Disclaimer: Excerpts from the real Order of the Phoenix have been taken to make these scenes right.  Please don't sue me, I'm just a poor obsessed fan!

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        Ginny was instantly greeted with the friendly face of her eldest brother Bill.  "Bill!" she shrieked, completely forgetting her mum's repeated warnings to keep her voice down.  He looked up from the rolls of parchment on the table and his face broke into a wide grin as she flew into his arms for a hug.

        "Gin!  Good to see you," Bill greeted her, kissing the top of her head.  He held her at arms length looking her up and down.  "Hmmm I dunno, you're looking much too skinny…" Ginny giggled.  "Mum!  This girl needs mince meat, and fast!" Mrs. Weasley, dusting off a cabinet on the other side of the room, looked up.

        "Now really Bill…"

        "I promise I've been eating," Ginny said solemnly, making Bill laugh.  At Bill's elbow, she could see some parchment flattened out on the table's surface.  She stopped mid-giggle and frowned, diverting her gaze to it.  Bill noticed immediately and slapped his hand on it.

        "Nothing doing Ginny, this is -" he began warningly.  She sighed and rolled her eyes.

        "Top secret, confidential, for the eyes of the Order only.  Got it."  She stuck her tongue out at him teasingly and sat on an unoccupied chair next to what looked like a pile of rags.  Ginny knew better though; Mundungus Fletcher never did like fancy clothes much.  Besides, with her mum now heavily on his case it paid off to be as inconspicuous as possible.  Ginny tapped her lucky four leaf clover ring on the table in boredom.  Charlie had gotten it for her on an excursion in Ireland; the smooth silver surface of the leaf reflected little lights wherever she flashed it.  She looked down at it.  Her brother and father were reflected upside down in it, talking quietly about whatever that parchment was. 

        The door opened and Sirius walked in with Harry at his side, looking distinctly put out about something.  Behind her, Ginny heard her mum clear her throat impatiently.  Bill and Mr. Weasley's head popped up at the sound.  Her dad leapt up and hastily rushed forwards to shake Harry's hand; Ginny hide a small smile at her father's behavior.  "Harry!  Good to see you!"

        "Journey all right?" Bill asked from his position at the table, simultaneously trying to get all the scrolls off.  "Mad-Eye didn't make you come via Greenland, then?"

        "He tried," came Tonks' voice, making Ginny jump in her place.  She came hurrying out of the shadows behind her to help Bill and in doing so, knocked over a candle onto the one piece of parchment Bill had failed to pick up.  "Oh no- sorry-"  Ginny bit her lip and shook her head.  However fun Tonks may be, her coordination skills were completely non-existent.

        "Here dear," Ginny's mum said slightly, looking frustrated as she waved her wand and mended the parchment, stuffing into Bill's arms.  Bill looked ready to fall over what with all the scrolls in his hand, but everyone seemed too preoccupied with Harry being there to do anything about it.  Ginny got out of her seat and ran to help him as one teetered threateningly on the edges of his arms.

        "This sort of thing ought to be cleared away promptly at the end of meetings," her mum was saying as she bustled over to the dresser for plates.  As Ginny pushed a scroll back into its place, Bill winked at her and muttered 'Evanesco!'.  The scrolls immediately vanished. 

        "Sit down, Harry," Sirius offered to his godson, pulling out a chair next to Mundungus.  Ginny walked over to the dresser to get out cutlery, keeping a sharp ear out for conversation meanwhile.  "You've met Mundungus, haven't you?" he continued.

        Ginny could hear Dung stirring awake behind her as she removed the knives from their drawer.  "Some'n say m'name?" he muttered.  "I 'gree with Sirius…" She giggled as she bumped the drawer closed with her hip. It was a rare occasion when Dung didn't agree with Sirius, and apparently slumber wasn't going to stop him either. 

        She counted knives deftly in her hands, listening to her mother telling off Mundungus for what seemed like the millionth time while he stumbled in his attempts to apologize to Harry for taking off the night he was attacked.  Harry answered everything with short sentences, making it impossible for Ginny to really understand what was going on.  Humming a little, she starting counting spoons.  10, 11, 12…

        "What can I do?" an enthusiastic Tonks interrupted Ginny's eavesdropping. 

        "Er- no, it's all right Tonks, you have a rest too, you've done enough today…"  Ginny giggled at her mother's weak attempts.

