Disclaimer: I don't own parts of this chapter, as Ginny is now interacting with Harry, therefore bits that are in the real Order of the Phoenix. NO LAW SUITS PLEASE!! :D the whole conversation in Ron's room is JK's.
This one is a little shorter. Hope you don't mind. :) keep the reviews coming, they make my day!
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Ginny held her breath and tried to be as quiet as possible so she could hear. Her ears craned for a sound, any sound, that could prove Whiny William right. If he was, she knew that the summer would be undoubtedly more different than it had been, if that were possible. It would be interesting to see if Harry would notice she didn't blush in his presence anymore…
Her ears were rewarded when she picked up the faraway sounds of yelling. At first, she thought it was Mrs. Black, but upon hearing the word 'Dursleys' in the rant she knew she had struck gold. Ginny stood up and carefully put the empty Dungbomb box near the banister. Looking down at the door she had to giggle; the floor was littered with Dungbomb leftovers. Her mum would have a fit!
She quietly climbed the steps towards the yelling voice. It seemed to be coming from Ron's room, which would make sense. If Harry were to sleep anywhere, it would be in the unoccupied twin bed Ron had. He thought he was so special for having a room to himself…Ginny grinned in satisfaction as she thought of Ron now having to share it.
The door to Ron's room was black and sturdy, with a serpent's head for a knob. Ron hadn't been too happy about that, and Ginny suspected it was because of a certain blond haired boy they all loathed so much. Ginny was about to knock when she heard two loud 'cracks' would could only mean two things; Fred and George.
"Stop doing that!" she heard Hermione say behind the door. Ginny almost laughed, but stopped herself just in time. There was no reason why she couldn't just listen a little bit…
A couple minutes of conversation passed about Fred and George's Apparation tests, but as Ginny had heard about as much as she could ever hope to know about them it wasn't that interesting. But as she listened, she heard a bit about the Extendable Ears. Time to let the twins know their attempts were useless at this point. Ginny grinned and allowed herself to turn the doorknob, and walk into the room.
Sure enough, Harry Potter was standing in the room. He looked thinner and more miserable than Ginny had ever seen him, but she was sure that bringing this up would not be smart. So instead she opted for a happy, bright approach.
"Oh, hello Harry!" she said in a cheerful tone. "I thought I heard your voice." At the volume you were yelling it'd be rather hard not to…
Ginny diverted her attention to Fred and George; just like she had suspected, they were holding the Extendables in their hands, ready to use. "It's no-go with the Extendable Ears, she's gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door." She didn't have to explain who 'she' was.
"How d'you know?" asked George sighing and shoving the string back into his pocket.
"Tonks told me how to find out," Ginny explained, thinking that Harry would have no idea what they were talking about and grinned. "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." Fred echoed his twin's sigh at this news.
"Shame. I really fancied finding out what old Snape's been up to."
"Snape!" Harry cut in curiously. "Is he here?" Ginny almost felt sorry for him; he really had no clue, did he?
"Yeah," George confirmed, walking over the door she had left open and closing it cautiously. He looked at Ron's bed and seemed to deem it worthy; jumping on it, he grinned and bounced a little. Fred followed and Ginny, sick of standing up and feeling incredibly short, sat with them. "Giving a report. Top secret."
"Git," Fred added absently, picking at Ron's blankets. Ginny giggled slightly.
"He's on our side now," Hermione reminded them sternly. Ginny had the urge to roll her eyes at this. Snape may be on their side, but that didn't stop him from being, as Fred put it, a git. Even Bill said so- and as far as Ginny was concerned, that made it truth. Bill was seldom wrong on judgment of character.
As if reading her mind, Ron snorted and replied, "Doesn't stop him being a git. The way he looks at us when he sees us!"
"Bill doesn't like him either," Ginny decided to add.
"Is Bill here?" Harry asked, just as curiously as before. "I thought he was working in Egypt?"
"He applied for a desk job so he could come home and work for the Order," Fred explained. Ginny remembered that night; Bill had come to Grimmauld Place in a very grumpy mood. He loved the adventure of the tombs and Curse Breaking, and shuffling papers did nothing to quell his thirst for it. "He says he misses the tombs but there are compensations." Ginny looked at her older brother smirking and felt one of her own coming on her face- she was pretty sure she knew what he was talking about…
"What d'you mean?" Harry asked.
"Remember old Fleur Delacour?" George said, proving her right. "She's got a job at Gringotts to eemprove 'er Eenglish-" Ginny bit her lip to stop herself from laughing.
"And Bill's been giving her a lot of private lessons," Fred finished.
"Charlie's in the Order too," George informed Harry, who looked as though he wanted every piece of information about their summer that he could get. "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 asked. Ginny's eyes narrowed when she heard the name of her pompous older brother; the twins and Ron looked suddenly dark and even Hermione looked angry. Harry looked rather confused at this behavior. Ginny couldn't really blame him. He didn't know.
"Whatever you do, don't mention Percy in front of Mum and Dad," Ron warned him with a tight jaw.
