"SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL! YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE, HAVEN'T YOU!? ME?
I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEY'S FOR A MONTH! AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT - WHO SAVED THE SORCERER'S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE?"
It was as though any filter and self- control Harry had just come crumbling down.
Hedwig was now perched on the wardrobe and Pigwidgeon twittered in alarm and zoomed even faster around their heads. "WHO HAD TO GET PASS DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME!"
Ron stood there, clearly at a loss for words, and Hermione was standing there, waiting for Harry to let it all out, because it was clear he needed to, all she had to do was wait for him to stop.
"BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME OR LUCIFER WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING!?"
"Harry, mate, we wanted to, we really did-" Ron 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, NICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON-"
"We wanted to-"
"I SUPPOSE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU, ALL HOLED UP HERE TOGETHER-"
"No, honest-"
"Harry, we're both really sorry. I already told you I had a letter ready to go and Molly stopped me," Hermione said, using Mrs. Weasley's first name, "she kept me from telling you, and shredded the letter... I'd be furious if I was in your shoes, Harry... if you have any more to let out, go on."
Harry began pacing around, breathing in and out heavily, "What is this place, anyway?"
"It's the Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix," Ron said instantly.
"I have yet to be told what that is, so what are they?"
"It's a secret society," Hermione said, and she couldn't have believed her initial assessment of her arrival was almost on point, "an Organization Dumbledore founded back when Voldemort was first in rise to power. They fought against him and his followers."
"Who all's in it?" Harry shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Quite a few people-"
"- we've met about twenty or twenty-five of them," Ron continued off of Hermione's sentence, "but we think there are at least twice as many as that."
"So... neither of you would know about Voldemort then? Seeing as you've not been allowed in the meetings?" Harry asked tersely.
"Well, no... but we've got a general idea," Hermione revealed.
Harry's face almost seemed to light up a bit, "You do? How?"
"Something Fred and George invented, Extendable Ears, see," Ron said, "they're mad useful."
"Extendable Ears?" Harry asked, his face contorting slightly.
"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 from binning them all. But we got a good bit of use out of them before Mum realized 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 to recruit more people to the Order," Hermione said.
Harry snorted indignantly, "So... what have you two been doing, if you're not allowed in the meetings?" Harry demanded, "You said you'd been busy as well?"
"We have," Hermione scrunched up her nose, "we've been decontaminating this house, it's been empty for ages and stuff's been breeding in here. Problem is... we are using," she almost threw up in her mouth, "Lockhart's methods... it's horribly slow... so far we've managed to clean out the kitchen, most of the bedrooms, and I think we are doing the drawing room tomo-" Hermione suddenly let out a squeal as two loud cracks sounded out in the room, signaling that someone had Apparated.
That someone, was two someones, and those someones were Fred and George Weasley.
Hermione had backed into Lucifer who held her steady, and she had quite honestly forgot he was even in the room with how quiet he'd been.
"Stop doing that!" Hermione yelled at the twins.
"Hello, Harry," George said, beaming at Harry and ignoring Hermione, "we thought we heard your dulcet tones."
"You don't want to bottle up your anger like that, Harry, let it all out," Fred said, also beaming, "There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you."
"You two passed your Apparition tests, then?" Harry asked grumpily.
"With distinction," Fred said, who was holding what looked like a piece of very long, flesh-colored string.
"It would have taken you about thirty seconds longer to walk up the stairs," Ron said.
"Time is Galleons, little brother," Fred said.
"Maybe, but if I hadn't known it was the both of you, you'd have been dead the moment you came out of the Apparition," Lucifer said, letting them know he was there.
"Oh, hello there," Fred said.
"You're able to hide your presence extremely well," George commented.
"Well thank you," Lucifer just smiled at them.
"....yeah," Fred already felt a chill down his spine, that he was just moments near his untimely death.
"Anyway, Harry, you're interfering with reception. Extendable Ears," George said, turning back to Harry, "We're trying to hear what's going on downstairs."
"You want to be careful," Ron said, staring at the ear, "if Mum sees one of them again..."
