You know the drill by now, not mine, never mine, never will be mine, and I'm just a li'l stupid struggling writer wanna be, so yeah...and again, HELP!
Btw...this is a key chapter. *drumroll*
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"Look, Hedwig, I know you don't want to, but I need you to!"
Once again, the beautiful snowy-white owl shook her head no.
"Hedwiiiig..." Harry whined. " C'moooon. It's for a good cause!"
Huge amber eyes blinked, and stared at him unnervingly. Then she ruffled her feathers in indignation, before finally reaching toward the small dish of bile-coloured fluid.
Her owner breathed a sigh of relief, and stroked the owl's back with his free hand to help keep her calm as she changed into a rather ugly tan-and-red spotted barn owl, quite a bit larger than her regular size. "Thank you, girl..." he whispered, leaning in to nuzzle her head, only to receive a not-to-tender nip on the nose. "Alright, I deserved that... Look, I promise you all the owl treats you can handle, okay? Just take this letter to Hermione?"
It took a bit more wheedling, but finally Hedwig stuck out a leg, and let Harry tie the letter to her leg.
As soon as Hedwig was out of sight, Harry breathed a sigh and pushed his fingers through his perpetually unkempt hair. Never in a million years, could he have believed that Hermione would have joined Voldemort. And yet...she'd not only joined him, but she was able to cast the cruciatus. That meant she really had to enjoy causing pain? He shook his head. Not Hermione. Not HIS Hermione. She just wasn't like that.
/Heh.../ said his inner-voice. /Looks like you were wrong./ "SHUT UP!!!" Harry yelled, picking up the nearest bottle, and throwing it against the wall, where it thudded to the floor.
"What's this, Potter? You can't even properly throw a tantrum?" Came a silky smooth voice from the doorway. Rage burned in Harry, and with his Seeker reflexes, he snatched another bottle—this one containing the rest of the mixture he'd made to give Hedwig—and threw it at Snape. It connected with the Potion Master's perpetually frowning forehead, and Snape rocked back on his heels, almost going down.
"I know I have a temper, you greasy-haired git! That's why all the glassware in my house have UNBREAKABLE charms on them, or are you too BLOODY stupid about anything other than your precious potions to figure that out?"
Snape, by now, had his wand in his hand, and had already cast a charm to get rid of the ache left by the bottle, and now that wand was pointed straight at Harry. "You impertinent whelp!" he bit out, stalking towards Harry, cloak flying out behind him. "I don't know what you're playing at, Potter, but just let me remind you of one thing. You're a Death Eater now. You're everything you've ever accused me of being, and LOWER, because I've never pretended to be some goody two shoes, let alone played at being the boy-hero to the whole of the wizarding world. When Albus finds out about thi--"
"Good Lord, You really think I'm going to give you a chance to leak any information to him?" Harry arched a skeptical eyebrow, as he twirled his own wand, which he'd slowly drawn, around his fingers.
Snape sneered. "Try and stop me, Potter."
"I'll think about it..." Harry retorted cooly, before turning his attention to the cauldron that was over a low flame. "We need to add the Foxglove leaf, and three pinches of honey-bee eyes, and...." He paused, looking down at the ingredients he had listed on a parchment that was stuck to the table with a temporary sticking charm. He could feel Snape's eyes on him, and so, without looking up, said, "Do I have to tell Voldemort that you're not doing what you were assigned to do? Because believe me, I'd do so with the greatest pleasure..." It was all said in a toneless, matter-of-fact way, that it had Snape at his side within the minute, still glaring daggers at him.
"I will find out what game you're playing, Potter," Severus said in his most intimidating tone as he added the carefully shredded foxglove to the cauldron.
"Of that, I have no doubt, Snape. Otherwise you'd probably already be dead." Harry raised his head up, meeting Snape's eyes, honesty coming through. A frown creased the Potion Master's brow, and he tried to perform Legilimency, but as soon as Harry felt the probing, he broke eye contact and shook his head. "Such a naughty Slytherin," he said lightly, and then turned his full attention back to the potion.
