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Harry Potter and the Black Unicorn (Chapter 10)- The Order of the Phoenix
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Harry was awoken by a gentle tap on his arm. He opened his eyes and blinked at the culprit. He was slumped over one of the books on the desk in the Gryffindor Common Room with Ron and Hermione staring at him.
"Mmmm" he groaned, "What time's it?"
"Nearly 4am," replied Hermione "We better get to bed, its getting late"
"Found anything?" he asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes and blinking at her again.
"Yup," replied Ron brightly "I found it!"
Harry smiled sleepily at him, unable to understand how Ron was so awake. Hermione shifted in her seat and cleared her throat.
"Well, we need to do more research on this but we know were to start now. We found a reference to an old form of magic, very powerful, but very rare."
Harry waited patiently for her to get to the point and rested his chin on his hand to keep himself awake.
"Well this magic, its called Concateno, its bond magic."
"Pardon...BOND magic?!" exclaimed Harry loudly.
"Shhhhh Harry" said Ron "You'll wake everyone."
"Yes it's okay Harry, nothing bad. You see when a wizard saves another's life it creates a bond between the two. Usually this bond isn't at all obvious but with you and Snape it's different. Both of you have saved each other's life, or at least you were in the process of doing so when you cast the spell. This creates a firm bond, a powerful magic bond, I guess you could describe it as an honour bond."
Harry looked at Hermione blankly then opened his mouth to speak...then closed it.... then opened it again. Both his friends seem bemused by this reaction as Harry struggled to formulate words. This was partly because he was surprised and partly because he was so damn tired.
"You mean me and Snape may be able to do that kind of magic if we had contact with each other, like touching the others arm or something?"
Hermione pulled a face at this question and shrugged.
"To be honest Harry we have no idea yet, could be a one of, may not be. That's why we need more research"
"Yeah mate," piped in Ron "We'll go to bed and get cracking on it again tomorrow in the library."
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Harry woke up to find light glaring through the window at him. Dean, Neville and Seamus were already up and out but Ron was still asleep. Harry looked at the time and groaned. There was only ten minutes until breakfast started. He jumped up and shook Ron awake, telling him to get up and get ready quick. Ron did so with relative ease although he did look a bit tired.
They met Hermione in the common room and they all went down to breakfast together as usual. They had no lessons until the afternoon, which Harry was relieved about, as they would have time to do more research.
Before he'd had time to move on from this thought though his hopes were quashed as McGonagall approached them and informed them that their presence was required in Dumbledore's office at 10 am. Harry was half excited by the news yet slightly disappointed as it would leave them with only just over half an hour to research after breakfast.
This was pretty much useless as by the time they had got to the library and found a couple of books the information could be in they had to go again. They signed the books out and ran them back to the common room (in Harry and Ron's room) for afterwards.
So, at three minutes to ten they found themselves being escorted into Dumbledore's office by Lupin who had been waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs.
Dumbledore's office was packed with people, some familiar and some not. There was Sirius, Lupin, Figg, 'Mad Eye' Moody, McGonagall, Hidellbank, Snape, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill Weasley and surprisingly the Weasley twins and Ginny. There were about 5 other people whom Harry had never met.
"Excellent," said Dumbledore loudly, rising from his chair, "Glad to see you're all here."
"Various Weasley children, Harry and Hermione, meet the Order of the Phoenix."
Dumbledore strode to the side of the room and turned towards them again.
"Some people you know, some you don't. This is Nymphadore Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Elphias Doge, Dedalus Diggle and Mundungus Fletcher."
Harry looked at each of them in turn and smiled politely. Each was very different from the other; they ranged from Tonks who had pink hair, to Mundungus Fletcher who looked like he badly needed a new set of robes. All five nodded at Harry and smiled at him in a curious way.
"You like your father," stated Kingsley "Knew him well"
The others nodded, except Tonks who looked far to young to have known his father well at all.
