"Really? The two of you couldn't dry yourselves off?" I scoffed at the twins. We were sat in a dusty spare room at 12 Grimmauld Place waiting for Harry's arrival.
"I can never remember the charm." Fred shrugged.
I rolled my eyes, muttering the incantation and drying the twin boys' hair. Ginny shook her head from where she was sat in the corner, attempting to read one of the musty old books she had pulled off the shelf. There wasn't much to do here. Fred and George had mostly busied themselves with their joke shop, brainstorming new ideas and testing out a few. Ginny and I were not willing to puke, faint, or get nose bleeds, so we entertained ourselves with some of the weird things we found around the house.
We had arrived not too long ago, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley instantly heading to the kitchen to talk with Sirius Black. Apparently this place had been his childhood home and he was now hiding out here, and opening it up for Order of the Phoenix meetings of course. The Black family house elf, Kreacher, had shooed us right upstairs. He had some particularly..colorful..words to say to me about my Muggle decent. I can't imagine what he'll say when he sees Hermione. Sirius apologized to me in advance for his behavior. I had never properly met him until now. Part of me felt like I should thank him for saving me from that unwanted kiss years ago, but I think he knows.
From the very minimal information I could get from the twins, The Order has been meeting once again since Cedric's death. Over the summer, members had taken turns watching Harry. Apparently the sketchy man in charge of watching him today disapparated, so Harry was left to fend for himself when a pair of Dementors showed up. Naturally he used magic to save himself and his cousin, but he's now been expelled from Hogwarts.
The voices we heard from where Ron and Hermione were in the room just next to ours seemed to get louder, until we could hear a familiar voice practically screaming. "I wonder if that's Har-" Before I could finish my sentence, Fred and George had apparated out of the room. The twins were clearly very happy they had passed their Apparation test.
"They act like we don't have legs!" I groaned, standing up and simply walking a door over. Sure enough both boys were sat behind a very tired looking Harry Potter. I hated seeing how thin and unkempt he looked after just a month with those Dursley's.
I smiled at Harry as I entered the room before walking back and sitting on the bed with the twins. I lightly smacked George on the back of the head but he just laughed before continuing what they were saying.
"If you're all done shouting..." George looked back and forth at the others in the room, a devious smile already spreading across his face.
"Do you wanna hear something a little more interesting?" Fred rose his eyebrows with an identical smile.
"Here we go." I muttered.
"Our newest invention..." Fred pulled the device out of his pocket. "Extendable Ears."
We all went out into the hallway as Fred slowly dropped the ear down the stairwell and right outside the door where the adults were meeting. The voices were a little muffled but the main topic, of course, seemed to be Harry. Dumbledore was speaking quietly on the subject, almost as if he anticipated being spied on. I'm a little surprised to have heard Snape's voice. I wouldn't expect him to be a member of the Order being the head of Slytherin house, but I'm relieved to know he's on the good side.
"Hey, Ginny." Harry smiled as she came out of our room to join us. Downstairs, everyone began to argue about whether or not Harry should be told about all that's going on. Mrs. Weasley and Sirius seemed to be especially heated.
Just as things were getting interesting, Hermione's cat Crookshanks strode into the room. His orange bottlebrush tail flicked back and forth while he surveyed the new area. His head cocked as his eyes settled on the dangling ear. "Don't you dare! Bad Crookshanks!" Hermione hissed when the cat reached out a paw to bat at the Weasley invention.
"Get it, Fred! Quick!" George urged, trying to grab it from his brother.
"Oh stop it!" Fred argued with his brother before the cat grabbed a hold of the ear in it's teeth and trotted off.
We all stood in silence for a moment, unsure of what to do now when Ron spoke up. "Hermione...I hate your cat." The rest of us laughed as she rolled her eyes.
"It sounds like they're finally finishing up." I pointed to where the shadows danced under the door.
We made our way down the stairs just as the meeting seemed to die down. Mrs. Weasley stood at the bottom with a big smile. "Well. We'll be eating down in the kitchen."
"Oh!" She squealed as the twins apparated on either side of her. "Just because you're allowed to use magic now does not mean you have to whip your wands out for everything!" Her sons scurried away when she turned to strike them.
