Disclaimer: Do we really need to go over this again? *Sigh* Fine, I do not own Harry Potter. Get it? Got it? Good.

Chapter 21-

The Order stood, milling around the empty Great Hall at Hogwarts, waiting for Dumbledore to speak. It was the late afternoon so the children were off in their dormitories, and classes were over. The members talked quietly amongst themselves, unsure of why Dumbledore was holding an emergency meeting in Hogwarts, not the Order headquarters.

After a while, a pensive Dumbledore finally looked up from the head table he had been staring at in contemplation. The Order sat down in seats around him while he cleared his mind and throat. To the members who remembered what he was like at his greatest, the man they had come to trust with everything to, now looked old and washed out, pale in comparison, and tired to the bone.

And yet, when he looked at them, Dumbledore's eyes held the same fire they'd had so many years ago; and he spoke, voice soft and sad but full of fierce determination. "I know you all will be wondering why we are meeting here, and some of you may even be wondering why Sirius and Remus are not here. It is simple. I believe that it is unsafe for us to continue holding meetings at Grimlaund Place until we find Harry.

"Now, as you all know, we were, a mere few hours ago, somehow sent to Saudi Arabia. I believe that Harry may have gotten Kreacher to come to his side and to expel us from the house for a few hours so that he could walk about freely.

Ron Weasley immediately stood up, nearly knocking over Granger, causing her to glare at him reproachfully. "Then why aren't we going back to the house, to capture that traitor?"

"Because, Ronald," Granger cut in, still looking at him angrily. "He would already have left by now, and Kreacher would just listen in on our meetings for him. Besides, he's not the traitor…"

She looked down at her hands, eyes saddened. "While what you say is mostly true, Miss Granger, Harry had indeed betrayed us, the Order, by not joining with us. Even more so after what happened in the village." Mumbles of angry agreement sounded from the Order members.

"But he hasn't joined Voldemort, and maybe we could –" she weakly protested.

"No, Miss Granger," Dumbledore responded, eyes cold as ice. "He has still not joined with us, which makes him a traitor, through and through. We need to find him as soon as possible, find out what he knows, and force him to join us if we have to. We have to do this to save the innocents. Do you want to save lives, Miss Granger?"

Granger paused before looking up and nodding, all indecision gone. "But wait," Tonks called out. "Why aren't Sirius and Remus here?"

Dumbledore's gaze grew sad. "I fear that Sirius and Remus have joined Harry." Gasps resounded across the room.

"How do you know that?" Molly Weasley, ever the busy body, demanded.

"They were not expelled form the house like the rest of us. And they refused to help us capture Harry. While I have no proof, I believe that they have been contacting Harry."

"But you don't know for sure," Tonks said in a measured tone, her small crush on Remus not yet gone.

Dumbledore nodded. "True, I am not sure. This is where we need to find out for sure if they have been contacting Harry. If they are, then we need them to tell us Harry's location. We won't hesitate to use any means necessary to find out this crucial information."

"So we aren't going to do what Harry told us? You saw how angry he was." Bill Weasley spoke up, obviously still remembering the village fiasco. Now it was his turn to fall under Dumbledore's cold stare.

"No, Harry betrayed us; and he doesn't know what is best for him." Another obscure Order member opened his mouth, probably to ask another question; but Dumbledore cut him off. "Enough. Just know that all of this is for the greater good."

Many of the members looked up, shocked by Dumbledore's defensive tone, but said nothing. The Order had lost several members these past few days alone, all of them newer, only recently joined. Everyone noticed how reserved the twins seemed that day, and even Granger, who never talked back, had questioned Dumbledore!

Dumbledore was feeling panicked; he had to regain control before his carefully constructed Order crumbled. "Now," Dumbledore calmed himself, regaining his genial mask, causing most of the Order to sigh in relief, while several still looked suspicious. "We need to find out what Sirius and Remus know."

"How?" Tonks asked, still fearful for Remus.

Dumbledore smiled, and his eyes twinkled deceptively. "I am so glad you asked, Nymphadora…"

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Harry stormed through the gates of Hogwarts, stopping only long enough to pull his hood up before continuing on angrily, muttering incoherently the entire time. "Stupid werewolf… stupid mutt… stupid Voldemort… stupid horcruxes… stupid life!"

Harry opened the door with a slam, startling several students hanging out near there to jump before striding down the hallway towards the DADA room purposefully, a dark cloud following him the entire way. Students and teachers alike scrambled to get out of his way because of the glares directed at anyone near enough to see him. Harry reached the defense classroom and stood in front of it for a few seconds, scowl firmly in place.

