Chapter 21: Shadowed Eyes

Nightmares again…?

The two of them had already been back at this prison of a house for over a month now and Harry's nightmares just seemed to be getting worse by the day.

Every single year that they returned to this place, and every single year Harry was plagued by bad dreams. They seem to grow worse as time goes on, yet the end of this last school year had given him the worst series of dreams yet. More than once, he awoke in a cold sweat, gasping for air as he stared about wildly like he thought that they were somewhere else.

Once he calmed down and saw that he was safe, he would then fall back onto the bed and stare up at the ceiling with such a blank stare in his eyes that it frightened her even more than the times that he would wake up screaming. He did that too, as well… whimpering and crying out as he tossed and turned, as if trying to shield himself from some enemy in his dreams.

Tonight was no different. His face was screwed up tightly as he twitched in his sleep, knowing that he would wake soon. She turned her gaze from her cage to the window and at the bright moon that shone overhead as she thought back to the end of last year.

Just over a month ago Harry had won a deadly tournament, but he suffered greatly in the process. She wasn't entirely sure what had happened that night, but whatever took place, it cost the life of another boy, just a few years older than her owlet. She looked from the moon down to Harry with concern as he moaned out in his sleep. She hooted softly, wishing that she knew what to do.

He doesn't deserve all this. He had always been so quiet and withdrawn, even with his friends it was very difficult for him to open up to them with whatever was bothering him.

He buried himself down into his blankets as he continued to toss about and slowly becoming tangled in the sheets. When were his friends going to come for him? Being trapped in this miserable house seems to be doing more harm than good. Even when he was awake, she constantly worried about how angry and irritable he was becoming—how he just snapped at every little thing. When the owls that delivered the paper to him each morning came, he would pay them before glancing at the front page. That was when he crumbled the whole thing up and threw it across the room in anger.

She didn't like being around him these days, with him frightening her at night, and his foul mood during the day. She wished that his friends would come and help, maybe taking him from this house would help return him to normal?

It was hard to believe that the sweet and gentle owlet she once knew and this new owlet were the same person. Why were they locking him up like this? She hated being inside her cage and so she was aware of how bitter it could make one feel. It had already been weeks since they last saw any of the others; weeks since they promised to get him out of this place soon.

How much longer would they have to wait? She really hoped that they wouldn't be left in this place until school started again. She didn't think that Harry could go much longer without going crazy.

It had been a hot evening when she next took to the skies, leaving only when she was sure that her owlet was sleeping normally again. She had felt that it was a safe time to leave… but now she wished she didn't… for even though she didn't know what took place, but something bad happened.

She had just returned from a good night of hunting, she was now gliding out over the dusty cars and parched yawns. She was having a hard time focusing on flying with the juicy dead frog she caught for food tonight. When she arrived and soared through the window, where Harry was pacing his room back and forth again, though she noticed that he was limping.

"About time," he snarled as soon as she landed on top of her cage. "You can put that down, I've got work for you!"

What? But she just got here! Couldn't she at least eat first? She gazed at him reproachfully as he picked up three small rolls of parchment and stuffed them into a leather strap before he tied them to her leg.

"Take these straight to Sirius, Ron and Hermione and don't come back here without good long replies. Keep pecking them till they've written decent-length answers if you've got to," he snapped at her. "Understand?"

What? She wasn't allowed to come back if they didn't answer? But… what if they didn't? What would happen then? She didn't like this at all. She gave a muffled hoot, wanting to ask what was going on, but it was hard since she still didn't want to let go of the frog either.

"Get going, then," said Harry.

Upset and hurt, she dropped her meal before she took off. She was in the air for several hours before she managed to find the house where she just knew that all three of them were staying. She didn't like this creepy place… why would anyone want to live here? She circled around, trying to find a way inside, before spotting a window and landed on the narrow ledge, looking in at what was going on.

The inside was just as gloomy as the outside, ghostly shadows on the faded walls and the air of something sinister watching your every move. But that was when she realized that there were a few people there and she was just getting ready to hit her beak against the glass when one of them turned around and she realized that it was Dumbledore. But he wasn't alone, for there was a grungy man now practically on his knees as he seemed to be pleading with the old man.

She had a feeling that she may not have come at the best possible moment.

"N-now," the man stuttered fearfully as Dumbledore stood over him. "I-if I k-k-kn-knew that D-Deme-dementors wou-would've attacked the b-boy, I ne-never would've left! B-but you see…"

Dementors?! Those horrible creatures? What boy? Were they talking about her owlet? Oh, what kind of trouble had he gotten himself into this time?!

"You mean to tell me," Dumbledore slowly and carefully, his voice as cold as ice as anger and power seemed to flow out of him. He stood over the man, who shrank back, as if hoping that he could just disappear into the floor. "That you left your post for some old cauldrons?!"

"Now, I k-know it lo-looks bad," he stuttered, practically curled up as Hedwig was watching Dumbledore, now frozen with fear at how angry he was. He spoke, his voice louder than usual, though not a shout, and his expression terrifying—the sudden drop in temperature made her shiver even though she was outside in the summer's hot air.

"Don't you realize what you've done tonight, Mundungus Fletcher?" he asked him, his voice dangerous and frightening. "You've put my student in terrible danger, you've abandoned a post set to you by the Order, and you've lost any of my trust you may have had in the past. You are just lucky that no one was hurt or else you wouldn't have lived to regret it. Now leave here," he said menacingly.

She couldn't believe that this was the same kind old man who seemed to care about her owlet like she did. She had never seen a human so scary before and she was now wondering if she could risk going back and facing Harry's anger than his right now.

