Disclaimer I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.
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Chapter Thirty Six
Harry arrived at number twelve Grimmauld place and couldn't help but grimace. He had horrid memories here. When he had been captured by the Order, he had been held prisoner in this very house. It felt bizarre to walk back in here of his own freewill.
The fireplace behind him burst into green flames once again and Harry turned to see his dad walk out from the green flames. He walked over to Harry and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Come on, Harry. It can't be all that bad." James said quietly with a smile.
"I just want this meeting done with so I can leave." Harry responded and walked to the door at the far end.
The meeting was supposed to have taken place a lot earlier but it had to be rescheduled because of Harry's health. It had taken Harry almost a week to recover from the horrid Dementor attack at the Ministry. Dumbledore had suggested that it was important for Harry to attend this meeting as it was going to be focused on the Dark Prince impostor.
Contrary to what Harry initially thought, James hadn't regretted his decision to leave his job as an Auror. He didn't share what his plans were but Harry knew he was planning something to get back at Fudge and Blake. Harry had told him that it was Blake who had ordered the Dementors to administer the Kiss. It didn't make James any less angry with Fudge but it increased his anger towards Blake. Now both men were on his list.
Harry waited for Damien to appear just before his mum. Damien was in a mood because he wasn't allowed in the meeting.
"Harry's going to tell me what you discussed anyway! Why can't I just come in?" he tried again.
"Because, you're not of age and you can't become a member of the Order until you are of age. The meeting is only for members of the Order." Lily explained.
"Harry's not a member and yet he gets to attend." Damien said, quick to point that fact out.
Lily looked a little thrown by Damien's observation. She sighed and turned to him.
"Harry's here because Dumbledore asked for him to be here. The subject of the meeting affects Harry directly so it only makes sense that he should be a part of it." She explained.
Harry scowled at her response but didn't say anything. He looked over to Damien.
"I'll tell you everything afterwards." He whispered as Damien was led upstairs by Lily. Damien gave him a smile in response.
James led Harry to a room on the far end. Harry was surprised as he entered the medium sized parlour and saw a few people sitting around a wooden table. Sirius, Remus, Tonks and Dumbledore looked up at him and smiled at him. Harry hadn't seen anyone since his departure from the Ministry. They had all been told by an irate Poppy, that Harry needed complete rest and no one was to disturb him so that meant that everyone had stayed away from Potter Manor and just let Harry recover with his family.
"What's going on?" Harry asked, perplexed as to why they were sitting here. Surely the Order meeting comprised of all the members and not just a handful.
"What does it look like? We're having a small meeting of our own before the big one." Sirius replied.
Harry looked over at his dad to see him smiling.
"We all thought that it would be best to speak about the meeting issues amongst just us before having the proper meeting. Seeing that this is your first meeting and all." He explained.
"First and last." Harry reminded him. He had only agreed to come since he was curious to know what information the Order had got on the impostor. After this meeting, Harry had sworn to never set foot in this house again.
James looked at Harry, a saddened expression on his face. He really wanted Harry to see that the Order was different from the Ministry and didn't wish him any harm. But seeing what Harry had gone through, James didn't push him.
Harry walked over with James and sat down. Harry sat in the seat furthest from Dumbledore and refused as much as to look in his direction. Tonks leaned over at once and asked Harry how he was. Harry responded with a simple 'fine' and continued to look around the scarcely furnished parlour.
As soon as Lily made her appearance, Dumbledore stood up.
"Now that you all are here, I'm going to take my leave. The other members are due to arrive in the next hour or so. Once you have finished here, please make your way to the usual room for the meeting." Dumbledore said politely and left.
Harry sighed with relief. So Dumbledore wasn't going to be a part of this small meeting. That was good, he didn't have to suffer his presence for that long. He looked around the table, wondering who was going to start the meeting.
James cleared his throat and started.
