Ch 3 the order of the phoenix
Harry woke the next morning. He looked around the room and wondered where he was. Then the memory of the night before came to him. He smiled at the thought of Cindy and Sirius. He got up and walked down the stairs, but stopped when he heard voices downstairs. He knew that it was rude, but he couldn't help but eavesdrop.
"So have you told him yet?" Harry heard Remus say.
"Not yet" Harry heard Sirius respond, "we've been waiting for you to tell him last night but then…"
"Sorry." Remus mumbled," I guess I read the calendar wrong."
"Oh don't worry." Cindy said breaking the silence." We all messed up. I'm glad Sirius got there before it was too late."
"Oh I can't believe I attacked Harry." Remus mumbled and put his head in his hands. "I'm so irresponsible, maybe I should just leave, he probably doesn't want to talk to me after last night." Harry frowned; he couldn't believe Remus was so worried. Harry had been the worried one. Harry cleared his throat making his presence known. Every body jumped startled by Harry's sudden appearance. Harry walked over and sat by Remus, who edged away.
"Remus?" Harry said, "What's wrong?" Remus looked up at Harry. Harry noticed that he had tears in his eyes.
" You don't hate me do you?" Remus asked. "For what happened last night." Remus said quickly. Harry looked at him thoughtfully.
" Oh of course not Remus." Harry said as if it were the must obvious thing in the world.
" Are you sure after what I almost killed you how are you not mad." Remus asked. Harry sighed.
"Look do you want me to be mad at you?" Harry said exasperatedly.
"No, I, no." Remus muttered. Harry smiled.
"Good, because I can't be mad at you. It just isn't right. You did nothing wrong I know you can't help it. We'll just have to make sure it doesn't happen again." Harry hugged Remus. When they broke apart Remus looked down again.
"Is something wrong again?" Harry asked.
" Oh no." Remus said sounding very relieved. " I'm just glad you aren't mad at me."
" Yup cause that just doesn't work." Said Sirius hoping to break the tension. " It's not right for a marauder to fight with a marauder!" Remus gave Sirius a confused look.
" Oh." Sirius said," I keep forgetting that you don't remember what happened last night. Do you by any chance remember the golden retriever and me at the end of the night?" Sirius asked hopefully.
" Yes I do but I don't know why he was there." Remus confessed. Sirius and Harry smiled at each other." Remus looked even more confused.
" Did I miss something?" he asked " and Sirius why did you call Harry a marauder?" Harry laughed and transformed into his animagus form. Remus gasped.
" Oh Harry." He said looking impressed," James would have been very proud." He reached down to pet the golden dog sitting next to him. Harry waged his tail and Sirius laughed. Harry transformed back.
" Now that we all know that I've been welcomed in to the world of the marauders, can I see the map? There are some things we need to add to it." Sirius looked up.
" You found more secrets?" he asked very amazed." Oh James would have been so happy! Where what did you find."
" Well" Harry said, " I know a lot about the forbidden forest, father out than on the map, where the centaurs are and the acromantula population, I know where the chamber of secrets is from that legend." Sirius looked amazed at that.
" Ron and I found it in our second year when it's monster was attacking everyone. I got in and fought the basilisk in some of the larger pipes so I could add some of the main pluming too that might be worth a few pranks; we also found the Slytherin common rooms. And Hermione knows all about Snape's hidden private storage in the back of his office." Sirius looked enthusiastic about that.
" Oh" he shouted, " we can play pranks on Snape now!" Harry nodded. Cindy shook her head.
"We have something more important to discuss, don't we guys." She said looking a Sirius and Remus.
" What?" Harry asked. Hoping Voldemort wasn't the topic they were here to discuss. Cindy sighed. She looked at Harry.
"We are here to discuss your involvement in the order of the phoenix." Cindy stated simply, she continued as though she didn't expect a reply from Harry.