He knew that he shouldn't be this angry; a little angry, sure; but this was a little exaggerated. Harry had just been hoping against all better judgment that Sirius and Remus would have completely changed the way they viewed him overnight. He couldn't really blame them; now could he? Still, Harry couldn't help the flush of anger that went through him at the fact that they'd thought he would brand them. Surely he didn't come off as that horrible, right?

Now thoroughly working himself into a bad mood, Harry tried to shake out of his thoughts as he swung open the door… only to find himself looking at the kid with the backpack, now to be referred to as BK. (1) BK, of course, didn't notice Harry was there at first; he was standing a few feet away from a dummy, not unlike the ones Harry had used in the DA, trying (and failing) to cast an expelliarmus.

Harry was rather amused to find that the kid was still wearing his backpack for some reason. With BK's attention focused solely on the other side of the room, Harry was free to inspect him without abandon.

'Hmm… Considering the spell, maybe BK's a third year? Awfully short for a third year, though. But then again, what do I know? Besides, kids seem to be getting shorter and shorter every year; now everything's being downsized… even them!'

Harry shook himself from his musings as he watched BK get ready to try the spell again. He really needed this kid to go find Draco for him. "Yo, BK!" Well, Harry had never been one for tact.

The poor kid violently jumped into the air, accidentally raising his wand as he did so, an unbidden "Expelliarmus!" escaping his lips simply from the fact that he'd been saying the words over and over for the past half hour. Both Harry and BK watched as the wand flew out of the dummy's hand, BK in awe and Harry in amusement.

"Yes!" BK pumped his fist in the air, nearly falling over because of the weight of his backpack, and turned to Harry, not seeing who he was in his excitement, a huge smile gracing his lips. "I finally did it! I finally… did… it." Suddenly, who he was talking to seemed to sink in; and BK made a mad dash for the door, momentarily forgetting that Harry was blocking it.

Unfortunately for BK, he never made it as far as the door, as he promptly tripped over his own robes slightly; and his top-heavy backpack did the rest of the work for him, pulling him down to the ground in a crumpled heap. Harry blinked. Was he really that scary?

Harry walked over to the kid, who was struggling in vain to try to disentangle his backpack from where it had gotten caught on one of the desks that had been pushed over to the wall. Harry sighed and knelt down next to BK, who immediately froze and eyed Harry warily, as if afraid that he might attack. Harry found himself beginning to feel mildly irritated at the kid. Was he really that scary?

Keeping his voice calm, Harry took a deep breath and said, "Listen, kid. Running away whenever you see someone who looks the least bit threatening is never a good game plan for several reasons. For one thing, running away might insult said threatening person and make them feel the need to hurt you." Okay, so that was a little harsh, but Harry was in a bad mood; and the kid needed to learn. He felt a little remorse wash over him, though, as BK whimpered pitifully.

"Second of all, running away is highly less effective when you trip and fall after five feet. Third of all… said threatening person might make you do something for him." Harry watched BK's face pale even more. Hmm… maybe he was a third year if he was thinking things like what Harry thought he was thinking.

"No, nothing like that. Look, if I help you up, will you go find Draco – er, Professor Malfoy- and bring him here to me?" It was a bit of a risk considering BK could just run away and not find Draco for Harry, but from how frightened BK seemed to be of Harry, it was doubtful. The kid probably thought Harry would know if he didn't go find Draco and would hunt him down.

BK nodded his head fervently, as if he wanted nothing more than to be on the other side of the castle already, which he probably did. "Ok, then," Harry pulled the kid up and had barely gotten him on his feet before BK took off. Harry watched as he ran as fast as he could and, feeling gracious, called out, "And remember what I said about running!"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Harry heard a loud clang and a dull thud. Shaking his head, Harry shrugged before sitting down to wait. He had warned the kid, after all.

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"Don't touch that!"

Harry flinched and nearly dropped the object he had been fingering. He turned around and found that he was actually happy to see the angry blonde standing in the door. "But, Draco, I was bored!" Harry exclaimed with a small smile. "And angsting."

It was true; with no BK to entertain him, Harry's thoughts had quickly turned, once more, to Sirius and Remus. Harry had then spent the time waiting for Draco steadily getting more and more depressed and angry.

Draco shrugged. "You've been angsty since the day you were born, and you're quite often bored. But that doesn't give you an excuse to break my things."

"Hey, I didn't break anything," Harry defended.

"Yet." Draco smirked.

"Well, if you hadn't taken so long getting up here-," Harry began but was cut off as Draco spoke, looking mildly disgruntled.

"Yeah, well, that wasn't my fault. Dumbledore was having some sort of meeting in the Great Hall, and a bunch of students were hanging around the door, trying to find out what it was about. Of course, Nearly Headless Nick insisted that because I was a teacher, I should be the one to break them up. He's you're ghost, so don't get in a twist about me making you wait." Draco sounded extremely irritated by this mumbled under his breath about being "reduced to taking orders from idiotic Gryffindor ghosts."

