Author's Note: Sorry that it's been awhile since I updated this. I was busy being focused on the new fic I'm currently writing, entitled The Power of Badgers, where Harry Potter and his friends get Sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Wake up, Alex," said Ron, trying to shake his friend awake.

Alex, who was currently dreaming about being part of the Appleby Arrows Quidditch team, but with all the other members composed of his friends and family, muttered sleepily, "I've got a Snitch to catch. Worry about guarding the goalposts, Ron."

"This isn't a Quidditch match, Alex," said Ron, shaking Alex harder. "Get up, or you're going to miss your birthday."

Those words managed to penetrate through Alex's dream and his eyes fluttered open. "My birthday?" he asked, sitting up and yawning. "Oh right, it's August 3rd. It's not going to be much a birthday for me if I can't go flying. Every birthday I remember had me flying, whether it was on a real broom or a toy one. And even the one I don't remember at all, my first, I still flew, since Sirius said he gave me a toy broom as his present. He even has the picture to prove it."

"It's still going to be fun, even if you can't go flying because of where we are," Ron said, climbing down from the ladder so that Alex could get out of bed.

"Yeah, but I had dream about being on the Appleby Arrows team," said Alex with a sigh. "I was the Seeker, you were Keeper, Beth, Ginny, and David were Chasers, and Fred and George were the Beaters."

Ron and Neville exchanged looks. "Well, that's not a very realistic dream," said Neville. "Ron wouldn't play Keeper for any team except the Chudley Cannons if he decided to play professionally. Beth and Ginny would more likely play for the Holyhead Harpies, since that's their team, and David prefers the Montrose Magpies. As for Fred and George, their ambition is to open a joke shop, not sign on to a Quidditch team."

"I know it's not realistic," Alex said. "I don't even want to play Quidditch professionally, since I think I'd rather be an Auror, or maybe a Defense teacher, like Uncle Remus was back in our third year. Oh, thanks, Neville." He took his glasses that Neville had handed up and put them on before getting out of bed.

At breakfast, everyone present wished Alex and Beth a happy birthday, while their parents handed them plates filled with all their favorite breakfast foods. The Order members that were there, but had other tasks or day jobs, had to go shortly after the meal, but left the two their presents, which were all small items like a box of sweets, quill pens, and notebooks.

After breakfast, Alex and Beth went to the drawing room with their friends and spent the morning playing games, which was followed by a small party and presents from their family and friends. The day went by happily, other than Alex still wishing that he could still go flying.

The following week, it became apparent that Professor Dumbledore was having difficulty filling the Defense post. On top of that, he had tried again to get Minister Fudge to see sense and realize that Voldemort was actually back, not a Dark wizard pretending to be him. Aunt Maria and Uncle Tobias lost their tempers when they heard that, and as the meeting room hadn't been warded against eavesdropping, the teens heard every word via the Extendable Ears that Fred and George had developed.

"Are you crazy?" Aunt Maria shouted. "You've just undone all the progress we've had with the minister!"

Dumbledore, sounding taken aback, said, "But Maria, you realize the importance of preparing the wizarding world against Vol-"

"What's more important is that we are prepared to deal with a Dark wizard, regardless of who they are!" interrupted Uncle Tobias angrily. "Minister Fudge is extremely reluctant to admit that Tom Riddle's back, precisely because of the terror going on when he was in power the first time, but he's willing to say that Dark wizard claiming to be him is around and we must be prepared. That's much better than Fudge insisting that nothing's wrong and stubbornly burying his head in the sand while Riddle is hiding in the background and amassing power!"

"Tobias is right," Granny Ilsa said, sounding upset, but not to the extent her daughter and son-in-law were. "All you've done is upset the Minister, and now he's gotten the idea that you want to take power for your own, Albus, if the articles in today's Daily Prophet are any indication. It's not going to help matters if the wizarding world think that you're starting to become senile and start questioning your actions."

"Look at Alex," Aunt Maria snapped. "He's smart enough to keep his mouth shut and not go around telling people that the Dark Lord has really returned. He even had Toby and me pass on the message to the Minister that he appreciates his efforts to prepare the wizarding world to against this Dark wizard, with no mention of the real identity at all. If Alex hadn't done that, no doubt he'd be lumped in with you and there'd be articles claiming that he's a liar or an attention-seeking brat or something."

"I understand that, but it's important that-" Professor Dumbledore began.

"You are mistaken, Professor," said Vera, to Alex's surprise. "The Ministry says the Dark Lord hasn't returned, and that only a Dark wizard wishing to be him, possibly a Death Eater that escaped capture, has appeared on the scene. I agree with them."

There was an instant outburst at this, though for some reason, Dumbledore wasn't part of the babble of voices.

"I agree with Minister Fudge and Vera," said Percy once the babble had died down somewhat. "After all, he wouldn't lie about something like this, and he clearly trusts me, since after a glowing recommendation from Madam Eldridge, he promoted me to be his Junior Undersecretary."

There was another uproar at this, and Alex thought he heard Mr. Weasley say something about how Fudge was just using Percy. When the uproar died down, Vera snapped, "Percy deserves the position! He's done a great job working first for Mr. Crouch, even though he didn't like the man, and then for Madam Eldridge. Many people could have kept on working without questioning the fact that their boss was apparently ill and just sending in written orders, but Percy thought to check up on Crouch, and if the Aurors hadn't gotten to him first, would have reported to the Ministry about the matter."