"We are inviting you to become a member of the order of the phoenix. The order of the phoenix is an organization of love and light to fight against the hate and dark. You are born with the power to be involved in it. When you become part of it you can use your power. The magic feeds on love, which is why it works best when you are next to the person you love most." She looked at Harry.
"Do you understand?" she asked. Harry nodded.
"You could call it a couple thing." Sirius said, obviously trying to break the awkward silence, and doing a very bad job.
"No Sirius." Cindy said rolling her eyes. "Do that is why mainly couples are involved in it. " Cindy turned to Harry, her eyes set and her expression serious. "Harry, please join us. Your parents wanted it to happen when you turned fifteen and the world needs you, I know it is a lot of weight one your shoulders, but it is something that you must deal with. We understand if you really don't want to, we know you have a life. But you need to decide soon; it works best during the full moon. Of course we didn't do it then because …." She drifted off and Remus looked down. Harry smiled at Remus.
"I will do it. I want to help I really do. I want to help Hermione and Ron, and all the rest of the Weasleys. I can't hide all my life. If that Voldemort is after me, why not be able to stand up to him. I'm not afraid of him, just to clarify. Also, I don't like people feeling sorry for me so please don't." Harry smiled. " when can we start?" Sirius smiled pride shown all over his face.
"As soon as the moon comes out." He said.
"oh Cindy, I have a question." Harry said. Cindy nodded and waved her hand signaling him to continue.
"you said mostly couples were involved, so why are there none here?" he asked. Cindy laughed.
"we haven't told you yet have we?" she said, Harry looked very confused. "we'll, Sirius and I are engaged, ever since your parents were but we let them go first, then they got killed, and Sirius went to askaban." Harry was amazed at how jokingly she talked about his parents, even their deaths. Cindy seemed to realize he felt like this.
" I loved your parents Harry. James was my brother and I am very sad that they died, but thinking of them always reminds me of the joys of them not the sorrows. So I think about that. I would do anything to bring them back." She sighed.
"there is a way." Remus said quietly. Every body turned and looked at him their eyes wide."
"b-bring back j-James?" Sirius managed to get out. Remus nodded.
"lets talk about that later, now we need to focus on the order of the phoenix. "
the moon was finally out Harry and Cindy had just come back from diagon alley. They had spent the day there seeing as there was nothing left to do. They walked in the door loaded down with supplies for the new school year. Harry had yet to receive the school letter but Cindy had told Harry that she was going to be a teacher with Sirius with her, to look after him. Remus had to do research on Voldemort's actions and had been working closely with Arthur Weasley. Sirius had been helping them a lot lately too. The whole Weasley family knew by now that Sirius Black was innocent though it had come as a bit of a shock to them. It had taken Ron the better part of two days to get Percy out of shock. But Sirius had become a frequent visitor to the Weasley household and seemed to have developed a close friendship with Ginny, he said that she reminded him of lily. He was right too, Ginny was remarkably like lily, in more ways than one.
Harry glanced over his shoulder in the direction of his aunt and uncles house. Cindy caught him.
"I know what you are doing," she said looking at him, " they do not know you are gone so do not worry, we have already sent a message to dumbledore telling him that you are going to stay with us until you go to the Weasleys." Harry nodded, just then Remus and Sirius popped their heads out of the door. Harry almost fell over back wars from shock. Sirius smiled.
" Come on come on come on," he practically screamed, " we need to initiate the order on Harry!"
"I know." Cindy said.
" then come on!" Remus shouted. Cindy rolled her eyes.
" moony, " Harry said slowly, " calm down. We 're coming." Ever since Harry had been joined into the marauder society, he had been very relaxed about talking to them. He knew it would be hard to call Cindy Professor Figg (she had to use her disguised name)at hogwarts, instead of tawny. Sirius laughed and Cindy shook her head. Remus looked at Harry with an odd sort of expression on his face.
"you know, " he said , "it is almost uncanny how much that sounded like James. It was sort of like a flash back." Sirius nodded and smiled at Harry.