'Hmm, Dumbledore's having a meeting? May I should… nah.'

Harry sauntered over to a chair and sat down, stretching out comfortably. He didn't need to waste his time and go see what Dumbledore was doing. He was going to be out of Grimlaund Place pretty soon, and whatever it was Dumbledore was scheming at the moment wouldn't really matter too much in the long run. Besides, Harry really didn't want to have to go deal with that.

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Planning to stay for a while, are you?"

Harry just tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling. "I just need to cool off for a little while."

Draco walked over to his desk and pulled out a pile of papers before proceeding to sit down and begin to grade them. "Is there an actual reason you decided to come here, or was Black just getting on your nerves that much?" he asked without looking up.

Harry shrugged, nearly tipping out of his chair at the motion. "Well, yeah, he was doing more than just ticking me off; but I do have a reason for coming here. I need you to kill Nagini."

Draco stopped in the middle of giving some Hufflepuff's paper a D to stare at Harry. "Why do I have to kill the gigantic snake? You're the one with experience at killing giant, deadly reptiles. You do it."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Killing one basilisk does not make me an expert on the art of snake murder. Plus, you have access to her. With Voldemort knowing I'm trying to kill his horcruxes, he'll keep her well within the castle. And aren't Slytherins supposed to love snakes? Are you telling me you're afraid?"

Draco sighed. "We respect snakes, not love them. And I happen to respect a huge poisonous snake enough not to try and kill it."

"But…?" Harry said hopefully.

Draco sighed again. "But I'll do it. Theo's on snake feeding duty, so I'll just make him let me do it. I'll tell everyone that he owes me a favor, so I asked for the honor of feeding the Dark Lord's snake."

"And they'll really buy that?"

Draco laughed. "No, that's just what I'll tell Bellatrix. I'll tell everyone else I lost a bet to Theo."

Harry looked at Draco curiously. "How's the whole lower-level death eater thing going, by the way?"

Draco returned to his papers, answering absently, "Good. No one will attack you. Or, at least, not when you first get there."

Harry nodded. "Cool. Oh, and, hey, can you kill Nagini by tomorrow afternoon? That's when I plan to go see Voldy."

"Tomorrow? But– fine. Are you planning on bringing a lot of people to fight in the battle?"

Harry shook his head. "Nah, just me and maybe a couple others. And it's not gonna be a battle. I'm just gonna jump in, crash a meeting or two, kill Tommy Boy, and jump out. Nothing to it."

Draco just stared at Harry before shaking his head and going back to his papers. How was it his problem in Harry was suicidal?

Harry smiled at Draco ignoring him. "I can feel the love, Dray."

"Don't call me that," Draco ground out before heaving a sigh. It seemed that if he was ever going to get Harry to leave, he needed to talk about… gah, feelings. "So why, exactly, are you so peeved with Black? And, I'm assuming, Lupin as well?"

Harry mock-gasped. "Why, Draco, I didn't realize how much you cared."

Draco, now used to idiotic Gryffindors thanks to teaching, just pointed out, "You're evading the issue. And no, I don't care. Not at all. You just obviously won't be leaving until I get you to get over whatever your problem is with Black and Lupin."

Harry hesitated before giving in and sitting up to face Draco, who looked up, once more, from the papers. Who knew; maybe a bit of a mock-therapy session would help. Even if it was Draco acting as therapist. "Well, through a series of events that I'd rather not describe, Sirius and Remus are now my slaves." Draco raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, let's not go into that."

Draco shrugged. He really didn't want to go into it anyways.

"Yes, so then I was making them apologize to Mrs. Black's portrait when she brought up the subject of 'marking' them because they're my slaves. Apparently, it's some sort of unspoken pureblood tradition or whatever. I'm sure you've heard about it or something."

Draco nodded. "Yeah, I learned all about slaves and old pureblood customs like that a long time ago. Thanks to my father." Draco spat the last word with mild disgust.

Harry patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Yes, yes, everyone hates your father. I'm sure you'll learn to live with that fact eventually." Strangely enough, Draco did not look comforted. "Anyways, I then, taking upon myself every chance I could find to torture them, of course,"

"Of course," Draco responded, smirking.

"–thought it was a marvelous idea," Harry continued, blatantly ignoring Draco's interruption. "So, being the wonderful person I am, I transfigured dog collars for each of them and put them on the two."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Creative."

Harry nodded happily. "Yeah, I thought it fit."

"So what's the problem then?" Draco was almost hesitant to ask because he was quite sure by now that it was something stupid. (Or, at least, he would have been hesitant had he not been a Malfoy; Malfoys are never hesitant.)

