Megan made her way up the stairs, trying to ignore the eerie pictures on the walls, or the elf heads. She could hear another voice, more distinct...

"Traitors, werewolves, mudbloods... oh, my poor mistress would be so ashamed..."

It was house elf. He was clearly old, and eyed Megan with black eyes. She found the first door on the left, and opened it.

"Megan!"

Immediately, Hermione threw her arms around her.

"Are you all right?!" she asked.

"Let her breathe, Hermione," Harry smiled as he stepped forwards to hug her too.

"Guys, what are you doing here...?"

"It's a long story," a voice said. "Though not as long as this summer."

Megan looked up past Harry.

"Cedric!"

She ran forwards and hugged him. They kissed and pulled away to looked at each other.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Bursting with questions, but yes. I'm fine."

Cedric smiled, relaxing.

"And there's someone else who wants to see you." He said, glancing to his left.

Megan heard a familiar hoot and looked round.

"Hedwig," Megan grinned.

"Been in a right state, kept pecking us," Ron said, showing Megan his finger which had a nasty cut.

"Oh, yeah... that was me... sorry, I was just so... I felt like I was going to go nuts."

"We wanted to answer you." Ron said. "Honest, we did. We just couldn't."

"Yeah, I know."

"You sure you're okay?" Cedric asked, holding her hands.

"I'm fine." Megan said as they sat down.

"Are you furious with us? I imagine you are... We're really sorry," Hermione said. "We were dying to write, tell you what was going on, but Dumbledore made us swear not to tell you anything..."

"I thought I'd have a heart attack when I heard you'd been attacked by Dementors..." Cedric said. "It's a good thing people from the Order were watching you."

So the only person who hadn't known anything about that was her. Great.

"We've looked it up, they can't possibly expel you," Harry said.

"Yeah..."

"Dumbledore seemed to think it was best that you knew nothing..."

"Yeah, because I'm probably too thick to understand..." Megan said.

"What? No, Dumbledore thinks highly of you," Hermione said. "He just thought you'd be safer in a Muggle environment..."

"Well, that worked out well, didn't it?" Megan said irritably. "My cousin and I got attacked by Dementors! And you've been together all this time while I was stuck in Privet Drive with my aunt and uncle eyeing me like a criminal!"

"Megan, we wanted to..." Hermione began.

"But you didn't." Megan snapped. "You've still been here! You've still known what's been going on!"

"No, we haven't, we haven't been allowed in the meetings," Ron said.

"They're underage, and I was kept out because they knew I'd tell you guys everything." Cedric added.

"You've still been together!" she said furiously. "When all I've had for company is nightmares about the night I saw Voldemort come back! But why tell me anything? I only saved the Philosopher's stone, and Ginny, let the rat who betrayed my parents and had them killed get away, and because of that helped Voldemort get what he needed to get back to power, and saw him nearly kill both Cedric and me... I've got no reason to know anything!"

Again, this boiling anger had risen inside her.

"Did Dumbledore even say why he wasn't inclined to tell me anything?" she asked curtly.

They all exchanged uncertain looks.

"Well, he's been really busy, but we did tell him we wanted to keep you posted..." Harry said hesitantly. "But he said we couldn't because of interceptions..."

"He must know other ways besides owls to communicate," Megan said stubbornly.

"I figured so to, but... he didn't want you to know anything."

The anger in Megan boiled even harder.

"Oh, he didn't, did he?" she asked angrily. "What, worried I can't be trusted?"

"Of course not..." Cedric began.

"Or that I can't take care of myself?" she went on. "Because I was all alone to keep those Dementors from sucking Nathalie's soul and mine, you know!"

"No, Megan, but –" he tried to say.

"I've been sitting around for a month, with no clue about what was going on! I –"

But she stopped abruptly. And took a moment to look at her friends. Harry and Ron were glancing at her uncertainly, Hermione looked positively terrified, and to her horror, even Cedric looked a little hesitant. She realised it was this wave of anger that had made her loose control again... she had yelled at her best friends! And the boy she loved! What in the world was she thinking?! These bursts of anger were scaring her more and more...

