Chapter 8:

Alicia resolved to helping Mrs Weasley within the kitchen for the next couple of days just to try and make time pass faster. Her patients was wearing thin and although nothing was said between the two, cooking with Mrs Weasley was the only thing that managed to keep her busy enough. She would help clean with everyone else, though all the bedrooms and kitchen were now done, but that would mean breaking her resolve to not help until she was informed of the orders movements, even if she had most bases covered.

When she wasn't cooking she was with the twins. After helping them get the money they needed for their joke shop by suggesting Harry give them his one thousand Galleon prize money from the Triwizard Tournament the previous year, they allowed her to try and cure her boredom with them. This however meant trying a few of their experiments, of which she was happy to do as long as she was given access to one of their wands to try and cure herself with afterwards. Neither minded, but it was good to have a break from trying the Skiving Snack box treats on themselves.

Ron had suggested she use the time to finish her summer homework. Hermione had thrown a fit asking why he hadn't finished his already, that she'd had her done for weeks. Alicia broke the argument by informing Ron she'd already done it all, like Hermione.

"After all, I haven't been cleaning." was her reason. The three had turned when Noel flew into the room with a letter.

"Did you send a letter to Harry!?" Hermione asked shocked

"What? No, it's from Anthony." Alicia admitted

"You're writing to him?" Ron questioned surprised

"Yeah." Alicia said simply as she opened the letter.

"Alicia you haven't told him anything have you?" Hermione asked sternly

"I'm not stupid, of course I haven't." Alicia said annoyed at the girl as she looked over the parchment. "He just knows I'm not at home anymore because his owl couldn't find me, you know the place being so well hidden and all. I told him Dumbledore was just taking precautions."

"So, does that mean he believed you and Harry?" Ron asked

"Yes." Alicia nodded as she read the letter.

Finally, on the fourth day, Alicia came downstairs to find the kitchen full. Lupin was there, Tonks was sitting beside him as Mrs Weasley gave Mad-Eye Moody some breakfast, to which he prodded and poked slightly, sniffing the food before eating. Dedalus and Sturgis were standing in the corner muttering to one another. Kindly was talking to Mr Weasley. Alphas Doge and two unknown women were across the table from Lupin with Sirius talking to one another as Moody listened in, munching on his breakfast.

"Wow, did we walk in on a sudden meeting or something?" Alicia asked as Hermione and Ginny walked in behind her.

"No, no dear." Mrs Weasley smiled "The meeting's tonight." she admitted, clearing her throat. The twins appeared at that moment and grinned, sharing a glance.

"So…" Alicia began as Ron finally joined them.

"These people are all helping Lupin to be Harry's guard." Mrs Weasley smiled at them all, as though she was ever grateful to them for protecting another of her sons. Alicia looked at Mrs Weasley surprised.

"Today?" she questioned "He's arriving today?" Hermione looked worried, Ginny was beaming like Alicia while Ron looked a mix between worried and grateful. The twins just shared a knowing glance.

"If all goes well, he should be here sometime before dinner." Mrs Weasley nodded.

Alicia grinned and moved quickly over to Sirius.

"So how are we getting him? What's the plan?"

"We nothing." Lupin said strongly and Alicia frowned "You're underage and therefore can't protect yourself."

"Alright fine, but still tell me what's happening." Alicia demanded turning back to Sirius expectantly. Everyone looked surprised she hadn't argued to go with them. Hermione and Ron shared a look however, both guessed Alicia just wanted to see Harry and wasn't going to jeopardise that by arguing her case. Besides she was smarter than that.

"Well we've decided to take on your idea of flying." Lupin admitted "It is the most efficient way without being traced, despite being out in the open."

"We've only been talking about it amongst ourselves." Tonks grinned "So unless there's a traitor among us I doubt no one will even know he's being moved." she shrugged

"Okay, so a bunch of wizards are going to drop in on the Dursley's unannounced on broomsticks?" Alicia recapped "What about the Dursleys they'll blow a gasket at Harry?"

"We're going to get them out of the house." Sirius said simply

"How?" Alicia wondered.

