Hermione Granger had arrived days after the Weasley family did, carrying with her the baggage that she would also be bringing to Hogwarts, as she was going to stay in headquarters for the rest of the summer. She also had a ginger furred cat, who's name sounded very odd, Miss Mimsy immediately deciding that they were to be friends. On some occasions, they would hiss and claw at each other, which would make someone question the solidarity of their friendship. Miss Mimsy had once tried to push Crookshanks down the stairs.

Upon Hermione's arrival, the adults of the house had started to grow secretive by the minute. There were brief meetings that were commenced at the dining room, and when either one of the children would come in, they would fall completely silent, wiping away all the papers on the table. At one point, Florence had walked in on a screaming match between Sloan and Moody, their faces equally as red as the other. Julien, who was sitting to the right of his father, had immediately scooped up the papers on the table at the sight of his cousin.

"Don't mind me, by all means please continue," she beckoned, as the meeting completely froze upon her arrival. Sirius looked at her, distress on his face, "Florence, you know you're not allowed in here. Please—"

"I know, I was just going to get some cat food for Miss Mimsy. She's been stealing from Crookshanks' bowl." she scurried over to the cat food box, hauling everything outside to the lobby for easier access. Florence looked around the room to see all the adults staring intently at her, as if mentally telling her to go away. Her eyes landed on a particular person, nearly making her drop the box of rationed cat food.

It was professor Snape.

She blinked rapidly, thinking that maybe she wasn't seeing things clearly. But he was still there. Florence decided not to question the adults further, and rushed out of the room.

Since that incident, their meetings now happened behind closed doors. As Florence had told the others that she saw Snape with the order, their curiosity grew, and had formed a group themselves, trying the best as they could to eavesdrop on the conversations.

Fred and George thought that it was unfair that they were left out, considering the fact that they were already of age. But Molly had reasoned out that they were still in school, and that it could be dangerous to get them involved.

"Why does Julien get to sit in, though," Fred grumbled, seeing the brown haired boy briefly from the crack on the door. Someone had eventually noticed, and shut the door completely. He groaned exasperatedly, his hand buried in his hair.

"He's 19, Fred. And he's also out of school. And on his second year of Auror training, as he told me," Florence said as she lounged peacefully on the couch. Ginny was playing with the cats on the living room rug, George tinkering with something on the opposite couch, while Ron was teaching Hermione the basics of Wizard's chess.

"Being an Auror is a wicked cool job," Ron said, moving a piece on the chess board, his Queen completely demolishing Hermione's knight, tiny white rubble scattering to the floor.

Hermione gawked at her now headless and horseless chess piece, "This game is absolutely barbaric."

"You'll get used to it," he chuckled, before resuming his talk about Aurors, "Dad says all their operations are top secret. No other branches in the Ministry would know about it except maybe the Minister himself."

"But it's a dangerous job," said Hermione, "As cool as it is. They deal with dark wizards of different sorts. The death eaters, during the Wizarding War. Professor—I mean, Moody lost a whole eye."

"Maybe he's one of those recklessly stubborn Aurors. There are careful ones too, I'm pretty sure."

"Stubborn usually does the trick though, doesn't it?" George piped up, now smiling as he finished the item that he had been so eagerly trying to finish, "Speaking of which, Florence, do you happen to know anywhere else we could eavesdrop? Maybe somewhere upstairs that's directly above the dining room?"

She looked thoughtful for a minute, "I haven't really had the time to study the placement of the rooms and what they align with upstairs but I'm pretty sure that if we stay near the railings of the stairs and strain our ears real good, we could hear some of the conversation. Unless they're all whispering."

"Well, then let's give it a shot." Fred grinned, turning to his twin brother, "Have you fixed it?"

"I would think so. I mean, there's only one way to find out." George replied, before holding up what looked like a pair of severed ears connected to each other with a strand of skin. Florence had nearly screamed in fear, had she not remembered that they were relatively close to Mrs. Black's portrait.