I bit back a smile and followed everyone else down to the kitchen. They're going to give her a heart attack one day and then they'll be sorry. We sat down at a long wooden table where Mrs. Weasley had already set up plates and silverware for everyone. Various members of the Order hung around but it appears Snape had left before he could be seen by us.
"It's been a long time, Hadleigh." I smiled when I made eye contact with the oldest Weasley brother, Bill. He was my first crush when I was six. His long red hair tied in a ponytail, his jaw sharp and angular, and a fang earring stuck out of his ear. He stood from where he was sat beside his father before pulling me into a big bear hug. "I'm sorry to hear you ended up with one of the more undesirable Weasley's." He teased, earning a light punch in the arm from his younger brother.
I was sat between Hermione and George and across from Tonks and Ginny. Tonks was an Auror, especially unique because of her Metamorphmagus status. Tonks acted as our pre-dinner entertainment as she gave herself various animal faces, switching effortlessly from pig to duck. Ginny and I thought she was especially hilarious. It's safe to say I love her already.
"Fred, George. Bring supper to the table." Mrs. Weasley instructed, not looking up from the cutting board.
"Watch this." George smirked as the cauldron of stew, the iron flagon of butterbeer, and the breadboard all lifted from the kitchen counter and began to float towards where everyone was sitting.
"George—" Mr. Weasley started to scold his son.
A gasp escaped Tonks and everyone's attention was drawn to where Sirius was sitting. A knife had fallen off of the breadboard, and was now sticking straight up out of the table a mere inch from his hand. The food quickly dropped to the table, the stew sloshing slightly in the cauldron.
"George Fabian Weasley!!" Mrs. Weasley sounded absolutely exasperated as she approached her son, slapping him upside the head. "I asked you two to do the simplest task and you have to find a way to use magic!?"
"I'm so sorry—" George turned to Sirius with a red face but was instantly interrupted by the man's loud laughter.
"It's quite all right." He grinned and pulled the knife from the table, twirling it between his fingers before setting it back down on the breadboard. I looked across to where George was getting scolded by his father and gave him a teasing smirk.
The mood quickly shifted when a copy of The Daily Prophet was set in front of Harry. The bold print on the front page read 'The Boy Who Lies?' The Ministry has been slandering him and Dumbledore left and right since Voldemort's return. I couldn't bring myself to read them at all over the summer. Harry had turned into a sort of joke. Everyone thought he was insane.
"We believe Voldemort may be after something..." Sirius started, causing Mrs. Weasley to stop cutting her vegetables and glare at him. This must be what they were arguing about during the meeting.
"Sirius." Moody warned him but the stubborn man was intent on sharing what he had to say.
"Something he didn't have last time..." Sirius dragged on. His eyes flitting back and forth from Harry to Mrs. Weasley.
"Stop!" Mrs. Weasley rushed forward. George gave me a funny look as his mum was still holding her knife that she was just using to prepare our dinner. The thought of her brandishing it at Sirius made both of us chuckle. "He's just a boy. If you're going to tell him you may as well indict him in the Order."
"Good." Harry spoke up for himself. "I want to join. If Dumbledore has an army against Voldemort I want to fight." Sirius rose his eyebrows and a smirk spread across his face as if his point had been proven.
We ate dinner in an awkward silence as Mrs. Weasley was practically radiating anger. She was still sure to give us a large rhubarb crumble for pudding, and she didn't even object when Tonks stood to help bring over the custard—which was saying something because the woman was terribly clumsy and had a good chance of dropping the dessert in the three steps it took to get from the kitchen.
After that Mrs. Weasley was quick to shoo us off to bed. Harry and Mr. Weasley were to head to the Ministry early tomorrow for Harry's hearing.
I lay in the bed Ginny and I were sharing. Hermione was fast asleep in the other bed. It was comfortable of course, but sleep never came. There's no point in sitting here and tossing and turning any more.
I was careful to get out of bed without waking Ginny, but the squeaky floorboards of the old house gave me away. Ginny lifted her head, alarmed for a minute before laying her head back on the pillow. "Go. I won't tell."Another reason why she's my favorite Weasley.
