Disclaimer: not mine. Rowling's (but you probably knew that already, right?).
Author's notes: to all the people who reviewed the first chapter: THANKS A LOT!!! You are the reason
I wrote this one so quickly. More notes at the end of the chapter.
Read, enjoy and review.
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Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix
Chapter II: The Wronski Feint
The room was round, dark and empty except for a cylindrical pedestal right in the centre. As
Harry came closer he noticed that it was only a big piece of polished stone with nothing on it
except for an inscription that run in circle around its border "fides
obligat fidem". The smooth surface emitted a soft reddish light that danced around the room. It
was as if somebody had lit a fire that didn't give any heat and couldn't be seen directly, but
which reflexes were enough to weakly illuminate the walls covered with heavy curtains. Any
other details drowned in the dark that the soft reflexes of light could not penetrate.
There was a feeling of power in the room, but no sense of danger. Peace and quiet reigned inside, and
Harry instinctively knew he was safe there. He muttered "Lumos" and the light of his wand pierced the shadows.
Now he could see the door, the only part of the wall not covered with curtains. He went in that direction,
extinguishing the light as soon as he reached the knob.Somehow he was afraid that his unwelcome intromission
would break the fragile balance of
shadow and light and wake whatever forces were sleeping in that place.
The heavy oak door opened easily, revealing a flight of stairs leading up and down in both
directions. The door closed soundlessly behind him and the feeling of peace and harmony was
gone, leaving him to wonder if it had really been there or his imagination had played a trick on his mind.
The door melted together with the wooden walls of the stairs and also disappeared.
Harry looked around, trying to decide which way to go. He had to call for help, but he also knew he couldn't
just call the first person he found. In fact he could think of only one wizard who could help him now without
endangering Sirius. Suddenly the door at the upper end of the stairs opened and he saw exactly the person he wanted to see.
Dumbledore went out of his office, followed closely by Professor McGonagall. Harry let out a sigh of relieve.
Suddenly the place wasn't strange and mysterious anymore. He realized he had been there more
than once, going up this same stairs. Everything became clear in a second, and he couldn't
understand how was it possible he didn't recognize Dumbledore's private quarters right away.
He never noticed the door leading to the secret room, but that was nothing of a surprise at
Hogwarts, where some rooms were known to change their position on specially rainy days.
Harry covered the distance between himself and the teachers in two giant steps, eager to explain everything as soon as
possible. From their expressions he could see that the news of the attack had already reached them. Professor McGonagall
was pale before she saw Harry, but now her skin turned white and she had an expression of motherly worry he never imagined
her able of. Dumbledore's face quite on the contrary dissolved into one of his softhearted half- smiles Harry frequently
got after coming safe and sound from yet another life-threatening experience.
"I'll admit you had us all very worried for a couple of minutes, Harry." Dumbledore led him to
his office and motioned to one of the chairs, but Harry had other urgent things in mind.
"Somebody has to go there!"
"There are enough wizards at Privet Drive right now to hold a convention. The Ministry may fail
at first, but it makes up for its mistakes quickly enough."
"But Sirius is there...", started Harry but the headmaster only shook his head.
"Sirius has disapparated out of there right behind you if he has any sense at all." Harry had to admit that
this solution never occurred to him. He felt much more reassured, but not quite.
Professor McGonagall interrupted him before he could say anything by asking the obvious
question.
"How did you get here, Harry?" He extended his left hand to reveal the medallion. Now when he
took a better look at it he saw it was just a round piece of black stone with the mysterious
inscription "fides obligat fidem" adorning its border and an image of a sun sending its rays in all
directions. Professor McGonagall seemed to recognize the object at once. She nodded and took it
from Harry's hands.
"You gave it to Black?" she asked Dumbledore frowning a little.
"Yes, and I am very happy to see that at least one of the things I did turned out to be of any use
today, seeing that none of my arrangement for Harry's safety worked." He turned to Harry and
added gravely. "I have to ask your forgiveness, Harry. I thought I had done enough for your
protection, but you should never assume you are invincible." Harry didn't know what to say to
that. He didn't feel he deserved the apology, or being protected by the most powerful and
respected wizard of the century who probably had enough things to do in the first place. He
avoided looking at the headmaster and studied the traces on the stone floor, listening for the
conversation.
"I thought nobody was supposed to have access to the Phoenix Room before all the members of
the Order are reunited," insisted Professor McGonagall.
"It's such an ancient magic, Minerva. I doubt anyone can remember now all the rules the Order
created. Anyway, like one young but quite wise wizard told me once, when you make a rule you
have also to count on the fact that sometime and somehow it will be broken."
"Black himself, no doubt. Not that I am against it," she hurried to add. "It certainly saved Harry,
and time may come it'll save Sirius too."
At that Harry heard the sound of a door opening and steps hurrying up the stairs. The door to
Dumbledore's office flew open to reveal a young woman panting of exhaustion. She went in
without any introduction, opened her mouth to speak to Dumbledore and froze as she saw Harry.
She stared at him for a moment, than let out a long sigh of relieve and to his great surprise
enclosed him in a tight hug. Harry felt himself getting so red he feared he might burst in flames
like Fawkes. The stranger finally let him go and fell in the closest chair with the look of
somebody who had just found the thing he had frantically searched for hours. She flashed him a
smile revealing a line of perfect white teeth and repeated the sentence Harry feared he was going
to hear a lot in the near future.
"What a scare you gave us, Harry!" Than she turned to Dumbledore and continued in more
businesslike voice. "The Watchers are all there, the Hit Wizards too, the muggle police wants
explanations and the Witch Weekly reporter is probably laying somewhere in the bushes with a
full body bind right now." She said all that very quickly and paused only to get a new breath of
air. "I must admit I panicked a little, I mean, no Harry, no trace of the muggle family, everything
in ruins... I lost time getting there, they put a great deal of shields around and a couple of Death
Eaters too and than I couldn't find anyone... I got here as soon as the backup arrived, and that's
a good thing. Now at least we found Harry, and that's what matters. All the Death Eaters got out,
I can't believe it. The couple outside I had only time to slow down, I knew there were at least
three of them in the house and they too.."
"Actually there were only two of them, Arabella." Harry and all the others turned in the direction
of the new voice and were greeted by the view of Sirius Black leaning on the doorframe and
looking like he had just run all the way from Hogsmeade to the castle. It occurred to Harry that it
was probably the case, for nobody could apparate at Hogwarts grounds.
"I can't believe it!" exclaimed Arabella's, but her face stated clearly that she didn't expect
anything else from the man in front of her. "The place is full of Death Eaters and all you do is
disarm them and run away!"
"Should I have stayed and waited for all the Department of Magical Protection to arrive?"
"You could at least have the decency not to disapparate out on me! Maybe we would have
grabbed some of them instead of embarrassing ourselves!"
"Look, I want to catch Avery as much as you..." Sirius started defensively.
"Avery was there and you let him go?!?!" She screamed.
"Arabella, dear, I'm sorry to interrupt but it would probably be the best if the Ministry got a
word about Harry's present location as soon as possible. Would you mind?" Dumbledore's voice
was as sweet and calm as ever. She immediately nodded and stood up to go, but another question
occurred to her.
"Are the muggles here, too?"
"No" was all the answer she got. Realizing that if wouldn't be enough instructions to find them
Sirius added "but if you look close enough you'll find a couple of snails under the stairs and
another near the entrance."
"Snails?!?" Professor McGonagall joined in.
"Toads were more like it, but I was afraid they would escape." Sirius had finally left the
doorframe and let himself fall in the chair by the fireplace previously occupied by Arabella. She
and Professor McGonagall exchanged identical looks of disgust. "What was I supposed to do?
Avery was about to put an Avada on the man."
"Sirius Black's guide to muggle protection." Arabella announced sarcastically. "When you see
somebody being attacked by a Death Eater do NOT try to block the curse and do NOT summon
protective shields. No!" She waived her hand. "All you have to do is transfigurate the poor
unsuspecting muggle into a toad, effectively getting him out of the way of the dark curse."
