KEYNOTE: I am treating Harry's scar Horcrux like a tumor, you don't know if it is cancerous or not until you open it up. Hence, Poppy missing it.

AN: There are direct quotes from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Chapter 3: Slipping Through the Cracks

"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.

"Has he back into his full power yet?" Harry asked immediately.

"No, Sirius," Mrs. Weasley said, "They're too young."

She was sitting bolt upright in her chair, her fists clenched an its arms, every trace of drowsiness gone.

"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 over two months. 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 y du 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!"

Well, Harry thought, as far as they knew he wasn't.

"It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing," said Sirius calmly, "that's your parents' decision. Harry, on the other hand -"

'"It's not down to you to decide what's good for Harry!" said Mrs. Weasley sharply. The expression on her normally kind face looked dangerous. "You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?"

Which is when Harry snapped, "Just tell me if he has regained his power or not I can guess the rest."

"He hasn't regained power but the rumors of him coming back, of him being the one to kidnap you have shifted things," Sirius said.

"Haven't you been reading the papers, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"No."

"Well, they've been saying really awful things. Reeta Skeeter heard you tell Dumbledore 'Graveyard, Voldemort, Pettigrew, they both got away,' and now everyone thinks, well that you'r-"

"You're mad," Ron supplied, "Like a lunatic."

"Well not everyone thinks so but according to the papers," Hermione added.

"But some of the Death Eaters and Voldemort's lesser followers have begun to move and so have we, that is the Order and Dumbledore. Even if he isn't at full strength yet he still has resources, beyond Wormtail."

"But what can he do?" Hermione asked. "What does he want if he isn't just trying to come back to life."

"He's after something," Sirius said, "Like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time."

Harry's couldn't keep the look of despair off his face, "It is in the Department of Mysteries, and you shouldn't bother with it. The damage has already been done."

Sirius sat forward, surprise and worry warring on his face, "How can you possibly know what it is?"

The rest of the room was hushed. Even Mrs. Weasley who had been trying to shoo her children out of the room, paused looking at Harry.

"It's nothing. It's why my parents were murdered, but it changes nothing now. You should just let him have it. Voldemort already wants me dead, so it's nothing, completely meaningless," Harry said as he looked at Sirius and remembered this beloved man falling into the Veil. Sirius had died for him, died so Harry could hunt Horcruxes and martyr himself later on.

Harry bolted from the table, from the room, he ran to the bathroom slamming the door behind him as his stomach reprocessed his dinner into the toilet.

Sirius had run after Harry, Arthur stopping Molly from following.

"How could he know what it is?" Molly asked, "We don't even know what it is."

The room's occupants exchanged glances. They were all thinking the same question, What had happened to Harry during the last task?

Sirius stopped just in time to keep his nose from being broken as the door slammed shut in his face. He probably should have knocked but he doubted Harry could hear over him as he retched. Sirius shut the door gently and went to the floor on his knees so he could rub Harry's back.

It was not long until Harry was dry heaving and in tears. "It's my fault their dead."

"No, Harry, no," Sirius said softly but with feeling, "your parents loved you, you were their world. Only your death could have destroyed them."

We are so proud of you, You're so brave.

Harry heaved into the toilet again.

"What's happened, Harry?" Sirius asked. "What's happened to you?"

Harry shook his head and stopped when the motion made the world spin.

"How did you know about the weapon?"

"It's the prophecy," Harry said too quietly.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"It's the prophecy, the one that made my parents going into hiding," Harry said, looking up at Sirius.

Horror and understanding crossed his face, "Who told you? Dumbledore?"

"Voldemort, he showed, he was inside of my head, he showed me-" Harry broke off and grabbed a towel to wipe his sweaty face.

Sirius put a hand on Harry's cheek, "How did he show you?"

"He got inside my head, in my dreams, my nightmares, my scar hurt when he was angry or happy- He used me, he wanted me to get it for him."

Sirius pulled Harry into his arms, rubbing his back. "It's going to be okay, Harry, you're going to be alright."

Harry clung to his godfather, "Just don't die, Sirius, please, just don't die."

Sirius held him tighter, "I am not going to fail you again, Harry, I am not going to leave you again."

But he had, and wounds long pushed aside came tumbling forward. Harry didn't cry, yet Sirius stayed with him in the darkly lit bathroom for hours as Harry tried to work up the will to act 'normal.'

Harry wanted nothing more than to drop out of school and run away with Sirius, run away from Voldemort and the world he had tainted.

A few days later, there was an Order meeting. Harry had ardently refused to talk any more about the incident, even to Sirius.

