David meets the Order

The quidditch tournament the next day was a great success. The organisers of the exchange were very pleased with the levels of integration and cooperation between the players from different schools and the few staff members who took part. Only three seekers managed to catch the snitch within the time limit and David was the one who did so the most to the delight of his captain. This meant that the Red Lions, as Ron had insisted on naming the team in honour of the number of red headed players, were the tournament champions. David was grateful for the chance to play again on the pitch where he had first learnt the game and almost as pleased as Ron on their victory. His joy was tinged with regret over all the opportunities to play for his house which he had missed.

After the tournament Ron led the team up to Gryffindor tower to celebrate. Most of the Red Lions were members of the Gryffindor house team. They had added a member from each visiting classification; staff, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. The foreign students joined in politely but soon excused themselves to return to their own friends. This gave David the opportunity to ask Ron, Hermione and Ginny for a word in private. He led them through the school towards the Room of Requirement. Along the way Hermione asked him several times if he knew where he was going and he simply assured her that he had a very good memory.

David asked the castle to produce a comfortable place for a difficult conversation and when they walked in they found a ring of four squashy armchairs with a table of drinks and biscuits in the middle. Once they were inside David ensured that they could not be overheard or disturbed and sat down with the others.

"I've got something to tell you," he started hesitantly. "It's not public knowledge but it involves someone you knew so the headmaster suggested you were informed. Yesterday, in the early morning Voldemort returned."

Whatever the three Gryffindors had been expecting it was not that. Both Weasleys flinched at the name and Ron choked on his butterbeer. The two girls went pale. "You're certain?" asked Hermione tentatively.

"Yes. Voldemort believes that there were no witnesses other than his loyal followers. There were two other people present and we think he believes that both were killed. However one did survive and told us what happened, that is what concerns you three; Harry Potter was there."

David watched their reactions carefully. Hermione looked thoughtful. Ron looked shocked, but Ginny just nodded. "I knew he was alive," she said simply.

"But, but…" protested Ron blindly. "He died. Dumbledore himself checked the body. He said there was no doubt."

"Harry always survived where anyone else could not," said Hermione. "It's not so strange that he's still alive." As she said this she looked pointedly at David. David inclined his head towards Hermione answering her silent question. "None of us ever believed he was guilty," she said.

"Except Percy," put in Ron, "but he believes anything Fudge says, so go figure."

"The idea that he was insane made more sense," agreed Ginny, "but it is so easy to fake with potions."

"I assure you that he wasn't insane," said David. "He was drugged with dementialis. He faked his death earlier this year and has been hiding since then."

"And now he's ready to reveal himself?" asked Hermione.

"Not publicly," said David, "but to his friends, yes, he is willing to reveal himself. He has not done so before because he was led to believe that the headmaster had fixed his trial and did not want him to find out. As students at Hogwarts you were too close to Albus. However things came to a head with Voldemort's rebirth and he reached an understanding with Albus. Albus has even offered to let him return to Hogwarts."

"And will you?" asked Hermione. Ron choked again causing his girl-friend to summon his drink away from him. "Ron! Use your brain for once. Can't you recognise your best friend?"

"Harry?" asked Ron.

"Yes, but I go by 'David' now. It turns out that I'm not biologically a Potter. James and Lily were my godparents and they adopted me within an hour of my birth."

"So you're Harry, and you're the Crimson Lord?"

"Don't forget he's Mum's cousin and also Mum and Dad adopted him," put in Ginny.

"You knew about the adoption?" asked David surprised.

"Yeah, I overheard them talking when they thought I was out of the house," said Ginny not at all sheepishly. "And I'd also seen the clock and seen your hand on it."

"The Ministry obliviated you all when they registered it," explained David. "But they did not know about the clock so your parents managed to work out what had happened. I imagine you'd all like an explanation of what's happened since we took the train home after my fourth year?"

David explained the events of the last two and a half years. He glossed over exactly what had happened between him and Albus's impostor and the details of life in Azkaban. Neither did he mention shadow dragons or his Professor David identity.

"Don't you find it a bit odd being engaged to Professor Lupin?" asked Hermione. "I know the age gap doesn't mean much to wizards but you were raised in the muggle world. I imagine it is the sort of thing your relatives would have frowned upon."

