Chapter 3:

Dinner and the Order

Ginny and Harry walked into the kitchen and received several amused, and altogether surprised looks. Hermione smiled when she saw them, and Ron raised his eyebrows at Harry. Harry looked confused for a moment until he happened to glance down and see that he was still holding Ginny's hand. He flushed slightly red, and took his hand away from her. Ginny looked sad for a moment until she caught Harry's eye and he smiled at her. Harry then went and sat down by Dumbledore who had been observing the two teenagers with his customary twinkle in his eye. "Professor, did you know that Lucius Malfoy and the others have escaped from Azkaban?" asked Harry.

Dumbledore, Bill, Molly, Arthur, and Remus all looked at Harry in astonishment. Albus replied, "Yes, Harry, we just found out earlier this afternoon. The question is, how did you know?"

Harry smiled, "I have my ways. Also, what happened at the Minister's house? Was anyone hurt?"

Harry was again the recipient of several amazed expressions as Albus answered, "No, Harry there were no major injuries and the Aurors managed to catch two Death Eaters."

Harry smirked, "So, that's why old Tom is in such a fume."

Dumbledore frowned, "What do you mean, Harry?"

Harry tapped his scar, "Professor, you know that I can read Voldemort's emotions through my scar. I have actually gotten a little better at it since he possessed me at the Ministry that night."

"What do you mean that you have gotten better at it?" broke in Lupin.

"Exactly that. I don't have to deal with any pain from the reading. Also, I can shut it off."

Dumbledore smiled, "So, you've learned to control it. Now, you don't have to worry about him sending you visions."

"I don't know about that, Professor. I can shut it off after I start getting images or feelings through the scar, but I can't stop them from starting. So, if he showed me something, then I might watch it to try and determine if it was real, but I still wouldn't be able to necessarily tell the difference between fantasy and reality." stated Harry.

Arthur leaned forward, "It's a start though. It's progress."

Dumbledore nodded, "Indeed, Arthur, it is most definitely progress. Well, Harry it appears that I don't have much to tell you." he broke off as Molly set dinner on the table and everyone began to tuck in. He continued once everyone had their food, "There have been three major attacks while you were out of contact. The attempt at the Minister's home. We were prepared for that one. The raid on Azkaban. We expected that but since the Dementors are still in control there was little that we could do. The other was from the Giants. They attacked a contingent of Aurors that were hunting for them in the mountains. Luckily, no one was killed, but the giants got away again. There have been a few homes raided and destroyed, but thankfully no one has been killed yet. So, it seems that you already knew most of what I came here to tell you tonight."

Harry nodded, "Perhaps." At that moment Kingsley and Tonks came out of the fireplace.

Molly stood up and began fussing. "Alright, children, hurry up and finish your dinner. The rest of the Order will be arriving soon and we will need the kitchen for the meeting." After this statement Hermione, Ginny, and Ron looked expectantly at Harry, but he merely shook his head and continued eating. By the time the four teenagers were finished with their food, Mundungus Fletcher, Snape, McGonagall, and Mad-Eye had arrived. Molly began to shoo Ron, Hermione, and Ginny out the door when she noticed that Harry had not gotten up. "Harry, dear, come on we need to get the meeting started."

Harry merely shook his head, "I will not be leaving the room. I intend to remain for the meeting. I will join the Order of the Phoenix."

"That's just perfect, Potter. You're as arrogant as your father." snapped Snape. What happened after these words occurred so quickly that most of the people in the room didn't even see it. Harry leaped from his seat at the table and spun around to smash his fist into Snape's face with all the force that he could muster. By the time that Snape actually hit the ground, Harry's wand was in his hand and leveled at Snape's nose.

"If you ever insult my father again, Severus, I will curse you so horribly that they will never be able to let you out of St. Mungo's. Do I make myself clear?" The menace dripping from Harry's voice surprised everyone in the room. Snape was so shocked at what had occurred that he could do little more than nod meekly. Harry returned his wand to his robe and then turned to the rest of them, "As I was saying before I was interrupted, I intend to join the Order of the Phoenix."

Molly couldn't contain herself any longer, "Harry, you're not an adult, yet. It's not your place to join in the fighting. We are supposed to be protecting you. You need to stay at school and just be a kid."

Dumbledore shook his head, "No, Molly, Harry is right. It is time for him to join the Order."

Molly looked positively livid, "Albus, you can't be serious. He is just a child. He's not ready for anything like this."

