AN: Good afternoon everybody!! Here is a new chappie as promised, although it took me longer to get out than I had hoped! (I have baby kittens at home at the moment and they are extremely time consuming!!)
I would also like to take this opportunity to pay my respects to a great musician; Michael Jackson. I have always had the utmost respect for both him as a person and his music, and I hope that he finds peace wherever he is.
Chapter Twenty-One!Previously on The New Leader…There was a moment of silence, before Tonks replied, "I don't care what you've done in the past, Remus Lupin, I only care about the present...and the future. And no matter what you've done or what you'll do, I'll never love you less…because you are my life, my soul…my hero."
Harry awoke to the crisp smell of sizzling rashers and fried eggs. Mouth watering, he dragged himself out from between the cosy sheets of his bed and stopped short. Since when had Aunt Petunia started making nice breakfasts?
Suddenly, the events of the previous evening came flooding back to him the werewolves, the Death Eaters, Rosie, Brian, Nessa, The Lupin Family Tree, The Inferi... Although thinking about all of this made Harry's head ache, he felt his mouth stretch into an enormous grin. He was no longer stuck at Privet Drive, waiting for Voldemort to come and find him. He was at Order headquarters, surrounded by the most competent witches and wizards in England. He was safe.
Cheered by this thought, Harry pulled on his clothes and made his way out of the room. The corridor outside was a lot friendlier in the daytime, and as all the portraits were awake, a few of them bid him good morning. He turned the corner and almost fell down the stairs over his cousin. "Dudley, what the bloody hell are you doing?" Harry yelped, clutching onto the banister for dear life. Dudley shrugged and put his finger to his lips. Harry raised an eyebrow; normally if Harry had annoyed him, Dudley would have at least punched him by now. But he just sat there. Was he plotting something? Harry sat down warily, watching out for whoopee cushions and stink bombs.
"A bunch of people came in about an hour ago and they're all still in the kitchen with The Professor and the others." Harry raised his other eyebrow. "The Professor?" Dudley shrugged again. "He was one wasn't he? One of yours?" Harry stared. "How'd you know that?" Dudley grinned the grin that Harry had associated with some sort of painful humiliation when he was younger. And he feared that this time would be no different. "Two or three summers ago you were talking and crying in your sleep. You said something along the lines of "save me Professor Lupin, Snape's coming for me and I don't like his dress, it's too revealing!""
Harry felt himself turn brick red and started sputtering. "What…but…that's…EW!!" Dudley cackled loudly and the coat of armour shushed him. "So, who went into the kitchen," Harry asked quickly, desperate to change the subject. Dudley narrowed his eyes but answered his question. "About ten or fifteen of them. Some of them were kinda weird looking. Like, there was this woman with a really tight bun and a bloke dressed all in black who looks a bit like a bat, some really shifty looking guy with a really bulky coat…and why are you smiling?" Dudley asked his cousin, looking very perplexed.
But Harry wasn't even listening. The appearance of these strangely dressed people could only mean one thing; the Order was back. He hopped up from his perch, despite his cousins protests and ran down the stairs, narrowly avoiding being tripped up by the cunning statue. But he then paused outside the kitchen door. Should he go in? He had never been allowed to sit in on a meeting before, but then again, he had been underage. He was now seventeen and legally an adult in the wizarding community. Plus, he had been through more than most; losing his parents, battling Voldemort, having terrifying nightmares about Snape…surely no-one was better suited to the Order than him?
And with that, Harry took a defiant step and pushed the kitchen door open, walloping some poor eejit in the face. Apologising profusely to Sturgis Podmore, who stepped back clutching his nose, Harry immediately regretted his decision. Seated around the large, wooden kitchen table were Professors Flitwick and McGonagall, Mundungus Fletcher, Hestia Jones, Dedalus Diggle, Kingsley, Tonks, Remus and Mad-Eye. They all blinked at him in surprise, as if they had forgotten he was in the house at all. Mad-Eye appeared to have been cut off mid-rant; he was on his feet, his fist on the table as if he had just banged it down in anger.
"Er…hi…?" Harry murmured awkwardly. Remus smiled kindly at him. "Evening Harry, did you sleep well?" "Yeah it was…wait, evening?" Harry asked perplexed, "what time is it?!" "A little after five," Remus answered grinning at him, "you'd think that The Chosen One would know something as trivial as the time." "What…but…" Harry spluttered.