"Okay, so the purpose of this meeting is really to go over what will be discussed with the rest of the Order. I think we'll all agree that this 'Dark Prince' has caused enough damage. We have to put together all the clues we have and see if we can come any closer to figuring out his identity." He said.
Harry noticed that everyone around him had serious expressions on their faces. Sirius was the first to respond.
"I think the mystery is pretty much solved. After what happened last week, it's pretty obvious that the impostor is Blake."
Harry snapped his head around to stare at Sirius.
"You think it's Blake?" he asked in surprise.
Sirius shared a look with Remus and Tonks before looking back at Harry, an amused look on his face.
"You don't think it's Blake?" he asked with sarcasm. "I think it's obvious."
"We have to look at this objectively." Lily said cutting across them. "The first thing is the initials. C.B. could stand for Charles Blake. The second thing is that Blake has shown enough animosity towards Harry to suggest that he could try and frame him for attacks, to get him thrown into Azkaban." Her voice shook a little as she said the name of the wizard prison. Whether it was from fear of Azkaban or anger at Blake, Harry didn't know.
"Blake's always been against James, right from our first year at Hogwarts. He's insanely jealous and would do anything to knock James down a peg or two." Sirius supplied.
"It would be a way for him to get back at James for good. Remember how happy he was when he found out James' son was Harry, the infamous Dark Prince? He spent all his time jeering at James. I can see him pretending to be the 'Dark Prince'. It's just something his sick little mind would get pleasure out of doing." Tonks said her face screwed up to show her opinion of the Auror.
Harry was quiet, he didn't say anything. James watched him for a few minutes before asking his opinion.
"Harry? What do you think?" he asked quietly.
Harry looked up at all of them, his eyes taking in all of their expressions. They all had pretty much convinced themselves that Blake was guilty.
"I don't think its Blake." Harry said quietly.
"Why?" Sirius and Tonks asked at the same time.
"I just don't think it's him." Harry answered.
"Harry, think about it. Look at the evidence. His initials match, he has a motive, he hates you and James with vigour and he's a scumbag that could be capable of doing anything! Look at what he did to you in the Ministry. The first time you were arrested, last year, he tortured you when it was his duty to get you medical help. And look at what he tried to do last week! He sent Dementors on you, tried to get you Kissed! If that doesn't show you he's guilty then I don't know what will." Sirius finished.
"I'm not saying that Blake isn't an enemy, I'm just saying that he isn't the impostor." Harry explained.
"Why do you think he's not the impostor?" Remus asked.
Harry looked around at him. This was the first time Remus had spoken to him after his failed plan to catch the 'Dark Prince' wannabe. Remus was staring at Harry with a soft expression. Harry couldn't see any hidden anger or annoyance.
"When I was fighting him, at Hogwarts, I could sense a sort of familiarity from him." Harry started to explain.
"Well, there you go! He seemed familiar because you have already met Blake. That was why you thought you knew him!" Sirius said enthusiastically.
"Let me finish." Harry said annoyed. "He seemed familiar but I know it wasn't Blake. Firstly I would have been able to tell if it was him and secondly, there is no way Blake could survive a duel with me. I would have knocked him out in seconds. Whoever this impostor is, he's got talent." Harry begrudgingly admitted.
The adults had to agree. The fight between Harry and this 'Dark Prince' was spectacular. All of them had witnessed it and what Harry said was true. If that had been Blake on the rooftops with Harry, he would have fallen on his backside within seconds.
"So, do you have any ideas who this person could be?" Tonks asked dejectedly. She along with Sirius had convinced themselves that the impostor was Blake. It felt awful to be back to square one again.
Harry shook his head.
"No, like I said, he seemed very familiar to me but for the life of me I can't figure out why." He answered, rubbing his head absent-mindedly.
James felt pity swell in his chest at the sight. Harry was going through so much and through it all he had been alone. He along with Lily and Damien had turned on Harry when they should have been helping him. He pushed down the guilt. That was in the past. He was going to make sure he never left Harry alone like that again.
