Author's Note: Sorry about the wait. Not to mention the quality of the chapter. Erg. Not the best. Close to the worst, actually. It's my opinion, though- probably you readers too. Anyway, I won't post for an extra long time for next chapter. I haven't started it yet. And finals are coming up. They are January 19-21. So I can't expect to write until January 22. And even then I don't know since my family is having a party on the 21st. sigh I'm sorry. I'll try… but I do have a slightly Hermione side when it comes to studying for finals… Thanks to my beta, as always- Nimbirosa.
Orange Crush
By MalusMagus
Chapter 3
Harry woke up to a ray of light coming into the room, spilling over the bed and shining in his eyes. He shut his eyes tightly and rolled over to his stomach, burying his head in the nice fluffy pillow, only to find he couldn't breathe. He rolled to his side and stared at the wall for a minute, before getting up out of bed, retrieving a shirt and overly-large jeans and shuffling over to the bathroom, one room over.
Harry returned to the bedroom about a half hour later, dressed and showered, wondering what he was going to do. He found it to be almost 8:30 in the morning, so Ron wouldn't be up. If he were, he'd probably be eating anyway.
With that thought he realized the smell of sausage and eggs and headed to the kitchen.
Mrs. Weasley was busy at the stove cooking a variety of things.
"Anything I can do to help?" Harry asked absent mindedly.
Mrs. Weasley looked to the doorway to see Harry leaning against the frame, hands in his pockets, and hair, unruly as ever, spilling over his forehead, waiting for an answer.
"Sure, dear," Mrs. Weasley said kindly, gesturing over to a pile of plates. "You can set the table if you don't mind."
Harry smiled slightly and silently made his way over to the pile of plates. He picked them up and carried them over to the table. He got silverware, napkins, and glasses, and before he knew it, was finished.
"Is there anything else you need?" He asked cheerfully.
Mrs. Weasley, by now, had finished with everything except the potatoes. "Just go wake up Ron, Ginny and Hermione, dear," she said, smiling at him before turning back to the stove. Harry nodded, even though she didn't see him and headed upstairs.
First he went to Ginny and Hermione's room. Girls always take the longest to get ready after all.
"Hermione, Ginny, breakfast is almost ready," he said knocking. He heard two groans and a "Be there in a bit," before he headed to Ron's room. He opened the door.
Ron was snoring loudly. "Ron," Harry said in between snores. "Breakfast is almost ready."
Ron woke up almost instantly and asked groggily, "Wassat 'arry?"
"I said breakfast is almost ready."
Ron nodded and got up. With out a word, he grabbed the clothes of the bedside table and moved into the bathroom. Harry shut the door as he left to go downstairs.
When he got there, Mrs. Weasley was casting warming charms on the plates so the food wouldn't get cold. "Harry dear, Professor Dumbledore will be visiting today to talk with you. After lunch sometime," she said.
Harry nodded and sat down at the table. As he filled his glass with pumpkin juice, Ginny came slowly down the stairs, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Hermione following at a slower pace.
"G'morning," Ginny yawned. "Anything I can do, mum?"
"No, dear," Mrs. Weasley said as she started putting plates of food on the table. "Harry's helped already."
Ginny nodded and yawned as she scooped herself a serving of eggs. "Good for you, Harry," she said tiredly.
They started eating. Five minutes later, Ron trampled down the stairs. "G'morning," he said as he picked up a piece of toast before settling into the chair next to Hermione. Hermione tried to hide her smile by looking away but that only made her appear to blush as well. Ginny caught this and looked back down at her plate, smirking.
"What do you want to do today, Harry?" Ron asked, as if he was purposely ignoring the females in the room.
Harry shrugged.
Mrs. Weasley reminded him by saying to Ron, "The Headmaster is coming right after lunch to talk to him, so you'd better be here by then." Ron nodded and looked at Harry.
Harry smirked and said, "I expect you'll want to go play chess with Hermione."
