AUTHOR's REPLY===Thank you, I'll try and add a bit more detail.
It was several hours past dawn when Harry woke. Hermione was gone, and so were Ron.
His mouth felt dry, most likely due to the fact that his mouth had been open while the blazing morning sun was streaming bright light through his window and baking the roof of his mouth.
There were sounds from below, indicating that breakfast was in session. But only Ron and all his brothers except Percy were the only ones still eating when Harry walked into the kitchen, stretching and yawning loudly.
"How could you five make so much noise?" he said good-naturedly, pulling a plate of sausages toward him.
"Sorry if we woke you up, Harry." Bill said.
"Yeah, Fred and George were just telling us about the new trick sweet they were about to try and invent." Charlie said cheerfully.
"You mean the bathroom chews?" Harry inquired. "I heard them talking about it yesterday."
Bill, Charlie, and Ron looked at each other. "Bathroom pills? What're they supposed to do?"
Slightly sitting behind them, Fred mouthed, "No, no, no..." and George made a lip-zipping gesture.
Harry thought very quickly. "Oh, as soon as you swallow one, it's supposed to bloat up your stomach with lots of water, and have to make you go to the bathroom for about five minutes straight, after it digests."
Fred breathed again, while George discreetly mopped his brow. Ron and Charlie laughed, but Bill said incredulously, "Five minutes? That's a lot, you two. Lower it down to about two minutes."
"Right you are, big bro'." George said. But as soon as Bill's back was turned, he gave Harry a thumbs-up and a wink to give thanks for the bail and the new idea.
Harry just shook his head.
"Where are the others?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Tonks took Ginny and Hermione out shopping at Hogsmeade. Percy and Dad are at the Ministry, something unusual's come up. Mum and Lupin are at Hogwarts, giving something to Dumbledore."
"Something unusual at the Ministry? What is it?" Harry forgot about breakfast.
"You'll find out next order meeting," Bill said. "Tonight."
Originally posted by dark1365
AUTHOR's---I really hate slow internet, but I'll make do with what I have. Finishing off the chapter. Tell me (on a scale of 1-10, 10 highest) how close my writing is to the real thing, to Rowling's work.
Dark, why don't you write the story in any writing program. Like Micorsoft word or apple work etc. Then copy and paste your writing on the web. It will be much safer and quicker to post, I think....
AUTHOR's===HB, that was also recommended to me before. And I still stick with what I'm doing now, because I guess it's just the way I am. Spontaneous writer. I don't plan any details.😬 Only what happens later on, such as "Gee, I think I'll put Dobby in the Burrow for Christmas.", or "Hey, all those in Hogwarts who aren'y Slytherin should learn from Harry." That type of thing.
----CHAPTER FIFTEEN----
Mrs. Weasley returned at one 'o clock, very tired.
Charlie had to hold her upright. "Mum, you should really go and have a lie down."
"No, no, I'm fine." she yawned, and sank down into an armchair. "I still need to take Harry to the barber after lunch, and then I'll go and see your father at the Ministry."
"No, mum," Bill said firmly. "You stay here. We'll make lunch, Dobby can help. And we'll all go to the barbershop with Harry, you stay here and take a short nap."
Mrs. Weasley started to protest, but Bill cut her off with a stern glare.
"Oh, all right," she muttered. "Is Dobby still de-gnoming? I hope none of those rascals have truly given him any trouble."
"Don't you worry, mum." Ron said, catching Harry's eye and grinning. "He took care of Lucius Malfoy once. Threw him down a set of stairs."
"Did he really?" Mrs. Weasley said, along with the rest.
"Sure did." Harry said. "And when we were coming back on the train, he threw Draco out too."
George looked as if he had found his new best friend.
"Well, I expect your father would find that quite amusing." she said.
"Yeah, I suspect he will," Fred said. "C'mon, you lot. I've never seen a house-elf take on several dozen house gnomes before. This should be a show not to be missed."
He beckoned everyone over, who with the exception of Mrs. Wealsey, obeyed with alacrity.
***
Dobby was enjoying himself immensely, out in the huge backyard.
The house gnomes were flying, but not over the hedge; Dobby had seemed to taken Mrs. Weasley's advice to knock them out to heart.
There were no less than forty gnomes scurrying around. Every second, a half dozen would be surrounded in blue light and thrown twenty feet into the air.
"How come there's this many?" Harry asked.
"Oh, we haven't de-gnomed in a few months," Bill shrugged. "Only thought of it this morning. Dobby seemed quite keen to help, so we gave him instructions and left him to it."
