Harry opened the door of his and Ron's bedroom and was pleasantly surprised as he saw Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Neville. The first two people who noticed Harry were the shrieking girls "Harry!!! Oh, guys look, Harry's here!" and they both flung themselves on Harry and embraced him in one huge hug. "We missed you so much" Ginny whispered as she let go of him. "C'mon ladies, let him breathe!"said Ron cheerfully and they also hugged in a brother hug. Although it was actually the first time they hugged, it came so naturally that even Harry was surprised how good and right it felt to embrace his best friend and couldn't help himself but wonder why hadn't he done it ever before.
After that, Harry turned his attention to Neville. "Hi Neville! What are you doing here? I thought you spend summer holiday with your grandma?" he asked curiously. However somehow before he had finished his question he knew, it wasn't the best thing to ask as he saw all their faces darkened. "There was an attack, Harry," said Hermione tearfully, however before she could finish her sentence, Neville cut her off and said grimly
"My granny and I were assaulted by a group of Death Eaters yesterday evening. You know, my granny is a really good and capable witch, nevertheless she is getting old and when she was attacked by two stunners and one crutiatus curse she ..."he broke off "Then the Order came, fought the rest of the Death Eaters and took her to St. Mungo's. The Healers say there's a little chance she will woke up and even lesser that she will fully recover."
"Oh my...Neville, I'm so sorry...I...could I do, could anyone of us do anything for you?" Harry started. "No Harry, don't be. Just promise me one thing, promise me you'll teach me to fight, to revenge my granny, to kill ... to kill those bastards!" At that time, there was no grief in his voice, only a pure loathing towards the people who caused him so much pain. Harry had a feeling that Neville somehow matured since the last time he had seen him.
Nobody could probably understand him better than Harry. "Don't worry mate, you'll get it..."That was the only thing Harry was able to say. But somehow, it seemed to satisfy Neville.
The next moment they were interrupted by Mrs. Weasley. "Dinner is ready in 10 minutes, dears." "Coming," they replied in unison and went downstairs to help her with preparations for the small party she was throwing.
When they appeared downstairs in the basement they could see loads of confetti and a huge banner, which read CONGRATULATIONS GINNY!
"She was made a prefect this summer, the letter came yesterday and you know my mum, she was, as always, thrilled" Ron whispered to Harry. "Why nobody told me that?" Harry asked mocking hurt expression. "Congratulations Ginerva!" Harry said in a booming voice trying to sound authoritatively and shook her hand. With that everyone who was near enough burst into laugh. "Hey, what's funny? I'm just trying to be nice!" Although he tried a lot, he burst into laugh the next moment as well.
Guests seemed to slowly fill the room. Among the invited were Remus Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody, Hestia Jones, the Weasley clan and many others. Harry was happy to see there Hagrid, since he hadn't been in high spirits the last time he had seen him and wanted to set things in order with him. However the biggest surprise was yet to come. "Um, Ron? Percy is still in not-speaking terms with your family?" he asked cautiously.
"Oh, that bloody git! The next time I see him, I going to use one of Ginny's bat-bogey hexes on him, damn the rules! He betray his own family, his own blood, can you believe it? Mum is still crying at nights over his decision. She thinks he'll change his mind. As if she doesn't know how stubborn that grouchy git can be. Yeah, stubborn and ambitious...that traitor is no more a family to me. I wouldn't be much surprised if he had already chosen the wrong side." Ron hissed his voice slightly trembling with anger. But Harry knew better, he knew that behind these strong words of anger is Ron's hidden sorrow. Sorrow and fear that something bad could have happened to his third brother.
"I'm sorry Ron, I shouldn't have mentioned it," Harry started to apologize, "I thought he had already reconciled with you." Percy had always been Harry's least favourite member of the Weasley family, but now he truly hated him for the pain he brought to this wonderful family.
"Remember the letter he sent me last year?" continued Ron; "Well he sent us another one right after the events at the Ministry saying the reason of Voldemort's rebirth is you, that we should sever ties with you and such rubbish."
"C'mon Harry, dear, have a seat," said Mrs. Weasley. As the group sat around the table, Harry started shooting questions.
"So, can any of you guys tell me what's been going on? What's the latest news?" However the moment he asked his question, the kitchen door burst open.
A man with thick round glasses, Harry didn't know stood in the doorway looking extremely serious. However the Order members didn't have problems recognizing him. "Oh Tonks, what took you so long? I was scared half to death," uttered Mrs. Weasley with a reproachful look. "Molly, there are some pressing matters at the Ministry. Kingsley had to stay behind and he asked me to send back Arthur, they need every capable wizard to clean up this mess."
"What kind of mess?"Harry asked. "Voldemort is not lying low as we thought he would. It seems as if he was sending every free Death Eater to cause havoc in the streets. And of course we've got loads of dead, tortured and missing muggles. All in all it means only one thing-"
However before she could finish the sentence, Harry jumped in. "He's planning something different, isn't he. He's just trying to distract attention from it,"he concluded. "Exactly!" she nodded. And they said in unison "Big problems".