"They 'frowned' on everything I did," said David. "One more thing won't matter, besides after all the 'time' I spent with the dead I feel closer to his age than yours. Physically I'm seventeen but mentally I've lived a lot longer."

"But he was still your teacher. It just seems wrong."

"Hermione, do you know how soul-bonds work?"

"That's all romantic rubbish," said Hermione dismissively. "Professor Binns has told us about them in History of Magic. As far as I can see they were just a way for middle aged wizards to get a gullible but attractive young spouse."

Ron looked helplessly at David. "I've tried explaining how things are mate, but she won't listen. When she first found out you were our age and engaged to Lupin she threw a fit."

"Hermione," said David earnestly. "Please reserve judgement until you've looked through a few books on the subject. Once you've looked up the symptoms I wouldn't be surprised if you found you had a soul-mate out there yourself."

"Let's just hope 'Mione's soul-mate is nearer her age," said Ginny winking a Ron when Hermione was not looking.

The next day David and Remus returned to Lions' Den for the rest of the holiday. That afternoon David spent nearly an hour that afternoon dismantling the enchantments around his father's dark mark and healing his flesh. Once he was done he slept the clock round. He woke up to find that he missed sharing a bed. He was still using the bedroom the house elves had set up for him when he first moved into the house; he had requested something simple. It was quite small and when he became the ruling zia Simba and Leon had prepared the master suite for him but he had declined to move. After growning up in a cupboard, followed by a room full of junk with bars on the windows, a school dormitory and finally a prison cell, David felt out of place in his current luxury and did not feel he could cope with the anything more. His current room, however, was definitely not big enough for two.

David walked through the house and looked in on the suite tradition allocated him. He had only given it a cursory glance when he had explored before. He now decided it was not so bad and he really should not put off moving in any longer. The ensuite bathroom clinched the deal. It would appear one of his ancestors had been taken with the prefects bathroom at Hogwarts. Aside from the portrait of a mermaid the room was almost identical. Later that day having moved his things, David cautiously invited Remus to move in to his new room too if he wanted. Remus immediately agreed and placed a mental tick on his mental chart of David's progress towards a more intimate relationship. It was harder to judge what David was feeling since his efforts to occlude his mind from Voldemort were dampening Remus's link too, but so far he had not miss judged how comfortable David was with a situation. His discovery of the bathroom gave him several ideas for David's continuing education, particularly since he believed David did not know how to swim and could require some tuition.

Sirius visited the next day. He showed David an article in the Daily Prophet. 'Harry Potter Alive and on the Run' proclaimed the headline. The article attributed the information to a 'concerned ministry source.' It claimed that Potter had been seen on Christmas day trying to organise the Death Eaters and bring back his master. Witnesses had reported that he had murdered Severus Snape and aurors who had examined the scene confirmed that the ashes were the remains of the Hogwarts professor. Potter's current whereabouts was unknown, but aurors were being drafted into the search. The public were being warned to not to approach or try to reason with Potter since he was insane. The article went on to imply that there had been a cover-up by the Ministry of Potter's escape from St Mungo's and linked him with several other unsolved crimes in the months since his supposed death.

"Voldemort knows I'm still alive then. He's trying to get help tracking me down," said David. "Well it was worth a try. Faking your own death is harder than someone else's, I'm pretty sure he thinks that Father's dead. Good thing Albus is now on my side. At least I don't need these strong occlumency walls now. I'll be able to feel my bonds again."

Sirius incinerated the paper and they spent most of the morning going through the Christmas presents he had received and making notes for what to send to those people the next year. He also helped David draft seemingly meaningful thank you letters before they tried to work out what to do with most of the junk. David settled on transfiguring things slightly to make them unrecognisable and then donating them to various charities.

David was at a loss as to what to do with his gift from the Malfoys. It appeared that they were eager to remind him of the family relationship since they had sent him a portrait of the three of them. Each pictorial representation spouted platitudes at him. David was particularly worried that the images could move to portraits in Malfoy Mansion and would be used to spy on him. Luckily Sirius had opened the gift and so David had had time to morph his appearance before coming into view. David was unsure whether to keep it and try to use it to feed the Malfoys false information, or if he should just destroy it and have done. Eventually he decided that their voices were getting on his nerves and he settled for locking away the animation as he had with Mrs Black. He considered warning the images to flee to their other portraits first so that they did not get completely deactivated, but decided that if the painting had been sent for the purposes of spying then the family got their just deserts if their whole network was destroyed. He put the static picture to the side to be dealt with at a later date; he could always use it for target practice if he decided to take up knife throwing.

