A great clashing noise in the kitchen below woke Katie with a start. She could vaguely hear someone yelling, though she couldn't make out who was yelling or what they were saying (Katie's guess was that Mrs Weasley was scolding Fred and George for Apparating into the kitchen and knocking the pots off the wall).

Yawning and rubbing her eyes, Katie climbed out of bed. As she drew nearer to the kitchen, the yells of frustration became more prominent, and it was very clear now that it was in fact Mrs Weasley that was shouting.

It was merely six in the morning so Katie was not surprised to find only Mrs Weasley and Sirius in the kitchen, as well as Tonks, who had fallen asleep at a small table in the corner and was snoring loudly, apparently so exhausted that Mrs Weasleys shouts couldn't even wake her.

Katie gazed in perplexity at the sight in front of her. All of the pots and pans had been knocked from the walls and jars of food and ingredients lay smashed across the floor (explaining the clashing sound that had woken Katie up), and both Molly and Sirius were madly scrambling back and forth across the kitchen floor, appearing to be chasing something that Katie couldn't see.

"FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, SIRIUS, WHY WOULD YOU BRING THAT THING INTO THE HOUSE!"

"I TOLD YOU BEFORE, MOLLY, I DIDN'T — HAGRID SENT IT!"

"WELL, GET IT OUT!"

"I CAN'T! IT'S FOR KATERINA!"

"What's for me?" Katie asked from the doorway.

Both Sirius and Mrs Weasley stopped shouting. They briefly threw their gazes over their shoulder upon hearing Katie's voice, before returning to frantically scoping the kitchen floor.

"SHUT THE DOOR BEFORE IT GETS OUT AND WRECKS THE HOUSE!" Mrs Weasley cried. Her cheeks were a deep shade of crimson and she was sweating heavily.

Unsure of what it was, Katie nevertheless stepped inside the kitchen and closed the door, just as Sirius made a mad dive under the table that Tonks was sleeping at. Tonks jolted awake with a snort, looking incredibly distorted.

"Huh — s'going on?" Tonks mumbled with a yawn.

"Got it!" Sirius announced. Mrs Weasley let out a great sigh of relief and sunk back into a chair, mopping the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve.

Sirius emerged from under the table. His face was also red — though not as red as Molly's — and he was breathing heavier than usual. In his hands he was clutching a small, furry and writhing creature that was desperately trying to wriggle it's way out of the man's hands. He held the Niffler out to Katie.

"Er — here you go, Katerina, Hagrid brought this for you... don't know why, but—"

But Katie knew exactly why Hagrid had sent her the Niffler.

"Milo!" she beamed. At the sight of her, Milo began to writhe more than ever, and with one harsh lurch, he escaped from Sirius' hands and leapt straight onto Katie's arm, which he climbed up before resting comfortably on her shoulder. He affectionately nuzzled his snout into her ear,making the girl giggle as she stroked the Niffler.

"Oh, so you know that thing?" Mrs Weasley said, eyes narrowed.

"Yeah," Katie replied brightly. It was impossible for her to contain her smile. "We were working with Nifflers in Care of Magical Creatures one day. I really wanted to keep Milo — of course Hagrid said no because he isn't allowed to give away the creatures, but clearly he doesn't follow rules, does he?"

"He destroyed my kitchen!" Mrs Weasley bellowed. She was looking around the disarragnged kitchen with tears in her eyes.

"Nothing a little magic can't fix." Sirius said brightly, and with a swish of his wand, the fallen pots and smashed jars were repaired and placed carefully back in their original places.

"So, Hagrid was here then?" Katie asked, sitting down across from Tonks, who appeared to be very bewildered. Milo hopped down off Katie's shoulder and waddled across the table to Tonks, who he sniffed sceptically.

"Yes, you just missed him, actually. Right after he left the Niffler made a mad dash towards the top shelf." Sirius said.

"Yeah, they like shiny things," Katie told him as Milo came back to sit on her shoulder, "he was probably going for one of the goblets."

"Please tell me you're not keeping him..." Mrs Weasley begged weakly.

Katie gave her an offended sort of look. "Of course I'm keeping him!"

Mrs Weasley let out a small whimper.

"He's actually quite calm. He wasn't much interested in the gold during our class with the Nifflers — he spent most of the time on my shoulder."

