A/N: IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE, PLEASE READ!

Hello to all my lovely reviewers, I'm sad to say I will no longer be able to be giving out personally thank yous because of the gay new rule; I want you all to know that I, personally, hate the dang thing so if you would like a question answered leave your email address in your review and I will answer any question you have in an email.

Okay, more bad news. Sorry guys I know I'm a slow updater but I'm afraid it will be slowing down even more. School has started along with band, clarinet lessons, volleyball, and piano. I also will be playing in the choir, the piano that is , so I apologize in advance. Well, I need to get started on this homework right now, dang teachers. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

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Chapter 24

The New Members of the Order

Recap:

Professor Dumbledore smiled again, "I am very pleased to see that you have learned from your mistake so quickly... the minds of today are nothing like the ones of yesterday. You two are the few of my many students that will learn from their mistakes before punishment has been given, thus, you are forgiven again," he stated wisely making the two in front of him beam.

"Thank you, Sir," Ginny said kindly.

"You are quite welcome, Miss Weasley," he said nodding towards her and Harry, "Now, I do believe we had something to discuss about this ... accident in the Great Hall don't we?" Dumbledore asked looking at Harry oddly.

Suddenly Harry felt out of place, something felt wrong, but what it was... Harry didn't know. All he knew was that whatever were to happen next, whatever they would find out, would not be good news in any way.

End of Recap:

"Yes, we do... now where to start?" Dumbledore asked more to himself than the others, " Well, we believe that one of the teachers working here at Hogwarts have been having contact with Voldemort."

Harry turned a bit white, Ginny noticed this at once and grabbed his hand with and gave it reassuring squeeze.

Do you know who that teacher would be?" Harry asked quietly, afraid of who it could be.

Dumbledore sighed, "Yes, in a way, but I am afraid I don't know for sure. We have suspicions of a certain person and that is why I have called this meeting. I believe that on the night of the Valentines Day Ball, this teacher betrayed Voldemort in some way. Which gave him an excuse to attack the school, not only to hurt you, Harry, but to hurt this teacher as well."

Ginny narrowed her eyes, "There should never be any reason for him to attack the school."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement, " No, nothing gives him reason to attack Hogwarts, but he, himself, I am sure thinks that it was quite the good reason."

There was a pause until Harry spoke up again, " But, Professor Dumbledore, sir, I don't understand something."

"Yes, Harry?"

"What gave you suspicions that one of the teachers here have been in contact with Voldemort?"

Dumbledore smiled and sighed, "Ahh, quite the bright one you are. Well, you see, about three days before the Ball disaster this teacher asked me if he could join the Order, which seemed suspicious. So, I did a bit of researching and also a bit of spying, sure enough a bit later I had found records of him getting the Dark Mark this September."

Ginny had been quiet for quite some time and felt it was her turn to talk now, "But, Professor, who is this teacher?"

He grinned, "That, Miss Weasley I cannot tell you," he started as a puzzled looked crossed their faces, " unless you join the Order. Which is why I have decided to bring you two here today. Not many of the students would I even consider offering this position to, but I would be delighted to have you join us." Dumbledore stopped and noticed Ginny's hesitant look.

"I have already spoken with your mother and father, Miss Weasley, and I have convinced them to let you join, it was hard.. yes it was quite hard, but my social skills have increased in the past few years I believe. After all you both are now of age, therefore it is quite legal for you to join. Of course this is an exception, usually students would never be given this opportunity, but of course you could turn it down."

Ginny still looked hesitant. What if they did join and something very bad happened to one of them... what if Harry got killed? She couldn't possibly live without him. But her thoughts were interrupted by Harry.

"I will gladly join, but I will not do anything without Gin," Harry said patting her hand gently.

Ginny thought about it for a moment or two and decided that she would not keep Harry from doing something just because she was a bit scared, "Yes, I will join as well."

"Wonderful," he said

"Are there any other students that are part of the Order?" Ginny asked.

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, just three."

"Who would those be, Sir?" asked Harry.

Dumbledore grinned, " Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, and Nevile Longbottom."

