A great number of people often came through the house, which had been made headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. It's how I met people like Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt and the real Mad-Eye Moody. Dumbledore was also a frequent visitor, discussing with his trusted circle in secret meetings that none of the rest of us were allowed to participate in. Fred and George were determined to listen in, however, as they like I was, was old enough to be able to take part in whatever they were doing, however we had been promptly barred from the meetings. Molly refused the twins on the basis that they were only just of age, and even though my dad had been willing to let me join in, Dumbledore had suggested that now was not quite the time.

In actual fact, I was rather annoyed with Dumbledore. He'd strictly told all of us that whenever we wrote to Harry we were to reveal nothing of where we were, what we were doing or anything that was going on in the outside world. He wanted to keep him in the dark so that he wouldn't worry. I disagreed. Dumbledore was trying to shelter Harry, but Harry didn't need to be protected like that, he'd already gone through too much to now hear nothing all summer. I could only imagine how crazy it would make me feel not knowing, and dad agreed with me so we kept it secret that I wrote to Harry.

We communicated through letters which I sent with Orion, disguising them cleverly so that they would only reveal their true contents when Harry touched them. I told him as much as I could without giving any names or locations, just in case the letters fell into the wrong hands, but I wanted to do something to reassure him that he hadn't be forgotten, that we were working on getting him away from the Dursleys as soon as possible.

Harry

I can't give too many details, I hope you'll understand why, because if this falls into Voldemort's hands, it could put many of us in danger, Sirius and myself included. However, rest assured that you will be out of that house as soon as it can be arranged. We need to make sure that you won't be attacked the moment you leave. Just try and bear with it a little longer. If it takes too long, I'll come and fetch you myself, rules be damned.

Things are getting bad out here, there have been several more disappearances and suspicious deaths, but the Ministry is covering it all up the best they can. I suppose you're probably reading the Daily Prophet to try and find anything, but you won't. They've got the newspapers tightly under their thumb now, they're only printing what they want. Fudge still refuses to believe us about Voldemort, so he's making it all seem like an accident or just not mentioning it at all.

Write to me with any questions and I'll do my best to answer them. Keep me updated on how those Dursleys are treating you, tell them to feed you properly or I'll be turning up on their doorstep and turning them all into food for you to eat. That would show them, right Harry? I miss you, it doesn't feel the same without you around now. Hopefully it won't be too long until we see each other, and once we're face to face, I can tell you anything and everything you want to know. Until then, take care of yourself.

Yours affectionately,
Mia.

Harry quickly responded with a letter from Hedwig, writing back to me with clear frustration at the fact he was completely isolated from everyone else.

Dear Mia

It sounds like you are with Ron and Hermione. Are you at the Burrow? They're not answering any of the questions I ask them, it's getting really difficult not to just ignore them altogether, but if I do that I'd lose more of my connection to our world and it would feel all the more unbearable here. The weather is good, so that's something. You're right about the newspapers, they're not saying anything about what Voldemort's up to, do you know if he has any plans? Have anyone we know been hurt or taken? Are you and Sirius safe? I understand why you can't go into details, and I appreciate that you're the only one who'll tell me the truth. You don't have to give specifics, just enough that I know you're all alright.

The Dursleys are treating me the same as always, mostly they don't talk to me which is kind of a relief, I don't really fancy talking to them either. I try listening to the muggle news, but not much has been on there either, though my uncle doesn't see why I'd want to listen to it seeing as it's nothing to do with 'our' lot, as he calls it. A really charming fellow. I'd love to see you turn up on the doorstep, it would give me a good laugh anyway to see their faces, just don't go turning them into food for me to eat, I'd probably be sick.

Keep in touch, I want to know what's happening out there, and promise I won't have to spend the entire summer here. Otherwise, I'll be jumping on the Knightbus and making my way to the Leaky Cauldron. I miss you too, say hello to Sirius for me.

Harry.

Sighing softly, I showed the letter privately to dad and Uncle Remus so that we could discuss it. Dad wanted to go get him immediately but Remus talked him down. "It's not safe to move him yet. We don't know if Voldemort knows where he is. He could have someone watching the house waiting for him to leave."

"Harry doesn't stay inside though, does he? That's why we've got our people watching him!" Dad argued and Remus made a quick look at me, but I waved my hand casually.

"I already know there's a protection detail on Harry. Dad told me. I offered to help, but Dumbledore said it would be best if I didn't, probably knew I'd walk straight up to Harry and pull him out of there."

