1 Chapter Two: A New Member of the Order
"WHAT?" Vernon Dursley roared, as Petunia and Dudley cowered in a corner of the living room. "YOU MEAN TO SAY THAT THOSE.PEOPLE ARE COMING OVER TO MY HOUSE?"
"Relax", Harry replied, even though he doubted Vernon would do that. "We are going to meet in the old playground and you won't have to see them at all."
Immediately, the rage in Vernon's eyes lessened. "Fine.fine. I want you there and you had best get going. I am not going to take you back if they don't come." At those words, Harry trembled a bit. What if they would not come?
By nightfall, Harry waited at the playground. The chilling wind, combined with the eerie rustling of the trees, seemed to whisper words of warning to him. His senses seemed to increase in sensitivity. Immediately, he donned the new glasses that Cho had given him and tapped them with his wand.
Suddenly, he heard a rustling sound and, turning to to source of the sound, he saw a cloaked figure standing in the shadows. Though the glasses registered nothing, Harry pulled out his wand, just in case.
"Harry?" called a familiar female voice. No, it can't be, could it be.? It was a few seconds when Harry said, "Is that you.Cho?"
The figure removed her hood and, sure enough, with the familiar raven-black hair, it was Cho Chang, the pretty Ravenclaw Seeker whom he had fancied since his third year. She smiled, though a bit guardedly, and Harry saw that she was gripping her wand now. "What's the password?"
Harry instantly replied, "Phoenix eye." At once Cho asked him, "What form did my Patronus take?"
Harry stared at her. This wasn't what Moody wrote to him. Thinking back last year on the times they had Patronus training, he remembered. "A swan."
Immediately, she smiled brightly, ran up to him and hugged him tightly. Harry was sure that he would suffocate from this until Cho would let go. Then she muttered, "I'm sorry, Harry for what happened last year."
Harry replied, "Don't worry. I wasn't in a good mood that time. I'm supposed to be the one apologizing, because if I were in that situation, I would have defended my friends too," then he began to worry whether there were Death Eaters, so he continued, "but we should continue this later. Who knows if someone's spying on us."
"Good point." At this, Cho rummaged through her pockets and, after a while, she drew out a piece of what was unmistakably an origami figure of a swan.
"Cho, is that a Portkey?" Harry asked, and after Cho nodded, he touched it, and after a count of "one-two-three", he felt the familiar tug of the Portkey as he was transported back to No. 12, Grimmauld Place, the old house of his godfather, Sirius Black, who died last year. After the whirl of shapes and colors, he dropped down on the pavement outside the hidden house.
"Alright, Harry, let's get inside before anyone sees us," she whispered, and after visualizing the name of Sirius' house, they entered the door that appeared before them.
"Harry! Cho!" Hermione whispered, in case the portraits would wake up again, while Ron said, "Hey mate? How are you?"
"Fine.or fine as one can be while living with the Dursleys", Harry said, while they all laughed. Then Hermione faced Harry with an oddly mischievous grin. "By the way, look behind you. Cho's not the only one who joined the Order."
"What do you mean, 'not the only one'?" asked Harry.
"Hey Harry!" called out several voices. Harry spun around and saw, to his surprise, the other members of the D.A.
"Hello Harry. Hi Cho.", came the dreamy voice of Luna Lovegood, "Professor Lupin visited us and invited our families to join the Order. Now with the news that Voldemort is back.yes, I know I'm saying his name", she continued, looking at Harry's surprised look (both because Luna was saying Voldemort's name and also because everyone in the room only displayed minor signs of shock), "because I just realized that we will become even afraid of him if we fear his name."
"That's right", piped up Ernie Macmillan, "we have seen how terrible Vol- Vol-Voldemort was in the past, and we really can't afford to show more fear than we already have, now do we?"
Everyone replied, "Hear, hear!" and Harry smiled.
Suddenly, a laugh emanated from the door near them - it seemed that that Moody, Tonks and Lupin were listening from the other side of the door. Then Moody said, "Good job Potter! You were able to help other students fight against the Dark Arts, and, as I heard from Albus, their training was not a waste, seeing that you", gesturing to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Luna, "were able to hold off several Death Eaters last year."
