The Summer of the Phoenix

Chapter 27

In the hall, Sirius met Mrs Weasley and her son Bill, Dedalus Diggle, Sturgis Podmore, and Mundungus Fletcher. The four wizards were still in their cloaks, apparently only just arrived. Mundungus Fletcher was carrying a large cardboard box under his arm. Greetings were exchanged in whispers, and Bill and Sturgis Podmore eagerly came to Mrs Weasley's help locomotoring the remaining chairs downstairs with their wands. Sirius went to close the living room door and was about to follow the little group when he heard an urgent whisper behind his back. It came from the staircase.

"The coast is clear," said the low voice of one of the Weasley twins. Sirius doubled back and looked up the stairs to the first landing. Silhouetted sharply against the gaslight in the corridor above, he could see five figures sitting at the top of the stairs. They froze at the sight of him.

"It's no use playing dead," he said, ascending the stairs to meet them. They huddled even closer together, closing their ranks against him. The two youngest Weasleys were in front, Hermione and the twins at their backs, and they all looked at him with the same expression of silent defiance on their faces, determined not to budge an inch.

"What are you doing here?" Sirius asked unnecessarily, stopping halfway up the stairs in front of them.

"Mum told us not to come downstairs and not to talk to anyone," Fred said smartly. "So we're sitting upstairs and talking among ourselves."

"Let me give you a piece of advice then."

"You're going to send us off to bed," Ginny said tonelessly, stating the obvious.

"No. I was just going to suggest that if you don't want to be noticed, you'd better sit in the dark." Sirius pointed his wand over George's shoulder at the gas lamp on the landing, which extinguished itself obediently. Then he climbed the remaining stairs and sat down on the step below Ginny and Ron.

"Sirius," asked Fred eagerly, leaning past his younger brother, "who were the people Bill arrived with?"

"Yes, and the witch with the black hair that came earlier?" George added.

Sirius frowned at the twins. "You know what Kreacher would say to that, don't you? Sticking your nasty noses into everything, that's what he'd call it."

"Don't be angry with us," Hermione pleaded. "We didn't get in anyone's way, none of them saw us."

"I hope so."

"I'm sure they didn't," she said confidently. "None of them looked up here. They all seem very preoccupied."

"Except Snape," said Ron grimly. "Snape's just preoccupied with being mean, as usual."

Sirius felt his blood rise into his face, remembering the scene in the hall. "You heard that, too?"

"Yes," Hermione said apologetically. "We're sorry."

"But we're on your side," Fred added emphatically. "How can anyone be such a mean git?"

"I suppose we all can when we want to," Sirius shrugged, not particularly keen to pursue the subject.

"But he's always like that, isn't he?" Ginny insisted.

"Makes you wonder what's eating him," said Fred.

"Whatever it is," George said casually, "I hope it eats him up soon, preferably before the start of the new school year."

Sirius grinned, but then he remembered what he had just seen down in the kitchen, and his grin froze. "Don't say that," he snapped at George, who jumped at his sharp tone.

"Sssh!" Hermione hissed. They fell silent at once at the sound of the front door opening in the hall below. A moment later, the two tall figures of Minerva McGonagall and Elphias Doge had entered the house.

"... and it is really good of Emmeline to be filling in tonight," Minerva McGonagall was saying. "I never feel entirely comfortable about Mundungus Fletcher doing it, but we're always short of volunteers, and it's bound to get even worse now."

"Well, we can be sure Albus places the highest priority on his safety, Minerva," Elphias Doge replied in his wheezy voice. "He knows how much is at stake where Harry Potter is concerned."

"You're right, Elphias," Minerva McGonagall sighed. Their footsteps receded to the back of the hall, and their voices were lost in the distance.

"Who is - " Fred began.

"I'd find it easier not to answer your questions if you stopped asking them," Sirius cut him short.

"But they were talking about Harry," Hermione whispered urgently.

"We all do from time to time. That's allowed, isn't it?"

"At least they weren't saying crappy things about him," said Ron darkly.

Now it was Sirius's turn to be surprised. "Who's saying crappy things about Harry?"

Hermione and Ron exchanged an eloquent look.

"Do you read the Daily Prophet, Sirius?" Hermione asked innocently.

"Sometimes." He shrugged indifferently. "What's that got to do with Harry?"

"They're saying bad things about Harry," Ginny said quietly.

"Oh, they always need someone to pick on. The Daily Prophet's been writing crappy things about me for fourteen years, and they're still not tired of it."

"But Sirius, this is bad," said Hermione heavily. "Really, really bad."

"Does Harry read the Daily Prophet?"

"We don't think so," Ron replied slowly. "He never says anything about it in his letters."

