After Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia went to take Dudley to the hospital, Harry and I went up to his room. He slammed the door and banged his hands against the wall, making a picture fall. I picked it up and saw that it was a picture of our parents.

"She was so beautiful," I said.

"So are you," Harry added.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"It's not like anyone thought that."

"Cedric did."

"Well, he's dead now," I snapped at him. He just looked at me as I sighed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that."

"It's okay. I get it. You're upset over his death. He was a good guy. It wasn't your fault."

I nodded and then laid on his bed. I drifted off to sleep. I felt Harry put a jacket on me to keep me warm. In the dream, I saw him again. I saw Cedric dying again. Over and over, I saw him get hit with the spell and fall to the ground. I woke up with a gasp.

"You okay?" I heard Harry ask me.

"Yeah," I replied. He rubbed my back as I tried to go back to sleep. Then we heard clattering from downstairs.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Get your wand out," he said.

I took my wand out and stood up from the bed. The door was slowly unlocking as our hearts were beating faster. The lock fell and the door flew open. We heard whispering and then we saw a light. A woman with purple hair came in with a bunch of people behind her.

"Professor Moody," Harry said. "What are you doing here?"

"Rescuing you two, of course," he replied. "Now get ready."

We grabbed our stuff and they sent it to wherever the hell it was being sent to. I grabbed Harry's jacket and my broom and left the house.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked.

"A letter came by earlier saying we've been expelled," I added.

"Not yet," Moody said.

"Dumbledore persuaded the Minister to suspend your expulsion, pending a formal hearing," a man named Kingsley said.

"We'll explain everything when we get back to Headquarters," the woman with purple hair added. That was when I knew we weren't going back to the Burrow.

"Not here, Nymphadora!"

"Don't call me Nymphadora!" Her hair turned into a burning red. Everyone's brooms came and we all mounted them.

"Stay in formation, everyone. Don't break ranks if one of us is killed." We all nodded at Moody's commands and took off.

I had never flown over London before. It was quite amazing, actually. It was so beautiful at night. Lights were shining everywhere. I wanted to fly over in my free time whenever I got the chance.

It took about three minutes to finally arrive at our destination. We stopped in front of it, I thought, until the building started to split. Then, I saw an extra door. We headed in a narrow hallway, where the adults walked past us, going into a room where all the other adults were.

"Harry! Max!" Mrs. Weasley came and hugged us. "I'm afraid dinner will wait until after the meeting is finished. Straight upstairs, first door on the left."

We headed upstairs. As we were doing that, we noticed how dark and gloomy the place was. We opened the door and had a worried Hermione come up and throw her arms around us.

"I've been so worried about you two! Are you okay? We overheard about the Dementor attack. You must tell us everything."

"Let them breathe, Hermione," Ron spoke up.

"And this hearing at the Ministry. It's just outrageous. They can't expel you two. It's completely unfair." We looked around the room, ignoring Hermione.

"So what is this place?" Harry asked.

"It's Headquarters," Ron replied.

"Of the Order of the Phoenix," Hermione added. "It's a secret society. Dumbledore formed it back when they first fought You-Know-Who."

"Couldn't have put any of this in a letter, I suppose?" Harry asked her. "Max and I have gone all summer without a scrap of news."

"We wanted to write, mate," Ron spoke up. "Really, we did."

"Only Dumbledore made us swear not to tell you anything," Hermione added.

"Why am I not surprised?" I said. "I guess we weren't there when we saw Voldemort return, we weren't the ones who fought him, or the ones who saw Cedric..." I trailed off. I started tearing up a little. I shook my head. "Whatever. I'll just go somewhere else."

"Max--"

"Just leave me alone, Harry," I walked out of the room and headed for a room. Luckily, the room I went to had my stuff in there. No one was supposed to be sleeping in my room, then. Good. I wanted to keep it that way.

I laid on my bed and sighed. I looked down at the necklace that Cedric gave me and clutched it tightly with my fist. The thought of Cedric made me cry again. I silently cried there for an hour until I heard a soft knock on my door.

"Time for dinner, Max." It was Hermione. I got out of bed and followed her downstairs. At the bottom of the steps, I saw Sirius waiting for me.

For the first time since Cedric died, I smiled and ran down to him. I threw my arms around him and gave him a hug. He chuckled and hugged me back. I was so happy to see him. We could now talk about what we had been talking about in our letters. Just me and him.

"We'll talk after dinner," Sirius whispered in my ear. I nodded and we headed down to the kitchen.

*******

"This is very, very peculiar," Mr. Weasley told us. "It seems your hearing in the Ministry of Magic is to be before the entire Wizengamot."

"But what does the Ministry of Magic have against us?" Harry asked.

Everyone got quiet.

"Show them. They'll find out soon enough," Moody spoke up from the back.

Kingsley handed us the Daily Prophet with us on the front page. There was an article about us: "The Twins Who Lie?"

