Black Family Manor

"Harry!"

Ginny lunged at Harry, nearly knocking him over. "Oh, do you see him? He's here! Harry's here! We didn't hear you come in! Oh, how are you? Are you alright?"

"We really wanted to write to you about what's happened this month, but Percy said someone's been monitoring the owls coming and going from the Burrow, so we have to write some useless nonsense in the letter. We can't tell you anything, Dumbledore even made us swear not to say anything..."

Harry put his arm around the excited Ginny and gently stroked her red hair.

Loren and Hermione narrowed their eyes and gave each other a meaningful smile.

George and Fred sat on the single bed at the back, leaning against the soft bedding, fiddling with a flesh-colored rope in their hands. The room was only lit by a few Oil Lamp lamps, the dim light casting shadows on the peeling paint on the surrounding walls. A meaningful smile played on their lips.

When it comes to dating, the funniest thing is when you make fun of it.

Maybe I can even extort some pocket money... no, I mean a confidentiality fee...

"Let him catch his breath, Ginny..."

Ron tiptoed past them, carefully closed the door behind him, and sighed, "Finally, I see you all, Loren, Hermione. I've never missed you as much as I have this summer."

He had grown a few inches taller in the month since I last saw him, and looked even thinner and clumsier than before, but his long nose, red hair, and freckles were still exactly the same.

"Hey, Loren, Hermione!" George and Freyr greeted in unison, "Long time no see!"

"Haven't seen you for a long time."

Loren and Hermione nodded in agreement, bypassing the lovey-dovey Harry and Ginny, and walked towards the Twins: "Why are you both so happy? Did you hear something amazing during the month we were apart?"

"I did hear some of it..."

"But I didn't hear it clearly."

"Tell me what you know..." Hermione said, and the two sat down on the bed opposite them. Loren looked around the room's furnishings.

The room was spacious with high ceilings and clean walls, free of clutter. Only a blank canvas, framed in an ornate picture frame, emitted a faint, damp, musty smell. Besides two single beds, there were only a few stools, making it feel rather empty.

"Where should I begin..." George shook the flesh-colored rope in his hand.

"Let's talk about the Order of the Phoenix first..." Fred sighed deeply, pulling out an ear-shaped object from the rope.

The information Loren knew was largely the same: the Order of the Phoenix was a secret society founded by Dumbledore around the 1970s to combat the growing power and threat posed by Voldemort and the Death Eater.

After the First Wizarding War, the Order of the Phoenix was temporarily disbanded.

It wasn't until this summer that Dumbledore summoned them again.

"Who's inside?" Hermione's eyes sparkled.

"We've only seen about twenty of them, and you can see them here too, but there are definitely more than that..."

"I saw some photos at my dad's place. A lot of people had appeared in the newspapers when we were very young. It took Bill some time to find those old newspapers in Gringotts."

Fred slowly counted on his fingers, "The Prewett brothers Fabian and Gideon Prewitt were murdered by six Death Eater led by Antonin Dolohov, Caladok Dearborn disappeared, Edgar Bones and his family were captured, Benji Fenwick was brutally murdered, and Marlene McKinnon..."

George added, "The Lumbard couple also count, but they were cured, and that made the news."

Hermione glanced at Loren beside her and nodded impassively. "These are the members who perished. What about those who have regrouped? What are the current members of the Order of the Phoenix doing lately? What schemes does the Dark Lord have up his sleeve, and how does Dumbledore plan to stop him?"

"Like we said before, Mom tried every means to keep us from knowing the inside story, and the Order of the Phoenix wouldn't let us attend the meetings." George looked somewhat frustrated as he fiddled with the prop ear in his hand.

Fred grumbled, unconvinced, "So we don't know the specific details either, we only know the general outline..."

At that moment, Ron walked over from the doorway, followed by Harry and Ginny, their cheeks flushed. The three of them pulled up chairs and sat down, talking about what they had heard recently.

