Chapter 50
Into the Air and Out of the Fire

Before Molly could respond to George's comment about the twins' needing to talk to their father, there was a loud pop and there stood Arthur. Molly smiled wearily at him. "Arthur. So glad you're here."

He in turn looked at the boys. "I'm glad you're home. I was afraid they may not have let you go."

"What's going on, Arthur?"

He looked past Molly to the twins who were now placing some boxes on the kitchen table. "What did they tell you? What is happening? Kingsley tried to tell me but didn't really have the time to . . ."

"The Aurors are at Diagon Alley in force. They've closed down all of the shops, saying they've heard Death Eaters are going to attack sometime this afternoon. They're evacuating the entire street." Molly gasped in surprise and sat down in the nearest chair.

"Would the Death Eaters dare to do that? It's so bold . . . almost desperate. We'll need to help the Aurors, then."

"Molly, I don't want to be too hasty. I think we need to at least speak with Dumbledore before we rush into anything. I've sent him an urgent message to meet us at Headquarters and I think we should go there. That way we can coordinate our efforts." Molly nodded and the twins, solemn faced, also agreed.

Molly gave Cassie a worried glance. "Are you going to be all right alone again for a while, dear?"

"Of course. I'll be fine. I have plenty to read and things." She hugged George briefly, kissing him on the cheek while Molly fetched her cloak and then stepping back as the four of them prepared to disapparate. Before any of them actually went, though, George help up his hand.

"Wait. I don't think we should leave Cassie here by herself."

"She'll be fine. I've left her alone before."

"I know. And if there were some guarantee that we would be back in an hour or even two I would agree. But, we might be several hours or longer." Cassie was shaking her head.

"I really will be fine. If I get scared or worried, I can always use the Portkey. The important thing is that you go to the meeting and find out what you need to do to help."

"Let's just take her with us and she can wait there during the meeting. If we, uh, go fight, she'll be safer there and someone can make sure she's taken care of." A frisson of fear shot through Cassie at that moment, because she suddenly realized what George was talking about. They could possibly decide during this meeting to go to Diagon Alley and fight the Death Eaters. And there was a real possibility, although she prayed it was a very small one, that he or any of the other Weasleys would not ever return to the Burrow. That was why George didn't want her left alone. She swallowed hard. Arthur looked at her for a long minute.

"Yes, George, I definitely see your point. It would be safer if she were at Headquarters if something, uh, unexpected happened." Arthur glanced over at the kitchen shelves and saw the ugly little statue. "I think the easiest thing to do is have her Portkey there. It's set to take her right into the front entry and we don't have to worry about the charm and everything."

"I'll go with her, then."

"The Portkey is only set up to take her through the wards. Sorry. She'll have to go alone." George looked disappointed but Fred looked quite concerned.

"We can't send her there alone. It's not fair. It will take us at least a few minutes to get past the charm and meanwhile she could be in some danger."

"At Headquarters? They all know who she is. They wouldn't hurt her." So, a moment later, Cassie took the small Portkey in her hand and only a heartbeat later found herself flat on her back, looking at a very tall ceiling of dark wood and ancient beams. She stood quickly before anyone could see her in this humiliating position. She hated those stupid Portkeys. She soon realized she was in an ornate entry hall which was completely empty except for some overdone furnishings which included one extremely ugly umbrella stand designed to look like some sort of huge foot. She grimaced. The doorbell rang loudly and Cassie's eyes widened. Should she answer it? There was a noise from a room off the entry and someone she did not recognize walked into the hall. She did a double-take at seeing Cassie there but hurried and opened the door, admitting all the Weasleys. George rushed in without even saying thank you to the witch. When he saw Cassie standing there, his face broke into a smile.

"Fancy meeting you here." She just smiled at him and at the other Weasleys who rushed in behind him. Molly was talking to the witch while Arthur turned his attention to the door. She watched with a sense of acute deja-vu as Arthur quickly fastened multiple locks which clicked with a heavy sort of finality. As he locked the last one, there was a curious sound and Cassie realized what it meant.

"Is this house Fidelius Charmed?" George's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. He was obviously amazed that she knew about that. At his nod, Cassie frowned. "I don't trust that sort of magic very much."

"What do you know about Fidelius Charms?"

"I know they don't work very well." George was about to answer her when Remus walked into the hall. He looked at the assembled group.