"Why not?" Harry asked in bemusement. Ginny bit her lip again, but this time it was in sadness. Percy was a delicate subject now, and every time it was brought up it made her more miserable about it…and angrier.
"Because every time Percy's name is mentioned, Dad breaks whatever he's holding and Mum starts crying," Fred put in.
"It's been awful," Ginny said, thinking of the nights when her Mum was too sad to make dinner; hence, the burnt turkey.
"I think we're well shot of him," George said, looking for all the world like he was glad of it.
"What's happened?" Harry asked urgently, placing an absent hand on his snowy owl Hedwig, perched on the dresser, and began stroking her feathers.
"Percy and Dad had a row," said Fred. "I've never seen Dad row with anyone like that. It's normally Mum who shouts."
"'Aint that the truth," George mumbled, so softly that only Ginny could hear him. Her somber expression perked up a tiny bit.
It was the first week back after term ended," Ron said, leaning against the wall and looking murderous. It was kind of scary. Ginny hadn't often seen that expression on her older brother's face before. "We were about to come and join the Order. Percy came home and told us he'd been promoted."
"You're kidding?" Harry said, looking slightly surprised. This reaction echoed that of the Weasleys when Percy had told them, months before.
"Yeah, we were all surprised," said George, voicing this thought. "because Percy got into a load of trouble about Crouch, there was an inquiry and everything. They said Percy ought to have realized Crouch was off his rocker and informed a superior. But you know Percy, Crouch left him in charge, he wasn't going to complain." Ginny watched Harry closely. He was looking at George with a mixed expression of disbelief and apprehension. Hermione was biting her nails, something Ginny had rarely seen her do. Upon looking closer, she saw that almost every fingernail had been chewed.
"So how come they promoted him?" Harry asked honestly.
"That's exactly what we wondered. He came home really pleased with himself- even more pleased than usual, if you can imagine that- and told Dad he'd been offered a position in Fudge's own office. A really good one for someone only a year out of Hogwarts: Junior Assistant to the Minister. He expected Dad to be all impressed, I think."
Ginny remembered. Her dad had said, to Percy's disbelief, "Junior Assistant? What a pompous name for a useless job."
"Only Dad wasn't," Fred said, bringing Ginny out of her reverie.
"Why not?" asked Harry. He was asking a lot of questions.
"Well, apparently Fudge has been storming 'round the Ministry checking that nobody's having any contact with Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore's name is mud with the Ministry these days see," Fred informed Harry, who looked taken aback at that news. "They all think he's just making trouble saying You-Know-Who's back."
"Dad says Fudge has made it clear that anyone who's in league with Dumbledore can clear out their desks," his twin continued.
"Trouble is, Fudge suspects Dad, he knows he's friendly with Dumbledore, and he's always thought Dad's a bit of a weirdo because of his Muggle obsession," Ron said in a low, bitter voice.
"But what's that got to do with Percy?" Harry looked utterly lost by now. Inside her brain, Ginny couldn't see the memories of Percy for a red mist surrounding them; if he ever came back, she'd let him have a piece of her mind…
"I'm coming to that," Ron said, rolling his eyes in an amused way at his friend's confused state. "Dad reckons Fudge only wants Percy in his office because he wants to use him to spy on the family- and Dumbledore." Harry whistled incredulously.
"Bet Percy loved that."
Ron laughed, not sounding like himself at all. Ginny felt her blood boiling at the thoughts of Percy and what he'd done, what he'd said…
"He went completely berserk. He said- well, he said loads of terrible stuff. He said he's been having to struggle against Dad's lousy reputation ever since he joined the Ministry and that Dad's got no ambition," Ginny's hands were clenching in suppressed rage, "and that's why we've always been- you know- not had a lot of money, I mean-"
"What?" Harry said in complete disbelief. Ginny reached her boiling point and it bubbled over into a little growl that sounded like an angry cat.
"I know," said Ron in that same low, bitter voice. "And it got worse. He said Dad was an idiot to run around with Dumbledore, that Dumbledore was heading for big trouble and that 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 any more. And he packed his bags the same night and left. He's living here in London now." Ron looked disgusted.
"Bloody hell," Harry muttered, running a hand through his hair. Ginny realized, with a start, that the action didn't make her stomach drop as it did before. Her mood picked up slightly, but was brought down again when Ron continued the story.
"Mum's been in a right state. You know- crying and stuff." A flicker of fear flew across Ron's face at this, making Hermione roll her eyes, the first action she had done since the beginning of recounting the Percy Tale. "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," Harry said, as if trying to convince himself. "He's not stupid," Ginny snorted, "he must know your mum and dad wouldn't risk everything without proof!"
"Yeah, well your name got dragged into the row," said Ron, looking oddly apologetic. "Percy said the only evidence was your word and…I dunno…he didn't think it was good enough."
Hermione spoke up for the first time, abandoning her nails for a minute. "Percy takes the Daily Prophet seriously." Ginny nodded with a scowl on her face. Looking up though, she saw that Harry was still looking confused.
