I do not own Harry Potter. Direct quotes from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be in bold.

There is no set update date. I'm not a person who can work to a schedule, so I pretty much update whenever inspiration hits me or whenever I feel like it.

Welcome to the House of Black

Order of the Phoenix…a name that screams 'secret organization'.

Arching a slim dark eyebrow, Charlie silently handed back the paper, watching as Moody burned it with his wand. She'd been stuck in Little Whinging for over a month while her friends put together an organization to fight Voldemort. Without her.

Not like I'm an important part of this or anything, she thought dryly. Emerald eyes scanned the houses, but while there was an eleven and a thirteen, there was no twelve Grimmauld Place.

Just as the thought crossed her a mind, a door suddenly appeared in between the two houses. Dirty walls and stained windows appeared along with it, and in no time at all an extra house appeared, with the neighbour Muggles unaware.

Magic. Right.

Unable to hide her amazement, she followed the others up to the worn wooden door. The black paint was chipped and the silver snake door knocker gleamed at her. Remus knocked on the door once with his wand, and Charlie listened intently to the various clicks of multiple unlocking locks.

Talk about your high-security. Must be pretty good if Voldemort hasn't found it yet. Here's hoping it stays that way.

"Hurry," whispered Remus, gently urging the girl inside. "But don't touch anything and don't go in too far."

"Alright," she agreed softly, venturing curiously into the house. It was in utter darkness, the smell of mouldy curtains and dampness assaulting her nostrils. Wrinkling her nose, Charlie remembered the sweet-smelling home her aunt kept up. While she didn't like many things at the Dursleys, she couldn't deny the cleanliness.

The others filed in. Remus and Tonks set her trunk down near the wall, with Snowy's cage on top. A sharp rap on her head caused her to yelp softly in surprise.

"Just fixin' you up," grumbled Moody, turning around and releasing the orbs of light from the Put-Outer.

"Oh yeah," said Charlie, rubbing her head. She had forgotten about the Disillusionment Charm.

Remus flicked his wand and the gas lamps exploded to life, covering them in a soft warm glow. Charlie fiddled with the handle of her broomstick, eyeing the others. They all wore serious expressions, and she wondered what exactly had gone on during her absence.

Soft footsteps fell rapidly in her direction, and she turned her head to see Molly Weasley hurrying towards her. "Charlotte!" she cried happily, enveloping her in a tight hug. "Oh, I'm so happy to see you!"

"I'm really happy to see you too," said Charlie feelingly, enjoying the warm embrace.

Mrs. Weasley pulled apart and studied her intently. "You've gotten skinnier," she said disapprovingly. "We'll get you back in good health, don't you worry. You'll have to wait until dinner, though. It'll be a bit." She turned to the group of witches and wizards and said urgently, "The meeting has just started. He arrived just before you did."

Whispering excitedly amongst themselves, the group made their way through the door Mrs. Weasley had just come through. Charlie stared after them and crossed her arms. "Let me guess. I'm not allowed in there."

Mrs. Weasley smoothed down a portion of Charlie's windblown hair. "I'm sorry, dear. Order members only. But we're very glad you're here, safe and sound. Now, keep quiet coming down the hall. We don't want to wake anything up."

"I don't know what that means."

"I'll explain later," she promised. "Hermione, Ron and Harry are upstairs waiting for you. When the meeting is over, we'll have dinner. Alright?"

"Alright," agreed Charlie, disappointed.

They tiptoed past a pair of grungy curtains, which Charlie eyed curiously. They stepped past an umbrella stand, which was made from a leg of a troll. Shrunken house-elves' heads lined the wall along the broken stair railing, and the theme of snakes continued-from the chandelier to the decorative, torn wallpaper.

Okay, why does the secret base look like the home of a Dark wizard?

Once they reached the top landing, Mrs. Weasley pointed to the first door on the right. "Your room is right there, dear. I really must dash, I should be in the meeting."

She took off back down the stairs and Charlie stared at the serpent door handle. "Snakes. I don't like snakes. Snakes mean bad things for me. Well, except the one I helped escape from the zoo four years ago. That was a nice snake."

