14.
When Dumbledore arrived, he didn't even look up to see Harry hanging over the banister with the Twins and Hermione. Snape followed the Headmaster down towards the kitchen where another fifteen or so people were already waiting. The twins were able to lower their extendable ears down to the door in the hopes of catching few words of what was going on when the door was wrenched open and Sirius stuck his head out.
"Yes Molly! I wont forget the charms!"
He winked up at the twins before gesturing for Harry to follow him.
"Sorry, Hermione…it's more than my life's worth to try and get you in as well."
She wasn't too put out, knowing that Harry would end up explaining everything to her anyway. She whispered words of encouragement to Harry before he walked down the stairs to join Sirius.
From the first floor landing, they heard the click of the door locking but the shimmer of the Imperturbable Charm being raised never appeared.
In the kitchen, Harry found himself the centre of attention the moment he walked through the door and Dumbledore moved from his position by the fire to greet him.
"Harry! So good to finally see you safe and well. We have been so worried about you."
Sirius' hand on Harry's shoulder tightened as Snape scoffed quietly at the headmaster's words but he said nothing further. Dumbledore ushered Harry to a seat between Remus and Mrs Weasley and waited for Sirius to sit down but the Marauder stood staunchly at Harry's back.
"Very well then. Now that we're all gathered, I would like to introduce to properly to The Order of the Phoenix…you may know some of the face here but I highly doubt you'll know everyone so…"
"There's time for introductions later, Albus! Can't we just get on with it?"
Harry hadn't actually noticed Alastor Moody, the real Alastor Moody, sitting at the far end of the table. His read eye was narrowed at Dumbledore whilst the fake one was pointing directly at Harry.
"Yes well…perhaps you have a point. The first item on our agenda this evening is some very grave news indeed. I'm sorry to tell you, harry, but Dudley Dursley was kissed by a Dementor a few nights ago. He is currently in a muggle hospital where he is believed to have slipped and banged his head."
Harry, of course, had been expecting the news but he tried to school his face into an expression of mock concern.
"What were Dementors doing so far away from Azkaban? I know a prison isn't the best place for a romantic stroll but Surrey? "
He could hear Sirius fighting back a snigger but Snape clearly wasn't in a patient mood.
"It is no laughing matter, Potter. The boy is as good as dead because of your reckless behaviour."
Dumbledore looked mildly exasperated, like he had wanted to word it differently.
"Poorly worded though it may have been, Severus does have a point. Harry, your running away has upset your aunt and uncle and they-"
"Upset them!? They put bars on my window! They locked Hedwig in her cage! They fed me cold soup though a cat flap in a locked door! If I'd had the sense to report even half the things they did to me, they'd have been in jail years ago!"
A memory sprung to the front of his mind of being seven years old and making an offhand comment in school about his cupboard under the stairs.
"Nonsense, every teenager has disagreements with their…"
"I did tell someone! Now I think about it, I tried to tell my teachers about it before I went to Hogwarts and it was always brushed under the carpet. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you? Because I know muggles take this kind of this very seriously…"
Both Snape and Dumbledore looked like they had swallowed something very unpleasant and it was McGonagall who spoke up, her voice cracking.
"I told you, Albus! I told you they were the worst sort of Muggles. I saw the will last week; Harry was supposed to stay with me at Hogwarts after what happened to Frank and Alice…and now this? I hope you don't plan on trying to send him back there…"
"Minerva, you know as well as I do that his placement there is for his own safety. Lily's sacrifice…it left a bond, a ward of sorts. So long as Harry here lives with a blood relative of his mother then no one will be able to find him and Voldemort will be unable to harm him."
"He hasn't been there for weeks and we haven't been able to find him aside from a few sightings in Diagon Alley. Honestly Albus, what were you thinking trying to send the lad back to an abusive household like that?"
Other voices were beginning to join the fray and Harry was slightly perturbed to find Mrs Weasley, who he'd come to consider something of a second mother, a strong advocate for his return to the Dursleys, so long as it was what Dumbledore thought was best. Remus, on Harry's left, was sitting with his head in his hands, wincing at the noise and Harry felt a pang of guilt over dragging him into the middle of all of this. He knew Remus owed his life to Dumbledore but his loyalties were being torn and the full moon had only been two days ago.
Harry felt Sirius shift behind him and, over the racket of the argument; a sound like a gunshot rang through the kitchen, silencing everyone. Looking around, Sirius was standing with his wand in the air, a determined expression on his face.
