Chapter 4: The Mysterious Meeting
Harry felt his feet hit the ground, and hear a very loud thunk as Lupin and Mundungus dropped his trunk. Tonks fell over, but the rest of them barely managed to stay on their feet.
Harry looked around him. He was in the kitchen of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, his godfather's house and headquarters to the Order of the Phoenix. He felt extremely miserable in the house where Sirius had lived. But Harry did notice a dramatic change in it. It seemed much cleaner, though it was still made of dark stone walls. There were now bright portraits hanging on the walls, as well as other sorts of decorations and lighting that brightened up the cavernous room considerably.
"Ron and Hermione will be upstairs, Harry," said Lupin. "They'll be wanting to see you. Tonks, will you help Harry bring his things upstairs?"
"'Course," said Tonks brightly.
"I'll just be goin'," Mundungus said quietly.
"No, you will not, Mundungus!" Two voices had spoken at the exact same time: Professor McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley, who was now standing at the door of the kitchen. They smiled at each other, and McGonagall said, "I've got to get back to the school, we've got to finish preparing for the new term."
"Of course. Goodbye, Professor," Mrs. Weasley said. Then she turned to Harry. "Hello, Harry! Ron and Hermione have been waiting for you to get here, you'd best go on up."
"Okay. Thanks, Mrs. Weasley."
Harry and Tonks made their way upstairs, the trunk floating along and occasionally bumping into walls and corners. They were talking brightly, and Harry was expressing awe at how much better the whole house looked.
"Yes, Kreacher is really sick, we think he's dying, so it's been much easier to clean," Tonks explained.
"Good. It looks much better." Harry said, but at the same time thinking, And who really cares if Kreacher dies? Kreature had betrayed Sirius, leading to Sirius' death. Harry held nothing but ill will towards the stupid house-elf.
As they neared the front hall, Harry instinctively dropped his voice, but Tonks didn't bother to do so.
"Tonks--shh! What about Mrs. Black?"
"Oh, her? Don't worry, we finally got rid of her. Really simple, actually, we just didn't do it before because Kreature would have probably murdered us all."
"How did you do it?" Harry asked, looking at the place where Mrs. Black's portrait used to be.
"Oh, just a few Silencing Charms and some good ol' fashioned fire."
Harry laughed and looked around. The walls were now white stone instead of dreary gray. The portraits were bright and cheery, as was everything else in the hall.
When they reached the room Harry and Ron shared, they found Ron and Hermione sitting on one of the beds, talking in low voices. "Harry!" they both cried as he and Tonks walked in. Hermione ran forward and threw her arms around him.
"Oh, Harry, I was so worried, I thought your aunt and uncle wouldn't let you come or something, did they give you a hard time? I hope they didn't, but that's just the kind of people they are, isn't it? Oh, and did you get your birthday present? What about Ron's? Did Pigwidion make it there okay? Did y-"
"Hermione, give it a rest! Hey, Harry, how are you, mate?" Ron came forward to greet Harry, and Hermione finally let go of him.
"Hey, guys! This place looks so great!" Harry looked around the room, which now had forest green walls, with beige bedspreads and puffy armchairs, and even a bookshelf.
"So," she said slowly. "Did your aunt and uncle get mad?"
"Actually," said Harry as he watched Tonks magic his trunk to the foot of the bed, "there's a funny story about that..."
When he had finished telling Ron, Hermione, and Tonks all about his queer morning, they were all gasping for breath, they were laughing so hard. Ron was rolling around on the bed, Hermione had collapsed into a big squashy armchair, Tonks was sitting with her back to the wall, holding her stomach and shaking with silent laughter, and Harry was barely managing to stand. It all seemed so much funnier when he told it to his friends.
Mrs. Weasley suddenly burst through the door. "Tonks! There you are! Emergency meeting in the kitchen, now!"
Tonks quickly stood up and followed Mrs. Weasley out of the room.
"Wonder what that meeting's about?" said Ron curiously.
"Yeah, us, too!"
Fred and George had just apparated into the bedroom, each clutching an Extendable Ear. "We just heard all about your morning, Harry," said George, giving the Ear a small shake.
"Yeah, you did really well on getting your uncle mad!" Fred smiled proudly at him.
"Thanks. How's the business going?" Harry asked curiously. Then, "...shouldn't you two be at the shop?"
"Oh...well, about that..." George began.
"Mum got really mad at us for leaving school," Fred said slowly.
