"Journey all right, twins?" Bill called as we all entered the kitchen, as he was trying to gather up twelve scrolls from the kitchen table at once. "Mad-Eye didn't make you come via Greenland, then?"
"He tried." Emily said as she and Tonks strode over to help Bill.
Tonks immediately toppled a candle on to the last piece of parchment. "Oh no - SORRY -"
"Here, dear." Mrs Weasley said, sounding exasperated, and she repaired the parchment with a wave of her wand. In the flash of light caused by Mrs Weasley's charm, I caught a glimpse of what looked like the plan of a building.
Mrs Weasley had seen me looking. She snatched the plan off the table and stuffed it into Bill's already overladen arms.
"This sort of thing ought to be cleared away promptly at the end of meetings." She snapped, before sweeping off towards an ancient dresser from which she started unloading dinner plates.
Bill took out his wand, muttered, "Evanesco!" and the scrolls vanished.
"Sit down, Daisy, Harry." Sirius said. "You've met Mundungus, haven't you?"
A thing at the end of the table that I had taken to be a pile of rags gave a prolonged, grunting snore, then jerked awake.
"Some'n say m'name?" Mundungus mumbled sleepily. "I 'gree with Sirius..." He raised a very grubby hand in the air as though voting, his droopy, bloodshot eyes unfocused.
Terry snorted.
"The meeting's over, Dung." Sirius said, as we all sat down around him at the table. "The twins have arrived."
"Eh?" Mundungus said, peering balefully at me and Harry through his matted ginger hair. "Blimey, so they 'ave. Yeah ... you all right, Daisy, 'Arry?"
"Yeah." Harry and I said.
Mundungus fumbled nervously in his pockets, still staring at us, and pulled out a grimy black pipe. He stuck it in his mouth, ignited the end of it with his wand, and took a deep pull on it. Great billowing clouds of greenish smoke obscured him within seconds.
"Owe you two a 'pology." A voice grunted from the middle of the smelly cloud.
"For the last time, Mundungus," Mrs Weasley called, "will you please NOT smoke that thing in the kitchen, especially not when we're about to eat!"
"Ah." Mundungus said. "Right. Sorry, Molly."
The cloud of smoke vanished as Mundungus stowed his pipe back in his pocket, but an acrid smell of burning socks lingered.
"And if you want dinner before midnight I'll need a hand." Mrs Weasley said to the room at large. "No, you can stay where you are, Daisy, Harry, dears, you've had a long journey."
"What can I do, Molly?" Tonks said enthusiastically, bounding forwards.
Mrs Weasley hesitated, looking apprehensive.
"Er - no, it's all right, Tonks, you have a rest too, you've done enough today."
"No, no, I want to help!" Tonks said brightly, knocking over a chair as she hurried towards the dresser, from which Ginny was collecting cutlery.
Soon, a series of heavy knives were chopping meat and vegetables of their own accord, supervised by Mr Weasley, while Mrs Weasley stirred a cauldron dangling over the fire and the others took out plates, more goblets, and food from the pantry. Harry and I were left at the table with Sirius, Emily, and Mundungus, who was still blinking at us mournfully.
"Seen old Figgy since?" He asked.
"Nah." I said. "But we did climb up her tree, though. She was probably watching us through the window and cursing us mentally."
Sirius and Emily blinked. "Why were you up her tree?" Emily asked.
I grinned.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Us and our cousin and our Muggle friends decided to mess around in the neighbourhood because Daisy here was bored. Our cousin mooned this dude and he chased us, so we had to hide up Mrs Figg's tree so he couldn't find us -"
"- And possibly kill us." I giggled.
"Legend, Softpaw." Fred fist-bumped me as he leaned over me to set a goblet on my placemat. I beamed at him, his face so close to mine, and I caught a fleeting beam returned to me, before he stepped away to set out more goblets.
My heart was skipping beats. Shit. I can't be reacting this way when he's that close to me.
