Chapter 3 - Getting Started

June 10, 1997 - Early Evening

Harry sat in the large stuffed chair by the fireplace thinking about all the problems involved in the horcrux search. He had arrived at his new home that morning after spending the night at his aunt's and uncle's house. His parting words were "Goodbye. Hope that was enough to satisfy the requirements to protect this house for a while longer. Good luck." With that he was out the door. Remus had performed the Fidelius charm with Harry taking the unusual step of making himself his own secret keeper.

"Well, at least it is unexpected," declared Lupin about the unheard of practice. They had decided that Lupin would close up his house and move into number fourteen, Grimmauld Place as soon as possible. As one of the few who would know their business, he needed the protection of the charm as much as anyone. Also, as a leader of the Order of the Phoenix, he needed to be available at headquarters. Oddly, they had to place two Fidelius charms on the house. The second had Remus as the secret keeper of the location of the Order of the Phoenix. This provided some additional protection for both sides. If the Order was betrayed, those benefiting would not be able to disclose the fact that Harry also lived at headquarters and vice versa.

Ron and Hermione sat nearby on a large couch, although they probably should have chosen the love seat. The evening had started with Ron bringing up the need for more information about the dark side's resources. They didn't know where they were, what they were doing or even how many there were. He, Ron and Hermione had come to the conclusion that they would need to start capturing Death Eaters and interrogating them about everything they know if they were going to have a chance of finding the last few horcruxes. With any luck, they would also find out other useful information along the way that would be helpful.

One problem was that Voldemort probably would not have told any of them about his horcruxes. They would have to piece together where they were from a bit of news here and an unexplained trip there. It might take a while. They needed to keep any Death Eaters they found alive and well while keeping Voldemort from finding them. That was the other problem. Karkaroff had been found and killed while hiding in a "cabin up north". If a skilled Death Eater like Karkaroff could be found when he was actively trying to stay hidden, how could Harry prevent his prisoners from being rescued by Voldemort? He thought of different magical defences but what would hold up against a determined attack? He looked over to the lovebirds and came to the conclusion that their attention span had expired and other thoughts had entered their minds. It was sort of awkward sitting in the same room with them. For years the three of them had been a team. Together, starting with fighting a troll in a girls' bathroom, they had had several terrifying and fantastic adventures. Some of the time in pairs but mostly it was all three of them. Harry smiled when he realized that, beginning with the start of their friendship fighting a troll, they had spent quite a bit of time in girls' bathrooms. They had brewed a Polyjuice potion in one and the Chamber of Secrets had its entrance in one as well.

Harry sat up. The Chamber of Secrets! It was either genius or stupidity. Only two people could get into it; Harry himself and his mortal enemy. Still, unless Voldemort came knocking, it was the most hidden and secure place he could think of.

Turning to his two friends he said, "I think I have a place to set up our own personal headquarters," then waited for their eyes to come back into focus.

Hermione came around first. "Where?" she asked.

"The Chamber of Secrets!" he answered, a hopeful look on his face.

They both looked at him. After a few seconds, as if on cue, they looked at each other and then turned back to him. Hermione asked, "Why do we need our own headquarters and why, of all places, the Chamber of Secrets?"

Harry was a little taken aback by this. He decided to just explain himself without getting offended at the necessity. "Well, we were just talking a while ago about needing to take prisoners and after a while it occurred to me that almost all of what we are doing should be secret. This place is the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix so that disqualifies it. I suppose we could find someplace else but hear me out first." He paused, waiting for their comments or acknowledgment to continue. Hermione gestured for him to continue but maintained her "this had better be good" demeanour.

"Well," he began, "it seems that we have several problems with prisoners. The first is finding room to keep them all. This assumes that we will be capturing lots of them. I think we all agree that no individual will give us much help in finding the other horcruxes so it will probably be lots of little pieces coming together." Neither of his partners contradicted him so he went on. "This will also mean that we will need to keep them for a long time and be able to re-question them as new things come to light. The chamber has lots of room. The next thing will be making sure that no one else can find them. As far as I know, Voldemort and I are the only ones who can get into it. I suppose we will have to work around that somehow." He looked at Hermione.

"I never saw it, Harry," she said. "Maybe we can come up with something but I can't promise anything."

"Fair enough," said Harry. He supposed that even Hermione hadn't read too many books on getting past enchanted doorways only accessible to Parselmouths. "The major problem is that it may, and I must stress the "may" part, it may be magically shielded. This could be important because the Death Eaters can track each other, at least to some degree."

"Exactly when did you get that little piece of information?" asked Ron. He had been in on most of the technical conversations but this was new to him.

"The same time you did," replied Harry. "You remember Karkaroff?" Ron nodded. "Well, it took them a few months but they found him in some cabin or something up north. I heard that from someone at my birthday party a couple of years ago."

