A/N: Another take at the dinner scene.
As he laid down his spoon there was a lull in the general conversation: Mr. Weasley was leaning back in his chair, looking replete and relaxed; Tonks was yawning widely, her nose now back to normal; and Ginny who had lured Crookshanks out from under the dresser, was sitting cross-legged on the floor, rolling Butterbeer corks for him to chase.
"Nearly time for bed, I think," said Mrs. Weasley with a yawn.
"Not just yet, Molly" said Sirius, pushing away his empty plate and turning to look at Harry.
"You know, I'm surprised at you. I thought the first thing you'd do when you got here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort."
The atmosphere in the room changed with the rapidity Harry associated with the arrival of Dementors. Where seconds before it had been sleepily relaxed, it was now alert, even tense. A frisson had gone around the table at the mention of Voldemort's name. Lupin, who had been about to take a sip of wine, lowered his goblet slowly, looking wary.
"I did!" said Harry indignantly. "I asked Ron and Hermione but they said we're not allowed in the Order, so -"
"And they're quite right," said Mrs. Weasley. "You're too young." She was sitting bolt upright in her chair, her fists clenched on its arms, any and every trace of drowsiness gone.
Harry felt the filmlair wave of the mixed emotions of anger and frustration crash over him. He knew Mrs. Weasley was trying to protect him but it was frustrating along with a bit hypocritical. She hadn't said anything about him being too young when he and Ron had saved Ginny. No one had really fought about him contending in the Tri-Wizard Tournament despite being too young.
She and Dumbledore couldn't just choose when he was old enough and when he wasn't. Though, Harry amended , intentions, motherly instinct were better than Dumbledore's mysterious ones at least.
"Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?" asked Sirius. "Harry's been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. He's got the right to know what's been happen—"
"Hang on!" interrupted George loudly.
"How come Harry gets his questions answered?" said Fred angrily.
"We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking thing!" said George.
"You're too young, you're not in the Order'," said Fred in a high-pitched voice that sounded uncannily like his mother's. "Harry's not even of age!"
Both Sirius and him answered at the same time.
"How does this work? I was of age to kill a person when I was just eleven to prevent Voldemort from returning but at fifth-teen I'm not at age. That's all find and dandy not at all poppycock!" Harry cried out in frustration.
"It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing that's your parents' decisio-" Sirius had been explaining calmly to the twins before he processed what he was hearing from Harry's statement. "Sorry pup did I just hear..." Sirius trailed off purposely not wanting to believe what he had just heard.
Most of the inhabitants in the room looked just as confused as Sirius. The only people who didn't were Ron and Hermione and mind you that was because they were not just his friends but often were his partners not in crime but in trying to save their school from yearly Big Bad.
"My first year at Hogwarts our Defense against the Dark Arts Professor had, ironically, Voldemort behind his turban," Harry told the Order who Dumbledore apparently hadn't informed of Harry's multiple encounters of Voldemort.
"Wait a minute!" Fred cried out in disbelief.
"You're basically telling us that we threw snowballs at he who shall not be named?" George continued in a mixture of disbelief an- was he starting to smile?
Yes, he and Fred were starting to grin like the Cheshire Cat whilst Mrs. Weasley started turning as pale as ghost.
Harry shook his head before getting back on track. "Voldemort came to Hogwarts so that he could steal the philosopher's stone to come back to life. To summarize it simply: I ended up killing Quirrell in self defense. How does this work? I kill Quirrell, I face an armies of acromantula and dementors with Ron and Hermione, I time travel with Hermione to save Sirius from a dementor's kiss, Ron and I help her brew a thing of Polyjuice potion in the girls bathroom which took getting a teacher to sign a slip so we could get the book from the Restricted Area in the library and stealing from Snape's cupboards, I kill a basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets and a teenage version of Voldemort to save Ginny, I get entered into a tournament that I'm too young for but I still have to compete in. How does that work? Please explain it logically to me how I'm too young to know about what Voldemort is up to when he's been trying to kill me multiple times since I was a baby!?"
The reactions of the Order members were diverse.
Alastor Moody was looking Harry with grim approval. Bill and Charlie had they're shock written on their faces easy to be read. looked sick. Fred and George were silent in shock. Mundungus had once again fallen asleep.
Tonks' hair had become a solemn grey which was shocking to Harry. They had only just recently met why should any of this cause such a reaction?
Sirius looked as ill as and Remus looked far more ill and shabby than normally. Hermione and Ron were looking shocked at him as if he had two heads because of his expulsive confession.
Harry would have gulped if his mouth wasn't dry as the dessert. He hadn't meant to confess to all of that and now his friends and him were going to be in such trouble. Especially when Snape did learn, and finally have proof, that they had stolen from him.
Harry took a deep breathe. "I think I have a right to know what Voldemort is up no matter my age or what Dumbledore says. You might as well tell Ron and Hermione because they have a right too and even if you don't I will tell them myself." Yes Harry still had some lingering anger at them from this summer but that could wait.
Finally someone besides himself spoke.
"This just proves my point," Sirius confessed to Molly before turning to face Harry. "You're not going to school. When I, Remus, and your father were your age you can bet every gallon you owned we got into lots trouble but not like that. I'm sure Remus will help me home school."
Remus looked up, shaken from his thoughts. "Yes. Of course and I have no doubt you will still be the best student I ever taught."
Harry smiled at despite the apprehension he felt because of his confession he had told in anger.
"Anyone else want to help home-school Harry?" Sirius asked looking at every Order member besides Mundungus who was still asleep and Molly who he glared at, daring her to say anything against him.
Both Tonks and Mad Eye Moody nodded. Sirius charmingly smiled in appreciation which made Mad Eye glare at the animagus.
"Now that all of it has been settled for now how about we start on our meeting?" Remus asked.
No one rejected the suggestion.
A/N: Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in. ;)
Am I the only one that has problem with how Harry kills (Yes, killed. Killing a person in self-defense, the self defense of someone else, or in war is not murder.) Quirrell and:
1.) Harry has no ptsd. Which as stated earlier Harry had every right to kill Quirrell to save himself (and the wizarding world from Voldemort coming back earlier in the series) but he was still just a kid and him bouncing back from that like nothing...It's wrong.
2.) Dumbledore sends him on his merry way to the Dursleys who couldn't comfort Harry to save their own abuses asses.
Then the same thing happens again (though this time Harry does have some ptsd issues) after Harry is forced to watch helpless as Cedric dies and Voldemort, his parents murderer and his multiple attempted murderer, come back to life.
I use to love Dumbledore when I was a kid reading the books but now...