A/N: Colton Taylor is the creation of gaywhovian93. The face-claim for Colton is Jonathon Lipicki.
Mrs Weasley followed them upstairs, looking grim. When they reached the first landing, she said, "I want you all to go straight to bed, no talking. We've got a busy day tomorrow." To Hermione, she said, "I expect Ginny's asleep. So try not to wake her up."
After Hermione told them goodnight, Fred whispered, "Asleep, yeah, right. If Ginny's not lying awake waiting for Hermione to tell her everything they said downstairs, then I'm a Flobberworm…"
"All right, Ron, Hailey," said Mrs Weasley on the second landing, pointing at the rooms, "off to bed with you."
"'Night," Hailey and Ron said to the twins.
"Sleep tight," said Fred, winking at them.
George elbowed Fred in the ribs and in a teasing voice, said, "Don't wink at her. Michael might not appreciate someone winking at his girlfriend."
Hailey felt her face warm up as she went into the room that Mrs Weasley had pointed out to her.
"Now none of that," Hailey heard Mrs Weasley admonish as Mrs Weasley started to close the door.
"Lock your door!" Ron shouted right as the door clicked shut right behind Hailey.
The bedroom that Hailey was in, looking dank and gloomy, with some awful looking floral wallpaper; green with white flowers. Hailey felt her eye twitch, knowing that it was going to haunt her nightmares for the rest of the summer. The room had twin beds in it and there was a gilded mirror that was covered in a thick looking layer of dust and cobwebs.
She went to put on her pajamas, which was an overly large grey shirt that had once belonged to Dudley, when there was a knock on the door. She went over and opened the door. Ron slipped in the room and sat down on one of the twin beds. He asked, "What d'you reckon?"
Hailey didn't need him to clarify and said, "Well, they didn't tell us much we couldn't have guessed, did they? I mean, all they've really said is that the Order's trying to stop people from joining Voldemort." Ron had inhaled sharply. "When are you going to start using his name? Sirius and Lupin do."
Ron ignored that, "Yeah, you're right. We already knew nearly everything they told us, from using the Extendable Ears. The only new bit was about—"
CRACK
"Ouch!" Ron shouted in pain as the Weasley twins Apparated on his knees.
"Keep your voice down Ron, or Mum'll be back up here," said George.
"You two just Apparated on my knees," Ron said groaning in pain.
Fred replied, "Yeah, well, how would we know that you would be sitting here?"
The Weasley twins got down from the bed.
"So, got there yet?" asked George eagerly.
"The weapon that Sirius mentioned?" asked Hailey, sitting down on one bed.
"Let slip, more like," said Fred, sitting next to Ron. "We didn't hear about that on the old Extendables, did we?"
"What d'you reckon it is?" asked Hailey.
"Could be anything," replied Fred.
"But there can't be anything worse than the Killing Curse, can there?" asked Ron. "What's worse than death?"
"Maybe it's something that can kill loads of people at once," suggested Geroge.
"Maybe it's some particularly painful way of killing people," said Ron.
"He's got the Cruicatus Curse for causing pain," said Hailey, nearly shuddering at the memory of that being used on her. "He doesn't need anything more efficient than that."
There was silence and Hailey knew that the others were wondering what horrors that this weapon could cause.
"So, who d'you think's got it now?" asked George.
"I hope it's on our side," replied Ron sounding nervous.
"If it is, Dumbledore's probably keeping it," said Fred.
"Where?" asked Ron, "Hogwarts?"
"Bet it is! That's where he hid the Philosopher's Stone," said George.
"A weapon's going to be a lot bigger than the Stone, though!" said Ron.
"Not necessarily," said Fred.
"Yeah, size is no guarantee of power," said George, "Look at Ginny."
"What do you mean by that?" Hailey asked.
"You've never been on the receiving end of one of her Bat-Bogey Hexes, have you?" asked Fred.
"Shh!" ordered Fred, half-rising from the bed. "Listen!"
They got quiet and Hailey heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
"Mum," muttered George and there was a loud crack. A few seconds later, there was a creak outside Hailey's door. It was obvious that Mrs Weasley was listening to see if she had gone to bed. The floorboard creaked again and she was sure that she was listening at Ron's door. There was a creak of the floorboard as Mrs Weasely headed upstairs to check on Fred and George.
"She doesn't trust us at all, you know," said Ron, sounding regretful.
"You better get to your room before she comes back down," Hailey pointed out.