Harry's face fell, and he became sullen. "They thought I was going to brand them."

"And?" Draco prompted tiredly.

Harry looked at him with confusion written across his face. "And they thought I was going to brand them!"

"So? What's the problem with that?" Now it was Draco's turn to be confused.

Harry looked at Draco with mild disbelief. "They thought I was going to brand them. Just the mere fact that they thought I could do something like that… it's horrible. Branding someone is just so wrong. Do they really think I'm capable of that? I mean, believing I can do horrible things like that is what got me shipped off to Azkaban!" Harry was breathing heavily by that time and was about to launch into another heated monologue when Draco raised his hand and stopped him.

"Look," he said, rubbing the back of his neck tiredly, "Normally, at this point, I would just sit back and let you vent out your frustrations, believing the entire time that I'm listening raptly, when I'm really just thinking about what I want for lunch or some such things as that."

Harry, who was actually feeling a bit better, smirked. "Had a lot of upset kids coming to you?"

"Yes!" Draco groaned. "And I don't know why they keep coming to me with their problems. Especially when I do my best to persuade them that I care more about the mating habits of Hagrid's blast-ended skrewts than I do about their personal lives!"

Harry's smirk grew even wider. "I knew you'd been spending too much time with Snape!"

"Ugh!" Draco groaned again, wanting Harry to leave. "Look, that's neither here nor there." Harry raised an eyebrow. "I-it's- it's a term, okay? And aren't you supposed to be depressed? I knew you'd enjoy my pain. But anyways, like I said, normally, I would let you rant, but not today. Mostly because I think you're being stupid and partly because I really don't want to hear it."

Harry shot up, eyes flashing in indignation. "And how am I being stupid?"

"Look," Draco sighed. "Quite frankly, I think you're getting all bent out of shape over something you should really only be mildly disgruntled about. Yes, yes, it was dumb of them to think you were capable of – oh, gasp! – branding someone. But come one; can you really blame them?"

Draco raised pointer finger. "First of all, they haven't seen you for around three years… They don't know you anymore. They don't know enough about you now or about how much you've changed to know if you would brand them or not." Draco raised a second finger. "Second, you've just spent three years in Azkaban! Granted I get the feeling that you actually had a good time, but still. No one has any idea what you went through or how it affected you. For all we know, underneath that calm, sane exterior, you could be completely bonkers! When you first found out Sirius was innocent, were you still wary of him?" Harry nodded. "And why?"

"Because he'd… been to Azkaban." Knowing flooded into Harry's voice. "How was I supposed to know if he was still sane, especially with the weird way he was... act…ing… oh!" Maybe playing poker with the dementors hadn't been the best way to convince people of his sanity. Now Harry felt bad about just leaving like that; he would have to apologize or something.

"Good," Draco nodded firmly, glad that Harry had finally figured it out. "And besides, branding isn't the worst you could have done. There's maiming, torturing, beheading, hacking off limbs, castr–"

"Ok, ok! I get it, Draco!" Harry cut the teacher off and laughed at the man's pureblooded ideas and the bewildered look on his face as to why he'd been interrupted. Harry laughed for a few more moments before leaning in to stare at Draco intently. "Who would have thought it?"

"Who would have thought what?" Draco asked uncomfortably, squirming under Harry's harsh scrutiny.

"Draco Malfoy, Voice of Reason."

"Time for you to go." And irritable Draco pulled Harry up from his seat and dragged him over towards the door.

"Conscience to all!"

"Get out, Potter," Draco sighed, pushing Harry through the door.

"But I thought you were calling me 'Harry,'" Harry protested, refusing to budge an inch outside of the door frame.

"Just leave." Draco managed to push Harry into the hall and began pulling the door shut. "Tomorrow's death eater meeting is at six."

"In the morning?" Harry asked incredulously. He'd known that Voldemort was evil, but surely he wasn't that evil… was he?

"No, at night, you idiot. It's only for the high ranking death eaters, so whatever you're going to do, I'd do it then. I only know about it because Bellatrix let it slip yesterday when she was gloating over how she was the only one the Dark Lord hadn't tortured at their last meeting."

"Well, where is it?" Harry called as Draco pushed his foot out from where it had been keeping the door open.

"Find out yourself." Draco responded irritably, pulling the door shut with a dull thud.

Harry sat alone in the hallway for a few seconds before noticing out of the corner of his eyes that BK was spying on him from behind a corner. Smiling to himself, Harry pretended not to notice him and kept walking. As he neared the end of the hallway, BK cautiously edged his way out from behind the corner and followed Harry sneakily, eyes darting around furtively and body tense.

