AN: The events that occur in this same evening will span the next…two chapters as well. For the sake of my story and narrative, the dementor attack on Harry and Dudley does not occur.
They appeared on a dingy street that may have once been nice. There were still hints of grandeur, buried under graffiti and weeds.
"Where are we, sir," she asked as Professor Dumbledore fixed his robes. They were standing on a stoop, dingy shotgun home before them, nearly identical to the others on either side.
"Answers to questions to be made inside," Dumbledore opened the door, ushering her inside. The door closed tightly behind them, locks clicking into place, eyes blinking to readjust and focus in the sudden dim lighting. Someone was shrieking shrilly, and Jamie's first instinct was to want to reach up and cover her ears.
They were in a narrow front hall, dirty-carpeted floors, dusty overhead lighting, and dark paneling and wallpaper which appeared to make the room seem even more claustrophobic. The shrieking was coming from a portrait on the wall, billowing curtains covering it, and as she opened her mouth to ask what was going on, Sirius appeared at the end of the hallway.
"Blasted woman, SHUT UP!" Sirius roared back, shooting his wand out to shut the curtains with a bang and silence the portrait once again. "Hey mate, look at you! Have you met my dear old mum, before?"
"Sirius," she greeted her dad's best friend with a hug. He looked a little better than the last time she had seen him, last summer. His clothes were hanging a little better now and he didn't seem quite so thin and worn out. "Is this your house, then?"
"Family home, I loathe the likes of it," he wrapped his arm around her shoulders as he led her down the hallway from where he had come. Professor Dumbledore followed from behind at a leisurely pace. "As the last Black heir, it went to me, bet that really pisses my parents off—hope they're rolling and rotting in their graves just thinking of it—"
Dumbledore coughed, breaking Sirius from his tangent.
"Anyway, it went to me and seeing as it's impossible to detect for Muggle eyes and it's protected from Wizard's dropping in, unless you have permission to, it made for the perfect HQ."
"HQ," Jamie frowned thoughtfully as the ducked down a staircase and into a crowded kitchen.
"JAMIE!" Guin was rising from her seat and rushing over to hug her, her father close behind. "Oh, we've missed you! You look so good, so grown-up! Are you having fun with Severus, are you learning a lot?"
"Hi mum, hi dad," Jamie grinned over her mum's shoulder at her dad, who winked at her and pulled her closer, ruffling her hair.
"Excuse me, Shacklebolt's," Dumbledore interrupted their moment. "I know you are all so very happy to see each other, just as we are happy to see a beautiful family reunited, however, we must begin the meeting at once."
Dumbledore was seated at the head of a long table, filled with witches and wizards all watching her in varying degrees of curiosity, warmth, and tinges of sadness. As Jamie took her seat between her parents, she drank in everyone at the table.
Dumbledore of course sat at the head. At his right was Professor McGonagall, her dad, herself and mother, Aunt Molly and Uncle Arthur, her cousin Bill, and Remus. On the other side of the table, closest to Dumbledore, was Mad-Eye Moody (assumingly the real one), a small older man in a top hat, an old man with sparse, fluffy white hair, a beautiful older woman with long brown hair, a younger blacked hair woman with beautifully flushed cheeks, her cousin Charlie, a young woman with bright bubblegum pink hair and—
"Xolia," Jamie perked up, smiling at her new friend. Xolia was dressed in a floaty pink dress, teacup perched in her hands, a quill stuck behind her ear and a roll of parchment in front of her. Xolia beamed at her, warmth in her eyes as she waggled her fingers in a quiet hello.
Sirius sat beside her, Remus on the other side, as they shared the end of the table. They both winked and nodded to Jamie as Dumbledore cleared his throat for attention.
"Thank you all for joining together here tonight," her headmaster began. "I know many of us have a clear understanding of what is going on, but for the sake of explaining things to Miss…"
"Shacklebolt," Jamie filled in the awkward silence with a firm correction.
"For the sake of catching Miss Shacklebolt up to speed, I will need to outline some things," Dumbledore said. "Some of this information may be of interest to you, regardless.
"Jamie, you are here in what Sirius has referred to as the 'HQ' that is to say, the Headquarters of the Order of The Phoenix. We are a group of witches and wizards who are directly opposed to Lord Voldemort and his agenda, just as we were in the first war."
"James and Lily were in The Order, right?" Jamie quietly asked her mother, who nodded.
"After the events that occurred during the Third Task and the resurrection of Lord Voldemort, we've relaunched The Order once more," Dumbledore continued. "We are mostly all who remains of The Order, with a few new faces, but we have quickly begun to learn we will need to grow our ranks."
"So, you're saying he has more followers than before?" Jamie frowned at the idea. "How? Why?"
"It's not necessarily correct to say he has more followers than before, however, he has incredible reach and the ability to recruit followers quickly. If recruitment fails, he is as skilled at inspiring followers to join his cause as he is in inspiring fear in those who oppose him. To sum it up, we've learned our lesson from the first war and hope to avoid the same issues this time around."
"We need to recruit followers then?"
"Yes, and we need many," Professor McGonagall sighed, looking as if the idea of bringing more people into dangerous territory kept her up at night.
"Which is where we would like you to come in," Dumbledore explained. She didn't catch the way Guin and Molly shifted, spines-stiffening, the sure-fire sign they were not pleased with one of their young being threatened.
"You want me to…" Jamie trailed off, not quite following.
