Chapter 15

Dumbledore looked out at the attendees of the Order meeting. How many would understand if they knew the truth? He was reminded of a line from a muggle film that he had recently seen.

He began, and everyone listened in silence. "Nearly a month ago a series of events took place, each directly or indirectly affecting members of the Order and Harry Potter. They began when Harry's Uncle took it upon himself to pick a fight with Harry."

Moody stood up. "Excuse me Dumbledore, but if this is the meeting to come clean about what's happened in the last month, we'd best all do that. Prior to Dursley's conversation with Potter, a few of us who are here tonight had taken it upon ourselves to bait him a bit. Led by myself, we made a fair amount of threatening remarks to him regarding treating Potter decently, and then we left."

"That is precisely my point, Alastor. In spite of our best intentions, many things went badly. I too have made many mistakes this last month. I took it upon myself to presume that I alone knew what was best for Harry regarding his welfare, and made requests of many of you. It has been pointed out to me that by having what could fairly be described as a blinded concern for Harry's safety, I have repeatedly disregarded his right of choice."

Amelia and a dozen or so members thought to themselves, Spot on, Dumbledore.

He continued. "To this day, I believe that some of his decisions were wrong. I believe that he knowingly placed the Grangers in additional risk, by electing to stay with them. I believe that at this moment, he would be safer staying here or at the castle. I believe that he could be studying new skills."

He could see the look of disagreement on many of their faces. "Yet, I recognize that he is barely sixteen and has the weight of the world on his shoulders, and I can not honestly say that I would have made wiser decisions at age sixteen or age twenty six myself. I also realize that having a hundred and fifty years of perspective does not automatically make me right, nor does it give me the right to make decisions for others without their consent."

There were nods of obvious agreement at those conciliatory words. He continued. "Having said that I must apologize for a handful of decisions that I have made in the last month that I wish I could take back. In making these decisions, I realize that I have damaged many longstanding relationships and trusts. I requested that Miss Tonks and Minerva visit Harry at the Grangers and insist that he leave there for a safer location."

Arthur was feeling guilty, having told Dumbledore that Harry was staying at the Grangers, knowing that the resulting confrontations had caused many hard feelings. He remained silent.

Dumbledore continued. "I requested that Kingsley use every available means to find Harry. Kingsley did not misinterpret my request and searched the Granger residence for any evidence that Harry may have recently been there, or might still be there."

Kingsley stood up, and said, "Professor Dumbledore, you didn't direct me to break or stretch any laws. I could have gone and gotten the paperwork to make an official search of the premises. I took a shortcut, and I accept what happened without regret."

Dumbledore nodded in appreciation, but replied, "Perhaps, but I could have issued you the appropriate legal paperwork in advance, but neglected to. I offer you my sincere apology."

Kingsley said, "It's not needed, but I accept it."

Minerva was still angry. 'Yes, Dumbledore should be making apologies to the Order, but he never made one to the Grangers, or to Wood's parents.' She waited silently so see where he was taking the conversation.

Dumbledore replied, "Thank you, Kingsley. I had also made a request of Severus. After Harry had been at the Grangers for several days, I asked Severus to go and check on the security that had been established for Harry's safety. I could have simply asked Amelia, or I could have risked her wrath and gone to see for myself, but I didn't. I asked Severus."

He continued, "For reasons that we may never know, he invited Draco Malfoy to accompany him. Unable to maintain stealth, or discipline, the two of them were discovered, and engaged in a firefight with a very good man, Michael Wood, who was faithfully guarding Harry and the Grangers. One or the other of the intruders killed Michael. There is good reason to believe that it was Malfoy who did it, but the fact remains that a good man was murdered due to an event that I helped initiate."

There was absolute silence in the room. Taken at his word, Dumbledore had done little wrong, but a simple plan had gone horribly wrong. Minerva wasn't positive that he had told the whole truth, but remained silent.

He continued. "To make matters worse, Malfoy and Snape then proceeded to seal the Granger residence and attempt to murder all of the residents by torching the house like the Death Eaters had done to the Dursley residence days earlier. Whether Severus did those actions of his own free will, or was simply drawn in by the moment, we shall never know, but at that moment, he was helping commit murder."

This time there were audible sounds of distress. Molly openly wept as did Tonks who had arrived immediately before the start of the meeting. Severus had no real friends within the Order, but at Dumbledore's urging they had accepted him, and minimally respected the role that he had played.

Dumbledore concluded. "As it turned out Harry and Miss Granger were enjoying a midnight swim, and saw the two men dressed in Death Eater garb attempting to torch their home. With remarkable presence of mind, Harry engineered a counter-attack and put an end to the attack. Directly or indirectly three people are dead."

