I sat in the Order meeting and listened intently to Dumbledore and the others. In the past two or three days, the Order meetings had become more and more serious. Voldemort was getting stronger, and we needed to guard the prophecy. There were a few people missing today. Tonks, Mad-eye and Kingsley were on their way to fetch Harry and Meredith. I was excited to have some new faces around the house. Even though, they would be angry ones.
I could here the faint sound of a door opening and shutting. Mrs Weasley seemed to hear it too because she rose out of her seat and went to open the door to greet them. I followed her out the door and quickly closed it behind me, just as Harry and Meredith got a glimpse of the Order and Sirius.
They both looked puzzled and angry at the same time, Harry more than Meredith. I told Mrs Weasley I would take them to their rooms and she could go and finish the meeting. I gave Harry a big hug and ruffled his hair, which didn't change its messiness one bit. I walked up to Meredith and stopped right in front of her. We were very close. But we had one of those relationships where we didn't hug each other, except on very special occasions. So we just looked at each other for a few seconds and acted like she had been here for the past week too. I told Harry where his room was and Meredith followed me up to ours.
"How is Harry doing?" I asked. She had a worried look on her face, and she was biting her nails.
"Not too good," she said softly, "That Dementor attack really shook him, he is really angry all the time." She was quiet for a few moments.
"What is this place?" She asked, examining the room. I thought she would be raging. But instead she was pretty calm, which worried me even more. Her fire red hair was tied in a sleek pony which fell on her shoulders.
"Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix," I said proudly and indicated which bed was mine. She looked even more puzzled, "You know, the people who united and are ready to stop the darkest wizard of all time!" I spoke like the commentator of a superhero movie. She smiled and placed her trunk on the floor. "Are you going to help us fight?" I questioned "Are you going to be in the Order?" I said more seriously and started tapping my fingers on my knee because it was uncomfortable to be serious around Meredith.
She looked at me seriously but soon she broke into a smile "Now, how could I let you fight Voldemort all by yourself when we really now you wouldn't last a day without me?" I pushed her shoulder hard and we walked down stairs, to hear a lot of screaming coming out of Harry and Ron's room. We tried to listen in, but Fred and George interrupted by apparating into their room.
"Come on," I said to Meredith and tugged her shoulder, we needed to tell everyone she would be in the Order. She rolled her hazel eyes but followed me down the stairs anyway. We entered the room, just as a feud between Snape and Sirius was about to start. They got distracted by us entering and the argument quickly subsided. "So," I said firmly "Meredith would very much like to be apart of the Order," She stood behind me with a hopeful look on her face. Mostly everyone allowed but I did see a few sour faces in the crowd.
We took our seats and let Sirius continue. He just talked about how he thought Harry should know about the prophecy. Meredith agreed and in some ways I did too. But in the end we agreed to let Harry in on a few secrets of the Order, but only a few as Mrs Weasley had a death look on her round face.
The meeting finished and people clambered into the dining room one by one. Sirius greeted Harry with a big hug, which wasn't given to Meredith. She didn't seem to notice, but I felt as her best friend to take note of these things.
Meredith sat in between me and Fred. She turned to me and took a sip of her drink, "So, what's going on between you and Sirius?" I was startled and it was plain on my face "You had an angry look on your face the whole time he was speaking!" My face went pink as I looked to the ground and pretended I didn't hear her. I hated that she was so observant.
"That's been going on for a while now," Fred whispered turning to us. It turned out he was observant too. "They've been having arguments the whole week," I new my face was scarlet now. I breathed in deeply, flashed them a convincing smile and said as confident as I could that there was nothing going on between us. They dropped the subject and dinner continued.
Fred looked at Crookshanks angrily while he licked his lips satisfactorily. The room was silent. Everyone was trying to hear what Sirius and Lupin were saying to Harry. Mr Weasley told Harry that his hearing was in front of the Wizengamot. Harry looked confused, "What did I do to the Ministry of Magic?" He asked as if being accused of murder. Everyone was silent once more.
"Show him," Mad-Eye growled from the corner of the room. They passed the Daily Prophet along the table until it reached Harry. The headline read: 'The Boy Who Lies?' Harry's face went white and he was on the edge of his seat. Meredith's eyes were wide and she started biting her nails once more.
"Fudge is out of his mind," Sirius said, answering Harry's unasked questions. "He doesn't want to believe Voldemort is back. He is scared." Sirius finished. He was right. Fear can make people do terrible things. I remembered Lupin saying hat to me once and he said it again to Harry in that moment. There was silence again. "We fear Voldemort wants to build up an army again," Sirius said softly "We believe he might be after something..." Mad-eye said something, but no one heard it. Harry was about to fall off his chair, he was listening so intently to Sirius. "Something he didn't have last time."
"Enough!" Mrs Weasley shouted. She grabbed the newspaper form Sirius' hand and threw it to the ground. "He's only a child! You might as well conduct him into the Order!" She said sarcastically throwing her hands in the air.
"I want to join!" Harry said enthusiastically, "If Voldemort's got an army, I want to fight!" Sirius fell back into his chair and waved his arm through the air. He winked at Harry and smiled. Harry smiled back. They were being stupid. Sirius looked at Harry and it looked like he was seeing James. Not his Godson.
Everyone left the table after that. I caught up with Sirius after dinner. I wanted to make amends with him. Harry having to go to a hearing made my problems seem small. He was standing in the drawing room. "Look," I sad, turning to him "I'm sorry." I was expecting him to be angry. But I think because Harry was here he seemed in a better mood. He smiled at me.
"Harry really is becoming the spitting image of James, huh?" I got slightly annoyed. Harry was his own person. And it didn't seem like Sirius new that. I new I shouldn't have said anything. But I couldn't just stand here and let him treat Harry as something he wasn't.
"Not really," I said slowly, "Harry is Harry. Not James, or anyone else." I said it as clearly as possible without being rude. Sirius frowned, he seemed angry. I could understand this. I always felt angry when I talked to him, I didn't know why.
"I know," He said loudly, he took a small step towards me.
"You obviously don't!" I shouted. Why was I getting so angry? Why did he make me so angry? "You act though he's your best friend, but he is just a kid!" I stood up for Harry like I would for Hermione. He was my family. The room was filled with tension. I started pacing up and down the floor. Sirius didn't say anything so I kept on talking "You are so aggravating! Why can't you just-" I stopped when Sirius raced towards me. He pushed his lips against mine. He smelt faintly of stale drinks and his coat had dust on it. He cupped my cheek into his hand and pulled me closer to him.
I pushed him off me fiercely and slapped him hard through the jaw. I was bewildered! He couldn't kiss me. "Why would you do that?" I screamed. He seemed just as confused as I was. His grey eyes followed my every move. I gave him a disgusted look and escaped from the room. Leaving the kiss behind me.
