Ginny, Ron, Hermione, and the twins were given a reprieve from cleaning by Mum for the rest of the day. They spent the rest of the afternoon in Ron's room, watching Ron and Fred play wizard chess while chatting about what Dumbledore had told them, who the next Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher would be, and Voldemort's potential plans and what he might be doing right now.

"Hopefully we'll find out tonight with the Extendable Ears," said Ron.

"What are those?" said Hermione.

Fred and George gleefully explained their inventions to Hermione, and Ginny saw her bite her lip.

"I don't know about this," she said.

"Come off it, Hermione," said Ron, grinning. "We all know you'll have one in your ear come meeting time."

Sure enough, at eight o'clock, the Order of the Phoenix gathered in the kitchen for the meeting, and Ginny, Ron, Fred, George, and Hermione assembled on the first-floor landing, each holding an Extendable Ear. They dropped the Ears down over the railing just as they had done on Wednesday, which squirmed and writhed their way down to the kitchen door.

"…big nose out of my business, Snivellus," came Sirius's angry voice. "I'm doing exactly what Dumbledore has requested of me, same as you."

"Indeed," came the sneering voice of Severus Snape.

"What's he doing here?" Ginny hissed.

"He's a member," said George in a tone that clearly indicated he did not think Snape had any business being one.

"Dumbledore is convinced he's on our side," said Fred, "but regardless, he's still a git."

"Shh!" hissed Ron. "I'm trying to listen!"

"…Podmore and Kingsley not coming?" growled Mad-Eye Moody.

"Kingsley is on guard duty," said Bill, "and Podmore is on Privet Drive, keeping an eye on Harry."

"Just as well, Podmore never contributes," said Mad-Eye harshly.

"Well, someone's got to do it," came Tonks's voice. "It was his turn."

"Who's got the blueprints?" said an unfamiliar voice.

"Right here, Hestia," said Lupin.

"Thanks, Remus."

Nobody said anything for a moment, and they heard the sound of rustling parchment.

"Kingsley is positioned here?" said Hestia.

"More or less," growled Mad-Eye. "Gives him the best escape route if the worst should happen."

They suddenly heard Mad-Eye swear loudly, followed by a squelching noise.

"This thing's always sticking," he said angrily. "That idiot didn't know how to maintain it when he wore it."

Ginny realized he must have been talking about his magical eye, and with a jolt, she realized he could potentially see them eavesdropping if he happened to look. After a few more minutes of the Order discussing this mysterious building, the topic turned to recruitment, which Ginny and the others found boring, and they agreed it wasn't worth the risk of someone in the kitchen discovering them. They retracted the Extendable Ears and decided to play Exploding Snap instead.

When the meeting was over, Mum opened the bedroom door and let them know dinner was ready. The five of them headed to the kitchen, where Mum had cooked a large pork roast. They met several witches and wizards they had never seen before, including Hestia Jones, Elphias Doge, and Dedalus Diggle. Tonks introduced herself to Hermione and entertained her with her Metamorphosing just as she had done with Ginny.

"Hermione, do you know where you're sleeping?" Ginny heard Mum say to her, after things started winding down.

"No, not yet."

"I'll show you."

Mum led her out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Ginny, having nothing else better to do, started throwing scraps of food on the floor for Crookshanks to chase, before she finally decided to head up for bed too. When she opened her door, Pigwidgeon was flying around the room frantically, as he always did when he had delivered a letter.

"You have a letter, Ginny," Hermione said unnecessarily, holding up an envelope.

"My mum didn't see that, did she?" said Ginny at once. She knew the letter was from Michael and didn't want to tell Mum about him just yet. She knew she'd start going off about how she was too young to date and yada yada, and one or more of her brothers would probably overhear, which would be a headache she didn't need right now.

"No," said Hermione. "But I did. So… you finally decided to take my advice?"

Ginny's brain jammed for a moment. Advice? What advice?

"Oh! Yes. Yes, I did," she said, realization dawning on her. She had completely forgotten about what Hermione had told her last year with everything that had happened in the last couple of weeks.

"Did you forget?" said Hermione incredulously.

"No," Ginny lied. "It's just there's been so much going on… since the third task…"

"I understand," said Hermione earnestly.

