Chapter 22

(A/N: A really long chapter)

The Order was going yet another meeting that evening. The adults knew what was going on, but the younger witches and wizards did not, which irritated them beyond healthful levels. Harry was twitchy during his lessons, easily beating Sirius in each duel-- his godfather did not appreciate being beaten by a sixteen year old very much.

Soon after they had finished the 'Auror Lesson', they found themselves sitting in the large main room of Headquarters. It was too hot outside for comfort, and there weren't any attacks to go help out for. Tallon was lazily twirling his wand, wondering what the Order meeting would be about, when Sirius drawled from his spot on another couch, "I'm bloody bored."

Harry's slight grin faded when he saw Snape wince; then Harry remembered that it were words similar to those that had caused the prank in their fifth year, the one Harry had seen in Snape's penesive. "I mean," Sirius continued, "There's nothing to do! No attacks, no cries for help, nothing!"

"And you'd rather someone be in trouble?" Remus asked in reply.

Padfoot shrugged, "It'd liven things up a bit."

Splikvin caught Harry's eye and put up a finger mouthing: 'give me a minute.' Tallon, curious as well as confused, gave her the tiniest of nods. She slipped out of the room unnoticed.

"How about we go fetch some of those new dementors?" Harry drawled, looking at his godfather, "That exciting enough for you?"

Sirius thought about it, "Almost."

Moony rolled his eyes, "Of course it's not! Something trying to suck out your soul isn't nearly exciting enough for Padfoot; what were you thinking Harry?"

Harry laughed and was about to reply when CRACK! Something whizzed past his head and smacked into the opposite couch right above Sirius' head: it was a bludger.

Padfoot dove off of the couch, rolling out of the way as the bludger chased after him. Harry noticed Snape smirking, but the wizard didn't have his wand out. Turning around as Sirius ducked the bludger, Harry saw Splikvin at the opposite end of the hall, lazily twirling two beaters' bats around in her hands.

"What the bloody hell is this for?" Padfoot bellowed, ducking for cover as the bludger mercilessly chased after him and Remus laughed outright.

"You said you were bored," Splikvin replied innocently, "Or is a rouge bludger too tough for you?"

Sirius glared at her, but it lost its menace since he was hiding behind a chair. "No way!" he growled, "I'd take thirty rouge bludgers any day!"

She smirked, walking over as he ducked again, then tossed him a bat, "Beaters' battle." she said, and motioned to the bludger-- it froze in the air.

Harry gave a questioning look at Remus, "Beaters' battle?"

Remus grinned, eyes alight. "Two beaters whacking bludgers at each other, increasing the number of bludgers every ten hits; very fun, if dangerous, to watch."

Harry grinned back, "So basically, duck for cover while you watch or you'll get your brains knocked out."

Remus jumped aside as the bludger suddenly whizzed over near him, "Good way to put it," he told Harry with a grin.

So the two of them ducked behind a sofa while Sirius and Splikvin faced off, with Snape still sitting in his chair a few feet to the side.

The two former beaters smacked the bludger back and forth, trying to hit the other. After ten hits, Snape would conjure another bludger, charm it, and send it after them. Sirius turned out to have a lot of power behind his hits, smacking them two-handed for double the magnitude. Splikvin seemed to favor technique instead, pulling off complicated swings that caused the bludger to swerve, bounce off the floor, or circle back like a boomerang.

More than once Tallon and Moony had to drop to the ground to avoid a multitude of bludgers that had spotted them. When the bludger numbers got up to seven, Harry'd had enough of being almost knocked out and he put up a Parsloz shield around himself and Moony to block the solid objects; Snape hadn't been attacked by the murderous bludgers once.

Harry couldn't help grinning as Sirius got more and more frustrated. First, Padfoot had been beaten by his godson, and now he couldn't manage to beat Selena. His face got more and more flushed, until eventually, he started to swear. Tallon remembered last year when Remus had told him a bit about Selena, before he'd met Snape's twin, and how Sirius had cursed her many times for blocking his bludger-shots during Quidditch matches. All in all, Tallon learned quite a bit of colorful language from his godfather and laughed so hard his stomach began to hurt.