"Well we were wondering if you could help there?" Tonks said

"Well, you send them a letter in the mail saying they've won something they'll take it. Anything to prove they're better than others." Alicia shrugged "But you have to do it right, anything abnormal and they'll immediately know something's wrong."

"My dad's a muggle, I know how to send a letter via muggle post." Tonks waved the idea away. "What should they win?" she thought "Oh! How about telling them they've been short-listed for the All-England Best-Kept Suburban Lawn Competition and they need to leave this evening to win the award?"

"Perfect…" Alicia muttered surprised by Tonk's quick thinking.

"We'll leave after night fall, better coverage then." Lupin said, looking at Sirius who nodded

"You're not going." Alicia said strongly to her godfather.

"Unfortunately not." he sighed "Dumbledore still hasn't lifted my house arrest."

"And as long as you're a convicted murderer he never will." Alicia informed with a sarcastic smile before she walked over to Mrs Weasley for some breakfast.

The day passed slowly and Alicia spent it by helping the Weasley twins with some more of their experiments. Mrs Weasley was outright worried as Alicia walked into the kitchen with puss filled boils over her face. She did not look at all impressed and Mrs Weasley went into a tiss to get rid of them. When Alicia had seen the twins next, they'd run for their room, or apparated for their room, as they hadn't actually told Alicia what the sweets did, she assumed they were more nose bleeding sweets.

"I should have known better." Alicia muttered as she sat in Ron's room. People had begun to arrive downstairs as there was another meeting and many were leaving to retrieve Harry.

"You did trust Fred and George…" Ron said as he was throwing some treats on top of the wardrobe for Pig.

"I needed something to do. I'm going to go mad if I have to wait much longer. The anticipation is killing me."

"Well, I guess that's what it's like to have a sibling you actually get along with." Hermione said as she walked in with Crookshanks in her arms.

"I get along with Ginny." Ron said

"No you boss her around, and don't use your manners." Alicia corrected "No one gets along with Percy, the twins have one another and Bill and Charlie seem to be fine." she said "That's why you have Harry and Ginny has me and Hermione, after all, Harry and I are practically family." Ron looked at her confused, wondering if it was a compliment or not.

"Sometimes I don't know how to feel about your honesty…" Ron confessed

"At least I am honest." she pointed out.

"Only when it suits you." Hermione reminded her and Alicia only shrugged.

"Isn't that how it is with everyone?" Ron asked casually and Hermione looked at him disapproving.

"Don't look like that Hermione, you've lied to suit you as well, no matter how guilty you've felt about it." Alicia said. Hermione didn't reply.

"So, any idea what we're going to do once Harry arrives?" Ron wondered

"Oh it wont be that bad," Hermione believed but she didn't look as reassuring as she wanted to.

"You remember Hedwig right?" Alicia wondered and the girl absentmindedly rubbed over the cuts on her hands. "We may as well just say our prayers now." she sighed

"I understand Harry will be mad, but you're making it out to be something completely different." Ron said "We are still his friends." he believed

"Alright." Alicia said holding her hands up in surrender as she got to her feet. "Harry will be completely forgiving." she said as she left the room, closing the door behind her. She stood on the landing looking down, she had an impulse to go down stairs and wait in the hallway, but the risk of Mrs Weasley seeing her and thinking she was ears dropping on the meeting, plus the chance Mrs Black might wake up and start screaming again, was enough to make her just move to the first landing and sit on the first stair down, waiting. The only interesting thing that happened while she waited was Snape walked past her without noticing her, his usual scowl in place.

Alicia stood bolt up right when she heard a heap of metallic clicks from the doorway and then the chain fell with a clatter. Whispers and shuffling feet followed it before she heard the familiar tone of Mad-eye Moody.

"Here —" Alicia quickly made her way down the stairs and turned to look down the dark hallway. She could make out the shapes of people before Moody spoke again. "Now stay still, everyone, while I give us a bit of light in here," he whispered.

She didn't even bother to wince when the gas lamps sputtered to life along the walls but stared at the group of people now visible by the doorway. Harry was right in the front.