"You two are truly James' kids." Sirius remarked, regarding me and Harry with a slight grin. Emily nodded, matching Sirius's expression.
Harry sighed. "It was all Daisy's idea. And Dudley, I guess."
"Well, Daisy's her dad's daughter, then." Sirius said.
"And Dudley's his uncle's... nephew... I suppose." Emily said, sniggering.
"See, I wouldn't 'ave left," Mundungus said, still on about the Dementor attack, leaning forward, a pleading note in his voice, "but I 'ad a business opportunity -"
I felt something brush against my knees and started, but it was only Crookshanks, who wound himself once around my legs, purring, then jumped on to Sirius's lap and curled up. Sirius scratched him absent-mindedly behind the ears as he turned back to me and Harry.
"Had a good summer so far, then?"
"Yeah, it's been awesome." I said. "Lots of pranks and shenanigans with my squad. And Kylie keeps coming to see me. She..."
I trailed off, blushing furiously as Harry quirked an eyebrow at me.
"Yes, Daze? She...?"
"Shut up, Harry."
Sirius and Emily looked between us. "Kylie?"
"Kylie Ford." Terry informed them as he walked past.
"Kylie F... oh! From the Weird Sisters!" Emily exclaimed. "How do you know HER, twins?"
Harry smirked. "I don't know her. Only Daisy does."
Sirius and Emily turned to me.
"So, uh, Dementors!" I said loudly, aware that my face was probably bright pink. "Those fuckers attacked us indeed."
"Don't know what you're complaining about, myself." Sirius said, grinning.
"What?" Harry said incredulously.
"Personally, I'd have welcomed a Dementor attack. A deadly struggle for my soul would have broken the monotony nicely. You think you've had it bad, at least you've been able to get out and about, stretch your legs, get into a few fights... I heard that Daisy was VERY antagonistic this past month. But I've been stuck inside for a month."
"How come?" Harry asked, frowning.
"Because the Ministry of Magic's still after me, and Voldemort will know all about me being an Animagus by now, Wormtail will have told him, so my big disguise is useless. There's not much I can do for the Order of the Phoenix ... or so Dumbledore feels."
Emily laid a hand on Sirius's arm sympathetically.
"Sirius," said Mundungus, who did not appear to have paid any attention to the conversation, but had been minutely examining an empty goblet. "This solid silver, mate?"
"Yes," said Sirius, surveying it with distaste. "Finest fifteenth-century goblin-wrought silver, embossed with the Black family crest."
"That'd come orf, though." Mundungus muttered, polishing it with his cuff.
"Fred - George - NO, JUST CARRY THEM!" Mrs Weasley shrieked.
Harry, Sirius, Emily, Mundungus, and I looked around and, within a split second, we had dived away from the table. Fred and George had bewitched a large cauldron of stew, an iron flagon of Butterbeer, and a heavy wooden breadboard, complete with knife, to hurtle through the air towards us. The stew skidded the length of the table and came to a halt just before the end, leaving a long black burn on the wooden surface; the flagon of Butterbeer fell with a crash, spilling its contents everywhere; the bread knife slipped off the board and landed, point down and quivering ominously, exactly where Sirius's right hand had been seconds before.
"FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!" Mrs Weasley screamed. "THERE WAS NO NEED - I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS - JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERY TINY LITTLE THING!"
"We were just trying to save a bit of time!" Fred said, hurrying forward to wrench the bread knife out of the table. "Sorry, Sirius, mate - didn't mean to -"
Harry, Sirius, Emily, and I were all laughing; Mundungus, who had toppled backwards off his chair, was swearing as he got to his feet; Crookshanks had given an angry hiss and shot off under the dresser, from where his large yellow eyes glowed in the darkness.