"Well," broke in Dumbledore "You're all here to get an update on Dumbledore's activity's then the Order will have a meeting. I'm afraid you must leave for that students."
"Why?" asked Harry firmly "And what is the Order of the Phoenix?"
"So many questions Harry!" said Sirius from against the wall in the corner of the room. "The Order is a group of wizards devoted to fighting Voldemort. It was set up to fight him last time. It has re-united to fight him this time."
Harry knew his parents must have been members but decided not to ask Sirius if this had been the case.
"You cannot stay because you are not in the Order," stated Dumbledore calmly, "None of you are really old enough or ready enough to join."
Harry felt a bolt of anger rising within him, he wondered if anyone in that room had done as much as him except Dumbledore. If anyone deserved to be in the Order that he did. He did not voice this complaint however and stared at the floor in an attempt to calm down.
"Professor Dumbledore?" asked Ron timidly "May we talk about what's been happening now?"
Dumbledore smiled at him and nodded, looking pleased to dispel the silence, which his answer had created from the children.
Dumbledore turned and sat down again by his desk. He gestured at Kingsly Shacklebolt to speak. The man stepped forward slightly and cleared his throat.
"Well, we've had few reports from other auror's of Death Eater activity. This may mean little as none want to believe he is back. The only major incident occurred here and then in the village of Hogsmede. There has been some smaller incidents however in secluded wizarding areas of either non-pure blood wizard deaths or the occasional muggle death. Very few auror's are truly on the watch out for Death Eaters yet though."
After he finished he stepped back into line and Figg stepped forward.
"There have been some reports in the muggle news of strange unaccountable deaths. These could be related to Voldemort."
Next to step out was Lupin who explained the events in Hogsmede then followed by Hidellbank who explained what occurred at Hogwarts. Fletcher informed them that he had heard some talk from 'underground' traders that there has been some demand for odd weapons, potion ingredients and books that were unsavoury and difficult to obtain. Harry guessed this meant that it was possible that the Death Eaters were beginning to equip themselves to fight. This made an involuntary shiver run down his back and it was not until Snape's voice began until Harry realised someone else was going to speak.
"Well I wouldn't know about books and weapons," Snape was saying "but I know potion ingredients are being obtained for me."
Sirius gave a loud snort from the corner but Snape ignored him.
"Anyway, there have been no major attacks yet because he's trying to regain strength and as far as I know none have been planned. However, it would certainly seem that Potter here is going to be getting the full attention of him sooner or later. Some fears have been raised though that he'll target myself or Dumbledore first"
"Who's fearing you getting attacked?" asked Sirius indignantly, giving Snape as cold look. Remus Lupin shook his head at Sirius to tell him not to continue and Sirius, although irritated, said no more.
There was a tense silence, which was finally broken by Dumbledore. He stood up again and gestured to Fred, George and Ginny.
"I think the students should go now so we can have our meeting. I know you feel cut out but believe me; it's for your own good for now. All six of you will undoubtedly wish to join eventually and we respect that and will keep you informed. You are not ready yet though."
The Weasley children and Hermione seemed to accept this straight away and all turned and began walking out the office. Harry however stood his ground.
"Harry?" asked Dumbledore calmly, giving Harry a look of warning.
"I don't see why I have to go. It will just be me that ends up taking him on anyway whether I chose to or not."
The room tensed again except for Snape who smiled slightly at Harry's words.
"Harry," said Sirius calmly "I wish you could be part of this but Dumbledore's right. Its not time yet."
Harry was about to reply and tell him that if now was not the time then he'd quite like to see a better one. Something in his mind stopped him though and he just nodded hesitantly and walked off, well, more of an angry march to be precise. He was so angry that he passed his friends and carried on walking until he was out the way and on his own in the owlry tower.