Ginny grabbed the letter, tore it open and read. Michael was not upset about her not writing quick enough (or at least claimed not to be), said he missed her too, and told her about his vacation in America. Ginny grabbed some parchment, a quill, and some ink and began writing a response.

"When did you start dating Michael?" said Hermione.

"Last week of term," said Ginny tonelessly, continuing to write and not looking up.

"So," said Hermione slowly, with that all-too-familiar air of comprehending something that nobody else would ever be able to, "you forgot about my advice after You-Know-Who's return, but got together with Michael anyway?"

"Yeah," said Ginny, still not looking up.

"So, that means you're over Harry then? No feelings whatsoever?" Hermione almost sounded deflated.

"That's right," said Ginny flatly. She scratched her nose with the end of her quill as she contemplated how to finish her letter.

"I don't believe you," said Hermione ruthlessly.

"I don't care."

Ginny folded up her letter, stuck it in an envelope, and addressed it. She tied the letter to Pigwidgeon, and after his usual performance, he shot out the open window like a Firebolt. Ginny gave Hermione a smug look and got into bed.

"And what about you and Krum?" she said, pulling out her Quidditch book.

"I broke it off, but we're still friends, and we've already written to each other a couple times this summer," said Hermione.

"Ron will be pleased to hear that," said Ginny sardonically.

Hermione said nothing, though Ginny could feel her eyes on her. She flipped a page in her book, determined not to return her gaze. After a few awkward seconds that felt like much longer, Hermione gave a scoff and got into bed.

"You are so full of it," she said harshly. Ginny ignored her.


They cleaned out the kitchen on Sunday, finding all sorts of foul things in cupboards and cabinets, including large, demented rodents that nearly caused Ginny to vomit. Each time she thought about Scabbers, a fresh shockwave hit her at just how disgusting the revelation was, and the reality of it sunk in a little deeper.

Sirius helped them as they encountered some cursed china, possessed pots and pans, and more dodgy artifacts. By mid-afternoon, they had barely made a dent in it.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Sirius swore loudly and hurried out of the kitchen and up the stairs. A bone-chilling, earsplitting shriek reached their ears when Sirius opened the kitchen door.

"FILTH! SLIME! SHAME OF MY FAMILY! BEFOULING THE HOUSE OF MY MASTERS!" came a horrible, female voice from the hallway above. They all looked at each other, perplexed, then drew their wands and made their way up the stairs to investigate the source of the commotion.

Curtains hanging on the hallway wall, that up until now Ginny hadn't paid any attention to whatsoever, had swung open to reveal a large portrait of a truly insane looking witch with dark hair, yellow-ish skin and bulging eyes. Spit was flying from her mouth as she shouted obscenities at the lot of them, and Mum and Dad rushed in from the library to help Sirius slam the curtains shut again, which took enormous effort. Mum ran through the hall Stunning other portraits which had also started screaming. A deafening silence fell after the last portrait was Stunned, and Sirius, panting slightly, headed back toward the kitchen.

"That's why you don't ring the damn bell," he said irritably, as Dad went to open the front door and Ginny saw the outline of Mundungus Fletcher standing in the bright doorway, arms full of what appeared to be a bunch of random items. "And why we try to be as quiet as possible in the hallway."

"That was your mum?" said Ron, astonished. "Now I see why you ran away!"

Sirius grinned in spite of himself.


On Monday evening, Dad revealed at dinner that he found out where Percy was now living while at work that day. There was a heavy tension around the table at the mention of Percy, and Hermione looked at Ron, bewildered.

"I'll explain later," Ron muttered to her.

After they finished eating, the three of them and the twins gathered on one end of the table and explained to Hermione about the falling out with Percy. Hermione listened to the story with her mouth agape.

"Have you all been reading The Daily Prophet?" she said.

"No," the rest of them said together.

"Well, I have," said Hermione. "They've been taking shots at Dumbledore and putting in snide comments about Harry wherever they can. Percy obviously takes the Prophet seriously."

"What sort of snide comments?" said Ron.

"Well, like the other day, there was a story about some nutter who claimed he was born with a goblin brain," said Hermione. "And the author made a comment about how the man's story 'was so outlandish that Harry Potter would be proud'."

Ginny felt her face burn in anger. She glanced at Ron, who looked like he was feeling the same way.

