Chapter Nine
The Secret Meeting
"I can't believe this, I mean all we want to do is help." Hermione said, as she fell backwards onto her bed.
"Who said that we couldn't help?" George asked rhetorically.
Hermione sat up quickly and looked over at Fred and George.
"Listen you guys, Dumbledore said that we need to stay here and help out with your mom. So I think that is what we should do."
"So you're telling us that you would rather stay here and do absolutely nothing while Ron is being tortured by You-Know-Who?" Fred asked, looking at Hermione with disbelief.
"Well no, but...I mean, how in the hell are we supposed to help when we don't even know where to start looking?" she asked.
"That's where these come in." George said pointedly, pulling out the extendable ears.
"They are downstairs having a meeting about all of the locations that Ron could possibly be." said Fred.
"Don't you think that they would have put a Imperturbable Charm on the door, since the last meeting that we overheard?" Hermione asked skeptically.
"Well, I guess we'll find out, won't we." George said beaming.
He opened their bedroom door, walked over to the balcony and slowly lowered the flesh colored string down to the kitchen door. On the way down, the string got caught on the hook that was on the wall right beside the door.
"Damn!" Fred whispered.
"What is it?" George asked sounding worried and peering over the balcony.
"The stupid thing is caught on something." Fred said through gritted teeth.
"What do you mean 'caught'? What is it caught on?" Hermione asked quickly.
"I mean that the damn thing is caught up on something, and how the hell should I know what it is caught on." Fred said fiercely.
"Listen, I knew that this was a bad idea, I don't know why..." Hermione began.
"Hermione will you stop bitching so much, seriously that's all you ever..." George yelled, but was cut off by a sharp pain in his leg.
"OUCH! Fred, what in the hell was that..."
"Sshhhhh...listen, I think I hear someone coming." Fred whispered.
They all became quiet, listening intently...and then they all heard it, footsteps coming.
"Where are they coming from?" George asked petrified.
Fred stuck the end of the flesh colored string that was in his hand, in his ear.
"Someone's about to come out of the kitchen." he whispered barely audible, his eyes widening with terror.
He wheeled around and began to jerk at the string trying to get it off the hook. He tried leaning over the balcony so that he could get a better grip, but as soon as he did that he knew it was a mistake. As he leaned over and tried to grab the string he began to fall over the side, George jumped forward and grabbed him at the last second.
Behind them they heard Hermione.
"Oh my god!" she squealed.
"Shut up! Keep your voice down." George said in a forced whispered, he hadn't meant to be so loud but it was kind of hard because he was trying to keep his brother from falling over the side of the balcony and plummeting three stories down.
"George try to keep your voice down for god's sake." Fred whispered.
"I'm trying to but it's kind of hard because..." he started.
"Sshhhh..."
They become completely quiet as they heard the kitchen door open below them. It was Mrs. Weasley, she walked across the hallway into the family room and out of site. She could have easily stopped and looked up and saw all four of them, frozen in place. Harry thought to himself what this situation might look like from down there; Fred was falling halfway over the balcony, George was trying to keep him from falling, Hermione was standing not far behind them with a terrified look on her face while Harry was standing right beside her. And on top of it all the extendable ears were caught on a hook right beside the door.
They all stayed as still as they could as they saw Mrs. Weasley walk back across the hallway towards the kitchen door.
Fred let out a huge sigh a little too early and a little too loudly. As Mrs. Weasley stopped abruptly, Hermione opened her mouth to let out a squeal, but Harry was quicker than that and threw his hand over her mouth just in time.
Mrs. Weasley looked around for a couple of seconds before she shrugged her shoulders and disappeared through the kitchen door.
With one huge jerk, Fred was pulled back over the balcony with the extendable ears, and the four of them sprinted into the bedroom and collapsed all over the place.
"What a rush." George exclaimed, as him and Fred heaved a huge high-five in the air, smiling widely.
"Oh my, that was so close, it was crazy." Hermione said, shaking slightly.
"Yea, that was pretty awesome." Harry admitted.
"'Pretty awesome'...I would have to say that surpassed just plain old 'pretty awesome' Harry." Fred said as they all burst out laughing.
After a couple of minutes it became quiet again as the laughter died off.
"Well then how in the hell are we supposed to find out where to start looking if we can't even hear what they're saying in that stupid meeting?" Fred asked.
They all sat there thinking for several long minutes, until the silence was broken by Hermione getting up and walking towards the door. Just as she reached out to open the door she heard someone call her name, so she turned around and faced the three of them.
"Hermione, where are you going?" Harry asked.
"I'm going to help, and I'm gonna start off by going downstairs and sneaking into that meeting so that we can help find Ron." she said, looking fiercely at all of them.
"Oh, Harry? Is it all right if I use your Invisibility Cloak?"
"Of course, let me get it." Harry said.
"Now that's what I like to see, teamwork. Hermione, I have to give it to you, I'm impressed." George said.
"Yea, I am too, I am honestly proud. All there is left to say is good luck to you and bon voyage." said Fred.
Hermione turned on her heel and left the room beaming, she couldn't help but smile, not after the compliments she had just received. But reality soon hit her straight in the face when she found herself standing right outside the kitchen door.
I can't do this! I can't do this! she thought, but as soon as that thought crossed her mind another one did, and it was of Ron. That was all she needed.
She took a deep breath, calmed herself, threw on Harry's Invisibility Cloak and slowly pushed the kitchen door open.
When she first went in there, she was exceptionally glad that there was a lot of talking going on because the door squeaked quite loudly, and when this happened she stopped dead in her tracks and held her breath and quickly looked around.
No one seemed to notice her, so she quietly exhaled and looked to see if Mad-Eye was there, because if he was then there would be no way for her to stay there without being noticed. Thankfully he wasn't at this particular meeting.
Thank god! she thought to herself.
She snuck over to the farthest corner in the room, pulled out a quill and a sheaf of parchment and positioned herself comfortably.
I'm glad that I had this with me. she thought, even though she knew that she was always prepared for anything and everything. It was always good to be equipped for any situation, at least in her opinion.
Throughout the entire meeting, which in her opinion didn't take as long as she would have thought, she sat in the corner and took notes on the locations in which the members were going to go looking for Ron. She also noted the specific people in which are taking on certain locations.
"I wonder what is taking Hermione so long." Harry said.
"She hasn't really been gone that long Harry." said George.
"Yea, she's only been gone about 20 minutes." Fred added.
"I know, but it's felt a lot longer than that. I mean she..." Harry started, but was cut off by their bedroom door opening.
"Sooo...did you get anything good?" Fred asked.
"Did I get anything good?" she said mocking Fred, placing her index finger on her chin and acting as if she was in deep thought. "Hmmm..."
"Come on Hermione, did you get anything?" George asked.
"Of course I did." she answered.
She held out the sheaf of parchment so that they could look at it.
"Wow Hermione, again, I am impressed." George said.
"Impressed isn't the word for it. This is unbelievable." Fred said.
"Well, I tried." she answered simply, though slightly amused.
"If this is you just trying, then I would like to see your knowing." Harry said, smiling and looking over at her. "This is amazing Hermione."
"Thanks."
Author's Note: I hope you like this chapter, I thought it would be nice to put a little humor in it. But of course any story with Fred and George in it will always have humor! Please read and review. I'll update as soon as I can. Thanks!