"It worked, didn't it?" Sirius was sounding a little defensive. "It's a way like any other to deal
with hysterical muggles." Arabella paid no notice to his words.
"Yeah, and than disapparate as soon as possible, leaving the others to do the cleaning!" she
finished.
"Somebody could have stepped on them." Minerva McGonagall stepped in. "Harry's relatives
could be crushed be the Hit Wizards!"
"No big deal." Harry heard Sirius utter under his breath. "I put an unbreakable charm on them",
he added.
"Come on, you can certainly make up something better than that. You can't put an unbreakable
charm on a living being."
"YOU can't put an unbreakable charm on a living being. I can!"
"I would like to see that."
"There's only one way to prove it!" They stared at each other for a long moment, after which
Arabella lowly announced.
"I will."
"Great, go ahead!"
"I will." She repeated. "And it's time about time somebody gave them their usual body back."
With that she walked out of the room and down the stairs. Before the door could close behind her
Sirius' exploded.
"What the hell is wrong with her? I only did what was best. And I would have stayed and helped
if I knew it was her outside!" He called in the direction of the stairs.
"And would run right into the Hit Squad." Dumbledore shook his head. "Believe me, the lovely
Arabella is perfectly capable of handling the things all by herself. Not to mention that she would
probably accuse you of getting in her way if you had stayed there."
"You did put an unbreakable charm on the Dursley family, didn't you?" Minerva McGonagall
insisted. Sirius just shook his head.
"She won't check it."
Harry thought he had seen all the possible looks of the Transfigurations teacher, beginning with
the one you got if you didn't learn the previous lesson and that only made you wish you had
studied the whole night for the subject and ending with the one that made you wish you were
born a Squib and never came to Hogwarts. He was wrong. There was obviously a completely
different scale of emotions that only a few people got the privilege to see. Harry tried to change
the theme. There was a question that had been bothering him since the beguinning.
"It wasn't by chance that they came on my birthday, right? I mean, they must have had a good
reason for it."
"You are probably right, Harry," answered Professor McGonagall, her anger forgotten. "You
wouldn't know it, but it used to be like that back in the times when Voldemort was powerful. He
liked to strike when the people were happy. It's much more effective that way. Stand up to him
and you'll be the next to find a notice about the death of a loved being instead of Christmas
presents under you bed."
"Voldemort has an unique way around people," added Dumbledore. "And there is more. Nobody
of the people that had any connection to Voldemort, present or past, even if it was only a
suspicion, had got access to Harry's protection. Cornelius Fudge wanted no risks after all, and I
personally checked all the precautions. It wasn't a Death Eater who disabled the detectors around
the house."
Nobody spoke as the meaning of Dumbledore's words penetrated everyone's minds. After a
moment of silence Sirius voiced what everyone was thinking.
"They put the Imperius on somebody in the Ministry. Easy, quick and a whole bunch of decent
people gets under suspicion. He wouldn't do it if he were still weak." Sirius must have realized
that he was avoiding the fearful name because he made a point of pronouncing it quite clearly
and putting all his hatred in the words he spoke next. "Voldemort is playing with us."
"And the attack on Harry was his way to announce his return," concluded Dumbledore. "I had
hoped he would need more time to gather all his strength. We'll have to work quickly now." He
paused before making the last announcement. "The Order of Phoenix will be convoked right
away."
Harry's clueless look was matched by Professor McGonagall's gesture of surprise. When he
turned to Sirius he was sure he saw a slight frown cross his face.
"We have no other choice. We can't be too late. Not again."
Suddenly everybody had something to do. Sirius had to contact somebody, Professor
McGonagall summon all the teachers to the castle and Harry was the only one without anything
to do. From Dumbledore's words he understood that he had no chance to go back to Privet Drive
any time soon, no that he wanted to. But the headmaster also said that Ron Weasley's house
would be too risky for him to stay. Even the Diagon Alley was out of the question. Harry had to
stay at Hogwarts for now and was facing the prospect of spending the rest of the summer there.
Professor McGonagall disappeared as soon as they went out of Dumbledore's office, but not
before saying Harry he better went directly to the Gryffindor tower and waited there until
everything was settled. Sirius stayed longer and promised he would be back in no time and they
would do something about Harry's birthday. After that Harry found himself wondering around
the empty corridors of the castle, getting more and more depressed at the silence that reigned in
the normally noisy classrooms and at the thoughts of the events of that morning.
The news he dreaded all the summer to receive were finally there, but they didn't stay in the
Daily Prophet or the muggle news but at the doorsteps of Harry's house. There was no way to
deny now that Lord Voldemort had risen again, and he, Harry Potter, would be known in the
history as his first target in the same way he was now known as his last one. It was a very
doubtful honour at best, and it wasn't true. The first one had been Cedric. Of course, he knew
there had been another victims before, Professor Quirrel, Bertha Jorkins, the old muggle; but it
was Cedric's death that came constantly to his mind. It had been a sick, cold-blooded killing, and
almost nobody knew Voldemort was the responsible of that crime. Now it would be Harry Potter
the eternal victim in the newspapers all again, and he wasn't even the first nor the worst affected
of all the people who had met Voldemort since his return. Harry was sick of the way his name
attracted publicity everywhere he went.
He didn't go to the Gryffindor tower right away, wandering a little around the castle and trying
to find some company. He found none and was beginning to get desperate. Having to spend the
rest of the summer with Filch and the house ghosts wasn't high on his list of birthday wishes. He
decided to try out his last recourse and visit Hagrid. He went down the green waving lawn
toward the border of the forbidden Forest where the hut of the groundskeeper lay under the
summer sun. Even from the distance he could see that his trip was in vain. Fang wasn't there,
and the thick silence was only broken by the buzz of occasional bees. Wherever Hagrid was, he
was planning to spend a long time there.
Harry had gone from a sense of deep disappointment at this until now unknown side of Hogwarts
to wonder if something happened right after he left the headmaster's office to deprive the castle
of any kind of live. Even the portraits were empty. He made his way back and headed to the
Gryffindor quarters. He was approaching the entrance to the tower when he was greeted by the
sight of the first living being in what seemed an eternity. Well, it wasn't exactly a living being
but it could move and speak and right away was deep immersed in a conversation with a guest.
The Fat Lady was talking excitedly to her friend Violet, both so excited they didn't notice Harry
at all.
"So he falls to one knee and says: Will you ever find the kindness in your heart to forgive me,
Milady? And the flowers, Vi, look at the flowers!" Only now did Harry notice the bush of red
roses that grew right from the stone floor under the portrait and framed the portrait.
"You have too soft a heart, darling. Remember, he tried to kill you two years ago. You spent a
whole two weeks in restoration!" Her friend didn't seem as enthusiastic about the whole thing.
"You didn't see him, Vi. He's not the same man now. So sweet, so handsome, and he was so
sorry..." She left out a romantic sigh and continued more soberly. "I would have to let him in
anyway, you know. Dumbledore's orders. So better let him suffer a little, don't you think?"
At that she turned around and saw Harry who had been waiting patiently to be noticed.
"Oh, great, here you are! Any news about the Order yet?"
"Eh, no." Harry answered quickly. "Eh... I don't know the password yet, but Professor
McGonagall told me to go here..."
"Don't need the password right now, sweetheart, there are so few of you anyway. I can't
remember the last time it was this quiet." The portrait opened a little and Harry stepped in
through a fence of very sharp roses.
The Gryffindor common room didn't look as uninviting as he could expect after seeing the rest
of the castle. The fire was cracking happily in the fireplace and the windows were opened, letting
the soft summer breeze enter the room. Harry's coffer was staying near the entrance and his
books were lying all over the table in exactly the same way they had been lying on his table at
Privet Drive. Even the contents of his secret hiding place were there, placed slightly apart from
the rest of his things. Sirius was waiting for him, looking through his "Quick guide to the dark
curses".
"Found anyone, Harry?"
"No." He admitted. "I went to Hagrid and even he wasn't there."
