Erised's Bane

Author's Note: Hiya! Well...erm...what to say...I don't really know. Well, for one thing starting August 18 I might not be able to update quite as often because I start band school and after that I will probably only be able to update on Wednesdays and Sundays. So yeah. I can't wait to start that again. *rolls eyes*

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is mine, all mine. Did I ever mention that I was a pathological liar?

Chapter Eight: The Order Meeting

Harry looked around at the faces of the people standing near him. Snape was apprehensive and had his arms crossed protectively over his chest, while McGonagall was shooting Harry furtive glances, as if she believed Dumbledore had taken leave of its senses letting him be there. But Dumbledore himself was looking at the pocket watch he had pulled from his pocket, frowning. "Where is she?" he muttered. "We have to leave together."

"Here I am." Harry glanced up as Young bustled into the dungeon quickly, pushing her hair out of her face. "Sorry, I got caught by a Ravenclaw who was unhappy with her dueling partner. No worries, though." She stopped and looked at Harry. "Oh dear, I thought you were joking when you said he was a member of the Order."

Snape himself glanced at Harry, as if he was something insignificant he had just noticed. "Those were precisely my sentiments." He muttered.

"I wasn't asking..." she trailed off when she saw the look Dumbledore was giving her. "I hope I'm not too late." She said, turning pink.

"Not at all, but we had better be leaving. I've had the floo network disabled going to Headquarters, and the only connection is from this dungeon at ten o'clock. So we had better all get in here." He said, replacing his watch. Harry suddenly understood why they had met in Snape's dungeon...his fireplace was easily the largest in the school, certainly the only one big enough to fit four grown witches and wizards in and a teenage wizard as well.

"Right then, we'd better hurry up." McGonagall sprinkled a handful of green powder on the roaring flames and stepped inside. Dumbledore followed, and then Young.

"Come on, Harry." Said Young, frowning. He stepped inside, nestled uncomfortably between Young and McGonagall, who was muttering under her breath that she should have taken the trip in her Animagus form. Harry got the distinct feeling the only reason any of them were traveling by floo at all was because of him...but what did he need to be at the meeting for, when they had so many times in the past had meetings without him? Snape stepped in last beside Dumbledore, folding himself between the man and the stone brick so as not to touch anything.

"All right." Dumbledore nodded, seeing that everybody was all securely inside. "Twelve, Grimmauld Place!" Harry felt the unmistakable swirling and immediately felt himself spinning. After a long moment he stumbled forward, almost falling before he was caught at the last moment by Young's hand on the back of his robes. "Thanks." He muttered.

"Don't mention it." Young said absently, picking a large fleck of ash from her hair. She glanced up when she heard somebody enter the room. "Ah! Remus. Long time, no see." She said with a dark smile and something unmistakably amused gleaming in her eyes.

"Hello, Sabrina." Remus nodded. "You're looking well. I trust you enjoyed yourself in America?"

She nodded back. "Certainly, but fifteen years was long enough. You'll have to tell me what Defense Against the Dark Arts was like in your class. Perhaps we can compare notes...see who did a better job."

"Always competitive." Remus said with obvious amusement. "The meeting won't start for another couple of hours. A few people are already here. You can go on in if you'd like. Harry, why don't you join me in the kitchen for some tea? Tell me how you're year is starting out."

"All right." Harry started after Remus into the kitchen. When he sat at the table he was assailed suddenly by the memory of dodging a pot of stew much as he had earlier that day--lobbed by the Weasley twins instead of a group of house-elves, and with Sirius instead of Ron beside him.

"So, what do you think of your new Defense against the Dark Arts professor?" he asked. "Any good?"

"We've only had one lesson, but I have the feeling it's going to prove as interesting as your classes. We're dueling...and I've been assigned Neville Longbottom as a partner." He muttered. "I just hope he doesn't try and attack me the same way he did the boggart Snape."

"Ah, yes." Remus said. "One of my...finer ideas. Your father would have been proud."

"And who can blame you? Neville was the one with the fear...you just made a suggestion." He grinned back as Remus turned with the pot of tea and two earthenware mugs.

"Precisely. You're quite intelligent Harry." He sat and poured himself some tea. "I suppose you've already seen Young's Negate Charm?"