"It's worth the risk, that's a major meeting they're having," Fred said, trying his best to get over and change topic.
The door opened a second later and a long mane of red hair appeared, "Oh hello, Harry," Ginny said brightly, "I thought I heard your voice."
She turned to the twins, "It's a no go with the Ears... she's gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door."
"How do you know?" George asked, looking crestfallen.
"Tonks told me how to find out," Ginny said, "You just chuck stuff at the door and if it can't make contact the door's been Imperturbed. I'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?" Harry asked quickly, "Is he here?"
"Yeah," George said, carefully closing the door and sitting down on one of the beds, with Fred and Ginny following suit, "Giving a report. Top secret, and very important."
"Git..." Fred said idly.
"He's lucky to be alive and able to give that report," Lucifer said, leaning against the wall.
"Yeah, heard you almost killed him last year," George said, almost sounding as though he wished Lucifer had gone through with it.
"Bill doesn't like him either," Ginny said, revealing that Bill was here too.
"Bill's here? I thought he was working in Egypt?" Harry asked.
"He applied for a desk job so he could come home and work for the Order," Fred said, "he says he misses the tombs, but," he then smirked, "there are compensations..."
Lucifer knew exactly what Fred was getting at, "You mean Fleur, right?"
"He gets it in one," George said in mock celebration, "yeah, he's been helping Fleur to eemprove 'er Eeenglish."
"Charlie's in the Order too," George said, "but he's still in Romania. Dumbledore wants as many foreign Witches and Wizards brought in as possible, so Charlie's trying to make contacts on his days off."
"Couldn't Percy do that?" Harry asked.
It was apparently the wrong thing to ask as all of the Weasley's exchanged darkly significant looks, Hermione having already been told what happened, "Whatever you do, don't mention Percy in front of Mum and Dad," Ron said to Harry and Lucifer in a tense voice.
"Why?" Lucifer asked him.
"Because every time Percy's name is mentioned, Dad breaks whatever he's holding and Mum breaks out into tears," Fred said.
"It's been awful," Ginny said sadly.
"I think we're well shut of him," George said with an uncharacteristically ugly look on his face.
"What happened?" Harry asked.
"Percy and Dad had a row," Fred said, "I've never seen Dad row with anyone like that. It's normally Mum who does the shouting..."
"It was the first week back after term ended," Ron said, "we were about to come here to Grimmauld Place. Percy came home and told us he'd been promoted."
"You're kidding?" Harry asked.
"Let me guess... he's Fudge's bitch boy, isn't he?" Lucifer asked, earning a light, and somewhat playful smack from Hermione.
"And again, he gets it in one," Fred said with a chuckle.
"We were all surprised," George said, "because Percy got into a load of trouble about Crouch, there was an inquiry and everything. They said Percy ought to have realized Crouch was off his rocker and informed a Superior, but you know Percy, Crouch left him in charge, he wasn't going to complain..."
"Well, he wouldn't have been promoted after something like that happened, he'd have been fired... unless... it was to keep tabs on his own family?" Lucifer asked them.
"You've really got to stop doing that... it's kind of scary," George said with an odd look.
"Wait, is that why they promoted him?" Harry asked.
"We were wondering at first, but hadn't come to any concrete conclusion," Ron said, who seemed very keen to keep a 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. He expected Dad to be all impressed, I think."
"Only Dad wasn't," Fred said grimly.
"Did he realize what Lucifer did?" Harry asked.
"I think so," Fred nodded, "because apparently Fudge has been storming around the Ministry checking that nobody's having any contact with Dumbledore."
"He's doing a banger of a job, isn't he?" Lucifer said dryly.
"That was my thought when I realized how many Ministry Officials there were in the Order," Hermione said.
"Yeah, see Dumbledore's name's muddy with the Ministry these days," George said, "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," Ron said.
"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," Fred said.
"So is that when your Dad suspected Percy was only given his position to spy on you all?" Harry asked. When all the Weasley's nodded, 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?" Harry asked in disbelief.
'I wonder if any of them agree with Percy, they are just too afraid to admit it?' Lucifer thought to himself.
xxxxx
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