Harry stared. "A… assassins?"

Vikki nodded.

"But then… couldn't they be tricking Dumbledore?" Harry asked, worried. All that time he'd spent around Katie, and he could've been murdered any second….

"They're not like that," Riles said. "Believe me, she's my sister, I know her better than anyone, unfortunately. They worked for the Ministry because they didn't know what else to do. It was one of the only lives they knew. And they couldn't go back to their old lives. It was impossible."

There was a pause.

"Anything else?" Ron asked.

Riles rolled her head from side to side, thinking. "I'd just recommend you don't remind her of our parents."

Harry paused. "Could you tell us, in case we need to know something referring to that?"

Complete and utter silence filled the room to the breaking point.

"I'm sorry--"

"No, Harry, it's all right. My parents… were murdered by Lord Voldemort," Riles said quietly. "Dumbledore arrived in time to take Kate and I out of harm's way, but he didn't learn about our predicament soon enough to save my parents."

There was more silence, sickening Harry.

"Yeah," Bunny said, continuing as though they'd been speaking of it all along. "It's really weird. Unfortunately they don't get special treatment, even though Dumbledore would seem to be more close to them than the other two and the rest of us."

Riles quietly nodded.

"Why's that… well, I mean, Bunny, why would you be happy about that?" Harry asked. "You wouldn't get any, would you?"

"In other, more enjoyable ways I would," Bunny said. "You see, we haven't been on duty at Hogwarts for a real term since your fourth year. Our apprentices get to do all the fun stuff; we have to sit here and do paperwork."

"Why?" Ron asked.

No one answered him. There was an odd silence that seemed to last for eternity.

"Maybe I'll tell you sometime," Riles said quietly. "But not today."

Harry didn't press it, but felt there was another mystery on hand. "But… how come Kelly can do all that fighting and stuff?"

Riles didn't say anything, so Serenity answered for her. "What happened the first time you mentioned the D.A. around Kelly?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Yeah… she almost screamed for some reason…."

"That's because she's part of the D.A.," Vikki said.

"Of course she is," Ron said. "She's been involved since--"

"No, no, not Dumbledore's Army," Bunny said.

"Then… what?" Ron asked.

"Dumbledore's Angels," Riles said quietly. "Fletcher got it off a muggle movie he saw and was obsessed over the girls in it for weeks. No one but Dumbledore took notice really of what he was babbling about. He stole the name for Katie, Elyse, and Heather. You knew that members of the Order were following you, so Dumbledore had to come up with a new way to track your whereabouts. His Angels were the answer."

"Fletcher… Mundungus Fletcher?" Harry asked.

"One and the same," Vikki agreed with distaste.

"Then… are you all…?" Harry didn't need to finish his sentence.

"Yes," Riles said. "We are all members of the Order of the Phoenix."

"But… but you're not of age!" Ron said angrily.

"Yes, but we're not normal, are we?" Bunny countered.

Ron went into an angry silence.

"Dumbledore's Angels… that doesn't really mean anything to me," Harry said.

"Oh stop being so thick!" Serenity exclaimed. "They used to be assassins! They'd have to know self-defense for their jobs! They were trained around age four to become the best assassins the Ministry had, and they dang well were until Fudge went stupid."

"What d'you mean?" Harry asked shakily. He was trying to hide all his feelings away until he had his questions answered, and this was beginning to get difficult.

"Kate, Lyse, and Heath all believed Dumbledore wasn't going loony," Riles said. "They demanded Fudge to drop the lies about Dumbledore or they would leave. Fudge refused, so they left and came to Dumbledore." She paused. "To the Order."

"That's when you saw her again," Harry said quietly. "That's the first time you had seen her since you were four?"

"Yes," said Riles. "The first time in twelve years."

"So… so why do you two hate each other so?" Ron asked, coming out of his angry stupor.

There was a pause.

"Even I don't know that, Ron," May said, walking into Riles' living room, followed by the other apprentices.

"What are you guys doing here?" Serenity asked. "You've got till midnight! Uriko, you know about Crabbe, Goyle, Malfoy, and Nott! Did you see them safely through? Did they go early?"

"What d'you mean?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," Serenity said dismissively. "Well?"

