Harry Potter and Gryffindor's Secret

Chapter 10: At Ron's House

By: Lin-z

A/N: So sorry it took me so long to post this! I've been moving and doing a lot of beta-reading for other people, so it took me longer than is usual to write this. Most of this chapter is thanks to all of you for the ideas! But really, enough of my ramblings, go on and read the story. O_o

Disclaimer is the same, I own none of it.. Except Harry's and Ron's Animagus forms! Ü

The rest of the summer past reasonably well. Learning to Apparate made moving about quite a bit easier on Harry, as he no longer had to negotiate the stairs in Black Manor. A couple of weeks following his birthday party, Harry received a letter from Ron inviting him to spend a fortnight with Ron and his family in Ottery St. Catchpole.

'So, can I go?' Harry asked Sirius, after telling him that he had been invited to Ron's.

'I don't see why not,' Sirius replied. 'I'll ask Dumbledore about it this afternoon, and I'll tell you when I get back.'

'Thanks Sirius,' Harry said, 'See you later!'

'Bye Harry,' Sirius replied, and with a small pop, Sirius disappeared.

This summer, Harry was faced with a new predicament. Boredom. At the Dursley's, so many chores to do, coupled with avoiding Dudley, had never really allowed him a lot of free time to waste. Then at Hogwarts, his free time was usually spent in the company of Ron and/or Hermione, so he wasn't quite used to days upon days of nothing to do. Under normal circumstances he would have taken to practising Quidditch; however, these were not normal circumstances. Instead, Harry had found some quite interesting Defence Against the Dark Arts materials within Sirius' library, and had taken to looking through them for interesting ideas.

Harry closed his eyes tight and imagined opening them on the first storey landing. He heard a popping noise, and when he opened his eyes, he was standing about one metre from the stairs. How he loved being able to do that! He smiled to himself and wandered over to the Defence section. There were several muggle Martial Arts books there, but what really piqued his fancy were the books of curses and magical weapons. He selected a scarlet covered volume without a title, and used what he had learnt in his Apparating lessons to move it to the table.

He sat before the book and lifted the cover, sneezing as the dust filled the air. When the dust had settled, he was able to see that this was a book on anti-dark myths and legends. He was about to close it and return it to the shelf when the word "Gryffindor" caught his eye.

'The Order of the Phoenix was established by Sir Godric Gryffindor himself, in 1090, to set up securities against evils present and forthcoming...'

Wondering what the Order of the Phoenix was, he continued.

'Shortly after the founding of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, several disputes arose between Gryffindor and co-founder Salazar Slytherin, leading to Slytherin's eventual departure. Slytherin built forces with the Dark Arts, and became quite a formidable foe to the Hogwarts group. Gryffindor, along with Lady Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff, formed the Order of the Phoenix, whose tasks, among others, may have included the protection of the Green Flame Torch. The Torch was a creation of Gryffindor's. It was intended to be used by either himself or an heir, and supposedly had the ability to utterly destroy even the most powerful Dark wizard, regardless of immortality endeavours. The Order of the Phoenix also...'

From there the book went on to describe the various duties of the Order, and gave brief biographies of each of its members. Harry paused in his reading, suddenly startled by something he had read. His eyes scanned up the page to the paragraph about the Torch. The book had said that the Green Flame Torch had power over immortality endeavours, which meant that, if used against Voldemort, it would destroy him. Harry was astounded - somewhere, there lay the means to destroy his foe once and for all, and one thing was certain. He had to find out all he could about the Torch and Gryffindor's heir before Voldemort had a chance to fulfil whatever scheme he was concocting.

**

That evening, over dinner, Harry decided to ask Sirius what he knew about the Order of the Phoenix. 'Have you ever heard of the Order of the Phoenix?' He asked.

'Where did you hear about that?' Sirius said, by way of response, taking a bite of steak and kidney pie.

'Oh, just in some book I came across today. So, have you?' Harry probed.

'Yeah,' Sirius replied. 'They were a group of Light wizards. I believe the group was established in the times of Godric Gryffindor himself.'

Harry finished chewing. 'Well, are they still around today?'