Dumbledore began with, "Our top priority must be keeping the door to the room in the Dep-"

"Harry says we shouldn't bother with that," Sirius interrupted.

Albus whipped his attention toward Sirius, "What does Harry know of the Department of Mysteries? What did you tell him?"

"Nothing," Tonks jumped in, "he told us what it was, or at least he told Sirius what it was and he said it didn't matter. That it had already done its damage."

"Yes, and we should take Potter at his word about everything, I suppose," Severus said snidely.

"Snape," Sirius said seriously waiting for the other man to make eye contact. "It's the Prophecy."

Severus's sallow face drained of all semblance of color, making him look wraithlike. He wet his lips before asking, "And how would Potter know about the Prophecy?"

"He said the Dark Lord showed him, that he broke into his mind, his dreams, and showed him," Sirius said.

The entire room shifted uneasily.

"But that's impossible, Riddle doesn't know the full Prophecy, how could Harry?" Albus asked.

"More?" Severus asked. He looked like he was going to be sick. "More, of that accursed thing? What more could it possibly say?"

"It isn't relevant-" Albus soothed.

"The hell, it isn't!" Sirius said slamming his fist on the table. "Lily and James told me what you told them but Lily thought you left something out, that your speech was too prepared, too posed when you told them. What did you leave out? The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal. What's missing? What are you asking us to risk our lives for when Harry seems convinced the Prophecy means Voldemort will want him more dead than he already does?"

Albus looked furious, "Those words were not something I would have had you share."

Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Nymphadora, Remus, Kingsley, and Hestia looked horrified at the prophecy.

Minerva was close to tears. "Albus," she said sharply, "Harry cannot be the only way to defeat him. He's lost too much already, how can we ask this of him?"

"You told Lily and James this?" Remus asked. "You told her this when she was still pregnant? No wonder her heart was broken. Why James was so on edge. They weren't just afraid of Voldemort because they were known Order members. He was after Harry, he was specifically after their son." It was not a pleasant realization.

What remained of Severus's heart clenched. The pain he had caused Lily even more than her death, he poisoned her last years alive. For not the first time Severus wished it had been him. Wished Albus had caught him at the door and struck him down. Wished James Potter hadn't saved his life and had let Lupin eat him. Wished anything could have changed that wouldn't have led to Lily suffering and dying.

"If Harry's mind has been infiltrated then he needs to learn to protect himself. Severus, you will teach the boy Occlumency."

Severus nodded numbly.

Minerva's temper was building, "You cannot pit the boy against the Dark Lord."

"At the rate things are going," Kingsley said in his deep voice, "Harry is his own greatest defense. We can't count on being there when he needs help. We should reconsider withholding information from him."

"And then he will tell his friends-" Severus protested.

"Harry's not talking to his friends," Sirius said. "He's barely talking to me. Something has happened to him."

"Something aside from You-Know-Who invading his mind?" Arthur asked.

"Sirius," Albus started, "Harry is still a child."

Sirius frown at him, "If you mean he's human and can make mistakes than I would agree with you, but show me his childhood, explain to me how living with the Dursleys and getting killed almost every year at Hogwarts has somehow added to his immaturity. When I talk with him it isn't a child I am speaking to."

"He isn't James, Sirius, no matter how much he might look like him," Mrs. Weasley said.

"I know that."

"Harry will be told what he needs to be told when the time comes," Albus said.

"And what about what Harry tells us?" Sirius asked. "He's beginning not to trust you old man. He gets agitated any time your name is brought up in conversation. What happens when Harry knows more than us and he chooses to leave you in the dark?"

"That will not happen," Albus said, self-assured. "Harry might be upset with me for the moment but he has always trusted me."

Severus and Sirius exchanged a look. They were two men who tended to despise one another for the other's weaknesses and screw ups, but they were also two men who had been left behind by Albus Dumbledore -though they trusted the elder wizard, in their hearts they knew that Albus wasn't always deserving of that trust.

Harry threw ten gallons into the fountain as he passed. He felt some reluctance handing the wand to the guard.

Harry followed Arthur up to his office then followed him at a run behind Arthur as they rushed to their appointment. Harry was amused that despite the changes he had already made in the time things were much the same.

Just as Flitwick had promised he and Minerva were in the stands behind him.

Albus appeared as his defendant just as he had the first time.

This time, however, Albus caught Harry's eye. Harry smiled a bit before looking up at Madame Bones. She winked at him and Harry had to suppress a grin.

As scary as this dungeon had been the first time around, Harry was now enjoying all of these adults playing house.

