Heart of Magic
It took Tonks less than five minutes to begin her interrogation, the plane had taken off and Harry was sat in his seat waiting for the confirmation that he had left. He had been dreading this day for the last two years and now it had come, it had come, the plane may have been luxurious but for Harry it could have been a prison. One of the many servants the order had employed was acting as an air hostess but she was with the pilot and had only just told them they could leave their seats and Tonks had moved faster than light to reach him.
"You're alive!" her tone was almost accusing but Harry waited for her to actually formulate a question.
"But you, you left?" she asked as if not daring to believe it. He nodded gently,
"Why?" was her next question and Harry supposed he had no definitive answer but he had to explain.
"There was nothing left for me Tonks, I tried and tried but all I ever did was cause more harm, Sirius, Cedric and how many more died because of me?" he asked her with wide eyes, her hand covered his for a moment and she looked at him with wide watery eyes.
"It wasn't your fault," she whispered and despite everything Harry smiled but his next words made it falter.
"Some people might disagree with you," he told her with a sigh, she frowned and he supposed he needed to tell her or someone else sooner or later.
"Ron, Hermione, Neville and even Remus blamed me, he told me at the ministry. That it was my fault because everything I did led to his best friend dying and the other's just thought I was bad news; thought I wanted attention so left, the people I spent so long helping turned against me. So I left," Harry told her almost laughing. He should have known none of them would tell the Order,
"What!" Tonks gasped with her hair flashing angry red as he told her, Harry simply nodded and smiled and she knew it was true. Harry however was surprised when the pink haired girl wrapped him in a crushing hug
"I'm so sorry," she whimpered as if she was the one at fault, Harry gently turned to her.
"It never was nor will ever be your fault," he assured her with a smile. She smiled back and suddenly he felt like he was with an old friend and in many ways he was, she was one of the few who had not betrayed him.
"So how is everyone?" he asked her after a while, he had no knowledge of the war, the order or anything he had left behind. The only thing he knew was the war was still at a stalemate and while the Death Eaters were evil the order would not help Britain.
"Oh fine, Remus and me dated for a while but it didn't work out, the war's still going on, Fudge has become the minister again thanks to people high up in the death eater families. Arthur, Fred and George are ok but..." she trailed off and Harry looked up.
"Ron, Ginny and Molly have been calling you a coward in the paper's, that you ran from You-Know-Who and deserted them, Hermione has been supporting them and while they're in the order we don't get along anymore," she told him. Harry nodded; he had half-expected something like this to happen and surprisingly he didn't overly care; his time with the order had made him immune to other people's opinions. They taught love and forgiveness and they couldn't hold personal grudges as they argued in the main chamber every other day,
"So what are you going to do?" she asked after he had time to digest the news. Harry thought for a moment before answering
"Well first I'm going to accompany you back to the order of the Phoenix and tell them we refuse to help them until the country as a whole until changes have been made, then I will meet with the Minister and inform him of the same." Harry explained. Obviously some of Britain had knowledge of the Mages order and would be foolish to turn away from help, as long as the minimum requirements of help were met then the death eaters would have a few hundred battlemages hunting them down.
Later
Dumbledore had expected Tonks back with news, hopefully the order of mages would agree to help them and send someone along, they needed to. They had dealt with worse than the Death Eaters and he had seen them close up, they would be great allies in this war and could stop Voldemort for good.
"Where is she?" Ron Weasley demanded, he had finished school now and had become an auror with Hermione. Both were in the order now but Hermione was the one keeping Ron in line and making up for his mistakes, she actually had sense and even Dumbledore had to accept his main use was as Cannon Fodder.
"She may be running late, the Order Of Mages are known to be hard to convince," he told the red-haired boy who laughed arrogantly.
"I don't care who they are the greatest wizard in the world is right here!" he announced, some people looked ready to clap but a more cynical voice disagreed. While some like Remus would have agreed with Ron but he was busy with the werewolves.
"Common misconception, Albus Dumbledore was voted the greatest wizard in Britain; the Arch-Mage is the greatest in the world as he rules over all wizards in effect. While Dumbledore is a great wizard unless he is in the order he will never be considered the greatest." That voice it couldn't be but sure enough draped in red Cardinal Mage robes was Harry Potter who strolled into the room with Tonks at his side.
"Harry!" Dumbledore gasped wondering if he was dreaming but he wasn't, it was Harry.
"Harry?" Fred and George questioned looking up at him with shock.
"You!" Ron gaped looking both annoyed and shocked as Harry walked in with Tonks who took her usual seat, Harry took a seat offered to him by Dumbledore.
