Something went wrong.
More accurately, Mundungus Fletcher went wrong. He was on duty, supposedly watching Harry to keep him safe, but he disappeared in order to go get some cauldrons or other, leaving Harry to fend off two dementors that had happened upon him and his cousin in Little Whinging. Dumbledore was furious, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had cowered behind me when we first heard him raise his voice at Fletcher, who trembled and whimpered then looked at us like he wanted to hide behind me too. Dumbeldore's shouting had woken up my grandmother so I'd soothed her, tempting her back to sleep then watched as Dumbledore continued to rage, pacing back and forth. There was no other choice now, Harry had to come. It was quite convenient, really, considering I had written to Harry to tell him if moves weren't taken to get him out of there before a certain date, I was coming to get him. The deadline had been tomorrow, so at least now he'd be coming here with better protection than just myself.
Anyway, dad was a great deal more chipper with the fact Harry was coming. He'd started to struggle being cooped up in the house, unable to go outside or help the Order with anything. Dumbledore didn't want to risk anyone spotting dad and recognising him, seeing as Wormtail has probably already blabbed about everything. In any case, I offered a few times to sneak dad out the house to have some fun, and although I know for a fact he'd have agreed in a heartbeat, he'd give me a sad smile and thank me for the thought, but it was best if he stayed here. Honestly, if he started getting any more miserable, I was going to turn him into a teapot and take him outside regardless.
Still, now that Harry was coming, people were much more animated than usual, particularly Ron and Hermione. I didn't know Harry had even arrived until I heard his voice bellowing about how he'd faced all kinds of challenges and dangers, clearly outraged at how cut off he'd been so I looked up from the floor where I was fiddling with the Extendable Ear, one of Fred and George's most recent inventions, inspecting it closely to check for any flaws when I looked up. "Guess Harry's here." We all looked downwards from the landing where we had been about to use the Ear to try and listen in on the meeting. We must have missed him coming up.
"And he sounds pretty mad." George mused in agreement. We paused for a second before disapparating together, appearing in Ron's room all at the same time with a CRACK which made Hermione jump.
"Stop doing that!"
"Hello Harry, we thought we heard your dulcet tones." George greeted with a grin.
"You don't want to bottle up your anger like that, Harry, let it all out." Fred continued as the three of us stood together. "There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you." Harry blinked at us but then looked at me, so I gave him a cheerful smile and a wave. He was taller and his hair shorter. He really was starting to look like a young man now.
"Although, maybe tone it down a little Harry, you might wake my grandmother and she doesn't like being woken up. She'll out-scream you in a heartbeat." I added cheerfully though he remained standoffish and prickly.
"You three passed your apparition tests, then?" He really did sound grumpy. Can't say I blame him, to be honest. If I were in his place, I'd have probably started breaking things by now.
"It would have taken you thirty seconds longer to walk down the stairs." Ron grumbled at us, annoyed with the fact that we could now do magic at will whilst he still had another two years to go.
"Time is galleons, little brother. Anyway, Harry, you're interfering with reception. Extendable Ears." Fred promptly lifted up the ear that was held on a fleshy coloured string to show everyone. "We're trying to hear what's going on downstairs." Warning us that we should be careful, Ron began to point out that if his mum caught us again, we'd all be in trouble but Fred tittered his tongue with a shake of his head. "It's worth the risk, that's a major meeting they're having." At that moment, Ginny breezed in, looking at Harry brightly with a warm greeting.
"Oh, hello Harry! I thought I heard your voice." She then turned to the three of us. "It's a no-go with the Extendable Ears, she's gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door." Wanting to know how she found out, Ginny smiled again at us. "Tonks told me how to find out. You just chuck stuff at the door and if it can't make contact the door's been imperturbed. I've been flicking dungbombs at it from the top of the stairs and they just soar away from it, so there's no way the Extendable Ears will be able to get under the gap."
"We'll have to think of a way to circumvent that with the next batch." I said to the twins thoughtfully, trying to think off the top of my head what we could do as George sighed with disappointment.
"Shame. I really fancied finding out what old Snape's been up to." This earned a reaction out of Harry, jolting in surprise as his eyes widened.
