AUTHORS NOTE! :P
Hey everyone, and welcome to Don't Think Just Do It: Year 5.
Order of the Phoenix is probably my favourite book, so I'm really excited about this :)
I want to thank everyone who reviewed on the last 4 stories, and know that it's because all of you that I'm still writing these stories.
I'm gonna kinda take the first page of School's Out Forever for the first few paragraphs of this chapter, because I loved the start of that one :)
Oh, and I can't remember if I ever mentioned Total being able to speak before in Year 4, so if I have, let's just pretend I didn't.
Now, on with the story, and enjoy Year 5!
-Rach ;)
Max's POV
Soaring, sweeping, swooping, and gliding through the air- there was nothing better. For the first time since term ended, I felt like I could relax. For miles around, we were the only things in the wide-open, clear blue sky of the countryside around the small village Ottery St. Catchpole. We kept tucking our wings in, dive-bombing for a mile straight down, then whoosh! Wings back out, grab an air current, and hang on for the ride of your life. Nothing is more better, more fun, or more exciting.
Okay, fair enough, the six of us were mutant freaks with magical powers, but flying- it was even better without a broomstick- well, there's a reason people always dream about it.
"Oh Merlin!" the Gasman exclaimed, pointing. "A UFO!"
I counted to ten silently. There was nothing where the Gasman had pointed. Just like the previous hundred times. "That was funny the first fifty times, Gazzy," I said. "It's getting old. Think of another joke."
He cackled happily, several wingspans away from me. There's nothing like a nine year old's sense of humour.
Here's the deal, for anyone new on this trip. There are six of us; Angel, who's seven; Gasman, age nine; Iggy who is fourteen; Nudge is twelve; Fang and me are both fourteen as well. We escaped from the lab where we were raised, were given wings, and other assorted powers. Over the last few years, Angel has been secretly practising her mind reading powers, and she could now read anyone's mind when she focused enough. And even though it wasn't really that powerful yet, she could also control minds too. Of course, I've forbidden her from reading any of our thoughts, or the Weasley's, unless it was absolutely necessary.
The Gasman, Angel's biological brother, could mimic any sound he wanted to. He often used his power to say something insulting in someone else's voice, and laughing manically at everyone's reactions. Nudge, on the other hand, has the power to attract anything metal towards her at will. It was quite handy for when we had to set the table, as we weren't allowed use magic outside school. She can also feel the left over emotions when she touches something that has generated great sadness, or another strong emotion. Nudge told us about it after we came back to the Burrow. She told us that she had accidentally touched one of the suits of armour in the school a few days before term ended. Apparently, that suit of armour was a popular place for bad breakups.
Fang can become invisible when he stays still long enough, so he has to constantly remind himself to move slightly at school so no one see's him just disappearing. When Iggy was blind, his other senses were always so much better than ours. He could also tell the colour of things when he touched them, and identify the flock by touching our finger tips, or our wings. Whether he still can do these things, now that he has his eyesight back, I don't know.
Then there's me. I have a Voice in my head that sometimes tries to guide me and tell me what to do, but mostly I just ignore it.
See, a year after we escaped with one of the whitecoats, Jeb Batchelder, a man showed up at our house in the Colorado mountains, called Albus Dumbledore. He told us that the entire flock were magical, all witches and wizards. So that September, me, Fang and Iggy went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. That's where we met our best friends, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. That winter, Jeb was murdered, and so the Weasley's became our guardians.
That year was the first time I ever met Lord Voldemort. Voldemort was one of the darkest and most evil wizard to ever live. When Harry was a baby, Voldemort went to his house and killed his parents, then tried to killed Harry, but he couldn't. Voldemort was destroyed and Harry became famous.
But Voldemort hadn't been completely stopped. When we were eleven, Voldemort was possessing one of our teachers, Professor Quirrell. At the end of our first year, we fought against him, and stopped him from taking the Philosophers Stone.
Then, in our second year, I found an old diary in my room and started writing in it. Only thing was, it started writing back. Turns out that the diary belonged to Tom Riddle, which was Voldemort's real name. He was possessing me through that diary, making me open the Chamber of Secrets and releash the monster inside, a Basilisk, which petrified Muggle-Borns, including Hermione and Iggy. At the end of the year, I was forced to go into the Chamber myself. Riddle was planning on draining my life so he could come back to life. Harry, along with the boys, managed to save me and he killed the Basilisk and destroyed the diary.
Then, last summer, I found out that I had a father. Sirius Black, who had been in Azkaban for twelve years for a crime he didn't commit, was my father. He was engaged to my mother, Grace Collins, when I was born and taken away to the School. A while later, my mother was murdered by Voldemort. To save him from the Dementors, we nearly got our souls sucked from our bodies, and me and Harry both produced a full Patronus.