There were expressions of shock and wonder from the other D.A. members. "They fought Death Eaters?" asked Zacharias Smith and Marietta, who often disliked Harry.
"Yes, and did you know that they were good?" asked Tonks, and the two students did not show it, but Harry knew that from now on, they were seeing him again in a new light.
"Right, now that the D.A. is back, what do we do?"
"Well, for starters, I have taken off the jinx from the contract we made", replied Hermione, "and I'm very sorry to have jinxed you Marietta, but I really had to do it on account of Umbridge."
"Well.ok", Marietta replied, "and please accept mine. I guess I shouldn't have underestimated you." Hermione smiled too, and they shook hands, while Zacharias Smith shook hands with Ron.
"Well now, Potter", said Moody, "now that the D.A. is back and old wounds are healed, you had better start planning your lessons." At this, everyone stared again at Harry, who immediately turned away, embarrassed at the sudden attention.
Harry sat on his bed at night, thinking. Now with the D.A. back, he had to take on the responsibility of preparing lessons. It was as if he had become, unofficially, the new Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
"Hi Harry." Said Cho, who had seen him.
"Oh, hi Cho. Why are you still here at Grimmauld Place?"
"Well," began Cho, "it happened about three weeks after I got home. My parents informed me that we have joined the Order of the Phoenix. But, as we were on our way home, we saw the Dark Mark hovering above our house. Upon visiting our home, we were ambushed by Death Eaters. Luckily, we were able to hold them back, but seeing as we were being followed, my parents decided to leave me here so that they won't easily find me. My parents, though, decided to go to Asia to recruit new members."
"In fact," a voice interrupted them. Professor Dumbledore stepped out from behind a nearby room, smiling. "I can see that you two are becoming quite a pair" - Harry and Cho blushed - "but that is not the reason that I have interrupted your chat."
"Hi Professor!" Hermione and Ron said as they climbed the stairs to sleep. Harry was glad that he and Cho had stopped blushing, but he still noticed the mischievous grins of Ron and Hermione.
But before they could start teasing him, Dumbledore continued, "Yes. I see that you are all here. As I had said moments ago, Ms. Chang's parents went to Asia to recruit new members of the Order. One of those new recruits is here. He came from the Philippines and, mind you, he is very good with magic. Erwin!"
A black-haired boy stepped out of Dumbledore's room. His height was between Harry's and Cho's, and he had a serious and thoughtful look. His brown eyes, though, told a different story. They were piercing and (Harry blinked a couple of times in case it was an illusion) kept flashing different colors, just like diamonds. "Professor Dumbledore, you called?"
"Yes. Let me introduce to you Erwin Verano. He transferred from the Philippine Magical Training Academy. He is one of the best in his early years. He will study at Hogwarts, will study at your year, and he will be a great help in your D.A. meetings."
"Hi Harry," said Erwin, strangely not glancing at his scar, as most people usually did, "I have read about you in several books, including the Quibbler. Mind you," he continued, when he saw Harry laugh, "I read any book that comes my way (Hermione, who also loved books, beamed at him). That was smart of you, starting a Defense Against the Dark Arts club." He smiled, as the others grinned.
Professor Dumbledore interrupted them. "All right, now that we are done, you may all sleep. We have a long day tomorrow." But just before they could separate to find rooms, he stopped them, "You'll all be sleeping in the same room, where I have placed wards to protect you. I call it the War Room. You will also find that the D.A. members will be there, given that Voldemort has ideas that they have joined the Order, as in Ms. Chang's case, so their parents agreed to let them stay here." Just before they left, Cho kissed Harry on the cheek, which made him blush furiously.
Dumbledore was right. When Harry opened the door to the "War Room" he was greeted by a blast of noise coming from the people in the room. Fred and George were demonstrating their latest Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes to a group of students he recognized as members of the D.A.
"Hey Harry!" the students began to shout, but Mrs. Weasley's yells of "GO TO SLEEP!" immediately silenced them. As they went to sleep, Harry reminded himself to empty his mind of emotion so that Voldemort would not play with his mind again. So he slept, as visions of red accompanied his sleep.
