An important Order meeting was to be held at Grimmauld Place in the evening. Members started piling in as soon as noon. Harry wondered how long he could stay in his bedroom before getting hungry. He figured he could sneak back down stairs during the meeting and grab some food. He hoped Fred and George would pop by with their extendable ears.
Hermione glided swiftly into the room. “Why don’t you come see anyone from the Order? They all want to see you.” she said.
Harry shrugged. “I really don’t want to see them all that much.” he said simply not trying to be rude.
Hermione sighed. “Harry look, we know you’ve had a rough summer, but at least try to cheer up.” groaned Hermione.
“Hermione please don’t try to be all understanding.” Harry pleaded trying not to loose his temper. “You don’t half of what’s bugging me and you won’t know for a while.”
Hermione decided she’d best get off the subject. “Well at least come down for some dinner or something.” she asked hopefully. Harry looked up at her determined face.
“Alright,” he groaned and rolled out of bed. “But only for a little.” he added quickly. Hermione nodded.
They walked quietly pass the portrait of Mrs. Black and down the stairs. In entering the kitchen the first thing Harry noticed was everyone chatting and drinking butterbeers. This seemed impossible. How could they be this way? Drinking as though nothing had happened last June...
Harry caught a glimpse of a head with extraordinarily greasy hair, and dodged out of view. He tried hard not to be seen by the potions master, and began to head back upstairs but someone tapped him on the shoulder.
“I believe you might want this back.” said Professor McGonagall handing him his Firebolt. “I hear it caused you guard a lot of trouble.” Harry nodded and took the Firebolt upstairs without another word. In the hall, voices could be heard coming from the bedroom.
“So it’s right below here?” came George’s voice.
“Yeah,” came Fred’s voice. Harry entered the room. Both Fred and George jumped. “Harry you scared us.” said Fred
“Yeah we thought you were mum or someone.” George added. Harry shook his head.
“No, what are you two doing here?”
Fred and George grinned. “Well,” George started holding up the extendable ears. “In all the important meetings the Order puts a charm on the door so you can’t use the extendable ears. So Fred and I thought that we would try to here from above the meeting room.” Harry grinned at their brilliants.
“So are you going to stay up here all night?” Harry asked. Hw watched as Fred tried to fit the tools of mischief into a crack in the floor.
“Only 'til the meeting’s over” said Fred, still busily slipping the cord down into the floor..
Harry shrugged. Ginny came into the room, panting slightly. “Okay, they finally started.” she panted. She must have run up the stairs.
“Excellent.” Fred and George said together and placed the extendable ears to the ground. They twisted them around, moving along the crack for a good sound. Then a faint voice could be heard through the floor.
"I think we should start with the Dementors tonight. They’re becoming more dangerous than we predicted." said a voice that Harry was sure was Moody's.
“They are becoming a more dangerous. There was a dementor attack on a muggle in Bristol last night. ” Fred, George, and Ginny looked at each other.
“That’s dad’s voice.” whispered Ginny, “You don’t suppose they’ve got him warding off dementors for a bunch of muggles do you? Since he works on keeping the wizarding world a secret, the ministry and the Order might have him doing it.”
"I think random attacks are the least of our worries. They’re going to be used as threats. They've got an army's worth and I'm sure they won't hesitate to use them."
They started to make plans. People agreed to guard certain areas at certain times, including diagon alley, Hogsmeade, and many places Harry had never heard of.
Ron and Hermione entered the room. “What are you lot doing?” Hermione asked in a prefect manner. Ron, however saw the extendable ears and strained to listen. Hermione sighed in defeat and joined them.
“And what about Hogwarts?” came Moody’s voice.
Dumbledore’s voice came through extremely clear, as though meaning for them to hear. “We only need one member of the Order at Hogwarts at a time Alastor. And as long as Remus here is teaching there, we needn’t worry about it.” Dumbledore said in a calm voice.
"Lupin?" Harry whispered, "I didn't think he'd be willing to teach again."
"That’s what he meant by 'just something the Order wants me to do'. I guess no one else is qualified to teach, and they need someone" Hermione said....
“And what about on Hogsmeade visits Albus?” said McGonagall’s voice. “Surely one guard member will not be enough.”
Harry had an angry urge to argue back at them. He didn’t need a guard. He knew how to ward off a dementor, and a deatheater wouldn’t be stupid enough to roam around Hogsmeade or Hogwarts. As though having read Harry’s thoughts, Dumbledore spoke unusually loud.
“We will of course need a larger guard at Hogsmeade but for all the students’ safety.” he said firmly.
They heard Moody whisper something too softly to hear. Then someone stomped furiously out of the meeting room and, from what they could here, up the stairs.
“Oh, no,” Hermione whispered frantically. “You don’t think Moody saw us through the ceiling do you?”
Everyone looked at each other for a moment then scattered. Ron and Harry threw themselves into their beds, while Fred and George apparated out of the room. Ginny and Hermione made a run for the door, but Ginny held out her arm.
“Mum’s coming down the hall.” she whispered. Mrs. Weasley’s footsteps could be heard stomping down the hall.
“Quick!” Harry hissed at them, “Act like we were just talking.” Ginny and Hermione scrambled over to a bed and sat cross-legged on. Trying not to breathe to hard, Hermione and Ginny attempted to act like they had been talking the entire time while Harry and Ron listened.
The door burst open, and Mrs. Weasley came pointing her index finger strait at them. “I’d have though you lot would have learned by now, not to eavesdrop on the order’s meetings!” she shrieked. They tried to look confused but Mrs. Weasley knew better. “And don’t try to tell me otherwise, because Mad-Eye saw you!” They gave in.
“We were only trying to find out what’s been going on.” Ginny protested, but Mrs. Weasley shook her head.
“Then you should have asked! Not try to find out by eavesdropping!” she said sternly.
“It’s not like you would have told us.” Ron shouted back. “You never tell us anything.” Mrs. Weasley shook her head.
“We might have told you the general information.” she said as she looked around the room. “Where are Fred and George? I know they were up here too.” They all shrugged. “Well if I see any of you with thoughs, expandable ears-”
“Extendable,” Hermione corrected softly.
“Whatever. If I see you with them ever again…” she trailed off and slammed the door behind her. They all looked at each other for a moment before Fred and George apparated back into the room.
“Damn it! And Snape was suppose to give one of his reports today too. We never got to hear what they’re even about.” Fred said sadly.
George nodded. “Well we’d best be off.”
“Yeah,” said Fred, “Got to tend to the shop you know?” They disapparated out of the room.
The night had been so exciting, Harry found it hard to sleep. He decided to place some of the “less pleasurable” memories into his Pensieve as Lupin had recommended. He placed them in the order from start to finish; first was him finding the Philosopher’s Stone. Then came the memory of him fighting off the basilisk. Most likely the easiest memory to recall was one from his third year; meeting his godfather. It was perhaps the longest one he placed into the Pensieve. Last he placed the unfortunate events that happened within his fourth and fifth year. Just as Dumbledore had done, Harry placed the knowledge of the prophecy into the Pensieve.
Having spent so much time placing memories within the Pensieve, Harry found it much easier to sleep. This was not only because he was tired, but because he got so much hated memories off his chest.