Once the meeting was over, the Order members left Grimmauld Place one by one, and only a few stayed behind to join the others for dinner. Once everyone was gone, Remus took out his wand and put the locks and bolts behind on the door.

Jenna soon transformed back to Crookshanks before the kids had come down for dinner. Tonks chuckled at her transformation, muttering under her breath, "Cool!"

"The meeting's over," Molly whispered to the children who were walking down, meeting them at the bottom of the stairs. "Harry, dear, if you'll just tiptoe across the hall, it's through this door here —"

But just then, her words were cut off and they all jumped when they heard a loud crash.

"Tonks!" Molly cried out exasperatedly, turning to look behind her.

"I'm sorry!" wailed Tonks, who was lying flat on the floor. "It's that stupid umbrella stand, that's the second time I've tripped over —"

But the rest of her words were drowned by a horrible, earsplitting, bloodcurdling screech. They had woken up Sirius's mother again, along with the rest of his family in their portraits.

Harry screwed up his eyes at the noise and clapped his hands over his ears. Remus and Molly darted forward and tried to tug the curtains shut over the old woman, but Walburga wouldn't stop shouting.

"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 —"

Tonks apologized over and over again, at the same time dragging the huge, heavy troll's leg back off the floor. Molly abandoned the attempt to close the curtains and hurried up and down the hall, Stunning all the other portraits with her wand.

  "Shut up, you horrible old hag, shut UP!" Sirius roared, walking out of the dining room and seizing the curtain which Molly had abandoned.

The old woman's face blanched once she spotted him.

"You!" she howled, her eyes popping at the sight of the man. "Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh!"

"I said — shut — UP!" Sirius bellowed, and with a stupendous effort he and Remus managed to force the curtains closed again.

     At last, silence fell through the halls of Grimmauld Place once more and they all stood on their spot transfixed, trying to catch their breath.

"Hello, Harry," Sirius said grimly after a long puase, "I see you've met my mother."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise. "Your — ?"

"My dear old mum, yeah," said Sirius. "This was my parents' house. But I'm the last Black left, so it's mine now. I offered it to Dumbledore for headquarters — about the only useful thing I've been able to do."

With that, they all went back through the hall for dinner, and Crookshanks followed them right behind, going unnoticed by Harry. Jenna would never admit this out loud to Sirius, but sometimes she felt slightly jealous of how much Harry loved and adored him.

Once they entered the room, they found Mundugus asleep on a chair, snoring loudly. Arthur and Bill were talking quietly with their heads together at the end of the table. But they quickly fell quiet when Molly cleared her throat.

"Sit down, Harry," said Sirius, gesturing at a chair next to his. "You've met Mundungus, haven't you?"

     "Some'n say m' name?" Mundungus mumbled sleepily, blinking a few times as he shot awake at the sound. "I 'gree with Sirius..."

     He raised a very grubby hand in the air as though voting, his droopy, bloodshot eyes unfocused. Ginny giggled.

    "The meeting's over, Dung," said Sirius, as they all sat down around him at the table. "Harry's arrived."

     "Eh?" said Mundungus, peering balefully at Harry through his matted ginger hair. "Blimey, so 'e 'as. Yeah... you all right, 'arry?"

     "Yeah," said Harry.

     "Owe you a 'pology. See, I wouldn't 'ave left," said Mundungus, leaning forward, a pleading note in his voice, "but I 'ad a business opportunity —"

     Although Mundugus fell silent once his eyes fell on Crookshanks, who was watching him dangerously with her large yellow eyes. He gulped, looking away.

     Harry felt something brush against his knees and started, but it was only Crookshanks, who wound herself once around Harry's legs, purring, then jumped onto Sirius's lap and curled up.

     A hint of a smile appeared across Sirius's face as he scratched her absentmindedly behind the ears.

     "Had a good summer so far?" Sirius asked Harry, still looking grim.

     "No, it's been lousy," Harry muttered earnestly.

     For the first time, something like a grin flitted across Sirius's face. "Don't know what you're complaining about."

     "What?" said Harry incredulously.

     "Personally, I'd have welcomed a dementor attack. A deadly struggle for my soul would have broken the monotony nicely. You think you've had it bad, at least you've been able to get out and about, stretch your legs, get into a few fights... I've been stuck inside for a month."

     "How come?" asked Harry, frowning.

      "Because the Ministry of Magic's still after me, and Voldemort will know all about me being an Animagus by now, Wormtail will have told him, so my big disguise is useless. There's not much I can do for the Order of the Phoenix... or so Dumbledore feels."