Harry looked confused, " When did they join?"

"About fifteen minutes ago, I asked them not to mention anything to you two because I wanted you to join on your own, without feeling as if you were forced to join." Answered Dumbledore wisely.

"Oh, okay," Ginny said, "so do they both know all about Voldemort and your suspicions as well?"

He nodded, "Yes, they do."

Ginny nodded and sat quietly again, thinking to herself. "Sir? Why have you chosen the five of us to join?"

Dumbledore smiled again, "You five have been through as much as any of the older members of the Order have. You have faced Voldemort time and time again and have managed to live through it. Bravery, character, and cleverness, are the basis requirements to winning a battle and all of you have shown each of them repeatedly in just the past two years. It seems perfectly clear that you five should be in the Order."

Ginny blushed and then cleared her throat, " Thank you, sir."

"Oh, please, now that you have joined call me by my first name," Dumbledore said insistently.

They nodded, this would definitely be something that they would have to get used to. Calling Dumbledore by his first name wasn't a normal thing.

"So, er.. Albus ...," Ginny started, "the explosion in the Great Hall, was, definitely, caused by Voldemort?"

The old man nodded, "Yes, that is quite right." He had that bright twinkling mischief in his eyes they knew only meant he was thinking about something troublesome."And this time he wasn't after me? But then why did my scar burst open a while before, and why was I having so many nightmares ... why am I having those nightmares? It just doesn't make sense!" Harry said shaking his head.

"Yes, my dear boy, it does, it may not seem like any of this makes sense, but it all does. Here I will explain," he said, standing up and beginning to pace the room.

"When I found out that Professor Colvalt had gotten the Dark Mark on September 15th of this year, I knew that employing him here was, indeed, a big mistake." he said, making Ginny and Harry flinch. They always had had suspicions that Colvalt was a bit... funny in the head.

"But," he continued, " unfortunately at the time I had no knowledge of him getting the Dark Mark, so employ him is exactly what I did! A few months later the day of the Ball arrived, I was quite worried that there would be disruption in the hall that night, because the pinky toe on my right foot was burning the night before. And that is a clear sign that trouble is near in my case," Ginny giggled and Harry snorted as he continued talking. " Sure enough a few minutes later the Great Hall had been engulfed in flames and falling debris, injuring many students, but it seemed that most of the destruction was aimed in two people's directions. Can you guess who those two might be?" he asked

Harry nodded. "Professor Colvalt and I?" he asked, knowing he was correct.

"Yes, and to me it seemed a bit ironic that three days before the accident he had came to me requesting to join the Order. It was also a bit odd that he knew what the Order was while no one is to speak of it, therefore the only person other than the members that would know about the Order would be, Voldemort, making it quite clear that he had been in contact with him. Which also made me think that the entire disruption on the 14th was caused by, Voldemort. It seems to me that Professor Colvalt had asked for a job here at Hogwarts to be a spy for him, watching you most likely. Then for some reason Professor Colvalt decided that being on the dark side was the wrong choice and turned over to the good side, making Voldemort angry with him and giving him the perfect reason to attack him, you, and the rest of the school. Your scar bursting open was the first warning of danger, and I believe your dream will be something that will happen in the future, in the final battle I believe."

"Now that you said all of that it does make sense." Harry said, feeling his cheeks heat up.

"Do you have any other questions?" Dumbledore asked smiling at the two.

"Yes, um, Prof- Albus," Harry started awkwardly, " why don't you just simply send him to court and put him in jail. You have enough evidence that he is a death eater don't you?"

"Yes, Harry, we have plenty of evidence, but we cannot put him in Azkaban." Dumbledore said sadly as he sat back down into his cushy seat.

"Why is that?" asked Ginny.

"Professor Vincent Colvalt has left the area, he has fled from Hogwarts, he is gone."

Harry sighed heavily, " Gone? As in, cannot find him?"

Albus nodded, " That is correct, Harry,"

"Which means we can't put him in Azkaban." Mumbled Ginny.

"Precisely, but I think I have an idea of where he has fled to."

