Number twelve, Grimmauld Place

Disclaimer: I don't own HP.

'Think about what you've just memorized,' said Remus quietly.

Kitty thought, and no sooner had she reached the part about number twelve, Grimmauld Place, than a battered door emerged out of nowhere between numbers eleven and thirteen, followed swiftly by dirty walls and grimy windows. It was as though an extra house had inflated, pushing those on either side out of its way. She gaped at it. The stereo in number eleven thudded on. Apparently the muggles inside hadn't felt anything.

They stepped in and Moody removed the Disillusionment Charms from them. Kitty heard hurried footsteps, and Mrs. Weasley emerged from a doorway at the far end of the hall. She looked thinner and paler than last time. "You look peaky, both of you," she said hugging them, "But you'll have to wait a while for dinner."

"They're here," she said to a group of witches and wizards seated at a table, in the room behind her, "the meeting's begun."

"Ron and Hermione are upstairs, they'll explain everything. First door on the right," she said to Harry and Kitty, ushering them upstairs. "Keep your voice down," she added. Harry and Kitty exchanged glances and went upstairs.

'HARRY! Ron, they're here, Harry's here! We didn't hear you arrive! Oh, how are you? Are you all right? Have you been furious with us? I bet you have, I know our letters were useless-but we couldn't tell you anything, Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn't, oh, we've got so much to tell you, and you've got things to tell us-the dementors! When we heard-and that Ministry hearing-it's just outrageous, I've looked it all up, they can't expel you, they just can't, there's provision in the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations-'

'Let them breathe, Hermione,' said Ron, grinning as he closed the door behind Harry. 'Hedwig!' said Kitty. The snowy owl clicked her beak and nibbled his ear affectionately as Harry stroked her feathers.

'She's been in a right state,' said Ron. 'Pecked us half to death when she brought your last letters, look at this-'He showed Harry the index finger of his right hand, which sported a half-healed but clearly deep cut.

'Oh, yeah,' Harry said. 'Sorry about that, but I wanted answers, you know...'

'We wanted to give them to you, mate,' said Ron. 'Hermione was going mental, she kept saying you'd do something stupid if you were stuck all on your own without news, but Dumbledore made us-'

'-swear not to tell me,' said Harry. 'Yeah, Hermione's already said.' I think he thought you were safest with the Muggles-' Ron began.

'Yeah?' said Harry, raising his eyebrows. 'Have either of you been attacked by dementors this summer?'

'Well, no-but that's why he's had people from the Order of the Phoenix tailing you all the time-'

"Harry, calm down," said Kitty, "I'm sure Ron and Hermione wanted to—"

"Yeah, I'm sure Dumbledore thinks we can't be trusted," said Harry, shortly. 'So how come Kat and I have to stay at the Dursleys' while you two get to join in everything that's going on here?' said Harry, the words tumbling over one another in a rush, his voice growing louder with every word. 'How come you two are allowed to know everything that's going on?'

'We're not!' Ron interrupted. 'Mum won't let us near the meetings, she says we're too young-'

But before he knew it, Harry was shouting.

'SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL! YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE, HAVEN'T YOU? YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER! KAT AND I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS' FOR A MONTH! AND WE'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT- 'WHO HAD TO GET PAST DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? WE!'

'Harry, we're really sorry!' said Hermione desperately, her eyes now sparkling with tears. 'You're absolutely right, Harry- I'd be furious if it was me!'

'What is this place, anyway?' he shot at Ron and Hermione.

'Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix,' said Ron at once.

'Is anyone going to bother telling me what the Order of the Phoenix-?'

'It's a secret society,' said Hermione quickly. 'Dumbledore's in charge, he founded it. It's the people who fought against You-Know-Who last time.'

'Who's in it?' said Harry coming to a halt with his hands in his pockets.

'Quite a few people-'

'We've met about twenty of them,' said Ron, 'but we think there are more.'

Kitty shrieked. With two loud cracks, Fred and George, Ron's elder twin brothers, had materialized out of thin air in the middle of the room. Pigwidgeon twittered more wildly than ever and zoomed off to join Hedwig on top of the wardrobe. "We thought we heard your dulcet tones," said Fred grinning, "Hey Kitty!"

"We can't use the Extendable Ears any more to find out what's going on in the meetings," said Ginny, appearing in the doorway. "Mum's put an Imperturbable Charm on the door."

