Everything but my OC's, the plotline and whatnot that you don't recognize,
belongs to JKR. If somebody wants to sue me, you'll have a hard time
catching me, as I will be likely to flee to a non-extraditing country in
South America, cackling all the way about el loco gringo federales.
Yeah. So this chapter is later than planned...a surprising social life popped up out of the middle of nowhere and disrupted my writing schedule. It inspired me to write a comedy, but nothing for this. And then a bit of writer's block hit me. I know what is going to happen in this chapter...and the next, and the one after that, but I had a whole lot of trouble writing it all.
A bigger chunk of the meeting with Naylajaratim will be revealed in the coming chapters. Much will be explained. Have no fears, I've not forgotten about my favorite OC.
Harry was on his third slice of toast when his uncle Vernon finally woke up, sputtering many choice words as he saw the, as of yet, unknown wizard daring to eat at his table.
"You! What are you doing in my house? Get out now!" He roared, then spotted Petunia laying in a heap on the floor in the doorway of the kitchen. Immediately thinking the worst, he leaped over her, making the floor and surrounding walls shake, and charged at Harry, who still sat hunched over his plate, without a care in the world.
Harry almost casually rolled out of the chair and across the floor as Vernon lunged at him. Vernon missed, and crashed through the table, succeeding in waking up Petunia.
"Vernon!" She shrieked, rushing to his side.
Harry rose to his feet, and went back over to Vernon, pushing Petunia aside and hoisting Vernon to his feet. He then lifted his shirt tail up, and used his free hand to draw out a very sharp and wicked looking hunting knife from its resting sheath at the small of his back. He held it loosely in his right hand and pushed Vernon against the refrigerator with his left hand, holding his hand around his throat, making his eyes bulge out as he gasped for air.
Petunia was frantic now, and tried reasoning with Harry. "Harry, put the knife away, please? You wouldn't want to harm your family, would you?" She spoke softly. Harry could've been fooled if he hadn't lived with them year round for ten years. As it was, he merely sneered at her and made her back away by pushing the point of his knife rather close to her throat.
"Well, Uncle Vernon...it's not polite to attack a visitor in your home." He smirked at Vernon, who was gaping in surprise as he realized who was holding him against the refrigerator with a knife ready to cut his eyes out.
"Now see here, boy!" Vernon began to roar again, thinking he could easily escape from his worthless little nephew.
Harry grinned wickedly and slung Vernon across the kitchen, crashing into several cabinets and busting them open. "Yes, Uncle Vernon?" He replied.
Vernon clutched at his side that he ran into the counter with, and fell to his knees. He looked up at Harry, an expression of rage taking place on his face. He stood and charged at Harry again.
Harry very nearly rolled his eyes, and stepped aside, punching out with his right hand.
Vernon howled and ran into the refrigerator, eliciting an even more painful howl, and fell onto his back. Petunia screamed as she saw the knife buried hilt deep in his gut, blood seeping out from the wound.
Harry stepped over Vernon, and removed the knife from him, wiping it clean on his shirt, before placing it back its sheath. Harry held his hand over the stab wound, and a pale, red light shot out from the palm of his hand, enveloping the wound in its light. Slowly, the wound began to close, and the blood stopped seeping. "I've wanted to hurt you so bad for so long..." He softly spoke, addressing both his uncle and his aunt, "But now that I have the opportunity to get revenge for all the years of hell you two have put me through...I honestly don't give a shit anymore. I have far more important things to do, than waste my time with you two." He kept his voice low and soft, but the anger in it was for from quelled. Petunia looked ready to faint again, and Vernon was too shocked from being stabbed, and then healthy again a few seconds later, to utter a word. Harry stood up, and waved his hand over Vernon's head, whispering "Obliviate." Then did the same to Petunia. He grabbed a piece of bacon from a miraculously unbroken plate, and calmly walked out of the house.
Harry apparated back to the castle grounds, and walked through the entrance, into the dining hall to find a surprise waiting for him.
Hermione stood glaring at him, arms crossed, and frown in place. "You didn't come back last night." She stated.
"Didn't Tonks tell you I wasn't coming?" Harry asked.
"Yes. But why didn't you?" She asked, lowering her arms and softening her gaze.
"I had to work on the security of the castle. I decided after you left that I should get it done right away, because I want a meeting with everyone as soon as possible." Harry looked at her, and Hermione lowered her eyes. "Why's it such a big deal?" He asked.
Hermione shrugged absently, "I was just looking forward to sitting down and talking with you...yesterday in the library was the most fun I've had in years, and I was wanting to do it again."
Harry smiled warmly. "Well, I could go and knock all the shelves over, mess up all the books...we could start over and do it again." He suggested, raising his eyebrows a couple times and winking.
Hermione looked horrified at the thought, as purposely messing up the order of a library was borderline sacrilege to her. "Harry!"
Harry laughed, and gave her shoulder a squeeze.
"So where were you?" She asked, while taking Harry's hand and pulling him into the library.
"Why are we going to the library?" Harry asked, while looking confused.
Hermione shrugged. "Best place to talk." She simply said.
Harry shrugged as well and sat down in one of the uncomfortable straight back chairs that Hermione had pulled in there the day before. "I went to the Dursley's for breakfast."