Harry nodded. "She made us all throw hexes at her at the same time and threw them all off. I expect I might have gotten through if I had tried a bit harder, though."

"She always did have a talent for dueling skills." He nodded. "She went to school with us...same year. Always did have a bit of a sore spot that your father got captain and she didn't." Harry almost choked on the bit of tea in his mouth, he had just laughed so hard...she had, in fact, mentioned that she hadn't made captain, and Harry proceeded to tell Remus so.

He grinned. "Some people never change. And others, thankfully, do. Listen closely to what Young tells you, though. She's very talented...only person that matched her knowledge in the Dark Arts in school was Professor Snape."

"Really?" Harry thought that over for a minute as he took a drink of his tea. "Then why hasn't she taught before now?"

"She has been teaching, in America. After Hogwarts she was hired as a chaser for the American team, and she had a pretty good run. Some people think she would have helped get them to the World Cup if she hadn't quit mid-season. After that she took a job at the Salem Institute."

Harry was still processing this information when Tonks--whose hair had gone from bubblegum-pink to platinum blonde--poked her head in the room. "You guys going to chat all night or what? We have a meeting to get to."

"Right. Harry?" Remus rose, sending the cups back to the sink with a flick of the wand. Harry followed him out of the kitchen and through to the meeting area. He quickly saw that it had changed much from what he had seen before. Chairs were lined in a semi-circle around the room, with a single chair and platform raised above the others...it reminded him with a small shiver of the courtroom at the ministry. On the nearby wall was a large map that showed all of Great Britain, with many small shimmering orbs moving about on it. Harry noticed most of the orbs were now crowded about London, and he was sure if he could somehow enlarge that portion of the map--and of course, there probably was some way--he would see them all situated about Grimmauld Place.

"A bit of inspiration from the Marauder's Map." Said Remus with a small laugh. "Who would ever have known a schooltime invention for causing such mischief would come in handy like it has?"

Harry nodded and said nothing, his attention now intent on the list of names beside the map. This, he saw, was a bit of inspiration from Mrs. Weasley's clock...beside every name was a hasty scrawl telling of the person's current circumstances. Finding his own name, he saw he was currently safe, in meeting. A small green light was flickering steadily beside. "It turns red if somebody is in real danger." Remus said as he led Harry to his seat.

He took the seat on the edge of the aisle, in the centermost row of chairs with Remus on his other side. Snape was far across from him on the other side of the room, seemingly determined to ignore Harry. Dumbledore himself was in deep conversation with McGonagall, and Tonks was whispering with Young nearby, Moody alongside nodding at whatever it was they were saying, interjecting some word or another at random.

"Oh, Harry! There you are!" Harry swiveled in his seat when he heard Mrs. Weasley coming near and was crushed quickly in her tight embrace. "I've been so worried about you, dear. Things being the way they are..." she sighed. "But let's not get melancholy. Tell me how things are, dear. Are you and Ron enjoying your classes?"

"Some more than others." He said. "But Ron's certainly in a great mood right now. He was just made Quidditch Captain."

"What?" Mrs. Weasley blinked. "Ron...oh! I'm so proud! But we can talk about that later, hmm? The meeting is about to begin." She gave him one last pat on the shoulder before going off to sit beside Mr. Weasley, who turned to give Harry a thumbs-up and kind smile. The room had been packed, every seat filled--Harry saw among the crowd Kingsley Shacklebolt, Dedalus Diggle, Bill, Charlie, and even, to his utter amazement, Percy, who he was told was acting as representative for the Ministry, even though he and his family weren't quite back to a familial relationship.

The clock struck midnight and as a body every standing witch or wizard took their seat. Dumbledore rose and walked forward, his blue eyes glinting over his steepled fingers. He laid his hand down on the nearby table and coughed, silencing all chatter within the room. "I call this meeting and ask you, as always, if you will remember to keep this information secret and safe?"

Remus pulled Harry up by the arm as every other person in the room rose. "We will." They replied as a mass before sitting again. Dumbledore nodded. "Tonight we have with us two new members of the order. Will Sabrina Young and Harry Potter please come forward?"

