A few minutes later, the doorbell rang again. "Come in," Lily called.
She heard the door opening and many feet walking into the hallway, then the sound of the door shutting again. The Weasleys had arrived with Hermione.
"Oh Lily, let me help you with that," Mrs. Weasley said, moving into the kitchen.
"Where's Harry?" Fred asked, looking around.
"Everyone's in the den," Lily said, nodding towards the door.
They quickly filled down the stairs.
Harry looked up from the air hockey table to see who was coming down, a smile spreading quickly on his face when—
"HA!"
Harry's attention went back to the table. While he had been watching the stairs, Sirius had made the winning goal.
"That will teach you to get distracted," Sirius said smugly.
"What a place, Harry," Ron said, looking around with wide eyes.
"Yeah, it's—" Harry was cut off as Mr. Weasley rushed past them to examine the television.
"Ingenious!" he gushed. "What Muggles can come up with." He pressed the power button on the front. "Oh my! Would you look that that!" he said as the screen flickered to life, showing a woman selling hand cream.
"Arthur, catch!" James called from across the room, tossing him the remote.
"I can see you're going to be able to get your homework done in no time with all of this here," Hermione teased.
"I think I can handle it," Harry said with a smile.
"Harry, weren't you going to show Ron the chess set?" James asked, coming over to see what the trio was doing. "And I'm sure Hermione would love to see the library."
"You have a library?" Hermione asked, a look of mixed awe and envy coming over her features.
"We're never going to be able to get her out of it, you know," Ron warned James darkly. James only laughed, going back to Arthur to help him with the television.
"Come on," Hermione said impatiently. She pulled on Ron and Harry's hands, dragging them towards the stairs.
Order members arrived by twos and threes. All were sent to the den, as Lily and Molly would allow no one into the kitchen.
Snape opened the door, sneering at the pictures all along the hallway as he walked towards the kitchen.
"Severus, everyone is downstairs. If you'd prefer not to join them, I believe Hermione is out of the library; you can wait there until dinner," Lily offered with a small smile.
"That will be satisfactory. I remember the way; there is no need to escort me."
"I'll come and get you when dinner is ready."
Snape inclined his head in thanks and moved back down the hallway and to the right.
"I believe that's the first time I've ever heard a civil sentence from him," Mrs. Weasley said.
Lily shrugged and picked up a dish, turning towards the dining room; Molly followed suit. "You never know what a bit of kindness can do for a person. And I think it's almost time to get all of this food on the table."
"I think that's all of it," Mrs. Weasley said, looking at the table in satisfaction as Lily set the last dish, applesauce, on the already full table's last available space.
"If you round up everyone from the den, I'll go get Severus," Lily said, taking off her apron and moving towards the hallway.
"Will do." Mrs. Weasley moved towards the opposite door.
Lily entered the library, seeing Snape in front of the fireplace, his back to her. "Severus, dinner is ready."
Snape nodded without turning around.
Lily sighed. "I know that you don't want to be here, but please, at least exercise a modicum of civility."
"I will if they will," he snapped.
"I promise not to let them misbehave," Lily said with a smile as Snape turned to face her.
"I will hold you to your word." Snape walked past her and into the dinning room across the hall.
Dinner was a quite affair, storytelling from the old days of the first Order were the main topic.
After everyone had eaten their fill, of both dinner and Lily's apple pie, the group moved into the family room to begin the meeting.
"First order of business: the Potters need a new Secret-Keeper," Dumbledore said, surveying the room over his half-moon spectacles. "I would offer myself—"
"No, Albus," James said firmly. "You already have the Order to concern yourself with; you don't need us on your shoulders."
Dumbledore nodded reluctant agreement. "Would anyone else volunteer? Besides Sirius, that is."
Sirius glared at the headmaster. "Voldemort would not expect James to make me the Secret-Keeper again."
"For your information, Black," a silky voice pointed out from the corner of the room, "that is exactly what he does expect."
All the Order turned to look at Snape.
"The Dark Lord hopes that you will appoint Black, and that I will encourage you to do so, saying that he would never expect you to use the same person twice. After all," he sneered, "that tactic worked so well last uprising."
Sirius glared daggers at the Potions Master and swore under his breath.
Snape smirked and continued. "The Dark Lord also said that if you could not be persuaded to use Black, Lupin would be just as good—or even better—to push into the position."
Remus frowned. "Did he mention why he wants me as Secret-Keeper?"
Snape scowled. "The Dark Lord seldom explains the methods to his madness, Lupin. I can only assume that it would work in some way to the Potters' detriment."
The Order sat in silence for a moment, digesting the news that had been given to them.
"What about me?" Tonks offered, speaking up suddenly.
