A/N - This chapter contains slightly more mature content than anything found in the books. It's not that bad, but I wanted to give the disclaimer anyway.
When Ginny arrived back at the Burrow, she immediately hauled her trunk up to her room, dropped it loudly on the floor, and threw herself down on her bed. While she had cried on and off the last few nights, her mind now felt numb and blank, and a cold feeling of indifference swept over her. It was more horrible than anything she had felt over the past year, and she thought dimly that this is what it must have felt like to be kissed by a dementor.
She heard Ron, Fred, and George amble past her door with their belongings. She thought one of them might knock on her door to check on her, as she knew she was visibly upset on the way home, but nobody else was in a good mood either, and everyone assumed that Voldemort's return was the reason for everyone else's bad mood. She fell asleep quickly and, for the first time in several days, slept soundly.
She woke up at six in the morning, fell back asleep for two hours, then lied awake in her bed for another two hours before finally having enough energy to get up and head down to the kitchen.
"Morning, dear," said Mum. She normally would have been scolded for showing up for breakfast so late, but under the circumstances, her mother was being more forgiving.
"Morning, Mum," said replied, grabbing a muffin and sitting down at the table.
Mum cleaned up dishes while Dad read The Daily Prophet.
"Anything in there?" asked Ginny quietly.
"Nope," said Dad. "Fudge is still pretending You-Know-Who's not back, and he's running the Ministry accordingly. The Prophet relies on the Ministry, so they're not reporting anything."
"How can he be so stupid?" said Ginny angrily.
"He's in denial," said Dad. "Admitting he's back would mean trouble like he's never had to deal with before."
"But he'll look worse when everyone finds out that Harry was right and he's been selling the public a bill of goods!"
"He's shortsighted. He doesn't care about tomorrow; he cares about how he looks right now. Much easier to stay in his bubble where the world is rainbows and unicorns than face a hard truth. It's unfortunate."
Ginny never liked Fudge much, but she had no idea he was this big of a coward.
"So Harry went back to his Aunt and Uncle's?" said Ginny.
"Yes, I asked Dumbledore if he could come straight here instead, but he insisted he go back for at least a couple weeks," said Mum sadly. "I don't know why, those folks of his are so awful, but I guess he must have his reasons…"
Just the thought of Harry made her heart hurt, and for once she was glad to be away from him.
"He won't be joining us here," Dad said. "We'll be spending most of the summer at headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix."
"Order of the Phoenix? That's like the anti-Death Eaters, right?" The name had rung a bell. Ginny remembered Dad mentioning it a couple of times many years ago, and Bill had mentioned it the night of Voldemort's return.
"Essentially, yes," said Dad. "That was the organization founded by Dumbledore during the first war to fight You-Know-Who…"
"Hey, Ginny!" came Ron's voice from the living room. "Want to play Exploding Snap?"
"Sure," said Ginny, getting up.
"I'll deal," said Ron when Ginny came over and sat down by him. Ginny was too depressed to enjoy herself, but she forced herself to smile and laugh where appropriate, and she even ended up winning most of the games they played.
The first week back at the Burrow was very different from her previous summers. For one thing, Dumbledore had added significant protection to the house, so there weren't opportunities for excursions. She supposed that was just how it was going to be now and that she better get used to it. Secondly, there were frequent visits from members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Lupin, Kingsley, Mad-Eye Moody, and Dumbledore himself. They typically talked with Mum and Dad in hushed voices, clearly not wanting to be overheard by the kids, discussing what Ginny assumed were plans on how to contain the situation with Voldemort. Ron had managed to talk to Lupin, who showed up the first Tuesday of the break, but didn't get much information.
"No significant deaths yet," he told Ginny. "That's about all I found out. Well, that and the Ministry is still behaving as though everything is hunky-dory, but we already knew that. They won't discuss what they're doing, though."
