Harry Potter and Dumbledore's Army
Chapter two: The Arrivals
Harry again awoke with a lurch and a sudden chill. 'I need to invest in an alarm clock…' grumbled Harry as he scrambled out of the sheets and reoriented himself. The Phoenix Flight had founds its way to the Burrow and was now only slightly wheeling its way down the path to the house. Harry rubbed his head and elbow then shuffled the beds around to find his trunk and bags. For once in his life Harry owned enough stuff to require more than one piece of luggage. The sun was only beginning to rise as Harry and Stan stepped off of the bus and made their way to the entrance of the Weasley manor. True the Burrow could not be considered much of a manor but none the less Harry loved the crooked old house. It was his new home- or at least a home until he could decide otherwise.
As his birthday was approaching, Harry was quite strained to make decisions regarding his future. He, as Mrs. Weasley had begged, could return to Hogwarts to finish schooling and become an official Auror or he could go off into the world to look for Voldemort's final four Horcruxes. Godric's hollow was on his list of visiting places but would inevitably have to wait until Harry could bring his mind to peace about Voldemort. 'What am I going to do about the D.A? They are all waiting on my decisions before making their own. Oh, no… What am I going to do about the Order of Phoenix? They are going to be furious once they figure out I plan on going after Voldemort- and that I won't be alone.' Harry continued to stress over the many problems in front of him until the Phoenix flight finally came to a stop.
"Arry, 'ere we are. I assume you'll let me know if 'ee need me anytime soon. Otherwise I don't 'ave but a few appointments for the next month or so…" Stan's words as he let Harry out were slow and rather depressing so, as Stan was hoping, Harry invited him for breakfast with the Weasleys. "Now Stan don't forget that the Phoenix flight and it's business is secretive. Do Not Tell the Weasleys that you are working for me. Got it?" Harry said as he, again, lurched to a stop and pivoted in front of Stan. The last thing he needed was to worry over Mrs. Weasley's reaction to Harry's newest business actions. She had only just found out about Harry's involvement in the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and was absolutely furious as well as tear-streakened proud of her sons (Harry included). Her pride had always given Harry a sense of family and love within the Weasley home and he was glad to be returning to the rickety old house.
The garden gnomes dashed across the yard as the Phoenix Flight suddenly disappeared. One of the best parts of his new investment was the ability to keep it hidden. Harry knew he had to keep the P.F secret because of the purpose it could, and more likely would, serve. As it was though Harry and Stan had only granted the D.A and a few other select friends access to use the new service. Stan's other appointments were mostly Order members who didn't know that the Phoenix was any different from the Knight Bus, other than in size. Stan had kept customers in a few remote areas; mostly because they were aware of who were really Death Eaters and knew that Stan Shunpike, though an interesting fellow, was certainly NOT a Death Eater.
"Harry! Good Morning!" Mrs. Weasley greeted to them from the window above the door. "What is my favorite jelly? Oh this is such a fuss. Never mind dear, come in and Stan too!" Molly Weasley, like many others had gotten shook up by the death of Dumbledore, but was not going to let it compromise her day to day life. Secret Passwords and identity clues were a waste of time and breath. As soon as her head disappeared from the window it reappeared in the doorway. "Come in, come in. Breakfast is on its way. Stan I assume you would like to stay. It'll be mostly sausage from dinner last night, but then again you enjoyed dinner with us yesterday too." Molly kindly smiled and handed Stan a stack of plates. She gave Harry an understanding look and nodded towards the stairs. Just as Harry ran up the stairs he could hear Stan stuttering slightly "Thannnkkk you Mrs. We-we-weasley. How kind of you to allow me to stay. Sausage sounds wondddderrful."
Harry banged open the door to Ron's room and, yet again, quickly came to a stop. He looked around and counted doors but to his surprise he wasn't wrong. He had walked into Ron's room, but unfortunately for him, and the young couple lying twisted in the sheets, Ron was not in his room. Harry just as quickly threw the door closed and fell against it. "What in Chauncey Oldridge's name!" Harry had, against his will, walked in on Bill and Fleur. Though their acts were already completed and both were asleep, Harry didn't believe he could ever look at either again with out turning the famous Weasley red.
"Oh, Harry, before going into Ron's room you might want to know that Ron is asleep in the attic. The Neville is with him. Hermione, Luna and Ginny are in the Twin's room and the Twins are still in town. Try to be quite, Bill and Charlie are asleep in Ron's room. Long night last night…" Harry chuckled as Mrs. Weasley, unknowingly, announced what she thought to be the room arrangements. "I didn't know Fleur and Charlie looked some much alike."
True to her word, in this case anyways, Ron and Neville were fast asleep in the attic, well not for long anyways.
