"So good to see you again, Harry!" called Professor Dumbledore from across the room. He smiled and gestured for Harry to take a seat, before returning to a conversation with Tonks. Harry sat down on the long side of the table to Dumbledore's left, in between Ron and Hermione. He continued to watch Dumbledore and Tonks converse about what appeared at first to be something serious, as they talked in hushed tones. Then Tonks burst out laughing as Dumbledore smiled satisfactorily, his blue eyes shining.
Remus Lupin had caught wind of Dumbledore's entertaining storytelling and was about to inquire as to what was so funny, when Molly Weasley burst into the room, looking around frantically.
"Fred! George! Where is your sister?! Did she go back to the house for the…"
*WOOSH*
Before Molly could finish her inquisition, Ginny Weasley emerged triumphantly from the fireplace, holding a rather large serving platter. "Found it, Mum!"
"For the love of God, Ginny, I didn't mean for you to FLOO yourself back to the Burrow to look for it! Alone! That was dangerous, and quite foolish of you!"
"Aw, Mum, what do you expect from a Gryffindor?" Charlie Weasley mused as he followed his older brother Bill into the room. They both gave Ginny nods of approval. Fred and George raised their glasses of ale for Ginny from the other end of the room.
Ginny dusted herself off and looked around. "Harry!" she squealed as she ran to the middle of the table and threw her arms around him. Harry was surprised at the encounter, but hugged her back anyway. She pulled away, slightly embarrassed. "Missed you.." she muttered.
"Missed you too, Gin," replied Harry. He met her eyes and grinned. She smiled back and went to sit down by Charlie. Fred and George howled, and toasted that as well. This time they were joined by Bill and Tonks.
Harry turned back around in his seat, to notice that Professor Snape had moved quietly into the room amidst Ginny's commotion, and had seated himself down directly across from Harry, Ron and Hermione. His eyes were focused on Dumbledore, who had seen him sit down and nodded a hello, with a smile. Snape nodded back, sans smile.
Harry hadn't realized he was staring at Snape until Ron called his attention back.
"Harry!" Harry turned to his right. "You ok?"
"Fine," Harry replied.
"So then what did you get?"
"What do you mean?"
"Your O.W.L.s, Harry!" interjected Hermione. "You never responded to us when we asked!"
"Oh! Um, I got eight."
"Eight! Blimey, that's great, Har! Almost reached Hermione there, with her ten! But I only got six." Ron looked wistful. "But at least I did famously in Dark Arts," he countered with a grin. "What were they in?"
"Um, Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Herbology, Magical Creatures, Charms, Potions-"
"Potions?!" exclaimed Ron. "Wow, Harry!"
"Yeah," Harry said in a low voice, feeling Snape's eyes shift towards him. "Outstanding, even." He felt a smile sneak across his face.
"You ARE going to take the N.E.W.T. prep Potions with me then?" asked Hermione.
"Guess so," replied Harry with a shrug. "I was more surprised that I managed to pass Astronomy, but I think we were probably graded easily because of the interruption."
"Yeah," said Hermione, voice soft. As if on cue, Professor McGonagall strode into the room, leaning slightly on the walking stick that had become a part of her appearance ever since the unfortunate Stunning Spell overdose she suffered while trying to protect Hagrid.
"Yeah I passed that too," Ron offered. "Bloody miracle!" Fred picked up the tail end of the conversation and laughed.
"Any time you need a job after school, mate, you know you have a spot in the family business!" Ron and George laughed as Fred chugged his beer.
"Course, Little Bro won't need it, Fred. He's a serious student of Astronomy!" George retorted as Fred threw back his head in laughter, and even Ron grinned at this artificial affirmation.
As more members of the Order filtered in, the noise in the room swelled to greater proportions. Everyone seems pretty happy here, thought Harry. Maybe things aren't going so bad after all. Tonks, Bill and Charlie were now teaching Ginny the proper way to down a Firewhiskey shot, Remus had caught Arthur Weasley as he came in and Arthur was showing off his latest muggle artifact (an old typewriter), McGonagall was chatting with a couple of aurors, Molly was bustling in and out, trying to set the table. She caught sight of what Ginny was doing and immediately summoned the whiskey bottle, much to the chagrin of her eldest sons.
"She's fifteen now, Mum!" Charlie exclaimed. Molly raised an eyebrow at him and quickly summoned the shot glasses out of his and Bill's hands.
"And I'm thirty-one!" said Bill. A triumphant Tonks, shot glass in hand, savored her last drink in front of the dried-out Weasleys. Bill, Charlie, and Ginny laughed at her audacity.