A gnome sailed close to them, landed with a loud thud beside them, and rubbed its lumpy head, dazed. Fred took a running start and booted it over the hedge like a football. Harry winced, and Fred noticed.
"Don't worry, Harry. It's really hard to beat a gnome to death; they're really thick-boned. In fact, their skulls are so thick they hardly have room for brains. Here, you try booting one."
Harry normally wouldn't have been so harsh, but one ran at him aggresively and Harry was forced to kick it up into the boughs of a young tree, outside the edge. As he watched, the gnome shook its fist at him and sank to the ground, staggering drunkenly.
In a few moments, everyone was lending a hand and booting the gnomes over the hedge. Dobby noticed them, took the hint, and waved his hands. No fewer than a dozen and a half gnomes rose up in the air and were hurled fifty feet, squealing shrilly.
"Good job, everyone." Bill said, panting."They'll think twice before coming in our yand again."
AUTHOR's REPLIES - To sf: nope. And I'll put Hermione's house in my version of the seventh and last book.
"Good job, Dobby," Ron said, puffing. "Come on, we're going to go and make some lunch."
At these words, Dobby eagerly ran inside, before anyone had so much as taken a step.
Bill stared. "Now, really..."
"Well, as Hagrid says..." Charlie began.
"...you get weirdos in every breed." Harry and Ron finished.
"Righto, you two," Charlie said. "In all my seven years at Hogwarts, I've heard of the house-elves plenty but I haven't seen them for real in the kitchens before..."
"We have." Harry, Ron, Fred, and George said abruptly.
"...but I've heard that it's slavery, more really." Charlie finished. Harry and Ron stared at him.
"Hermione told you that, didn't she?" Ron asked, almost accusingly.
"Well, of course. Just yesterday." Charlie said, shrugging.
Harry just shook his head in despair. "She promised...I'll go and have a word with her."
"Come on, everyone," Bill said shortly. "Dobby's cooking as we speak, and I feel a bit guilty leaving him by himself."
Dobby was oblivious to the fact that no one was actually helping him. He was actually halfway finished through the lunch; toasty meat pastries, a small saucepan of seafood stew, a large bowl of cream of mushroom soup, and Dobby was in the process of chopping vegetables.
"Dobby, if you don't mind, we're just going to our room to have a break." Fred said. He and George attempted to leave, but Bill blocked the way and looked at them sternly.
"All right, we'll help." Bill said loudly.
"You are most kind, sirs!" the house-elf said, emerald eyes leaking fat droplets of happiness. "Dobby has always cooked by himself, sirs, but never has another witch or wizard offered to help him, sirs!"
"There, there." Ron patted his back, offering Dobby a napkin. Harry could see, however, that Ron seemed to be trying very hard to conceal a smile. Everyone was constraining their humor, even Bill.
"Dobby, you go and clean the upstairs bathroom. We'll take over here in the kitchens." Fred said. Bill cuffed him across the head, but Dobby was already pounding away.
"Right then," Bill said, tying on a flowery apron and ignoring hearty sniggers. "Fred, George, go and wash those potatoes, Charlie, get those little meat pies into the oven. Harry, Ron, you'll set the table."
Fred and George scowled, but said nothing and did what they were bidded to do. Charlie seemed perfectly happy about getting a chance to cook. Ron seemed relieved that Dobby wasn't sobbing over his shoulder.
"Excited about your first Order meeting tonight?" Ron asked.
"Very," Harry said, picking up a handful of cutlery. "I've been wanting to know what exactly was going on for a while. Guess I haven't thought of it this much until I got back."
"The one Hermione and I went to - it was a bit boring." Ron said quickly, clearly nervous that Harry might be annoyed that he had been to one already. Harry had no response to this, so he simply grunted in acknowledgement.
In truth, he had been slightly jealous of the fact that he had not much idea what was going on; the Daily Prophet was still filled with basic home defense tips, mysterious articles about suspects, and the like; however, there was nothing about attacks, none at all.
"Before I came to the Burrow in the summer, were there any attacks on the general public?" he asked Ron, who was clumsily handling the plates.
"No," Ron said. "Then several weeks later, the Library Keeper Farulen disappears, and was never seen again. What's odd, though, was that the Order was worried about him beforehand; they were actually considering to give him protection. I mean, for a Library Keeper? Hah, what could be so importa - "
He froze at the very thoughtful look on Harry's face.
"They knew," Harry said finally. "They already knew. Or rather, Dumbledore knew first. If only we had acted sooner and not debated whether to give him protection..."
The cutlery forgotten, he turned to Ron, whose face was bewildered.
"Harry, what are you talking about?"