Chapter 241
A moment of silence passed, broken only by the creaking of the floorboards beneath Harry's feet.
Harry turned sharply toward Ron and Hermione.
"Why are all the adults gathered downstairs while we're stuck up here?"
Ron answered immediately.
"It's the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix."
"And would either of you care to tell me what the Order of the Phoenix actually is...?"
Hermione replied quickly.
"It's a secret organization. Dumbledore founded it and leads it. It includes witches and wizards who fought You-Know-Who before."
Harry shoved a hand into his pocket.
"And who's in it?"
"Only a few people..."
Ron added,
"We've met about twenty of them... but we think there are more."
Harry stared at them.
"What about him?"
"Wh-Who?" Ron asked.
"Voldemort," Harry said angrily.
Ron and Hermione both flinched.
"What's happening? What are his plans? Where is he? And what are you doing to stop him?"
Hermione answered nervously.
"We told you, we're not allowed into the meetings, so we don't know the details... but we have a general idea."
She added the last part quickly after seeing the look on Harry's face.
Ron said,
"Fred and George invented Extendable Ears. They're really useful."
"Extendable what...?"
"Extendable Ears. Yeah. But we had to stop using them recently because Mum found out about them and completely lost it. Fred and George hid them before she could confiscate them. Still, we used them a lot before she found out. We know that some members of the Order are tracking Death Eaters and keeping an eye on them."
Hermione added,
"Some of them are recruiting more wizards to our side."
"And some are guarding something," Ron said. "They're always talking about guard duty."
Harry laughed bitterly.
"Maybe they're talking about me, aren't they?"
Ron suddenly looked as though something had clicked in his mind.
"Uh... actually, yeah."
Harry let out a short laugh.
He began pacing across the room again, looking everywhere except at Ron and Hermione.
"So what do you two do, if you're not allowed into meetings? You said you've been busy."
Hermione answered quickly.
"We have been. We're cleaning the house."
With a loud double crack, Fred and George appeared in the middle of the room as though they had materialized from thin air.
Pigwidgeon fluttered even more excitedly and flew up beside Hedwig on top of the wardrobe.
Hermione groaned.
"Stop doing that."
Their hair was just as red as Ron's, though thicker and slightly shorter.
George grinned at Harry.
"Hello, Harry. We heard your lovely singing voice and came to investigate."
Fred grinned too.
"Don't bottle up your anger, Harry. Scream as much as you want. There are still two people fifty miles away who haven't heard you yet."
Harry muttered,
"So your Disillusionment test was successful then."
Fred held up an extremely long piece of string.
"Yep. Passed with distinction."
Ron rolled his eyes.
"You could've just spent thirty extra seconds walking up the stairs instead of disappearing and reappearing."
George shrugged.
"Time is like a wand, little brother."
Then he pointed at the string Harry had noticed trailing out of the room and toward the staircase.
"Anyway, Harry, you're interrupting an Extendable Ear transmission."
Harry raised an eyebrow.
George held up the thread.
"We're trying to listen to what's happening downstairs."
Ron looked nervously at the ear.
"Be careful. If Mum sees one of those again, she'll—"
"It's worth the risk," Fred interrupted. "This meeting is important."
The door opened, revealing a mass of bright red hair.
Ginny stepped inside with a cheerful smile.
"Hi, Harry. I heard your voice earlier."
Then she turned toward Fred and George.
"The Extendable Ears are useless. Mum put an Anti-Eavesdropping Charm on the kitchen door."
George's face fell.
"How do you know that?"
Ginny replied,
"Albert told me how to detect that charm. Before the meeting started downstairs, he explained it to me and even taught me several powerful spells because I helped him back then before the Yule Ball last year."
(In other words, Ginny means that because she helped Albert and Hermione grow closer, Albert later taught her several very powerful spells.)
She continued,
"It's simple. Throw something at the door. If it doesn't touch it, then the door is protected by a warding charm. To make sure, I threw a few Dungbombs from the top of the stairs and they bounced right off. So the Extendable Ears won't get underneath the door."
Fred sighed deeply.
"What a shame. I really wanted to know what Snape is planning."
Harry immediately looked up.
"Snape? He's here?"
George carefully shut the door and sat down on one of the beds. Fred and Ginny followed.
"Yeah. He's giving a report. A secret report."
Fred lazily muttered,
"That idiot."
Hermione frowned.
"He's on our side now."
Ron protested,
"That doesn't stop him from being an idiot. The way he looks at us whenever he sees us... I even saw the look on his face when he noticed Albert entering the meeting room downstairs."
Ginny spoke as though settling the matter.
"Bill doesn't like him either."
Harry wasn't sure his anger had completely disappeared, but his thirst for information had become stronger than his desire to yell.
He sat down on the bed facing the others.
"Bill's here? I thought he was working in Egypt."
Fred replied,
"He requested a desk job so he could come home and work with the Order. He says he misses the Egyptian tombs, but..."
A mischievous smile appeared on his face.
"Something else is making up for them."
Harry frowned.
"What do you mean?"
George smirked.
"Remember Fleur Delacour? She got a job at Gringotts to improve her English..."
Fred interrupted sarcastically.
"And Bill is giving her plenty of private lessons."
George continued,
"Charlie joined the Order too, but he's still in Romania. Dumbledore wants to recruit foreign wizards, and Charlie is trying to persuade some during his holidays."
Harry asked,
"Couldn't Percy help with that? Last I heard, he was working in the Department of International Magical Cooperation."
At Harry's words, everyone exchanged gloomy looks.
Ron spoke uneasily.
"Never mention Percy's name in front of Mum and Dad."
