Chapter 5: Hermione's Temper

Harry, Ron, Fred, and George were sitting in Ron and Harry's room, telling Hermione and Ginny everything that had happened. Harry was sitting on one of the beds with Ginny, Ron was laying on the other one, and Hermione was sitting on the floor with her back against Ron's bed. When they finished, Ginny said, "It's amazing mum didn't catch you. She didn't even see the Ears?"

"No, she would have gone ballistic if she did, wouldn't she?" said Fred lazily, tossing a ball to George. Fred was lounging in one of the puffy beige armchairs, and George was lying on his back on the plush rug. He caught it and tossed it back to Fred. Harry noticed that it kept changing colors.

"That was really lucky, though--what is that stupid thing, anyway?" The ball Fred and George were tossing had narrowly missed Hermione's head. She was leaning against the bed, watching Fred and George with an annoyed expression on her face.

"One of me and Fred's inventions," said George, holding up the ball, which, Harry saw, was about the size of a baseball.

"Well?" said Hermione impatiently. "What's it for?"

"It's for fun, Hermione," said Fred. "Watch. It keeps on changing colors-" he held it up. "-and after a certain amount of tosses" -he tossed it back to George- "-it will do something spectacular!"

"What sort of spectacular thing?" Hermione sounded very suspicious. "It's not harmful, is it?"

Fred looked hurt. "Now, Hermione, when have we ever made something that could be harmful?"

"Oh, let's see, maybe I should start with the Skiving Snackboxes-"

"Hey, that was a good idea! They were really useful for annoying Umbridge!" cried George. "Hey, Fred, it should be just a few more, heads up."

Fred caught the ball and tossed it back. Hermione looked at Ginny, Ron, and Harry. "Can you believe those two?"

"No," said Ginny seriously. "They make impossibly good stuff, don't they?"

"Ginny! You aren't supposed to side with them!" said Hermione poutily. "What about you, Ron? Harry?"

"Well, I think-"

Harry's statement was cut off when Fred and George's ball exploded and the whole room was showered with sparkling, multi-colored confetti. Everyone laughed, even Hermione.

"Well, I'll admit, that was pretty neat!" she said, brushing sparkles out of her hair.

"Here, Hernione, let me get that for you," said Ron, leaning over and helping her get the sparkles out of her hair. Ginny rolled her eyes. She glanced at Harry, pointed to one of the pillows on his bed, then to Ron, giving Harry a questioning look. He caught her meaning, grinned, and nodded. They both grabbed a pillow.

"Thanks, Ron, but I've got it," said Hermione. Fred and George were busy trying to get the mess of confetti into a bag, and didn't notice anything. Harry and Ginny slowly slid off the bed and sneaked up behind Ron.

"Ron, you're so weird!" said Ginny, and she and Harry began pummeling him with pillows. He shouted and grabbed one of his own pillows, and Hermione jumped up and grabbed one, too. Fred and George laughed and dumped the bag of confetti over their heads again, then also grabbed pillows. Soon everyone was engaged in a furious pillow fight, hardly able to see through the shower of pillow feathers and sparkling confetti.

They were all getting worn out when a voice said,

"What happened in here?"

They all turned to where they knew the door was, and waited for the feathers and glitter to settle before realizing that Tonks was standing in the doorway. "A pillow fight? Why didn't you let me join?"

They all grinned, and Harry said, "Sorry, Tonks. It was kind of-"

"Impromptu," Hermione finished for him.

"Er-right, that..." said Harry slowly. Everyone laughed.

"Well, I've been sent by Drill Sargent Molly to tell you to-" -she put on a shrill, demanding voice- "-get down here to eat dinner right this instant!"

They all laughed again, and made their way downstairs, Fred and George saying that they would clean up after dinner.

Dinner proved to be a rather unpleasant affair. It was enjoyable enough at first, with the younger people who weren't in the Order yet nagging about what plans the Order had and whatnot. But then Ron let something slip.

"What about that girl?"

Mr. Weasley choked on his stew, Lupin put down his glass and stared at Ron, Moody looked sharply at him, his magical eye going crazy, and Mrs. Weasley jumped up from her chair.

"RONALD WEASLEY DO NOT TELL ME YOU WERE LISTENING TO THE ORDER'S PRIVATE MEETINGS!"

"Mum! N-no! I just saw a girl walking around the place and I wondered-"

"Yeah, but now we know she's really important, if you had a meeting about her, thanks mum!" said Ginny brightly. Mrs. Weasley sat back down, still trembling with rage and glaring at Ron and Ginny.

