A/N: Welcome to Chapter Three! I want to thank all of the people who have reviewed so far, this chapter is for you. Please do R+R. I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far!

Disclaimer: If I owned HP, I'd be rich. And I'm not rich, so I think that says it all.

Chapter Three: Tales of the Gateways

Dumbledore beckoned James to sit down. He sat down slowly and took Lily's hand. Sirius suddenly stared at the floor. The atmosphere went from relaxed to tense. Mrs.Weasley stood up and began to shoo the rest of the children out of the room. As she pushed Ron at the door he opened his mouth in protest, but Dumbledore held up his hand.

"Please, I need to talk to the Order alone," he turned around as he heard a chair scrape against the floor. "Harry, you may stay. This involves you more than you know." Harry sat down once again, rubbing his scar while staring at the glittering fire cackling merrily in the fireplace. People began to fill the now empty chairs; Lupin, Moody, Kingsley, as well as the other members of the Order. After minutes had passed Dumbledore was the only one left standing. He didn't have to quiet them; thick silence had already set over them.

"I have no need to tell the reason where here." Some of the faces flickered to the end of table where James, Lily, and Sirius sat. "I need to know what happened. It's vital, if we are to act quickly." For a second no one spoke, but Sirius cleared his throat, eyes still connected to the floor.

"I just remember falling.I saw this flash of silver and then, I just landed. I saw James and Lily.but I could still hear Harry." with that he fell silent. Harry remembered that day, the screaming from his dreams still seemed to echo somewhere in his mind. Lily smiled softly.

"We met Sirius in the after-life and then we went to watch over Harry. Then early this morning we, and another large group, saw a bright flash of gold. We went up to it and we could see sand on the other side. We walked through it and it fluttered, we didn't really know what happened. When we tried to walk back through we couldn't. That's when we saw them coming." Dumbledore sat quietly for a moment when he looked up at Lily. "You say there was another large group? Who were they?" James began to say the names as he ticked off the number of people on his fingers.

"There were a bunch of old Order members, the Bones, Bode, um.a lot of our relatives, and." he paused for a moment, "Cedric Diggory." Harry took a sharp breath as he heard that name. Suddenly something dawned on Dumbledore.

"What do you mean we saw them coming?" The three looked at each other, none of them speaking. Finally James decided to talk.

"Deatheaters. Tons of them. Swarmed the place. We got out as fast as we could. When we turned around we saw the veil waving again.we don't know if anyone else got out.then we went to Privet Drive. And here we are." Dumbledore let out a sigh.

"It's just as I expected," he said wearily, "It couldn't have stayed hidden." The Order looked around quizzically. Dumbledore, sensing their confusion continued, "Many years ago, ancient Egyptian manuscripts were found, and they told of two gateways. There was the gateway of death.and the gateway of life. Obviously, the gateway of death was located and brought to the Department of Mysteries. The other however, was never found. At the time I pressed for the other to be found, but after years of searching the search closed and the veil was never found. Most people have forgotten it, but I had suspicions that with Voldemort's rise, the subject must arise again." At the sound of Voldemort's name, some shuddered, and rubbed their eyes, itching with tiredness.

"How could this veil prove useful to Voldemort?" Sirius asked. "It brings people to life, and I'm sure he doesn't need that.unless." Dumbledore smiled softly as Sirius seemed to have figures something out.

"Ah, you've pinpointed the problem. Should Voldemort have access to Veil of Life, he could recall all his dead supporters. As fast as we would kill them they would come back. He could kill people to recruit new followers, and also bring his enemies straight to him, with nowhere to go. It could prove to be the end of this war.and our side would not be the victors. We need to devise a plan to find the veil and take it to a safe place." Suddenly Harry remembered his dream.

"Professor! Voldemort already has the veil.I had a dream about it. and he's already having it moved." The air seemed to grow more silent as he said these words. Dumbledore turned to all the other members of the Order.

"Well then we are going to find its locations as soon as possible. But for now, it is time to get some rest." With those words the chairs were pushed and the members of the Order began to filter out of the room. Most went and greeted the three, giving them a slap on the back and reminiscing about old times. Finally the only person left was Dumbledore. He walked up slowly to James.

"It's nice to see you again, my old friend." And with that the two embraced, tears in their eyes. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ A/N:I know Chapter Three was short, but it was crucial to the plot. I hope all you like the story so far! Please Read and Review. Next up, a fun chapter (one of my favs): Godspeed Little Man