The man he had been threatening half ran, half crawled out of the room, leaving the door wide open to where she spotted Ron and Hermione staring transfixed into the hall. At the sight of them, she nervously tapped at the glass, hoping that they wouldn't leave her in trouble.

At the noise, all three of them looked up to see her sitting there.

"Hedwig!" Hermione shouted as she ran to the window and opened it so that she could hop inside. She then held out her leg to Hermione, who immediately took the messages, and saw that there was one for her, Ron, and Sirius.

After she handed the roll of parchment with Ron's name on it to him, Hermione opened hers first and read out, "I've just been attacked by Dementors and I might be expelled from Hogwarts. I want to know what's going on and when I'm going to get out of here."

Hedwig's eyes widen in shock at those words. What? He was attacked by what? And now he may not be going back to school?! What happened?! She was gone only for one evening?!

"Mine says the same thing," Ron said frowning before the two of them looked at each other nervously.

"Oh, I knew it, he is angry with us," Hermione whimpered. She looked imploringly at Dumbledore, whose anger seemed to have faded when he looked at the parchment in their hands; his eyes suddenly looking as old as his face did at that moment.

"I'm sorry," the old man said sadly, "But you can't send anything back. It's best that you keep Hedwig here too."

The two were looking horrified as they stared at him.

"But sir, how can you not tell Harry? He was there he fought You-Know-Who, and he watched Diggory die," Ron tried to reason with him. "It'll kill him if we don't tell him something."

"You don't know how reckless he can be," Hermione whimpered as well. "He'll do something stupid and careless if he's stuck there not knowing what's going on! I know it!"

"We are already making plans to move Harry here for the remainder of the holidays," Dumbledore promised them both. "And there will be a hearing that he will be going to later on. We have to wait and see. For now, it's best that we keep things secret."

They were still looking upset as they took her upstairs. But she wasn't having any of it. She kept pecking at their hands and fingers each time they came near her, wanting them to let her go back and check up on Harry—to make sure that he was alright. They eventually moved her up to the cabinet where Pig was sitting there and she was so worry about her owlet that she forgot to be annoyed with the fluffy, annoying creature.

She did her best to ignore him as she constantly listened in to what they were planning, and it seemed that they were telling the truth in that they were working to find a way to bring Harry here safely. It seemed that Harry and that pig of a cousin of his were attacked by a pair of Dementors… Harry used his wand to save them both, but now the Ministry was trying to expel him for using magic. She couldn't understand what they were thinking! He had no choice! He had to use magic to get rid of those horrible creatures didn't he?! Surely they could understand that much and just let him off with a warning or something?! Why weren't they even bothering to hear his end of the story?!

But it turned out that the Ministry was trying to expel Harry on purpose, and if they had it their way, they would've snapped his wand the night that it happened. She was filled with anger at this injustice, even more so when Pig was brightly asking her if Harry was really a criminal… which led to her spreading her wings on top of the wardrobe so that she knocked him off.

The house was full of people, most of whom she did not know, but they all sounded concerned for Harry's situation and were trying to discuss ways to bring Harry here so that it wouldn't happen again. In the end, it was decided that they would fly for Harry wasn't only enough to Apparate… whatever that meant, and they couldn't use magic in case the Ministry tried to blame him for using magic again.

A large number of people seemed to have volunteer for this job, including the nice man who had been one of the trio's teacher two years ago… as well as the teacher from last year… who seemed to be even more paranoid than he was the year before. But the rest of them were people she had never seen before, and she was a little surprised that Sirius wasn't going to be the one to go to. But then she overheard him arguing with Dumbledore about how he wanted to be there as well, but was refused when Dumbledore told him that it was for the best that he stay here to greet the others when they got back. Sirius was looking murderous at that, but he seemed to let it all go before the final preparations were made.

It was a full three days before she was to see her owlet again. It was starting to get late in the evening, while she was watching Ron and Hermione talking with each other in the bedroom before they heard the door open. They looked up at once to see Harry, looking half-frozen as he stepped in. At the sight of him, Hermione let out a shriek of happiness and went running at him before she flung her arms around his neck, nearly knocking him over.

'Oh! What's going on?!' Pig cried out as he went zooming around their heads.

She felt a knot of anxiety inside her fade when she saw that he was here and in one piece. After hearing about all the preparations, she admits that she had been more than a little concerned that something bad was happening.

"HARRY! Ron, he's here, Harry's here!" Hermione cried out in joy as she hugged Harry, who was almost knocked over when she ran at him. "We didn't hear you arrive! Oh, how are you? Are you all right? Have you been furious with us? I bet you have, I know our letters were useless - but we couldn't tell you anything, Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn't, oh, we've got so much to tell you, and you've got things to tell us - the Dementors! When we heard - and that Ministry hearing - it's just outrageous, I've looked it all up, they can't expel you, they just can't, there's provision in the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations -"

How does she do that? Hedwig was tired just listening to the girl.

"Let him breathe, Hermione," said Ron, grinning as he closed the door and Hermione let him go with a beaming smile. Hedwig felt a weight of worry lift off her as she took off from the top of the wardrobe and landed on his shoulder to check for herself that he was alright.

"Hedwig!" he cried out, sounding much happier to see her than he did the last time and she clicked her beak as she nibbled his ear, enjoying how he stroked her feathers. Like she had hoped, getting him out of that house had done him a world of good.

