A/N: Lol.  (Sorry, I'm rather laughy today)  Rather.  Lol.  Anyways, thanks so much for all of the reviews!! Without further delay, here's the next chapter! =D

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Chapter 52:

            Harry looked at Lupin helplessly as the kitchen settled into an uneasy quiet.  "What's the matter with Evelyn right now?  She doesn't seem to be herself…" he asked.  "Tonks, too," he added. 

            Lupin sighed, swishing his tea a little bit.  "Well, Harry… Evelyn just holds grudges for a very long time, and is very…. Stubborn.  She hates Snape.  That's all there is to that.  AS for Tonks, well…"  Lupin looked up at Harry.  "You might know that Evelyn and I were together for awhile before she went into… hiding.  We began going out in the middle of seventh year, and by the time Evelyn had to leave, not quite two years after we left school, we were quite in love.  As it went, I was devastated when first Holly, then Calista and Evelyn die, then Lily and James, and Peter, with Sirius in Azkaban…"  Lupin shuddered.  "And justn this year, before Evelyn returned, I began seeing Tonks.  I really liked her a lot, and she liked me… However, when Evelyn and Calista arrived, Tonks said she saw the way Evelyn looked at me and demanded to know everything.  I told her, and Tonks broke up with me…. She says that Evelyn and I should be together.  And from then on she'd been avoiding me…"

            Calista looked down sadly.  Mrs. Weasley sighed, and from the doorway, as they entered, the Weasley twins sighed even louder.

            "Tragic..." said Fred sadly, bowing his head. 

            Next to him, George removed his raccoon hat.  "Devastating…"

            Mrs. Weasley gave her sons a dirty look.  "That's not funny, you two…"

            Fred immediately perked up.  "So sorry… right you are, Mum, as always."  Meanwhile, George bent down his head and whispered to Harry-

            "Always make them think that you think that their thinking is right… Works like a charm."  Harry chuckled. 

            "So, Harry, how've you been?" asked Fred, grinning. 

            "Fine, you?" he asked.

            "Splendid," said George.  "Never better." 

            "That's good," said Harry.  "How's business?"

            Fred grinned.  "Excellent, Harry, and we owe it all to you…"  Harry smiled.  Suddenly George looked at his watch.

            "Harry, by any chance have you talked with Katie lately?"  Harry thought. 

            "Yes; at Quidditch practice the other day.  Why?"

            "No reason," sighed George.  "I was just curious if she told you what time she was coming… ah, well…"

            "Katie's coming?" asked Harry, surprised, vaguely wondering how many people this place would hold before it exploded.

            "Yeah, either today or tomorrow," said George.  "She has to check with her parents first…"  Harry nodded.  Suddenly, he remembered something.

            "Did you say that the Dursleys were hiding here?" he asked, to nobody in particular.  

            Remus looked up.  "Actually, yes, Harry… but they refuse to leave the sixth floor, where they're staying.  I would strongly recommend no one goes up there…. They aren't the nicest of people, your aunt and uncle."  Harry snorted.

            "That's for sure," he muttered, laughing.  "I trust they didn't take kindly to being taken here?"

            Remus chuckled.  "You didn't have to go get them, Harry…"

            "How many people are staying here right now?" Harry then decided to ask, when he couldn't count anymore.  Remus frowned, counting, but Calista answered. 

            "Twenty-seven," she said promptly. 

            "How'd you do that?" asked Fred.  Calista just shrugged, smiling. 

            "Good at math, I suppose…"

            Harry finally decided to take a seat at the table, and a cup of tea was immediately placed in front of him.  After several minutes, Mr. Weasley entered the kitchen, looking tired from a hard day at work.  Mrs. Weasley beamed at him.

            "Congratulations, Minister!" said Lupin loudly from the other side of the table.  "How was your first day at work?"  Mr. Weasley smiled and Harry went up to shake his hand in congratulations. 

            "Oh, it was wonderful!  But so tiring!" said Mr. Weasley enthusiastically.  "And," he said uncomfortably, stealing a quick glance at his wife, "Percy's quit."  Mrs. Weasley's smile evaporated faster than you could say 'Quidditch.'

            "He what?" she asked sharply.

            "He was… er, Molly… he was not too happy about losing the election, and… he… quit."

            "Oh, no, Arthur!" moaned Mrs. Weasley.  "And just when he was beginning to speak with us again!  Where will he work now?" she asked, trying to stifle tears. 

            "I actually think he said something about being the English Ambassador to the French Ministry…"

            "France?" she asked, almost in hysterics.

