Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine.

Chapter 2 – A New Routine

So, their stay at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place had begun.

As promised, Mrs. Weasley woke her children, Lucy, and Hermione up early on their first morning at the house, and they all had breakfast in the kitchen. Then they started to work on one of the upstairs bedrooms.

Cleaning the house proved to be much more difficult than Lucy had previously thought. All kinds of strange creatures and plants had begun to grow in the rooms that had been empty for a long time. As Lucy, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny couldn't do any magic outside of school yet, it also meant that they were doing all the cleaning by hand.

Fred and George, however, were old enough to be using magic. They made it a point to use their magic to do nearly everything, and they liked to Apparate whenever they wanted to go somewhere. Mrs. Weasley soon grew very tired of it, and she insisted that the twins were to do the cleaning the Muggle way, too.

Nearly every evening, members of the Order would show up to have meetings in the kitchen. Sometimes the meetings took place before dinner, but sometimes they were after. Either way, none of the Hogwarts kids were allowed anywhere near the kitchen when the meetings were taking place. Fred and George in particular took offense to this, claiming that because they were of-age, they should be allowed to listen in on the meetings if they wanted to.

Instead, Lucy and the others used the Extendable Ears to try and hear what was going on during these meetings. The inventions proved useful, although they had to be careful in using them. They didn't want any of the adults to find out about them, so they usually only heard snippets of conversations.

~LJ:NK~

About a week into their stay at the house, Fred and George had an argument with their mother over breakfast. They wanted to go into Diagon Alley and do some shopping, but Mrs. Weasley was against it.

"I don't want you wandering around by yourselves! It's too dangerous!" she claimed.

"Mum, we'll be all right," Fred sighed. "You-Know-Who is staying out of the public eye, isn't he? It's not likely that we're going to be ambushed in the middle of the street—"

"You don't know that for sure," Mrs. Weasley argued.

"I'll go with them, Molly," Remus volunteered. Mrs. Weasley seemed conflicted, and Remus added, "If there's any sign of trouble, we'll come back straight away."

"Well—I suppose if you have an adult with you…" Mrs. Weasley said.

"Can we go, too, Mum?" Ron asked.

Lucy watched Mrs. Weasley, feeling hopeful. It would be nice to get out of the house and breathe in some fresh air.

"Absolutely not," Mrs. Weasley said.

"But Mum—"

"I forbid it!" Mrs. Weasley snapped before Ron could finish his complaint. "The rest of you are too young to use magic! You wouldn't be able to protect yourselves if the circumstance arose, and don't think that the Ministry would believe it if you claimed you were defending yourselves against a Death Eater."

Fred and George left the house with Remus after they had finished with breakfast.

"They just didn't want to help clean today," Ron mumbled darkly to Lucy, Hermione, and Ginny.

~LJ:NK~

Late that afternoon, Remus, Fred, and George returned. Remus joined the gathering members of the Order, and Fred and George went up to the boys' room, where Lucy, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were all sitting.

"How was Diagon Alley?" Lucy asked.

"It was pretty good," George replied. "We got you all presents, since you couldn't come with."

"You got us presents?" Ginny repeated, sounding suspicious.

"Of course we did," Fred said, digging through one of his bags. "Hermione first."

"Me?" Hermione asked.

Fred had pulled out a box from his bag and held it out to Hermione. She took it from him and opened it to find a very handsome eagle feather quill lying inside. It came with a bottle of ink, as well.

"It's beautiful," Hermione breathed.

"We thought you might like that," George said. "The ink inside is self-changing, too, so you can write in a bunch of different colors."

"Thank you," Hermione said.

"Lucy, you next," Fred said, pulling the next item out of his bag and handing it over.

Lucy accepted it. "Hey, a new Exploding Snap deck!" she exclaimed.

"Not just a regular deck," Fred said. "It's an extended pack, so it has a bunch of extra cards and a booklet with the rules for some other games you can play."

"This is so cool," Lucy said. "Thank you so much."

"No problem," George said. "Ron's next." He was now rummaging in one of his bags, and a moment later, he pulled out their gift for Ron. It was a new set of dress robes.

"Just in case you ever need dress robes again," Fred said. "Now you won't need to wear those hideous ones from last year."

"Thanks," Ron said, taking the robes from his brother. He held them up to get a better look at them. "These are way better than those other ones are."

"Our thoughts exactly," George said.

