A/N: Well. After a long break, I am back! There should be a drumroll. I
decided to just go ahead and type this out since A) you guys have been
waiting for a long time, and B) I am very highly depressed. My best
friend's dog died, and then my other best friend's bunny died. And my
favorite character in the Patrick O'Brian novels died and/or disappeared,
so sadness all around. But hopefully, writing will give me a better grip on
things.
Thank you again to all the reviewers. Chocolate Frogs to ArtemisiaQuill, who caught my Braveheart reference. Just warning you, I will from time to time put quotes from other movies, books, TV shows, etc. into my writing. And on the subject of reviews (I have no shame) writing more of them encourages me to go a lot faster. And thank you for saying that the characters are actually in character. That's something I worry about. They're tough little buggers to write.
Disclaimer: My brain is dead, and I can't think of something witty or sarcastic to put here. I don't own it. End of story.
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"Harry, Harry come on!" Hermione yelled energetically to Harry. Harry looked up from where he and Ron had been playing Exploding Snap. Ron's eyebrows were scorched and Harry's bangs were smoldering. "Nice," she said, rolling her eyes at them. "Come on, the meeting's getting ready to start."
"What meeting?" Ron asked, following them down the stairs. "This is the first I've heard about it. she knows more about what goes on in my house than I do," he whispered to Harry.
"Oh for goodness sakes Ron, don't you ever pay attention?" Hermione asked impatiently. "I was in the same place that you were, I just happened to pay attention more."
"That's beside the point," Ron said shifting uncomfortably.
"That's assuming you had a point," Herminoe said coolly. Harry smiled and elbowed Ron in the ribs as they finished walking down the stairs.
"So what meeting is this?" Ron asked Hermione. "I'm going to pay attention to it!" he protested when Hermione looked at him sharply.
"The Order of the Phoenix Ron," Herminoe said with an expression of exasperated patience. "They were going to have the meeting yesterday, except Harry, Fred, George, and Tonks didn't get here until it was too late." She smiled gently and patted Ron on the shoulder.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood in the corner of the room. They were supposed to be in the meeting this time, but they still feared that Mrs. Weasley would send them out of the room. Hermione stepped backwards, and then stumbled forwards when she heard a sharp cry. "What the...?" Ron looked around and saw nothing behind him. But when he moved his foot cautiously forward it hit something.
"Ouch," an angry voice whispered. "Ron, that was my shin!" The air shimmered, and Ginny's red hair appeared in mid-air. Ron and Harry both stepped back. "Moody left his spare Invisibility Cloak in the kitchen. There's no other chance that I'm going to let in on the meeting," she explained.
"Moody can see through Invisibility Cloaks you know," Harry informed Ginny matter-of-factly. "He probably won't tell on you during the meeting, but he will tell your mother after the meeting. Better to just let us tell you what happened."
"Ron won't tell me anything," Ginny said grumpily. "he doesn't think that I should be hear anything that has oh say...words in it?" she said sarcastically. Ron turned red and shuffled his feet uncomfortably.
"Well look, they're coming now," Hermione said impatiently. "Ron, she'll have to stay. And after all, she's fifteen. She's not a child anymore." Ginny nodded her head vigorously at this. "Let's see...by the time you were fifteen you'd already...let's see here," Herminoe said, ticking off tasks on her fingers. "You'd already defeated a troll, gotten past McGonagall's chess set, found the Chamber of Secrets, faced down a murderer, survived a merpeople kidnapping, and fought of Death Eaters. Ginny's done at least two of those."
"All right," Ron said grudgingly. Harry and Hermione quickly stepped in front of Ginny, shielding her from view. When Ron turned around he saw why. Mad-Eye Moody had entered the room.
He stumped over to the table that had been pulled in the living room. "No, no thank you Molly," he growled at Mrs. Weasley as she offered him a cup of tea. He took a deep drink from his hip flask and looked around. His eye finally lighted on Harry, Hermione and Ron. They all looked a tad bit suspicious. "Had a good holiday Potter?" he growled. Harry wordlessly nodded. "And you two?" he asked Hermione and Ron. "Are you keeping him out of trouble?"
