Chapter One
Secrets
It was a warm summers night, and the moon was barely visible from behind the thick cluster of clouds. Three people in dark hooded robes met a fourth outside of number 12 Grimmauld Place. The four looked down at a piece of parchment and then quickly disappeared into the house that appeared before them. As they entered they heard the many voices of the members of the Order, arguing like never before.
"But if we tell him Albus, how is he going to be able to fulfil his destiny? He'll be too distracted." Moody stood up and started walking towards Albus Dumbledore. Just as Albus opened his mouth to speak the four from outside entered the room.
"Ah, Just in time." Albus said as the first two approached him.
"Albus let's just work this out. I've waited a long time for this, Albus. You know that. I've been very patient," One of the four, a woman said after lowering her hood.
"Yes, well lets all sit shall we. We do have a lot to discuss."
All the members of the Order sat down in the comfy sofa's that scattered around the room.
Less then a kilometre away, a group of four people were lying in the park, looking up at the stars. Harry could hear Ron breaking twigs with his hands and he could hear Hermione humming. Ginny got up and went over to the swing. Sitting on one, she started to rock gently back and forth and looked at the barely visible moon. Harry sat up and took a look around them. He had arrived at Grimmauld place a little over a week ago. Lupin had come and rescued him from that place he was supposed to call home. As Harry looked around him, he could see that trees surrounded the park. Three of the four sides had thick forests of trees and the fourth was open to the road. Harry rested his elbows on his bent knees and buried his head in his hands.
Ron sat up beside him. "Harry?" he said his voice full of concern.
"Yeah." Harry looked up from his hands and at Ron.
"Are you ok?"
"Yeah. No. I don't know."
Hermione sat up on the other side of Harry. "What's wrong?" she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Just thinking," Harry replied, standing up.
"About Sirius?" Ginny whispered as Hermione rose to her feet.
"Yeah I guess. I just don't know what to do anymore. I mean. I don't know. Lets just head back to the house. I'm sure we're going to get into so much trouble for sneaking out as it is," Harry said as he turned and started walking out of the park.
Ron sighed heavily as he got up. "Harry you're going to have to talk to us about this eventually, mate. You need us right now," Ron said, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder, urging him to stop.
Harry turned and looked at the three concerned faces around him.
"What's there to say, Ron? Hmm. And who says that I need you? By being my friend, you guys are putting yourselves and your families in danger. Voldemort knows who and what I love and he will stop at nothing to kill you to try and ruin me just like he did with Sirius. Every time I start to talk to you guys about Sirius, you always butt in and say, 'Oh it's not your fault, Harry.' Well truth be told, it is. It's not the first time in my life that I haven't listened to what Hermione or Dumbledore has said but this time the consequences were bigger. Someone died. And every night when I go to sleep, I see him falling through that stupid arch thing and I know that if it weren't for me then he'd still be alive" Harry yelled, tearing the silence of the night apart. Harry turned away from his shocked friends and started walking towards Grimmauld Place, tears streaming down his face. He brushed them away with the back of his hand. He heard running footsteps behind him but kept walking.
"Harry," Hermione said from behind him. "Harry."
"What?" he asked stopping and turned around, with Ron coming very close to knocking into him.
"You can't just push us away, Harry. We've all known you for six years and we're not about to leave you. We're in too deep, Harry, and there's nothing you can do to try and get us to stop being your friend. We all love you, Harry. You are our brother and you mean the world to us. And if that means that we may have to risk getting between you and Voldemort, Then so be it. I'm not leaving you. We're not leaving you!" Hermione moved closer to Harry and engulfed him in a hug. She put her mouth up to his ear and whispered, "Sirius loved you, and he died to protect you. If you ever need to talk to someone you know I'm always here to listen. Anytime, day or night. Ok?"
They pulled out of the hug and Harry nodded, blinking tears out of his eyes.
Ron looked down at his feet, shuffling them silently.
"Ron, what is it?" Harry asked stepping closer to him.
"Well I just agree with Hermione, that's all. Even though this is going to sound like I'm a fag, I'm going to say it. I love you, Harry. You are a brother to me." With that Ron stepped forward and pulled Harry into a quick 'man hug'.
He pulled out and looked expectantly at Ginny.