Finally, the set time for the Order meeting had arrived, and Harry was seated next to his godfather, anxiously waiting to hear what the heck was going on; much like he had two summers ago.

Oddly enough, Dumbledore didn't start to talk when the time came: he seemed to be waiting for something. Harry pondered this, but only managed to irritate himself further. At last, the fireplace burst with blue flames, and three figures stepped out. Harry's jaw dropped, it was Bill, Fleur, and Victor Krum.

"Welcome," Dumbledore greeted them with a warm smile, "I trust your journey was well?"

"Very," Krum replied, "It vas quick. Thank you for inviting us."

"Not at all," Dumbledore replied, "But the decision ultimately lies with you."

Harry noticed that Ron had scooted a little closer to Hermione, and was trying not to glare at the Bulgarian Seeker, or stare at the half-veela; Tallon could only smile. He noticed that he himself didn't seem very dazed by Fleur anymore, perhaps it was because of Alex, or maybe he'd just gotten used to Fleur.

Dumbledore addressed the rest of the Order, mainly the younger members, "Miss Fleur Delacoeur and Mr. Victor Krum are here to join the Order of the Phoenix."

Harry smiled, and stood with the rest of the Order. Once again, Dumbledore repeated the small speech he'd given all of them, and the two new recruits signed the paper. Fleur went first, causing Ron's ears to go slightly red when he shook her hand. Harry gave her a friendly smile when she reached him. Krum went second, nodding in greeting to Ron and Harry. Splikvin smiled as she shook her former student's hand, and said something to him in Bulgarian; Krum chuckled.

Harry noticed that Fleur was standing very close to Bill, and had a ring on her left hand. He blinked, it was an engagement ring, Bill noticed Tallon's gaze, and winked. Harry grinned openly in answer.

The Order spent the rest of the meeting updating the two new members on current happenings, and past fights that had occurred. Fleur had a few suggestions to add in preparations of the next attack, and several of them were very creative, and should be effective. Krum had his own ideas, mostly of which were for during fights and had were based off some offensive Quidditch tactics the Bulgarian team had used to great effect.

After the meeting ended, Harry talked with Krum, mostly about Quidditch. Victor was actually training another seeker who might take his place on the team, because he wanted to try his hand at-- surprisingly enough-- teaching, either at Durmstrang or Hogwarts. Their conversation lasted quite a long time, and Harry was so tired when he went to bed, that he'd forgotten what day it was tomorrow: his birthday.

Wearily, Harry fumbled out of his bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Instinctively, he got dressed in his exercise clothes and went down to the dungeons and his workout room. He went through the normal routine he'd followed last year, which felt good since he hadn't been able to do it much this summer so far. After that, he was slightly more awake, but his mind wasn't quite there. Dragging his feet back upstairs, Harry took a shower, got dressed, and went back downstairs; the house was oddly quiet.

Harry fiddled with his rings while trying to decide what he wanted to eat for breakfast, after deciding on eggs, he reached out and opened the fridge; a jerk behind his navel followed. Harry's eyes widened, and by the time he arrived at the unknown place, his second wand and his dagger were out, and his mind was racing, a sharp contrast to the dullness it had been at before.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!" the people shouted.

Harry blinked until he realized who they were: the Weasleys, the Grangers, Padfoot, Moony, Alex, Neville, Draco, and a few of the Order members.

Then, what they'd shouted finally began to register. "It's my birthday?" he said blankly.

Ron rolled his eyes, "Now that's just sad."

"I'd have to say I agree," drawled Draco, shaking his head.

Harry blushed, "I...forgot..." he mumbled.

"Obviously!" Alex sighed, "Now come on, we want to eat!"

So Tallon was steered into the vast dining room, which was overflowing with food; it reminded Harry much of Hogwarts. So much for just plain eggs, he thought wryly as Mrs. Weasley began to pile food onto everyone's plates. However, now that he smelled it all, Harry was a lot hungrier than he'd been just moments ago; somehow another person's cooking always did that to him.