Last week was easily the worst of it all. The Triwizard Tournament was at Hogwarts this year, and Harry was entered into it. During the Third Task, me and Harry were taken off to a graveyard and watched as Lord Voldemort came back to a full and powerful body. And we watched as Cedric Diggory was murdered. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I was getting nightmares nearly every night.
Suddenly, I felt a rush of heat flooding through me, washing my face with fire. I started breathing fast, the adrenaline making my heart pound fast and hard in my heart.
The next thing I knew, I was streaking into the sky like a rocket, my blonde hair streaming behind me, wind stinging my eyes. I was going so incredibly fast, but I could hardly feel my wings moving. Oh God, what the hell am I doing? What is this?
Normally, the flock and I could keep up a steady pace of eighty miles an hour without much effort, and we could sprint at a hundred and twenty. When we dive-bombed, we'd hit speeds of a hundred and eighty.
I was going way faster than that now, by myself.
It was totally awesome.
A giddy happiness and excitement rose up in me, but my laugh was snatched away by the wing. Eventually, I felt myself slowing down. I wasn't even breathing hard. Laughing again, I turned back and headed back towards the Burrow. I figured that I'd gone back about... holy crap, I'd gone thirty miles.
The flock were still where I left them. I slowed down and coasted towards them. Five faces turned towards me, looking stunned and amazed. Well, six if you can count Total, who was in Angel's arms.
Gazzy was the first to speak. "You have warp drive!" he said faintly.
"I want to ride with you," a new, unfamiliar voice said. I stared at the dog in Angel's arms.
"Did you just talk?" I gasped. Total didn't say anything.
"Angel? Can the dog talk?" I demanded.
"Hey! I can speak for myself! And I find that insulting!" Total said.
"I was going to tell you, Max... but with everything that happened, I just didn't know how," Angel said.
I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead. "It's okay, Angel. Just don't keep stuff like that from us again, okay? And you-" I said, pointing to the dog, "keep the chatting to a minimum."
Total scoffed, but didn't say anything else. For now.
So now, we're six mutant freaks with magical powers, and a bloody talking dog.
"Max? What did you just do? I mean, you just blasted away, so fast! You were like a plane! And in about twenty seconds, we couldn't even see you anymore! I mean that was awesome-"
"I think I developed a new skill," I said, grinning happily. "Come on. Let's go back to the Burrow. Mrs Weasley might have something for us to eat."
Just over five minutes later, we were in the front garden of the Burrow. Laughing and feeling happier than I've felt in days, I opened the door and walking into the kitchen, only to stop dead in my tracks.
The kitchen was full. All of the Weasley's (except Percy, Bill and Charlie, even though Bill was back in the country working in Gringotts) were in the kitchen, and so was-
"Professor Lupin!" I said, smiling even wider at the sight of my godfather. "What are you doing here? Is Sirius with you?"
"Hi, Max," Lupin said. Though he was still young, Lupin looked tired and ill; he had more grey hairs than when I last said goodbye to him and his robes were more patched and shabbier than ever. Nevertheless, he was still smiling broadly at the sight of me and the flock. "Fang, Iggy, Nudge," he said, smiling at all of them. Then he walked over to us and grinned at Gasman and Angel. "And you two must be Gazzy and Angel. I'm Remus Lupin, it's nice to meet you."
He shook their hands, then turned back to me. "To answer your earlier questions, no Sirius is not with me, and if you'll all just gather around here, I'll explain why I'm here."
Judging from the confused and curious expressions on the others faces, Lupin didn't explain anything to them either. I sat down on the couch between Fang and George, and Fred sat on the ground in front of us.
When everyone was gathered around, Lupin stood in front of the fireplace. "I'm here on Dumbledore's orders. He believes that with everything that's happened, the Burrow just isn't safe enough for you all at the moment- especially the flock, and Ron. He believes that if Voldemort is to make a move against Harry, he will use someone that Harry is close to, and have Harry try and save them. Just like with Max and the Chamber of Secrets. So Dumbledore would like you all to be moved someone a lot more safe."
"Where?" Ginny asked.
Lupin grimaced. "I can't exactly tell you that, I'm afraid. You're just going to have to trust me on this, and Dumbledore. He knows what he's doing. But he wants you to know that this will only be temporary. Perhaps a year, or so. And besides, the kids are going to Hogwarts in September."
Mr Weasley rose to his feet. "Of course we trust you Remus. And Dumbledore as well. But what about the house? My job?"
"The wards and spells around the house will stay put, and you will go to work as normal, Arthur. You're all free to come and go from this house, but no one is to come alone, or stay for over an hour. The chickens will be given to Molly's aunt, Muriel, so you don't have to worry about them. She's agreed to feed them and all that, and not to cook them, which she threatened to do when we first asked her to take them..."