Mrs Weasley opened her mouth to argue, closed it again, opened it one more and spoke in a threatening tone. "Fine, he can stay, but if he destroys the house—"

"The house is already a shambles, Molly, he'd probably make it look better." Sirius said, making Katie snort.

The door creaked open and Ron, Ginny and Hermione, looking very drowsy, shuffled into the kitchen.

"Whatsa matter?" Ron mumbled. "We heard shouting."

Ginny let out a squeal of delight that hastily answered Ron's question. She had spotted Milo and was suddenly grinning, her previously dull and tired eyes alight.

"Oh, what is it!" she sang out in delight. "It's so cute!"

"A Niffler," Katie replied, grinning, as Ginny made her way over. "His name's Milo."

"Milo?" Ron said confusedly. "But I thought—"

"Yeah, me too. But Hagrid just dropped him off."

Ron allowed his face to split into a smile.

"Well, I'm gonna have to tell Harry to come up with a new Christmas present for you." he laughed.

***

"Go away, Sirius! I've told you, I don't want any of your damn Acid Pops!"

A chuckle sounded from outside Katie's room and the door swung open, revealing Chris' grinning face.

"Oh, sorry, Chris." Katie tittered, placing down her book.'

"Reading again?" Chris asked. "I think Hermione's rubbing off on you."

Katie snorted. "There's nothing else to do, is there? I can't go out and practice Quidditch, and I'll be damned if I'm scrubbing this place all day everyday."

"Fair point, fair point," Chris nodded casually. "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that dinner is ready."

"Finally, I'm starving."

Katie and Chris went down to dinner together. Mrs Weasley was very happy to find that Katie had changed out of her pyjamas without being told to.

As they ate, the doorbell rang, and everyone held their breath, bracing themselves for the inevitable ear-piercing shrieks of Mrs Black. Sure enough, only seconds later, her dreadful screams began echoing through the house.

Sirius cursed loudly and got to his feet, storming into the hall.

"I told them not to ring that doorbell!" Mrs Weasley cried, exasperated.

Sirius had obviously managed to pull the portrait's curtains closed because Mrs Black's howls had died away. A small rumble of voices could be heard in the hall.

"Someone needs to get that bloody painting off the wall." George muttered angrily.

"I've told you," Mrs Weasley said, sounding agitated. "It has a Permanent Sticking Charm."

"Yeah, yeah..." George yawned.

"Just let us blast it, mum, please. Reducto ought to do the trick." Fred said.

"Absolutely not!" Mrs Weasley snapped.

Katie had opened her mouth to respond, but just as she started her sentence, Sirius returned. Mr Weasley and Mundungus were both at his side, each of them looking extremely pale.

"What?" Mrs Weasley asked, noticing the nervous expressions plastered on the men's faces. "What is it, Arthur? What happened?"

"It's Harry." Mr Weasley replied, sounding very despondent. At these words, Katie felt her mouth grow dry. She cast a nervous glance at Ron, who was very white under his sheet of freckles.

"What about Harry?" Sirius said quickly.

Mrs Weasley gulped harshly. His eyes momentarily landed on everyone in the room before he took a deep, rather shaky breath, and said, "He's been expelled from Hogwarts.

"What?" Katie, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the twins yelled in unison.

All anyone could seem to do was stare at Mr Weasley with their mouths hanging wide open. Katie also found herself quite speechless. She sat in silence, unable to form any words, or even comprehend the situation, for that matter, as Mr Weasley's words rang over and over again in her head.

"But," Mr Weasley said, and Katie felt her heart jolt with hope, "I've written to Dumbledore. He's already on his way to the Ministry to sort it all out."

"What — what's he been expelled for?" Ron quizzed, voice quavering, as though he was afriad of the answer he was going to receive.

"Using magic."

"What?" Katie finally found her voice. "Why would he—?"

"My guess is there were Dementors—" Mr Wealsey said.

Katie choked on air. "What?"

"—because he used the Patronus charm."

"He used what?"

"The Patronus Charm." Mr Weasley confirmed.

"He — he can do that?" Katie asked no one in particular, throwing her eyes at everyone around the table, completely gobsmacked. The Patronus Charm was very complex and even some witches and wizards who had already graduated had not fully mastered it.