Harry snickered silently when BK tried to step softly on the stone but slipped on an ink puddle left by some passing student and fell into one of the suits of armor lining the wall. It didn't come apart, but it clanged loudly against the stone wall, and BK hurriedly righted it and pressed himself up against the wall in an act of camouflage. When Harry seemed not to notice any of this, his panicked expression calmed; and he looked proud of himself for keeping his presence a secret. BK then resumed sneaking after Harry, a satisfied look on his face.

Harry waited until BK was out in the open, with no suits of armor to hide behind or anything before whirling around. BK froze, as if thinking that by becoming completely still, Harry wouldn't see him. They stared at each other for a few seconds before BK suddenly took a dive for cover. Harry was about to point out that diving for cover was pointless because he'd already seen BK and because there was nowhere to dive to, but refrained from doing so as he watched the kid fall flat on his back and assume the turtle position.

Harry watched the kid flail around helplessly for a bit before finally saying, "I must have imagined it." He then turned around and walked in the direction of the door. Behind him, BK pumped his fist into the air victoriously.

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Harry tripped as he arrived at Grimlaund Place. Looking around, he found that not a soul was in sight. Was the Order still at whatever random desert Kreacher had sent them to? Oh, well, Harry tried to make as little noise as possible anyways when he padded up to Bernaird's room. Where was Kreacher? Normally, he would have already greeted Harry if the other inhabitants of the house were away. So they must be in… but where were they? Something was wrong; Harry knew it. But what?

Harry slowly opened the door to his room, his entire body buzzing with the anticipation of something… and promptly ducked. As he did so, more stunners and body-bind curses than he could count flew over his head. Harry immediately pulled up a shield before looking at his attackers, only to find himself staring face to face with what seemed to be the entire Order.

Harry blinked uncomprehendingly as hurt and anger welled up inside of him. He clenched his teeth as the mantra of, 'They gave me up; they gave me up; they gave me up,' ran through his mind. No! He couldn't blame them yet; it could all be some sort of coincidence. 'Or they could have betrayed you again.'

In order to keep away from these thoughts, Harry focused his glare on Dumbledore, who stood in the middle of the room smugly. At the man's infuriating smirk, Harry averted his eyes to glance around the room. They were everywhere, the Order members, all with wands pointed at him.

Sirius and Remus weren't among them. If anything, this made Harry fell sicker. Were they locked away somewhere, all for "the greater good." Or, worse, could they simply not bear facing him after having betrayed him for a second time?

Harry focused his attention on Dumbledore again, who seemed to be waiting patiently for Harry to take the scene in, wanting him to get a feel for how dire his situation was. Harry's suspicions were validated when he saw Dumbledore's smirk grow even larger. Around him, the Order members looked triumphant; though, a few seemed ill-at ease with the situation. Smart people, those few… but not very smart if they were following Dumbledore.

"How did you find me?" Harry ground out, eyes blazing with blatant disgust.

Dumbledore smiled, and Harry resisted the urge to slap the twinkle out of his eyes. "My dear boy, it seems you have nowhere left to run. You are surrounded and now have no place to stay. Perhaps now you can see reason and will join us once more so that we will be able to defeat Voldemort. Of course, you shall have to be punished for abandoning us and obstructing our mission. Honestly, my boy, I would have thought you would have known better than to try and–"

"Shut up!" Harry snarled. He chose not to point out that he was not, in fact, "surrounded," as there was no one behind him. Instead, he sent his most withering glare around the room. Several members stepped back at the pure venom in his gaze. "You don't know anything about me, Albus. You never did. And you're a fool for thinking I'd join you. – I'd sooner ask Stan Shunpike to marry me!"

Those who knew who Stan Shunpike was paled and turned green. A few even looked like they might throw up. Harry knew he'd gotten under Dumbledore's skin when the old man stiffened slightly, and his smile grew taunt. "Now how did you find out where I was? And where are Sirius and Remus?"

"It's Professor Dumbledore, my boy; and I'm certain you'll feel differently soon enough. After all, you are too young to fully understand how war works. You need our guidance. As for Sirius and Remus, well… they should have come to me as soon as you had approached them. They'll need to be punished as well…"

"I'm twenty years old!" Harry exploded. Around him, wind seemed to pick up; and the furniture began to creak and shake, as if being shaken by some unseen force. Harry tried to force himself to calm down, succeeding only in ceasing the shaking. "And I know more about war than you ever could! Now, WHERE ARE SIRIUS AND REMUS?"

Order members flinched and ducked, and a few even let out small shrieks as the glass around them exploded, showering them in harmless shards. Even the glass coffee table exploded, forcing the few standing next to it to fall back. Dumbledore stared searchingly at the now heavily breathing Harry before motioning to some hidden members in another room.