Mr and Mrs Weasley shared at worried look. "If it's safer for the children then I suppose we must do it," Mrs Weasley said at last.
Mr Weasley nodded. He looked towards Lupin. "Are we meant to leave tonight?"
Lupin nodded. "It would be best."
Mr Weasley nodded, and said, "All right then. You heard him kids, go up and pack. Not too much though, just the clothes you need, and some books or toys."
"I must go, Arthur, and inform them you're coming. I'll leave a Portkey here and it will bring you to the right place," Lupin said, then he looked at us. "I'll see you all later tonight, okay?"
I stood up and smiled at Lupin, then motioned for the flock to follow me upstairs. We crowded on the landing outside my room.
"All right, guys," I said. "I have no idea where we're going, but we can trust Lupin and Dumbledore. Hopefully this way, we'll learn what's going on with Voldemort."
They all nodded. "Good. Now, go pack. Don't worry about leaving things here, you heard what Lupin said. We'll be coming back soon," I added, looking at Nudge, knowing she'd just try and pack as many clothes as she could into her trunk.
They left my room, and I started to get my clothes packed into my trunk. When my favourite jeans, shirts, jumpers and jackets were packed away in the trunk, including my Hogwarts uniform, I went around my room and gathered up my favourite books, my broomstick, the few pieces of jewellery I owned, and the stack of photos that Sirius gave me of himself and my mother, and in a few of them, they were with Harry's parents, and Lupin. I put the pictures carefully into my trunk, and then put the other stuff in there too. I put Freedom into his cage, got his owl treats, then started down the stairs with the cage and my trunk.
When I got onto the landing, I heard loud shouting from down in the kitchen. I rolled my eyes, thinking that Mrs Weasley had just found one of Fred and George's new joke products. But when I finally dragged my trunk downstairs, I realised that it wasn't Fred and George being shouted at. It wasn't even Mrs Weasley doing the shouting.
I got into the kitchen and saw Mr Weasley and Percy by the back door, both red in the face and shouting at each other. Everyone else was already in the kitchen with their bags and trunks, and Mrs Weasley was in tears.
"Use your head, Percy! You've only been out of Hogwarts a year, and don't even try to pretend that you didn't get into trouble over what happened with Crouch! You know as well as anyone that Fudge is checking that nobody in the Ministry has any contact with Dumbledore. He's promoted you into his office so he can get you to spy on the family, and Dumbledore!"
My eyes widened. I've never heard Mr Weasley that angry.
But Percy was ten time worse.
"You are just jealous that I'm becoming more successful than you have ever been! I'm only eighteen, and yet I've already been promoted to Junior Assistant to the Minister, and you are still stuck in the same tiny office! Ever since I've joined the Ministry, I've been struggling against your terrible reputation, but not any more. You want to know the real reason why we have always been so poor? Because you have no ambition! You're the reason we've never had much money! But you don't care, just as long as you can still be around all that stupid Muggle rubbish!"
"Now, Percy, you listen here-"
"You are such a fool to be running around with Dumbledore, to be agreeing with him about all this You-Know-Who rubbish." When Percy said this, he looked at me and glared at me. I made a not so polite hand gesture in return. "Dumbledore is heading for big trouble, and you will be doing down with him! I know where my loyalties lie! With the Ministry!"
"No, Percy. You're loyalties lie with your family! I've always told you that, that family always comes first, no matter what!" Mr Weasley yelled.
"If you and Mother are going to become traitors to the Ministry, then I shall make it very clear that I am not apart of this family any more!" Percy shouted.
"Percy, just shut your mouth for once in your life! You have to know that Fudge is being crazy. Voldemort is back, Percy," I said, ignoring the Weasley's when they winced, "Me and Harry saw him, and Dumbldore agrees with us. You should know that your parents wouldn't risk all this if he wasn't back. Use that oversized head of yours, Percy, and stop being an asshat."
"Yes, well," Percy said, "The only evidence that You-Know-Who is back, is your word, and Harry Potter's. And obviously, the word of two attention-seeking teenagers is not enough-"
"Attention-seeking teenagers?! That's rich, coming from you, Mr I'm-so-freaking-smart-and-so-perfect. Why don't you just take your head out of your ass and realise what is happening around you-"
"That's enough, Max. This is between me and Percy," Mr Weasley said.
"No, it isn't. I'm done," Percy said, then he moved past Mr Weasley and rushed up the stairs, as if he thought someone would stop him. We all stood in the sitting room or kitchen in silence, taking in what just happened.
"Do you really thing Fudge only promoted Percy to spy on us?" Ginny asked her father quietly.
