1 LIFT YOUR FACE
2
Summary:
Harry has just finished his seventh and final year at Hogwarts…
Voldemort is an ever-present threat in the world with The Order of the Phoenix doing all they can to keep him from taking over.
In this world of conflict, Harry has to decide what shape his future will take.
3
4
5 Chapter One – The Meeting
"Harry! Come on. We're going to be late again!"
Yelled Sirius up the stairs.
Suddenly the flustered teen blundered past, pulling his cloak haphazardly around his shoulders.
Harry's bright green eyes and messy tangle of hair gave him a distinct aura, which was so very 'alive'.
Sirius grinned at his godson. Living with Harry for just a couple of weeks had been like a breath of fresh air to the ex-convict, and Harry's spirited nature had begun to rub off, chasing the shadows of Azkaban from Sirius' mind.
"Why do all these blasted meetings have to be so bloody early in the morning?"
Grumbled Harry, shoving his wand in his pocket and running a hand through his hair, which served only to rumple it further.
Remus snorted,
"But Harry, it's two thirty in the afternoon!"
"Yeah, come on you crazy billywig!"
Laughed Sirius grabbing Harry's arm and pulling him over to where Moony was waiting by the fireplace.
With a pinch of floo-powder and a yell of 'The Order of the Phoenix' they finally left the house.
***
Harry stumbled out of the fireplace at the other end of the journey and was unsurprised to find himself being held at wandpoint by Arabella Figg.
"How are you Mrs Figg?"
He asked politely as he calmly readjusted his glasses.
"Fine Thankyou. And how are you Harry?"
She replied lowering her wand and smiling.
"Well… Apart from Sirius' attempt to poison me last night…"
Began Harry, at which point Sirius, who'd been chatting idly with Mundungus Fletcher nearby interrupted.
"Well if Moony hadn't switched the ingredients!"
At the 'none too discrete' mention of his name Remus turned around and raised an eyebrow at Sirius, but they were all distracted from the banter that may have ensued by the timely intervention of Albus Dumbledore's arrival.
"My friends!"
He said, standing up and holding out his arms.
"Now that we are all assembled there are things to discuss!"
The crowd in the room obediently convened around a large round table.
Harry was careful to position himself between Sirius and Remus. He found himself opposite Severus Snape and tried to ignore the icy glare that the professor had fixed him with.
Luckily Snape's gaze soon shifted to Sirius, who was more than willing to return the glare.
Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"Firstly I'd like to thank you all for coming here today. I am well aware that it is the summer holidays for some of you, so let's get straight down to business. We have some information about Voldemort's more immediate plans. He is apparently enlisting as many of the dark creatures as he can. We know that he already has an army of dementors at his disposal…"
"Damn that idiot Fudge."
Growled Alastor Moody.
"Yes, quite Alastor. But the fact remains that both Azkaban's former jailors and inmates are now working for Voldemort."
Harry felt Sirius shudder slightly next to him and instinctively shuffled closer to his godfather.
"We also fear that a large number of werewolves, acromantulas and manticores are close to being totally under his control."
Added Dumbledore solemnly.
"Indeed it seems that only one pack of werewolves and the Giant population have been brought over to our side by our envoys."
Harry stole a glance at Remus whose face had flushed slightly, although what emotion was hiding behind his stoic expression Harry couldn't tell.
"Does anyone else wish to address the Order now?"
Asked Dumbledore amidst the hushed whispers that had broken out.
Alastor Moody stood up, his magical eye swivelling around to land on Harry.
"Friends."
He said gruffly,
"I put forward the suggestion that as many of those present as possible, who are not yet able, ought to be instructed to perform the animagus transformation. It is, as we have seen, a very useful commodity and would no doubt benefit those who care to attempt it."
Harry felt a smile creep onto his face despite Moody's x-ray stare. He thought briefly about the circumstances of which Moody had inferred.
Last Christmas, Sirius, in animagus form, had managed to discover a lot of Death Eater secrets and whilst doing so had finally managed to track down a certain rat.
It had been the best Christmas present ever for Harry to see his godfather's name cleared publicly.
Harry was jolted from his thoughts when the members were called to vote on Moody's proposal. There was unanimous approval.
Dumbledore stood once more.
"Professor McGonagall and myself will instruct those of you who wish to make an attempt individually. Please contact us to arrange practice times. I believe that everyone here is fully capable of the process should they wish to undertake the training. Alright, are there any other notices?"
There was a short silence before Dumbledore smiled calmly, Harry noticed that the twinkle in his eyes was suspiciously prominent and became immediately suspicious of what the headmaster was planning to himself.
