A/N: I do not own anything Harry Potter. I have a long chapter for you this time. Thank you so much to those that have been adding me to their favorites and story/author alerts. I'm really glad you all like the story. Happy reading! XO

Chapter 45

Annie opened Harry's bedroom door and let Bandit bound into the room ahead of her and watched as he leapt onto the bed.

"Hey, how was the concert?" Harry asked, reaching out to scratch behind Bandit's ears.

"You're almost expelled from Hogwarts and you calmly ask how my concert was?" Annie said disbelievingly. She walked over to the bed and laid back with her feet hanging off the bed. "It was amazing. Unbelievable. I caught a guitar pick and it was just incredible!"

"Sounds like you had an awesome time," said Harry.

"I did. What's this about, like, Dementors attacking you or something?" she asked changing the subject. She turned her head to face her cousin and waited for an answer.

"Oh, yeah," he said. "Well, I was out for a walk tonight and I was just coming back from the park when two Dementors came swooping down."

Annie sat up and looked over at Harry with a shocked expression. "In Godric's Hollow? Here?" she asked. Harry nodded. "But why?"

"No idea," he answered.

"What did you do?"

"The only logical thing I could think of," he said shrugging his shoulders. "Cast a Patronus Charm. They went away after that."

Annie sat in stunned silence for a few seconds before recollecting herself. "And they just expelled you? Whoa."

"Yup."

"So, what did Aunt Lily and Uncle James have to say about this?"

"Dad is going to try and sort things out with Dumbledore and I have to go to the Ministry for a hearing," Harry rested his head against the backboard of his bed and looked up at the ceiling. "Mrs. Figg, you remember her, was out for a walk too and saw what happened and she walked me back to here and helped me explain to mum and dad. Right after she left, I got a letter from the Ministry saying I've been expelled and that I had to attend a hearing."

"I think dad and Lydia and Remus are downstairs talking to Uncle James and Aunt Lily about all this," Annie said, lying back down on the bed. "If we don't get information soon, I swear I'll go crazy."

"Annie, you already are," Harry said with laugh.

"Shut up, Potter."

"I still don't understand why we're going there," Annie huffed sitting back on the couch in the Potter's living room. She and her family were waiting for other members of the Order of the Phoenix to arrive to take them to headquarters where they would be spending the rest of the summer. Annie looked over to Sirius and waited for an answer.

"I still don't understand how you don't understand," he answered back.

"Well maybe if you explained what was going on better I would," Annie shot back cheekily.

Sirius opened his mouth to fight back but was silenced by Remus who held up his hand.

"Annie, we already explained to you and Harry that headquarters is unplottable," he said. "We also can't tell you where it is because neither of us are the secret keepers."

Annie rolled her eyes and leaned her head back up to look at the ceiling. "Still doesn't answer my question," she muttered.

Sirius kept his eye on Annie and her defiant behavior as the group sat and waited for the Order to join them. When the doorbell rang, Lily got up and answered to door. She returned with Lydia and a few others behind her. Annie recognized Kingsley Shacklebolt, head of the Auror department, as he walked over to greet James, Remus and Sirius, the real Alastor Moody as he talked in a low growl to Lily and Lydia, and a young woman with bright pink hair that she hadn't seen in years.

"Tonks?" she asked standing up from the couch and walking over to her cousin.

"Wotcher, Annie!" she greeted pulling Annie into a hug. "I haven't seen you since you were little. How have you been?"

"Tonks!" Moody barked. Annie and Tonks snapped their heads around to the ex-Auror. "There's no time for catching up. We need to get going."

Tonks leaned down and whispered in Annie's ear. "We'll talk later," she said before walking over to stand near Moody.

"Is this everything, Potter?" Moody growled over at James as he looked around the living room at Annie and Harry's trunks and other possessions.

"Seems like it," James replied. "It's just the kid's stuff we'll be bringing with us."

"Right. Well let's get moving. We're on a tight schedule," said Moody clunking his way out the backdoor.

Harry helped James carry his trunk into the backyard where their brooms were waiting as Sirius and Remus heaved Annie's over to Sirius's motorbike. Annie followed behind everyone with Bandit at her heels and a slight frown on her face. Harry's trunk was chained between Lily and Lydia's brooms and Annie's was crammed into the magically-enlarged side-car along with her own broom and Bandit who had jumped in gleefully barking. Annie looked around at everyone as they mounted their brooms and prepared to take off. She turned back to Bandit, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a dog treat laced with a sleeping potion. Bandit gobbled it up and instantly drifted off. Sirius handed her a helmet which she slipped over her head before climbing on the back of the motorbike. Moody stared up at the sky waiting for some type of signal. When red sparks lit the night, he turned to the group behind him.

