Chapter Twenty One

The Less You Know for Now, the Better

Number 12 Grimmauld Place was something else. When Cailee had first arrived in the house, she had knocked over a troll trunk and started some portrait screaming its head off. Cailee found out that they had once tried to remove it, someone had finally found a potion to make it come off, but it adamantly refused to be moved. But according to the others, who had practically adopted this place as a second home, next to Hogwarts, it was a lot more enchanting than it been two summers ago. The house-elf heads that used to hang on the wall and all been thrown out, and instead replaced with pictures of places in England. Harry told her that for a short time the wall had held pictures of members of the Order, but they were removed incase the place was ever broken into and then Voldemort would know who exactly was after him.

The house was considerably brighter, since all the webs and been cleaned from the chandeliers and what not, and it was warmer, especially for winter. The place was already decorated for Christmas, with little trees in almost each and every room, garland on every banister, and a few Christmas lights strung about the house. Not to mention little Santa Claus nativity scenes here and there, and a few of the trees were bewitched to shout, "Merry Christmas!" and "Happy Hanukah!" except that they didn't know anyone who was Jewish.

Hermione had shown her up to the room she usually stayed in with Ginny, but Ginny had said she would move into another room upstairs that some of the Order members usually stayed in if they ever desired to stay over.

Cailee was extremely fascinated by the place. She couldn't believe Isaac and Jacob spent so much time here. And as she walked upstairs, she saw the wall in which one of her brothers had put the hole in when they had been playing football. She laughed at the thought of it, and she felt suddenly homesick, but she hurried back downstairs to be with the others so she wouldn't have to think about it as much.

Dinner the first night there was spectacular. Mrs. Weasley had definitely outdone herself. There was ham, chicken, turkey, pork, steak, salad, beans, potatoes, candied yams and all sorts of other good things, even though it wasn't yet Christmas. Harry seemed rather sulky through out the whole meal and rather withdrawn from everyone. When they had finally finished eating, Cailee stood up and headed to the doorway to go upstairs. She heard a large popping sound, and someone's head appeared in the fire. Cailee was so startled when she turned to look at it that she knocked over one of the little Christmas trees next to her. Mr. Weasley began to laugh as he fixed it with his wand.

"Neat little Muggle invention, that is," he said, pointing at the tree, "whoever thought up fake Christmas trees is probably a rich fellow by now, huh, Harry?" he asked.

Harry nodded mutely.

Cailee turned back to the fire, the person who was in it was conversing with Mrs. Weasley.

"—but anyways, Mum, I'm kind of tied up here with Isaac and Jacob—" Cailee gasped. This person was with her brothers? She moved over to the fire, so she could see into it. She was looking at Bill.

"—so we probably won't…Cailee? Is that you?" Bill asked, his eyes widening when he saw her next to his mother.

Cailee nodded.

"I didn't know you were staying here over holiday?"

Mrs. Weasley cut in before Cailee could respond, "Yes she is, but finish telling me, okay? Why are you stuck there?" she asked, sounding kind of frightened.

"—because McNair," there was a loud sound from somewhere on Bill's side of the fire. "Got to go Mum, it's dangerous." And with another loud pop his head disappeared.

Needless to say, after that brief, and terse explanation, if you could call it that, Mrs. Weasley was in shambles. She was worried about her eldest son, no doubt, but Cailee was more afraid for her brothers. They were with him, but no matter what, they could never face the same ultimate price Bill might end up paying. And with that weighing on her conscience when she went to bed, Cailee felt, for the first time, extremely guilty about who she was and her family's gift.

The next day Cailee awoke, feeling refreshed and excited. She was happy that she didn't have classes today, or for three more weeks, actually. She walked downstairs still in her pajamas and walked into the kitchen. She walked rather quietly, and the one person in the kitchen didn't hear her enter. For a moment, she was tempted to walk away quietly, but she was far too hungry for that.

"Morning, Fred," she said, walking briskly by him towards the kitchen.

"Cailee," he muttered, spooning porridge into his mouth. Cailee fixed up a bowl of oatmeal and then sat down at the opposite end of the table on the opposite side. She ate in silence for a few minutes, catching Fred throwing her dirty looks.