I tiptoed across the hall, trying to be as light on my feet as possible so I wouldn't wake the adults. I quietly opened and closed the door to Fred and George's room. When I turned back into the room I realized I was met with a dilemma.
The way the twins were sleeping I could only see the back of their heads. I've learned to tell them apart pretty easily over the years, but with their faces buried in their pillows I'm a little worried I'll get into bed with the wrong twin. This is a pretty good test of my relationship. I decided the furthest bed from the door had George and cautiously snuck under the covers. He jumped when he felt the rush of cold air.
"Don't scare me like that, darling." He mumbled, allowing me to cuddle up against his chest. His arm snaked around me and he slowly rubbed my back.
"Thank Godric you're not Fred." I giggled, causing him to chuckle.
"Couldn't sleep?" He whispered, his hand lazily running over the curve of my waist.
"Not a wink." I sighed and met his gaze. He licked his lips as his eyes flitted down to mine. I rose my eyebrows, knowing exactly what he was thinking.
He squeezed my hips and pulled me fully on top of him as he connected our lips. A hand tangled itself in my hair. "George." I breathed out, pressing a hand on his chest to pull him away from me. "Fred is sleeping right there."
"Key word sleeping." He flashed me a toothy grin, his eyes sparkling.
I rolled off of him and slapped him lightly on the chest. "You're sick."
"Fine." He huffed, childishly turning to face the other direction.
"Well...I guess you don't want to hear my other suggestion." I sighed, following his actions and rolling away. A slight smirk played on my lips as I felt his weight shift on the mattress behind me.
A hand trailed around my waist before lightly squeezing. "Suggest away, love." He whispered in my ear. I didn't have to see his face to picture the shit eating grin he surely wore.
I crawled out of bed with George hot on my heels. We both stepped lightly as we passed Fred's still sleeping figure, careful not to wake him. Though we had learned over the years that he is quite the heavy sleeper. Once we had successfully made it out of the room, I grabbed George's hand in mine and led him down the old wooden staircase. All of the other Grimmauld Place occupants would be asleep on the three upper floors, leaving the ground floor unoccupied. The house was quiet and still, aside from the muffled shuffling of Kreacher.
I turned back to look up at my boyfriend, his lips still curled into a huge grin. George opened his mouth to speak before his face flushed and his eyes focused on something in front of me. I slowly turned my head back around to see Sirius leaning against the door frame at the bottom of the stairs.
He was still wearing the same suit he had been wearing during the day and had seemingly not even attempted to go to sleep. His fingers wrapped around a glass of firewhisky, carelessly swirling the remaining ice as he smiled up at us. "Going somewhere, kids?"
"Just looking for the bathroom." George tried to cover as he rubbed the back of his neck.
The man's eyebrows rose and his eyes filled with a glint of mischief, a knowing smile spreading across his face. "It's back upstairs and to the left."
"I told you that's where it was." I laughed breathily and turned to escape the awkward situation. We probably should have thought to prepare a better lie, but we were foolishly too swept away in the moment to think of the prospect of being caught. Now I really wish we would have as my face was currently mimicking a beetroot.
"Oh and by the way..." Sirius nonchalantly called up to us once again. "Kreacher doesn't take too kindly to teenagers sneaking around to play tonsil tennis." He winked as we scurried back to bed.
"That was the most embarrassing moment of my life." I whispered once we had gotten back to George's room. My face is still red from the confrontation. We kept our voices hushed, my eyes watching Fred for any sign of stirring. If he ever found out about this we would never hear the end of it.
Of course George thought it was hilarious. "Really? Even more embarrassing than when Fred walked in on you with your top off?" He struggled to hold back laughter.
"Yes." I hissed, rolling my eyes. It's incredibly frustrating sometimes how everything seems to be funny.
"C'mere." He muffled his laughter by burying his face in my hair and wrapping his arms around me. I was pulled back against his front as his fingers slowly ran through the long strands. At least our years of friendship did teach him a few ways to relax me. In just minutes I had momentarily forgotten about my embarrassment and felt myself drifting off to sleep.
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