Hey all. Here I am again. I thank all those who took the time to review. I appreciate it. But I would ask that those who do that the time to review put a tad more effort into it. While getting reviews is good, if they all basically say 'good, more', then it's almost pointless to review at all. I'd like a bit of comment on the story, what's good about it, what could be done better... How am I supposed to improve my writing if nobody tells me what I need to look after?
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A Different Path
Chapter 7
The headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, also known to some as the leader of the Order of the Phoenix, had called for a meeting of that very Order. The reason for the meeting was the return of one Harry Potter, thought to be dead when he unexpectedly returned yesterday. But Harry had changed. He no longer seemed interested in following lessons at Hogwarts, and acted very hostile towards the esteemed Headmaster, even going as far as attacking him when he tried to bring Harry with him to his office. Conveniently, Albus neglected to think about the fact that the attack was a response to his attempt to stun him, even after the young man had said there would be consequences of attempting to force him to do anything.
Using the house that now legally belonged to Harry as a headquarters for the Order, he would explain to the members that could attend the meeting that they would need to do anything in their power to insure that Harry was brought back under their, and most importantly, his supervision. Too much depended on the young man, and it could not be allowed that he remain unsupervised.
Those able to attend the meeting were Remus Lupin, the Weasley parents Arthur and Molly, the Aurors Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks, and Alastor 'Mad-eye' Moody, and Hogwarts Potions Master Severus Snape. No one else had been able to make it on such short notice, but most of the core members were present, so it was sufficient. When everyone was seated, Dumbledore started the meeting.
"My friends, I thank you for coming on such short notice. I realise some of you had to make some last minute adjustments to the schedules you have, but the matter I called this meeting for is of the utmost importance."
"What happened Albus? Is someone hurt?" Molly Weasley asked, always concerned for the safety of people and her family.
"No Molly, nothing bad has happened. In fact, it's rather good news I have. You see, yesterday evening, during supper, we had an unexpected visitor. This visitor entered the great hall, unannounced. When he stopped near those of the children who went to the Department of Mysteries at the end of last school year, he revealed himself to be Harry Potter."
As expected this revelation brought about instant reactions from everyone. After the initial united front of disbelief Remus and Molly were asking if Harry was alright, Snape was scowling, Moody was demanding if he was sure it was him, Tonks was whooping with joy and Kingsley also asked if he was certain he was who he claimed to be.
"Please, settle down." Dumbledore said, while gesturing with his hand to calm them.
"I am positive he is who he claims to be and from what I could tell he seemed healthy. Unfortunately I do not have more information, because Harry refused to join me in my office to discuss things."
"What! But why would he do that?" Molly exclaimed.
"Because he's an arrogant, spoiled brat, just like his father. Always showing..." Severus Snape started, only to be stopped mid-rant as a silencing spell hit him. He turned to the caster, glaring furiously for daring to silence him. Remus put his wand away.
"That's enough Severus. We all know you don't like Harry because of what James did, and we all know that Harry is not an arrogant spoiled brat."
Those present were shocked that the mild mannered werewolf would react in such a way. Remus never lost his temper or raised his voice, yet now he'd silenced Snape without warning.
"Is it truly so surprising that Harry would no longer want to confide in you, Albus? After what you put him through last year? You basically abandoned him when he needed you most."
"Remus! How dare you accuse..." Molly began.
"And how dare you reprimand me like you would one of your sons!" Remus interrupted. "I'm a grown man who has a right to his own opinion and the right to express that opinion. I've kept silent for far too long about this." Having shocked Molly into silence, he turned back to Dumbledore.
"You barely talked to him all year, left him to be mocked and insulted by the media and his schoolmates, and did nothing to ease his problems with that horrible Umbridge woman. What you did do was order him to take lessons in Occlumency with Severus of all people. You know all too well that they don't like each other even remotely. But you didn't care about that, and you didn't even care to tell Harry why he should take the lessons. You just said he needed to take them and you expected him to follow orders as if he were nothing but a soldier."
Snape had reversed the silencing spell on himself by now and added his two cents to it.
"The brat was useless in the subject anyway Lupin. He didn't even manage the weakest of defences. He..." Once again, he was hit with a silencing spell. If looks could kill Remus would've been a cloud of atoms by then.
"Really, Severus? Tell me, how did you teach him? Did you explain to him what Occlumency entailed? Did you tell him how to prepare his mind so he could learn something about mental defences? Did you help him create said defences? Or did you say something like 'clear your mind' and then start to attack him with Leglimency to pick out the worst possible memories you could find? Knowing you and your petty ways, Severus, I'm willing to bet what little money I have on the latter. Do correct me if I'm wrong though. I'm a big enough man to apologise when I'm wrong."