"One last gift," Fred said, pulling out another box. He handed it over to Ginny.

When Ginny had opened the box, Lucy let out a gasp.

"What is it?" Ginny asked, holding it up.

"That's a dream catcher!" Lucy said. "They're made by Native American witches and wizards, and they stop you from having bad dreams. I didn't know you could buy them in Diagon Alley!"

"There's a specialty shop," Fred explained. "It's kind of tucked away in a corner, but it's full of these dream catchers and other trinkets."

"How does it stop the bad dreams?" Ginny asked.

"I'm sure it's some kind of complex spell or something," Lucy replied. "What I do know, though, is that Native American magic tends to be very powerful."

"Thank you, Fred, George," Ginny said.

The twins grinned.

~LJ:NK~

After dinner, as the girls were getting ready for bed, Ginny spoke up. "Where do you think Fred and George got the gold to buy us all these presents?" she asked.

"I don't know," Lucy said with a shrug. "I didn't think much about it."

"I was wondering about that, too," Hermione said, frowning. "I didn't think they had a lot of money left, considering what happened with Bagman."

They were interrupted by the sound of a couple of cracks. Fred and George had just Apparated into their room, and Hermione let out a squeal.

"All right, we need to set some ground rules," Lucy said. "No more Apparating directly into our room. Be gentlemen and at least knock on our door, would you?"

"All right, all right," George said, holding his hands up. "We were just trying to get closer to the kitchen door, so we could use the Extendable Ears."

He and his twin huddled up to the girls' door and snaked their Extendable Ears down the stairs. They were only sitting there for a few minutes when Fred mumbled, "Shit."

Lucy looked around to see Fred and George scrambling to pull the Extendable Ears back to them.

"What is it?" Ginny asked, but the boys didn't have a chance to answer.

The bedroom door banged open, and Mrs. Weasley, looking livid, stood there. She was holding the ends of the Extendable Ears in her hand. "What are these supposed to be?" she asked.

Fred tried to say, "Mum—"

"You've been spying on the meetings!" Mrs. Weasley shouted. "Don't try to deny it! I specifically told you that you weren't allowed at the meetings, so you've been spying on them with these things!" She snatched the ears out of the twins' hands and said, "We're going up to your bedroom, and you're going to give me the rest of them!"

She turned and marched from the room. George followed her obediently, but Fred paused and turned to the girls. Reaching into his pockets, he pulled out a handful of ears and threw them at Lucy, who was nearest. Then he turned and hurried after his mother.

"I guess that means he wants us to hide them," Lucy said, taking the ears over to her trunk. She opened it and tossed them inside.

"I told them they needed to be more careful," Hermione said. "They were bound to get caught eventually."

~LJ:NK~

A couple weeks later, the Weasleys, Lucy, and Hermione found themselves sitting around the kitchen table after another day of cleaning. They had spent all day in the last bedroom, and it still wasn't fully ready for someone to sleep in. Now they were gathered for dinner, enjoying some stew that Mrs. Weasley had made, when Dumbledore came walking swiftly into the kitchen.

Lucy was surprised to see the professor at that moment. They hadn't seen him since the day that they had arrived—although they had heard him plenty of times over the Extendable Ears. Lucy was also startled to see that Dumbledore looked furious. She immediately wondered what had happened.

"Hello, Professor," Mrs. Weasley said, sounding very startled to see him. "Would you like something to eat?"

"No, thank you, Molly," Dumbledore replied politely, although his eyes were still blazing. "I just wanted to know if Arthur is still at work."

"Y-Yes, I believe he is," Mrs. Weasley said, confused.

"Thank you, Molly," Dumbledore said. "I'll have Arthur send word once I get to the Ministry." He turned on his heel and left the kitchen again, with the Weasleys, Lucy, and Hermione staring after him.

"What's for dinner?" Sirius asked, entering the kitchen.

"Stew," Mrs. Weasley replied. "Did you see Dumbledore on your way down here?"

"Yes," Sirius said, taking a seat at the table. "He looked like he was in a hurry, so I didn't bother him. Why, did something happen?"

"He didn't say," Mrs. Weasley answered. "He asked if Arthur was still at work, and then he said he was off to the Ministry."

"The Ministry?" Sirius repeated, frowning. "I wonder why he would want to go there, of all places."