"Harry!" she breathed, remembering to keep her voice down. The messy haired boy looked at her surprised before she had him in a hug.

"Alicia what are you doing down here?" Lupin asked with a sigh

"That's a silly question." Alicia answered as she looked at the man, releasing Harry. The door opened at the end of the hallway and Mrs Weasley appeared, beaming as she hurried towards them.

"Oh, Harry, it's lovely to see you!" she whispered, pulling him into a rib-cracking hug before holding him at arm's length and examining him critically. "You're looking peaky; you need feeding up, but you'll have to wait a bit for dinner, I'm afraid…"

She turned to the gang of wizards behind him and whispered urgently, "He's just arrived, the meeting's started…"

The wizards behind Harry all made noises of interest and excitement and began filing past the twins toward the door through which Mrs. Weasley had just come.

"Alicia what are you doing down here?" Mrs Weasley asked her with a sigh

"I wasn't down here, I was on the first landing waiting for Harry." Alicia defended as Harry made to follow Lupin, but Mrs. Weasley held him back.

"No, Harry, the meeting's only for members of the Order." Harry looked at Alicia who huffed slightly and then began to make her way towards the stairs. "Ron and Hermione are upstairs, you can wait with them until the meeting's over and then we'll have dinner. And keep your voice down in the hall," she added in an urgent whisper.

"Why?"

"I don't want to wake anything up."

"What d'you — ?"

"I'll explain later, I've got to hurry, I'm supposed to be at the meeting. Alicia show Harry where he's sleeping wont you?" she asked

"Of course." she nodded not bothering to stop and turn to her. Harry quickly followed his sister when Mrs Weasley pressed a finger to her lips and directed him to do so.

"What's going on?" Harry whispered

"They're having a meeting. We're not allowed in. Mrs Weasley refuses to tell us anything." Alicia whispered she then held a finger to her lips as they passed Mrs Black's portrait, covered in curtains and then continued up the stairs.

"What's with the whispering?"

"Those curtains," Alicia pointed down the landing "They cover a portrait that screams when ever it hears anything." she rolled her eyes

"Why does this house look like it belonged to dark wizards?"

"Because it did. But the family member who it now belongs to was the black sheep of the family." she smirked as they reached the door. "You go first." she mentioned and Harry turned the door knob, also in the shape of a serpents head, before he opened it and walked in.

Hermione threw herself at the boy.

Alicia blinked in surprise as she held her hands out to stabilise the two and stop them from falling backwards. Pig began to zoom around their heads in the same moment.

"HARRY! Ron, he's 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 to tell us — the dementors! When we heard, Alicia didn't tell us any details — 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 Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations —"

"Let him breathe, Hermione," said Ron, grinning, closing the door behind Harry after Alicia walked in.

Hermione, still beaming, let go of Harry, but before she could say another word there was a soft whooshing sound and something white soared from the top of a dark wardrobe and landed gently on Harry's shoulder.

"Hedwig!" The snowy owl clicked her beak and nibbled his ear affectionately as Harry stroked her feathers.

"What's she doing down here?" Alicia wondered

"We brought her down, Hermione needed something to do and decided this would be the first place Harry came so." Ron shrugged "She's been in a right state," he said to Harry. "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 now 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 spare, she kept saying you'd do something stupid if you were stuck all on your own without news, and once Alicia turned up… but Dumbledore made us —"

"— swear not to tell me," said Harry. "Yeah, Alicia said."

Alicia scoffed as she watched Harry's expression dampen and he turned his attention towards Hedwig as she sat down.

"He seemed to think it was best," said Hermione rather breathlessly. "Dumbledore, I mean."

"Right," said Harry.

"Ha, yeah, for the best. And look what happened." Alicia snapped

"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 —"

"Didn't work that well, though, did it?" said Harry, doing his utmost to keep his voice even. Alicia didn't know why he bothered. She knew he was angry. "Had to look after myself after all, didn't I?"

"He was so angry," said Hermione in an almost awestruck voice. "Dumbledore. We saw him. When he found out Mundungus had left before his shift had ended. He was scary."