Tonks got to her feet and elbowed her boyfriend in the ribs. "He's only messing you around Harry, relax! Would you like a cup of tea?" Harry nodded glaring at his former mentor who began sniggering. Tonks elbowed him again and raised her wand to summon a cup from the dresser. There was a unanimous cry of "NOOO" from the table, but it was too late; the entire contents of the dresser were flying towards them at an alarming speed. All of the tea cups onto the floor, smashing everywhere. Mad-Eye ducked to avoid a large teapot, only to get hit in the face by a low flying milk jug. Kingsley got two sugar lumps impaled in his nostrils, and hopped around screeching "get them out, get them out!!" Flitwick was knocked out by a ladle as he tried to flee the scene, and Harry himself had to dive out of the way as several pots of strawberry jam hurtled towards him, landing beside a disgruntled-looking Minerva McGonagall. Eventually everything was silent, and he peeked over the side of the table at the dresser. It was completely empty, except for one piece of glass, which shook and fell off as he watched. One by one, the other Order members peered over the table at the mess. The walls were covered in jam, the floor plastered in glass and porcelain, and there was no glass at all left in the kitchen windows. It took a moment for Harry to realise that Remus hadn't moved at all. He was still standing in the same spot he had been in when Harry had entered the kitchen, except now he was covered in strawberry jam, with streaks of flour in his hair. Tonks crawled out from underneath a chair and looked fearfully at her boyfriend. "Oh Merlin! Remus, I'm so sorry, I…" She broke off as he turned to look at her, an unfathomable expression on his face. The entire Order glanced between the two of them, shuffling nervously.
Suddenly, Harry realised that Remus's shoulders were shaking, and looked up at his face in surprise. The older man was quivering with silent laughter, and as Harry caught his eye, he finally cracked and burst out into howls of mirth, tears pouring down his face.
One by one, the other Order members followed him and within a matter of seconds, every single person in the kitchen was laughing their head off. Suddenly, there was a loud "ahem" and Harry glanced towards the stove where the noise was coming from. And he felt his blood boil.
Severus Snape was standing in the corner, covered in jam and glaring with all his might. Before he could stop himself, Harry launched himself at Snape, hands closing around the potion master's throat. "Bastard!!" Snape looked shocked, but Harry didn't care; all he could think about was his last memory of Dumbledore alive before he had fallen from the tower. He could feel Snape struggling against him and he tightened his grip, feeling anger and sorrow coursing through him. Suddenly, he felt himself being yanked away by several pairs of hands and tried to shake them off but to no avail. Snape was finally able to breathe again and Harry was thrown unceremoniously into an armchair by Mad-Eye. "Calm down lad," he growled, his magical eye glaring out the back of his head at Snape who was struggling to his feet, his eyes burning with hatred, "believe it or not, he's on our side." But Harry couldn't believe it. "How the hell can you say that?? HE KILLED DUMBLEDORE!!!!" And with that, Harry tried to pull himself back up, but a pair of arms pulled him back down from behind. Freakin' werewolf Harry thought as Remus held him back. "He had no choice, Harry," Remus said quietly, " and Dumbledore was dying anyway. He wanted to choose his way to go, and Severus was just carrying out his final wish. You understand that, don't you?" But Harry hadn't heard a word after "Dumbledore was dying anyway…" How was he dying? Did he have a disease? Heart problems?? Arabian lung fungus??? "What do you mean he was dying?" Remus sighed. "Severus, maybe you could…" But Snape had already swept out of the room, slamming the door behind him. The ex-professor sighed and rubbed at his forehead. With a sweep of his wand, order was restored to the kitchen, just as Nessa appeared looking more than a little rumpled, eyes bloodshot and heavy. "Little too much brandy Nessa?" Tonks questioned cheekily, trying to lighten the mood. Nessa gave her a dirty look and muttered something along the lines of "little feckin' shite…amadán gan dabht!" before making herself a strong cup of tea and leaving the kitchen again. "Oookay, so the Irish humour doesn't work with a hangover then?" Tonks commented. Remus merely shook his head, smiling, before looking back at Harry. "I believe that we have a few things to discuss, Harry…"
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"…So, there was nothing that anyone could have done for Dumbledore?" Harry asked quietly, taking another sip of his tea. It was three quarters of an hour later, and Remus, Kingsley, Tonks and Mad-Eye had been filling Harry in on the events leading up to that fateful night at Hogwarts; the rest of the Order had left. "I'm afraid not Harry," Remus said gently, placing a hand on the young man's arm, "Dumbledore made his own choices for his own reasons." Harry nodded, blinking back the tears. "But, how did Snape tell you about it? Was he not afraid that you'd kill him if he came near you?" Remus nodded, smiling slightly. "I was furious with him, I thought…well, we all thought that he'd finally crossed to the dark side. So, you can imagine how shocked I was when I woke up one morning to find his owl sitting at the foot of my bed with a letter in its mouth. Initially, I got angry and, well, threw things at the bird."