"She's been in a right state," Ron informed him suddenly as he held up the marks where she had pecked at him. "Pecked us half to death when she brought your last letters, look at this -"

She looked innocently away as Harry said, most likely thinking that it was because of his orders that she did what she did, "Oh yeah. Sorry about that, but I wanted answers, you know -"

""We wanted to give them to you, mate," said Ron quickly, "Hermione was going spare, she kept saying you'd do something stupid if you were stuck all on your own without news, but Dumbledore made us -"

"- swear not to tell me," said Harry, and she could almost feel the happiness fading as there was an uncomfortable silence around them. "Yeah, Hermione's already said."

Harry went back to stroking her feathers, but she could feel that there was something hot boiling below Harry's seemingly calm demeanor.

"He seemed to think it was best," said Hermione quietly, like she thought that he was going to lose it at any second. Though knowing how short-tempered that Harry had been lately, it wouldn't surprise him. "Dumbledore, I mean."

"Right," said Harry almost… darkly. Like her, Ron and Hermione seemed to sense that something bad was coming.

"I think he thought you were safest with the Muggles -" Ron began, as if he thought that he could calm him down.

"Yeah?" said Harry, raising his eyebrows at them and they glanced nervously at each other. "Have either of you been attacked by Dementors this summer?"

"Well, no-but that's why he's had people from the Order of the Phoenix tailing you all the time-" Ron admitted and Hedwig looked up at him, wanting to tell him to shut up. Whatever Harry wanted to hear, it wasn't that!

"Didn't work that well, though, did it?" said Harry, his voice still calm, but anger was beginning to show through. "Had to look after myself after all, didn't I?"

"He was so angry," said Hermione and Hedwig felt herself shake at the memory. "Dumbledore. We saw him. When he found out Mundungus had left before his shift had ended. He was scary."

"Well, I'm glad he left," Harry said coldly. "If he hadn't, I wouldn't have done magic and Dumbledore would probably have left me at Privet Drive all summer."

"Aren't you… aren't you worried about the Ministry of Magic hearing?" said Hermione quietly.

"No," Harry answered back at once in a way that fooled none of them. Harry began walking around the room, with her still sitting on his shoulder. She was happy that he was back here and safe with her, but this anger of his was becoming something of a problem and knew not what to do about it.

"So why's Dumbledore been so keen to keep me in the dark?" Harry asked, his voice still calm for the moment. "Did you - er - bother to ask him at all?"

"We told Dumbledore we wanted to tell you what was going on," said Ron hurriedly like he thought that if he didn't speak fast enough, then Harry might attack him. "We did, mate. But he's really busy now, we've only seen him twice since we came here and he didn't have much time, he just made us swear not to tell you important stuff when we wrote, he said the owls might be intercepted."

But Harry didn't look happy at this as he said, "He could still have kept me informed if he'd wanted to. You're not telling me he doesn't know ways to send messages without owls."

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

"Maybe he thinks I can't be trusted," said Harry, suddenly and Hedwig looked up at him in surprise.

"Don't be thick," Ron said at once, and it was clear he couldn't believe what he just said.

"Or that I can't take care of myself," Harry offered.

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

They all know that Harry can take care of himself, and while she didn't agree with how the old man's methods, the fact was that someone needed to look after her owlet when she wasn't around. He got into so much trouble and he can't be expected to fight on his own forever, can he?

"So how come I have to stay at the Dursleys' while you two get to join in everything that's going on here?" said Harry, his voice rising with every word that came rushing out of his mouth. "How come you two are allowed to know everything that's going on?"

"We're not!" Ron interrupted. "Mum won't let us near the meetings, she says we're too young -"

But Hedwig somehow knew what was going to happen just a second before it did. She took off and flew up to the safety of the wardrobe with Pig, staring down in shock when Harry started shouting at the two of them. The words made little sense to her, but she could tell enough to know that he was deeply hurt by being left in the dark. Hermione looked close to breaking down as he continued shouting for some time as she told him how sorry they were. Her apology seemed to succeed in calming him down only slightly before he began pacing up and down once more.

'Wow, he's got a lot of issues,' Pig asked with a tilt of his head.

'Shut up,' she said even though she knew that he was right. 'He's going through a rough time.'

There was a long pause, broken only by the mournful creak of the floorboards below Harry's feet before he turned back and demanded to know what this place was. She had been wondering about that as well, for no one seemed interested in coming out and saying it.

"Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix," said Ron at once.

"Is anyone going to bother telling me what the Order of the Phoenix -?" Harry began before Hermione quickly informed him, "It's a secret society. Dumbledore's in charge, he founded it. It's the people who fought against You-Know-Who last time."

"Who's in it?" said Harry, coming to a halt with his hands in his pockets.

"Quite a few people -" she began before Ron added almost at the same time, "We've met about twenty of them, but we think there are more."

Harry glared at them before he demanded, "Well?"

"Er," said Ron awkwardly before asking, "Well what?"

"Voldemort!" said Harry furiously, the name causing them both to flinch though she wasn't sure why. Sure it was a long and really bad name, but why did they have to act like it could hurt them? "What's happening? What's he up to? Where is he? What are we doing to stop him?"

"We've told you, the Order don't let us in on their meetings," said Hermione nervously, wanting to keep him calm and give him an answer that she clearly wasn't sure she could give him one. "So we don't know the details - but we've got a general idea," she added hastily, seeing the look on Harry's face.

"Fred and George have invented Extendable Ears, see," Ron explained to him, "They're really useful."

This random fact caused Harry to forget about being angry and repeated, as if he wasn't sure he heard right, "Extendable -?"

"Ears, yeah. Only we've had to stop using them lately because Mum found out and went berserk," Ron said, "Fred and George had to hide them all to stop Mum binning them. But we got a good bit of use out of them before Mum realized what was going on. We know some of the Order are following known Death Eaters, keeping tabs on them, you know -"

"Some of them are working on recruiting more people to the Order -" Hermione added.