Then there had been the disturbing revelation by her father that Mad-Eye Moody had, in fact, not been their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that year, but instead had been taught by a Death Eater impersonating him. It had been that Death Eater that put Harry's name into the Goblet of Fire and bewitched the Triwizard Cup to transport him and Cedric to the graveyard during the third task. That Death Eater was then kissed by a dementor, thanks to Fudge's stupidity, which prevented him from being able to testify about Voldemort's return.
Friday was the worst day, though. That was when something happened that left them all truly shaken. Percy had arrived home late from work with an announcement.
"I've been promoted," he said, with what Ginny thought might be the smuggest look she's ever seen on his face, which was a very high bar to cross.
"Oh – that's great Percy!" said Mum, giving him a hug.
"Promoted?" said Dad apprehensively.
"Wow, Perce," said Fred. "Fudge must really be off his rocker, eh?"
"But you were in hot water about the Crouch situation," said Dad dispassionately. "There was an inquiry about it. How did you go from that to getting a promotion?"
Percy looked like he'd been clubbed over the head.
"It was all sorted out," he said crossly. "The inquiry was useless and produced nothing incriminating. Fudge said he was pleased with what a hard worker I was and made me Junior Assistant to the Minister."
"Really?" said Bill with surprise. "That's a very high-level position for someone only a year out of Hogwarts."
"There's a lot of hard workers in the Ministry," said Dad skeptically. "Someone a year out of school doesn't get that position just for being a 'hard worker'. He could have picked dozens of people for that post, but no. It's got to be Percy Weasley. Why is that?"
A very awkward silence filled the room after these words. Percy and Dad stared coldly at each for a moment before Percy spoke.
"What exactly are you trying to say, Father?"
"I'm just saying it makes no sense. What specifically did you do to earn this promotion?"
"Why does it matter?" said Percy heatedly. "Why do you even care? It's a very high-level position that pays really well! What could be wrong with that?"
"It matters because it's not a coincidence this happens right after Dumbledore announces to the Wizarding world that You-Know-Who is back! You really think you would have gotten this promotion if that didn't happen? Think for a minute!"
Ginny was shocked to hear Dad speak this way to Percy, but she was not unsympathetic. He was almost certainly right about this. Percy gave Dad a very ugly look.
"Fudge has been going around making sure nobody at the Ministry's been talking to Dumbledore, and that anyone who is can pack their bags," Dad continued. "And of course, I'm a prime suspect for that, given my history with him. This is just a ploy by Fudge to keep a close watch on our family and find out what Dumbledore's up to."
"How dare you!" Percy shrieked. "How dare you think this is about anything less than my own talents and hard work! You're just mad I've surpassed you just one year after graduating!"
"BOLLOCKS!" Dad screamed, standing up so fast he knocked his chair over, his face red with fury.
"You should be happy someone's actually bringing a little money home for a change!" Percy yelled. "We've always had issues financially because you have no ambition! Now that someone in this family finally does, you get all upset? I earned this promotion! I earned it despite having to work against your lousy reputation –"
"MY WHAT?" shouted Dad. "THE ONLY REASON YOU GOT PROMOTED IS BECAUSE YOU KISS FUDGE'S ASS! PEOPLE WHO SCREW UP AS BADLY AS YOU DID LAST YEAR DON'T GET PROMOTED! HE KNOWS YOU HAVE NO INTEGRITY AND WILL DO ANYTHING TO ADVANCE YOUR CAREER, INCLUDING SELLING OUT YOUR OWN FAMILY!"
"I AM NOT SELLING OUT ANYONE, YOU AND DUMBLEDORE ARE SPREADING FEAR AND LIES –"
"IT'S THE WORD OF DUMBLEDORE AND HARRY AGAINST FUDGE'S! WHEN HAS DUMBLEDORE EVER BEEN WRONG, OR STIRRED UP TROUBLE? IT'S ASININE! MUM WAS THERE WHEN DUMBLEDORE TOLD FUDGE EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED, FUDGE BLUBBERED LIKE THE CLUELESS COWARD HE IS! HE'S MORE CONCERNED ABOUT HIS OWN STINKING SKIN THAN PROTECTING THE WIZARDING WORLD!"