Pumping the handle, she flung the door open and was immediately assaulted in a hug by Hermione, her bushy curls blocking her vision. "Charlie!" she squealed, squeezing tightly. "Oh, we've missed you so much! You must be furious with us, and we're really sorry our letters were rubbish. Dumbledore made us swear not to tell you anything. But we've got lots to tell you, now that you're here, and I'm sure you've got loads to tell us. We couldn't believe what happened with the Dementors, but you're brilliant! I've looked it up, they can't expel you-"

"Blimey, Hermione!" interrupted Ron. He gently tugged the girl off and sent Charlie a grin. "Good to see you Charlie."

"Really good to see you!" piped up Harry, who hurried forwards to embrace his sister. "How are you?"

"Alright, I suppose." Charlie shrugged and idly gave Snowy a pat on the head when she scuttled past her ankles. "I don't suppose you knowwhy Dumbledore suddenly wanted to put me in the dark?"

"I guess he thought you'd be safer with your relatives." Ron rubbed the back of his neck.

"That worked out well. Two Dementors come out of nowhere and nearly Kiss my cousin. Do you know how sad it is that they were my first encounter with anything magical all summer?"

"We're so sorry," apologized Harry.

Sighing, Charlie flopped down on one of the twin beds, arms stretched over her head. "I know, I know. It's just frustrating, is all. I'm the girl Voldemort marked when I was one. I think I have a right to know what's going on. Heck, I should be in that meeting right now."

"I'm sure there's a good reason," assured Hermione. "Dumbledore just wants to protect you. He got so angry when Mundungus left his post. It was scary."

"I hope he didn't get into too much trouble," said Charlie, a frown on her face. "I mean, even if he was there, I don't think he'd be too much help against Dementors. Not that I blame him. They're difficult creatures to overcome."

"But because he wasn't there, you're at risk of being expelled," pointed out Harry. "Aren't you worried?"

"Yes. Mr. Fudge has it out for me. He'll be delighted to get me kicked out of Hogwarts. If I'm stuck with the Dursleys, he won't have to worry about me." Charlie stared at the water-stained ceiling. "Do you know why Dumbledore wouldn't let you tell me anything?"

"He was worried the owls would get intercepted. Can't trust anything now, with You-Know-Who out there." Ron shuddered. "But we've only seen Dumbledore twice since we've been here. He's pretty busy."

"Alright, so he didn't want letters sent out. Understandable." Charlie sat up, her raven hair tumbling over her shoulders. She rested her chin in the palm of her hand, lips pursed in thought. "The Floo is being watched, so I get why he wouldn't contact me that way. But there has to be some way to send a message without anyone noticing. You could have sent-"

Straightening up as a thought occurred to her, she asked, "Where's Dobby?"

"We sent him to Hogwarts once we came here," informed Ron. "Dumbledore's idea. Hope that's okay."

"Yeah, it's fine. I guess the less he knows of the Order the better. I'd hate for him to get in trouble because of it. Voldemort isn't exactly merciful when extracting information."

"Yippee for us," muttered Harry.

"But why doesn't Dumbledore want me to know anything?" Charlie groaned. "I'm not proud of what this scar means, but come on. If anyone deserves to know information on the fight against Voldemort is should be me."

"I know it's not fair, but we just have to trust them," said Hermione, patting Charlie's hand.

"How many are in the Order of the Phoenix, anyway?"

"We've met twenty, but there's probably a lot more," answered Harry.

An uneasy feeling welled in the pit of Charlie's stomach. Over twenty people were part of a secret society to overthrow Voldemort. If any of them were found out…they wouldn't survive an encounter with the darkest wizard in all of history.

"I don't suppose you know anything about Voldemort?"

"We're not allowed in the meetings," said Hermione apologetically.

"But we've got some idea," said Ron positively. "Fred and George have created Extendable Ears. You can listen in on things. But Mum found out and went crazy. Fred and George managed to hide a few before she got them all and threw them out. We found out some stuff before she caught us, though."

"Some Order members are tailing known Death Eaters, keeping tabs on them and all that," informed Harry.

"That makes me nervous," remarked Charlie.

"Others are recruiting new members for the Order," added Hermione.

"There's lots of guard duty," finished Ron. "They're always talking about guard duty."

"Over what? Me?"

"Oh." Ron rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Possibly."

"Alright, then. What have you guys been up too?"

"Cleaning," answered Harry with a wrinkled face. "Do you know how horrible cleaning this place is? There are creatures in every corner, cobwebs fall on your head when you dust and you get bitten by unidentifiable sources multiple times."

"You haven't been cleaning long, have you?" Charlie asked in amusement. "Because this place is quite the mess."