Ron then added curiously, "And some of them are standing guard over something. They're always talking about guard duty."

She shook her head. Even if they are guarding something, it might have been better if he didn't say that right away. And she was right for Harry's eyes darkened and he asked sarcastically, "Couldn't have been me, could it?"

"Oh, yeah," Ron said, looking down at once as Harry turned around to face the rest of the room again.

"So, what have you two been doing, if you're not allowed in meetings?" he demanded. "You said you'd been busy"'

"We have," said Hermione quickly. "We've been decontaminating this house, it's been empty for ages and stuff's been breeding in here. We've managed to clean out the kitchen, most of the bedrooms and I think we're doing the drawing room tomo-AARGH!"

The scream came when the sound of two loud cracks echoed around the room and the two look-alikes named Fred and George popped out of thin air, causing her to almost fall off the wardrobe before Pig joined her at the top.

'This is so awesome, huh?' he asked.

'Don't you ever shut up?' she asked as Hermione snapped at the two weakly before they turned to Harry with beaming smiles.

"Hello, Harry," said one of the twins, she wasn't sure which one. "We thought we heard your dulcet tones."

"You don't want to bottle up your anger like that, Harry, let it all out," the second twin said just as happily. "There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you."

"You two passed your Apparation tests, then?" asked Harry grumpily, not amused by this.

"With distinction," the first twin, who she would just call twin 1, said as he held up something that looked like a long, flesh-colored string that gave her the creeps.

Ron then pointed out, "It would have taken you about thirty seconds longer to walk down the stairs."

"Time is Galleons, little brother," twin 2 answered back with a wicked grin before looking over at Harry and said, "Anyway, Harry, you're interfering with reception. Extendable Ears. We're trying to hear what's going on downstairs."

"You want to be careful," Ron warned, "if Mum sees one of them again…"

"It's worth the risk, that's a major meeting they're having," said twin 2 before the door opened up and the red-headed girl, that she knew as Ginny came in.

"Oh, hello, Harry!" she said brightly when she saw him, which caused Hedwig to tilt her head in surprise. Was that the same girl that she met before? The Ginny girl that she first saw couldn't even look her owlet in the eye without turning red. "I thought I heard your voice."

Turning to twin 2 and twin 1, she said with a grim look, "It's no-go with the Extendable Ears, she's gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door."

"How d'you know?" said Twin 1, looking crestfallen by this new information.

"Tonks told me how to find out," she answered back, as one of the twins closed the door behind her and she walked in to sit on the edge of the bed. "You just chuck stuff at the door and if it can't make contact the door's been Imperturbed. I've been flicking Dungbombs at it from the top of the stairs and they just soar away from it, so there's no way the Extendable Ears will be able to get under the gap."

Twin 2 heaved a deep sigh. "Shame. I really fancied finding out what old Snape's been up to."

"Snape! Is he here?" said Harry quickly, which also took her by surprise. That horrible man was also here? What was he up to?

"Yeah," said Twin 1 before they all joined in on the discussion. "Giving a report. Top secret."

Soon they were talking about what they really felt about Snape—and none of it was kind. Though she had to agree with what they were saying… he wasn't a very nice man was he? But in either case, it seemed to be causing Harry to forget that he was angry, which she was thankful for. Soon the talk turned to Ron's family, and she found out that the eldest brother, named Bill, came to work here for a desk job for the Order and seemed to be giving someone some lessons on English. That girl… Fleur Delacour… it hadn't been that long since she saw the girl, and she was glad to hear she was doing alright. Though she couldn't understand why the twins were sniggering when they talked about all the private lessons that Bill was giving her.

"Charlie's in the Order, too," said Twin 1, "but he's still in Romania. Dumbledore wants as many foreign wizards brought in as possible, so Charlie's trying to make contacts on his days off."

"Couldn't Percy do that?" Harry asked, but it seems that he had asked the wrong question. For now Hermione and the Weasleys were all looking at each other with very dark looks, causing Harry to look back and forth between them all. Ron then requested that Harry please don't mention Percy's name to his mum and dad, which took Harry and Hedwig by surprise.

"Why not?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Because every time Percy's name is mentioned, Dad breaks whatever he's holding and Mum starts crying," Twin 2 said with a very ugly look on his face that he shared with his brother.

"It's been awful," Ginny told them miserably before Twin 1 snapped, "I think we're well shut of him."

"What's happened?" Harry asked, now trying to get some answers.

"Percy and Dad had a row," said Twin 2 in a hushed tone between something like awe and fear. "I've never seen Dad row with anyone like that. It's normally Mum who shouts."

Ron then went into a little more details, informing him, "It was the first week back after term ended. We were about to come and join the Order. Percy came home and told us he'd been promoted."

She tilted her head again. Promoted? What did that mean? Why couldn't humans ever talk in a way that make sense to her?

"You're kidding?" said Harry, sounding more shocked than angry now.

"Yeah, we were all surprised," said Twin 1 at once, "because Percy got into a load of trouble about Crouch, there was an inquiry and everything. They said Percy ought to have realized Crouch was off his rocker and informed a superior. But you know Percy, Crouch left him in charge, he wasn't going to complain."

"So how come they promoted him?" Harry asked them.

Now that Harry had stopped yelling, Ron seemed eager to keep the talk going normally and went on, "That's exactly what we wondered. He came home really pleased with himself - even more pleased than usual, if you can imagine that."