Harry watched in relief and then horror as a pale and shaking Sirius and Remus were hauled out of the bathroom to stand before Harry. They were tied up extensively and gagged, and, while they had no open or visible wounds, every stumbling step they took seemed to pain them.

'Of course,' Harry thought sardonically. 'A great light wizard like Albus Dumbledore would never be caught torturing anyone.' He had no doubt that the conniving old man had subjected them to a whole new kind of torture via leglimency. Harry knew first-hand how very painful that could be. And none of the Order members had probably even known what Dumbledore had been doing to the two. With everyone none the wiser, the manipulative man had been free to do whatever he'd wanted.

Harry felt his shield expand for a second in an unconscious attempt to attack Dumbledore, but he carefully reined it in and managed to snarl, "So you tortured my whereabouts out of them?"

Dumbledore, to his credit, did an astounding job of acting as if the thought had never even crossed his mind as he pulled an ashamed-looking Tonks up beside Sirius and Remus. Her hair was dull black that drooped down in front of her face, and she stared down at her feet blankly. Regret rolled off of her in spades. Dumbledore looked at Harry in what he tried to pass off as shock that Harry could think such a thing, while he gripped Tonk's shoulders.

"Oh, no, Harry! I would never do something as dark as torturing them. That's Tom's way, not mine." Dumbledore sent an unconvincing smile Harry's way and tightened his grip on Tonk's shoulders. "No, we discovered your hideaway thanks to the wonderful Nymphadora here." The wonderful Nymphandora cringed faintly as she felt Harry turn his accusing glare towards her, still refusing to look up and meet his eyes.

"And how, exactly, did she do that?" Harry's words dripped with disdain and hate that he didn't even bother hiding. Harry felt his magic surge within him, reacting to his volatile emotions as he, himself, imagined what had happened.

"Well, I simply had Nymphadora transform herself into Remus. Of course, we chose Sirius to be the one she would talk too, as Remus was more likely to discover that she was merely impersonating the other. Sirius would be too… trusting, all too willing to talk about his godson, to realize. And, so it was. All she had to do was start a conversation about you, and, within a matter of minutes, we had your location. We then… apprehended our two Benedict Arnolds (2) and set up to wait for you here."

Dumbledore sounded proud of himself. In front of him, Sirius shook with a combination of anger and pain as he glared at the smug headmaster. He looked disgusted with himself for giving up Harry, albeit that he was tricked into it.

Harry saw red.

One second. Just one second's lapse in control was all it took for his magic to explode. A bright light flashed through the room for the barest of moments before disappearing immediately as Harry reined it in. But that one second was all that was required.

When Harry looked up from where he'd fallen back in the effort of wrestling with his magic for control, the room was in ruins. Chairs were in splinters; pots were broken; and even the floor had a jagged crack running up it. Most of the Order members were simply knocked back, winded and dizzy, but otherwise fine. No, most of the damage had been directed at those directly in front of Harry… ie, Dumbledore, Tonks, Sirius, and Remus.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Sirius and Remus were fine, seeming to have been protected somehow, but a queasy feeling filled him when he saw the other two. Dumbledore was fine, just knocked deeply unconscious and, from what Harry could tell, would stay that way for some time. Good. But it was the sight of Tonks that filled Harry with disgust at his loss of control.

The woman stared, wide-eyed and terrified, down at herself as her body changed by the second. Dark skin, light skin, red hair, blonde, green eyes, blue eyes, fat, skinny, somewhere in between, male, female. The distraught woman let out a thin scream as realized she couldn't stop changing, and she passed out, body shifting still, even while unconscious. (3)

Harry winced guiltily. He had no idea if she would ever have the same kind of control over her powers that she had once had, though he was sure that St. Mungo's would be able to stop the shifting… eventually.

It sickened Harry to think of how much worse things could have been; he knew better than to lose control like that by now, especially with his new dementors-style magic. Harry shook himself from his bout of self-anger as McGonagall came forward and tried to wake the unconscious headmaster. Harry turned to the two people who had been holding Sirius and Remus. The two dazed members flinched back when he turned his sights towards them, and Harry hated the fear in their eyes. Fear of him.

"L-look," Harry cleared his throat and stepped forward, ignoring the way everyone in the room but Sirius and Remus started when he moved. "Just give me Sirius and Remus and just, just get out. Take your manipulating headmaster and leave."

Many of the people immediately jumped on the opportunity to leave and scrambled out the door, giving Harry a wide berth as they did so; but some of the more persistent members hesitated. Harry ignored the fact that Ron Weasley and Granger were some of the first ones out the door.

He turned to those left and sighed. "I'm just going to gather some things and leave. And I don't want you lot here while I do that. I'll be long gone by the time your headmaster wakes up."