"It's taken a while. But now you're here to help," said Hermione cheerfully. "We're doing the drawing room tomorrow."

"Hip hip hooray," said Charlie sarcastically.

Crack!

When the twins appeared in the middle of the room without warning, Charlie yelped in shock and toppled off the bed. "Geez!"

"Stop doing that!" snapped Hermione.

"Hello, Charlotte!" Fred said happily, hauling the girl off of the dusty wooden floor. "We thought we heard your voice."

"Congratulations on passing your Apparition test," Charlie said with a grin.

George widened his eyes comically. "Who told you?"

"What's that?" Charlie asked curiously, pointing at a long piece of flesh-coloured string that trailed out into the landing.

"Extendable Ears. We're going to eavesdrop on the conversation and thought you'd might like to join. It's a major one!"

"If Mum catches you, you're dead," warned Ron.

"Well worth the risk," dismissed Fred.

A girl with long red hair poked her head around the doorframe. "Hey, Charlotte!"

"Hey, Ginny."

"Sorry, but Mum's put an Imperturbable Charm on the door. We can't hear a thing. I've been chucking Dungbombs at the door but they keep soaring away."

"Aw, man." Fred frowned. "And Snape's down there, too."

"Really?" Charlie asked. "What's he been up too?"

"Haven't gotten specifics, but all we know is that he's giving a top secret report. Stupid bat of the dungeons."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Be nice. He's on our side."

"Yeah," agreed Charlie. "He's really not so bad."

George, Fred and Ginny snorted in disbelief. "Whatever you say."

"Lucky Bill," added George with an envious frown. "He gets to be in there."

"I thought he was in Egypt," Charlie said.

"He applied for a desk job so that he could be closer to home and work for the Order. He misses the excitement, but there's been compensations."

"How do you mean?"

"Fleur Delacour. She got a job at Gringotts to, as she says, eemprove 'er Eenglish."

"Oh yeah!" exclaimed Charlie, recalling her former Triwizard Tournament rival's parting words a few months ago. "I forgot. She sweet on Bill, then?"

"Undoubtedly," confirmed George.

"How's Charlie?"

"Why don't you ask yourself?" joked Fred.

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Very funny."

"He's still in Romania. But he's in the Order. Dumbledore wants him to make foreign contacts, so he's trying to make as many as possible."

"What about Percy?"

When the others exchanged dark looks, Charlie flinched. "Oops. Guess I missed more than I thought. Sorry. You don't have to talk about it."

"Don't worry about. Just don't mention him in front Mum or Dad, okay?" requested Ron.

"Sure thing."

"Percy got promoted a week after school ended," explained George. "Everyone was surprised, since he got into trouble over the whole Crouch thing. Officials thought he ought to have known how crazy Crouch was acting. But hey, Percy was put in charge and he wasn't going to mess that up."

"No one understood why he got promoted," continued Fred. "But he was really pleased. Said he got promoted right up to Fudge's office."

"I think I know where this is going," she muttered.

"Dad went ballistic. I've never heard him yell so much. Dumbledore's name is dirt at the Ministry, everyone thinks he's just trying to cause trouble by saying You-Know-Who is back." Fred scowled. "Anyone who's in contact with Dumbledore gets the boot. Dad's on thin ice-Fudge suspects him, since he's been friendly with Dumbledore in the past and has his love of Muggles."

"So…there's a good chance Mr. Fudge wants Percy in his office so that he can spy on your dad and Dumbledore."

"Bingo. Dad told him that very thing. And Percy lost it," recalled Ron, a scowl on his face. "He said horrible things to him. Told Dad that the reason we're so poor is because he's not ambitious. He blamed Dad for his slow start at the Ministry, 'cause of his lousy reputation. He said his loyalty was with the Ministry and that Dumbledore was bad news. If Dumbledore goes down, we go down, and he declared that if we're branded as traitors he'll make sure everyone knows he's not part of our family. He packed his bags, left, and we haven't seen him since."

"I say good riddance," said George bitterly.

"But he has to know Voldemort's back," said Charlie in confusion. Percy was many things, but he certainly wasn't dumb.

"He doesn't think your word is good enough," said Ron carefully.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"You've nothing to be sorry for," said Fred firmly. "It's not your fault Percy's a git."

"He believes the Daily Prophet," grumbled Hermione.