"What rubbish," said Fred.

"Yeah, it's actually pretty horrible," said Hermione. "But this is how it is now with everything Ministry-related, including the Prophet."

None of them knew what to say. How much longer was the Ministry denial going to continue? Was Voldemort going to have to waltz into the Ministry and kiss Fudge on the lips before he accepted that he really had come back? Harry should be considered a hero and instead the Ministry was painting him as some attention-seeking nutcase. It was such an injustice.

"Has Harry been getting the Daily Prophet?" said Ginny.

"I think so," Hermione said uncertainly.

Ginny could only imagine how angry Harry must be feeling right now, stuck at home with his horrible aunt and uncle with his only source of wizarding news being a newspaper that treats him as a joke and doesn't report on anything related to Voldemort. Unbidden in Ginny's mind came an image of herself sitting next to Harry after he finally snapped, telling him everything was okay and that she was there for him as she wrapped her arms around him tightly and kissed him. She forced this out her mind quickly.

Mum went into London the following day to the address Dad gave her in an attempt to make amends with Percy, but she returned quickly with tears in her eyes, which told everyone that the mission was not a success.

"H-He slammed the door in my face!" she sobbed.

"He's a worthless git, Mum," said Fred. "He's not worth your time." Far from cheering her up, though, this made her cry even harder, and she ran from the room with her hands over her face.

The Order of the Phoenix had another meeting that night, and from what they gathered on the Extendable Ears, the Order was still guarding something important, but they were none the wiser as to what it actually was or where it was located. They also heard Mum and Dad talking about how Dumbledore was having tremendous difficulty finding someone to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts for the coming school year. Ginny could hardly feel surprised by this; none of her teachers had ever lasted more than a year, and the rumors were that the job was jinxed.

It took all week to decontaminate the kitchen. True to her word, Ginny did not touch the firewhisky again, which still lay at the bottom of her trunk; she did not have the opportunity anyway now that Hermione was bunking with her. She remained in a funk, but did not let on. She was becoming accustomed to her new emotionless self, and though she hated it, not caring was so much less stressful. The gaping hole that was now in her chest, however, was a steep price to pay for it.

Hedwig arrived on Thursday of that week. Ginny was surprised it took Harry so long to write, and from what Ron and Hermione told her, the tone of his letters was not happy. Ginny fully expected that. Hermione and Ron sent letters back, but true to Dumbledore's wishes, they didn't reveal anything about where they were or what they were doing, only that they were "busy" and that they'd "explain everything" when they saw him, whenever that was. They all knew Harry was not going to be pleased to get those responses.

To make matters worse, Mum discovered the Extendable Ears during a meeting that Friday and went bonkers. As far as Mum's rants went, this one was certainly up there among the best. She screamed at the top of her lungs, telling them they were too young to be involved in the Order's business and that they were defying Dumbledore, and her voice was hoarse and strained the following day. The only good thing was Fred and George managed to hide the Ears they weren't using before Mum discovered them, so only a few were confiscated. Mum was still in a bad mood on Sunday.

"You'll be cleaning the attic this week," she snapped at them during dinner.

They could tell the moment they stepped into the attic on Monday morning that this was a punishment. The attic was huge and packed to the brim with rubbish, along with all manner of suspicious artifacts (and in many cases, dark objects), and large, aggressive critters. To make things even more difficult, the house elf, Kreacher, wandered in frequently to steal back items from their rubbish bags.

"KREACHER!" they heard Sirius bellow from the doorway, making them all jump. "Away with you! Back downstairs!"

"Of course, Master," croaked the elf, bowing low so that his wrinkly, hooked nose touched the floor. He started muttering in a low voice as he left. They couldn't hear what he was saying, but whatever it was caused Sirius to throw a piece of rubbish at him.

"That elf is good for nothing," he snarled.

Even with the help of Sirius and Mum, they made very little progress on the attic. Hedwig returned that evening with more letters, and this time, one of them was for Sirius.

"Harry's really mad," Sirius told them grumpily. "As we told Dumbledore he would be. Can hardly blame him."

"We have to do as he says, though," said Hermione anxiously. "Also, his birthday is this Saturday, I'm going to send an owl for some Honeydukes chocolates. I think that will cheer him up."