Mr Weasley nodded. "This past week, Fudge has been making it clear that anyone in league with Dumbledore can clear out their desks. I just never thought he'd do something like this."
Just then, Percy came back down stairs, dressed in his travelling cloak, and with his bags down by his feet. "I'm leaving," he stated.
"We can see that," Iggy snarled.
"I'm leaving and going to live in London. I want nothing to do with this family if you're loyalties lie with attention-seeking teenagers and power-hungry men. Goodbye," he said, then he picked up his bags, and left through the back door.
Mrs Weasley let out a loud sob, then raced out into the garden after him. We could hear her shouting his name, pleading with him to come back, but after a few minutes, we heard the loud `pop' of Percy Disappartating.
It took another few minutes for Mrs Weasley to come back inside the house. When she did, her eyes were red and puffy, and there was tear marks on her cheeks. "H-he's g-gone," she sobbed hysterically. "G-got pa-passed the w-wards, a-and D-Disapparated."
I felt rage surge through me. How could Percy just leave his family? How could he be so disloyal, after everything that's happened?
Mr Weasley went over to her and pulled her into a hug. It took her nearly ten minutes to calm down, and when she did, Mr Weasley turned to us and said, "Right, get your trunks and bags. We'll take the Portkey when everyone's ready."
It took a few minutes for everyone to gather themselves, and when everyone was ready, Mr Weasley picked up an old football that Lupin left behind for the Portkey.
"Everyone ready?" he asked.
We all nodded, and Mrs Weasley was still sniffling and wiping tears away from her eyes.
"Portus!" Mr Weasley said, pointing his wand at the football. A blue light engulfed the football, and Mr Weasley said, "Quick! We've got a few seconds before it goes!"
We all gathered around, and somehow, the twelve (thirteen if you count Total, the magical talking dog) of us managed to get a finger each on the football. I held on tight with my other hand on my trunk and Freedom's cage, with my school bag draped over my back.
Suddenly, I felt a strong jerk behind my naval, and I was jerked forward. I could feel everyone crowded around me, banging into me; it was all just a howl of colour and noise and wind. My feet slammed into the ground; Gazzy tripped over me and fell to the floor.
I looked up and saw that we were crowded in a dark, narrow hallway. I was able to smell damp, dust, and a sweetish, rotting smell; the entire place had the feeling of a derelict, abandoned building.
I heard voices from in front of us, and lights appeared in the hallway. I looked up to see two people walking very quietly towards us. The first person that can't into sight was...
"Professor Moody?" I said uncertainly.
"Don't know why you're calling me Professor," Mad-Eye Moody growled, "seeing as I never actually taught a single class."
But I had very good reason to be suspicious. We had all recently spent the last school year with someone we thought to be Moody, only to find out that it wasn't Moody at all, just an imposter; an imposter that tried to kill me and Harry. But before I could say something about it, a voice came from behind him.
"Good, you're here already," Lupin said quietly. "If you'll just follow us into the kitchen, quietly, we'll explain everything in there."
Nudge opened her mouth to speak, but Lupin shushed her. "When I say quietly, I mean quietly. Actually, it would be best if you all tip-toed down the hall."
I frowned. "But why-?"
"Quiet Miss Ride!" Moody growled.
We started tip-toeing down the hall, passing a pair of long, moth-eaten curtains, which I supposed covered another door, and a large umbrella stand that looked as though it was made from a severed troll's leg. As we passed the dark staircase, I saw a row of shrunken heads mounted on the wall as plaques. Looking closer, I saw that all the heads belonged to house-elves.
My bewilderment only grew with every step we took. Why were we in a house that looked as though it belonged to Dark Wizards?
CRASH!
I spun around, and saw Nudge sprawled out on the ground, with the troll umbrella stand knocked over. Looks like she tripped over it.
"Sorry," she apologised, cringing. "I was looking around, I didn't notice it. I hope I didn't break or damage it-"
But the rest of her apology was drowned out by a horrible, ear-splitting, blood-curdling screech.
The moth-eaten curtains we had passed earlier had flown apart, but there wasn't a door there. Instead, it was a life-size portrait of an old woman in a black cap who was screaming and screaming as if she was being tortured. The old woman was drooling, her eyes were rolling, the yellowing skin of her face as she screamed and screeched; and as she screamed, all of the other portraits on the wall awoke and began to yell too, so loud that we all actually screwed up our eyes and clapped our hands over our ears.
Lupin and Moody rushed forward, ignoring the loud questions being asked by Mr and Mrs Weasley, and tried to tug the curtains closed around the portrait, but it wouldn't close and the old woman just screeched louder and louder, waving her clawed hands around as if she tried to claw at their faces.
