"I know," Ron said in a low voice, "and it got worse. He said Dad was an idiot to run around with Dumbledore, that Dumbledore was heading for big trouble and Dad was going to go down with him, and that he - Percy - knew where his loyalty lay and it was with the Ministry. And if Mum and Dad were going to become traitors to the Ministry he was going to make sure everyone knew he didn't belong to our family anymore. And he packed his bags the same night and left. He's living here in London now."
"I never hid my dislike for Percy, but I hope you don't mind me saying that he's gone fucking mental," Lucifer said.
"No, we - we kind of agree with you," George said in a strained kind of voice.
"Mum's been in a right state," Ron said, "You know - crying and stuff. She came up to London to try and talk to Percy, but he slammed the door in her face. I dunno what he does if he meets Dad at work - ignores him, I s'pose."
"But Percy must know Voldemort's back," Harry said slowly, "He's not stupid, he must know your mum and dad wouldn't risk everything without proof-"
"Yeah, well, your name got dragged into the row," Ron said abrasively, but not towards Harry, "Percy said the only evidence was your word and... I dunno... he didn't think it was good enough."
"Percy takes the Daily Prophet very seriously," Hermione said tartly.
Lucifer merely just smiled, shook his head, and said nothing.
He already said his piece about people who believe the Daily Prophet, whether it's an article by Skeeter or not.
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked.
"Haven't - haven't you been getting the paper?" Hermione asked, blindsided a bit by his question.
"Yeah, I have!" Harry said hurriedly.
"Have you been reading it thoroughly?" She asked.
"Not cover to cover," Harry said defensively, "If they were going to report anything about Voldemort it would be headline news, wouldn't it?"
"Well... that's the problem, Harry, to pick up on what the Prophet is saying about you, you'd need to read it cover to cover. It's a couple of times a week they mention you-"
"But I'd have seen-"
"Not if you've only been reading the front page, you wouldn't," Hermione said, trying to remain calm, "I'm not talking about big articles. They just slip you in, like you're a standing joke."
"What d'you-"
"It's quite nasty, actually," Hermione said, still remaining calm, "they're just building upon what Skeeter started."
"She's not still writing for them, is she?" Harry asked warily.
"Oh, no she's kept her promise," Hermione said with a smirk.
"Not that she'd have a choice..." Lucifer said darkly.
"But she laid the foundation for what they're trying to do now," Hermione finished.
"Which is what?" Harry asked impatiently.
"Okay, you know she wrote that you were collapsing all over the place and saying your scar was hurting and all that?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, they're writing about you as though you're this deluded, attention-seeking person who thinks he's a great tragic hero or something," Hermione said repulsively, "they keep slipping in snide comments about you. If some far-fetched story appears they say something like 'a tale worthy of Harry Potter' and if anyone has a funny accident or anything it's 'let's hope he hasn't got a scar on his forehead or we'll be asked to worship him next-"
"I don't want anyone to worship-" Harry began hotly.
"You know that, I know that, everyone here knows that, Harry," Hermione said quickly, tired of being interrupted, "but you see what they're doing? They want to turn you into someone nobody will believe. Fudge is behind it, I'll bet anything. They want Witches and Wizards on the street to think you're just some stupid boy who's a bit of a joke, who tells ridiculous tall stories because he loves being famous and wants to keep it going."
"I didn't ask - I didn't want - Voldemort killed my parents!" Harry stuttered out, "I got famous because he murdered my family but couldn't kill me! Who wants to be famous for that? Don't they think I'd rather it'd never-"
"We know, Harry," Ginny said earnestly.
Lucifer exhaled slowly; the more he heard, the more angry he was getting.
He hadn't been getting the Prophet because he was not paying for that trash.
"And of course," Hermione continued, "they didn't report a word about the Dementor attacking you. Someone's told them to keep that quiet. That should've been a really big story, an out-of-control Dementor. They haven't even reported that you broke the International Statute of Secrecy - we thought they would, it would tie in so well with this image of you as some stupid show-off - we think they're biding their time until you're expelled, then they're really going to go to town, but you're not going to be expelled. You shouldn't so long as they follow their own laws."
Lucifer was unable to stop the laugh that came from his mouth that time, "A government that follows their own laws... that'd be something."
The sound of footsteps entered their ears seconds later, meaning that the meeting was finally over.
Fred and George gave the Extendable Ears a sharp tug and then Disapparated from the room.
Seconds later, Molly appeared in the bedroom doorway, "The meeting's over, you can come down and have dinner now, everyone's dying to see you Harry. And who's left all those Dungbombs outside the kitchen door?"
"Crookshanks," Ginny said, unblushingly, "he loves playing with them."
"Oh," Molly said, "I thought it might have been Kreacher, he keeps doing odd things like that. Now don't forget to keep your voices down in the Hall. Ginny, your hands are filthy, what have you been doing? Go and wash them before dinner, please?"
Ginny grimaced at them and followed her mother out of the room.
Lucifer looked at the window and saw a shadow fly over it.
He walked towards it and looked through the dusty, grimy glass.
It was only when the shadow passed over the window again that he realized it was an Owl.