Ron's ears went red as Hermione blushed light pink. Ron shrugged.
Ginny spoke next. "Well, I'm going to go running today after lunch."
Hermione was curious. "Why?"
"Well," Ginny began an explanation. "I figure that they are definitely going to give Harry his spot back on the team as seeker. Probably captain too, now that I think of it. And well, I wanted to try out for chaser, because seeking isn't really my thing. And I expect since they are going to have to get two new chasers, a lot of people will try out, you know? So I wanted to get in shape."
"Ginny, I'm sorry to break it to you," Harry said, "but you don't look out of shape." He smiled and Ginny blushed scarlet all the way to the edge of her face.
"Still…" she trailed off.
Ron didn't know what to do or say, so he went back to eating his breakfast. He didn't know whether to be surprised at Harry for his comment or agree or beat up Harry for paying attention to his little sister's body.
The rest of breakfast passed by swiftly and soon, Harry was up in his room, lying on his bed staring up at the ceiling as Ginny talked to him.
"You know, Hermione and Ron don't fight much now do they? Ever since they've gotten together. It's strange… Maybe they're planning something? Why else would they be so nice to each other all the time? No, that's ridiculous. What do you think?"
Ginny's voice was so soothing to Harry that he was caught off guard when he realized she'd asked a question.
"I think that they've wanted to be together so long that they don't want to jeopardize it," Harry said, rather intelligently.
Ginny nodded slowly, processing the theory. "Your idea's better than mine."
Harry shrugged.
"What else is there to do here?" Ginny slouched in her chair and looked up at the ceiling with Harry.
"Well, we could look around again, if I don't loose it when we find something again," Harry said with a small smile.
Ginny smirked. "That's an idea. Assuming of course that you don't loose it."
"But that's unlikely, now isn't it?" Harry said.
"We can go ask mum for chores," she grinned. Harry made a face. Ginny laughed loudly.
Harry chuckled.
"We can read our potions text," Harry teased.
This time, Ginny made a face. They both laughed. For the next half hour, they thought of things to do, each activity more ridiculous than the next.
Ron and Hermione sat across from each other, playing a nice game of chess. This was the second one. The first one went quickly to Ron, who first took Hermione's queen when she wasn't paying attention, then easily went ahead and took all of the important pieces, leaving Hermione with a few pawns and her king. To distract Ron, Hermione started humming "Weasley Is Our King." This, of course, was no use, and she lost anyway.
Ron made a show of stretching after he capture Hermione's rook and accidentally on purpose brushed his leg up against hers. This distracted Hermione, who blushed and looked down, trying to hide her smile. Hermione quickly made an attempt at recovering and moved her knight. One more move and she'd be able to capture Ron's bishop. But Ron caught this and swiftly made the bishop move three spaces to the right (diagonally, of course) and capture one of Hermione's remaining pawns.
"Ron!" she whined quietly. She smiled as she examined the chessboard and moved her last rook to the space where Ron's bishop was. She had at last captured an important piece.
She smiled smugly and looked up at Ron. His expression was triumphant. Her smile faded quickly and Ron moved his pawn one space to steal Hermione's last rook. He smirked and Hermione pouted.
You'd better make this up to me, Ronald Weasley, she whined in her head.
Ron leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head as if relaxing, when Hermione knew that position in that particular chair was rather uncomfortable. She kicked him and made another move on the chessboard.
"Oy!" Ron said, grabbing his shin. "That hurt 'Mione!"
Hermione grinned smugly. "That's for gloating. Mind you don't do that again."
Ron didn't answer but instead rubbed his shin and moved his queen a few spaces left. Yeah, yeah, yeah…
"Are you there, Molly?" the voice of Remus Lupin came through the Floo. Molly bustled from the kitchen into the living room, where Ron and Hermione were playing a game of chess.
"Hello, Remus," Molly said in as kind of a voice as ever.