"Fine, then," she said, and Harry noticed that Lupin, Mr. Weasley, and Mad-Eye Moody were exchanging significant glances.

The atmosphere was stiff and angry for the rest of dinner, and Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny tried to finish their meals fast so they could leave. Ron was first to finish, and when he got up, saying "Thanks, mum, great dinner-" Mrs. Weasley snapped at him to sit back down and wait for everyone else to finish. When they all got up from the table, Harry distinctively heard Moody muttering to Lupin, "I told you! She's already betrayed our trust!"

When they reached the bedroom, Hermione rounded on Ron.

"What did you do that for? You just got her into serious trouble and she didn't do anything!"

"Wha- Hermione! I just-"

"Didn't you hear Moody when we left? He thinks she was walking around when they told her not to, and now they might not think she can be trusted and not let her into Hogwarts!"

"Hermione, look I-"

"You go downstairs right now and tell them the truth, Ron!"

Ginny was choking back laughter, apparently highly amused at the sight of Ron cowering before Hermione's fury.

"What are you laughing about?" Hermione snapped at Ginny. "You go down there with him! You helped make it seem like you were all innocent and she was the one to get into trouble!"

"Hey! That's not fair!"

"It's not fair to her if you make her take all the blame! You did the crime, you are going to fix it!"

"But I wasn't down there with them when they listened to the meeting- Hey! YOU were down there, too Hermione!"

"No, I wasn't! I left before you even put those foul things under the door-"

"Now, wait a minute, Hermione! The Ears were a really good idea-" Fred began furiously.

"OH THAT IS IT!" cried Hermione. "I'm going to bed and by morning I had better hear that you all apologized or you'll be sorry!"

And with this threat lingering in the air, she stomped out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

"...I don't know about you," said Ron, turning to the rest of them with a shocked look on his face, "but I think Hermione knows something we don't."

"Well," said George, "I think so, too, but we'd better clean all this up before she remembers to come back and yell at us for making the mess in the first place..."

××××

The next morning, Harry and Ron woke up to a loud knocking on their door. Ron moaned and said, "Just a second-Harry, you get it."

"No way, you get it, it's probably Hermione," Harry muttered with his face in the pillow.

Ron sat up, looking horrified. "Well, if it's Hermione, then you get it! I don't want to be yelled at the second I open it!"

"Well, you earned it, didn't you?"

The knocking grew more insistent.

"Oh, fine, you're such a great friend," said Ron sarcastically. He slid out of bed and shouted, "Just a second, gosh, it's only nine o'clock!"

The door opened and Hermione came in. "Did you tell them the truth? And for your information it is now about eleven-thirty, you both overslept."

"Yeah, we did tell them...and sorry that we were tired! We've still got the right to sleep, haven't we!"

Hermione giggled. Her bad mood seemed to have worn off. "Harry, you need to get up, lunch is in about thirty minutes!" She ran over to his bed and sat down hard on his feet.

"Ouch! Get off, Hermione, I'm up!"

"You'd better get dressed, you lazy bums, and Ron, please comb your hair! You, too, Harry," she added as, groaning, he rolled out of bed.

"Well, there's no point trying to make my hair lie flat. Just Ron needs to, then."

"See you downstairs!" said Hermione as she hurried out of the room.

"I don't think she heard you," yawned Ron as he pulled on his clothes.

"I don't care," said Harry.

They slowly walked downstairs together, yawning and stretching. On the way down, they met Ginny, who was coming out of her room.

"Did you two just wake up?" she said incredulously, looking at their rather rumpled appearance.

"Yeah, didn't you?" said Ron.

"Nope, I was just brushing my hair before lunch...I can't believe you slept so long!"

"Yeah, well..." muttered Harry.

When they had eaten lunch (or, to Harry and Ron, breakfast), Mrs. Weasley ushered them out of the kitchen. She said that the Order was having another meeting and that Ron should walk around for a while to try to wake himself up-he had fallen asleep into his potatoes at the table.

"Oh, but Harry, dear, I want you to stay," said Mrs. Weasley. "You need to be at this one."

"Mum! That's not fair! We're of age! We're supposed to be in the Order now-" George began.

"But you chose to leave school and now you're going to pay for it! OUT!"

"Aw, but mum-how come Harry gets to stay?" Ginny whined.