"And as punishment she won't let us run it-"
"All summer long-"
"Or join the Order yet-"
"Until after Christmas-"
"Which is really unfair-"
"But for now, our loyal employees are taking care of it."
"Employees?" Said Harry, unable to believe it. Fred and George beamed at him.
"Lee and Angelina kindly agreed to take on jobs at the joke shop for us. But you're welcome to help out any time you want!"
"Well, for now, what do you say we go see what the emergency is in the kitchen?" Ron said, quickly changing the subject.
"Yeah, they'll already have started by now, but we should be able to hear the most part of it. Maybe mum forgot to put the Imperturbable Charm on the door in all her haste?" Fred said hopefully.
"I doubt it," said Hermione.
"It's worth a try!"
And together they made their way down to the kitchen. When they got to the door, Fred handed Harry his Extendable Ear, but George kept his.
"Better give it some distance, just in case," Ron whispered.
"Good idea," said Harry, and they all backed up to the first corner in the hall, the Ears leading towards the door.
"Go," said George quietly, and the Ears snaked under the door. "Yes!" he muttered. "She did forget!"
Harry put the Extendable Ear into his real one, and could clearly hear the conversation inside the room as though he was in it, too.
"Well, that's all we have on that matter," Moody growled. "Unless anyone has any other ideas?"
No one spoke. Harry, on the receiving end, noticed that George was transferring everything that was said in whispers to the others.
"Okay, now on to this girl..." Moody continued.
"Why do we need to have a discussion about her?" said Lupin angrily. "I promise you, she can be trusted! Her father was in the original Order, he was a close friend of mine, and her mother-"
"Is dead! We can't tell anything about her just because of how her parents were. Look at the Black family! Look how different Sirius was from them!"
"Yes, he was much better than the rest of his family, wasn't he, Alastor?" said Dumbledore's quiet voice. "I have met the girl personally, and she is still distraught over-"
"You're trailing off the subject, Dumbledore!" Moody snapped. He seemed to be in a very bad mood.
"My apologies. I will just say that she truly wants to help the Order in any way that she can. I think it would be best if we let her in-"
"No!" Mrs. Weasley's voice cut in. "She's only sixteen, we can't let her into the Order! She's not old enough!"
"Well, Molly, I was about to say that we should let her in after she has had two years of education at Hogwarts. She attended a school at the castle in her homeland, and learned plenty there. I had her tested to see if she could transfer to Hogwarts, and she knows more than most students her age. With the exception, of course, of Miss Granger."
Here Harry turned to look at Hermione, but found that she was gone. He was about to say something, but Moody was speaking again.
"I still think we should be careful about trusting her."
"Oh, don't be so weird, Mad-Eye," said Tonks casually. "I'm sure she's all right."
"Alastor, I am afraid I must overrule you on this. We will have her attend Hogwarts for the rest of her magical education, then we will, perhaps, have another meeting about inducting her into the Order."
"Fine. But can we at least meet this girl?" Moody asked grumpily.
"Of course, Alastor. Molly, if you would please go get her-?"
"Yes, right away. But doesn't it seem a bit cruel to bring her in front of the Order when she just got here? She seems so scared already..."
"I'm afraid Alastor is right, Molly. It would be best."
"Oh, all right..."
Harry heard a chair scraping on the stone, and footsteps nearing the door.
"Oh, no!" moaned George, and he and Harry quickly yanked the Ears out of the doorway. They came flying back to Fred, who caught them.
"Hide!" he hissed, and they all hurried down the hall where they were crouching, towards the first door they saw. George yanked open the door. They all flew inside, George coming in last, closing the door quietly behind them. They all heaved sighs of relief, and Harry noticed that they were in a large storage closet. He asked, "Did anyone else notice that Hermione left?"
"Yeah," said Ron. "Wonder where-"
"Shh!" said George, who had his real ear pressed against the door. I think she's left...but she'll be coming back soon...yeah, I think I hear her...she's passed! Let's see if we can get a glimpse of this girl they were talking about!"
He opened the door a crack, looked out, and motioned for the others to follow. They reached the corner and looked carefully around it. Mrs. Weasley was holding the door open for someone. All Harry could see was her back. She had very long black hair that came down past her waist, and she was wearing a strange garment. It seemed to be made of animal hide, and ended just above her knees. Harry could tell that her skin was semi-dark, like that of someone who was Native American. She entered the room, followed by Mrs. Weasley, and the door closed. They all looked curiously at each other, and Ron said, "So that was the girl?"