"What?!?"
"Well, namely shoes, the odd sock or book, I was still half asleep you know!"
"No, I just meant…never mind."
"Right…well, anyway, after I'd calmed down and run out of ammunition, I let the owl give me its letter. I expected to just burn it before it exploded in my face or worse, but something made me open it. And I was shocked by what I read. Snape explained everything about the Vow, Draco Malfoy, Voldemort's suspicions of him…and I actually felt sorry for him. All this time he'd been painted black, but when it came down to it, he was just trying to do the right thing. I wrote back to him, telling him that there was to be an Order meeting the following week and that he should attend. And of course, being Severus, he replied that I should stop being an old woman and that he didn't need or want my pity. But he did come to the meeting, although he waited until the very end when most people had left; it was only Minerva and myself at that point. I'd already explained everything to the Order, so there was really nothing left to say." "So, what happened then?" Harry asked. Remus smiled slightly. "Minerva gave him a hug." Harry stared. "Wait, what??" The werewolf laughed at Harry's disgusted tone. "Minerva and Albus were friends for many, many years. She may not have been happy that he was gone, but she was thankful that he had had the chance to choose his way to go, and that Severus had helped him to achieve that." "So, what happened after that, Snape gave her an awkward pat on the shoulder and ran out the door?" "Nah, he broke down crying and then they gave each other facials and bitched about their ex-boyfriends," Mad-Eye commented, "of course that's what happened Potter!" Remus cleared his throat over Tonks and Kingsley's sniggering. "Yes, well, anyway, I'm glad that we could clear everything up."
Harry nodded slowly, but felt as though he was missing something from the story. "So, since Dumbledore is gone, I guess that you all make decisions about important stuff together then? I mean, there's no-one in charge anymore, right?" The wizards and witch exchanged looks. "Well, not exactly," Tonks said slowly, glancing at Mad-Eye, "there's a new leader…"
Harry was shocked. Dumbledore was barely dead and buried and they'd already replaced him?? "There's a new leader of The Order of The Phoenix?" Harry said angrily, "who?"
AN: Not much happened here, I know, but some plotline stuff had to be sorted out before I moved on with the story! So, you guys know the drill, and stay tuned!!
JoSchmo666: Haha, I'm afraid Dudley will have to learn about that one the hard way!!
Oh, you really want to argue about who is twistier eh? Eh?? Bring it!!
It does indeed suck!! Haha!! But thank you!!
Miss. Silver Star: Haha, one should always look on the bright side of life!!
There is always an appropriately placed window in these kind of situations! In fact, there are usually too many windows and then I have to choose between them, it can be quite bothersome!
I think the answer to your question is; what is EVER up with Kingsley! You gotta love him though!
Hey, your grandmother sounds a lot less technologically challenged than me, I don't know how to work my scanner at all, it just doesn't like me!!
Mandie Weasley: Haha, you spoke too soon since it's taken me four months to get the next one out!! The first step to recovery is indeed admitting the problem! Kingsley needs some help!! Haha!!
Ah the poor Lupin family have been through a lot. But who said Raul was dead…..
Uniquegrl7: Sorry to keep you waiting! Thanks for responding to my youtube idea!! I think I'm gonna go ahead with it, maybe in a few weeks time?
Sorry for interrupting your trance! I expect I'm doing it again right now!!
LadyChris07: Cheers! Thanks for stopping by!!
Inuzuka-chan: Now that's just not a review!
IrishCailin16xxx