"Filth! Mutants! Scum! Blood-traitors! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds and Mudbloods! Freaks and abominations, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers-"
Nudge apologised over and over again, picking the troll's leg up. Moody abandoned the attempt to close the curtains, and just went around Stunning the other portraits until they stopped screaming.
A man with long black hair came charging out of the door that was directly in front of us.
"For the last time, you hag, shut up!" he yelled, seizing the curtains that Moody had abandoned.
The old woman's face blanched.
"Yoooooou!" she bellowed, her eyes popping at the sight of the man. "Blood-traitor, shame of my own flesh, freak!"
"I told you to SHUT UP!" the man roared. With a huge effort, himself and Lupin managed to force the curtains closed again.
The old woman's screeches died, and silence finally fell. Panting slightly, and sweeping his long hair from his grey eyes, my father Sirius Black turned to face me and the others.
"Hello Max," Sirius said, smiling at me before nodding and smiling at the others, "I see you've met my mother."
"Your-?"
"My dear old mum, yeah," Sirius said. "We've been trying to get her down for about a month, but we think she put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of the portrait. Let's get downstairs, then, before they all wake up then."
My mouth dropped. "Are you telling me that was my grandmother?" I asked.
Sirius nodded. "Trust me, you're better off not knowing your grandmother. Much better off. Now, come on. Dinner is ready downstairs."
Ad we walked, I stepped froward so me and Sirius were walking side by side, with the others just behind us. "But why is there a portrait of your mother here?" Iggy asked as we went through the door from the hall and led the way down a narrow flight of stone steps.
"Hasn't anyone told you? This used to be my parents' house," Sirius said. "But seeing as me and Max are the only Black's left, the house is mine. I offered it to Dumbledore for Headquarters- the only useful thing I've been able to do."
"Headquarters for what?" I asked.
"No one's told you about that either?" Sirius said. He looked to Lupin who was walking in front of him. "Blimey, Remus, did you tell them anything?"
"I told them enough, Sirius. We'll explain everything during dinner," Lupin said.
It was then that I noticed how bitter Sirius was. To be honest, I had been expected a warmer welcome to that. I followed Sirius to the bottom of the steps and through a door into the basement kitchen.
It was slightly less gloomy than the rest of the house, a cavernous room with rough stone walls. The light was mostly coming from the large fire at the end of the room. There were loads of chairs crammed around the large wooden table, which was littered with rolls of parchment, goblets, and a heap of rags.
There were a group of people sitting around the table that I'd never seen before. Mr and Mrs Weasley stepped in front of all of us.
"Can someone tell us where we are now?" Mr Weasley asked.
"This is the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix," Sirius explained.
Mr Weasley's eyes widened with understanding, but Mrs Weasley's eyes just narrowed in anger. "And why, pray tell, are we here?"
Sirius ran his fingers through his dark hair. "Dumbledore thought this place would be safest for you. We all know that you and Arthur weren't member's originally, but he wanted you all to stay here, and maybe recruit you. But I'll leave that to him to discuss with you. He should be here later."
"What's the Order of the Phoenix?" Fang said.
"It's a secret society," said a bald, black wizard from the group of people sitting at the table. He had a deep, slow voice and had a single gold hoop in his ear. "It was first founded by Dumbledore back when Voldemort first came to power. It's members are all people who have fought and are prepared to fight against him and his Death Eaters."
I frowned at him, and the others in the group at the bottom of the table.
"Introductions, I think," Lupin said. "Everyone, this is Kingsley Shacklebolt," he said, indicating to the black wizard, "Nymphadora Tonks," he pointed to a very young witch, about in her early twenties, with a pale, heart-shaped face, dark twinkling eyes, and bubble-gum pink hair.
"You should know better, Remus," she said, grinning. "You can all call me Tonks. It's a lot better than Nymphadora."
I grinned back at her. She seemed pretty cool.
"That's Elphias Doge," Lupin continued, indicating to a silver-haired man sitting beside Tonks.
"Dedalus Diggle," a man in a violet top hat introduced himself.
"I'm Emmeline Vance," said a witch who looked to be around the same age as Sirius. "And that's Sturgis Podmore." A square-jawed wizard with straw-coloured hair nodded his head. "And Hestia Jones." A pink-cheeked, black-haired witch waved happily from beside the fireplace.
"Please tell me there are more people than this in the Order thing," I said, looking at the people gathered around the kitchen.
"Of course there is, girl," Moody growled. "We have more than twenty members that you will probably meet, and then even twice as much that you will never even need to know about."
