Harry Potter and the Rising War

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Chapter 3: Best Friends? And the Order

The day started out like all the others for Harry. He got up early, had a wash, and got something to eat; then continued the previous night's research, before he had found out his animagus form. Harry was just getting deeper into the next chapter on spell creation when there was a tapping at his window. Looking up, he expected to see Hedwig, back from delivering his letter to the Order; but he was surprised to see the Order's own owl instead. Furrowing his brow in confusion, he opened the window for the owl and let it in, allowing it to get some water and have a rest while he read over the letter that looked to be in Remus' handwriting.

Dear Harry,
I am very sorry to inform you, but when I woke up this morning I found Hedwig very badly injured on the floor in the kitchen, and there was nothing that I could do for her in time. It seems some Death Eaters tried to intercept her after recognising her as your owl. She got away, but I'm afraid she died shortly after I found her. I know how much she meant to you, and if there is anything that I can do, please don't hesitate to ask.
As for our request that you keep up the letter updates: don't worry about it until you get to headquarters next week. Hopefully something will be sorted out. I'm very sorry, Harry.

Your friend,

Moony

Harry sat and stared at the letter in shock for a few moments. He didn't know what to think. Hedwig wasn't just a pet or a messenger owl for him; she was his friend - his only companion while he was at the Dursleys'. He blinked back the tears that were threatening to overflow. He felt like another death was on his hands; and yet she had stayed faithful to him until the end. She delivered the letter she was meant to because she loved Harry as much as he did her. Harry sat and mourned another friend - even if she was just an owl.

In the week that followed, Harry had more reason and determination to learn and train all he could. He got a book on lions, and began learning everything he could about them. He was also reading so much about spell creation and alteration that he was really learning and understanding the theory. He often worked through the night, trying to avoid horrible dreams - plagued by nightmares occasionally, but more often plagued by images that Voldemort was projecting into them.

Finally, the day came when he was to return to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, and attend his first meeting. He didn't know what to expect, as so much was to happen in such a short time. One thing he had his mind set on was confronting Ron and Hermione about the lack of informative letters.

At 3 pm sharp, there was a knock on the front door. Harry had been sitting on the bottom step. He jumped up when he heard the knock, and picked up his bag, which just contained a few books and clothes for his short stay at Headquarters. When he opened the door, he was glad to see that Remus was looking well. (From the few letters they had exchanged, Harry could tell that Remus hadn't taken Sirius' death well at all; but with each other's help, they had both begun to accept it, and get on with life. They agreed that they would best honour Sirius by celebrating his life.)

'Good afternoon, Harry! I'm glad to see you looking well,' Remus said as Harry opened the door.

'Moony! It's so good to see you. You're looking well too,' Harry replied. Remus smiled at Harry and thanked him before leading him to a car he had parked in the driveway.

'Looking forward to your first Order meeting?' Remus asked, as they began driving to Headquarters.

'Yeah! I can't believe that they have finally let me in. I bet Mrs. Weasley tried her best to stop it happening, though,' Harry said.

Remus laughed before he replied. 'Well, if there is one word to describe Molly Weasley, it's determined! She argued with Dumbledore for hours. It finally took him telling everyone the prophecy to convince her to accept you into the order - and Snape too, for that matter,' he added with a smile. The mention of the potions master's name brought a scowl to Harry's face. Seeing this, Remus decided it would be best to change the subject; so he picked the only other thing he could think of.

'Excited about tomorrow night?' he asked. This seemed to have the desired effect as they spent the rest of the drive talking happily about what was to come. He was looking forward to everything, except for the initial pain of the transformation. They finally reached their destination at 5:25, which Harry was very glad of. Sitting down for so long had begun to make him ache. (Quite often when he was reading a book at the Dursleys', he would have to get up and pace for a few minutes when he would begin to ache.)

Once he was out of the car, he stretched very thoroughly, and then headed toward the lot where Headquarters should stand. As he approached, he thought of the address, '12 Grimmauld Place'; and then a moment later it appeared before him. He and Remus walked to the door, and Remus rang the bell. A second later, yelling and screaming could be heard. 'So the portrait of Sirius' mother is still there, then,' Harry thought. He was now dreading being in the house that he had spent Christmas in with Sirius; there would be so many difficult memories. And if the portrait was still up, he thought, then not much else had probably changed. But Harry couldn't have been more wrong.