About twenty minutes later, they got their answer. An owl swooped into the room and landed on the table in front of Mrs. Weasley. She took the letter from the owl, and it flew away.

Mrs. Weasley unfolded the parchment and scanned it, her eyes growing wide. "Oh, my," she said faintly. She cleared her throat and announced, "It seems that a couple of dementors attacked Harry and his cousin in Little Whinging."

"What?" Sirius burst out, standing up from the table and holding his hand out to see the letter.

"Two dementors attacked Harry and his Muggle cousin," Mrs. Weasley continued, handing the letter over. "Harry used a Patronus Charm to fight them off, but now he may possibly be expelled from Hogwarts for using magic in front of a Muggle."

"Wasn't Mundungus supposed to be watching him tonight?" Sirius asked.

"It seems that Mundungus left his post early," Mrs. Weasley replied, looking angry.

"I'm going to write to Harry," Sirius said.

Mrs. Weasley started, "Sirius—"

"I know, I know," Sirius interrupted. "I'm not going to tell him anything. I'm just going to tell him to stay at his aunt's and uncle's house." He turned and dashed out of the kitchen.

After a moment, Mrs. Weasley hurried out behind him.

"I hope Harry's all right," Hermione said, looking anxious. "He really needs to be more careful."

"More careful?" Ron echoed. "Two dementors went after him! Did you expect him to just let them suck his soul out?"

"He really is a magnet for trouble, isn't he?" Ginny remarked.

"How could they expel him for protecting himself?" Lucy asked. "I mean, I know we're not supposed to use magic outside of school, but if there were dementors involved—"

"I'm sure the Ministry is going to deny that there were dementors attacking him," George said matter-of-factly. "Dementors are under Ministry control, or at least, the Ministry believes that they are."

"Why else would Harry use a Patronus Charm, though?" Lucy pointed out. She exchanged blank looks with the other Weasleys and Hermione before going back to eating her stew in silence.

~LJ:NK~

It was a few hours later when Mrs. Weasley found the kids sitting in the bedroom Fred and George were staying in. They had moved out of the room with Ron about a week ago, something that all three boys were grateful for.

That evening, Fred, George, Ginny, and Ron were all playing Exploding Snap. Lucy was watching with Evie lounging on her lap. Hermione was reading one of her textbooks nearby.

"Well, the good news is that Harry hasn't been expelled yet," Mrs. Weasley began, looking relieved. "Dumbledore has managed to convince the Ministry to hold a hearing for Harry to determine whether he should be expelled or not. A group from the Order will be going to collect Harry from his aunt's and uncle's house in a few days, but Dumbledore has asked me to remind you that you are not to send Harry any owls about what is going on. We don't want anything to get intercepted."

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley," Lucy said, smiling at the woman.

"Don't stay up too late," Mrs. Weasley added. "We have to finish decontaminating that bedroom in the next few days. Oh, Lucy, Hermione, Ron—Sirius wants to talk to you."

"Where is he?" Lucy asked, nudging Evie off her and standing up.

"He's in with Buckbeak," Mrs. Weasley replied. She left the room.

Lucy looked at Hermione and Ron. "Shall we?" she asked.

Hermione saved her place in her book, and she, Lucy, and Ron left the bedroom. They walked down the hallway, reached the room where Buckbeak was staying, and knocked.

"Come in," Sirius called from inside.

Lucy pushed the door open, and the three filed into the room. They stopped short when they saw Harry's snowy owl Hedwig flapping around Sirius's head.

"What is she doing?" Ron asked.

Hedwig squawked and flew at the other three, brandishing her leg. There were three bits of parchment attached to it. Hermione untied them and handed one each to Lucy and Ron. Lucy opened hers up and read the short note Harry had written.

I've just been attacked by dementors, and I might be expelled from Hogwarts. I want to know what's going on and when I'm going to get out of here.

"What does yours say?" Ron asked, looking over Lucy's shoulder. He scanned the parchment in her hands and reported, "Mine says the same thing."

"I assume yours all say that Harry wants to know what's happening," Sirius sighed, leaning against an old wardrobe that was pushed up against the wall.

"I know that Dumbledore and the others say that we're not supposed to send letters in case they get intercepted," Lucy started, "but why can't we let Harry know what's happening? It seems very unfair that he doesn't get any information about what's going on."

"Not to mention the fact that if he was here already, none of this would have happened," Ron added.