"Well, he is still away as far as I know. And as for the others Dumbledore thought it was better
to have them out of here in order to archive better security. Which means", he grinned, "that we
are free to do anything we want at the Hogwarts grounds". The smile did wonders to his face.
Harry was delighted to notice how much he had changed over the summer. The fact that he now
had a place to live, enough food and clean clothes couldn't be the only responsible for that
transformation. Harry thought that it had more to do with the mission he was now doing. In a
way he wasn't a fugitive anymore, but a part of a great and noble organization under the orders of
Dumbledore. Anyway, Harry enjoyed this version of his godfather, whose normally dark eyes
had lost the last remains of the empty look Azkaban had given him and now shone with a
constant sparkle of mischief, lighting up in a special way every time he looked at Harry.
Sirius threw apart the books that were taking up nearly all the space at the table and proceeded to
conjure a little fest consisting of different kind of sandwiches, a big flash of butterbeer and a
wide assortment of sweets from Honeydukes. At the centre of the table stood Harry's first birthday
cake complete with fifteen candles.
"Isn't much, but it's all I could do at such a short notice." To Harry it seemed the best thing he
could imagine, mostly because it was for him and only for him. As he looked closer he realized
there was a little figure of himself staying in the centre of the cake and holding a tiny version of
his Firebolt. As the tiny Harry noticed his bigger image looking at him he mounted the
broomstick and flew up, making a loop in the air and than proceeding to light the fifteen candles
around the cake with his tiny wand. The real Harry watched breathless as the figure on the
Firebolt finished its task, turned to him, waived the hand and disappeared leaving behind a trail
of gold sparks.
"Don't forget your wish." Sirius' voice took him out of his stare. He didn't need to think a lot.
He shortly considered wishing the end of Voldemort but quickly decided on a more reasonable
one. His little self had remind him of the hopes he had been having since some time already.
Ever since they finally won the Quidditch Cup and Oliver Wood finished Hogwarts to be more
exact. He closed his eyes and imagined himself as the Gryffindor captain, mounting his Firebolt
after saying the last words of encouragement to his team. Last year they had no competition and
he was only a fourth-year anyway, with lots of people older then him on the team. But now he was already fifteen. All the people
who saw him play told him how good he was. There was no reason he couldn't be the captain,
and now he was at it, wishing to win the Cup for the second time in a row couldn't hurt. Harry
opened the eyes, took a deep breath and blew with all his strength. All the candles went out.
They sat in front of the fire for some time, enjoying the meal and talking about nothing in
particular. Sirius chose not to mention the subject that was obviously on his and Harry's mind
and the mood in the room became more relaxed as Harry told his godfather some of the things
from his life with the Dursleys. They had a couple of enjoyable moments imaging the reaction
of Harry's relatives after being returned to their natural state by the ministry wizards. Harry was
beginning to enjoy the situation quite a lot when they were interrupted by the sound of the
portrait opening and Professor McGonagall entering the common room.
"I see you have already taken care of everything." She accepted the piece of cake Sirius offered
her and went straight to the subject. "But there is something else I have to discuss with Harry.
Dumbledore wants him to witness the ceremony."
"Why?" Harry's godfather asked rather harshly.
"He has his reasons. After what happened today..." She trailed off. Harry could see that Sirius
wasn't convinced and neither was he. He didn't consider himself a coward, but the only thing he
liked in McGonagall's words was the fact that he would be a witness, not a participant. After the
Triwizard Tournament he had decided that the only thing worse than competing with three
students much older than himself performing advanced magic in front of a bunch of unknown
people had to be performing magic in front of unknown wizards all alone.
"Anyway, the Headmaster had asked me to explain you what you are about to see tonight."
Professor McGonagall looked directly at him, somehow managing to look even stricter as
normally. "The Phoenix Enchantment is part of a very old book of white magic. If successfully
invoked it allows one person to receive the power of others and use their knowledge and
experience at his will. Of course, it's really much more complicated than that." She added,
noticing Harry's look of amazement.
"The Order of Phoenix is gets together in order to create and protect this bond. One person is
chosen from all the members to cast the last spell. The volume was lost for a long time, and even
now only a few wizards know the correct way to pronounce it, not to mention all the preparatory
ones. However, the enchantment needs something more than a right pronounced spell to cast it.
The person who invokes the Phoenix must have the unconditional trust of all the members of the
Order. They have to trust the chosen one with their lives, their safety and their souls; only so can
the bond be established. That's why today's meeting is so important. Now it is the time to ask all
the questions and receive all the answers. After that, the spell can be performed."
Harry tried to analyse the information. It didn't sound extremely difficult so far.
"What if somebody lies?"
"You can lie; you can also choose not to answer. What you have to understand is that your
reaction is more important than the words you say. The others will see your sincerity, your
discomfort or your fear and will judge you accordingly." Harry bit his lip, imagining a tribunal of
sorts where everything you did was noticed to the tiniest detail and all the secrets were laid open
in front of a panel of judges. It was uncomfortable thought, even if he didn't have to take a direct
part in it.
"Even after the ceremony, the spell can't be cast right away. It needs lots of preparation and
practice. Giving your power away in the moment of danger isn't something you can do easily.
Nor is it to control the magical energy of dozens of human beings, each one of whom is very
different from the others. It will take a lot of time before the Order of Phoenix will be able to
stand up against Voldemort. That's why we have to start right now." Professor McGonagall
concluded softly. If she had reserves at saying the fearful name she didn't let if show.
"Why wasn't it done before?" Harry's curiosity was extremely excited. He imagined Dumbledore
staying surrounded by the multitude of followers, an enormous bird of fire shining behind him.
The headmaster took up his hands and two fierce tongues of fire went up to become the bird's
wings. The Phoenix took fly, covering all the people under the shadow of its fire....
Sirius' words threw him out of the clutches of his imagination and back to the reality.
"They wanted, didn't they? There were rumours of something big, a new weapon of sorts. I never
heard that it was done, though," he asked.
"The discovery of the book came too late. There were spies among us, decent people under the
Imperius Curse, chaos everywhere. The most important part of the incantation is the trust in one
another. We couldn't call up the Order even if we wanted."
"Remember, Harry, what you are about to see today is to be kept secret from everybody. The
only way to destroy the Phoenix is to go after the members of the Order." With that she stood up,
preparing to leave. At the door she turned around and added in an afterthought.
"You know that the castle is empty and you mustn't fear detection, Sirius. Just remember that
Harry doesn't need any more adventures than he has already."
"Whatever makes you say that, Professor? There're lots of things we can do here.Defensive
spells to learn, homework to do, Quidditch tactics to practice..." Harry's enthusiastic grin couldn't
have escaped him, but Sirius went on;
"Of course, you probably don't need any practice in what Quidditch concerns. What I can't say
about the OWLs you'll be having this year." But Harry had already took his Firebolt from under
the mountain of books and was checking it for damage after the trip to Hogwarts.
"Harry, honest, I don't think I have anything to teach you about playing Quidditch except
preventing you from breaking your head trying to do some crazy feint."
"Didn't you play Quidditch at school?" Somehow it seemed completely impossible to Harry.
"Quidditch has rules!" Professor McGonagall made it sound like a revelation. "He could have
made a great Beater if he ever mastered the fine art of following them. Any more questions about
tonight, Harry?"
"I have one." Sirius' eyes lit up with mischievous glance. "What spell did you use to remove
Filch, Mrs. Norris AND Peeves from the castle grounds?"
"The Ask Nicely Charm, Mr. Black." She turned around and went through the portrait hole.
"She does have a sense of humor, she just hides it so well." Sirius mused after she disappeared.
"Sirius?"
"Yeah?" Harry started to grin even before he asked his next question.
"Have you ever seen the Wronski Feint?"
"Not since a long time." Sirius' grin matched his own. They stood up and followed Professor
McGonagall through the hole and down the stairs toward the Quidditch field.
The day was as wonderful as it promised to be in the morning at Privet Drive. They walked from
the castle, Harry throwing constant looks around to see if there was someone who escaped the
tight surveillance around the castle and could see the unlikely pair walking around Hogwarts
grounds.