"Good evening," he greeted impassively sitting down ignoring the looks of shock and surprise.
"So the great Harry Potter has returned to save us all," Snape hissed sarcastically. Harry turned to him and almost seemed glad he had spoken
"No I haven't actually, I'm not here to help you at all," Harry answered simply,
"What!" Ron demanded suddenly.
"I am not here to help you in any way, I will not fight for you, assist you or do anything to help either side in this war, I can only use offensive magic in self-defence." Harry answered simply not giving any indication he knew Ron.
"How noble," Snape sneered.
"Harry are you a..." Dumbledore wondered recognising the rule
"Cardinal Mage," Harry confirmed, Dumbledore nodded. This was certainly impressive at his age if nothing else
"So even the legendary Order of Mages give you special treatment, I suppose even the wisest people are idiots deep down," Snape commented and Dumbledore wanted to hit him. Insulting the order was once a death sentence and Harry turned on his with an angry look
"Please withdraw your comment now!" Harry demanded coolly, Snape looked taken aback
"Why would I apologise to you, all you are is a spoilt brat!" he began nastily but Harry did not let him finish whatever lengthy insult he had planned.
"Severus Snape as a representative of the Order of Mages I hereby defend our honour by binding your magic for a period of twenty four hours," Harry spoke in the twisting words which revealed the raw power of a Cardinal Mage and while for a moment Snape was cocky his face fell. He grabbed his wand and tried to create sparks but his magic refused to flow.
"What have you done!" he screamed as like so many wizards without his magic he was nothing, in Europe magic was not seen as a qualification and some degree of Muggle subjects such as mathematics and English were applied to ensure all wizards had an equal chance.
"Your magic has been bound for one day, this is to defend the honour of the Order of Mages, any further threats or comments will extent this time period and continual persistence will result in excommunication from the magical world," Harry informed him without any emotion on his face as he turned away.
"How dare you!" Snape began but Dumbledore's glare shut him up, just under a hundred years ago Harry would have killed Snape and he was still justified to do so. Luckily Harry had shown some restraint
"That isn't right! He can't just take away our magic!" Ron protested, Harry turned to him without any trace of emotion once more and Dumbledore wondered how much this boy had grown up over the last two years.
"Actually Mr Weasley I can and will bind the magic of a person if necessary," Harry answered.
"Harry James Potter give Professor Snape his magic back this instant, you cannot leave and come back thinking we are going to accept you no matter what you do!" Molly Weasley shrilled.
"There is no way of reversing the process and I do not want to be accepted back, I am not the same person I was and I have no intention of staying in this country long-term. I am only here to help create the conditions required for our order to assist you. Once these goals are met I am on the first plane leaving this place and going back home," Harry replied somewhat icily that this woman was making out he was returning with arrogance and pride.
"Home! This is your home!" Molly argued but Harry shook his head.
"This hasn't been my home since I left two years ago and I only returned because I was sent here by the Arch-Mage himself and to be honest my concern is for the order," Harry answered.
"You expect us to believe you! You came back because you have to, you have to kill Voldemort and you've been a coward this whole time!"Hermione spat nastily.
"Believe what you want, I left because of your expectations and ideas and trust me I will again after our business is concluded," Harry replied.
"Oh please you only left because you're a cowardly attention seeking brat," Ron spat trying to defend his girlfriend.
"Leave him alone! He did what he thought was right and you can't judge him" Fred warned in defence of Harry.
"Yes prattish brother of ours shut up and let the man speak if he belongs to people trying to help us then don't insult him," George finished.
"I don't care who he is or what dumb order he belongs to, all I care about is he does his damn duty and gets the hell out of here!" Ron bellowed with his ears red.
"Insulting a member of the order and its purpose your magic is bound for twenty four hours," Harry retorted. The moment the words left his lips the entire order looked ready to protest or congratulate as Ron was put in his place.
"How dare you!" Hermione shrilled looking ready to draw her wand.
"He deserved it," Fred and George defended Harry and they too went for their wands.
"Enough!" Dumbledore commanded before anyone else could speak "Harry is our guest and will be treated as such, we are held accountable for any mistreatment and he is justified in binding our magic in this way."
"Thank you headmaster," Harry nodded in his direction as Ron looked ready to assault him, a very bad idea seeing Cardinal Mages were trained in wandless magic and in many self-defence arts. For now it seemed the order would need to be more aware than they were, they needed to know more about the Order Of Mages and what it did and more importantly what it would do to them if they didn't fall in line.