Hermione sputtered in surprise, but quickly regained her composure. "Forgive my language, but why in the hell would you go there for your first breakfast as...a somewhat free man? What if they somehow get wind to the Ministry that you were there?"
"I obliviated them after leaving. Vernon should also have a nice inch wide scar right above his belly button to remember the morning by. Not that he'll remember where it came from, or who gave it to him. But anyway," He continued through Hermione's held up hand and question of 'Scar?', "When I arrived there, I hid under the living room, and listened to a conversation going on inside. Apparently, I'm officially declared dead, and there were two ministry types there to break the news to the Dursley's, and let them know that since they're my only living relatives, they're entitled to one quarter of my vault's money, which I learned came out to somewhere around the fifty-five million pound range. I tell you, those Dursley's were quite distraught to hear about my death, and were quite passionately heartbroken to learn that all they had to remember me by was the enormous sum of money from my vault."
Hermione took a moment to process this, and glanced up at Harry. "So you're officially a dead man?"
Harry nodded. "Yes, I am. But this is where the fun bit starts...right after they tell the Dursley's of this, another ministry type apparates in, and runs into the house to get the other two, tells them that they're needed immediately in Diagon Alley. I cast an invisibility charm on myself and followed the three of them down the driveway to listen to them. The new wizard told them that Gringotts was broken into, mine and Sirius' vaults were taken, and the goblins were threatening to revolt. He said that Weasley, Arthur, I presume, was recalling all Ministry personnel around London, to Diagon Alley. After that, I went into the house, made my aunt and uncle faint a couple times, got jumped by Vernon, stabbed him, grabbed a piece of bacon," He held up the evidence here, a half eaten slice of bacon, "And came back here."
Hermione had gasped quite loudly upon hearing that the goblins were threatening to revolt, but that was soon forgotten after hearing that Harry had stabbed his uncle. "You what?" She practically screamed, making Harry automatically cringe backward.
"He was attacking me! I stabbed him, then pulled the knife out and healed him, then obliviated them both and left. He's perfectly fine." He assured her, although she still looked livid.
She took a deep breath, and Harry could tell he was about to be on the receiving end of a very long, and presumably, very loud rant. He quickly put his hand over her mouth, and ignored her muffled protest.
"He's fine, Hermione. I was just defending myself, and then I healed him. Neither of them will remember a thing, and will likely assume it was a burglar that busted into their house and broke their table, ransacked the kitchen and left them both unconscious, valiantly trying to defend their home." He said, slowly and surely, making sure that Hermione got the point. Evidently she had, because she lowered her head and exhaled the waiting breath.
"That's still not a very nice thing to do, Harry." She stated.
Harry grinned widely. "Oh, I know." He whistled merrily and summoned a random book from one of the Dark Arts shelves, and began flipping through it.
Hermione watched him for a couple minutes, remaining silent. Harry noticed her watching, and looked up, raising his eyebrows. "What?"
Hermione shook her head, "Nothing. Anyway, the Order of the Lion has been called, everyone will be at Tonks' residence tonight at seven o' clock."
"Everyone's able to make it on such short notice?" Harry asked.
"Yes, surprisingly. The message said that it would be the most important meeting in the history of the Order...so I guess everyone was able to swing their schedules to allow it. The only one that won't be there is Snape, as he's been summoned by Voldemort. He wouldn't be there anyway, since his role and membership in the Order is secret from everyone but the high council." Hermione answered.
"Excellent." Harry smiled.
They remained in the library talking for a couple more hours, until lunch time. Harry suggested they go into muggle London for lunch, and she agreed, as long as he'd disguise himself. Harry complied, and soon afterwards looked like a normal, but handsome, muggle; his hair was lightened to a dark brown, and fashionably styled. His eyes were changed to a shade of warm brown, and the lightning bolt shaped scar disappeared. Lastly, he conjured a blue silk suit and donned it, giving him a rather rich look. He next took out a very old, bright gold pocket watch that he had come across amidst the treasures in his vault. He slipped it into his pocket, and faced Hermione. She nodded approvingly, and transfigured her clothes into a simple, yet elegant black dress. Harry smiled, then destroyed his innocent look by, once again, attaching the belt, complete with knives, around his waist. He ignored Hermione's audible gasp at him wearing so many stabbing weapons under his suit jacket, and walked into the armory. The previous night, he had moved some of the weapons from his vault, into the castle armory, so the selection was much greater. He chose a pouch full of throwing stars, and used a sticking charm to attach it to the inside of his jacket over his left breast. He then took a small dagger, complete with sheath, and attached it to his right ankle. To complete his mobile armory, he chose a very deadly looking knife, with an eight inch long blade. It had a leather wrapped one handed pommel, and the blade was serrated on one side, smooth on the other. Harry looked at his jacket for a moment, then transfigured the right side of it so that it now featured a sheath that the knife would fit into.
"What do you plan on doing with all those?" Hermione asked, while smirking.
"Defend us." Harry replied.
Hermione shrugged, and stepped out of the armory, allowing Harry to pass by. Harry looked around for a moment, then pulled a broken, foot long piece of a spear shaft from a corner, and turned it into a portkey.
A couple of hours later, Harry and Hermione reappeared in the castle, both looking rather pleased and full.