"Good thinking!" said Ron. "I'll have to think of something for him too."

Ginny knew exactly what she'd like to give Harry for his birthday, but she quickly forced it out of her mind once again. She could not keep having these types of thoughts; it was nothing more than self-torture. She knew at this point that it just wasn't meant to be. Life was cruel that way.

Tuesday morning was hardly more productive than Monday was. So much time was spent on subduing dark objects, many of which attempted to bite or curse them, that there was no noticeable difference when they all went down for lunch. They bumped into the house elf again on the way out the door.

"What are you doing, Kreacher?" said Fred suspiciously.

"Kreacher is searching for his Mistress's treasures," he croaked.

"I know Sirius told you to stop interfering and get lost," said George hotly.

"The blood traitor is scolding Kreacher," muttered the elf, looking at the ground. "Oh, what would my poor Mistress say? Her beloved home, overrun by Mudbloods and cowards… trying to topple the Dark Lord…"

"GET OUT YOU PIECE OF FILTH!" roared Fred. Ginny had never seen him this angry.

Hermione, who apparently wasn't close enough to hear what Kreacher said, gave Fred a reproachful look.

"The blood traitor twins are trying to give Kreacher orders," the elf intoned.

Luckily, Sirius appeared at that moment and gave Kreacher a piece of his mind, along with stopping him from nicking any more items.


"Mum, have you seen Dumbledore lately?" said Ginny at lunch.

"No, not since you three last spoke to him. He's been quite busy."

"Harry's really restless, judging by his letters," said Ron. "Dumbledore really should let us tell him more. He's going to do something stupid."

"We have to trust him, Ron," said Mum. "He must have his reasons. He's right that the owls could get intercepted, and that would be very bad."

"There's got to be another way!"

"There isn't, unless you think you know better than him?"

They recognized this to be a pointless conversation and said nothing more. Mum would never go against Dumbledore, and especially not when it involved keeping secrets from them, being the mollycoddler that she was. Ginny always thought it was a power move on her part; a way of reminding them who was in charge, and she hated it.

The Honeydukes chocolates arrived on Friday, and Hermione mailed them to Harry straightaway. Ron had not thought of a gift for him and told Hermione to add his name to the tag attached to the box. Ginny could not stop herself from moping. It wasn't so much about not having something to give to Harry, but the fact that even if she did, she couldn't give it to him without it being considered weird and awkward. It was this that really ate her up inside. She was extremely envious of the bond Ron and Hermione had with him.

Tonks provided her usual Metamorphmagus entertainment at dinner time, which was one of the few things these days that was able to lift Ginny's mood. She had even started taking requests from Ginny and Hermione and was happy to oblige with whatever they asked for. Tonks even tried to match her hair with Ginny's, but was having difficulty getting the shade of red just right.

"Wait, no, a little too dark," she muttered, holding up her hair and doing a side-by-side comparison with Ginny's. She screwed up her face and changed it again, making it slightly lighter. "There, I think we almost got it now…"

"I always wanted a sister," Ginny mused.

She also gave them some good advice about eavesdropping. She knew there were many Extendable Ears that survived Mum's purge, and it was clear she had no issues whatsoever regarding their use. She said she didn't think there was much that was discussed in the Order meetings that required the kind of secrecy that Mum and Dumbledore expected.

"They know you still have a lot of the Extendable Ears left, but your mum can't find them," said Tonks. "So she might put an Imperturbable Charm on the door instead."

"We don't want to risk getting caught using those things again if they can't even get under the door," said Ginny.

"There's a simple way to check first; just fling stuff at the door and see if it makes contact. If it does, you're good. If not, then the door's been Imperturbed."

The Order had a meeting that night, but from what they could gather during the day, it wasn't a particularly important one and not many members even bothered showing up. It was an easy decision to forgo the use of the Extendable Ears.

The war on the attic and the house elf continued into Sunday and Monday. They had to guard their rubbish bags closely because Kreacher was very good at sneaking in undetected and nicking stuff from their bags without making a sound.

Albus Dumbledore joined them for dinner that night, and he did not seem to be in a pleasant mood by his standards, though he was still as polite as ever and complimented Mum on her delicious shepherd's pie. Sirius still seemed cold and distant towards him for what Ginny assumed was still for not allowing them to give Harry information.