"Snape?! Is he here?" Well, he's not going to be giving his report in Australia now, is he?
"Yeah, giving a report. Top secret. Hey Mia, think your dad will tell us if we ask him after?"
"Possibly, it'll depend on what it's about. If it's too sensitive then he won't with it being classified and all, otherwise your mother will yell at him again and he's in no hurry to relive that experience. I think she genuinely terrified him the last time." I mused, almost grinning at the memory. I love my dad, but that had been funny as hell. "Anyway, Snape is one of us, so don't look like that Fred." I flicked him as he looked like he'd just eaten one of his own puking pastilles.
"Doesn't stop him from being a git. The way he looks at us when he sees us." Ron pointed out so I rolled my eyes.
"Bill doesn't like him either." Ginny supplied, and I couldn't help but feel like I owed it to Snape to at least defend him a little.
"Look, the only reason I'm standing here is because he saved my life before summer. He's not all bad. He could have claimed ignorance and left me to bleed out." I reasoned and this time, Harry looked at me with alarm. "Oh right, I forgot to tell you. Some of those curses that hit me last year, ordinary magic couldn't close them. You can't heal curse wounds a great deal, but then Snape stepped in and did something. I stopped bleeding and he sealed up the wounds so that I could get them treated in the hospital wing. I would have died if it weren't for him." Harry looked like he couldn't believe it, probably didn't want to believe it, sinking down onto one of the beds as he rubbed his scar.
I wonder if it was hurting him. He'd mentioned it twinging throughout the summer, meaning Voldemort was definitely having strong emotions about something. "Is Bill here?" Harry asked finally, as if deciding that information was more important than shouting about everything for the moment. "I thought he was working in Egypt?"
"He applied for a desk job so he could come home and work for the Order. He says he misses the tombs, but there are compensations." At this, the twins and I all grinned knowingly. Asking what he meant, George promptly continued.
"Remember old Fleur Delacour? She's got a job at Gringotts to 'eemprove 'er Eeenglish'…"
"And Bill's been giving her a lot of private lessons." I swatted them both as they both started to laugh. Fleur was a good friend of mine, we'd written a great deal over the summer as I had with Viktor and a few other students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons.
"Charlie's in the Order too, but he's still in Romania. Dumbledore wants as many foreign wizards brought in as possible, so Charlie's trying to make contacts on his days off."
"Couldn't Percy do that?" Harry questioned without even realising that the name was taboo. We all looked at each other, sharing a mixture of feelings towards that pompous, gutless, faithless prat. Eventually, Ron told Harry not to mention Percy in front of either Mr or Mrs Weasley. "Why not?"
"Because every time Percy's name's mentioned, dad breaks whatever he's holding and mum starts crying." The twins were both angry with their brother, and I was too. It was terrible what he'd done, and after we'd explained to Harry that Percy had been given a promotion into Fudge's own office but when he came home, he'd gotten into an argument with Arthur. A rather nasty one too. I'd been there when it had happened since I'd only been home with my parents a few days before I left them. This was about a week after the start of the holidays. We explained that Percy was being used to spy on the family, that Fudge had been going round the entire Ministry sacking anyone who had any communication with Dumbledore, and that when Arthur said that Fudge had only promoted Percy to use him, Percy had lost it.
I'd never seen Percy actually lose it before. I'd seen him hysteric, I'd seen him mad, I'd seen him angry with the twins, but this had been something else altogether. "He went completely berserk. He said – well, he said loads of terrible stuff. He said he's been having to struggling against dad's lousy reputation ever since he joined the Ministry and that dad's got no ambition and that's why we've always been – you know – not had a lot of money, I mean…" Ron trailed off as Ginny hissed sharply in disgust.
"What?"
"I know." Ron muttered as Harry's jaw dropped in disbelief. "And it got worse. He said dad was an idiot to run around with Dumbledore, that Dumbledore was heading for big trouble and dad was going to go down with him, and that he – Percy – knew where his loyalty lay and it was with the Ministry, and if mum and dad were going to become traitors to the ministry he was going to make sure everyone knew he didn't belong to our family. And he packed his bags the same night and left. He's living here in London now." I grimaced slightly.
