A/N- Again, thanks to my guild members, you guys rock! So do all my reviewers and my beta reader! Go read Wink at J00 fics, they're great!


Chapter 13

"Ron, hurry up!"
"But Hermione, you heard Dumbledore-"
"We're just taking a detour to the library."
"Why? What's so important that has to get done right now?"
"Dumbledore said the 'Order of Phoenix', right?"
"Yeah, so?"
"I've read about it somewhere, it was something important but I can't remember what it was. We need to find that book."
"We do?"
"Yes, now stop bickering. It should be right- here. Oh no!"
"What?"
"It's gone. They probably hid it so that students wouldn't find out about it. It could take ages to find that book."
"What's it's called?"
"The Dark Era."
"Hermione, think a little! You're a witch, use a SUMMONING charm!"
"Of course! Accio the Dark Era Book!"
Slowly, a book flies towards them from the restricted section of the library. "Hermione, don't open it! Remember what happened last time Harry opened a restricted book without permission?"
"Ron, it's not a restricted book. They only put it there so students wouldn't find it. Watch."
Ron covers his ears as Hermione opens the book, yet, as usual, Hermione was right, and no screaming was heard. "Come on, let's go. We don't want to get caught now."
****
"But Albus, certainly, he couldn't possibly be-
"Surely, it's not true, the boy d-, no it's unthinkable.
"People please, I am only stating the facts- Harry's missing, his broom is gone, and the Dark Mark is floating in the sky above the Womping Willow.
More outcries occur from the school's professors as they try not to think about what they might find.
"But sir, why would he leave on his room anyway?"
"And why to the Womping Willow?'
At that moment, Sirius, Remus and Dumbledore and eye each other, now knowing how well the secret was kept. They nod in agreement, knowing that since few know about what lies beneath the old school tree, it would be a good place to go to be alone, completely alone. Snape eyes the three, and has a pretty good idea of what was going through their minds. A thought from supper that night crosses Snape's mind, "Potter, being later for QUIDDITCH announcements and leaving before the celebrations were over? When the Captains were walking back, the- Ravenclaw captain whispered something to him then he– stiffened up and left. The Ravenclaw he was staring at when he left was- the Captain! And the look he had on his face, I know that look- that guilty regretful look, he was looking like that earlier too though- at- the time of the Hufflepuffs announcement. Then too the two captains eyes locked again!"
"Dumbledore," he asks aloud, " Why don't the Hufflepuffs have a captain this year?"
"Snape, this is not the time to talk about-
"Quiet Black."
"Severus, you know why. They all believed that Cedric Diggory was going to be there captain this year, and no one felt that they could replace him."
"But what do the three have in common?" Snape thinks to himself, "At the end of last year, Harry did feel responsible, but where does Cho fit in? I've never seen her around Potter, but with Cedric! Didn't she go to the Ball with him? Yes, I can see her now, sitting up front with the other Champions. So, she liked Cedric, so she must be blaming Harry for it! I can tell by that look he had, it reminded me of- no don't think about that Snape, he's not like that at all."
"He was depressed, he was regretting Cedric's death," Snape says matter of factly.
"But why now?" Sirius inquires, more wanting to disagree with Snape than not believing him.
"Sirius, you know the boy's been through so much, it'd be hard to bear with it all. The smallest infliction that he could be responsible for it is enough to send someone mad. I believe that Severus knows what he is talking about," Dumbledore explains, knowing exactly what Snape was thinking, that Harry reminded him of himself, after his return to the dark side. "Come, let's go."
The group exits the castle in the direction of the Womping Willow.
****
"Ron, look here."
Upon there return from the library, Hermione and Ron found out thanks to Fred and George, no one looked outside the window and saw the deadly figure floating above. Things supposedly returned back to normal, Hermione scream and anxiousness being forgotten after a half-hour or so.
Now it's late, everyone gone to bed. The two decided against the idea of going to bed and to keep them from worrying finished their homework for the week and started their research on the Order the moment everyone was asleep.
"What did you find, Hermione?"
"Listen. The Order of Phoenix was an ongoing organization founded during the time when He Who Must Not be Named was in power. This group of highly trained wizards main goal was to help protect those at risk, and to help capture their rivals, the Death Eaters. Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge was all for the establishment of this group, and appointed Albus Dumbledore as their leader. The Order of Phoenix name come-"
"Is that all?" Ron asks.
"Yes, but no. I was at the end of the page and the other side is talking about the town of Hogsmeade, not a word about the Order, it's weird, it doesn't make any sense at all."
The two quit their research and go sit in the chairs by the fire, waiting for the news of Harry to come.
****
"Severus, Minerva, Poppy, and Remus, come here," Dumbledore demands, now at the foot of the Womping Willow. "Remus," he says in a whisper, "You stay with Sirius, I don't know what we'll find and I don't think he can handle it."
Lupin nods as he glances over at his friends' distorted and strained face, knowing that he couldn't possibly take much more of this. He walks over to Sirius who starts to sniffle softly.
"The rest of you," Dumbledore continues, speaking to the rest of the Order, "Two stand guard here, the others search the grounds and forest for any unusual signs. We'll meet back here."
"I hope to God he's all right," Remus mutters as the four escape from sight under the Womping Willow.
****
Where should we go first, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asks, they now standing in the entrance of the Shrieking Shack.
"Upstairs," Snape mutters, answering the question even though it wasn't directed towards him. He leads them to the room where Harry met his godfather two years earlier.
They enter the room and the four gasp at the sight of Harry's limp body. "Poppy, check for a pulse," Dumbledore commands.
Madame Pomfrey walks over to Harry, sobbing softly. She gently lifts Harry's wrist. The next fifteen seconds are spent in utter silence, waiting for a reply. A short shout escapes the school's nurse. The other three move in a little closer.
"Oh Dumbledore!" she exclaims as she springs to a standing position, "A pulse, it is there, so faintly, but it's there!"
They all let out a huge sigh of relief that they've been holding in since the moment they stepped into the room. "Albus, what do you think happened?" Professor McGonagall inquires
Not answering the question, Dumbledore walks over to Harry and picks up his wand off his chest.
"Sir?"
"Yes, Snape?"
"Maybe we should see what spell Potter casted last. It might help find out what happened."