By the time they reached the field Harry had stopped worrying and started wondering if Sirius
had really meant what he hoped he had. He mounted the Firebolt and made a couple of circles
around the field, each one higher and faster than the other. The broomstick followed the slightest
touch of his hands, changing directions almost before his brain made the conscious decision to
do so. He flew higher and higher till the empty tribunes under him melted into one and the little
figure on the ground looked no bigger than Harry's wand. He paused for a moment to take a
good look around and than gripped the polished handle tightly with his both hands and dived.
It was a wonderful feeling, sliding down through the layers of air, feeling air to part in front of
the broomstick and let him through, the wind singing between the branches of the tail, but that
was no Wronski Feint and he knew it. Somehow he lacked the insolence, the carelessness that
defined the manoeuvre and made the spectators forget to breath and the other Seeker follow you
blindly, even if he saw no Snitch and suspected the tramp. The madness of the fall just wasn't
there. Harry braked smoothly and landed in front of Sirius trying to hide his disappointment and
make it look like a graceful flight had been all he pretended.
"If this thing is worth half of its price it will never let you do it, Harry." Obviously Sirius wasn't
the one to be fooled easily when it came to flying. "The thing is, the Firebolt knows what you
want and you don't really want to be falling. You know there is no Snitch and aren't looking
forward to breaking your head, so your can't make you broomstick nose-dive just for the heck of
it." Harry remembered the sensation right at the moment he plunged down and had to admit it
made sense. It was in moments of great tension when he flew best, moments when he had no
time to consider his actions and let the instincts guide his flight. And no instinct whatsoever
could bring him to perform a vertical dive only to fool the enemy.
"I know you have fallen before and you don't want that to happen once more, but try... try to
find the beauty of it. The easy thing is to always be in control. It's much more difficult to let it go
until the moment you think you can never have it back and than recuperate it." Sirius fell silent
for a moment and than shook his head. "I can think of a least three people who would be making
queue to kill me by now if they heard that."
"I'll give it a try." Harry was getting altitude again, watching the objects on the ground get
smaller and smaller and trying to imagine them coming to meet him. He concentrated on the
marvellous sensation of speed and imagined it getting quicker and quicker. He wanted to
experience it. He wanted to let himself fall, to really fall because he knew nothing could happen
to him in that moment. He ordered the Firebolt to become an inert piece of wood in his hands
and felt it doing just so. The inertia he was carrying made him fly up a little bit more, than he felt
himself to pause in the air and finally change directions and go down. The ground was nearing.
Harry wiped all thought from his mind except the view of the field under himself and watched
the grass come nearer so that he could already make out the flowers...
Everything came to a still stand.
"Remember that part about recuperating the control?" Sirius' voice came from his left. The
ground was still right in front of Harry, maybe a couple of meter away, but it wasn't coming
nearer at all. In fact Harry realized that he wasn't flying anymore, he was hanging in the air head
down in a way that must have looked very funny from outside. He let go of the Firebolt and it
stayed at his side without falling. Whatever spell he was using, Sirius managed to archive what
Harry could only describe as an area of weightlessness in the middle of the Quidditch field.
"Careful with your broomstick, Harry!" At that the Firebolt seemed to get its weight back and
fell on the ground. "And now careful yourself." And he fell atop of it. He stood up feeling the
places on his body where he had landed.
"Everything OK?" Harry could hear the worry in Sirius' voice and quickly assured him of his
well being. "Sorry about it. You looked so enthusiastic I wasn't sure you planned to brake at all."
They made a couple more tries, Harry getting more and more sure of himself and speeding every
time more quickly toward the ground. How the trick wasn't to make the Firebolt perform the
crazy feint, Harry came to enjoy it too much for it to be a problem. When the evening came he
was learning the much more difficult art of coming out of the dive soon enough to avoid
becoming a wet spot on the. His godfather had already tried to finish the training a couple of
times but Harry was reluctant to leave before he mastered his first real Wronski Feint.
He had just picked up the broomstick from the ground and speeded up in the sky as quickly as he
could to prevent Sirius from saying that it was over for today one more time. He stopped so high
he was sure he couldn't hear him at all. He realized the trick didn't work when he saw his
godfather point his wand at his throat and heard the magically magnified voice carry around the
field.
"You may have enough energy to keep flying the whole week, Harry, but I'm tired of playing the
cushion. Practice if you wish, but I'm out."
"Please, Sirius! One last time!" But Harry knew he couldn't be heard. One last time, he promised
himself. He didn't want to try his godfather's patience any longer.
Harry closed the eyes and thought on the Gryffindor team captain. He thought of Krum and the
World Quidditch Cup. He knew the right moment to come out of the dive, he could sense it.
With the image of the roaring stadium in his mind, Harry let himself fall. He increased the speed,
felt it on his skin and than increased it some more. The words of the commentator were ringing
in his ears.
"He sees the Snitch! He's diving, speeding toward the ground in an attempt to put at end to the
long game. The other Seeker is far behind but he doesn't loose the hope, he accelerates and
places himself leg to leg with the Gryffindor captain. The other players have stopped to play,
they too are following the duel of the Seekers!" The ground was coming closer at head spinning
speed, closer than it has ever done before, and a freezing thought flashed suddenly in Harry's
head. Did Sirius really mean it? Was there no safety area on the ground? During one moment the
ice fear took control, and than it was replaced by an incredible feeling of confidence.
"They are flying head-to-head one close to the other! The Snitch must be only a palm from the
ground, because nobody apart from the Seekers is able to see it... Wait! It isn't there! There is no
Snitch, and Gryffindor Seeker brakes just in time to avoid crashing down, but I can't say the
same about his opponent. INCREDIBLE! A Wronski Feint like we haven't seen in some time!
Potter has fooled not only the other Seeker, but also the thousands of watchers of this
breathtaking event. The World Quidditch Cup goes to England, and I must say it was never more
deserved!" Harry gasped for air. He hung little more than one meter high above the ground and
wasn't sure if his feet had touched the grass in his wild braking. He couldn't believe it. He did it.
The Wronski Feint, the top class flying manoeuvre that only some players of selected
international teams dared to perform. The emotion overtook him and he sprinted high up into the
sky once more, celebrating the magic moment. The commentator's voice followed him up,
enveloping him in a warm victory cloak. "The national hero makes his victory lape. Harry Potter
with only fifteen years has just become the youngest player ever to perform the famous Wronski
Feint and win the Cup for his team!" The voice was real, as well as the applause coming from
the tribunes under Harry. A lone star went up by his site and exploded over him in a thousand
colourful fireworks.
He saw Sirius on the ground point his wand at his throat and say "Quietus", the last word to
thunder around the field and give way to a no less thundering silence. The sparkling lights of the
firework kept sliding slowly down around him and Harry followed them back toward the ground
where now a little audience has gathered. He saw Albus Dumbledore applauding enthusiastically
and Professor Lupin with the mysterious Arabella at his side. As he dismounted the Firebolt and
stepped on the ground she flashed him one of her astonishing smiles. His legs refused to obey
him in the first moment and he remembered Krum going to get the Quidditch World Cup the past
summer. He too hadn't seemed to stay sure on his legs and now Harry could understand the
feeling a lot better. There was nothing, absolutely nothing more he could have wished himself at that moment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's notes:
1 - Am I a cruel monster? I hope not. Than how could anybody think I would let anything happen to Sirius??? (Oh, things will happen to him all right, but death in the first chapter? I don't think so.) Other thing: he didn't play Quidditch because if he did he would be a copy of the Weasley twins and that's not fun. And Arabella won't continue to bitch around him (well, only a little bit), I promise. In fact she is really nice.
2 - Thanks again to all the people who reviewed, and specially to all who gave ideas. Rachel: the mention of Cedric in this chapter you can credit all to yourself.
3 - Does anybody think I write too much detail and should stick more to the main plot? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy writing, I'm just a little scared of the proportions this is taking. Let me know you opinion.
4 - In the next chapter: the Order of the Phoenix meets together and Sirius is forced to be sincere with Snape (he knew it would come, why did you think he was frowning). And Dumbledore has a very important announcement to make...
