"What's the Order of the?" Harry began.
"Not here, boy!" snarled Moody. "Wait till we're inside!" He pulled the piece of parchment out of Harry's hand and set fire to it with his wand tip. The message curled into flames and floated
to the ground. We were standing outside number eleven. Harry was looking around for the house.
"But where's?"
"Think about what you've just memorized," Moony told him quietly. Number twelve, Grimmauld Place emerged out of nowhere between numbers eleven and thirteen. It was as though an extra house had inflated, pushing those on either side out of its way. I looked at Harry as he gaped at it.
"Come on, hurry," growled Moody, prodding Harry in the back. Harry walked up the worn stone steps first staring at the newly materialized door. Its black paint was shabby and scratched. The silver door knocker was in the form of a twisted serpent. There was no keyhole or letterbox. Moony pulled out his wand and tapped the door once. Many loud, metallic clicks and what sounded like the clatter of a chain could be heard. The door creaked open.
"Get in quick, Harry," Moony whispered. "But don't go far inside and don't touch anything."
Harry stepped over the threshold into the almost total darkness of the hall. He could smell damp, dust, and a sweetish, rotting smell; the place had the feeling of a derelict building. He looked over his shoulder and saw us all filing in behind him, Moony and Tonks carrying
his trunk whilst I carried Hedwig's cage. Moody was standing on the top step and releasing the balls of light the Put-Outer had stolen from the streetlamps; they flew back to their bulbs and the square beyond glowed momentarily with orange light before Moody limped inside and closed the front door, so that the darkness in the hall became complete.
"Here" He rapped Harry hard over the head with his wand lifting the Disillusionment Charm.
"Now stay still, everyone, while I give us a bit of light in here," Moody whispered. There was a soft hissing noise and then old-fashioned gas lamps sputtered into life all along the walls, casting a flickering insubstantial light over the peeling wallpaper and threadbare carpet of a long, gloomy hallway, where a cobwebby chandelier glimmered overhead and age-blackened portraits hung crooked on the walls. Both the chandelier and the candelabra on a rickety table nearby were shaped like serpents. There were hurried footsteps and Mrs. Weasley, emerged from a door at the far end of the hall. She was beaming in welcome as she hurried toward them.
"Rory dear you worried me a bit you were gone longer than we expected" She pulled me into a hug.
"Hey Mama bear"
"Oh, Harry, it's lovely to see you!" she whispered, pulling him into a rib-cracking hug next before holding him at 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 us and whispered urgently, "He's just arrived, the meeting's started" The wizards all made noises of interest and excitement and began filing past Harry toward the door through which Mrs. Weasley had just come; Harry made to follow, but Mrs. Weasley held him back. "No, Harry, the meeting's only for members of the Order. Ron and Hermione are upstairs, you can wait with them until the meeting's over and then we'll have dinner. And keep your voice down in the hall," she added in an urgent whisper.
"Why?"
"I don't want to wake anything up."
"What d'you?"
"I'll explain later, I've got to hurry, I'm supposed to be at the meeting. Rory are you joining us?"
"Er no I'm just gonna head up to my room. Feeling a bit tired" She smiles at me nodding before heading to the meeting "Come on Harry I'll show you where you're sleeping. Make sure you don't make a noise" I said leading him quietly past a pair of long, moth-eaten curtains, which held the portrait of Pad's very annoying mother. We started up the dark staircase, passing a row of house elf heads mounted on plaques on the wall. All of them had the same rather snout like nose.
"Rory what on earth are we doing in a house that looked as though it belonged to a dark wizard?"