"Don't forget to lock the door," repeated Ron.
"Why?" asked Hailey.
"Kreacher," said Ron. "First night I was here, he came wandering in at three in the morning. Trust me, you don't want to wake up and find him prowling around your room." He left the room and Hailey went to lock the door. She lied down on the bed that the Weasleys didn't lay on.
She was sure that she wouldn't fall asleep because the evening had been packed with things to think about. Mrs Weasley was creaking back downstairs again and once she left, Hailey could hear others making their way upstairs…In fact, many-legged creatures cantered up and down, outside the bedroom door. Hagrid, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher was saying, 'Beauties, aren't they, eh, Hailey? We'll be studyin' weapons this term…' and Hailey saw that the creatures had cannons for heads and were wheeling to face her…she ducked…
"Mum told me to get you up. Breakfast is in the kitchen and then she needs you in the drawing room because there are more doxys than she thought. There's also a nest of dead puffskeins under the sofa," Ginny said, outside Hailey's door.
"Poffle," Hailey muttered, groggily.
"What was that?" asked Ginny.
"A group of puffskeins is called a poffle," replied Hailey, still half-asleep.
"Okay," replied Ginny, before leaving the landing.
Half an hour later, Hailey got dressed and had eaten breakfast quickly, entered the drawing room, which was on the first floor.
It was a long room with a high ceiling. There were olive-green walls covered in dirty tapestries. Every time someone walked, the carpet expelled little clouds of dust. The curtains were moss-green and buzzed as if swarming with invisible bees.
Mrs Weasley, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, and George were standing by them. They had tied a cloth over their nose and mouth, and were holding a large bottle of black liquid with a nozzle at the end.
"Cover your face and take a spray," Mrs Weasley said to Hailey the moment she saw her. She pointed to a bottle of black liquid that was on a spindle-legged table. "It's Doxycide. I've never seen an infestation this bad—what that house-elf's been doing for the last ten years—"
Hailey noticed that Hermione gave a reproachful look at Mrs Weasley, even though Hermione's face was half-concealed by a tea towel.
Hermione said, "Kreacher's really old, he probably couldn't manage—"
"You'd be surprised what Kreacher can manage when he wants to, Hermione," said Sirius, walking in the room, carrying a bloodstained bag. Hailey was disgusted, "I've just been feeding Buckbeak. I keep him upstairs in my mother's bedroom. Anyway…this writing desk…" He dropped the bag of rats into an armchair. He bent over to examine the locked cabinet, which was shaking slightly.
"Well, Molly, I'm sure this is a boggart," said Sirius, looking through the keyhole. "But perhaps we ought to let Mad-Eye have a look at it before we let it out—knowing my mother, it could be something much worse."
"Right you are, Sirius," stated Mrs Weasley.
They were speaking in light, polite voices which Hailey figured, meant that they hadn't forgotten their disagreement from the night before.
There was a loud clanging bell, followed by the cacophony of screams and wails which had been triggered by the previous night when Tonks knocked over the troll leg umbrella stand.
"I keep telling them not to ring the doorbell!" said Sirius in an exasperated tone. He hurried out of the room and heard him yelling down the stairs as Mrs Black's screeches echoed through the house: "Stains of dishonour, filthy half-breeds, blood traitors, children of filth…"
Hailey took her time closing the door. She wanted to listen to what was going on downstairs. Mrs Black's screeches had been silenced, and Hailey heard Sirius walking down the hall, and the clatter of the chain on the front door.
"Hestia's just relieved me, so she's got Moody's Cloak now, thought I'd leave a report for Dumbledore…" said a deep voice that she recognised as Kingsley Shacklebolt's.
Hailey got a prickling feeling, which meant that Mrs Weasley was staring at her. She closed the drawing-room door and rejoined the doxy party.
Mrs Weasley was looking over the page on doxys in Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests. "Right, you lot, you need to be careful, because doxys bite and their teeth are poisonous. I've got a bottle of antidote here, but I'd rather nobody needed it."
"You could've asked Hailey or Hermione instead of going over that fraud's book," Fred muttered.
Mrs Weasley straightened up and stood in front of the curtains. She beckoned them all forward. "When I say the word, start spraying immediately," she said. "They'll come flying out at us, I expect, but it says on the sprays that one good squirt with paralyse them. When they're immobilized, just throw them in this bucket." She stepped out of their line and raised her own spray. "All right—squirt."