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked slowly.
As Harry gradually caught onto the Daily Prophet mess, Hermione cautious and calm in her explanation, Ginny tuned it out. She'd read so much in that blasted newspaper that any mention of it caused her an immediate grouchy mood. True, she no longer felt attracted to Harry Potter, but now she felt like he was more of a brother; as a result, she was protective of him and his reputation. She had almost scalped Seamus Finnegan once for saying that 'his scar looks like a toddler's drawing'. Suddenly, she found herself back to earth as Harry raised his voice angrily.
"Voldemort killed my parents!" Harry said, apparently on the brink of becoming enraged. Ginny felt the most sympathy now she had ever felt towards him in the past hour. She didn't know what she'd do without her parents; what it must be like for him she didn't want to know. "I got famous because he murdered my family but he couldn't kill me! Who wants to be famous for that?" As Harry continued, she knew he needed some sort of confirmation they believed him…it looked as though his self esteem hadn't been at its peak for quite some time now. "Don't they think I'd rather it'd never-"
"We know Harry," she interrupted sincerely. Hermione looked at her gratefully before turning and continuing her subduing of their angry friend.
"And of course," Hermione began, "they didn't report a word about the Dementors attacking you. Someone's told them to keep that quiet. That should've been a really big story, out-of-control Dementors. They haven't even reported that you broke the International Statute of Secrecy. We thought they would, it would tie in so well with this image of you as some stupid show-off. We think they're biding their time until you're expelled, then they're really going to go to town- I mean, if you're expelled, obviously," she added hurriedly, looking slightly horrorstruck. "You really shouldn't be, not if they abide by their own laws, there's no case against you."
Harry had an oddly closed look at the mention of the hearing. Ginny was about to open her mouth to change the subject to Quidditch (works every time) when they all heard footsteps coming up the staircase.
Fred and George immediately leapt up and Apparated away, no doubt to avoid whoever the person may be. Unless it was Sirius or Tonks, they had a slim chance of not getting told off by them. The door opened to reveal none other than Mrs. Weasley.
"The meeting's over, you can come down and have dinner now. Everyone's dying to see you, Harry," Ginny's mum announced, flashing Harry a special smile. He grinned awkwardly. "…and who's left all those Dungbombs outside the kitchen door?" Ginny almost jumped.
"Crookshanks," she lied smoothly from her position on Ron's bed. Harry, Ron and Hermione turned to look at her but kept their mouths shut. "He loves playing with them."
"Oh. I thought it might have been Kreacher, he keeps doing odd things like that," her mum said frowning. "Now don't forget to keep your voices down in the hall." Her mother looked over at her and raised her eyebrows questioningly. "Ginny, your hands are filthy, what have you been doing? Go and wash them before dinner, please." Ginny made a face behind her mum's back at the three and walked behind her as they left. She heard the door shut behind her and sighed, changing course to the nearest bathroom.
Hermione and Ginny shared one; it was decked out in green and light gray tiles. Once, Ginny had jokingly remarked to Hermione that this is what it must feel like to be in a Slytherin bathroom. However, she felt quite sure that the bathrooms in Slytherin House didn't have nearly this much dirt and grime in it. One look at Malfoy and she knew that Slytherins took their appearance rather seriously; he had so much gel on his head that she marveled at how he kept it up. She sighed and turned the tap. Letting it run for a few seconds to rid the water of brown, she looked in the mirror.
Ginny scowled. Her hair looked so ratty down, what was she thinking? She quickly popped open the medicine cabinet built into the mirror (an ingenious invention of Muggles she thought) and took out her hairbrush. It took quite a few hard strokes to get the tangles out, at the end of which she ended up looking worse than before. She scowled deeper and picked up a small clip, bringing up half her hair and securing it firmly.
"Better," she muttered, closing the mirror and admiring the finished product. The water by now was a clear crystal hue, so she scrubbed hard at her palms. Magic water cleans much faster than Muggle; her hands were their usual color within seconds. She dried them off on a green towel and started to walk down the hallway.
"FILTH! BY-PRODUCTS OF DIRT AND VILENESS! HALF-BREEDS, MUTANTS, FREAKS, BEGONE FROM THIS PLACE! HOW DARE YOU BEFOUL THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS-"
Someone had set off Mrs. Black again. Ginny sighed, shaking her head, and trotted down the stairs to the dining room, where the Order was settled for dinner.
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Okay, now the Author's notes…
I'd like to thank my baby sister Libby for helping me polish up a few places ("you need to make more fun of Harry there!") and giving me advice. Thanks to ALL the reviewers, you have no idea how much I appreciated those reviews! 8 in one day! Not even! I really hope you'll continue to do this- maybe this will be one of my most successful fics ever. It WILL be very long…
The next chapter will be following the chapter 'Order of the Phoenix' in the real book, so follow that one for Chapter Three. :) I'll try to speed up the story a little too if you want to get them to Hogwarts- give me suggestions in the review I will definitely consider them!
-Red
