Chapter Three

The Lessons

As they ate Harry, Ron and Hermione chatted about what they had done so far in the holidays and Hermione filled Harry in on what was happening with the 'Order'.

"There are loads of new member, Mrs Weasly is run off her feet". "Yeah" said Ron "We've been helping with all the filing and stuff. Its dead boring but you do pick up some bits of information that are not in the papers".

"Oh" said Harry "You're not at home then". Like last summer, Harry again started to feel left out. And, after all, he had been hoping to go to the burrow when he left Privet Drive.

Ron saw Harry's' face drop and knew what he was thinking. "We have to stay at the Order Harry; Dumbledore didn't think it was safe for us to be at home, not now that Voldemort knows mum and dad are helping him".

"And he was worried about us too" Hermione added. "After what happened in the Department of Mysteries, with us helping you, Dumbledore thought he might come after us too, so we're all staying there. That is, I mean, Me, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George. Neville's grandmothers' not been very well so they're staying with relatives and Luna is on holiday with her dad for the summer".

"I know she sent me a letter" replied Harry still not feeling any happier.

"Really?" grinned Ron. "Any way, you're safer where you are at the moment Harry, but when you come we've got loads to show you. Hermione and I have been learning to ... OW!" Ron bent down and rubbed his ankle. "That's a surprise" Hermione glared at Ron. "Well it can't be a very good one by the look on your face" Harry replied indifferently. Seeing that Harry was not in the mood to hear anymore about the Order, Hermione decided to change the subject. "How's Luna then?"

"When you three have finished your little coven meeting, some of the rest of us would like to talk to Harry before we go" interrupted Lupin, who had walked over to them with Mrs Weasley and Tonks. Fred and George were busy in a corner showing Mrs Figg their fake wands that changed into rubber haddocks. "We've made arrangements to come pick you up next week on the 7th August Harry" said Tonks. "It'll be at midnight so you can tell your Aunt and Uncle that no one will see".

"Great" said Harry still feeling depressed. "You do want to come, don't you Harry" said Mr Weasley looking concerned. Harry paused for a moment. "Yeah sure, it'll just be, well … hard" he answered looking at the floor, unable to look Mr Weasley or Lupin in the eye.

"It's okay Harry, we understand; but you will have to come to the house eventually and we will all be there with you" said Lupin sympathetically. "And you wont really recognise the place anyway and there's lots to do" added Hermione trying to sound cheerful. Harry managed a weak smile as he looked at their expectant faces. "Cant wait" he said, "and it would be nice to feel like I'm helping instead of just sitting round".

"Good then it's all sorted" said Mr Weasley. "Right we have to go soon, there's just enough time to walk you home Harry if we are quick, you'll need help with all your presents".

"Oh I'd better do that Arthur" said Mrs Figg. "You can't let the Dursleys see you all coming out of my house".

"Of course, your right Arabella, why don't you come upstairs then Harry and see us all off at the wardrobe".

So everyone turned and traipsed back up the stairs to the back bedroom. "Right Fred, George, Hermione and Ron first" said Mr Weasley. "See ya Harry" Fred and George called as they stepped in to the wardrobe.

"We'll see you next week harry" added Hermione as she and Ron climbed in after them. "Bye Harry" said Ron gloomily as Mr Weasley struggled to close the doors after them. Tonks looked at her watch "3, 2, 1", there was a flash of white light that showed through the slits of the wardrobe door and they were gone.

"Right, come on then" said Mr Weasley as he opened the doors and climbed into the empty wardrobe. "I'll ring to check on you during the week Harry" said Lupin as he and Tonks followed Mr Weasley in to the wardrobe. "Bye" said Harry as Mrs Figg closed the wardrobe doors on them. After a minute there was another flash of light and they were all gone and Harry was left alone with Mrs Figg. "Well I hope you enjoyed your surprise dear".

"Yes thank you" Harry replied. "Well lets go sort your presents out, I've just been thinking maybe we could but it all in a box for you to take back so your Aunt and Uncle wont see what it is. And then we could put some of the leftover party food in as well for you to have tomorrow".