"Well," Harry said, "That was the best meal I've had in eight years."
Hermione smiled, and reclaimed her seat in the library.
"Where is everyone else?" Harry asked, sitting down as well.
"Well, you know about Snape. He was summoned early this morning, by the way. Sirius and Remus are at an Order of the Phoenix meeting. Tonks ended up informing Dumbledore about the Ministry's galleon train, and the planned attack on it. Dumbledore has decided to put a few of our people in the area, so he called all of the field agents up, excluding Tonks, who's on duty with the Ministry for another hour or so."
"Do you know who he's going to put there?"
Hermione shook her head. "I don't know. I guess we'll find out when Remus and Sirius get out of the meeting. Speaking of which, you'll need to give me a portkey to go get them and bring them back here. I told them to go to Tonks' house and wait for me."
"Where does she live?"
"61 Unicorn Plaza, Magampton, England." Hermione replied.
"Magampton?" Harry asked.
"Magical community outside of Southampton." Hermione replied.
Harry shrugged and complied, turning a small book into the requested portkey, and handed it to Hermione. "There."
Hermione took it, transfigured her clothes back into her normal robes, and placed the portkey into a pocket.
"So, you never answered me yesterday...what is dear old Ronald doing these days?" Harry asked, with a barely noticeable maniacal glint in his eyes.
Hermione noticed the glint, however, and looked a bit wary to respond. She bit her bottom lip in contemplation, causing Harry to tap his foot impatiently. Finally, she decided to tell him, deciding it would be best if it came from her instead of somewhere outside during a fight where it could possibly affect him enough to cause a lapse in judgement. "He's the Magistrate of one of the Auror divisions."
Harry laughed. "Bullshit. Who in their right mind would appoint that bumbling git to that high of a command position?"
Hermione almost laughed as well, but managed to restrain herself. "Ron entered Auror training immediately out of Hogwarts...I still firmly believe that his OWLs and NEWTs were forged by someone inside the Ministry, but no proof. Anyway, he used his brotherly connections with Percy, who at that time was Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, to rise through the ranks and get the command position of an Auror squad just out of training. He spent a couple months there, fought in a few minor skirmishes, and then the war in Romania took place. A lot of Commanding Officers were killed there, so Ron was promoted all the way up to Company Commander." Hermione paused here to think for a few seconds, then resumed the story. "After the return to Britain, Percy pulled some more strings, and Ron was promoted to Battalion Commander. I guess he's just stayed in his commanders' good graces, and used his family's political influence to get to where he is now."
Harry grimaced, but remained silent.
"Well, I'd better go see if Sirius and Remus are out of the meeting yet. We'll probably not return right away, but wait until the rest of the Order arrives. How do you want everyone to get here? Several portkeys and everyone at once, or just a few portkeys and only small groups of people at a time?" Hermione asked, while pulling the portkey out of her pocket.
"I'd prefer small groups at a time. Bring Sirius and Remus first, they can act as...crowd control," He smiled slightly, "Until everyone is here. Once they're all here, take them up to the Meeting Hall. Don't answer any questions that might suggest that I'm alive. Such as questions related to the discovery of this castle, Gringotts' break-in, etcetera." He finished speaking, and turned on his heel to leave the library.
"Where are you going?" Hermione asked.
"To make the entrance hall more presentable. That's where everyone will be portkeyed to." Harry replied over his shoulder.
Hermione looked after him for a couple seconds, then tapped her wand to the portkey, activating it and then disappeared.
Harry paced through the entrance hall, conjuring statues and placing them in the nooks that lined the walls. The statues were in the shape of various people and creatures throughout history. One was in the shape of King Arthur, another of Genghis Khan. There was one of King Leonidis, of Prince Hector, of William Wallace, Atilla the Hun, and many others. Lastly, came two statues on either side of the door. One was of the clearly recognizable Merlin, and the other was...somewhat less familiar. It was a tall man, with long hair sweeping behind him, as if being blown by a strong wind. He had a well defined face, with a square chin. His mouth was set into a grim frown, and he was wearing an unrecognized form of battle dress. It appeared to be a flowing chain mail robe. It was clasped tightly from his neck, down to hips, and fit snugly to his torso, outlining broad muscles. From his hips down, the robe was open and sweeping behind him in the same fashion as his hair. The arms were fitted snugly from the shoulder to his forearm, where they began to flare out. His leggings consisted of thickly armored pants, with guards over his knees and feet. Each of the guards had long, sharp spikes turned up and out from the body, ideal for striking upwards into an opponent's body. Similar spikes protruded outwards from the back of his boots, and he wore long gloves over his hands. The gloves looked very thick, and were complete with two rows of half inch spikes along the knuckles, and a plate of shorter, quarter inch spikes over the backs of his hands. He held a long staff like weapon diagonally across his body. It was about five and a half feet long, and had large double axe- head like blades on each end. The blades were about ten inches long from bottom to top, and foot long spear-heads were at the bottom of each end, sticking out seven inches further from the tops of the axe-heads. Over all, it looked like a very formidable weapon, with many ways to cause severe amounts of pain and damage.