"Well, I'm glad he left," Harry said coldly. "If he hadn't, I wouldn't have done magic and Dumbledore would probably have left me at Privet Drive all summer. Alicia would have fed me the information under his nose."

"Oh no, I'd tell him I was doing it, then you'd come here." Alicia muttered

"Aren't you… aren't you worried about the Ministry of Magic hearing?" said Hermione quietly.

"No," Harry lied defiantly. He walked away from them, looking at Alicia who raised a knowing eyebrow. She knew him better than that, but clearly he didn't want to talk about it, so she decided not to point out his lie. Not with Hermione and Ron around anyway.

"So why's Dumbledore been so keen to keep me in the dark?" Harry asked, still trying hard to keep his voice casual. "Did you — er — bother to ask him at all?"

He glanced up just in time to see them exchanging a look. Alicia crossed her arms and looked at them expectantly. Neither spoke for a minute so Alicia turned to Harrys.

"I did but he refused to answer me, just avoided the topic and stayed silent or said something else."

"We told Dumbledore we wanted to tell you what was going on," said Ron. "We did, mate. But he's really busy now, we've only seen him twice since we came here and he didn't have much time, he just made us swear not to tell you important stuff when we wrote, he said the owls might be intercepted —"

"He could still've kept me informed if he'd wanted to," Harry said shortly. "Even Alicia believed he should know other ways to send messages without owls."

Hermione glanced at Ron and then said

"I thought that too. But he didn't want you to know anything."

"Maybe he thinks I can't be trusted," said Harry, watching their expressions.

"Don't be thick," said Ron, looking highly disconcerted.

"Or that I can't take care of myself —"

"Of course he doesn't think that!" said Hermione anxiously.

"So how come I have to stay at the Dursleys' while you two get to join in everything that's going on here? Even Alicia was brought in!" said Harry, the words tumbling over one another in a rush, his voice growing louder with every word.

Alicia just watched him, letting him vent his anger out as the two watched him fearfully.

"How come you 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 —"

And then 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! ME, I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS' FOR A MONTH! AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT — WHO SAVED THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS?" Alicia raised an eyebrow

"Pretty sure I was there too…" she muttered slightly annoyed but Harry didn't seem to hear her and continued with his shouting.

"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? ME!"

Ron was standing there with his mouth half-open, clearly stunned and at a loss for anything to say, while Hermione looked on the verge of tears.

"BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?"

"Harry, we wanted to tell you, we really did —" Hermione began.

"CAN'T'VE WANTED TO THAT MUCH, CAN YOU, OR YOU'D HAVE SENT ME AN OWL, ONLY ALICIA TRIED ALL SHE COULD AND EVEN THAT SHE WAS HELD FROM! BUT DUMBLEDORE MADE YOU SWEAR —"

"Well, he did —"

"FOUR WEEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK IN PRIVET DRIVE, NICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON —"

"We wanted to —"

"I SUPPOSE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU, ALL HOLED UP HERE TOGETHER —"

"No, honest —"

"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! Alicia continuously told us you'd be furious and was the only one to hold a stand around here. You're right! You have every right to be angry at us."

Harry glared at her, still breathing deeply, then turned away from them again, pacing up and down. Hedwig hooted glumly from the top of the wardrobe where she'd taken refuge from Harry's shouts. There was a long pause, broken only by the mournful creak of the floorboards below Harry's feet.

"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…"

Harry glared at them.

"Well?" he demanded, looking from one to the other.

"Er," said Ron. "Well what?"

"Voldemort!" said Harry furiously, and both Ron and Hermione winced. "What's happening? What's he up to? Where is he? What are we doing to stop him?"

"Harry, don't you listen?" Alicia questioned and he looked at her as she stood to her feet.

"We've told you, the Order don't let us in on their meetings," said Hermione nervously. "So we don't know the details — but we've got a general idea —" she added hastily, seeing the look on Harry's face.

"Fred and George have invented Extendable Ears, see," said Ron. "They're really useful."

"Extendable — ?"

"Ears, yeah. Only we've had to stop using them lately because Mum found out and went berserk."