"Yes," Lupin nodded. He looked and sounded rather proud, though he managed to conceal it quite well. "I thought him in third year."

"Yes, it's all very impressive," Hermione said, aggravated. "But back to the point. You think there were Dementors in Little Whinging?"

Mr Weasley shrugged. "I can't be sure, but why else would Harry have cast the Patronus Charm?"

"Arthur." Mrs Weasley spoke suddenly. By the small quiver in her voice, she sounded frightened. She didn't elaborate on her statement, but Mr Weasley seemed to understand what she was insinuating, because he turned around to face everyone at the dining table.

"Alright, kids, off to your rooms." he said.

There was a chorus of groans.

"Don't have me tell you again."

Scowling, the seven teenagers rose from their seats and slumped out of the dining room. Fred and George announced that they were going to go and grab an Extendable Ear before dashing up the stairs. The other five followed them while engaged in hushed conversation about the news that they had just received.

"You don't really think there were Dementors at Harry's place, do you?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," Katie shook her head. "But your dad has a point — why else would Harry use magic?"

"Maybe he just wanted to stun his pig of a cousin?" Ron suggested with a shrug.

"We know Harry wouldn't use magic unless absolutely necessary," Hermione said firmly. "If the Ministry know that, then they simply can't expel him, it's completely unfair."

"I don't know," Ginny grumbled. "Harry isn't very popular with the Ministry these days."

"Honestly, Fudge has always been a bit of a prat. We could do with a new Minister," Chris said. "Right, I'm going to get Fred and George. See yous later."

Katie, Ron, Hermione and Ginny stopped at the second floor, while Chris continued on to the landing above.

"I'm going to have a shower, to think everything over." Ron announced, and he too, disappeared.

"You go on, Ginny. I'll be with you in a second." Hermione told Ginny, who went into her and Hermione's shared bedroom.

"They'll have to bring Harry to stay here now," Hermione began. "They couldn't possibly leave him with his Aunt and Uncle after he was attacked by Dementors."

"They should've brought him here weeks ago." Katie muttered bitterly. She still did not understand why the Order were keeping so many secrets from Harry, especially since Sirius was willing to share them with her.

"I agree, but I'm sure they have their reasons," Hermione nodded, though, from the tone of her voice, Katie could tell that her friend was just as annoyed as she. Hermione sighed and started to scan Katie's face. "You should get some sleep, you look dreadful."

It was true. Katerina hadn't gotten a proper night's sleep since her arrival at Grimmauld Place. The longest stretch of sleep she could get before being violently pulled from her slumber was three hours, and once she was awake, there was no falling back to sleep, because the sound of her younger brother's screams would echo through her mind, like an obscure whisper.

***

It was three excruciatingly tedious days until Harry was finally rescued from his Aunt and Uncle's and taken to Headquarter by the Advance Guard, a small number of Order members, including Tonks and Remus.

Harry stepped into the same dingy hallway that Katie had first entered weeks before. There were hurried footsteps and Mrs Weasley, beaming, emerged from the door at the end of the corridor. She shuffled towards Harry.

"Oh, Harry, it's lovely to see you!" she whispered, pulling him into a rib-cracking hug before holding him and arm's length and examining him critically. "You're looking peaky; you need feeding up, but you'll have to wait a bit for dinner, I'm afraid."

She turned to the gang of wizards behind him and told them, "He's just arrived. The meeting's started."

The wizards behind Harry all made noises of interest and excitement and began filing past him towards the door through which Mrs Weasley had just come. Harry made to follow them, but Mrs Weasley held him back.

"No, Harry, the meeting's only for members of the Order. No time to explain. Straight upstairs, first door on the right. And keep your voice down in the hall." she added in an urgent whisper.

Harry went up the stairs and crossed the dim landing, turned the bedroom doorknob, which was as shaped like a serpent's head, and opened the door.

He caught a brief glimpse of a gloomy, high-ceilinged, twin-bedded room, before there was a loud shriek and his vision was completely obscured by a large quantity of very bushy hair. Hermione had thrown herself onto him in a hug that nearly knocked him flat, while Ron's tiny owl, Pigwidgeon, zoomed excitedly round and round their heads.

