A/N As promised, long chapter (like 7,000+ words?) So I hope it is sufficient! hhahah ... please R&R! xxx
Chapter Seven
Arguments and Answers
"SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL!" Harry roared. "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 ALL YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS?"
Hedwig hooted and shot off his shoulder as the three of them just stood there, watching Harry rant. Amara knew he'd do this, so she was bottling her anger at his shouting down so that she wouldn't snap either.
"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 and Amara were standing there with their mouths half-open, both 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, BUT DUMBLEDORE MADE YOU SWEAR —"
"Well, he did —"
"FOUR WEEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK IN PRIVET DRIVE, AND THE ONLY PERSON WHO CAME WAS AMARA, AND SHE STILL DIDN'T TELL ME ANYTHING —"
"You don't think we wanted to —?"
"I SUPPOSE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU, ALL HOLED UP HERE TOGETHER —"
"No, honest —"
"It's been pretty crap —"
"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!"
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. There was a long pause.
"What is this place anyway?" he shot at Amara, 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 — ?"
"Secret society," said Amara. "Dumbledore founded it. It's got the people who fought Volde – You-Know-Who last time around."
"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 two.
"Er," said Ron. "Well what?"
"Voldemort!" said Harry furiously, and both Ron and Hermione winced as Amara blinked. "What's happening? What's he up to? Where is he? What are we doing to stop him?"
"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. 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. Amara frowned, she didn't think it was that, because Tonks never tailed Harry. Harry snorted. He walked around the room again, looking anywhere but at Amara, Ron and Hermione. "So what have you two been doing, if you're not allowed in meetings?" he demanded. "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!"
Fred and George had entered the room either side of Amara, who closed her eyes in shock.
"Stop doing that!" Hermione said weakly to the twins, who merely beamed.
"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, making Amara roll her eyes. "There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you."
"You two passed your Apparation tests, then?" asked Harry rather grumpily.
"With distinction," said Fred, who was holding an Extendable Ear.
"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. "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.
The door opened and Ginny and Tally sauntered in.
"'Ello 'Arry!" Tally said, beaming and giving Harry a hug (her presence made Ron, Harry and the twins shift slightly).
"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. We'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. "Is he here?"
"Yeah," said George, carefully closing the door and sitting down on one of the beds; Amara, Fred, Tally and Ginny followed. "Giving a report. Top secret."
"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. . . ."
Amara scowled, Snape always looked at them when he came through, but she was pleased that McGonagall stopped to chat to her (to make sure she was keeping up with Transfiguration revision)
"Bill doesn't like him either," said Ginny, as though that settled the matter.
"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?"
Fleur Delacour came over with Jesse and Adrien Page -" Amara said.
"She's got a job at Gringotts to eemprove 'er Eeenglish —" said George.
"— 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 they all exchanged dark, significant looks.
"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 matter-of-factly.
"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 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 some- one 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."
"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.
"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 every- thing without proof —"
"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. They were all regarding him warily.
"I thought you had a subscription to the Daily Prophet? Amara said unsurely.
"Yeah, I have!" said Harry.
"But have you actually read it?" Amara said.
"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 as Hermione carried, "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 haven't read it," said Amara. "I've stopped my subscription -"
"I'm not talking about big articles. They just slip you in, like you're a standing joke," said Hermione.
"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.
"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, so that Harry could get the news very 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.
"And of course, they didn't report a word about the dementors at- tacking 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."
There were footsteps on the stairs.
"Uh-oh."
Fred gave the Extendable Ear a hearty tug; there was another loud crack and he and George vanished once more. 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, Tally, your hands are filthy, what have you two been doing? Go and wash them before dinner, please. . . ."
Ginny and Tally walked out the room after Mrs Weasley, both grinning widely at each other. This left Amara, Ron and Hermione alone with Harry in the bedroom. Amara was unsure of what he was going to do now they were alone again.
"Look . . ." Harry muttered, but Ron shook his head, and Hermione said quietly, "We knew you'd be angry, Harry, we really don't blame you, but you've got to understand, we did try and persuade Dumbledore —"
"Yeah, I know," said Harry grudgingly.
"They locked Archie in Fred and George's room," said Amara. "Poor thing is probably traumatised."
"Who's Kreacher?" Harry 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 —"
"He is a nutter," said Amara. Hermione ignored her.