"It was terrifying." Alicia sighed with a nod

"Not as much as Alicia shouting back when she tried to scold us." Hermione frowned but the girl simply huffed when Harry looked at her.

"Fred and George had to hide them all to stop Mum binning them. But we got a good bit of use out of them before Mum realised what was going on. We know some of the Order are following known Death Eaters, keeping tabs on them, you know —"

"— some of them are working on recruiting more people to the Order —" said Hermione.

"— and some of them are standing guard over something," said Ron. "They're always talking about guard duty."

"Couldn't have been me, could it?" said Harry sarcastically.

"Oh yeah," said Ron, with a look of dawning comprehension. Harry snorted. He walked around the room again, looking anywhere but at Ron and Hermione.

"Well, I did have a talk with Sirius but it didn't shed all too much light." Alicia admitted and Hermione and Ron looked surprised.

"You didn't tell them?" Harry asked seeing their expressions

"Huh, it wasn't exactly useful information." she said with a shrug. "But I guess the most important thing is that what ever the Order is guarding, it isn't you, it's something Voldemort wants and it's in the ministry."

"How do you know that?" Hermione breathed

"We were listening remember, before Mrs Weasley found out about the Extendable Ears." Alicia said simply "Sirius didn't say much but even asking him get's me thinking enough to work that out. But I don't know what it is." she confessed.

"Other than that there isn't much we know." she looked angrily away from them as Hermione and Ron shared a look.

"So what have you two been doing, if you're not allowed in meetings?" Harry demanded, clearly as angry as Alicia for the lack of information. "You said you'd been busy."

"We have," said Hermione quickly. "We've been decontaminating this house, it's been empty for ages and stuff's been breeding in here. We've managed to clean out the kitchen, most of the bedrooms, and I think we're doing the drawing room tomo — AARGH!"

With two loud cracks, Fred and George materialised 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.

"Stop doing that!" Hermione said weakly to the twins

"Hello, Harry," said George, beaming at him. "We thought we heard your dulcet tones."

"You don't want to bottle up your anger like that, Harry, let it all out," said Fred, also beaming. "There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you."

"You two passed your Apparation tests, then?" asked Harry grumpily.

"With distinction," said Fred, who was holding the familiar piece of very long, flesh-coloured string.

"It would have taken you about thirty seconds longer to walk down the stairs," said Ron.

"Time is Galleons, little brother," said Fred. "Anyway, Harry, you're interfering with reception. Extendable Ears," he added in response to Harry's raised eyebrows, holding up the string, which Harry now saw was trailing out onto the landing. "We're trying to hear what's going on downstairs."

"You want to be careful," said Ron, staring at the ear. "If Mum sees one of them again…"

"It's worth the risk, that's a major meeting they're having," said Fred.

"I think the Extendable Ears are easy to make and that's why they don't mind risking them." Alicia said to Harry beside her.

The door opened and a long mane of red hair appeared.

"Oh hello, Harry!" said Ginny, brightly. "I thought I heard your voice." Turning to Fred and George she said, "It's no go with the Extendable Ears, she's gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door."

"How d'you know?" said George, looking crestfallen.

"Tonks told me how to find out," said Ginny. "You just chuck stuff at the door and if it can't make contact the door's been Imperturbed. I've been flicking Dungbombs at it from the top of the stairs and they just soar away from it, so there's no way the Extendable Ears will be able to get under the gap."

Fred heaved a deep sigh.

"Shame. I really fancied finding out what old Snape's been up to."

"Snape?" said Harry quickly. "Is he here?"

"Yeah," said George, carefully closing the door and sitting down on one of the beds; Fred and Ginny followed. "Giving a report. Top secret."

"He's being like a spy for Dumbledore, he's right in Voldemort's inner circle. It's how they know what he wants and to guard it." Alicia said to Harry "He comes and reports what Voldemort's been doing to everyone."

"Git," said Fred idly.

"He's on our side now," said Hermione reprovingly.

Ron snorted.

"Doesn't stop him being a git. The way he looks at us when he sees us…"

"Bill doesn't like him either," said Ginny, as though that settled the matter. Alicia sat on one of the beds, collapsing onto it. Harry sat beside her before speaking.