Lupin smiled but quickly got to the point. "There's going to be an Order meeting a while after lunch today. After Albus talks to Harry, I expect. Make sure your family knows would you?" he asked kindly.
"Of course, Remus. Would you like a spot of lunch before the meeting?" she asked.
"If it wouldn't be much trouble?" he asked.
"Of course it won't be, Remus," Molly said.
Lupin smiled at her. "I'll be there at noon then."
"I'll see you then, Remus," Molly said. Lupin nodded and cut off the connection.
"Mum?" Ron asked from the chessboard. Molly turned to face her youngest son. "Can we come to this one?" he asked.
"I expect not, dear. You'll have to ask the Headmaster," she sighed and left to go back into the kitchen.
Harry and Ginny discussed the possibilities of things to do until lunch. After getting to Ginny's suggestion of flying to Hogwarts and teaching the Giant Squid to waltz, Harry suggested they go feed Buckbeak some brunch. They nodded and left to get a few dead rodents before entering Mrs. Black's old room where Buckbeak stayed.
Harry and Ginny both bowed to the Hippogriff, each of them receiving a bow shortly after, and closed the door behind them.
"Hello, Buckbeak," Ginny said, and carefully walked towards the hippogriff, holding a ferret in her hand. When she got a bit closer, she threw the ferret up into the air and Buckbeak caught it, landing loudly on the floor and going to sit in the corner to chew on the poor animal.
Ginny and Harry took a seat on the floor near the door, next to the remains of a once beautiful pillow. They talked for a while, occasionally throwing another ferret to Buckbeak when he'd get up after finishing one. When they ran out of ferrets, they said goodbye to Buckbeak and left to clean up.
When they were all clean, they headed downstairs for their own lunch. Harry held the door open for Ginny and they entered the kitchen. Ron and Hermione were already there, eating chicken sandwiches and salad. Mrs. Weasley was making more sandwiches at the counter. And to Harry and Ginny's surprise, Remus was also there.
"Good afternoon," Remus greeted the two.
Harry merely nodded while Ginny gave Remus a warm welcome. "Hello, Remus. How are you? Is the next full moon close? You're looking quite pale. I'm sure you're just not eating enough. Mum, are you making his sandwich? You should put a bit more meat on it. Yes, that's good," Ginny continued on in this vein until Harry touched her arm and smirked at her. She instantly got his message and blushed. I'm sounding like my mother! She sat down at the table. Harry joined her.
The group talked a lot as they ate. But eventually, lunch was over and Ginny got up to put her dishes away, grabbing Harry and Hermione's while she was at it. Just as she reached the sink, there was a loud crack coming from the living room. A moment later, Dumbledore came through the door, eyes twinkling as ever.
"Good afternoon, everyone," Dumbledore said cheerfully.
"Good day, Albus. Care for a spot of lunch?" Molly asked.
"Oh, no, Molly, just had a bit of Yorkshire pudding before I arrived. Maybe later a bit of your apple pie if you have some?" he asked with a smile.
"I actually baked some this morning," Molly said.
"Excellent!" Dumbledore was jovial and he turned to Harry. "If you're done, I'd like to speak with you for a moment," he said.
Harry nodded and got up. He looked to his friends who gave him grim smiles, not knowing what he was going to talk to him about. Harry followed the old Headmaster out of the kitchen and into the study, where they each sat in chairs across from each other.
Albus Dumbledore pulled out a few things from his pockets next. One was an odd watch, which he set on the end table next to his chair. Next, he pulled out a bundle of parchments, held in a roll by a piece of twine. He untied the parchments and set them on the desk. On top, was a paper, Harry didn't know if he ever wanted to see again: Sirius's most recent will.
Harry's heart dropped. He figured that under the will, were the other wills made before. Sirius shouldn't have died. It's my fault. I should not have to be looking at these. Sirius's things shouldn't be given to anyone. They are his. He shouldn't be dead.
The last things Dumbledore pulled from his pocket were a quill and a bottle of black ink. He set them on the table as well, and picked up the wills.