Sirius looked thoughtful. 'Hmm,' he said. 'Yes, they are. I'm going to be honest with you, but please promise me you won't tell anyone, not even Ron or Hermione.'

'Okay, I promise,' Harry said, looking slightly taken aback.

'As a matter of fact, I'm a member. When Voldemort first rose to power, about twenty years ago, I believe, it was your grandfather that had the Order reinstated. Your father and I were both members, as were Remus, Arabella, and Gus. I'm sure you know a great many others in the Order, as well. Anyhow, when your grandfather was assassinated, Dumbledore took his place as head of the Order. It was disassembled for thirteen years, and we're now in the process of gathering some of our scattered members,' Sirius said, careful not to give out too much information.

'So that's what Dumbledore sent you to do after the Third Task!' Harry said, realisation dawning on his face.

'Aye,' Sirius replied. At this point, he decided a change of topic was in order. 'By the way, Dumbledore said it would be fine if you went to Ron's home; how does tomorrow morning sound?'

Harry beamed. 'That sounds just corking!'

'I'll need to go with you; set up some temporary wards around the place, so we'll leave at half past ten,' Sirius said, tapping the now empty dishes with his wand to clean them. 'Mind you, there's to be no Apparating while your there, unless you obtain permission from Mr or Mrs Weasley.'

**

Harry and Sirius arrived at the Weasley's the next morning via Floo Powder, stepping out to a scene of mayhem that was becoming more and more common in the Weasley household. The walls and floor of their cosy kitchen were covered in bits of a fuzzy blue substance that appeared to be growing rather rapidly. Mr Weasley was there, feeling the top of his head as a patch of the blue hair-like substance spread across his scalp. He looked as though he were trying to hold his laughter for the sake of his wife, who was shouting at George. Fred did not seem to be in the room, but Ron and Ginny were, and both were laughing madly at the blue hair sprouting from their father's head and from various points around the kitchen. Nobody seemed to notice as Harry and Sirius stepped from the fireplace.

'Sorry, Mum,' George said as soon as his mother paused for breath. 'Really, I didn't know it was going to explode like that!' He tried valiantly not to smirk as he caught a glimpse of Harry and Sirius, both of whom were laughing silently at the commotion before them.

'That's no excuse, mister! If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, no more Wheezes in the house!' She said, beginning to regain a bit of her composure. 'Come to think of it, I reckon I know what the problem is,' she mused. 'You lads have entirely too much time on your hands. I want you out de-gnoming the garden, as soon as you've cleaned this mess, mind, and I'll think of something for Fred when he wakes up.' She was turning round to do something else when she caught sight of the two bemused visitors still standing in front of the fireplace. 'Harry, dear, and Sirius! How pleasant to see the both of you,' she said.

At this, Ron, Ginny, and Mr Weasley turned in their seats. Ron jumped up to give Harry a friendly slap on the shoulder, and Mr Weasley stood to shake Sirius' hand. Ginny also got up and gave Sirius and Harry polite little hugs, saying hello to both of them before excusing herself to her room.

'Hi Harry!' Ron said. 'Mum's got a special room for you down here, so you don't have to bugger with the stairs. Here, let's put your stuff away,' he added, taking Harry's bag from Sirius and giving Harry a meaningful sort of look.

'What's up,' Harry said, as soon as they were out of earshot from the others.

'Ooh, you won't believe it, Harry! This is really excellent, look,' Ron said, pulling a small book from his trouser pocket. It had a dark brown dragonhide cover, and emblazoned across the front was the word "Animagus." 'Go on then,' Ron said excitedly, 'open it!'

Harry opened the book. Behind the title page was an introduction, advising the reader to use caution and only attempt to follow its directions under strict Ministry observance. He looked up to Ron with wide eyes. 'Is this really what it looks like?' He asked eagerly.

'Yep,' Ron smiled widely. 'I found it in the cellar - I think Fred and George tried to use it and gave up, but what if we could do it!'

Harry grinned deviously. 'I reckon we should, Ron!'

Sirius knocked on the door and poked his head through. 'Bye, Harry, see you in a week,' he said.

'Bye Sirius,' Harry replied, a look of innocence upon his face. Sirius smiled knowingly but proceeded to shut the door anyway.