"They will get there themselves tonight," Uriko said. "We quickly found out about Ka--Kelly, so we came here, figuring that's where Harry and Ron would be."

"They know most things about Katie," Riles said quietly.

"But… so you haven't told anyone why you hate Katie so much?" Ron asked.

"I don't intend to," Riles said, a trace of snappishness about her.

Ron didn't notice. "But surely you'll have wanted to te--"

"Some things," May interrupted quietly, "are best left unsaid, even to the closest of friends."

"Like what?" Ron asked unbelievingly.

"Like why I utterly loathe my twin so much," Riles said.

"Your what?" Harry asked.

"My twin," Riles repeated. "Katie and I are twins."

Ron coughed. "I'm sorry, but you two are not twins."

"Yes they are," May said. "The only difference is that Kate's a Metamorphmagi. In her true form, she's identical to Riles."

Harry immediately thought of Tonks but said nothing all the same.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Katie is an Metamorphmagi," Crystal said. "Lucky git."

"A what?" Ron asked, still not understanding.

"She can change her outer appearance at will," Amber explained. "You've never really known what Katie looks like."

"I wanna learn how to do that," said Ron.

"Yes, so do we all," Crystal muttered, a jealous look coming into her eyes.

"Are you a Metamorphmagi?" Harry asked the room at large.

"None of us are Metamorphmagi," Bunny answered for them all.

"So it was only Katie who got something different?" Harry asked.

No one answered.

"What can you do?" Harry asked no one in particular.

There was a pause.

"If there's ever the need, I'll let you know," Riles said quietly. "We all will."

So Katie wasn't the only one in that family to have gotten a special gift. Harry nodded, not wanting to press the matter.

"Is… is there anything else we should know about Katie?" Harry asked, trying not to let the anger he was feeling show. He was doing a very good job of it, he thought, and wanted to leave, but also wanted all the facts.

Bunny had almost gotten the word "no" out when Riles cut in.

"Yes," she said. They all turned to stare at her, no one else being able to think of something else to tell them. "Harry, understand that I still hate her, but for your sake I'm going to tell you this. She has kept some secrets from you, yes, and a lot at that. You kept the Order from her, though she already knew--"

"Yes, but I wasn't supposed to tell about the Order!" Harry said.

"Neither was she supposed to tell you about the D.A.," Vikki cut in.

"She was living a lie!" Harry protested.

"And you try to live one every day," May said. "I watch you, Harry. You try to be normal. I know you must really want to, but you're not. You try every day to live a lie, to be normal, though you constantly fail. You can't honestly point out her succeeding to live a lie as a fault when you try your best to do it yourself."

Harry glared at her.

"The point is," Riles cut in, "is that you have both kept secrets from each other. But Harry, I have to tell you--you have really known my sister. I've watched you--"

"WHAT!" May said, almost going ballistic. "IF DUMBLEDORE KNEW--"

"But you won't tell him, will you?" Riles asked, giving May a deadly look. She turned back to Harry. "I've watched you two, even when I wasn't supposed to, and I have to tell you--that really is who she is. That really was my sister, not someone else she was pretending to be. That girl you fell in love with--she's really there somewhere. Now, personally, I can't find her, but that's my problem. Harry, you can't judge her on this. I promise, you'll regret it if you don't forgive her. Now, personally, I don't, but that's because I have a different relationship to her than you do--"

"I'm leaving," Harry cut in. He couldn't take this any longer. He needed to get away and think, for people to cut the act. She lied, and that was that. He stood up to leave.

"Harry," Ron said quietly. He didn't continue until Harry looked over at him. Ron steadied his voice, which was threatening to break, then said the last words Harry would have thought him to say: "Get over it."

Harry stared at him. "W-what?"

Ron took in a deep breath, then let it out. "Get over it. You like her, maybe even love her for all I know, and that's that. Get over the fact that she didn't tell you something. You haven't told her a couple things, like the Secret Students have been trying to point out. Face it, deal with it, you've got to move on."

Harry didn't know what to say to that. "She still lied to me."

"Oh, get over it," Ron said flatly. "You still like her, you're just a little confused."

"I'm not confused about anything! I know exactly what the problem is, and it's all her lies!" Harry said rashly, stomping out of Riles' floor, angry with everyone at that moment.