MK: My first reviewer! Thanks so much!

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"Minerva, it's not that we have anything against the Order-"

"We're part of it, for heaven's sake-"

"Even if it's for a week or so-"

"But don't you think, that is, in your condition, that you should slow it down a bit?"

            Minerva sighed at the storm of comments that met her ears the minute Rolanda Hooch, Irma Pince, Poppy Pomfrey, and Ellen Sprout entered the kitchen. It seemed they thought she was some sort of glass figurine! Well, that just won't work this time, she thought, and turned to face the four.

"Look, first of all, I realize you have your concerns. But I think I am allowed to leave the house once this summer! Besides, it's not like I'm going alone. Albus is going with me; plus, the Weasley's and Miss Granger will be there. Now stop badgering me," she said, averting her eyes from their rather put out faces, and taking a sip of her tea.

"You not got her convinced yet?" Albus asked, entering the kitchen with his arms full of shopping bags.

"Nah, nothing doing," Ellen sighed, standing to help relieve Albus of his load.

"That's my girl," Albus said, kissing Minerva briefly before setting to the task of putting away the groceries, "Always the stubborn one."

"I'll say," Rolanda said, with a sly grin on her face, "except when it came to you."

"God, she was head-over-heels!" Irma laughed at the memory of Minerva, sitting in her flat in Hogsmeade, grinning like an idiot after a day with Albus all those years ago.

"Well, how long have you lot been married then?" Poppy asked, as Albus put away a loaf of bread.

"Forty years," Albus and Minerva replied in unison. Ellen laughed.

"Lord, I don't think I could stand you for that long," she said, looking pointedly at Albus.

"Yeah, well, I don't think I could stand you for that long either."

"HEY!"

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            Harry closed the lid to his trunk and turned, surveying his room to check he hadn't left anything behind. He was quite sure he hadn't, but this was the only way he could put off the moment he had to tell Uncle Vernon that a whack of witches and wizards were due to arrive at Privet Drive in ten minutes; Harry wasn't too concerned, Uncle Vernon had received a good enough threat from Mad-Eye Moody to keep him as far away from Harry as he could get.

            Sighing in defeat, Harry checked his reflection one last time in the wardrobe mirror; stop stalling, he thought, and went downstairs and into the living room.

            All three Dursleys sat, the window open, in hopes of catching a non-existent breeze in the heat wave Little Whinging was in the middle of.

"Um, Uncle Vernon?"

            Vernon grunted in response. Harry continued,

"Um, well, you see, my er- godfather died a few weeks ago-"

"That means what to me?" Vernon said, rather nastily, over the top of his newspaper.

            Before Harry could answer, Aunt Petunia cut in.

"Not- oh what was his name- Sirius Black, was it?" she asked quietly, determined not to look at her shocked husband and son.

"Uh, yeah actually," Harry replied, staring at her.

"Pity. He was quite funny," she whispered.

"And how would you know that?!" Vernon sputtered, his face turning, as it so often did these days, a nasty shade of purple.

"He was at her wedding," Aunt Petunia replied. She stood and exited the room. Uncle Vernon and Harry stared after her before a terrified yelp from Dudley alerted them.

"Wotcher, Harry!"

            Harry tuned, grinning, to face the smaller version of the Guard; which now consisted of Mad-Eye Moody, Remus Lupin, Emmeline Vance, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Nymphadora Tonks.

"And who are these-these- people?" Uncle Vernon demanded, his face reddening as he recognized Moody. Harry seriously doubted he could recognize Tonks-as she so preferred to be called- for she was a Metamorphmagus, and could change her appearance at will; today her hair was long, and was colored red, blue, pink, and green to match her robes.

"Alastor Moody," Moody said, extending a gnarled hand toward Uncle Vernon. With much hesitation, he took it. "This here's Remus Lupin, Emmeline Vance, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Nymphadora Tonks."

"How many times, Mad-Eye?! Call-me-Tonks!" Tonks said, reminding Harry of her temper at being called by her first name the last time Moody had done introductions.

"Nymphadora," Emmeline Vance had spoken. She had graying hair that still held a strong presence of the red it had once been, and a rather stern voice. Tonks scowled. "Why don't you take Mr. Potter upstairs and gather his things?"

            Tonks said nothing, but lead Harry all the way back up to his bedroom without so much as muttering a word, but Harry noticed her oddly colored hair had now become and angry shade of red.

"I hate it when she calls me that. She bloody well knows it bugs the hell out of me," she fumed, shrinking Harry's trunk, "At least her sister's nicer than that, and that's what counts."

"Who's her sister?" Harry asked, picking up Hedwig's cage and starting out after Tonks.

"Minerva McGonagall," Tonks said, her hair returning to its multi-colored mop.