"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 —"
"You sure?" Amara said. "I don't remember ..."
"C'mon, I'm starving" said Ron.
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 Amara, Harry and Hermione walking any farther. "They're still in the hall, we might be able to hear something —"
"Careful," said Amara, running her chest. "There are women here."
Ron rolled his eyes as they looked over the banisters.
The gloomy hallway below was packed with witches and wizards, including Jesse and Adrien. They were whispering excitedly together.
A thin piece of flesh-coloured string descended in front of their eyes.
Fred and George were using the Ears to listen below them. A moment later, however, they began to move toward the front door and out of sight.
"Dammit," They heard Fred whisper, 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 Mrs Black's horrible screech.
Lupin and Mrs Weasley darted forward and tried to tug the curtains shut over her, but they would not close and she screeched louder than ever.
"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' apologies were drowned out by Mrs Black's screams. The portraits had started up again, so Amara put her hands over her ears to stop the noise.
Mrs Weasley stunned all the portraits as Sirius ran up the stairs.
"Shut up, you horrible old hag, shut UP!" he roared, seizing the curtain Mrs Weasley had abandoned.
Mrs Black's face blanched.
"Yoooou!" she howled, her eyes popping at the sight of Sirius. "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.
Amara slowly lowered her hands as Sirius turned towards Harry for the first time.
"Your — ?"
"My dear old mum, yeah," said Sirius. "We've been trying to get her down for a month but we think she put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of the canvas. Let's get downstairs, quick, before they all wake up again."
As Sirius and Harry walked down the stairs, chatting quietly, Amara and the others followed suit, walking into the kitchen to find Mr Weasley, Bill and Mundungus, who was asleep and still in Mrs Weasley's bad book, at the table. There was lots of rolls of parchment still on the table, and Amara, Ron, Fred and George all looked keenly at them as Mrs Weasley cleared her throat.
"Harry!" Mr Weasley said, hurrying forward to greet the boy and shaking his hand vigorously. "Good to see you!"
Their efforts to look at the parchment were diminished when Bill started collecting them up (tapping Amara on the nose when she tried to peer at them) all at once.
"Journey all right, Harry?" Bill called, still whooshing Amara and Ron away. "Mad-Eye didn't make you come via Greenland, then?"
"He tried," said Tonks, striding over to help Bill and immediately sending a candle toppling onto the last piece of parchment. "Oh no — sorry —"
"Here, dear," said Mrs Weasley, sounding exasperated, and she repaired the parchment with a wave of her wand: In the flash of light caused by Mrs Weasley's charm, they managed to catch a glimpse of what looked like the plan of a building.
Mrs Weasley snatched the plan off the table and stuffed it into Bill's heavily laden arms.
"This sort of thing ought to be cleared away promptly at the end of meetings," she snapped before sweeping off toward an ancient dresser from which she started unloading dinner plates.
Bill took out his wand, muttered "Evanesco!" and the scrolls vanished. Amara and Ron looked disappointedly at them.
As Harry began talking with Sirius and Mundungus at the end of the table, Mrs Weasley started on dinner. She told Mundungus off for smoking his horrible pipe before addressing them all.
"And if you want dinner before midnight I'll need a hand," Mrs Weasley. "No, you can stay where you are, Harry dear, you've had a long journey —"
"What can I do, Molly?" said Tonks enthusiastically, bounding forward.
Mrs Weasley hesitated, looking apprehensive as Amara and Ron walked over to the dresser.
"Er — no, it's all right, Tonks, you have a rest too, you've done enough today —"
"No, no, I want to help!" said Tonks brightly, knocking over a chair when she bounded forwards to help Ginny.
Amara shook her head as she began to help get the vegetables out of the larder. Mrs Weasley made them chop by themselves quickly, and Amara was soon pouring them into the cauldron of stew. As she started cutting some bread up, Mrs Weasley asked Fred and George to put the things on the table.
"Fred — George — NO, JUST CARRY THEM!" Mrs Weasley shrieked, and Amara turned around.
Fred and George had used their wands to make the stew, butterbeer and breadboard (with knife) to fly over to the table, but it ended rather badly. Amara tried not to laugh as Sirius, Harry and Mundungus dove out the way of the flying food.
"FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!" screamed Mrs. Weasley. "THERE WAS NO NEED — I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS — JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW YOU DON'T HAVE TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERY TINY LITTLE THING!"
