94 hp Diagon Alley

After hearing the door open, Ginny and Ginny crept up to the third floor, but they didn't hear the trio's intimate conversation on the stairs, but Harry complained loudly.

"Then why is Dumbledore so eager to keep me in the dark?" Harry asked, still trying to keep his voice flat. "Did you - er - bother to ask him?"

"We said to Dumbledore, we'd love to tell you what the hell happened," said Ron, "and we did, buddy. But he's busy as hell, we've only seen him since we got here Twice. He didn't have much time, he just asked us to promise not to tell you important things when we wrote, and he said that the owl might be intercepted halfway."

"If he really wanted to, he could still give me the news," said Harry gruffly. "Don't he know of other ways of sending messages besides owls?"

Hermione glanced at Ron, then said, "I thought about that too. But he just doesn't want you to know anything."

"Maybe he doesn't think I can be trusted," said Harry, watching their expressions.

"Don't be silly," said Ron, looking a little panicked.

"Or think I can't take care of myself."

"Of course he doesn't think so!" said Hermione anxiously.

"Then why do I have to stay at the Dursleys while you two are involved in everything that happens here?" He sputtered out sentence after sentence, his voice getting louder, "Why did you two allow to know All that happened?"

"That's not it!" interrupted Ron. "Mum wouldn't let us go into their meeting place, she said we were too young—"

Harry cried out unconsciously. "So it's a pity you didn't make it to the meeting! But you've been staying here, haven't you? You've been staying together! And me, I've been stuck at the Dursleys for a whole month! But I've been through More than either of you, Dumbledore knew it—who kept the Philosopher's Stone? Who got rid of the Riddle? Who saved both of you from the dementors? Who was it? Seeing that guy come back to life? Who had to escape his clutches? It was me!"

Gwen held Ginny's hand, she felt it was not a good time to go in, she didn't want to be affected by Harry's anger, but Ginny looked anxious and sad.

"I was stuck on Privet Drive for four weeks, reading newspapers out of dumpsters just to find out what was going on - and this was my home! Sirius' home! When did this become the Order of the Phoenix headquarters!"

Breathing heavily, Harry paced up and down the room.Hedwig screamed sullenly from the top of the wardrobe.There was a long silence, broken only by the plaintive creaking of the floorboards under Harry's feet.

"Now, would anyone be kind enough to tell me what the Order of the Phoenix is—"

"It's a secret society," Hermione said hastily. "It's in charge of Dumbledore, he created it. It's all the people who fought You-Know-Who last time."

"Some of them are recruiting more people into the Order of the Phoenix—" said Hermione.

"And some people are standing guard on something," said Ron. "They've been talking about guard duty."

"It's not about protecting me, is it?" said Harry sarcastically.

"Oh, that's right," said Ron, with a look of realization on his face.

Harry snorted contemptuously.He paced up and down the room again. "So what have you two been doing lately, since you're not allowed to attend meetings?" he asked. "You say you've been busy."

"It's been busy," said Hermione hastily. "We've given the house a thorough cleaning, to Mrs. Weasley's standards. We've managed to clean the kitchen and most of the bedrooms, and I think we'll have to tackle that tomorrow." The parlour--oops!"

Pop, pop, with two ear-piercing explosions, Ron's two twin brothers—Fred and George—suddenly appeared in the middle of the room.The piglet squawked even more flustered, and flew over to rest on the top of the wardrobe with Hedwig.

"Hello, Harry," said George, smiling cheerfully at Harry, "we seem to have heard your beautiful speech just now.

"You don't have to suppress your anger like that, Harry, let it out," Fred said with a smile on his face. "There are probably two people fifty miles away who can't hear you."

"So you both passed your Apparition exam?" Harry asked grimly.

"Excellent grades," said Fred, holding something in his hand that looked like a long piece of flesh-colored string.

"It's only an extra thirty seconds to go down the stairs," said Ron.