Harry slammed one of his fists down into the table, "Molly, I am not a child, and you can't protect me anymore. This is my battle, just as it is everyone else's in this room."

"Oh, Harry, be serious. You aren't old enough. The Order is for adults that know how to handle themselves in situations that require courage and quick thinking."

Harry looked revolted at what Molly had just said to him, "How dare you say that to me. When was the last time you dueled with Voldemort?" Everyone in the room flinched at the name except Lupin, Moody, and Dumbledore. "I'm not old enough to deal with situations that require courage, but you can't even stand to hear his name spoken. Where is the courage that you just spoke of. Voldemort! Voldemort! Voldemort!" The room flinched again. "It's a name. Nothing more. It has no power to do anything to you. I spoke it. Hell, I'll even insult the bastard. Voldemort is a sod. As you can see, I wasn't struck by lightning. I did not fall over dead. Hell, I didn't even get a runny nose. Exactly what is there to be afraid of from a name. Molly, I know you just want to keep me safe, but that's not something that any of you can do. I'm going to face Voldemort in battle again. I'm going to kill him. And guess what, there is absolutely nothing that any of you can do to change that fact."

By this point most of the men in the room were looking at their feet. Molly, Hermione, and Ginny were crying. Tonks was sniffling while leaning on Remus' shoulder.

Remus cleared his throat, "Well, I believe that we have business to attend to. Molly, if you would lead those three out and charm the door. We can get to work."

Molly proceeded to lead the three of them out and then cast an Imperturbable Charm on the door. The three teenagers walked up the stairs not quite believing what they had just seen.

Dumbledore stood, "I believe that our first order of business is to welcome a Potter back into the Order. Next, I believe, we need to hear a report from Severus."

By this time Severus had cleaned up his face. "The only thing that I really have to report is that Lucius Malfoy is going to be sent in an attack on Potter. He is to be given this task to make up for his blunder in the Department of Mysteries. Their aim is not to kill him, but to kill one of his friends and hopefully capture him in the process. The Dark Lord has become somewhat obsessed with the idea of catching Potter."

Harry muttered, "So, that's what he wanted him for."

Albus leaned over, "Sorry, what was that, Harry?"

"My apologies, Professor. I was just commenting that that was why Voldemort was sending for Lucius earlier."

McGonagall questioned, "Mr. Potter, exactly how do you know that You-Know-Who sent for Lucius?"

Harry looked puzzled for a moment, "Oh, sorry. I meant to tell all of you this immediately, but I got caught up in my argument. Earlier I said that I was gaining control of my connection with Voldemort. Well, that was the understatement of the century. This can't go any farther than this room. I don't even wish for it to be common knowledge among the Order. I've learned that the connection goes both ways. I can send visions to Voldemort. It also means that he can home in on my thoughts and what I am seeing, just like I can to him."

Lupin spoke up, "Isn't that dangerous for us, right now. I mean, he could be watching through your eyes."

"You don't have to worry about that. I can keep him blocked off as long as I'm paying attention. It takes too much effort for me to do it all the time, but for now we're safe from his prying eyes. I have to be very careful to keep any dangerous knowledge hidden deep in my mind so that he can't find it before I realize he's in my head."

Mad-Eye broke in this time, "Does he know that you can peek into what he's doing?"

"Yes and no. He knows that sometimes I get glimpses of what he is doing from the scar. He's known that since the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He doesn't know that I can consciously control it though. He knows that I have discovered how to block him off, though. He tried to invade my mind a few weeks back to find out things and I shut him off. However, he thinks that it is because of my Occlumency training, and not because I have gained control of the connection between us."

Kingsley leaned in, "So you're saying that you can spy on him without him knowing it."

"Yes, and again no. I can, but I can't stay active in his mind for long. If I do, then he will realize that my mind is present, and then he can block me off. So, I basically just have to take a short peek. If I stay he might realize that I have learned to control the connection. That would be bad. Also, speaking of spies. Professor Snape, I caught a conversation earlier between Bellatrix and Voldemort. They suspect a spy among the Death Eaters. They don't know its you yet, but they will be watching anyone they even slightly suspect, and you know that you are going to be at the top of that list considering you didn't show up that night in the graveyard."

Snape nodded coldly but refrained from making any snide remarks.

Molly finally spoke, "Okay this is enough to absorb for one night, but I want to know what you meant by the fact you said you were going to kill You-Know-Who, Harry?"

Harry sighed, "So, Professor, I take it they don't know about the Prophecy."