At that moment, Dumbledore rose from the head of the table. He didn't say a word, just smiled at the scene. Everyone immediately quieted down and gave him their attention though, as he commanded that level of respect in any situation.
"I know we are all much overjoyed to have our last Order member back at Headquarters," Dumbledore said, looking at Harry. Harry's mouth dropped open.
"Wha-" He turned to Ron and Hermione. They grinned.
"That's right, Harry! We're all junior members now," said Hermione.
"That you are, Harry," continued Dumbledore. "I still wish that there was a way to keep you all safely out of this, but as the situations have shown time and again, this is just not possible, especially for you, Harry."
"So in light of your recent accomplishments and in an effort to keep this organization unified, I ask for your loyal services to the Order, along with those of Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Ginny. And perhaps at a later date, Mr. Neville Longbottom and Ms. Luna Lovegood." Harry looked Dumbledore in the eye and nodded enthusiastically. Dumbledore smiled back at him, but his eyes gave away his sadness.
"I vow to do all I can to keep you children safe. But I can no longer do that by keeping you unaware of Voldemort's actions." Dumbledore looked at Molly, who was standing at the opposite end of the room, on the verge of tears. Arthur kept his arm around her. Although he looked equally upset, he raised his chin high and gave Dumbledore an affirming nod.
Harry looked over at Ron and the twins, their backs to their parents and their eyes fixed eagerly on Dumbledore, and thought how much harder it would be for the Weasley family to fight this battle, now that they were all willingly at risk. They had so much to lose, he thought.
"You will not be the first force I utilize in any fight that might surface between the Order and the Death Eaters. But you won't be the last, either. Remember, please, that as young adults, this is your own decision to follow us into some very dangerous situations." Ginny had quieted down and was now sitting close to Charlie, who had his arm around her in the same fashion Arthur did Molly.
"And now for the recent developments. Voldemort is still lying low. We know that Death Eaters have approached the giants and have succeeded in securing a small village to aid them. However, Hagrid has made much progress with his brother's tribe. We now have seven giants in Hagrid's care, hence his absence here." From the murmurs that followed, Harry gathered that much of the Order did not know about the giants.
"Seven!" exclaimed Hermione. "How does he manage them all?"
"His brother has calmed down significantly since you last saw him, Hermione. He has been a vital liaison between the other giants and Hagrid and myself."
Dumbledore cleared his throat before continuing. "As some of you already know, Severus' loyalty to Voldemort came into question recently." Harry saw Snape out of the corner of his eye, tense and still. "Fortunately," Dumbledore continued, "It turns out that he was not singled out. After the Ministry's discovery of Voldemort's return to power, Voldemort wanted to reaffirm his staff's dedications. Severus has reported that he suspected everyone and no one of dishonesty, and after what I regret to say was a disgusting display of authority, Voldemort remains satisfied with Severus' servitude."
He was probably tortured, thought Harry. God… I SAW him being tortured! Last week, in that crazy vision where Voldemort hexed half his death eaters, that was Snape in there!
Harry's breath quickened and he set his butterbeer on the table to steady his hand. Hermione noticed and placed her hand on his. "You saw that then?" she whispered to him from behind. Not turning around to look at her, he gave a slight nod. She squeezed his hand and turned to look at Snape, who was as still as a statue. Her eyes were not the only ones in the room upon him. Dumbledore took notice.
"You have since recovered from the inquisition, Severus?" Snape nodded slowly. "That is good to hear. As I know I've told you before, it bears repeating. You are brave to face this affront. And we are and shall remain grateful of your services." Dumbledore's words were slow and measured, yet firm. Snape fixed his gaze on his own hand that held a glass of rum on the rocks to the table. To everyone's surprise, Tonks scooted out of her corner with the Weasleys, and made her way around Dumbledore to where Snape was sitting. She sat on the empty chair behind him and placed her hand on his arm. He tensed up and remained still, but Tonks stayed put.
Dumbledore continued. "We do know that certain Death Eaters are actively working on releasing those captured from Azkaban, by soliciting the support of the Dementors. We had as much expected this. I give the prison another couple weeks of adequate operation, but I do expect them to be able to freely leave by the time the school term begins."
"This brings me to our greatest concern as of yet, the safety of the children within the school. While there are countless targets Voldemort has his sights on, I believe he will focus on those close to myself. Close to Harry. This is why unlike last year, I will require half of our defensive force to protect the school, while the other half follows Voldemort and the Death Eaters on the outside."