"We were just trying to save a bit of time!" said Fred, hurrying forward and wrenching the bread knife out of the table, which had landed near Sirius. "Sorry Sirius, mate — didn't mean to —"
Harry and Sirius were both laughing. Mundungus, however, was swearing as he came back up to the table.
"Boys," Mr Weasley said, lifting the stew back into the middle of the table, "your mother's right, you're supposed to show a sense of responsibility now you've come of age —" Amara snorted for real now, as she could never see Fred and George take anything sensible or responsibly.
"— none of your brothers caused this sort of trouble!" Mrs Weasley raged at the twins, slamming a fresh flagon of butterbeer onto the table and spilling almost as much again. "Bill didn't feel the need to Apparate every few feet! Charlie didn't Charm everything he met! Percy —"
There was a tense moment when Amara and Ron exchanged looks, whilst Mrs Weasley looked stricken.
"Let's eat," said Bill quickly.
Amara sat next to Tally and Hermione, who was sat next to Jesse. Adrien was opposite with Tonks and Ginny. As Hermione was occupied with Jesse, and Tally and Ginny were requesting favourite noses from Tonks, Amara spent most of the dinner speaking to Adrien, who was enthusiastically talking about his job.
Half-way through the meal, all talking was cut short as Ron, Fred, George and Mundungus were laughing so hard at what the crook was telling them.
". . . and then," choked Mundungus, tears running down his face, "and then, if you'll believe it, 'e says to me, 'e says, ' 'ere, Dung, wheredidja get all them toads from? 'Cos some son of a Bludger's gone andnicked all mine!' And I says, 'Nicked all your toads, Will, what next? So you'll be wanting some more, then?' And if you'll believe me, lads, the gormless gargoyle buys all 'is own toads back orf me for twice what 'e paid in the first place —"
"I don't think we need to hear any more of your business dealings, thank you very much, Mundungus," said Mrs Weasley sharply, as Ron slumped forward onto the table, howling with laughter.
"Beg pardon, Molly," said Mundungus at once, wiping his eyes. "But, you know, Will nicked 'em orf Warty Harris in the first place so I wasn't really doing nothing wrong —"
"I don't know where you learned about right and wrong, Mundungus, but you seem to have missed a few crucial lessons," said Mrs Weasley coldly.
Fred and George buried their faces in their goblets of butterbeer; George was hiccupping.
The second helping of rhubarb crumble they all had (some people had three) all made them drowsy and Amara wanted to unbutton her jeans, because they were getting rather tight.
Ginny had vanished from the table and was now playing with Crookshanks, Hermione was leaning into her boyfriend, Ron, Fred and George had quietened down and were now looking sleepy too.
"Nearly time for bed, I think," said Mrs Weasley on a yawn.
"Not just yet, Molly," said Sirius, pushing away his empty plate and turning to look at Harry. "You know, I'm surprised at you. I thought the first thing you'd do when you got here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort."
Everyone immediately woke up from their hazy state. Most had flinched at the sound of His name, and Lupin stopped drinking to look wary and unsure.
"I did!" said Harry indignantly. "I asked Ron, Amara and Hermione butthey said we're not allowed in the Order, so —"
"And they're quite right," said Mrs Weasley. "You're too young."
She was sitting bolt upright in her chair, her fists clenched upon its arms, every trace of drowsiness gone.
"Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?" asked Sirius. "Harry's been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. He's got the right to know what's been happen —"
"Hang on!" interrupted George loudly, from his place the other end of the table.
"How come Harry gets his questions answered?" said Fred angrily. "We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking thing!" said George.
"'You're too young, you're not in the Order,'" said Fred, mimicking his mother's voice quite well, but quite horribly as well. "Harry's not even of age!"
"It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing," said Sirius calmly. "That's your parents' decision. Harry, on the other hand —"
"It's not down to you to decide what's good for Harry!" said Mrs Weasley sharply. Amara was quite surprised at how deadly she looked. "You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?"
"Which bit?" Sirius asked, with what seemed like forced politeness.
"The bit about not telling Harry more than he needs to know," said Mrs Weasley, placing a heavy emphasis on the last three words.