"Boys," Mr Weasley said, lifting the stew back into the middle of the table, "your mother's right, you're supposed to show a sense of responsibility now you've come of age -"
"None of your brothers caused this sort of trouble!" Mrs Weasley raged at the twins as she slammed a fresh flagon of Butterbeer onto the table, and spilling almost as much again. "Bill didn't feel the need to Apparate every few feet! Charlie didn't charm everything he met! Percy -"
She stopped dead, catching her breath with a frightened look at her husband, whose expression was suddenly wooden.
"Let's eat." Bill said quickly.
"It looks wonderful, Molly." Lupin said, ladling stew on to a plate for her and handing it across the table.
For a few minutes there was silence but for the chink of plates and cutlery and the scraping of chairs as everyone settled down to their food. Then Mrs Weasley turned to Sirius.
"I've been meaning to tell you, Sirius, there's something trapped in that writing desk in the drawing room, it keeps rattling and shaking. Of course, it could just be a Boggart, but I thought we ought to ask Alastor to have a look at it before we let it out."
"Whatever you like." Sirius said indifferently.
"The curtains in there are full of Doxys, too." Mrs Weasley went on. I quickly glanced at my fellow Insurgents. "I thought we might try and tackle them tomorrow."
"I look forward to it." Sirius said.
I heard the sarcasm in his voice, but I wasn't sure that anyone else did.
Opposite Harry, Tonks was entertaining Hermione and Ginny by transforming her nose between mouthfuls. Screwing up her eyes each time with a pained expression, her nose swelled to a beak-like protuberance that resembled Snape's, shrank to the size of a button mushroom and then sprouted a great deal of hair from each nostril. Apparently this was a regular mealtime entertainment, because Hermione and Ginny were soon requesting their favourite noses.
"Do that one like a pig snout, Tonks."
Tonks obliged, and I cackled with Terry.
A gale of laughter from the middle of the table drowned Hermione's next request. Fred, George, Ron, and Mundungus were rolling around in their seats. I had half been listening in on their conversation, and grinned as Dung continued telling his story.
"...and then," Mundungus chokes, tears running down his face, "and then, if you'll believe it, 'e says to me, 'e says, ''Ere, Dung, where didja get all them toads from? 'Cos some son of a Bludger's gone and nicked all mine!' And I says, 'Nicked all your toads, Will, what next? So you'll be wanting some more, then?' And if you'll believe me, lads, the gormless gargoyle buys all 'is own toads back orf me for a lot more'n what 'e paid in the first place -"
"I don't think we need to hear any more of your business dealings, thank you very much, Mundungus." Mrs Weasley said sharply, as Ron slumped forwards on to the table, howling with laughter.
"Beg pardon, Molly." Mundungus said at once, wiping his eyes and winking at me. "But, you know, Will nicked 'em orf Warty Harris in the first place so I wasn't really doing nothing wrong."
"I don't know where you learned about right and wrong, Mundungus, but you seem to have missed a few crucial lessons." Mrs Weasley said coldly.
Fred and George buried their faces in their goblets of Butterbeer; George was hiccoughing. For some reason, Mrs Weasley threw a very nasty look at Sirius before getting to her feet and going to fetch a large rhubarb crumble for pudding. I looked round at my godfather.
"Molly doesn't approve of Mundungus." Sirius said in an undertone.
"How come he's in the Order?" I said, very quietly.
"He's useful." Sirius muttered. "Knows all the crooks - well, he would, seeing as he's one himself. But he's also very loyal to Dumbledore, who helped him out of a tight spot once. It pays to have someone like Dung around, he hears things we don't. But Molly thinks inviting him to stay for dinner is going too far. She hasn't forgiven him for slipping off duty when he was supposed to be tailing you."
Three helpings of rhubarb crumble and custard later and the waistband on my shorts was feeling uncomfortably tight. As I laid down my spoon there was a lull in the general conversation: Mr Weasley was leaning back in his chair, looking replete and relaxed, Tonks was yawning widely, her nose now back to normal, and Ginny, who had lured Crookshanks out from under the dresser, was sitting cross-legged on the floor, rolling Butterbeer corks for him to chase.