"You're a Potter, dear," the older beautiful woman spoke up. "You're the spitting image of your mother and you carry traits of your father. You're a talented Quidditch player, popular in school, and you won the Triwizard Tournament, you carry quite a deal of pull in our world."
"Emmeline is correct," Professor McGonagall nodded sagely. "Jamie dear, there are few people I can think of, adults included, who are able to inspire fellow young people to follow their ideas. Despite your reputation for trouble and hijinks and breaking school rules, you are quite powerful."
"But she's still just a young girl," Aunt Molly piped up, narrowing her eyes toward the end of the table where Dumbledore sat. Guin nodded, placing a hand over Jamie's beneath the table.
"She would be protected," Dumbledore protested. "We want her to be a figure head while still saying safe."
"Safety isn't guaranteed," Jamie leaned forward, jutting her chin out defiantly. "You all managed to let a mass murderer interrupt what was supposed to be a friendly tournament between schools. Fact of the matter is, students were injured and killed and that's on all of you buying into this false sense of security. No one is safe, anywhere, and it's pointless to be using it as a crutch for pitching an idea."
There was silence at the table, Mad Eye turned both of his eyes to her, studying her with a solemn air of respect.
"If you want me to help you, I want you to know I'm doing it because I want to," Jamie sat up straighter. "I make the decisions for myself, or I walk right out of here. I'm not going to be a puppet—" she stared hard at Dumbledore. "Nor will I be coddled," her hard gaze found her mother and aunt. "I'm an adult, I'm very much closer to eighteen years of age rather than the former, and I expect to be treated as such."
"You want an open stream of communication," Professor McGonagall nodded in agreement, turning her laser-sharp gaze on the headmaster in Jamie's defense.
"If there is a conversation regarding my involvement in anything, even selecting drinks for the next meeting, I need to be a part of it," Jamie crossed her arms. "I want it written down, in contract form, agreeing to my terms."
"Is there anything else?" Dumbledore asked, and she caught his mild irritation.
"I want to take full joint-custody of Harry, to be shared with Sirius, and I want to be involved in any decision making regarding him, too."
It was so silent a pin could have been heard if it dropped.
"No," Dumbledore shook his head. He pulled out a pocket watch and stood. "I'm afraid this meeting must be cut short, Miss Shacklebolt, we can review your terms and conditions at a later time."
Her mouth dropped open as the headmaster rose, striding from the room. Jamie jerked upwards, ripping from her mother's grasp as she chased after the headmaster.
"Professor Dumbledore," Jamie called out after the man, he turned, shooting her an awkward smile as he waved his hand as if to brush her off. "Nope, not so fast, you have some things you need to explain to me, sir."
"I apologize Miss Shacklebolt but I'm in a hurry to my next meeting," he stepped around her. She gave a snarl of annoyance and immediately began matching his stride as he speed-walked to the floo in the parlor.
"Unacceptable," she insisted, darting around to block his path, leveling him with a glare. "Professor Dumbledore, there are things you know and aren't telling me!"
"Miss Shacklebolt now is not the time, I am sorry!"
"No! Did you know that my mother's protection survives inside of me?" She squared her shoulders, subtly raising her wand while trying not to completely threaten her headmaster. "Answer me. Did you know? Because somehow something told me in the graveyard…I'm Harry's protection for the next two years until he becomes of age."
"I had suspicions," he relented, shoulders slumping.
"So, what exactly does this all mean for me?"
"I'm not exactly certain, but the simplest answer is you afford Harry some protection while he remains underage, now Miss Shacklebolt, I really must be leaving," he tried once more to sidestep her, but she stopped him.
"I'm of age, Professor, very much of age…and I'm Harry's next of kin…I want to take over his guardianship and it makes sense to do it with Sirius," she told the man.
"That will not work," Dumbledore shook his head firmly.
"Why."
"I do not need to explain this you, Miss Shacklebolt, I'm asking you to have faith in an older wiser adult," Dumbledore retorted. "I understand you love your brother very much and want what is best for him, but the easiest arrangement is for him to remain in the partial and temporary care of your maternal aunt and uncle."
"No," she shook her head. "It's not good for him, sir, and you know it. Harry deserves to be around people who love and care about him, not them!"
"Believe me, Miss Shacklebolt, I have Harry's best interests at heart!" Dumbledore raised his voice. "I will not hear another word of it!"
"Because you can't directly control it, right, sir?" She allowed him to step around her finally as their raised voices prompted others to start heading in their direction and the portrait of Sirius's mother to start shrieking again. "You see things we don't, I'll give you that much, but you need control, sir, don't you? You know if Harry comes to stay with us and is under our care…you can't keep him under your thumb...that's why you were so uncomfortable at the meeting just now, you realize I'm not going to be controllable."
"Have a nice summer, Miss Shacklebolt," Dumbledore replied, scooping up floo powder in his hand and tossing it into the fire, stepping in and leaving in a flash.
"What'd he say," Sirius appeared in the doorway. She sighed, shaking her head, rolling her shoulders. She hadn't anticipated the meeting or what they would ask of her, coming up with terms had been completely on the spot, however, she and Sirius had long been talking about taking over Harry's custody.
"Exactly what we expected him to," she replied. "I know I blindsided you, but it felt like the perfect time to drop it on him, I had hoped by putting him on the spot in front of everyone, he wouldn't have a choice but to agree."
"We aren't giving up though, are we? The plan stays the same?" Sirius prodded her as she shook her head.
"Dumbledore may be powerful, but he doesn't control everything," she replied. "I just wanted to give him the courtesy of asking for his blessing before we go behind his back."