Ron nodded his head vigorously, as did Hermione. She giggled. "Trying to at least," she said shyly. Ron sent her an incredulous look which Hermione didn't seem to notice.
The awkward silence was broken by the noise of Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George coming inside the house. "Hello Mum," Fred and George said in unison. They descended on their mother, nearly picking her up with the force of their hugs. Mrs. Weasley weakly protested, but Harry could see that she was pleased. Bill and Charlie welcomed their mother just as warmly, though perhaps not as exuberantly. Harry watched the Weasleys interact.
Mrs. Weasley was short and stout. Fred and George were perfectly identical, in personality and in looks. Bill was tall with his long hair, and fang earring. Charlie was built like the twins with a shorter, more solid build. All had flaming red hair and freckles. As he watched them Harry had the intense desire to belong to a family. He would never, ever, have a family that was as close-knit as the Weasleys.
Fred, George, Charlie, and Bill seated themselves on the sofa. "The meeting's going to last for a while young children," Fred said. "Draw up a chair." He traced the outline of a folding chair in the air. It was made solid and hit the floor with a soft thud. Without thinking, Harry grabbed the chair and sat down.
Almost immediately, Harry felt a strange and painful sensation. His legs shot straight up in the air. He was looking at the world through his knees. As he stared straight ahead, he could piece together what had happened. As he had sat down, the chair had snapped up, sending his legs and arms straight into the air. His eyes were beginning to water with pain and his glasses were askew.
"Fred, George, can you help me?" Harry choked out.
"Of course Harry dear," George said, waving his wand. The chair immediately relaxed. Harry climbed into a more comfortable position. Ron and Hermione each got chairs, poking them cautiously before sitting in them.
"What's going on here then?" Lupin asked as he walked into the room and sat down beside Bill. Bill made a small noise and flicked the newspaper open.
"A chair ate Harry's arse," Bill said with total calm. He changed another page of the newspaper. Lupin raised his eyebrows and settled back down in the sofa.
The door clanged open, and then shut. Harry thought nothing of it until he heard commotion behind him. "Let me help you with that Molly," a young female voice said. Harry looked at where Tonks had just come in with Kingsley. Mrs. Weasley was trying to wrestle a tea tray away from Tonks, who was sporting her short pink hair again. Tonks won the fight and staggered backwards, nearly hitting Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore. Harry closed his eyes as Tonks' foot caught on the carpet. He heard her sharp cry and the rattle of the dishes as they flew through the air.
"Immobulus!" someone cried. Harry opened his eyes to see Professor McGonagall put her wand back in her robes. She and Dumbledore went around and gathered up the cups which were frozen in mid-air. Fred looked up in absolute terror at the sugar bowl that was about to hit him on the forehead. Bill completely ignored the spoon that was about an inch away from his head and flick another page of the newspaper. Tonks picked herself up off the floor.
"I'm sorry!" she wailed, repairing the broken tray with a wave of her wand. Angelina, Alicia, and Katie came into the room. Alicia took her hair out of her ponytail and shook it out, freezing when she saw the twins.
"Fred! George!" she squealed in delight, giving them both a very awkward hug. "It feels like it's been forever! How come you left so early?" she asked them sternly. "We would have liked to play Quidditch with you lot."
"Sorry Lishers," George said smartly, patting her hand. "Some of us actually have jobs and are making our way in the world." He smiled at her and ducked a swift blow from Alicia, to be caught by one from Katie. "You've ganged up on me!" George said with a mock astonished look. Before either of the Chasers could say anything else, Dumbledore coughed slightly.
"Are we all assembled?" he asked in his calm, reassuring, and gentle voice. "Good. Let us begin."
"Just getting small things out of the way first, I think I've managed to persuade some of the goblins to, if not join the Order, at least think more kindly on it. and Fleur's talked to some of the wizards in France. They seem pretty open to join the Order."
"On that note, some of the wizards in Romania have dropped hints about the Order," Charlie said. Dumbledore nodded with satisfaction.
