In Every Darkness

Chapter Nine: The Order of the Phoenix

15.7.1996(Morning)

Ron sat up and stretched. He looked around the room carefully, making sure that Fred and George hadn't invaded while he slept.

They had, of course. They had every other day since Ron, Ginny and Hermione got back from Hogwarts. They practically covered the three younger children's rooms in pranks every morning.

Ron looked around carefully, trying to spot all of the pranks, and decided, after a while, that he knew enough that it would be safe to get up and exit the room.

He stood up and, walking very carefully, made his way to the open window in his room. It was his only means of escape from the twin's plans – they hadn't figured it out yet, for which he was grateful.

He pulled himself easily onto the window sill, then edged along a thin stone edge that went all the way around the house, beneath and above the windows.

The room next to his was empty. It would be Harry's, when Ron's best friend came to Number Twelve Grimmauld Palace.

Climbing through this window (which was also open) Ron tiptoed through the room and slipped into a secret passageway that led from this room to the dining room.

It was located in a large, walk-in wardrobe, and Ron had discovered it quite by chance when hiding from the twins on his third day back from Hogwarts. They'd been trying to curse him and he'd run into Harry's room and hidden in the wardrobe.

Down near the other end of the passageway, Ron paused to listen carefully to make sure that there was no one else in the room on the other side of the hidden door.

Once he was sure that there were no life forms out there, Ron pushed the door open and walked out, allowing the door to swing closed.

You could only open it from the other side, which meant that it was useless to try and sneak from the kitchens to Harry's rooms, but at least he could get out of his own room in the morning.

Once closed, it simply looked like a few panels of wood.

A moment later, Ron heard his twin brothers chuckling as they came towards the kitchen, thinking that they'd have caught their little brother. It was the first time that he'd used to the window escape.

They pushed open the door, still laughing.

"What's so funny?" Ron demanded, and both of them looked at him, ready to laugh at the damage their pranks had done … only for their mouths to drop open in astonishment as they realised that there was no sign of any of their pranks on him.

"What?" Ron smirked. "Thought you'd have got me for sure with your pranks this morning, huh?"

Both of them glared at him, furious that things hadn't worked out how they were supposed to.

A moment later Hermione and Ginny came in together, followed by Mrs Weasley.

Ron looked questioningly at his friend and his sister. "Molly saw a suspicious looking bucket of water over Ginny's door and decided to investigate," Hermione said, grinning.

Ron smiled triumphantly at his brothers, who both sighed heavily.

"It's nice to be able to walk down the stairs without having old Mrs. Black shrieking about my being a Mudblood," Hermione remarked happily, sitting down.

Ron nodded in fervent agreement. It seemed that if a House-Elf betrayed his family, it would haunt them forever, something that Kreacher had obviously forgotten about when he'd told Narcissa Malfoy about Sirius Black and the Order of the Phoenix.

The crazed house-elf had killed himself to get away from the constant nagging of his betrayal, which had meant that Mrs. Black's portrait could be removed from the wall without fuss, once they'd managed to lift the spell that had been holding it there, and Kreacher's den emptied of all the nasty bits and pieces he'd accumulated.

Those that were not dangerous had been stored in the attic of the house, waiting for something or someone. The children had not been told who, or what.

Not to say that they hadn't tried.

"Fred! George! How could you! Rigging up all of those traps for your younger sister and Hermione!" Molly Weasley started.

"What you rather have us do? Turn out like Percy?" one of them demanded, angry.

Immediately the anger left Ron's mother and her shoulders sagged. Arthur came downstairs in time to hear the last comment. "You shouldn't have said that," he remarked quietly to Fred and George.

Both boys hung their heads.

Tempers were still running high between Percy and his family. Percy stubbornly believed that Fudge had done no wrong, and if he had not been right, the Weasleys still should have put their full support behind the Ministry. Nothing could convince him that this had been a bad idea on many fronts.

"Sorry, Mum," both muttered, sulking out of the room without waiting for breakfast to come.

Both of Ron's parents sighed heavily. Percy's betrayal hung heavy on their shoulders still, and Ron doubted that the weight would ever lift.

"I wish we could keep in contact with Harry," Hermione sighed.

"I know." Ron's mother sighed as well. "But you know what Dumbledore said – we should leave him a while before trying to talk to him. We need to give him time to get over Sirius's death – in three days you can send word with Fawkes. It's not too long to wait."

"But still…" Ron said heavily, and Hermione bowed her head in sad agreement. "He might feel like we don't want to talk to him – I know that that's how he felt last summer, and I really don't want him to be mad."

"Just wait. I'm sure everything will be fine," Molly Weasley repeated firmly.

Ron nodded again and sighed.

Outside, he could hear the members of the Order coming downstairs to eat. He knew that the guard on Harry would be changing – it had been the new woman last night … What was her name? Kate? No … Katharine! That was it. He wondered if Harry had met up with her.

Ron didn't like the woman much. She was mysterious, which reminded him of Professor Trelawney, his less-than-loved Divination teacher. He wondered what Harry had thought of her.

As the Order settled down to eat their breakfast, the door burst open and Katharine skidded into the room, a look of amazement on her face.

"You'll never believe this," she whispered dramatically.

Ron rolled his eyes as he looked down at his breakfast again. What a bore. But the rest of the kitchen didn't seem to share his opinion.

"I don't suppose there's any chance of stopping you telling us, so you might as well get on with it." A sneering voice came from outside, and Professor Severus Snape entered the kitchen.

Katharine glared at the man, obviously angry that the man had stolen the moment from her.

Dumbledore, following the potions master smiled and nodded in agreement, though the Headmaster of Hogwarts seemed almost enthusiastic.

"Tatsu Kendo," the woman stated. Immediately every eye was on her in amazement.

Ron went over what he knew of the man – who didn't know about him? And wondered what she was talking about.

"Tatsu Kendo? What does he have to do with anything?" Snape demanded.

"He had moved to Privet Drive."

Those six words rendered the kitchen into a state of silent awe and surprise. Katharine smirked at Snape, happy to have gotten one over the man, but no one noticed. They were too surprised to think.

Well, what has Tatsu Kendo got to do with anything? You'll find out soon enough. Sorry that it's taken me a little while to update, and that's been so short, but I've been busy. It's the end of term, and it's teacher's 'party time'. They get to give us tests and torture us with things like that. We had a one and a half hour 'mini' maths test this morning!

WolfMoon