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The owlry was fairly noisy as the owl hooted fairly regularly but Harry didn't mind. After giving his owl some attention he sat down in a corner and tried to think. He couldn't understand why they were so keen to not include him in this, why Dumbledore and the rest were cutting him out. It made him angry, no it made him furious. It was him who saved the Philosopher's stone, it was him who saved Ginny in the Chamber of Secrets, it was him who helped Sirius his god father, it was him who though Voldemort the year before and it was him who'd lost both his parents and witnessed Cedric Diggory die. Everything was always him yet no one took him seriously, everyone seemed to be distant. Ron and Hermione were becoming better friends and Harry sometimes felt like a spare limb. Dumbledore seemed to have little interest in including Harry into his plans, Snape's personality was fluctuating like a sound wave and Sirius and Lupin were always so busy. It was all so irritating and frustrating. Harry wanted to spend more time with Sirius, wanted to get to know his godfather. Harry also wanted to understand Snape better and most of all, he wanted to be part of everything. He wanted to know exactly what was happening so he knew what risks he was in rather than having to be constantly on edge.
Harry punched out at the wall in temper and the pain that shot through his knuckles made him calm down quickly. He ran his hand through his hair and stood up, deciding to return to the Common Room and stop thinking so much about it all.
When he returned to the Common Room Ron and Hermione ran straight over. Both had obviously been worried about him but they did have good news.
"Well!" exclaimed Hermione "We've done a bit more research and we've found out some interesting facts."
"Yeah" Ron took over "That magic will work on contact with Snape but its not easy. Both have to be performing the same spell at the same time and it requires practise apparently to perfect it."
Harry didn't know what to say to either of them. They both looked so pleased, like they'd discovered something really big. However, first Harry would have to convince Snape that's what happened; secondly they'd have to practise together and thirdly, if anyone in Slytherin found out then it could mean big trouble for Snape.
"Great guys," said Harry unconvincingly "Well, I'm going to go get some sleep before lunch. Want to be wide awake for Defence lessons."
With that Harry made his way upstairs, leaving Ron and Hermione very puzzled indeed.
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Hey, sorry it's taken me so long to update but I've had A levels. I hope you enjoy it and please review if you have the time (or the desire) to.
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Harry Potter and the Black Unicorn (Chapter 10)- The Order of the Phoenix
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Harry was awoken by a gentle tap on his arm. He opened his eyes and blinked at the culprit. He was slumped over one of the books on the desk in the Gryffindor Common Room with Ron and Hermione staring at him.
"Mmmm" he groaned, "What time's it?"
"Nearly 4am," replied Hermione "We better get to bed, its getting late"
"Found anything?" he asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes and blinking at her again.
"Yup," replied Ron brightly "I found it!"
Harry smiled sleepily at him, unable to understand how Ron was so awake. Hermione shifted in her seat and cleared her throat.
"Well, we need to do more research on this but we know were to start now. We found a reference to an old form of magic, very powerful, but very rare."
Harry waited patiently for her to get to the point and rested his chin on his hand to keep himself awake.
"Well this magic, its called Concateno, its bond magic."
"Pardon...BOND magic?!" exclaimed Harry loudly.
"Shhhhh Harry" said Ron "You'll wake everyone."
"Yes it's okay Harry, nothing bad. You see when a wizard saves another's life it creates a bond between the two. Usually this bond isn't at all obvious but with you and Snape it's different. Both of you have saved each other's life, or at least you were in the process of doing so when you cast the spell. This creates a firm bond, a powerful magic bond, I guess you could describe it as an honour bond."
Harry looked at Hermione blankly then opened his mouth to speak...then closed it.... then opened it again. Both his friends seem bemused by this reaction as Harry struggled to formulate words. This was partly because he was surprised and partly because he was so damn tired.
"You mean me and Snape may be able to do that kind of magic if we had contact with each other, like touching the others arm or something?"
Hermione pulled a face at this question and shrugged.
"To be honest Harry we have no idea yet, could be a one of, may not be. That's why we need more research"
"Yeah mate," piped in Ron "We'll go to bed and get cracking on it again tomorrow in the library."