"Harry, these are Sirius's wills. I believe that you have seen them already?" Dumbledore asked.
"I didn't really read them, sir," Harry said, staring at the papers. "Just the most recent one."
Dumbledore nodded. "That is why I wanted to talk to you today. I wanted to know what Sirius has left you specifically. You already know that you get everything that isn't specified in his other wills."
Harry nodded, telling the Headmaster he understood and that he should continue.
"First, you get his motorcycle. You also get most of the things in his Gringotts vault, not including, 10,000 galleons and 1 sickle that go to Remus Lupin, 10,000 galleons that go to Miss Nymphadora Tonks, and 20,000 galleons that go to the Weasley family. That leaves almost 25,000 galleons for you. Then all of the possessions in the vault, not including a few journals and magical items of value to Remus Lupin. Also, Sirius left a few things for the Malfoys and the Lestranges as well-," Dumbledore said.
Harry was suddenly very angry. "The Malfoys and the Lestranges? Was he insane?" he asked loudly.
"I'll leave that for you to decide, Harry. He's left the Lestranges' a few pairs of dirty socks, and for the Malfoy's he left an old painting Sirius found quite ugly. One of his ancestors, I believe, drawn by a… untalented, unnamed artist."
Harry stopped himself from smirking and just nodded his head, before adding in a calm, confident voice, "He was sane."
Dumbledore merely smiled before continuing, "Twelve Grimmauld Place has been left to the Order. But you are permitted to take as many items as you would like. Sirius requested that you leave certain appliances and such things for the Order to use."
Harry nodded. I won't take the toilet, I promise…
"If you could tell your friends, especially Hermione, for me, Sirius left them use of the library at anytime they wish to use it. He also left his Chocolate Frog Card collection to Ronald. He's also left all of the clothes up for grabs for you and your friends. For Hermione and Ginny, there are girls' clothes in his mother's old bedroom, but he doesn't recommend those, but rather the clothes that Narcissa, Andromeda, and Bellatrix used to wear, they are in the attic with an anti-dust sort of charm performed on them. Also, I will quote, he looked at one of the older wills. 'They weren't very nice (save Andromeda, of course,) but they definitely had a sense of style.' He seems quite positive the ladies will appreciate the clothes. For you and Ron, he only suggests his clothes as his father and brother was not at all very stylish, Sirius thought." Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling again. "It is requested that you sign a few papers, accepting it all."
Harry nodded and took the parchments given to him. He signed the appropriate spaces and gave it all back to Dumbledore.
Harry nodded again. "Is that it, sir?" he asked.
"For the wills, yes," he answered. "But there is some other business I wish to discuss with you." He produced four envelopes from his pockets and handed them to Harry. One was addressed to him. The others were addressed to Ron, Hermione, and Ginny respectively. Ginny's seemed a bit lighter than the rest, though. "Yours, Ron and Hermione's all contain your O.W.L. results. They were mailed today, but I thought that you might want them a bit sooner."
Harry set them aside, wanting to wait for the others to open them. Dumbledore, who expected nothing less, continued. "Professor McGonagall wished for me to give you this," Dumbledore produced yet another envelope from one of his many pockets and handed it to Harry. It was addressed to him, so he opened it. It contained a letter and a badge. It was a Quidditch Captain's badge, decorated in red and gold. Harry opened up the letter and read it.
Dear Mr. Potter,
It is my wish that you accept the invitation of the position of Gryffindor's Quidditch captain. You have been on the team the longest, and all of Dolores Umbridge's decrees have been made void. Of course, you have been accepted back as the Gryffindor's seeker, as well, without tryouts. You will receive your Firebolt later today.
Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
"I really don't want to be Quidditch Captain, sir," Harry said when he finished the letter.
"Why not, Harry?" Dumbledore asked, the curiosity in his voice evident.