"Nearly time for bed, I think." Mrs Weasley said with a yawn.
"Not just yet, Molly." Sirius said, pushing away his empty plate and turning to look at me. "You know, I'm surprised at you. I thought the first thing you'd do when you got here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort."
The atmosphere in the room changed with the rapidity I associated with the arrival of Dementors. Where seconds before it had been sleepily relaxed, it was now alert, even tense. A frisson had gone around the table at the mention of Voldemort's name. Lupin, who had been about to take a sip of wine, lowered his goblet slowly, looking wary.
I looked at my lap. "I didn't want to think about him. At least for a little while."
"But you're always so curious, so -"
"You don't know what he did to me in that place." I looked back up at Sirius. "The things he did... for fuck sake, I'm only fifteen and -"
"You're quite right, Daisy." Mrs Weasley said. She was sitting bolt upright in her chair, her fists clenched on its arms, every trace of drowsiness gone. "You're too young to talk about this sort of thing. And you're not in the Order, so -"
"Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?" Sirius asked. "Daisy and Harry have been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. They've got the right to know what's been happen-"
"Hang on!" George interrupted loudly.
"How come Daisy and Harry get their questions answered now?" Fred said angrily.
"WE'VE been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking thing!" George said.
"'You're too young, you're not in the Order!'" Fred said, in a high-pitched voice that sounded uncannily like his mother's. "Daisy and Harry aren't even of age! Daisy's our best friend, we care about her, and we weren't even granted the decency to know if she was in danger or not!"
"It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing," said Sirius calmly, "that's your parents' decision. Daisy and Harry, on the other hand -"
"It's not down to you to decide what's good for Daisy and Harry!" Mrs Weasley said sharply. The expression on her normally kind face looked dangerous. "You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?"
"Which bit?" Sirius asked politely, but with the air of a man readying himself for a fight.
"The bit about not telling the twins more than they need to know." Mrs Weasley said, placing a heavy emphasis on the last three words.
Ron, Hermione, Terry, Fred, and George's heads swivelled from Sirius to Mrs Weasley as though they were following a tennis rally. Ginny was kneeling amid a pile of abandoned Butterbeer corks, watching the conversation with her mouth slightly open. Emily and Lupin's eyes were fixed on Sirius.
"I don't intend to tell them more than they need to know, Molly." Sirius said. "But as Daisy was the one who saw Voldemort come back," (again, there was a collective shudder around the table at the name), "her and her brother have more right than most to -"
"They're not members of the Order of the Phoenix!" Mrs Weasley said. "They're only fifteen and -"
"And they've dealt with as much as most in the Order," said Sirius, "and Daisy more than some."
"No one's denying what they've done!" Mrs Weasley said, her voice rising, her fists trembling on the arms of her chair. "But they're still -"
"They're not children!" Sirius said impatiently.
"They're not adults either!" Mrs Weasley said, the colour rising in her cheeks. "Daisy's not JAMES, Sirius!"
"I'm perfectly clear who Daisy is, thanks, Molly." Sirius said coldly.
"I'm not sure you are!" Mrs Weasley said. "Sometimes, the way you talk about her, it's as though you think you've got your best friend back!"
"What's wrong with that?" I said indignantly.
"What's wrong, Daisy, is that you are not your father, however much you might look like him!" Mrs Weasley said, her eyes still boring into Sirius. "You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!"
"Meaning I'm an irresponsible godfather?" Sirius demanded, his voice rising.
"Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and -"
"We'll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this, if you please!" Sirius said loudly.
"Arthur!" Mrs Weasley said, rounding on her husband. "Arthur, back me up!"
Mr Weasley did not speak at once. He took off his glasses and cleaned them slowly on his robes, not looking at his wife. Only when he had replaced them carefully on his nose did he reply.