Yeah, she could imagine it. She could remember how smug he was, like he was going to take over ruling the world one day. Who would have thought that he get even more cocky than that?

"And told Dad he'd been offered a position in Fudge's own office," Ron went on. "A really good one for someone only a year out of Hogwarts: Junior Assistant to the Minister."

She was going to guess that was a good thing?

"He expected Dad to be all impressed, I think," Ron finished.

"Only Dad wasn't," said Twin 2 grimly.

"Why not?" Harry asked with his eyebrows raised.

"Well, apparently Fudge has been storming round the Ministry checking that nobody's having any contact with Dumbledore," said Twin 1.

"Dumbledore's name is mud with the Ministry these days, see," his twin finished for him, causing Hedwig to wonder just how the two of them could finish each other's sentences like that. "They all think he's just making trouble saying You-Know-Who's back."

"Dad says Fudge has made it clear that anyone who's in league with Dumbledore can clear out their desks," said Twin 1 firmly. "Trouble is, Fudge suspects Dad, he knows he's friendly with Dumbledore, and he's always thought Dad's a bit of a weirdo because of his Muggle obsession."

"But what's that got to do with Percy?" Harry asked again, wanting them to get to the point.

"I'm coming to that. Dad reckons Fudge only wants Percy in his office because he wants to use him to spy on the family - and Dumbledore," Twin 1 finished up, causing Harry to let out a long whistle.

Oh, if the Percy she knew was told that, she knew that he wasn't going to like it.

"Bet Percy loved that," Harry said and she looked down again as Ron let out a hollow laugh.

"He went completely berserk," he told him. "He said - well, he said loads of terrible stuff. He said he's been having to struggle against Dad's lousy reputation ever since he joined the Ministry and that Dad's got no ambition and that's why we've always been - you know - not had a lot of money, I mean -"

"What?" Harry gasped in shock as Ginny hissed so much like a cat, that Hedwig thought for sure that Crookshanks had snuck in here. She couldn't believe that they would say something like that! Their dad had always been such a nice guy, and he had always welcomed her owlet like a member of the family, as well as making sure that she was comfortable when she stayed with them. So what was the problem with Percy?

"I know," said Ron in a low voice. "And it got worse. He said Dad was an idiot to run around with Dumbledore, that Dumbledore was heading for big trouble and Dad was going to go down with him, and that he - Percy - knew where his loyalty lay and it was with the Ministry. And if Mum and Dad were going to become traitors to the Ministry he was going to make sure everyone knew he didn't belong to our family any more. And he packed his bags the same night and left. He's living here in London now."

Harry then said some very strange words that made no sense to her, but she guessed that they were bad words and so she would have to give him a sharp nip on his wrist for that later, before Ron nodded in agreement to what he said.

"Mum's been in a right state," he finished dully. "You know - crying and stuff. She came up to London to try and talk to Percy but he slammed the door in her face. I dunno what he does if he meets Dad at work - ignores him, I s'pose."

'Perce sure made everyone upset when he left,' Pig added to her. 'You should've heard some of the things that was being said around the house before we got here! I know that mum went to go and talk to him but…?'

'Mum?' she repeated in confusion.

'That's just what everyone calls her,' Pig told her. 'So I'm gonna call her mum too. Anyway, she tried to go and talk to him, but she came back all crying and everything. I don't think it went well.'

'He's got issues,' she said distractedly.

"But Percy must know Voldemort's back," Harry offered, "He's not stupid, he must know your mum and dad wouldn't risk everything without proof."

Once again, the others seemed to tense up and Ron then said, "Yeah, well, your name got dragged into the row. Percy said the only evidence was your word and… I dunno… he didn't think it was good enough."

Hermione said angrily, "Percy takes the Daily Prophet seriously."

As the others nodded, Harry looked at them all with more confusion as he asked what they were talking about. But Hedwig knew… she remembered the owls that would come to deliver the paper everyday while they were back at that stupid house. She heard the owls talk to themselves about if this boy really was as 'crazy' as everyone was talking about. She would hoot at them to just get out of here if they didn't want their feathers pulled out one by one. She had been secretly glad when Harry would just throw those dumb papers away… she didn't think that Harry needed anything else to light his anger.

Hermione noticeably gulped as she asked nervously, "Haven't - haven't you been getting the Daily Prophet!"

"Yeah," Harry said slowly, "I have!"

"Have you - er - been reading it thoroughly?" Hermione asked, still more anxiously, like she was afraid of getting snapped at again.

"Not cover to cover," said Harry defensively. "If they were going to report anything about Voldemort it would be headline news, wouldn't it?"

Good thing too… who knows how much worse his temper would have turned out? He might have bitten off her head or something. But when he mentioned Voldemort's name again, it caused them all to flinch, though she couldn't understand why. Hermione took a brave breath and informed him, "Well, you'd need to read it cover to cover to pick it up, but they - um - they mention you a couple of times a week."

"But I'd have seen -" Harry said in confusion.

"Not if you've only been reading the front page, you wouldn't," said Hermione with a sad look as she shook her head. "I'm not talking about big articles. They just slip you in, like you're a standing joke."

"What d'you -?" Harry asked for what felt like a dozen times already.

"It's quite nasty, actually," said Hermione in a jerky way, doing her best to stay calm. "They're just building on Rita's stuff."

Rita again? Who was she again? For some reason, she was having an urge to eat a giant beetle or something juicy.

"But she's not writing for them anymore, is she?" Harry asked at once.

As Hedwig thought to remember the name, Hermione told him about what was being said in the paper. That they were making him out as some kind of deluded, attention-seeking tragic hero who wanted people to worship him. Worship? She knew for a fact that her owlet hated attention! Whoever came up with that was an idiot who clearly had no brain.