"Alright," he growled over his shoulder, "Stay in formation and stay on course."

Annie felt the motorbike kick into gear. Soon they were drifting up into the sky and out of sight above the clouds. Sirius steered the bike so he was flying right next to Harry. Harry grinned over at Annie before turning back to face the direction he was flying in. After flying for quite some time, they started to descend. Sirius landed the motorbike with a slight bounce and Annie slid casually off, removing her helmet and running a hand through her hair.

"Where are we?" Harry asked shouldering his broomstick and looking around the courtyard they had just landed in.

"Here," Moody said reaching into his pocket and extracting a piece of parchment that he handed over to Harry. "You two read this."

Annie leaned in close to Harry to read the words scrawled on the page: Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix: Number 12 Grimmauld Place. The note was clearly written in Professor Dumbledore's handwriting. Annie looked up at Sirius with her brow furrowed.

"Does this mean-?"

"Shh," he said quietly. "Not here. Wait until we get inside."

Annie looked over at Harry who shrugged. She then turned her attention to a row of houses where the number twelve house should have been. The houses of eleven and thirteen began to stretch to reveal a similar house that was hidden from the view of muggles. The group surged forward to the door and walked in quietly. As they entered into the musty hallway, Moody, Kingsley, Remus, and Tonks made their past them and headed for a closed door at the end of the hall. The door opened revealing Mrs. Weasley who let them past and quickly shut the door behind her.

"I'm so glad you made it one piece," she said moving forward to hug Harry and Annie. "Come on you two. I'll show you where you will be sleeping."

She walked over to the staircase and waited at the bottom of the stairs for the two teenagers. Annie looked up at Sirius who pointed to the upstairs.

"Go," he said firmly "We'll talk later." Annie rolled her eyes and made to follow Mrs. Weasley up the stairs to the second floor.

"Here you are, Harry," said Mrs. Weasley sweetly as she opened the door revealing Ron, and Hermione sitting on the beds. "You and Ron have this room and, Annie, you will be sharing with Ginny and Hermione across the hall. I need to go back down to the meeting. I will call you down for supper when it's ready."

She ushered the kids inside before shutting the door behind her. As her footsteps died down the hallway, Annie walked over to sit next to Hermione.

"So, how long have you been here?" she asked laying back on the bed as Harry sat down opposite her on the other one.

"We got here Tuesday night," Ron answered.

"Are you okay, Annie?" Hermione asked looking down at her friend.

"No."

Just then, the door swung open again and Ginny walked in with Crookshanks in her arms and Bandit following behind her. Ginny let the cat leap out of her arms onto Ron's bed and Bandit jumped onto Annie and started licking her face. Annie reached up to scratch behind his ears.

"See you've woken up, boy," she said. Bandit gave her one last lick before walking over top of her to lay on the bed behind Hermione.

"Mum and Lily have put the imperturbable charm on the door again," Ginny informed them. "I've just been tossing dung bombs at it."

"Of course they have," Harry answered.

"But that's not important right now," Hermione spoke up. "Harry, you were attacked by Dementors!"

"Oh yeah," Ron said in awe. "What happened, mate?"

A distinct popping noise announced the arrival of Fred and George who had just Apparated into the room making them all jump.

"Yes, delight us in the tale," Fred said taking a seat at the foot of Ron's bed as George walked around to sit behind Annie. Annie moved so her head was now resting in George's lap and he smiled down at her.

"Not much to tell," Harry answered. "Two Dementors came at me when I was walking home and I cast a Patronus Charm. And I guess I'm expelled sort of until I attend a hearing that is."

"Harry, this is really bad," Hermione said worriedly.

"I know, but what am I supposed to do until then?" he countered.

Silence fell on the group of teenagers as they waited to be called down to dinner. Annie occupied herself by taking one of George's hands in her own and started playing with his fingers as the other raked through her curls. Just as she started to doze off, Mrs. Weasley came to the door and asked them to come down. Annie picked herself off the bed and she and George followed behind Fred down to the kitchen. On their way down the stairs, they passed an old house-elf mumbling to himself. Annie could have sworn she heard him use the word "mudblood." As Annie came down the last stair, she turned the corner a bit too wide and accidently knocked over a horrid umbrella stand that went crashing to the floor. Immediately, two curtains that hung on the wall flew open to reveal the screaming portrait of a woman.