"That is enough Remus. I'm sure Severus did what he felt was needed to teach Harry." Dumbledore interrupted. "Regardless of his teachings, we need to talk about what we must do to find out where Harry has been. I'm concerned that something or someone has tempted him to stand against the Order and what we fight for."
Before Dumbledore could continue however, Remus started talking again.
"Ah yes, the Order. You know, ever since the Department of Mysteries, I've been wondering what the Order is doing. I mean, exactly what has the Order accomplished since it was reformed?"
Kingsley Shacklebolt, who had been pretty much quiet till now, answered his question.
"We've captured several death eaters at the DoM. We..." but that was as far as he got.
"Really Kingsley? Because I was under the impression that it was Harry and his friends that took down those Death Eaters. All 'we' had to do was take them into custody. The way I see it, the Order has done nothing productive since it's re-formation. The only thing we seem to do is defend when they attack and do cleanup. True, we shadow known Death Eaters, but if and when we find some sort of information about a possible stronghold or gathering place for Death Eaters, we plan, we wait, we plan some more and we wait some more. By the time it's decided to actually do something, the information is so outdated that nothing comes of it. We arrive to do nothing more than defend and clean up the mess if there is any raid. The Order is supposed to fight against those who threaten the peace of the country. But we're playing defence and that's no way to fight a war."
"Remus, that is enough. The Order does valuable work in protecting the people of this land against those who seek to harm them. There will be no more of this. Now, we must decide what we will do to bring Harry back under our supervision so we can keep an eye on what he learns, so that he does not learn something he shouldn't. We must not allow him to fall to the dark arts. If needed, we must take direct control of what he is allowed to do." Dumbledore said to those present. Molly was nodding, the Aurors were looking like it made sense, and Snape was sneering.
Remus however, was positively furious.
"So you want to control him. If that is what this Order will be doing from now on, then you can take this as my resignation of it. I will not be part of any group that seeks to control Harry for any reason."
"Remus, I cannot allow you to simply leave the Order. You know too much valuable information about its members and its activities." Dumbledore said to Remus, who stood up from his chair.
"You have no authority over me, Albus. I answer only to myself. Loyalty must be earned, but you have lost mine and you have lost me. And if you dare to try to restrain me in any way, I'll show you the physical advantages that come with lycanthropy. I've lost faith in you and your motives concerning Harry, Albus. I no longer trust you to do what is right for him. It seems to me that you want to win this war at any cost, even if it means forcibly taking Harry and transforming him into a mindless soldier to do your bidding. I want no part of this. Good day to you all." And with that Remus stalked out of the room, the front door slamming moments later with a telling finality.
The rest of those gathered were, once more, shocked that Remus would just up and leave the Order. Well, except for Snape of course, he was just glad that he was gone. Never-the-less, the things he'd said would make people like the Aurors think carefully. There had been a clear note of truth in much of what was said by Remus, and surprisingly little in what Dumbledore had said. Molly would think of how much Remus acted like a child that didn't get what he wanted and wouldn't even consider what he said. Arthur was disturbed by what had been said, but he trusted Dumbledore without question and was sad that Remus had left.
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Back in the castle of Hogwarts, the person being discussed by the Order had no idea of them doing so. He was having too much fun looking at the shocked face of Ginny. Her mouth was opening and closing periodically, as if she wanted to say something, but couldn't decide on what to say. Finally, she just sighed.
"How can I help?" She asked. Grinning, Harry slapped his hands together and rubbed them gleefully. He held back on the 'evil maniac laugh' though.
"Well now, my dearest Ginny, I'm ever so glad for your help. So, we're getting ready to test out a potentially life changing device. How does that make you feel?" He asked, genuinely interested in the answer.
"Honestly, Harry, I have no idea. Can we just get on with this?"
"Sure, Gin. Sit, it'll be easier to write." He motioned to one of the seats at the table. Ginny sat, a bit apprehensive. She trusted Harry, she really did, but something that could change the world? That sounded so big...
"Alright. This is the first test of the system I've done, so I really have no idea if it will work at all. In theory it should, and everything works on paper, but reality isn't always that accommodating. I suppose the first thing I need to do is turn one of the Nexi on." Harry explained, having slipped into a somewhat lecturing tone.
"Only one? But you've got two of them..."
"True, but first I need to know if the system works if there is only one Nexus working. If it works to send messages within the confines of a single Nexus, then we test to see if it works across several Nexi. Ultimately, it's the goal to create a network of these." Ginny nodded, telling Harry she understood.