Harry followed her back downstairs and helped pack his things in to a cardboard box. It wasn't really that heavy so he told her he could manage to carry it himself. He thanked Mrs Figg for all the food and decoration, then made his way down her garden path, as she waved from the doorstep. He had just got into the hallway of number four when Uncle Vernon peered around the living room door. "What you got there boy!" he boomed, his moustache twitching as if itching for a fight.

"Uh, it's just some er … clothes of Mrs Figgs that she asked me to patch. She can't see that well to do it herself now" thought Harry quickly. "Ah good, well get on with it then" Uncle Vernon said as his head disappeared back in to the living room. Harry went upstairs.

Harry stared around him, everything was black. All he could see were his hands as he lifted them in front of his face and wiggled his fingers. He stretched his arms out in front of himself to try and feel his way to the door. But there was no door. He could feel himself floating along in the darkness. He called out "Hello, who's there?", but nobody answered. A breeze started blowing around him and then he thought he heard somebody whispering behind him. He tried to turn around but he couldn't. "Hello" he called again starting to panic, "Who's there?" Then all of a sudden he heard a loud rushing, whistling sound above his head as something was falling through the air towards him. Harry looked up and was filled with a sudden horror at what he saw. Then the scream started, piercing the air, louder than the whistling. Sirius was falling down through the blackness from a small light above. Harry could see his face as he screamed Harry's name and waved his arms about trying to grab at nothing. He had a gash down the right side of his head and had a look of utter terror on his face. He was falling fast, and Harry reached out to try and catch him. But Sirius fell a few metres in front of him and kept falling. Unable to move Harry had to watch his back, as he continued down in to the darkness.

"Sirius!" Harry screamed as he jumped up in his bed dripping with sweat and breathing heavily. It took a few minutes for Harry to recognise the things around him as he tried to calm down.

He got out of bed and went to switch the light on. He sat back on the bed and looked at the clock. It was 5.13am. Then he thought to himself, "Happy Birthday Harry". He looked at his box of presents that was in the corner of the room where he had left it the previous evening. He hadn't wanted to open it again then, as thinking of the photo album filled him with dread. But Harry went over to it now and lifted out the cards that Mrs Figg had placed on the top. He opened the cards one by one and put them on the desk. Somehow, thinking of Ron and Hermione helped calm him and he felt a bit better. He went to the window and looked out, it was still dark outside. Leaving the light on, Harry climbed back in to bed and pulled the covers up to his chin. He fell asleep again almost immediately and the dream started all over, just as it had every night for the last two months.

The next few days passed very quickly. Harry spent most of his time in his room reading the books he had been given for his birthday and making notes on jinxes and disguises for the next DA meetings. He did, however, leave the photo album in its purple box. He only had two days left to go until he left Privet Drive and he was starting to look forward to it. Harry was putting the book Ron had given him away in the box when he remembered the mirror. He pulled it out and reread Dumbledore's note. Taking out his wand, he tapped the glass and said "illusion revealum". The glass seemed to flicker for a moment then went back to normal and Harry walked over to his bedroom window. As he looked out he held the mirror up to his eyes and looked around Privet Drive. Everything seemed normal until he leaned further out of the window and looked down to see Professor Mcgonagall striding across Uncle Vernon's' front garden. Harry dropped his hands in shock. As the mirror moved from his eye-line however, he saw that it was a tabby cat making its way across the lawn. There had always been a lot of cats around Privet Drive and then Harry giggled to himself as he realised 'So that's another way that they've been watching me'.

Harry lifted the mirror up again just as the cat was going around the side of the house to check, and yes, it definitely was Professor Mcgonagall.

There was a knock at his bedroom door and Aunt Petunia walked in. "I need you to go out for a couple of hours. Vernon has guests coming for lunch and we don't want any … disruptions. What's that?" and she pointed to Harry's' hands.

"It's a mirror" he replied raising it up for her to see. As he did so however, he caught her reflection on the surface. Remembering that muggles could not be seen in the mirror he held it up higher. Aunt Petunia had a pale green light around her like Mrs Figg. Harry's' mouth dropped wide open as he looked up at her amazed. She, however, had turned and was starting to leave "well you have fifteen minutes so you'd better put that away and get your coat" and then she was gone.