Hailey sprayed for a few seconds when a fully-grown doxy soared out of a fold on the curtain. It had shiny beetle-like wings whirring, tiny needle-sharp teeth bared, its fairy-like body covered with thick black hair and its four tiny fists clenched with fury. She sprayed the doxy in the face with some Doxycide, making it freeze in midair. It fell with a loud thunk onto the carpet. She picked it up and threw it in the bucket.
"Fred, what are you doing?" demanded Mrs Weasley. "Spray that at once and throw it away!"
Hailey turned to see Fred holding a struggling doxy between his forefinger and thumb.
"Right," said Fred happily as he sprayed the doxy quickly in the face so it was knocked unconscious. The moment Mrs Weasley turned her back, Fred pocked it with a wink.
"We want to experiment with doxy venom for our Skiving Snackboxes," George told Hailey under his breath.
Two doxys flew towards Hailey's nose, and she sprayed them, as she moved closer to the Weasley twins. "What's Skiving Snackboxes?"
"Range of sweets to make you ill," George explained, keeping an eye on his mother. "Not seriously ill, mind, just ill enough to get you out of a class when you feel like it. Fred and I have been developing them this summer. They're double-ended, colour-coded chews. If you eat the orange half of the Puking Pastilles, you throw up. The moment you've been rushed out of the lesson for the hospital wing, you swallow the purple half—"
"'Which restores you to full fitness enabling you to pursue the leisure activity of your own choice during an hour that would otherwise have been devoted to unprofitable boredom,'" Fred finished. "That's what we're putting in the adverts, anyway." He had moved out of Mrs Weasley's line of vision. He was picking a few stray doxys from the floor and putting them in his pocket. "But they still need a bit of work. At the moment our testers are having a bit of trouble stopping themselves puking long enough to swallow the purple end?"
Hailey frowned, "What testers?"
"Us and—" started Fred, but trailed off. "George and I take it in turns. George did the Fainting Fancies—we both tried the Nosebleed Nougat—"
"Mum thought we'd been dueling," interrupted George.
Hailey pretended to adjust the nozzle on the spray, "So the joke shop is still on?"
"Well, we haven't had a chance to get premises yet," replied Fred, lowering his voice, even lower as Mrs Weasely wiped her brow with a scar before returning to spraying doxys. "We're running it as a mail-order service at the moment. We put advertisements in the Daily Prophet last week."
"All thanks to you," said George. "But don't worry...Mum hasn't got a clue. She won't read the Daily Prophet anymore, 'cause of the lies about you and Dumbledore."
Hailey grinned. She had forced the Weasley twins to take the thousand-Galleon prize money that she had won in the Triwizard Tournament to help them open their joke shop. She was glad to know that helping their plans were still unknown to Mrs Weasely, who thought running a joke was an unsuitable career choice.
De-doxying the curtains took up most of the morning. It was past midday when Mrs Weasely removed the scarf and sat in a sagging armchair. She jumped up, making a disgusted sound because she sat on the bag of dead rats. The curtains weren't buzzing because they hung limp and damp from the spraying. The doxys were lying unconscious in and around the bucket. There was a bowl of black eggs that Crookshanks sniffed at. Fred and George were giving each other looks.
"I think we'll tackle those after lunch," Mrs Weasley said, pointing at the dusty glass-fronted cabinets on either side of the mantelpiece.
Through the dust, Hailey could make out a selection of daggers, claw, a coiled snakeskin, a number of tarnished silver boxes inscribed in languages that Hailey couldn't understand, and the least pleasant of all ways an ornate crystal bottle with a large opal set into the stopper, full of a dark liquid that Hailey hoped wasn't blood, because that would've been disgusting.
The clanging doorbell rang again and the screeches picked up as they looked at Mrs Weasley, who said, "Stay here. I'll bring up some sandwiches."
She left the room closing the door behind her. Everyone ran over to looked out the window down at the doorstep. There was a person with unkempt red hair, balancing cauldrons.
"Mundungus!" exclaimed Hermione. "Why did he bring all those cauldrons?"
"He's probably looking for a safe place to keep them," said Hailey. "That's what he was doing the night he was supposed to be following me? He picked up some dodgy cauldrons."
"You're right!" said Fred as the front door opened. Mundungus heaved the cauldrons through the front door when it opened. He disappeared from view. "Blimy, Mum won't like it…"
The Weaselys crossed to the door and stood beside it, listening closely. Mrs Black's screams had stopped.