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Lupin had not heard the words that he'd expected. Sirius had been wronged, Minerva had been wronged, Snape had been directed badly, Michael had been murdered, Tonks and Kingsley had been wronged, and the Dursleys had been wronged. Each of them may have made mistakes along the way, but Dumbledore had set each of them in motion.

'What about Harry? What about the Grangers?' Their rights had been repeatedly violated. A simple utterance of "Opps. Sorry about that," didn't seem sufficient. He had no doubt that Sirius had been set off due to hearing that Harry had been taken away from his rightful custody.

The more Dumbledore offered forgiveness to everyone else, the more Remus questioned Dumbledore's leadership. Keeping Harry in the dark, keeping Harry locked up at the Dursleys, and keeping Sirius locked up felt like a nearly unbroken series of bad leadership decisions.

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As Amelia sat and listened to Dumbledore, she increasingly felt that his story was not so much a bald faced lie as a canard filled with half-truths, slanted perspectives and omissions. She concluded that regarding the event that originally set off the Dursleys and conclude with their deaths, neither the Order, nor Potter, nor the Dursleys were lily white. She was certain that the five had had honorable intentions in their threatening discussion with Vernon Dursley.

She was equally positive that neither Potter, nor Dursley were willing to back down that afternoon, and they simply parted ways in anger. Neither the Order, nor Potter had considered that the protective wards would have failed so quickly, or that the Dursleys would have ignored repeated warnings to vacate the premises when Tonks had come to the conclusion that they were in imminent danger.

There had been no inference in that part of the discussion that Dumbledore had initiated the confrontation. If she pressed on the matter, Molly Weasley would probably admit to having pushed Arthur to go and talk with them, and the others just went with him for support. Tonks had already been disciplined over that issue as she had been working at the time of the discussion, but the others went as individuals.

She agreed that Dumbledore had made mistakes. From her perspective, except for his astonishing battle against Voldemort in June, Dumbledore appeared to have attained a virtually unbroken string of marginal decisions in the last year. Granted, Fudge with his assignment of Umbridge had doubtless been a major distraction, but he clearly had not been as crisp as she would have hoped. Yet she could honestly admit that until the last two weeks, the ministry had done nothing constructive to fight Voldemort or his followers.

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Hestia Jones sat listening to Dumbledore's words. Fifteen years as an investigative Auror had honed her ear to differentiate from a person telling the whole truth, a truth, a small lie, or a whopper. She was not happy with what she was hearing and decided that the time had come to do something about it.

She stood to speak. "Professor, I believe that you have consistently elected to be less than complete with us. Time and time again we have committed our spare time, risked our careers and our lives to follow your decisions. None of us expect that things would always have gone perfectly, but you have not been forthright with us."

There were several nods of agreement as she continued. "I feel like we are fighting he-who-must-not-be-named and are being led by he-who-must-not-be-blamed. I must in all good conscious, resign from the Order. Sir, I whole heartedly support the cause, but I cannot abide by your leadership. I'm sorry. Goodbye." She turned around to leave.

Dumbledore knew that the time had come for full disclosure. "I appreciate your many contributions, Hestia and believe that the time has come to fully disclose the seeming madness to my methods. Prior to do so, I must ask you once again to sign a wizard's oath of non-disclosure. The information that I'm willing to share with each of you is that secret and that important. Hestia, you and the others are welcome to stay, or leave as you will. I shall call a recess for five minutes." He turned and walked into the kitchen not knowing id anyone would be there when he returned.

Amelia followed him. When she found him in the kitchen having a cup of hot chocolate, she flicked her wand creating a wall of silence. She sat across from him and said, "Dumbledore, I came here tonight to verify that you were either disbanding your private army or turning the leadership over to someone else, and now you spring this. I won't say anything else until you've had your say, but this revelation of yours had better take the twist out of my knickers."

Dumbledore put down his cup, smiled, and replied, "Amelia in the many years that I've known you, I've never known you to mince words, and I've always respected your fairness. I will not disappoint you on this, and believe that you will appreciate why I have kept this information virtually to myself for many years. Thank you for your patience. Shall we go back?"

To Dumbledore's great relief, no one had left, not even Hestia. There wasn't a sound in the room as Bones took her seat. Dumbledore began his tale of full disclosure. He told them of hearing the prophecy sixteen and a half years ago and believing it to be authentic. He told them of informing the Potters and the Longbottoms that both Lilly and Alice matched the descriptions. He told them of the night that James and Lilly had died, and his decision to place Harry in the care of his muggle relatives rather than with his appointed guardians in the belief that he could not be harmed while in their care. He told them of Harry's reaction after learning of the prophecy. He told them of Snape's request to avoid being sent to Azkaban. The only aspect that he omitted was Moody's involvement in Snape's death.