"Come on. Dumbledore has arrived already and we've already started the meeting." He smiled warmly at Cassie in greeting. "Sorry but you really . . ."

"No. It's fine. I'll just look around a little." A minute later she was standing alone in the hall again. Before she could decide where to go or what to look at, George poked his head into the hall again.

"Go on up into the drawing room on the first floor. You can wait there and there are things to look at. I won't leave without letting you know, okay?" She barely had a chance to nod before he disappeared again. She climbed a long staircase. There were only two rooms on this landing and she opened the first door, deciding this was probably the room he had meant. It was, like the entry hall, decorated with heavy ornate furniture that had probably been in style 300 years ago. The room was bright and airy but a sense of heaviness and of some foreboding hung in the air and made her skin crawl slightly. She sat down on a chair to wait, but after a few minutes decided to look around. There were all sorts of interesting things in this room and she might as well take the opportunity to look.

There were pictures on the wall of a few people Cassie did not recognize although she stopped with a sudden jolt at a picture of someone she did. It was Harry with a dark-haired man who was laughing at someone not in the picture. Harry was smiling and looking relaxed. She studied the portrait for a while, trying to place Harry's age. He looked younger than he was now but not by very much, possibly only two or three years. She studied the picture with more interest. It had been taken in this room, but when it was taken, the room looked a lot different. She could see a heavy glass cabinet behind Harry that was no longer anywhere in the room. She was only sure it was this room due to the unusual window treatment which was identical. She wondered who the man was in the portrait. She moved on, stopping again a few moments later. There was another picture of the same man, this time much younger than he was in the portrait with Harry. He was very handsome, whoever he was. As she continued around the room, she saw several pictures of him along with some people whom she actually did recognize including one with Remus. But it wasn't until she looked carefully at the huge worn tapestry on the wall that she finally realized who the man in the portraits was. Sirius Black. This house obviously belonged to the Blacks if the huge genealogy sewn onto the tapestry was any indication.

She went back over to the portrait of Harry with the man she suspected was his Godfather, trying to remember what Harry had told her about the man. He had been the Potter's best man at their wedding but then a few years later was suspected of betraying them to Voldemort and having them killed. Then he had spent time in prison but she couldn't remember how he had gotten out. She couldn't even remember how long ago Harry had found him but she did remember that Harry was 15 when he was killed. By his own cousin. What was her name? It was a fancy name, she remembered that much. She walked back over to the tapestry, looking at Sirius' name and trying to see the names of his cousins. She started at the name Tonks . .. obviously some relation to the Tonks of the fireplace although she hadn't realized that was actually a last name rather than just a strange first name. Made more sense really. She almost jumped out of her skin when she saw the name Malfoy on the tapestry though, and when she saw Draco Malfoy carefully embroidered under the name of his mother and father, she wanted to grab some scissors and cut him out. Yuck. Well, it wasn't Narcissa Malfoy who had done it. She looked for a little longer before she recognized the right name. Bellatrix. Yeah. She was pretty sure that was who it had been who had somehow killed Sirius. She walked back to the picture of Harry again. She was still studying it when George found her.

"That's Sirius Black."

"Yeah. I figured that out. He seems very happy in this picture."

"He was never happy in this house, but when Harry was here it was better."

"But isn't this his house?"

"Yes. It was. But he was hated here and he hated back. They were all dark wizards you see." He indicated the tapestry. "He always said it was the final irony that we would use the house of some of the darkest wizards in history as a headquarters for a fight against them. He always smirked when he said it. It was, in a way, a revenge for him."

"Harry misses him."

"Yes. We all do but Harry more than most. He was . . . well, he was an interesting character. Dark, brooding, frightening almost. But magnetic. Like you couldn't be in a room with him and not notice him. He did not blend into the wallpaper. It was really sad when he died. Come on downstairs. We're going back to the Burrow. Everyone is waiting."

"Aren't you going to go fight?"

"No. We're pretty sure that the entire thing is a set up to get Order members to come out into the open. Since Saturday night, the Ministry has been trying to identify us so we can be arrested, remember? We decided it is not worth the risk. If the Death Eaters show up, the Aurors will have to handle them themselves." His mouth turned up a bit. "Dumbledore says that if Nightscall is really convinced the Death Eaters aren't a threat, this may help change his mind. If they show up at all, of course." They descended the stairs into the entry where Molly, Arthur, and Fred were all talking to Remus.