"I have a future to think of, too," Percy added. "Yes, Vera is also working, but I don't want the two of us to just be getting by. This promotion allows us to save money, so that we can get married and start a family. I don't want to end up like you, Dad, being held back in the Ministry because you're obsessed with Muggles and barely making enough money to provide for our family."

"I see I was mistaken about you, Percy," Uncle Niko said coldly. "I thought you were a fine, upstanding man, but apparently you value your Ministry career over your family. I withdraw my blessing on your engagement, and Vera, I forbid you from marrying him."

"You can't tell me what to do!" retorted Vera. "I'm of age, and I will marry who I want, with your blessing or without. If you want to be like this, then I'll just leave the family!"

"Me too," Percy said. "We love and support each other, and we both think you are all being idiots about the whole matter. Minister Fudge is correct, and we side with him and will work in helping him."

"Fine then!" shouted Mr. Weasley, to the surprise of the eavesdroppers, for he normally didn't get angry the way his wife did. "If you want to be like this, then you are no longer my son!"

"If you say so, " Percy said stiffly. "In any case, you are all greatly mistaken, and Vera and I will no longer be part of the Order. We promise not to reveal anything, out of respect for you, Professor Dumbledore, but that is all."

"Granny Ilsa, Granddad Vladek, we will remove our things from the rooms we were renting from you and live elsewhere," Vera said, just as stiffly. "We are sorry that it has come to this, and hope that you will realize the errors of your way."

Vera and Percy walked out the meeting room to see the teens on the stairs, looking shocked. In fact, Beth and Hermione were so shocked that they had dropped their Extendable Ears. The Weasley twins, Ron, and Ginny got over their shock to become angry, but before they could say anything, Vera and Percy put a finger to their lips and gestured for them to go upstairs.

Once in the room Beth, Hermione, and Ginny were staying in, Percy said, "What you just heard wasn't real. It was an act."

"Of course we know better than that," added Vera. "Minister Fudge is being an idiot, but I do agree with Aunt Maria and Uncle Tobias that it's better to have him at least admit we need to be on guard against a Dark wizard."

"But what was the scene in the meeting room about?" asked Neville, looking bewildered.

"We're going to be Professor Dumbledore's spies in the Ministry," Percy said. "The other people in the Ministry that's also part of the Order aren't really suited for it, since they're either known to be friendly with Dumbledore or aren't in high enough positions. Since I'm now Junior Undersecretary to the Minister, this enables me to get info, which I can then pass on to Professor Dumbledore."

"However, to make the Minister believe we're trustworthy, we had to do the little charade of breaking away from the family," said Vera. "Professor Dumbledore knows the truth, since he asked us if we wanted to be his spies. You guys, however, must keep it secret, and pretend to be angry with us once the families tell you about our defection, all right? We don't want our deception to be found out by the Ministry, and our parents aren't always that good at pretending. You guys are safer, since you'll be at Hogwarts for most of the year, and we didn't want you to think we were betraying you, Alex."

"All right, we'll keep it secret," said Fred. "After what we overheard in the meeting, we were very angry at you two."

"But if it's to help Dumbledore, then you're fine," said George. "But we may send you some pranks in the mail, Percy, since you did upset Mum and Dad with that scene."

"As long as it's just to test out some of your products," said Percy. "Don't go overboard with upholding the charade that you're mad at me."

Fred and George nodded and Jonas said, "Vera, I wish you didn't have to do this. You're just at an entry-level position at the Ministry."

Vera said, "However, it is perfectly believable that I'd side with my fiancé. That's why I'm doing this, Jonas. Since I've taken over Percy's old job, I can probably find information from the lower echelons of the Ministry, while Percy focuses on the higher echelons. Look, Percy and I need to go, so good luck with the upcoming school year, and we give you our love. We're sorry that this had to happen, but it was necessary."

At dinner, the teens were told about Percy and Vera's defection from the Order and walking out on the Weasley family and the Romanov-Petrov clan. The group were able to put on a convincing act of being first shocked and upset by the news, then turning angry.

"How could Vera do this to us?" Alex wailed. "I thought she valued family, especially since we're so close and all! She said she loved me and would do anything for me!"

"Apparently she loves Percy and her new job even more," said Uncle Niko, who looked stony. Next to him, Aunt Sarah was crying and wondering out loud where they had gone wrong with Vera's upbringing.

"Don't cry, Mamen," said Ivan. "Vera's being an idiot, or Percy led her astray. If he were here in front of me, I'd hex him."

"We'd do more than that," Fred said. "George, got any ideas?"

Before George could reply, Mrs. Weasley, who was also crying, interrupted, "P-Percy's just m-mistaken. I'll find him t-tomorrow and talk some s-sense into him."

"I don't think it's going to work," said Granddad Eli. "Both Percy and Vera looked and sounded as if they were determined to do this and really did believe Fudge. We should probably just sit back and let this happen for now. After a few weeks or months, they'll realize their error and come back to us asking for forgiveness."

"After all, Professor Dumbledore didn't seem to be too upset with their behavior," said Granny Ilsa. "He even said that it might be best if they did leave us for a time, and at least they still respected him enough to not reveal any Order secrets."

"Not to mention if you did go see Percy, he could refuse to speak with you, Molly," Stephan pointed out. "It's best to just leave it for now."

Mrs. Weasley finally acknowledged that they had a point, and managed to stop crying long enough to finish her dinner.