"Good, good," he said quietly. "Does anyone else have anything to-yes Ms. Granger?"
"Percy wrote to me last night," she said, putting down her shaking hand. "He wrote about Oliver." Mr. Weasley gripped Mrs. Weasley tightly on the shoulder. Dumbledore looked intently at Hermione. When she stopped and looked around uncertainly, he motioned for her to continue. She looked at the stone-faced Weasley's and nervously continued. "But...he said that he read about Oliver in the Prophet, and that he wanted to help. He also said that I should write to Viktor Krum."
Dumbledore slowly nodded. Bill's jaw tightened, and his eyes took on a metallic glint. Dumbledore opened his mouth, but was interrupted by Bill. "Well, we're not going to let him are we?" he asked angrily, standing up. "For a year we've been insulted and ignored by him. And now he just waltzes back here and we're going to let him do that?" Mrs. Weasley tried to speak, but Bill angrily cut her off. "No. We are not telling him a goddamn thing! Let him come crawling back on his belly like the cringing snail he is."
"Bill!" Mr. Weasley roared, standing up. His face was red with a sudden fury. "You stop that right now. You sit down and shut your mouth sir." Mr. Weasley and his eldest son faced off for a second. For a wild moment, Harry actually thought that Bill was going to hit his father, but then he subsided. Bill sank back to the couch trembling in rage.
Harry, Hermione, Angelina, Alicia, and Katie sat in quiet terror. They had never seen either of the Weasley parents very angry. True, they had seen Mrs. Weasley indignant and annoyed but they had never seen Mr. Weasley even mildly irritated. Harry looked down at the floor. No one had spoken, and the atmosphere was that of the deadly silence of a city just after an earthquake has hit it. Hermione caught his eye and nodded slightly, her eyes wide.
Lupin cleared his throat and broke the silence. "Now that we've got all that out of our systems, can we continue please?" he asked the Order in a light, mild voice. Bill glared at him mutinously, but said nothing. "Good, good," he said.
Dumbledore nodded, and made a tall steeple with his fingers. "Let us put the matter of Mr. Weasley out of our minds until we are able to discuss it rationally. Let us now turn to the matter of Mr. Wood."
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TBC...
Thank you again to all the reviewers. Chocolate Frogs to ArtemisiaQuill, who caught my Braveheart reference. Just warning you, I will from time to time put quotes from other movies, books, TV shows, etc. into my writing. And on the subject of reviews (I have no shame) writing more of them encourages me to go a lot faster. And thank you for saying that the characters are actually in character. That's something I worry about. They're tough little buggers to write.
Disclaimer: My brain is dead, and I can't think of something witty or sarcastic to put here. I don't own it. End of story.
,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,,.,.,.,.,.,.,
"Harry, Harry come on!" Hermione yelled energetically to Harry. Harry looked up from where he and Ron had been playing Exploding Snap. Ron's eyebrows were scorched and Harry's bangs were smoldering. "Nice," she said, rolling her eyes at them. "Come on, the meeting's getting ready to start."
"What meeting?" Ron asked, following them down the stairs. "This is the first I've heard about it. she knows more about what goes on in my house than I do," he whispered to Harry.
"Oh for goodness sakes Ron, don't you ever pay attention?" Hermione asked impatiently. "I was in the same place that you were, I just happened to pay attention more."
"That's beside the point," Ron said shifting uncomfortably.
"That's assuming you had a point," Herminoe said coolly. Harry smiled and elbowed Ron in the ribs as they finished walking down the stairs.
"So what meeting is this?" Ron asked Hermione. "I'm going to pay attention to it!" he protested when Hermione looked at him sharply.
"The Order of the Phoenix Ron," Herminoe said with an expression of exasperated patience. "They were going to have the meeting yesterday, except Harry, Fred, George, and Tonks didn't get here until it was too late." She smiled gently and patted Ron on the shoulder.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood in the corner of the room. They were supposed to be in the meeting this time, but they still feared that Mrs. Weasley would send them out of the room. Hermione stepped backwards, and then stumbled forwards when she heard a sharp cry. "What the...?" Ron looked around and saw nothing behind him. But when he moved his foot cautiously forward it hit something.