        "No, no I want to help!" Tonks countered eagerly, and as she ran over to help Ginny with the cutlery she heard a chair crash on the floor.

        "Tonks-" Ginny began, giggling helplessly.  Tonks looked behind them at the fallen chair.

        "Oh.  Oops.  We'll just pretend Sirius got frisky then eh?" she said, hurriedly grabbing a handful of forks. 

        "Here," Ginny offered, holding out her arms for the forks.  Tonks dropped them in her grip carefully, grabbed a tray of goblets and they began setting them up all around the table. 

        "Reckon old Dung needs an extra napkin?" Tonks asked Ginny, holding up a lacy napkin from the pile set on the table.  Ginny laughed.

        "Probably," she replied, looking over at the very grimy man. 

        "Fred- George – NO, JUST CARRY THEM!" Mrs. Weasley's shriek echoed around the kitchen, causing Tonks to drop the knife she was holding and have it land on Ginny's shoe.

        "Ouch," Ginny gasped, giggling as Tonks fumbled around for a spell to fix it.

        Tonks mended up her stabbed toe in no time.  They both whirled around to see a furious Mrs. Weasley fuming at two red faced and cowering twin boys.  "FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!  THERE WAS NO NEED-"

        "There's always a need in their books," Ginny mumbled to Tonks, who grinned. 

        "-YOU DON'T HAVE TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERY TINY LITTLE THING!" her mum finished, heaving as though she had run a mile. 

        "We were just trying to save a bit of time!" Fred defended, running forward to fix what looked like a similar situation between Tonks' knife and Ginny's toe, except that this was the bread knife in the table.  "Sorry Sirius mate- didn't mean to-"

        For the first time since Harry had arrived, everyone was laughing.  Everyone except, of course, Mrs. Weasley and her husband (who looked very much like he wanted to chuckle along). 

        Mrs. Weasley was raging on at the twins.  "Bill didn't feel the need to Apparate every few feet!"  Behind her, Ginny saw Bill grin and Apparate to the opposite side of the room.  She and Tonks exchanged a glance and looked away; the temptation to laugh was too great.  "-Charlie didn't charm everything he met!  Percy-"  Practically the entire room froze.  Ginny gripped the napkin she was holding with astonishingly frightening strength as Tonks took in a sharp breath next to her.

        "Let's eat," Bill intervened to Ginny's relief. 

        Dinner was, as usual, a friendly and relaxed affair.  Ginny and Tonks took seats opposite Harry and Sirius, with Hermione joining them shortly after.  It looked as though she had been feasting on her nails; the ends were almost at their tether.  Ginny had tried to find out why but Tonks interrupted by morphing her nose into a hooked one not unlike Snape's.  After that, the three girls found it hard to take anything seriously. 

        As Tonks transformed her nose into the pointed Malfoy variety, Ginny looked down and saw Crookshanks' wide yellow eyes peering at her from underneath the dresser.  He had been down there for at least half the day…she couldn't imagine that'd be very comfortable.  "Excuse me," she said to the giggling Hermione and Tonks, sliding out of her seat and going to kneel next to the dresser.  "Crook," she whispered, putting her head near the floor.  "You going to come out there or do I need to lure you out?"  The cat blinked.  Ginny sighed.  "Well fine, we'll do this the hard way…"

        Ginny hoisted herself up off the floor and entered the kitchen.  She looked around for something to get him out without making a mess, which narrowed her choices down considerably.  At last, her eyes fell upon a bag of Butterbeer corks, perfect for rolling.  Grinning, she picked them up and went back to the dining room and the dresser.  "Come on," she coaxed, rolling a cork along the carpet.  The cat's eyes followed it interestedly, before slinking out and darting after it.  "That's a good boy," Ginny said happily, rolling another one for him.  She was full, warm and happy…life was pretty good. 

        Until someone brought up a most unwelcome subject.

        "-I thought the first thing you'd do when you got here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort," Sirius said, pushing himself away from the table and looking at Harry intently.  Ginny felt her insides freeze.  Above her, at the head of the table, Lupin was setting his goblet back on the table with an apprehensive look on his face.

        "I did!" Harry replied irritably, not looking as though he had noticed the name at all.  "I asked Ron and Hermione but they said we're not allowed in the Order-" Ron winced in his seat at the table, and Ginny had the feeling he'd rather stay out of this.

