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Chapter 4 : Housecleaning

An hour later, everyone had been to work. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were assigned to scrub the large, filthy windows in the unused parlor upstairs. As they worked, Harry asked "I haven't seen Kreacher around. Where is he?"

"Well, he's obviously been given clothes. He deserved it. After all, he betrayed Sirius." Ron replied and in a low voice he added "Don't asked that to Hermione. She start talking about SPEW again."

"Don't ask me what?" Hermione said, " Oh, you mean Kreacher. The poor elf, he was all alone."

"Hermione, he betrayed us." Ron said.

"He was just looking for attention. We - you mistreated him." She retorted, "If SPEW had been more successful, he-" Hermione was unable to finish for at that exact moment, Ron, Harry and Hermione heard a thunderous crash coming from main hall. A split second later, they heard a earsplitting shriek from upstairs. Harry shuddered, he had forgotten that Sirius's mother had a portrait in the house. Harry, Ron and Hermione ducked into the hallway as the screaming ceased and pushed their way to the dimly lit hallway. They stopped a short way from the glowering Mrs. Weasley, standing beside a shattered chandelier. When they peered from behind her, they saw Fred and George grinning weakly.

" WHAT ARE YOU THINKING SETTING A DUST BOMB IN HERE! NOT ONLY HAVE YOU BROKE THE CHANDELIER YOU CAUSED THIS PLACE TO GAIN A DECADE'S WORTH OF DUST!"

"We were only trying to test our dust bomb, mum." Fred said meekly.

"Works well doesn't it?" added George sarcastically.

"WELL YOU SHOULD HAVE TESTED IT SOMEWHERE ELSE, SHOULDN'T YOU!" shouted Mrs. Weasley, "YOU WILL SCRUB EVERY INCH OF THIS PLACE UNTIL EVERY SPECK OF DUST IS GONE! WITHOUT MAGIC! " she said in one breath. "Hermione, be a dear and fix the chandelier. These two can't seem to do anything right."

"Sure," Hermione mumbled.

"Thanks, dear" Mrs. Weasley said gratefully.

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"Finally, we're in Diagon Alley." said Mrs. Weasley. "Mr. Weasley and I will shop with Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione. Tonks and Lupin will shop by themselves."

"Why can't they come with us?" asked Ginny.

"They need to retrieve something top secret." answered Mrs. Weasley. "Lets begin. Let's visit Florish and Bolts. Let me see the lists, Ginny dear." Ginny handed over the supply lists. "Lets see. We'll need . . ."

A short while later, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny arrived at the ice cream parlor with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. They dumped an armful of bundles and packages onto a table.

"I wonder what's taking Tonks and Lupin so long." said Mrs. Weasley. "They should be done by now."

A few minutes later, Ron exclaimed " Is that Tonks?" Lupin and Tonks arrived with a scroll-like tube tucked underneath Lupin's arm.

" Did you have trouble?" asked Mr. Weasley in a hushed whisper.

" We took a while to find the cave. Aberforth really went through alot of trouble to hide the cave." replied Lupin.

"Did you get it?" asked Mr. Weasley.

"Right here." said Lupin, gesturing to his bundle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Goric Hollow~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Master, you have visitors." whimpered Wormtail.

"Let them in." the cold voice of Voldemont replied. Wormtail opened the door to reveal Lestrange, Malfoy, and Dolohov.

"We have news that might interest you, master." said Lestrange.

"We've observed the Celestial Caves for the past month. It is true that the Unicorn resides in those cave, but we have yet to learn which one." reported Malfoy.

"Just as I thought. Make sure you post spies and scouts outside the cave. Notify me immediately when the Unicorn leaves the cave." said Voldemont.

"When will that be?" asked Dolohov.

"If every thing goes according to plan, not for a couple of months, but we still need to be careful."

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I know this chapter is short but I didn't want to start another event and stop in the middle of it. I promise the next chapter will be longer and besides, this chapter is thought provoking. Does anyone remember who Aberforth is? He's not a new character and I don't own him.

"Dude" - First, Harry only had breakfast once. He just had a second helping. Notice that at the end of ch 2, Harry is about to eat dinner. At the begining of ch 3, Harry eats porridge. You normally don't eat porridge for dinner. Second, Lupin delivered the OWL results to Mrs. Weasley. No one except members of the Order of the Phoenix is suppose to know where the headquarters are and owl post can be interfered with, like Hedwig's case in OotP. Finally, Mrs. Weasley made Harry work the next morning, after he had some rest. I don't blame you for being critical. I admit I should have clarified the part about breakfast before I uploaded this chapter.

Nightraven106 - "Intelligent Adolescent" This is a joke, right? Forgive me for saying so but you think too highly of yourself. You are really obsessed. Clay doesn't exist in Claidi's world. What rank will he be anyway (prince, commoner, thief)? Thanks for reviewing anyway.

Ginny Lorina Fireseerer - Interesting penname. Thanks for reviewing.

Iniysa - Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy this chapter.