Tallon dug in, nearly eating as much as Ron-- and that was saying something. The room was filled with the voices of people talking, joking, laughing, and--occasionally-- belching; that mostly came from Dung, Sirius, and the Weasley sons. Tonks provided entertainment with her nose-switching again, as well as changing her hair to awkward styles and colors, causing more laughs to jump into the air. The atmosphere was relaxed, joking, almost joyful; heck, you wouldn't even know that there was a war going on.

After everyone had finished, Harry was bombarded by presents, more than he'd ever had before; he opened them right at the table. From Hermione was a book on phoenixes, filled with tales and real accounts, as well as a lot and a lot of facts. Remus had gotten him a penesive, big enough to hold about ten memories and roughly the size of a football. Sirius gave him the Black family ring, and an animated stuffed black dog that looked exactly like Snuffles; it barked, whined, wagged its tail, and rolled around in the leftover food-- much to Mrs. Weasleys distaste and everyone else's amusement. Ron gave him a baseball cap that sported the Chudley Cannons logo, and the Weasley twins a pack of their newest products: Teeth-Sharpening lollipops, Ice-Breather mints, shoes that forced the wearer to do acrobatic tricks, and a few rings that turned the person thirteen years old again for an hour and forty minutes (which could only be used by someone older than thirteen of course).

Alex had gotten him a leather jacket with the letter 'P' on the back, circled by a wolf, a snake, a phoenix, and a panther. Harry got a rememberall from Neville and a hip-flask from Moody (the note said: 'CONSTANT VILEGANCE!'). The last gift was a box; Tallon noticed that there were small holes in it, breathing holes? he wondered. Cautiously, seeing as how the gift was from Draco, Harry opened the lid a crack; something was definitely inside. Then, Harry heard a low hiss, 'Sssstupid box, ssstuffy and ssssmelly.' Harry's eyes widened and he took off the lid completely. Inside was a dark green snake, with gold markings. It was roughly a foot long, give or take a few inches, with shining black eyes, and a matching tongue that was flickering out.

"Sorry about that," Harry told it; several people in the room twitched or jumped.

The snake itself looked up in surprise, 'Who be you that ssssspeaksss?'

"My name's Tallon, or Harry, either one works." Harry replied. "What's your name?"

'Sssspyriidon.' The snake replied, 'Who issss the human whom ssstuck me in thisss box? I would like to bite them.'

Harry laughed, "I don't think he likes you Draco," he said to his friend, to Spyridon he replied, 'He didn't mean anything by it, honest.'

Spyridon did not seem convinced. 'Hmmm.'

"I'll stick him in a box if I ever get the chance, how's that sound?"

The snake hissed its laughter, 'Deal.'

They moved out of the dining room, and out toward the large, indoor Quidditch pitch. They went through one of the living rooms, where Mrs. Weasley dragged Snape and Splikvin along with the rest of the group—literally. Harry didn't quite manage to smother his laughter at the sight, earning him a set of glares.

He got another surprise once they reached the pitch, there was a set of Quidditch supplies waiting, and several more people from the Order with brooms, as well as Madame Hooch, her referee whistle in hand. Harry looked with slightly wide eyes at Ron, who merely grinned and tossed Harry his broom. "Game time."

A random draw divided the teams, and the game began. Harry was racing Alex in the search for the snitch, and she was riding a broom that matched Harry's. He kept an eye on the chasers on his team: Ginny, Remus, Hermione, Draco, Charlie, and Tonks. They were doing alright, with the exception of Tonks; she somehow managed to drop the quaffle every time her fingers touched it. The beaters on his side were Splikvin, Fred, and Neville, and odd combo in his opinion. Occasionally, his team would be awarded a penalty for Sirius' use of colorful language; this caused Harry to laugh more than once.