"So what's all this about?" George asked, walking closer to the table to get a look at the parchments while Mr and Mrs Weasley were talkign with Lupin and Kingsley. But before any of us could get the good look at what was on the parchments, Moody made them all roll up. "Evanesce," he said, and the scrolls vanished. "That," he said, "is all secret Order business. The deal is that anyone living in this house under the age of seventeen, or still in school, will not be allowed join the Order, be present at the meetings, and no member can openly discuss the business with them. Is that understood?"
He gave us all a long, hard look until we nodded. Even his magical eye that could see through doors and walls were focused on us.
"Is there anything we're allowed know?" I asked. "Like, does anyone know what Voldemort is doing, where he is? What his plans are?"
"You are under age, Ride," Moody growled. "Can't tell you what's going on. Dumbledore's orders."
"Dumbledore's ordered you all not to tell me anything?" I snapped. "Why?"
"Not just you, Max," Lupin said. "All of you. You're all under seventeen."
"We're not," Fred said.
"Yeah, we turned seventeen months ago," George said.
"Yes, but you're still in school."
"What does it matter what age we are?" I said. "We deserve to know what's going on. Or do you all forget who it was that actually faced Voldemort only a week ago?" Sirius winced, but I ignored it. If he wasn't even going to hug his own daughter, let him wince a little.
"Dumbledore doesn't wanting you- any of you- knowing more than you need to," Sirius said calmly, but I still heard the bitterness in his voice.
"So you're not going to tell us anything?" I said.
"Right now, there's nothing you need to know. To be honest, everything's been quiet. A few fights and fires, about two or three missing people that we aren't even sure has any connection to Voldemort or the Death Eaters, and that's about it for now. It's been quiet," Lupin said.
"So what's the Order been doing?" Mr Weasley asked.
"Mainly recruiting members for when something does happen, and we believe when something does happen, it will be bad. So we're getting as many people as we can, and planning for when everything goes bad," Kingsley said. "We have our own spies in the Ministry, keeping tabs on all the convicted Death Eaters from last time, and also on all the names that Mr Potter and Miss Ride gave us that night," he finished, nodding to me.
"And you want me and Molly as members?" Mr Weasley said.
"Dumbledore wants you in the Order, yes. But whether or not he'll have specific jobs for you, like he does for certain people, we don't know. He'll have to talk to you about it all himself."
Mr Weasley seemed to think about something for a minute. Then he looked at Mrs Weasley, and when she nodded, Mr Weasley said, "We'll do anything we can to help."
Moody grunted. "That's bloody brilliant. Now can we all sit down and eat? I'm ruddy starving."
After eating a delicious meal cooked by Mrs Weasley, we were all feeling tired. After Angel yawned for the fiftieth time, Sirius stood up and said, "Come on, then, I'll show you all to your rooms."
Yawning, I bid all the adults goodnight, and the others following my lead. We followed Sirius up the stairs. We reached the second floor, and Sirius pointed to a door. "In there, that's Ron, Iggy, and Fang's room. Harry will be in there too, if he comes here this summer. But," he added, as I opened my mouth, "we don't know if he will be or not. You two," he said, pointing to the twins, "Will be upstairs."
"Angel, Nudge and Ginny will be in there," Sirius went on, pointing to the door across from Ron, Iggy and Fang's room.
"Max, you're room is upstairs. When Hermione get's here, you'll be sharing with her. My room is on the top floor, but you can only go there in an emergency. Molly and Arthur's room will be upstairs as well. Any questions?"
Fred raised his hand. "Aren't you a criminal?"
Sirius almost smirked. "No, I'm not. I was framed. I'm sure these two," he said, pointing at me and Ron, "will fill you in."
He went to walk away, but when he reached the stairs, he said, "Max? Can I speak with you?"
I nodded. "Sure," I said, following him down the hall into a long, high-ceilinged room with green walls covered in filthy tapestries. Every time we stepped on the carpet, a cloud of dust would rise up.
"This is the drawing room," Sirius explained. "I'd stay away from the curtains, though. We think there are Doxy's in them." Now that she said it, I could hear a faint buzzing coming from the long, green curtains.
"What did you want to talk about?" I asked him. But instead of answering me, Sirius just pulled me into a long, warm hug. I pressed my face into my father's neck and sighed happily.
"I've missed you," he mumbled before placing a soft kiss on my forehead and letting me go from the hug.
I smiled. "Yeah, last time we saw each other, we didn't get to talk much."
"I'm sorry about that, but Dumbledore had a job for me. And I couldn't risk getting caught. But how are you now? Are you feeling okay?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. What about you? You've been kinda grumpy all evening." Sirius grinned bitterly. "Yeah, sorry for that. It's just that I'm going to have to be cooped up in this house for months on end, at least. The Ministry is still looking for me, and apparently it's too risky to let me out in public."
"So this is the house you grew up in?" I said, trying to change the subject.
