Author's note: In the previous chapter, when the Lovegoods and Balthasar Cook were talking about crop circles, it was not my intention to replace J. K. Rowling's explanation of crop circles with a new one - the "Muggles" explanation was supposed to be a far-out theory that only people who read the Quibbler or write for it would believe in. To avoid confusion about this (especially since it's only a side detail and not part of the plot) I edited chapter 4 and added a mention of Mooncalves. Thanks to Fuzzy and A. Troll for warning me about this, and many thanks to all of you who reviewed so far.

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Chapter 5 - The New Headquarters

While I was preoccupied with what I thought was my exciting romance, I kept hearing news about horrible crimes being committed by the Dark Lord and his followers. I was shocked and worried, but not as much as I should have been. I thought the crimes, while horrible and despicable, were no concern of mine.

Very few people had ever seen the Dark Lord's face. Those who had seen it usually didn't wish to talk about it - or weren't around to talk anymore. Nevertheless, some rumours about his appearance were passed around. People would talk about his glowing, red eyes and his reptile-like face. Some thought he was the monster-child of a human and a snake. That's, of course, impossible. Other would say that he was born human, and that his appearance was the result of unspeakably horrible Dark rituals he underwent to achieve immortality. I think that's much more likely.

As I said, I didn't worry about it at all at the time. I only had thoughts about my lover, and doubts were forming somewhere in a small corner of my mind. So many things about Him were, to put it mildly, peculiar.

There was, as I already mentioned, the feeling that he was able to read my mind.

I also mentioned that he kept asking me whether I loved him, although he never spoke about his own emotions. I interpreted this as a sign that he had emotions after all.

Then there was the present he gave me: a beautiful amethyst pendant with a carved figure, baby Hercules sleeping among the stars of the Milky Way. It was a beautiful thing. It must have been the work of goblin craftsmen, because humans couldn't possibly carve such a small figure in stone with such precision. You could even see the eyelashes on the baby's closed eyes.

He asked me - no, he demanded of me - to wear it every time I was going to one of our meetings in the old house on the cliff. Whenever he saw me he would immediately look around my neck to see if I was wearing his present. That's how I understood it, at least, and I took it as more evidence that he was emotional after all.

Another peculiar habit of his was drinking a potion from a small bottle. I would see him doing that whenever I spent more than an hour with him. When I asked him about it he answered, very shortly, that it was medicine. It surprised me because he didn't look ill, but he refused to say anything else about it.

It was only when I saw his true form that I understood he must have been taking Polyjuice Potion.

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Harry unrolled the piece of parchment. It was covered with his godfather's familiar handwriting. The letter was short, and the writing was messier than usual. Harry thought Sirius must have had written this letter in a hurry - the visit to a law-wizard's office was a great risk for a fugitive.

The letter said:

Dear Harry,

As you already know, my old family home belongs to you now. I always hated the place, and I'm sure you do too. I wish I had something better than that to give you. However, I know how you hate living with your relatives and it is possible you might like to have a place of your own, however ugly its history.

Although you are to be the one and only owner of the house, I ask you to allow...

Here the letter became almost illegible. Several words seemed to have been started and then crossed out before the next clearly written words:

... our mutual friends to continue using it if they haven't found a better place for themselves.

Harry understood why this part of the letter was messy: like in the will itself, the Fidelius Charm had prevented Sirius from mentioning the Order of the Phoenix using his home.

If, at the time you're reading this, my mother is still there - don't let her upset you. Just scrub the old hag with turpentine or something.

Sirius

The last sentence brought Harry dangerously close to tears. It sounded more like Sirius than anything else he'd read or heard that day. He could imagine Sirius standing in front of his mother's portrait at Grimmauld place, threatening to destroy it if it didn't shut up.

He folded the letter and put it in his pocket, and walked out of the office. Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley were standing outside in the corridor, talking to Elspeth Limmeridge.

"Is everything all right, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, it is. Er... may I talk to you, Professor?"

"Of course. Let's go to the new Headquarters."

Harry followed Dumbledore and Mr Weasley through the busy corridor, noticing the surprised looks on the faces of witches and wizards passing them by when they would recognise him.

They approached the door with the golden sign that read: Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore reached out to open the door, but before he could do it the door opened by itself and Mad-Eye Moody walked through it. He looked worried, but Harry had never seen him looking any other way.

"Ah, Potter, you are here," he said, both his real eye and the magical one focusing on Harry. "Take care of yourself! The enemy could be anywhere."

His real eye stared at Harry until he reluctantly nodded to show that he understood, but the magical eye swivelled around until it focused on Arthur Weasley.

