That morning found the Grimmauld Place bustling with activity. Mrs. Weasley ordering every able body to clean, organize, and help her in the kitchen. The Order was having a meeting this evening. Discussing the next step for this year and what information has been gathered for Harry's trial. A special guest was also due to arrive for this meeting. An old friend of Dumbledore who will be representing another group that will be working closely with the Order of the Phoenix. Mrs. Weasley needed everything to be perfect.

Harry was put to work in the room the meeting will be held. Arranging chairs, cleaning, that sort of thing. He was moving quite sluggish. Try as he might, he couldn't go right back to sleep after his dream. He kept thinking about it until he finally drifted off in the early hours of the morning. Not long afterward, Mrs. Weasley came in dragging everyone out of bed for an early breakfast so they could help straighten up the house for the incoming guests.

"Harry, you ok?", Ron asked as he watched Harry bump into a chair, again.

"Yeah, just a bad night. You know?"

"That's rough."

Ron took the answer readily enough because Harry has been having a few bad nights after his encounter with the dementors and the stress of the trial at the Ministry of Magic the other day. Not being able to get to sleep and just being in his head a lot. No one blamed him. A lot happened, and there was still more to come, and Harry still felt a little betrayed at the lack of communication this past summer, so he wasn't talking much about it. Which is why he hasn't brought up the dream.

He still couldn't really wrap his head around the whole thing. A lot of details were lost when he woke up and fell back asleep, but he could still remember a lot of it. Especially how he felt. It felt so surreal. It was like he was there, but at the same time, he felt disconnected from what was physically in that room. He couldn't really control what he did. Just observe. As if he was watching from someone else's point of view.

He shivered a bit as his thoughts brought him to the two figures in the room. One was so eerily familiar to him and the other just frightening. He hasn't felt comfortable near darken corners of the old house since the dream. Thinking back to the crawling shadows coming towards him in his dream. He has even found himself imagining shadows moving. Making every keep stopping and asking if he is ok every time he tenses up.

Finally, all the preparations for the meeting were done, and dinner served and cleaned up. Harry found himself sitting a the top of the staircase with the Weasleys and Hermione. Waiting for the arrival of the members of the Order.

"I can't believe they won't let us sit in." Harry grumbled, "They'll be talking about me anyway. Why can't I have a say in what happens to me?"

"Harry, I'm sure they have a lot to discuss on top of what happened to you." Hermione tried to reason.

Harry knew that he was getting on his friends' nerves with all his whining, but he has been left out of too much this past summer. He has had enough choices taken from him. His sluggishness turn for the worse. He was in such a foul mood after dinner when Mr. Weasley told the kids that they would need to stay upstairs during the meeting. They did find a loophole though. They remained on the balcony at the top of the stairway which happened to face the front door where they could see all the guests walk in. Harry was hoping to see Dumbledore and possibly have a word with him before he went to the meeting room.

"I'm telling you, this will work." one of the Weasley twins insisted.

"And I'm saying that you're going to get in trouble. Just don't come and whine about it to us when your mother finds out." Hermione scolded.

"What's happening?" Harry said, shaking himself from his daze.

"Fred and George want to test out one of their tricks and listen in on their meeting." Ron answered, "Extendable Ears."

"Just you wait, when they all head inside, we'll be able to hear everything they say," Fred said, looking confident as always.

"Yeah! You'll see. Another great invention!" George said in encouragement.

A knock from the door stopped all further conversation. Harry's and the others attention much more focused on the new visitors arriving. One by one, new and old faces come through. None noticing the group on the balcony. Except for one Severus Snape.

"He's part of the Order?" Harry asked, shocked and frustrated.

No one had a moment to respond though, as Dumbledore came in following behind. He spoke to Mrs. Weasley, who was the one greeting all the visitors. Then, as he turned toward the designated meeting room, he glanced up to the balcony. Making eye contact with Harry. Harry started toward the stairway but stopped when he saw Dumbledore already heading toward the room below the balcony. Without so much as a glance his way.

Shocked and disappointed by the blatant behavior to avoid him, he didn't resist when Hermione pulled him back away from the stairway. He just kept staring toward where Dumbledore stood. Trying to wrap his head around all this. Not only has Dumbledore ordered everyone to keep Harry out of the loop all summer, but he also had the nerve to ignore him.

Harry didn't have much time though to stew in his frustration and anger. A knock once again came from the front door. Trying to think of who else they were waiting for, Harry then remembered that there was something special about this meeting. A mysterious guest was supposed to arrive. Someone that seemed to have had some of the members in the household nervous.