"Hi, Cassie."

"Hi, Remus. It's good to see you. How's Hogwarts doing without me?"

"It somehow is managing to still be standing." Cassie laughed. Remus handed her a wadded-up piece of parchment and the ugly statue again. "The parchment will take you back to the Burrow and this other Portkey has been activated again so you can come back here if you are ever threatened."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me, thank Dumbledore. Oh, and George can go with you to the Burrow if you want. It's set up a little different than the emergency one." He winked and Cassie flushed bright red. Did everyone know about their relationship?

George obviously wasn't embarrassed at all. He just smiled and wrapped his arms around her. "There, that should help you stay standing up when we land." Molly scowled slightly but Cassie turned her head into George's shoulder and just breathed in the smell of him that was so distinctly personal. This was much better than traveling alone. She had her doubts that anything would help her remain upright but a few moments later when her feet hit solid ground, she had to admit George was right. She just let him absorb all the force and they both stayed on their feet. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"I guess not. It's still not something I enjoy doing, but there's not much I can do about it." A few seconds later, Molly and Fred joined them in the kitchen, Arthur having apparently gone straight back to work. Molly said nothing about the previous embrace, and looked now with more interest at the piles of boxes the twins had brought with them earlier.

"What is all that stuff, boys? I hope it's not here to stay."

"No. It's just stuff that we didn't want destroyed if the store was attacked - prototypes of new products, some paperwork, etc" George opened a small box. "Plus . . . Cassie. We wanted to show you what we came up with. I hope it's what you had in mind. We've already sold a few this morning. People were a little hesitant but when we explained more, they were pleased with the idea." He held up a stack of parchment and Cassie looked with amazement at what he and Fred had done.

"How did you possibly get these done already?" And then she laughed because if you could count on anyone to take an idea and put their own twist on it, it was George and Fred and they hadn't let her down. The gift certificates were beautifully done, the calligraphy elaborate, the colors vivid. On the back were all the things she had told them they should probably include - the statement that they were not redeemable for cash, the expiration date, etc.

"But wait, you haven't seen the best part yet." Fred said, holding up his wand. "Let's say you bought this one for only 5 Galleons." He touched the Weasley Wizard Wheezes logo on the front of the certificate. "Happy Christmas" the certificate said, but in a rather dreary voice. It reminded Cassie very much of Eeyore's voice in a Winnie the Pooh cartoon, saying the right words but sounding like it didn't believe them at all. "But if you get the 10 Galleon one . . ." This time the voice said, "Happy Christmas!" in a bright cheery voice that sounded very sincere. Cassie laughed and even Molly chimed in.

"That's great!" Cassie exclaimed.

"There's more." He pulled a 20 Galleon certificate from the middle of the pile. "Listen to this." The voice this time was accompanied by some Christmas music in the background. "Happy Christmas from someone who really cares!"

"And," George added, "if you want more than 20 Galleons, we set it up so you can personalize your own message! It's really neat. And it's working because our first customer was only going to get the 5 Galleon one until she heard the message. She scowled a bit but got the 10 Galleon one in the end." Cassie shook her head.

"You two are incredible!" She hugged Fred quickly and then George. "I hope those really wind up helping the shop."

"They will, I'm sure." Fred said and George nodded.

"Thanks for the idea. We did these two for you as a thank you." She looked at the two in his hand and laughed. They were personalized, one with Harry's name and the other with Ron's, plus each of them had a broomstick on it that zoomed in and out of the letters. Then when Fred touched the logo with his wand, instead of the generic message, the voice said "Happy Christmas, Harry, from Cassie" and there was an identical greeting for Ron.

"Oh, how nice. You didn't have to go to all that extra work for me! But thank you. I'll take these upstairs and get my money."

"Cassie?"

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you bring back down your heavy cloak? Since I'm home for the afternoon, I thought I would take you flying. Does that sound like fun?"

"That would be absolutely marvelous! Thank you! I'll hurry as fast as I can!" Cassie ran up the steps. Flying! She had loved it the only time she had been on a broomstick and it was one of her best memories from that entire surreal episode in June. She hoped George would be willing to do a few loops and things. That had been so fun! She grabbed 20 galleons out of her money bag, tucking the certificates into her trunk, where her few other presents were hidden. She hoped that the things she had ordered from the catalogs would come in time for Christmas. If not, it was going to be a bit embarrassing. She grabbed her heavy cloak and started right down the stairs, then reconsidered and ran back into Ginny's room for her hat. True, it was hardly a fashion statement, but it would keep her ears warm, at least. George was waiting for her alone in the kitchen when she descended. "Hi. I hurried. You haven't changed your mind, have you?"