Harry reopened the door and went out on to the landing. What did it mean; he thought to himself, it gave him a whole new set of questions that Harry wanted the answers to. She was already downstairs in the kitchen with Uncle Vernon now though, so there was no chance to double check what he had seen. Harry turned to go back in to his bedroom and met Dudley coming the other way.

"Move it" growled Dudley as he pushed past. Remembering the mirror, Harry lifted it up again towards the back of a wobbling Dudley. There was, however, no image reflected. Dudley takes after Uncle Vernon again then, Harry thought to himself, glad that the magic hadn't reached this side of the family; Dudley would definitely be a Slytherin.

Harry went back in to his room, put his shoes on and then left the house.

An hour later he was wandering down Little Whinging High Street looking in the shop windows. The rain had stopped today but it still didn't feel like summer. Bored with the shops Harry turned down a side street to head towards the park. Soon after he was sat on the grass next to a small pond, watching a couple of ducks floating round on it. The swings were busy so Harry had chosen to sit here instead, watching the people all around him. Gangs of kids were playing football or wandering in groups looking for something to do, mothers and fathers were playing with small children and an elderly lady was sat on a wooden bench doing her knitting. Everybody was walking around passing the time, completely oblivious to all the strangers around them. As Harry sat watching he wondered what each of them could be thinking. What little or big problems they could be trying to work out in their heads, or even if they were as content and happy as some of them seemed to be. Maybe if he had stuck with the occlumency lessons then he could have found out.

After half an hour Harry got bored and decided to make his way home and see if the coast was clear. As he made his way back he wondered about what he was going to do when he finished at Hogwarts. He was older now and he'd be out on his own soon. Maybe he could stay at the burrow with the Weasleys or maybe live with Ron on their own somewhere. Who knows, maybe it will never even happen, I might not live to finish school, Harry thought to himself, kicking a discarded drinks can that was sitting in the middle of the pavement.

As he looked up to follow its path, he saw a grey tabby cat come running down the road towards him. As it neared it looked from side to side and then still running changed in to the human form of Professor Mcgonagall. "What are you doing staying out so long? I've been looking for you everywhere".

"What's wrong? What's happened?" came Tonks' voice from behind him. Harry spun round; standing in front of him was the old lady who had been knitting on the bench.

I really need to start carrying that mirror around with me, thought Harry to himself.

"There are reports of dementors in the area again and mundungus swears blind he just saw Bellatrix Lestrange on the High Street. Professor Dumbledore wants you to leave here now Harry".

Tonks withdrew her wand from her pocket and started scanning the street up and down. "Here down this alley, its quiet" said Professor Mcgonagall, "Have you got it, Nymphadora?"

"Yes Professor" she answered as she pulled a shoebox out of her knitting bag. "Right grab a hold Harry it's a port key, it'll take the three of us to headquarters".

"What about my things and why are you carrying a port key round with you?" Harry asked Tonks.

"Your things have been taken ahead now just grab a corner Harry" snapped Professor Mcgonagall. Harry placed a hand on the shoebox along with Mcgonagall and Tonks. The Professor took out her wand and tapped the shoebox. Instantly Harry jerked forward and shut his eyes as the force of the wind blew back his hair and pulled at his skin. Then as suddenly as it had started, it stopped and the three of them stood in Grimmauld Place a couple of houses down from number twelve.

"Quickly Harry, up to the house" said Tonks still scanning her surroundings for possible assailants. They all rushed forward and made their way up the steps to number twelve. But even before Tonks could raise her hand to knock the door it was flung open and Mrs Weasley stood inside the hallway.

"Get in quickly, come on, oh my, are you all right Harry dear?" Harry didn't even have time to answer before he was swept in to a hug. The front door was shut and everybody moved down towards the kitchen past the stuffed house elf heads.

"We heard the news, we were all worried sick, what were you doing wandering off on your own Harry, you know it's not safe" Mrs Weasley asked.