He swerved to avoid a bludger sent his way by George, and dove to get out of the way of Dung, who had managed to loose control of his broom. Harry returned to his post above the game, looking for the snitch. Bill blocked the quaffle for his team, and passed it to Ginny, who flew straight down center field, with Splikvin backing her. The youngest Weasley scored a goal, much to her parents' enthusiasm. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had chosen to watch, along with Moody, Snape, McGonagall, Dumbledore, Hagrid, and the Grangers (who'd decided that they didn't particularly care for flying on cleaning equipment and being chased by murderous leather balls).

Harry did a figure eight, boredom getting the better of him. He'd like to be diving instead of hovering. Glancing at Alex and seeing that she was watching the game rather than searching, he decided to do what he wanted, and dove. The air streamed past him as he rushed towards the ground at a ninety-degree angle; he heard a few screams, a few whistles, and Alex come up behind him. She was creeping up, but apparently saw that the snitch wasn't there and pulled up. Harry continued to rush down, sharply leveling out a few feet from the ground. A scattered applause came from his friends, who then resumed their positions in the game.

Harry smiled, finally feeling relaxed for once. Someone yelled, and Harry jerked back into reality: he was about to crash into the bleachers. Tallon yanked up on his broom, his toes skimming the air above the stand. He pulled back up, flying upside down for a while; it was interesting. The view, however, was rather uncomfortable and so Tallon righted himself, resuming his search. A few minutes later, Harry was diving again when he spotted the snitch hovering in the middle of the right goal hoop of his team.

He streaked after it, lying flat against his broom. He was only a few feet away when it flew away, leading him on a confusing trail of loops, dashes, drops, and rolls. Harry followed it close, enjoying the ride. Alex quickly fell in beside him, maneuvering the broom with only a little less ease than him. For a few minutes they raced neck and neck, enjoying the flight rather than trying hard to catch the snitch before the other. Finally, Spyridon hissed irritably from his place wrapped around Harry's arm, 'I am getting very dizzy Harry, ssstop ssswerving.'

Harry laughed, "Alright Spyridon, I'll stop." He pulled his broom into a normal position and sped up, reaching out. Alex fell behind a little, and that was all Harry needed to catch the golden ball and end the game.

The fire crackled merrily in the fireplace at Headquarters. They were lounging in the armchairs and couches, eyes lazily wandering around. It was roughly nine pm, and Harry's birthday was drawing to a close. 'You all have consssumed far passst what ssshould be consssidered the legal amount of sssugar,' Spyridon commented, slithering around Harry's shoulders.

Harry giggled slightly, eyeing the many wrappers that lay empty around the room. Part of him agreed with Spyridon, however; they were definitely not acting like Order members. Sirius was still drinking butterbeer, with Harry leaned up against his back. Fred and George were still eating sweets, even though they'd emptied at least five cartons of chocolate frogs; where all the sweets had come from, Harry didn't know.

Ron and Hermione were sharing a couch, ignoring the amused looks Charlie, Ginny, Remus, and Neville were giving them. A large number of the Order had left for home, but a few had remained, namely Tonks, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Dung, Hagrid, Snape, and Splikvin. Why the last pair had remained was a mystery to Harry. It could have been related to the fact that Mrs. Weasley had threatened them with numerous hexes if they didn't stay, of course, along with a large number of howlers during the school year.

Moony got up from his armchair, making his way to the mahogany piano that sat in the corner. Sitting down, he played a few notes, then began a tune. Harry didn't recognize it, but apparently the adults did. Sirius began to tap his fingers to the rhythm, Dumbledore and McGonagall smiled, and Splikvin's eyes widened. She jumped out of her chair and tried to leave, only to find her way barred by Snape. "You can't leave before it even starts," he said innocently.

She glared at him, "No way."

"Come on Sel!" Sirius said, "For old time's sake."

Noticing that everyone else was watching her, Splikvin sighed, "Fine." She took a bottle of butterbeer and poured herself a glass. "I'd rather not have to remember this," she grumbled by way of an explanation, and drank as she sat down.

