❝ harry! we thought we
heard your dulcet tones ! ❞
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"ALRIGHT, LET HIM BREATHE, HERMIONE." ron chuckled, and the latter eased off of the potter boy with a sigh.
"hey, harry." maeve smiled to him, after the boy was released, and he finally got a good look of the room. she spared a look at hermione, slightly jealous that she had given him so much attention.
"we'll get to pleasantries later—" hermione interrupted. "there's a hearing at the ministry— it's just outrageous! i've looked it up, they simply can't expel you! it's completely unfair!"
"plus, there's provision in the decree for the reasonable restriction of underage sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations!" maeve added in.
"uh, yeah, there's a lot of that going on at the moment." the boy murmured, walking further into the room and past the peeling wallpaper. "so, what is this place?"
"headquarters." ron said.
"for the order of the phoenix. it's a secret society. dumbledore formed it when they first fought you-know-who." levi added.
"you couldn't have put all this in a letter, i suppose?" harry said sarcastically, furrowing his eyebrows. "i've gone all summer without a scrap of news!"
"we wanted to write, mate." ron mumbled. "really, we did. only—"
"—only what?"
"only, dumbledore made us swear not to tell you anything."
"dumbledore said? but, why would he want to keep me in the dark? i mean, 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—" he was getting frantic now, raising his voice, until he was interrupted by fred and george, who materialised out of thin air, apparating to the middle of the room.
"harry! we thought we heard your dulcet tones."
"will you two stop doing that, for heaven's sake!" hermione breathed, catching back her breath from being scared.
fred chuckled, shaking her off. "well, if you're all done shouting—"
"—want to hear something a little more interesting?" george asked, pulling out the extendable ear from his pocket.
THEY ALL CROSSED THE DINGY LANDING, gathering around the banister as the twins lowered down the ear. "what if they've gone and put an imperturbable charm on the door?" maeve asked with a frown.
"well, let's chuck something at it and check." ginny suggested. "tonks taught me that."
"how about hermione's cat?" ron suggested.
maeve nudged him and pulled a packet of droobles out of her pocket, chucking them at the door.
"i could've eaten those. . ." levi mumbled, as they hit the door with a small bump, signifying there was no charm on it.
"if anyone has a right to know, it's harry. if it wasn't for him, we wouldn't even know voldemort was back." the teenagers heard sirius black's voice on the other end of the extendable ear. "he's not a child, molly."
"yes, but he's not an adult, either!" mrs weasley protested. "he's not james, sirius."
"well, he's not your son."
"he's as good as! who else has he got?"
"he's got me." sirius replied.
"how touching. perhaps potter will turn out to be a felon, just like his godfather." they heard snape's chilling voice.
"you stay out of this severus." sirius spat back. "seriously, i know better."
"if you know better, then why don't you tell them tha—"
the audio began to fuzz, and all eight of the teenagers looked down to see hermione's cat, crookshanks, pawing at the extendable ear.
"crookshanks, stop it." hermione hissed.
"oh, you bloody cat!"
"leave it alone, crookshanks."
the ginger cat miaowed, pulling the ear from the string and trotting away with it in its mouth.
"hermione, i hate your cat."
"WELL, WE'LL BE EATING DOWN IN THE KITCHEN!" mrs weasley beamed, finally opening up the doors. fred and george apparated behind her, making her jump back in surprise. "just because you're allowed to use magic now, doesn't mean you should whip your wands out for everything!" she scolded loudly, slapping fred's arm.
"you sure you're alright, harry?" mr weasley asked, but the brunette boy nodded comfortably. "you gave us quite a turn!"
"harry potter." sirius black smiled, stepping forward to give him a hug.
"sirius!" harry smiled, as his godfather patted him on the back.
"it's wonderful to see you again, mr and mrs foster." hermione nodded sweetly, shaking their hands.
the twins' father was a tall, stocky man, with tousled, butterscotch coloured hair that sat on his chiseled head, above his stubbled chin.
their mother looked almost exactly the same as maeve, except with brown hair and no freckles, as the twins got them from their dad.
"ah, the pleasure is ours, miss granger. maeve talks about you all the ti—"
"—i think that's enough of the reunions, don't you?" maeve blushed, steering her parents away from hermione with a grimace. what is this, embarass maeve day?
"no, actually, i don't think so." hermione smiled mischievously, moving back towards them. "what sort of things does she say?"
"oh, it's always hermione, this, hermione that," her dad laughed. "hermione looked really pretty at the yule ball, hermione sent me this book over the holidays, hermione is so—"
"—i think mrs weasley said dinner's ready." maeve interrupted hastily. "seriously, let's go, hermione."
"awh, you talk to your parents about me?" she teased, as the blonde pushed her away.
"shut up, granger."
EVERYONE SAT AROUND THE TABLE FOR DINNER. maeve and hermione sat next to each other, opposite ginny and tonks. tonks was entertaining the girls with her metamorphogus powers, by changing her nose to those of different animals— this time a duck's beak. next to them sat fred, george, levi and ron, and on the other end of the table sat the adults: ( although harry was sat with them aswell, so that he could talk to sirius, remus and mr weasley about his hearing ) kingsley shacklebolt, remus lupin, sirius black, arthur and molly weasley, and perseus and saoirse foster. mad eye was stood in the corner, watching with a keen eye.
for a few minutes there was silence, except for the clink of plates and cutlery as everyone sorted their portions, digging in. mundungus and snape had not been invited to dinner.
"this is very, very peculiar. it seems your hearing at the ministry is to be before the entire wizengamot." mr weasley frowned, looking down at harry's letter.
"i don't understand. what has the ministry of magic got against me?" harry asked.
"show him." mad eye nodded. "he'll find out soon enough."
everyone went quiet, and perseus handed harry the daily prophet, which had the headline: 'the boy who lies? fudge says all is well.'
"he's been attacking dumbledore, aswell." remus explained. "fudge is using all his power, including his influence at the daily prophet, to smear anyone who claims the dark lord has returned."
"why?" harry frowned.
"the minister thinks dumbledore is after his job." saiorse said.
"but that's insane! no one in their right mind could believe that dumbledore—"
"exactly!" lupin nodded. "fudge isn't in his right mind. it's been twisted and warped by fear. fear makes people do terrible things, harry. the last time voldemort gained power, he almost destroyed everything we hold most dear. now he's returned, i'm afraid the minister will do anything to avoid facing that terrifying truth."
"we think voldemort wants to build up his army again." perseus explained.
"fourteen years ago, he had huge numbers at his command, and not just witches and
wizards— but a manner of dark creatures. he's been recruiting heavily, and we've been attempting to do the same." sirius added. "but gathering followers isn't the only thing he's interested in. we believe. . . voldemort may be after something. . ."
molly stopped chopping the lettuce, glaring at the man.
"sirius." mad-eye warned.
"something he didn't have last time. . ." he continued, ignoring them.
"you mean, like, a weapon?"
"no." molly put down the knife, shaking her head in disapproval. "that's enough. he's just a boy!" she snatched the newspaper away from harry. "you say much more and you may aswell induct him to the order straight away!"
"good! harry stood up defiantly, eyebrows furrowed. "i want to join! if voldemort's raising an army, then i want to fight!"
sirius nodded, leaning back in his chair as if he was proud of his godson. "you see?" he winked at harry with approval, sending him a nod.
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