"Why not?"
Fred answered,
"Because every time his name comes up, Dad breaks whatever he's holding and Mum starts crying."
Ginny added sadly,
"It's awful."
George wore an unusually ugly expression.
"He isn't one of us anymore."
Harry frowned.
"What happened?"
Fred replied,
"Dad had a huge fight with Percy. I've never seen him that harsh with anyone before. Usually Mum's the one who yells."
Ron continued,
"It was during the first week after school ended. We were about to come here and join the Order when Percy announced that he'd been promoted."
Harry blinked.
"You're kidding."
Despite knowing how ambitious Percy was, Harry had always thought he had performed badly at the Ministry. Percy had failed to realize that his boss, Mr. Crouch, had been under Voldemort's control. The Ministry never believed the truth. They all thought Crouch had gone mad because of what he knew about his son, and in the end he became an easy target for Voldemort's manipulation.
George nodded.
"Yeah, we were shocked. Percy got into loads of trouble because of Crouch. There were investigations and all sorts. They said Percy should've realized Crouch had lost his mind and reported it. But you know Percy. Once Crouch handed everything over to him, he wasn't about to complain."
"Then how did he get promoted?"
Ron replied carefully.
"That's exactly what surprised us. He came home looking pleased with himself—more pleased than usual, if you can imagine that—and told Dad he'd been offered a position in Minister Fudge's office. A huge promotion for someone who had only left Hogwarts a year ago. Assistant to the Minister of Magic. He expected Dad to be thrilled."
Fred scowled.
"But Dad wasn't."
"Why not?" Harry asked.
George answered,
"Because Fudge has been keeping an eye on everyone at the Ministry who might have ties to Dumbledore."
Fred added,
"Dumbledore's name is mud these days. Everyone thinks he's causing trouble by claiming You-Know-Who has returned."
George continued,
"Dad says Fudge made it clear that any wizard who sides with Dumbledore could lose their job. The problem is that Fudge suspects Dad. He knows Dad is friends with Dumbledore, and he's always thought Dad was eccentric because of his obsession with Muggle life."
Harry looked confused.
"But what does that have to do with Percy?"
"I'm getting to that," George replied.
"Dad thinks Fudge only promoted Percy so he could spy on our family... and on Dumbledore."
Harry let out a low whistle.
"But Percy loved the job."
Ron laughed hollowly.
"He went completely mad. He said a lot of awful things. He said he'd suffered because of Dad's reputation ever since he joined the Ministry. He said Dad was going to fall. He said he knew where his loyalties belonged—with the Ministry. And if Mum and Dad wanted to betray the Ministry, then he wouldn't remain part of the family."
Ron looked down.
"He packed his things that very night and left. He's living in London now."
Harry swore under his breath.
Percy had always been his least favorite Weasley brother, but he had never imagined Percy saying something like that.
Ron continued,
"Mum's been terrible. Crying and things like that. She even went to London and tried talking to him, but he slammed the door in her face. I don't know what he does when he accidentally runs into Dad at work... probably ignores him."
Harry spoke slowly.
"But Percy must know Voldemort is back. He's not stupid. He knows his parents wouldn't risk everything without solid proof."
Ron looked annoyed.
"Percy says the only proof is Albert's word, and he doesn't think that's enough."
Hermione said with sharp sarcasm,
"Percy believes everything the Daily Prophet prints."
The others nodded.
Harry looked around.
"What are you talking about?"
They watched him carefully.
Hermione asked nervously,
"Didn't... didn't you read the Daily Prophet recently?"
"Of course I did."
"Did you... actually read it carefully?"
Harry sounded defensive.
"Not from the first page to the last. If they were going to mention Voldemort, it'd be on the front page, wouldn't it?"
Everyone flinched at the name.
Hermione spoke rapidly.
"You should've read all of it. They've been writing about Albert twice a week, even though Albert hasn't taken it seriously."
"But I would've seen the—"
Hermione shook her head.
"Not if you only read the front page. I'm not talking about major articles. They're slipping it in as little jokes."
Harry frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Hermione forced herself to remain calm.
"It's disgusting. They're building on the stories Rita Skeeter wrote before she was imprisoned."
"But she doesn't work for the paper anymore since she's in prison, does she?"
"No," Hermione replied. "She doesn't have the chance anymore. But she laid the groundwork for what they're doing now."
Harry lost patience.
"And what's that?"
Hermione took a breath.
"You know how she wrote about Albert being a dangerous wizard and claimed he attacked her at school and all that?"
Harry remembered Rita Skeeter's articles perfectly.
"Yeah."
Hermione spoke quickly, as though saying it faster would make it hurt less.
"They're portraying Albert as an attention-seeker who thinks he's some great hero. They keep slipping little comments into articles. Whenever something strange happens, they'll write things like, 'Sounds like another story worthy of Albert Black.' If someone gets hurt in an unusual accident, they'll say things like, 'Let's hope he doesn't receive any more injuries fighting You-Know-Who and then ask us to trust his stories.'"
She clenched her fists.
"They want to turn him into someone nobody believes. Fudge is behind it—I know he is. They want ordinary witches and wizards to see him as a foolish boy surrounded by ridiculous stories, someone who makes absurd claims because he loves attention and fame."
Harry replied quickly and angrily,
"Voldemort killed his mother. He became famous because Voldemort murdered his family but failed to kill him. Who would want fame through something like that?"
Hermione's expression softened.
"Well... don't bring this up with Albert. He doesn't like hearing people remind him of it, especially because those articles mentioned his mother. He gets angry very quickly whenever someone brings it up."
Harry nodded.
"Alright."
To be continued...