Harry looked around himself as they stepped in to the kitchen, it had been decorated lemon and the table had been moved round; and there at the end of it were Ron, Hermione and Mr Weasley.

"Harry!" Ron and Hermione shouted in unison, jumping up out of their chairs.

"Hi guys, what happened to the kitchen?" Harry replied. "Oh well, I hope you don't mind Harry dear, but as we spend so much time in here I though the place could do with a bit of colour, to make it a bit more cheery. I can take it off if you don't like it though" said Mrs Weasley raising her wand to the lemon stone walls.

"I don't understand" said Harry "Why would I mind about the kitchen walls?"

"Well it's yours now Harry isn't it" said Ron. "What, the kitchen?" replied Harry.

"No you dunce" answered Hermione "the house and all that's in it, Sirius left them to you". "Yeah, bad luck mate, you've inherited Kreacher!" chuckled Ron.

"Ron!" scolded Hermione "We've discussed this, Kreacher is grieving so you have to be nice to him, he doesn't mean to do what he does". "Yeah right" Ron answered quietly looking side ways at Hermione then rolling his eyes up to the ceiling for only Harry to see.

"I still don't understand, why did I get the house and why Kreacher? I'm not a Black, and its headquarters for the Order isn't it?"

"Come sit down Harry" said Mr Weasley. "Dumbledore thought that you needed a bit more time to deal with Sirius' … leaving us before he burdened you with anymore. Sirius left all his belongings to you in his will, except for a few small bits and pieces".

"Yeah, I got a wicked chess set" said Ron "and Hermione got a stack load of books".

"Yes, well" continued Mr Weasley "So Dumbledore thought that until you were ready to decide what you wanted to do with his things, we would carry on using the house for the Order".

"It's not the main headquarters know though, they have a room in the Ministry for all the official stuff; so we're still hidden and it's still safe to be here" said Hermione.

"But what about Kreacher?"

"Well dear, it's kind of … umm …" Mrs Weasley shifted awkwardly in her seat. "Well, before he died Harry, Sirius had Dumbledore sign some paperwork; that was, when he was still Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. It was to be a surprise for your birthday. He was ever so excited".

"It wasn't totally official at the time, it couldn't be put through the ministry because they were still looking for him of course" said Mr Weasley "but because of Dumbledore's position, it was still legal".

"What was?" exclaimed Harry trying to get to the point of the conversation.

"Well Sirius signed adoption papers, to adopt you Harry; we witnessed them and Dumbledore officiated them. He was going to give them to you for your birthday".

Harry felt a huge lump rise in his throat and he felt sick. Tears rose up in his eyes and he had to turn in his chair to stop everyone looking, as all his grief came flooding back to him. It was like losing Sirius all over again

"Harry? Are you okay?" asked Hermione, who was squeezing his shoulder ever so gently to see if he was all right. Harry was still lost in his own thoughts, it was such a shock.

"But if it was when Dumbledore was in the Wizengamot, then it was last summer, why didn't he tell me; or you?"

"He was hoping to be able to make it official properly first" said Mr Weasley "we had some leads on where Peter Pettigrew might have been hiding and he thought if he could clear his name first then you could be a proper family, and everyone would know. It wasn't until February that we lost track of Peter so Sirius decided to give you the papers for your birthday. And now that the ministry has accepted Dumbledore's story of Sirius' innocence, the adoption papers have been recognised and, with his will as well, you are officially the owner of this house and a descendant of the Black family too. Which is why you have Kreacher".

"Have a cup of tea Harry, it's a lot to deal with I know but you don't need to worry about it too much now. Dumbledore will be along later to talk to you. He was most upset when they lost track of you earlier" said Mrs Weasley, rummaging around in a cupboard and pulling out a tin of ginger snaps.

"I told them they should have used those talkie walkie things but they didn't listen" said Mr Weasley. Harry couldn't help but smile at that.

A large bang erupted behind him, "Harry!" came Remus Lupin's voice as the door crashed against the wall because of the force that it was opened with. "Are you all right? I see your Aunt and Uncle are still the same happy people that we met at the station!"