"Mundungus is talking to Sirius and Kingsley," Fred muttered. He was frowning as he concentrated. "Can't hear properly…" He turned to Fred, "D'you reckon we can risk the Extendable Ears?"
"It might be worth it," replied George. "I could sneak upstairs and get a pair—"
"We are not running a hideout for stolen goods!" Mrs Weasley shouted making the Extendable Ears useless.
"I love hearing Mum shout at someone else," said Fred, looking satisfied and opened the door an inch. "It makes such a nice change."
Mrs Weasley continued, "Completely irresponsible, as if we haven't got enough to worry about without you dragging stolen cauldrons into the house—"
"The idiots are letting her get in her stride," said George shaking his head. "You've got to head her off early, otherwise she builds up a head of steam and goes on for hours. And she's been dying to have a go at Mundungus, ever since he sneaked off when he was supposed to be following you, Hailey—and there goes Sirius's mum again." He didn't need to point it out because they can hear the ghastly screeches from the portraits loud and clear. He started to close the door, but a house-elf made his way into the room.
The house-elf had a rag tied around its middle like a loincloth, but other than that, it was naked. It was very old, its skin looking to be several times to big for it. It was completely bald, because it had white hair growing out of its large bat-like ears. It had bloodshot watery grey eyes. Its fleshy nose was snout-like.
The elf didn't seem to notice Hailey, Hermione, and the Weasleys, or it didn't seem them. It shuffled hunchbacked, slowly towards the far end of the room, muttering in a deep, hoarse voice, "…smells like a drain and a criminal to boot, but she's no better, nasty old blood traitor with her brats messing up my mistress's house, oh, my poor mistress, if she knew, if she knew the scum they've let into her house, what would she say to old Kreacher, oh, the shame of it, Mudbloods and werewolves and traitors and thieves, poor old Kreacher, what can he do…"
"Hello, Kreacher," said Fred loudly, closing the door with a snap.
The house-elf stood still and stopped muttering. He did an obviously fake jump of surprise. He said, "Kreacher did not see Young Master." He turned and bowed to Fred. Facing the carpet, he added, "Nasty little brat of a blood traitor it is."
"Sorry?" said George, "Didn't catch that last bit."
"Kreacher said nothing," replied the elf, bowing to George. In a clear whisper, he said, "And there's its twin, unnatural little beasts they are."
Hailey wasn't sure if she should laugh or not. The elf straightened up, eyeing them all with disgust and started muttering again, "…and there's the Mudblood, standing there bold as brass, oh, if my mistress knew, oh, how she'd cry, and there's a new girl, Kreacher doesn't know her name. What is she doing here? Kreacher doesn't know…"
Hailey couldn't tell if the elf forgot that they were there or he just didn't care that they all could hear him insulting everyone.
"This is Hailey, Kreacher," said Hermione, "Hailey Potter."
Kreacher's eye widened and muttered furiously, "The Mudblood is talking Kreacher as though she is my friend, if Kreacher's mistress saw him in such company, oh, what would she say—"
"Don't call her a Mudblood!" shouted Ron and Ginny angrily in unison.
"It doesn't matter," Hermione whispered, "he's not in his right mind, he doesn't know what he's—"
"Don't kid yourself, Hermione, he knows exactly what he's saying," Fred cut in, eyeing Kreacher with dislike.
Kreacher still stared at Hailey, muttering, "Is it true? Is it Hailey Potter? Kreacher can see the scar, it must be true, that's the girl who stopped the Dark Lord, Kreacher wonders how she did it—"
"Don't we all, Kreacher?" interrupted Fred.
"What do you want, anyway?" demanded George.
Kreacher looked at George, "Kreacher is cleaning." He had an evasive tone that Hailey was sure meant that he was lying.
"A likely story," said someone from behind Hailey.
Sirius had come back and was glaring at the elf from the doorway. The noise in the hall was quieted down, so Mrs Weasley and Mundungus must have moved their argument away form the kitchen.
At the sight of Sirius, Kreacher did a ridiculous bow that ended in him shoving his nose into the floor.
"Stand up straight," ordered Sirius, sounding impatient. "Now, what are you up to?"
"Kreacher is cleaning," the house-elf claimed. "Kreacher lives to serve the Noble House of Black—"
"And it's getting blacker every day, since it's filthy," responded Sirius.