"WHAT?" Vernon Dursley roared, as Petunia and Dudley cowered in a corner of the living room. "YOU MEAN TO SAY THAT THOSE.PEOPLE ARE COMING OVER TO MY HOUSE?"
"Relax", Harry replied, even though he doubted Vernon would do that. "We are going to meet in the old playground and you won't have to see them at all."
Immediately, the rage in Vernon's eyes lessened. "Fine.fine. I want you there and you had best get going. I am not going to take you back if they don't come." At those words, Harry trembled a bit. What if they would not come?
By nightfall, Harry waited at the playground. The chilling wind, combined with the eerie rustling of the trees, seemed to whisper words of warning to him. His senses seemed to increase in sensitivity. Immediately, he donned the new glasses that Cho had given him and tapped them with his wand.
Suddenly, he heard a rustling sound and, turning to to source of the sound, he saw a cloaked figure standing in the shadows. Though the glasses registered nothing, Harry pulled out his wand, just in case.
"Harry?" called a familiar female voice. No, it can't be, could it be.? It was a few seconds when Harry said, "Is that you.Cho?"
The figure removed her hood and, sure enough, with the familiar raven-black hair, it was Cho Chang, the pretty Ravenclaw Seeker whom he had fancied since his third year. She smiled, though a bit guardedly, and Harry saw that she was gripping her wand now. "What's the password?"
Harry instantly replied, "Phoenix eye." At once Cho asked him, "What form did my Patronus take?"
Harry stared at her. This wasn't what Moody wrote to him. Thinking back last year on the times they had Patronus training, he remembered. "A swan."
Immediately, she smiled brightly, ran up to him and hugged him tightly. Harry was sure that he would suffocate from this until Cho would let go. Then she muttered, "I'm sorry, Harry for what happened last year."
Harry replied, "Don't worry. I wasn't in a good mood that time. I'm supposed to be the one apologizing, because if I were in that situation, I would have defended my friends too," then he began to worry whether there were Death Eaters, so he continued, "but we should continue this later. Who knows if someone's spying on us."
"Good point." At this, Cho rummaged through her pockets and, after a while, she drew out a piece of what was unmistakably an origami figure of a swan.
"Cho, is that a Portkey?" Harry asked, and after Cho nodded, he touched it, and after a count of "one-two-three", he felt the familiar tug of the Portkey as he was transported back to No. 12, Grimmauld Place, the old house of his godfather, Sirius Black, who died last year. After the whirl of shapes and colors, he dropped down on the pavement outside the hidden house.
"Alright, Harry, let's get inside before anyone sees us," she whispered, and after visualizing the name of Sirius' house, they entered the door that appeared before them.
"Harry! Cho!" Hermione whispered, in case the portraits would wake up again, while Ron said, "Hey mate? How are you?"
"Fine.or fine as one can be while living with the Dursleys", Harry said, while they all laughed. Then Hermione faced Harry with an oddly mischievous grin. "By the way, look behind you. Cho's not the only one who joined the Order."
"What do you mean, 'not the only one'?" asked Harry.
"Hey Harry!" called out several voices. Harry spun around and saw, to his surprise, the other members of the D.A.
"Hello Harry. Hi Cho.", came the dreamy voice of Luna Lovegood, "Professor Lupin visited us and invited our families to join the Order. Now with the news that Voldemort is back.yes, I know I'm saying his name", she continued, looking at Harry's surprised look (both because Luna was saying Voldemort's name and also because everyone in the room only displayed minor signs of shock), "because I just realized that we will become even afraid of him if we fear his name."
"That's right", piped up Ernie Macmillan, "we have seen how terrible Vol- Vol-Voldemort was in the past, and we really can't afford to show more fear than we already have, now do we?"
Everyone replied, "Hear, hear!" and Harry smiled.
Suddenly, a laugh emanated from the door near them - it seemed that that Moody, Tonks and Lupin were listening from the other side of the door. Then Moody said, "Good job Potter! You were able to help other students fight against the Dark Arts, and, as I heard from Albus, their training was not a waste, seeing that you", gesturing to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Luna, "were able to hold off several Death Eaters last year."