"No." He looked at her with a rather strange expression on his face. "Cassie, have you ever flown before? I mean, you don't sound nervous at all."

"Yes. I've flown! It was so wonderful! Harry took me up in June, around the castle and everything. I didn't like going over the lake, though." She laughed and fastened the cloak around her neck. "I'm still going to freeze to death out there." She kept the hat in her hand. She'd put it on when she needed it and not before. No use being laughed at unnecessarily.

"Harry took you flying in June?"

"Yes. He has a really nice broom. And he did some loops and things - well, once I got used to being up in the air. When we first started, he just flew straight and kind of slow, I guess, although it didn't feel slow to me!" They stepped outside, Cassie blinking in the bright afternoon sun. "It's lovely out today!" She felt like skipping down the path or just taking off and running, she was so excited, but she forced herself into a more sedate pace. He didn't seem as enthused.

"Why would Harry have taken you flying?"

"I think it was kind of a goodbye present for me. Of course, he didn't know about all of this other, how could he, after all, and wanted to make it nice. He even had Hagrid find some unicorns!" She turned bright eyes to George. "Have you ever seen a unicorn, or petted one? It was so exciting!"

"Yes, but-"

"There was even a baby! Its coat was pure gold. I've never seen anything so beautiful!"

"They are pretty, but I think you missed my point. I mean, why was Harry taking you flying? Instead of Ron or Ginny or someone."

She looked at him, puzzled. "Well, I hardly knew Ginny after all. I'd only met her the previous day and although I knew Ron a little better, it was not much, and I don't think I would have trusted him enough to take me on a broom. And I think Hermione said she doesn't like to fly. Silly girl!" She couldn't help it then. The sun was just too beautiful and all the excitement she was feeling just had to come out. She stuck her arms out to the side and twirled around - probably looking like an idiot, but she didn't care. Then she remembered. "Besides, you were all busy, or at least Ron and Ginny had gone to the hospital wing with your mum and dad to see Charlie. Were you there that morning?"

"Yeah." He stopped walking altogether which frustrated Cassie because she wanted to get to the brooms before something happened that would mean he couldn't take her up. "I wondered where Harry was that morning. But . . .what were you doing at Hogwarts, anyway? Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever found out."

"Well, I had to come. Or I certainly would have been dead. And it's a good thing, too, let me tell you. I never told Harry but his house was completely destroyed when we left. I went to see it and it was just a huge pile of rubble. There was absolutely nothing left! So I'm glad the portkey worked. But I don't want to talk about that now! I want to fly! Come on, I'll race you!" And she started running, barely catching out of the corner of her eye the surprised look on his face as she took off. He, of course, caught up with her easily, passed her, and was waiting grinning at the broom shed when she arrived. But she didn't care if he laughed at her.

He pulled his broom out of the shed, shaking his head as he shut the door again. "I don't get up nearly as often as I'd like to, now. Of course, in the winter it gets dark so early that it's almost impossible after work." He set the broom in mid-air and indicated that she should get on.

"Actually, why don't you get on first to hold it and then I'll climb on behind you. It worked better that way last time." His eyebrow shot up again but he did as she suggested and a few seconds later she stepped over the broom and sat down. She then realized that this outing into the air would be a significant improvement over the last. She had had to hold onto Harry, there had been no choice, but she had been slightly self-conscious and so had he and so she had never really relaxed. This time, as her arms wrapped around George's waist and she really hugged him, she thought of the possibilities. He started slowly, maybe checking to make sure she really knew how to stay on, or maybe just reacquainting himself with the broom, but after a few minutes, the broom edged up higher and sped up. Cassie laughed and buried her face in the warmth of his back, then turned her head to watch as the ground sped by beneath her. The brightness of the sun was deceptive. It was very cold up here and the wind was biting. She wished she had risked ridicule and pulled the hat on before they started. But with George acting like a windscreen, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

She relaxed against him, thinking that she loved the feel of the wind in her hair and the freedom of flying. Cassie wasn't jealous of her friends' magical abilities. She had months ago accepted the fact that some people could do magic and others couldn't - and all the wishing in the world could not change that. However, when it came to flying, Cassie's attitude was a little different. She really envied their being able to go out whenever they wanted, get on a broom and fly up into the air. They could always feel the rush of the wind in their faces and the thrill of flight. If only she could do that, she'd be one of the happiest girls in the world. As they flew, George's hand settled over both of hers where they rested around his waist and he patted them. She looked up and saw his face turned toward her. His mouth was moving but she couldn't hear him.