Heads turned to look at her quizzically.
"It's not such a mad idea," she said defensively. "Look, you want to keep him guessing, don't you? I'm impossible to track because I never wear the same face and form an hour running. And I'm young; Voldemort probably thinks that you'll get someone older and more experienced to do it." Tonks looked to Snape for confirmation on her assumption.
He gave her a short nod.
"Are you sure about this, Tonks?" Lily asked after a moment.
Tonks nodded. "I'm not about to let Kingsley volunteer. Not with a wife and little boy at home." She smiled at her boss who gave her a grateful look in return. "And everyone else has family to go home to at night." The Auror shrugged. "I'm not close with much of my family, save my parents."
"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed, sounding put-out. "What am I, a next-door neighbor?"
Before Tonks could correct herself, George spoke up from his seat on the floor with Fred and the trio. "Sirius, mate, you owe me royalty tax what you just said."
Sirius rolled his eyes.
Dumbledore, eyes twinkling, questioned the remainder of the Order. "There are no disagreements from anyone?" When no one opposed him, "Then Nymphadora Tonks is the Potters' Secret-Keeper. We will have to perform the Fidelius Charm after dark, when we are sure all the Muggles are asleep."
Lily went over to Tonks, embracing her and whispering a thank you.
Dumbledore glanced down at his scroll in front of him. "Next, Harry needs to continue his Occlumency lessons."
Snape stiffened in his corner, and Harry frowned. "But if I close my mind, wouldn't that also close out the Death Eater meetings?" he asked.
"I do not believe so," Dumbledore said mildly. "There is no way close the link that exists between you and Voldemort completely. It is, however, my hope that you can learn to close your mind and open it at will. That way, you could still open your mind to observe when Voldemort gathers his followers, and close again before you go to sleep."
"How will Harry know that Voldemort has called a meeting?" Kingsley asked. "If he has his mind closed, there is no way for him to know what's going on."
Dumbledore nodded acknowledgement and looked to Hermione. "I believe that Miss Granger has devised an ingenious method to overcome that obstacle."
Hermione blushed under the headmaster's proud gaze. "I'm sure I could make something like the Army's coins for Professor Snape and Harry—as soon as we get back to Hogwarts, that is," she added as an afterthought, having momentarily forgotten the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Wizardry.
"That would be wonderful, Miss Granger. But now—under the current circumstances—I believe that Harry is in need of a new Occlumency instructor." Dumbledore looked towards Snape for confirmation.
"I have no inclination to teach the boy," Snape said coldly.
James bristled at Snape's words. "What's—"
"James, don't," Lily said firmly.
"But—"
"No." Lily's tone left no room for argument.
"Besides Albus, is there anyone else qualified to teach Mr. Potter?" McGonagall asked.
"I might be able to lend a hand," Moody growled from his corner of the room.
Harry shivered—having Moody prowling around in his mind was not exactly how he wanted to spend his evenings.
"I could try," Sirius said with a shrug. "I know I haven't had practice these last few years, but it can't be too hard to pick back up."
Harry's face brightened at the prospect of being able to see his godfather every week.
"If Mr. Potter agrees, I could give you a brief refresher course before the first lesson," Dumbledore offered.
Sirius and Harry exchanged grins, and across the table, unnoticed by the others, James clenched his hands into fists.
"You could meet in my classroom," Remus suggested. "The office has a connection to the Floo Network."
"What about the Army's room instead?" Ron asked, interrupting Sirius before he could accept his friend's offer. "That way you can be sure no students are going to burst in on you."
"Excellent! I think once a week should be sufficient for the lessons," Dumbledore said. "You are free to arrange them as you like. Just be sure to stop by my office an hour or so before the first one, Sirius."
Sirius nodded.
"Now I turn the floor over to Kingsley." The headmaster stepped aside and took Kingsley's seat next to Bill on the sofa.
"Thank you, Headmaster. We have received information that suggests Voldemort may attempt to seize Azkaban. In preparation for what might come to pass over the next few months, I managed to get a copy of the prison's blueprints." Kingsley pulled a small package from his robe pocket, enlarging it with a casual flick of his wand.
The package expanded, and the blueprints unfurling on the coffee table. Everyone moved a bit closer to look it over. Sirius stared darkly down at the parchment, drawing his wand and striking one of the cells sharply. It turned a blood red, standing out starkly among the others.
An awkward silence fell, no one knowing what to say, or wanting to say anything, seeing the grim expression on Sirius' face.
Kingsley finally broke the silence, clearing his throat and continuing his report. "I thought that it might be useful as a map, so if the need arises, we know how to get in and out. As a safety precaution, we could copy it so everyone would have one."
At the mention of 'map', all the Marauders' eyes lit up.
