Whispers of Danger

As they reached the third floor, Ginny pointed out Fred and George's bedroom and Mr and Mrs Weasley's bedroom, indicating that Hermione should enter the third room. That room had a very ornate black door with a massive nest of snakes carved into it. Hermione tried not to shiver as she turned the doorknob and peeked inside.

"Buckbeak!" Hermione exclaimed. She went to rush over to the beautiful animal but remembered her manners just in time. She bowed deeply, hoping her initial surprise explosion didn't disrespect the creature. To her relief, Buckbeak returned the bow, allowing her to approach and give him scratches.

"I thought you'd be excited to see him," Ron said from the door.

"I definitely didn't think he'd be here," Hermione said.

"Buckbeak utterly hates the twins," Ginny giggled. "He nips at them any time he gets the chance."

They continued the tour to the fourth floor, where Ginny pointed out Sirius's bedroom and another vacant one. "And that concludes the House of Black tour," Ginny said. "Get ready to explore it in ways you never thought possible when you go on the backstage tour as Mum's cleaning crew."

"Wait," Hermione said, a thought crossing her mind. "Where does Percy stay?"

Both Ron and Ginny got angry looks on their faces. "The git's not here," Ron said. "Took the Ministry's side straight away. Then Fudge randomly promotes him to 'Personal Assistant to the Minister of Magic' so he can keep tabs on us. When Dad pointed that out to Perce, he started running his mouth—denying He Who Must Not Be Named's return and condemning the family for 'taking Dumbledore's side,' whatever that means."

"He moved out within hours," Ginny added. "Which, to be honest, is probably a good thing because now he's Fudge's narc. He couldn't live here in Headquarters."

"But don't bring it up," Ron said. "Mum and Dad are all kinds of broken up about it."

"Understandably," Hermione said. "I'm so sorry," she added.

"Just showing his true colours," Ron spat. "Bloody git."

Hermione felt terrible for them—the fact they couldn't risk letting their own brother come to Headquarters because he might tell the Minister where they were. Suddenly, a thought slid into Hermione's mind. "Why are we here?" she asked.

"What?" Ginny said, confused.

"Think about it—why are we here? Why is your whole family living here? Why was I brought here? Are we in danger?"

Ginny and Ron let this sink in. "Come to think of it," Ron said slowly, "we moved here the day after the big blowout with Perce."

"Do you think they have the Burrow being watched?" Ginny asked, a hint of fear in her voice.

"Maybe," Ron said. "I never really thought about it like that."

Hermione shivered. Dumbledore was right—they had no idea how much danger there really was.

They returned down the staircase and met the twins on the second-floor landing. "Who's here tonight?" Ginny asked.

"We saw Snape, Kingsley, and Elphias come in so far," said George.

"Mum's been coming out and checking the front window now and then, so someone else must be coming," Fred added.

"Are your Ears working yet?" Ginny asked.

"No, still have a few tweaks to work out," George said. "It's the strangest thing; I can't get it to work on my left ear. The right works okay, but it's pretty echo-y."

"It's echo-y for both of my ears," Fred said. "It's mental."

"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked.

"Extendable Ears!" George said with a grin, pulling a long jumble of flesh-coloured string from his pocket.

"Now you can listen to any conversation without being seen!" Fred said in an announcer's voice. "Extend your ears and hear what people have to say!"

"Want to hear what your boyfriend really thinks of you?" asked George, getting into it.

"Or how about listening to your professors plan a pop quiz?"

"Don't forget to eavesdrop on your parents too!"

"Hear it all for the low, affordable price of two Sickles!"

As much as Hermione hated the twins' little tricks and trinkets, she must admit they had a great imagination.

"We've been testing them out to listen in on Order meetings," George said in a normal voice. "Want to try?"

Hermione put one of the ends of the string to her ear and watched as Fred fed the other side of the string down over the edge of the landing. She had to give them credit—while she couldn't understand what was being said with the echo, she could hear something. The twins really were exceptional at magic.

"That's amazing," Hermione conceded. "I hope you're able to figure out the echo problem."

"If you have any ideas, let us know," George said, and Hermione realised he genuinely meant it.

"We know you're pretty brilliant and will take any help we can get," Fred added. Hermione blushed. She wasn't used to the twins giving her compliments.

"I told them to ask you," Ron said indignantly. "Because you're much smarter than them," he added.

"Down, boy," George laughed but didn't elaborate. The twins reeled their invention back up and escaped to their room. Ron's face turned beet red.

Hermione couldn't help but smile and turn a little red herself.

....

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