"Dumbledore knows the position has changed, Molly. He accepts that the twins will have to be filled in, to a certain extent, now that they are staying at headquarters -"
"Yes, but there's a difference between that and inviting them to ask whatever they like!"
"Personally," said Lupin quietly, looking away from Sirius at last, as Mrs Weasley turned quickly to him, hopeful that finally she was about to get an ally, "I think it better that Daisy and Harry get the facts - not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture - from us, rather than a garbled version from ... others."
His expression was mild, but I felt sure Lupin, at least, knew that some Extendable Ears had survived Mrs Weasley's purge.
"Well," said Mrs Weasley, breathing deeply and looking around the table for support that did not come, "well ... I can see I'm going to be overruled. I'll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Daisy and Harry to know too much, and speaking as someone who has their best interests at heart -"
"They're not your kids." Sirius said quietly.
"They're as good as." Mrs Weasley said fiercely. "Who else have they got?"
"They've got me and Emily!"
"Yes," said Mrs Weasley, her lip curling, "the thing is, it's been rather difficult for you two to look after them while YOU'VE been locked up in Azkaban, and YOU'VE been away hunting You-Know-Who in Albania, hasn't it?"
Sirius started to rise from his chair.
"Molly, you're not the only person at this table who cares about Daisy and Harry." Lupin said sharply. "Sirius, sit DOWN."
Mrs Weasley's lower lip was trembling. Sirius sank slowly back into his chair, his face white.
"I think the twins ought to be allowed a say in this." Emily said. "They're old enough to decide for themselves."
"We want to know what's been going on." Harry and I said at once, simultaneously.
I did not look at Mrs Weasley. I was touched by what she had said about me being as good as a daughter, but I was also impatient with her mollycoddling. Sirius was right, I was NOT a child. Apparently I'm old as fuck, too, according to my Devil dad.
"Very well." Mrs Weasley said, her voice cracking. "Ginny - Ron - Hermione - Terry - Fred - George - I want you out of this kitchen, now."
There was instant uproar.
"We're of age!" Fred and George bellowed together.
"If Harry's allowed, why can't I?" Ron shouted.
"Mum, I WANT to hear!" Ginny wailed.
"NO!" Mrs Weasley shouted, standing up, her eyes overbright. "I absolutely forbid -"
"Molly, you can't stop Fred and George." Mr Weasley said wearily. "They are of age -"
"They're still at school -"
"But they're legally adults now." Mr Weasley said, in the same tired voice.
Mrs Weasley was now scarlet in the face.
"I - oh, all right then, Fred and George can stay, but Ron, Terry -"
"Daisy'll tell Terry and then me and Hermione everything you say anyway! She's just like that!" Ron said hotly. "Won't - won't you?" He added uncertainly, meeting my eyes.
"'Course I will." I said cheerily.
Terry, Ron, and Hermione beamed.
"Fine!" Mrs Weasley shouted. "Fine! Ginny - BED!"
Ginny did not go quietly. We could hear her raging and storming at her mother all the way up the stairs, and when she reached the hall Mrs Black's ear-splitting shrieks were added to the din. Lupin and Emily hurried off to the portrait to restore calm. It was only after the two had returned, closing the kitchen door behind them and taking their seats at the table again, that Sirius spoke.
"OK, twins ... what do you want to know?"
I took a deep breath and asked the question that had obsessed me for the last month.
"Where's Voldemort?" I said, ignoring the renewed shudders and winces at the name. "What's he doing? I've been watching the Muggle news, and there hasn't been anything that looks like him yet, no funny deaths or anything."
"That's because there haven't been any funny deaths yet," said Sirius, "not as far as we know, anyway... and we know quite a lot."
"More than he thinks we do, anyway." Lupin said.
"How come he's stopped killing people?" Harry asked.
We knew Voldemort had murdered more than once in the last year alone.
"Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself." Sirius said. "It would be dangerous for him. His comeback didn't come off quite the way he wanted it to, you see. He messed it up."
"Or rather, you messed it up for him, Daisy." Lupin said with a satisfied smile.
"How?" Harry asked, perplexed, as I smirked.
"Your sister wasn't supposed to escape him after the Quidditch World Cup!" Sirius said. "Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But you escaped to bear witness, Daisy."
"And the very last person he wanted alerted to his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore." Lupin said. "And you made sure Dumbledore knew at once."
"How has that helped?" I asked.
"Are you kidding?" Bill said incredulously. "Dumbledore was the only one You-Know-Who was ever scared of!"
"Thanks to you, Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix." Sirius said.
"So, what's the Order been doing?" I said, looking around at them all.
"Working as hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans." Sirius said.
"How d'you know what his plans are?" Harry asked quickly.
"Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea," Emily said, "and Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate."
"So what does Dumbledore reckon he's planning?" I said.
"Well, firstly, he wants to build up his army again." Sirius said. "In the old days he had huge numbers at his command: witches and wizards he'd bullied or bewitched into following him, his faithful Death Eaters, a great variety of Dark creatures. You heard him planning to recruit the giants; well, they'll be just one of the groups he's after. He's certainly not going to try and take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters."
"So you're trying to stop him getting more followers?"
"We're doing our best." Emily said.
"How?"
"Well, the main thing is to try and convince as many people as possible that You-Know-Who really has returned, to put them on their guard." Bill said. "It's proving tricky, though."
"Why?"
"Because of the Ministry's attitude." Tonks said. "You saw Cornelius Fudge after You-Know-Who kidnapped you all, Daisy. Well, he hasn't shifted his position at all. He's absolutely refusing to believe it's happened."
"But why?" I said desperately. "Why's he being so fucking stupid? If Dumbledore -"
"Ah, well, you've put your finger on the problem." Mr Weasley said with a wry smile. "DUMBLEDORE."
"Fudge is frightened of him, you see." Tonks said sadly.
"Frightened of Dumbledore?" Harry said incredulously.
"Frightened of what he's up to." Mr Weasley said. "Fudge thinks Dumbledore's plotting to overthrow him. He thinks Dumbledore wants to be Minister for Magic."
"But Dumbledore doesn't want -"
"Of course he doesn't." Mr Weasley said. "He's never wanted the Minister's job, even though a lot of people wanted him to take it when Millicent Bagnold retired. Fudge came to power instead, but he's never quite forgotten how much popular support Dumbledore had, even though Dumbledore never applied for the job."
"Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore's much cleverer than he is, a much more powerful wizard, and in the early days of his Ministry he was forever asking Dumbledore for help and advice." Emily said. "But it seems he's become fond of power, and much more confident. He loves being Minister for Magic and he's managed to convince himself that he's the clever one and Dumbledore's simply stirring up trouble for the sake of it."
"How can he think that?" I said angrily. "How can he think Dumbledore would just make it all up - that I'D make it all up?"
"Because accepting that Voldemort's back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn't had to cope with for nearly fourteen years." Sirius said bitterly. "Fudge just can't bring himself to face it. It's so much more comfortable to convince himself Dumbledore's lying to destabilise him."
"You see the problem." Lupin said. "While the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place. What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumour-mongering, so most of the wizarding community are completely unaware anything's happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperius Curse."
"But you're telling people, aren't you?" Harry said, looking around at Mr Weasley, Sirius, Emily, Bill, Mundungus, Lupin, and Tonks. "You're letting people know he's back?"
They all smiled humourlessly.
"Well, as everyone thinks I'm a mad mass-murderer and the Ministry's put a ten thousand Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?" Sirius said restlessly.
"And I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community." Lupin said. "It's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf."
"Tonks and Arthur would lose their jobs at the Ministry if they started shooting their mouths off," said Sirius, "and it's very important for us to have spies inside the Ministry, because you can bet Voldemort will have them."