"There is a way to enhance this map to make it a much more useful," Remus hinted with a smile.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "If you gentlemen would be so kind?"
"What do you say, Padfoot?" James asked.
"Only if Moony agrees."
"I say that we let the younger Marauders have a hand in it, as well," Remus suggested. "It's a valuable skill to learn, after all—and from what I've seen, Hermione has a gift for enchantments."
Hermione's eyes went wide. "But I never got to see what you used on the original map! Harry was afraid that something would happen to it if I 'messed with it' too much." The girl glared at Harry, a bit upset that she wasn't prepared in advance for the task.
"You wouldn't have gotten anything out of it, Hermione," Fred told her.
"Just a bunch of lovely insults, a headache, and an odd urge to go to the kitchens," George said, thinking back.
"That could have been because we skipped dinner to work on the map," Fred reasoned.
"Just because you never got it doesn't mean that Hermione couldn't have." Ginny spoke up on her friend's behalf.
"You may have a point," George said wryly.
"We can't help anyway," Hermione said dejectedly.
"What!" Ron straightened up quickly in his chair. "Why not?"
"The law, Ron," Harry sighed.
"Oh, right." Ron slumped back down.
"There's only a few days left in the holiday—" Hermione began.
"Don't remind me," Ron groaned.
Hermione continued as though she hadn't heard him. "The map can wait a few days, can't it?"
"I don't see why not." Dumbledore said contemplatively. "Unless we get wind of an emergency before the start of term, I think it will be fine."
Hermione smiled.
Kingsley refolded the blueprints, leaving them on the table as Dumbledore returned to the front of the room. "Next, we must decide what to do with the house-elf Kreacher."
"Fulfill his dream," Sirius said bitterly. "Cut off his head and mount it on the wall with the rest of his relatives'."
Dumbledore gazed sternly at Sirius over his spectacles. "I am open to any suggestions that do not involve harming the creature in question."
"But think about what he did!" Harry protested. He still had something of a grudge against the traitorous elf, which, considering its past misdeeds and the grief they had caused him, was to be expected.
"I know exactly what he did, Mr. Potter. And I stand firm in my belief that everyone deserves a second chance."
"I wouldn't trust him in Hogwarts," Bill said darkly. "Think of what he could tell the other side."
"That is one of my main concerns," Dumbledore confessed. "At the moment, he is confined to one of the dungeon cells in the depths of the castle."
"Best that he's kept isolated, I suppose," Remus remarked. "He gets up to entirely too much trouble when left to his own devices."
"If was not entirely for that purpose. I had to keep him away from Dobby, who tried to kill Kreacher upon his arrival at Hogwarts. You have a very loyal friend in him, Mr. Potter."
That was an understatement—Dobby's loyalty to Harry bordered on outright worship.
"What about a Memory Charm?" Charlie suggested.
"Memory Charms can be broken," Lily pointed out. "We need something less easily reversible."
"Couldn't we just send him off somewhere? The dark side of the moon, perhaps?" Fred asked mildly.
"The dark side of Pluto sounds even nicer," George added.
Hermione glared at the twins. "Could we de-age him?" she asked. "I'm sure he couldn't do any harm as a baby."
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "And then what would we do with him? Baby or not, I want nothing to do with him!"
"What about Winky?" Hermione asked Dumbledore. "Could we somehow get her to take care of Kreacher? She doesn't seem particularly happy in the kitchens; maybe having a baby to mind would suit her better—help give her a sense of purpose."
"Just what we need—a house-elf rehabilitation group," Ron said sarcastically.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Miss Granger's suggestion has merit. If we cast a Memory Charm on the house-elf and de-aged him to infancy, he should never remember his former life, or his ties to the Dark."
"Are you certain neither of those measures can be counteracted, Albus?" McGonagall asked.
"Quite certain, Minerva," Dumbledore said. "Kreacher would be unable to revert to his adult state unless given the correct counter-potion. Even then, the Memory Charm would still be in place."
"Lily said Memory Charms are breakable," Sirius said grimly. "It may be a remote possibility, but if the de-aging was ever countered—"
"It takes an extremely powerful wizard to break a Memory Charm, Sirius," Remus pointed out. "Any rate, I'd think very few would have much success attempting to breach a Memory Charm on a house-elf—the procedure one would normally go by is meant to be used on human minds."
Sirius seemed mollified at that.
"This is our best option, then, without resorting to killing him," James said.
"Are we are all in agreement?" Dumbledore asked the Order.
A chorus of voices indicated the affirmative.
"Then we will move on to—" Dumbledore stopped in mid-sentence to see his Potions Master clutching his left forearm, and Harry leaning over onto the floor, unconscious.
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