See you all soon
Author's notes: to all the people who reviewed the first chapter: THANKS A LOT!!! You are the reason
I wrote this one so quickly. More notes at the end of the chapter.
Read, enjoy and review.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix
Chapter II: The Wronski Feint
The room was round, dark and empty except for a cylindrical pedestal right in the centre. As
Harry came closer he noticed that it was only a big piece of polished stone with nothing on it
except for an inscription that run in circle around its border "fides
obligat fidem". The smooth surface emitted a soft reddish light that danced around the room. It
was as if somebody had lit a fire that didn't give any heat and couldn't be seen directly, but
which reflexes were enough to weakly illuminate the walls covered with heavy curtains. Any
other details drowned in the dark that the soft reflexes of light could not penetrate.
There was a feeling of power in the room, but no sense of danger. Peace and quiet reigned inside, and
Harry instinctively knew he was safe there. He muttered "Lumos" and the light of his wand pierced the shadows.
Now he could see the door, the only part of the wall not covered with curtains. He went in that direction,
extinguishing the light as soon as he reached the knob.Somehow he was afraid that his unwelcome intromission
would break the fragile balance of
shadow and light and wake whatever forces were sleeping in that place.
The heavy oak door opened easily, revealing a flight of stairs leading up and down in both
directions. The door closed soundlessly behind him and the feeling of peace and harmony was
gone, leaving him to wonder if it had really been there or his imagination had played a trick on his mind.
The door melted together with the wooden walls of the stairs and also disappeared.
Harry looked around, trying to decide which way to go. He had to call for help, but he also knew he couldn't
just call the first person he found. In fact he could think of only one wizard who could help him now without
endangering Sirius. Suddenly the door at the upper end of the stairs opened and he saw exactly the person he wanted to see.
Dumbledore went out of his office, followed closely by Professor McGonagall. Harry let out a sigh of relieve.
Suddenly the place wasn't strange and mysterious anymore. He realized he had been there more
than once, going up this same stairs. Everything became clear in a second, and he couldn't
understand how was it possible he didn't recognize Dumbledore's private quarters right away.
He never noticed the door leading to the secret room, but that was nothing of a surprise at
Hogwarts, where some rooms were known to change their position on specially rainy days.
Harry covered the distance between himself and the teachers in two giant steps, eager to explain everything as soon as
possible. From their expressions he could see that the news of the attack had already reached them. Professor McGonagall
was pale before she saw Harry, but now her skin turned white and she had an expression of motherly worry he never imagined
her able of. Dumbledore's face quite on the contrary dissolved into one of his softhearted half- smiles Harry frequently
got after coming safe and sound from yet another life-threatening experience.
"I'll admit you had us all very worried for a couple of minutes, Harry." Dumbledore led him to
his office and motioned to one of the chairs, but Harry had other urgent things in mind.
"Somebody has to go there!"
"There are enough wizards at Privet Drive right now to hold a convention. The Ministry may fail
at first, but it makes up for its mistakes quickly enough."
"But Sirius is there...", started Harry but the headmaster only shook his head.
"Sirius has disapparated out of there right behind you if he has any sense at all." Harry had to admit that
this solution never occurred to him. He felt much more reassured, but not quite.
Professor McGonagall interrupted him before he could say anything by asking the obvious
question.
"How did you get here, Harry?" He extended his left hand to reveal the medallion. Now when he
took a better look at it he saw it was just a round piece of black stone with the mysterious
inscription "fides obligat fidem" adorning its border and an image of a sun sending its rays in all
directions. Professor McGonagall seemed to recognize the object at once. She nodded and took it
from Harry's hands.
"You gave it to Black?" she asked Dumbledore frowning a little.
"Yes, and I am very happy to see that at least one of the things I did turned out to be of any use
today, seeing that none of my arrangement for Harry's safety worked." He turned to Harry and
added gravely. "I have to ask your forgiveness, Harry. I thought I had done enough for your
protection, but you should never assume you are invincible." Harry didn't know what to say to
that. He didn't feel he deserved the apology, or being protected by the most powerful and
respected wizard of the century who probably had enough things to do in the first place. He
avoided looking at the headmaster and studied the traces on the stone floor, listening for the
conversation.
"I thought nobody was supposed to have access to the Phoenix Room before all the members of
the Order are reunited," insisted Professor McGonagall.
"It's such an ancient magic, Minerva. I doubt anyone can remember now all the rules the Order
created. Anyway, like one young but quite wise wizard told me once, when you make a rule you
have also to count on the fact that sometime and somehow it will be broken."
"Black himself, no doubt. Not that I am against it," she hurried to add. "It certainly saved Harry,
and time may come it'll save Sirius too."
At that Harry heard the sound of a door opening and steps hurrying up the stairs. The door to
Dumbledore's office flew open to reveal a young woman panting of exhaustion. She went in
without any introduction, opened her mouth to speak to Dumbledore and froze as she saw Harry.
She stared at him for a moment, than let out a long sigh of relieve and to his great surprise
enclosed him in a tight hug. Harry felt himself getting so red he feared he might burst in flames
like Fawkes. The stranger finally let him go and fell in the closest chair with the look of
somebody who had just found the thing he had frantically searched for hours. She flashed him a
smile revealing a line of perfect white teeth and repeated the sentence Harry feared he was going
to hear a lot in the near future.
"What a scare you gave us, Harry!" Than she turned to Dumbledore and continued in more
businesslike voice. "The Watchers are all there, the Hit Wizards too, the muggle police wants
explanations and the Witch Weekly reporter is probably laying somewhere in the bushes with a
full body bind right now." She said all that very quickly and paused only to get a new breath of
air. "I must admit I panicked a little, I mean, no Harry, no trace of the muggle family, everything
in ruins... I lost time getting there, they put a great deal of shields around and a couple of Death
Eaters too and than I couldn't find anyone... I got here as soon as the backup arrived, and that's
a good thing. Now at least we found Harry, and that's what matters. All the Death Eaters got out,
I can't believe it. The couple outside I had only time to slow down, I knew there were at least
three of them in the house and they too.."
"Actually there were only two of them, Arabella." Harry and all the others turned in the direction
of the new voice and were greeted by the view of Sirius Black leaning on the doorframe and
looking like he had just run all the way from Hogsmeade to the castle. It occurred to Harry that it
was probably the case, for nobody could apparate at Hogwarts grounds.
"I can't believe it!" exclaimed Arabella's, but her face stated clearly that she didn't expect
anything else from the man in front of her. "The place is full of Death Eaters and all you do is
disarm them and run away!"
"Should I have stayed and waited for all the Department of Magical Protection to arrive?"
"You could at least have the decency not to disapparate out on me! Maybe we would have
grabbed some of them instead of embarrassing ourselves!"
"Look, I want to catch Avery as much as you..." Sirius started defensively.
"Avery was there and you let him go?!?!" She screamed.
"Arabella, dear, I'm sorry to interrupt but it would probably be the best if the Ministry got a
word about Harry's present location as soon as possible. Would you mind?" Dumbledore's voice
was as sweet and calm as ever. She immediately nodded and stood up to go, but another question
occurred to her.
"Are the muggles here, too?"
"No" was all the answer she got. Realizing that if wouldn't be enough instructions to find them
Sirius added "but if you look close enough you'll find a couple of snails under the stairs and
another near the entrance."
"Snails?!?" Professor McGonagall joined in.
"Toads were more like it, but I was afraid they would escape." Sirius had finally left the
doorframe and let himself fall in the chair by the fireplace previously occupied by Arabella. She
and Professor McGonagall exchanged identical looks of disgust. "What was I supposed to do?
Avery was about to put an Avada on the man."
"Sirius Black's guide to muggle protection." Arabella announced sarcastically. "When you see
somebody being attacked by a Death Eater do NOT try to block the curse and do NOT summon
protective shields. No!" She waived her hand. "All you have to do is transfigurate the poor
unsuspecting muggle into a toad, effectively getting him out of the way of the dark curse."