"I don't know why Dumbledore doesn't want Harry knowing anything," Sirius admitted, "but he has his reasons. He always does. If we can't trust Dumbledore, who can we trust?" He sounded a little bitter, however. "It's getting late. You should probably get some sleep."

Hermione and Ron said good night to Sirius and left the room, but Lucy stayed behind.

"How are you, Sirius?" she asked in a quiet voice. Even though she'd been at Grimmauld Place for about a month, she'd barely had time to talk to Sirius on his own. The Weasleys and Hermione were almost always around, and it was difficult for Lucy to have a private conversation with her godfather when nobody else knew that he was her godfather.

Sirius sighed. "I'm fine," he said. "I just feel like a burden to the Order right now. I wish I could do something to help, but Dumbledore insists that I stay hidden. When I was on the run, at least I was outside in the fresh air. I never thought I'd have to come back into this house." He let out another breath through his nose before asking, "How are you?"

"I'm okay," Lucy said. "Feeling a little trapped, as well, but at least I have Hogwarts to look forward to."

Sirius smirked. "How's that boyfriend of yours?" he teased.

Lucy felt herself blush. "He's fine, as far as I can tell," she said. "He can't write much in his letters, but it sounds like he's having a fairly normal summer."

Sirius chuckled. "Sorry," he said. "I can't help it. I had to tease you about it, for your old man's sake." He stood up straight and walked over to the door. "I think I'm going to turn in," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night, Sirius," Lucy said.

~LJ:NK~

Another few days went by before they heard anything about Harry again. They were having breakfast when Mrs. Weasley announced the news. "A group from the Order will be picking Harry up tonight," she stated.

"Good," Ron said. "Maybe he'll be able to get Hedwig to stop pecking at our hands."

Ever since Hedwig had arrived, she had been following Lucy, Ron, Hermione, and Sirius around, nipping at their fingers. None of them could get her to stop doing it.

"When will he get here?" Lucy asked eagerly.

"I think they're waiting to get him until the evening, so sometime tonight," Mrs. Weasley answered. "However, you know what Dumbledore has said; you are not to tell Harry more than he needs to know. The Order is also having a meeting tonight, so you'll have to entertain yourselves for the evening."

"We do that every night, Mum," Fred pointed out. "Don't worry about us."

~LJ:NK~

That evening, the kids were hustled away from the kitchen. Lucy, Ron, and Hermione went up to Ron's room to wait for Harry. Ron pulled out his deck of Exploding Snap.

"I wonder how they're going to get him here," Hermione said about Harry as Ron dealt the cards.

"No idea," Lucy said. "I'm more worried about how angry he's going to be."

"Why would he be angry?" Ron asked.

"Wouldn't you be?" Lucy shot back. She held up her hand and started to count on her fingers. "He had to watch as You-Know-Who became strong again. He had to watch Cedric die. We all promised that he would join us here as soon as we could get him here, but it's been over a month. He got attacked by dementors and might be expelled from school—"

"I guess you're right," Ron conceded.

"Not to mention the fact that we haven't been able to give him answers to any of the questions he's sent us," Hermione added.

"Dumbledore made us swear to not tell him anything," Ron said. "Harry will understand that, won't he? That we didn't have a choice?"

"Maybe," Lucy said, "but maybe not. I would be frustrated if I were him, no matter what the reasons."

They played a game of Exploding Snap in silence. Ron won the first game, and he scooped up the cards to deal out another game.

"I wonder if Fred and George are trying to listen in to the meeting downstairs," he said as he dealt another round.

"I'm sure they're going to try," Lucy said, picking up her cards to see what she had.

They had gotten about halfway through the game when the door to the bedroom opened, startling the three of them. They all turned to see Harry Potter standing in the doorway.

~LJ:NK~

A/N: I needed to let Fred and George out of the house to explain how they bought Ron a new set of dress robes (which is mentioned later on in the story). It morphed into the twins buying them each a present. Ginny's dream catcher was an opportunity for Lucy to mention Native American magic, and it also implies that Ginny may still have nightmares from when she was possessed by Tom Riddle's diary.

I also imagined that Fred and George used the trip to look around at potential premises for their future joke shop.

Originally, this story started with Lucy and the others finding out that Harry had been charged with using magic. I added the beginning of this chapter plus chapter one later on, when I realized that I wanted to show more scenes from Lucy's perspective, as opposed to just helping the Weasleys tell Harry about it later.