I had kinda hoped—in a selfish manner—that Harry's hearing would add some excitement to the summer. It didn't. It came, and the only thing I felt was anxiety. Everyone felt it. As soon as Harry and Mr. Weasley had left for the hearing, taking Tonks and Lupin them, Sirius went upstairs with a yawn. I felt as though he and Mrs. Weasley were still on less-than-pleasant terms since the whole debacle in the kitchen the night Harry had arrived. Then, Mrs. Weasley had broken down in tears. I was left with the task of trying to cheer Mrs. Weasley up. I'm not good at this emotional-stuff, and I can't make jokes left and right like Fred and George do to cheer me up. So I just walked on over to her and hugged her awkwardly.

She cried for a few minutes on my shoulder, then straightened up and wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry, dear. I suppose all of the stress got to me. But don't you worry, Harry will be just fine! Now then, everyone will be up soon, so I'm going to make some breakfast. Why don't you go upstairs and make sure everyone comes down soon."

I scurried upstairs, glad to be free of the emotional scene that had just occurred, and began to knock on doors. I dropped by Ron's door first, then Hermione and Ginny's, and lastly the twins. The adults were usually able to get up on their own, and no matter how many times I was told that Sirius wasn't a murderer, I was still a bit scared. Living your entire life thinking someone is a crazed killed then finding out that no, he's completely innocent, is a big shift. I'm still getting used to it. At least I can talk to him at dinner now, though. When I first got here, I had known he would be here, and I had known that he was innocent, but that didn't stop me from sticking very close to the twins at all times and observing conversation rather than joining in. But I don't want to be the one waking him up. Just in case.

Waking up the twins was always a challenge. Sometimes I wonder if they just go comatose every night. So I knocked on the door loudly—just in case they were awake and naked—waited a few seconds, then barged on in when I heard no answer. As I expected, they were both asleep. Fred was sprawled out on his back on his bed, the blanket falling off of him slightly to reveal his bare chest, while George was on his stomach, the blanket thrown off to reveal him in nothing but his brown boxers.

"Boys," I called gently. "Time to wake up."

George snored.

I laughed quietly, then moved over to the bed closest to me—Fred's—and poked the redhead inside. He grunted.

"'Mily, I wanna sleep longer," he slurred, slinging an arm over his eyes. I gently nudged him.

"C'mon, Fred. If you wake up, I'll let you wake up George. If you don't, I'll let him wake you up."

That got him up. When the twins wake people up, they don't do the gently prodding that I do. They use cold water, dungbombs, or ice. If they're feeling especially energetic, they'll take a running jump and land on the sleeping person. Fred sat up quickly as I moved over to George's bed, hoping to wake him up before Fred got to him. They're my only connection to sanity here; I don't want either of them to wake up on the wrong side of the bed. I repeated the same process with him, then went back to Fred's bed to poke him out of his half-asleep state.

When I was sure that they were fully awake, I left them to dress on their own and made my way down to the kitchen. Ron and Hermione were already there, sitting at the table. The tension was so thick that I felt like I was walking through Jell-o as I walked over to them. That might have been my own anxiety, though; they were whispering to each other, and I felt like I would be intruding. But I did make to the table and sat across from the two of them, looking down into my lap awkwardly. I was enormously relieved when Mrs. Weasley came in, holding a plate of toast and leading the way for marmalade and a plate of bacon and eggs, which were floating in the air behind her, held up by magic.

"Here you are, sweeties. Eat up now, we've got a long day ahead of us. I was hoping to check out the attic; I think that there is a nest of glumbumbles up there, and I'd like to get that looked at. And then some of the rooms on the third floor need to be looked at—what that house elf has been doing all of these year is a mystery-"

I respect Mrs. Wealsey, really I do, but sometimes I find it wisest to just tune out adults. Or anyone, really.

Fortunately, the twins arrived with a pop! soon after, so I had something else to focus on. They took seats on either side of me and both began to fill up their plates with copious amounts of food. I have no idea how two people can eat so much and not gain weight. I put some eggs and toast onto my own plate and begin to munch, watching as the twins wolfed down their food at an alarmingly fast rate.

"So, Emily," Hermione started, startling me out of my twin-watching. "You were awake when Harry left, right?"

I nodded.

"How was he?" she asked. The table went silent, and everyone stared at me. Ginny chose to come down at this time, and every noise she made sounded so much louder than it really was because of the silence.

I looked around and saw that Mrs. Weasley has left while I was zoning out. She wasn't not in the kitchen, so she was probably changing upstairs. We had enough time to talk on our own without interruption. Not that we're talking about anything wrong, but I feel as though Mrs. Weasley wouldn't like us gossiping about her surrogate son at the breakfast table.

"He seemed really nervous," I said. "Barely ate, and talked even less. Not that I can blame him, really, not with how the Ministry has been acting about him lately. Lupin said that the law is on his side, but I don't know if that's enough to keep the Ministry from expelling him."

Everyone nodded. "They've been waiting for an opportunity like this," Hermione said. "Anything to discredit him even more."

"It's rubbish," George added.

"Total rubbish," Fred agreed.

"But Dumbledore has to do something, right?" Ron asked. "I mean, it's Harry. And this isn't right, not at all! They can't just expel Harry for defending himself!"

"They're going to try to make it seem like there wasn't anything Harry was defending himself from though, Ron," Hermione said. "They're going to try to make it seem like he's off his rocker and a danger to wizarding-kind."

"But I'm sure Dumbledore will show up," Ginny interjected. "Ron's right, it's Harry. Dumbledore wouldn't let him do this on his own."

Fred opened his mouth to say something else when Mrs. Weasley came through the door, now in robes instead of the quilted purple dressing gown that she had been wearing before. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who didn't want to talk about this in front of her, because he immediately shut his mouth and resumed eating his breakfast, as did the rest of the table.

"Well then, hurry up," Mrs. Weasley told us. "We've got a busy day ahead of us."

No matter what Ginny said, I was still worried.