Okay, I have all the free times in the world now! Well, just for one week though and I'll use that for finishing this story.  I made a new approximation (nice word) and there are six (that's right) chapters left for this story.  So without further ado, here's chapter 26.  I don't know anything, btw.

Chapter 26

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Ron and Hermione were getting along, but still seemed distant with each other.  They chose to avoid anything that came close to what happened that day.  March came and went, and April soon followed.  Easter holidays (if you can call it a holiday, Harry thought) went by in breeze.  During the holidays, the teachers gave them so much homework that beside sleeping and eating, homework became a sort of necessity to them.  Harry, like his fellow Gryffindors, dread the upcoming months.  Aside the quidditch final, he would be taking the O.W.L.s in less than two months.  School resumed after Easter.  The first day that they had lessons again, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had an unexpected invitation.  When they were filing out of Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Professor Sullivan asked them to stay.  Wondering what was going on, they looked at each other and sat down on the first three seats on the front.  Professor Sullivan closed the door.  She turned to them and said,

  "I don't know how to start this.  I'm sure you all are aware of the, er, secret organization that the headmaster has organized a long time ago, right?" They were silent.  "About the old crowd?  I'm sure he has mentioned it to you."

"Old crowd." Harry was sure Dumbledore has mention that phrase before.  Instantly, like videotape played in his head, he remembered:  "Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher, and Remus Lupin, you know, the old crowd…"

  "I reckon I can recall something.  Why?" asked Harry. 

  "Well, that organization is holding a meeting called the grand counsel meeting on Sunday night-"

  "What's that got to do with us?" asked Ron. 

  "Well, I asked you three to come.  I need to talk about something that involves all of you.  So how about it?  Sunday night?  All right with all of you?" 

  "Well, I guess.  If it concerns all of us," replied Hermione slowly. 

  "All right, that's settled, then.  We will all meet at the entrance hall at 6:30?  Wait for me there and I will lead you to the, er, headquarters.  Oh, yes, Harry, this may sound very strange, but can you please bring that dragon necklace of yours?" 

  "Okay, but why?" asked Harry curiously.  But Professor Sullivan chose to ignore his question. 

  "Now, remember, Sunday night at 6:30.  Wait at the entrance hall.  Be very careful as to who you might bump into.  Too many people can't be trusted these days.  That would be all.  You are dismissed." Before Harry could say another word, Ron and Hermione ushered him out to the empty corridor. 

  "Save them for Sunday, will you?" remarked Ron.  "Maybe she'll tell you then." 

  "I don't know.  It seems so secretive.  Does the minister even allow Professor Dumbledore to do that?" said Hermione.

  "Of course not, Hermione, like Professor said, it's a secret organization.  No one knows about it?" said Ron.  Harry thought of the reasons possible as to why the professor would want his necklace.  Maybe Ron was right about it.  Maybe it was an amulet.  But is it just that?

That Sunday night, they went down to the entrance hall and waited for the professor.  Harry, who was holding his necklace out in the firelight, said, "I still don't get why she wants to see this.  I mean how important could this thing be?" 

  "I don't know.  But it's 6:30 and she's not here yet," said Ron, checking his watch.  Hermione looked at the opposite side of the hall where the door that leads to the kitchens was.  That door opened and out came Professor Sullivan.  She smiled at her. 

  "Look, she's here," Hermione pointed. 

  "Are all of you ready?" she asked breathlessly.  They nodded.  She led them to the door and went down a staircase that was unfamiliar to Harry.  She led them to a beautifully decorated corridor and stopped down in front of a door.  She opened it and beckoned them to go in.  It was a rather large room.  It was equivalent to one and half classrooms put together.  There were chairs all around with unfamiliar people sitting on them.  In front the room, Harry noticed was a table with dark red velvet tablecloth.  Two chairs were behind the table and seated there were Professor Dumbledore and the real Mad-Eye Moody.  He looked exactly the way Harry last saw him and was wearing an expression that was unreadable.  Harry looked at the chairs that faced the table.  About fifteen people were sitting on the chairs.  Harry looked around these people. He couldn't recognize any of them.  His eyes stopped at the three people conversing mildly.  The two men he had recognized.  They were Sirius and Remus.  However, the old woman next to them he knew from long ago, or at least he thinks he does.  He rubbed his eyes in amazement. 

  "Mrs. Figg?" he amazed loudly.  The three stopped talking and looked at him. 

  "Harry, Arabella, you know my godson," said Sirius, standing up. 

  "Mrs. Figg?  Y-y-you're, you're a-a-a w-w-witch?" stammered Harry, still quite amazed.

  "Well, of course.  Could I be anything else?  Well, don't look at me like that, boy," Arabella snapped.  Remus laughed. 

  "Why don't you three have a seat right here?" he said as he pulled up three chairs.  They were taking a seat when Ron exclaimed,  "Bill?"

Bill was sitting right behind Mrs. Figg.  He smiled and said,  "Well, don't look too surprised.  Mum knows I'm here." 

  "B-but…" stuttered Ron. 

  "Oh, come on, Ron.  What about you?  What are you doing here?" remarked Bill.

  "I go to school here," said Ron indignantly.  

  "Arabella, how are you doing?" asked Professor Sullivan. 

  "Fine, my dear, couldn't be better," she replied. 

  "Well, are we all settled? Shall we begin?" asked Dumbledore, up from the table. 

  "Yes, yes, we should start right away," replied Mad-Eye.  "Briana, why don't you go ahead and start this meeting?"