"YOU FOOL!" screeched Percy, looking quite deranged now. He was shaking with rage. "DUMBLEDORE IS THROUGH! AND YOU WILL BE TOO IF YOU STICK BY HIM! HE'S LOST HIS MARBLES AND IS CAUSING A PANIC BASED ON THE WORD OF A FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD BOY WHO HALLUCINATES AND PASSES OUT IN CLASS!"
Ginny felt her hands clench into fists, and the blood started rushing to her head.
"Cedric just decided to off himself in the middle of the third task, did he?" said George scathingly. Percy ignored him. A short but very awkward silence followed.
"There is nothing wrong with Harry Potter's faculties," Dad said in a voice of suppressed rage. "You have known him for four years now and never once questioned his sanity. I know you don't really believe anything you're saying, and it's just a matter of waiting for you to pull your head out of your ass."
"I think we'll be waiting a while on that one," Fred sneered.
"I know where my loyalties lie," Percy said, addressing Dad, his voice trembling, "and that's with the Ministry. If you and Mum are going to stab Fudge and the Ministry in the back, then I'm going to make sure they know that I'm no longer a Weasley."
And with that, he stormed off up the stairs to his room. Five minutes later he reappeared with a fully packed trunk and marched out the back door without another word.
"What a git," said Fred, as Mum became so distraught that she left the kitchen and went upstairs. Dad poked moodily at his food, his face still red.
Ginny didn't know what to say, but for some reason she felt this was a long time coming with Percy.
"I'm on your side here, Dad," said Bill. "He was in loads of trouble over Crouch. There's no way that promotion was based on merit. Percy is blinded by his ego and ambition though. He would never accept that there could be an alternative motive for the promotion; it has to be because he's so wonderful and perfect."
"Hear, hear," said Ron. "Just forget about him. He's a slimeball and always has been."
Dad looked down at his food in embarrassment, but Ginny could still see a note of defiance in his face that told her he was not regretting anything he said.
The heavy aura that filled the house after Percy's departure remained until Tuesday of the following week, when they were informed that they would be spending the remainder of the summer at Order of the Phoenix headquarters. Mum told them they needed to go pack their things, as they would be leaving early the following morning.
"Ginny," called Dad from the living room. "Come here a second, there's some things we need to go over before we leave tomorrow."
Ginny went over to sit by her father on the couch.
"I've already explained this to Ron, Fred, and George, but haven't had the chance to tell you yet. First off, this place we're going has been given every measure of protection imaginable, you probably won't find a safer building anywhere. But it has its drawbacks. The building is very dirty, and there is a lot of dodgy stuff in there left by the… previous occupants."
Ginny's curiosity was aroused slightly but she nodded and didn't say anything.
"When you're walking in the hallways, take extra care to be as quiet as possible. There are nasty portraits on the walls that will wake up when they hear noise. They have a Permanent Sticking Charm on them and can't be removed. Believe me, we've tried everything."
Ginny nodded again.
"And lastly, and perhaps Ron has told you already, but Sirius Black."
Ginny looked at her father, bewildered. "What about him?"
"I guess Ron hasn't told you then. He's on our side now, so don't be alarmed when you see him."
"What?" said Ginny, startled.
"Well, turns out he's always been on our side. He was wrongly accused. The crimes he was sent to Azkaban for were committed by Peter Pettigrew, who faked his own death and then transformed into a rat. He's an Animagus. You remember Ron's pet rat, Scabbers? Ever wonder what happened to him? That's him. Harry, Ron, and Hermione exposed him at the end of their third year but most unfortunately, he escaped before the Ministry could learn the truth and Sirius had to go into hiding."
Ginny felt the color drain from her face while Dad was talking. She had seen that rat in the bathroom many times over the years as she got in and out of the shower.
"I think I'm gonna be sick," she said, her voice shaking.