"Ouch," an angry voice whispered. "Ron, that was my shin!" The air shimmered, and Ginny's red hair appeared in mid-air. Ron and Harry both stepped back. "Moody left his spare Invisibility Cloak in the kitchen. There's no other chance that I'm going to let in on the meeting," she explained.
"Moody can see through Invisibility Cloaks you know," Harry informed Ginny matter-of-factly. "He probably won't tell on you during the meeting, but he will tell your mother after the meeting. Better to just let us tell you what happened."
"Ron won't tell me anything," Ginny said grumpily. "he doesn't think that I should be hear anything that has oh say...words in it?" she said sarcastically. Ron turned red and shuffled his feet uncomfortably.
"Well look, they're coming now," Hermione said impatiently. "Ron, she'll have to stay. And after all, she's fifteen. She's not a child anymore." Ginny nodded her head vigorously at this. "Let's see...by the time you were fifteen you'd already...let's see here," Herminoe said, ticking off tasks on her fingers. "You'd already defeated a troll, gotten past McGonagall's chess set, found the Chamber of Secrets, faced down a murderer, survived a merpeople kidnapping, and fought of Death Eaters. Ginny's done at least two of those."
"All right," Ron said grudgingly. Harry and Hermione quickly stepped in front of Ginny, shielding her from view. When Ron turned around he saw why. Mad-Eye Moody had entered the room.
He stumped over to the table that had been pulled in the living room. "No, no thank you Molly," he growled at Mrs. Weasley as she offered him a cup of tea. He took a deep drink from his hip flask and looked around. His eye finally lighted on Harry, Hermione and Ron. They all looked a tad bit suspicious. "Had a good holiday Potter?" he growled. Harry wordlessly nodded. "And you two?" he asked Hermione and Ron. "Are you keeping him out of trouble?"
Ron nodded his head vigorously, as did Hermione. She giggled. "Trying to at least," she said shyly. Ron sent her an incredulous look which Hermione didn't seem to notice.
The awkward silence was broken by the noise of Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George coming inside the house. "Hello Mum," Fred and George said in unison. They descended on their mother, nearly picking her up with the force of their hugs. Mrs. Weasley weakly protested, but Harry could see that she was pleased. Bill and Charlie welcomed their mother just as warmly, though perhaps not as exuberantly. Harry watched the Weasleys interact.
Mrs. Weasley was short and stout. Fred and George were perfectly identical, in personality and in looks. Bill was tall with his long hair, and fang earring. Charlie was built like the twins with a shorter, more solid build. All had flaming red hair and freckles. As he watched them Harry had the intense desire to belong to a family. He would never, ever, have a family that was as close-knit as the Weasleys.
Fred, George, Charlie, and Bill seated themselves on the sofa. "The meeting's going to last for a while young children," Fred said. "Draw up a chair." He traced the outline of a folding chair in the air. It was made solid and hit the floor with a soft thud. Without thinking, Harry grabbed the chair and sat down.
Almost immediately, Harry felt a strange and painful sensation. His legs shot straight up in the air. He was looking at the world through his knees. As he stared straight ahead, he could piece together what had happened. As he had sat down, the chair had snapped up, sending his legs and arms straight into the air. His eyes were beginning to water with pain and his glasses were askew.
"Fred, George, can you help me?" Harry choked out.
"Of course Harry dear," George said, waving his wand. The chair immediately relaxed. Harry climbed into a more comfortable position. Ron and Hermione each got chairs, poking them cautiously before sitting in them.
"What's going on here then?" Lupin asked as he walked into the room and sat down beside Bill. Bill made a small noise and flicked the newspaper open.
"A chair ate Harry's arse," Bill said with total calm. He changed another page of the newspaper. Lupin raised his eyebrows and settled back down in the sofa.