Sirius nodded. "Yeah. Not the happiest place to be as a kid...Here, have a look at this," he said, pointing to the large tapestry behind me.
I looked closer at the tapestry. It looked incredibly old, and there were patches gnawed off in places. Large writing at the top of the tapestry read:
The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black
`Toujours pur'
Looking at the tapestry, I saw that the dates went back as far as the Middle Ages.
"You're not on here!" I said after scanning the bottom of the tree closely.
"I used to be here," Sirius said, pointing to a small, round charred hole on the tapestry. "My sweet old mother did that after I ran away from home- Kreacher is very fond of muttering the story under his breath."
"Who is Kreacher?"
Sirius smirked. "I'm sure you'll find out soon enough."
"So you ran away from home?" I asked, putting the mysterious Kreacher out of my mind.
Sirius nodded. "Yup. When I was sixteen."
"Where'd you go? I mean, if you hadn't even finished school then, what did you do?"
"I went to Harry's dad's house. His grandparents were great about the whole thing. Practically adopted me. So I stayed at James's during the school holidays, and when I was seventeen I got a small place of my own. A few weeks after finishing seventh year, your mum moved in with me. Your Great Uncle Alphard left me quite a bit of money- he's been wiped off here too, that's probably why- anyway, after that I looked after myself. Provided for me and your mum, and managed to get her a decent engagement ring. We even got all the baby things for you. We were always welcome to the Potter's for Sunday lunch, though."
"Why did you run away?"
"Because I hated them all: my parents, with their pure-blood mania, convinced me that if you were a Black, you were pretty much royalty...my idiot brother, your uncle, believed them...that's him, there."
Sirius jabbed his finger at the very bottom of the family tree, to the name `Regulus Black.' A date of death (about fifteen years previously) followed a date of birth.
"I was older than him," Sirius said, "but he was the better son, as I was constantly reminded."
"He's dead," I said, not knowing what else to say.
"Yeah," Sirius said. "Dumbass. Joined the Death Eaters."
"You're joking! Why would he do that?"
"Come on, Maxie, haven't you seen enough of this house to know what kind of people my family were?" Sirius asked.
"They were Death Eaters as well?" I asked.
"No. But they certainly thought that Voldemort had the right idea. They were all for getting rid of Muggle-Borns, and having pure-bloods in charge. Not the only ones, either. There were plenty of people who thought Voldemort had the right idea about things before he showed his true colours. They got cold feet, though, when they realised what Voldemort was prepared to do to gain power. But I bet my parents thought Regulus was a right hero for joining him first."
"How did he die?"
"He was murdered by Voldemort," Sirius said. "Or, more likely, on Voldemort's orders; I doubt Regulus was ever high up enough to be killed off personally by Voldemort. From what I found out after he died, he got in too far, panicked about what he had to do, and tried to back up. Well, you can't just hand Voldemort a resignation. It's lifetime service or death."
"That's terrible," I muttered, looking at the tapestry.
"He was the only member of my family I wrote to when Grace told me she was pregnant with you," Sirius said. "He wrote back, but only with one word. Congratulations. That was the last time I ever spoke to him."
Sirius sighed. I looked up at him, surprised to see that his eyes looked genuinely sad. But before I could say anything, Sirius stepped closer to the tapestry and said, "I haven't looked at this old thing in years. That's Phineas Nigellus Black... he'd be your great-great-great grandfather... He was the least favourite Headmaster Hogwarts ever had... and Araminta Meliflua... cousin of my mothers... she tried to force a Ministry Bill to make Muggle-hunting legal... ah, and dear Aunt Elladora... she's the one who started the tradition of beheading the house-elves when they became too old to carry tea-trays... of course, whenever the family produced someone half decent, they were disowned. I see Tonks isn't on here..."
"I'm related to Tonks?" I asked, my eyes wide in surprise.
"Oh yeah. She didn't say anything to you? That's strange, I thought that would be the first thing she'd say when she saw you. Very excited to meet you, see was. Anyway, her mother Andromeda was my favourite cousin. So that would make Tonks your third cousin," Sirius said, scanning the tapestry closely. "No, Andromeda isn't on here either, look-"
He pointed to another small burn mark between two names, Bellatrix and Narcissa.
"Andromeda's sisters are still here because they made, lovely, respectable pure-blooded marriages, but Andromeda married a Muggle-born, Ted Tonks, so-"
Sirius mimed blasting the tapestry with a wand and laughed hollowly. But I didn't laugh. I was too busy staring at the names to the right of Andromeda's burn mark. A double line of gold embroidery linked Narcissa Black to Lucius Malfoy, and then a single vertical gold line led from their names to the name Draco.
I felt sick.