"Probably Voldemort's H.Q. I mean after the accident in the Great Hall, Colvalt probably went back to his side." Harry suggested.

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, that is where I believe he has gone to, but where that is exactly I don't know. Now we must rap up this meeting, I understand that Professor Binns has given you a rather long report to finish by Monday afternoon and I suspect you want to get that over with." He gave them a sarcastic smile and then looked down at his desk and started rummaging through drawers. "Ah, here they are," he said as he pulled out two scrawny silver rings, and when Harry looked at them closely he noticed that both of them had the letters, ' OOTP ' engraved in them, but the ring was so slender and the engraving was so small that Harry could barely make it out.

Dumbledore smiled and glanced at the rings that he had handed them, "These two rings will be worn on your left pinky fingers, and as soon as they are placed there they will become invisible and will never come off until you have left the Order, have died or have retired. Wearing these rings is very important, and at the same time helpful. The ring will become warm and vibrate when a meeting is being called."

"So," Ginny started, looking at Dumbledore oddly, "They are like a... messenger. sort of, right?"

"Yes, very much like a messenger,... go ahead slip them on."

Harry and Ginny did so and as soon as they were placed on their fingers their hands began glowing a bright red and the ring slowly blended in with the color of their skin.

Dumbledore glanced at the clock, " Oh, my, I do believe it is about time for you two to go. It is almost nine o'clock, and I need to get started on these plans. Good bye Ginny, Harry, have a nice evening!"

"You too sir,"

"We will," they called as they stood up and walked towards his door.

Dumbledore raised his hand and waved at them, making the door open and letting the two tired and shocked students out of the room. They had went into his office terrified that they were in trouble, and left... being new parts of the Order.

When they returned to their common room Harry collapsed on the couch and Ginny laid down on his lap. He smiled at his redheaded girl friend, she had her eyes closed and her hair was fanned out on his lap, glistening in the light from the chandelier above them. Harry brushed her hair lightly with his hand as he admired her beauty.

"You look beautiful tonight, Gin," he said leaning down and pressing his lips to her forehead.

Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled up at him, "Thanks, you look good tonight too." he smiled back at her again and this time leaned down and kissed her on the lips, just a soft innocent kiss.

Ginny sat up and leaned against his chest, "Harry?" she asked.

"Yeah, that would be my name." he said chuckling.

She turned and looked at him seriously. "Harry, doesn't being part of the Order scare you in the least? I mean we are putting our lives in danger-" Ginny stopped for a second as tears filled her luscious chocolate eyes, "I don't know what I would do without you Harry."

It made his heart melt to see that single tear fall down her porcelain cheek. He leaned in and kissed the tear away, pulling her into a loving hug.

"Nothing bad will happen, Ginny," rung Harry's reassuring voice in her ear, even though Harry knew that something bad may happen he wasn't about to tell her that. "Everything will be okay, love, I will protect you with every ounce of magic left in my body."

"It's not me that I'm worried about, Voldemort isn't after me, he is after you, Harry, and if something bad happens to you... if you get hurt,... if you d-" she said shakily stopping at the last word and bursting out into tears.

He held her tighter and began rocking back and forth. "I will never leave you, my love, I will always be with you, here," he said pointing to her head, " here," he pointed to her heart, " and here," he said kissing her hard on the lips. She rapped her arms around his neck and put as much passion into the kiss as she possibly could, treating it as if it were the last kiss she would ever share with him.

She pulled away and rested her head on his shoulder, "I love you Harry,"

He smiled slightly, "I love you too, care to get some rest? You look very tired."

Ginny nodded and began to stand up but instead found that Harry had swept her into his strong manly arms and carried to his bedroom. She crawled under the covers and rested her head on the pillows, a few minutes later Harry crept up to her side and slipped an arm around her waist. Hearing the quiet snoring coming from her, he assumed she was already asleep. Harry planted a soft kiss on her cheek and closed his eyes immediately being consumed in a very deep sleep.

A/N: Ahh, this chapter took forever! You guys probably hate me now.. sorry! Well, I hope you enjoyed reading it, much love...

Lissy

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