The door clanged open, and then shut. Harry thought nothing of it until he heard commotion behind him. "Let me help you with that Molly," a young female voice said. Harry looked at where Tonks had just come in with Kingsley. Mrs. Weasley was trying to wrestle a tea tray away from Tonks, who was sporting her short pink hair again. Tonks won the fight and staggered backwards, nearly hitting Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore. Harry closed his eyes as Tonks' foot caught on the carpet. He heard her sharp cry and the rattle of the dishes as they flew through the air.
"Immobulus!" someone cried. Harry opened his eyes to see Professor McGonagall put her wand back in her robes. She and Dumbledore went around and gathered up the cups which were frozen in mid-air. Fred looked up in absolute terror at the sugar bowl that was about to hit him on the forehead. Bill completely ignored the spoon that was about an inch away from his head and flick another page of the newspaper. Tonks picked herself up off the floor.
"I'm sorry!" she wailed, repairing the broken tray with a wave of her wand. Angelina, Alicia, and Katie came into the room. Alicia took her hair out of her ponytail and shook it out, freezing when she saw the twins.
"Fred! George!" she squealed in delight, giving them both a very awkward hug. "It feels like it's been forever! How come you left so early?" she asked them sternly. "We would have liked to play Quidditch with you lot."
"Sorry Lishers," George said smartly, patting her hand. "Some of us actually have jobs and are making our way in the world." He smiled at her and ducked a swift blow from Alicia, to be caught by one from Katie. "You've ganged up on me!" George said with a mock astonished look. Before either of the Chasers could say anything else, Dumbledore coughed slightly.
"Are we all assembled?" he asked in his calm, reassuring, and gentle voice. "Good. Let us begin."
"Just getting small things out of the way first, I think I've managed to persuade some of the goblins to, if not join the Order, at least think more kindly on it. and Fleur's talked to some of the wizards in France. They seem pretty open to join the Order."
"On that note, some of the wizards in Romania have dropped hints about the Order," Charlie said. Dumbledore nodded with satisfaction.
"Good, good," he said quietly. "Does anyone else have anything to-yes Ms. Granger?"
"Percy wrote to me last night," she said, putting down her shaking hand. "He wrote about Oliver." Mr. Weasley gripped Mrs. Weasley tightly on the shoulder. Dumbledore looked intently at Hermione. When she stopped and looked around uncertainly, he motioned for her to continue. She looked at the stone-faced Weasley's and nervously continued. "But...he said that he read about Oliver in the Prophet, and that he wanted to help. He also said that I should write to Viktor Krum."
Dumbledore slowly nodded. Bill's jaw tightened, and his eyes took on a metallic glint. Dumbledore opened his mouth, but was interrupted by Bill. "Well, we're not going to let him are we?" he asked angrily, standing up. "For a year we've been insulted and ignored by him. And now he just waltzes back here and we're going to let him do that?" Mrs. Weasley tried to speak, but Bill angrily cut her off. "No. We are not telling him a goddamn thing! Let him come crawling back on his belly like the cringing snail he is."
"Bill!" Mr. Weasley roared, standing up. His face was red with a sudden fury. "You stop that right now. You sit down and shut your mouth sir." Mr. Weasley and his eldest son faced off for a second. For a wild moment, Harry actually thought that Bill was going to hit his father, but then he subsided. Bill sank back to the couch trembling in rage.
Harry, Hermione, Angelina, Alicia, and Katie sat in quiet terror. They had never seen either of the Weasley parents very angry. True, they had seen Mrs. Weasley indignant and annoyed but they had never seen Mr. Weasley even mildly irritated. Harry looked down at the floor. No one had spoken, and the atmosphere was that of the deadly silence of a city just after an earthquake has hit it. Hermione caught his eye and nodded slightly, her eyes wide.
Lupin cleared his throat and broke the silence. "Now that we've got all that out of our systems, can we continue please?" he asked the Order in a light, mild voice. Bill glared at him mutinously, but said nothing. "Good, good," he said.
Dumbledore nodded, and made a tall steeple with his fingers. "Let us put the matter of Mr. Weasley out of our minds until we are able to discuss it rationally. Let us now turn to the matter of Mr. Wood."
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TBC...