This was reconfirmed as Harry watched Mrs. Weasley fuss over her appears for a moment before opening the door. The group couldn't hear exactly what was being said but could assume it was in greeting. As Mrs. Weasley opened the door the rest of the way, Harry could catch a glimpse of a nervous smile from Mrs. Weasley as she let in the guest.

They were very tall. Which was all Harry could tell from the long and dark cloak the other was wearing. They had to bend down a little to come into the doorway. If Harry had to guess, the guest could easily be taller than Hagrid by the way they were hunched over and still towered over poor Mrs. Weasley.

Harry tried to get a good look, but the cloak didn't leave much to the imagination. Not only did the hood keep any trace from prying eyes, the cloak its self, covered every inch, even trailing behind them.

"You think they are part giant?" Ron whispered as they continued to watch Mrs. Weasley fret about the new guest.

"They are quite tall." Hermione said, "but I think they are a bit too lean to be of giant decent. They tend to be a bit bulkier."

They all froze when they noticed the guest looking their way. Stopping any further sound. The guest simply nodded in their direction before heading toward the meeting room.

"Now George!" Fred whispered as the door shut behind Mrs. Weasley.

George took the Extendable Ears from Fred and lowered down from the balcony and toward the door. Everyone huddled close so they could try and catch anything the Order members were going to discuss. Harry especially was invested in the outcome of this.


"Forgive me for running late, my old friend." The mysterious guest said as they sat in the seat directed to him by Mrs. Weasley, who rushed off to get more tea as soon as he was securely in his chair.

"No worries, Lao Shi." Dumbledore assured him, "we were just making pleasant conversation and enjoying this lovely tea Mrs. Weasly brewed for us. I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

Mrs. Weasley was quite red as she walked back with said tea, having heard what Dumbledore said. She quickly served Lao Shi his cup of tea and then went about making sure no one needed a refill.

"I'm sure I will. You know what I like when it comes to tea." Lao Shi mused as he took his cup in his claws.

He took a deep breath, savoring the sweet smell and warmth before taking a sip. The moment of peace was short live though as this meeting was of the most importance.

"Now, let's get to it." Loa Shi said, voice becoming much more firm and decisive.


"What did they say?" Ron asked as the group huddled even closer to George and his end of the Extendable Ears.

"Shh!" The rest of the group whispered harshly.

What Harry and the rest of the eavesdropping group have been able to hear was that a group will be sent to Hogwarts this year. The reason not clear. Only that they were from some other country or other. Unfortunately, before they could discuss this further, Hermione's lovable cat, Crookshanks, decided that the Extendable Ear was another of his toys.

With great difficulty, George was able to pull the one end of the invention toward the balcony and away from the playful cat. Unfortunately, that means it was in clear view for anyone else. This was shown by Professor Snape bumping into the said invention as he was leaving the room, yanking it from George's hands and glaring at the group up on the balcony.

They all quickly ran back to their rooms before anyone else noticed. If they had stayed just a little longer, they would have seen the mysterious guest come from the meeting room and up to the door, following behind the other members as they left.

"I look forward to seeing you and the others this year." Dumbledore said as he walked Lao Shi to the door along with Sirus, "Do say hello to the council on my behave as well."

"Of course, my old friend." Lao Shi said, "May this year be filled with new friendships and victories."

That being said and a curt nod toward Sirus, Loa Shi descended the stairs away from Grimmauld Place toward the empty street. After a quick look around, Loa Shi crouched low on the ground before pushing off into the dark night sky. Cloak trailing behind him as he flew into the distance quickly.

"Sure will be an interesting year for everyone." Sirus mused as he stood beside Dumbledore watching Lao Shi leave.

"Yes." Dumbledore agreed, "Indeed it will."

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AN:

Oh my, goodness has it been quite a while. I apologize. So much has happened since I last posted. Drama with my job first of all. They changed the whole business and the compensation. So I quit. I was looking for a job and I had a lot of other personal projects, taking advantage of the time. I still live at home right now so my parents definitely took advantage of me being home more often. I didn't mind. I was bored out of my mind after the first week unemployed. So, for a whole month, I was just at home trying not to lose my mind and my motivation slowly going down the drain.

Then a week ago I got an email back for an interview and then a couple days after that, I got a call for a second. I've gotten a lot of first interviews but this was the first call back. I got the job! So that is what I've been doing and focusing on. Now I'm pumped! So here is the second chapter. I actually went back and fixed some stuff too the last couple of days. I want to shout out to my brother for being pretty much my beta reader. He keeps me on track and accountable for my decisions when it comes to story haha.

Hopefully, I won't have such a long break in-between. I want to say that I'll update more frequently but with my new job, I think it is safe to say every two weeks. Enjoy! Let me know what you think and all that. Hope you all have had a great weekend so far!