The two of them worked in a silence that was so tense at first that you could have cut it with a knife, but gradually, it lessened, as the task at hand overtook the both of them, and excitement grew, merely for the fact that they were trying to make something new, something no one else had. What they were actually attempting to make, was something different in both of the male's minds, but Harry wasn't willing to reveal that fact. He was rather surprised that Snape was actually helping him today, rather than just mainly sitting back and watching. /It must have been my little threat to tell Voldemort./ he thought to himself, and grinned a little.
Snape, however, in the gradual peace, was going over in his head all the ingredients that he knew they'd added to the potion so far. Some of them were commonly known to be dangerous, but some of them...just mystified him. He knew, from observing Potter quietly, that the boy did have a bit more experience, so he was willing to believe that he knew at least a bit about what he was doing, but there was no faith in the Golden Boy. /Probably just winging it.../ Snape thought to himself as he picked up the crushed beetle legs and added them in, stirring three and a half times, counter clock-wise.
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/The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix are located at #12 Grimmauld Place./ A bushy-haired, slim girl concentrated hard on the thought, and then tentatively opened one eye a crack to stare as the house between Numbers 11 and 13 began to expand, pushing and shoving those two out of the way until it was fully unfolded. She stepped up to the front door, swallowed hard, and rubbed her sweaty palms on her dark purple robes. /You can do this.../ she told herself again, and then raised her hand, grasping the door-knocker and rapping solidly three times.
The door was opened quickly, but she found herself at the end of Molly Weasely's wand. "It's me, Mrs. Weasely!" she said quickly, eyes crossed as she stared at the tip of the wand.
It was amazing, really, how fast Molly Weasley could put away her wand and wrap one in the type hug only a parent can give.
Hermione gasped for breath after a moment, having returned the hug fiercely. "Mrs. Weasly...turning...blue.."
Immediately she was released, and beckoned inside. After the door was securely locked, Molly, the red-headed mother of seven, turned and pointed toward the drawing room. "The meeting is in there, as usual, dear." Hermione nodded and walked toward the door, her head held high, and when she opened it, peeking around, chaos erupted, but totally of the good sort. Various members of the Weasley family rose from their chairs, coming over to hug her, or give her a pat on the back. Remus rose and pulled out her chair, giving her a weak, tired smile. She smiled back and sat down, looking around. They'd added some new members since she last had seen them.
The sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted her thoughts.
She turned towards the sound, and Dumbledore smiled at her, before addressing the rest of the group. "As you can see, we have a new Order member, Mrs. Hermione Weasely." Several of the Weaselys pounded on the table and applauded, causing the girl in question to blush and duck her head. "Now, Alastor, if you would please check her over? Just in case?"
"Certainly, Albus." The scarred, wooden-legged ex-Auror said, and whipped his wand out, pointing it at Hermione.
She gulped, thinking she was going to be exposed two minutes into the meeting, if that.
"Finite Incantetum!" He ground out the spell, and when nothing happened, turned to look at Dumbledore. "She's good."
"Very good. Mrs...uh, Hermione, to make things a bit easier, tell me, what piece of equipment allowed you to sneak around the halls with Mr. Weasely and Mr. Potter?"
"Harry's invisibility cloak, Sir," she answered easily, and felt the first signs of a gentle probing in her mind. Quickly she redirected memories of her schooldays to the front, and after a second, Dumbledore nodded his head, eyes twinkling. /Thank God I've practiced Occlumency./
"Now, let's get this meeting under way, shall we?" He turned to Alastor, also known as Mad-Eye Moody, so named for his magical all-seeing fake eye. "Has there been any news of Severus?"
Mad-Eye shook his head. "Not seen hide nor hair of him, Dumbledore. I expect Voldemort's got him whipping up potions left and right." A look of concern entered the Headmaster's bright blue eyes, but he nodded.