Mrs. Weasley opened the door, and gave Harry a bone-crushing hug; then she checked to see if he had been eating properly, commenting how he still looked so small and frail (which Harry thought was because Dumbledore hadn't told everyone yet what was about to happen). Then he realised that the place looked the complete opposite of his last stay. Instead of all the horrible dark gloomy colours, the walls and carpets were now all in reds and golds. Wherever possible, the fixtures and other decorations were shaped like a phoenix; and apart from the one picture of Sirius' mother, all the others were very much like the ones at Hogwarts. Harry guessed that these were enchanted in the same way as the portrait of Phineas Nigellus (in which he could appear either in the frame at the headmaster's office or the one in the room that Harry had shared with Ron last year).

'Harry dear, would take your things upstairs to the same room that you used last year, please?' Mrs. Weasley asked. 'I think Ron, Hermione and Ginny are there.' Harry nodded and went upstairs while the adults tried to silence the portrait. The new phoenix theme continued all the way up the staircase, and the entire second floor was redecorated too. When he reached the door to the bedroom, he was assaulted with a flash of memories just before his hand touched the doorknob. He recalled Sirius singing Christmas carols loudly throughout the house, feeding Buckbeak, and sitting at the table where they all awaited news about Mr. Weasley. Shaking his head, Harry reached the rest of the way and opened the door. The room he stepped into didn't have all of the phoenix patterns or fixtures, but rather Gryffindor ones, which put a smile on his face.

'Harry! When did you get here?' asked an excited Ginny, who was clearly happy to see him. But he noticed that Hermione's smile looked a little forced, and Ron didn't bother to smile at all. Ron hadn't grown much; maybe he had finally reached his adult height. But he had finally filled in and looked less lanky. Hermione hadn't made any noticeable changes, but Ginny had. She had grown an inch or two, and had let her hair grow longer. Harry noticed with a blush that she had started to show some grown-up curves too.

'I arrived just now, didn't you hear the portrait screaming?' Harry replied, deciding to question the other two about their lack of letters when he got the chance to be alone with them.

'Nah, Mum places a silencing charm in here in the daytime now, with so much going on,' Ginny replied when no one else would. 'I swear, it's been such a madhouse here, people coming and going. And there have been a lot of new members. Fred and George included!' Harry began wondering if he had done something wrong to upset Ron and Hermione.

'That's great; its good so many new people are joining,' Harry said, then turned to Hermione.

'Hey Hermione, how has your summer been so far? You too, Ron?' Harry asked, deciding to play dumb for now, and carry on as if everything was normal between them.

'It's been okay; we just finished cleaning the house, so there's not a lot we can do at the moment,' Hermione said.

'Listen, guys, I have something that I want to tell you that is important; but please, don't freak out on me or anything, okay?' Harry asked, when it was obvious Ron wasn't going to contribute to the conversation.

'What is...' Hermione began, but she was cut off by Mrs. Weasley sticking her head in through the half open door.

'Kids, dinner is ready now,' she said, and then left back down the stairs.

'I'll tell you after dinner, I'm starving!' Harry said, giving in to the protests of his empty stomach.

As soon as they left the room, they were blasted with another round of abuse from the portrait. It seemed to be aimed at Remus, Harry thought, as she mentioned 'Dirty Werewolf' in her tirade. At the bottom of the stairs, Remus was trying to shut her up. Harry asked Remus why he didn't just take her down. 'She has a permanent sticking charm on her, Harry, you know that,' Remus replied, trying to be heard over the portrait's bellowing.

'So why not just remove the layer of plaster underneath her, then?' Harry shouted over her screaming. But as soon as he said that, there was absolute silence. Remus got an evil look on his face, and the portrait started begging him not to do it. But it was no use; in no time Remus had recited an incantation, and the picture was off the wall - leaving behind a hole in the plaster, which Remus quickly fixed.