Remus grinned and continued to play, then, to Harry's surprise, Sirius began to sing:

"Four houses, four louses,

Sleeping, competing, dueling, defeating,

Fightin' on an' on,

But always at hooooome in Hogwarts!"

Then Remus jumped in, his voice light:

"First come the Ravenclaws,

All dressed up in blue.

Their heads ain't got a bit of fluff,

But full of complicated stuff!"

He played a few beats, the music jumping up and down. Splikvin took an unsteady breath and continued with a grin,

"Second up: the Hufflepuffs,

Souls fair an' even.

Always willin' t' help ya out,

You'll never see 'em teasin'!"

Another short span of music followed, this time more lilting and energetic, then it continued in a marching rhythm. Sirius broke out in loud voice:

"Next're the Gryffindooooors!

Always waitn' to prank some mooooore!

Red 'n' gold you'll always seeeee!

Blindin' all their enemieeees!"

Harry laughed with his friends, and Remus' notes began to smooth out slightly, more sharp and slick. Splikvin continued the song:

"Here are the Slytherins,

Silver, slither, potions, notions,

Not just snakes, and no mistakes,

Their wands're quick and fast t' cast!"

The music sped up, growing louder in volume. And Remus repeated the chorus:

"Four houses, four louses,

Sleeping, competing, dueling, defeating,

Fightin' on an' on,

But always at hooooome in Hogwarts!"

Sirius went on, his voice a bragging tone,

"Ya can't be us Gryffindors,

When it comes t' pullin' legs."

Splikvin retorted in an exaggerating sneering manner,

"Well you won't pull ours,

'Cuz we're the snakes

And you're just flat-out lazy!"

Remus gave a mocking sigh,

"Gryffindors and Slytherins,

They're just too hard to ignore.

They never give the other a break,

Their attitudes can be very poor."

Sirius and Splikvin both looked at Remus with mock-glares, "What would you know," Splikvin demanded , "You're all just jealous!"

"Pity, you just don't understand us!" added Sirius.

Remus gained a fake look of horror,

"I think I'm having a heart attack

I just heard them agree!

Oh my, oh my, oh dear old me,

Someone douse this nightmare with tea!"

Splikvin snorted,

"Good luck with that,

Dream on you fool,

That ain't gonna happen:

I'd rather whack myself with a stool!"

Then the three of them finished the song, Remus' voice was lilting, Sirius' howling, and Splikvin's drawling:

"Four houses, four louses,

Sleeping, competing, dueling, defeating,

Fightin' on an' on,

But always at hooooome in Hogwarts!"

Remus finished the music with a flourish, and the three of them broke out laughing, soon to be joined by the others in the room.

"Where the heck did you guys learn that!" Harry exclaimed, wiping the tears from his eyes.

Sirius laughed, "We made it up in second year! Not too bad, eh?"

Ron snorted, "Yeah, more like horrible!" They only laughed in reply.

"Of course, it is fairly accurate," Dumbledore commented cheerily, "Though I agree, your voices could use some work."

"More like miracles" Draco drawled.

Snape looked at Draco, "Perhaps not, it could have been worse."

Splikvin, still unsteady from the butterbeer, stared at him. "Who are you and what did you do with my brother?" she demanded, "You are being way too nice!"

The others in the room gawked, and Snape stood sharply up. "Take that back." He growled.

She grinned maniacally at him, "Nope."

In one swift movement, Snape picked Splikvin up and threw her over his shoulder. Stalking over to a window, he opened it and levitated her out, "Take it back!" he demanded.

She was laughing, "I didn't take anything!"

"I am not nice!" he bellowed, unaware that the others were bursting with laughter. "Take-it-back!"

"Fine!" she yelled, "You're a mean, evil, greasy-haired, big-nosed, annoying git of a brother, and you always will be!"

Snape pulled his sister back inside, "Thank you, I have a reputation to maintain." He said with perfect seriousness.

"I think it's ruined now," Sirius drawled, pointing at the teenagers who were rolling around on the floor with hysterics.

Coming Up:

Mirror of Erised

Revealed

Then:

The One Who Came Through the Veil

Durmstrang