"They know it exists, Harry. They don't know what it says. However, I believe that it is time for the Order to know what it entails."

Bill rubbed his hands together as Dumbledore drew out his Pensieve, "Finally."

Harry looked across the table at him, "You will wish like hell that you hadn't said that after you hear it." Bill's eyes widened at the expression on Harry's face when he said that.

Dumbledore proceeded to remove the memory from his head, and place it into the Pensieve. He then tapped his wand to it and the ghostly image of a young woman rose and began to speak

THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES … BORN TO THOSE WHO HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM, BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES … AND THE DARK LORD WILL MARK HIM AS HIS EQUAL, BUT HE WILL HAVE POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT … AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER FOR NEITHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES … THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD WILL BE BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES…

The ghostly figure sank back down into the Pensieve. One could have heard a pin drop in the silence that filled the room. Arthur stood up, "I, for one, have heard more than I can process in a single night. I think that we should call it a night."

The others nodded mutely as Harry stood up and began walking towards the door. He didn't quite make it before Molly Weasley had swept him up into one of her bone-crushing hugs. "Oh, Harry" she sobbed.

Harry surprised her by returning the hug just as fiercely as she gave it. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Weasley. You have been more like a mother to me than I ever could have hoped for. It has to be this way, though. There's nothing we can do to stop it."

"I know, Harry, I know, but I don't have to like it." Harry nodded as the two broke the hug and he again headed for the door. Molly stopped him with her voice this time, "Harry." He turned around to face her. "I would prefer it if you called me, Molly."

Harry smiled, "Yes, Molly, I'm going to go up and go to bed."

Harry climbed the stairs with trepidation, because he knew what was going to happen once Ron, Hermione, and Ginny found out the meeting was over.

When Harry got to the door of his and Ron's room, he sighed as he heard the babble of voices that was coming from inside. It seemed almost as if all three of them were trying to talk at once. Harry steeled himself at the barrage of questions that were about to be thrown at him and stepped into the room.

"Harry, what is going on? What happened in the meeting"

"I can't believe you did that to Snape. He could have hurt you."

"That was awesome, mate. I just wish that we had gotten a picture."

Harry held up his hands to stem the flow of questions and statements. "One at a time. One at a time. First, what happened in the meeting stays there. Second, Snape didn't have a prayer of hurting me. Third, no, it wasn't awesome. If Snape wasn't such a prat all the time it would never have happened. Anything else?"

Hermione looked stunned, "Are you telling us that you aren't going to reveal what happens in the Order meetings?"

"Yes, Hermione, that is exactly what I'm telling you. I will tell you anything that I feel you absolutely need to know, but beyond that it is Order business."

Ron looked stunned, "We deserve to be kept in the loop, Harry. You can't shut us out!"

Harry shook his head, "I'm not trying to shut you out. Anything major happens, and I promise the three of you will find out about it. Everything else, and its safer if you don't know."

Ginny asked, "What do you mean safer?"

"Do the three of you not get it. After what happened at the Department of Mysteries, Voldemort will do anything in the world to lay hands on one of you. He knows that if he gets you that he has me. Its safer for you to know less because that means he can't get anything out of you if he captures you. We need every advantage we can get."

Ron looked sullen, "Then, why do you get to be in on everything. What makes you so special?"

"You do deserve an answer to that. Remember the Prophecy that we broke." All three of them nodded. "Well, I know what it says. I'm not going to tell you exactly what it involves, because that is the last thing that Voldemort needs to get his hands on. However, let's just say that the Prophecy makes it impossible for the Order to keep me out of things. I no longer have a choice in the matter. The three of you do. If you can stay out of danger, then you are going to."

Ginny huffed, "We want to help, though."

Harry held up his hands to forestall any further objections, "I know that you want to help. When I need your help, I promise I will ask. When it becomes necessary for you to know something, I will tell you. Until then I'm afraid that it has to be this way. I just hope that you all understand."

Ginny stood up and walked over to him, "I understand, Harry. Anytime you need me though, I'm here."

Harry smiled, "Thank you, Ginny." He turned to the other two. Hermione and Ron stood up and walked out without even looking at Harry. Harry sighed, "I hope they come around."

Ginny patted him on the shoulder, "They will, don't worry. I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight, Harry."

Harry smiled wanly, "Goodnight, Ginny. Thanks again."

Ginny smiled as she walked from the room. Harry laid down on his bed and fell asleep within moments.