"Right then, lets see what happens when we turn it on." And backing up his words with action, Harry touched several glyphs on one of the pyramids. A small light from the inside of the pyramid sparked and began to gain brightness. It became alight with a soft light as it started to float and slowly rotate. The glyphs on the sides shone with a light of their own. Harry released a breath he'd been holding.
"Well, so far so good. Let's name it, shall we?" Not waiting for a response, he touched another glyph. Almost instantly, a small sheet of paper appeared in front of Harry. The piece of paper contained the following information.
NEXUS IDENTIFICATION:
ACCOUNTS
ACTIVE: 0/10.000
There was also a small sign, a triangle with a single line coming from each of the three tips that came together in the middle of the triangle. Another sign, a simple 'X' was present in the right upper corner of the paper.
"Cool." Harry was beaming. So far, everything had worked. Granted, nothing major had been done yet, but still, it worked so far. "Ginny, you need to remember the triangle sign. By drawing that on a piece of paper, and pouring some magic into it, you transform that paper into something you can send via mmail. But don't worry, we'll get to that in a bit. First, we need to give our nexus a proper name."
Harry then took a muggle ballpoint and wrote "testnexus-1" next to the identification. He then tapped the triangle sign and watched as the paper rippled and the text he just wrote change to block letters. The paper now read:
NEXUS IDENTIFICATION: TESTNEXUS-1
ACCOUNTS
ACTIVE: 0/10.000
"Ok, that seems to have worked... well, only one way to test it." Harry said, putting the paper a bit to the side. He then turned his attention to Ginny, who'd been looking at the proceedings with interest, despite her initial misgivings. "Now we need to activate an account, so we can use the nexus. I'll go first, so you know what to expect. Ok?" Ginny nodded.
Taking an empty scrap of paper, Harry began wrote a single line on it.
ACCOUNT REQUEST FOR TESTNEXUS-1
He then drew the triangle sign in front of his line. Looking at the paper, Harry steeled himself, and tapped the sign. The piece of paper rippled, and was still. Ginny, seeing that nothing had seemingly happened, waited a few beats, and was about to ask Harry if it worked, when the piece of paper grew bigger and the text on it changed. Leaning over to Harry, she read what it said.
GREETINGS. I HAVE RECEIVED A REQUEST FOR AN ACCOUNT ACTIVATION. IF THIS IS INCORRECT, SIMPLY TAP THE 'X' IN THE UPPER RIGHT CORNER OF THE PAPER. IF THE REQUEST WAS CORRECT, PLEASE COMPLETE THE FORM BELOW.
NAME: ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
DESIRED
MMAIL-ADDRESS: ... ... ... ... ... ... ...!TESTNEXUS-1
PLEASE PRESS YOUR THUMB TO THE CIRCLE BELOW. YOU WILL FEEL A PRICK AND A DROP OF BLOOD WILL BE LEFT IN THE CIRCLE SO YOUR MMAIL-ADDRESS CAN BE LINKED TO YOUR MAGICAL SIGNATURE. WHEN EVERYTHING IS DONE, TAP THE TRIANGLE SIGN.
Harry looked ready to burst from joy and quickly filled in the blanks. He then pressed his thumb (left one, obviously) to the circle and indeed felt a tiny prick. When he lifted his thumb again, a drop of blood was inside the circle. Nearly bouncing on his seat, he tapped the sign and waited. The paper rippled again and it vanished. A second ripple caught Ginny's eye as the paper that had first appeared for Harry rippled. The line 'Active Accounts' now read 1/10.000.
"Look!" Harry yelled, catching her attention. Ginny looked, and she saw a tattoo-like representation of the triangle appear on Harry's left hand. What she could not see was the appearance of a transparent little envelope over the triangle on Harry's hand. Nor could she feel the slight vibration that went through his hand when the envelope appeared. Tapping the little envelope, it faded, but instead of a physical piece of paper appearing before Harry, an illusion of one hovered before him.
FROM: TESTNEXUS-1
TO:
HARRY.POTTER!TESTNEXUS-1
SUBJECT: ACCOUNT ACTIVATION
CONGRATULATIONS. YOU NOW HAVE AN ACTIVE MMAIL ACCOUNT WITH THE "TESTNEXUS-1" NEXUS. INFORMATION ON HOW TO USE MMAIL IS PROVIDED FURTHER DOWN IN THIS MMAIL. PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY. TO CLOSE THIS MMAIL, TAP THE 'X' IN THE UPPER RIGHT CORNER. TO PRINT THIS MMAIL ON PAPER, TAP THE BOOK SYMBOL. BE CAREFULL WHEN PRINTING MMAILS ON PAPER, BECAUSE THIS USES YOUR PERSONAL MAGIC TO CONJURE PERMANENT PAPER FOR THE MMAIL TO BE PRINTED ON REGARDLESS IF YOU KNOW HOW TO CONJURE OBJECTS.