"I don't want anyone to worship -" Harry began hotly, sharing her frustration.

"I know you don't," said Hermione quickly, looking frightened at the thought of his temper. "I know, Harry. But you see what they're doing? They want to turn you into someone nobody will believe. Fudge is behind it, I'll bet anything. They want wizards on the street to think you're just some stupid boy who's a bit of a joke, who tells ridiculous tall stories because he loves being famous and wants to keep it going."

"I didn't ask - I didn't want - Voldemort killed my parents!" Harry spluttered, having a hard time trying to figure out what to say to all that. "I got famous because he murdered my family but couldn't kill me! Who wants to be famous for that? Don't they think I'd rather it'd never -"

"We know, Harry," said Ginny earnestly.

"And of course, they didn't report a word about the Dementors attacking you," Hermione added and Hedwig felt herself shudder at the thought of such horrible creatures near her owlet. "Someone's told them to keep that quiet. That should've been a really big story, out-of-control Dementors. They haven't even reported that you broke the International Statute of Secrecy. We thought they would, it would tie in so well with this image of you as some stupid show-off- we think they're biding their time until you're expelled, then they're really going to go to town - I mean, if you're expelled, obviously," she went on hastily when she caught a look at his face. "You really shouldn't be, not if they abide by their own laws, there's no case against you."

If they did try to expel him, she would go right up to whoever was in charge and claw their eyes out. Most of their conversation went over her head, but as she was trying to understand it, she heard the sounds of footsteps coming up the stairs. The twins vanished seconds before Mrs. Weasley, the boy's mother came in.

"The meeting's over, you can come down and have dinner now," she said to them all before adding to Harry, "Everyone's dying to see you, Harry. And who's left all those Dungbombs outside the kitchen door?"

"Crookshanks," Ginny said at once, and Hedwig knew that it was a bad lie. She knew that cat would never play with something that could blow up in his face like that. "He loves playing with them."

"Oh," her mother said in surprise "I thought it might have been Kreacher, he keeps doing odd things like that. Now don't forget to keep your voices down in the hall. Ginny, your hands are filthy, what have you been doing? Go and wash them before dinner, please."

It seemed that she wasn't fooled and Ginny went off to do what she was told, leaving Harry alone with his friends. Both of them were still watching him nervously, and she understood why, they feared that he would start shouting at them again. She watched with a little bit of satisfaction when she saw the guilty look in his eyes as he calmed down and was given a chance to think it all over. It wasn't their fault, they were just doing what they were told to do.

"Look…" he began but Hermione interrupted him, knowing that he was trying to apologize, "We knew you'd be angry, Harry, we really don't blame you, but you've got to understand, we did try to persuade Dumbledore -"

"Yeah, I know," said Harry shortly before asking as he changed the subject, "Who's Kreacher?"

"The house-elf who lives here," Ron answered with a shake of his head. "Nutter. Never met one like him."

Hermione frowned at Ron as she scolded, "He's not a nutter, Ron."

"His life's ambition is to have his head cut off and stuck up on a plaque just like his mother," Ron retorted, and then demanding, "Is that normal, Hermione?"

What? Who was this guy? She hadn't seen much else of the house since she was brought up here and had never meet anyone like that. Who would want their head cut off and put up on the wall?

"Well - well, if he is a bit strange, it's not his fault," Hermione began awkwardly, trying to come up with a good excuse as Ron rolled his eyes at Harry.

"Hermione still hasn't given up on SPEW -" he said and Hedwig wondered why she bothered to listen in to their conversations half the time since it seemed to be making less and less sense as time went on.

"It's not SPEW!" Hermione snapped back. "It's the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. And it's not just me, Dumbledore says we should be kind to Kreacher too."

"Yeah, yeah," said Ron with a wave of his hand, leading them outside the door. "C'mon, I'm starving."

They left the room, leaving her time to think. Yet in just a few minutes she heard a loud crashing sound below her and wondered just who it was who kept knocking things over. And then she heard that horrible ear-splitting, blood-curdling screech that she heard several times a day and she wondered just who was making such a racket and why?

"Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers -"

And then she heard another shout, this time one she knew, "Shut up, you horrible old hag, shut UP!"

'That serious guy is really good with words,' Pig said to her brightly as she rolled her eyes at him.

'His name is Sirius,' she informed him. 'Or if you want, you can call him Snuffles. Though I don't know why he likes that name?'

'Snuffles? Really? How did he get that name?' Pig laughed.

"Yoooou!" the woman's voice howled. "Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh!"

"I said - shut - UP!" roared out Sirius's voice.

It would be a couple hours before she heard anyone speak but Pig… which made her feel like banging her head against the wall or something from how much he loved to talk. This one just couldn't get the hint that she wasn't in the mood to talk right now, did he? It was a relief when Harry and Ron came back to the room before Mrs. Weasley closed the door behind them with a sharp snap. She watched as they changed and Ron threw up some Owl Treats to them for the night—taking away any hope she had for being able to go outside and fly around.

'Hey, Hedwig?' Pig asked suddenly.

And escape Pig for a while.

'What?' she asked in annoyance.

'Whatca doing?' he asked brightly.

She was grateful when the boys started talking again.

"We can't let them out to hunt every night. Dumbledore doesn't want too many owls swooping around the square, thinks it'll be suspicious," Ron explained and she shook her head sadly, feeling a little bitter at the old man for that. She hated being locked up. Could anyone really be surprised when Harry was in such a bad mood after being locked away all summer? If he had been there any longer, he probably would have exploded. "Oh yeah… I forgot…" Ron added before he went to the door and bolted it tight every night like he had done every nigh since she arrived here.