"I myself have one more announcement. It has become apparent to me that it is time we shook up our organisation a little."
The smile broadened slightly.
"I feel it would be best if we nominated a new leader from within our ranks."
At the barrage of indignant exclamations and frenzied babble that ensued, Dumbledore had forsaken concealing his amusement. And Harry couldn't help but wonder what he had up his over-large-wizarding-robe-sleeve.
Once the noise had quietened Dumbledore, still grinning, cleared his throat again.
"I will not listen to any more arguments, the fact is that I have enough to do running Hogwarts, I am an aging man. There are numerous younger members who would be able to dedicate more of their time to our work here and would I'm sure be more than capable of fulfilling the role. I simply urge you to consider the other options before our next meeting."
Looking around, Harry could see that not many of the members looked placated by these words but Dumbledore seemed nonplussed.
"We will meet again in a few weeks time at most. As always I remind you all to take the utmost care of yourselves and each other. May I see Minerva and Severus for a moment please? The rest of you may leave now. Meeting adjourned!"
The scraping of chairs was drowned out by the wild chatter that broke out as the Order very slowly began to disperse and Harry idly wondered if Dumbledore might need to shoo everybody out of the room to get them to go home.
The image of his elderly headmaster running about with his wand out to herd them out of the hall made Harry chuckle as he reached for the floo-powder above the mantelpiece, earning him a confused look from Moony. He simply shrugged and jumped into the emerald flames yelling
"Chaos Manor!"
***
Harry and Remus had just disappeared through the fireplace and Sirius was in the process of reaching for some floo-powder to follow him but a sudden tap on the shoulder stopped him. He turned around to see that Severus Snape was the one who'd stopped him.
"What do you want Snape?"
Sirius asked, perhaps a little more impatiently then he'd meant to.
"I just had a quick word with Albus and he suggested that I suggest something to you."
Snape replied casting a scowling glance at the door to the headmaster's office.
"Oh yes? And what is this about that it's so urgent to keep me from joining my godson at home?"
Sirius huffed, putting his hands on his hips.
"Albus thinks that I should continue to teach Harry."
Said Snape fixing Sirius with a glare that said that Severus was none to happy about the idea.
"But he's finished his Newts, what does Albus want you to teach him?"
Argued Sirius feeling confused and slightly nervous.
"Oh I wonder, a crash course on common sense maybe, he's hardly going to learn that for you is he!"
Snape yelled, obviously as short on patience as Sirius.
"Extra self-defence training you idiot."
Sirius frowned.
"What can you teach him that he doesn't already know?"
He asked bitterly.
"I was a Death Eater. I know a lot about what will and will not work against them, and I know a lot more than most people about Voldemort himself." Said Snape suddenly deadly calm again.
Sirius sighed heavily.
"I'll admit that much. And if Albus Dumbledore thinks it's necessary then I suppose Harry will agree."
Snape took this as an agreement and nodded sharply before storming off.
"When will we get the pleasure of seeing you?"
Shouted Sirius after the retreating figure.
"I'll be in touch."
Was the terse reply.
***
Still feeling slightly pensive about the meeting, Harry rushed straight to his room on arriving home to write letters to Ron and Hermione. He knew that they liked to be kept right up to date with what he was doing, even if he couldn't tell them everything that went on in the Order.
They had of course been asked to join themselves and had even accepted, but then Hermione had fallen pregnant.
That, coupled with Ron's injury had meant that neither wanted to put their lives, their baby's life, or those of the Order, at risk by over-committing themselves.
Harry still felt deeply responsible for what had happened to Ron…
Ron had been on his way to see him when he had been attacked by dementors and fallen from his broom.
The staff at St Mungo's had been unable to fully heal his right leg and side.
Ron could barely hold his wand any more. He certainly wouldn't have been able to do half the work that Harry was doing for the Order.
Although he put a brave face on it, Harry knew that deep down Ron had been more affected by his disability then he would ever let on.
The proud boy he'd once been was now an even prouder man.
Thank goodness he had Hermione there. Harry knew that the two of them would get through anything together, and with the baby on the way, Ron would have more than enough to distract him from self-pity.
Harry envied his best friends in truth. However he knew that he was dedicating himself to protecting the kind of life they were building… and that, more than anything, was what led him to work so hard for the Order.
To Mr and Mrs Weasley,
Hi Ron, Mione and bump. I hope you three are all doing well.
I'll be over to see you in a couple of days hopefully. I can't wait to see how junior is coming along.