"Hi, Professor!" Hermione said upon seeing the Hogwarts headmaster.

"It's good to see you, Miss Granger. And you too, Mr. Weasley," inclining his head toward Ron.

"Professor, I'm really worried about Harry," Hermione said quickly. "I can tell by his letters — he's really quite upset, he's not getting any information in that Muggle town, and the Prophet's useless, and I'm really concerned that he's going to do something stupid!"

"I understand, Miss Granger, but it is still vital to keep important information out of letters right now. You have been keeping your word on that, haven't you?"

"Yes — we have —"

"Good. I'm afraid this is just how it has to be right now."

"But sir —"

Dumbledore put up a hand to silence her. "I'm sorry, but you swore to me that you would follow my orders, Miss Granger. I will let you know when we can make a change."

"Can't Harry spend the rest of the summer here?" said Ron.

"I expect he will arrive in a week or two," said Dumbledore shortly. "Now, if you'll forgive me, I must be going, it is getting late…"

Dumbledore exited the kitchen without another word. Hermione and Ron looked at each other, dumbfounded. A few seconds later, the doorbell rang, and the table chatter was drowned out by Mrs. Black's portrait.

"Mudbloods! Blood traitors! Stains of treason and disgrace!"

"You'd think Dung would learn at some point," Sirius said loudly over the din.

Dumbledore promptly silenced Mrs. Black's portrait and the other portraits that had also started screaming. The rest of them went back to talking quietly with each other for about thirty seconds before another loud sound issued from up the stairs. Someone was yelling, but Ginny didn't recognize the voice. She turned to Ron and Hermione, who were both wearing a bemused look. They all got up and headed upstairs to figure out what was going on.

They froze when they reached the top of the staircase. The voice was Dumbledore's. Ginny looked at Ron and Hermione, their mouths were hanging open and their faces were white. None of them had seen Dumbledore truly angry before. Mundungus Fletcher was standing in front of the door, a look of terror on his face.

"…NOT TO LEAVE YOUR POST BEFORE YOUR SHIFT ENDS UNLESS I GIVE YOU SPECIFIC ORDERS TO DO SO!" Dumbledore screamed at him with a cold fury that seemed to leave a frisson around the house in its wake. Ginny noticed Mrs. Black's portrait was open and she appeared to be shrieking, but no sound was coming out. Dumbledore had evidently used a Silencing Charm on her. He turned away from Mundungus and headed straight towards Ginny, Ron, and Hermione.

"Arthur!" he said. They looked around and realized they weren't the only ones that had come up to investigate. Mum, Dad, Sirius, Lupin, Mad-Eye, the twins, and Tonks were right behind them.

"What is it, Albus?" Dad said. He looked as alarmed as they did. Whatever could make Dumbledore lose control like that had to be very, very bad.

"We have a situation. You and I have to go to the Ministry. Everyone else wait here. I will send word with further details and instructions shortly."

Dad did not hesitate. He and Dumbledore strode past a horrified Mundungus and out the door, and two muffled cracks told them they had Disapparated.

"What happened, Dung?" said Sirius sharply, but Mundungus merely shook his head slowly, still white-faced.

"Tell us what's going on right now," said Mum furiously.

"Dementors," he mumbled.

"What?" said Sirius. "Dementors? What do you mean?"

"Dementors," Mundungus repeated. "In Little Whinging."

"WHAT?" shrieked Tonks.

"They're gone now," muttered Mundungus. "Don't worry. 'Arry's fine. Figg sent 'im back to 'is 'ouse."

"What do you mean?" Sirius repeated. "Why was Dumbledore so angry with you? What happened?"

"And why aren't you on your shift?" said Lupin suspiciously.

Mundungus looked very uncomfortable. Ginny registered two things from this conversation: "Dementors", which always made her shudder, and "Harry's fine". She let out a deep breath.

Mundungus gathered himself. "Good point, I should be getting back. Dumbledore'll explain everything soon."

He hustled out the door and Disapparated.

"Blighter," said Mad-Eye furiously.

They went back to the kitchen, but did not have to wait long for news. Dad returned after only a few moments, looking grim.

"So, bad news?" said Tonks apprehensively.

"You could say that," Dad said in a flat voice. "Harry just got expelled from Hogwarts."