"What in the living hell is that?" she said incredulously, putting as much distance as she could between her and George. The twins simply laughed, as the rest had looked at the thing in a disgusted manner.

"There's nothing to be worried about, it's not real."

"Well it bloody does look like it," declared Ron, "Honestly, what are you two going to do with that?"

"They're called extendable ears, brother." George waved the device closer to Ron's face, "Future products for our future joke shop."

"It's going to help us with our eavesdropping problem. Now come on."

All six of them had immediately rushed up the stairs, and, with a careful hand, George slid one end of the extendable ears down the banister, which miraculously slipped in to the gap ontop of the dining room's door. He then pressed the other end closer to his ear.

George heard his father speak, only to be overlapped by another one, who sounded much like Bill, but he couldn't be too sure. There were many people speaking all at once.

"Let me have a go," Fred said. He had been tapping on George's shoulder ever since it was his turn, and now impatience had gotten the best of him.

"What do you hear?" Hermione asked what everyone has been wondering. George shook his head, still baffled with the conversation, "Not sure yet. I heard them say something about Romania. Could be about Charlie—I don't know, from what I'm hearing they sure aren't keen on staying on one topic. Florence, your mom sounds..." he pressed the device closer to his ear once more, "She sounds livid."

"What about? Is she fighting with Sloan?."

"I don't know. I don't really know what your uncle sounds like."

"Can I hear it? Please?"

George easily handed her the other end of the extendable ear, giving her a brief warning not to drop it. Fred scoffed at the obvious favoritism.

"What?" George shot back at his twin brother, "Your girlfriend asked me nicely."

"Git."

"It's not Sloan," Florence informed the others, "She's arguing quite loudly with Moody. About Julien's inclusion in Order operations."

"But he can't really do that yet, right?" Said Hermione, "I mean, like you said he's still in his second year in training. And from what I know, it takes about three years to complete."

"But what operations do they mean?" Ron had asked, "Why are they trying to recruit even the youngest possible members?"

"I don't know. They aren't saying anything useful yet. Maybe we picked the wrong time to eavesdrop."

"Maybe you shouldn't be eavesdropping at all," said a voice from behind them, nearly making Florence drop the extendable ears. She quickly yanked it up, glancing nervously at Tonks, who had a sweet smile on her face. "Wotcher, children. I see you've been busy as well. What have we found out so far?"

"Tonks! I—we, um," Florence tried to explain, but could not string together a coherent sentence. Tonks simply chuckled, leaning against the banister, "Oh no, it's okay, you don't need to explain. It's obvious, what you lot are trying to do. It doesn't take a genius to anyways."

"Your not going to tell our parents, are you?" Ginny asked nervously, knowing fully that Molly and Arthur will disapprove of such actions, as they had told them to leave it be many times.

"Heavens no," she said immediately, "I have my own free will. I don't need to tell them anything."

All of them looked relieved.

"Handy thing you got there," she gestured to the Extendable Ears in Florence's hand, "Molly said Fred and George have been tinkering around with products. Very interesting. But the way your mother told me, she didn't sound too impressed. Might want to refrain from using that unless you want her to see."

"Will do. Thanks Tonks." said George, a sheepish smile on his face.

"Say Tonks," Ginny had said, "Wasn't your hair purple yesterday?"

"Oh, yes, I believe it was."

"I saw her yesterday," said Fred, "Her hair was still pink."

"I could've sworn it was purple."

"Now its green," Tonks said, and, before their very eyes, her bright pink hair faded into a grassy shade of green, then seconds later, a much darker color.

"Woah," said Ron, impressed.

"Check this out," she said, and she had transfigured her mouth to look like a duck bill.

"Wandless magic?" Guessed Florence.

"No magic needed for that, it comes naturally for me. Ever heard of a Metamorphmagus? Well, that's what I am."

"Now that is cool." said Ron, "Can you turn in to anything else?"