I've got a trial at the Appleby Arrows…
They're up your way right?
Anyway, we just got back from a meeting and Dumbledore is stepping down as our leader! He's determined about this, there's nothing that will change his mind. I only hope that Snape doesn't end up in charge! Can you imagine that!
There was other bad news. Not much we haven't heard or suspected before mind.
Anyway, I can hear Sirius and Remus arguing downstairs, Id' better get down there to referee.
See you soon!
Harry.
He tied to letter to Hedwig and sent her soaring off out the window before rushing downstairs to see what had gotten into Padfoot and Moony.
"He's off his rocker Moony! You absolutely can't be serious!"
Sirius was yelling, which was nothing unusual, but Harry could tell now that this wasn't a light-hearted exchange.
"Padfoot calm down. It's not even been decided yet. besides, it will have to be done by vote anyway. The Order will have to agree."
Harry noted that even Remus' attempt to calm Sirius was in a raised voice, and Moony hardly ever raised his voice. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs to listen.
"Where is Harry anyway?"
"You know he always writes to his friends after meetings Padfoot."
"I still can't believe it… I thought that Dumbledore had some sense."
"He does. And I happen to agree with him on this one."
"Moony! You have got to be joking! Harry's not even eighteen yet."
"But he will be in a weeks time, and he is a lot more mature then his age. You've seen it as well as me. And I know that Dumbledore sees it."
"I don't want this for him Moony. I just want to shield him from it all. Everyone seems to want to stick him at the sharp end of this bloody war, I'll bet no-one's even asked him what he wants!"
There was a sudden silence and Harry collected his wits and entered the room.
"Well, how about you tell me what this is all about and ask me now then."
Said Harry calmly taking a seat at the kitchen table between a red-faced Sirius at one end and an uncommonly pale Remus at the other.
*~*~*~*
A/N:
Well, that's the first chapter under my belt.
I actually started writing this ages ago but I put it aside to work on my other stories. Found a sheet of it under my desk last night and I just couldn't put it away without typing up this chapter…
I'd love for you to let me know what you think.
jona
xxx
Disclaimer:
Nope, I don't own anything much at all… Just the random placing of events i.e. the plot… But even that probably isn't much my own… *sighs*… I am not making any money from this in any case, just enjoyment and self-fulfilment.
2
Summary:
Harry has just finished his seventh and final year at Hogwarts…
Voldemort is an ever-present threat in the world with The Order of the Phoenix doing all they can to keep him from taking over.
In this world of conflict, Harry has to decide what shape his future will take.
3
4
5 Chapter One – The Meeting
"Harry! Come on. We're going to be late again!"
Yelled Sirius up the stairs.
Suddenly the flustered teen blundered past, pulling his cloak haphazardly around his shoulders.
Harry's bright green eyes and messy tangle of hair gave him a distinct aura, which was so very 'alive'.
Sirius grinned at his godson. Living with Harry for just a couple of weeks had been like a breath of fresh air to the ex-convict, and Harry's spirited nature had begun to rub off, chasing the shadows of Azkaban from Sirius' mind.
"Why do all these blasted meetings have to be so bloody early in the morning?"
Grumbled Harry, shoving his wand in his pocket and running a hand through his hair, which served only to rumple it further.
Remus snorted,
"But Harry, it's two thirty in the afternoon!"
"Yeah, come on you crazy billywig!"
Laughed Sirius grabbing Harry's arm and pulling him over to where Moony was waiting by the fireplace.
With a pinch of floo-powder and a yell of 'The Order of the Phoenix' they finally left the house.
***
Harry stumbled out of the fireplace at the other end of the journey and was unsurprised to find himself being held at wandpoint by Arabella Figg.
"How are you Mrs Figg?"
He asked politely as he calmly readjusted his glasses.
"Fine Thankyou. And how are you Harry?"
She replied lowering her wand and smiling.
"Well… Apart from Sirius' attempt to poison me last night…"
Began Harry, at which point Sirius, who'd been chatting idly with Mundungus Fletcher nearby interrupted.
"Well if Moony hadn't switched the ingredients!"
At the 'none too discrete' mention of his name Remus turned around and raised an eyebrow at Sirius, but they were all distracted from the banter that may have ensued by the timely intervention of Albus Dumbledore's arrival.
"My friends!"
He said, standing up and holding out his arms.
"Now that we are all assembled there are things to discuss!"
The crowd in the room obediently convened around a large round table.
Harry was careful to position himself between Sirius and Remus. He found himself opposite Severus Snape and tried to ignore the icy glare that the professor had fixed him with.