"Because-because, well, it's about Harry."

Chapter 6: Secret Corridors and Secret Friends

Harry stared at Mrs. Weasley. "Well, last summer I wasn't allowed into meetings, even though most of them were about me."

She blushed. "Oh...well, it's just that...you need to be here this time. We-uh-have to tell you something important and-"

"Well, we're going to find out anyway! If it's something important involving Harry, he'll tell all of us! Just like we said last year, he's going to-" Ron began angrily.

"Oh, all right! But I'm not happy about it!"

Mad-Eye Moody sighed. "Well, they are right, Molly. He's going to tell them this bit of news for sure, anyway."

Fred, George, Ginny, and Ron each sat down excitedly, but Hermione just looked a bit worried. Then the meeting began. Professor McGonagall spoke up.

"Now, Potter, this may come as a shock to you, but there is no other choice. Albus, if you would please-?"

"Of course, Minerva," said Professor Dumbledore, standing up. "Harry, because this house no longer has an owner-" -Harry looked sharply at Dumbledore. Why did he have to bring up Sirius' death now? "-and it would be best to have someone to be Kreature's master until he goes, just to make sure he does not betray the Order, you have inherited Grimmauld place from your godfather, Sirius."

Harry gasped and looked around. Everyone that did not already know this news (that was to say, everyone who was not a member of the Order yet) was staring at him, looking just as shocked as he himself was. "B-but...why?"

"Sirius did not have any children of his own, so we give it to his godson. It makes perfect sense, if you think about it."

"Of course," said Lupin, noticing Ron's look of excitement and slight jealousy, "this does not mean that you are now a member of the Order, Harry." Ron looked outraged and began to protest. Lupin continued over Ron's voice. "You are simply not old enough."

After the announcement, Mr. Weasley made everyone but the Order members leave. Harry suggested that they walk around the house, as Mrs. Weasley had said after lunch, and the rest quickly agreed.

When they reached the front hall, Ginny said suddenly, "Look, I've never noticed that door there before..." She was pointing to a small door just to the left of the stairs. It had been painted white, to match the walls, but Harry guessed it used to be dark to blend in with the rest of the house.

"Let's see what's inside!" Fred whispered. Together they edged towards the door. He opened it and they all came inside. When Fred had closed the door, they all looked around. They were in a long stone hallway decorated with tapestries, with torches in brackets on the walls for lighting. Harry glanced at the other's excited faces in the flickering light, and realized that Hermione was, again, absent.

"Where's Hermione?" Ron whispered.

"Oh, no, she's gone again," said George in an exasperated tone. "Maybe we left her behind?"

"Should we go back to look for her?" said Ginny. "Maybe she can't find us...do you think she'll worry too much?"

"Nah, she'll be fine. Just look, we have a perfect opportunity for an adventure here!" said Fred, gesturing down the corridor.

"Oh, you're so heartless, Fred!" said Ginny. But she, too, was looking down the corridor with excitement. "But I think you're right, anyway. Let's go!"

They started slowly down the corridor. Harry noted that there was several doors set into the walls on either side. "Let's try this one first," he said in a low voice, pointing towards the door nearest to them. He advanced slowly and turned the handle. It swung open, revealing a room beyond. A harsh blast of cold air hit their faces as soon as it opened. Ginny gasped. They all made their way carefully into the room.

It was rather small, and made of stone, like the corridor.

"Don't close the door," said Ron quickly, as Harry made to do so. "What if it doesn't open again?"

"Good idea, I'd hate to be stuck in here forever, we'd freeze!" whispered a shivering Ginny. Harry left the door open. He looked around the room. At one end was a black candelabra, with about twelve thick, white candles burning in it. Grouped around the candelabra were small pedestals with various books on them. Also nearby was a rather uncomfortable-looking wooden chair.

At the other end was an opening in the floor with a staircase leading downwards. Everyone slowly advanced towards the staircase and looked down. It was too dark to see anything about where it led. Harry placed his foot on the top step, but George's voice held him back.

"Hold on," he whispered. "Lumos." The tip of his wand lit, and Fred did the same with his wand. The held them up and squinted into the darkness of the staircase. Still they could not see far.

"Come on," muttered Harry, and they all began to make their way down, Fred and George in the lead.

"Careful, the floor's really uneven," Fred hissed over his shoulder. They all began to feel around before they took a step, just so they didn't fall. After a while, Harry's feet were really starting to get tired. But when he heard George's voice, he thought they must be near the bottom.