Harry grinned at this statue, which was by far the most detailed of the lot. He momentarily thought about changing it's drab, cement gray color to life like colors, but dismissed it. He lit the chandelier overhead, then turned his attention to an empty spot above the dining hall doors. He looked thoughtful for a few moments, then concentrated his energy and conjured a large plaque like object. He levitated it to the spot above the doors, and charmed it to stick in place. He examined his work closely, and smiled in acceptance. The object was a crest, about a meter tall, and two meters wide. It had a lion across it, standing straight, with its head regally held up. The near-royalty looking crest was given a darker appearance by the snake tail crushed beneath its front paw, and the head hanging lifelessly as the lion's jaws ripped into its neck. The crest was completed by a slogan at the bottom, reading, 'Betrayers of the innocent, followers of the Dark, leaders of the weak, the misguided masses; Truth and justice shall be dealt.' Below these words, a set of runes were also displayed. Harry gave the entrance hall one last look, then went through the doors and into the dining hall.
At seven 'clock that night, members of the Order of the Lion began portkeying into the entrance hall of the castle. Harry watched them from above, hidden in a darkly shadowed alcove above the front gate. Sirius arrived with the first group of eight, and herded them over to a wall, where they began examining the nearest statue and looking around the hall in curiosity. Remus arrived next with ten more, and they began doing the same. Hermione then came with another group. Hermione portkeyed back out of the hall to retrieve more members, while the twenty-four members that were already there, took the alcoves containing the statues, and began looking them over. Harry clearly heard them asking questions; What castle this was; who found it; why they were there, were the predominant inquiries. Several minutes went by, and Hermione finally arrived with the last group, which included Tonks.
After gathering everyone into a double file line, she lead them, accompanied by Sirius and Remus, into the dining hall. Harry stood up from his crouch, and climbed back through the small door that lead him to the second floor. It was a handy point for an ambush; an unnoticeable alcove nestled above the front gates, looking down into the entrance hall. Harry closed the door to the alcove, and made his way to the stairs, and up to the meeting hall.
Several minutes later, the entire membership of the Order of the Lion, minus Severus Snape, entered the meeting hall. They took in the sight with barely concealed wonder, and even Hermione, Sirius, Remus, and Tonks, who had been in the hall before, were shocked as well. Instead of the normal stone floor that the table and chairs had previously sat on, there was now a thick, dark red rug that stretched from end to end of the table. A magnificent emblem of a lion's head dominated the wall behind the head of the table, and several crystal chandeliers were suspended overhead, casting a warm golden light over the table. The walls were decorated with banners and flags, all sporting the same lion's head as the emblem on the wall, and framing the door were two more statues of Merlin and the unknown warrior. The final change to the previously Spartan room, was the addition of a large, throne like chair at the head of the table. It was high backed, and had snarling lion heads carved out of the ends of the arm rests, where the occupant's hands would rest. It was made of a darkly colored wood, and there was currently someone sitting in it. The members of the Order looked on in nervous trepidation, as Hermione and the others recovered their composure and strode forward to take seats at either side of the throne. Hermione was on its immediate left, Sirius on the right. Remus and Tonks sat next to Hermione and Sirius, respectively.
"Won't you all be seated," Harry asked, while remaining masked in shadow and a billowing black, hooded robe. Nobody seemed to recognize his voice, which didn't surprise him in the slightest. After all, he had gone to Hogwarts with none of them.
"Hermione, Sirius, what is the meaning of this?" One of the men Harry recognized from Diagon Alley, Jonathon Timmerly, if he remembered correctly, asked.
"Jonathon," Hermione replied, "Please come sit down. And the rest of you as well. Your questions will be answered once the meeting has begun." She waved her arm at the chairs surrounding the table.
Slowly, and very reluctantly it seemed, people began taking seats. There was a slightly humorous, in Harry's eyes at least, scramble for the seats at the far end of the table. The closer they would get to him, the more nervous and slow they would seem to get.
"Everyone sit down!" Harry roared, surprising everyone and making more than one clutch their chests. "We do not have all night just to get everyone in their chairs. I would like to get this meeting over and done with so I can progress with other things."
Hermione gave him a questioning look, and opened her mouth to speak, but Harry cut her off with a raised hand.
Everyone else was seated in short order after this, though they looked even worse than they did when they first saw him as they entered the room.
Harry looked the table over, and saw that nobody else was still standing, and turned his head to Hermione. "Are we ready to begin?" He asked.
Hermione nodded, and rose to her feet. "Everyone quiet down," She began, though the opening was hardly necessary as it was already completely silent. "This meeting of the Order of the Lion will now begin. Let it be noted that this is the first meeting where the entirety of our membership has been in attendance." As Hermione spoke, a charmed quill was scribbling frantically on a very long roll of parchment. "Before the standard meeting procedure begins, I would like to introduce everyone to our newest member, and owner of this castle that we are in." She motioned to Harry, whom was still unrecognizable to everyone else, and took her seat.
Harry gracefully stood up, and clasped his hands across his stomach. His shadowed gaze swept the table up and down, making no point in masking his visual examination of everyone. "Firstly, you all have my gratitude for joining this Order. Secondly, I know you all have a great deal of questions regarding...just about everything, so I will try to answer as many as I can. So...questions, anyone?"
Jonathon Timmerly slowly stood, and looked warily towards the head of the table. "Who are you?" This question was echoed by many others, and followed with nods and searching glances towards Harry.