"It worked, didn't it?" Sirius was sounding a little defensive. "It's a way like any other to deal
with hysterical muggles." Arabella paid no notice to his words.
"Yeah, and than disapparate as soon as possible, leaving the others to do the cleaning!" she
finished.
"Somebody could have stepped on them." Minerva McGonagall stepped in. "Harry's relatives
could be crushed be the Hit Wizards!"
"No big deal." Harry heard Sirius utter under his breath. "I put an unbreakable charm on them",
he added.
"Come on, you can certainly make up something better than that. You can't put an unbreakable
charm on a living being."
"YOU can't put an unbreakable charm on a living being. I can!"
"I would like to see that."
"There's only one way to prove it!" They stared at each other for a long moment, after which
Arabella lowly announced.
"I will."
"Great, go ahead!"
"I will." She repeated. "And it's time about time somebody gave them their usual body back."
With that she walked out of the room and down the stairs. Before the door could close behind her
Sirius' exploded.
"What the hell is wrong with her? I only did what was best. And I would have stayed and helped
if I knew it was her outside!" He called in the direction of the stairs.
"And would run right into the Hit Squad." Dumbledore shook his head. "Believe me, the lovely
Arabella is perfectly capable of handling the things all by herself. Not to mention that she would
probably accuse you of getting in her way if you had stayed there."
"You did put an unbreakable charm on the Dursley family, didn't you?" Minerva McGonagall
insisted. Sirius just shook his head.
"She won't check it."
Harry thought he had seen all the possible looks of the Transfigurations teacher, beginning with
the one you got if you didn't learn the previous lesson and that only made you wish you had
studied the whole night for the subject and ending with the one that made you wish you were
born a Squib and never came to Hogwarts. He was wrong. There was obviously a completely
different scale of emotions that only a few people got the privilege to see. Harry tried to change
the theme. There was a question that had been bothering him since the beguinning.
"It wasn't by chance that they came on my birthday, right? I mean, they must have had a good
reason for it."
"You are probably right, Harry," answered Professor McGonagall, her anger forgotten. "You
wouldn't know it, but it used to be like that back in the times when Voldemort was powerful. He
liked to strike when the people were happy. It's much more effective that way. Stand up to him
and you'll be the next to find a notice about the death of a loved being instead of Christmas
presents under you bed."
"Voldemort has an unique way around people," added Dumbledore. "And there is more. Nobody
of the people that had any connection to Voldemort, present or past, even if it was only a
suspicion, had got access to Harry's protection. Cornelius Fudge wanted no risks after all, and I
personally checked all the precautions. It wasn't a Death Eater who disabled the detectors around
the house."
Nobody spoke as the meaning of Dumbledore's words penetrated everyone's minds. After a
moment of silence Sirius voiced what everyone was thinking.
"They put the Imperius on somebody in the Ministry. Easy, quick and a whole bunch of decent
people gets under suspicion. He wouldn't do it if he were still weak." Sirius must have realized
that he was avoiding the fearful name because he made a point of pronouncing it quite clearly
and putting all his hatred in the words he spoke next. "Voldemort is playing with us."
"And the attack on Harry was his way to announce his return," concluded Dumbledore. "I had
hoped he would need more time to gather all his strength. We'll have to work quickly now." He
paused before making the last announcement. "The Order of Phoenix will be convoked right
away."
Harry's clueless look was matched by Professor McGonagall's gesture of surprise. When he
turned to Sirius he was sure he saw a slight frown cross his face.
"We have no other choice. We can't be too late. Not again."
Suddenly everybody had something to do. Sirius had to contact somebody, Professor
McGonagall summon all the teachers to the castle and Harry was the only one without anything
to do. From Dumbledore's words he understood that he had no chance to go back to Privet Drive
any time soon, no that he wanted to. But the headmaster also said that Ron Weasley's house
would be too risky for him to stay. Even the Diagon Alley was out of the question. Harry had to
stay at Hogwarts for now and was facing the prospect of spending the rest of the summer there.
Professor McGonagall disappeared as soon as they went out of Dumbledore's office, but not
before saying Harry he better went directly to the Gryffindor tower and waited there until
everything was settled. Sirius stayed longer and promised he would be back in no time and they
would do something about Harry's birthday. After that Harry found himself wondering around
the empty corridors of the castle, getting more and more depressed at the silence that reigned in
the normally noisy classrooms and at the thoughts of the events of that morning.
The news he dreaded all the summer to receive were finally there, but they didn't stay in the
Daily Prophet or the muggle news but at the doorsteps of Harry's house. There was no way to
deny now that Lord Voldemort had risen again, and he, Harry Potter, would be known in the
history as his first target in the same way he was now known as his last one. It was a very
doubtful honour at best, and it wasn't true. The first one had been Cedric. Of course, he knew
there had been another victims before, Professor Quirrel, Bertha Jorkins, the old muggle; but it
was Cedric's death that came constantly to his mind. It had been a sick, cold-blooded killing, and
almost nobody knew Voldemort was the responsible of that crime. Now it would be Harry Potter
the eternal victim in the newspapers all again, and he wasn't even the first nor the worst affected
of all the people who had met Voldemort since his return. Harry was sick of the way his name
attracted publicity everywhere he went.
He didn't go to the Gryffindor tower right away, wandering a little around the castle and trying
to find some company. He found none and was beginning to get desperate. Having to spend the
rest of the summer with Filch and the house ghosts wasn't high on his list of birthday wishes. He
decided to try out his last recourse and visit Hagrid. He went down the green waving lawn
toward the border of the forbidden Forest where the hut of the groundskeeper lay under the
summer sun. Even from the distance he could see that his trip was in vain. Fang wasn't there,
and the thick silence was only broken by the buzz of occasional bees. Wherever Hagrid was, he
was planning to spend a long time there.
Harry had gone from a sense of deep disappointment at this until now unknown side of Hogwarts
to wonder if something happened right after he left the headmaster's office to deprive the castle
of any kind of live. Even the portraits were empty. He made his way back and headed to the
Gryffindor quarters. He was approaching the entrance to the tower when he was greeted by the
sight of the first living being in what seemed an eternity. Well, it wasn't exactly a living being
but it could move and speak and right away was deep immersed in a conversation with a guest.
The Fat Lady was talking excitedly to her friend Violet, both so excited they didn't notice Harry
at all.
"So he falls to one knee and says: Will you ever find the kindness in your heart to forgive me,
Milady? And the flowers, Vi, look at the flowers!" Only now did Harry notice the bush of red
roses that grew right from the stone floor under the portrait and framed the portrait.
"You have too soft a heart, darling. Remember, he tried to kill you two years ago. You spent a
whole two weeks in restoration!" Her friend didn't seem as enthusiastic about the whole thing.
"You didn't see him, Vi. He's not the same man now. So sweet, so handsome, and he was so
sorry..." She left out a romantic sigh and continued more soberly. "I would have to let him in
anyway, you know. Dumbledore's orders. So better let him suffer a little, don't you think?"
At that she turned around and saw Harry who had been waiting patiently to be noticed.
"Oh, great, here you are! Any news about the Order yet?"
"Eh, no." Harry answered quickly. "Eh... I don't know the password yet, but Professor
McGonagall told me to go here..."
"Don't need the password right now, sweetheart, there are so few of you anyway. I can't
remember the last time it was this quiet." The portrait opened a little and Harry stepped in
through a fence of very sharp roses.
The Gryffindor common room didn't look as uninviting as he could expect after seeing the rest
of the castle. The fire was cracking happily in the fireplace and the windows were opened, letting
the soft summer breeze enter the room. Harry's coffer was staying near the entrance and his
books were lying all over the table in exactly the same way they had been lying on his table at
Privet Drive. Even the contents of his secret hiding place were there, placed slightly apart from
the rest of his things. Sirius was waiting for him, looking through his "Quick guide to the dark
curses".
"Found anyone, Harry?"
"No." He admitted. "I went to Hagrid and even he wasn't there."
"Well, he is still away as far as I know. And as for the others Dumbledore thought it was better
to have them out of here in order to archive better security. Which means", he grinned, "that we
are free to do anything we want at the Hogwarts grounds". The smile did wonders to his face.