"Yeh" said Fred, as he came in the kitchen behind Lupin. He was wearing a bright red scaly suit, with a matching tie. "Your Uncle went purple when he saw Moody walking up the path; and all we saw of your cousin was his bum disappearing up the stairs!"

"What were you doing at my house?" asked Harry as George sauntered in wearing the same suit as Fred.

"Well we were all out looking for you but when we got the messages from Mrs Tibbles that Minerva ad you; we went to your house to collect your things. Your aunt and uncle weren't too keen on us being in the house but I think we got everything. Alastor has just taken it all upstairs. You'll have to check it later so that we can go back and get anything that e might have missed" Lupin answered.

They had just all sat down when Tonks and Mad Eye Moody came in to the room. Harry realised now why Uncle Vernon had gone purple. Mad Eye Moody was wearing a pair of fluorescent pink shell suit bottoms with a black long sleeved cotton shirt and his black cloak thrown over the top.

"Sit down Alastor" Mrs Weasley directed him to chair "I've made you a cup of tea; no milk, no sugar just how you like it". As Moody sniffed his drink and stared in to the bottom of the cup looking for anything that shouldn't be in there, Mrs Weasley turned and shouted "Tonks!" But it was too late; there was a huge crash as a pile of plates on a table top in the corner smashed over the stone floor.

"Sorry Molly, I was looking to see if we had any cauldron cakes left". "Their not in there, sit down and I'll get them" said Mrs Weasley as she swept up all the bits of plates off the floor with her wand on to the table, "Reparo".

As Harry drank his tea everyone filled him in on what they had been doing so far over the summer. Members of the Order had been helping set up the second office in the Ministry. Now that the Ministry had officially recognised that Voldemort was back, the Order of the Phoenix was working alongside Ministry officials to promote home and personal security, and to coordinate sightings of death eaters. The Order had recruited hundreds of new members and it was the member's duty to keep watch on their local area and report anything out of the ordinary. Mr Weasley was telling a very funny story about a witch called Dora Winkle who cursed her neighbours' cat because she thought it was looking at her funny, when Mrs Weasley sent them all upstairs so that she could get supper ready.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred and George went upstairs to Harry and Ron's bedroom. As Hermione closed the door Harry looked around the room and saw his trunk at the end of his bed and Hedwig sitting in her cage on top of the wardrobe.

"You are all right Harry mate aren't you?" asked Ron as he sat on his bed next to Fred and George. "I mean, that was a huge shock about Sirius' adopting you, we all just thought he left it to you in his Will".

"What, you mean you never knew?" Harry realised he had been so amazed by the news himself that he hadn't even looked at Ron or Hermione.

"No of course not Harry" Hermione said, clearly offended "How could you even think that we wouldn't tell you something important like that. I mean inheriting the house is one thing but the adoption is way too big a secret to keep from your best friend".

"I'm sorry; I've just been feeling so left out of things not knowing what was happening and with the phone calls about the weather and all. And you said you had a surprise for me, last week in Mrs Figgs' house".

"We didn't know Harry" said Ron "and that definitely wasn't your surprise".

"Well go on and show him then" said Fred grinning. "Ok, we have been dying to show you this for weeks Harry … after three Ron, one … two … three". There were popping noises as both Ron and Hermione both disappeared from their sitting positions on the beds and re-emerged again over by the bedroom door.

"Surprise, what do you think? Dumbledore got special permission for us to take our tests early because of all the danger we've been in. He thought it would give us an extra chance to get away if we were to get cornered again" explained Hermione "I thought that was why he wanted to see you tonight, because he wanted you to get started as soon as possible too. You have to learn the theory first but you'll do fine and we can help you".

"We're not supposed to do it unless we're in danger really, until after our birthdays but Dumbledore said we could practice around the house as long as we are on our own" said Ron.

"So what else have you been doing?"

"Well like we told you last week we've been helping with the filing" explained Hermione. "Most of the paperwork is done in the ministry office but a lot of the files with member names, addresses and top secret stuff is brought here for safekeeping so we've been helping Mrs Weasley organise it".

