Chapter 147: Weasleys

"Stop doing that!" Hermione said weakly to the twins, who were as vividly red-haired as Ron, though stockier and slightly shorter.

"What's up, Chris?" Fred said. "Went to Ron's room then heard you all talking..."

"You just Apparated from next room?" Chris asked chuckling.

"Time is Galleons, did you forgot what we taught you?" George said beaming.

"Nope." Chris grinned. "So you two passed your Apparation test, then?"

"With distinction," said Fred, who was holding what looked like a piece of very long, flesh-colored string. "Extendable Ears. We're trying to hear what's going on downstairs. You all in?"

"I'm." Ginny got up excitedly.

"Well we shouldn't after your mother nearly caught us last time..." Hermione said looking at Fred, who rolled his eyes. "...but I'm curious too."

"Yeah. Saw it's a pretty big meeting." Chris said. "Do you know, even Mr. Nelson is here. My mother's husband."

"What? Really?" Ginny frowned. "I never heard of him."

"Neither do we." Ron said and Hermione nodded. "Do you think they came today?"

"Even old Snape's here." Fred said. "That means today's meeting is big."

"Hey what's Bill doing here?" Chris asked.

"He applied for a desk job so he could come home and work for the Order," said Fred. "He says he misses the tombs, but," he smirked, "there are compensations . . ."

"What d'you mean?"

"Remember old Fleur Delacour?" said George. "She's got a job at Gringotts to eemprove 'er Eeenglish —"

"— and Bill's been giving her a lot of private lessons," sniggered Fred.

"Wow... that's really cool." Chris smiled. "That remind me, what's going on between you and Angelina?"

"Oh. Things are great between us." Fred grinned and Chris noticed Hermione's face falling suddenly.

"What about the others?" Chris said hurriedly.

"Charlie's in the Order too," said George, "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."

"That only leaves Percy, what's he up to?" Chris said.

At these words all the Weasleys and Hermione exchanged darkly significant looks.

"Whatever you do, don't mention Percy in front of Mum and Dad," Ginny said gritting her teeth angrily.

"What happened?" Chris looked alarmed. Percy was the third Weasley son of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Chris never got along with him due to his strict and bossy nature but now looking at his siblings' faces, Chris knew something big happened.

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"Percy and Dad had a row," said Fred. "I've never seen Dad row with anyone like that. It's normally Mum who shouts . . ."

"It was the first week back after term ended," said Ron. "We were about to come and join the Order. Percy came home and told us he'd been promoted."

"And he took the job?" Chris asked calmly though she knew the answer. Percy was always too much ambitious.

"He did." Fred said darkly. "He came home really pleased with himself — even more pleased than usual if you can imagine that — and told Dad he'd been offered a position in Fudge's own office. A really good one for someone only a year out of Hogwarts — Junior Assistant to the Minister. He expected Dad to be all impressed."

"So he didn't realized why he got the job?" Chris said. "Didn't he knew Mrs. Weasley was with Harry and me in the Hospital wing and supported Dumbledore? Of course, Fudge would have doubted your family. Didn't Percy think about that?"

"No he didn't." George said. "But Dad understood that clearly."

"Like you, Dad also reckons Fudge only wants Percy in his office because he wants to use him to spy on the family — and Dumbledore." Fred said.

"And we believe him. Apparently Fudge has been storming round the Ministry checking that nobody's having any contact with Dumbledore," said George.

"Dumbledore's name's mud with the Ministry these days, see," said Fred. "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 George. "But still Percy is Percy so he didn't bother to believe us at all."

"He went completely berserk. He said — well, he said loads of terrible stuff." Ron said. "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 —"

Ginny made a noise like an angry cat.

"Then 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." Ginny said fuming. "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 anymore. And he packed his bags the same night and left. He's living here in London now. I felt like punching him."

"Mum's been in a right state," said Ron. "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."

"Seriously?" Chris sighed. "I'm sorry guys but Percy is the worst."

"Trust me, Chris, I think we're well shut of him," said George with an uncharacteristically ugly look on his face.

"He don't trust us." Ginny groaned. "He thinks your and Harry's words are not reliable."

"Percy takes the Daily Prophet seriously," said Hermione tartly, and the others all nodded.

"Great." Chris said sarcastically. She knew what's appearing on Daily Prophet. In short she and Harry were injected in between the lines and Ministry were mocking them so bad that the people who were thinking Chris and Harry as next dark wizard and witch few days ago, now talking about them as a joke.

"Now let's go." Fred said grinning.

Soon they all were standing on the landing and were using Fred and George's Extendable Ears. A thin piece of flesh-colored string descended near the kitchen door. They all took a string end and put inside in their ears. 

"Okay, go!" Fred whispered.

The flesh-colored strings wriggled like long skinny worms, then snaked under the door. For a few seconds Chris could hear nothing, then he heard Snape whispering as clearly as though he were standing right beside her.

"..... yes and the Dark Lord feels that Kazle is his most trusted friend. On the other hand Kazle is very secretive he haven't told any death eater what he's planning, only the Dark Lord knows..."

"I agree Dumbledore." Moody growled. "The unknown enemy is more dangerous than the known enemy."

"Hmm.. Indeed." Dumbledore's voice said. "Leyla! What about the information I asked you to collect?"

"They're here Dumbledore." A female voice said softly. "Kazle was hiding in America for last twenty-five years. Different cities... different places... so any Ministry couldn't track his identity. Wasn't very difficult, I'll say, as his followers do the work for him always."

"So he have more followers than those two?" A man asked.

"Yes. He have. Almost in every country where he lived in the past... those two, Ethan and Stormy are new... They're serving him for hardly twenty years." The female voice replied.

"And where was he.... before America?" Dumbledore asked.

"Romania." The female voice said. "It's very difficult to retrace his path. I've to go Romania to learn more about his previous hideouts."