"Some members of the Order of the Phoenix are tracking the Death Eater whose identities have been exposed, keeping a close eye on their movements. Percy is in charge of this task," Ron said slowly. "I heard him mention at home before that Fudge wanted to promote Percy to assistant minister in order to monitor us, but he refused and replaced him with someone Bertha Jokins ..."

Hearing this, Hermione glanced at Loren again.

"Furthermore, some of them are recruiting more people into the Order of the Phoenix, Bill is doing that." Ron's eyes widened slightly, a strange light shining in them. "Phoebe is probably his target."

Loren chuckled when he saw the expression on the man's face; this kid was probably thinking about his sister-in-law.

"Phoebe Delacour?" Harry exclaimed in surprise.

Ginny snorted, "To improve her English, she got a job at Gringotts in Diagon Alley, Bill has been tutoring her personally."

Fred chuckled. "Charlie has also joined the Order of the Phoenix, but he's still in Romania. Dumbledore wants him to recruit as many wizards from abroad as possible, so Charlie makes extensive contact with people when he's not at work."

"There are also some people who are on guard duty and keeping watch for some reason, and they keep discussing what kind of guard mission it is."

"It's not to protect me, is it?" Harry looked up in surprise.

Unexpectedly, Ron shook his head. "The task of protecting you has always been Mrs. Figg's responsibility. Not long ago, she arranged for wizards to take turns on duty. I heard that a new member provided the information that someone in the Ministry of Magic wants to deal with you... You know, Voldemort can't find the Dursley house yet."

"Ministry of Magic? Who?"

"Well... when Mom heard this, she found out about our little invention and was furious." George patted his chest with a hint of lingering fear. "Luckily, we had already learned Apparition, otherwise we would have been caught red-handed."

Fred showed the group the ears attached to the rope. "Extendable Ears, a recent invention. We have to hide them so that Mom won't throw them in the trash or burn them in the fireplace."

Loren took the Extendable Ears and examined it carefully. "Is there any other information?"

The Extendable Ears design is innovative. The process is not complicated and the materials are not rare. If you use both ears to transmit sound to each other, you can make a call over a short distance. It can be considered a prototype of a wired telephone. Moreover, it does not require electricity and does not consume energy.

"That's it." Ginny shrugged, looking helpless. "We've spent the rest of the time cleaning the house, giving it a thorough cleaning. This house has been empty for many years, and a lot of things have grown inside. It took us a lot of effort to clean the Kitchen and most of the bedrooms. I think we should deal with the living room tomorrow."

"We know they're having an important meeting, even Snape is in it, but we're stuck sitting here." Ron slammed his fist on the headboard in anger, then his face contorted in pain.

Ginny looked at her brother with disdain, saying, "There's nothing we can do. The Extendable Ears don't work anymore. Mom has cast Imperturbable Charm on almost every important door, even the Kitchen door. The Extendable Ears can't squeeze through the cracks at all. I really don't understand what she's worried about. Is she worried that we'll learn her potato-peeling magic?"

"Too bad, I really want to know what that old Snape is up to."

The Twins looked very unwilling, and they spoke through gritted teeth.

"I heard they're reading a report, top secret."

"..."

Half an hour later, Molly knocked on the bedroom door. "The meeting is over. Come downstairs for dinner. Lots of people want to see you, especially you, Harry..."

A group of people walked out of the bedroom and looked down from the railing. The dimly lit Entrance Hall below was crowded with wizards, a dark mass of them. They were excitedly whispering something as they walked towards the door. Snape was among them, his hair shiny and slick.

How is Professor Snape doing lately? How is his research on the Resurrection Potion going?

Loren poked his head out from behind the railing.

Seemingly sensing the prying gaze, Snape also looked up at the building. When their eyes met, Loren saw those eyes—indifferent yet somewhat weary, like a patient who had been suffering from sleeplessness for weeks, yet whose mind was unusually clear in the drowsy, chaotic night.

Bang!

