Chapter 6: New Revelations
Holly was the first to travel back through the fire to Grimmauldplace, 12. Again, stumbling and nearly slamming her head on the stony mantlepiece of the fireplace.
Just in time, two sets of arms caught her fall. Before she could recognize her saviours, Sirius and the rest of the group tumbled out behind her, ashes flying all around the living room.
"So? How' did it go?", a voice asked next to her into the silence.
Sirius smirked mischievously and simply pronounced: "Molly, get out some butterbeer and sandwiches, time to celebrate!"
With that, all the anxiousness that filled the air disappeared. Several people cried out happily, running over to hug Sirius, pat his shoulder, kiss his cheek.
Mrs. Weasley's eyes glistened with tears of joy, and Holly could feel hers getting watery again as well.
The twins, who Holly found in that very moment had been the ones to catch her fall earlier, and Ginny broke out first in celebration, running around everyone, dancing and singing "He got off! He got off!" in a weird singsong.
They all spent the rest of the day celebrating Sirius being a free man again. Dumbledore must have send out some kind of message about what had happened at the trial, because more and more members of the Order arrived, joining the party at Grimmauldplace.
This once, Holly thought, the place didn't look grim, but was filled with laughter and the sound of pure joy.
After everyone calmed down a bit again (except for Fred, George and Ginny, who were still singing, dancing through the house), Holly found herself standing in a corner of the living room, chatting with Remus and Tonks, who, today, wore her hair in blonde doll-like curls around her face.
Out of nowhere, she was packed by someone from behind and got whirled around. Sirius' smile was in front of her, and together they spun in circles in the centre of the room. Holly couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably, her ears filled with the bark-like sound of her godfather's guffaw. Holly hadn't felt that happy in a long time.
After stopping, Sirius led her to the table, which nearly overflew with all the beverages and snacks, Mrs. Weasley had prepared for that moment.
He handed her a new bottle of butterbeer and some pie. He then took a bottle himself and raised it in front of him:
"This is to everyone, who stood behind me, today and in all those dark years, I now will be able to leave behind. Thanks to Dumbledore, who managed to talk some sense into the Ministry. Thanks to Remus, my dear friend, who always had my back. Thanks to everyone who was willing to be questioned today, I really appreciate your help. More than you ever will be able to understand. And finally, thanks for all you people who are here now, celebrating with me! I love every single one of you!"
Sirius' proclamation was responded with many "Whooo"s and the clinking of bottles, as everyone imitated his toast and took a sip of their drink.
Holly sat down next to Ron. His mouth was stuffed with different foods, since he had not eaten anything for breakfast, he must have been starving – as Ron usually was. Holly leaned against him, smiling contently.
Even though outside, a war was starting to form itself, today no thought was spent on that.
For just one day, worries were nowhere to be found, not even in Holly's mind.
Some days later, in the evening, an important meeting was held again. And again, none of the "children" were allowed to join. Holly kind of understood the reasons but wanted to be a part of the fight nevertheless. Sitting in her room with Hermione and Ginny who were talking about the trial again, Holly closed her eyes, blending out everything.
She knew, she hadn't been talking much since her arrival at headquarters and the girls must have noticed something was off about her, but they let her be for now.
She didn't mean to be so… uncommunicative, but she couldn't help it. She felt so out of place, next to her giggly friends after everything she had experienced in June. What if she would never be the same again, would never be able to joke around with Ron, giggle with Ginny, share every thought with Hermione again?
What if she would always feel this lonely?
At that moment, a loud cracking sound made her jolt and right next to her, Fred appeared out of thin air, grinning from one ear to the other. Breathing calmly again, she waited for George to follow his brother – where one was, the second couldn't be far.
Right she was, moments later, George joined them with the same cracking noise. Even though she'd been at the headquarters for over a week now, she hadn't gotten used to the twins' apparating all day. She couldn't understand how they wouldn't walk a single step and rather apparate… She still got sick at the memory of her first apparation with Tonks.
