Sirius under the cloak, Harry and Ron half running along the corridor, and
Hermione stuffing quills and pieces of parchment into her bag, the group
made their way up to the stone Gargoyle that guarded the door to
Dumbledore's office. Then they turned the corner, and saw Snape standing
right outside the hidden doorway.
'Oh no.' whispered Ron.
'Aaagh..' groaned Hermione.
'Um, ah, we were, um...' stuttered Harry. For a few moments Snape's evil
eyes flashed across them, and then.
'Mulled Mead' - it was Snape that spoke. The Gargoyle sprang to life and
leapt aside. He was letting them in!
A small crowd of people was gathered in Dumbledore's office. Some of them
Harry recognised - Professor Morgana, Professor McGonagal, Hagrid, Madame
Maxine, Bill, Mr. Weasley, and - Professor Lupin! He smiled at Harry, and
Harry waved back. There were others there to, and no one seemed to be
surprised when Sirius pulled off the cloak, and handed it to Harry.
Dumbledore came in, and smiled at all of them. He looked weary and tired,
but his bright blue eyes were as alert as ever.
'My friends, we are here to discuss most dreadful matters. As you know,
Voldemort has returned and the ministry refuses to acknowledge that fact.
Therefore, I have started a Dark Defence League in which those who know the
truth are united. We have here today representatives of the members.
Rubeus Hagrid for the G.A.F.E, Giants Against Forces of Evil, Olympe
Maxine, for the overseas members, Arthur Weasley for the Ministry members,
Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger for the soon to be youth
members, and Penny Morgana for the muggle awareness group.'
As he was saying this, a purple quill was scribbling down all of his words,
much like a Quick-Quotes Quill, thought Harry, but not as inaccurate.
Dumbledore sighed. 'I must be truthful, my friends. We have information
that suggests Voldemort is planning to make an appearance, as it were, and
show the ministry and others that do not believe he is back that he has
returned. The reason for waiting to do this is that, he plans to try and
take Harry Potter as an example.' Dumbledore stopped briefly to see how
Harry took this, but Harry looked neutral. 'We must act quickly to round up
all our members to stop him, Hagrid, please can I have the list of people
who are willing to help.'
'Um, yeah, 'ere y'are, Professor.' Hagrid pulled out a scroll, as Madame
Maxine beamed at him.
Harry noticed the list was not very long. Others gave lists, too.
'Now we have come to the main point of this meeting. For those who do not
know, we are planning to try to persuade Cornelius Fudge to abdicate, and
in his place the Head of Department of Magical Catastrophes, a top ministry
member, Mr. Andrew-Martin, will step in to be the temporary Minister.'
At this point one of the men Harry did not recognise stepped forward. He
was tall, with short dark, slightly spiky hair and piercing blue eyes.
Harry did not know what to make of him. He looked like he might have been a
singer, or an actor, but not a leader.
Dumbledore invited Professor Morgana to explain her group for the record.
'There are a number of us who it is our duty to protect the muggle
community further than we are currently doing, and once Voldemort and his
followers are active again, the need will be even greater. I do not mean
going round telling muggles that we exist, of course not. But there are
certain measures we can take to decrease the muggle death-rate, such as
giving them protection objects, place Wizards on patrol in certain areas,
and so on.'
The meeting went on, with various people speaking. Harry tried to take it
all in but he got very confused. At the end several people stayed to talk
out the finer details, but the purple quill was put away.
Professor Lupin came over to Harry. 'Harry, it's good to see you.'
'It's good to see you too, how are you?' Harry asked eagerly, very pleased
to see him again.
'Oh, fine, I've been getting paid for this work I'm doing for the Dark
Defence League, so I'm okay. I heard what you did last summer, Harry, and
I'm very proud.'
'Yeah. well, it was. you know.' Harry muttered.
'Yes. Anyway, Dumbledore felt it would be more sensible to let you know
what's going on instead of you finding it out yourself later. He's got a
few jobs for you!' said Lupin.
Hermione spoke, sounding very calm and organised. 'What does he mean by the
soon to be youth members, Professor?'
'Please, I'm not your teacher anymore, call me Remus. Well, I'll leave
Dumbledore to answer that question.' Harry grinned. It felt good to see him
again, and he was glad that what ever was going on (he didn't really
understand) he was part of it. He looked over at Dumbledore, who was
talking to Mr Andrew-Martin. Dumbledore looked up and saw Harry.
'Harry! Come over here a moment.' Dumbledore looked worried. 'Harry, we
have an important job for you.' Hermione and Ron joined them. 'And of
course, you two as well.' Said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling.
'You really think they can help?' Asked Mr. Andrew-Martin.
'Indeed! You really do not understand, my friend. This is Harry Potter,
Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.' Mr. Andrew-Martin's eyes performed the
familiar flick up to Harry's forehead. 'May I introduce you to Mark Andrew-
Martin, the, um, 'Secret Weapon' of ours.'
'Glad to meet you.' He said stuffily. He certainly didn't look glad. Ron
frowned at him.
'Mark, I think Penny may want a word-' said Dumbledore, his eyes flickering
over to Professor Morgana, who looking very upset but cheered up greatly
when Mr. Andrew-Martin came over and put his arm around her. Ron looked
mutinous.
Hermione noticed Ron's face and hid a small smile, and then asked
Dumbledore: 'Professor, may I ask exactly why The Dark Lord has not yet
appeared to the magical community?'
'Ah, yes, it does seem strange that Voldemort' - (Ron winced but Dumbledore
did not seem to notice.) -'has not used his new strength to full advantage,
but the answer is simple. Voldemort knows full well the Ministry of Magic
refuses to accept his return so he has used this to his personal gain - as
long as the Ministry believes he is dead or gone he can use his spies to
infiltrate the Ministry without suspicion.'
Harry looked at Ron - he seemed very distressed by this news.
'Um, Professor, if I may ask.' Ron looked over to his father worriedly.
'Is. is Percy, um, does Percy know. I mean.'
'Yes, indeed, our dear Percy still sides with the Minister in his beliefs,
no avail to our hardest efforts.' Ron looked away. Harry wondered what he
was feeling - he looked hurt. 'But, thanks to your father and his friends
we have established excellent ways of identifying the spies and several of
their number are under suspicion and are being questioned'- Dumbledore
stopped suddenly. I'm sorry. I would like to explain everything to you -
indeed it would be far better but even in these dark times we have to get
some sleep!'
'But, Professor, Remus said you would tell us about the, um, youth
members?' Harry said hesitantly.
'Yes, I must say it is obvious it is to me that we must make as many people
aware of the situation as possible, and it seems that you three are the
only ones of the pupils who would understand all of this. So you, of
course, would be the obvious choice to involve your friends and work mates
in our organisation. I am going to tell the school, well, I am going to
tell them enough. Then it will be your job to answer any questions the
students may have, um, not in too much detail,' he smiled, 'and get a list
of names of those willing to support us.'
'Is that all?' Hermione asked, seemingly disappointed.
Dumbledore smiled. 'It does not seem like much, but I assure you it will be
of great help and it may be more trouble than you anticipate. Anyway, to
bed!'
Harry and his friends bided everyone goodnight and started down the stairs,
in silence. Harry's ears were ringing -'take Harry Potter as an example'
kept coming back to him.