Dumbledore continued. "As such, I have violated, stretched and broken many laws in my lifetime. I do not deny those things, nor do I believe would you. Sturgis endured Azkaban for six months this year in an attempt to keep the prophecy away from Voldemort. Arthur nearly lost his life in the same effort. Sirius had his life taken from him protecting Harry. He was there of his own free will that night, as were the others who followed Harry, and those who went to help him."

He continued. "Michael Wood had his life taken from him protecting Harry, having freely placed himself in harm's way. I believe that everyone here would place themselves in harm's way to give Harry just a bit more time to prepare himself for his destiny. And let there be no doubt - he is nearly ready. He had dueled Bellatrix to a draw by the time that I had reached him in the atrium. He caused grievous injury to Voldemort when Riddle attempted to possess him. That, I believe, is the reason that we have not heard more from him in the last few weeks. In fact, Harry has faced Riddle five times and not been bested. No one else had done that." There were murmurs of astonishment at this news. Few had heard it before.

He concluded. "It is my intent to transition the leadership of the Order to Harry in the current year. His time has come and mine is passing. I would ask that you give him your full support as you have always given it to me."

Dumbledore looked at Bones, nodded and finished, saying, "I believe Minister Bones has some closing remarks."

She stood and said, "I believe another five minute recess is in order." Dumbledore's telling of the prophecy had been astonishing, but somehow not surprising. Many of the pieces clicked into place.

Dumbledore had violated Black's rights as a legally designated godparent and subjected Harry to fifteen years of abuse. Certain that Black had been wronged, he elected not to stand in the way when Crouch moved to imprison him without a trial. Had he done that to ensure that Harry's placement at his Aunt's house was not challenged and overturned as it surely would have been? She was certain about one thing – he had tossed aside laws and lives to do what he considered to be right.

She stood to speak. "I offer you my perspective tonight as the guardian of a young witch, and a concerned citizen, not as Minister of Magic. Many of us were amazed at the revelations Professor Dumbledore provided us this evening. For others, his words simply filled in the small gaps of our knowledge of the events that he described.

"My quarrel with Professor Dumbledore is not over his intent, for surely we are all against Voldemort and his followers. My quarrel is specifically related to his methods. He has consistently asked people to be in harm's way. A government is naturally distrustful of a militia, and the Order certainly qualifies as a militia, but that is another long conversation for another evening. You have willingly placed yourselves in harm's way for what we collectively believe is a good cause.

"Sirius Black had his rights violated for thirteen years due to a decision that Professor Dumbledore made without consulting anyone. Harry Potter had his rights violated for fifteen years. The Grangers had their rights violated. It is not our right to insist that Harry Potter solve our problems for us. The prophecy that Trelawney uttered is open to dozens of interpretations. With the news thrust upon Harry as I'm certain that it was, most people would be driven to despair or madness. Potter asked only to be able to live one summer as a normal teenager. The responsible move would be not to place him in a cage, rather exercise what my own mentor referred to as constant vigilance." Moody nodded at her.

"We can not protect Potter if Voldemort decides to vaporize Hogwarts or central London with a nuclear weapon. There are limits to any protection that any government or militia could give a person. Could the thirty of you withstand an attack by an assembled army of a thousand dementors, vampires and Death Eaters?" Several people shook their heads, no.

She continued, "We can provide Potter with a reasonable amount of security, and the means to escape if attacked. I believe that he has these things right now, though his guard could easily be doubled without unduly taxing the Ministry's resources."

She took a sip of water, and continued. "Yes, it was his decision to go to the Grangers, and as such, they are at risk."

Tonks stood up, "Excuse me Minister.

Bones smiled indulgently at the young Auror, admiring her spunk. "Go ahead, Auror Tonks."

"Harry has informed the Grangers of everything that we have heard here this evening, if not more. They have taken him in with full disclosure. He offered to tell the same things to me so that I would know the risks of being by him. In my direct observation, Harry Potter is acting incredibly responsibly, regardless of his age." She sat down. Nearly everyone was nodding their head in agreement of her words.

Bones continued, "I would concur with Auror Tonks' words, and request that she return to her post immediately following the meeting. It is my understanding that nearly half of the students at Hogwarts would have willingly followed Potter to the Ministry in June. This may end up being the younger generation's fight. Time will tell. Indeed, he is a natural leader."