"We've managed to convince a couple of people, though." Mr Weasley said. "Tonks here, for one - she's too young to have been in the Order of the Phoenix last time, and having Aurors on our side is a huge advantage - Kingsley Shacklebolt's been a real asset, too; he's in charge of the hunt for Sirius, so he's been feeding the Ministry information that Sirius is in Tibet."
"But if none of you are putting the news out that Voldemort's back -" Harry began.
"Who said none of us are putting the news out?" Sirius said. "Why d'you think Dumbledore's in such trouble?"
"What d'you mean?" I asked.
"They're trying to discredit him." Lupin said. "Didn't you see the Daily Prophet last week? They reported that he'd been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards because he's getting old and losing his grip, but it's not true; he was voted out by Ministry wizards after he made a speech announcing Voldemort's return. They've demoted him from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot - that's the Wizard High Court - and they're talking about taking away his Order of Merlin, First Class, too."
"But Dumbledore says he doesn't care what they do as long as they don't take him off the Chocolate Frog Cards." Bill said, grinning.
"It's no laughing matter." said Mr Weasley sharply. "If he carries on defying the Ministry like this he could end up in Azkaban, and the last thing we want is to have Dumbledore locked up. While You-Know-Who knows Dumbledore's out there and wise to what he's up to he's going to go cautiously. If Dumbledore's out of the way - well, You-Know-Who will have a clear field."
"But if Voldemort's trying to recruit more Death Eaters it's bound to get out that he's come back, isn't it?" Harry asked desperately.
"Voldemort doesn't march up to people's houses and bang on their front doors, Harry." Sirius said. "He tricks, jinxes and blackmails them. He's well-practised at operating in secret. In any case, gathering followers is only one thing he's interested in. He's got other plans too, plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed, and he's concentrating on those for the moment."
"What's he after apart from followers?" I asked swiftly. "And me, of course. I know he's still after me."
Emily and Bill inclined their heads, confirming my suspicions. He won't give up chasing me, will he?
I thought I saw Sirius and Lupin exchange the most fleeting of looks before Sirius answered, "Stuff he can only get by stealth."
When Harry and I continued to look puzzled, Sirius said, "Like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time."
"When he was powerful before?"
"Yes."
"Like what kind of weapon?" Harry said. "Something worse than the Avada Kedavra -?"
"Er - kind of. He's also after Daisy for a slightly different reason, now. He needs everything he can get."
"What do you mean?" Harry and I chorused. I was gripping the edge of my seat. Fred was watching us with a pale face.
"A different reason?" Harry said.
"Is it worse than... than..." I trailed off, thinking about Riddle coming at me with a knife, with the Cruciatus Curse. "Is it worse than Crucio? What else could he possibly do to me -"
"That's enough!"
Mrs Weasley spoke from the shadows beside the door. I hadn't noticed her return from taking Ginny upstairs. Her arms were crossed and she looked furious.
"I want you in bed, now. All of you." She added, looking around at Fred, George, Terry, Ron, and Hermione.
"You can't boss us -" Fred began.
"Watch me." Mrs Weasley snarled. She was trembling slightly as she looked at Sirius. "You've given Daisy and Harry plenty of information. Any more and you might just as well induct them into the Order straightaway."
"Why not?" I said quickly. "I'll join, I want to join, I want to fight."
"No."
It was not Mrs Weasley who spoke this time, but Lupin.
"The Order is comprised only of overage wizards." He said. "Wizards who have left school." He added, as Fred and George opened their mouths. "There are dangers involved of which you can have no idea, any of you... I think Molly's right, Sirius. We've said enough."
Sirius half-shrugged but did not argue. Mrs Weasley beckoned imperiously to her sons, Terry, and Hermione. One by one they stood up, along with Harry, and recognising defeat, I followed suit.
Mrs Weasley followed us upstairs looking grim.
