Everybody turned to stare at her. "Ginny, there aren't any dumb waiters in the house. There aren't even any waiters." Ron said. His tone was that of a person speaking to a very young child.

"No you idiot, a dumbwaiter, they're like miniature elevators, servants used to use them." Harry said. The others still looked confused except for Hermione who would know about dumbwaiters, being a Muggle-born and Ginny who was nodding in agreement. "This house was built by muggles originally and so it has a dumbwaiter in it. I found it when we were cleaning last summer and two of those nasty giant flobberworms were chasing me. It goes right down into the kitchen." Ginny said, "Come on, we've got to hurry if we're going to be able to hear anything good." She said. Ginny sprang to her feet and dashed out of the room with everyone else following her. She led them up the winding stairs to the attic and pulled a dingy tapestry aside to reveal the entrance to the dumbwaiter.

Ron peered into the dusky opening with a slightly squeamish expression and poke nervously at one of the cobwebs in the corner with his wand. "You're sure these dumbwafers work?" he asked.

"Dumbwaiters idiot, and yes, I'm sure they work. I rode it down a little ways to get away from the flobberworms." Ginny said. She batted aside the cobwebs and scrunched herself into a corner. "We're going to have to squeeze if we want to fit all of us on here." Harry squeezed himself into the corner and Hermione sat on his other side.

"Er how does this mo-" Ron stopped as Ginny poked one of the buttons with her wand and the dumbwaiter started to move. Harry peered at the panel of buttons, "Where do all of these other ones lead to? The kitchen is obvious from the symbol but I don't get a couple of these others." He said.

Ginny shrugged. "Who knows, I only just remembered this thing was here because I wasn't really all that interested in it last time. But I was talking to Dobby the other day and he was talking about the dumbwaiter and I asked him what he meant and when he explained it I realized that this must've been a dumbwaiter." She said.

"Shhh!" hissed Ron. The four in the dumbwaiter strained to hear the voices in the kitchen.

"Then they're all out?" that was Mr. Weasley's voice.

"Every single one of them. The Ministry isn't telling anyone yet, everyone would go crazy if they knew that every person ever sentenced to Azkaban was free. The dementors have disappeared from the island along with the Death Eater prisoners. They found the others just wandering aimlessly around the island." Lupin said.

"So he has it then? He has th-" that was Tonks, Harry thought.

"Shutup!" Moody said. Harry turned to look at Ron, his eyes wide. Moody's eye! How could they have forgotten? Ginny was fumbling in the dark for the button but suddenly the air seemed to grow heavy, making it impossible to move. The door that separated the dumbwaiter from the kitchen slid open and the four cowered at the sight of Mad Eye Moody grinning widely.

"I always did say you were cut out for becoming an Auror, good work Potter, Weasley." He nodded towards Harry and Ron. "But get out! Now! This is important business that we're discussing, nothing that concerns you." Moody said.

"Really Ron, I'm surprised at you. Leading your sister in running amok like this!" Mrs. Weasley spluttered. Ginny just snorted as Moody reached in and stabbed one of the buttons with his wand. "Off you go then." He said.

The four of them just stared at each other as the dumbwaiter creaked it's way upwards. Harry guessed that they were about a quarter of the way up to the attic when the dumbwaiter creaked itself to a halt.

"Great, now we have no idea what's been happening, and we're stuck in a stupidwaiter." Ron said. Hermione leaned over and put a hand on his shoulder and he turned a bright scarlet and fell silent. "We know more than we did." Harry corrected him. Hermione nodded, "Evidently Azkaban has fallen. And You-Know-Who has something now. So that's something at least."

Ron snorted. "It still isn't worth being trapped inside this dumbwaiter. I bet this place is crawling with spiders just waiting to come out and sink their little fang into us." He said with a shudder. "Can't we get out of here?" he asked.

"I doubt we can without magic." Harry said. "Someone see if you can open the door though." Hermione leaned over and wrenched at the handle to the door but it remained stubbornly closed. "Either there isn't anything on the other side of the door and there's a safety charm to keep it from opening, or this opening hasn't been used in so long it's near impossible to get open."

Ginny looked up with a smile. "I've got an idea." She reached deep into her pocket and pulled out a pocket knife. Ron stared at it curiously. "What's that thing?" he asked. Hermione explained pocket knives to him in a low whisper while Ginny dragged Harry closer to the door. "Okay, now I just need you to use." she was turning her knife over looking for the blade she needed. "this!" she pulled one of the blades back and a crowbar jumped out of the knife. Harry laughed as he took it from her. "Handy little thing, that pocket knife."

She smiled as she watched him stick the crowbar into the crack between the door and the wall. "Dad made this for me. Its come in handy in a couple of tight spots." She said. Harry braced himself against the crowbar and Ron jumped up to help him when he saw what his friend was trying to do. Hermione went over to help Ginny who was fumbling in her robes for something. Finally she withdrew a small vial and cast around in the corners of the dumbwaiter until she found a loose chunk of plaster. Hermione was sniffing the vial and she gasped. "This is Fred and George's Expanding Elixir." Ginny nodded. Ron interrupted before she could say anything else with a loud grunt and Ginny started. Then she turned and grinned. "Whoops." The plaster began to grow as the Expanding Elixir took effect and the door slowly ground open to reveal a solid brick wall. Harry looked down. He could see the light pouring into the dark shaft from the kitchen where the door was still open. "D'you think that they'd hear us if we shouted?" he asked. Ron shook his head. "It's a long way down and there's probably a silencer somewhere or they would have heard us creaking when we came down."

They all lay back against the wall and then a slow grin blossomed on Harry's face. "Ginny, do you still have any of those Slimebombs?" Ginny nodded and reached into her pocket. "But don't throw it in here, that reek travels for miles." She warned.

Harry nodded happily and Ron, catching on, chuckled. "I wouldn't expect anything less of a product manufactured by Fred and George." Harry said. Then he took back his arm and flung the Slimebomb down towards the light.

The stench wafted back up the shaft, accompanied by shouts from down below.