Harry was delighted to notice how much he had changed over the summer. The fact that he now
had a place to live, enough food and clean clothes couldn't be the only responsible for that
transformation. Harry thought that it had more to do with the mission he was now doing. In a
way he wasn't a fugitive anymore, but a part of a great and noble organization under the orders of
Dumbledore. Anyway, Harry enjoyed this version of his godfather, whose normally dark eyes
had lost the last remains of the empty look Azkaban had given him and now shone with a
constant sparkle of mischief, lighting up in a special way every time he looked at Harry.
Sirius threw apart the books that were taking up nearly all the space at the table and proceeded to
conjure a little fest consisting of different kind of sandwiches, a big flash of butterbeer and a
wide assortment of sweets from Honeydukes. At the centre of the table stood Harry's first birthday
cake complete with fifteen candles.
"Isn't much, but it's all I could do at such a short notice." To Harry it seemed the best thing he
could imagine, mostly because it was for him and only for him. As he looked closer he realized
there was a little figure of himself staying in the centre of the cake and holding a tiny version of
his Firebolt. As the tiny Harry noticed his bigger image looking at him he mounted the
broomstick and flew up, making a loop in the air and than proceeding to light the fifteen candles
around the cake with his tiny wand. The real Harry watched breathless as the figure on the
Firebolt finished its task, turned to him, waived the hand and disappeared leaving behind a trail
of gold sparks.
"Don't forget your wish." Sirius' voice took him out of his stare. He didn't need to think a lot.
He shortly considered wishing the end of Voldemort but quickly decided on a more reasonable
one. His little self had remind him of the hopes he had been having since some time already.
Ever since they finally won the Quidditch Cup and Oliver Wood finished Hogwarts to be more
exact. He closed his eyes and imagined himself as the Gryffindor captain, mounting his Firebolt
after saying the last words of encouragement to his team. Last year they had no competition and
he was only a fourth-year anyway, with lots of people older then him on the team. But now he was already fifteen. All the people
who saw him play told him how good he was. There was no reason he couldn't be the captain,
and now he was at it, wishing to win the Cup for the second time in a row couldn't hurt. Harry
opened the eyes, took a deep breath and blew with all his strength. All the candles went out.
They sat in front of the fire for some time, enjoying the meal and talking about nothing in
particular. Sirius chose not to mention the subject that was obviously on his and Harry's mind
and the mood in the room became more relaxed as Harry told his godfather some of the things
from his life with the Dursleys. They had a couple of enjoyable moments imaging the reaction
of Harry's relatives after being returned to their natural state by the ministry wizards. Harry was
beginning to enjoy the situation quite a lot when they were interrupted by the sound of the
portrait opening and Professor McGonagall entering the common room.
"I see you have already taken care of everything." She accepted the piece of cake Sirius offered
her and went straight to the subject. "But there is something else I have to discuss with Harry.
Dumbledore wants him to witness the ceremony."
"Why?" Harry's godfather asked rather harshly.
"He has his reasons. After what happened today..." She trailed off. Harry could see that Sirius
wasn't convinced and neither was he. He didn't consider himself a coward, but the only thing he
liked in McGonagall's words was the fact that he would be a witness, not a participant. After the
Triwizard Tournament he had decided that the only thing worse than competing with three
students much older than himself performing advanced magic in front of a bunch of unknown
people had to be performing magic in front of unknown wizards all alone.
"Anyway, the Headmaster had asked me to explain you what you are about to see tonight."
Professor McGonagall looked directly at him, somehow managing to look even stricter as
normally. "The Phoenix Enchantment is part of a very old book of white magic. If successfully
invoked it allows one person to receive the power of others and use their knowledge and
experience at his will. Of course, it's really much more complicated than that." She added,
noticing Harry's look of amazement.
"The Order of Phoenix is gets together in order to create and protect this bond. One person is
chosen from all the members to cast the last spell. The volume was lost for a long time, and even
now only a few wizards know the correct way to pronounce it, not to mention all the preparatory
ones. However, the enchantment needs something more than a right pronounced spell to cast it.
The person who invokes the Phoenix must have the unconditional trust of all the members of the
Order. They have to trust the chosen one with their lives, their safety and their souls; only so can
the bond be established. That's why today's meeting is so important. Now it is the time to ask all
the questions and receive all the answers. After that, the spell can be performed."
Harry tried to analyse the information. It didn't sound extremely difficult so far.
"What if somebody lies?"
"You can lie; you can also choose not to answer. What you have to understand is that your
reaction is more important than the words you say. The others will see your sincerity, your
discomfort or your fear and will judge you accordingly." Harry bit his lip, imagining a tribunal of
sorts where everything you did was noticed to the tiniest detail and all the secrets were laid open
in front of a panel of judges. It was uncomfortable thought, even if he didn't have to take a direct
part in it.
"Even after the ceremony, the spell can't be cast right away. It needs lots of preparation and
practice. Giving your power away in the moment of danger isn't something you can do easily.
Nor is it to control the magical energy of dozens of human beings, each one of whom is very
different from the others. It will take a lot of time before the Order of Phoenix will be able to
stand up against Voldemort. That's why we have to start right now." Professor McGonagall
concluded softly. If she had reserves at saying the fearful name she didn't let if show.
"Why wasn't it done before?" Harry's curiosity was extremely excited. He imagined Dumbledore
staying surrounded by the multitude of followers, an enormous bird of fire shining behind him.
The headmaster took up his hands and two fierce tongues of fire went up to become the bird's
wings. The Phoenix took fly, covering all the people under the shadow of its fire....
Sirius' words threw him out of the clutches of his imagination and back to the reality.
"They wanted, didn't they? There were rumours of something big, a new weapon of sorts. I never
heard that it was done, though," he asked.
"The discovery of the book came too late. There were spies among us, decent people under the
Imperius Curse, chaos everywhere. The most important part of the incantation is the trust in one
another. We couldn't call up the Order even if we wanted."
"Remember, Harry, what you are about to see today is to be kept secret from everybody. The
only way to destroy the Phoenix is to go after the members of the Order." With that she stood up,
preparing to leave. At the door she turned around and added in an afterthought.
"You know that the castle is empty and you mustn't fear detection, Sirius. Just remember that
Harry doesn't need any more adventures than he has already."
"Whatever makes you say that, Professor? There're lots of things we can do here.Defensive
spells to learn, homework to do, Quidditch tactics to practice..." Harry's enthusiastic grin couldn't
have escaped him, but Sirius went on;
"Of course, you probably don't need any practice in what Quidditch concerns. What I can't say
about the OWLs you'll be having this year." But Harry had already took his Firebolt from under
the mountain of books and was checking it for damage after the trip to Hogwarts.
"Harry, honest, I don't think I have anything to teach you about playing Quidditch except
preventing you from breaking your head trying to do some crazy feint."
"Didn't you play Quidditch at school?" Somehow it seemed completely impossible to Harry.
"Quidditch has rules!" Professor McGonagall made it sound like a revelation. "He could have
made a great Beater if he ever mastered the fine art of following them. Any more questions about
tonight, Harry?"
"I have one." Sirius' eyes lit up with mischievous glance. "What spell did you use to remove
Filch, Mrs. Norris AND Peeves from the castle grounds?"
"The Ask Nicely Charm, Mr. Black." She turned around and went through the portrait hole.
"She does have a sense of humor, she just hides it so well." Sirius mused after she disappeared.
"Sirius?"
"Yeah?" Harry started to grin even before he asked his next question.
"Have you ever seen the Wronski Feint?"
"Not since a long time." Sirius' grin matched his own. They stood up and followed Professor
McGonagall through the hole and down the stairs toward the Quidditch field.
The day was as wonderful as it promised to be in the morning at Privet Drive. They walked from
the castle, Harry throwing constant looks around to see if there was someone who escaped the
tight surveillance around the castle and could see the unlikely pair walking around Hogwarts
grounds.