"It's a lot to explain Harry. I'll let Ron and Hermione tell you most of it" We stop outside the door with Harry's name on a plaque "This is your room, Ron's staying in here with you. My room's just there" I tell him pointing towards my door before leaving him to go in his room whilst I head to mine flopping down on the bed. It isn't long before I hear Harry shouting
"SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL! YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE, HAVEN'T YOU? YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER! ME, I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS' FOR A MONTH! AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THANYOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT WHO SAVED THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR
SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS?" I stand heading over to Harry's room as he continues to shout. "WHO HAD TO GET PAST DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME!" I open the door to reveal Ron standing there with his mouth half-open, clearly stunned and at a loss for anything to say, while Hermione looked on the verge of tears. Harry doesn't even realise someone else has entered as continues "BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?"
"Harry, we wanted to tell you, we really did" Hermione 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"
"Harry thats enough" I finally speak as he turns to face me anger in his eyes.
"Oh hello my dear sister you gonna tell me you don't know what's going on"
"I don't know much"
"AT LEAST YOU KNOW SOMETHING DON'T YOU. ALLOWED IN THE MEETING'S PROBABLY DISCUSSING THINGS TO DO WITH ME WEREN'T YOU"
"Harry everything to do with you has been about keeping you safe"
"SAFE I WATCHED SOMEONE DIE IN FRONT OF ME I WATCHED HIM COME BACK. ME"
"MAYBE WHILST YOU WERE TOO BUSY FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF YOU FORGOT I WAS THERE TOO. I HAD THE CRUCIATUS CURSE USED ON ME MULTIPLE TIMES"
"YOU COULD OF USED YOUR POWERS AND PROTECTED US BUT YOU DIDN'T. IT'S YOUR FAULT CEDRIC DIED. IF YOU'D JUST USE THOSE POWERS RATHER THAN BEING STUPIDLY SCARED OF THEM FOR NO REASON RORY" I take a step back.
"Is that what you honestly think"
"YEAH IT'S WHAT I THINK" I turn walking out of his room ignoring the looks on Ron and Hermione's faces and into mine locking the door behind me before heading to the bathroom attached to my room locking that door as well. I slide down the door sitting on the floor thinking about what Harry had said tears falling down my face. What if I could of saved him. I hear two loud cracks after a while.
"Rory" I hear Fred's voice from the other side of the door.
"We heard what Harry said come on it's not true and you know it" George's voice says as I pull my legs up and rest my head on my knee's the tears still falling.
"I'm fine guys I just want to be alone" I say willing my voice not to crack.
"Ror" They both say.
"Guys please just leave me alone" I hear them whispering before George speaks.
"Okay Rory. Come find us when you're ready" I hear them unlock my door before leaving. The images of Cedric's body flying through my mind as I sit against the door. I slip my hand into my top so it's touching my shoulder before allowing it to heat up enough to cause pain feeling a small amount of relief from my thoughts before I hear Mrs Weasley's voice.
"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?" She calls up the stairs. I stand walking over to the mirror and pulling my jumper off before pulling my t-shirt away from my shoulder revealing what damage I'd done this time. My arm's covered in old burns whilst a new one's taking form on my shoulder already starting to blister. I open the door making sure no one's around before heading over to my trunk to grab a different top that won't rub. I grab a vest and Charlies jumper I stole before heading back to the bathroom to change quickly. I remove my t-shirt to reveal more scars littering my stomach and hips. I quickly slip my vest on before putting Charlie's jumper on over the top careful not to touch my shoulder too much. I hear a knock at my bedroom door, walking out of the bathroom at the same time as Moony opens my door.
"Everything okay Wolf"
"Yeah I was just coming down" He looks at me unconvinced but let's it go for now.
"Come on" he puts an arm around me touching my shoulder as I hide the pain. We head to the kitchen where the others are. We walked to the bottom of the stairs and through a door leading into the basement kitchen. Many chairs had been crammed into the room for the meeting and a long wooden table stood in the middle of the room. I walked in as Bill spoke to Harry.
"Journey all right, Harry?" Bill called, trying to gather up twelve scrolls at once. "Mad-Eye didn't make you come via Greenland, then?"
