Harry truly hated being in this house and wanted to leave as soon as possible. While Tonks and Lupin prepared the food and waited for their mystery guest to arrive Harry decided to sit in the corner and continue work on something he desperately wanted to finish.
"Harry, Harry." Lupin said coming up behind him
Lupin taped Harry on the shoulder and noticed a bunch of star-like gold lights hovering at the ceiling looking like the out-line of a bird.
"What's that Harry?" Lupin asked
Harry realized that Lupin had noticed the lights and hastily waved his wand and they vanished.
"Oh, it's nothing, just something I'm working on." Said Harry and he stored the long list of crossed out words in his pocket.
Lupin eyed him suspiciously then turned and sat down at the table. Harry followed and started helped himself to one of the many plates of food.
"Sorry it's taking this long Harry, it really shouldn't have taken more than half and hour." Tonks said
"It's all right, I guess, I mean I wouldn't have had much to do at the Burrow anyway." Harry said smiling
Neither Lupin nor Tonks were at all convinced by his words or smile.
"Don't worry Harry, you won't be here too much longer, he should be here soon." Lupin said putting a piece of potato in his mouth.
"Speaking of which, why are we here and who…" Harry began to say but he was cut off by a rush of emerald flames in the fireplace.
Harry rolled his eyes and looked at the flames, in which Mr. Weasley's head had appeared.
"Ah, Remus, you're here, good." Said Mr. Weasley's head "He's running a bit late, there were some unforeseen things that demanded his attention, but he says he'll be here within an hour, no later."
"Good, we were starting to get worried something happened to him." Said Lupin
"Have you told Harry why he's here yet?" Asked Mr. Weasley
"Actually, no, we were going to do it after we finished." Lupin said looking slightly embarrassed
"Well you better hurry and do it, Molly and I would prefer to get him here as soon as possible." Mr. Weasley said
"Alright, we'll get to it, we'll almost done anyway." Tonks said
"That's fine; well I'll be seeing you, bye." Mr. Weasley said and his head vanished and then so did the flames
After five minuets they were all done and Harry was confident that he could now get the answer to his question.
"So… Why am I here?" Harry said putting his hands together and staring contently at Lupin and Tonks, who were sitting next to each other on the other side of the table.
"Right," Said Lupin also putting his hands together "As you know we need a new secret keeper for the Order seeing as our old one is… well, anyway the Order had to figure out who it should be. We decided that after Snape's betrayal last year," Lupin paused temporarily when he saw the look of hatred that spread across Harry's face at the mention of Snape's name then continued. "We needed to make perfectly sure, one hundred percent, without a shadow of a doubt that the person we chose would not ever betray us."
"So who did you choose? And how does it involve me?" Harry asked almost eagerly but still not removing the look of hatred from his face.
"Well we deliberated, and discussed, and argued, for about a month before we all decided on who the only person we could trust without ever having to worry was." Said Tonks
"Well, who was it?" Harry said almost demanding his look of hatred forgotten
"We decided in an, almost, unanimous vote who the best person was, and that person was, well you Harry." Said Lupin
"ME?" Harry cried "You're kidding me, right?" Harry said almost pleading
"No we're not kidding you, Harry, the Order chose you." Said Tonks
"But, surely…" Harry stopped in mid sentence remembering something Lupin had just said "Almost unanimously?" He said "Who didn't think I'd be trustworthy?" Harry asked very curious
"Well, no one thought that you'd be untrustworthy. It's just that Molly voted against it, she didn't think it a good idea." Said Tonks in a caring tone
"But why?" Harry asked
"She's very protective of you, she, as I'm sure you know, thinks of you as one of her own children." Said Lupin
"Oh, well anyway, but why me? Surely Professor McGonagall, or Mad Eye, or Mr. Weasley, or Mrs. Weasley, or you, or Tonks, or plenty of the others are just as trustworthy as me and could be secret keeper." Said Harry confused
"Yes, we all thought so, but then we remembered that we trusted Snape, and that your parents trusted Pettigrew, and we decided that just to be on the safe side, you were the only one for the job." Said Lupin in a fatherly tone once again
"We won't force you, of course, to be secret keeper if you don't want to" Said Tonks "And if you don't want to be, then we all decided, including Molly, that you should choose who will be secret keeper." Said Tonks
Harry's head was swimming in the thoughts of all the new responsibility and trust that was being thrust upon him.
"Don't mean to rush your decision, Harry, but this is pretty important and we need an answer soon." Said Tonks
Harry sat in his chair deep in thought looking absolutely confused about what he should do.
"We can leave if you like." Said Tonks
"No, I'd prefer you stay, it's just a lot to take in." Said Harry still looking confused
"We know it is, and we hate to spring it on you all at once without warning, but we had no choice." Said Tonks
"How about this," Lupin began and Harry looked up at him with hope "We'll give you until Flitwick arrives to decide. At which time, if you wish to become secret keeper he can perform the charm, and if you don't than you can choose who it is to be and be off to the Burrow, how does that sound?" Said Lupin smiling
"Yeah, yeah alright that sounds good." Harry said, and without any further comment he got up and walked back over to his corner. This was shaping up to be one of the most interesting, and confusing, birthdays he had ever had.