        "And they're quite right," Ginny's mum interrupted.  "You're too young." 

        Ginny scowled.  Although the sentence wasn't directed at her, it hit her where it hurt.  That was all she had heard for countless years: "You're too young" or "Maybe when you're older" or "You're too young to understand".  Did they even try to see if they could handle it?

        "Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?" Sirius replied smoothly, looking at the tense Mrs. Weasley calmly.  "Harry's been trapped in that Muggle house for a month, he's got the right to know what's been happen-"

        "Hang on!" George cut in looking angry. 

        "How come Harry gets his questions answered?" Fred asked furiously. 

        "A fair question," Ginny muttered, stroking Crookshanks.  She looked at Sirius and Mrs. Weasley in anticipation for their answer as Fred and George continued to rant.

        "It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing," said Sirius, for the first time not showing fervent agreement with his fellow mischief makers.  "That's your parent's decision.  Harry on the other hand…"

        "It's not down to you to decide what's good for Harry!" Mrs. Weasley exploded.  Ginny's mouth dropped open a tiny bit.  This couldn't be good…her mum's usually jolly face had twisted into that of pure indignation.  "You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said I suppose?"

        "Which bit?"

        "The bit about not telling more than he needs to know," she replied, looking over at Harry anxiously.

        "I don't intend to tell him more than he needs to know Molly," Sirius said heatedly.  "But as he was the one who saw Voldemort come back he has more right than most to-" Ginny shivered and closed her mouth at the name.

        "He's not a member of the Order of the Phoenix!" her mum countered angrily.  "He's only fifteen and-"

        "And he's dealt with as much as most in the Order, and more than some," Sirius interrupted.  Neither looked very keen to let the other finish their sentences.

        "No one's denying what he's done!  But he's still-" Don't say kid Mum, Ginny willed her mother in her head, anything but that. 

        "He's not a child!"

        "He's not an adult either!  He's not James Sirius!" 

        "I'm perfectly clear who he is, thanks Molly," Sirius replied icily.  Ginny brought Crookshanks to sit in her lap to warm herself up.  She was shivering and it wasn't even cold. 

        "I'm not sure you are!  Sometimes, the way you talk about him, it's as though you think you've got your best friend back!" Mrs. Weasley said trembling with suppressed anger. 

        "What's wrong with that?" interjected Harry, speaking up for the first time since the row began. 

        "What's wrong Harry, is that you are not your father, however much you may look like him," Mrs. Weasley replied, not taking her eyes off of Harry's irritated godfather.  "You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!"

        Ginny didn't dare move for fear they'd send her away..  It was horrible to see them row like this, but she was getting more information of it than anything she had heard all summer.  It was like watching a car accident…you want to look away but you can't.

        She snapped back to attention with the sound of Lupin's voice.  "Molly, you're not the only person at this table who cares about Harry.  Sirius, sit down.

        Damn, Ginny thought bitterly.  She had missed an entire chunk…she'd ask Fred and George later.  

        "I think Harry ought to be allowed a say in this.  He's old enough to decide for himself," Lupin said firmly.  Ginny was pretty sure she knew what Harry was going to decide.

        "I want to know what's been going on," he said immediately, proving her right.  However when Ginny looked at her mum's face she felt her inside crumble; she looked so crushed.

        "Very well," Mrs. Weasley said quietly.  "Ginny- Ron – Hermione – Fred- George – I want you out of the kitchen, now."  Ginny widened her eyes in disbelief.

        "Mum, I want to hear!" she shrieked from her position on the carpet.  She found to her surprise that she wasn't the only one who voiced their frustration at this.

        "We're of age!" Fred and George had roared simultaneously. 

        "If Harry's allowed why can't I?" Ron bellowed.

        "NO!" their mother yelled, louder than all of them combined.  She stood up looking incredibly angry, but that was nothing next to the rage bottling up inside of Ginny.  Did she really think they were that incompetent??  She was only a year younger than Harry!  "I absolutely forbid-"

        Her father opened her mouth and for one glorious second, Ginny thought he was going to let them all stay.  "Molly, you can't stop Fred and George," he said.  "They are of age." 

        "They're still at school!" his wife protested, waving her arm at them.  They scowled in unison, crossing their arms.

        "But they're legally adults now," he replied wearily.  Mrs. Weasley looked positively livid. 