"BLOOD-TRAITORS! MUDBLOODS! IN MY HOUSE! I WANT THEM OUT!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. James, Remus and Sirius bolted out of the kitchen and each grabbed a side of the curtain.

"SHUT UP, YOU OLD COW!" Sirius yelled back as he and James pushed on the curtain.

"Don't yell back at her, Padfoot," James grunted. "You wouldn't want to provoke her any further."

"No, certainly wouldn't want to disturb her screaming," Sirius retorted as they gave one final push to close the curtain on the woman. He clapped his friend on the shoulder and turned around to find his stunned daughter standing behind him. "Great. I was hoping you would never have to meet your grandmother. Lovely woman, isn't she?"

Annie laughed and followed him back into the kitchen where the others were setting the table. "That was Walburga?" she asked taking a seat at the table next to Tonks.

"Unfortunately," Sirius answered also taking a seat next to Lydia. "She also met Lydia earlier in the summer.

"I happened to think your mother was a downright peach," Lydia said winking at Annie who giggled at her sarcasm.

"Did you?" Sirius asked. Lydia nodded. "Was that before or after she called your entire family absolute filth?"

"Oh, I think it was when she called me an absolute waste of magical blood is what really blew me over," Lydia said smirking.

Annie laughed and turned to Tonks who was staring at Remus down at the other end of the table. Annie cleared her throat and Tonks snapped out of her daze to look over at Annie, a slight blush on her cheeks.

"So how are you Annie?" she said brightly.

"I'm okay," Annie answered. "So you're an Auror now?"

"Yup! Certified a few years ago. Sorry I haven't been around much lately," Tonks said as she was piled food onto her plate. "Things have pretty crazy around the Ministry."

Annie and Tonks continued to talk throughout the rest of dinner and dessert. When all of the dishes had been cleared away, Annie sat back in her chair and let Bandit rest his head in her lap. Tonks had gotten up from the table to say her goodbyes. When she reached Annie, she hugged her around the neck and promised to see her soon.

"Well, you all must be tired," Mrs. Weasley said looking around at all of the kids. "You should be getting to bed."

"Hang on," Harry spoke up. James looked over at his son with full attention. "Aren't you going to tell us what the Order has been doing?" Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, and Annie all turned to look at their parents with rapt attention.

"No," Mrs. Weasley replied firmly, looking to Lily for back up. Lily nodded in agreement. "You are too young. The Order of the Phoenix is strictly for wizards who are of age," she continued. Fred and George made to argue but were cut off. "Wizards who are of age and out of school."

"Now wait, Molly," Sirius began. "I think they're old enough to know what's been going on. Harry at least has the right to know."

"I would agree," James said. Lily shot him an outraged look that was immediately shot down.

"Fine," Lily conceded. "Harry can stay. But the rest of you should head on up to bed."

Immediately grumbles from the rest of the kids broke out. Fred and George argued that they were seventeen and should be able to stay.

"ENOUGH!" Mrs. Weasley yelled. "You can all stay. Ginny go to bed."

"But-"

"Now."

"Fine." Ginny stood up from the table and stomped out of the kitchen. Once her footsteps had died down as she went up the stairs, everyone turned to James and waited for an explanation.

"Well, what do you want to know?" he asked.

"You know what I want to know," Annie said folding her arms across her chest and rolling her eyes. "Why are we here?"

"Alright, alright, calm down, Annie," James said picking up his butterbeer. "You're here because you're not safe. Neither of you are. Harry's already been targeted-"

"Yeah, but that's because he's Harry Potter. The boy who defeated Voldemort," Annie argued, ignoring the flinches from the Weasley's.

"We know who I am, Annie," Harry said. "Why isn't everybody else safe?"

"We've already explained to you that we're in the Order," James continued. "Fudge suspects that Arthur, Sirius, Lydia, and I are all loyal to Dumbledore. Who knows what might happen to us or you kids."

"So what has the Order been doing?" Ron asked.

"A bit of everything," Mr. Weasley answered. "You all know that Professor Snape has turned spy for Dumbledore. Remus has been going undercover to spy on the werewolves."

"No!" Annie interjected looking at Remus with disbelief.

"I have. I have to, Annie," he answered calmly. Annie pouted and sat back against her chair.