Harry smiled under his hood, and raised his hands to it. He lowered the hood from his face, revealing himself to everyone. "I'm Harry Potter."
Yeah. So this chapter is later than planned...a surprising social life popped up out of the middle of nowhere and disrupted my writing schedule. It inspired me to write a comedy, but nothing for this. And then a bit of writer's block hit me. I know what is going to happen in this chapter...and the next, and the one after that, but I had a whole lot of trouble writing it all.
A bigger chunk of the meeting with Naylajaratim will be revealed in the coming chapters. Much will be explained. Have no fears, I've not forgotten about my favorite OC.
Harry was on his third slice of toast when his uncle Vernon finally woke up, sputtering many choice words as he saw the, as of yet, unknown wizard daring to eat at his table.
"You! What are you doing in my house? Get out now!" He roared, then spotted Petunia laying in a heap on the floor in the doorway of the kitchen. Immediately thinking the worst, he leaped over her, making the floor and surrounding walls shake, and charged at Harry, who still sat hunched over his plate, without a care in the world.
Harry almost casually rolled out of the chair and across the floor as Vernon lunged at him. Vernon missed, and crashed through the table, succeeding in waking up Petunia.
"Vernon!" She shrieked, rushing to his side.
Harry rose to his feet, and went back over to Vernon, pushing Petunia aside and hoisting Vernon to his feet. He then lifted his shirt tail up, and used his free hand to draw out a very sharp and wicked looking hunting knife from its resting sheath at the small of his back. He held it loosely in his right hand and pushed Vernon against the refrigerator with his left hand, holding his hand around his throat, making his eyes bulge out as he gasped for air.
Petunia was frantic now, and tried reasoning with Harry. "Harry, put the knife away, please? You wouldn't want to harm your family, would you?" She spoke softly. Harry could've been fooled if he hadn't lived with them year round for ten years. As it was, he merely sneered at her and made her back away by pushing the point of his knife rather close to her throat.
"Well, Uncle Vernon...it's not polite to attack a visitor in your home." He smirked at Vernon, who was gaping in surprise as he realized who was holding him against the refrigerator with a knife ready to cut his eyes out.
"Now see here, boy!" Vernon began to roar again, thinking he could easily escape from his worthless little nephew.
Harry grinned wickedly and slung Vernon across the kitchen, crashing into several cabinets and busting them open. "Yes, Uncle Vernon?" He replied.
Vernon clutched at his side that he ran into the counter with, and fell to his knees. He looked up at Harry, an expression of rage taking place on his face. He stood and charged at Harry again.
Harry very nearly rolled his eyes, and stepped aside, punching out with his right hand.
Vernon howled and ran into the refrigerator, eliciting an even more painful howl, and fell onto his back. Petunia screamed as she saw the knife buried hilt deep in his gut, blood seeping out from the wound.
Harry stepped over Vernon, and removed the knife from him, wiping it clean on his shirt, before placing it back its sheath. Harry held his hand over the stab wound, and a pale, red light shot out from the palm of his hand, enveloping the wound in its light. Slowly, the wound began to close, and the blood stopped seeping. "I've wanted to hurt you so bad for so long..." He softly spoke, addressing both his uncle and his aunt, "But now that I have the opportunity to get revenge for all the years of hell you two have put me through...I honestly don't give a shit anymore. I have far more important things to do, than waste my time with you two." He kept his voice low and soft, but the anger in it was for from quelled. Petunia looked ready to faint again, and Vernon was too shocked from being stabbed, and then healthy again a few seconds later, to utter a word. Harry stood up, and waved his hand over Vernon's head, whispering "Obliviate." Then did the same to Petunia. He grabbed a piece of bacon from a miraculously unbroken plate, and calmly walked out of the house.
Harry apparated back to the castle grounds, and walked through the entrance, into the dining hall to find a surprise waiting for him.
Hermione stood glaring at him, arms crossed, and frown in place. "You didn't come back last night." She stated.
"Didn't Tonks tell you I wasn't coming?" Harry asked.
"Yes. But why didn't you?" She asked, lowering her arms and softening her gaze.
"I had to work on the security of the castle. I decided after you left that I should get it done right away, because I want a meeting with everyone as soon as possible." Harry looked at her, and Hermione lowered her eyes. "Why's it such a big deal?" He asked.
Hermione shrugged absently, "I was just looking forward to sitting down and talking with you...yesterday in the library was the most fun I've had in years, and I was wanting to do it again."
Harry smiled warmly. "Well, I could go and knock all the shelves over, mess up all the books...we could start over and do it again." He suggested, raising his eyebrows a couple times and winking.
Hermione looked horrified at the thought, as purposely messing up the order of a library was borderline sacrilege to her. "Harry!"
Harry laughed, and gave her shoulder a squeeze.
"So where were you?" She asked, while taking Harry's hand and pulling him into the library.
"Why are we going to the library?" Harry asked, while looking confused.
Hermione shrugged. "Best place to talk." She simply said.
Harry shrugged as well and sat down in one of the uncomfortable straight back chairs that Hermione had pulled in there the day before. "I went to the Dursley's for breakfast."
Hermione sputtered in surprise, but quickly regained her composure. "Forgive my language, but why in the hell would you go there for your first breakfast as...a somewhat free man? What if they somehow get wind to the Ministry that you were there?"