"Master always like his little joke," said Kreacher, bowing again and muttered, "Master was a nasty ungrateful swine who broke his mother's heart—"
"My mother didn't have a heart, Kreacher," snapped Sirius, "She kept herself alive out of pure spite."
Kreacher bowed once more as he spoke, "Whatever Master says." He sounded furious as he muttered, "Master is not fit to wipe slime from his mother's boots, oh, my poor mistress, what would she say if she saw Kreacher serving him, how she hated him, what a disappointment he was—"
"I asked you what you were up to," interrupted Sirius in a cold tone. "Every time you show up pretending to be cleaning, you sneak something off to your room so we can't throw it out."
"Kreacher would never move anything from its proper place in Master's house," said the elf and muttered, "Mistress would never forgive Kreacher if the tapestry was thrown out, seven centuries it's been in the family, Kreacher must save it, Kreacher will not let Master and the blood traitors and the brats destroy it—"
"I thought it might be that," said Sirius, looking disdainfully at the opposite wall where the tapestry hung. "She'll have put another Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of it, I don't doubt, but if I can get rid of it, I certainly will." He looked at the elf, "Now go away, Kreacher."
As Kreacher shuffled past Sirius, the elf gave the man a look of pure loathing and muttered, "—comes back from Azkaban ordering Kreacher around, oh, my poor mistress, what would she say if she saw the house now, scum living in it, her treasures thrown out, she swore he was no son of hers and he's back, they say he's a murderer too—"
"Keep muttering and I will be a murderer!" interrupted Sirius sounding irritated. He slammed the door shut on the elf.
"Sirius, he's not right in the head," Hermione pleaded, "I don't think he realises we can hear him."
"He's been alone too long," explained Sirius, "taking mad orders from my mother's portrait and talking to himself, but he's always a foul little—"
"If you could just set him free," replied Hermione hopefully, "Maybe—"
"We can't set him free," interrupted Sirius, "He knows too much about the Order. And anyway, the shock would kill him. You suggest to him that he leaves this house, see how he takes it." He walked to the tapestry that Kreacher wanted to protect. Hailey, Hermione, and the Weasleys followed after him.
The tapestry looked very old because it was faded and had little teeth marks like the doxys chewed on it. The golden thread however still glinted brightly enough to show a sprawling family tree. From what Hailey could see, there were names that went as back as the Middle Ages. Large words at the top of the tapestry said:
THE NOBLE AND MOST ANCIENT HOUSE OF BLACK
"TOURJOURS PUR"
Hailey looked at the bottom of the tapestry, looking for Sirius's name, but couldn't find it, except for what looked like a small, round, charred hole, like it was burnt by a cigarette. "Hey, how come your name's not on here?"
"It is," Sirius said, pointing at the burn. "My sweet old mother blasted me off after I ran away from home—Kreacher's quite fond of muttering the story under his breath."
Hailey was confused, "You ran away from home?"
"When I was about sixteen," replied Sirius, "I'd had enough."
"Where did you go?" asked Hailey.
"Your dad's place," said Sirius. "Your grandparents were really good about it; they sort of adopted me as a second son. Yeah, I camped out at your dad's during the school holidays, and then when I was seventeen, I got a place of own. My uncle Alphard had left me a decent bit of gold—he's been wiped off here too, that's probably why—anyway, after that, I looked after myself. I was always welcome at Mr and Mrs Potter's for Sunday lunch, though."
"So, why did you…?" Hailey started, not sure how to phrase her question without sounding like she was prying or being insensitive.
"Leave?" finished Sirius. He smiled bitterly and ran his fingers through his long, unkempt hair. "It was because I hated the whole lot of them; my parents with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal…my idiot brother, soft enough to believe them…that's him." He pointed at the very bottom at the name: 'Regulus Black'. His date of death dated back fifteen years.
Hailey was surprised to see that he died at eighteen. "He died young."
"He joined the Death Eaters," Sirius replied and muttered, "Stupid idiot."
"He did?" asked Hailey surprised.
"Haven't you seen enough of this house to tell what kind of wizards my family were?" asked Sirius in a testy tone.
"Were—were your parents Death Eaters as well?" asked Hailey.
"No, no, but believe me, they thought Voldemort had the right idea, they were all for the purification of the wizarding race, getting rid of Muggle-borns and having pure-bloods in charge. They weren't alone, either, there were quite a few people, before Voldemort showed his true colours, who thought he had the right idea about things…They got cold feet when they saw what he was prepared to do to get power, though. But I bet my parents thought Regulus was a right little hero for joining up at first."