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Harry woke up to find light glaring through the window at him. Dean, Neville and Seamus were already up and out but Ron was still asleep. Harry looked at the time and groaned. There was only ten minutes until breakfast started. He jumped up and shook Ron awake, telling him to get up and get ready quick. Ron did so with relative ease although he did look a bit tired.
They met Hermione in the common room and they all went down to breakfast together as usual. They had no lessons until the afternoon, which Harry was relieved about, as they would have time to do more research.
Before he'd had time to move on from this thought though his hopes were quashed as McGonagall approached them and informed them that their presence was required in Dumbledore's office at 10 am. Harry was half excited by the news yet slightly disappointed as it would leave them with only just over half an hour to research after breakfast.
This was pretty much useless as by the time they had got to the library and found a couple of books the information could be in they had to go again. They signed the books out and ran them back to the common room (in Harry and Ron's room) for afterwards.
So, at three minutes to ten they found themselves being escorted into Dumbledore's office by Lupin who had been waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs.
Dumbledore's office was packed with people, some familiar and some not. There was Sirius, Lupin, Figg, 'Mad Eye' Moody, McGonagall, Hidellbank, Snape, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill Weasley and surprisingly the Weasley twins and Ginny. There were about 5 other people whom Harry had never met.
"Excellent," said Dumbledore loudly, rising from his chair, "Glad to see you're all here."
"Various Weasley children, Harry and Hermione, meet the Order of the Phoenix."
Dumbledore strode to the side of the room and turned towards them again.
"Some people you know, some you don't. This is Nymphadore Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Elphias Doge, Dedalus Diggle and Mundungus Fletcher."
Harry looked at each of them in turn and smiled politely. Each was very different from the other; they ranged from Tonks who had pink hair, to Mundungus Fletcher who looked like he badly needed a new set of robes. All five nodded at Harry and smiled at him in a curious way.
"You like your father," stated Kingsley "Knew him well"
The others nodded, except Tonks who looked far to young to have known his father well at all.
"Well," broke in Dumbledore "You're all here to get an update on Dumbledore's activity's then the Order will have a meeting. I'm afraid you must leave for that students."
"Why?" asked Harry firmly "And what is the Order of the Phoenix?"
"So many questions Harry!" said Sirius from against the wall in the corner of the room. "The Order is a group of wizards devoted to fighting Voldemort. It was set up to fight him last time. It has re-united to fight him this time."
Harry knew his parents must have been members but decided not to ask Sirius if this had been the case.
"You cannot stay because you are not in the Order," stated Dumbledore calmly, "None of you are really old enough or ready enough to join."
Harry felt a bolt of anger rising within him, he wondered if anyone in that room had done as much as him except Dumbledore. If anyone deserved to be in the Order that he did. He did not voice this complaint however and stared at the floor in an attempt to calm down.
"Professor Dumbledore?" asked Ron timidly "May we talk about what's been happening now?"
Dumbledore smiled at him and nodded, looking pleased to dispel the silence, which his answer had created from the children.
Dumbledore turned and sat down again by his desk. He gestured at Kingsly Shacklebolt to speak. The man stepped forward slightly and cleared his throat.
"Well, we've had few reports from other auror's of Death Eater activity. This may mean little as none want to believe he is back. The only major incident occurred here and then in the village of Hogsmede. There has been some smaller incidents however in secluded wizarding areas of either non-pure blood wizard deaths or the occasional muggle death. Very few auror's are truly on the watch out for Death Eaters yet though."
After he finished he stepped back into line and Figg stepped forward.
"There have been some reports in the muggle news of strange unaccountable deaths. These could be related to Voldemort."
Next to step out was Lupin who explained the events in Hogsmede then followed by Hidellbank who explained what occurred at Hogwarts. Fletcher informed them that he had heard some talk from 'underground' traders that there has been some demand for odd weapons, potion ingredients and books that were unsavoury and difficult to obtain. Harry guessed this meant that it was possible that the Death Eaters were beginning to equip themselves to fight. This made an involuntary shiver run down his back and it was not until Snape's voice began until Harry realised someone else was going to speak.