Her father looked at her with a mixture of confusion and concern.
"I know that's rather shocking, but the main point I'm making is not to be alarmed when you see Sirius."
"Are you telling me," said Ginny, her voice still uneven, "that a mass murderer lived as a rat under our roof for over ten years?"
"It gave me quite a turn too when I found out." He began to look a bit shaken too, perhaps due to Ginny's face, which was so pale she thought she was going to faint. She decided not the share the information about Scabbers in the bathroom with her father just this moment. In the midst of this horrifying revelation sinking in was a twinge of annoyance at Harry, Ron, and Hermione for never telling her about this. They had had an entire school year to do so.
Ginny brushed her teeth quickly and checked under her bed for any rodents before getting dressed that night. She laid down, still feeling nauseous and not sleepy at all, and she wondered just how much more she was going to be able to handle before she snapped.
She woke up late after a very bad night's sleep (which she was getting quite used to at this point) and realized with a jolt she had not packed anything.
Ginny flung her belongings into her trunk haphazardly, and after filling her bag with as many books and personal items as she could, met the rest of her family downstairs in the living room, including Dad, who had taken the day off. Albus Dumbledore was there.
"Ah, there's Miss Weasley," he said, beaming. "I believe that leaves just Ron?"
"Yes," said Dad.
Ten minutes later, Ron arrived, and Dumbledore spoke.
"If there is anything you've forgotten, you can always come back to get it. I will not lift the protections I've put on the house. That being said, please let someone from the Order know if you need to return here for something, so there are no surprises."
They grunted to acknowledge they understood.
"Before we go, I must ask each of you a question that only the real you would know the answer to. We don't need any more situations like last year."
He went around and asked each one of them a personal question. He was apparently satisfied with the answers he received.
"Miss Weasley," he said, as he reached her. "The dress robes you wore last year to the Yule Ball were once owned by whom?"
"My Aunt Muriel," she said promptly. Dumbledore smiled to indicate she gave the correct answer. She didn't bother to ask how he knew that.
"Well, sounds like we're all set, then!" said Dumbledore happily. "Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix may be found at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, London."
"How do we get there?" said Ron.
"Now that I have just revealed the location, you can arrive by Floo Powder," said Dumbledore.
One by one, they tossed the Floo Powder into the fireplace and said, "Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, London", and were whisked away.
They found themselves in a dark, musty kitchen. A figure sitting on the far end of a large dining table stood up as they clambered into the room.
"Good to see you all!" said Sirius Black.
They all greeted him in return. It felt weird to be cordially introduced to someone you thought was a mass murderer for years. Ginny felt a lurch in her stomach at seeing evidence with her own eyes that what Dad had told her last night was true. She was still holding out a little bit of hope that it somehow wasn't, as silly as that notion was. She knew her father wouldn't lie to her.
"Drinks!" Sirius said happily, summoning butterbeer from the pantry. "As this house belongs to me, I intend to host properly. Everyone have a seat."
Ginny got a good look at Sirius' face for the first time. It was hard to believe it was the same person she had seen on the wanted posters a couple years ago. There was no matted hair and his beard was trimmed to a long stubble, and he looked much healthier. In fact, he was quite good-looking.
"This is your house?" said Ron with surprise.
"Inherited it from my hag of a mum, yeah," said Sirius bitterly.
Ron laughed.
"Everyone enjoying summer so far?" said Sirius.
"Not really, no," said George. They explained to Sirius about Percy, and about two-thirds of the way through they heard the sound of shattering glass. They all looked around at Dad, who was holding a broken beaker of butterbeer, the contents spilling out onto the table.
"Sorry," Dad mumbled, as he repaired the glass and cleaned up the mess with a couple waves of his wand. Mum had burst into tears and left the room.