"Very well. I was thinking the same thing."
Dumbledore puts his wand against the tip of Harry's and mutters: "Prior Incatato"
A flash of green light escapes Harry's wand and hits a spider near the ceiling in the corner, which falls to the floor.
Not for the first time that night, gasps fill the room, except this time only two were heard as Snape and Dumbledore stay silent.
"Sir, Potter, he didn't try to- k- kill – himself, did he?"
"From what we know now Minerva, if he was indeed depressed over Cedric's death, it is possible because he could be confused, but it is not the time to jump to conclusions," was Dumbledore's response, "We'll have to wait until he wakes up, if he ever does." The four cast their eyes downward.
"We'd better get Harry back to the castle, even though I doubt there is much we can do for him, but the rest of The Order will be waiting," Snape says, using Harry's first name for the first time. "It is getting late and there isn't much else to do here."
"I'll notify Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley when we get back to the castle," McGonagall says, wiping a tear from her eye.
Dumbledore conjures a stretcher and together, the four leave, walking slowly and silently, still slightly confused on what they just witnessed.
****
"Sir, is he alright?" Many members ask as they appear in front of the old school tree. Sirius, panic-stricken, teary-eyes walks u to his old Headmaster, and pleads, "T-t-tell m-m-me. I-is h-he alive?"
"Yes Sirius, he is alive, at the moment. No more questions, we will discuss matters later. We need to take Harry to the hospital wing immediately."
Upon hearing Dumbledore's words, Sirius lets out a cry of joy, walks over to Remus and gives him a great big bear hug, sobbing, "Oh, he's alive!"
The four, now accompanied by Sirius and Remus, head off for the hospital wing while the rest head off for their regular night shift ort to bed. Dumbledore lays Harry onto a bed where Madame Pomfrey instantly sets to work, applying a damp cloth to his forehead and trying to find any broken bones or scrapes to mend, ending her search with not much else to do.
Professor McGonagall now satisfied that Harry was safe, does as promised and heads off for Gryffindor Tower, despite it being 1:30 in the morning.
Snape, not wanting to be around Sirius, especially when he finds out what happens, bids farewell and heads off for the dungeons.
Sirius, finally regaining his voice, whimpers a simple, "What happened?"
Dumbledore heaves a sigh, "Sirius, we don't know for sure. All we know is that either a Death Eater or Voldemort was there, they think that he's dead because they conjured the Dark Mark, I don't think Harry would or know how to conjure it, and that the last spell that Harry conjured was the unforgivable death curse."
"WHAT!" Remus and Sirius yell in unison, causing Madame Pomfrey to "shhhh" them. "Sir, he didn't kill himself, did he?" Remus answer anxiously.
"Who- why?" Sirius stutters.
"Like I said, I don't know what exactly happened, we'll have to wait until he wakes up. But Severus reckons that he was fretting over Cedric's death again, and Sirius, you do know what it feels like to be blamed for a death you didn't commit. Plus it hurts even more when you begin to believe you did do it."
"But sir, I thought he was doing good this year, that it didn't hurt anymore, that he didn't blame himself anymore."
"Remus, Remus, Remus, it'll never stop hurting completely, but it is true that he was doing good, but something or someone made him remember, someone who must still blame him."
"But who would do such a thing?"
"My guesses tell me, it was probably someone Harry doesn't hate completely for I do nor believe an arch enemy would have a bad enough effect for something like this to happen," Dumbledore replies, waving his hand in Harry's direction. "And it was probably someone who liked or was friends with Cedric."
"But Cedric was open to all of his housemates."
"Yeah, it could be anyone."
****
The creak from the portrait snaps Ron and Hermione's attention back to focus. They spring up from the chairs they've been sitting in since eleven o'clock. They walk over to see Professor McGonagall walking up the stone steps. "Where's Harry," they demand in unison.
"At the moment, lying unconscious in the Hospital Wing," she replies, not even bothering to acknowledge the fact that they were still awake.
"So he's alive?" Hermione questions.
"Yes."
Hermione lets go a squeal and goes over and hugs Ron who lets go a sigh of relief. When they both realize what they're doing, they abruptly back away from each other, Ron going slightly pink, but no one was able to notice in the badly lit room, the fire almost out.
"May we go see him?"
"Yes, but tomorrow, he won't be up and moving any time soon. Off to bed, now." With a note of finality that they both knew not to toil with, McGonagall leaves while Ron and Hermione head off to their dorms. The moment their heads hit their pillows, they fall into a dreamless slumber.

A/N- Well, did you really think I was going to let him die? Well not for now, anyway. It would have been a pointless story to kill him right now, although would have been a surprising end! Anywayz, hope you enjoyed! And who was the kind, generous, greatest person ever who added me to their favorite list? Was it you Steph? Oh someone please tell me! If anyone wants to, you can reach me at- dianahoule@hotmail.com

Later~didihoulio