'That was a brilliant idea, Harry! I'm surprised that Hermione hadn't thought of it yet,' Remus said as he picked the portrait up. Hermione blushed at this comment and looked at the floor, obviously ashamed that she hadn't. As Harry grinned at Remus, he could have sworn that he heard Ron mutter, 'Perfect Potter saves the day again' under his breath, as he budged past Harry into the kitchen. He gave Hermione a questioning look at Ron's behaviour, but she just walked into the kitchen too.

'Have I done something wrong?' Harry asked Ginny as they headed to the kitchen.

'I'll explain later' was her only reply, not because she was annoyed with him too but because they had arrived at the table. Dinner that night was excellent; Harry helped himself to two extra helpings before he was satisfied. There wasn't much conversation; it was mainly Mrs. Weasley and Remus who tried to keep it going, ranging from inquiries about O.W.L.s to chatting about Quidditch.

When every one had finished and begun excusing themselves, Remus asked Harry if he could have a quick word with him alone. So once they had cleared the table, they went into the lounge room and sat. Before he spoke, Remus conjured up some tea for them both, including mint tea for Harry, which was his favourite.

'So, what is it that you wanted to speak to me about, Remus?' Harry asked after they both took a sip of their tea.

'It's about your transformation. I forgot to mention it earlier, but no one is to know - except your close friends, of course. The fewer people that know, the less danger you are in,' Remus said.

'But won't they all notice the morning after, when I come down looking totally different from the night before?' Harry asked.

'No one will be around to notice when you come down; you will have to leave early. We'll use the excuse that Moody insisted that you depart at the crack of dawn, as it's safer,' Remus replied.

'Sounds good to me. I guess, when we get back to Hogwarts, we will explain the change in me then as a normal growth spurt?' questioned Harry, making sure he got all of the details so he didn't screw things up.

'Yeah, that's it. Now, have you told your friends yet? How did they take it?' Remus asked, eager to find out if things were okay with Harry; he had noticed the odd way Ron and Hermione were acting with him earlier.

'No, I haven't; and the way they are acting now, I don't think I will at all!' Harry answered with a frown. 'Do you know what's wrong with them?'

Remus thought for a moment; but the only thing that came to mind was a news report that had been in the Prophet at the beginning of summer. But he assumed Harry knew about that anyway, and didn't think that Ron or Hermione would be so petty as to get upset over an article.

'Can't say that I do; sorry, Harry. But I'm sure you'll work things out,' Remus said.

'Thanks, Remus. Hey, what time is the meeting?' Harry asked.

Remus looked at his watch. 'Half an hour, so you had better go get yourself cleaned up.'

'Yes, Dad!' Harry replied sarcastically, gaining a little laugh from Remus. He got up and then left the room, heading to his and Ron's to get changed, and break the news of the Order to them.

'This is it,' he thought as he opened the door. 'It won't be easy... my gods, they're going to hate me!'

'So, Harry - what is it you wanted to tell us?' Hermione asked as soon as he entered.

'Well - erm - you see, it was Dumbledore's idea, and you know how much I wanted it, and besides, I couldn't very well turn him down now, could I?' Harry rambled.

'Harry, what the hell are you talking about?' Ron asked - the first thing he had said since Harry had got there.

'DumbledoresaidIcouldjointheorderofthephoenix' Harry said quickly, hoping to get the next part over with quickly and painlessly.

'HE WHAT!' Hermione shouted, which made Harry cringe; but Ron continued on as if he hadn't heard her. He looked like he had been smacked in the face when Harry had first said it, but now he just looked angry, and it looked to him like Hermione was starting to as well.

'That's not fair! Why should you get special treatment just because you're the bloody Boy-Who-Lived?' Ron shouted. Harry, in hopes of defusing the situation, was about to say that if he was to kill Tom Riddle, it only made sense to have him join.

'You're always getting what you want! Always the hero. I bet all you had to do was just ask Dumbledore, and he said yes straight away! He's probably just scared that you will lead someone to their death if you don't get the information that you want!' he said in a cold hissing sort of tone.