"Not-not- Professor McGonagall?!" Harry asked, stopping dead.

"Oh, come on, Harry! Surely you didn't think the Professors have no lives away from teaching?"

            Harry didn't say anything for a moment, but started walking again, this time slower, desperate for more information.

"Well, no, but- how come they didn't keep their maiden names?" Harry asked, causing Tonks to slow down.

"Because," she said, dropping her voice as they neared the sitting room, "Emmeline's a widow, married Charlie Vance when she was twenty. He died in the field."

"And what about Professor McGonagall?"

"She's still married," Tonks said simply, speeding up.

"To who?" Harry asked, just about to turn into the room.

"Secret. If I told you," she looked at him, blue eyes sparkling, "I'd have to kill you. I certainly don't want to have to do that!"

            Tonks entered the tension filled room, Harry on her heels, wanting more than anything to tell Ron and Hermione what he'd found out.

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            Hermione Granger lay flat on her back, staring at the ceiling of the room she and Ginny Weasley shared at Grimmauld Place. She wasn't thinking about particularly anything, "But you never do anyway," Ginny had said, laughing. Well, she usually thought about a lot of things, thank you very much, and she didn't need a fifteen year-old girl telling her she was no good.

            Honestly! That's all you ever think about these days! You are a good student, you have top marks! You're going to go places! The ever annoying voice in her head said, sounding suspiciously like her Transfiguration instructor.

            The door bell rang, and Hermione cringed as Mrs. Black's shrieking voice filled the house, shaking dust from the tightest of nooks.

"FILTHY, CRINGING BITS OF DIRT, I WON'T HAVE IT IN MY HOUSE-!"      

                        Hermione sat up and made her way downstairs. Surely Harry couldn't be here yet? And even if he was, they would've flooed their way back, and therefore had no use for the front door.

"THANK GOD HE'S DEAD,NOW THEY'LL ALL LEAVE-"

            As it turned out, it was not Harry and the Guard at the front door, but Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore. Ginny, who had opened the door, called,

"Professor! Headmaster! Come in, come in," she said, pulling the door wide and allowing them to enter.

            They both, Hermione noticed, were dressed in muggle attire. Professor McGonagall was dressed in a pale blue skirt and crème blouse, leaning on her walking stick, while Professor Dumbledore was clothed in khaki pants and a white, billowy shirt, of which he had rolled the sleeves up on.

"Albus! Minerva! Right on time!"

"THIS IS RIDICULOUS, NOW THEY'RE HERE-!" 

"Oh, shut up, you."      

            Molly Weasley came up from the hallway, whacking Mrs. Black's screaming portrait with her wand; it stopped shouting and now glared, having been cut off in mid sentence.

"Molly, dear, thanks so much for having us," Professor McGonagall replied, giving Mrs. Weasley a quick hug.

"Oh, not at all. Come on, your room's up here," she said, after Albus gave her a friendly kiss on the cheek, "Ginny Hermione, take the luggage, will you?"

            Hermione and Ginny took the suitcases from the Professors and trooped upstairs after the three quietly talking adults.

"What do you reckon they're doing here?" Ginny whispered, watching as Mrs. Weasley led them to a room at the end of the hall.

"Dunno," Hermione whispered back, "But they're part of the Order, aren't they? I suppose it's got to do with that."

            Mrs. Weasley told the Ginny and Hermione to put the luggage on a large canopy bed that resided in the last room of the hallway. They did so, shooting each other curious looks as they left the room.

"Sharing a room, are they?" Ginny said, with a sly smile as she and Hermione flung themselves onto a hammock on the back porch.

            The back yard of Grimmauld Place was beautiful. The lawn was a luscious green; the flower beds full of color; there was even an in-ground pool, but no one had swum in it yet, it was a rather nasty shade of green  and they were sure it contained a number of Grindylows.

"Well, I expect we'll have to do some snooping," Hermione grinned.

"Hermione!" Ginny said, sitting up, with a fake look of shock, "I would have expected you'd leave well enough alone!"

            CRACK. Fred and George landed right on top of Hermione and Ginny, looking around, apparently lost at the location of all the yells of protest coming from underneath them.

"Fred, I think we've lost Hermione and Ginny!" George said, a look of mock puzzlement on his face.

"Indeed, I think we have!" Fred replied, looking around.

"OY! You're killing my legs!" Ginny shouted, never the less laughing as she shoved the twins off the hammock.

"Oh! When did you two get here?" Fred asked.

            Ginny threw one of the fluffy pillows that sat on the cushy bench straight at his laughing face. It stopped before it got anywhere near him and turned around, smacking Ginny instead.

"OY!" she jumped up and ran after the laughing twins.

            Hermione grinned and laid back down.