There were expressions of shock and wonder from the other D.A. members. "They fought Death Eaters?" asked Zacharias Smith and Marietta, who often disliked Harry.
"Yes, and did you know that they were good?" asked Tonks, and the two students did not show it, but Harry knew that from now on, they were seeing him again in a new light.
"Right, now that the D.A. is back, what do we do?"
"Well, for starters, I have taken off the jinx from the contract we made", replied Hermione, "and I'm very sorry to have jinxed you Marietta, but I really had to do it on account of Umbridge."
"Well.ok", Marietta replied, "and please accept mine. I guess I shouldn't have underestimated you." Hermione smiled too, and they shook hands, while Zacharias Smith shook hands with Ron.
"Well now, Potter", said Moody, "now that the D.A. is back and old wounds are healed, you had better start planning your lessons." At this, everyone stared again at Harry, who immediately turned away, embarrassed at the sudden attention.
Harry sat on his bed at night, thinking. Now with the D.A. back, he had to take on the responsibility of preparing lessons. It was as if he had become, unofficially, the new Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
"Hi Harry." Said Cho, who had seen him.
"Oh, hi Cho. Why are you still here at Grimmauld Place?"
"Well," began Cho, "it happened about three weeks after I got home. My parents informed me that we have joined the Order of the Phoenix. But, as we were on our way home, we saw the Dark Mark hovering above our house. Upon visiting our home, we were ambushed by Death Eaters. Luckily, we were able to hold them back, but seeing as we were being followed, my parents decided to leave me here so that they won't easily find me. My parents, though, decided to go to Asia to recruit new members."
"In fact," a voice interrupted them. Professor Dumbledore stepped out from behind a nearby room, smiling. "I can see that you two are becoming quite a pair" - Harry and Cho blushed - "but that is not the reason that I have interrupted your chat."
"Hi Professor!" Hermione and Ron said as they climbed the stairs to sleep. Harry was glad that he and Cho had stopped blushing, but he still noticed the mischievous grins of Ron and Hermione.
But before they could start teasing him, Dumbledore continued, "Yes. I see that you are all here. As I had said moments ago, Ms. Chang's parents went to Asia to recruit new members of the Order. One of those new recruits is here. He came from the Philippines and, mind you, he is very good with magic. Erwin!"
A black-haired boy stepped out of Dumbledore's room. His height was between Harry's and Cho's, and he had a serious and thoughtful look. His brown eyes, though, told a different story. They were piercing and (Harry blinked a couple of times in case it was an illusion) kept flashing different colors, just like diamonds. "Professor Dumbledore, you called?"
"Yes. Let me introduce to you Erwin Verano. He transferred from the Philippine Magical Training Academy. He is one of the best in his early years. He will study at Hogwarts, will study at your year, and he will be a great help in your D.A. meetings."
"Hi Harry," said Erwin, strangely not glancing at his scar, as most people usually did, "I have read about you in several books, including the Quibbler. Mind you," he continued, when he saw Harry laugh, "I read any book that comes my way (Hermione, who also loved books, beamed at him). That was smart of you, starting a Defense Against the Dark Arts club." He smiled, as the others grinned.
Professor Dumbledore interrupted them. "All right, now that we are done, you may all sleep. We have a long day tomorrow." But just before they could separate to find rooms, he stopped them, "You'll all be sleeping in the same room, where I have placed wards to protect you. I call it the War Room. You will also find that the D.A. members will be there, given that Voldemort has ideas that they have joined the Order, as in Ms. Chang's case, so their parents agreed to let them stay here." Just before they left, Cho kissed Harry on the cheek, which made him blush furiously.
Dumbledore was right. When Harry opened the door to the "War Room" he was greeted by a blast of noise coming from the people in the room. Fred and George were demonstrating their latest Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes to a group of students he recognized as members of the D.A.
"Hey Harry!" the students began to shout, but Mrs. Weasley's yells of "GO TO SLEEP!" immediately silenced them. As they went to sleep, Harry reminded himself to empty his mind of emotion so that Voldemort would not play with his mind again. So he slept, as visions of red accompanied his sleep.
