"Aberforth..." said Ron, thinking, "I know that name...something to do with bad charms on goats..." And suddenly Harry remembered too. "Yes!" he said, "You are Dumbledore's brother." "Well of course I am," he said irritably. "And yes boy. It may have appeared to some people that a simple spell could be deemed inapropriate, but to those of us who appriciate the art of charming, the case against me was utterly unfounded and-" "Save it Abey." grumbled Moody. "We're going to be staying here in the Hog's Head for a little while, until things clear up. We're not quite certain of the amount of damage that's been done-" "What damage?" demanded Harry instantly. "Yeah," said Ron, "don't you think it's time you told us why we're here?" Lupin sighed and opened his mouth to talk, but Moody cut in, "wait a minute there...where are those muggles?" "They went into the bar upstairs," said Harry dismissivley, "But we want to know, what damage? Moody let out a furious groan. "Stupid Dursley! They'll get lost for good out in the village, would serve them right." Without another words he clunked up the stairs, his clawed peg leg banging on every other step. "Don't worry Harry dear, he'll find them." said Mrs. Weasley soothingly, though she was looking very anxious herself, and seemed to be on the verge of tears. "I won't." muttered Harry. "Mum!" cried Ron. "Tell us what's going on!" Mrs. Weasley gave Lupin a comiserating look, and he sighed and began to speak. "All we know so far, is that Dumbledore came to the order this morning and found a rather... messy scene." "Messy how?" demanded Harry. "I'm getting to it Harry, for god's sake!" roared Lupin. Everyone was silent. Harry sudenly felt rather guilty. None of them had ever heard Lupin raise his voice before. He was one of the most level headed and calm men Harry knew. "Sorry." murmured Harry. "Now then," continued Lupin, who had composed himself, "He told us that the house was mostly destroyed, and the whole place was turned over...Muggles swarming, should be an awful job for the ministry. He said-" his voice broke, "That everyone there was tied up, wands gone, gagged." Hermione gasped and clapped a hand to her mouth. Harry didn't speak, he was too concerned with hearing what was next. "Apparently, Arthur told Dumbledore that some Death Eaters had been outside, broke the door in, and rampaged the place, they didn't know how they found the house, but those mongrels found enough inside to figure out where we had gone, and that Harry was going to be with us. They set the place on fire and left." He finished, disgusted. Harry couldn't help it, "Dumbledore said Voldemort couldn't hurt me at Privet Drive." "Yes," said Lupin, "Voldemort can't harm you there, but his servants surely don't care about that. Dumbledore's guess is that they were instructed to figure out when you were going to be most vunerable; when we were in the muggle world. "Is everyone allright?" asked Hermione in a hushed voice. Lupin looked at her very gravely. "We're not sure. Arthur seemed fine, said he got loose before they lit the house, and it was only him, Tonks, Bill and Ginny at headquarters when it happened." Mrs. Weasley suddenly slumped against the wall, sobbing. "Now Molly," said Lupin striding to her, "It's allright, we'll know soon, and it didn't seem all that bad when Dumbledore was telling us did it?" "I-I knew.." she choked, "s-something was going t-to happen! If no ones' died this time, then what ab-bout n-next time!? It's just not safe for us to have G-ginny and Ron around the order, w-what if something's happened to my g-girl today? I'd n-never forgive myself!" Hermione was looking very sympathetically at Mrs. Weasley, Ron looked a little uncomfortable. Aberforth however crossed the room, opened a bottle of Odgen's Old Firewhiskey, and poured a shot of it into a grimy glass. "Here now," he said putting the glass into Mrs. Weasley's hand. "Drink that, and have a seat, I'm sure they're all fine..." As if on que, the door at the top of the stairs opened, and several people walked through. In the lead was Bill, a large cut across his arm and a huge rip in his robes, wearing a look of pure disgust. Following him was Tonks, being supported by Kinglsey Shacklebolt, another member of the order, and after them, Arthur Weasley, Ron's father, ashen faced and with an arm around a girl of fifteen, the only Weasley girl, Ginny. Harry had expected to see Ginny very upset, or at least subdued, but she marched into the room haughtily, wearing an expression similar to Bill's with her jaw out defiantly. She gave her mother a hug and Mrs. Weasley's sobbing lessened. Bill moved forward and was hugging his mother as well, when another figure strode into the room and down the steps. It was Albus Dumbledore. His face was very grave, and he was wearing robes of a deep plum. Harry instantly felt a sort of calm come over him, something he hadn't felt since he had first received the note back on Privet Drive. He gave a significant look to Aberforth who quickly muttered something about needing to get back to the bar upstairs and hurried away, not looking at anyone. Harry was feeling tired now, and he didn't even want to try to fathom what this could mean. Dumbledore moved to the center of the room, but before he could say a word, he was interrupted by a resounding CRASH as the door at the tope of the stairs banged open, and two identical figures were framed in the doorway before... "FRED! GEORGE!" Ginny had screamed, and rushed up the stairs to her brothers. George hugged her, and Fred held her by the shoulders to examine her at arm's length. "Are you allright? The bloke upstairs told us you were all down here. We heard from Dumbledore, and came back as soon as we could." Harry wondered momentarily where they had been, but instantly Ron leaned over and whispered, "They've been down in Africa all summer trying to find some rare plant or something, I don't remember." The boys moved down the stairs with Ginny, and Harry noticed that her eyes were shining now with tears, though she forced them back defiantly. Lupin busied himself conjuring chairs of various degrees of comfort and ushered Ginny sympathetically into a shaggy arm chair that seemed to have been from the 60's. After everyone was seated, Dumbledore cleared his throat. "We all," he said in his slow calming voice, "know that this was expected. The order was