This got the others to move out as well, supporting the surprisingly heavy old codger's body as they did so, as well as grabbing the ever changing Tonks. Moody remained behind for a few seconds to glare at Harry, and the two ended up in some sort of impromptu glaring contest. Needless to say, as Moody hurried out looking even more unhinged than usual, Harry won.

Harry turned his attention to the still trembling Sirius and Remus. He reached down to carefully cut of the ropes binding them and undo the gags only to find his arms full of werewolf and ex-convict as soon as they were free. Harry hesitantly wrapped his arms around the two as they grabbed onto him for dear life.

"Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry…" Sirius mumbled into Harry's shirt, while Remus simply breathed in deeply, comforted by the scent of his cub. The two were so distraught that they didn't even seem to remember that Harry was supposed to still be angry with them. Not that Harry was going to begrudge them anything at the moment, seeing as how much they'd suffered just for keeping his secrets.

"I'm… s-so sorry, so s-sorry. I didn't know… I couldn't… he was in my mi–… I-I'm sorry. So sorry," Sirius said brokenly, muffled against the cloth of Harry's cloak.

Harry looked down at Sirius at those stuttered words, and he tightened his gripped on the man still shaking with grief and fear. "Don't be sorry," Harry said fiercely, causing both Sirius and Remus to look up in confusion. "It's not your fault at all. If anything, it's my fault. I should have known that Dumbledore would try something like that. You shouldn't have had to go through that."

"And you shouldn't have had to go to Azkaban," Remus said softly, eyes full of muted pain.

Harry stared down at the man in shock. What had Dumbledore done? How many boundaries had he violated in these two men, usually so full of life but now subdued and depressed, to get at Harry? "…No, I shouldn't have had to go to Azkaban," he said slowly.

Sirius finally seemed to gain some control over himself and mock-glared at Remus and Harry. "Let's all just agree that crap seems to happen to us, blame Dumbledore, and get over it."

Harry let out a laugh and disentangled himself from the two unstable men. Carefully, he pulled them to their feet, wincing as it took each of them several tries before they could stand on their own. "Look," Harry said quietly, making sure to make eye contact with each of them. "I understand if the two of you want nothing more to do with me now, and I'd be perfectly willing to take you somewhere safe and make sure you'd never have to hear from me ag–!"

"Why would we want to do that?" Sirius broke in angrily, Remus nodding in agreement behind him. "After all we've been through for you, do you really think we'd just abandon you?"

Harry faltered at the sincerity in his ex-godfather's words. "Well, you've been hurt, tortured because of me! If you stick behind me, you'll get hurt again for certain. I can't guarantee your survival, and after my little lapse in control, I just figured…"

"That we'd leave you to face things alone, just like we've done to you before and people having been doing to you your entire life." Remus' voice was gentle and full of understanding and compassion but firm in its conviction.

Harry looked down at his feet and just shrugged. Suddenly, he felt strong, comforting arms wrap around him, and he glanced up in shock. Sirius' determined eyes met his own sad ones. It seemed that his godson's pain had caused Sirius to overcome, if only momentarily, whatever damage Dumbledore had done to him. "I will never abandon you like that again, Harry. It doesn't matter how much I get hurt or how many times you lose control and pull some whacked out kind of magic on me."

A ghost of a smile graced Harry's lips at Sirius' rough terms for dementor magic. "I'm here for you no matter what, and I always will be." Sirius spoke with such… finality that Harry couldn't resist the urge to break eye contact and resume staring at his feet, completely at a loss of what to say.

Thin but strong fingers gripped Harry's chin, forcing him to stare Remus in the eyes. "I feel the same way, Harry," the werewolf said calmly. "You'll always be my cub, and I won't let anyone hurt you again. Not if I can help it at all."

Harry blinked rapidly to dispel the sudden moisture amassing in his eyes, and his throat seemed to close up, rendering him unable to speak for a few moments. "O-okay," he managed after a few tries. Darnit, he was supposed to still be angry with them! "Um, alright, then. I-I'll just get Kreacher and Missy, and we can, uh, go, I guess." He sounded awkward and unsure, and he knew it. But Darnit! That was the best he could do right then!

"Um, where is Kreacher anyways?" Sirius colored immediately, and Remus began to laugh. "What?" Harry questioned, his curiosity piqued.

Remus managed to explain between gasps of laughter. "Sirius seemed to decide to take being nice to Kreacher one step further by making him and Missy dinner."
"And?" Harry blinked uncomprehendingly, and Sirius groaned.

"Let's just say that we have now discovered that house elves can get food poisoning."

Harry stared at Sirius in shock. "You poisoned them?"

"Not on purpose!" Sirius defended hastily, staring determinedly at the wall. "I was just trying to do something nice. I feel bad for Missy; she didn't deserve getting sick. Now, Kreacher on the other… er, I'm very sorry. It's a terrible tragedy for both of them."

