Daddy's Little Girl [FW - Book Two]

The Noble House of Black

"Have some more eggs, dear." Mrs. Weasley insists, piling another helping onto my plate.

I don't argue, though this is the third helping I've been given, I go on eating silently. Fred, knowing this, winks at me from across the table, and I can't help but smile.

"Well, children, when you've all finished your breakfast, you can head upstairs." Molly says, starting on the dishes. "You'll be cleaning up the house room by room each day, while the order has meetings."

"What?" Fred and George ask together. "Why do we have to clean when you get to attend meetings?"

"Because this place is filthy and we'll be here for the rest of the summer holidays. You all need to do your part." Mrs. Weasley says sharply. "Now hurry up."

"But I don't understand why we can't be in the order, we're of age." Fred and George continue. I take this opportunity to express my feelings toward this subject as well.

"Yeah, and why can't I? He's my father so I of all people should be allowed to join." I say, just as Mrs. Weasley opens her mouth to tell off the twins again. She closes her mouth, then opens it again, her expression softening.

"I'm sorry, Vanessa, but Dumbledore told me directly not to let you join the order until he believes the time is right." She says gently, pursing her lips. She turns back to Fred and George. "And as for you two, I'm your mother, and as long as you live in my house you will do as I say, and in this moment I'm saying that you two are not mature enough to join the order."

Fred and George begin to argue that they are not currently living in her house, but one look from their mother silences them. I sigh, knowing there's no use arguing if Dumbledore told everyone not to let me join the order. I doubt that there will ever be a "right time". Fred and George on the other hand, look upset for only a moment before they begin whispering to each other, nodding and grinning mischievously. I worry about them sometimes.

Molly pushes the twins apart. "Alright, everyone upstairs. Go and choose a room."

Not daring to disobey her, we all stand and head upstairs, and as soon as Mrs. Weasley is out of sight, Fred and George begin whispering again. Lani and McKenna walk beside me, McKenna complaining about having to clean, Lani worrying about being pulled away from her homework.

"Why can't we just go back to our rooms?" McKenna asks. "I could sleep, Lani could be boring and you can... do whatever it is you do."

"I think they just want to give us a reason to not listen in on the meetings. Fred, George, and I did last night." I shrug. I'm not really upset that we have to clean, just that I can't join the order.

"You listened in? How?" McKenna asks, perking up as we walk past our rooms and continue up the stairs.

"Extendable ears, Fred and George's new invention." I reply, thinking of the meeting we overheard last night. "All they talked about was some kind of guard duty. The twins said they've heard about that sort of thing during previous conversations."

"That's why you were gone so long!" McKenna exclaims.

"Yeah. It wasn't very interesting, but the extendable ears are pretty cool." I shrug. McKenna opens her mouth to respond, but just as she does, we hear a terrible screeching noise, and turn to find a house elf with grey cracking skin and a pointy nose. I stare at him for a moment, confused at his sudden appearance. Fred and George stop walking ahead of us and turn around to watch the thing scream.

"I didn't know there was a house elf here." McKenna says, squinting at the elf, who looks at her and mutters something about mudbloods in his Mistress' house. This makes my blood boil.