He opened the window quickly, "Rowena?" She flew towards the window and he moved out of her way as she flew into the room and perched beside Hedwig, "About time you got here."
She merely hooted at him.
"Who's Kreacher?" Harry asked them after a moment.
"The House-Elf who lives here," Ron answered, "absolute nutter. I've never met one like him."
"He's not a nutter," Hermione said, "he might have a few screws loose from being alone for so long, but he's not a nutter."
"His life ambition is to have his head severed and put on a plaque on the wall like his mother, Hermione, he's a nutter," Ron said.
"Like I said, he was alone for the entire time Sirius was in Azkaban, well... not alone, but he didn't have any real company..." Hermione said with a slight glare, "Dumbledore asked us to be kind to him, even if he's... rough around the edges..."
"Easier said than done," Ron said, "whatever, I'm starving, let's go."
He led the way out of the room, with Lucifer leaving last, following Hermione out and onto the landing.
But before they could descend the stairs, he sharply whispered, "Hold it... they're still in the Hall... we might be able to hear something."
The four of them looked cautiously over the banisters.
The gloomy hallway below was packed with Witches and Wizards, including all of the ones that traveled with Lucifer and Harry on the way to Grimmauld Place.
They were whispering excitedly together. In the very center of the group, Lucifer saw the greasy hair of one Severus Snape.
He squinted his eyes and briefly thought about finishing what he'd started last year.
They saw a thin piece of flesh-colored rope descending in front of them, and they looked up to see Fred and George on the landing above, carefully lowering the Extendable Ear towards the congregation of people below.
It was all for nought, though, as the group migrated over to the front door, "Dammit," he heard Fred whisper as the Extendable Ear went back up.
The front door opened and closed in the span of a second, "Snape never eats here," Ron said quietly, "Thank Merlin... c'mon."
They quietly went down the stairs and saw Lupin, Tonks, and Molly sealing back the many locks and chains the door had on it.
"We're eating down in the Kitchen," Molly said, meeting them at the bottom of the stairs, "if you'll tip-toe across the hall-"
A crash was heard from near the front door.
"Tonks!" Molly cried exasperatedly, turning to look back at her "I'm sorry!" Tonks wailed from her spot on the floor, "it's that stupid umbrella stand! That's the second time I've-" but the rest of her words were drowned out.
A horrible, ear-splitting, blood curdling screech entered Lucifer's ears.
The moth-eaten velvet curtains they passed earlier had flung open to reveal a portrait of a woman in a black cap was screaming and screaming as though she was being tortured.
The old woman in the Portrait looked a little familiar, Lucifer thought.
She was drooling and her eyes were rolling, the yellowing skin of her face stretched taut as she screamed, and all along the hall behind them, the other portraits awoke and began to yell too.
Lucifer closed his eyes, grit his teeth, and clenched his hands as he recoiled slightly, lurching forward to withstand the deafening sounds.
Lupin and Molly rushed forward to try and tug the curtains closed again, but they were unable to, and she screeched louder and louder, brandishing clawed hands as though she were going to tear them apart,
"FILTH! SCUM! BY-PRODUCTS OF DIRT AND VILENESS! HALF-BREEDS, MUTANTS, FREAKS, MUDBLOODS, 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 her attempt at closing the curtain and went down the hall, Stunning all of the portraits with her wand.
Then a man with a familiar head of long black hair came charging out of the door, "Shut up, you horrible old Hag, shut up!" Sirius roared, grabbing the curtain Molly abandoned.
The old woman's face blanched, "YOOOOOU!" She howled, her eyes popping at the sight of Sirius, "BLOOD TRAITOR, ABOMINATION, SHAME OF MY FLESH!"
"I said - shut-up!" He roared again and with a stupendous effort, he and Lupin were able to close the curtain.
The old woman's screeches died and an echoing silence fell.
Panting slightly and sweeping his long dark hair out of his eyes, Harry's Godfather, Sirius, turned to face him, "Hello, Harry," he said grimly, "I see you've met my mother."
"Your-"
"My dear old mum, yeah," Sirius said, scrunching up his nose, "We've been trying to get her down for a month, but we think she put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of the canvas."
"I'm sure it's not that permanent," Lucifer said, feeling a sudden urge to destroy the painting in a grandiose display of Hell Fire.
Sirius gave him a look, "Maybe you're just what we need to remove her from the wall... I don't even care how you do it, I just want to see her gone... well, come on, let's get downstairs quick, before they all wake up again."
"But, what's a portrait of your mother doing here?" Harry asked, bewildered.
"Isn't it obvious, Harry?" Lucifer asked as they went through the door from the hall and down a narrow flight of stone steps, "This is the House of Black."
"He's right," Sirius said, "this was my parents house, but I guess it's mine now, seeing as I'm the last alive Black - well... sort of."
"What do you mean sort of?" Harry asked him.
"I'll explain that another day, but seeing as this is mine, I offered it to Dumbledore as a Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix - about the only useful thing I've been able to do," Sirius sighed and when they got down to the bottom of the stairs, Sirius turned to Harry and suddenly pulled him into tight hug, "I'm sorry," he said.
Lucifer watched as Harry returned the hug and he could've sworn he saw a few tears escape from Harry's eyes in the dim light.
xxxxxxx
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