The calm before the storm
Harry stepped past Moody and entered what seemed to be the hallway of a very old and run-down house. "Upstairs Potter" the auror growled, and Harry felt a strong hand being placed on his shoulder that more or less dragged him to the bottom of a staircase. Harry climbed up the first few steps of the stairs and turned around when he reached the first floor.
Mad-Eye, followed by the remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix, had disappeared into a room at the end of the hallway downstairs, judging by the smell that originated from the room, it had to be the kitchen. Harry was about to turn around again, when he heard his name being mentioned in the kitchen. The voice saying his name, Harry recognized, belonged to none other than Albus Dumbledore.
Careful not to make any noise, Harry tiptoed down the stairs, which was easier said than done, considering the fact that the stairs were most likely hundreds of years old and creaked at his every movement. Standing in front of the door, one ear pressed against the dark, rotten wood, Harry held his breath, eager not to miss a single word that was spoken behind closed doors.
"It is of utmost importance that Harry does not hear about this." Dumbledore said
"It's his life that will be on the line if any of this goes wrong." A voice interrupted, louder and firmer than Dumbledore's clear, but rather quiet voice. Unlike Dumbledore, his godfather didn't exactly care about speaking softly.
"At this point we have no other choice. It would be dangerous to tell him anything. Dangerous for him and dangerous for the rest of us." Dumbledore said, barely audible through the heavy wooden door
"Don't you think he has the right to know?" Sirius gave back rather bluntly
"Harry will hear about all of it, when the time is right." Dumbledore's voice answered him. It was a simple statement, but there was something final to it that left no room for arguments. Something that Sirius seemed to not pick up on.
"He's my godson. I should have a say in what he hears and what not."
"He is fifteen years old! He's just a boy!" A female joined the conversation. This voice undoubtedly belonged to none other than Ron's mother, Molly Weasley.
"Yes, he is fifteen and he has been through more than all people in this room!" Sirius barked more so than he shouted
"Quiet! Both of you" Harry heard Dumbledore say and then suddenly, he could only hear the voices coming through the door in a subdued manner, before they eventually fell silent.
Confused as to what had caused the abrupt silence, he took a few steps back and rubbed his ears. Somewhere in the house, he could hear people whispering and heavy raindrops were hitting the window slides, yet there were no noises coming from the room in front of him. Slowly, he leaned against the door again, but this time, he felt an invisible barrier that did not keep his body from reaching the door, but caused his ears to become numb to all noises that came from behind the barrier.
Pure anger filled Harry. Anger and hatred towards the old man behind the door. How could Dumbledore, a man who was nothing but the headmaster of his school, exclude him? How did he have the audacity to prevent him from making decisions concerning his life? And not only had that, but his assumptions that Dumbledore had actively tried to leave Harry in the dark- and therefore at the Dursleys - all summer long, had been right all along.
Without waiting even a second longer, Harry grabbed the door handle and turned it around.
The image that was revealed to him as he entered the room, his fists balled and raging in anger, would have been funny, if the situation would not have been this serious.
About twenty people were sitting around the table, looking at him with wide eyes. Amongst them Professor McGonagall, his old DADA teacher Professor Lupin, Bill Weasley and various other faces that he recognized. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were sitting next to each other. On their right was the real Alastor Moody, whose double ganger had been his teacher the year before, and Tonks, who had changed her hair color from purple to a poisonous green since their first encounter. And there, at the end of the table, sat Albus Dumbledore. The twinkle in his eyes had not completely disappeared yet and his clear blue eyes were focused on a spot right above Harry's head. He looked slightly taken aback by Harry's sudden entrance, but at the same time, he looked calmer and more collected than ever.
Harry stared at him, started at those clear, blue eyes and was just about to open his mouth, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. The hand did not compare to Moody's, which had been stiff and cold. It was a small, warm hand that had given his shoulder a reassuring squeeze and had then turned him around. He wasn't the least bit surprised that he was now looking into Mrs. Weasley's hazel brown eyes.
"Harry my dear, what are you doing here?" she asked smiling, but also trying to lead him out of the kitchen "The Order is having a meeting, if you are hungry I can bring you a sandwich upstairs" she continued, but Harry wasn't paying attention anymore. His eyes had travelled from Mrs. Weasley back to Dumbledore, who was resolutely looking at the spot above Harry's head, and finally landed on Sirius.
For the first time in weeks, a genuine smile crossed Harry's face and it grew even bigger when Sirius face lit up as well. Seconds later, he felt himself being dragged into a hug by his godfather. Everyone in the room looked happy. Everyone except for two people.
Mrs. Weasley looked rather displeased with what was happening in front of her. Her arms were crossed and she shot Sirius, who had just pulled back from Harry, an angry glare. It was Dumbledore, however, who started talking.