Amara, Ron, Hermione, Fred, Tally and George' were now turning their heads from Sirius to Mrs Weasley as each of them spoke. Ginny was kneeling amid a pile of abandoned butterbeer corks, watching the conversation with her mouth slightly open. Lupin's eyes were fixed on Sirius.
"I don't intend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly," said Sirius. "But as he was the one who saw Voldemort come back, he has more right than most to —"
"He's not a member of the Order of the Phoenix!" said Mrs Weasley. "He's only fifteen and —"
"— and he's dealt with as much as most in the Order," said Sirius, "and more than some —"
"No one's denying what he's done!" said Mrs Weasley, her voice rising, her fists trembling on the arms of her chair. "But he's still —"
"He's not a child!" said Sirius impatiently.
"He's not an adult either!" said Mrs. Weasley, her cheeks flushing pink. "He's not James, Sirius!"
"I'm perfectly clear who he is, thanks, Molly," said Sirius coldly.
"I'm not sure you are!" said Mrs. Weasley. "Sometimes, the way you talk about him, it's as though you think you've got your best friend back!"
"What's wrong with that?" said Harry.
"What's wrong, Harry, is that you are not your father, however much you might look like him!" said Mrs Weasley, not even looking at Harry when she spoke to him. "You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!"
"Meaning I'm an irresponsible godfather?" demanded Sirius, his voice rising.
"Meaning you've been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and —"
"We'll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this, if you please!" said Sirius loudly.
"Arthur!" said Mrs Weasley, rounding on her husband. "Arthur, back me up!"
Mr Weasley did not speak quickly. He went at a slow pace to take off his glasses and clean them slowly on his robes in a tired manner, and not looking Mrs Weasley. Only when he had replaced them carefully on his nose did he say, "Dumbledore knows the position has changed, Molly. He accepts that Harry will have to be filled in to a certain extent now that he is staying at headquarters —"
"Yes, but there's a difference between that and inviting him to ask whatever he likes!"
"Personally," said Lupin quietly, looking away from Sirius at last, as Mrs Weasley turned quickly to him, hopeful that finally she was about to get an ally, "I think it better that Harry gets the facts — not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture — from us, rather than a garbled version from . . . others."
Amara shifted slightly, because the way Lupin had said it made her believe he knew some Extendable Ears had escaped Mrs Weasley's clutches.
"Well," said Mrs. Weasley, breathing deeply and looking around the table for support that did not come, "well . . . I can see I'm going to be overruled. I'll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much, and speaking as someone who has got Harry's best interests at heart —"
"He's not your son," said Sirius quietly.
"He's as good as," said Mrs Weasley fiercely. "Who else has he got?"
"He's got me!"
"Yes," said Mrs Weasley, her lip curling. "The thing is, it's been
rather difficult for you to look after him while you've been locked up in Azkaban, hasn't it?"
Sirius started to rise from his chair.
"Molly, you're not the only person at this table who cares about Harry," said Lupin sharply. "Sirius, sit down."
Mrs Weasley's lower lip was trembling. Sirius sank slowly back into his chair, his face white.
"I think Harry ought to be allowed a say in this," Lupin continued. "He's old enough to decide for himself."
"I want to know what's been going on," Harry said at once.
"Very well," said Mrs Weasley, her voice cracking. "Ginny — Tally — Ron — Hermione — Amara — Fred — George — I want you out of this kitchen, now."
There was instant uproar.
"We're of age!" Fred and George bellowed together.
"If Harry's allowed, why can't I?" shouted Ron, as Amara nodded at what he was saying furiously.
"Mum, I want to!" wailed Ginny.
"NO!" shouted Mrs Weasley, standing up, her eyes over bright. "I absolutely forbid —"
"Molly, you can't stop Fred and George," said Mr Weasley wearily. "They are of age —"
"They're still at school —"
"But they're legally adults now," said Mr Weasley in the same tired voice.
Mrs Weasley was now scarlet in the face.
"I — oh, all right then, Fred and George can stay, but Ron —"
"Harry'll tell me, Amara and Hermione everything you say anyway!" said Ron hotly. "Won't — won't you?" he added uncertainly, meeting Harry's eyes.
" 'Course I will," Harry said. Amara, Ron and Hermione beamed.
"Fine!" shouted Mrs Weasley. "Fine! Ginny — Tally — BED!"
"What?" shouted Ginny and Tally together. "That's not fair!"