Up till that remark, Harry could have forgiven them for their outburst. It still hurt that they would be angry at him, but he would have got over it in time. But what Ron said had hurt far beyond apologies, and it angered him beyond belief. He had to try hard not to do accidental magic; and the only way he could think of to do that was to let off some steam - so with that thought, he balled his hand into a fist and hit Ron in the face. Ron was so much bigger and more muscular than Harry, that the punch had little effect on Ron. But Harry was really only trying to affect himself, and prevent a much bigger explosion. Ron looked at Harry for a second, dumbfounded; and then when he realized that that was the best Harry could do, he laughed at him and said, 'What's the matter, Potter? Am I too big and strong for your infant body to hurt?' When Ron had finished his little jibe at Harry, Hermione stepped in too.

'What do you think you're doing, Harry!' she bellowed. 'There was no need to hit him. After all, most everything he said was the truth! You DO get what you want because you're the Boy-Who-Lived!' she said. These words, along with Ron's, were like a massive and nasty blow to Harry. And it was the last straw, before, he felt, he would explode. But Ginny, who had been silent through the exchange, hadn't had her say yet, and it appeared she was just about to now.

'I can't believe the way you're acting!' she shouted. At first Harry thought it was at him, but then he noticed she was glaring at Ron and Hermione. 'I am disgusted with both of you!' she said, very much in the same tone that Mrs. Weasley used when she was shouting at the twins for a prank they had pulled.

'We should have known you would have taken his side of things!' Ron said, glaring right back at his little sister. 'I suppose once you have fallen under the spell of the great Harry Potter, then you're always under it,' he said venomously.

'You still like him, don't you? I wonder what Dean would have to say about this? Isn't Dean enough for you?' Hermione said, trying to defend Ron and give Ginny something to be angry at. And angry she was; so angry, in fact, that what she did next amazed Harry. She walked up to Hermione and punched her, breaking her nose. 'Wow! I heard Ginny had a temper, but I didn't know it was that bad!' Harry thought to himself. Hermione looked in shock at what had just happened, clearly not registering it yet. A few moments later, the shock of it all left her and she began to cry as she got up and ran from the room, with Ron running right after her. Despite all that had just gone on, Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for her; after all, she had been his best friend for 5 years, and one of his first friends at that.

'You okay, Gin?' Harry asked her, a little hesitantly, as she still looked like she was ready to kill; but hearing his voice, she visibly calmed down and sat on Ron's bed.

'I'm fine; but what about you? What they said was way out of line. No one thinks that you led Sirius to his death,' she said, looking at him with sadness in her eyes. He was grateful for that look, because a look of pity would only anger him again.

'I do, though,' Harry replied.

'Harry - ' Ginny began, but Harry interrupted her.

'Don't waste your breath, Gin; even Sirius himself couldn't convince me otherwise.' He looked away then, so he didn't see the confused look on her face.

'What do you mean, Harry?' Ginny asked.

'He wrote me a letter along with his will. It helped me a lot to accept that he's gone, and start the healing process; but I will never stop blaming myself,' Harry said, running his hand through his hair.

'But that's no way to live, blaming yourself for something that was totally outside your control,' she said in a soothing voice.

'Oh, don't worry; I'm not selfish enough to take all of the blame. There is plenty to go around - especially to Snape,' Harry said, and growled angrily when he mentioned Snape. She got up then when she saw the look on his face, and sat next to him and hugged him, rubbing his back.

'Thanks, Gin, for being here for me when my two best friends abandoned me,' Harry said.

'Any time; and if you ever need to talk then I'll always be here for you,' she replied.

Harry, feeling better now, couldn't resist the little joke; he assumed he got this from the marauder in him. 'Well, I certainly hope not!' he said in a stern voice; and then when he saw her disappointed look, he added, 'Where will I go to get changed or sleep if you're always here?'

'You're such an idiot!' she said in mock anger, whilst playfully slapping him on the arm. 'What time is your meeting, by the way?' she asked.

Harry looked at his watch and then cursed, 'Gin, would you mind leaving so I can get changed?' Harry asked her. He only had five minutes before the meeting was due to start.

'Sure; but remember, I'm there for you,' she said, making sure not to fall into the same trap twice. Harry chuckled and bade her a good night.

'Just in the nick of time there, Harry,' Remus commented, as Harry came bounding into the meeting room. Harry smiled at him as he took his place in between Remus and a wizard Harry didn't know. Just then Dumbledore entered the room, and immediately all conversations were stopped and Dumbledore had the attention of everyone in the room.