"What?! I can't hear you!" He spoke again and this time she barely heard the word "fun." "Yes! It's great!" She was yelling at the top of her lungs but the wind was snatching the words practically out of her mouth. They flew for a while over the house and the gardens and she just held on to him and thought about how fantastic this afternoon was turning out to be, considering that it had started out on such a bad note. He yelled again but she couldn't hear what he said so she just nodded. Much to her disappointment, he tipped the broom handle downward and started descending again. Inwardly, she cursed at herself. He had probably asked if she were too cold or something. She really didn't want to go down yet though. She was cold but not frozen and his warmth was seeping through his robes and keeping at least most of her fairly thawed. They landed smoothly a few moments later and she sat there holding onto him tightly, unwilling to slide off the broom and admit that the ride was over.

"You can let go now, Cassie."

"I could, but I don't want to."

"Well, you can stay back there if you want to. I just thought you might enjoy the other."

"What other?"

"So you didn't really hear me, then?"

"No, but I figured you were asking if I was having a good time."

"I actually asked you if you wanted to take a turn steering the broom." Cassie just stared up into his face.

"You're going to let me . . . steer the broom?"

"If you want to."

"Yes! I'd love it! Can I really do it?"

"I think so. If not, I'll take over. We'll get up high enough so all you have to do is go straight for a while until you get used to controlling it. But that means you're going to have let go of me and come around to the front." She loosened her grip on him and stepped off the broom. She was a little nervous as she settled herself in front of him and his arms curved around her waist.

"Oh! I will definitely need my hat now or my ears will freeze off."

"That would be bad." He didn't even laugh as she slipped the knitted cap down over the tops of her ears although he did cough rather strangely and she suspected that it may have been an attempt to cover up a laugh that had caught him unawares.

"So what do I do to steer this thing?"

"Just start to point the handle in the direction you want to go. This broom handles easily, even with the two of us so it won't be too hard. Just take it slow and easy, we don't want to tip sideways suddenly or anything."

"Can we do some loops or anything?"

"Well, I'll think about it." He kicked off the ground and she pointed the handle of the broom at the sky. It didn't take very long for her to realize that this was even better than the other way. The broom responded beautifully to her increasingly confident maneuvering and George told her she was doing an excellent job. "I'm enjoying this, Cassie. I can talk to you when you're in front." And it was true. He could speak directly in her ear which meant that she could actually hear what he was saying and if she only turned her head slightly, he could hear her, too. Much nicer.

As they flew around the tops of the trees of the paddock, George pointed out different things like the Burrow, the gardens, and the River Otter. Cassie wanted to go further but he insisted that they stay within the wards which meant that they had a fairly restricted flying area. She was relaxed and enjoying the entire experience when a bright blue blur passed directly in front of her and she leaned back into George in a sudden panic which caused the broom to veer up suddenly. She concentrated hard on getting control of it while George just told her she was doing fine. He had grabbed onto the handle in case she needed help but she could tell from the way the broom was responding that he wasn't doing anything. The blue blur came up beside them and she scowled at Fred.

"Oi! George! Cassie! I didn't realize she was steering! Sorry about that!" His voice carried fine despite the wind.

"You should be! You could have killed us!" Cassie yelled back. She was embarrassed and probably taking it all a bit personally, but she was chagrined at how stupid she had looked. George squeezed her shoulders reassuringly.

"So, George, want to play broom tag?"

"No! We do not want to play broom tag!"

"Yes! I'd love to, what do I do!" Cassie and George answered at the same time and Fred could barely suppress a smile at her enthusiastic answer. "George, what do I do to play?"

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes! It sounds great!"

"Well, he goes first since he offered. Everything he does, we do. Try to do exactly the same thing and we try to catch him at the same time. If any part of our broom touches any part of him or his broom, then it's our turn to lead. I'm not sure about this . . . if you really, really want to play, we could go land and let you get on behind again."

"Are you crazy? No way! Let's go!"