Everybody tittered and he saw them craning their necks to see him as he rose and walked past the group towards Dumbledore. He wondered for a moment what was going to happen, aware of being watched as he went forward to stand beside Young, who had lost the airy nature he had come to expect and was looking quite grave, her dark gray eyes shining dully. "You have already been admitted to the Order." Dumbledore said, peering intently at the both of them. "And all you have now to do is assure us your allegiance. Sabrina?"

Young took the quill he offered her and blinked when a large piece of parchment appeared before her. She glanced down at the paper and hastily scribbled her name before bowing her head quickly and handing the quill to Harry. He took it and moved in front of the paper, quickly looking over the paper, and he realized suddenly that this paper wasn't new...in fact, it was as old as he was. At the very top of the page he saw Dumbledore's signature, the first, beneath a block of scrawled text assuring the mission of the order, and beneath it were the others...including, he saw with a faint jolt, that of his father, his mother, and Sirius' hasty scrawl. He saw with some satisfaction a space where a signature had disappeared--the pale white of the paper behind indicated it to be Peter Pettigrew. Wormtail. Blocking his emotion, he scrawled his own name on the paper and it disappeared again. He turned and tried his best to ignore the looks he was getting as he took his seat.

"Now that that is out of the way," Dumbledore said sternly, "We must get to the first order of business. Considering, first of all, the muggle attack in Surrey. I believe Severus has something to say on that matter?"

Everybody turned to look at Snape as he rose from his seat. "Yes, of course. As suspected, the Dark Lord did not order the attack. It appears that the Death Eaters are become wearied with this lack of activity. This seems to have been a celebration of sorts for those who escaped Azkaban earlier that week."

"So it has nothing to do with the impersonator sent to young mister Potter?" one woman asked, sternly crossing her arms over her chest.

"Indeed not." Said Snape with a sneer. "If any of the Death Eaters were to even try anything on Potter without the Dark Lord's consent, they would most certainly be punished for it. And of course, he would not be so conspicuous as to attack Potter on the heels of a muggle attack so close to his home. The two are intertwined only because Potter was arrested by the muggle police for the attack."

"What?" Young rose, crossing her arms over her chest. "Do you mean to tell me that Harry was arrested by the muggles? Whatever for? Did they have any evidence."

"Eyewitness reports." Said Snape with a grimace as he sat again.

"Most likely because of my cousin." Harry said quietly. "I suppose he thought it would be great fun to get me away from him for a while...I don't think he realized it wouldn't take long for somebody to get me out of there." Young turned to him and said nothing for a long moment before finally nodding and sitting back down.

"But that doesn't explain the impostor. Why would somebody want to do that and not even try to harm Harry?"

"That's the confusing part." Said Dumbledore. "And I have brought us here tonight in part to discuss that very fact. Harry, when that person arrived did they ever try to cause you harm? Did they threaten you in any way?"

Harry uncertainly stood, feeling himself begin to turn red. "The person was acting threatening, of course. But seeing as how I thought it was Sn--Professor Snape, I didn't think much of it."

"But did they do anything unusual?" Dumbledore said, ignoring the obvious jibe that had already caused a few smiles among the Order. "Did they tell you anything strange...give you anything?"

"No, they..." he froze suddenly. "As a matter of fact, they did." Harry said with a horrible feeling of dread. "I lost my wand when the muggle police took me away, and whoever it was that came later gave me my wand back." At that remark loud chatter broke out and Dumbledore's face fell. He looked especially grave.

"Just how often have you used your wand since returning to school?" he asked as the chatter began to die down.

"Not much." Harry said, feeling a tense heat rise up in the pit of his stomach. "School only started today. The only time I really used it was in Professor Young's class."

"Would you mind attempting your Patronus?" Dumbledore asked quietly, catching Harry off guard.

Harry said nothing and turned to the wall. He mustered the happiest thought that he could (Christmas with Sirius) and let his voice ring out. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" he cried, and something rather odd happened. A silvery shape emerged from the wand tip, appearing to be corporeal until it fell, stunted, and vanished into fog.

People began talking loudly and Dumbledore quickly walked over, taking the wand Harry was holding. He looked at his closely before shaking his head. "I should have known. Ollivander did not make this wand. He's taken your wand Harry. That is why you cannot produce your patronus...it is simply too hard to do with a wand that is not your own."