'Good evening, everyone; it's good to see you all looking so well,' Dumbledore began. 'Now, before we get started, I would like for us to welcome Mr. Harry Potter into the Order of the Phoenix,' he said, whilst beaming at Harry. He got applauded by most people in the Order - all, in fact, except for Snape, who just glared at Harry.

'Now, Harry, if you would please step up to the front, we will perform the necessary checks to make sure that you are not under the Polyjuice potion, Imperius curse, or any other form of control. Then we will need to have you recite the oath that all who join must read under Veritaserum,' Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes. Harry got back up from his seat, and then walked to the front of the room. He felt very nervous, having all eyes in the room on him, and also being the youngest member in the Order.

'What do you need me to do, professor?' Harry asked as he reached the front and stood before the old headmaster.

'Drink this potion, if you will,' he replied.

'What does it do?' Harry asked, eyeing the potion suspiciously.

'It will reveal to us if you are under the influence of any outside force, or in disguise,' Dumbledore said as he handed Harry a golden goblet, with phoenixes carved all around it. Harry took one last look around the room, and then downed the vile-tasting potion, and waited for any indication that he should do something else. A few moments passed and nothing happened, and it seemed the whole Order as one breathed a sigh of relief.

'Excellent, Harry; now that we have the unpleasantries over and done with, we can move on to the oath,' Dumbledore said with a reassuring smile. He placed the goblet down and then picked up a small vial of clear liquid that Harry knew to be the truth serum. 'Stick out your tongue for me, please, and I will administer three drops,' Dumbledore said in an official tone. Harry did as he was asked. Once the administration of the Veritaserum was over (which left Harry feeling like he had cotton wool in his head, though also very relaxed), and they were all sure it had taken effect, Dumbledore began talking again.

'Harry James Potter, do you swear to do everything within your power to protect the innocent?' Dumbledore asked.

'I do,' Harry said.

'And do you swear to do anything within your power to help bring down those who threaten the side of light and goodness?' Dumbledore asked.

'I do,' Harry said again.

'And will you swear to keep all of what you may learn about the Order to yourself, unless otherwise instructed to do so?' said Dumbledore.

'I will,' Harry answered.

'And finally, do you swear your allegiance to the Order of the Phoenix, to uphold the laws of the Order, and to do anything within your power to keep its members and any of their allies safe from any harm?' Dumbledore asked him.

'Yes, I swear my allegiance to you and the Order; I will uphold and abide by the laws of the Order, and do anything within my power to keep its members safe from any harm,' Harry replied. Just then there was a blast of light, and Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, appeared and landed on Harry's shoulder.

'Harry James Potter, you have been accepted into the Order of the Phoenix; and may I be the first to congratulate you?' Dumbledore said, with a grandfatherly smile. Harry smiled back, and was about to answer when another voice spoke:

'Potter, do you know of anybody who has broken into my private potions storage, in all your time at Hogwarts?' Snape asked with a malicious smile on his face. Harry swore inwardly; 'That slimy git has been just waiting for a chance like this, and there is nothing that I can do to stop myself from answering,' he thought grimly to himself.

'Yes, Hermione Granger did, to make a Polyjuice potion in my second year, while Ron and I distracted the class,' Harry answered, unfortunately for him, honestly.

'Well, well, well. It seems I was right after all. Though I cannot do anything about it now, you will pay when we get back to school,' he replied, sneering at him.

'Severus, that is quite enough!' Dumbledore said with a slight bit of amusement in his voice. Snape just glared once more at Harry and then turned away.

'Take this, Harry; it will nullify the potion. We can't have you walking around telling all of your secrets, now, can we?' he asked with a smile. Harry gladly took the potion and then asked if he could sit down. After receiving a nod from the headmaster, he returned to his seat and received a pat on the back from Remus. Harry sat there and glared at Snape for the rest of the meeting, which from there on was mainly about issues concerning the ministry.

Now that they had admitted that Riddle was back, they were overwhelmed with things to do; and the minister was only making things worse for the Order. To the public, he tried to look like he was doing everything in his power to fight the war; but to the Order, he was doing everything in his power to keep the Order from gaining any sort of power, and from looking good in front of the public. He had invoked several silly ministry decrees, that only worked to hinder the Order as well as the Death Eaters. When it came time for Snape to make his weekly update, he didn't really have much to tell.