Luckily Snape's gaze soon shifted to Sirius, who was more than willing to return the glare.
Dumbledore cleared his throat.
"Firstly I'd like to thank you all for coming here today. I am well aware that it is the summer holidays for some of you, so let's get straight down to business. We have some information about Voldemort's more immediate plans. He is apparently enlisting as many of the dark creatures as he can. We know that he already has an army of dementors at his disposal…"
"Damn that idiot Fudge."
Growled Alastor Moody.
"Yes, quite Alastor. But the fact remains that both Azkaban's former jailors and inmates are now working for Voldemort."
Harry felt Sirius shudder slightly next to him and instinctively shuffled closer to his godfather.
"We also fear that a large number of werewolves, acromantulas and manticores are close to being totally under his control."
Added Dumbledore solemnly.
"Indeed it seems that only one pack of werewolves and the Giant population have been brought over to our side by our envoys."
Harry stole a glance at Remus whose face had flushed slightly, although what emotion was hiding behind his stoic expression Harry couldn't tell.
"Does anyone else wish to address the Order now?"
Asked Dumbledore amidst the hushed whispers that had broken out.
Alastor Moody stood up, his magical eye swivelling around to land on Harry.
"Friends."
He said gruffly,
"I put forward the suggestion that as many of those present as possible, who are not yet able, ought to be instructed to perform the animagus transformation. It is, as we have seen, a very useful commodity and would no doubt benefit those who care to attempt it."
Harry felt a smile creep onto his face despite Moody's x-ray stare. He thought briefly about the circumstances of which Moody had inferred.
Last Christmas, Sirius, in animagus form, had managed to discover a lot of Death Eater secrets and whilst doing so had finally managed to track down a certain rat.
It had been the best Christmas present ever for Harry to see his godfather's name cleared publicly.
Harry was jolted from his thoughts when the members were called to vote on Moody's proposal. There was unanimous approval.
Dumbledore stood once more.
"Professor McGonagall and myself will instruct those of you who wish to make an attempt individually. Please contact us to arrange practice times. I believe that everyone here is fully capable of the process should they wish to undertake the training. Alright, are there any other notices?"
There was a short silence before Dumbledore smiled calmly, Harry noticed that the twinkle in his eyes was suspiciously prominent and became immediately suspicious of what the headmaster was planning to himself.
"I myself have one more announcement. It has become apparent to me that it is time we shook up our organisation a little."
The smile broadened slightly.
"I feel it would be best if we nominated a new leader from within our ranks."
At the barrage of indignant exclamations and frenzied babble that ensued, Dumbledore had forsaken concealing his amusement. And Harry couldn't help but wonder what he had up his over-large-wizarding-robe-sleeve.
Once the noise had quietened Dumbledore, still grinning, cleared his throat again.
"I will not listen to any more arguments, the fact is that I have enough to do running Hogwarts, I am an aging man. There are numerous younger members who would be able to dedicate more of their time to our work here and would I'm sure be more than capable of fulfilling the role. I simply urge you to consider the other options before our next meeting."
Looking around, Harry could see that not many of the members looked placated by these words but Dumbledore seemed nonplussed.
"We will meet again in a few weeks time at most. As always I remind you all to take the utmost care of yourselves and each other. May I see Minerva and Severus for a moment please? The rest of you may leave now. Meeting adjourned!"
The scraping of chairs was drowned out by the wild chatter that broke out as the Order very slowly began to disperse and Harry idly wondered if Dumbledore might need to shoo everybody out of the room to get them to go home.
The image of his elderly headmaster running about with his wand out to herd them out of the hall made Harry chuckle as he reached for the floo-powder above the mantelpiece, earning him a confused look from Moony. He simply shrugged and jumped into the emerald flames yelling
"Chaos Manor!"
***
Harry and Remus had just disappeared through the fireplace and Sirius was in the process of reaching for some floo-powder to follow him but a sudden tap on the shoulder stopped him. He turned around to see that Severus Snape was the one who'd stopped him.
"What do you want Snape?"
Sirius asked, perhaps a little more impatiently then he'd meant to.
"I just had a quick word with Albus and he suggested that I suggest something to you."
Snape replied casting a scowling glance at the door to the headmaster's office.
"Oh yes? And what is this about that it's so urgent to keep me from joining my godson at home?"
Sirius huffed, putting his hands on his hips.
"Albus thinks that I should continue to teach Harry."
Said Snape fixing Sirius with a glare that said that Severus was none to happy about the idea.
"But he's finished his Newts, what does Albus want you to teach him?"