"Regarding the Order, I welcome the new spirit of candor. Too many secrets have been kept, and the cost has been unacceptably high. I welcome the news of the transition in leadership, assuming Mr. Potter even has an interest in being associated with you. I want to be perfectly clear on one thing. The Order does not have the right to violate the laws of Britain, or the rights of the citizens. I encourage you to continue the fight against Voldemort and his followers. However, you must act within the law, as do the Aurors who will be taking a much more aggressive stance against his followers. There is no allowance to be made for breaking these two rules in the guise of a greater good scenario."

She concluded, asking, "Would anyone like a clarification?"

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Remus found Minerva after the meeting and asked, "What can we do to help him?"

Minerva replied, "I'm not certain that Dumbledore…"

Remus cut her off, saying, "Not him. Harry."

Minerva thought for a moment and responded, "I seriously doubt that at this point, he would accept membership in the Order, the lead of the Order, or any assistance from the Order. We haven't even taken proper care of his property. This home is a wreck, and his broomstick is chained up in the damp dungeons of the castle."

Remus simply responded, "We need to change our ways. Does Minister Bones know where they are staying? I would like to go there and help if I can."

Minerva replied, "I'm certain that she does. Good luck."

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Back in the kitchen, Dumbledore and Bones were having another conversation. "Well done, Professor. I knew that you had it in you. Flicking her wand again to create a wall of silence she asked, "Who helped Snape?"

Dumbledore simply replied, "I did."

Bones replied, "Now that you have gotten that confession off of your chest, let's move on, shall we? I'm not your priest. I don't offer forgiveness. You'll need to seek that in the next life. Hermione deserves to know that she was not responsible for taking a life. I will offer her an explanation. The fact remains that you weren't there, and most of the list of visitors to St. Mungo's that morning would have gladly assisted in that evil git's passing from this life. Let's drop that as a subject, shall we? How can I assist you in training Potter this term? That's assuming he wants anyone's help."

Dumbledore thought for a moment and replied, "I will meet with you in two days to discuss the matter. In the mean while, I will consider the different options that we could present to him. Is that acceptable?" He was relieved that he had not been arrested.

Bones replied. "Monday the fifth at 9:00AM in my office would be fine. Please learn to enjoy your shorter leash Professor. I prefer you there. Goodnight."

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Tonks was tired the next morning. 'Merlin, talk about having the weight of the world on you. Here was a kid, no, here was a young man, no, here was a brave wizard who had effectively been handed a death sentence asking if he could get me a cup of coffee.' She looked in his emerald eyes and replied, "Please, Harry. Thank you."

Harry handed her a cup, and she asked, "What are your plans for the day?"

"Hermione and I are planning on going swimming at the reef off of Neptune beach. We would like you to come with us if you'd like."

Her bright blue eyes met his. "Of course, I'd like to go with. Why there? Hoping to see another mermaid?" she teased.

"Possibly," he said, "Though they're not like the paintings that you may have seen. Mostly they're gray and slimy. Hermione bought some gillyweed, so we will be underwater for an hour."

Tonks remember watching Harry wade into the freezing water at the lake in February and comprehension fell on her. "Cor, that's how you did it. It makes you a better swimmer too?"

Harry nodded, "Like a natural."

Hermione came over and greeted their bodyguard. "Hi Tonks. Did Harry ask you?"

She smiled back and replied, "Yep. Are you ready to go?"

Church, Dan and Emma had been briefed on what they were going to do, so they weren't planning on panicking if they were underwater for a while. The beach was nearly deserted, as there was a slight rain. Church conjured a big umbrella, for her and the Grangers to wait under.

To disguise their actual activity, Tonks had conjured snorkels, masks and flippers for the three swimmers as well as a dive buoy. They swam out to the reef which was deserted of other divers, and placed all of their equipment in the mesh bag that Tonks had tied to the buoy anchor rope. Hermione have them each a gob of the gillyweed, and they each ate their piece. As Harry had indicated, within a minute they each felt a sharp pain along the sides of their neck as the gill slits opened.

Harry felt his hands and feet elongate and web over like little flippers. Immediately he began diving down to swim the reef. He could see perfectly under the water. He looked over to see Hermione and Tonks and nearly fainted. The looked like the most beautiful mermaids imaginable. They had removed their bikini tops and placed them in the mesh bag and were, well, they were beautiful. Hermione swam up to Harry and drew him into the most wonderful kiss that he could imagine. Not needing to break for air, they went on for what seemed hours. After five minutes, Tonks tapped the two on the shoulder, gave Harry a quick kiss on the cheek and they continued their adventure.