'The Dark Lord seems to be at a loss at the moment. He lost a lot of his most trusted and loyal men at the ministry, including Malfoy; which means that he has lost the use of some residences that they owned, and also all of the dark objects and books that were in them, as the ministry are watching the rest of the families closely. Other than that, he has not revealed any of his plans. However, there is a rumour going around that he has begun learning necromancy, the darkest of arts; and that soon he will have the knowledge and power to raise whole armies of the dead,' Snape said. The rest of the meeting after that was brief, and nothing more important was said.

'Well, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for coming here, and I bid you all a safe trip home,' Dumbledore said to call the meeting to an end. When the room was nearly empty, Harry approached Dumbledore, who was just finishing up a short conversation with Arthur Weasley.

'Harry! Good to see you; congratulations on entering the Order,' Arthur Weasley said, as he gave Harry an unexpected hug. Harry wasn't sure what to do, so he just patted Arthur on the back before breaking the hug.

'Thank you, sir, it's a great honour to finally be accepted into it,' Harry replied. Dumbledore smiled at that comment.

'Well, I shall see you next meeting, Albus; please take care. Goodbye, Harry,' Arthur said. Harry bid him goodbye, and Arthur tossed a bit of floo powder in the fireplace, stepped in, and yelled 'THE BURROW' and in a flash of green flames was gone; though Mrs. Weasley was remaining at Grimmauld Place to supervise the kids.

'Now, Harry: is there something that you wanted to ask me?' Dumbledore said.

'Yes sir, but first I want to tell you how my research and learning is going.' Harry replied.

'Indeed?' Dumbledore said, prompting Harry to go on.

'Well, sir, I went to a bookstore in Knockturn Alley that didn't have a name on the outside, and found several useful books - as well as dark arts ones, to help me have a better understanding of what I'm fighting against,' Harry said, eyeing the headmaster for any signs of disapproval. Seeing none, Harry continued. 'For the past month, I have been learning spell creation and adaptation, which I think I'm finally getting the hang of. The theory seemed complicated at first, but I looked at it from a functional viewpoint, separating the bits and pieces that are used for different functions within the spell itself, and it became easier to understand. I also got a book on Obscure Transfigurations, and have been practicing turning myself invisible without a wand,' Harry said, happy that he was finally able to discuss all that he had been learning with someone.

'Can you show me what you can do so far?' Dumbledore asked him.

'Yes sir, but it takes a few minutes for me to build up enough magic to do it,' Harry replied, and then began to concentrate. He cleared his mind after a few minutes, and then began trying to push his magic to the outside and form it around himself so he could look invisible. This alone took 5 minutes to do, and when he was done he was sweating a lot and out of breath.

'Very well done, Harry, very well done indeed; a few more weeks of training and you will be able to vanish your clothes as well, and do it almost without thinking,' Dumbledore told him, beaming at him. 'The boy really is eager to learn; very impressive indeed!' Dumbledore thought to himself as he watched Harry become visible again.

'Thank you, professor; do you really think I'll be able to finish it in a few weeks? That's better than I thought!' Harry said all in one breath, getting excited now.

'Calm down, Harry!' Dumbledore chuckled. 'I think that if you put enough time and practice into it, you should have it done a week or so before you leave for Hogwarts. Now, what about the animagus transformation?' Dumbledore said.

Harry was grinning the whole way through his explanation of how it was going, and Dumbledore seemed impressed too.

'Now that is an excellent form, Harry; there hasn't been a lion animagus since the great Gryffindor himself!' Dumbledore said, which only made Harry the more ecstatic with his form.

'Are there any other surprises you have for me, Harry?' Dumbledore asked after Harry had finished describing his animagus progress.

'Well, sir, I would like to ask you a favour - but please know that, whatever your answer, I will go ahead with what I intend to do,' Harry told him sternly. Dumbledore seemed to become more serious at the way Harry said that. He knew that whatever Harry was planning was probably very painful and dangerous; but there was no stopping the boy once he had his mind set on something, so he nodded his head for Harry to continue.