An hour easily passed and the six of them continued their discussion. Sirius was still pushing Blake as the number one suspect.
"I say we keep a close eye on him. He has something to do with this, I just know it!" he exclaimed.
"Come on, we better join the rest. I'm sure everyone has arrived." Lily said glancing at the clock on the wall and getting to her feet.
Harry stood up, feeling very uneasy about joining the rest.
"Can't I just go home? I mean, we've discussed everything. What else do we need to discuss?" he asked.
"I think it would be a good idea to be a part of the meeting." Lily said.
Harry disagreed but realised that he had nothing to lose by going. It was only another hour or so. He could manage that in the company of Aurors and Dumbledore, couldn't he?
He saw his dad talking in hushed tones with Sirius and Remus, a strange gleam in his eyes. Lily noticed as well. Both Harry and Lily heard the words 'two days until full moon'.
"James? What are talking about?" Lily asked.
James looked over at Lily, the gleam in his eyes was quickly disguised.
"Oh, nothing." He replied. He gave Remus and Sirius a pointed look and both men shared a look with each other, sinister smiles on their faces.
"Okay, what are you three up to? What are you planning to do on full moon?" Lily asked. She was now accustomed to pick up when the three friends were planning something that usually leads to trouble.
"Does this have something to do with Blake?" Tonks asked all of a sudden. "Because if it does, then I want in!" she added with a smirk.
Lily turned to face James, her emerald eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"What are you planning on doing to him?" she asked sternly.
"Nothing" James replied and then smirked as Sirius and Remus shared a look with him. "Other than rip him from limb to limb." He added.
"Rip his head off." Sirius supplied.
"And pretty much tear him apart." Remus finished.
Harry was staring at the three friends in awe. He never thought they would have such a side to them.
"What?! Please tell me you're joking! You can't do that!" Lily yelled at them.
"You're right, we can't do that." James said, his expression softening. "James, Sirius and Remus can't possibly do something like that but in two days time, on the night of the full moon, Prongs, Padfoot and Moony can!"
The three men smirked as Lily looked like she was going to faint. Tonks was sniggering quietly at the sight.
"This better be nothing more than big talk!" Lily warned them.
"After what he did to Harry?!" Sirius exclaimed.
"You shouldn't be talking like this! Blake will get what's coming to him. But to talk like this, in front of, of…it's not right!" Lily trailed off, sending a meaningful look in Harry's direction.
Harry smiled, his mum was so worried about others talking about violence in front of him, Harry, the boy who killed when he was ten years old.
"I hate to break up this gory, bloodied vengeance plan but I can fight my own battles." He told them with a smirk.
"You can do what you like, but I have my own score to settle with him. He's not going to get away with treating my son like he did." James said evenly.
"All of you stop it!" Lily said working herself up.
"I think we better go." Tonks said, guiding Lily out before she completely lost it. Remus and Sirius followed, reassuring Lily that they were just making big talk and weren't really going to kill Blake.
Harry was left alone with James. He gave James a genuine smile. It meant a lot to him to hear James talk about what he would do to Blake in return for hurting Harry. Even if he knew James didn't have it in him to actually carry out the threat. Just to hear him saying it was enough.
"Come on." James said leading Harry from the room towards the main meeting.
xxx
Harry walked alongside his dad and entered a large room. It was already filled with people. Harry recognised most of them. Amelia Bones was sitting in a chair, next to both of her sons, David and Darrell. They waved enthusiastically at Harry who gave them a curt nod in response. Most of Hogwarts staff was present along with the school nurse. Harry smiled as he spotted Poppy sitting with McGonagall. He saw Frank and Alice talking animatedly with another pair of wizards.
The usual crowd of Aurors were there. He spotted Moody and Kingsley talking intently with Tonks, Remus and Sirius.
There were many more but Harry knew them only by face not names.