"Most likely, you are right; however, if he does not show soon, we'll have to see about locating him. Minerva, how's recruitment going?" And so the meeting went, news being shared for a good hour before they turned their attention towards something that she could report on without fear of being tortured. "Now, last we heard, from Severus, there were indications from Voldemort that he was planning on attacking Diagon Alley. We can only assume that that is still the plan, as per his disappearance, so...how many Aurors from the Ministry can we depend on?"
As the talk went on, Hermione listened closely, making mental notes, and occasionally suggesting things, or speaking up with bits of facts she'd read about the area. This lasted for another half-hour, and then the meeting was dismissed, and everyone congregated to the kitchen, where a house-elf brought from Hogwarts had just finished whipping up food for the lot of them.
They all looked anxiously at Hermione when she spotted the house-elf which hadn't been in Grimmauld Place last time she'd visited. It was well known that she hated the idea of creatures working under enslavement, as Ron and Harry could well tell you from their days of schooling when they'd had to put up with her "S.P.E.W" campaign, which she'd thankfully dropped. Hermione didn't say anything, though, but settled for speaking kindly to the elf, and settling down to eat.
There was a collective sigh of relief, and she looked up with curiosity written on her face. "What was that about??"
Remus Lupin grinned. "Nothing much, Hermione."
She narrowed her eyes, sure she'd missed something, but all of them looked at her with perfectly innocent faces, so she shoved it aside, and spent the remaining time she was at Grimmauld Place catching up with people she'd not seen in at least a month, and some even longer than that. For that short amount of time, she managed to push back everything, and just concentrated on having fun.
It was with a heavy heart that she left the Order's Headquarters, and Apparated back to her home, knowing that she needed to get to work on what Dumbledore had assigned her. But first she took a few moments to scribble down the mental notes she'd kept on the meeting, and then hid the journal away, guilt eating at her.
Sorry it's been so long since my last update! I was horribly writers blocked! I dont even like this chapter *sighs* thanks to all my reviewers! Please continue to read, and be patient :)
Btw...this is a key chapter. *drumroll*
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"Look, Hedwig, I know you don't want to, but I need you to!"
Once again, the beautiful snowy-white owl shook her head no.
"Hedwiiiig..." Harry whined. " C'moooon. It's for a good cause!"
Huge amber eyes blinked, and stared at him unnervingly. Then she ruffled her feathers in indignation, before finally reaching toward the small dish of bile-coloured fluid.
Her owner breathed a sigh of relief, and stroked the owl's back with his free hand to help keep her calm as she changed into a rather ugly tan-and-red spotted barn owl, quite a bit larger than her regular size. "Thank you, girl..." he whispered, leaning in to nuzzle her head, only to receive a not-to-tender nip on the nose. "Alright, I deserved that... Look, I promise you all the owl treats you can handle, okay? Just take this letter to Hermione?"
It took a bit more wheedling, but finally Hedwig stuck out a leg, and let Harry tie the letter to her leg.
As soon as Hedwig was out of sight, Harry breathed a sigh and pushed his fingers through his perpetually unkempt hair. Never in a million years, could he have believed that Hermione would have joined Voldemort. And yet...she'd not only joined him, but she was able to cast the cruciatus. That meant she really had to enjoy causing pain? He shook his head. Not Hermione. Not HIS Hermione. She just wasn't like that.
/Heh.../ said his inner-voice. /Looks like you were wrong./ "SHUT UP!!!" Harry yelled, picking up the nearest bottle, and throwing it against the wall, where it thudded to the floor.
"What's this, Potter? You can't even properly throw a tantrum?" Came a silky smooth voice from the doorway. Rage burned in Harry, and with his Seeker reflexes, he snatched another bottle—this one containing the rest of the mixture he'd made to give Hedwig—and threw it at Snape. It connected with the Potion Master's perpetually frowning forehead, and Snape rocked back on his heels, almost going down.