'Okay, Ron, so where do we start?' Harry asked, once his godfather had left the room.

'Man, that was so cool! If my mum knew I was up to something like this I'd be in trouble faster than you can say "it wasn't me!"' Ron said.

'Yeah, well, I think Sirius would actually be disappointed if I didn't get into at least some trouble,' Harry said, smiling.

The two boys worked long and hard during the two weeks that Harry spent at the Burrow. Becoming an Animagus first required the use of a special potion that would turn you into the animal most suited to you, followed by fine tuning the ability to change into that animal at will. When Mrs Weasley would get suspicious, they would simply tell her that they were working on a project for Potions, and it was very important. She would always smile happily and say how nice it was to see the two of them working so hard, especially during the summer. By the time they and Ginny got to Diagon Alley to meet up with Hermione (Fred and George preferred to meet up with their own friends), they had the potion nearly done, and simply needed a few more ingredients. The only problem was that they didn't think they would be able to find them in the apothecary at Diagon Alley. Harry had volunteered to go to Knockturn Alley to fetch them, but Ron had firmly disagreed, saying that it would be much too dangerous, especially for Harry Potter with a broken leg. Harry had to admit that he agreed, so he offered to lend Ron his Invisibility Cloak in order to go purchase the needed supplies. Ron accepted.

'I need to use the toilet,' Ron said to Harry, Ginny, and Hermione, standing up from the table. He put his hand over the cloak in his pocket.

'Okay,' Hermione and Ginny said.

'See you in a bit,' Harry added.

Ron stepped from the ice cream shop where he and his friends had been and headed in the direction of the public toilets. Instead of going inside, however, he stole around them, making sure no one was following him, and pulled the cloak from his pocket. He threw it over his shoulders, making certain his whole form was covered before stepping out and making his way to the other side of the street to Knockturn Alley.

Luckily, the apothecary on Knockturn was directly behind it's Diagon counterpart. Ron remained invisible as he selected the ingredients and paid the man behind the counter, briefly explaining that he had his reasons for invisibility. The man didn't seem inclined to pay him any mind; he was happy as long as he got the required galleon. Ron hurried back to the boy's toilet, carefully securing the tiny satchel in one pocket and the cloak in the other. He smiled and stepped out, heading back to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.

The four of them had an enjoyable afternoon, Harry and Ron secretly excited about their Animagus potion. They had decided to tell Hermione only if it worked, so they didn't say anything about it whilst she was with them. Hermione actually found she had fun talking "Girl talk" with Ginny, and rather enjoyed it. They gathered all their school supplies, including the required training robes, quills, parchment, and textbooks, and by the time they had all their new things purchased, it was twilight and Ron's and Hermione's parents were beckoning them home. Hermione said goodbye to the three others, and left to join her parents.

'What'd you get?' Ginny asked, once Hermione had gone and her parents were off dealing with the twins.

'What do you mean?' Ron asked her.

'Come on, Ron, I know you weren't using the toilets for fifteen minutes. What were you getting?'

'Oh, erm, well, it was nothing, really,' he said, doing a horrible job at lying.

'Sure,' Ginny said, 'And Fred and George were just having fun. Really - what is it?' She persisted.

'It's just this,' Ron said. Harry spun around to look, shocked that he would show Ginny, but was relieved to find that Ron was holding up a quill.

'You got all secretive over a quill?' exclaimed Ginny.

'It's not just any quill!' Ron protested, even though in reality, it was. 'It's a special quill, one that will… um… help me… write stuff,' he said, pretending to be embarrassed.

'What kind of stuff?' Ginny inquired in a sing-song voice, sniggering at her brother.

'Nothing! Leave me alone, will you?' he said to her.

'Fine,' she huffed, folding her arms and hurrying to catch her parents up.

Harry turned to Ron. 'That was great!'

'Thanks,' Ron said, a smug expression on his face.

**

'I can't wait 'til this stuff is done,' Ron said, referring to the potion brewing in the big pewter cauldron in front of them. They had returned from Diagon Alley two days prior, and the potion was close to being ready. It looked exactly as the book said it should at this point, which was very reassuring to Harry and Ron, as they weren't exactly experts in the field of potion brewing.

