“Yeah,” said George sitting down on the bed; Fred 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.”

“Bill doesn’t like him, either,” said Ginny.

“Oh, Bill’s here! I always did like him,” said Harry.

“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”

“In what way?” asked Harry.

“Remember old Fleur Delacour?” said George. “She’s got a job at Gringotts to eemprove ‘er Eenglish - ”

“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.”

“What’s Percy been up to then?”

At Harry’s words, all the Weasleys and Hermione exchanged darkly significant looks.

“Whatever you do, don’t mention Percy in front of Mom and Dad,” Ginny told Harry in a tense voice.

“Did something stupid, did he?”

“You have no idea,” said George. “Every time Percy’s name is mentioned, Dad breaks whatever he’s holding and Mum starts crying.”

“It’s been awful,” said Ginny sadly.

“Percy and Dad had a row,” explained Fred.

“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.”

“Uh… good for him,” said Harry, not really caring about that piece of information.

“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 wouldn’t complain.”

“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 great one for someone 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 is that?” 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 is 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.”

“So Mr. Weasley thinks Fudge just wanted a spy in the family?” asked Harry.

“Exactly. Percy went absolutely crazy at that. 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, poor.”

“What an ass,” said Lily.

“I know,” said Ginny 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”

“So does Percy not believe that Voldemort’s back?” asked Harry. “Despite how he looks, he can’t be that stupid, though I’ve always wondered otherwise.”

“Yeah, well, your name got dragged into the row,” said Ginny nervously. “Percy said the only evidence was your word and… I don’t know… he didn’t think it was good enough.”

“Percy takes the Daily Prophet seriously,” said Hermione tartly, and the others all nodded.

“Ahh, that explains his reaction, I suppose,” said Harry with a sigh, recalling the things the Prophet had been writing recently.

“Aren’t you upset?” asked Hermione gingerly.

“Well, I was at first, I suppose. Lily took the brunt of that,” laughed Harry, “Though I think this might be good, I think I can use it to my advantage.”

The others looked at him like a madman. “What do you mean, use it? That they’re calling you a loony?” asked Ron, disbelievingly.

“Yeah! Though I haven’t decided what exactly to do with it, I think I can mess with some people with this reputation.” laughed Harry mischievously.

The others seemed rather taken aback by Harry’s attitude, though not knowing how to react, they could only keep quiet.

A moment later, unable to take the silence, Hermione spoke up. “Are you nervous about the Hearing Harry?”

“A little. Okay, maybe, a lot.” replied Harry.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine, Harry,” said Lily, taking his hand in hers and gave it a tight squeeze.

Just as Hermione was about to ask further, they heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

“Uh oh.” Fred gave the Extendable Ear a hearty tug and then, with a loud crack, he and George vanished. Seconds later, Mrs Weasley appeared in the bedroom.

“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,” replied Ginny, without blinking. “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, your hands are filthy. What have you been doing? Wash them before dinner, please.”

Ginny grimaced at the others and followed Mrs. Weasley out of the room. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Lily started walking out of the room as well. Seeming to have decided on something, Hermione spoke up.

“Why are you so calm, Harry?” she asked. “I thought you’d be more…angry.”

Harry thought about it for a moment before he replied, “I was angry, furious. I was stuck in that annoying house for the entire summer, with no information. Got attacked by Dementors and told that I’d been expelled. Got a Ministry hearing for no rhyme or reason and even then I got no answers no matter who I wrote to,” he said, looking at Ron and Hermione, who quickly averted their eyes with a guilty expression.

“But,” continued Harry, “luckily, I had Lily there with me. I wasn’t completely alone and if not for her support, I might not have been nearly as calm as I am now.”

Harry gave a small peck on Lily’s cheek with an adoring smile. Lily and even Hermione blushed while Ron just made gagging sounds.

“So this Kreacher-” Harry said after a brief pause.

“That’s the House-elf who lives here,” said Ron. “Nutter. Never met one like him.”

Hermione frowned at Ron. “He’s not a nutter, Ron.”

“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 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 agitatedly. “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.”

“I agree with Hermione, though,” Lily chimed in, “Even if this house-elf seems crazy, there might be a reason for the way he acts.”

Hermione turned to Lily, surprised and grateful at finally finding an ally.

“Yeah, yeah,“ said Ron. “C’mon, I’m starving.”

Ron led the way down the stairs and on the landing, they saw the members of the Order walking towards the door.

“Snape never eats here,” Ron told Harry quietly. “Thank Clod. C’mon.”

“And don’t forget to keep your voice down in the hall, Harry.” Hermione whispered.

As they passed a 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, Lily, if you two could just tiptoe across the hall, it’s through this door here - ”

CRASH.

“Tonks!” cried Mrs Weasley in exasperation, turning to look behind her.

“I’m sorry!” yelled Tonks, who was lying flat on the floor. “It’s that stupid umbrella stand, that’s the second time I’ve tripped over - “

The rest of her words, though, were drowned out by a horrible, ear-splitting, blood-curdling screech.

Moth-eaten velvet curtains next to them flew apart, and Harry noticed the painting behind it. The painting of an old woman in a black cap, screaming as though she were being tortured.

The other portraits awoke and started screaming as well, causing Harry to clap his hands over his ears.

Lupin and Mrs. Weasley darted forward and tried to tug the curtains shut over the old woman, but they wouldn’t close no matter how hard they tried and the portrait screeched even louder.

“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 apologised repeatedly, dragging the huge, heavy troll’s leg back off the floor.

“Enough!” Yelled Harry and shot a jet of phoenix fire at the painting.

Moments later, the painting caught fire but oddly, there was no smoke or burning smell. Not to mention, even the frame of the painting didn’t look to be burning.

The group watched in amazement as just the picture of the woman in the painting slowly disappeared. Her screams changed to those of agony, but eventually even that disappeared and soon, the only thing that was left on the wall was a pristine and ornate picture frame with a blank canvas inside.

“What in the world was that?” came a voice from behind Harry. He turned around to see a man with long, black, shaggy hair.

“Who the hell shut that old hag of a mother of mine up!?” he asked, in utter disbelief.