"I must have inspired him. Have a big row with the family then storm out. The little prick. I should have hexed him when I had the chance." But I'd been too stunned at the time to even think about grabbing my wand. It was all I could do to try and comfort Molly as she sobbed into me whilst I patted her back until my shirt had been completely soaked through.
"Mum's been in a right state. You know, crying and stuff. She came up to London to try and talk to Percy but he slammed the door in her face. I dunno what he does if he meets dad at work, ignores him, I s'pose."
"But Percy must know Voldemort's back. He's not stupid, he must know your mum and dad wouldn't risk everything without proof." Looking at us all desperately, I really wished we could have agreed with Harry, but as it turns out, Percy really was that thick.
"Yeah, well, your name got dragged into the row." Ron admitted, glancing at Harry briefly. "Percy said the only evidence was yours and Mia's word and…I dunno…he didn't think it was good enough." This made me bristle again. At that point of the row, I had almost stormed across the room and punched Percy myself but the twins had smartly kept me out of it. Ginny had even sat on me to keep me from doing something stupid.
"Percy takes the Daily Prophet seriously." Hermione snorted, rather clear on what she thought of that pile of rubbish. Looking confused, Harry asked us what we were talking about so Hermione looked at him in surprise. "Haven't…haven't you been reading the Daily Prophet?" Indignantly confirming that he had, Hermione rather nervously pressed. "Have you…been reading it thoroughly?" This time, Harry blinked.
"Not cover to cover. If they were going to report anything about Voldemort, it would be headline news, wouldn't it?" I smacked my hand to my face.
"Harry you plonker. If you're going to read the newspaper then read it properly! Not everything important is headline news, you know." I told him with exasperation. "You and I are mentioned at least several times a week. Not always in focus, but we're mentioned. We've become something like a joke to the wizarding community. You're delirious and I'm a total nut-job. We're both considered dangerous to society. There was one article which suggested we both be locked up either in an institution or in Azkaban altogether. It's not pleasant." Grimacing at the thought of it, Harry looked completely stunned.
"But we're not…"
"Well, we know that, don't we?" I reasoned simply, arms now folded as I looked at him. "But if the Minister of Magic and all the newspapers are saying that everything is fine, then that's what people are going to believe. If they say we're dangerous, they'd believe that too. Some people would believe that it's perfectly acceptable to wear a pumpkin for a hat in public so long as the newspaper tells them so." Now Harry was floundering, not knowing what to say. He should have really read those newspapers properly.
"They're writing about you as though you're this deluded, attention seeking person who thinks he's a great tragic hero or something." Hermione said quickly, giving more understanding to the situation. "They keep slipping in snide comments about you. if some far-fetched story appears, they something like; 'a tale worthy of Harry Potter' and if anyone has a funny accident or anything, it's 'let's hope he hasn't got a scar on his forehead or we'll be asked to worship him next'."
"I don't want any worship." Harry quickly put in, like that wasn't already obvious.
"I know you don't, I know Harry, but you see what they're doing? They want to turn you into someone nobody will believe. Fudge is behind it, I'll bet anything. They want wizards on the street to think you're just some stupid boy who's a bit of a joke, who tells ridiculous tall stories because he loves being famous and wants to keep it going." Completely outraged, Harry stuttered for a moment before yelling that Voldemort killed his parents and that was the reason he was famous.
"It's alright Harry, we all know you're not a deluded attention-seeker." I told him brightly, thinking they're attempts to slander us were just hilarious. "You're a real upright kind of guy. Very noble. I mean, it's not your fault Voldemort is a complete nutter, is it? Or that Fudge is a totally brainless ignoramus. Or that pretty much everyone else outside of this house believes the tripe they're served on paper. Really. Don't feel bad." My sarcasm was heavily laced with irritation at the deluded incompetence of others, which probably helped in making Harry feel a little better. However before we could speak anymore we heard footsteps up the stairs, making the twins and I jump up. "Uh oh, got to dash!" Then we disappeared with a pop, leaving the others behind as not to be caught together and with an Extendable Ear by the lovely but otherwise terrifying Mrs Molly Weasley.