"I obliviated them after leaving. Vernon should also have a nice inch wide scar right above his belly button to remember the morning by. Not that he'll remember where it came from, or who gave it to him. But anyway," He continued through Hermione's held up hand and question of 'Scar?', "When I arrived there, I hid under the living room, and listened to a conversation going on inside. Apparently, I'm officially declared dead, and there were two ministry types there to break the news to the Dursley's, and let them know that since they're my only living relatives, they're entitled to one quarter of my vault's money, which I learned came out to somewhere around the fifty-five million pound range. I tell you, those Dursley's were quite distraught to hear about my death, and were quite passionately heartbroken to learn that all they had to remember me by was the enormous sum of money from my vault."
Hermione took a moment to process this, and glanced up at Harry. "So you're officially a dead man?"
Harry nodded. "Yes, I am. But this is where the fun bit starts...right after they tell the Dursley's of this, another ministry type apparates in, and runs into the house to get the other two, tells them that they're needed immediately in Diagon Alley. I cast an invisibility charm on myself and followed the three of them down the driveway to listen to them. The new wizard told them that Gringotts was broken into, mine and Sirius' vaults were taken, and the goblins were threatening to revolt. He said that Weasley, Arthur, I presume, was recalling all Ministry personnel around London, to Diagon Alley. After that, I went into the house, made my aunt and uncle faint a couple times, got jumped by Vernon, stabbed him, grabbed a piece of bacon," He held up the evidence here, a half eaten slice of bacon, "And came back here."
Hermione had gasped quite loudly upon hearing that the goblins were threatening to revolt, but that was soon forgotten after hearing that Harry had stabbed his uncle. "You what?" She practically screamed, making Harry automatically cringe backward.
"He was attacking me! I stabbed him, then pulled the knife out and healed him, then obliviated them both and left. He's perfectly fine." He assured her, although she still looked livid.
She took a deep breath, and Harry could tell he was about to be on the receiving end of a very long, and presumably, very loud rant. He quickly put his hand over her mouth, and ignored her muffled protest.
"He's fine, Hermione. I was just defending myself, and then I healed him. Neither of them will remember a thing, and will likely assume it was a burglar that busted into their house and broke their table, ransacked the kitchen and left them both unconscious, valiantly trying to defend their home." He said, slowly and surely, making sure that Hermione got the point. Evidently she had, because she lowered her head and exhaled the waiting breath.
"That's still not a very nice thing to do, Harry." She stated.
Harry grinned widely. "Oh, I know." He whistled merrily and summoned a random book from one of the Dark Arts shelves, and began flipping through it.
Hermione watched him for a couple minutes, remaining silent. Harry noticed her watching, and looked up, raising his eyebrows. "What?"
Hermione shook her head, "Nothing. Anyway, the Order of the Lion has been called, everyone will be at Tonks' residence tonight at seven o' clock."
"Everyone's able to make it on such short notice?" Harry asked.
"Yes, surprisingly. The message said that it would be the most important meeting in the history of the Order...so I guess everyone was able to swing their schedules to allow it. The only one that won't be there is Snape, as he's been summoned by Voldemort. He wouldn't be there anyway, since his role and membership in the Order is secret from everyone but the high council." Hermione answered.
"Excellent." Harry smiled.
They remained in the library talking for a couple more hours, until lunch time. Harry suggested they go into muggle London for lunch, and she agreed, as long as he'd disguise himself. Harry complied, and soon afterwards looked like a normal, but handsome, muggle; his hair was lightened to a dark brown, and fashionably styled. His eyes were changed to a shade of warm brown, and the lightning bolt shaped scar disappeared. Lastly, he conjured a blue silk suit and donned it, giving him a rather rich look. He next took out a very old, bright gold pocket watch that he had come across amidst the treasures in his vault. He slipped it into his pocket, and faced Hermione. She nodded approvingly, and transfigured her clothes into a simple, yet elegant black dress. Harry smiled, then destroyed his innocent look by, once again, attaching the belt, complete with knives, around his waist. He ignored Hermione's audible gasp at him wearing so many stabbing weapons under his suit jacket, and walked into the armory. The previous night, he had moved some of the weapons from his vault, into the castle armory, so the selection was much greater. He chose a pouch full of throwing stars, and used a sticking charm to attach it to the inside of his jacket over his left breast. He then took a small dagger, complete with sheath, and attached it to his right ankle. To complete his mobile armory, he chose a very deadly looking knife, with an eight inch long blade. It had a leather wrapped one handed pommel, and the blade was serrated on one side, smooth on the other. Harry looked at his jacket for a moment, then transfigured the right side of it so that it now featured a sheath that the knife would fit into.
"What do you plan on doing with all those?" Hermione asked, while smirking.
"Defend us." Harry replied.
Hermione shrugged, and stepped out of the armory, allowing Harry to pass by. Harry looked around for a moment, then pulled a broken, foot long piece of a spear shaft from a corner, and turned it into a portkey.
A couple of hours later, Harry and Hermione reappeared in the castle, both looking rather pleased and full.
"Well," Harry said, "That was the best meal I've had in eight years."
Hermione smiled, and reclaimed her seat in the library.
"Where is everyone else?" Harry asked, sitting down as well.