Harry hesitantly sat down. He was anxious for this meeting to be over. A part of him was curious as to see what other information the Order had got on this 'Dark Prince' wannabe but the other part of him wanted to leave. He glanced at the door as it opened to reveal the Weasley clan. Molly, Arthur, Percy, Bill, Fleur, Fred and George all piled into the room.
They all took their seats, Remus and Sirius sat next to James and Lily and waited for Dumbledore to arrive. Harry scanned the room and saw that one person was missing.
"Is Snape still not back from his vacation?" Harry asked.
"No, he's still not back." James answered, a little stiffly. He was still not on friendly terms with the greasy nosed Professor but owed him the lives of his children, Harry and Damien. Without his help, he would have lost Harry.
"Someone has got to tell that pale bastard that he's never going to tan." Sirius whispered making Harry grin.
"Sirius!" Lily reprimanded him.
"Loosen up Lily! I'm only having a laugh." Sirius said wrapping an arm around her and giving her a crushing hug.
"He saved my family. I don't like you talking like that about him. I'm eternally grateful to him." she said, brushing Sirius away.
They didn't have to wait long for Dumbledore as the white haired wizard walked inside only moments later. Harry noticed four people walking inside with him. He was caught off guard when he recognised all of them.
Ron and Hermione were walking behind Dumbledore, their eyes scanned the large room and they smiled at a few faces. But it was the other two that had grabbed Harry's attention. Narcissa Malfoy and Marco Black walked in and closed the door behind them. Narcissa caught Harry's eye and quickly looked away from him.
"What's going on?" Harry asked James.
"I don't know." James answered honestly.
At that point Dumbledore walked up to the front of the room and addressed everyone.
"Welcome everyone. Before we begin our meeting I would like to introduce a few new members to our Order." Dumbledore gestured politely to the four people standing next to him. Ron and Hermione looked a little embarrassed by the attention but smiled at everyone. Narcissa and Marco seemed to hardly notice the crowd of people staring at them. Narcissa was making an effort not to look at Harry while Marco openly stared at him.
Harry couldn't believe it. Truthfully he wasn't that surprised that Marco had joined the Order. He had always been against Voldemort but the only reason he didn't openly rebel against him was out of fear of what would happen to his sisters. Narcissa was married to a loyal Death Eater and Bella was one of Voldemort's most faithful servants. He didn't want his actions to hurt them and so he had quietly suffered Voldemort's reign of terror. However, now his previously married sister had left her Death Eater husband and the other one had died at Voldemort's hand. Harry could understand why Marco would rush at the chance to join with Dumbledore and track down the remaining Death Eaters as well as to stop anyone else from becoming the next Dark Lord.
Harry was surprised at Narcissa. He never thought she would have joined Dumbledore. He was finding it difficult to believe that his best friend's mother, Lucius Malfoy's ex-wife, was shaking hands with Dumbledore. He had to fight to control himself. He kept reminding himself that the woman was Draco's mother. That helped him control the murderous urge that had risen in him.
Dumbledore was speaking but Harry had not heard a word. He was too busy dwelling on Narcissa and her bad decisions. He snapped out of his thoughts when he felt James gently elbow him. Harry looked up to see James' concerned gaze.
"Are you okay?" he whispered, casting a look in Narcissa's way.
"Yeah" Harry whispered back. He turned to focus his attention on Dumbledore.
"I think the first thing to do is to try and determine our next course of action. The Minister is finding the current affairs too much to handle so I think it is mandatory that we concentrate on tracking down this man who is disguising himself as the 'Dark Prince'." Dumbledore was saying.
A few people looked over at Harry at the mention of his nickname but Harry was too busy looking at James to notice. His dad had a smirk on his face at the mention of Fudge's current problems. The media was having a great time reporting the incident with Harry's arrest. Once the truth was revealed about how Harry was treated by the Ministry the papers were filled with nothing but outrage at the Minister's behaviour. Fudge was trying to restore his reputation and save his failing career.