That afternoon Albus firecalled about the article in the paper. David invited him to step through and they discussed the need for security to keep Harry's new identity secret.

"Could we use the fidelius charm?" asked Sirius. "I know you said it wouldn't work when I was in hiding because too many people had to either forget me or at least what I looked like, but I think only ten people know who David actually is, and they only have to forget the connection, not what Harry looked like."

"It's a possibility," agreed Albus turning to David. "But given your past experience with the charm I wouldn't push you into it."

"I'd prefer it to asking everyone to take secrecy vows," said David bluntly. "The question is who to have as secret keeper. As far as I can see, everyone in the know except Tonks is too connected to Harry to be a safe bet. At the same time I'm not keen to ask someone I don't know so well."

All five of them thought for a while. Severus pointed out that he was connected to David not Harry but agreed in the end that since they had lifted the separation that kept David off the family tree charts his connection to Severus was available for all to see, and the Crimson Lord would be a likely suspect for Harry's cover identity. Albus mentioned several members of the Order, but apart from Moody and Arabella Figg, David had not even met them and Severus's opinion of them all was quite low given how they had treated him with suspicion since he was marked.

"Everyone always underestimates house elves," mused Remus at length. "Charms aren't my forte, but you suggested Arabella who's a squib; could a house elf be a secret keeper?"

"The charm is not performed by the secret keeper," noted David. "As far as I understand it the secret keeper simply has to be willing and not coerced into doing so. Albus, as a secret keeper do you know the exact requirements?"

"There have been cases where muggles have been secret keepers," said Albus. "The problem is that they were able to tell the secret to other muggles, it just got forgotten or misheard by anyone magical. It's possible that a house elf would be able to pass it on to other house elves, however theoretically, if having become the secret keeper the house elf was ordered by his master not to reveal the secret a house elf would make the perfect secret keeper. The only problem is that he would have to want to take the role on without pressure from his master to do so or the charm would fail."

"I don't like the idea of trusting a house elf," said Sirius. "Remember when we found Kreacher had gone to visit my cousin and told her all about what he'd seen and heard at headquarters? He showed that even if an elf is bound to a family he can choose which family member to serve at any given time."

"Perhaps we should ask Simba and Leon for their opinions," said David. "I think they are bound to the zia house rather than the actual family, which is why they obey me overall rather than my father. That would mean that the only people that could order them to reveal the secret are in this room, and even that can't happen if I specifically forbid it. I'm guessing that Sirius didn't specifically forbid Kreacher visiting other members of the family?"

Molly had arranged for the engagement to be celebrated as part of a New Year party at the Burrow. They would invite their colleagues and friends for the evening and midnight toast and then those who knew David's identity would meet up at Lions' Den for breakfast. All the Weasleys except Percy were to be included in this. Molly was a bit upset, but understood that after Percy's loose tongue had nearly cost David and Severus their lives they would be unwilling to give him any more information to be careless with. The Weasleys and Hermione would be joined by Severus, Sirius and Tonks. At the time of the party all except the residents of Lions' Den, Sirius and Albus had forgotten, due to the fidelius charm, the Harry Potter part of the equation. They would be reminded of that connection over breakfast by Simba.

The party went well for the most part. Many of the Hogwarts staff put in an appearance at some point during the evening. Severus was there as David's father and had his first chance to try out the real Severus behaviour. Tonks and David worked things out between them so that Professor David could be seen with fiancé David a few times during the evening. There were several moments when Remus was unsure which metamorphmagus he was talking to. Unlike David, Tonks had discovered her talent as a child and had used it to imitate other people for fun. She did not usually go for the whole body but the knack to capture the features and mannerisms was the same.

"It was Tonks who kissed me all those times today wasn't it?" Remus asked David when they had returned home. He knew Tonks had had a crush on him when she first started working with him for the Order. There had been a few embarrassing moments before Sirius had taken his cousin aside and explained that his friend was not interested. Of course Sirius had tried to help her get Remus interested first and Remus had had to have words with him.