"Good thing you're here, Weasley. There's something I wanted to ask you. Theodosius Lovegood is a neighbour of yours, isn't he?"

"Well, not exactly a neighbour, but he does live near Ottery St Catchpole. Why?"

"I've been thinking about this magazine of his, The Quibbler. He's been keeping an eye on unexplained mysteries for quite a long time now. He wrote a lot of nonsense, of course, but I've been reading some old editions and I noticed things that might be useful to us. Occurrences that could be explained by secret use of Dark magic, although Lovegood explained them with some outlandish theory or other."

"So what was it you wanted to ask me?" Mr Weasley asked with a hint of impatience in his voice. Mad-Eye was still standing in the doorway and barring their way into the Headquarters. Harry felt a bit annoyed because he wanted to discuss Sirius's letter with Dumbledore as soon as possible, but Moody's mention of the Lovegoods nevertheless aroused his interest.

Moody continued:

"Well, if Lovegood keeps a sort of journal on unexplained mysteries, or archives his notes on these things, it would be very useful for the Order if he'd allow us to see them. Do you think he'd mind?"

Arthur Weasley considered this for a moment.

"Well, you have to understand that Lovegood has never trusted the Ministry, and that's the reason he's never been completely frank with me. And the Order has the Ministry's full support now. On the other hand, he's unquestionably against the Dark side. I have no doubts about that. I'll ask him. See you later, Moody!"

Mad-Eye Moody finally moved away from the entrance to the Headquarters and Harry followed Arthur and Dumbledore inside. The room they entered was large and richly furnished, with a shiny marble floor. At the far end of the room, a group of witches and wizards was standing in a close group around a desk, whispering excitedly. Harry noticed Tonks, this time with bright orange hair; she glanced at the door as the three of them were coming in and cheerfully waved to Harry.

There were other tables and desks around the room, some of them covered with pieces of parchment that looked like maps and with all sorts of strange instruments. Shelves with thousands of books and scrolls lined the walls.

Harry's surprise was probably obvious from the expression on his face, because Dumbledore smiled at him and said:

"Yes, Harry, things have changed very much. The Ministry feels very guilty about not believing you and supporting us earlier. They are trying to make it up to us now by making sure we have everything we'll ever need."

He gestured towards a small, empty table.

"Let's sit down there, shall we?"

Noticing that Arthur Weasley was hesitating, Harry said: "Er... you too, Mr Weasley, if you have a bit of time. This isn't supposed to be a secret or anything."

When all three of them took their seats, Harry said:

"I'd like the Order to continue using Sirius's house. That's what he wanted, and I agree with him."

"I'm very grateful for that, Harry," said Dumbledore. "However, you can see that we have new Headquarters now, and you have every right to keep the house at Grimmauld place for yourself."

"For myself?" Harry repeated. The very words sounded so strange. He was still unable to grasp the fact that he owned the sinister old house now.

"Yes, Harry. I know how you hate living with your relatives. You will have to endure it a bit more, I'm afraid, for the reasons I explained to you at Hogwarts. It will not last forever, though. I thought you would like to have a home of your own."

"A home of my own," Harry repeated, still surprised by the sound of the words. "I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to think of that house as a home. It would remind me too much of Sirius. Doesn't the Order need it at all, then?" he asked, feeling somewhat hurt by the rejection of his offer.

"Not at the present. As you can see, this is much more suitable for our needs. However, no one can be sure that the tide won't change once more. I know that, if the need arises, you will allow us to use the house again."

"Of course I will. So that's it then." Harry was silent for a few moments, and then he remembered another request from Sirius's will. He asked: "Oh, and what should I do with Buckbeak, Professor Dumbledore? I would love to keep him as my pet, but there is no way the Dursleys would allow me to bring him home." He imagined the look on Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia's faces if he brought a hippogriff with him to Privet Drive, and smiled for the first time since he'd arrived at the Ministry.

"Yes, I should imagine they wouldn't," Dumbledore said, smiling as well. "We can arrange for him to be taken to Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank's sanctuary for magical creatures. She will take good care of him."

"Professor Grubbly-Plank? Yes, I'm sure she will," Harry said somewhat absentmindedly. He looked around the room, at all the parchments and magical instruments and the members of the Order huddled around the desk and discussing something that was, without doubt, of great importance for the war. He was disappointed that everything was settled already and it was time for him to go home. He didn't want to see Grimmauld Place at all, but it felt so dreadful to have to return to Privet Drive, now that he'd seen a glimpse of the world he belonged to.