"I'm sorry that happened," said Sirius earnestly, when they finished telling him about the incident with Percy. "He sounds like a real piece of work. Well, feel free to take your things up to your rooms and unpack. It's a big house, there's plenty of bedrooms for all of you, plus Harry and Hermione when they get here, but you'll have to double bunk. Make yourselves at home. Be sure to walk quietly through the halls, lest you want to encounter the wrath of my dear old mum."
"Huh?" said Ginny.
"It's just a portrait," said Sirius. "She'll start screaming obscenities if she's disturbed, so we try to be quiet in the halls. It's a pain to shut her up once she gets going. Inevitably, though, some genius rings the doorbell during the day and sets her off. Usually Dung, of course. Oh well, he has to learn eventually, right?"
Ginny wondered vaguely who "Dung" could be as Dad led her, Ron, Fred, and George out of the kitchen and into the hallway, which was even darker. There were old-fashioned gas lamps along the walls, but they did not produce much light at all, as the walls were dark in color and absorbed most of it. It was easy to walk quietly; though the floor was hardwood, the dust was so thick under their feet that they might as well be walking on carpet. Dad led them up a flight of stairs; Ginny gasped as they passed a bunch of house elf heads mounted on plaques along the wall. Seriously, what the hell? she thought.
"Well, here we are," said Dad, stepping onto the first floor landing. "You can each take one bedroom per floor. They're all basically the same. Ginny, you can bunk with Hermione when she gets here, and Ron can bunk with Harry when he does the same."
"When will that be?" said Ron.
"Hermione will be here in a few days. For Harry, not sure. A few weeks, most likely. He'll have to get his books from Diagon Alley and such, or more likely one of us will go get them for him, just to be safe. Beds are already set up for you with clean sheets and blankets."
Ginny chose the bedroom on the first landing while Ron took the bedroom on the second. With a jolt she saw the door handle was in the shape of a serpent's head. She hated serpents. The last thing she needed was fresh reminders of her first-year horrors to go with everything else she was dealing with. The voices of the others were silenced when the door shut behind her, and she looked around the dark, depressing bedroom.
Thoughts of Harry and Cho filled the vacuum in her mind. She had no power or energy to stop it. She wondered dimly how long it would take for them to start dating when they arrived back at school. A couple days? Maybe a week? Or would they torture her further by dragging it out like Ron and Hermione were currently doing with each other? She wrenched her mind away from the depressing ruminations, threw her stuff on the floor, and headed back downstairs quickly, looking for a distraction.
"Ginny," said Mum, who had returned to the kitchen. Her eyes were red and puffy. "As you can see, this house is in a right state. You, Fred, George, and Ron will be cleaning up and decontaminating the place to make it more livable the next few weeks."
Her brothers grumbled at this news, but Ginny was thankful that she'd be kept busy. Time spent cleaning was time spent not thinking about Harry, Cho, Voldemort, Percy, the ghastly new Scabbers revelation, the Chamber of Secrets, and whatever other horrors that weren't occupying a spot in her mind at the moment.
"You can start with the library on the ground floor," Mum said. "We've got Doxycide and whatever else you might need."
"Isn't this the house elf's job?" said Ron angrily.
"It should be, but he hasn't cleaned so much as a kitchen utensil in years. Old and senile, probably."
Mum led them out of the kitchen and up the stairs to the ground floor, where she indicated the door to the library. To their relief, they did not encounter any doxies in there. It was, however, the most dust Ginny had ever seen in her life; everything was coated in a thick film of grey and white. Removing the dust was easy; they could eliminate it with a few waves of their wands. The grime that coated many of the books was harder to remove, as many of the books fought back.
"Scourgify – OW!" The book whacked Fred in the head, and he shielded his head and ran, and the book didn't give up until George hit it with a Stunning spell.
Most of the books went relatively quietly, however, and it was nearly lunchtime by the time they finished with the bookshelf.
"I overheard Dad saying there was a meeting this afternoon when I went to the loo," George said, a mischievous grin on his face. "I'd say this is a good opportunity to test out those Extendable Ears."
"Those what?" said Ginny.
"Extendable Ears," said George.