Madame Bones was prepared and took control of the courtroom at once. "We are all he today because of certain members of this Ministry having a personal vendetta against Harry James Potter who has been accused of underaged magic. I would like to dismiss this case as I have confirmed that it was under ministry order that two dementors were sent to Little Whinging, Surrey. I do not know yet who dispatched them but I know that Mr. Potter's use of a corporeal patronus to save his own life and soul as well as his cousin's, Dudley Dursley who Mr. Potter lives -is quite reasonable. I do have all the facts correct, don't I, Mr. Potter?"

"Yes, ma'am," Harry said.

The room was silent and Albus looked surprised.

"It is just a story," Fudge said. "A made up-"

"I looked into after Mr. Potter sent me a letter asking if he could sue us for sending dementors after him. As I said I have not found who sent them but I can confirm that the records show that they were sent. Is there anyone who doubts my word, my office?"

There was a long silence in which no one dared to go against Madame Bones.

She clapped her hands once, "Settled, Harry J. Potter is cleared of all charges. Thank you, Mr. Potter, Headmaster Dumbledore, Professors Flitwick and McGonagall for your time, you may leave. The rest of you lot will stay to be interviewed about the Dementor incident by my team of Aurors and Minister if you would be so kind as to supervise, seeing as you seemed so concerned about this case. I will be in my office getting real work done."

Harry was grinning as he ran over to Flitwick and McGonagall. "Thanks for coming, Professors," Harry said warmly as they made their way to the door, that several Aurors were coming through.

Albus followed behind them more sedately.

"Hi Mrs. Figg," Harry greeted as they emerged into the hall.

"Hi, Harry," she replied drifting to Albus's side.

"I cannot believe they were going to give you a full criminal hearing, for a minor," Flitwick said.

"It was amusing to see Madame Bones knock Fudge down a notch," McGonagall said falling into step beside Harry.

"You sent Madame Bones a letter, Harry?" Albus asked from behind him.

"Yep," Harry said shortly.

Flitwick shot Albus a distinctively cold look.

"Filius is something the matter?" Albus asked.

"Not at all, this situation itself is simply outrageous," Filius said back.

"You didn't have to come, I was surprised to see you both in the stands. How did you know when the hearing was? It wasn't in the papers."

"Harry gave me the date and Minerva and I chose to come early," Filius said.

"I was not aware the two of you were in correspondence."

"Harry switched electives," Minerva said, "Filius has been ensuring he can at least start with the fourth years in Arithmancy so he isn't two years behind."

Albus blinked, "Which class did you drop, Harry?"

"Divinations," Harry said. "I have no talent for it. Besides Trelawny is more or less the reason my future has always been in the gutter."

"Do not talk about that here," Albus warned.

Harry shrugged and switched topics. "I really do like Arithmancy. The concept of wards is too cool. It reminds me of muggle math."

"Do you miss muggle school?" Filius asked.

"Not in the slightest," Harry said.

Minerva's lips turned up at the corners, "Magic is excellent."

"And friends, and not having guardians who yell at you for getting better grades than their lazy son," Harry said.

Minerva's mouth pinched and she glared at Albus, "I told you those muggles were foul. The worst sort of people."

Harry blinked, "You know the Dursleys?"

"I was there the night Albus insisted you stay with them. I argued against it."

"It was the safest op-"

Harry snorted. They had reached Mr. Weasley who was ready to take him back to Grimmauld Place. Harry turned to meet Albus's gaze, "You only care about my safety when it suits you. Bye Professors, thanks again for being here."

Mr. Weasley waved to the three professors before leading Harry to the exit.

Minerva crossed her arms and glared at Albus.

"What?" he asked.

"He isn't going back there this coming summer."

"The blo-"

"No," she cut him off, "I will take him in myself if Sirius still isn't cleared. But he isn't going back there."

"Harry didn't make the Dursleys sound too terrible," Flitwick said, gazing after Harry.

"No," Minerva said sadly, "which means it's probably even worse than what little he does complain about them."

Albus ran a hand down his white beard, and it was harder than it should have been to shove down his compassion for the boy. Albus had always admired the boy but now something was changing, something in Harry, in the Order, in the staff, and Albus was not sure he was ready for those changes.

AN: Not trying to bash Albus, but he will need to form a different relationship with Harry. Next chapter we go back to Hogwarts. I think I am going to keep following the plot of the Order of the Phoenix and adapt as my changes take effect. Also I will be adding way more Luna Lovegood. Please let me know what you thought and what you reacted to?