"Well, you know about Snape. He was summoned early this morning, by the way. Sirius and Remus are at an Order of the Phoenix meeting. Tonks ended up informing Dumbledore about the Ministry's galleon train, and the planned attack on it. Dumbledore has decided to put a few of our people in the area, so he called all of the field agents up, excluding Tonks, who's on duty with the Ministry for another hour or so."
"Do you know who he's going to put there?"
Hermione shook her head. "I don't know. I guess we'll find out when Remus and Sirius get out of the meeting. Speaking of which, you'll need to give me a portkey to go get them and bring them back here. I told them to go to Tonks' house and wait for me."
"Where does she live?"
"61 Unicorn Plaza, Magampton, England." Hermione replied.
"Magampton?" Harry asked.
"Magical community outside of Southampton." Hermione replied.
Harry shrugged and complied, turning a small book into the requested portkey, and handed it to Hermione. "There."
Hermione took it, transfigured her clothes back into her normal robes, and placed the portkey into a pocket.
"So, you never answered me yesterday...what is dear old Ronald doing these days?" Harry asked, with a barely noticeable maniacal glint in his eyes.
Hermione noticed the glint, however, and looked a bit wary to respond. She bit her bottom lip in contemplation, causing Harry to tap his foot impatiently. Finally, she decided to tell him, deciding it would be best if it came from her instead of somewhere outside during a fight where it could possibly affect him enough to cause a lapse in judgement. "He's the Magistrate of one of the Auror divisions."
Harry laughed. "Bullshit. Who in their right mind would appoint that bumbling git to that high of a command position?"
Hermione almost laughed as well, but managed to restrain herself. "Ron entered Auror training immediately out of Hogwarts...I still firmly believe that his OWLs and NEWTs were forged by someone inside the Ministry, but no proof. Anyway, he used his brotherly connections with Percy, who at that time was Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, to rise through the ranks and get the command position of an Auror squad just out of training. He spent a couple months there, fought in a few minor skirmishes, and then the war in Romania took place. A lot of Commanding Officers were killed there, so Ron was promoted all the way up to Company Commander." Hermione paused here to think for a few seconds, then resumed the story. "After the return to Britain, Percy pulled some more strings, and Ron was promoted to Battalion Commander. I guess he's just stayed in his commanders' good graces, and used his family's political influence to get to where he is now."
Harry grimaced, but remained silent.
"Well, I'd better go see if Sirius and Remus are out of the meeting yet. We'll probably not return right away, but wait until the rest of the Order arrives. How do you want everyone to get here? Several portkeys and everyone at once, or just a few portkeys and only small groups of people at a time?" Hermione asked, while pulling the portkey out of her pocket.
"I'd prefer small groups at a time. Bring Sirius and Remus first, they can act as...crowd control," He smiled slightly, "Until everyone is here. Once they're all here, take them up to the Meeting Hall. Don't answer any questions that might suggest that I'm alive. Such as questions related to the discovery of this castle, Gringotts' break-in, etcetera." He finished speaking, and turned on his heel to leave the library.
"Where are you going?" Hermione asked.
"To make the entrance hall more presentable. That's where everyone will be portkeyed to." Harry replied over his shoulder.
Hermione looked after him for a couple seconds, then tapped her wand to the portkey, activating it and then disappeared.
Harry paced through the entrance hall, conjuring statues and placing them in the nooks that lined the walls. The statues were in the shape of various people and creatures throughout history. One was in the shape of King Arthur, another of Genghis Khan. There was one of King Leonidis, of Prince Hector, of William Wallace, Atilla the Hun, and many others. Lastly, came two statues on either side of the door. One was of the clearly recognizable Merlin, and the other was...somewhat less familiar. It was a tall man, with long hair sweeping behind him, as if being blown by a strong wind. He had a well defined face, with a square chin. His mouth was set into a grim frown, and he was wearing an unrecognized form of battle dress. It appeared to be a flowing chain mail robe. It was clasped tightly from his neck, down to hips, and fit snugly to his torso, outlining broad muscles. From his hips down, the robe was open and sweeping behind him in the same fashion as his hair. The arms were fitted snugly from the shoulder to his forearm, where they began to flare out. His leggings consisted of thickly armored pants, with guards over his knees and feet. Each of the guards had long, sharp spikes turned up and out from the body, ideal for striking upwards into an opponent's body. Similar spikes protruded outwards from the back of his boots, and he wore long gloves over his hands. The gloves looked very thick, and were complete with two rows of half inch spikes along the knuckles, and a plate of shorter, quarter inch spikes over the backs of his hands. He held a long staff like weapon diagonally across his body. It was about five and a half feet long, and had large double axe- head like blades on each end. The blades were about ten inches long from bottom to top, and foot long spear-heads were at the bottom of each end, sticking out seven inches further from the tops of the axe-heads. Over all, it looked like a very formidable weapon, with many ways to cause severe amounts of pain and damage.