"Harry, would you please go upstairs and stay in Mr. Weasley's room until we are finished here." Dumbledore said, still not looking into Harry's eyes.
"Wait in Ron's room? Really?" Harry asked provocatively "How is it that I am allowed to talk to my friends again all of a sudden?"
"Now is neither the time nor the place to talk about this, darling." Mrs. Weasley threw in, before Harry had a chance to let all his frustration out on the headmaster "Everything that was done, was done with your best interest in mind" she added matter-of-factly
"My best interest? How is keeping me away from my friends and isolating me from the wizarding world in my best interest?" Harry spat, his eyes going back and forth between Mrs. Weasley and Dumbledore
"Harry, all these decisions were made to keep you save, dear." She continued, not taking any notice of his growing fury
"Well that worked out really well, didn't it?" he shot back "You did not have the right to keep me away from my friends." He said angrily, his voice getting louder by the second "Actually, you don't have the right to make any decisions for me, you are the headmaster of my school, that's it."
"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley snapped
"None of us planned things to work out this way" Mr. Weasley threw in, in an attempt to keep the situation from escalating
Harry took a deep breath. After all, it was Dumbledore who he was mad at, not the Weasleys.
"Now, if Potter could do us all a favor and realize that the world does not revolve around him, this meeting would surely be more pleasant." A sneering voice behind him interfered in the conversation. Severus Snape, silent as a shadow, had entered the kitchen.
"Snape" Harry hissed under his breath, he didn't even have to turn around to know who had spoken, and the presence of his least favourite teacher only added fuel to his fire.
"Professor Snape, Harry" Dumbledore corrected him quietly.
Harry looked at Dumbledore as if his greatest wish was to slap him, and at that moment, this was indeed true.
"Tell me Potter, are you really ignorant enough to believe that your problems with your little friends are important enough to interrupt this meeting" Snape taunted as he made his way around the table to sit next to the headmaster "Or are you just a cocky teenager and actually believe that you have the right to be here?"
"Given the fact that I was the one who saw Voldemort come back and fought with him, kind of, yeah" Harry scoffed and, despite all anger, sat down on a chair next to Sirius, to stop Mrs. Weasley from trying to lure him out of the kitchen.
"Potter-" Snape hissed
"No!" Harry yelled, startling every single person in the room "You left me at the Dursleys for almost the entire summer. I was the one who watched Cedric die. I was the one who fought Voldemort. Without me, you wouldn't even know that Voldemort is back." He said, directing his words towards Dumbledore
"I deserve answers." He said plainly
The round was quiet for a moment. The silence was only broken, when Tonks accidentally dropped her wand on the floor and knocked a chair over, while picking it up again.
"Harry" Dumbledore started "I am sure nobody in this room, including myself, would ever question your actions" he continued, looking at his long, entangled fingers " But there is certain information that you must not know about yet" he concluded and looked at Harry for a split second, before looking down again
"And why is that so?" Harry said sarcastically, he was tired of everyone treating him like a child
"Harry dear" Molly raised her voice again, before Dumbledore or anyone else could even open their mouths "You are 15 years old, you are still just a boy, who-"
"Who what? Doesn't know anything about the world yet?"
"Who needs adults looking out for him" Mrs. Weasley finished, as if Harry had not interrupted her "And we are all looking out for you" she said and reached to pat his arm, which only made Harry angrier
"Well none of you were exactly looking out for me when the Dursleys starved me, or locked me in a cupboard or put bars in front of my window-"
Harry sighed and forced himself to stop. Complaining about the Dursleys wasn't going to get him anywhere and it certainly wasn't the reason why he had entered the kitchen in the first place.
He felt Sirius put an arm around him and smiled up at his godfather, grateful for the comfort.
The round had remained silent, nobody- not even Mrs. Weasley- had tried to raise their voice when Harry had fallen silent, but when Harry looked at them expectantly, Mr. Weasley decided to raise his voice.
"I think what Molly was trying to say, is that we think it's for the best that you don't hear more than necessary" he said carefully and leaned back in his chair.
"Well I believe that it is necessary for me to know everything" Harry stated simply "Voldemort has tried to kill me four times in the last 15 years" he added, ignoring the unified gasp coming from the order members, when Voldemort's name was mentioned
"Even more reason to keep you save, dear. You just have to trust Professor Dumbledore" Mr. Weasley said in a final attempt to stop this conversation from even starting.
"But people have tried to keep me save all my life long. And I don't know if you've noticed it, but most of the time, I was on the school grounds when everything happened" he said, looking from Mrs. Weasley to his teachers and Dumbledore.