Harry saw this and asked, "What're you doing that for?"

"Kreacher," answered Ron as he got the light and climbed back into his bed. "First night I was here he came wandering in at three in the morning. Trust me, you don't' want to wake up and find him prowling around your room."

That strange little creature they said wants his head chopped off? She was almost afraid of this guy just by hearing that.

"Anyway…" Ron said as turned to look at Harry as the moonlight shone through the window before asking, "What d'you reckon?"

"Well, they didn't tell us much we couldn't have guessed, did they?" Harry reasoned as she listened in. "I mean, all they've really said is that the Order's trying to stop people joining Vol-" Ron let out a sharp intake of breath between the word, "-demort. When are you going to start using his name? Sirius and Lupin do."

Ron seemed to pretend that he didn't say this last part before he said, "Yeah, you're right. We already knew nearly everything they told us, from using the Extendable Ears. They only new bit was-"

New bit was what? But she didn't have a chance to finish wondering for there was another loud Crack and she shrieked out as Pig happily danced.

'Don't you love these two?' he asked happily.

'Pig, you are pushing your luck here. Be quiet,' she warned as Ron let out a loud cry of pain.

"Keep your voice down, Ron, or Mum'll be back up here," said one of the twin's voices.

"You two just Apparated on my knees!" he hissed back angrily.

"Yeah, well it's harder in the dark-" the second twin answered and they leapt down from the bed and settled on the end of the both beds. Why did she suddenly have doubts about that? If she had to guess, they had done that on purpose.

"So, got there yet?" said Twin 1 eagerly as his eyes seemed to shine in the darkness.

"The weapon Sirius mentioned?" said Harry and she blinked. Weapon? What did that mean? Whatever it was, it didn't sound good to her and she wanted them to talk about something that didn't sound so grim.

'Hedwig, what's a weapon?' Pig asked curiously and she shushed him as she listened in.

"Let slip, more like," said Twin 2 with relish, now sitting next to Ron. "We didn't hear about that on the old Extendables, did we?"

"What d'you reckon it is?" Harry asked them quietly.

"Could be anything," Twin 2 offered thoughtfully.

"But there can't be anything worse than the Avada Kedavra curse, can there?" Ron asked and she wondered what that was. A curse? It sounded like one… a really weird-sounding one. What did that do, she wondered? "What's worse than death?"

'Hedwig, what's Avada Kedavra mean?' Pig asked her curiously.

'Shut up,' she told him again as she leaned her head over the edge of the wardrobe.

"Maybe it's something that can kill loads of people at once," the first twin suggested at once before Ron asked, "Maybe it's some particularly painful way of killing people."

"He's got the Cruciatus Curse for causing pain," Harry said as he rolled over to look at them. "He doesn't need anything more efficient than that."

They remained quiet for a few moments as they thought it over. But then Twin 1 asked, "So who d'you think's got it now?"

"I hope it's our side," said Ron at once.

She hoped so too. She didn't like to imagine the idea of a powerful, dangerous weapon that could be capable of torture and killing in the wrong hands.

'Hey, Hedwig, what does…?' Pig began before she hit him with her wing, silently warning him to be quiet if he didn't want to be knocked off from up here again.

"If it is, Dumbledore's probably keeping it," said Twin 2.

"Where?" said Ron quickly, "Hogwarts?"

"Bet it is!" said Twin 1 with a shine in his eyes that she could see in the moonlight. "That's where he hid the Sorcerer's Stone!"

Stone? What stone? That sounded familiar too, but couldn't remember what it was. Nor why some little rock was so important.

"A weapon's going to be a lot bigger than the Stone, though!" Ron pointed out, but Twin 2 waved his hand at him.

"Not necessarily," he said firmly as his twin added, "Yeah, size is no guarantee of power. Look at Ginny."

"What d'you mean?" Harry asked in confusion.

"You've never been on the receiving end of one of her Bat-Bogey Hexes, have you?" Twin 1 asked with a smirk before Twin 2 shushed them both. They listened in and they heard the sounds of footsteps coming up the stairs again. The twin both froze before there was a loud crack, and they vanished. Hedwig remained quiet, wondering why they were so scared of their mother, before they heard the floorboard creaking outside the door, with the person on the other side plainly listening to see whether or not they were still awake.

'What's going on?' Pig asked with excitement.

'Oh, please be quiet,' Hedwig begged exhaustedly. Why couldn't Crookshanks be here? At least he could be quiet for longer than a minute. At least let them go flying outside where she could get some peace. But soon the floorboards creaked again and the footsteps headed upstairs.

Ron then turned in bed and whispered, "She doesn't trust us at all, you know."

Things quickly quieted down after that, with both boys falling into a deep sleep, and she was glad to see that Harry was left without nightmares just for tonight. She closed her eyes, deciding to sleep in this evening since there was nothing else she could do.

When light came into the room and they could hear the sounds of one of the twins sticking his head into the room as he called, "Mum says get up, your breakfast is in the kitchen and then she needs you in the drawing room, there are loads more doxies than she thought and she's found a nest of dead puffskeins under the sofa."

Just one 'delightful' surprise after another inside this creepy house, huh?

The boys soon woke and dressed before leaving them alone.

Her… alone… with Pig. What on earth did she do to deserve this?