"But he can still do magic." Said Kingsley. "And the patronus couldn't have done much to protect him, anyway. What's the problem? Can't he get another...?"

"There is one thing I have neglected to tell you above many others." Dumbledore said. "You all know of the prophecy, now. But there are some things I did not tell you, and that is to what extent this prophecy went. This concerns the very core of Harry's wand, what lies within it." He took a deep breath before he continued. "Fifty years ago, a phoenix...the phoenix that gave the Order it's name, my own bird Fawkes, offered two feathers to be made into wands.

"We had never before used a feather from Fawkes, of course. The bird had never offered, and he was of such magical content, more than any other phoenix, that we were at first reluctant to use those feathers. But Ollivander decided to do so and he created from those feathers two wands, one of the darkest and strongest yew he could find and the other of pure white holly. The first found an owner almost immediately, to a young boy named Tom Marvelo Riddle. The other had to wait until five years ago, when Harry entered that shop. It was the fact that these wands were brothers that saved Harry when Voldemort returned last year."

Harry felt like hiding as immediately every person in the room turned to face him. Young was staring at him intently with her dark gray eyes, and Remus was gravely nodding, being one of the few who had known. Mrs. Weasley was blinking back tears, Snape appeared even more irritated than usual...and everybody was astounded.

"Professor," Harry asked after the furor died down. "I don't think he's destroyed my wand."

"Of course he did." Said Snape harshly. "Do you think he'd leave your greatest connection to him unharmed?"

"He can't have." Harry said quietly, looking into Dumbledore's eyes for confirmation. "He was angry. He was very angry, and now he's trying his hardest to taunt me. I think somehow...the wand must be protecting itself or something."

Dumbledore stared at Harry for a moment before a small smile came over his face. "I believe you are correct. I am glad you are so observant." He waved absently and Harry sat back down. "As Harry was saying, I do not think Voldemort has been able to destroy Harry's wand. But I would not be surprised if he has it at close guard."

"Can't you just get another feather from Fawkes and have another wand made?" asked Young indignantly. "Harry can't be running around alone, that wand was the one thing shielding him between life and death..."

"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way." Dumbledore said quietly. "If only it were that easy. But the feather must be given willingly, and even it were given now we have no way of knowing if the magical content of its feather could be exactly the same."

Silence fell and Harry uneasily looked at the wand in his hand. He himself couldn't tell the difference between them, but there was a certain feeling the emanated from it--a sort of strange tingling--that told him this wand wasn't the same one he had held for so many years. He didn't know why he hadn't seen it before.

"This news is certainly nothing good." Said Remus, speaking up quietly. "But it is not all that there is. What else is there that we must discuss?"

"That is another thing." Said Snape, rising from his chair. "Seeing as how I am the only person in his services close enough to do real harm to Potter, the Dark Lord has asked that I show him that I...that I am still loyal to him, and not to the boy."

"And what would this offering be?" asked Tonks, standing and leering at Snape.

A look passed over Snape's face that Harry couldn't quite understand. His lips curled and he reached into his robes to extract a small crystal vial. "Blood."

The room immediately broke out into loud exclamations and Dumbledore finally had to set off a loud cracker with his wand. Everybody went quiet and turned to him. "It must be done." He said, his voice quiet.

"Absolutely not!" Young rose. "Why are you treating him like he's a member of the order? He can't do this; he's only a child! I..."

"Harry is a member of the order and thus should be allowed to make his own decisions." Said Remus, glaring at Young. She stared back, blinking. "And besides that, he has done more for our cause than you, Sabrina. Where have you been for the past fifteen years?"

She stared back at Remus. "Fine." She whispered bitterly, sitting back down. Harry felt a prickle on his skin, noticing with a definite chill the anger that seemed to rise up like a brick wall between Young and Remus.

"What is your decision, Harry?" asked Dumbledore. "Professor Snape could say he was unable to retrieve it..."