"I know I have a temper, you greasy-haired git! That's why all the glassware in my house have UNBREAKABLE charms on them, or are you too BLOODY stupid about anything other than your precious potions to figure that out?"
Snape, by now, had his wand in his hand, and had already cast a charm to get rid of the ache left by the bottle, and now that wand was pointed straight at Harry. "You impertinent whelp!" he bit out, stalking towards Harry, cloak flying out behind him. "I don't know what you're playing at, Potter, but just let me remind you of one thing. You're a Death Eater now. You're everything you've ever accused me of being, and LOWER, because I've never pretended to be some goody two shoes, let alone played at being the boy-hero to the whole of the wizarding world. When Albus finds out about thi--"
"Good Lord, You really think I'm going to give you a chance to leak any information to him?" Harry arched a skeptical eyebrow, as he twirled his own wand, which he'd slowly drawn, around his fingers.
Snape sneered. "Try and stop me, Potter."
"I'll think about it..." Harry retorted cooly, before turning his attention to the cauldron that was over a low flame. "We need to add the Foxglove leaf, and three pinches of honey-bee eyes, and...." He paused, looking down at the ingredients he had listed on a parchment that was stuck to the table with a temporary sticking charm. He could feel Snape's eyes on him, and so, without looking up, said, "Do I have to tell Voldemort that you're not doing what you were assigned to do? Because believe me, I'd do so with the greatest pleasure..." It was all said in a toneless, matter-of-fact way, that it had Snape at his side within the minute, still glaring daggers at him.
"I will find out what game you're playing, Potter," Severus said in his most intimidating tone as he added the carefully shredded foxglove to the cauldron.
"Of that, I have no doubt, Snape. Otherwise you'd probably already be dead." Harry raised his head up, meeting Snape's eyes, honesty coming through. A frown creased the Potion Master's brow, and he tried to perform Legilimency, but as soon as Harry felt the probing, he broke eye contact and shook his head. "Such a naughty Slytherin," he said lightly, and then turned his full attention back to the potion.
The two of them worked in a silence that was so tense at first that you could have cut it with a knife, but gradually, it lessened, as the task at hand overtook the both of them, and excitement grew, merely for the fact that they were trying to make something new, something no one else had. What they were actually attempting to make, was something different in both of the male's minds, but Harry wasn't willing to reveal that fact. He was rather surprised that Snape was actually helping him today, rather than just mainly sitting back and watching. /It must have been my little threat to tell Voldemort./ he thought to himself, and grinned a little.
Snape, however, in the gradual peace, was going over in his head all the ingredients that he knew they'd added to the potion so far. Some of them were commonly known to be dangerous, but some of them...just mystified him. He knew, from observing Potter quietly, that the boy did have a bit more experience, so he was willing to believe that he knew at least a bit about what he was doing, but there was no faith in the Golden Boy. /Probably just winging it.../ Snape thought to himself as he picked up the crushed beetle legs and added them in, stirring three and a half times, counter clock-wise.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix are located at #12 Grimmauld Place./ A bushy-haired, slim girl concentrated hard on the thought, and then tentatively opened one eye a crack to stare as the house between Numbers 11 and 13 began to expand, pushing and shoving those two out of the way until it was fully unfolded. She stepped up to the front door, swallowed hard, and rubbed her sweaty palms on her dark purple robes. /You can do this.../ she told herself again, and then raised her hand, grasping the door-knocker and rapping solidly three times.
The door was opened quickly, but she found herself at the end of Molly Weasely's wand. "It's me, Mrs. Weasely!" she said quickly, eyes crossed as she stared at the tip of the wand.
It was amazing, really, how fast Molly Weasley could put away her wand and wrap one in the type hug only a parent can give.
Hermione gasped for breath after a moment, having returned the hug fiercely. "Mrs. Weasly...turning...blue.."