"How did he die? Was he killed by an Auror?" Hailey asked.
"Oh, no," replied Sirius. "No, he was murdered by Voldemort. Or on Voldemort's orders, more likely. I doubt Regulus was ever important enough to be killed by Voldemort in person. From what I found out after he died, he got in so far, then panicked about what he was being asked to do and tried to back out. Well, you don't just hand in your resignation to Voldemort. It's a lifetime of service or death."
Hailey shivered at the story. She felt a slight pang of sympathy for Regulus. He probably wouldn't turn out so bad if he had been raised in a family that wasn't full of Dark wizards. Granted, Sirius turned out fine with the family he had.
"Lunch," called Mrs Weasley. She had her wand out, balancing a huge tray that was loaded with sandwiches and cakes. She was red in the face and still looked angry. The other moved to Mrs Weasely, eager for food but Hailey stood by Sirius, who looked closely at the tapestry.
"I haven't looked at this for years," Sirius said. He pointed at Phineas Nigellus, who was his great-great-grandfather. Sirius told Hailey that Phineas Nigellus was a headmaster of Hogwarts and was the least popular. He pointed at Araminta Meliflua's, with Sirius explaining that she was his mother's cousin, who made and failed to make a Ministry Bill that made Muggle-hunting legal. He pointed at Elladora's name and explained that she was his aunt and started the family tradition of beheading house-elves when they got too old to carry tea trays.
"Of course, any time the family produced someone halfway decent, they were disowned," Sirius explained to Hailey and looked at the tapestry. "I see Tonks isn't on here. Maybe that's why Kreacher won't take orders from her—he's supposed to do whatever anyone in the family asks him…"
Hailey was surprised, "You and Tonks are related?"
"Oh, yeah," Sirius said. "Her mother, Andromeda, was my favourite cousin." He examined the tapestry again. "No, Andromeda's not on here either, look."
He pointed at the round burn marks between two names, Bellatrix and Narcissa. "Andromeda's sisters are still here because they made lovely, respectable pure-blood marriages, but Andromeda married a Muggle-born, Ted Tonks, so—" He mimed waving a wand at the tapestry and laughed in a sour way.
Hailey was staring at the names where Narcissa and Bellatrix's names were at. A line of gold had linked Narcissa's name with Lucius Malfoy's. A single vertical gold line from the two names led down to the name Draco.
"You're related to the Malfoys?" asked Hailey in disbelief.
"The pure-blood families are all interrelated," explained Sirius. "If you're only going to let your sons and daughters marry pure-bloods our choice is very limited; there are hardly any of us left. Molly and I are cousins by marriage and Arthur's something like my second cousin once removed. But there's no point looking for them on here—if there was ever a family that was a bunch of blood traitors it's the Weaselys."
Hailey looked at the name: Bellatrix Black, which had a double line of gold thread connected to Rodolphus Lestrange.
"Lestrange…" Hailey mumbled. She remembered the name from somewhere, but she couldn't think where. It made her shiver.
"They're in Azkaban," replied Sirius flatly. Hailey looked at him. "Bellatrix and her husband, Rodolphus came in with Barty Crouch junior," explained Sirius, in the same flat tone. "Rodolphus's brother Rabastan was with them, too."
Hailey suddenly remembered seeing Bellatrix Lestrange inside Dumbledore's Pensieve, a device that thoughts and memories could be stored in. Bellatrix was a tall, dark woman with heavy-lidded eyes. She had stood at her trial and then she proclaimed her continuing allegiance to Lord Voldemort. She had been proud that she tried to find him after his downfall and she was sure that she would one day be rewarded for her never-ending loyalty.
"She's your cousin?" asked Hailey, bewildered at the idea.
"As far as I'm concerned, they're not my family. She's certainly not my family. I haven't seen her since I was your age, unless you count a glimpse of her coming into Azkaban," Sirius said bitterly.
"Oh," Hailey said. "I understand."
Sirius turned away from the tapestry, his hands deep in his pockets. "I don't like being back here." He stared across the drawing room. "I never thought I'd be stuck in this house again."
Hailey knew the feeling, and knew that's how she would feel if she left number four, Privet Drive, only to return and live there again.