Harry felt his feet hit the ground, and hear a very loud thunk as Lupin and Mundungus dropped his trunk. Tonks fell over, but the rest of them barely managed to stay on their feet.
Harry looked around him. He was in the kitchen of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, his godfather's house and headquarters to the Order of the Phoenix. He felt extremely miserable in the house where Sirius had lived. But Harry did notice a dramatic change in it. It seemed much cleaner, though it was still made of dark stone walls. There were now bright portraits hanging on the walls, as well as other sorts of decorations and lighting that brightened up the cavernous room considerably.
"Ron and Hermione will be upstairs, Harry," said Lupin. "They'll be wanting to see you. Tonks, will you help Harry bring his things upstairs?"
"'Course," said Tonks brightly.
"I'll just be goin'," Mundungus said quietly.
"No, you will not, Mundungus!" Two voices had spoken at the exact same time: Professor McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley, who was now standing at the door of the kitchen. They smiled at each other, and McGonagall said, "I've got to get back to the school, we've got to finish preparing for the new term."
"Of course. Goodbye, Professor," Mrs. Weasley said. Then she turned to Harry. "Hello, Harry! Ron and Hermione have been waiting for you to get here, you'd best go on up."
"Okay. Thanks, Mrs. Weasley."
Harry and Tonks made their way upstairs, the trunk floating along and occasionally bumping into walls and corners. They were talking brightly, and Harry was expressing awe at how much better the whole house looked.
"Yes, Kreacher is really sick, we think he's dying, so it's been much easier to clean," Tonks explained.
"Good. It looks much better." Harry said, but at the same time thinking, And who really cares if Kreacher dies? Kreature had betrayed Sirius, leading to Sirius' death. Harry held nothing but ill will towards the stupid house-elf.
As they neared the front hall, Harry instinctively dropped his voice, but Tonks didn't bother to do so.
"Tonks--shh! What about Mrs. Black?"
"Oh, her? Don't worry, we finally got rid of her. Really simple, actually, we just didn't do it before because Kreature would have probably murdered us all."
"How did you do it?" Harry asked, looking at the place where Mrs. Black's portrait used to be.
"Oh, just a few Silencing Charms and some good ol' fashioned fire."
Harry laughed and looked around. The walls were now white stone instead of dreary gray. The portraits were bright and cheery, as was everything else in the hall.
When they reached the room Harry and Ron shared, they found Ron and Hermione sitting on one of the beds, talking in low voices. "Harry!" they both cried as he and Tonks walked in. Hermione ran forward and threw her arms around him.
"Oh, Harry, I was so worried, I thought your aunt and uncle wouldn't let you come or something, did they give you a hard time? I hope they didn't, but that's just the kind of people they are, isn't it? Oh, and did you get your birthday present? What about Ron's? Did Pigwidion make it there okay? Did y-"
"Hermione, give it a rest! Hey, Harry, how are you, mate?" Ron came forward to greet Harry, and Hermione finally let go of him.
"Hey, guys! This place looks so great!" Harry looked around the room, which now had forest green walls, with beige bedspreads and puffy armchairs, and even a bookshelf.
"So," she said slowly. "Did your aunt and uncle get mad?"
"Actually," said Harry as he watched Tonks magic his trunk to the foot of the bed, "there's a funny story about that..."
When he had finished telling Ron, Hermione, and Tonks all about his queer morning, they were all gasping for breath, they were laughing so hard. Ron was rolling around on the bed, Hermione had collapsed into a big squashy armchair, Tonks was sitting with her back to the wall, holding her stomach and shaking with silent laughter, and Harry was barely managing to stand. It all seemed so much funnier when he told it to his friends.
Mrs. Weasley suddenly burst through the door. "Tonks! There you are! Emergency meeting in the kitchen, now!"
Tonks quickly stood up and followed Mrs. Weasley out of the room.
"Wonder what that meeting's about?" said Ron curiously.
"Yeah, us, too!"
Fred and George had just apparated into the bedroom, each clutching an Extendable Ear. "We just heard all about your morning, Harry," said George, giving the Ear a small shake.
"Yeah, you did really well on getting your uncle mad!" Fred smiled proudly at him.
"Thanks. How's the business going?" Harry asked curiously. Then, "...shouldn't you two be at the shop?"
"Oh...well, about that..." George began.
"Mum got really mad at us for leaving school," Fred said slowly.