"I'll go ahead and see what's there," he whispered.

"Oh, George, please be careful!" gasped Ginny, who seemed very upset over the whole matter.

"Don't worry, Ginny," he said. Harry could see everyone's face in the flickering light of Fred and George's wands. George continued, "I'm allowed to use magic, I'll be fine!"

Harry looked around at Ginny and was surprised to see that she was close to tears. She just nodded, and watched anxiously as George continued down the corridor. He went pretty far before yelling, "OUCH! Be careful, there's a wall there...yeah, there's a turn right here..."

And the light of his wand disappeared around a right-angle turn. Then his voice broke the silence again, but this time it sounded alarmed.

"What the-" he began, then suddenly he let out a loud yell that was quickly silenced.

"George!" shrieked Ginny, and she ran desperately towards the point where his wand light had vanished.

"Ginny, no!" shouted Ron. "At least wait for us!" They all pounded down the corridor towards Ginny.

"He's gone!" she gasped as they rounded the corner. "He just disappeared!"

"Let's go back," said Harry. "If he's not here, maybe he's somewhere else in the house." But Harry was feeling just as upset as the others looked.

××××

Hermione walked towards the door next to the stairs that blended so well with the wall. She was carrying a tray of food. Balancing the tray in one arm, she opened the door. As soon as she entered the corridor beyond, she noticed that the first door was opened just a crack. That room was always full of cold air, so she closed it, wondering why it was opened in the first place. She continued to the last door on the right side of the hall. She knocked and entered into the bedroom.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi."

"I brought you lunch."

"Oh-thanks, Hermione."

"...What's wrong?" Hermione asked as she placed the tray on the bed and threw herself onto the couch. "You look so...miserable."

"Well...it's just that...I'm not used to being stuck in one place for such a long time."

"Oh, well, you'll be able to come out soon. School starts in less than a month, and even before that we have to go to Diagon Alley. And from what I've heard, even Moody is deciding to trust you."

"Oh, that's great! So I'll get to go to Hogwarts?"

"Looks like it."

"Why doesn't Moody trust anyone?"

"He's just paranoid. I guess he's been an Auror for way too long. And even if Moody disagreed, I think Dumbledore will make sure you get in, because he's headmaster and all. Hey, did you open that first door on the left?"

"...No, why?"

"It was open when I came in..."

"You don't think...someone went in there, do you?"

Hermione froze. "Oh, no! Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George decided to walk around the house after dinner! What if they found the corridor and-"

"You didn't close it, did you? They will need to get out!"

"Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no, I did! I'll go open it right now! Oh, gosh I can't believe myself...and those five, wandering in here..."

××××

Harry moved forward to open the door. Ginny's lips were turning blue, and everyone was shivering from the cold.

"Wait...we left this open, remember?"

"Oh, n-no! What h-h-happened? W-w-ill it op-p-pen?" Ron asked through chattering teeth.

"Won't budge! Let's see...Fred, try Alohomora," suggested Harry.

Fred came forward. "Alohomora!" he cried, pointing his wand at the door handle. It swung open. They all collapsed outside of it, and Harry slammed it shut behind them.

"George..." muttered Ginny. Tears were now streaming down her face.

"Come on, I'm sure he'll be fine!" said Fred. "Let's try this one." He moved towards a door that was a little further to the middle of the hall, but on the opposite side. He turned the handle and it opened. They were all a little hesitant about going in, but they went on anyway. Fred left the door opened and said, "Do you think someone should stand guard here, to make sure the door doesn't close again?"

"No," they all said at once.

"I've got an idea," said Harry. "I'll go outside and close the door, and you try to open it from the inside. Then we'll be able to see if it'll open again."

They all agreed that this was best, so Harry slipped outside and Ron closed the door. It opened again from the inside, and Harry went in, feeling much better.

He looked around the room they were in now. It too was made of stone, but it was much bigger than the last one. There was a soft rug on the floor, and the walls were lined with shelves full of books and other sorts of magical things. On the side opposite the door was a large fireplace with and enchanted fire burning in it. There were big armchairs around it. Harry thought they were rather creepy. It seemed to him that someone could be sitting in them, and they would turn around at any moment.

Ginny moved to one of the dark corners where the light didn't reach. She looked like she was trying hard to make out something in the darkness.

"Ginny, be careful," said Ron.