The eye contact was interrupted by Tonks's scream, "Sorry! It's all that damn umbrella frame's fault, this is the second time I've tripped over it."

Harry paused for a second, seemingly recalling some unpleasant memories, and immediately shrank back, reminding him, "Quick, cover your ears!"

Loren seemed to understand something and quickly raised his hand to cover Hermione's ears.

Before anyone else could react, a chilling scream engulfed the entire house:

"Beast! Slut! You filthy and sinful bastard! Mongrel, freak, ugly monster, get out of here! How dare you defile my ancestral home—"

In front of the Entrance Hall, two velvet curtains riddled with wormholes were suddenly lifted, revealing a life-size magical portrait of an old woman in a black hat screaming desperately, her cries piercing and shrill.

The old woman was drooling, her eyes were darting around, and her yellow skin was taut from screaming.

Lupin rushed over, trying to pull the curtain shut to hide the old woman inside, but he couldn't manage it. Sirius Black also rushed out from a doorway, grabbed the curtain, and together they struggled to pull it shut.

"Shut up, you horrible old witch, shut up!"

"You spendthrift son, a disgrace to the family, the bastard I gave birth to!"

"I already told you! Shut up!"

The loving conversation between mother and son continued until the curtain completely covered the portrait, the screams gradually faded away, leaving only a lingering silence.

Hermione jolted, blinking in confusion.

Loren turned to look at the gate again. All the wizards were gone, Snape was gone too. Only Lupin and Tonks were left standing in front of the gate, using magic to add many locks and bolts to the door.

"That's Sirius Black's mother. We tried to take down her portrait when we came here a few years ago, but we failed. It seems she cast a Permanent Sticking Charm on the canvas."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief and explained as he led them downstairs, "Oh, you don't know yet, do you? Loren, Hermione, this is Sirius Black's parents' house. He's the only one left in the Black family, so this house now belongs to him."

"So he handed this house over to Dumbledore as his headquarters..." Molly said in a low voice, leaning on the stairs. "Really, he was planning to get married here, but now the wedding has to be postponed."

"Where's the bride? Is she here?" Harry asked hastily upon hearing news of his godmother.

"How could he possibly stay in such a dangerous place? Sirius Black has reduced contact, saying the wedding will be held after everything is over..."

Passing by a row of House-elf' heads along the wall, Hermione grumbled somewhat irritably, "Can't these... these... just be taken off?"

"You mean this? The adults are too busy; we haven't cleaned this area yet..."

"Don't worry, Hermione, we'll clean this wall up tomorrow..."

Loren's eyebrows twitched, and he remained silent for a moment. A long-forgotten memory surfaced from the depths of his mind, and some information that should have been unknown to anyone in this world was gradually coming together.

That was about another child of the Black family, Regulus Black, a Death Eater.

That was about the fifth Horcrux Voldemort created before his downfall: Slytherin's Locket.

Although the locket had changed hands several times in the stories he knew, it was now in this old house, in the hands of an old and mad House-elf.

Loren glanced at the dried-out head ornament and asked softly, "Are there any House-elf in this house?"

"There's another one, named Kreacher." Ron shook his head. "A House-elf's always been here, a madman whose greatest ambition in life is to cut off his head like his mother and stick it to the wall. He'll definitely come and cause trouble when we clean this wall tomorrow."

"Is that so..." Loren nodded thoughtfully.

Walking up a stone staircase, you arrive at the basement Kitchen, as dark as the Entrance Hall above—a cavernous room with rough stone walls. Most of the light comes from a large fireplace at the far end of the room. Smoke billows from the pipes, filling the air like battlefield smoke. The heavy iron pots and pans hanging from the dark ceiling appear menacing and sinister in the smoke.

Because of the meeting, the room was filled with chairs, and in the middle was a long wooden table with parchment scrolls, wine glasses, empty wine bottles, and a pile of things that looked like rags scattered on it.

Arthur and Bill sat at the end of the long table, their heads close together as they whispered something.