"Tallulah," Jesse snapped, speaking for the first time. "Bed, now."
"You're not my papa!" Tally said loudly, her French accent getting thicker as her voice got more frustrated.
They did not leave the kitchen quietly. Tally's choosiest words were heard as she stormed off with Ginny ("bâtard visqueuse qui pense qu'il est assez vieux pour tout faire!" "vas te faire encule frère!")
Whilst Tally spoke French, Ginny raged at her mother the whole way up, and both of them successfully woke Mrs Black.
Lupin hurried off to the portrait to restore calm. It was only after he had returned, closing the kitchen door behind him and taking his seat at the table again, that Sirius spoke.
"Okay, Harry . . . what do you want to know?"
"Where's Voldemort? What's he doing? I've been trying to watch the Muggle news," Harry said, "and there hasn't been anything that looks like him yet, no funny deaths or anything —"
"That's because there haven't been any suspicious deaths yet," said Sirius, "not as far as we know, anyway. . . . And we know quite a lot."
"More than he thinks we do anyway," said Lupin.
"How come he's stopped killing people?" Harry asked.
"Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself at the moment," said Sirius. "It would be dangerous for him. His comeback didn't come off quite the way he wanted it to, you see. He messed it up."
"Or rather, you messed it up for him," said Lupin with a satisfied smile.
"How?" Harry asked perplexedly.
"You weren't supposed to survive!" said Sirius. "Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But you survived to bear witness."
"And the very last person he wanted alerted to his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore," said Lupin. "And you made sure Dumbledore knew at once."
"How has that helped?" Harry asked.
"Are you kidding?" said Bill incredulously. "Dumbledore was the only one You-Know-Who was ever scared of!"
"Thanks to you, Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix about an hour after Voldemort returned," said Sirius.
"So what's the Order been doing?" said Harry.
"Working as hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans," said Sirius.
"How d'you know what his plans are?" Harry asked quickly.
"Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea," said Lupin, "and Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate."
"So what does Dumbledore reckon he's planning?"
"Well, firstly, he wants to build up his army again," said Sirius. "In the old days he had huge numbers at his command; witches and wizards he'd bullied or bewitched into following him, his faithful Death Eaters, a great variety of Dark creatures. You heard him planning to recruit the giants; well, they'll be just one group he's after. He's certainly not going to try and take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters."
Amara did not like the idea of Voldemort getting more followers. It made her and Hermione even more at risk, being Muggleborn and all.
"So you're trying to stop him getting more followers?" Harry said.
"We're doing our best," said Lupin.
"How?"
"Well, the main thing is to try and convince as many people as possible that You-Know-Who really has returned, to put them on their guard," said Bill. "It's proving tricky, though."
"Why?"
"Because of the Ministry's attitude," said Tonks. "You saw Cornelius Fudge after You-Know-Who came back, Harry. Well, he hasn't shifted his position at all. He's absolutely refusing to believe it's happened."
"But why?" said Harry desperately. "Why's he being so stupid? If Dumbledore —"
"Ah, well, you've put your finger on the problem," said Mr Weasley with a wry smile. "Dumbledore."
"Fudge is frightened of him, you see," said Tonks sadly.
"Frightened of Dumbledore?" said Harry incredulously.
"Frightened of what he's up to," said Mr Weasley. "You see, Fudge thinks Dumbledore's plotting to overthrow him. He thinks Dumbledore wants to be Minister of Magic."
"But Dumbledore doesn't want —"
"Of course he doesn't," said Mr Weasley. "He's never wanted the Minister's job, even though a lot of people wanted him to take it when Millicent Bagnold retired. Fudge came to power instead, but he's never quite forgotten how much popular support Dumbledore had, even though Dumbledore never applied for the job."
"Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore's much cleverer than he is, a much more powerful wizard, and in the early days of his Ministry he was forever asking Dumbledore for help and advice," said Lupin. "But it seems that he's become fond of power now, and much more confident. He loves being Minister of Magic, and he's managed to convince himself that he's the clever one and Dumbledore's simply stirring up trouble for the sake of it."
"How can he think that?" said Harry angrily. "How can he think Dumbledore would just make it all up — that I'd make it all up?"
"Because accepting that Voldemort's back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn't had to cope with for nearly fourteen years," said Sirius bitterly. "Fudge just can't bring himself to face it. It's so much more comfortable to convince himself Dumbledore's lying to destabilize him."