"Is Bill here?" he asked. "I thought he was working in Egypt."

"He applied for a desk job so he could come home and work for the Order," said Fred. "He says he misses the tombs, but," he smirked, "there are compensations…"

"What d'you mean?"

"Remember old Fleur Delacour?" said George. "She's got a job at Gringotts to eemprove 'er Eeenglish —"

"— and Bill's been giving her a lot of private lessons," sniggered Fred.

"Charlie's in the Order too," said George, "but he's still in Romania, Dumbledore wants as many foreign wizards brought in as possible, so Charlie's trying to make contacts on his days off."

"Couldn't Percy do that?" Harry asked. At these words all the Weasleys, Alicia and Hermione exchanged darkly significant looks.

"There's a rather complicated explanation to follow that." Alicia said looking unimpressed and Harry looked confused.

"Whatever you do, don't mention Percy in front of Mum and Dad," Ron told Harry in a tense voice.

"Why not?"

"Because every time Percy's name's mentioned, Dad breaks whatever he's holding and Mum starts crying," Fred said.

"It's been awful," said Ginny sadly.

"I think we're well shut of him," said George with an uncharacteristically ugly look on his face.

"What's happened?" Harry said.

"Percy and Dad had a row," said Fred. "I've never seen Dad row with anyone like that. It's normally Mum who shouts…"

"It was the first week back after term ended," said Ron. "We were about to come and join the Order. Percy came home and told us he'd been promoted."

"You're kidding?" said Harry.

"Yeah, we were all surprised," said George, "because Percy got into a load of trouble about Crouch, there was an inquiry and everything. They said Percy ought to have realised Crouch was off his rocker and informed a superior. But you know Percy, Crouch left him in charge, he wasn't going to complain…"

"So how come they promoted him?"

"That's exactly what we wondered," said Ron, who seemed very keen to keep a normal conversation going now that Harry had stopped yelling. "He came home really pleased with himself — even more pleased than usual if you can imagine that — and told Dad he'd been offered a position in Fudge's own office. A really good one for someone only a year out of Hogwarts — Junior Assistant to the Minister. He expected Dad to be all impressed, I think."

"Only Dad wasn't," said Fred grimly.

"Why not?" said Harry.

"Well, apparently Fudge has been storming round the Ministry checking that nobody's having any contact with Dumbledore," said George.

"Dumbledore's name's mud with the Ministry these days, see," said Fred. "They all think he's just making trouble saying You-Know-Who's back."

"Fudge still doesn't believe he's back after all and will do anything to stop that." Alicia said

"Dad says Fudge has made it clear that anyone who's in league with Dumbledore can clear out their desks," said George.

"Trouble is, Fudge suspects Dad, he knows he's friendly with Dumbledore, and he's always thought Dad's a bit of a weirdo because of his Muggle obsession —"

"But what's this got to do with Percy?" asked Harry, confused.

"I'm coming to that. Dad reckons Fudge only wants Percy in his office because he wants to use him to spy on the family — and Dumbledore."

Harry let out a low whistle.

"Bet Percy loved that."

Ron laughed in a hollow sort of way.

"He went completely berserk. He said — well, he said loads of terrible stuff. He said he's been having 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 —"

"What?" said Harry in disbelief, as Ginny made a noise like an angry cat.

"He went low apparently." Alicia nodded

"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 anymore. And he packed his bags the same night and left. He's living here in London now."

Harry swore under his breath.

"Mum's been in a right state," said Ron. "You know — crying and stuff. She came up to London to try and talk to Percy but he slammed the door in her face. I dunno what he does if he meets Dad at work — ignores him, I s'pose."

"But Percy must know Voldemort's back," said Harry slowly. "He's not stupid, he must know your mum and dad wouldn't risk everything without proof —"

"Yeah, well, your name got dragged into the row," said Ron, shooting Harry a furtive look. "Both of you actually. Percy said the only evidence was your words 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. They were all regarding him warily.

"Haven't — haven't you been getting the Daily Prophet?" Hermione asked nervously.

"Yeah, I have!" said Harry.