The thing that was causing most of the uproar was the order to administer the Kiss to Harry. Most of the wizarding population saw that as a breach of law and trust. There had been no trial and Harry was being held at the Ministry where there was no need to have Dementors. The argument was that if the Minister could do such a thing to Harry, what was to stop him from doing that to someone else. The fact that Harry was innocent as well only made things all the more difficult for Fudge. Harry had failed to mention to anyone, other than his family, that it wasn't Fudge who ordered the Kiss. He wasn't in any particular rush to clear up that particular misunderstanding.
As for the wizarding community, Harry had given up trying to keep up with their opinion of him. One day they were all out for his blood and the next they were talking about him as if he was a tragic hero. He couldn't keep up with them so he just ignored them.
Harry tried to pay attention to what Dumbledore was saying but nothing he said was making any sense to him. All he could do was stare at Narcissa and Marco sitting near the front. He heard his name being mentioned and his focus shifted to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore had said something about a wand and had said Harry's name. Harry realised that he was talking about his wand, the one that he had thought had been destroyed with Voldemort. His hand automatically went to his pocket. He felt the comforting weight of the wand sit in his pocket and he relaxed. It had been an unexplainable comfort to have his old wand back with him. It almost felt like a part of him had come back.
"I think it is important to try and determine how this impostor got a hold of Harry's wand. He planted it next to Mr Nott's body. As I have already informed all of you, Mr Theodore Nott was in league with the 'Dark Prince' and I can only assume after his cover was blown, he was brutally murdered and used as another ploy to frame Harry." A look of deep sadness came over the wizard's face as he talked about his student. Harry could tell he mourned the death of the Slytherin, regardless of what he had done.
"How did he find the wand?" Kingsley asked.
Dumbledore looked pointedly at a young man, in his mid twenties sitting in the second row. The man stood up and Harry recognised him as one of the Aurors that had come to the Duelling club.
"Auror Ferguson can perhaps shed some light on this." Dumbledore said and then sat down.
Harry watched as the Auror stood up and addressed the room.
"I have with me the report that Aurors Lesley and Jackson gave last October. There was a suspicious incident that occurred during their time at Riddle Manor." Harry's head snapped up at the mention of his previous home. His shocked gaze focused on the Auror. He was holding up the report but wasn't reading from it. "It says that both Aurors Lesley and Jackson witnessed Auror Davis arriving and entering the Manor. When he failed to answer to their shouts, Aurors Lesley and Jackson followed him into the Manor. But there was no sign of him. They alerted the Ministry and a full search was carried out but nothing seemed to have been moved. Auror Davis was taken into custody and questioned but he claimed to not have gone anywhere near the Manor. Aurors Lesley and Jackson even allowed their memories of the incident to be submitted in the investigation. It says here that the memories showed a man similar to Auror Davis but since he didn't speak to the Aurors and most of the time he had his back to them, it was inconclusive evidence and Auror Davis was released."
Ferguson handed the report over to Dumbledore before continuing.
"It would be a fair assumption to make that the wand was taken from the Manor that night. I have brought the details of what items were listed to be in Riddle Manor and although the wand was not listed in it I think it must have been there. It was probably hidden in the Manor which is why its disappearance didn't raise any alarms."
Harry could feel the Aurors words ring in his ears. But his initial reaction wasn't concerned with his wand, but what business the Aurors had being in Riddle Manor.
"What are Aurors doing in Riddle Manor in the first place?" Harry asked, without caring that he had attracted the room's focus to him.
Ferguson looked surprised with Harry's question. Everyone was under the impression that despite being present, Harry wasn't going to participate in the meeting.
Looking quite nervous with Harry's cold glare, Ferguson answered.
"There are a number of items which are of a dangerous nature in Riddle Manor…"
"Yes, I'm quite aware of what is in Riddle Manor!" Harry snapped at him.
Clearing his throat nervously, Ferguson recovered.