        "I- oh all right then, Fred and George can stay, but Ron-"

        Ron spluttered.  "Harry'll tell me and Hermione everything you say anyway!" he exploded angrily.  Ginny felt a small beam of pride inside of her for her brother; he hardly ever stood up to their formidable mother.  "Won't- won't you?" he added to Harry, looking unsure of what he had just so vehemently declared.

        "Course I will," Harry said after a second, grinning slightly.  Ginny's heart soared; she could stay!  She could-

        "Fine!" her mother shouted, a huge smile bursting across Ginny's face.  "Fine!  Ginny-" she looked up, feeling the smile ebb away.  "BED!"

        "WHAT?!?" she exploded, leaping up and sending Crookshanks flying.  "But that's not bloody fair!"

        "That's enough Ginny!" her mother cut in sharply, walking over to her and grabbing her hand.  Ginny dug her heels into the carpet, not caring how stupid she looked. 

        "I want to stay!  Ron's only a year older than me anyway, and it's not like I haven't- ouch Mum!"  Mrs. Weasley's nails dug into her hand a little, making Ginny scowl with pain.  "Get OFF me Mum let me go back!"  Her mother's grip was far too strong for Ginny's petite frame; she knew that all her hope of staying was now lost.  "FINE!" she bellowed, ripping her hand out of her mother's and stomping up the steps. 

        "Go to BED Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley yelled at her, ushering her to go faster.

        "I AM!  But if you think that I won't find out what's going on in there you are MISTAKEN!" Ginny ranted angrily, purposefully getting her hand caught on Mrs. Black's curtains and ripping them open.

        "OH what did you do that for?" her mum said exasperatedly, trying to close them shut.

        "FREAKS! MUDBLOODS AND TRAITORS, IF I COULD WALK ALL YOU TRAITOR BRATS WOULD-"

        "I can't believe you're only sending me away!" Ginny continued, grinning with satisfaction as her mother struggled to close the curtains behind her. 

        "It's- for – the best!" her mum spluttered behind her as she struggled to close the curtains.  Ginny turned around and leaned on the banister, watching the losing battle.  She was angry now, and anyone who knows the Weasley temper knows well enough just how terrible it can be. 

        "The best?!?" Ginny said incredulously.  "I'm going to go down to breakfast tomorrow morning and everyone will know what's going on except for me!"

        "BEFOULING THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS-"

        "Here Molly, let me help you."  Ginny looked on Lupin with narrowed eyes as he heaved his weight on the curtains and successfully let them shut. 

        "Ginny," Mrs. Weasley panted after giving Lupin a grateful smile, "go to bed!"

        "I can't believe this," Ginny muttered, wrenching the clip out of her hair and chewing on a strand morosely.  Lupin looked up at her, stopping in his tracks halfway down the stairs, and sighed. 

        "Ginny," he started, but Ginny cut him off.

        "I know, I know, it's 'all for the best'.  'You're too young'.  Fine.  We'll see how much I can handle by the end of this- I'm not 11 anymore!" she said coldly, looking angrily at her mum in particular.  With that, she turned on her heel and stomped back up the stairs, walking to her room and slamming the door behind her.

        Maybe she was being a tad childish about the whole thing, Ginny thought as she collapsed on her bed.  Maybe they were right, and she was still wrong.  But then again, she reasoned as she clenched her fists, Ron was still down there while she was stuck up here, in her dingy little pisshole of a room.  Where's the justice in that?  She turned around onto her stomach and curled up, clutching the red bunch of hair in her hand.  They all still thought she was naïve, little innocent Ginny.  Not that the nickname helped any- 'Ginny' sounded so juvenile and happy-go-lucky.  However, Ginny was unwilling to use her real name; 'Virginia' made her sound like a Victorian schoolmarm or something.

        She breathed slowly in and out, carefully unclenching her fists.  It wouldn't do to get all riled up over this-

        She'd just get it out of Hermione when she came up.

--

        But when Hermione came up, she was unwilling to let slip any information.  "Come on Hermione," Ginny pleaded, sitting upright and looking her friend in the eye.  "You know I should know this too!"

        "I don't even know if I should know it Ginny," she sighed, crawling under the covers and snuggling up to the pillow.

        "Please?" Ginny begged, giving Hermione her best puppy-eyes.  Hermione just sighed again, shook her head, and turned the other way towards the wall.

