blood bound

chapter 26: Dumbledore's Stance

They all trouped down stairs practically herding Harry, Severus, and Voldemort into the kitchen with everyone else. The three native born Weasleys knew perfectly well that if their mother ever found out that Harry and his mates had visited and left without saying hello there would be hell to pay.

"Why are you carrying firewhisky?" Molly asked suspiciously, a thunderous anger already beginning to form in her eyes. "Harry dear, bring your mates over to the table and sit down. Bill? We'll need another three place settings."

"Yes, mum," Bill said, gathering the missing place settings and adding them to the table just as Arthur flooed in straight from work and greeted everyone with a happy smile.

"Er, oops?" Fred said sheepishly as he looked down at the bottles in his arms.

"Boys? Answer your mother's question," Arthur said sternly, banishing his cloak and wizarding equivalent of a brief case to the room he and Molly shared.

"We played a prank on Sirius and Lucius Malfoy upstairs but forgot to use the firewhisky to make them drunk," George admitted, giving her his best winning smile even as he tried to slip the bottles of whiskey behind him and banish them to their room.

"Kreacher will do it!" Kreacher declared from near the doorway only to snap his fingers making the whiskey disappear.

"Where did they go?" Harry asked curiously.

"Into Blood Traitor Master and the naughty Malfoy," Kreacher told them with a smirk.

"Firewhiskey might be swill but you could have simply used an inebriation charm instead of magicking the alcohol straight into their stomachs," Severus pointed out with an eye roll as he sat down at the table next to Harry and Voldemort.

"Did anyone think to set up the camera charm?" Fred asked with a frown.

"I did," George responded smugly. "I also charmed them so they'll stay nice and asleep until Dumbledore shows up and gets a good look at his Darkness sitting here nice and peacefully eating dinner with us. We can all pretend we don't know who he is or that we know and suddenly don't care. It will drive him up the wall!"

"What did you do?" Charlie asked with suppressed amusement. "And why are you plotting to prank Dumbledore like that?"

"You'll see," The twins said in mischievous stereo that sent a shiver down the spines of their entire gathered family.

"Has Percy written back about my adoption yet?" Harry asked, changing the subject.

"No, dear, I'm afraid not," Molly said sadly as she began placing the platters of food on the long kitchen table for everyone to take from.

"You know I just realized something, with Percy at the ministry, most of us in the order still since we haven't gotten around to officially leaving, and Harry mated to the Dark Lord we have someone on each side," Bill said thoughtfully, stopping everyone dead.

"You don't think... but Percy has always been a stickler for the rules," Arthur said aghast, his mind boiling at the implications.

"He's also willing to do anything for us or he was," Charlie pointed out. "If Percy really did decide to spy on the Ministry to try and protect us he would have to pretend to completely break with us or actually break with the family because Dad and Ron are well known to support Harry. The adoption just made it more official that he was part of the family and from the stories the twins have told that Ministry woman they sent to Hogwarts wouldn't leave him alone."