The fish were beautiful. A few were big, but most were small and just darted from one hiding place to another. Hermione pointed, and they saw a sea turtle and swam down to it. They followed it around for a few minutes, then went back to the reef, by the dive bag. The bottom was equally interesting. They saw little sea creatures darting along the bottom, sea urchins, plants and more little fish.

Harry looked at his watch. They had two minutes to go, so they began the swim back to the surface. Just as they reached the waterline, they again felt the pain in their necks. A moment later they poked their heads above the waterline.

"That was fantastic!" said Tonks and Hermione together.

"I thought so too," replied Harry, thinking of something else.

Hermione said, "The turtle was so beautiful. It was so graceful in the water. It was amazing." Harry put his flippers back on. Hermione asked him if he would kiss her again.

Harry swam over to her. She placed his hand on her breast and said, "Now you can kiss me properly, silly." And he did. Tonks kept a respectful distance, willing to give Harry all of the slack in the world.

Harry helped tie her strings and the three of them paddled the two hundred yards back into the shore. The drizzle had stopped, and it looked like it would be another beautiful day. They waded in, and found Dan and Emma snoozing under the umbrella while Church was reading a novel.

"How was it?" asked Emma.

"Fantastic!" replied Hermione. "We saw hundreds of fish and plants and we swam with a huge sea turtle."

"See any mermaids?" quipped Dan.

"Actually, I saw two," replied Harry, "But they were different than the ones I'd seen in Scotland."

"Figures," muttered Dan.

"Dad," said Hermione. "Harry's teasing. He just saw us swimming around."

"Oh," said Dan, feeling a bit less sorry for himself.

"But, I had a great time," said Harry, beaming at Hermione.

"That's nice, dear," said Emma, hoping that they had spent a few minutes together.

"Dad, the next time we go, would you like to go with?" asked Hermione.

Dan considered her amazing offer for a moment and declined saying, "Thanks but I'll stick with golf. Emma might."

"What was it like?" asked Emma

"We grew gills and flippers and could swim around like frogs," said Tonks. "It was amazing."

"Had you done it before?" asked Emma,

"Never," replied Tonks. "But, I'm sure that I'll go again."

Emma hesitated. "Are you certain that I could. I'm not…"

Tonks replied, "I'll inquire just to be certain. I believe in this case the magic is in the plant, not the person. That's why so many potions would work on anybody, not just magical people."

"Let's go get lunch," said Harry.

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After lunch, Dan and Emma went shopping, while Harry, Hermione and Tonks sat in the back garden having a lemonade.

"How did the meeting go?" asked Hermione.

Tonks replied, "In my opinion, Minister Bones has a better grasp of how to fight a war than Fudge did. She doesn't have her head in the sand, she's realistic about what is happening, and she has a high regard for people's rights. She gave the Order guidelines that they were to follow while acting as a militia. She said that the Ministry is going to move from strictly a reactionary defensive role in the war to a position of offense. I took that to mean that we will be handed a list of Death Eaters and told to hunt them down."

As Harry and Hermione nodded in agreement, Tonks continued. "Dumbledore discussed Harry's role and the details of the prophecy. I'll say that I'm honored to be able to help you in any way that I possibly can."

Harry replied, "Tonks, you have done so much for us. You've helped me have the best holiday of my life, and I simply don't have the words to express my gratitude to you. Everyday you help protect the people that I care the most about in the world. Thank you."

Tonks blushed slightly at the profound compliment, knowing that Harry was absolutely sincere. She replied, "Harry, the Order will most likely be coming to you and your friends asking how it can be of service to you. I don't think you'll be kept out of any more meetings, or any secrets. You'll have to decide what we can best do to help you."

Harry didn't say anything for a few minutes. They sat in comfortable silence. Finally he said, "There must be a hundred ways to kill Voldemort. I don't need to learn them all. I need to learn one way that will actually work, and get in a position where I can try it. For the first time in my life, I truly believe that I have someone to live for, and I don't want to lose."

Hermione leaned over and whispered, "I'll give you as many reasons to live Harry as you could possibly want. When can I start?" she asked with a gleam in her eye.

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A/N

Thanks for the insightful reviews and emails that I have received. I can't reply if you don't have an email listed. I hope everyone is OK with the meeting at Grimmauld. I think it fits well. I hope to have more gillyweed adventures in the next chapter. I think they're fun.

Next up:

The trials, and the Grangers confrontation with Dumbledore.

Final question – How many Death Eaters are there at the end of book 5?

If you have a good independent Harry or H/Hr story to recommend, please mention it in your review.

O-C