"Yes, of course, well the…the Ministry were reluctant to leave these items inside the Manor, for fear of them being stolen and used so they tried to remove them…"
Ferguson stopped talking as Harry shot to his feet. James was making no attempt to hold Harry back. James knew from previous encounters that Ferguson was afraid of Harry. It was rather unfortunate that he had to tell Harry news that was guaranteed to anger him. He watched as did the rest of the room as Harry walked over to stand before the Auror. Ferguson stood his ground and didn't move as Harry glared at him. Whether this was because he was adamant not to cower before him or because he was frozen stiff out of fear, no one knew.
"You raided Riddle Manor?" Harry asked in a deathly quiet tone.
"No, we didn't raid it! We…the Ministry were only trying to act in the safest of ways. We were only going to take the dangerous items but…but we…we couldn't." he trailed off.
Harry cocked up an eyebrow in response.
"The items in question couldn't be removed. There were charms placed on them that didn't allow their removal." Ferguson finished lamely.
The corners of Harry's mouth twitched but he resisted the urge to smile. That sounded like something Voldemort would do. His sticking charms were unbreakable. His spell work was virtually impossible to reverse.
"The Ministry should have known better. Voldemort always was possessive about his things." Harry replied.
The room hushed to complete silence at the mention of the deceased Dark Lord. Every eye was fixed to Harry and the white faced Ferguson. James was surprised at the lack of emotion he was feeling at hearing Harry talk like this. He put it down to the fact that he was probably getting used to hearing Harry talk about Voldemort in a protective way.
"So, since your plan to raid Voldemort's home and steal his possessions didn't work, why are the Aurors still at Riddle Manor?" Harry asked icily.
"For the protection of the Manor." Ferguson replied unhappily.
"You mean they're there to make sure nothing gets stolen?" Harry asked.
"Yes" Ferguson replied.
"Like my wand, for example." Harry asked cynically.
"Yes, I mean no…I…" Ferguson looked around helplessly at Dumbledore, sending him a non verbal plea for help.
James leaned towards Sirius and whispered to him.
"You know, now that I'm not an Auror anymore, Harry seems funnier." He said with a snigger.
Sirius grinned back in response.
"Thank you Auror Ferguson. That will be all from you." Dumbledore said, ending the poor Auror's misery.
Ferguson made to quickly sit down but Harry stopped him before he could.
"I want you to relay a message back to your dear Minister." Harry hissed at him. "Tell him to clear out his men from Riddle Manor and if he doesn't, then I'll make sure he gets first hand experience of what dark magic can really do."
Ferguson just gaped at Harry but nodded his head quickly to show that he understood.
With that, Harry swept out of the room, no longer caring to finish the meeting. He walked out without looking back at anyone, not even Narcissa, who was staring at him, a saddened look on her face.
xxx
Harry looked up as the floo turned green and his mum walked out of the flames. She looked at Harry but didn't say anything to him. Harry knew she was going to be mad at him for walking out of the meeting like that but he had had enough. The news that Fudge had Aurors patrolling outside Riddle Manor had caused a spark of fury to go off inside him.
Harry stood up from the sofa in his living room and stared at Lily, waiting for her to start yelling at him. Lily, however didn't say a word to him. She sent a warm smile in his direction before brushing her cloak and unclipping it before pulling it elegantly away from her shoulders.
Not even a second later the floo turned green and Damien walked out. He caught sight of Harry and rushed over to him.
"You could have told me you were leaving. I was bored out of my mind!" he complained.
Harry ignored him for the time being. He watched as James arrived by floo as well and he too smiled warmly at Harry before taking off his cloak.
Harry was more than surprised. What was going on?
"Are you okay?" he asked his parents.
"Of course we are. Why shouldn't we be?" Lily answered as she walked towards the kitchen.
"You aren't mad at me for walking out?" Harry asked, not believing his parents could dismiss his behaviour like that.
"No, we're not mad." James answered, walking over to him. "If we had been in your shoes, we would probably have done the same thing." he answered.