"Yeah" said Ron, "Mum deals with the secret stuff, seals it and locks it away, but you can still learn stuff from the papers we deal with; you just have to make sure Mum doesn't catch you reading it. She thinks the less we know the less trouble we can get in to".

"And how little she knows it!" added Fred smugly. "Oh, how's the joke shop going?" asked Harry. "Too many orders, not enough time" answered George. "The mail order side is flying out and we have a three day waiting list before we can get the orders filled; and the shops really busy too. We've had to take on more staff". "We figured that with all the bad stuff happening people want something to make them laugh. You'll have to come and see the shop Harry before you go back to school" added Fred.

There was a knock on the bedroom door and Mr Weasley came in. "Suppers ready. Your mother said to hurry up and get downstairs because Harry needs to eat quickly so Dumbledore can see him before he leaves". "Dumbledore's here?" asked Harry.

"Yes, he is in a meeting in the drawing room; now get a move on".

"Who's he meeting dad?" asked George. "None of your business now get downstairs". With a pop, Fred and George had vanished. "We'll walk down with you Harry".

Harry ate his supper quickly while all the others talked about what they had done during the day. Mrs Weasley told them about the postcard she had gotten from Ginny, who was staying with one of her Hufflepuff friends for a couple of weeks in Wales. She was due back in a couple of days. Mr Weasley was just explaining about his problems with a runaway park bench, complete with muggle riders when Percy walked in to the kitchen.

"Hiya Harry did you have a nice birthday?" "Hi Percy yeah tha…" but Harry didn't finish his sentence as he realised who had just sat opposite him. "Here's your supper Percy dear" said Mrs Weasley, fussing around him as she gave him a huge plate of sausage and mash. Harry gazed open-mouthed at the Weasley that was sat across from him. Over to his left, Ron started laughing; "it's okay Harry it was all a trick so that Dumbledore would know what was happening in Fudges' office".

"Yes well, he still should have told me and Arthur" said Mrs Weasley rather gruffly. It was obviously a sore point. "I am sorry that I ignored you at your hearing Harry but I had too. It's like I sent that letter too. I had to send it because Minister Fudge was getting suspicious. Lucius Malfoy had kept having meetings with him and refusing to say anything with me in the room and he told Minister Fudge it was because Dumbledore could have planted me there to spy on him. I also realised that they were intercepting my mail to keep an eye on me so I had to send Ron that letter to try and throw them off the scent, so to speak. That's why nobody could know because it made the whole story more convincing".

"So are you still working at the Ministry?" Harry asked.

"Yes. Dumbledore apologised to Minister Fudge and he let me keep my job. He said I was the best assistant he's ever had!"

"That's because he's totally inept too!" laughed Fred. "Nonsense, George stop winding up your brother, I've told you before". "I'm Fred!"

"Hmph, well you had better make your way upstairs now Harry" said Mrs Weasley changing the subject, "Wait for Dumbledore outside the drawing room I'm sure he won't be long now".

Harry left the table and made his way upstairs. As he approached the drawing room he heard raised voices behind the door. They were high pitched and definitely not human. "We have never had any cooperation when it came to him, so why should now be any different. And why should we go out of our way to help you? We have given you proof and you still refuse to act".

Dumbledores' calm voice came drifting through the small gap in the door.

"I can assure you that action is being taken; your claims are being investigated but at the moment there is no tangible proof that he has gone over to the other side. We cannot simply hunt down and arrest a man because of rumours. The only tangible thing that we have on Ludo Bagman at the moment is his gambling debts, and we cannot make him pay what he has not got. Now am I to assume that the alliance between our kinds that we are proposing will still be put forward to your Council, despite the Bagman issue?"

"We will put forward your proposals but we cannot guarantee anything, you haven't given many incentives. We will see". Chairs scrapped in the room and there was the sound of feet pattering towards the door. Harry stood back and became very interested in a family portrait that was on the wall next to him. "What are you staring at traitor" it said to him. With that, the door to the drawing room opened and two goblins walked out. "We will be in contact soon Mr Dumbledore". With a bow they turned and walked down the hallway.

"Come in Harry" said Professor Dumbledore, looking down at Harry over the top of his half moon spectacles, "I have been expecting you".