"Shame!" said George, "I really fancied finding out what Snape was up to."

"Snape! Is he in the order?" asked Harry at once, "But he can't be trusted!"

"Shut up Harry," said Kitty, "he's on our side. You just want to think that Snape's up to something."

Fred snorted. "Doesn't stop him being a git," he said, and then fell silent at the look he got from Kitty.

"Bill and Fleur are together now," said Ginny, changing the topic. Kitty looked at Ron immediately, and sniggered at his scowl.

"And what's more, Percy and Dad had a row," said George, "Percy came home and told us he'd been promoted. Dad reckons Fudge only wants Percy in his office because he wants to use him to spy on the family-and Dumbledore. Percy went completely berserk, when dad told him that. He said-well, he said loads of terrible stuff. He said he's had to struggle against Dad's lousy reputation ever since he joined the Ministry and that Dad's got no ambition and that's why we've always been-you know-not had a lot of money, I mean."

Kitty gasped. 'I know,' said Ron in a low voice. 'And it got worse. He said Dad was an idiot to run around with Dumbledore, that Dumbledore was heading for big trouble and Dad was going to go down with him, and that he-Percy-knew where his loyalty lay and it was with the Ministry. And if Mum and Dad were going to become traitors to the Ministry he was going to make sure everyone knew he didn't belong to our family any more. And he packed his bags the same night and left. He's living here in London now. Mum's been in a right state.'

"But Percy doesn't believe that Voldemort's back?" asked Kitty. 'Yeah, well, your name got dragged into the row,' said Ron, shooting Harry a furtive look. 'Percy said the only evidence was your word and ... I dunno ... he didn't think it was good enough.'

'Percy takes the Daily Prophet seriously,' said Hermione tartly, and the others all nodded.

'What are you talking about?' Harry asked, looking around at them all.

'Well, they're writing about you as though you're this deluded, attention-seeking person who thinks he's a great tragic hero or something,' said Hermione, very fast, as though it would be less unpleasant for Harry to hear these facts quickly. 'They keep slipping in snide comments about you. If some far-fetched story appears, they say something like, "A tale worthy of Harry Potter", and if anyone has a funny accident or anything it's, "Let's hope he hasn't got a scar on his forehead or we'll be asked to worship him next"-'

'I don't want anyone to worship-' Harry began hotly.

'I know you don't,' said Hermione quickly, looking frightened. 'I know, Harry. But you see what they're doing? They want to turn you into someone nobody will believe. Fudge is behind it, I'll bet anything. They want wizards on the street to think you're just some stupid boy who's a bit of a joke, who tells ridiculous tall stories because he loves being famous and wants to keep it going.'

'I didn't ask- I didn't want- Voldemort killed our parents!' Harry spluttered. 'I got famous because he murdered our family but couldn't kill me! Who wants to be famous for that? Don't they think I'd rather it'd never happened? And I was not alone. Kat was there too. Fudge was there the night it happened. He saw Kat all weak after we came back from the graveyard. Does he suppose I attacked her in the maze, and she's playing along?"

Hermione shook her head and sighed. Mrs. Weasley had appeared in the doorway. 'The meeting's over, you can come down and have dinner now. Everyone's dying to see you both," she said.

'Yeah, yeah,' said Ron. 'C'mon, I'm starving.' The gloomy hallway below was packed with witches and wizards, including all of Harry's guard. They were whispering excitedly together. In the very centre of the group Kitty saw her favourite teacher at Hogwarts, Professor Snape. Harry leant further over the banisters. He was very interested in what Snape was doing for the Order of the Phoenix.

"Hello, Professor," said Kitty, walking up to him. Snape turned around and smiled. Then he saw Harry and his face turned sour. Harry narrowed his eyes and went into the kitchen. "So, how are you, Kitty?" asked Snape, "All right? I know you must have had a terrible holiday."

"Harry's mad at you for being in the Order," said Kitty, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, I suspect he would be. You tell him not to poke his nose into things that aren't meant for him." Kitty smiled. "So," said Snape uncertainly, "So, Kitty, how—how are you coping after what happened in that graveyard. You haven't been having nightmares, have you?"

"No," said Kitty, fidgeting with her collar and not meeting Snape's eyes.

"Well, I'd better be leaving then. Your brother's godfather is sure to curse me if I stay any more," he said. Kitty nodded and waved goodbye, as he made his way out of the door, and disapparated.

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