Harry was staring at James in disbelief. Did he really say that? Was his dad really not going to yell and scream at him?
"I didn't know that Riddle Manor was being watched. I understand you must find it insulting." James carried on in a softer tone.
Harry looked away from James and stared at the ground. He didn't know why he got so mad. He knew it was all in the past and that Potter Manor was his home now. He was happy here but he couldn't stand back and let the Minister violate Riddle Manor like that. It was unbearable to think of Aurors inside the Manor, walking inside the impressive castle, walking along the darkened corridors, handling Voldemort's possessions. Harry had to force himself to stop thinking about it.
"Did, do you know if the Aurors have…moved anything?" Harry asked after a few minutes.
"I talked to Ferguson after the meeting finished." James answered. "He said that most of the Manor is still locked. It seems that after Voldemort's death, the Manor locked itself down. They have only been able to open a few rooms. There are entire wings that are closed off and only passwords can reveal them. They haven't worked out what they are yet." James said.
Harry knew that. Most of the wings were locked in parseltongue. His own wing was locked in parseltongue, not that it existed anymore. Harry was willing to bet his life that Voldemort had destroyed his room along with all his possessions. There was no way Voldemort would have allowed anything that belonged to Harry to stay in his home once he learned what Harry was doing to his Horcruxes.
"They haven't been able to move anything much less remove anything from the Manor. Fudge was insistent that a team of Aurors remain at the scene, in case anyone shows up." James finished.
"He thinks the escaped Death Eaters will return to the Manor?" Harry asked in shock. How stupid was the Minister?
"He thinks there is a chance. Anyway, after your message is sent to him, I doubt he'll send anymore Aurors there. He won't want to take the risk." James chuckled. "Plus, I think the Aurors themselves are getting tired of the pointless patrolling. They messed up anyway. They let your wand be stolen right from under their noses." James said, his tone hardening at the incompetence of the Aurors. "I did want you to stay until the end of the meeting though. There was quite a lot discussed after you left. Ginny's memory of her attack was shown." James cautiously added at the end.
Harry looked away, feeling the awful sting of guilt hit him again.
"Did you get any clues?" he asked, masking his guilt best he could.
James shook his head as he sat down, Damien quickly sat across from him.
"Not really. We all heard his voice but there's nothing distinguishing about it. No accent that can be placed, no characteristic that can help us identify him." James said heavily.
Before Harry could say another word, the fireplace behind him erupted in green flames and a figure rushed out from them. Harry turned around to see his best friend step out from the fireplace. Harry rose to his feet at the sight of Draco.
The blond boy looked at Harry and at once hurried towards him, tension and anger radiating from him.
"Did you hear?" he asked as strode towards him.
"What do you mean 'did you hear'? I was there!" Harry replied walking towards him, showing his own anger and annoyance.
"I don't believe this!" Draco exclaimed, his face twisted in anger.
"How did this happen?" Harry asked.
Draco threw up his arms in exasperation.
"I don't know!"
"Should I be concerned that they both seem to have a language of their own?" Lily asked from the doorway.
"As long as they can understand each other." James replied, getting to his feet.
Damien was still staring at the sight of Draco standing in Potter Manor. He was much friendlier with the Slytherin, ever since both of them had been trapped in Harry's pensive, but still the sight of him standing in Potter Manor was a strange one.
"When did you find out?" Harry asked Draco.
"Just now! They decided to tell me after they had been initiated!" Draco spat the last word out with venom.
Understanding dawned on the other three Potters. Draco was talking about his mum and uncle's decision to join the Order.
Harry suddenly realised that the rest of his family was present. He looked around at them and without saying a word he gestured to Draco to follow him and he left the living room, heading for his room.
"It was nice meeting you!" Lily yelled sarcastically behind them.
"He's a Malfoy, what do you expect?" James said as he sat back down. The Malfoys may be aristocrats but that didn't stop them from being self centred and at times, downright rude.
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