"It's ideal for headquarters, of course," Sirius said. He explained how his dad put every security measure known to wizardkind on it when his dad lived there. Apparently the house was unplottable so Muggles can never come by or call and Dumbledore had added his own protection, so Hailey would find it difficulty to find a safer house. Since Dumbledore was the Secret-Keeper for the Order, nobody can find Headquarters unless Dumbledore told them were it was. He told Hailey that the note Moody gave to her was from Dumbledore. Sirius gave a short laugh, "If my parents could see the use their house was being put to, now…well, my mother's portrait should give you some idea." He scowled and sighted, "I wouldn't mind if I could just get out occasionally and do something useful. I've asked Dumbledore whether I can escort you to your hearing—as Snuffles, obviously—so I can give you a bit of moral support, what d'you think."
Hailey felt a sickening sense of dread, because she hadn't thought about the hearing since dinner the previous evening. In the excitement of being back with her friends and everything that was going on with the Order, she forgot about it.
She looked at Hermione and the Weaselys, eating their sandwiches and wondered how she would feel if they went back to Hogwarts without her. She wondered who Michael would end up dating if she wasn't there. He would probably end up with Ginny and then move on to Cho Chang.
"Don't worry," said Sirius. Hailey looked at him and realised that Sirius had been watching her. "I'm sure they'll clear you because there's definitely something in the International Statute of Secrecy about being allowed to use magic to save your own life."
"If they end up expelling me, can I come and live with you?" Hailey whispered to him.
Sirius gave her a sad smile, "We'll see."
"Knowing that I don't have to go back to the Durselys' would make me feel a lot better about the hearing," Hailey said.
"They must be terrible if you like this place," said Sirius in a gloomy manner.
"Hurry up you two, or there won't be any food left," Mrs Weasley called to them.
Sirius gave a big sigh, gave a dark look at the tapestry, and the two went to join the others at the tray of sandwiches.
After eating lunch, Hailey found herself emptying the glass-fronted cabinets. It took a lot of concentration because many of the objects didn't want to leave the dusty shelves. Sirius had gotten bit by a silver snuffbox and his hand had gotten a very unpleasant crusty covering like it was a tough brown glove, which he examined with interest. "It's okay." He tapped his hand lightly with his wand, "Wartcap powder must be in there." His skin returned to normal and he threw the snuffbox in the sack that held the other items from the cabinets.
A few minutes later, Hailey saw George wrap up his own hand carefully in a cloth and sneak the snuffbox in his doxy-filled pocket.
They found a silver instrument that looked like a many-legged pair of tweezers, which scuttled up Hailey's arm like a spider when she picked it up. It attempted to stab her and Sirius smashed the thing with a book that was titled: Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy.
There was a musical box that played a faint sinister, tinkling tune when wound, which made everyone become weak and sleepy, until Ginny slammed the lid shut. There was a heavy locket that couldn't be open, and there was a number of ancient seals that Hailey couldn't help but think that Michael would've loved looking at. There was dusty box that had an Order of Merlin, First Class which had been awarded to Sirius's grandfather for 'services to the Ministry.'
"It means that he gave them a load of gold," said Sirius in a contempt tone, and threw the medal in the rubbish sack.
When they were cleaning, Kreacher came into the room and tried smuggling things away under the loincloth and muttered horrible curses when they caught him.
Sirius had retrieved the golden ring that had the Black crest on it from Kreacher, the elf burst into tears, and left the room sobbing and calling Sirius names that Hailey never heard before.
"It was my father's," stated Sirius, throwing the ring in the sack. "Kreacher wasn't quite as devoted to him as to my mother, but I still caught him snogging a pair of my father's old trousers last week."
Hailey shuddered at the mental image. That was going to end up in her nightmare along with that horrid floral wallpaper.
It took three days for the drawing room to be decontaminated. The only undesirable thing that was left in it was the Black Family Tree tapestry, which resisted all their attempts to remove it and the rattling writing desk Moody hadn't dropped by, so they couldn't be sure what was inside it.
Mrs Weasley had moved them from the drawing room to a dining room that was on the ground floor. In the dresser, they had found saucer-sized spiders, which caused Ron to leave the room to make a cup of tea and returned an hour and a half later.
The china had the Black crest and motto on it, was thrown into a sack by Sirius. A set of old photographs in tarnished silver frame met the same fate as the china. The people in the photograph screamed shrilly as the glass smashed.