"HARRY!" Hermione cried. "Are you all right? We've been so worried — the Dementors — and this hearing at the Ministry — it's just outrageous, I've looked it all up, the can't expel you, they just cant, there's provisos in the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations—"

"Let the man breathe, Hermione." Ron laughed, grinning as he shut the door behind Harry.

"So, what is this place?" Harry asked as he stepped further into the unpleasant room.

"Headquarters." Ron told him, and upon seeing the bemused expression on Harry's face, Hermione elaborated.

"For the Order of the Phoenix," she said. "It's a secret society. Dumbledore founded it back when they first fought You-Know-Who."

"You couldn't have put any of this in the letter, I suppose?"

Although Harry's voice was calm, there was an undertone of venom that only Hermione seemed to pick up on, because she frowned deeply.

"I've gone all summer without a scrap of news." Harry continued.

Ron stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked down at his feet. "We wanted to write, mate, really, we did. Only—"

"Only what?"

"Only Dumbledore made us swear not to tell you anything." Hermione rushed, as though saying the words quickly would make them any less painful for Harry to hear. He blinked at his two best friends and the light in his eyes was extinguished.

"Dumbledore said that?" Harry asked disbelievingly. "But why would he want to keep me in the dark? Maybe I could help. After all, I'm the one who saw Voldemort return, I'm the one who fought him, I'm the one who saw Cedric Diggory get killed!"

Harry didn't realise that he was gradually raising his voice, and by the end of his sentence, he was shouting. He continued to shout for many minutes, letting all of his feelings of rage that he had bottled up inside of him all summer spill out. By the end of his outburst, Ron was staring, open-mouthed, and Hermione's eyes were welling with tears.

With two loud cracks, Fred and George materialised out of thin air in the room. Pigwidgeon twittered more wildly than ever and zoomed off to join Hedwig on top of the wardrobe.

"Stop doing that!" Hermione cried weakly to the twins.

"Hello, Harry," George said, beaming at him. "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. He was also beaming, and he was holding what looked like a very long, flesh-coloured string. "There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you."

"It would have taken you about thirty seconds longer to walk down the stairs." Ron grumbled.

"Time is Galleons, little brother," Fred said in a sing-song sort of voice. "Anyway, Harry, you're interfering with reception. Extendable Ears," he added in response to Harry's raised eyebrows, and held up the string which Harry know saw was trailing out onto the landing. "We're trying to hear what's going on downstairs."

"You want to be careful," Ron warned, "if Mum sees one of them again..."

"It's worth the risk, that's a major meeting they're having." Fred said.

The door opened and a mane of red hair appeared.

"Oh, hello, Harry!" Ginny smiled. "I thought I heard your voice," Ginny then turned to Fred and George and said, "It's a no-go with the Extendable Ears, she's gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the door."

"How d'you know?" George asked, looking crestfallen.

"Tonks told me how to find out," Ginny told her brother. "You just chuck stuff at the door and if it can't make contact the door's been Imperturbed."

Fred heaved a deep sigh. "Shame. I really fancied finding out what old Snape's been up to."

"Snape!" Harry said quickly. "Is he here?"

"Yeah," George replied, carefully shutting the door and sitting down on one of the beds; Fred and Ginny followed. "Giving a report. Top secret."

"Git." Fred said idly.

"He's on our side now." Hermione shot reprovingly.

Ron snorted. "Doesn't stop him being a git. The way he looks at us when he sees us."

"Bill doesn't like him either." Ginny said, as though that settled the matter.

A sudden realisation dawned on Harry. His eyes scanned around at the people in the room — Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George — and he noticed for the first time that someone was missing.

"Where's Katie?" Harry asked. "Wasn't she supposed to be staying with you, Ron?"

Harry felt a pang of disappointment (and possibly even a sense of anger) that Katie hadn't been there to greet him. After all, she had been so adamant on writing everyday, which was a promise that she didn't keep, and she had not been very keen on departing from Harry at King's Cross at the start of July. So why was she not there, hugging him and greeting him excitedly?

The expressions of the others in the room dropped and they glanced around at one another sorrowfully.

"She's next door — asleep." Ron told Harry, jerking his head towards the peeling wall.

"Asleep?" Harry said bemusedly. "This early?"

Ron's frown somehow drooped even more, which Harry did not believe was possible.

"She doesn't get much sleep these days..." he said sadly.