"We invented them," Fred said smugly. "Great for eavesdropping. We'll show you how they work later when they have the meeting."
They made their way to the kitchen for lunch. A witch Ginny had never seen before was at the table with Dad and Sirius while Mum prepared food at the stove. She was quite young and had spiky pink hair, and she beamed at them when they entered.
"Hi!" she said brightly. "I've been waiting for you all so I could introduce myself."
Ginny forced a smile.
"I'm Nymphadora Tonks," she said. "But everyone just calls me Tonks. Call me Nymphadora and I'll hex you." She smiled.
"It's nice to meet you," said Ginny mechanically.
"Ginny, dear, can you go into the pantry and fetch me some carrots?" said Mum.
"Sure."
"It's that door right there," said Mum, indicating a decrepit door in the corner of the kitchen. "Take the lantern so you can see."
Ginny picked up the lantern off the kitchen counter and went into the pantry. It was very large, and after looking around and locating the carrots, she continued further and found large amounts of alcohol, including a wine rack that was stuffed full, lots of butterbeer, several bottles of gin, rum, firewhisky, and exotic liquors she hadn't heard of before. Everything was covered in dust. A little puzzled by this, she returned to the kitchen with the carrots and sat down at the table. Tonks was still chatting amiably with everyone but looked at Ginny when she sat down.
"I was just telling your brothers that I'm an Auror. Just qualified a year ago!"
"That's cool," said Ginny, not caring in the slightest, though she put on a happy face so nobody would ask her what was wrong. She found this witch's peppiness rather annoying.
"Was it hard? The training?" said Ron.
Tonks shrugged and said, "In some ways it was. It's definitely not for everyone."
Mum poured what looked like some type of stew into several bowls, and she picked up two of them and carried them to the table.
"I'll help you with that!" said Tonks. She stood up hurriedly and stumbled on a chair leg as she went to retrieve two more bowls of stew sitting on the counter. Ginny wondered dully how much coffee this witch had had this morning. Mum plopped a bowl of stew in front of Ginny, and she bolted it down while giving very little thought to what it was she was eating. Tonks put a bowl fruit on the table, and Ginny took some and wolfed that down as well.
"Someone's hungry," mused Fred.
Ginny merely shrugged.
"Hey, check this out!" said Tonks energetically, looking over at Ginny and her brothers. Ginny looked back at her begrudgingly. Tonks made a strained face, then, her spiky pink hair turned blue and had grown to shoulder-length.
"How did you do that?" Ginny said, with a little bit of genuine curiosity this time. She'd never seen anyone be able to do that before.
"I'm a Metamorphmagus," she said brightly. "It means I can change my appearance at will."
"Wicked!" said Ron.
"That's really neat!" said Ginny, mustering as much enthusiasm as she could.
"Came in real handy during my Auror training!" said Tonks, sitting back down.
"Just think, George," said Fred. "If we had the ability to do that, Mum might finally be able to tell us apart!"
George sat in mock thought for a second. "Nah, she'd still have trouble."
Tonks laughed loudly. Ginny turned to Sirius in an effort to change the subject. She was already sick of Tonks.
"Sirius, you said this was your parents' house, right?"
"Yeah," he said with a grim look.
"I take it you didn't enjoy it much?"
Sirius gave a bark-like laugh.
"Enjoy it? I ran away when I was sixteen. My family was a bunch of Death Eaters and Death Eater-wannabes. I was the only sane one."
"You ran away? Where did you go?" said Ron.
"The Potters, of course. Me and Harry's dad were best friends in school, you know. Much like you and Harry are now. They were always happy to have me over."
Ginny got up suddenly. She didn't know exactly what was going on in her head right now, all she knew was she had to leave this room immediately or she would be in danger of having a mental breakdown. "Well, back to cleaning up the library, I guess. It was nice to meet you, Tonks."
"You too, Ginny."
Ginny smiled as convincingly as she could, waved goodbye, and left the kitchen.