"Harry!" The boys called out in unison as water drenched them. Aguamenti was one of Harry's more favorable trick charm now that he had put aside the jokes of the Half Blood Prince. His heart panged slightly as he thought about the night in the cave with Dumbledore. He couldn't help but think 'if only Aguamenti had worked… I might have gotten Professor Dumbledore back sooner…' but as soon as the thought entered his mind Harry realized the stupidity of such musings. "Harry! You can't use magic yet! You have at least another month." Harry turned to see the speaker in the doorway. "Hermione!" The two hugged tightly but were broken up quickly when a odd coughing sound came from the corner of the room (the same corner that a wet Ron Weasley just happened to be sitting looking rather red). "Good morning Ron, Neville. Your mom says to hurry and get dressed. Breakfast is just about down." Hermione smiled at the boys (with an odd bit of pause when looking in that certain corner that a certain some one sat) and made her way downstairs. "Aerverte," said Harry quickly. He grabbed Ron and Neville in a hug (now that they were dry), which of course turned into a manlier scuffle. The boys dressed and slowly made way down stairs.
"So Harry… How were the Dursleys?" Ron asked sheepishly knowing that answer wouldn't be pleasant. "The Dursleys?" Neville inquired looking slightly confused. Though they had been friends from first year, Neville never knew quite as much about Harry's situation and Harry knew about his. Harry often pondered what Neville would do if (or when) he found out that he had almost been the boy-who-lived-or-died-because-of-some-stupid-prophecy. Since his conversation with Dumbledore, Harry felt a larger brotherly connection with Neville as well as a little bit of fear for the boy. He had faith in Neville's abilities as a growing wizard, but Harry wasn't sure if he would have been as successful against Voldemort as he had been.
"The Dursley's are my Aunt and Uncle and Cousin Dudley. I used to live with them before Hogwarts. Now I only spend summers between school years. They were perfectly dreadful as always. Uncle Vernon wanted to kick me out now that Dumbledore is- erm, not a threat to him." Harry stumbled over his words as emotion choked his throat. Even though it had been nearly a month since his death, Dumbledore was (like Sirius) a name that was hard to say out loud knowing that they would never be addressing him again. The three boys looked at each other for a moment with an understanding. Obviously all three were thinking the same thing. No more Dumbledore. "So, anyways. Did you get to see the Phoenix Flight Ron?" Harry hadn't told anyone that the P.F was his own investment; they all assumed it was merely a down size move for Stan. "Yeah I looked around a bit. It's nice but not as showy as the Knight Bus was. Why did-" Ron was cut off by a large boom coming from the kitchen. The whole house seemed to sway with the echoes of the boom. As they rushed down the stairs a cloud of dust surrounded them.
"What in Blood Hell?"
"Ron!"
"What! Don't begin Hermione."
"Shut Up!"
"Make me."
"Ron, Hermione, shut it. Is everyone ok?" Harry called out into the dark kitchen; wand lit and ready. Coughing came from all corners of the room but nothing seemed wrong beyond the mess. As the cloud settled (all over their breakfast at that) everyone looked around to see the culprit(s). "Fred and George Weasley! What were you thinking Flooing this early in the morning? You know I only like the stove fire for breakfast! In the middle of the summer nonetheless! You two ought to know better. And now breakfast has been ruined!" Molly Weasley struggled to shout as the farther she got in her lecture the more the tears choked her words.
"Aw Mum, We weren't thinking. Don't cry. Mother!" Fred and George looked around alarmed. Their mother's sudden out break in tears was not the welcome they had expected. "Why in bloody hell did you floo? Hello! You can Apparate!" This time the vulgarity surprisingly came from a much smaller and feminine voice. Ginny stumbled down the stairs (and right on top of an unsuspecting Harry). "Oi, Harry. G'morning." As she picked herself up, the whole room looked at her. Unfortunately living in such a large and close family, everyone knew the break up between the two. "Good morning Ginny." Harry merely smiled and showed no uncomfortable feelings as he greeted his former girl friend. With that simple hello the whole family unfroze and begin to scold the twins and comfort their mother. Neville, who wasn't used to the Weasley's being in one small room, stood shocked and rather confused at what he was supposed to do.
"Sorry Mum. We'll clean this up. And Ginny watch your language little one. You are still the baby of the house until Billy and Fleur make a mistake." This of course merited snickers from the males of the room and scolding from the females. "We tried to Apparate but it wasn't working. I don't know what was blocking us." Harry chuckled, as it seemed that they twins shared brains. Every other word was coming from the other twin. Their sentence ending was annoying but rather Weasley-ish. It reflected the closeness of the family.
"Oi, Sorry. I was experimenting last night with some defense charms and forgot to remove them." Hermione said sheepishly not realizing the intense power require for such a powerful spell. Harry just stood staring at her with his mouth open. "Well, Hermione I'm glad some one is taking this war seriously. Thank you but please remove the wards. We have guest arriving in a few hours for the wedding and I can't afford to have the floo running all day. It will ruin my cake." Mrs. Weasley muttered a bit more about ashes and dust as she quickly cleaned the room and kicked everyone out of the kitchen. "What about breakfast mum?" Ron asked lightly. "Go into town. While you're out pick up a few things from this list please." Harry shuddered as he saw the multiple foot long list Mrs. Weasley threw at them. "Diagon alley anyone?" Ron asked turning red. With that the contents of the room cleared to do their respective grooming.
"It's going to be a long day."
"You got that right Harry."