"Then what are you worried about?"

Sirius tried to sound as if he was shrugging it off, but inwardly, the news disquieted him a lot. He knew Harry had had to deal with the ugly sides of being something like a public figure in the wizarding world before, but if the Daily Prophet was on a new discrediting campaign with Harry as their target now, they would be merciless. He could only hope that Harry was as blissfully unaware of it as he currently was of everything else that concerned him closely.

"Speaking of Harry," Sirius went on, "thanks for sending Hedwig to me, by the way. That was a great idea."

"It was actually Bill's idea," said Hermione quickly, and blushed.

This time, it was Ginny's turn to hiss them all into silence. The front door opened again, and four more people filed into the house. Against the dim orange street lights, Sirius could make out that the person in front was wearing a bowler hat, and he knew who they were even before they stepped into the light of the hall.

Alastor Moody made straight for the other end of the hallway, looking down at the floor as he walked along with his characteristic clunk in every other step. He was followed by Nymphadora Tonks, today with long hair tied into a ponytail. Then came Kingsley Shacklebolt carrying a briefcase, and Remus Lupin in his old trench coat brought up the rear, closing the door behind them.

"Come on!" Moody called impatiently to his companions. "Hurry up, we're running late already."

"Are we?" Tonks said cheerfully as they followed him to the kitchen staircase, disappearing from view. "I wasn't."

"Come on," Moody's voice repeated irritably. "We are late. They're almost all there."

"Dumbledore, too?" Lupin's voice asked.

"No. Not yet." There was a short silence. The footsteps had halted. "And neither is Sirius, by the way," Moody continued then. "Sirius is sitting on the stairs right above our heads with Molly and Arthur's children, listening to every word we say."

A moment later, his uneven steps were coming back towards the front of the hall, drawing inevitably closer to the staircase. Sirius acknowledged that he couldn't think of a better plan than playing dead either.

Moody arrived at the bottom of the stairs, and the group on top suddenly found themselves bathed in a blinding light from the tip of the old Auror's wand. "And who have we got here?" Moody growled. It was impossible to tell whether he was amused or displeased.

Sirius shaded his eyes with his hand, trying to make out Moody's face behind the source of the light. "Stop it," he said irritably.

Moody lowered his wand, and the bright light was gone. "Are you hiding from someone up there, or are you coming?" he asked gruffly.

"I'm coming in a minute."

The old Auror shrugged, pocketed his wand and walked away.

"He's creepy," Ginny whispered when they heard him descend the kitchen stairs.

"Sssh." Hermione frowned at her.

"He doesn't have magical ears too, does he?" Ginny snapped.

"Who knows?" George asked slyly. "Might come in handy."

"Constant vigilance!" Fred grinned.

Hermione's frown deepened. "That's not nice," she said. "He was a great Auror. And a great teacher, too."

"How do you know that?" George asked pointedly. "We never saw much of his teaching last year, did we?"

"Don't remind him of it," said Sirius dryly, but Fred and George grinned even more. "Talking of magical eyes and ears," he continued, looking sharply at the twins, "now that Moody's here, I guarantee you that his constant vigilance will not be limited by the kitchen walls, so I don't want you to do anything tonight that you don't want him to see or your mother to know, which will be the same thing. I want you to respect your mother's wishes. Don't rely on me to stick up for you if you don't. Is that understood?" He looked at each of them in turn, waiting for them to agree.

"Yes," Hermione said in a small voice.

"OK," Ginny whispered, and Ron nodded.

"Fred? George?"

"We're of age," Fred said mutinously.

"Is that yes or no?"

"Why can't we - "

George gave his brother a nudge in the ribs. They exchanged a look, then Fred shrugged. "Yes," he said very unwillingly, and George nodded in agreement.

"Right, I've got to go then." Sirius got to his feet, but Ginny caught him by the sleeve.

"Wait," she said. "Where's Dad?"

"Still at work, I - " Sirius stopped short. No, he realised, Arthur Weasley was not at work. He had just seen Minerva McGonagall, Moody, Lupin and the two Aurors enter the house. It wasn't hard to guess whom they must have left behind to guard the Department of Mysteries tonight.

"Yes, where is he?" Ron echoed his sister, a worried frown appearing on his face.

They have a right to know, Sirius thought. They have a right to know that their father is out there risking his life for the Order. He looked down at the young Weasleys, and found five pairs of eyes looking back at him expectantly. He opened his mouth to speak.

What they don't know they can't be made to tell, a little voice said in his head. Remember that from time to time, will you?

"Sirius?" said Albus Dumbledore's deep, calm voice from the bottom of the stairs. "Are you coming?"