Ginny reached out to one of the bookcases and pushed one of the books farther into the shelf. Harry watched in amazement as another book on the bottom shelf edged out. She pushed that one in, and another one came out. She tried to push it in, but it was far above her head. Ron, being the tallest, came forward and pushed the third one in. The whole bookcase slid back and another room was revealed. Ginny stepped into it, and before anyone else could follow, the bookcase slid into place, and no books were there to be pushed in. They had all vanished.

××××

Hermione came slowly back into the bedroom.

"There was no one there," she said. "I wonder how it opened all by itself, then?"

"I really don't know."

"Why didn't you eat anything?"

"I'm not hungry. I'll just eat it later."

"Okay."

"I'm kind of worried. What if someone did go in there?"

"I didn't see any sign that someone had."

"Well, if you say so..."

"There's something else wrong, I can tell," said Hermione slowly.

"Hermione, I'm not sure if I want to go to Hogwarts. I mean, isn't there a whole lot of people there?"

"Well, yes, but don't worry, I'll help you. And I'm sure Harry and Ron will like you!"

"Thanks, Hermione. I'm so glad I have at least one friend."

××××

Harry heard Ginny scream.

"Ginny! Ginny!" All three of them were now pounding on the bookcase, trying to make it open, but they might as well have pounded on the stone wall for all the good it did.

Fred slumped down to the floor, his face very white. "Ginny was right," he said, his face in his hands. "We should have gone back. Why did I have to be so stupid?"

"I'm sure we'll find them," said Harry. "I mean, if there was anything dangerous in the Order's headquarters, they would have made sure it was gone before they let anyone into the house."

"But what if it was...You-Know-Who?" said Ron in an unusually high-pitched voice. "Maybe he's causing all this to happen?"

"I doubt it," said Harry quickly. "They might just be in one of the other doors. Shall we go look?"

"Yeah, okay. Come on, Fred, we'll find them!"

Fred got shakily up with Ron and Harry's help, and they left the room. They automatically went to the door on the opposite wall that they had not yet entered.

Ron tried it, but it was locked. Fred came forward. "Alohomora!"

Nothing happened. They turned around and tried the door next to the library room. It opened. Ron stepped inside and said, "Close it, and we'll see if it'll open from the inside."

Harry closed the door and waited. Nothing happened. He called through the door. "Ron?" There was no answer. Then Harry heard Ron yell, and desperately fumbled with the doorknob. It wouldn't open.

"Ron!" Fred cried to the closed door. "Ron!" But nothing happened. Fred moaned. "This is all my fault," he said miserably. "If I wasn't so keen on having an adventure-"

"We all were, Fred, not just you. Come on, there's only two more doors. I'm sure they'll be in one of them!"

They approached the second-to-last door in the hall. Harry opened it and the two of them stepped inside. Both of them let out very loud gasps.

Opposite them in the stone room, there were large, vertical bars of light, making a kind of prison cell. Inside the cell was George, Ginny, and Ron.

Fred cried out joyfully and ran to the others. "You're okay! You're okay!" he said. "I thought you were going to be gone forever, I was so stupid to get you into this-"

"Shut up, Fred, and find a way to get us out of here!" said George happily. "I've been here ages, you know!"

Harry came up to the bars. "You guys all right?" he asked casually. "Can I get you anything?"

"Yeah, bonehead, you can get us out of here!" said Ginny. She indicated a place in the bars of light that was not golden, like the rest of them, but pale green. "I think that's the door."

"Yeah, but how do I open it?"

Ron looked annoyed. "Uh, I dunno, maybe try...um...the key?"

"Key?" said Harry blankly, looking around. "Oh, right" he said, noticing an iron hook just inside the door with a key hanging on it. As Harry approached it, however, he noticed that the key was made of the same pale green light as the cell door. He reached out to grab it, but as soon as his fingers closed around it he dropped it and jumped back, crying out in pain. His hand was now a raw, shiny red.

"What happened?" said Ginny anxiously.

"The stupid thing burned my hand," Harry said, wincing and waving his hand around to try and stop the pain.

"Here, Harry, allow me," said Fred. "Wingardium Leviosa!" The key floated into the air. Fred directed it with his wand over to the door of the cell. It slid into the lock, and the entire wall of light bars disappeared. Everyone cried out in relief and ran forward. Ginny took a sharp intake of breath as she looked anxiously at Harry's hand. "We'll have to get that fixed up," she said.

Harry flinched as he moved his fingers. "Yeah, I know."