well protected, but as many of us know, even the most invincible charms can be broken by foolishness." His eyes bore into Harry's, and Harry looked away. He knew Dumbledore was referring to the fact that the charm that was supposed to save him and his parents didn't work because of a horrible betrayal by someone they had counted as a friend. "Undoubtedly, for those of us who were present at this attack, and for everyone else who feels such a family-like connection to those people, whether by blood or friendship, it has been a terrible ordeal. I strongly suggest we all take a night here at the Hog's Head before returning to our normal lives. It is late, and the owner of the Inn has consented to allow us room for the night. I know," he added as they all began to move, "that some of us, perhaps all of us, may have some doubts about our security here. I assure you that no harm will come upon you tonight." Harry and the others all began to slump up the stairs. He felt as if all his energy had been drained from him in the last few hours. It was a huge relief to be ushered into a dingy room above the bar where three moth eaten mattresses lay on the floor haphazardly. He was joined moments later by Ron and Bill. Harry collapsed on his mattress, ignoring the cloud of dust that rose from it. He wondered whether or not Moody had ever found his aunt uncle and cousin, and whether they would have a home to return to if he had. Harry's feelings of exhaustion were suddenly gone, and he lay on his back under his thin ragged blanket thinking. The events of the past day felt like a dream. The order destroyed, its occupants held hostage, and Lord Voldemort's servants coming to his house in hopes of killing him. It wasn't the first time somone had tried to kill Harry, but he felt a wave of anger that they had so endangered his friends to get to him, and immediatley he felt the same lost hoplessness he had been feeling all summer. How many attacks were the people who he cared about going to have to go through before it was over? As Mrs. Weasley had said, what about the next time? Harry rolled over. He felt ill and shaky. It was his fault that they'd all been in so much danger. Voldemort was after him. There was no way he would sleep tonight. He rolled back onto his back, very alert of any noises coming from the village below. How did Dumbledore know they were safe here? Why shouldn't the death eaters come barging into this very room? A crack interrupted Harry's thoughts. Ron groaned and reached for the grimy lamp by his bed. In the cloud of dust that had risen around them, Harry saw Fred and George had apparated right onto Ron's stomach. "Sorry little brother." said Fred, climbing clumsily off an angered Ron. The door creaked open, and Ginny and Hermione edged in, and sat on the edge of Harry's mattress. "So?" said George? "Yeah what happened?" demanded Fred. "Lupin told us," said Hermione, "He told us everything." "He told us everything he knew," corrected Ron, "I want to know what really happened...that is if it's not...you know" "Too painful?" said Ginny in a mock dramatic voice. She shifted on the bed and said "I don't mind talking about it. It wasn't that bad." Bill made a derisive noise. "stop acting the brave warior Gin, It was that bad." he said. Ginny opened her mouth to retort, but Bill had already begun to talk again, sitting up on his mattress. "We'd just got back from Diagon Alley; we were buying some things for your welcome back party, Harry." he added with a half smile. "And we were sitting in the kitchen, when we heard voices coming from the hallway. So Dad and I got up to see if it was you guys back already, and we hear someone shout a spell, and next thing I know I'm flat on my back with the door to the hall blown clean off the frame." "Death Eaters?" asked Harry. Ginny nodded and picked up the story before Bill had a chance, "So they all came in, about five or six of them and started destroying the place. Dad told us all to run out the back way, but Bill was fighting one of them. (And winning, added Bill) so Tonks grabbed me and we started running down to the basement to get out, but there were more of them downstairs, and one of them stunned Tonks. And I heard-" her voice shook a little bit, and Harry could tell she was only acting brave about this. "I heard Dad yelling, and I turned around to go back up, and one of them grabbed me and- and started to drag me to the fireplace-" Fred swelled furiously, but Hermione said "why?" sounding shocked. "Isn't it obvious?" said George, "They wanted a hostage. Filthy scumbags." he added in disgust. Bill had moved closer to the others, and was standing near Ginny now as he picked the story up, "I heard her screaming, so I came downstairs, and-" he actually laughed a little, "That guy should've known Gin wasn't gonna go quietly." "What happened?" asked Harry. "She crushed his foot, elbowed him in the face, grabbed his wand and blasted him into a wall," he said now grinning broadly in spite of the serious situation. "Allright Ginny!" yelled Ron. She looked at Ron, semi-amused and said, "Well the only problem is I wasn't ready when they conjured ropes and tied Bill and me up." The smile slid off Harry's face. "And one of them started a fire and they all dissaparated." said Bill, who wasn't smiling either now. "But not before that evil hag Belltrix came in shouting that she'd discovered where Harry and you all were going to be." muttered Ginny. "How did you all get out?" said Hermione softly. "That's the best part," said Bill, "A bunch of muggles were swarming around, and I guess they figured we were all in there, because they came with those big red trucks of theirs and those giant hose pipes and all wearing these big suits with hats and boots-" Harry caught Hermione's eye and they laughed at the awe struck look on Ron's face as Bill described the fire men. Suddenly, Fred voiced what Harry had been wondering in the back of his mind since he heard the order had been broken into. "How did the death eaters find it?" "There's only one way they could've" said Bill, "someone had to tell them." A long silence responded to this proclamation. "You mean..." began Hermione tentatively, "someone in the order, or someone who's been informed of it...is a traitor?" "Exactly," said Bill gravely, "and that someone could be informing You-Know- Who of everything, right this very moment."