"Well I wouldn't know about books and weapons," Snape was saying "but I know potion ingredients are being obtained for me."
Sirius gave a loud snort from the corner but Snape ignored him.
"Anyway, there have been no major attacks yet because he's trying to regain strength and as far as I know none have been planned. However, it would certainly seem that Potter here is going to be getting the full attention of him sooner or later. Some fears have been raised though that he'll target myself or Dumbledore first"
"Who's fearing you getting attacked?" asked Sirius indignantly, giving Snape as cold look. Remus Lupin shook his head at Sirius to tell him not to continue and Sirius, although irritated, said no more.
There was a tense silence, which was finally broken by Dumbledore. He stood up again and gestured to Fred, George and Ginny.
"I think the students should go now so we can have our meeting. I know you feel cut out but believe me; it's for your own good for now. All six of you will undoubtedly wish to join eventually and we respect that and will keep you informed. You are not ready yet though."
The Weasley children and Hermione seemed to accept this straight away and all turned and began walking out the office. Harry however stood his ground.
"Harry?" asked Dumbledore calmly, giving Harry a look of warning.
"I don't see why I have to go. It will just be me that ends up taking him on anyway whether I chose to or not."
The room tensed again except for Snape who smiled slightly at Harry's words.
"Harry," said Sirius calmly "I wish you could be part of this but Dumbledore's right. Its not time yet."
Harry was about to reply and tell him that if now was not the time then he'd quite like to see a better one. Something in his mind stopped him though and he just nodded hesitantly and walked off, well, more of an angry march to be precise. He was so angry that he passed his friends and carried on walking until he was out the way and on his own in the owlry tower.
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The owlry was fairly noisy as the owl hooted fairly regularly but Harry didn't mind. After giving his owl some attention he sat down in a corner and tried to think. He couldn't understand why they were so keen to not include him in this, why Dumbledore and the rest were cutting him out. It made him angry, no it made him furious. It was him who saved the Philosopher's stone, it was him who saved Ginny in the Chamber of Secrets, it was him who helped Sirius his god father, it was him who though Voldemort the year before and it was him who'd lost both his parents and witnessed Cedric Diggory die. Everything was always him yet no one took him seriously, everyone seemed to be distant. Ron and Hermione were becoming better friends and Harry sometimes felt like a spare limb. Dumbledore seemed to have little interest in including Harry into his plans, Snape's personality was fluctuating like a sound wave and Sirius and Lupin were always so busy. It was all so irritating and frustrating. Harry wanted to spend more time with Sirius, wanted to get to know his godfather. Harry also wanted to understand Snape better and most of all, he wanted to be part of everything. He wanted to know exactly what was happening so he knew what risks he was in rather than having to be constantly on edge.
Harry punched out at the wall in temper and the pain that shot through his knuckles made him calm down quickly. He ran his hand through his hair and stood up, deciding to return to the Common Room and stop thinking so much about it all.
When he returned to the Common Room Ron and Hermione ran straight over. Both had obviously been worried about him but they did have good news.
"Well!" exclaimed Hermione "We've done a bit more research and we've found out some interesting facts."
"Yeah" Ron took over "That magic will work on contact with Snape but its not easy. Both have to be performing the same spell at the same time and it requires practise apparently to perfect it."
Harry didn't know what to say to either of them. They both looked so pleased, like they'd discovered something really big. However, first Harry would have to convince Snape that's what happened; secondly they'd have to practise together and thirdly, if anyone in Slytherin found out then it could mean big trouble for Snape.
"Great guys," said Harry unconvincingly "Well, I'm going to go get some sleep before lunch. Want to be wide awake for Defence lessons."
With that Harry made his way upstairs, leaving Ron and Hermione very puzzled indeed.
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Hey, sorry it's taken me so long to update but I've had A levels. I hope you enjoy it and please review if you have the time (or the desire) to.
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