     Jenna could sense the bitterness in his voice as he was saying Dumbledore's name. Even Harry could tell that Sirius wasn't too happy with the man lately.

     "At least you've known what's been going on," Harry said bracingly.

     "Oh yeah," said Sirius sarcastically. "Listening to Snape's reports, having to take all his snide hints that he's out there risking his life while I'm sat on my backside here having a nice comfortable time... asking me how the cleaning's going—"

     But his words were cut off when Molly suddenly shrieked, "Fred — George — NO, JUST CARRY THEM!"

     A split second later, everyone dived away from the table with a loud yelp and Crookshanks hissed, falling to the floor. Fred and George had bewitched a large cauldron of stew, an iron flagon of butterbeer, and a heavy wooden breadboard, complete with knife, to hurtle through the air toward them.

     "FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!" Molly screamed. "THERE WAS NO NEED — I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS — JUST BE- CAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW YOU DON'T HAVE TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERY TINY LITTLE THING!"

     "We were just trying to save a bit of time!" said Fred, hurrying forward and wrenching the bread knife out of the table. "Sorry Sirius, mate — didn't mean to —" Harry and Sirius were both laughing.

     After the dinner was served and Remus complimented Molly as always, she then turned to Sirius and said, "I've been meaning to tell you, there's something trapped in that writing desk in the drawing room, it keeps rattling and shaking. Of course, it could just be a boggart, but I thought we ought to ask Alastor to have a look at it before we let it out."

     "Whatever you like," said Sirius indifferently.

     "The curtains in there are full of doxies too," Mrs. Weasley went on. "I thought we might try and tackle them tomorrow."

     "I look forward to it," said Sirius, his sarcasm going unnoticed by him.

    By the time dinner was finally over, Ginny was sitting cross-legged on the floor, rolling a string for Crookshanks to chase. Jenna played with the string, knowing that Sirius always found it funny whenever she acted like an actual cat, and she wanted to cheer him up.

     "Nearly time for bed, I think," said Molly on a yawn.

     "Not just yet, Molly," said Sirius, pushing away his empty plate and turning to look at Harry. "You know, I'm surprised at you. I thought the first thing you'd do when you got here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort."

     The atmosphere in the room changed with the rapidity. Remus, who had been about to take a sip of wine, lowered his goblet slowly, looking wary. Jenna glared at Sirius with her yellow eyes warningly, but he ignored her.

     Sirius was taking advantage of Jenna being in her cat form and thus being unable to speak, knowing that this time she couldn't protest or to stop him from talking to Harry.

     It wasn't that Jenna wanted to keep Harry in the dark, but she had already lost enough of her loved ones in the Order, and so she didn't want Harry to be dragged into it, afraid of losing him too.

     "I did!" said Harry indignantly. "I asked Ron and Hermione but they said we're not allowed in the Order, so —"

     "And they're quite right," said Molly. "You're too young."

     "Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?" asked Sirius. "Harry's been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. He's got the right to know what's been happen —"

     "Hang on!" interrupted George loudly.

     "How come Harry gets his questions answered?" said Fred angrily.

     "We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking thing!" said George.

     "'You're too young, you're not in the Order,'" said Fred, in a high-pitched voice that sounded uncannily like his mother's. "Harry's not even of age!"

     "It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing," said Sirius calmly. "That's your parents' decision. Harry, on the other hand —"

     "It's not down to you to decide what's good for Harry!" said Molly sharply. Her normally kindly face looked dangerous. "You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?"

     "Which bit?" Sirius asked politely, but with an air as though readying himself for a fight.

     Jenna knew Sirius well enough to know that he could easily lose his temper, and was always ready for a fight if it came around. He had always been this way, even back at their Hogwarts days.

     "The bit about not telling Harry more than he needs to know," said Molly, placing a heavy emphasis on the last three words.

     Lexi, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George's heads turned from Sirius to Molly as though following a tennis rally. Ginny was kneeling amid a pile of abandoned the string, watching the conversation with her mouth slightly open. Remus's eyes were fixed on Sirius.

     "I don't intend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly," said Sirius. "But as he was the one who saw Voldemort come back he has more right than most to —"

     "He's not a member of the Order of the Phoenix!" said Molly. "He's only fifteen and —"

     "— and he's dealt with as much as most in the Order," said Sirius, "and more than some —"

     "No one's denying what he's done!" said Molly, her voice rising, her fists trembling on the arms of her chair. "But he's still —"

     "He's not a child!" said Sirius impatiently.

    "He's not an adult either!" said Molly, the color rising in her cheeks. "He's not James!"