"Please tell me that they are different Malfoy's to the ones I'm thinking about," I said quietly.
"I'm afraid not, Max," Sirius said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "All the pure-blood families are interrelated some way or another. If you're only going to let your sons and daughters marry only pure-bloods, you choice is very limited; there are hardly any of us left. Me and Molly are cousins by marriage, and Arthur is something like my second cousin once removed or something like that. But there's no point looking for them on that- if ever a family was a bunch of blood-traitors like the Weasley's."
But I was now looking at the name to the left of Andromeda's burn: Bellatrix Black, which was connected by a double line to Rodolphus Lestrange.
"Lestrange..." I muttered. The name stirred something in my memory. I knew the name from somewhere, but I couldn't remember where, although it gave me an odd, creeping sensation in my stomach.
"They're in Azkaban," Sirius shortly.
I looked up at him, frowning.
"Bellatrix and her husband Rodolphus came in with Barty Crouch Junior," said Sirius. "Rodolphus's brother Rabastan was with them, too."
Then I remembered. I had seen Bellatrix inside Dumbledore's Pensieve: a tall, dark woman with heavy-lidded, who had stood at her trial and loudly proclaimed her continuing alliance to Lord Voldemort.
"You never said before-"
"Does it matter that's she's my cousin? Or that's she's your second cousin? As far as I'm concerned, she's not my family, and not yours. I haven't seen her since I was around your age, unless you count the glimpse I got of her coming into the Azkaban."
"Sorry," I said. "I was just surprised, I guess."
"Oh, it doesn't matter. Don't apologise," Sirius sighed, turning his back on the tapestry, his hands deep into his pockets. "I don't like being back here," he said, looking around the drawing room. "I never thought I'd be stuck in this house again. It's ideal for Headquarters though," he added. "My father out every security measure known to wizardkind on this place when he lived here. It's unplottable, so Muggle's could never come and call- as if they'd ever want to- and now Dumbledore's added his own protections. Dumbledore is Secret Keeper for the Order. Nobody can find Headquarters unless he tells them where it is."
He gave a short, bark-like laugh. "If my parents could see the use of their house was being put to now... well, your grandmothers portrait should give you some idea."
Suddenly, I remembered something. All of the talk about family, the thought just popped up in my mind.
"Sirius, can I talk to you about something?" I asked.
"Course, kiddo," he said, putting his hand on my shoulder.
"Well, remember at the end of third year? You sent me all those pictures?" I asked.
Sirius nodded. "Yes. What about them?"
"Well, you know the way the flock got taken back to the School? There was an Eraser there. And he looked exactly like that little boy that was in that picture with you and Mum. Why? Who is he?"
Sirius paled. "Why are you only talking about this now?"
I shrugged. "To be honest, with everything going on, it kinda slipped my mind. So? Who is he?"
Sirius ran his fingers through his long hair. "I guess this is my fault for forgetting I put that picture in with the rest, and not telling you about it." Sirius turned his back to me and muttered to himself, "But we thought he was dead..."
I raised my eyebrows. "Are you going to tell me about him? Is he my brother, or something?"
Sirius chuckled and shook his head. "No, he's not your brother. He's your cousin. Your mother had an older sister, Anna. Anna and her husband were killed by a werewolf. They had a little son, five years older than you, and after they were killed, he came to live with us. His name was Ari. But, a few weeks before you were born, he was taken from us. We always assumed it was Death Eaters, or the werewolf that killed his parents."
"So... he's my cousin? He was five years old, and he was made into an Eraser. That's even worse than what happened to us."
"Don't feel guilty about what happened to him, Max. But now that I know he's alive, I'll try everything I can to try and help him. Now, it's late and you've had quite a day. I'll show you to your bedroom."
Me and Sirius walked from the drawing room and up the stairs in silence. He showed me into a small room with two beds, a wardrobe and two dressers. My bags and trunk were already there, and Freedom's cage was on one of the dressers, empty. Someone already let him out hunting.
I hugged Sirius again. "Goodnight, Sirius."
"Night, kiddo. Its good to have you here." With a smile, he left the room and closed the door behind him.
And there it is folks. Welcome to Year 5! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter!
I know not that much happened in this chapter, but the next one will be more exciting. And sorry if the ending was a bit rushed, I wanted to get it finished so I could officially start the new story.
And now you know who the boy is! Yes, he is Ari, but he isn't Jeb's son, and he isn't Max's half brother. Instead, he's Max's cousin. Hope no one gets annoyed that I changed that little fact...
Anyway, I'm back to school in exactly a week, but this year at school will be a lot more relaxed than last year, so I'll get more time to write this!
Anyway, you all know the drill. If you want cookies and butterbeer, you need to...
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LOVE YOU GUYS!
-Rach ;)