"Dumbledore kept the sorcerer's stone in a school full of kids, protected by obstacles that we were able to get around when we were eleven. He didn't even notice that one of his teachers had Voldemort on the back of his head or that Professor Moody wasn't really Moody after all" he said
"Harry, all of my decisions-"Dumbledore started, but he was cut off by Harry
"You didn't help me when I was forced to compete in the Triwizard Tournament, you didn't even try to get me out of it in the first place" Harry shouted, he was back on his feet again, both hands gripping the edges of the table
"Harry, I won't deny that I made mistakes" Dumbledore said slowly "It was a mistake to let you participate in the tournament. I should have done everything in my power to take you out of it" He admitted and looked at Harry for a moment, but the boy still hadn't settled down and Dumbledore could tell that Harry expected him to continue
"I don't regret keeping the stone in the school. I knew that Voldemort was out to get it and I knew that it was safest under my watch… I did however underestimate you and your friends." He finished, and Harry could have sworn that he'd seen the corners of Dumbledore's moth switch, but it only lasted for a split second.
"I have to admit that I never saw Quirrell as a potential threat" he sighed heavily "We did suspect that he was trying to get to the stone" he said and motioned towards Snape, who remained completely unfazed "But I would have never thought that Voldemort would use so someone like Quirrell to get to the stone. That was a clever move by Voldemort" he said "And I would have never expected anyone to defeat Alastor Moody" he finished and gave Mad-Eye an apologetic look
"What about the Dursleys?" Harry asked. He had remained silent while Dumbledore had talked, but as it became clear that the headmaster was not about to address the topic himself, Harry was quick to bring it up
"I can't tell you why you have to stay there every year Harry" Dumbledore explained "but it is necessary to keep you safe. I am afraid that you will have to trust me on this one"
"And what if I choose not to?" Harry said slowly "What if don't want to just take your word without any explanation?" he said bluntly and eyed Dumbledore, who looked like a six year old, who had just learned that two plus two is four.
"I am afraid that you don't have a say in that" Dumbledore said as if the conversation was finished
"And what right do you have to decide where I live?" he asked provocatively "Who gave you the right to decide what I can know? You are not my legal guardian, Sir. Sirius is" Harry said and looked over to his godfather hopefully
"I won't force him to go back if you don't tell him everything that he has the right to know" Sirius said
"Sirius…" Dumbledore warned
"He has the right to know" Sirius repeated brusquely
"He isn't James, Sirius" Molly interrupted again
"I am fully aware of that, thank you" Sirius snapped "But he isn't just a normal fifteen year-old. What use is it too keep him in the dark? He will have to know sooner or later anyway. He needs to be prepared, he needs to know what Voldemort's intentions might be and what he could do"
"Enough." Dumbledore said "Sirius, I think it would be better if we continue this conversation privately" he insisted
"Under four eyes" he added, when he saw Harry get up from his chair. Harry opened his mouth, ready to protest, but he felt Sirius hand gently push him back down and nodded at his godfather, understanding that it was time to let Sirius take over.
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At Dumbledore's office
"We have discussed this" Dumbledore said quietly as he made his way around his desk to sit down. Sirius followed his example and sat down in the chair opposite Dumbledore.
"We have" he said "But Harry is right"
"You are putting Harry in grave danger if you tell him-"
"Tell him what? Sirius scoffed "Harry knows that Voldemort is after him, it doesn't do much more harm if we tell him why" he reasoned "And he has the right to know why he has to stay with those muggles every summer" he added "He's already suffering enough"
"Yes, he is already suffering enough." Dumbledore said sincerely and nodded "But it is too early. He is still so young" he sighed "I don't want him to carry this burden."
"But he will find out one day" Sirius said, clearly frustrated "And when he does, it might be too late. You know Harry. He has a talent for getting himself in trouble, but unlike most other teenagers, Voldemort is trying to kill him." He said "You are the one putting him in danger and you know it."
Minutes passed. The silence in the room was only occasionally interrupted by whispers coming from the portraits on the walls. Sirius had stood up and was pacing around in the headmaster's office, glancing at Dumbledore every now and then. The older man was looking out of the window, his eyes glistening. Sirius was just about to open his mouth, when Dumbledore raised his voice again.
"Get Harry" he said quietly.
Without another word, Sirius left and a heavy silence filled the room.
Dumbledore buried his face in his hands. He knew about the gravity of the conversation that was about to take place. It was the calm before the storm.
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Thank you for reading!
After this conversation, Dumbledore pretty much tells Harry everything he told him at the end of book 5, only with the difference that Sirius is still alive now, because Harry knew what Voldemort might try to do and did not go to the Department of Mysteries;) If you have another minute please review and tell me what you think about this story :) I would really appreciate it!