Argued Sirius feeling confused and slightly nervous.
"Oh I wonder, a crash course on common sense maybe, he's hardly going to learn that for you is he!"
Snape yelled, obviously as short on patience as Sirius.
"Extra self-defence training you idiot."
Sirius frowned.
"What can you teach him that he doesn't already know?"
He asked bitterly.
"I was a Death Eater. I know a lot about what will and will not work against them, and I know a lot more than most people about Voldemort himself." Said Snape suddenly deadly calm again.
Sirius sighed heavily.
"I'll admit that much. And if Albus Dumbledore thinks it's necessary then I suppose Harry will agree."
Snape took this as an agreement and nodded sharply before storming off.
"When will we get the pleasure of seeing you?"
Shouted Sirius after the retreating figure.
"I'll be in touch."
Was the terse reply.
***
Still feeling slightly pensive about the meeting, Harry rushed straight to his room on arriving home to write letters to Ron and Hermione. He knew that they liked to be kept right up to date with what he was doing, even if he couldn't tell them everything that went on in the Order.
They had of course been asked to join themselves and had even accepted, but then Hermione had fallen pregnant.
That, coupled with Ron's injury had meant that neither wanted to put their lives, their baby's life, or those of the Order, at risk by over-committing themselves.
Harry still felt deeply responsible for what had happened to Ron…
Ron had been on his way to see him when he had been attacked by dementors and fallen from his broom.
The staff at St Mungo's had been unable to fully heal his right leg and side.
Ron could barely hold his wand any more. He certainly wouldn't have been able to do half the work that Harry was doing for the Order.
Although he put a brave face on it, Harry knew that deep down Ron had been more affected by his disability then he would ever let on.
The proud boy he'd once been was now an even prouder man.
Thank goodness he had Hermione there. Harry knew that the two of them would get through anything together, and with the baby on the way, Ron would have more than enough to distract him from self-pity.
Harry envied his best friends in truth. However he knew that he was dedicating himself to protecting the kind of life they were building… and that, more than anything, was what led him to work so hard for the Order.
To Mr and Mrs Weasley,
Hi Ron, Mione and bump. I hope you three are all doing well.
I'll be over to see you in a couple of days hopefully. I can't wait to see how junior is coming along.
I've got a trial at the Appleby Arrows…
They're up your way right?
Anyway, we just got back from a meeting and Dumbledore is stepping down as our leader! He's determined about this, there's nothing that will change his mind. I only hope that Snape doesn't end up in charge! Can you imagine that!
There was other bad news. Not much we haven't heard or suspected before mind.
Anyway, I can hear Sirius and Remus arguing downstairs, Id' better get down there to referee.
See you soon!
Harry.
He tied to letter to Hedwig and sent her soaring off out the window before rushing downstairs to see what had gotten into Padfoot and Moony.
"He's off his rocker Moony! You absolutely can't be serious!"
Sirius was yelling, which was nothing unusual, but Harry could tell now that this wasn't a light-hearted exchange.
"Padfoot calm down. It's not even been decided yet. besides, it will have to be done by vote anyway. The Order will have to agree."
Harry noted that even Remus' attempt to calm Sirius was in a raised voice, and Moony hardly ever raised his voice. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs to listen.
"Where is Harry anyway?"
"You know he always writes to his friends after meetings Padfoot."
"I still can't believe it… I thought that Dumbledore had some sense."
"He does. And I happen to agree with him on this one."
"Moony! You have got to be joking! Harry's not even eighteen yet."
"But he will be in a weeks time, and he is a lot more mature then his age. You've seen it as well as me. And I know that Dumbledore sees it."
"I don't want this for him Moony. I just want to shield him from it all. Everyone seems to want to stick him at the sharp end of this bloody war, I'll bet no-one's even asked him what he wants!"
There was a sudden silence and Harry collected his wits and entered the room.
"Well, how about you tell me what this is all about and ask me now then."
Said Harry calmly taking a seat at the kitchen table between a red-faced Sirius at one end and an uncommonly pale Remus at the other.
*~*~*~*
A/N:
Well, that's the first chapter under my belt.
I actually started writing this ages ago but I put it aside to work on my other stories. Found a sheet of it under my desk last night and I just couldn't put it away without typing up this chapter…
I'd love for you to let me know what you think.
jona
xxx
Disclaimer:
Nope, I don't own anything much at all… Just the random placing of events i.e. the plot… But even that probably isn't much my own… *sighs*… I am not making any money from this in any case, just enjoyment and self-fulfilment.