"I'm starting Occlumency lessons, and Draco Malfoy is sure to know I'd be spending time alone with Professor Snape." Harry said quietly. "And he's taken some of my blood before...I'm sure he'll use it for something, but at least we'll be prepared for it." Mrs. Weasley let out a small cry and began to feverishly wipe tears from her eyes, while the rest of the group gave him encouraging looks. Even Mundungus Fletcher appeared to be trying to egg Harry on, despite the fact that he himself would never consider doing such a thing.

"We will do it after the meeting." Said Dumbledore firmly, hesitating to meet Harry's eyes. "Next order of business is the disappearance of Lenina Crowne. She was last seen three days ago...has anybody heard from her since." Nobody said anything until finally Moody stood.

"Last I heard she had to go after a muggle who'd been cursed, around Dublin. We found her Locator Medallion, but nothing else." He said, gesturing to something he glinting on a table nearby.

"We need volunteers to go and try to find her." Said Dumbledore. "You say she was in Ireland, Alastor?"

"I'll go." Said Remus. "I talked to her right before she went."

"Good." Said Dumbledore quickly. "And who else?"

"I'll go." Said Tonks firmly. "I'm sure I can help."

The rest of the meeting passed quickly, Harry paying fervent attention to what happened even though he was growing tired. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the last of the meeting occurred and Dumbledore stood. "Let nothing said in this room be told." Said Dumbledore simply. The door sprang open as he clapped his hands. Remus shook his hand and nodded. "We'll talk later, Harry." He said. "Good night."

The house quickly and quietly emptied until Harry was left only with McGonagall, Moody, Snape, Dumbledore, and Young. Solemnly Dumbledore led Harry to the kitchen and sat him down. "Are you quite sure you want to do this?" said Dumbledore sternly.

Harry nodded, determined, and extended his left arm; the same one Wormtail had cut the year before. He then rolled up the sleeve of his robes, flinching slightly when he saw the thin white scar Voldemort had left behind...he hadn't looked at it since it happened, and had been quite unaware he bore such a scar.

"Is that where...?" Young started, faltering when she saw the looks of the people around her.

"At least it isn't shaped like a lightning bolt." Harry said in an attempt to lighten the situation. Young smiled weakly and McGonagall's eyes went bleary.

"This won't hurt you, Harry." Said Dumbledore as he lowered his wand to Harry's arm. He drew the tip across and Harry felt a strange tickling sensation. When he looked down he saw a trickle of blood streaming down his arm. He quickly took the vial Snape offered him and collected the blood until the last trickle of blood dripped from his arm, the wound having magically healed itself.

Dumbledore took the vial and capped it, raising his wand and doing something to it before he handed it back to Snape. "I've just put a Futility Charm on it." he explained. "This way, if he tries to detect whose blood it is, he will find it is still yours, Harry, but any magic he may attempt to use it for would be in vain."

Snape nodded to Dumbledore. "I will return shortly." He said as he left the room and hastily exited the house.

"Sabrina, will you take Harry back to Hogwarts through the Floo network? Professor McGonagall and I are going to stay and discuss a few matters with Alastor."

Young nodded and she and Harry walked towards the fireplace. She pulled a handful of powder from the bag beside the fireplace and tossed it into the flames. "We'll go to my office." She said. "I think we can get there from here, we just couldn't get here from there."

Harry nodded in understanding as Young shouted, "Professor Sabrina Young's office, Hogwarts!" He choked on a bit of dust before they finally jetted forth into her office and into total darkness.

"Goodness." She said with a sigh. "I appear to have forgotten to turn on the light. Lumos!" Harry jumped as the light glinted off a large sword right in front of him before he realized it was connected to the wall.

He heard small movements behind him and suddenly the entire room was filled with light as the fireplace erupted in crackling flames. He let out a small gasp when he saw that the sword nearby wasn't the only one in the room. In fact, the swords seemed to be the main object on display, besides a bookshelf that bore texts with such titles as Hexes and Jinxes for Every Occasion and Devastating Curses of the 15th Century.

It was certainly a far stretch from the dainty and sickly kittens that had adorned the office the year before. "I've always liked swords. I saw the one you pulled from the Sorting Hat in your second year...simply marvelous. Of course, Dumbledore himself is keeping that one." She said airily, admiring a large one situated behind her desk adorned on the hilt with a winged dragon. "I never was one to defend myself only." She said, pointing to a large shield nearby.