"Exactly, Dumbledore doesn't want him moved yet." Remus said, giving us both stern looks. "Quite frankly, I'm not too sure you should be telling him as much as you are, Mia. Dumbledore…"

"Is under the delusion that Harry is still a child." I reasoned frankly, sitting up and pulling my feet off the table. "Sure he's underage, but he's gone through too much to be kept in the dark about all this. Can't you hear how upset he is in this letter, Uncle Rem? He feels isolated, abandoned, I don't want him to feel like that. Isn't there anything we can do to speed things up? If we talked to Dumbledore, showed him the letter, I'm sure he would understand."

"I'm not sure that he would." Uncle Remus said uncertainly, frowning slightly. I could tell that this was difficult for him too. Harry was one of us, he was family. It didn't feel right that he was hundreds of miles away and out of our reach.

"We'll give it time." Dad decided finally, placing his hand over the letter that was spread out in front of us then moved it across the table towards me. "You keep his spirits up, Mia. I trust that you won't give away vital information, but Harry needs to know that we're not forgetting about him. I'll talk to Dumbledore when he next comes round, see if we can persuade him to bring Harry right now. If not…then we'll get to that later." We agreed, keeping it between ourselves and it was a good thing we reached a decision then, because next thing we knew, Molly came bursting in with a feather duster, apron and a cloth wrapped over her head.

"There you are! Come on now, there's work to be done! Mia dear, I thought we could start on your room this morning, it really is in quite a state…" And so we were pulled back into cleaning the house, our discussion now firmly put behind us. Fred and George decided to help me with my room, though I think it was mostly so that they could escape their mother and work on their newest invention. Extendable Ears.

"Haven't you got it working yet?" I asked as I waved my wand leisurely, getting rid of as much mould and grime as possible before then handling the rest with cleaning products that Kreacher had provided for me. He disliked everyone else in the house, but we got along well enough together. I don't think he approved of the company I mixed with, and he hated dad, but since his old mistress had taken a liking to me and because I was a Black, he took requests from me a lot more willingly than he did dad's.

"Almost, it's not as easy as you might think, you know." George said to me as I took a break in order to come over and watch them work. "You'll be glad for the patience though, once they're working we can hear exactly what's being discussed in those meetings. I don't like being kept out of the loop when interesting things are happening."

"You call Voldemort being back interesting?" Almost in sync they both shuddered and looked at me, looking a little guilty.

"George didn't mean that, Mia." Fred said tentatively, reaching out to touch my arm. "You know, you've never really talked about what happened. You sure you don't want to let off some steam?" I relaxed a little and smiled, assuring them that I was fine.

"I mean, after facing a dragon, a lake full of aquatic monsters whilst trying to rescue Ginny, a maze full of more monsters which mostly wanted to eat me…facing Voldemort really wasn't that bad." I joked lightly, poking one of the ears as it twitched then went still. "It's this quiet period that has me on edge. We don't know where he is or what he's planning. I wish they'd just let us help. There's plenty we can do. We're not children anymore." Both the twins agreed, putting down their project for a moment so that we were all facing each other.

I felt a little guilty towards them. Last year I hadn't really spent much time with them at all and I worried that they felt I was pulling away from them. I thought maybe our friendship might have been stretched too thin, but the moment they were allowed to visit, they'd both come storming into the hospital wing and promptly refused to leave my side even when Madam Pomfrey tried to shoo them out. They'd stayed with me, both whilst awake and asleep, not once leaving their seats until I was fully awake once more where I'd cried privately into their shoulders and they didn't tease me once. Just held me until I'd got it all out of my system and felt a thousand times better. That's when I'd given them my earnings, having promised to give it to them if I won the stupid tournament, though they'd tried to refuse it.

Coincidentally, Harry also gave his earnings to them, saying he didn't want it as he associated winning with Voldemort coming back. He decided to invest, as I had, in a future full of laughs and jokes. My share had bought me a promise of a great deal of profit, and as I continued to help them both design new merchandise, they informed me that once they started selling, I'd be receiving a cut from every purchase though I tried to refuse. They wouldn't hear of it, telling me not to be stupid as they wouldn't be able to even get their shop off the ground without Harry and me, so I'd take back what I'd earned or they'd use me as a test subject until I agreed.

Still having feather shaped patterns on the back of my neck like feathery birthmarks, I quickly agreed. There was no way I was going to be a test subject again. "Yeah, it is a little unnerving." George was saying, agreeing with my previous statement as my mind had started to wonder. "But so long as he's quiet, there's no more deaths happening, right? You and Harry got lucky last time, maybe he's taking some time to re-evaluate his life."

