Flushed with the success of their escape and having returned to the burrow unnoticed by the sleeping residents upstairs, Fred and George sat on the sofa in the living room with identical grins. They were closely followed by Ron who slumped into the chair opposite them and immediately set to work on the images his omnoculars had recorded. Hermione took the last chair as Ginny skulked by the door looking drained.
"Well" said Fred, looking around happily at everyone in the room "That was fun!"
"We didn't find anything though" said Ginny
"Same time tomorrow then?" asked George brightly
"There's no need" Ron said as he stared into his omnioculars looking serious.
"What do you mean?"
Ron looked up at Ginny
"That picture you said you saw, on the painting before the old man disappeared on us…"
"It wasn't there" Ginny said slowly, sounding both dubious and slightly hopeful "All I could see were some weird black clouds."
Ron shook his head
"Look again." He said, offering her the omnioculars. "Just don't touch any of the buttons. Alright?"
She walked over and took them from him nervously.
"Ha! I knew it!" Ginny almost shouted, as she looked through the eyepieces "I knew I'd seen something there!"
Her smile faded slightly
"…What am I looking at exactly? It's too dark… are those feet?"
Ron smiled
"Looks like he's lying on a bed," he said smugly, "look further up; I know I recognise that hair. There's a table on the side, see the glasses…"
"Oh my…" Ginny breathed, her face caught between a frown and a smile.
She passed the omnioculars to Hermione who lifted them up and peered gingerly inside.
Hermione found herself staring at Harry as though she was looking through a window of a very dark room. He didn't appear to be asleep, instead he looked deep in thought, his head resting on his arms as his eyes stared at a fixed point on the ceiling.
It felt strange. Hermione thought it would have been harder than this; it seemed too good to be true that they would find this sort of evidence so quickly. Was it too much to hope that he was just over that hill?
"We have to tell Dumbledore" Hermione said finally as she emerged from behind the omnioculars.
Ron grinned, misinterpreting the worried tone in her voice.
"We found him Hermione!" he said
"That's all well and good" Hermione began, passing the omnoculars to Fred and ringing her hands "But that's not exactly conclusive proof that he's there."
"Hermione!" Ron said looking increasingly crestfallen "Wha… we…"
"We must get this information to Dumbledore as soon as possible" Hermione said in an effort to gain a solid sense of purpose.
Ron leant forwards, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands, looking sullen and depressed.
"Well, I got something on here that might help" said Fred, passing the omniculars Hermione had given him to George and handing his own pair to Hermione.
"What is it?" Hermione asked "What did you see?"
"Watch and you'll find out. You ready?"
Hermione nodded.
Fred pressed a button on the side of the omnoculars and the room went still as Hermione watched, her frown deepening with each second.
Once it had finished Hermione sat upright and looked at Fred.
"So there really was a secret door!"
"Yup" said Fred simply
George stood up and took the omnioculars from Fred, deliberately bypassing Ginny and giving them to Ron who had been watching Hermione hopefully.
"Just press 'replay'." George instructed.
Ron watched as the scene in the Baronte house living room repalyed before his eyes, though seen from a different angle. He watched as the old man pulled the portrait swifty onto its side and a door was relealed in the wall beside it. After the old man had entered, the door disappeared and became a solid wall again. The image then zoomed in on the small golden plaque on the bottom of the picture frame. Ron looked up confused
"Who's Emily?" He asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Hermione said, sounding unfairly patronising.
"Can I see?" Ginny asked eagerly asked
George looked horrified at the thought.
"As long as you don't touch any of the buttons!" He said quickly.
Ginny folded her arms but made no protest. She accepted the omnioculars gracefully, as George pressed the replay button for her.
Then, as though only just realising the lateness of the hour, George stretched and yawned loudly.
"We'd better be heading back to the shop" he said
"Hey, have you still got my omnioculars?" Ron asked sounding anxious.
He couldn't quite explain why, but Ron suddenly remembered that it was Harry who had bought them for him, and this seemed important.
George walked over to his bag, reached inside and pulled them out. He looked at them appraisingly.
"I could fix them for you?" He said, a slight mischievous glint in his eye
"No!" Ron blurted "No I..I'll get dad to fix them later."
"Suit yourself" said George with a shrug as he turned and placed them on the sofa behind him.
"Hang on!" Said Ginny, still glued to her omniocuulars "You can take these with you if you wait a couple of minutes"
"Don't worry about it Gin," said Fred, rising from the sofa to join his brother
"Yeah, we'll just pick them up tomorrow when we visit" George added as he swung his backpack over his shoulder.
"Best get back into your rooms before mum finds you."
"And remember: we were never here!"
"Goodnight then." Hermione said
"Yeah, see ya." Ron said vaguely as he got up and headed towards the sofa
The twins made their way silently out of the living room and through the kitchen towards the back door. As they stepped out into the fresh night air they froze suddenly as the distictive sound of footsteps could be heard ahead of them. As the steady crunch of gravel neared, Fred and George peered anxiously ahead of them their wands at the ready. Slowly a tall figure emerged through the gloom striding purposefully towards them. The faint light from the living room window highlighted the man's long white beard as he neared the house, and glinted off his half moon spectacles.
Albus Dumbledore had just arrived at the Burrow.