"He's been attacking Dumbledore as well," Sirius said, talking about Fudge. "Fudge is using all his power, including his influence at the Daily Prophet, to smear anyone who claims the Dark Lord has returned."

"Why?" I asked.

"He thinks Dumbledore's after his job," Lupin replied.

"But no one in their right mind could believe that--"

"Exactly the point. Fudge isn't in his right mind. It's been twisted and warped by fear, and fear makes people do terrible things, Max. The last time Voldemort gained power, he almost destroyed everything we hold most dear. Now he's returned, and I'm afraid the Minister will do almost anything to avoid facing that terrifying truth."

"We think Voldemort wants to build up his army again," Sirius said. "Fourteen years ago, he had huge numbers at his command. Not just witches and wizards, but all manner of dark creatures. He's been recruiting heavily, and we've been attempting to do the same. But gathering followers isn't the only thing he's interested in. We believe Voldemort may be after something. Something he didn't have last time."

"You mean...like, a weapon?" Harry asked.

Before Sirius could answer, Mrs. Weasley stopped him. "No. That's enough. They're just kids. You say much more and you might as well induct them into the Order."

"Brilliant," we said.

"If Voldemort's raising an army, then Max and I want to fight," Harry added.

Sirius leaned back in his chair and winked at us. If Voldemort wanted a war, then a war he was going to get.

After dinner was over, all the kids went upstairs while the adults stayed downstairs. As I was heading for my room, Sirius called me into his room. "Max, could I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure." I went in and watched as he closed the door behind me.

"How have you been?" he asked.

"I've been better," I replied.

"I shouldn't have asked that," he commented. "I'm sorry about Cedric."

"Everyone is."

"I can't imagine the pain you feel right now. Reading your letters broke my heart." He looked at my necklace and held it up. "He gave this to you?" I nodded. "It's beautiful."

My eyes started to water. "It just kills me that he's dead because of me."

He shook his head and held my head with his hands. "Maxine Lillian Potter, it's not your fault that Cedric's dead. His death was a tragic accident. Never blame yourself for something like that." I nodded. "Is something bothering you?"

I looked down at the floor at my feet. "There were a few things that I didn't mention in my letter."

"Like what?"

"Like Lucius was worse to me than he ever was."

"What happened?"

"Remember when I said I'd sneak down to the kitchen and eat everything that I could find?" He nodded. "Lucius found out."

Sirius sat me down on the bed and took my hands. "What did he do?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Max..." I looked up at him. "You can tell me anything. You know that, right?" I nodded. "So what did he do when he found out?"

I shook my head. "I-I can't say it."

All of a sudden, Harry walked in. "What's going on?"

Sirius shot up from the bed and looked at Harry. "How could you let this happen? While you're over at your aunt and uncle's house, your sister is being treated like an animal by Lucius and his family!"

"What can I do, Sirius?!" Harry yelled back. "This is out of my control! I hate this as much as you do! If you hate it so much, then why don't you do something?!"

"Guys, please stop," I told them.

"I should do something about it, because you're obviously not doing anything about it! Max said in her letter that she thought you were being a horrible brother. I didn't think that was true until now!"

Harry grabbed his wand out, followed by Sirius. I jumped in front of them. "Stop!" I yelled. My eyes were now close to tears. "You two are the only family I have left, and I'm not going to stand here and watch you two try to kill one another!" I turned to Sirius. "I thought I could trust you. The last thing I wanted you to do was to blame it on Harry. It's not his fault. I'm not a kid anymore, Sirius. I can take care of myself."

Sirius looked at me with sadness. "I'm sorry, Max." I nodded. "Now do you think I can talk to Harry alone now?" I nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind me. I went to my room and plopped on the bed.

As I was reading my book, Harry came in. It seemed like their conversation lasted forever. "Can I talk to you?" I nodded and he came in. He shut the door and sat beside me on the bed.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Did you really tell Sirius that I was being a bad brother?" He looked hurt when he asked me.

"I was angry," I replied. "It's just so hard to talk to you when you never even made an effort to write to me."

"You didn't write to me, either."

"I know. But I'm just always angry." I started crying. "I can't take it anymore, Harry. I'm tired of being angry all the time."

"Is this about Cedric?"

"It's not just that. I'm hearing things. I think it's Voldemort. It's almost like he's in my mind. I can't escape him. I have nightmares every night, and they won't go away."

Harry wrapped his arms around me and I did the same, wrapping my arms around his neck. I kept on crying as he was comforting me. "Max, it's okay. It's okay, I'm right here. I won't leave you."

"I'm just tired," my voice cracked.

"Get some sleep, then. We have our hearing tomorrow." He tucked me into the covers and looked at me again. "Good night, Max." Then he left the room, shutting the door behind him. I drifted off to sleep in a matter of seconds.

~~~~~~~

A/N: Hellooo! I actually wrote a longer chapter this time. Lol hope it's long enough for you.

So what did you think about this chapter? Can Max really take care of herself? Do you think the hearing will go well? And what do you think will happen at the hearing?

Comment, vote, I want love. <3

-A