By the time they reached the field Harry had stopped worrying and started wondering if Sirius
had really meant what he hoped he had. He mounted the Firebolt and made a couple of circles
around the field, each one higher and faster than the other. The broomstick followed the slightest
touch of his hands, changing directions almost before his brain made the conscious decision to
do so. He flew higher and higher till the empty tribunes under him melted into one and the little
figure on the ground looked no bigger than Harry's wand. He paused for a moment to take a
good look around and than gripped the polished handle tightly with his both hands and dived.
It was a wonderful feeling, sliding down through the layers of air, feeling air to part in front of
the broomstick and let him through, the wind singing between the branches of the tail, but that
was no Wronski Feint and he knew it. Somehow he lacked the insolence, the carelessness that
defined the manoeuvre and made the spectators forget to breath and the other Seeker follow you
blindly, even if he saw no Snitch and suspected the tramp. The madness of the fall just wasn't
there. Harry braked smoothly and landed in front of Sirius trying to hide his disappointment and
make it look like a graceful flight had been all he pretended.
"If this thing is worth half of its price it will never let you do it, Harry." Obviously Sirius wasn't
the one to be fooled easily when it came to flying. "The thing is, the Firebolt knows what you
want and you don't really want to be falling. You know there is no Snitch and aren't looking
forward to breaking your head, so your can't make you broomstick nose-dive just for the heck of
it." Harry remembered the sensation right at the moment he plunged down and had to admit it
made sense. It was in moments of great tension when he flew best, moments when he had no
time to consider his actions and let the instincts guide his flight. And no instinct whatsoever
could bring him to perform a vertical dive only to fool the enemy.
"I know you have fallen before and you don't want that to happen once more, but try... try to
find the beauty of it. The easy thing is to always be in control. It's much more difficult to let it go
until the moment you think you can never have it back and than recuperate it." Sirius fell silent
for a moment and than shook his head. "I can think of a least three people who would be making
queue to kill me by now if they heard that."
"I'll give it a try." Harry was getting altitude again, watching the objects on the ground get
smaller and smaller and trying to imagine them coming to meet him. He concentrated on the
marvellous sensation of speed and imagined it getting quicker and quicker. He wanted to
experience it. He wanted to let himself fall, to really fall because he knew nothing could happen
to him in that moment. He ordered the Firebolt to become an inert piece of wood in his hands
and felt it doing just so. The inertia he was carrying made him fly up a little bit more, than he felt
himself to pause in the air and finally change directions and go down. The ground was nearing.
Harry wiped all thought from his mind except the view of the field under himself and watched
the grass come nearer so that he could already make out the flowers...
Everything came to a still stand.
"Remember that part about recuperating the control?" Sirius' voice came from his left. The
ground was still right in front of Harry, maybe a couple of meter away, but it wasn't coming
nearer at all. In fact Harry realized that he wasn't flying anymore, he was hanging in the air head
down in a way that must have looked very funny from outside. He let go of the Firebolt and it
stayed at his side without falling. Whatever spell he was using, Sirius managed to archive what
Harry could only describe as an area of weightlessness in the middle of the Quidditch field.
"Careful with your broomstick, Harry!" At that the Firebolt seemed to get its weight back and
fell on the ground. "And now careful yourself." And he fell atop of it. He stood up feeling the
places on his body where he had landed.
"Everything OK?" Harry could hear the worry in Sirius' voice and quickly assured him of his
well being. "Sorry about it. You looked so enthusiastic I wasn't sure you planned to brake at all."
They made a couple more tries, Harry getting more and more sure of himself and speeding every
time more quickly toward the ground. How the trick wasn't to make the Firebolt perform the
crazy feint, Harry came to enjoy it too much for it to be a problem. When the evening came he
was learning the much more difficult art of coming out of the dive soon enough to avoid
becoming a wet spot on the. His godfather had already tried to finish the training a couple of
times but Harry was reluctant to leave before he mastered his first real Wronski Feint.
He had just picked up the broomstick from the ground and speeded up in the sky as quickly as he
could to prevent Sirius from saying that it was over for today one more time. He stopped so high
he was sure he couldn't hear him at all. He realized the trick didn't work when he saw his
godfather point his wand at his throat and heard the magically magnified voice carry around the
field.
"You may have enough energy to keep flying the whole week, Harry, but I'm tired of playing the
cushion. Practice if you wish, but I'm out."
"Please, Sirius! One last time!" But Harry knew he couldn't be heard. One last time, he promised
himself. He didn't want to try his godfather's patience any longer.
Harry closed the eyes and thought on the Gryffindor team captain. He thought of Krum and the
World Quidditch Cup. He knew the right moment to come out of the dive, he could sense it.
With the image of the roaring stadium in his mind, Harry let himself fall. He increased the speed,
felt it on his skin and than increased it some more. The words of the commentator were ringing
in his ears.
"He sees the Snitch! He's diving, speeding toward the ground in an attempt to put at end to the
long game. The other Seeker is far behind but he doesn't loose the hope, he accelerates and
places himself leg to leg with the Gryffindor captain. The other players have stopped to play,
they too are following the duel of the Seekers!" The ground was coming closer at head spinning
speed, closer than it has ever done before, and a freezing thought flashed suddenly in Harry's
head. Did Sirius really mean it? Was there no safety area on the ground? During one moment the
ice fear took control, and than it was replaced by an incredible feeling of confidence.
"They are flying head-to-head one close to the other! The Snitch must be only a palm from the
ground, because nobody apart from the Seekers is able to see it... Wait! It isn't there! There is no
Snitch, and Gryffindor Seeker brakes just in time to avoid crashing down, but I can't say the
same about his opponent. INCREDIBLE! A Wronski Feint like we haven't seen in some time!
Potter has fooled not only the other Seeker, but also the thousands of watchers of this
breathtaking event. The World Quidditch Cup goes to England, and I must say it was never more
deserved!" Harry gasped for air. He hung little more than one meter high above the ground and
wasn't sure if his feet had touched the grass in his wild braking. He couldn't believe it. He did it.
The Wronski Feint, the top class flying manoeuvre that only some players of selected
international teams dared to perform. The emotion overtook him and he sprinted high up into the
sky once more, celebrating the magic moment. The commentator's voice followed him up,
enveloping him in a warm victory cloak. "The national hero makes his victory lape. Harry Potter
with only fifteen years has just become the youngest player ever to perform the famous Wronski
Feint and win the Cup for his team!" The voice was real, as well as the applause coming from
the tribunes under Harry. A lone star went up by his site and exploded over him in a thousand
colourful fireworks.
He saw Sirius on the ground point his wand at his throat and say "Quietus", the last word to
thunder around the field and give way to a no less thundering silence. The sparkling lights of the
firework kept sliding slowly down around him and Harry followed them back toward the ground
where now a little audience has gathered. He saw Albus Dumbledore applauding enthusiastically
and Professor Lupin with the mysterious Arabella at his side. As he dismounted the Firebolt and
stepped on the ground she flashed him one of her astonishing smiles. His legs refused to obey
him in the first moment and he remembered Krum going to get the Quidditch World Cup the past
summer. He too hadn't seemed to stay sure on his legs and now Harry could understand the
feeling a lot better. There was nothing, absolutely nothing more he could have wished himself at that moment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's notes:
1 - Am I a cruel monster? I hope not. Than how could anybody think I would let anything happen to Sirius??? (Oh, things will happen to him all right, but death in the first chapter? I don't think so.) Other thing: he didn't play Quidditch because if he did he would be a copy of the Weasley twins and that's not fun. And Arabella won't continue to bitch around him (well, only a little bit), I promise. In fact she is really nice.
2 - Thanks again to all the people who reviewed, and specially to all who gave ideas. Rachel: the mention of Cedric in this chapter you can credit all to yourself.
3 - Does anybody think I write too much detail and should stick more to the main plot? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy writing, I'm just a little scared of the proportions this is taking. Let me know you opinion.
4 - In the next chapter: the Order of the Phoenix meets together and Sirius is forced to be sincere with Snape (he knew it would come, why did you think he was frowning). And Dumbledore has a very important announcement to make...
See you all soon