"Or maybe he's suddenly come to realise what a total and utter prat he is and has decided to dedicate the rest of his life to doing good. I can totally see him giving alms to the poor." Fred continued, making me chuckle. Looking up at my ceiling, I was suddenly struck by a moment of inspiration, strangely having thought of the ceiling in the Great Hall of Hogwarts and so, with a wave of my wand and a quiet murmur, great clouds began to rise up and float upon the ceiling before turning into a brilliant cosmos of stars and nebulas. Even though it was daylight outside, my ceiling was filled with a beautiful scene of space which domed around my ceiling with a circular gap where my window was to allow the light to flood downwards.

"Whatever he's up to, he won't be able to hide forever. Eventually he'll have to show himself, or he'll slip up, then everybody will know that he's back. Fudge will look like a moron and someone more competent will take his place as Minister of Magic." I said confidently, standing upright as the twins both looked at me. "So long as we stick together, he won't be able to hurt us. We'll get your shop off the ground, we'll make a fortune in the first quarter, then you'll finally be able to say 'we told you so' to your mother." They both grinned.

"Now that would be a dream come true."

"Someone will have to photograph the evidence. I'll want a souvenir of that moment." Now with lighter spirits, I continued cleaning and berated the boys for not helping me until Ginny showed up, where she scolded them for making me do all the work where they smartly pointed out it was my room, so I should clean it. Throwing a dusty cloth at the back of their heads, Ginny laughed then started to help me scrub, the twins begrudgingly stopping with their tinkering in order to scrub away with us until by dinnertime, my room was finally clean. There were just a few things to deal with, such as creatures living in the curtains and in the wardrobe, but we left them for another day.

I'd already used magic to repair the bed and upholstery, repairing the floorboards and the walls so that everything looked as new as the day it had been built. My grand bed was so huge that it could fit at least five of us in it comfortably, with shimmering gold curtains and silk cushions scattered upon it and real roses growing up the four posters. Once the floorboards had been waxed and polished, the walls stripped of the old wallpaper and replaced with brand new rolls which created a moving mural once fixed to the wall, I could flick my wand and change the scenery whenever I wanted. Mostly I had it on a forest scene which actually gave off the scent of fresh pine and moist earth after rain, reminding me of the grounds at Hogwarts. Dad loved it all, laughing when he'd entered my room for the first time after originally showing it to me to see such a grand and drastic difference.

There was even a live tree growing in the corner of my room which had a hole for Orion to nest in, making him very happy. The roots disappeared into the ground with the branches spread outwards, the oak vanishing into the ceiling where my constant starry night sky swirled and moved with lifelike mimicry of what was happening way above our heads. The old furniture had been moved out, replaced with those from my mother's house with all my stuff now spread out. I'd kept the vanity since it really was beautiful, the ornate wood matching the feel of the room and the wardrobe, now critter free, had all of my clothes hung up inside.

"You really went for it, didn't you Mia?" He marvelled as he walked around my room, which was easily twice the size of the dormitory back at Hogwarts. Maybe even bigger still. I'd put in a bookcase which stretched and curved around the wall from Orion's tree to my wardrobe on the far side of the room with all of my books neatly stacked and arranged in alphabetical order. I easily had over a hundred books, it was like my own private library. My favourite reading armchair was there with floating lanterns above it to provide perfect reading light, and the glass chandelier I had found in one of the other rooms now floated under the skylight, the crystals chiming as I had charmed them to make music, a clear, crystalline ringing sound as they all sparkled from the fresh polish I'd given them. "It's incredible."

"Thank you. I don't think I could make it any better. I've always wanted a room like this." I said happily, beaming as I too took it all in. "Now we've just got the rest of the house to do. I can't believe there's over forty rooms. This one took a week all on it's own." Chuckling, dad put his arm around me and started to look through my books to see what kinds of things I was interested in reading. Most of them were academic books, but I had others too. Regular stories, a few muggle novels I had found interesting, especially if they were fictitious and had magic in them, children's stories I'd had since young, all sorts.

Uncle Remus was also impressed with the room when he called up to say that lunch was ready, admiring the décor before we all went down together. Soon we were in a pattern that we couldn't escape from. Molly had us all tackling a room a day, working so hard to clean it that none of us barely had time to think about anything else. I for one was grateful, since I thought less and less about my mother and our argument, and focused instead on preparing for the next stage of my life. This was my final year at Hogwarts, N.E. were fast approaching and on top of that, I still worried about Harry. I hope he can just be a little more patient, it won't be long now until he joins us. Let's just hope nothing goes wrong in the meantime.