"Well, what about Voldemort? What has he been up to?" Harry asked eagerly trying to get answers.

"As of right now he's keeping a low cover," Sirius answered. "But we have reason to believe that he's after something."

"You mean like a weapon?" Harry asked looking between his dad and his godfather.

"Alright, that's enough information for one night," Lily said interrupting the conversation. "It's time for bed."

"But-"

"No. We've already told you too much," said Lily. "All of you go."

"And we were just getting to the good stuff," Annie muttered.

The kids stood up from the table and started making their way to the door, saying goodnight to the parents as they passed. Annie hugged Lydia goodbye and made to follow George out into the hallway. When she got to the door, she stopped and turned around.

"What's up, kiddo?" Sirius asked.

"We have a house-elf?" she asked.

Sirius laughed lightly. "Yeah, we do. His name is Kreacher. He's disgusting and, if you couldn't tell, undyingly loyal to Walburga."

"So, do we hate him?"

Sirius laughed again. "Absolutely. But we can't free him. He knows too much already."

"Gotcha," Annie said nodding. "Well, goodnight."

Annie took George's outstretched hand and walked up the stairs with him. When they got to the second story landing, George wrapped his arms around Annie's waist as she placed hers around his neck. He bent down and kissed her, picking her up off her feet. When they finally broke the kiss, he set her back down on the floor gently and kissed her on the cheek.

"Goodnight," he said quietly.

"Goodnight," Annie replied before turning to go to her room.

Annie walked down the hall to the room across from Harry and Ron and opened the door. She found Hermione and Ginny sitting on their beds deep in conversation about what had been told to them downstairs. Annie made her way over to the only open bed in the room and sat down. She looked around the room and noticed the moth-eaten curtains and dark wardrobe. The whole room echoed the ominous tone of the house. Annie sighed and slid under the blanket on her bed. Before Annie fell asleep to Hermione and Ginny's quiet conversation, she looked up at the ceiling and wondered how this house could possibly be the worst place she's ever been.

Annie woke up in a cold sweat, clutching her hair and gasping for breath. It had only been a few seconds, but she had already forgotten her nightmare. Careful not wake Ginny and Hermione, she quietly got out of her bed and made her way to the door. Out in the hall, she looked both ways down the dark hallway before making up her mind to go down to the kitchen. She had only been in the house a few hours and she already decided she hated it. The floorboards creaked with her every step, it smelled musty, it was unfriendly, and most important it was unfamiliar. It may have been explained to her a few times about why they had to be there but it still did not help her anxiety.

She made her way down the stairs and crept quietly past the portrait of her late grandmother, careful not to start her wailing. In the kitchen she set a kettle of water on the stove and waited for her tea to be ready. Annie knew that Kreacher slept somewhere down here and she certainly did not want to wake him. The kettle whistled and she quickly took it off the burner and poured out her cup of tea. She sat down at the table and rested her head in her hand as she stared blankly at the wall. She hadn't even noticed when the tears slid down her cheeks.

"Annie? What are you doing up?" somebody said by the doorway.

She had been shaken out of her daze. She hadn't fallen asleep. She couldn't fall asleep after her nightmare. She looked to the door and to see that James and Sirius had woken up.

"Couldn't sleep," she answered, looking down into the remaining dregs of her tea.

"What time did you come down here?" Sirius asked as he sat down at the table next to his daughter. He lifted a hand to feel Annie's forehead and frowned.

"The spawn of the traitor woke Kreacher up at three in the morning, the little brat," Kreacher answered as he came out of his cupboard bedroom.

"Shut up, Kreacher," Annie said crossly as the house-elf walked out of the room, muttering obscenities under his breath.

"It's seven o'clock and you've been up since three?" asked Sirius who was trying to catch his daughter's eye.

Annie sighed heavily and looked up at the clock. "I suppose I have," she said.

"Was it another one of those nightmares?" James asked leaning back against the counter. Annie nodded and looked back down at her mug. James and Sirius met each other's eyes and shared an uneasy look.

"We really have to stay here?" Annie asked quietly.

"Yes, we really do," Sirius answered gravely.

Annie nodded and went silent. After a minute or so, she stood up and ran a hand over her face.

"Right. I'm gonna go back to bed," she said making her way to the door where Remus was just walking in. "Morning, Moony."

"Take Bandit and sleep in my room," Sirius called after his daughter as his friend took a seat at the table.

Remus looked between James and Sirius. "Is she okay?" he asked.

Sirius shook his head. "No."