"Yeah but I bet you've only looked at the front page, and not through the rest of it right?" Alicia said with a raised eyebrow

"Yeah so?" Harry questioned and Alicia sighed.

"Yeah, I expected that."

"You — er — haven't been reading it thoroughly?" Hermione asked still more anxiously.

"Not cover to cover," said Harry defensively. "If they were going to report anything about Voldemort it would be headline news, wouldn't it!"

The others flinched at the sound of the name. Hermione hurried on

"Well, you'd need to read it cover to cover to pick it up, but they — um — they mention you a couple of times a week."

"But I'd have seen —"

"Not if you've only been reading the front page, you wouldn't," said Hermione, shaking her head. "I'm not talking about big articles. They just slip you in, like you're a standing joke."

"What d'you — ?"

"It's quite nasty, actually," said Hermione in a voice of forced calm. "They're just building on Rita's stuff."

"But she's not writing for them anymore, is she?"

"Oh no, she's kept her promise — not that she's got any choice," Hermione added with satisfaction. "But she laid the foundation for what they're trying to do now."

"Which is what?" said Harry impatiently.

"They're making you out to be some attention seeking… boy." Alicia sighed "Who can't be trusted." Harry looked confused

"Okay, you know she wrote that you were collapsing all over the place and saying your scar was hurting and all that?"

"Yeah," said Harry,

"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 my parents!" Harry spluttered. "I got famous because he murdered my family but couldn't kill me! Who wants to be famous for that? Don't they think I'd rather it'd never —"

"We know, Harry," said Ginny earnestly. Alicia however hit him.

"Stop pinning their stupid false facts on them. The prophet wants everyone to think that. Doesn't mean it's true. But everyone reads the Daily Prophet." she said

"And of course, they didn't report a word about the dementors attacking you," said Hermione. "Someone's told them to keep that quiet. That should've been a really big story, out-of-control dementors. They haven't even reported that you broke the International Statute of Secrecy — we thought they would, it would tie in so well with this image of you as some stupid show-off — we think they're biding their time until you're expelled, then they're really going to go to town — I mean, if you're expelled, obviously," she went on hastily, "you really shouldn't be, not if they abide by their own laws, there's no case against you."

"I talked to Sirius and Lupin and apparently you're going to get off because Mrs Figg was a witness." Alicia assured "So nothing to worry about." she smiled. She knew Harry would be freaking out about the hearing, after all they were threatening to kick him out of Hogwarts, his home.

Everyone stopped and turned as the sound of footsteps began to make their way up the stairs.

"Uh-oh."

Fred gave the Extendable Ear a hearty tug; there was another loud crack and he and George vanished. Seconds later, Mrs. Weasley appeared in the bedroom doorway.

"The meeting's over, you can come down and have dinner now, everyone's dying to see you, Harry. And who's left all those Dungbombs outside the kitchen door?"

"Crookshanks," said Ginny unblushingly. "He loves playing with them."

"Oh," said Mrs. Weasley, "I thought it might have been Kreacher, he keeps doing odd things like that. Now don't forget to keep your voices down in the hall. Ginny, your hands are filthy, what have you been doing? Go and wash them before dinner, please…"

Ginny grimaced at the others and followed her mother out of the room, leaving Harry alone with Alicia, Ron and Hermione again. Ron and Hermione were watching him apprehensively, as though they feared that he would start shouting again now that everyone else had gone.

Alicia rolled her eyes annoyed. What did they expect? She did warn them.

"Look…" he muttered, but Ron shook his head, and Hermione said quietly,

"We knew you'd be angry, Harry, Alicia told us too many times, but really, she wouldn't have needed to. We really don't blame you, but you've got to understand, we did try and persuade Dumbledore —"

"Well not as much as Alicia did… and she's been trying to pry information from Sirius and break mum into letting her into the meetings. She's refused to clean up or help in anyway that doesn't involve her profiting." Harry looked at her but she shrugged.

"I told you, Mrs Weasley isn't happy with me."

"Yeah, I know," said Harry grudgingly.

There was silence and Alicia hoped Dumbledore didn't come up again. Not only did it anger herself, but she knew Harry didn't want to hear about the person who was so keen on keeping him in the dark. Of all people.