It felt more like waging war on the house instead of, in Snape's word, cleaning it. The house seemed to put up a fight with was helped by Kreacher. The elf kept appearing wherever they met up, muttering more and more offensive words as he attempted to grab anything he can from the rubbish sacks.
Sirius ended up having to threaten Kreacher with clothes, but Kreacher gave him a watery stare and said, "Master must do as Master wishes," and when he turned away, muttered loudly, "But Master will not turn Kreacher away, no, because Kreacher knows what they are up to, oh yes, he is plotting against the Dark Lord, yes, with these Mudbloods and traitors and scum…"
That resulted in Sirius grabbing Kreacher by the back of the loincloth and threw him from the room, to which Hermione protested over.
It seemed like the doorbell rang several times a day, which meant that Sirius's mother shrieked repeatedly. Hailey and the others attempted to eavesdrop on the visitor, though they got very little from the brief glimpses and snatches of conversation. They were able to sneak off before Mrs Weasley had them return to the tasks.
Snape had dropped by several more times, and Hailey was relieved to never come face-to-face with him. Hailey had seen the Transfiguartion teacher, Professor McGonagall, who looked odd wearing a Muggle dress and coat, but she seemed busy to stay. Sometimes the visitors stayed to help. Tonks had joined them and found a murderous ghoul lurking around in an upstairs toilet. Lupin stayed in the house with Sirius, but left for long periods of time to do mysterious work for the Order, helped them repair a grandfather clock. The clock had developed the unpleasant habit of shooting heavy bolts at people who walked by.
Mundungus had rescued Ron from an ancient looking set of purple robes that tried to strangle him when Ron removed them from a wardrobe. That incident had redeemed Mundungus slightly in Mrs Weasely's eyes.
Colton Taylor, a fourteen-year-old Ravenclaw, who was bespectacled, sandy-haired Scottish boy who wore kilts and his mother, Candace, had dropped by. From what Hailey was told, Colton's mother was a dueling champion, who dueled for fun. She supposed that it made sense for Candace to be a part of the Order. Colton didn't know what was going on in the meetings, but he did help them clean as Ginny asked what Colton's best friend, Luna Lovegood, and what Neville, Colton's cousin, were doing. Apparently Neville celebrated his birthday and got some type of rare plant that his Great-Uncle Algie had gotten for him. Colton had been a victim of some prank box that spat out green dye, which ended up making his hair stick up. He found it hilarious and Hailey had seen Fred pocket the prank box.
Hailey was still having dreams about corridors and locked doors, which made her scar prickle. Despite the terrible sleep, she was having fun for the first time in the summer. As long as she was busy, she was happy. However, it abated, or whenever she stopped cleaning, or when she was lying in bed, the thought of the approaching Ministry hearing kept returning to her. She was feeling fearful over it, because she wondered what was going to happen to her if she was expelled, so she kept it to herself.
What didn't help was seeing Ron and Hermione, who seemed to whisper to each other and seemed to give her anxious looks at her. Sometimes she couldn't stop picturing a faceless Ministry official from snapping her wand in two and ordering her to back to the Dursleys'…but she wouldn't go back to them. She was determined on that. She would come back to Grimmauld Place and live with Sirius.
On Wednesday evening, Mrs Weasley had turned to Hailey and told her, "I've ironed your best clothes for tomorrow morning, Hailey. I want you to brush your hair. A good first impression can work wonders."
Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny stopped talking and looked over at Hailey.
Hailey nodded and tried to keep eating, but her mouth seemed to become so dry, she couldn't chew. In an unconcerned tone, she asked Mrs Weasley, "How am I supposed to get there?"
"Arthur's taking you to work with him," said Mrs Weasley.
Hailey looked at Mr Weasley, who smiled at her from across the table and said, "You can wait in my office until it's time for the hearing."
Hailey looked at Sirius and Mrs Weasley said, "Professor Dumbledore doesn't think it's a good idea for Sirius to go with you, and I must say I—"
"Think he's quite right," finished Sirius through clenched teeth.
Mrs Weasley pursed her lips. Hailey was confused and asked, "When did Dumbledore tell you that?"
"He came last night, when you were in bed," responded Mr Weasely.
Hailey looked down too her plate feeling dejected. Dumbledore had been in the house last night, but he didn't come to see her, which made her feel worse. She muttered, "Oh."
A/N: Hailey thinking that if she got expelled Michael would end up dating Ginny and then Cho is a reference to the books about him dating them.