We received the following note from Percy the next morning, and I also owled Demelza and Amy, as well as Hermione about what happened.
I am currently living at 51 Champion Court, Argenta Close, off Diagon Alley, London. Please do not visit me here or attempt to contact me unless it is to apologise.
"Well isn't he just charming" I said as I placed the note down on the kitchen table.
Everyone made noises of disgust as they read it.
"Well he's not stopping me" said Mum. Once we've settled in to the place on Saturday I'm going to try and talk some sense into him"
"Speaking of charming, take a look at this" said Bill, who had arrived to participate in the Order himself. He had also started seeing a woman frequently, someone called Nymphadora Tonks, who he had been to Hogwarts with. We had asked about Fleur Delacour, and to the amusement of myself, and surprisingly Mum, she had apparently been rejected in her Gringotts application and was now back in France.
It was the Daily Prophet, and at first it didn't seem clear what Bill was talking about, as the story was only about a man who claimed to have defeated a troll with his bare hands.
"Look at the last line" he said, pointing at it.
Suddenly it made sense why he was annoyed, as the last line said "a tale worthy of Harry Potter"
"That's not the only mention" Bill continued. He flipped to 3 other stories, and they all contained things like "let's hope he hasn't got a scar on his forehead or we'll all be asked to worship him next"
There were also some stories about Dumbledore losing his place on the Wizangamot, as well as several of his other accolades.
"They can't seriously take away his Order of Merlin?!" Ron said after reading this, "if they do then this country is truly fucked!"
"It's fucked enough as it is bro" I said "just believing Dumbledore is a traitor to the country is bad enough, let alone doing all this other shit to him!"
"Is Charlie joining this order thing then?" asked Fred
"Yes, but Dumbledore thinks he'd be useful in making foreign contacts" said Mum "so he's still in Romania. He needs to now that..." she stopped herself saying Percy's name, in order to avoid crying again.
"So tell us more about this Tonks girl you're seeing" George said, changing the subject.
"I must say I approve of the choice" Mum said "I was worried for quite a while that you might end up with Fleur Delacour"
"Yes, well, although I did like her, I'd known Nymphadora for a lot longer, and my feelings for her were much stronger, so that's who I chose in the end" said Bill
"What's she like then?" Ron said
"Well, funnily enough, she doesn't like being called Nymphadora, she actually prefers only to be known as Tonks. Do me a favour all of you and don't tell her I said her first name please. But aside from that, she's really cool, Ginny I think you in particular will like her, she's got a lot in common with you"
"Really?" I said
"Yeah, she's quite laid back, funny, sarcastic and good at Quidditch. Won the cup twice with Hufflepuff and was their captain in her sixth and seventh year. She's an Auror so is real vicious with her hexes, and well, every other type of combat spell of course. Only just qualified last year actually, so she's hungry for missions. That's why we're in talks about her joining the Order, as the Ministry are so useless at the moment"
"Did Mad Eye train her?"
"Yeah, so you know she's going to be top notch!"
"I must say, she does sound like someone I'd like, you're right Bill! When can we meet her?"
"Well, she should be at the first meeting at HQ Saturday night, so probably then"
"After the meeting you mean" Mum added in.
"Oh of course" Bill said
"Why only after the meeting?" I said
"Because you're too young to take part in them. The subjects we'll be discussing are absolutely none of your concern!" said Mum
"What, fighting Voldemort?" I said hotly "we care just as much about beating him as you do!"
"We're of age!" said Fred
"Yeah, you can't stop us!" said George
"You two are not fully qualified wizards yet, you're still in school! To be honest, with your ambitions, you wouldn't be worthy of being in the order anyway!"
"What about Harry?" said Ron
"He's only 15, like you. He is in no place to join!"
"Harry's fought You Know Who himself 3 times! It seems to me like this Order thing is all about fighting Death Eaters. You've never seemed like the Duelling type to me Mum. How come they've let you join?" I said
There was a ringing silence
"You know what, I can't lie, Ginny has a point. Have you, like, ever duelled anyone before?" Bill said eventually
Mum sighed, biting her lip
"Not before last month" she said. "But, but" she held up her hands to silence us. "The Order does duelling and other combat tests with every potential addition, and your father and I both passed. I'll admit, it was only a very narrow pass with me, but I still did it"
"Why not put all of us through those tests then! I'm sure we could handle it!" I said
"Yeah, and if we can't, Harry absolutely can, considering what he's been through!" said Ron
"NO!" Mum shouted "the Order works with those graduated and of age and that's final!"
Fred, George, Ron and I left the room and went upstairs, grumbling.
"Well that was a load of bollocks" said Ron
"Yeah, we should have expected nothing less to be honest" I added
But Fred and George had some strangely happy looks on their faces.
"What are you two so pleased about" Ron said
"This may be a blessing in disguise young siblings" said Fred
"Yeah, it might just end up being exactly what we needed" added George
"Look, can you just spit it out please?" I said
"Patience little sis" said George soothingly, patting me on the back "come into our room and we'll show you"
"I'll show you something too if you patronize me again"
We entered Fred and George's room, and Fred pulled out some long thin strings, with model ears attached to the ends.
"Our newest prototype" he said
"Extendable Ears see" said George "if you want to eavesdrop on a conversation without being physically within hearing range, you lower the ear to a position near it, and then you can hear through it if you put the other end of the string up to your ear"
"We haven't tested them yet, so now these order meetings could be the perfect chance to do so, as long as we play our cards right" said Fred
"Sounds interesting" said Ron
"Indeed!" I said "let's hope they work out!"