        Ginny sat on her bed fuming.  There went her last resort.  She sighed and looked around, as if looking for the answers there.  Ron would be talking to Harry about it right now- wait.  That was it!

        Without another thought she leapt out of bed and hurried silently to the door.  She opened it carefully and tiptoed her way down the corridor, making her way to Harry and Ron's room.  They were bound to be talking about it…

        Breathlessly, she pressed her ear to the door.  A loud 'OUCH!' came from behind the walls, and she knew it belonged to Ron.  The twins had undoubtedly tried to Apparate in the dark again…last time, George had landed up on Ginny's head. 

        "Keep your voice down, Ron, or Mum'll be back up here," one of the twins said, and Ginny grinned.  If only they knew she was standing out there now…

        "You two just Apparated on my knees!" Ron was protesting angrily.

        "Yeah well, it's harder in the dark."

        Ginny listened as the bedsprings groaned, meaning that the twins had made themselves comfortable.  "So, got there yet?" asked one of the twins excitedly.

        "The weapon Smifrus menfened??" Harry replied quietly, making Ginny's blood race with excitement. She hadn't heard it all too well, but she did hear one thing clearly; a weapon!  This was new…

        "Let slip more like.  We didn't hear about that on the mfold rmextendables did we?"  one of the twins said.

        "What d'you reckon fit mis?" Harry asked him.  Ginny pressed her ear harder to the door; it was muffled.

        "Could be anything," the twin replied.

        "Buff there camft anyfing worse than the Adtria Kedvaffra curf, can fere?  Fhat's worse fan death?"  Ginny frowned.  They were getting quieter by the second!  What she would do for an Extendable Ear!

        The next few sentences were so quiet it was near impossible for Ginny to get anything intelligible out of them.  Soon though, they lost their cautiousness and got louder.

        "Bet it is!" a twin said excitedly, waking Ginny from her bored stupor against the door.  "That's where he hid the Philosopher's Phone!"  Bet what is?? Ginny thought wildly, cursing them all mentally for not speaking up before.

        "A weapon's going to be a lot bigger than the Phone though," Ron said slowly.

        "Not necessarily," a twin interjected.  Ginny furrowed her brows in curiosity.  Wouldn't a weapon have to be something massive, something so impressive the opposing side would take one look and run?

        "Yeah, size is no guarantee of power.  Look at Ginny," the other twin offered.  Ginny felt a small grin come on her face; she could always count on the twins to back her up.

        "What d'you mean?" Harry asked, sounding clueless as Ginny was used to now.

        "You've never been on the receiving end of one of her Bat-Bogey hexes have you?" the twin replied, and Ginny felt a small surge of pride go through her.  Her Hexes were quite good…

        Behind her, she suddenly heard the sounds of footsteps.  Her eyes widened and she fled away from the door as if it electrocuted her and pressed herself against a wall, not daring to breathe.  Mrs. Weasley came to the top of the stairs, squinted in the darkness, and walked carefully over to the door Ginny had been listening to a moment earlier.  Her foot creaked the floorboards.  Ginny took the opportunity to run silently from her position by the wall, slide into her room and bolt the door behind her, breathing fast. 

        Hermione was curled up on her side towards the wall still.  Ginny looked at her for a couple seconds to make sure she was sleeping, before cautiously getting into her own bed.  It only took a couple minutes for her to get to sleep, visions of magical weapons dancing in her head.

--

        The next day dawned with yet another room cleaning; Ginny was starting to get dizzy from all the cleaning fumes.  This room was infested with Doxys, nasty little black furry buggers that flew at your face.  Harry was doing pretty well for his first day cleaning, but Ginny hardly noticed.  She had been doing this all summer, so it was nothing new to her…besides, the more people there were the faster she could take a shower. 

        The next few days passed quickly.  Ginny was counting down the days to September 1, when she could talk to her school friends again.  Especially Michael.  The poor guy thought she was in Romania tending to the dragons, when really she was maybe a block away from him.

        In all the days leading up to Harry's hearing, all the older kids exchanged many significant glances.  Ginny feigned frustration at the blatant secrecy, but kept the smug little secret inside of her; she knew.  Knowing she had an upper hand with this, it was almost better than being in on their conversations about that explosive night.

        But Ginny still felt the sting of 'You're too young' echoing in her ears, and it hurt more than she'd like to admit.