"He tried," Tonks said, striding over to help Bill and immediately sending a candle toppling onto the last piece of parchment. "Oh no sorry"
"Here, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, sounding exasperated, and she repaired the parchment with a wave of her wand. She snatched the plan off the table and stuffed it into Bill's heavily laden arms. "This sort of thing ought to be cleared away promptly at the end of meetings," she snapped before sweeping off toward an ancient dresser from which she started unloading dinner plates. Bill took out his wand, muttered
"Evanesco!" and the scrolls vanished.
"Sit down, Harry," Pads said. "You've met Mundungus, haven't you?" Mundungus gave a prolonged, grunting snore and then jerked awake.
"Some'n say m' name?" Mundungus mumbled sleepily. "I 'gree with Sirius" He raised a very grubby hand in the air as though voting, his droopy, bloodshot eyes unfocused. Ginny giggled.
"The meeting's over, Dung," Pads said, as they all sat down around him at the table. "Harry's arrived."
"Eh?" Mundungus said, peering balefully at Harry through his matted ginger hair. "Blimey, so 'e 'as. Yeah you all right, 'arry?"
"Yeah, what happened to your nose" Harry said. Mundungus fumbled nervously in his pockets, still staring at Harry, and pulled out a grimy black pipe. He stuck it in his mouth, ignited the end of it with his wand, and took a deep pull on it. Great billowing clouds of greenish smoke obscured him in seconds.
"Owe you a 'pology," grunted a voice from the middle of the smelly cloud. I noticed he avoided the question about how he got hurt.
"For the last time, Mundungus," called Mrs. Weasley, "will you please not smoke that thing in the kitchen, especially not when we're about to eat!"
"Ah," Mundungus said. "Right. Sorry, Molly." The cloud of smoke vanished as Mundungus stowed his pipe back in his pocket, but an acrid smell of burning socks lingered.
"And if you want dinner before midnight I'll need a hand," Mrs. Weasley said to the room at large. "No, you can stay where you are, Harry dear, you've had a long journey" I feel Harry's eyes on me but refuse to look at him as I walk over to Bill.
"What can I do, Molly?" Tonks said enthusiastically, bounding forward. Mrs. Weasley hesitated, looking apprehensive.
"Er no, it's all right, Tonks, you have a rest too, you've done enough today"
"No, no, I want to help!" Tonks said brightly, knocking over a chair as she hurried toward the dresser from which Ginny was collecting cutlery. Soon a series of heavy knives were chopping meat and vegetables of their own accord, supervised by Mr. Weasley, while Mrs. Weasley stirred a cauldron dangling over the fire and the others took out plates, more goblets, and food from the pantry. Harry sat at the table with Pads and Mundungus, who was still blinking mournfully at him.
"Seen old Figgy since?" he asked.
"No," Harry said, "I haven't seen anyone."
"See, I wouldn't 'ave left," Mundungus said, leaning forward, a pleading note in his voice as he quickly glanced at me, "but I 'ad a business opportunity" Crookshanks jumped onto Pads lap and curled up. He scratched him absentmindedly behind the ears as he turned to Harry.
"Had a good summer so far?"
"No, it's been lousy," Harry said. Something like a grin flitted across Pads face.
"Don't know what you're complaining about, myself."
"What?" Harry said incredulously.
"Personally, I'd have welcomed a dementor attack. A deadly struggle for my soul would have broken the monotony nicely. You think you've had it bad, at least you've been able to get out and about, stretch your legs, get into a few fights. I've been stuck inside for a month." I look down at the floor knowing it's because of me.
"How come?" asked Harry, frowning.
"Dumbledores orders to protect Rory. Moonys in the same boat except on a full moon "
"She doesn't need protecting though" he says still sounding angry. I walk out of the room starting to feel overwhelmed and head to the nearest bathroom. I hear slight shouting as I put my head slightly between my legs.
"What the hell happened" I hear Pads voice. Someone replies although I don't hear who.