"I want you all to go straight to bed, no talking," she said as we reached the first landing, "we've got a busy day tomorrow. I expect Ginny's asleep," she added to Hermione, "so try not to wake her up."
"Asleep, yeah, right." Fred said in an undertone, after Hermione bade us goodnight and we were climbing to the next floor. "If Ginny's not lying awake waiting for Hermione to tell her everything they said downstairs then I'm a Flobberworm..."
"All right, Ron, Harry." Mrs Weasley said on the second landing, pointing them into their bedroom. "Off to bed with you."
"'Night." Harry and Ron said to the Insurgents.
"Sleep tight." I said, winking.
Mrs Weasley followed my friends and I up to our room and closed the door after us with a firm snap. We all spun to each other.
"Secret weapon?" Terry said.
"He's after Softpaw for something different now?" George said. Fred glanced at me. He looked a bit white.
"Let's go bug our brothers about this shit, shall we?" I said.
Terry pouted. "I'm always so left out. No brother here."
Fred grabbed my arm, and - CRACK.
"OUCH!"
"Keep your voice down, Ron, or Mum'll be back up here."
"You lot just Apparated on my knees!"
"Yeah, well, it's harder in the dark -"
I saw the blurred outlines of Fred and George leaping down from Ron's bed, and I followed them blindly, taking Terry's hand. There was a groan of bedsprings as George sat down near Harry's feet, and I joined him, Fred and Terry sitting opposite us on Ron's bed.
"So, got there yet?" George said eagerly.
"The weapon and Daisy's new desirability that Sirius mentioned?" Harry said.
"Let slip, more like." Fred said with relish. "We didn't hear about THAT on the old Extendables, did we?"
"What d'you reckon the weapon is?" I said.
"Could be anything." Terry said.
"But there can't be anything worse than the Avada Kedavra curse, can there?" Ron said. "What's worse than death?"
"Maybe it's something that can kill loads of people at once." George suggested.
"Maybe it's some particularly painful way of killing people." Ron said fearfully.
"He's got the Cruciatus Curse for causing pain." I said. "The motherfucker doesn't need anything more efficient than that."
The room went quiet for a moment, and everyone bowed their heads. Fred glanced up at me, reaching a hand out. I took it momentarily, then let go, turning to everyone else. My eyes had adjusted to the dark, and I could see them better now.
"So who d'you think's got it now?" I asked.
"I hope it's our side." Ron said, sounding slightly nervous.
"If it is, Dumbledore's probably keeping it." Fred said.
"Where?" Ron said quickly. "Hogwarts?"
"Bet it is!" George said. "That's where he hid the Philosopher's Stone."
"A weapon's going to be a lot bigger than the Stone, though!" Ron said.
"Not necessarily." Terry said.
"Yeah, size is no guarantee of power." George said. "Look at Softpaw."
"What d'you mean?" Harry said, quirking an eyebrow at me.
"You've never been on the receiving end of one of her little fits of angel-rage, have you?" Fred smirked.
"Shhh!" Terry said, half-rising from the bed. "Listen!"
We fell silent. Footsteps were coming up the stairs.
"Mum." Fred said, and without further ado there was a loud CRACK and I was being whipped through space and time.
"Quick, everyone into their pj's and into bed!" George hissed, and we all changed in record time, diving under our covers. A few seconds later, we heard the floorboard creak outside our door; Mrs Weasley was plainly listening to check whether or not we were talking.
A few moments later, Mrs Weasley was now creaking back downstairs again.
"Molly really wants you as her daughter, Softpaw." Terry sniggered across the quiet, dark room.
I rolled over in my bed to face him.
"Maybe she'll have you as her daughter-in-law someday." George snickered.
"Right, I'm going to brush my teeth." Fred said irritably, and hopped out of his bed, hurrying into the en-suite. I rolled my eyes as I watched Terry and George air-high-five across the room.