Fred heard her and took off like a shot. The next half hour was the most fun Cassie could ever remember having in her entire life. It was exhilarating racing around through the air and Fred gave her no quarter, or at least she didn't think so. She got to do all the loops and swerves and dives that she could have ever possibly wanted to do. George helped her with some of the trickier maneuvers. They caught him twice and he caught them three tsimes before George finally waved him off. "That's enough. We're going down. She's freezing." Cassie took a minute to register this and realized that indeed she was really cold. Under her heavy cloak and hat, she was shivering almost uncontrollably. The excitement of the game had kept her adrenalin up but now the cold was moving to the forefront of her brain and she wondered how she was managing to stay on the broom. They quickly descended to the ground and dismounted. Cassie's legs were a little wobbly and George reached out to steady her. As he did so, he pulled her into his arms and close to his own body.

"You should have told me how cold you were up there. Mum is going to kill me if I bring you back frozen. Here, take my cloak."

"No. It's a long walk back. You need something."

"I'll be all right." But she refused to take the cloak and so instead he wrapped both of them in it, pulling her right up against him and tucking her under his chin for a moment until the shivering stopped. "Better?" She nodded but really didn't want to let go of him. She was very comfortable. Fred cleared his throat by her ear and she poked her head above the edge of the cloak.

"Are you two comfy?"

"Very, thanks." George didn't let his twin's teasing bother him, although Cassie could feel her face get slightly warm.

"Every time I see you two together, it's like you have a permanent sticking charm on you and you've got her stuck right on your side."

"Well, you're just jealous Angelina doesn't cuddle with you." Fred raised an eyebrow.

"If I tried to cuddle Angelina like that, she's punch me." The twins laughed and all three of them started toward the broom shed and then on to the Burrow, Cassie quietly thinking about what Fred had said, especially in light of Molly's earlier comments. She felt rather self-conscious. Maybe she was being a little too . . . agreeable. Maybe she should . . . punch George occasionally. After all, her mum had always warned her not to always go along with a boy just because she liked him. She needed to stay independent and be her own self. She thought hard about how she had behaved around him lately. She had never done anything she didn't feel like doing just because he asked her to. Before they got into the house, Cassie's mind was made up. She didn't have a long time with George and she intended to make the time they did have as nice as possible. And if she needed to punch him, then she would. But so far, he had been wonderful and she didn't want to spend time feeling guilty about what she was doing to set back any sort of feminist movement. If she wanted to cuddle with him, she would. Well, she thought, within reason. So, with a lighter heart, she stepped into the warm kitchen, feeling the pins and needles of thawing digits start almost immediately.

Once inside the house, they got busy making some hot cocoa, setting out biscuits, milk, and whipped cream as the water heated quickly over the fire. Cassie finally felt warm by the time the cocoa was ready and Fred started pouring it into large mugs. She took off her cloak, hanging it over the back of her chair. George picked it up. "I'll just take this upstairs for you, okay?" She nodded, wrapping her hands around the thick stoneware and letting the warmth thaw the last cold off her hands. She picked up a biscuit, biting into the rich treat with pleasure.

"It looks like Mum left out some of her favorite chocolates. These are really wonderful. Would you like one?"

"Thanks. Are you sure she won't mind?"

"No, as long as we only have one each." Fred picked one off the small plate on the counter and Cassie picked another. Wizards really knew their chocolates. And they seemed to eat it without any fear of calories or fat content. Lucky them! The chocolate had an interesting sort of mint center although she crinkled her nose a bit at the after-taste. Fred was watching her carefully, almost too carefully. Cassie suddenly realized that despite his extremely innocent expression, she had just been had. She remembered Harry's warning too late, the words "Never eat anything the twins give you" echoing in her head. She waited with baited breath and narrowed eyes to see what would happen.

At first, nothing, and she wondered if she was being too suspicious. But then, she felt a strange heaviness of her head, like her neck could not support the weight any longer and then there was an itchy sort of ache on the top her skull. She put her hand up to her head and gasped in shock. She had something growing there, growing very fast. She scowled at Fred, who did not look intimidated, but instead grinned. "They worked! Wonderful!"