Following this was a long text on how to use mmail. Harry was jumping around in the room, whooping his head off. Reaching Ginny again, he plucked her of her chair and hugged her close.
"It works!" He said. Suddenly, he remembered that they weren't quite done with the testing yet. Ginny was dropped, gently, back in her chair and Harry quickly put a piece of paper in front of her and handed her the ballpoint.
"Alright Gin, your turn. Remember what to do?" Nodding, she wrote the same line for an account request on the paper, a bit clumsily at first, not used to the muggle-style writing tool, but she soon got the hang of it. Finishing her drawing of the sign, she looked at Harry to confirm she did it right. Harry nodded and said to tap the sign. So she tapped.
A few minutes later, Ginny saw the triangle appear on her right hand and felt the light vibration as the little transparent envelope appeared. Harry, being able to see magic in ways normal wizards and witches could not, saw the envelope and told Ginny to tap it to activate it. The same mmail as Harry had received opened up, with the only difference being the mmail address Ginny had chosen. Glancing at the paper on the table, she saw that there were now 2 accounts active.
"Ok, you'll have to read the manual on how to use it, but a couple quick things to help you on the way. First, thinks of the tattoo becoming invisible will render it invisible. Shocking, no? Second, nobody can see the envelope appearing when you receive a mail, nor can they really feel the vibration that goes with it. But they can read your mails when you open them, unless you think about wanting privacy to read your mail. That will open the mail, but in a way only you can see it. Well, you and people like me who can see magic. Those are the most important things right now."
Ginny nodded to show she understood. She tapped the X on her floating illusion of a letter and it faded away. Harry however, had tapped the book symbol before the X, and now a stack of paper sheets was rapidly appearing on the table.
"The stack of papers is for you. I already know how the system is supposed to work, as I made it. But there's one more thing we have to test before we can call it a true success. We have to try to write a mail to each other. Nexus to account works and vice versa, but now we've got to try account-to-account communication. I'll start."
Harry hadn't made his sign disappear, and he tapped the bottom left corner of the triangle. A few moments later, a sheet of paper appeared.
FROM: HARRY.POTTER!TESTNEXUS-1
TO:
ginny.weasley!testnexus-1 mask: Pretty redhead
SUBJECT:
test
Hey Gin. First test to see if the mailing system works.
Harry
Tapping the triangle, Harry watched in anticipation as the short note vanished. A few moments later, a little envelope appeared over Ginny's hand, accompanied by a vibration. Watching anxiously as Ginny tapped it, the note came visible. It was almost identical to what he'd sent, with a few differences.
FROM: HARRY.POTTER!TESTNEXUS-1
TO:
Pretty redhead
SUBJECT: test
Hey Gin. First test to see if the mailing system works.
Harry
Ginny's mmail address had been replaced by the mask he had defined. That little feature didn't really have much functionality, but he'd put it in as a challenge to himself. Also different were the boxes 'Reply' and 'Forward' that stood above the rest of the mail. The apparent functions of those boxes were pretty obvious, so she tapped the reply box. As a result, a new sheet of paper appeared before her.
FROM: GINNY.WEASLEY!TESTNEXUS-1 mask:
Flattered
TO:
HARRY.POTTER!TESTNEXUS-1 mask: Green eyed genius
SUBJECT:
RE: test
Hello Harry. Your test was successful and I must say, I'm very impressed with it.
Ginny
As Harry had done, she tapped the sign to send it away. And as had happened with her, moments later, Harry received his mail notification. After opening it to see that it was what Ginny had sent, he jumped up from his seat and began dancing a very silly jig around the room. He was about to pull Ginny off her seat to join him when they heard the chime signalling the change of classes.
Cursing, Ginny leapt up from the seat and grabbed her book bag.
"I'm really sorry, Harry, but I've got to get to my next class. I'm going to be late as it is. I'll see you later, ok? Bye." She said, rushing to the door. Harry didn't have a chance to reply before she was out the door and racing down the hallways to get to her next class. Amused at the situation and still very happy that his system worked, he sank himself in one of the comfortable couches and allowed himself to relax.
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There. That's it for now. Please review and tell me what you think of it. Again, the mmail system originated from Jeconais' 'This Means War' and I've got his approval to use it.