'Well, another book I found was one on elemental powers; and I performed the compatibility test using a potion on myself - and it turns out I'm a fire mage! The favour I ask is that, when I take the second potion, you be there to supervise, and make sure everything goes as it should,' Harry said in a determined voice. He wasn't going to let Dumbledore talk him out of this; this was something that could decide whether he lived or died.

'Now, out of everything I was expecting to hear, this certainly was not it. I must say I am very pleased that you have the gift, and I will do as you ask; but I must ask that you allow the potions master to make up the potion. It is very advanced, and if something were to go wrong, it does not bear thinking about,' Dumbledore said in his normal tone. From the headmaster's face and voice, Harry wouldn't have guessed that Dumbledore was shocked by what he told him. It sounded and looked like they were discussing the weather over tea to Harry.

'Thank you, Professor. I'm afraid that's all of the shocking revelations I have for you at the moment,' Harry said with a smile.

'That's a good thing; any more and I'm afraid I might have had heart failure,' Dumbledore replied, returning the smile.

'Well, Harry, I must leave now; no rest for the wicked, as they say. I shall see you tomorrow before it begins. Keep up the good work, and good night,' Dumbledore said as he headed to the fireplace as Harry bade him a good night.

Once Dumbledore was gone, Harry began to look for Remus, so he could find out what room they had planned for him to use tomorrow night. He found Moony sitting in front of the fire in the lounge, just staring at the fire in thought.

'You miss him a lot, don't you?' Harry asked Moony, as he sat down on the chair next to his.

'Yeah, he was like a brother to me. It was hard losing him all over again,' Remus said.

'I miss him too. I miss them all, and I hope one day I will get to see them again,' Harry said, gazing into the fire.

'Just make sure you don't rush to get there,' Remus said with a chuckle.

Harry smiled at him and then asked, 'Remus, I was wondering ... if ... er ... if you would be my ... sort of ... replacement godfather?' The question seemed to have caught Remus off guard. He sat there with his jaw hanging open and just stared at Harry; then, without warning, he engulfed him into a tight hug. Harry just barely choked out, 'I'll take that as a yes, then!'

They spent a few hours after that just talking about the marauders and Harry's mother, and having a laugh about some of the antics they got up to. Harry still wasn't sure about his father; but Remus assured Harry that Snape had only got what he deserved - which Harry didn't doubt for a second; and that his father had changed a lot in their seventh year.

Before heading off to bed, Harry asked Remus the question he had originally sought him out to ask.

'Why do you want to know?' Remus asked, already knowing the answer.

'Well, Ron and I had a slight disagreement,' Harry said; and then added in his head, 'with my fist'. Thinking about what Ron had said still angered Harry, but he didn't want to show it.

'I thought as much; well, if you go and grab your things, then I'll show you where it is.'

Harry thanked Remus, headed upstairs to grab his stuff, and then followed Remus to his room, which turned out to be the one opposite Sirius' old room.

'Thank you, Moony,' Harry said as he opened the door.

'Good night, Harry,' He replied.

'Good night.'

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A/N: Thanks to all you guys who have reviewed, and for being my first reviewers. As you can probably tell, I'm new to all of this; so if you spot a mistake, let me know and I'll do my best to fix the problem. As always thank you to david305 for expertidly beta-ing my fic!
MaidenMasherV: Thank you for your review, and thank you for being my first reviewer. Your review pushed me to get this chappie out so fast; but I don't know when the next will be posted; I haven't even started it yet. Hope the rest of the story will be up to scratch for you.

Kyntor: Sorry if I didn't make that clear, but the opening para is Harry after his transformation, and the rest is when he gets back from the station. I suck at writing beginnings of stories, and that's what I came up with after a few days thought and many re-writes. If you can think of a way to change it to make it more clear, please let me know. Thanks for the review and I hope you keep reviewing.

BferBear: Well, did it turn out how you thought? There is a reason why Ron and Hermione are acting so OOC towards Harry, and you will find out in later chapters. Don't want to say too much and give it away, but what I will say is that it won't be an 'I now hate my best friends forever and am chums with my best enemy (Malfoy) cause he's not such a bad guy after all' type fic. :D Thank you for your review. It was very motivating in writing this chappie.

Next chapter: O.W.L.s and Transformations.

Until next time.
GG