"Time is galleons," said Fred. "Anyway, Harry, you're jamming. Stretch your ears," he added, seeing Harry raise his eyebrows, and held up the thin Then Harry saw that it led all the way to the landing outside. "We were going to listen downstairs."

"Let's go in, Ginny." Gwen felt that the atmosphere in the room was much better, and pushed the red-haired witch to let her go in front of her.

"Oh, hello, Harry!" said Ginny happily. "I think I heard your voice."

It must be admitted that Ginny is taller and more beautiful than last year, a lively young girl.The corners of Harry's mouth twitched involuntarily when he saw her - which Gwen interpreted as a furious smile.

Gwen also greeted Harry quickly. Compared with Ron and Hermione who were more intimate, Harry couldn't get angry unscrupulously in front of other people, so he finally calmed down a bit.

Ginny turned to Fred and George again, and said to them, "Extensible ears don't necessarily work anymore, Mum actually put an anti-disturbance charm on the kitchen door."

"How do you know?" asked George, looking downcast.

"Tonks told us how to verify it," said Gwen. "You just throw something at the door, and if it doesn't touch the door, it means you've cast the anti-disturbance spell."

Ginny said, "I've been throwing big dung eggs at the door at the top of the stairs, but they all avoid the door and fly away, so there's no way the telescoping ear can get under the door."

Fred heaved a long sigh.

"Unfortunately. I wonder what that old Snape is up to."

"Snape!" Harry asked immediately, "is he here too?"

"Yeah," said George, closing the door carefully, and sitting down on one of the beds.Fred and George followed. "Read a report. Top secret."

"Stupid," said Fred lazily.

"He's on our side now," said Hermione reproachfully.

Ron snorted. "That doesn't mean he isn't a fool. Look at the way he looks at us."

"Dumbledore trusts him." Gwen said reluctantly.

"Even if you speak well of him now," said George, pushing Ginny aside to sit next to Gwen, "it won't change the fact that you have Advanced Potions next term - and he won't forgive you."

Gwen covered her face in frustration.

"Bill doesn't like him either," said Ginny, as if that was the final word.

Harry's anger seemed to have died down, and now his urge to know more overwhelmed his urge to yell.Or maybe he thinks Gwen is more pitiful than him now.He sat down on the bed across from the others.

"Bill is here too?" he asked. "Isn't he working in Egypt?"

"He applied for an office job so he could go home and work for the Order," Fred said. "He said he missed those ancient tombs. But," he smiled mischievously, "it makes up for it."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember that Fleur Delacour?" said George. "She got a job at Gringotts to improve her English—"

"Bill has been giving her a lot of individual tutoring," Fred said with a giggle.

Gwen was a little surprised, "Mrs. Weasley always wanted Tonks..."

"Charlie also joined the Order of the Phoenix," George interrupted, "but he's still in Romania. Dumbledore wants to attract as many wizards from abroad as possible, so Charlie has extensive contact with people when he's not at work."

"Can't Percy do that?" Harry asked.The last time he knew, the third Weasley son worked in the Department of International Magical Cooperation at the Ministry of Magic.

After hearing Harry's words, the Weasley brothers and sisters exchanged a melancholy and meaningful look.

"You mustn't mention Percy in front of Mum and Dad," Ron said nervously to Harry.

"why?"

"Because every time Percy's name was mentioned, Dad smashed everything he was holding and Mum burst into tears," Fred said.

"It's really terrible," said Ginny sadly.

"I think we've got rid of him at last," said George, with a hard grimace on his face.Gwen stroked his back like a soothing cat.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"Percy and Daddy had a big fight," said Fred. "I've never seen Daddy quarrel like that with anyone. Usually it's Mummy."

"It was the first week after term," said Ron, "and we were getting ready to join the Order. Percy came home and told us he'd been promoted."

"Are you kidding?" said Harry.

"Yeah, we were all surprised, too," said George, "because Percy got into a mess with Crouch.