            "Molly, dear…. At least it isn't as far away as Egypt or Romania…"  But Mrs. Weasley simply walked out of the kitchen.  Mr. Weasley sighed and followed her.  Fred and George exchanged dark looks as soon as he left the kitchen. 

            "Well," said Lupin, standing up, "I'd better go work on a bit of legislation…."

            "Legislation?" asked Harry as Lupin left through the swinging doors of the kitchen.  Calista answered.

            "He's joining the Ministry, now that the Minister and his assistants aren't prejudiced against Werewolves…"

            "Really?" asked Harry, happy for the last Marauder.  Calista smiled. 

            "Yeah… it's really great.  Anyway, I have to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow for some last minute shopping…. Anyone want to come?"           

            "Sure," said Harry.  "That sounds good."

            "We'll be there anyway," said Fred, "At our shop…. But come by sometime during the day."  

            "Okay," said Calista, smiling.  "We'll be sure to do just that…"

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            Later on that day, about an hour before dinner, Harry was sitting in his room, talking with Ron and Hermione.  Ginny and Lenore were somewhere giving Tabby and Gwen the tour, and Malfoy was at Hogsmeade with his Godfather, none other than Snape, and Snape's nephew, Augustus, who was eleven and went to Durmstrang.  

            They were talking mildly about Crookshanks and Lenore's cat, Nixie, and how they didn't seem to like each other, when they suddenly heard loud voices.

            "What's that?" asked Hermione, looking around.

            "Oh, I forgot!" exclaimed Harry, his eyes wide.  "There must be a vent in here or something; you can hear Evelyn and Calista's room…  Ron looked around the room and suddenly pointed at something.  

            "Look," he said quietly, "a vent."  He bent down to listen.  "Harry; Hermione- grab my extendable ear!"

            "Where is it?" asked Hermione, looking around.

            "There's a pile on the dresser…"

            "Oh!" said Hermione.  She gave one to both Ron and Harry, muttered something that sounded like, "We shouldn't eavesdrop," and then took one herself.  Harry put it in his ear and watched it squiggle into the vent.

            A moment later, the voices were perfectly clear.

            "Oh, I don't know, Ev…. I just want to see him!  And see who he looks like!  Merlin, I'd do almost anything!"

            "Then do it, Calli!  Don't just sit around here waiting, because he's not going to come to you… he probably doesn't even know about you or Sirius…"

            "But be reasonable, Evelyn.   First off, I'm supposed to be dead.  Next, if I'm not dead, people, especially death eaters, are not supposed to know that I'm not dead.  Also, what would you expect me to do?  'Hi there, Bellatrix, my dear cousin!  I never really died, actually, and was wondering if I could have mine and Sirius's child back; Dumbledore was an idiot to hand him over to you, but as my other closest relative, Narcissa Malfoy, wouldn't take him, it seems you were the only one left…'  Honestly, Evelyn!"

            "Well, it isn't exactly as if they'll give up the boy they've raised as a son to Dumbledore or something…"

            "What if Bellatrix and Rudolphus have to go to Azkaban?  Then do you think Arthur could maybe-"

            "Calli," said Evelyn sadly, "The boy was raised by Death Eaters…. Do you even think he would want to come here?  What if he betrayed all of our secrets?  Use your common sense, Calli, he went to Durmstrang for Merlin's sake…"

            "The only reason I took the Hogwarts job was just in case… he was there…. But Durmstrang, how could they?"  Calli began crying.

            "Hush, Calista Marilyn Black… hush."

            "Y-you said Black," said Calista. 

            "As it should've been years and years ago…"

            Harry sat up and took our the extendable ear, at the same moment as Ron and Hermione.  They stared at each other, at a loss for words.

            Finally Hermione broke the silence.  "Sirius and Calista were engaged?" she said quietly.

            "More like Sirius and Calista had a kid," said Ron bluntly. 

            "I knew that they'd been engaged," mused Harry, "but the kid is all new to me…"

            "Why didn't you tell us?" asked Ron, his eyes narrowed.

            "It never came up," said Harry uncomfortably.  "But Sirius never told me he had a kid…"

            "Maybe he never knew," said Hermione quietly.  "I mean, think about it… if Sirius knew that his child, his only son, was being corrupted by the Lestranges, don't you think he would've gone there right after finding Peter?"  Harry nodded. 

            "That sounds right…"

            "And Calista just sent her baby to Dumbledore, without even TELLING Sirius, who, in turn, sends it to a pair of Death Eaters?" asked Ron incredulously.

            "I don't know!" exclaimed Hermione.  "But let's just drop it, okay?  We're not supposed to know, anyway…"  With that she fled from the room.  Ron looked at Harry with a quizzical expression, but Harry just shrugged.

A/N: Don't forget to review! =)