"Mostly yes," agreed David. "She was keen to get into the role! Probably best not to mention it to Charlie. But over midnight it was me. I couldn't give her that one."

"Since I wasn't sure if it was you at the time…" said Remus pulling David towards him. "I think a repeat performance is in order."

"Agh, take it upstairs you two," called Severus as he came out the fire behind them, but while David's back was turned he gave Remus an approving nod. He too had been worried about how to reintegrate David into society and help him overcome his phobias and Remus was obviously doing a good job.

January 3rd saw the Order meeting once more in their headquarters as provided by Sirius Black. Albus had cautiously left a gap between hearing about Voldemort's return and calling the Order together. He suspected that they had a more efficient spy that Percy Weasley to worry about since the plot against Harry probably had inside help somewhere along the line. Albus was well aware of the opportunity for damage someone would have by impersonating him and was careful not to provide access to the necessary personal ingredient for polyjuice potion. Someone close to him would have had to acquire it, and on several different occasions.

It had been decided that Professor David would be introduced to the Order as a whole. He would provide additional evidence of Severus Snape's death from access to a family tapestry. Severus's mother had been a pureblood and so he was related distantly to the other pureblood families. His own measures had ensured that his record would contain a death date, which David would reveal. The impression would be given that David had proved himself useful over the attempts at murdering Hermione Granger and so was being invited to assist the order. He would not be a full member – since as a ruling zia he one of the things he could not do was to give allegiance to another body; he would say that he was sympathetic to their aims, but unwilling to give his trust blindly to a secret group. Severus was not going to rejoin the Order under his new identity at this stage. When his potion skills were required he would be contacted through one of the people who knew him.

David's initial greeting at the meeting was frosty, but after Tonks informed everyone that they had him to thank for the lack of shouting from Mrs Black's portrait as well as a successful outcome to Sirius's trial, the rest of the group warmed to him. They could see that he was powerfully magical, even if he had turned looking like a muggle. During the meeting Albus gave his opinion that Severus's abduction and death most likely signified that Voldemort had returned. The question of Potter was raised and Albus repeated that he had seen him buried himself and it was most likely a ruse to distract the aurors from searching for the Death Eaters. There was little shock in his listeners but a lot of grim determination that this would be the last time he rose. Assignments for information gathering were handed out and then most of the Order left. David was one of the people who were asked to remain behind.

This select group were the inner circle of the Order whose loyalty was above reproach; it included Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Sirius Black as well as two witches David did not know. To this select few Albus revealed that he had positive information as to Voldemort's return, that Potter was helping the Order and had indeed been there but that there was evidence that there was a spy within the wider Order so his continued existence was not to be publicised. It had been decided not to reveal that Severus had survived since his fondest wish was to be able to put his past behind him and he had sacrificed a lot already for the Order.

Albus recounted the events of Christmas morning, from Harry's point of view. Next they discussed the strong likelihood of a spy within the Order, given that Albus had been impersonated several times. Several names were mentioned as possible suspects, including to David and Sirius's anger, Remus Lupin. It appeared that prejudices against werewolves ran deep even within the supposedly enlightened Order. Both were relieved that Albus insisted that Remus had his full confidence.

For the next topic of discussion Albus yielded the floor to David. He explained that he was a shadow dragon. Not all of the group knew what this meant and there followed a brief description of the elite force who were effectively free agents under a vow of serving the community. David detailed Albus's suspicions that after the death of David Dragon who ran the force the shadow dragons had been rounded up, probably by a faction within the Ministry. He revealed that Dragon had probably been poisoned, but his agents were likely to be still alive. There were also at least a few agents who had avoided capture.

"I was trained personally by David Dragon," said David, "and part of that training included all the codes he used to contact the agents. I could attempt to contact the shadow dragons who have remained in hiding, I do not know if they would respond, but I can try. I hope that they will do so since they would be valuable allies. I also wish to try to locate those who went missing."

"As I understand," said Alastor, "most if not all of the shadow dragons were metamorphmagi, put together with the rest of the training they had they be extremely useful." There was general agreement with this opinion.