"Well, Just because they're being the cornballs tonight doesn't mean I have to be too." She walked past Harry and started heading back towards Grimmauld Place. Harry shrugged at the other two before he turned around to find Ginny standing right behind him with a huge smile on her face. She wrapped her arms around him and whispered in his ear
"I love you, Harry Potter. I always have." She pulled out of the hug and they all walked home to Grimmauld Place in silence.
As they entered the house that appeared before them, they could here voices arguing in the lounge room.
"Moody, for Christ's sakes. Stop thinking about revenge for one minute and think about those two people there. And the boy. Think about what the three of them have been through. They need each other Mad-Eye," Tonks yelled from in the lounge room.
The four teenagers started creeping down the hall. Just the previous week they had been found 'accidentally' eavesdropping on an Order meeting, and they didn't want to be discovered by Moody again. As they crept past the lounge room door, they could here the members arguing on top of one another.
"Silence!" Dumbledore yelled at the top of his voice.
There was sudden silence in the room and they could feel the tension from out in the hall. They reached the bottom of the stairs when another voice spoke up from in the lounge.
"Albus, I think we need to tell him. I can perfectly understand both the reasons here. Why half of us want to tell Harry and the other half don't. He's going to be heart broken by this yes, but he needs to know," Lupin spoke up.
Harry stopped dead in his tracks, this time Ron did run into him.
"Hey watch it, Harry."
The room silenced and the teenagers heard footsteps coming to the door. The door opened and a very red Lupin stepped into the hall, with Moody just behind them.
"Kids, I thought I told you last time to stop trying to over hear the Order meetings." Moody said, walking towards them viciously.
"For your information, we were just walking upstairs," Ginny said from the first landing.
"From where?" spoke Lupin.
"The park," Ron said inching back away from Moody towards Harry.
"The park?" said Moody. "The park."
"Yes, that's what Ron said. Or are you hard of hearing too?" Harry said sarcastically.
"Don't get smart with me, boy. You know well enough that you shouldn't be even out of this damn house," Moody spat taking even more steps closer to Harry. "Promise me you'll never leave again. You'll put the whole Order at risk, you stupid boy."
"I'll promise on one condition."
"You think you're in the position to compromise, boy."
"Do you have a choice?"
"You're darn right I have a choice. Besides it's Order business."
"The Order may not be my business but Voldemort is, and that's what the Order is about. Defeating Voldemort. I reckon I have a right to know."
"I can't tell you."
"If you don't tell me what I want to hear then I'll keep sneaking out."
"Then we'll lock you up."
"You have no right to do that."
"Hey, hey, hey. What is it you want to hear, Harry?" Remus spoke up
"What is it that half the Order wants to tell me and the other half doesn't?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that Harry. I'm not the right person."
"The who is Remus? Huh? It's not a good idea to keep things from me. Just ask Professor Dumbledore."
"Harry, I can't," Remus replied as Dumbledore entered the hallway.
"Good evening, children."
"Good evening, Professor," they replied together.
"Harry. I do not believe that this is perhaps the best time to tell you what we are discussing. When the time is right I will tell you, but until then I must ask you to be patient. I assure you that this time no one will be harmed by this. Also if you could please, please stay in this house it would be greatly appreciated. I can understand that it must be difficult for you, but until the term begins you must stay indoors."
"Ok, Professor," Harry mumbled before turning and walking past his friends. He ran up the stairs, and they heard the loud bang as Harry's bedroom door slammed shut.
"Also if you three could keep a close eye on him, it would also be greatly appreciated," Dumbledore said to the three before turning around and walking with Moody and Lupin into the lounge room. This time the three heard Dumbledore mutter a simple silencing charm before the room filled with silence. The three teenagers quickly glanced at each other before turning and walking up the stairs.
They reached Harry and Ron's room and entered after quickly knocking on the door. Harry was lying on his bed, his back turned out as he faced the wall.
The three filed in and each sat on Ron's bed across from Harry. Harry turned and faced them before turning back to the wall.
"Harry? Did you want to talk?" Ron asked, glancing quickly at the two girls to see if he had said the right thing.
"Um, nah. I'm ok. Honestly I think I just want to go to bed. It's getting pretty late," Harry said, still facing the wall. "But thanks."
The other three all glanced at each other quickly before the girls left the room with a quiet "Night, guys."
Ron looked over at his best friend before sighing and getting into bed. Ron fell asleep almost instantly, but Harry lay awake for hours, until finally dropping off at 3 AM.