Her hair started to curl, the dark green hair that she had put on slowly started to transition into a much lighter shade of red hair. Soon enough, Tonks had morphed in to his mother. The Weasley children started to laugh.

"Still need to work on the voice, though. Doesn't come with the appearance change." Tonks morphed back to her pink haired self after a few good seconds. "I breezed by the whole Concealment and Disguise phase in my Auror training without studying for it at all. The perks are great."

"There's a Concealment and Disguise phase?" asked Florence, "How do non-matamorphmagi people study for that?"

Tonks shrugged, "That, I can't really explain. I mean, I just sat in classes without listening to anything at all. A person usually does it during their second year in training... If I'm not mistaken, your cousin's in the process of learning."

"Is it important for an Auror to be able to master it?" Hermione asked, the others now realizing that Tonks was too distracted in babbling that she would probably let a secret or two from the meetings slip.

"Essentially, yes. Aurors are like spies, in Muggle terms. We have to be stealthy at all times, especially in the midst of an operation."

"Is that what my mother is fighting Moody about? They want Julien to be inducted into an operation, but he hasn't completed his Concealment and Disguise training?"

Tonks goggled at the lot, a slight smile on her face, "I see what you all are trying to do. But I'm sorry, I can't tell you anything."

"Please, Tonks." Fred begged, "You have no idea what it's like to sit in the dining room in the morning and have nearly everyone so hotheaded and not know what they're so pissed about."

"If we're to be isolated in this house for the whole summer then we should atleast know a tad bit of what's going on." George added.

Tonks sighed as she scanned the room filled with pleading eyes, giving in with another heavy sigh, "Fine. But this is all I'm ever going to tell you. If you want to know other things, continue eavesdropping on them. Or ask someone else. And don't tell anyone that I told you about anything."

All of them nodded, eager looks on their faces.

"Okay. Florence, you were right about that bit with your mother arguing with Moody. She's pointing out that Julien isn't even halfway in to his second year of training, and that he is unequipped to be apart of official Order operations. But Moody says that the Order needs every able body that they could scrape up."

"For what, though?" Ron asked yet again, "What kind of operations are going to be executed?"

Tonks hesitated for a minute, "Death Eaters. Those who weren't captured in the wake of the Wizarding War. Respondents have confirmed that they're gathering up again, and are planning to break out those inside Azkaban. There are several raiding operations for possible Death Eater headquarters that are underway, but as I said earlier, the Order doesn't exactly have the numbers to do it."

"But what about the ministry Aurors? Isn't it their job to round up dark wizards too?"

"Since the Minister himself is in denial of Voldemort's return, the Auror force is turning a blind eye on the issue, as they are waiting solely on news from the Ministry itself. Dumbledore knows this can't be left alone or it will be worse by every day that it is not attended to."

"What does Julien think about him going on Order raids?" Florence said.

"Well. That boy is gutsy, Florence," A fond look dawned on Tonks' features, "He was born to be in the Auror force, if that makes sense. He's okay with whatever he's going to be asked to do. Says it is his mandate regardless of the training he has finished."

"And what about Sloan?"

"I know him enough to say that he'll respect any decision that his son makes wholeheartedly. That's why your mum is so pissed. Julien is an adult, yes, but he's still too young to lay his life out like that."

"That's..." Hermione's voice trailed off, "That's all they've been arguing about for the past few days?"

"That and other stuff. Which I shouldn't tell you guys. I will put my foot down on that firmly. The business about Julien is where I will stop."

"Thank you, Tonks." Ginny had piped up, "That may not have been as much as we hoped for, but it's something."

"My pleasure," she beamed, "But seriously, if Moody finds out that I even considered telling you about Order business, he will—"

"Nymphadora! Where are you?" A familiar voice called out from down stairs. Florence peeked from the banister. The meeting was over, and they had all came out to stretch their legs and cool off.

Tonks looked mildly irritated by the sound of her full first name, flashing an apologetic look, "I better go. But remember. Don't tell." she said one last time, before running down the flight of stairs to see what Moody needed.