?" he ventured. "It's a cheese slicer," Jasmine said. Fred and George sniggered.
The evening passed by without incident, until the conversation in the boys' bedroom was interrupted by Fred and George, who had returned from their mission to discover the content of the meeting in progress.
"They're talking about Umbridge!" Fred exclaimed, bursting into the room with George. Jasmine raised her eyebrows in interest.
"Talking about what they're going to do with her!" George said.
"Set her up in a nice little cottage in the Forbidden Forest?" Jasmine said sarcastically.
"Kill her?" Ron suggested.
"Make her write lines in her own blood?" Harry proposed. "Ten thousand times: I – am – a – vile – old – bat."
Everyone laughed, including Hermione, who usually did not approve of ridiculing the Hogwarts' Professors.
"Why can't they just send her back where she came from?" Hermione asked George.
"Hell," Jasmine muttered.
"She's too much of a liability, apparently," Fred said. "She'd probably go over to You-Know-Who if she had the chance."
"Well, I know she's not exactly nice," Hermione said fairly, "but I doubt she'd join him."
"Wouldn't put it past her," Harry muttered.
"Yes, but remember what Sirius said?" Hermione reminded him. "'The world isn't split up into good people and Death Eaters'".
Harry shrugged.
"They said something about Memory Charms," George said. "But I think it's illegal to do that to someone without approval from the Ministry of Magic."
"How did you hear all this, anyway?" Jasmine asked. "I thought the Extendable Ears didn't work anymore?"
Fred gave her a sly grin.
"Well, when Kreacher went rampaging about hexing everything in sight, he broke down the door. Moody put a new one up, but no one thought to put an Imperturbable Charm on that." He held up the long, fleshy string in his right hand. "So it's back to the old Extendables for us."
"We've made more," George said brightly. "You can come and listen if you want, Jaz."
Intrigued, Jasmine obliged, followed by the others. They tiptoed down the stairs, past the old elf heads ("Hasn't anyone been able to get rid of them yet?") and into the hallway. There was a vague rumble of voices from the kitchen as Fred and George, followed by Jasmine, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Harry, crouched down by the door, fiddling with the Extendable Ears.
"There you go," George whispered, passing one to Jasmine. She inserted one end into her own ear, and passed the other under the door. Instantly, the voices on the other side became crystal clear.
"I cannot be sure of this, Minerva," came Snape's voice. "I don't believe the Dark Lord knows very much regarding Dolores, and – "
"So let's just stick her in a high security mental ward at St Mungo's and be done with it," Sirius interrupted.
"You know perfectly well we cannot do that!" Minerva McGonagall silenced him angrily. "The fact remains that we have a potentially dangerous woman on our hands and we have no resources to deal with her!"
"Minerva, I personally am doubtful that Dolores would make herself known to the Dark Lord unless she had something to offer him," Snape said silkily. "She has no exceptional powers or knowledge that would be of use to He-Who- Must-Not-Be-Named."
There was a brief silence.
"If I may add something, Minerva?" Lupin said quietly. "Dolores is still in a state of shock; it is highly unlikely that she would return to the Ministry now."
"And even if she does," came Kingsley's deep voice, "there is no chance of her keeping her job."
"Why not?" Tonks asked.
"She attacked two Hogwarts' professors," Lupin explained.
"And tried to put the Cruciatus Curse on Harry!" Sirius exclaimed vehemently.
"Dumbledore threatened to press charges," Arthur Weasley said.
"Not to mention those bloody decrees and the trouble they caused," Moody added gruffly.
"The way I see it, Minerva," Sirius said timidly, as if trying to redeem himself, "is that there isn't much we can do until we see if she's going to make a full recovery."
"'E's got a point, y'know," Mundungus grunted sleepily.
"I agree that there's not much we can do at present," McGonagall said, "but we need to come up with something by the time she recovers."
"Of course," Mrs Weasley said, "but Sirius is right. There's nothing we can do now."
"Right," McGonagall sighed. "Well, I believe that is all for tonight, then," she said briskly.
"Are you staying for a cup of tea, Minerva?" Mrs Weasley asked.
"No thank you, Molly, I have to get back."
There was the sound of chairs scraping against the floor, and footsteps against the cold stone as the Order rose and prepared to leave.
"Quick! They're going to come out!" Fred hissed, yanking the Extendable Ear out from under the door and jumping to his feet. The others followed suit, and they scrambled down the hallway and up the stairs just in time; McGonagall opened the kitchen door and strode out into the hallway, followed by Snape, Mrs Weasley and Kingsley. Jasmine crouched on the landing besides Harry, peering down at the hallway.
"Dear old Dolores," Harry said sardonically. "Even when she isn't here she manages to make a mess of things."
"I think they should have taken Sirius' advice," Jasmine said. "Shove her in a mental ward."
"Or a cell in Azkaban," Ron said resentfully, joining them.
"Old hag," said George absent-mindedly. "Come on, before Mum finds out we're not all tucked up in bed."
They departed to their rooms, still discussing the meeting.
"I don't see why they think there's a risk of her joining You-Know-Who," Hermione said to Jasmine and Ginny as they climbed the stairs to their room.
"Call him Voldemort, will you?" Jasmine said. Ginny flinched.
"You sound like Harry," she said.
"Well, I just think it's stupid. Saying Voldemort – stop it, Ginny! – shouldn't make people so afraid," Jasmine said. "I mean, come on! Harry's been closer to him than anyone, and he has no problem with it!"
"I know, but it's a habit when you're around people who drop things every time you say his name," Hermione said.
"Like Tonks," Ginny giggled. "She was holding a plate of stew for Mum, and Sirius said it, and the stew went everywhere..."
They had entered the bedroom, a dim room with a single small window and yellowing cream wallpaper. Several portraits of menacing-looking witches and wizards adorned the walls; most of them were sleeping soundlessly in their frames. Three small beds were placed against the walls, and a few candles were burning in mid-air around the room. Jasmine yawned and proceeded to fumble through her suitcase in search for her pyjamas.
"You know, I actually quite like it here," Hermione said brightly, placing her clothes neatly by the side of her bed.
"S'alright," Ginny shrugged, "prefer it at home though."
Jasmine climbed into bed, switching off her mobile phone and placing it on the table beside her.
"Wow!" Ginny gasped. "Is that one of those phone things that Muggles carry around to talk to each other?"
"Yeah," Jasmine said, passing it to her. "Mobile phone."
"How come you don't have one?" Ginny asked Hermione, without taking her eyes off the contraption in her hand.
"My parents won't let me. Anyway, I don't really have anyone to call." She turned to Jasmine. "You have quite a lot of Muggle friends, don't you?"
Jasmine shrugged. "A few." She rolled her eyes. "Don't ever try and explain Transfiguration to a Muggle."
"God, I know," Hermione sighed, "I tried to explain about some of my lessons to my parents. It took me half the day. And that was just Potions!"