"Well, sir, I don't know the first thing about being a captain. Plus, Ron is the one with all the strategy. He would make a much better captain," Harry insisted.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
Harry nodded confidently.
"Good! That makes the next topic most possible," Dumbledore said, taking the badge from Harry as it was handed to him. "I was hoping you would continue the Defence Association this year. The exam results have been much higher than usual. With the teacher last year, who was clearly incapable of her duties and a mistake from the beginning, it is quite extraordinary."
Harry didn't know what to say. Wow, people passed their Defence exams with that old toad teaching? "Sir, I don't know what to say."
"Well, the D.A. would have to be a school sponsored club, so a staff member would have to supervise, but that would be the staff member's only intention. You, and possibly your friends, would be the only one teaching. I might also add that because it would be school sponsored, all of the students would have to be invited. The only way someone could not be invited is by excluding the whole year, and those years under," he added the last part, meaning that Slytherins would have to be invited as well.
"I suppose I should think about it a bit, sir. If I have Quidditch, it could be tricky," Harry said. "But I definitely will think about it," Harry said.
"Excellent!" Dumbledore said. He started to put things back in the pockets they came from. After that, he pulled from a side pocket a box of lemon drops. He offered Harry some, who politely declined. I do believe that concludes our discussion unless you have something else to bring up?"
Harry shook his head.
"Then I will see you later this evening, perhaps."
Harry nodded.
They exited the room and Harry left immediately to go find Ginny. She found her in his room waiting for him. "I was going to go running now, if you'd like to join me?" she asked. She had changed into a sporty muggle outfit, suitable for running, and was sitting at the desk.
"Sure," Harry said. He looked down. He was already wearing clothes he could run in. Plus, this could give him a break from thinking of everything he was just told.
"Great!" Ginny exclaimed. "I was going to go around the block twice and then see how I felt. Is that okay with you?" she asked. Harry nodded and followed her all the way out the door. They started running at a slow pace that could be considered jogging just as they stepped out of the door.
"Did you ask Ron and Hermione to come?" Harry asked as they turned the corner.
"No. I was looking for them, but I found them sitting very close together on the window seat and didn't want to disturb them," she laughed. "They can't get enough of each other."
Harry agreed by laughing with her. They were silent until they were coming back to number twelve to start the second lap. Just as they arrived, Ginny noticed the flowers on the side of the house. "Maybe we should go into the garden tomorrow and help fix the flowers. Some of them don't look so great."
Harry nodded. They were silent again for a while during the second lap. When they were about to finish the last lap, Ginny sped up. She had just finished explaining that it was somehow good for you if you went a bit faster as you finished the last lap. But Harry got an idea as she sped passed him.
He started chasing her. She looked back at him and yelped as he came close, but sped up and turned to the side of number twelve and headed into the back yard. Harry ran a bit faster to try and catch up. They were both grinning like mad as they ran in circles round the back.
The Order of the Phoenix was scattered around Twelve Grimmauld Place, chatting amongst themselves about the meeting that had just taken place. Remus was talking to Minerva McGonagall and Tonks.
Tonks said, "That was nice of Sirius wasn't it?" She was referring to the distribution of Sirius's things. They had of course only been told what they were getting after the meeting. They didn't hear what he had saved for the Malfoys and Lestranges.
"Especially that he specifically gave Number Twelve to the Order. You know how easily it would've been for someone like Narcissa to claim it otherwise," Minerva added.
Remus merely nodded. He was still upset that Sirius had even died, as was expected. His face was solemn and his eyes were shinning with tears. He turned away slightly from the two women and stared out the window, a bit to his left. Harry was chasing Ginny around the yard. Remus' solemn face grew into a happier one.
Tonks and Minerva followed Remus' line of sight out the window to the two teenagers and slowly, their faces grew happier as well.
"They look like Lily and James," Remus said softly.
Minerva's eyes glistened with tears as she remembered seeing a similar sight about twenty years ago.
"Really?" Tonks asked curiously as Harry finally caught Ginny in a patch of long grass and they fell down and out of sight.
