Chapter 9
Chaos in the Order
Headquarters was complete and utter pandemonium. All of the Weasleys, minus Charlie, were living there, refusing to stay at the Borrow despite the improvements in the wards, in case there was some news on Harry. Hermione had been owling twice a day, by using her local owl post vendor, not waiting for a response before sending another, as if somehow this would garner more information. Order members were constantly coming in to report then leaving quickly to continue the search. Ministry members were quietly trying to get information as well. Their only good fortune was that Minister Fudge's office was not notified of Harry's disappearance, in addition to, the events that occurred at the counselor's office. It appeared that not all of the Heads of Department agreed with Fudge's handling of the current situation.
As each day passed, Albus Dumbledore was growing more and more apprehensive. He believed wholeheartedly in the prophecy. He believed Harry was their only weapon against Voldemort. He believed the wizarding world was domed should Harry not return. The old wizard looked all of his 150 years, if not more. The trademark twinkle in his eye had not been seen the past few days. More often than not, the old wizard sat at the table ruminating in his own thoughts, barely away of the chaotic activity all around him. Albus Dumbledore was afraid. Subsequently, the Order was in disarray.
Thus far, the search was frenzied and confused. With no real direction or design, members pitched in and searched when they could, any place the two were known to frequent was searched for clues. The Dursleys had ranted and raved when Harry's bedroom was scrutinized down to the dust bunnies underneath his bed. So many of the members were involved in this quest it was left to Ron and Ginny to coordinate reports. As best the Order could tell, they had searched almost all of Britain and were now beginning to search the entire European continent. Yet, still no trace of Harry or Remus could be found. The only information that the Order had was from Bill who discovered Remus' visit to Gringott's bank and subsequent withdraw. However, this gave no indication as to their location or whereabouts. Moreover, there had still been no adequate explanation for how Remus vanished from headquarters.
Despite the numerous interviews with Tonks, The only information she seemed to be knowledgeable about was that Remus had been in the Shrieking Shack with Harry and then taken Harry on holiday. She asserted that she was ignorant of the fact that Albus was not aware of the scheme. As Tonks appeared to be as concerned as the other members of the Order at their disappearance and had assisted in the searching when not on Auror duty, no one believed she was privy to any other information regarding Harry and Remus' plans. The Order was uninformed, bewildered, and failing miserably.
About an hour after sunrise, Remus approached the cabin. Although he was tired and worn, he had to give a grin when he noticed that Harry and Tonks were asleep on the couch. He tried to rouse Tonks quietly, but she startled and fell unceremoniously to the floor in a great heap. Unfortunately, she took Harry along for the ride. Remus stifled a laugh at the mound of appendages sitting on the floor. Tonks grumbled, then got up and pulled herself together while Harry made eggs and sausages. When he was finished, they all sat down to eat. Regrettably, Tonks was on duty today, so she said her goodbyes, hugged both of them, and headed out right after breakfast.
Harry told Remus that he enjoyed spending the evening with Tonks. He had even beaten her at chess twice. What he did not admit, even to himself, was how comforting the woman's presence was to him. Harry appeared to be in good spirits and he sat down to read while Remus took a nap to recover from the night before. He was glad that Remus had the Wolfsbane potion and seemed to have only mild effects from the transformation. What Harry did not realize was that this transformation was the best Remus had had alone in a very long time. Remus suspected that he knew what the difference was. It was family.
When Remus awoke later that afternoon he looked at Harry questioningly. "Cub, do you think we could talk a little?"
Harry replied hesitantly, "What about?"
"I know you're not ready to tackle the big things, at least not yet, but I was hoping maybe you could give me some more details about your adventures. Also, if you feel up to it, maybe some details from your time at the Dursleys."
And so Harry began. He only gave Remus as few details as possible about living with the Dursleys: turning his teacher's hair blue, his inexplicable, at least at the time, escape to the school's roof, his hair cuts and the trip to the zoo. After some prompting Remus was able to get Harry to admit to him some of his punishments, his cupboard, and the bars Uncle Vernon place on his bedroom window. Remus refused to let Harry see the tears in his eyes, afraid that he would stop talking and blinked them back as quickly as possible.
His adventures, Harry found it easier to talk about. He told Remus all about the Philosopher's Stone and how he, Hermione, and Ron saved it. He told Remus about the basilisk, about hearing it through the walls, and about the Chamber of Secrets. Although Remus was already aware of the events from his third year of school on, Harry supplied him with better details of those years. He relished in telling about how he had rescued Sirius and Buckbeak. He was not as fond of retelling the placing of his name in the goblet and his difficulties in the Tri-wizard Tournament. Harry also filled Remus in on some of the tortures of Umbridge and the Inquisitorial Squad this past year.
Remus stopped him from going into detail about Cedric. He told Harry that he was just trying to get to know and understand him a bit better not to pry into the more difficult times of his life and hopefully in time Harry would feel able to share the uglier details with him but he should not feel pressured to at anytime. Remus did his best not to react emotionally to everything Harry had told him. He knew that to do so would immediately shut Harry up which was the last thing he wanted to do. When he finished, Harry was exhausted and excused himself. He went to lie down for a little while. Remus, on the other hand, was so distressed and angry he snapped two quills before he was able to hold one long enough to write.