"You said what" Pads sounds angry.
"I was angry alright I didn't mean to hurt her. It's not my fault I'm angry at her she's been here with you and in the meeting's whilst I've been stuck at the Dursleys" I hear Harry's raise his voice.
"SHE'S ONLY BEEN IN MEETINGS TO DO WITH YOU BECAUSE DUMBLEDORE THOUGHT IF SHE WAS LEFT IN THE DARK SHE WOULD BE CONSTANTLY CHECKING YOU WERE OKAY AND PUTTING HERSELF IN DANGER. LOOK AT DUNGS FACE SHE DID THAT BECAUSE HE ALMOST GOT YOU KILLED. VOLDEMORT KNOWS ABOUT HER AND WE NEED TO PROTECT HER. HE DIDN'T KILL HER THAT NIGHT BECAUSE HE WANTS HER" Pads shouts making me flinch. The shouting stops. I jump when there's a knock at the door.
"Little wolf" Pads says threw the door "Open up" I hear him sit down "I'm not leaving until you talk or open the door"
"What if I could of saved that boy Cedric" I whisper.
"No, don't do that. What happened that night was completely out of your control. You had the Cruciatus Curse used before you even made it to that graveyard. Even if you could stop the killing curse you was too weak by that point you could barely stand. Harry was wrong for blaming you" I stand opening the door as Pads stands opening his arms for me. I walk straight into him ignoring the pain in my shoulder as he wraps his arms around me. "Come on lets go to dinner" I nod following him to the kitchen. We walk in as Mrs Weasley shouts.
"Fred - George - NO, JUST CARRY THEM!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked. Fred and George had bewitched a large cauldron of stew, an iron flagon of butterbeer, and a heavy wooden breadboard, complete with knife, to hurtle through the air toward the table. The stew skidded the length of the table and came to a halt just before the end, leaving a long black burn on the wooden surface, the flagon of butterbeer fell with a crash, spilling its contents everywhere, and the bread knife slipped off the board and landed, point down and quivering ominously, exactly where Pads had been sat before. "FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!" screamed Mrs. Weasley. "THERE WAS NO NEED - I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW YOU DON'T HAVE TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERY TINY LITTLE THING!"
"We were just trying to save a bit of time!" said Fred, hurrying forward and wrenching the bread knife out of the table. "Sorry Sirius, mate didn't mean to" Pad's was laughing. Mundungus, who had toppled backward off his chair, was swearing as he got to his feet. Crookshanks had given an angry hiss and shot off under the dresser, his large yellow eyes glowed in the darkness.
"Boys," Mr. Weasley said, lifting the stew back into the middle of the table, "your mother's right, you're supposed to show a sense of responsibility now you've come of age" I took a seat next to Bill who looked at me and smiled.
"none of your brothers caused this sort of trouble!" Mrs. Weasley raged at the twins, slamming a fresh flagon of butterbeer onto the table and spilling almost as much again. "Bill didn't feel the need to Apparate every few feet! Charlie didn't Charm everything he met! Percy" She stopped dead, catching her breath with a frightened look at her husband, whose expression was suddenly wooden.
"Let's eat," Bill said quickly.
"It looks wonderful, Molly," Moony said ladling stew onto the first plate for her and handing it across the table. For a few minutes there was silence but for the chink of plates and cutlery and the scraping of chairs as everyone settled down to their food. Then Mrs. Weasley turned to Pads and said,
"I've been meaning to tell you, there's something trapped in that writing desk in the drawing room, it keeps rattling and shaking. Of course, it could just be a boggart, but I thought we ought to ask Alastor to have a look at it before we let it out."
"Whatever you like," Pad's answered indifferently.
"The curtains in there are full of doxies too," Mrs. Weasley went on. "I thought we might try and tackle them tomorrow."
"I look forward to it," Pad's said sarcasm in his voice. Bill turned to me as I pushed my food around my plate not feeling hungry.