"The best defense is a good offense." Harry muttered, remembering a phrase he had once heard.

"Exactly." Young replied. Then, as if remembering who she was talking to, she turned and frowned. "Not that I'm encouraging you to go out and...you know. I'm just saying I don't think you should simply be ready to shield yourself and hope that your attacker gets tired before he can kill you."

"I understand." Harry remarked vaguely, looking at a cane with a large sapphire embedded in the handle that he was sure hid a blade.

"Oh, would you look at the time!" said Young suddenly. "You had better be off to bed Harry, you have classes tomorrow."

"Yes, well." He nodded his head. "I'll see you in class."

"Yes, of course." She said absently. Harry slipped from her office and on down the hall. Lord Hornswaggle was snoring loudly when found the painting and Harry had to tap on the frame several times before he blinked open one bloodshot eye to look at Harry.

"There you are." He muttered. "Yer friends were lookin' for you earlier. But I wouldn't tell them if you were here or not."

"Really? Do you know where they are now?"

"No idea." Lord Hornswaggle muttered. "Now are you going on in or aren't you?"

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Harry! Where were you!?" Harry started to turn but before he could see anything a large object hurtled into him. When he regained his footing he saw that it was Hermione, with Ron padding along behind her quickly.

"Hullo, Hermione." Harry said. "Kind of late, isn't it?"

"What?" she pulled away from him and blinked. "You...where...oh Harry, we were worried sick!"

"I'm sorry. I had to go. It was the Order."

"You actually went to a meeting?" Ron said suddenly, his sleep-bleary eyes now fully awake.

"Yeah. But I can't tell you anything...Dumbledore made us promise, and I think that applies to you too...sorry." he added hastily, seeing the hurt looks on his friends faces.

"That's okay." Ron said finally. "I don't think...I don't know." He sighed, at a loss for words. "I'm going back to bed. Night."

Hermione gave Ron a strange look before sighing. "I guess Ron's right. We'll talk in the morning...then you can figure out what you can and can't tell us." She turned herself and headed back to Gryffindor tower.

Harry began to enter his room when suddenly he froze and turned. He walked hastily down the hall until he found the Room of Requirement, and inside there was again the mirror of Erised. He sat down in front of it and as the time before went to sleep.

Back so soon? Sirius chuckled, stepping out of the mirror.

I don't know what to do. Harry said distractedly. He's taunting me, and it's making me sick. That's twice I've almost hurt people because of him. What if it gets worse?

You have to learn to face your fears. You have to learn to understand you aren't responsible for everything. You can't help these things that have been pushed upon you. All that you can do is learn to cope.

I don't want to cope. Harry said miserably. I want it all to be over with. I want it all to go away, so I can just have a normal life. I wish I'd just wake up and find that my entire life's been a dream.

That's a selfish wish, Harry. Sirius said coldly. But understandable. We never know the truth behind fate. It's a distraction to dream, to hope, but none of us can help but do so. Twelve years in Azkaban left me with that Harry...twelve years of wishes and desires. But I wouldn't change it for anything. I only regret that I never learned to know you as well as I could have...I did think of you as being James, I tried to live the life I wanted through you. For that I am forever sorry.

I just need a little help. Harry said quietly. I just need somebody who understands.

As do we all. But Harry, help is always where you least expect it. There are those around you even at this moment who hide secrets about the past, those who have the ability to help you if they can find it in their hearts to do so. Wait...these people will come around and when you do they will be your greatest allies.

The night lingered on and again Harry returned silently to his bed, awaking the next morning without thought or recollection of the dream...but a steady feeling of hope he could not explain. A feeling that would not diminish, never minding how dull the stars in the sky became.

________________________________________________________________________

Oh, wow. Okay, interesting chapter. I hope you guys liked it. This one was particularly hard to write, for some reason. I hope you like the end result.

Oh! And if anybody can tell me where I got the name Lenina Crowne, I will let you have a cameo in my story, honestly! I promise, really!

And I leave you now with a special presentation from the Happy Happy Dance Dance Chipmunks...

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Yeah...okay. See what happens when I write hyper? Damn Marshmallow Peeps.

-_~ Megx