Harry grinned at this statue, which was by far the most detailed of the lot. He momentarily thought about changing it's drab, cement gray color to life like colors, but dismissed it. He lit the chandelier overhead, then turned his attention to an empty spot above the dining hall doors. He looked thoughtful for a few moments, then concentrated his energy and conjured a large plaque like object. He levitated it to the spot above the doors, and charmed it to stick in place. He examined his work closely, and smiled in acceptance. The object was a crest, about a meter tall, and two meters wide. It had a lion across it, standing straight, with its head regally held up. The near-royalty looking crest was given a darker appearance by the snake tail crushed beneath its front paw, and the head hanging lifelessly as the lion's jaws ripped into its neck. The crest was completed by a slogan at the bottom, reading, 'Betrayers of the innocent, followers of the Dark, leaders of the weak, the misguided masses; Truth and justice shall be dealt.' Below these words, a set of runes were also displayed. Harry gave the entrance hall one last look, then went through the doors and into the dining hall.
At seven 'clock that night, members of the Order of the Lion began portkeying into the entrance hall of the castle. Harry watched them from above, hidden in a darkly shadowed alcove above the front gate. Sirius arrived with the first group of eight, and herded them over to a wall, where they began examining the nearest statue and looking around the hall in curiosity. Remus arrived next with ten more, and they began doing the same. Hermione then came with another group. Hermione portkeyed back out of the hall to retrieve more members, while the twenty-four members that were already there, took the alcoves containing the statues, and began looking them over. Harry clearly heard them asking questions; What castle this was; who found it; why they were there, were the predominant inquiries. Several minutes went by, and Hermione finally arrived with the last group, which included Tonks.
After gathering everyone into a double file line, she lead them, accompanied by Sirius and Remus, into the dining hall. Harry stood up from his crouch, and climbed back through the small door that lead him to the second floor. It was a handy point for an ambush; an unnoticeable alcove nestled above the front gates, looking down into the entrance hall. Harry closed the door to the alcove, and made his way to the stairs, and up to the meeting hall.
Several minutes later, the entire membership of the Order of the Lion, minus Severus Snape, entered the meeting hall. They took in the sight with barely concealed wonder, and even Hermione, Sirius, Remus, and Tonks, who had been in the hall before, were shocked as well. Instead of the normal stone floor that the table and chairs had previously sat on, there was now a thick, dark red rug that stretched from end to end of the table. A magnificent emblem of a lion's head dominated the wall behind the head of the table, and several crystal chandeliers were suspended overhead, casting a warm golden light over the table. The walls were decorated with banners and flags, all sporting the same lion's head as the emblem on the wall, and framing the door were two more statues of Merlin and the unknown warrior. The final change to the previously Spartan room, was the addition of a large, throne like chair at the head of the table. It was high backed, and had snarling lion heads carved out of the ends of the arm rests, where the occupant's hands would rest. It was made of a darkly colored wood, and there was currently someone sitting in it. The members of the Order looked on in nervous trepidation, as Hermione and the others recovered their composure and strode forward to take seats at either side of the throne. Hermione was on its immediate left, Sirius on the right. Remus and Tonks sat next to Hermione and Sirius, respectively.
"Won't you all be seated," Harry asked, while remaining masked in shadow and a billowing black, hooded robe. Nobody seemed to recognize his voice, which didn't surprise him in the slightest. After all, he had gone to Hogwarts with none of them.
"Hermione, Sirius, what is the meaning of this?" One of the men Harry recognized from Diagon Alley, Jonathon Timmerly, if he remembered correctly, asked.
"Jonathon," Hermione replied, "Please come sit down. And the rest of you as well. Your questions will be answered once the meeting has begun." She waved her arm at the chairs surrounding the table.
Slowly, and very reluctantly it seemed, people began taking seats. There was a slightly humorous, in Harry's eyes at least, scramble for the seats at the far end of the table. The closer they would get to him, the more nervous and slow they would seem to get.
"Everyone sit down!" Harry roared, surprising everyone and making more than one clutch their chests. "We do not have all night just to get everyone in their chairs. I would like to get this meeting over and done with so I can progress with other things."
Hermione gave him a questioning look, and opened her mouth to speak, but Harry cut her off with a raised hand.
Everyone else was seated in short order after this, though they looked even worse than they did when they first saw him as they entered the room.
Harry looked the table over, and saw that nobody else was still standing, and turned his head to Hermione. "Are we ready to begin?" He asked.
Hermione nodded, and rose to her feet. "Everyone quiet down," She began, though the opening was hardly necessary as it was already completely silent. "This meeting of the Order of the Lion will now begin. Let it be noted that this is the first meeting where the entirety of our membership has been in attendance." As Hermione spoke, a charmed quill was scribbling frantically on a very long roll of parchment. "Before the standard meeting procedure begins, I would like to introduce everyone to our newest member, and owner of this castle that we are in." She motioned to Harry, whom was still unrecognizable to everyone else, and took her seat.
Harry gracefully stood up, and clasped his hands across his stomach. His shadowed gaze swept the table up and down, making no point in masking his visual examination of everyone. "Firstly, you all have my gratitude for joining this Order. Secondly, I know you all have a great deal of questions regarding...just about everything, so I will try to answer as many as I can. So...questions, anyone?"
Jonathon Timmerly slowly stood, and looked warily towards the head of the table. "Who are you?" This question was echoed by many others, and followed with nods and searching glances towards Harry.
Harry smiled under his hood, and raised his hands to it. He lowered the hood from his face, revealing himself to everyone. "I'm Harry Potter."