"And as punishment she won't let us run it-"
"All summer long-"
"Or join the Order yet-"
"Until after Christmas-"
"Which is really unfair-"
"But for now, our loyal employees are taking care of it."
"Employees?" Said Harry, unable to believe it. Fred and George beamed at him.
"Lee and Angelina kindly agreed to take on jobs at the joke shop for us. But you're welcome to help out any time you want!"
"Well, for now, what do you say we go see what the emergency is in the kitchen?" Ron said, quickly changing the subject.
"Yeah, they'll already have started by now, but we should be able to hear the most part of it. Maybe mum forgot to put the Imperturbable Charm on the door in all her haste?" Fred said hopefully.
"I doubt it," said Hermione.
"It's worth a try!"
And together they made their way down to the kitchen. When they got to the door, Fred handed Harry his Extendable Ear, but George kept his.
"Better give it some distance, just in case," Ron whispered.
"Good idea," said Harry, and they all backed up to the first corner in the hall, the Ears leading towards the door.
"Go," said George quietly, and the Ears snaked under the door. "Yes!" he muttered. "She did forget!"
Harry put the Extendable Ear into his real one, and could clearly hear the conversation inside the room as though he was in it, too.
"Well, that's all we have on that matter," Moody growled. "Unless anyone has any other ideas?"
No one spoke. Harry, on the receiving end, noticed that George was transferring everything that was said in whispers to the others.
"Okay, now on to this girl..." Moody continued.
"Why do we need to have a discussion about her?" said Lupin angrily. "I promise you, she can be trusted! Her father was in the original Order, he was a close friend of mine, and her mother-"
"Is dead! We can't tell anything about her just because of how her parents were. Look at the Black family! Look how different Sirius was from them!"
"Yes, he was much better than the rest of his family, wasn't he, Alastor?" said Dumbledore's quiet voice. "I have met the girl personally, and she is still distraught over-"
"You're trailing off the subject, Dumbledore!" Moody snapped. He seemed to be in a very bad mood.
"My apologies. I will just say that she truly wants to help the Order in any way that she can. I think it would be best if we let her in-"
"No!" Mrs. Weasley's voice cut in. "She's only sixteen, we can't let her into the Order! She's not old enough!"
"Well, Molly, I was about to say that we should let her in after she has had two years of education at Hogwarts. She attended a school at the castle in her homeland, and learned plenty there. I had her tested to see if she could transfer to Hogwarts, and she knows more than most students her age. With the exception, of course, of Miss Granger."
Here Harry turned to look at Hermione, but found that she was gone. He was about to say something, but Moody was speaking again.
"I still think we should be careful about trusting her."
"Oh, don't be so weird, Mad-Eye," said Tonks casually. "I'm sure she's all right."
"Alastor, I am afraid I must overrule you on this. We will have her attend Hogwarts for the rest of her magical education, then we will, perhaps, have another meeting about inducting her into the Order."
"Fine. But can we at least meet this girl?" Moody asked grumpily.
"Of course, Alastor. Molly, if you would please go get her-?"
"Yes, right away. But doesn't it seem a bit cruel to bring her in front of the Order when she just got here? She seems so scared already..."
"I'm afraid Alastor is right, Molly. It would be best."
"Oh, all right..."
Harry heard a chair scraping on the stone, and footsteps nearing the door.
"Oh, no!" moaned George, and he and Harry quickly yanked the Ears out of the doorway. They came flying back to Fred, who caught them.
"Hide!" he hissed, and they all hurried down the hall where they were crouching, towards the first door they saw. George yanked open the door. They all flew inside, George coming in last, closing the door quietly behind them. They all heaved sighs of relief, and Harry noticed that they were in a large storage closet. He asked, "Did anyone else notice that Hermione left?"
"Yeah," said Ron. "Wonder where-"
"Shh!" said George, who had his real ear pressed against the door. I think she's left...but she'll be coming back soon...yeah, I think I hear her...she's passed! Let's see if we can get a glimpse of this girl they were talking about!"
He opened the door a crack, looked out, and motioned for the others to follow. They reached the corner and looked carefully around it. Mrs. Weasley was holding the door open for someone. All Harry could see was her back. She had very long black hair that came down past her waist, and she was wearing a strange garment. It seemed to be made of animal hide, and ended just above her knees. Harry could tell that her skin was semi-dark, like that of someone who was Native American. She entered the room, followed by Mrs. Weasley, and the door closed. They all looked curiously at each other, and Ron said, "So that was the girl?"