Remus and Minerva nodded simultaneously. "Most definitely," Albus said as he walked up to the three.
Ginny couldn't stop laughing. "Stop," she laughed and tried to speak, "tickling me!"
Harry grinned and shook his head. And continued to tickle Ginny's sides.
"Stop!" Ginny laughed. "Or," she laughed, "I'll hex," she laughed some more, "you!"
Harry stopped and said in mock horror, "You wouldn't!"
"When we get back to school, yes," she said as she caught her breath.
Harry sighed and fell back upon the ground to look up at the sky, which was mostly covered in clouds, although the sky was a beautiful blue behind the whiteness. His thoughts strayed to what Dumbledore had said to him.
"Are you okay Harry?" Ginny looked at him concernedly.
Harry looked at her and smiled before nodding. "Just thinking."
"Of what?" she asked, rolling to her stomach and propping her head up with her hands.
Harry thought about if he should talk about it outside. "The stuff that Dumbledore talked to me about," Harry said. Before Ginny could say anything else about it, Harry assured her, "I'll tell you, Ron and Hermione all at once."
Ginny nodded. What should we talk about? She thought as silence over came the two of them. The wind picked up suddenly and Harry asked, "Do you want to go inside?" She nodded again and went to fix her hair first.
She pulled the hair band out and her hair fell loose. Expertly, she put it back up. As soon as she finished, she found Harry standing up, offering his hand to help her up. She blushed against her will and put her hand in his.
Harry pulled her up with ease, although looks were deceiving and Ginny was heavier than expected. But of course, that changed nothing and he said nothing of it. They headed back inside.
Hermione looked at the chessboard thoughtfully. She chanced a quick look at Ron to find he was looking on her side of the board towards her left. Looking back at the board, she saw he was looking at her rook. She searched the board for something that could destroy her rook. She hid a grin as she spotted his knight, one move away from taking the rook. Then, she found her bishop was in a position to take the knight. She moved the bishop, effectively taking Ron's knight.
Ron expected his face reflected the disappointment he was feeling. He had a whole plan, successfully squashed by his opponent in one move. He rapidly formed another, his face slowly forming a grin. He and Hermione swapped moves for a while, making the plan a victory. In five more moves, he'd taken Hermione's king. Ron grinned smugly.
"Oh, honestly, Ron. It's just a chess game," Hermione said disapprovingly. Just then, they heard the front door shut softly, followed by laugher.
"That can't be true!" Harry laughed.
"It isn't!" Ginny laughed. "But it's a good joke isn't it?"
Harry must've nodded, because the only answer was more laughter.
"There you are!" Ron's mum called as she saw Ginny and Harry come into the house. "I was wondering when you'd get back."
Ron and Hermione got up to see Harry and Ginny. They walked into the entrance hall. To see them all smiling and Ginny and Harry were holding back more laughter.
"Molly, they've been at Grimmauld Place for about a half hour," Remus said as he came in from the kitchen.
Mrs. Weasley looked at Remus in a confused fashion.
"They were in the back yard. Minerva, Tonks and I saw them," Remus left it at that. He glanced at Harry and Ginny with a small smile on his face.
"I didn't know that," Mrs. Weasley said. "That's good. Well, then, I'll see you four at dinner at five thirty." She turned and went back into the kitchen, finding that nothing else had to be said.
Harry and Ginny looked at each other and laughed again; this time, for no apparent reason.
"What is with you two?" Ron asked.
"Oh, nothing, Ronald," Ginny said before laughing again.
"Yeah, right," Ron grumbled.
"I just told him a joke, alright?" Ginny said exasperatedly. Both Harry and Ginny gradually stopped laughing.
"Oh yeah? Which one?" Ron asked disbelievingly.
"The one about the Vampire and the Troll," Ginny said. "What's the matter with you, Ron?"
"Nothing," Hermione answered for him. "Maybe just too many chess games won in a row."