"come on," he said, " we really do need to start." He led them all outside to a clearing in the forest in Cindy's backyard.
"this is where we will perform the initiation." Ha said, he looked at Harry, his expression very serious, " Harry the people in the order of the phoenix share each others power, so you will feel our magical strength flowing through you, just as we will feel yours through us. It may hurt a little, but that really depends on how powerful you are by yourself. It probably won't hurt you that much so don't worry. You will also be able to see the true identity of people you meet with the help of this ring.(Sirius showed Harry a gold ring with a band of swirling colors around it). The color of the ring will tell you about the person if you make physical contact with them. Red means the person is your true love, you will need to watch out for that one because as soon as you find them whether you like them or not you need to go straight to one of us, because they need to be added to the order as soon as possible(Harry's thoughts drifted to Ginny and how great it would be if she was in the order too, he had developed a crush on her over the summer but he didn't really know how). Blue means that that person his loyal and true friend(Harry thought about Ron and Hermione, they defiantly fit into that category). If the rig glows green it means a family member or order member, that is us!" he said proudly before continueing,"if the ring is yellow it means that this person is a friend and you can count on the for a favor or just a really nice and helpful person." He said then is expression changed from a smile to a frown, " if the ring is gray it means not to trust that person, and if the ring is black it means that you have found you worst enemy, the one who wants you dead ( Harry had a vision of milfoil with daggers in his hands, but then he remembered that Voldemort was probably a bigger threat). Do you understand that Harry?" Sirius finished. Harry nodded.
"good.'" Remus stated in a business-like manner.
" also, " Cindy said, "not only will you share our powers, now you will have a new power that lets you draw strength from the love and hope surrounding you. It will help you keep fighting in times of peril, much like the phoenix song. You will also be able to communicate with Fawkes, dumbledore's phoenix. You will like him he can be a lot like dumbledore." She looked at Harry and smiled, "your parents would be very proud of you. I just know it." Harry nodded. He looked around at the three wizards surrounding him.
"so, " he asked, "how do we do it?" Sirius and Remus smiled.
"we stand in a circle around you and say the incantation. Then you will feel our powers being combined. This takes about ten minutes, but it seems like a lot less. The main thing is that you have to relax." Remus said. "after that, you're in!"
"Okay," Sirius said, "We need to start." Harry nodded and they came and stood around him and held hands. They started to chant something but Harry couldn't make it out, he was too busy concentrating on the rush of energy flowing through him. It didn't hurt at all. In fact, if anything it was rather enjoyable. He stood there for what he thought had to be less than thirty seconds before it all stopped. He looked around at the three people who had been standing around him. They were now on the ground with the look that they had been through a terrible ordeal. He wondered if something had gone wrong, had he done something to mess it up? He walked over to Sirius and helped him up.
"are you okay, padfoot?" he asked before moving on to help up Cindy and Remus. Sirius just nodded.
"did something go wrong?" he asked, "why are you all on the ground?" Cindy shook her head.
"nothing is wrong Harry." Cindy said, "We are just a little shaken up. It can be painful to merge powers. The real question is how are you?"
"I'm great!" he said enthusiastically, "Actually that felt good, I wouldn't mind doing it again!" Remus looked amazed.
"really?" he asked, " you didn't feel anything, not the least bit of discomfort?" Harry shook his head. Cindy looked at Sirius with an "I told you so" sort of expression, not unlike the one Hermione often used.
"is something wrong? Because you are really confusing me." He confessed. Cindy shook her head.
"paws?" Remus asked.
"yeah moony?" Harry replied.
"nothing bad happened, we just under estimated you again." He said.
"what?" Harry asked, " What do you mean by that?" Harry was very confused by now.
"come on, we need to go inside, there is something else that we need to tell you." Cindy said. She led them all inside and sat down on the couch before falling asleep. Sirius laughed.