"Excuse me Albus," Heads turned to the entrance of the room, where Alastor Moody stood. "While I as well understand the need for the utmost security at the school, surely you cannot deny that Voldemort will probably start here as he started the last time, with acts of terrorism against the muggles?"
"Yes indeed, Alastor," agreed Dumbledore. "Which brings me to my next strategy: the utilization of the Ministry aurors. Tonks?" Tonks dropped her hand from Snape, who had yet to turn around and look at her. She rose and stepped back toward the wall so that she could better address the room as a whole, looking slightly nervous at the task.
"Thank you, Albus. Since the Ministry became undeniably aware that Voldemort is indeed back, there have been many discussions among the aurors as to a course of action in regards to muggle and wizard protection alike. While I have not spoken of, much less actively recruited any of my colleagues to the Order, I proposed that they place their trust in Dumbledore's direction in regards to tracking the Death Eaters. Many of them are disillusioned with Fudge's leadership and wish to pursue this course of action. So using my 'old school connections with the Headmaster,'" Tonks paused to grin at Dumbledore, "I have helped my superiors at the Ministry arrange such an army. They are willing to follow Dumbledore's lead."
Murmurs again erupted around the room, but this time there was an enthusiastic tone to them. Dumbledore nodded for Tonks to sit, and she sat back down beside Snape, this time not touching him.
"Thank you, Tonks. Securing the good faith of many aurors puts us in a much better position than before." Dumbledore looked around the room once more. "It will be wise for us all to reconvene early tomorrow evening to go through the latest information on Voldemort's whereabouts. I suspect our members who are out on active duty right now will have such news to share. But for the remainder of today, I believe we have a birthday that needs proper, albeit belated, celebrating." A smile crept across Harry's face. "Anything you would like to say to the crowd here, Harry?"
A speech? Oh no, Harry thought. What the hell am I going to say? But Harry found himself standing up anyway. He nervously looked around the room, not knowing where to begin.
"Um, hello everyone," he began. "I just want to say thank you, first off, for the induction into the Order. I promise to do everything I can to help… at Dumbledore's discretion," he hastily added. Harry felt his cheeks flush as he remembered how he last saw this group of people – when they raced in to save himself and his friends from his erroneous premonition. God, Harry thought, they must think I'm a hotheaded idiot. I AM a hotheaded idiot! Sirius would be here if it weren't for my stupidity…
Hermione squeezed Harry's hand, breaking his momentary silence. "Uh, sorry," Harry continued. "Anyway, thank you. Especially for this, tonight. I've never really had a birthday party before anditmeansalottome," he quickly finished, and with that, he sat down, face flushed. The Order members all cheered, and the cheering grew louder as Molly levitated the roast dinners, followed by Harry's enormous birthday cake into the room. Everyone immediately sat and began digging into the food.
"Hey Harry!" Tonks called from across the table. Harry looked up and inadvertently caught Snape's eye before Tonks'.
"Yeah, Tonks?" Harry noticed that she was still in impossibly close proximity to Snape, as did the Weasley boys. Fred and George were dramatically gesturing to a seat between them. Tonks opened her mouth to respond to Harry, but turned her head to the twins first, smiling and shaking her head at the request.
"Anyway," she continued, "I just wanted to tell you that it's good to see you again. You look… older now."
"I am older now," Harry replied with a grin. "I'm all of sixteen."
"And I'm twenty-seven, so you shush if an old lady has to go searching for the right words. I meant to say, you look more mature. More collected than last summer."
"Um," Harry looked down at his food. "How have you been since the… since Lestrange…" He couldn't find the right words either.
"I'm doing fine, Harry. Aside from Sirius, we all got out ok. Which, considering the magnitude of that attack, is a remarkable thing." Harry and Tonks were now leaning across the table to address each other, and Ron, Hermione and Snape were doing a terrible job of pretending they weren't listening in.
"Yeah, but that shouldn't have happened in the first place. I shouldn't have…"
"Hey now. Because of you, Voldemort will never know that prophecy. I don't know if Dumbledore's stressed the importance of that to you, but it's monumental, Harry." Ron and Hermione were now staring at Tonks as well. Harry glanced at Snape, who was still staring at the head of the table, feigning interest in Dumbledore's absurd storytelling and completely ignoring his food. Harry sighed.
"Thank you, Tonks. But I still don't quite understand what good came out of that." Harry gave her an apologetic smile and went back to eating his food. Tonks sighed and looked to her left at Snape, who had his back practically turned to her. She resumed eating as well.