"You almost one two of them, Hermione," Ron said arrogantly.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "What a victory," she said dryly.
Remus merely watched the four teenagers as he leaned up against the wall, arms crossed, smiling.
"Remus," Ginny turned to the older man. "Was there an Order meeting or something?" she asked.
He nodded. "Yes there was."
"Anything we should know about?" Ron asked.
Hermione elbowed him in the side. "Ron, he's not supposed to tell us. Anyway, don't you think if we were to know, they would have let us sit in on the meeting?"
Ron shrugged. Then Remus spoke up. "Harry, could I talk to you for a moment?" Harry nodded and followed the werewolf to the drawing room.
"What'd you want to talk about?" Harry asked him when they reached their destination.
"The wills," Remus said. Harry nodded and Remus continued. "I don't know if you were told this Harry, but Sirius had instructed that I was to be your legal guardian should something happen to him and because you were never given a godmother."
Harry sat and took this in. Remus was his godfather now. Harry tried to repress the happiness that welled up inside him. Last time I had a godfather, we made plans to have a happy life, and now look what's happened. Don't count your chickens before they hatch, they say.
Remus incorrectly and correctly read his expression at the same time. "I won't bother you about it or anything much. I don't want to replace Sirius or anything."
"You're not replacing him, really, Remus," Harry said thoughtfully. "I didn't know him very well, you know. I knew him for two years and we were close, but I didn't really get to know him…" Harry trailed off. He took a deep breath and looked at Remus, rather than the wall he'd been staring at. "I really am glad it's you that he appointed." He smiled as best he could in the situation.
Remus smiled back. "Thank you, Harry," he said. For a while he didn't say anything and appeared thoughtful. Harry didn't interrupt his thoughts, but instead waited a while until he finally spoke. "I was wondering if you'd like to spend a bit of time with me tomorrow. Out in the back yard, with a motorcycle and a few lessons."
Harry's eyes brightened a bit and a smile escaped him. "You mean, you'd teach me how to ride Sirius's motorcycle?"
Remus nodded and gave Harry a smile.
"Okay then. Sounds like a plan. What time?" he asked.
"Let's make it ten o'clock, okay?" Remus suggested. Harry nodded. "I think that's it then. I should be going. I have a few errands to run," he said as they began to exit the room.
They left the room and headed back towards the living room, where they found Ginny witnessing one of Ron and Hermione's chess games. Remus made to leave when Harry called him back. "Thanks," he said, before letting the werewolf leave. They smiled and Remus disappeared out of the room. Shortly after, the front door opened and closed. Harry sighed and sat down on the sofa.
"Checkmate!" said Ron triumphantly. Hermione rolled her eyes.
Ginny went over and sat next to Harry. Just then, Harry got an idea. "Ron, Hermione, Gin, I should probably tell you everything that Dumbledore talked to me about," he said thoughtfully.
Ron and Hermione's head snapped to his direction. They nodded and rose from their seats. "Your room, then?" Hermione asked.
Harry nodded and they all headed up the stairs and to Sirius's old room.
There, they all sat on the bed. Ron and Harry at the end leaning against the posts. Hermione and Ginny were at the head, leaning against the many overstuffed pillows. Then Harry began his explanation.
He told them what he was left with and what they were left with. Ginny and Ron smiled as they heard how much money their family inherited. But didn't comment until he'd finished.
"There's more," Hermione sensed. "Isn't there?"
Harry nodded. He was just getting into his explanation about the D.A. when there was a shriek from downstairs.
Like lightening, they all jump off the bed and ran down the stairs into the kitchen, where they thought the sound came from.
It was Mrs. Weasley. She was holding a letter and sobbing in her husband's arms. Ginny tentatively walked up to her parents. With out a word, her mother handed her a piece of parchment.
Ginny quickly scanned it. When she looked back at Harry, her expression was blank.
"It's Percy," she said emotionlessly.
Author's Note: Please review.