"Who's Kreacher?" he asked.

"The house-elf who lives here," said Ron. "Nutter. Never met one like him."

Hermione frowned at Ron.

"He's not a nutter, Ron —"

"His life's ambition is to have his head cut off and stuck up on a plaque just like his mother," said Ron irritably. "Is that normal, Hermione?"

"Well — well, if he is a bit strange, it's not his fault —"

Ron rolled his eyes at Harry.

"Hermione still hasn't given up on spew —"

"It's not 'spew'!" said Hermione heatedly. "It's the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, and it's not just me, Dumbledore says we should be kind to Kreacher too. Even Alicia's kind to him —"

"I'm not, I just find it's a hella easily to say sorry and step out of his way then argue like everyone else." she snapped

"Yeah, yeah," said Ron. "C'mon, I'm starving."

He led the way out of the door and onto the landing, but before they could descend the stairs — "Hold it!" Ron breathed, flinging out an arm to stop Harry, Alicia and Hermione walking any farther. "They're still in the hall, we might be able to hear something —"

The four of them looked cautiously over the banisters. 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 was the dark, greasy-haired head and prominent nose of Professor Snape. Harry leaned farther over the banisters.

A thin piece of flesh-coloured string descended in front of Harry's eyes. Looking up he saw Fred and George on the landing above, cautiously lowering the Extendable Ear toward the dark knot of people below. A moment later, however, they began to move toward the front door and out of sight.

"Dammit," Fred whispered, as he hoisted the Extendable Ear back up again.

They heard the front door open and then close.

"Snape never eats here," Ron told Harry quietly. "Thank God. C'mon."

"And don't forget to keep your voice down in the hall, Harry," Hermione whispered.

As they passed the row of house-elf heads on the wall they saw Lupin, Mrs. Weasley, and Tonks at the front door, magically sealing its many locks and bolts behind those who had just left.

"We're eating down in the kitchen," Mrs. Weasley whispered, meeting them at the bottom of the stairs. "Harry, dear, if you'll just tiptoe across the hall, it's through this door here —"

CRASH.

"Tonks!" cried Mrs. Weasley exasperatedly, turning to look behind her.

"I'm sorry!" wailed Tonks, who was lying flat on the floor. "It's that stupid umbrella stand, that's the second time I've tripped over —"

But the rest of her words were drowned by the usual horrible, earsplitting, bloodcurdling screech.

The moth-eaten velvet curtains flew apart and the old woman in a black cap was screaming and screaming as though she was being tortured, as she always did when she was alerted to presence within the house.

"Oh no." Alicia sighed annoyed despite the fact that no one could hear her over the shouting.

The old woman was drooling, her eyes were rolling, the yellowing skin of her face stretched taut as she screamed, and all along the hall behind them, the other portraits awoke and began to yell too, so that Harry actually screwed up his eyes at the noise and clapped his hands over his ears.

Lupin and Mrs. Weasley darted forward and tried to tug the curtains shut over the old woman, but they would not close and she screeched louder than ever, brandishing clawed hands as though trying to tear at their faces.

Alicia had her hands over her ears and one eye open staring a the angered women.

"Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers —"

Tonks apologised over and over again, at the same time dragging the huge, heavy troll's leg back off the floor. Mrs. Weasley abandoned the attempt to close the curtains and hurried up and down the hall, stunning all the other portraits with her wand. Then Sirius came charging out of the kitchen.

"Shut up, you horrible old hag, shut UP!" he roared, seizing the curtain Mrs. Weasley had abandoned.

The old woman's face blanched.

"Yoooou!" she howled, her eyes popping at the sight of the man. "Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh!"

"I said — shut — UP!" roared Sirius, and with a stupendous effort he and Lupin managed to force the curtains closed again.

The old woman's screeches died and an echoing silence fell.

"Seriously Sirius, you had it bad." Alicia sighed

Panting slightly and sweeping his long dark hair out of his eyes, Sirius turned to face Harry.

"Hello, Harry," he said grimly, "I see you've met my mother."