She walked back to the library in a daze, and after she got there, she couldn't really remember the walk back from the kitchen at all. She picked up a book and began wiping it down absentmindedly. What exactly was going on with her? You're depressed, said a voice in her head. That's why you're annoyed by cheerful people…
She knew at once the voice was right, she just didn't know what to do about it. There was nothing she could do. There was simply nothing for her to be happy about. Her life was a trainwreck. She got suckered by the memory of a charming boy who turned out to be a murderous psychopath, who was now threatening not only her family, but the entire Wizarding world. Another murdering pervert had been watching her take showers for years disguised as a rat. The boy she loved was in love with someone else. Hermione would be here in a few days, and she knew she would say something about her feelings for Harry. She suddenly wished Hermione would change her mind and decide to spend the rest of her summer with her parents instead. She didn't want to tell anyone about her troubles, not even her.
"I think that book is clean now, sis," said a voice behind her.
She jumped horribly. She turned and saw George smiling at her. Her brothers had come back from lunch. She realized she had been polishing the same book for over five minutes now.
"Damn, he got you good, Ginny," said Fred with a chuckle.
"I've never seen you so eager to do chores," Ron grumbled.
"I find this place rather fascinating," she lied without hesitation.
"Fascinating?" said George incredulously. "Did Mum drug your stew or something?"
Ginny laughed automatically, shrugged, and continued cleaning while Ron started emptying out cupboards filled with old, rather odd items that must have once belonged to the Blacks. Mum came in to check on them a couple hours later and seemed quite pleased with the progress they made.
"We're going to have a meeting in an hour or so. When you're done here you can go ahead get started on the bedrooms. If you encounter something really foul, knock on the kitchen door and one of us will come help you. I don't expect that to happen, though, we didn't find anything worse than a boggart in our initial sweep of the place."
With that, she left. They heard knocks on the front door over the course of the next half hour as members of the Order arrived for the meeting. Fred and George left the room and returned a moment later with a bunch of fleshy-looking strings with what looked like ears attached to one end.
"You just take the string end and insert it into your ear," Fred told Ron and Ginny. "And lower the end with the ear down towards wherever you want to eavesdrop. Easy peasy." They went back to cleaning for a while, but at ten past three they decided that it was the opportune time to test the Extendable Ears, as everyone now was in the kitchen and had gotten settled.
"It will be easier if we dangle them from the first-floor railing," said George, and they all followed him up the staircase and carefully lowered the strings over the railing and back down to the ground floor. The strings slithered and squirmed as though alive, and they wiggled their way to the steps and then down toward the kitchen door. Ginny stuck one in her ear.
"…still keeping tabs on Malfoy," came Dad's voice, as though he was right next to them.
"What's going on with him?" said Tonks.
"Just the usual sucking up to Fudge," Dad replied, "using money and reputation, like always. No indication he's put an Imperius Curse on him, though, according to Dumbledore. He thinks Fudge is acting of his own volition."
"Not sure if that's comforting or not," came the growling voice of Mad-Eye Moody.
"It's not," said Dad.
"And Avery?" said Lupin.
"He's laying low right now, as apparently is Voldemort," came a voice they didn't recognize. "We believe they are probably keeping close proximity to each other…"
So they were tracking Death Eaters. This did not come as a shock. After about ten minutes, they decided they had pressed their luck enough and raised the Extendable Ears back up and resumed cleaning. Ginny had hoped that they would hear something more interesting than Death Eater tracking, but as Fred reminded her and Ron, there was always next time. This was not going to be the only meeting.
Decontaminating the library took longer than they thought. They found enormous cockroaches in the sofa, and there were many strange and disturbing artifacts laying around that resembled stuff one might find in Knockturn Alley, which they collected in rubbish bags. Once they finished, they returned to the kitchen for dinner and afterwards Ginny played games with her brothers before heading off to bed. The combination of cleaning and putting on the upbeat front all day had worn her out, and she fell asleep almost immediately.