"Could the missing agents be dark prisoners?" asked Sirius. "There was a particular few months while I was in Azkaban when the rumours had it that a large number of 'darks' had been brought in. I can't be certain that it was in 1989 but it was certainly nearer the end than the beginning of my incarceration."

"You believe they could be in Azkaban?" asked David. "Surely that would mean that someone would know of their presence. Perhaps I should pay a visit to Old Man Rufus."

"Rufus is a myth! Dark prisoners don't exist!" snorted one of the witches. "I don't know why we're even discussing this. Surely we have better things to talk about Albus?"

"I believe dark prisoners do exist," said Albus gravely. "David was a dark prisoner."

"I was? I take it that means more than just that the general public did not know of my imprisonment? I don't exactly know what the name implies."

"David, what happened to you in Azkaban was not normal for an inmate," said Sirius gently. "All I had to contend with were the dementors and the insane ramblings of the other inmates. Not the other things…"

"Thank Merlin!" said David to the great surprise of his companions. He noticed their bewilderment and explained. "I thought Sirius had had twelve years of what I'd had. Eighteen months was bad enough."

"So if you were a dark prisoner," said Alastor thoughtfully, "then can you say one way or the other whether there were others, particularly the people we're looking for?"

"No, I saw no other prisoners in my entire time there," said David positively. "But I do believe I can track down Old Man Rufus to find out. I had thought he was just doing his job, but from what you've said…"

"The Ministry has repeatedly denied that either dark prisoners or Rufus exist," confirmed the witch who had spoken earlier. "If we were able to prove otherwise it could bring down the government. No bad thing in my opinion."

"I'll look up Rufus," promised David. "It may take me a while to arrange an excuse to go to Azkaban but I'll get on it. Actually I think I know someone better to go there; he'll be able to find the hidden passages, assuming there are some. I'll look into it."

"Very well," said Albus, "that seems the best course of action for the present. If you want a witness to accompany you, and ensure your return, I would be willing to assist."

"Thank you."

"Now on to our final topic for this evening," said Albus. "David's mission, for which he has been preparing for years, is to destroy Voldemort. It was through him that the three horcruxes were recovered in November. And he knows more about them then the rest of us."

"I have been trying to locate the horcruxes myself for a while," said David. "I can tell you that there are seven fragments in total. There were the three destroyed in November, the one Albus found earlier last year and the one in Riddle's diary. This leaves one in Slytherin's locket, one in Voldemort's snake, Nagini, and the final soul fragment in Voldemort's new body."

"What information do you have, and how reliable is the source?" asked Alastor suspiciously.

"My information comes from a former Death Eater, now deceased, who once he realised what Voldemort's methods were attempted to join you but his sincerity was doubted. Seeing no other option he decided to combat Voldemort by himself. He managed to locate and steal four horcruxes as well as discover that there were intended to be seven pieces in total. I have managed to confirm that Voldemort's soul was indeed split into seven."

"You haven't spoken much as to his reliability," said Alastor gruffly. "That he was a Death Eater is not a good recommendation."

"I cannot tell you how I know that he was sincere, but suffice to say he would not have been able to contact me the way he did had he been a true supporter of Voldemort."

"It's not enough that you believe it," said Alastor, "better wizards than you have been deceived."

"True," said David, "but I am certain of my information, and if we manage to locate the horcruxes it'll be proved right."

"Did you meet this wizard during your apprenticeship?" asked Albus obliquely.

"Yes," said David. "As I said, he couldn't have contacted me then if he had not intended to help."

"I don't…" began Alastor.

"I can't claim to be an infallible," said Albus, "but I believe David's source is sound. The missing locket appears to have been at one point in the possession of Mundungus Fletcher. I have been trying to quietly track him down since November and have not been successful. Nagini will be with Voldemort so there is no point going after them until we have the locket."

"Fletcher!" growled Alastor, his good eye glinting dangerously. Moody was going to track the thief down. He had wanted to arrest him for one of his many crimes for years. The meeting broke up.

"David, I never told you about my younger brother Regulus did I?" said Sirius once they were alone. "He got in over his head with the Death Eaters and then got himself killed when he tried to desert them. He had access to this house."

"You think he might be my informant? It's possible."