"You alright" he said in a low voice.
"Fine"
"If you need to talk I'm here or talk to Charlie" my heart sunk at the mention of Charlie, I miss him.
"Thank you pillock" he winks at me making me smile before he joins Moony and Mr Weasley intense discussion about goblins.
"They're not giving anything away yet," Bill said. "I still can't work out whether they believe he's back or not. 'Course, they might prefer not to take sides at all. Keep out of it."
"I'm sure they'd never go over to You-Know-Who," Mr. Weasley said, shaking his head. "They've suffered losses too. Remember that goblin family he murdered last time, somewhere near Nottingham?"
"I think it depends what they're offered," Moony said. "And I'm not talking about gold; if they're offered freedoms we've been denying them for centuries they're going to be tempted. Have you still not had any luck with Ragnok, Bill?"
"He's feeling pretty anti-wizard at the moment," Bill said. "He hasn't stopped raging about the Bagman business, he reckons the Ministry did a cover-up, those goblins never got their gold from him, you know" A gale of laughter from the middle of the table drowned the rest of Bill's words. Fred, George, Ron, and Mundungus were rolling around in their seats.
"and then," choked Mundungus, tears running down his face, "and then, if you'll believe it, 'e says to me, 'e says, ' 'ere, Dung, where didja get all them toads from? 'Cos some son of a Bludger's gone and nicked all mine!' And I says, 'Nicked all your toads, Will, what next?
So you'll be wanting some more, then?' And if you'll believe me, lads, the gormless gargoyle buys all 'is own toads back orf me for twice what 'e paid in the first place"
"I don't think we need to hear any more of your business dealings, thank you very much, Mundungus," Mrs. Weasley said sharply, as Ron slumped forward onto the table, howling with laughter.
"Beg pardon, Molly," Mundungus said at once, wiping his eyes and winking at Harry. "But, you know, Will nicked 'em orf Warty Harris in the first place so I wasn't really doing nothing wrong"
"I don't know where you learned about right and wrong, Mundungus, but you seem to have missed a few crucial lessons," Mrs. Weasley said coldly. I love this woman. Fred and George buried their faces in their goblets of butterbeer; George was hiccupping. For some reason, Mrs. Weasley threw a very nasty look at Pads before getting to her feet and going to fetch a large rhubarb crumble for pudding.
"Molly doesn't approve of Mundungus," I heard Pads tell Harry. I continued to just push food around my plate not really paying attention to anything until I felt a hand touch my arm, looking up I saw Bill and Moony looking at me.
"What" I say quietly.
"You haven't eaten much wolf" Moony said looking at me.
"Technically I haven't eaten anything" I mutter under my breath forgetting about his stupid werewolf hearing.
"Aurora" he warns "We're not going down this road again you need to eat"
"I'm not a little kid Moony" I stand up walking out ignoring the looks from everyone. I head to my room locking the door.
There's a knock on my door as I lay on my bed.
"Rory. Can we talk" I hear Moony's voice. I roll over and ignore him. "Wolf please open the door or I will" I stand walking over to the door and unlocking it before walking back to my bed and laying back down. Moony walks in closing the door behind him "Let's talk"
"What about" I answer as he takes a seat next to me. I sit up next to him.
"Harry was wrong you know"
"Was he" he turns to me.
"Yes Rory he was wrong. You can't blame yourself for something that was out of your control. Your powers might not even be able to block that sort of Magic in the first place let alone when you've been through what you went through" I smile at him as I place my head on his shoulder. We sit in silence for a while.
"Moony" I say suddenly.
"Yes wolf" I feel him move his head to look towards me.
"I'm not okay. Not even slightly okay and I'm struggling with hiding it. I don't want to hide it anymore" I whisper as he wraps an arm around me pulling me into him more.
"I know baby girl, I know" I broke down fully crying in his arms.