  "All right, Alastor, I begin this grand counsel meeting at-" the door opening interrupted her.  It was Severus Snape.  In an instant, murmurs flowed through the room. 

  "Him? What is this Death Eater doing here, Dumbledore?" asked a man with graying hair. 

  "Yes, I would like to know that too, Albus," roared Mad-Eye, his magical eye surveying Snape. 

  "Listen to me please, Severus has been, and always will be in our side from now on," said Dumbledore firmly. 

  "How can you be so sure about that, eh?  He can betray his side once, maybe he can betray us too," said the man again.

  "Now, now, Mundungus, calm down.  He will not betray us.  How many times I will have to tell you?  Severus, please sit.  Briana, will you please get on with this?"

  "Right, well, let's see, where was I?" she asked thoughtfully. 

  "You were calling this meeting to order," said Sirius. 

  "Oh, right, thank you-" she paused and looked uneasily at Sirius then to Severus then back again. 

  "You were saying, Annie?" said Remus. 

  "Right, right, calling this meeting to order at 6:47.  Right, into attendance, some of us are not here.  Maria, Andrew, Marcus, and Louis are not here.  Now, into business," she paused for a moment and then said,

  "About a thousand years ago, a secret society was founded by four unknown magical people.  That society was promoted to do one thing.  That thing is to teach its members the very old way of doing magic, without wands.  Its members require great concentration skills that are acquired through vigorous training.  This society was called the Order of the Phoenix."

"For more than fifteen years ago, those who trained under Alastor Moody were given opportunities to be in the Order of the Phoenix.  There were six of us that got in.  Douglas McKinnon, Roberta Everett, Marcus and Maria Costello, me, and Frank Longbottom were the chosen members." 

  "Frank Longbottom? But isn't he?" asked Remus. 

  "I'll get to that later, Remus," replied Briana.  "Now, in the beginning, the four founders of the society had each four necklaces.  Their pendants symbolize the two oldest magical creatures known to wizards, the phoenix and the dragon."          

"There's a tradition in the Order of the Phoenix.  Every new generation of its members, four are chosen to guard the necklaces.  The chosen ones are called the Guardians of the Fire.  Their jobs are to keep the necklaces and protect them from evil that want to take them away from us.  Out of six, four of us were chosen.  Douglas McKinnon and Roberta Everett both were chosen to guard the two dragon necklaces.  Frank Longbottom and I were chosen to guard the phoenix necklaces.  These necklaces, their powers individually are great, but when together, are even greater.  They are used for good but if in the wrong hands, will do a greater harm.  Now, Voldemort, of course, have discovered the society of the Phoenix and had long to take the necklaces away from us."  Ron and Hermione were the only ones that flinched at the sound of the name.

"The night the McKinnons died, one of the reasons why they died was because of the necklace.  I'm not quite sure if they managed to retrieve it.  Now, about Frank Longbottom, Remus, they did tortured him for Voldemort's whereabouts, and also, they found out that Frank was one of the Guardians of the Fire and-"

  "And they knew that if they torture him, they would retrieve the other necklace, right?" said Sirius.  "And bring him back into power?" 

  "Yes, but Frank knew that his fate was about to come.  Someone has warned him about it, and so he sent an owl to Marcus Costello with the necklace telling him to keep it.  Today, Marcus told me that Maria has the necklace, and so I will send an owl to her about it.  Now, the third necklace I have, but the fourth necklace, the one that Roberta Everett had, is right here with us now."   

  "Wait, didn't Roberta moved to the north?" asked Mundungus Fletcher. 

  "Yes, she did.  Now, I don't know why the necklace came back here.  Harry, can you please tell me how you got that necklace?" 

  "Well, Hermione gave it for me for my birthday."

  "Hermione, how did you get this necklace?"

  "Well, I was at Durmstrang for the early part of the holidays.  I was looking for a gift for Harry and so I went to this village.  I saw this old man who was selling antique things.  He said that this necklace was well suited for the person I was giving it to."

  "Is this man a muggle or a wizard?"

  "He was a muggle." 

  "Right, so Roberta must have moved to the north and then accidentally dropped this necklace somewhere," said Alastor thoughtfully. 

  "It can be one of the reasons.  But I know that whoever has been trying get in the castle wants this necklace and the necklace that I have." 

  "We can also say that one of the necklaces can be in Voldemort's hands as we speak," said Mrs. Figg. 

  "Hmm…we can say that," said Dumbledore thoughtfully. 

  "So what do we do now? Retrieve the necklaces?" asked Remus. 

  "Well, for now, I don't know.  I reckon we could get the necklace Voldemort has.  Because if he gets all of them, I regret what he can do with it."

  "Does he even know how to operate these necklaces?" asked Bill. 

  "Hmm…now come to think of it, the only ones that know how to operate them are the guardians and the members of the Phoenix."  

  "Are you saying that one of us might cross the dark side again?" asked Sirius. 

  "Well, it's not a big deal, isn't it? It's bound to happen again," said Mad-Eye, he was speaking especially to Snape. 

  "Well, that person would have to be a Phoenix member, Alastor," said Briana, catching what he meant. 

  "Our task now is to retrieve the necklace that he has," said Dumbledore.  "Before he wrecks havoc with it.  Now, I adjourn this meeting right now."

Okay, that mostly sums up what I think the Order of the Phoenix is.  Remember, this is not a spoiler; it's only my take of the fifth book.  Please leave a review.  The next chapters are really cool, especially the next one.  Can't say anymore!