Over the next couple weeks, they worked on cleaning the house, and she had learned to try and put up with Pig without being driven crazy. The screaming downstairs she learned came from an old portrait, and she would have hated to have seen that woman in real life, happened several times a day. The house was putting up a vicious fight as the others tried to clean up. She savored those precious few days that she was allowed outside to fly and hunt, and be given a few hours of peace from Pig's constant chatter.

The rest of the time however, she was kept in that little room—quickly growing so irritated with him that she wanted to just tear his beak off so that she could get a break from his noise.

Besides, she had more important things to worry about.

Harry was still having nightmares.

She saw that he still would wake up in the middle of the night with his hand over that scar on his head like it was hurting him. But he seemed to find ways to deal with it. He was doing much better in just the few days that he had been here than he had for over a month at that other house.

More often than not, she noticed Ron and Hermione talking in worried voices about the idea of Harry not being allowed to go back to the school. She just hoped that if they weren't allowed to return to the castle, then they would not have to return to the Dursleys. She would rather live here than go back to such a miserable place!

She glanced over at Pig when she thought that and sighed, knowing that it would be very difficult to know which would be worse.

Harry woke up very early the day of this hearing, and he sat bolt-upright in his bed as if someone had yelled for him to wake up. He was breathing hard as he looked about, only to see the fresh clothes laid at the foot of his bed that Mrs. Weasley had laid out for him.

Hedwig watched him dress quietly before he left, giving a soft hoot to him as he did so. He paused only to give her a shaky smile before disappearing beyond it.

It was later that day did she learn that Harry had returned from his 'Hearing' whatever that was, but she learned the good news in that he would be allowed to go back to the castle and she couldn't have been happier. She was so cheerful that she forgot to be annoyed with Pig when he asked her why she wasn't acting like a grumpy old owl anymore.

However, over the next couple days, she came to realize that there was at least one person who did not seem happy at the thought of them going back to Hogwarts—Sirius. He had seemed happy to her eyes when he first learned of it, but he was soon locking himself upstairs with Buckbeak.

Harry apparently felt bad about this, though she couldn't see just what he had done to cause any of this.

"Don't you go feeling guilty!" said Hermione sternly one day as she watched them cleaning out some old cupboards. "You belong at Hogwarts and Sirius knows it. Personally, I think he's being selfish."

"That's a bit harsh, Hermione," Ron said suddenly as he tried to pick the mold off his fingers, "you wouldn't want to be stuck inside this house without any company."

"He'll have company!" Hermione retorted. "It's Headquarters to the Order of the Phoenix, isn't it? He just got his hopes up that Harry would be coming to live here with him."

If that was the case, she couldn't blame him wanting some company is this miserable old house. But that wasn't fair to make Harry feel so guilty here. He shouldn't have to be worrying himself over what Sirius was doing, should he?

"I don't think that's true" Harry said as he wrung out the filthy cloth that he used to clean the cupboard. "He wouldn't give me a straight answer when I asked him if I could."

But Hermione didn't seem impressed by that and said, "He just didn't want to get his own hopes up even more. And he probably felt a bit guilty himself, because I think a part of him was really hoping you'd be expelled. Then you'd both be outcasts together."

Oh, come on! There was no way that she was going to let that happen! Her owlet didn't deserve to be treated like this. And she wasn't surprised when the boys both called her out on it, despite the fact that she just shrugged in a way that showed that her opinion wasn't going to change.

"Suit yourselves," she said firmly. "But I sometimes think Ron's mum's right and Sirius gets confused about whether you're you or your father, Harry."

That confused her. Harry was Harry, right? How could they think that he was someone else? Made no sense to her.

Harry was looking annoyed and demanded, "So you think he's touched in the head?"

"No, I just think he's been very lonely for a long time," she answered back just as Mrs. Weasley entered the bedroom from behind them to ask if they were finished.

"I thought you might be here to tell us to have a break" Ron snapped back irritably, looking put out at the thought of not being able to take their break. "D'you know how much mold we've got rid of since we arrived here?"

"You were so keen to help the Order," his mother answered back firmly, "you can do your bit by making Headquarters fit to live in."

"I feel like a house-elf," grumbled Ron as he threw his rag to the floor and his mother left them.

"Well, now you understand what dreadful lives they lead, perhaps you'll be a bit more active in SPEW!" Hermione said at once with a bright look in her eyes. "You know, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to show people exactly how horrible it is to clean all the time - we could do a sponsored scrub of Gryffindor common room, all proceeds to SPEW, it would raise awareness as well as funds."

Who would volunteer to do cleaning for no reason? No child in their right mind. Hedwig wouldn't claim to know everything that was going on in the human world, but she had been around children long enough to know that things like that don't happen.

"I'll sponsor you to shut up about SPEW," she heard Ron mutter darkly, but said it so quietly that Hermione couldn't hope to hear him. As the days went by and they got closer and closer to being able to go back to Hogwarts, she found herself dreaming of soaring through the blue sky again. Over the castle and Hagrid's house as she hunted in the dead of night… she was starting to ache at the thought of being allowed to leave this dusty and musty house.

At long last, the very last day of summer had come and she was so happy that she was having a hard time trying to keep to herself. She just had to put up with one last day. She sat up on the wardrobe as Harry leaned up the mess that she and Pig left behind, before Ron came in with a couple envelopes for them.

"Booklists have arrived," he said, as he threw his to Harry and sat down on his bed. "About time, I thought they'd forgotten, they usually come much earlier than this…"

Harry swept the last of the droppings into a rubbish bag and threw the bag over Ron's head into the wastepaper basket in the corner, which swallowed it and belched loudly. She wasn't sure what it was though, but seeing the bright shine in his eyes at the thought of going back to Hogwarts made her feel like she could put up with this misery a little longer.