Harry ignored the jibe at Kreacher; maybe the two of them would never get along. "You didn't kill them, did you?" he exclaimed in mild horror. Who knew what Sirius' cooking could do.

"What? No!" Sirius looked over indignantly. His cooking wasn't that bad. "They're both down there, puking their guts out." Sirius motioned with is thumb to a trap door in the floor.

"You locked them in a cellar?" Harry's eye brows shot up incredulously.

"What? No, I didn't!" Sirius paused to turn around and glare at the hysterically laughing Remus. "Shut up, Remus!" He turned back to Harry. "It was Kreacher's idea. Something about not wanting to get vomit on the 'great and noble carpet, bought and owned by the great and noble Bernaird of the great and noble House of Black, that has been passed down greatly and nobly for an entire two generations!' …I wasn't going to begrudge him that."

Harry was torn between scolding Sirius for making fun of Kreacher or commending him on his spot-on representation of the house elf. He opted instead for pulling open the trap door and yelling down, "Kreacher! Missy! Are you two alright?" He winced at the smell and waited for Kreacher's throaty reply.

"Master Harry! Kreacher apologizes for not being well to serve the Master. He will make sure to punish himself thoroughly later."

Harry flinched at the hacking cough the elf let out. He turned to look at Sirius, eyebrow raised; and the Marauder just shrugged helplessly in reply. "Er, no need to punish yourself, Kreacher. I'm fine. Just, do you need help or anything?"

"Kreacher and Missy will be fine."

From the way the elf sounded, Harry highly doubted that. But he had no idea how to contest the elf, so he let it go. "Erm, good, then. Listen; my staying here has been discovered, so I need to leave. I'm taking Sirius and Remus with me, so I want you two to stay here and get better and then to try to keep the Order from destroying the house or something, ok?"

Kreacher paused before replying, "Yes, Master Harry."

"Good. And one more thing. Never, ever, under any circumstance, are either you or Missy to take any food that Sirius has made."

"Of course, Master Harry," Kreacher responded, this time without hesitation.

"Kay, I'll call you if I need you." And with that, Harry shut the door and turned to the still snickering Remus and the still red Sirius. "You two are looking better. Come on, then; let's go." Harry grabbed the two surprised men by their arms and began the task of hauling them out the door.

"Where are we going?" Sirius asked, confused by the sudden turn of events.

"To see a friend."

MICCELANEOUSobjects MICCELANEOUSobjects

Harry stared up at Lucas from down on his knew, eyes pleading. Lucas yawned and leaned up against the wall of the nearby alley they were in. Around his neck, the necklace-thing Harry had given him glowed. Sirius and Remus stood on either side of Harry, having no idea what was going on. Remus was staring at Lucas with wide eyes, having recognized him by scent as a werewolf. Harry had a smile at the thought of what Remus' reaction would when he found out Lucas' status before focusing, once more, on giving Lucas his best puppy dog face.

"So let me get this straight," Lucas said, blinking and rubbing his eyes blearily. "You called me out here at 9:00 at night, after I've spent the entire day in meetings for my dad and just want to sleep, because you got found squatting at your old place, and now you, your ex-convict ex-godfather, and your old teacher, who happens to be a werewolf, need a place to stay. Oh, and you've decided to go attack Voldemort tomorrow and need help getting into his castle like I promised."

Harry looked at Lucas for a few moments. "Yep, that's about it."

Lucas sighed deeply and started walking away. "…Follow me."

Grinning, Harry scurried after the werewolf, Remus and Sirius in tow. Drawing up with Lucas, he looked the man up and down, taking in his disheveled hair, ruffed up clothes, and the dark circles under his eyes, as well as several ink stains on his face. Harry smirked. "You look good, Lucas."

"Shut up, Harry."

Author's Note: (1) BK=backpack kid. Get it? Anyone? …No? Oh, alright, poor attempt at humor aside, I really didn't want to have to keep spelling his name out.

(2) I feel like Dumbledore, being Dumbledore, would know who this is.

(3) Thanks to Tryptophan36 for the idea of revenge on Tonks.

Okay, on the whole MICCELANEOUSobjects thing. I decided that since my page breaks seem not to be working, that will be my new page break. I hope I did not confuse anyone, and please let me know if it doesn't seem to work or fit or anything. I'm just sick and tired of my line breaks not working. And there is no special reason it's MICCELANEOUSobjects… I was just trying to find something to put in.

Anyways, sorry for the wait, but the chapter's extra long as an apology. (Over 7,000 words. I have really got to stop writing so much in one chapter.) The creative part of my brain decided to take a vacation. Thanks so much to all of my reviewers. I appreciate every single one of them, even the short ones. :)