Immediately she was released, and beckoned inside. After the door was securely locked, Molly, the red-headed mother of seven, turned and pointed toward the drawing room. "The meeting is in there, as usual, dear." Hermione nodded and walked toward the door, her head held high, and when she opened it, peeking around, chaos erupted, but totally of the good sort. Various members of the Weasley family rose from their chairs, coming over to hug her, or give her a pat on the back. Remus rose and pulled out her chair, giving her a weak, tired smile. She smiled back and sat down, looking around. They'd added some new members since she last had seen them.
The sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted her thoughts.
She turned towards the sound, and Dumbledore smiled at her, before addressing the rest of the group. "As you can see, we have a new Order member, Mrs. Hermione Weasely." Several of the Weaselys pounded on the table and applauded, causing the girl in question to blush and duck her head. "Now, Alastor, if you would please check her over? Just in case?"
"Certainly, Albus." The scarred, wooden-legged ex-Auror said, and whipped his wand out, pointing it at Hermione.
She gulped, thinking she was going to be exposed two minutes into the meeting, if that.
"Finite Incantetum!" He ground out the spell, and when nothing happened, turned to look at Dumbledore. "She's good."
"Very good. Mrs...uh, Hermione, to make things a bit easier, tell me, what piece of equipment allowed you to sneak around the halls with Mr. Weasely and Mr. Potter?"
"Harry's invisibility cloak, Sir," she answered easily, and felt the first signs of a gentle probing in her mind. Quickly she redirected memories of her schooldays to the front, and after a second, Dumbledore nodded his head, eyes twinkling. /Thank God I've practiced Occlumency./
"Now, let's get this meeting under way, shall we?" He turned to Alastor, also known as Mad-Eye Moody, so named for his magical all-seeing fake eye. "Has there been any news of Severus?"
Mad-Eye shook his head. "Not seen hide nor hair of him, Dumbledore. I expect Voldemort's got him whipping up potions left and right." A look of concern entered the Headmaster's bright blue eyes, but he nodded.
"Most likely, you are right; however, if he does not show soon, we'll have to see about locating him. Minerva, how's recruitment going?" And so the meeting went, news being shared for a good hour before they turned their attention towards something that she could report on without fear of being tortured. "Now, last we heard, from Severus, there were indications from Voldemort that he was planning on attacking Diagon Alley. We can only assume that that is still the plan, as per his disappearance, so...how many Aurors from the Ministry can we depend on?"
As the talk went on, Hermione listened closely, making mental notes, and occasionally suggesting things, or speaking up with bits of facts she'd read about the area. This lasted for another half-hour, and then the meeting was dismissed, and everyone congregated to the kitchen, where a house-elf brought from Hogwarts had just finished whipping up food for the lot of them.
They all looked anxiously at Hermione when she spotted the house-elf which hadn't been in Grimmauld Place last time she'd visited. It was well known that she hated the idea of creatures working under enslavement, as Ron and Harry could well tell you from their days of schooling when they'd had to put up with her "S.P.E.W" campaign, which she'd thankfully dropped. Hermione didn't say anything, though, but settled for speaking kindly to the elf, and settling down to eat.
There was a collective sigh of relief, and she looked up with curiosity written on her face. "What was that about??"
Remus Lupin grinned. "Nothing much, Hermione."
She narrowed her eyes, sure she'd missed something, but all of them looked at her with perfectly innocent faces, so she shoved it aside, and spent the remaining time she was at Grimmauld Place catching up with people she'd not seen in at least a month, and some even longer than that. For that short amount of time, she managed to push back everything, and just concentrated on having fun.
It was with a heavy heart that she left the Order's Headquarters, and Apparated back to her home, knowing that she needed to get to work on what Dumbledore had assigned her. But first she took a few moments to scribble down the mental notes she'd kept on the meeting, and then hid the journal away, guilt eating at her.
Sorry it's been so long since my last update! I was horribly writers blocked! I dont even like this chapter *sighs* thanks to all my reviewers! Please continue to read, and be patient :)