"You see the problem," said Lupin. "While the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort, it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place. What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumourmongering, so most of the Wizarding community are completely unaware anything's happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperius Curse."
"But you're telling people, aren't you?" said Harry, looking around at Mr Weasley, Sirius, Bill, Mundungus, Lupin, Jesse, Adrien and Tonks. "You're letting people know he's back?"
They all smiled humourlessly.
"Well, as everyone thinks I'm a mad mass murderer and the Ministry's put a ten-thousand-Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?" said Sirius restlessly.
"And I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community," said Lupin. "It's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf."
"Tonks, Arthur, Jesse and Adrien would lose their jobs at the Ministry if they started shooting their mouths off," said Sirius, "and it's very important for us to have spies inside the Ministry, because you can bet Voldemort will have them."
"We've managed to convince a couple of people, though," said Mr. Weasley. "Tonks here, for one — she's too young to have been in the Order of the Phoenix last time, and having Aurors on our side is a huge advantage — Kingsley Shacklebolt's been a real asset too. He's in charge of the hunt for Sirius, so he's been feeding the Ministry information that Sirius is in Tibet. And Jesse's been able to catch a few at his work too - Amelia Stanwells for one - she's a relative to Sturgis somehow on her mother's side."
"But if none of you's putting the news out that Voldemort's back —" Harry began.
"Who said none of us was putting the news out?" said Sirius. "Why d'you think Dumbledore's in such trouble?"
"What d'you mean?" Harry asked.
"They're trying to discredit him," said Lupin. "Didn't you see the Daily Prophet last week? They reported that he'd been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards because he's getting old and losing his grip, but it's not true, he was voted out by Ministry wizards after he made a speech announcing Voldemort's return. They've demoted him from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot — that's the Wizard High Court — and they're talking about taking away his Order of Merlin, First Class, too."
"But Dumbledore says he doesn't care what they do as long as they don't take him off the Chocolate Frog cards," said Bill, grinning. Amara couldn't help but smirk slightly at that.
"It's no laughing matter," said Mr Weasley shortly. "If he carries on defying the Ministry like this, he could end up in Azkaban and the last thing we want is Dumbledore locked up. While You-Know-Who knows Dumbledore's out there and wise to what he's up to, he's going to go cautiously for a while. If Dumbledore's out of the way — well, You-Know-Who will have a clear field."
"But if Voldemort's trying to recruit more Death Eaters, it's bound to get out that he's come back, isn't it?" asked Harry desperately.
"Voldemort doesn't march up to people's houses and bang on their front doors, Harry," said Sirius. "He tricks, jinxes, and blackmails them. He's well-practiced at operating in secrecy. In any case, gathering followers is only one thing he's interested in, he's got other plans too, plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed, and he's concentrating on them at the moment."
"What's he after apart from followers?" Harry asked swiftly.
Sirius said, "Stuff he can only get by stealth." Which made Amara frown in confusion.
When Harry and the others continued to look puzzled, Sirius said, "Like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time."
"When he was powerful before?"
"Yes."
"Like what kind of weapon?" said Harry. "Something worse than the Avada Kedavra — ?"
"That's enough."
Mrs Weasley spoke from the shadows beside the door.
Amara hadn't realised she'd come back from taking Tally and Ginny upstairs. She looked furious again, her arms tightly crossed.
"I want you in bed, now. All of you," she added, looking around at Fred, George, Ron, Amara and Hermione.
"You can't boss us —" Fred began.
"Watch me," snarled Mrs Weasley. She was trembling slightly as she looked at Sirius. "You've given Harry plenty of information. Any more and you might just as well induct him into the Order straightaway."
"Why not?" said Harry quickly. "I'll join, I want to join, I want to fight —"
"No."
It was not Mrs Weasley who spoke this time, but Lupin.
"The Order is comprised only of overage wizards," he said. "Wizards who have left school," he added, as Fred and George opened their mouths. "There are dangers involved of which you can have no idea, any of you . . . I think Molly's right, Sirius. We've said enough."
Sirius half-shrugged but did not argue.
The rest looked at each other as Mrs Weasley beckoned them. Giving up, and admitting defeat, they all got up and trooped out the room (Hermione saying goodnight to Jesse first) and ready to climb up the stairs to their bedrooms.