"I guess I'll tell you then. " he said, " She must be worn out from your initiation. But we do have something else to tell you. We were supposed to tell you on your sixteenth birthday, that was what your parents wanted, but you need to be told now." Sirius looked at Harry. His expression serious. "Harry, you are not only the son of Lily and James Potter, but and trust me this might come as a shock to you."
That was alright, Harry thought. He seemed to come across another shocking fact about himself everyday.
"you are the last remaining heir of Godric Gryffindor."
"huh?" Harry said, "what about Cindy, she is my fathers sister right?"
"yes, but she is adopted, it is a complete but very strange coincidence that they both have black hair and blue eyes and that they are in the order of the phoenix together. It was a big shock to both of them." Harry nodded. It seemed really strange, but it the same time it seemed to fit, like it was obvious that he was the heir.
"that is why we fell to the ground. " Remus said, " you have a hell of a lot of power in you and so it was hard for us to take it. It hurt a lot but we are okay now. But that is why you felt nothing. The last person to actually enjoy their initiation was James. We didn't think you would be the same way, we thought you wouldn't have as much power because you are only half blood, don't get me wrong, " he added at the mad look on Harry's face, " I don't care if you aren't a pure blood, I'm not even pure human, but we thought you wouldn't be as powerful, we were wrong, but that doesn't matter. Now you know."
"oh." Harry said. "Well that is a lot better news than I thought it was going to be." Sirius laughed.
"typical, " he said, " famous Harry Potter was expecting to hear some horrible story about how he was related to Voldemort." Harry shrugged and Remus shook his head at Sirius. Then a jolt of realization hit Harry. The sorting hat had tried to put him in Slytherin, so how could he be heir to Gryffindor. Harry looked at Sirius, he was a little scared to tell him about this but he had to.
"wait, " he said, "this can't be right." Sirius looked at him puzzled.
"why not?" Harry shifted a little and looked down.
"because in my first year the sorting hat… well …. Er.. it said that I should go in Slytherin, that I would be great and it was all in my head, but I said I didn't want to go there so it said I should go in Gryffindor." Sirius was in shock.
"w-what?" he managed to say, "you Slytherin? It's impossible. Do you know why, do have any theories about it or anything, because not one single part of your blood line has ever, ever been in Slytherin."
"well dumbledore said that it is because the night that my parents died, and Voldemort tried to kill me, he transferred some of his powers into me. So the hat saw that and said I would be great there." Harry said, "but I'm great in Gryffindor." He mumbled as an after thought. Sirius looked at Harry in disbelief.
"you have Voldemort in you?" he asked. Harry just nodded. Sirius let out a long string of swear words and then made a violent gesture in mid-air, earning him a very disapproving look from Cindy.
"please don't hate me. " Harry said, "you know, for having part of him in me, I don't want it there you know."
"I know that little prongs." He said Harry rolled his eyes, Sirius always called him that when he was thinking of his parents. "I would never hate you. I think that if I did James would come right out of heaven and smack me. You are my favorite godson, and don't you ever forget it." Harry smiled, it was good to be surrounded by people that loved you no matter what. Sirius wrapped Harry up in a hug and Remus walked over to join them. Harry loved being with his father's best friends. He had been thinking about what Remus had said about being able to bring them back, even if it was only for an hour, it would be well worth it to Harry.
"moony?" Harry asked. Remus loved it when Harry called him moony, Sirius loved it when Harry called him padfoot. It made them feel like Harry really trusted them and loved them, and there was nothing they wanted more than to be there for him.
"yes paws?" Remus replied.
"well you know when you said it was possible to bring my parents back?" he asked. Remus nodded. "well, could you tell me how, cuz I kind of want to try it." Remus smiled.
"I have been waiting for you to ask that." He said. "but now it is late Harry and I need to go to bed and so do you, we'll talk about it in the morning." Harry nodded and walked up to his room, sat down on his bed and pulled his glasses off. His head had barely hit the pillow when he fell asleep.