Give Us Peace

Harry thought for a moment, laughed to himself, and said, "Fred, George, I don't know how you're invisible, but I know you're there."

"Damn," said Fred. "Nothing gets past you," said George.

Harry watched as two wands, flew up in the air, and hit something invisible. Fred and George suddenly became visible. Fred went over to Harry, shook his hand, slapped him on the back amiably and said, "How ya doin' mate?"

Harry gave him an odd look and said, "Erm...have you two been watching any Muggle movies?"

"This is strictly off the record," George said, "But Dad got a hold of a DV-"

"A TV, you mean," Harry corrected.

"Yeah, whatever," George replied. "Anyhow. Dad got a hold of one of those, that someone had charmed to only show the movie "The Godfather". Nothing harmful, but something the Muggles would be suspicious of. We, er, borrowed it, and watched the movie."

"Never knew Muggles were so smart," Fred said. "I think they caught on to our moving pictures." Harry shook his head, and smiled.

Fred flicked his wand, and the rest of Harry's stuff, including Hedwig's cage flew into his open trunk. Hedwig hooted indignantly, as Harry walked over to take the cage out. Fred flicked his wand again, and trunk closed. "I could have closed it myself you know," said Harry.

"But that takes the fun out of life," Fred said, grinning.

"Come on," George said. "They're waiting for you downstairs."

"Who's waiting for me?" Harry asked, confused.

"Just a few people," George replied. "Moody, Tonks, Dedalus Diggle, Elphias Doge, Bill, Charlie-"

Harry sighed. It sounded as if they had brought even more people as his "guard" than last year. Harry picked up Hedwig's cage, and followed the twins down the stairs.

********

The "guard" and Harry made their way over to Mrs. Figg's house. They had formed a layered rectangle, with Harry in the middle. All of them were dressed in Muggle clothes, so the neighbors would not get suspicious. Moody opened the door, and checked around inside to make sure the house was safe. "Come on boy," Moody growled quietly. "Let's get you inside."

Harry stepped in and Mrs. Figg enveloped him in a hug. "How are you dear?" she asked. Harry was tired of people asking how he was. Couldn't they tell that he was not fine? What person in their right mind would be all right after having another family member die on his account. Harry very much considered Sirius a family member. He had been like a father to him, albeit a very lax one. Harry was caught up in his thoughts, and took a moment to answer. "Fine," he said.

Moody whispered a password, kyrie eleison, and threw some floo powder into the fire, and stepped in. "Number 12 Grimmauld Place!" he shouted.

"Why the password?" Harry whispered to Bill.

"That password unlocks the fireplace for the kitchen in Headquarters," Bill replied. "Each fireplace has a password that protects it. Only an Order member can open it. If a Death Eater were to speak the password, and try to floo, he would get stuck in between, and we would catch him."

"But why that password?" Harry asked.

"It means, Lord have mercy. You're not the only one who knows words in a Classical language." Harry stepped into the fire, shouted, "Number 12 Grimmauld Place!" and was whisked off into the Floo System.

Harry stepped out of the fireplace and took a look around him. About half his "guard" was standing in a semi-circle around the fire. " I wish they wouldn't do this," Harry thought. "I know they need to keep me safe, but this is just too much." Kingsley Shacklebolt handed Harry a brush, and he brushed himself off. Harry looked around. "It seems so clean in here," he said. "I wouldn't have thought that scum of a house elf would have actually cleaned anything." Harry's blood started to boil at the thought of Kreacher, and what he did. He tried to calm himself down, before he exploded something or someone.

Silence fell over the room. Most of the Order members looked down at their feet, unwilling to meet Harry's eyes. "Erm," said Lupin, shrugging the comment off, "People cleaned a lot over the summer." He quickly changed the subject and added, "I believe that Mr and Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione should be back from the Burrow any minute now."

"The Burrow?" Harry asked.

"They settled in here last night, when they brought Hermione. I believe they had to go back to get a few things, although I don't think Hermione and Ron will be much help," Lupin said with a wink. Harry smiled. He had been pushing for Ron and Hermione to recognize their love for each other for a long time now. They already fought like a married couple. Lupin watched Harry with a smile. He was glad that James's son could smile after all he'd been through.

"Tonight, I think," Harry replied. He had a bad feeling about what Lupin wanted to tell him.

Harry headed up the stairs, to the room he had occupied the previous summer.

********

About half an hour later, Harry was sitting in his room, meditating. Being in this house made him think of Sirius and what had happened. Harry was whispering his mantra when the door opened. He was so deep in his meditation that he did not notice when Ron, Hermione and Ginny walked in. Ron walked over to him and shook his shoulder, breaking him out of his reverie.

"Harry!" Ron said, thinking something was wrong.

"Shh, Ron," Hermione said. "Can't you see he's meditating?"

"That's all right," Harry responded, looking up at them. "I've been at it since I got here. It's helped a bit."

Hermione, always the concerned parent of the group, asked, "Harry, what happened?"

"Oh, nothing really, Harry responded. "It's just that being in this house brings up memories."

The others nodded.

"So," Harry said, trying to steer the conversation away from such a grim topic. "I hear someone's been having fun these past few days." He looked pointedly at Ron and Hermione.

Ron blushed, and Hermione asked, "How did you find out? We only started dating last Wednesday, and we only told Ginny." Ron looked daggers at his sister. "Actually," Harry responded, "It was Lupin who hinted it. How'd the house get so clean? I didn't think that thing would have cleaned."

Hermione pursed her lips at the mention of a house elf being called a thing, but said nothing.

"You're right," Ginny said. "Kreacher's dead."