"If any of you, and I mean any of you, have any intentions of forcing my Godson to go back to those people then you will have to go through me first."
Remus hummed in quiet agreement.
"Sirius is right. Even if we were to ignore the fact that that Tournament meant forcing through an emancipation order, or if certain parties attempted to have it reversed – don't think I don't know it hasn't crossed your mind, Albus – Lily and James' will has been read. The only people who have any say over Harry's future in this room are Sirius, myself and Minerva, in that order. Tonks, I'm sure you could speak for your mother on her opinions but I don't believe Harry has met Andi since he was a baby."
Tonks, her hair back to its bubblegum pink, shrugged.
"Mum's nuts but she's going to be after your blood, Professor, if she catches wind of what went on in that house. I wouldn't cross her."
Dumbledore sank into the chair at the head of the table and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"It is not as simple as that. The protections that were put in place depend on Harry continuing to call Privet Drive home. It would only take living there for a few months out of the year, even splitting the time between summer and Christmas would keep the wards intact…"
"But you're forgetting, Sir, that Voldemort has my blood now…wouldn't that make all of those protections invalid?"
"But he still can't find you at your…"
"I'm living under the Fidelus Charm, Professor and, before you ask, I'm not going to tell you who my Secret Keeper is. I've experienced first-hand how the charm can fail; I'm not going to make the same mistake. I am safe where I am, safer than I'll ever be with the Dursleys."
Harry watched the clock as the meeting progressed and they continued to argue about his placement, and little else, for another three hours. It felt like they were constantly ghosting over the other topics on their agenda – Remus was making progress with some of the werewolves, Hagrid was somewhere in France, something was being guarded – and everything always managed to boil down to Harry not being where Dumbledore wanted him. Eventually, at the tail end of the meeting as everyone was standing to leave, Sirius snapped.
"Dumbledore! If I find out that Harry's been forced into doing something he doesn't want to do, this Order will not long be welcome under my roof, do you understand me? You might be our secret keeper but the old family magic still answers to me. Think about it."
Dumbledore only nodded in response before sweeping from the room with Snape on his heels and Harry made a mental note to tell Sirius his address before he left. Mrs Weasley was bustling about getting dinner ready and Harry could just make out the thundering of feet on the upper levels. He had forgotten that Ron and Ginny had to be somewhere in the house and he wasn't looking forwards to running into Ron.
"You'll be staying for dinner, of course!"
Tearing his eyes away from the door, Harry gave Mrs Weasley an apologetic look.
"Sorry, Hermione's mum and dad are coming to mine tonight to help finish the arrangements for the ceremony …if I don't manage to visit again before, I'll see you all at the ball though! I don't think I'd be able to bear it if there weren't as many friendly faces as possible there."
Molly Weasley being there or not didn't make a lot of difference to him either way – she might have had everyone's best interests at heart but she could be so very overbearing. However, Harry was certain it was the best way to remind her that he was capable of making his own decisions without hurting her feelings.
Hermione was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs, her back straight and her expression unreadable. At Harry's questioning look she simply shook her head and looked over his shoulder to where Padfoot was sitting at the front door, his tail thumping softly against the carpet and Remus tried to argue quietly with the dog.
"We have been through this…yes I know we walked here…if you suggest a glamour one more time I'll make sure you look like a Pomeranian…Pads really, it's too…don't give me that look it won't…oh in the name of…fine, but if you get caught it's your own fault and you're wearing a collar."
Harry had never seen a dog give anyone a suggestive smirk and he wasn't sure how he managed it but, with an old scarf transfigured to look like a collar and lead, Padfoot joined them on the two hour walk back to Harry's house.
A/N: I am very not well today so, whilst I'm sitting on my ass in a waiting room for hours on end I thought I would see what I can get written.
The one thing I see a lot in HHr fics (and in ones that I really, really love! So it's not a bad thing per say, just not my thing) is Dumbledore acting like a toddler throwing a tantrum and I was really hoping to avoid that. My feelings have always been that he is honestly trying his best but without considering that other people have feelings and opinions of their own.
Before anyone asks about Snape and Dumbledore being legilimens and being able to read the secret of Harry's whereabouts from his thoughts – I think to think that an in-built feature of the charms is that the secret can only be shared purposefully through speaking it or writing it down. So, whilst it can be tortured from someone, it can't be stolen directly from their mind.
A quick google will tell you that Grimmauld Place is in the Borough of Islington and, as you might have guessed, I'm kind of a stickler for practical travelling. Two hours seems like a long way to walk but I think sometimes the most mundane ways are the safest.