"Hey girls, hate to disturb you", George said cheekily.
"Yeah, sorry to break into your girly talks, but we thought you might be interested to hear something a little more important", Fred continued.
The twins had the girls' full attention, even though Hermione acted as if she wouldn't care, Holly could clearly see, she was curious about the boys' intention.
Several moments went by in complete silence.
"Come on, don't tantalize us, spit it out already!"Ginny groaned impatiently.
Fred and George eyed one another, grinning mischievously.
"Okay, come on then, you better be quick" George whispered, before he and Fred went out the door, for once not apparating.
Swiftly, Ginny stood up from the bed and followed them. Hermione seemed to forget that she pretended not to care and left as well, signing Holly to come along.
So, she did.
Downstairs in front of the door to the dining room, were all meetings were held, the twins, Ron and her girlfriends were gathered already. Fred got something out of his pocket, showing it to everyone. It looked like an ear, a long flesh coloured string attached to it.
"This, my dear friends, is one of our latest inventions. Since mum always puts a spell on the door, so we can't eavesdrop on their very important conversations, Georgie and I had to find another way to get to the information instead", he smirked.
George dig into his pockets and got out several of these ear-like things.
"Extendable ears, you see? Take one, put the string into your ear and put the extendable one as close to the door as possible – it works best if you stick it a little into that crack beneath the door."
After the explanation, everyone took one of the Ears and followed the twins' instructions. Immediately, Holly could hear the voices talking behind the closed door.
"I feel we should include Holly, after all, it all concerns her!" That had been Sirius talking.
"She is still too young, we cannot load all that weight onto a 15-year-old! I won't just watch you do that to her, she is still just a girl! I will not allow that to happen! Besides, she will sure as hell confide in her friends about what you want to tell her. We cannot let that happen, we can't involve all my children in the doings of the Order!"
Holly could imagine Molly Weasleys face, whilst she said that. She was a feisty witch, a force to be reckoned with. Although Holly couldn't disagree more, she had to smile in favour of Mrs. Weasley. After all, she only ever tried to protect her family and Holly just the same.
"Well, since I am Holly's guardian now that I was discharged, I will decide if Holly should be informed or not. I'm sorry if that means your children will be involved too, I truly am, but you cannot decide about Holly's participation with the Order. She is not your daughter, Molly!", Sirius barked.
A silence followed that statement, then a slightly trembling voice answered:
"You're right, Sirius, she is not. But that doesn't change the fact that I care about her deeply, as if she were my daughter! I only want the best for her, and that means to protect her from every harm. Since you are her guardian, I would expect you to feel the same."
Holly felt a sting in her heart. She knew, she'd always been welcome at the Weasleys, and that Molly liked her and enjoyed fussing over her, but to hear out loud that she was like a daughter to her… Holly blinked away some tears. Her friends all watched her silently, Hermione patted her shoulder and Ron smiled at her.
Even George sent a caring glance in her direction.
"Oh, so I'm a bad guardian now, is that what you want to say by that, Molly? I would do anything to keep Holly safe, but her being left out of all of this will not keep her safe! If we give her the needed information, she won't do anything stupid just to find out behind our backs!"
Several people muttered approvingly.
"I think Sirius is right. We need to tell her just the things she absolutely has to know about, that way she will feel acknowledged, which in turn will keep her safe from the dark lord and his forces", Mad-Eye Moody's voice snarled matter-of-factly.
"Let's take a vote about that", Dumbledore's calm voice stated.
"Everyone sharing Molly's opinion please rise your hand now."
Holly cursed under her breath for not being able to see the outcome.
"And everyone agreeing with Sirius?"
Again silence.
"Very well, everyone's dismissed, thank you for coming."
Suddenly, the scratching sound of moving chairs on the floor filled the air and Holly and her friends quickly grabbed all Expendable Ears and hurried up the stairs before the door opened and members of the Order filled the hallway.