Ron thought. "Yeah," he said after a few seconds. "It does sound familiar. How does that make you think they can track him? Maybe they just kept looking for him everywhere until they found him."

Hermione broke in. "I don't think they would have expended that amount of effort just to kill a coward," she said thoughtfully. "I mean, he wasn't actually doing anything against them so it must have been relatively easy to find him." She looked at Harry. "Do you have any ideas on how they track each other?" she asked.

"I think it might be the Dark Mark. If you'll recall, that mark is more than a tattoo. At the battle in the astronomy tower it allowed the Death Eaters access through a shield of some sort but not those without it," he said.

"That's right," agreed Ron. "It must be magically detectable or that sort of thing wouldn't work."

"But why do you think that the chamber would block that, Harry?" asked Hermione.

"Because it remained hidden for a thousand years," replied Harry. "Nobody, not even Dumbledore could find it." He thought for a moment. "Actually, Fawkes was able to get there so it might not be as hidden as we would like." Turning to Hermione he asked "Could you see if there is a way to tell if it is truly hidden or not? We really need to know."

"Sure," said Hermione. "We might need to get Lupin in on this. I'm not as informed as he is on this sort of magic, you know."

"I know," replied Harry. "He has done all sorts of things ..." Harry broke off and thought deeply.

"What is it?" ask Ron. He and Hermione looked expectant.

"I was just thinking," said Harry. "Lupin was one of the original marauders. He helped make the Marauder's Map. I was just wondering if he could adapt it to our needs."

"What do you want it to do, mate?" asked Ron. The Marauder's Map had proven to be a most useful tool while attending Hogwarts. If Harry had a way to improve it, he wanted to know.

"If, as we suspect, the Dark Mark is detectable by magic, I was just wondering if the map could alert us if any Death Eaters get in range. And," he continued, "if it could be a little more portable, that would help us too."

"What do you mean by portable?" asked Hermione. "You can take it anywhere you want."

"You can take it anywhere in Hogwarts. I wonder if he could make it show everyone within a certain radius, mo matter where you are?" asked Harry eagerly.

"Let's see if Remus is able to get away from his house for a while," suggested Hermione.

Harry walked over to the fireplace and threw in some Floo powder. The fire turned green and Harry called in "Remus Lupin."

After about thirty seconds, Remus Lupin's head appeared in the fire. He smiled at the group and said "Hello, Harry, Ron, Hermione. What can I do for you?"

"If it isn't a bad time, could you please come here? We think we might be able to really use some of your, ah... special abilities," said Harry.

Remus smiled and said, "Sure. Just give me a few minutes. I have company over." Then with a pause he asked "Is this classified? I mean, it's just Tonks. Maybe she could help out?" he added.

The three looked at each other. Tonks was the cousin of Sirius and the girlfriend of Remus. If they wanted to have Remus help them, it seemed to be asking a lot of him to exclude her. Finally Harry spoke.

"I don't mind but we will have to talk to her about things when you get here," he stated diplomatically. Remus smiled and left the fire.

"Do you think it's a good idea to let her in on things, Harry?" asked Hermione. This surprised Harry since he trusted Tonks to keep a secret.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Well," began Hermione, "she is trustworthy and all that but if it gets back to Ginny that you are letting Remus' girlfriend in on the deal but not her, it might be a little upsetting for her."

Harry thought about what she had said. "I suppose, but technically, she isn't my girlfriend. I told you we broke up at the funeral." The memory was still a little hard on Harry.

"Oh, wise up, mate!" laughed Ron. "You don't think she'll give up on you that easy, do you?"

It took Harry all of one second to arrive at the conclusion of that riddle. No, Ginny would not be that easy to hold off. Before he could think further, the fireplace blazed green again and Remus and Tonks stepped into the room.

"Wotcher, Harry!" said Tonks, pink hair flowing to her shoulders.

"Hi, Tonks," replied Harry with a grin. He had always felt more at ease with Tonks than with almost any other Order member. He supposed that it was due to her age and fun-loving attitude.

After the initial banter was finished, Harry got down to business. "Tonks," he started, "before we say anything I want you to know that we trust you as much as Remus but we need to make absolutely sure about our secrecy." He paused a moment so she could be serious. Or at least as serious as she ever gets.

"Sure, Harry," she said, toning it down a notch. She could tell that this was not a social call.

"Alright," began Harry. "There are currently only five people alive who know what we are involved in. They are Hermione, Ron, Remus, Dobby and myself."

"Oh," said Ron. At Harry's look he said "I forgot about Dobby," he added sheepishly.

"Right," said Harry. "So anyway, it absolutely can't get around or we will have much more trouble than we do right now. I need to know that your being an Auror won't cause you any conflicts of interest or anything if we have to do some things that might not be Ministry approved." He waited for her answer.