"... I'm sorry guys..." she said, her face in her hands. "I don't know what came over me... It's not your fault... I'm sorry I shouted..."

She felt ashamed at their nervous expressions. Cedric put his arm around her.

"We know it was difficult for you, especially after what happened in June... And we're really sorry, love, we wanted to tell you everything, or just let you know we were thinking about you... But I know Dumbledore had his reasons for acting this way... I'm sure it'll be clear soon..."

Megan sighed, hoping he was right. But from what she'd learned from Dumbledore, answers were either scarce or cryptic.

Taking a few breaths to calm herself, Megan looked around again. Her friends still looked a little concerned.

"... Where are we, then?" Megan asked, in a more friendly tone.

"The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix." Ron said, easing his stance slightly.

"Which would be...?" Megan asked.

"A secret society to fight You-Know-Who," Harry said. "It's full of Aurors and stuff."

"We can't join because we're too young," Ron said. "Cedric could, but as he said, they know he'll just repeat it all to us so they won't let him join."

"So what's going on?" Megan asked. "Where is Voldemort, what' s he doing? What are we doing to stop him?"

They winced at the name, but, satisfied that Megan wasn't going to shout again, they relaxed a little, too.

"Well, like we told you, we don't get to be in the meetings," Cedric said, wrapping his am around Megan who leaned against him.

"But we do know a bit." Ron said. "Fred and George have invented this great thing, the Extendable Ears."

"What?"

"Yeah, they're really useful." Harry said.

"Okay... so what have you found out?" Megan asked.

"Well, most of the members have specific missions. Some are keeping tabs on Death Eaters," Hermione said. "I imagine they're mainly Aurors."

"And then, there are others looking to recruit new Order members." Cedric added.

"There were also some of them who had to keep guard over something... don't know what it was." Ron said.

"... That would be me." Megan said.

"Oh, yeah... I guess so... that would explain why they were so agitated, the other day..." Ron replied, uncomfortably.

"... So, if you haven't been in the meetings, what were you up to?" Megan asked.

"Mostly, decontaminating the house," Harry said. "It's been empty for ages, and lots of stuff got in. We should be doing the drawing room tomor-Agh!"

Megan whipped round, expecting trouble, and let out a sigh of relief. Fred and George had just Apparated.

"Hello, there Megan!" they said.

Megan felt a smile tug at her lips.

"Hi, guys," she said, squeezing them.

"Don't do that!" Hermione said, panting.

"Sorry, Hermione," Fred said, smiling at her.

"You guys passed your Apparition tests, then?" Megan asked.

"Yep." They said. "So, fancy a little bit of healthy ear-wigging?"

He held a multicoloured string with what appeared to be an ear on one end. Megan couldn't help frowning at it.

"Is that..."

"Extendable Ears," Fred said proudly. "Come on!"

"Yeah, I wonder if they'll say anything about what Snape was doing..." Ron said.

"Snape? He's here?" Megan asked, her eyebrows shooting up.

"Yeah. In the Order. Giving a report." Harry said. "Git."

"He's on our side," Hermione reproved.

"Yeah, that doesn't make him any less of an ass," George said.

"Bill doesn't like him either," Fred said.

"Bill? You mean your brother? I thought he was working in Egypt?" Megan asked.

"Yeah, but remember Fleur? Saying she wanted to improove 'er Eenglish?" Fred asked with a grin. "Old Billy's been giving her private lessons."

"Oh? Really?" Megan asked, amused.

Fleur had seemed quite interested in Bill, when she'd seen him at the Triwizard Tournament before the third task, Megan remembered.

"Yeah. Charlie's in the Order, too, but he's trying to rally internationally. Dumbledore wants as many foreign members as possible, so Charlie tries to make contacts on his time off."

"But I thought Percy was in the International Cooperation Office?" Megan asked. "Couldn't he do it?'

There was a tense silence.

"Be careful not to mention Percy, whatever you do." Fred said.