"Aw, hasn't it stopped yet?" Charlie groaned in dismay and buried her head in her hands. "Rita's not even writing for them anymore, is she?"

"No," Hermione quickly reassured her. "I made sure of that. But the other journalists are just building off her previous stuff. They're painting you to be…uh…"

"A crazy lunatic with a messed up head who desires love and worshipers," supplied Harry, and wilted under Hermione's glower.

"Fantastic. And not a single word was printed about the Dementor attack?"

The group shook their heads. "Fudge is trying his hardest to make you into someone no one should listen too."

"Which also means he's going to try his hardest to get me expelled. Not that I expected anything different."

"He can't expel you. You didn't do anything wrong," insisted Hermione.

"Maybe not. But he's the Minister of Magic. If he wants me out, he has more than enough power to make it happen."

Before anyone could say anything, footsteps sounded on the stairs. Fred and George hastily gathered up their Extendable Ears and Disapparated. Mrs. Weasley appeared in the doorway and looked at the lot of them. "Meeting's over and dinner is ready. Everyone can't wait to see you, Charlotte. Oh, does anyone know why there are Dungbombs in front of the door?"

"Crookshanks probably did it," said Ginny innocently. "He likes to play around with them."

"Ah. I thought it might have been Kreacher. He keeps doing odd things like that. Ginny, go wash your hands. See you four downstairs."

The two redheaded females left, leaving behind the Golden Quartet. Charlie tilted her head to the side and looked at her best friends. "Kreacher?"

"He's the house-elf who lives here," informed Ron. "He's mad. His dream is to have his head chopped off and hung on the wall."

"It's strange, but he's not crazy," defended Hermione.

"Can you guess who still has S.P.E.W. on the brain?" Ron asked with a roll of his eyes.

When Hermione opened her mouth indigently, Charlie hastily said, "Let's not start. Everyone's entitled to their weirdness. Heaven knows I'm weird."

"Thank you," said Hermione, shooting Ron a glare. "And Dumbledore says we have to be nice."

"Let's go," said Harry, urging his friends towards the door. "I'm starving."

They went out to the landing, but before they headed down the stairs, soft voices caught their attention. Peering over the banister, they saw a collection of witches and wizards speaking with each other, including their greasy-haired Potions professor.

"Wonder what they're talking about," whispered Hermione.

Just then Snape glanced up, and he arched a stern brow upon spotting the four teens staring down at him. Ron paled, Harry's brown eyes widened, Hermione blushed and Charlie grinned sheepishly. Mouthing behave at them, he took his leave, and soon the others followed after him.

"That was embarrassing," spoke Charlie, and they all dissolved into giggles. "Come on."

Trooping down the stairs, they met up with Mrs. Weasley and Tonks, who were locking up behind the group. "We're eating in the kitchen," Mrs. Weasley informed. "Charlotte, it's through that door, if you'll just tiptoe-"

BAM!

Immediately after the loud noise, a horrible, blood-curdling scream echoed through the house. Mrs. Weasley cast an exasperated glare at Tonks, who lay on the floor. "I'm sorry!" she wailed over the screaming. "I'm a klutz!"

The curtains hanging over the wall had flown open, revealing a life-size portrait of a woman with yellowed skin, rolling eyes and taut skin. Her screams caused the other portraits to start yelling, and Charlie pressed her hands over her ears.

Mrs. Weasley tried to yank a curtain over the portrait and Charlie raced to help, snagging the other curtain and pulling with all her might. Remus ran in and joined her, but the woman wasn't having it.

"Vermin! Dirt! How dare you bring your dirty blood into the house of my fathers-"

Abandoning her curtain, Mrs. Weasley raced down the hall and started Stunning the other portraits into silence. Charlie quickly claimed the curtain she left and grunted with effort. A man with long black hair came racing in, and he glared at the portrait with hatred.

"Shut up!" he roared. "Just shut up!"

"Sirius!" Charlie exclaimed happily.

Joining his goddaughter, they used their combined effort plus Remus to get the curtains closed. The screeching stop and Charlie rubbed her ringing ears.

"Charlie," greeted Sirius, grim eyes still locked on the hidden portrait.

"So…uh…who was that lovely lady?"

"My mother."

Charlie blinked. "Oh. Well. It's cool. My relatives are messed up too."

Sirius threw back his head and laughed, and Charlie grinned.

It might have taken longer than she wanted, but she was finally back.