"What is your problem?" she finally asked.

"Problem? Me? I don't have a problem," he said.

"Fine Fred, whatever. Keep it up like this, but I'm here for three weeks, and whenever you're here, we're bound to run into each other; I mean, it's not that huge of a house. We can be friends. Or we can be enemies. I'll leave that decision up to you," she said, walking away from her unfinished oatmeal.

Fred rolled his eyes. Who does that girl think she is? She doesn't own this house. She's a traitor to all Gryffindors, dating that slime Slytherin Malfoy. We need to set her up with a Gryffindor…someone like…me. He shook that away. Cailee was his brother's best friend, no matter how hot she was. That was an unwritten rule in the family, you don't date someone's friend. Fred pushed back from the table soon afterwards and went up to his and George's room.

Later on that morning, Cailee sat up in the study with Ron, Ginny and Harry and Hermione. Mrs. Weasley had sent them upstairs to finish their homework so they wouldn't have to worry about it for the rest of the break. Ron and Harry had protested, saying that too much homework and studying was going to cloud their mind and they wouldn't be able to get into the mood of Christmas and the gift of giving. However, Mrs. Weasley didn't buy it and sent them upstairs telling them not to come down till they were done, no matter if it took till the next day. Ginny seemed to see this as some sort of punishment on their part. When they got upstairs she rounded on Harry and Ron.

"What did you two do?" she demanded. For the first time, Cailee saw truly innocent looks on their faces.

"What are you talking about Gin?" Harry asked, settling down at the only desk.

"You must have done something to her for her to have sent us upstairs like that. She's obviously mad."

"Don't worry, Ginny. She's just stressed about Bill. He didn't really tell her much last night," Hermione said, plopping down onto the couch, and Ginny sat down next to her grumbling. Ron sat down and spread his stuff out on the coffee table, and Cailee sprawled out on the floor. They soon devised a system for getting their homework done. They each decided to do one piece of the homework they'd been assigned, and then they would all copy each other's work. It took Hermione a little persuading, but she decided to go along with it. Ginny whined profusely, since she wasn't in the same year and had to do all her work herself. All the same, they didn't get done until seven o'clock, because they had to research numberless amounts of potions, some they hadn't even studied, and the one piece they couldn't copy was McGonagall's Career assignment.

"Finished?" Mrs. Weasley asked, as they tromped down the stairs into the kitchen for dinner.

"Yes," Cailee grumbled, with the others nodding along with her.

"Mum! It was terrible! Snape really has turned into a crotchety old bat! Half that stuff we didn't even learn!" Ron whined, sitting down, and pulling some chicken towards him.

"It wouldn't have been so difficult, Weasley, if you had paid attention in class, rather than play with fake wands and such nonsense," said a very oily voice from the other side of the room. Ron choked on his chicken when the voice had started speaking, and coughed it back up onto his plate. Mrs. Weasley let out a gasp.

"You've been playing with the twins' stuff in class?" she asked rounding on him. Ron glanced at Harry for help.

"You too Harry?" she asked.

"Yes, indeed, Molly, and Miss Ooteropeia also. Miss Granger seems the only one concerned about her future, though it doesn't look clear what it will be." Snape said, walking towards her.

"I can't believe you two!" she snapped, banging a pot on the oven. "You're turning out worse than then the twins! And Cailee! You too! I expected more!"

For some reason, Cailee felt considerably depressed when Mrs. Weasley had yelled at her like that. She sat down next to Ron, and Ginny followed next to her.

"I hope Scrooge doesn't ruin our Christmas," Hermione mumbled from the other side of the table next to Harry. Harry sniggered.

"I heard that, Miss Granger," Snape said, swooping past them. "Molly, will you please tell Moody that our plan for McNair and Avery has failed, and we need him as soon as we can get him?"

"Yes I wi—McNair and Avery? Where my son is at? What's gone wrong?" she pleaded.

"Molly, you know I can't tell you this."

"Why not?" she yelled.

"Because…well…you don't need to know, right yet."

"He's my son!"

"The less you know for now, the better," he said, and walked out

Author's Notes: They are FINALLY here! The long awaited Christmas chapters!