"As long as you aren't trying to overthrow the government, I guess I'm in," she said, smiling.

Harry didn't return the smile. "Seriously, Tonks. With the past history of the Ministry, I am not sure that they won't have to go. If it comes down to it, what we are doing is more important."

This caught both Remus and Tonks by surprise. Remus spoke first. "I know you haven't told me the details about your activities but if it is really that serious, maybe Tonks shouldn't know." Harry knew he was taking a big personal risk by just suggesting that his girlfriend wasn't trustworthy.

"Harry," said Tonks. "I know you and I trust you. Furthermore, Dumbledore trusted you. If what you say causes me to have any conflicts with my duty as an Auror, I will resign to help you."

Harry was touched. He expected this kind of loyalty from Ron and Hermione and, to some extent, Lupin, but he didn't really have a long history with Tonks. Perhaps she would be an asset.

"Okay. Here is the deal," began Harry. "Wait a second. Dobby!" Dobby appeared.

"Yes, Harry Potter, sir," said Dobby. "What can Dobby be doing for Harry Potter, sir?" he asked.

"Well for one thing, please just call me Harry, okay? It will shorten our conversations down substantially," Harry said, laughing.

"That will be very hard, Harry...Potter...sir," said the elf. "Perhaps I could just call you 'sir', sir," he suggested.

Harry rolled his eyes. "That will be fine for now," he said. "Maybe later Hermione will come up with something that won't make me feel like the Prime Minister." Everyone laughed.

"I need you to join us, Dobby. Remus, Tonks and you have all agreed to help Ron, Hermione and me with a very important task. It is time I got you all up to speed on where we are and what we are doing."

Harry then told a detail limited version of why Voldemort didn't die when the killing curse backfired. He told the tale of how Tom Riddle discovered that horcruxes would lead to immortality. How he murdered his own father and grandparents. How he framed his uncle for the crime. The discovery of the diary and its significance to the quest. The night in the graveyard. How Dumbledore was injured in the destruction of another horcrux and died because he was weakened while he and Harry attempted to retrieve another. He spoke of their theories on the status and possible homes of the remaining horcruxes and why the final defeat of Lord Voldemort could not take place until they were all destroyed. He then told them the text of the prophecy that had determined his fate since he was one year old.

After he had summarized their mission, he sat back. "Any questions?" he asked the room at large.

"Just one," said Lupin. "Why aren't you in a nut house? You literally have the fate of the world depending on your ability to perform a near impossible task."

Tonks agreed. "I see what you mean about the Ministry not being allowed to get in the way," she said. "If you don't make it possible for You-know-who to be killed, what's the point of anything else?"

Hermione spoke to Tonks. "Tonks," she said calmly, "there is only one other person in this room who doesn't say Voldemort's name and that is Dobby. It may be hard at first but you will get used to it. Dobby, on the other hand, can't seem to just say "Harry" so I'm not so optimistic about him coming around."

Tonks and Remus laughed. "Okay, Hermione," said Tonks. "I'll try to say...Vol...Voldemort," she shuddered.

"Good," said Harry. "If you like, you can call him Tom Riddle. That's his real name, after all. He showed me how he just rearranged the letters to form Lord Voldemort." He added "Of course, you have to have his middle name to make it work. It's Marvolo and it actually rearranges to spell "I am Lord Voldemort "."

"Who showed you?" asked Tonks. She had heard a lot of information that night and Harry had glossed over some of the less important points of his story.

"Tom Riddle," said Harry. "In the Chamber of Secrets just before he was going to kill me." He waited a moment and added "It's too bad we don't have a Pensieve. I could show you. It was a pretty good piece of magic."

Tonks and Lupin had had enough. "Harry, I think I speak for both of us when I say we are honoured that you have shared all of this with us and that we will help you to the best of our ability," said Lupin. Tonks nodded. "Right now it is after midnight. I know you called me here to help with something but I certainly hope it can wait until morning. I, for one, have enough to think about tonight." Tonks nodded again. "Unless it can't wait, might I suggest we start again after breakfast?" he asked.

Harry chuckled a little. "I suppose," he said. Then with a mischievous glint in his eye, he added "The rest of it is pretty scary so it will be better to wait until morning, anyway."

Tonks just looked at him as her jaw dropped. She saw the smile on Lupin's face and realized she had been had. "I can't believe you could joke about it after all you have been through, Harry," she said, astounded.

"Might as well," replied Harry. "If I started dwelling on everything, I would probably end up in that nut house after all."

Remus and Tonks went back to Remus' house for the night. Ron, Hermione and Harry said their goodnights and also went to their respective rooms.

Harry was considering whether to take a shower now or wait until morning when a flash of light illuminated the room. Fawkes had arrived.