'Me either,' Harry agreed. 'How much longer?'

Ron looked at his watch. 'Another minute,' he said, resuming his stirring.

'Wonderful,' Harry said. A minute later, Ron and Harry each filled a goblet with the bubbly purple Potion.

'Cheers,' they both said, clinking their glasses before turning them bottoms-up and draining them. The Potion was warm and smooth, and had the flavour of cheese mixed with honey and liver. Harry had to admit it was one of the oddest combinations of flavours he had ever experienced, but not altogether bad. The feeling that followed was as though he had taken a lightning-speed version of the Polyjuice Potion. Harry felt his nose becoming long and hard, and his body becoming small and light. Before he knew what precisely was happening, he was on the floor, looking up at a cellar room that was suddenly much larger than he remembered it being. Looking down, he saw that he had turned to some class of a bird, with bright crimson plumage. He opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out were a few musical notes not amounting to anything intelligible.

Harry looked over to where Ron had been, and saw the Gryffindor lion in his place. It had slightly redder hair than most lions he had seen in pictures, but he supposed that must be Ron's distinguishing feature. He stood in awe - the lion signified everything Ron seemed to want - it was brave, loyal, and represented something that no body in his family could do. Harry wondered what exactly he himself had turned into, when, of a sudden, he felt a pop and he was back to his normal form.

'Wow, Ron, that was great!' Harry said, once again able to use his own voice.

'What did I turn into?' Ron asked. 'I was only able to see that I had paws.'

'You were a lion!' Harry exclaimed. 'You looked exactly like the Gryffindor lion,' Harry added.

Ron looked pleased. 'You were a Phoenix,' He told Harry. 'It was cool - you looked just like a normal Phoenix except you had green eyes and a white mark on your forehead.'

Both boys were quite happy with the results of their hard work. They scraped the rest of the Potion into a jar for Hermione, sealing it before taking it back upstairs. Harry had been given permission to Apparate at the Burrow, but preferred not to when he was with Ron. They had just reached Harry's room when a small bell alerted them that there was someone at the fireplace. They hid the jar and walked to the kitchen, to find Mrs Weasley admitting Sirius.

'Ready to go home?' he asked. Harry found himself surprised at how quickly the fortnight had passed, but nodded and popped back to his room, returning a bit later balancing his crutches and the duffle bag on his shoulder. Sirius stepped forward and grabbed it for him, and after Harry had profusely thanked Mrs Weasley for her hospitality and promised Ron to see him in a couple of days, he threw his pinch of Floo Powder into the fireplace and said, 'Black Manor,' disappearing in the green flames. A moment later, Sirius appeared behind Harry in the parlour of their house.

'How did it go?' Sirius asked, coming around to sit in one of the armchairs.

'We had a great time,' Harry replied, taking a seat across from Sirius.

'No, no, not that… The Animagus Potion!' Sirius said, smiling at Harry.

'How'd you know we did that?' Harry asked.

'Only because I was the one that gave Fred and George the book. I enchanted it to make it seem blank to the twins, so I knew that Ron would get possession of it somehow. So, how did it go?' He asked again.

Harry smiled. 'It was really excellent! Ron turned into a lion and I turned into a Phoenix,' he said enthusiastically.

Sirius was shocked. Those were the two rarest forms of Animagi there were, and it was amazing to him that his own godson and his godson's best friend had taken them. They both represented the most admirable traits in wizards, and thus far there had only been one lion Animagus in history; Harry was the first Phoenix ever.

'What's wrong?' Harry asked, misinterpreting Sirius' awestruck appearance.

'Nothing,' he said, 'It's just that those are two very special forms; not many Animagi out there like that.'

Harry smiled, quite pleased.

So there it is, chapter 10! I hope you all enjoyed it, it was fun to write, and, well, a great deal of it was based on comments I'd received in your reviews. See, I do listen to you! Ü So, if you have an ideas for my story, don't be afraid to post it, and you might see it in a future chapter! So have a nice day, all of you, and don't forget to leave a REVIEW! *(see, I'm a poet too, albeit not a very good one!)*