She tried to say, "What have you turned me into?" but her voice came out very strange sounding, like she had a really bad cold and her nose felt strange. She blinked. There was some sort of flashing light in the room now, making it hard to see Fred clearly across the table. She realized with a sudden horror that it was her nose that was blinking and despite everything, she wanted to laugh. He had turned her into Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer. "I have got to see this." It still sounded strange, but he got the idea and pulled mirror out of his back pocket, apparently having been prepared for this sort of reaction. She gasped as she saw her face. The nose was bright red and blinking and she had antlers which looked strange growing out of her curly hair. She did laugh, then. It really was remarkably clever.

George came down the steps at that moment and from his angry yell, she knew he had not been in on the joke. When she turned to him, embarrassed, his expression was one of complete shock and amazement. Fred was still grinning broadly.

"It worked! It worked even better than we hoped!" George's lips pursed.

"You promised me you would not use her as a guinea pig!"

"But there was no one else available. No one else is, uh, trusting enough to eat any of our candy." Cassie had the distinct impression that he was going to say stupid but had stopped himself at the last moment. She had been stupid. She had trusted Fred. She deserved to be a reindeer. As she suspected would happen though, a few moments later the heaviness and itching on her head went away and the blinking of her nose subsided. But even when she started helping get dinner an hour later, Molly looked at her strangely.

"Did you bang your nose, dear? It looks rather red."

"I think it's just the cold from earlier," Cassie lied, but she noticed that Fred was scribbling something down in a notebook and she imagined it was probably a note that the redness in the nose did not disappear quickly enough.

By the time Arthur arrived home from the Ministry, dinner had been prepared and the table set. Everyone sat down to a dinner of bangers and mash and they ate quietly as Arthur filled the others in on the rest of the afternoon.

"Sometime around 4:00 this afternoon all the Aurors drifted back into the office. Kingsley came down and told me that most of them had figured out it was a setup early on although they had had to stay the entire time. There was no evidence of Death Eaters at all and none showed up. He told me to tell you, Fred and George, that you can go back to the shop tomorrow. The reversal of the evacuation order will be in the Daily Prophet in the morning. I guess the article will apologize for the bad information and say that the Ministry hopes the shops won't suffer too much from loss of revenue." Fred scowled. Cassie knew that it probably was going to make a difference to them, even assuming customers were willing to come back where there was still fear of a Death Eater attack. It was terribly unfair to shop owners to use them and their businesses as pawns in this strange game of trying to arrest people who were completely innocent of any crime at all. It was disgusting.

"So, Dad, do you really think they did all that just to lure Order members out into the open like we suspected?"

"I'm pretty sure. I just wish . . ." He didn't finish his sentence though, because the fireplace flared green and everyone turned to look. Cassie had to look around George and when she did her eyes grew wide and she had to force her mouth closed. So, this is what fire-talking looked like on the other side of things. There was a head in the fire, literally in the fire. The flames were burning around it but it seemed unfazed. It was Tonks, Cassie recognized her now, and she was speaking earnestly to Arthur. Once she got over the complete shock of seeing a bodiless head conversing from the middle of a burning fire, she started to listen to what Tonks' head was saying and she realized rather quickly that it wasn't good news.

"We're not really sure what to do. Remus is there but he can't apparate out, obviously. I think Albus is going to have him portkey out but we don't know for sure where -"

"Well, there's no question. He'll have to come here. The wards are strong enough that he can stay here undetected." Molly stood up and started clearing off the dishes. Cassie hopped up, too, although she would have preferred to have continued staring at the head in the fire.

"Oh, Molly, that's extremely generous of you, but -"

"No. I won't hear any arguments. This is the only suitable place. We've got the room, certainly. It will be absolutely no problem. Now, dear, did you want anything to eat? We just had something easy for dinner, but I've fixed a lovely apple tart for dessert."

"Thank you, but no. I must go and alert other people to the situation." The head disappeared and Cassie imagined Tonks, pulling a soot-blackened head out of the fireplace in some distant location and smiled to herself remembering when George did a similar thing. Everyone else sat at the table looking around at each other with obvious worry in their faces.

"Where's Remus now?"

"He's still at Headquarters, Cassie." George informed her, the furrow on his forehead growing deeper as he thought more and more about the situation. "Tonks said that they were fairly sure Headquarters has been compromised somehow. We'll probably have to abandon it, at least temporarily." He looked up at her with a dawning comprehension. "But for the first time, I really think I may have some idea why Blackman why have wanted to put your Prime Minister under Imperious. He, apparently, is searching for Grimmauld Place. The question though, at least for me, is why?"