Disclaimer - I don't own any of the characters, places (unless they are of my own creation and I shall add notes in for that later), songs etc. Most of this belongs to JK bows.
Authors notes - Just a few notes, basically. Someone mentioned about the names such as 'Snidget', 'Lioness' etc. These are codenames for the members, basically ones I slaved over for an age between chapters - I'll post a list up on the internet some time, along with a list of the departments, members, units, pairs etc. These are all on my CPU now, so they'll be up soon, and the address will be posted here. (Later added - this is the address for the website about all my stories, including a lot of info - http/ smellycat190. 4t . com (without the spaces).
I've also just learnt that song lyrics aren't allowed. Hence why there shall be none from now on, just incase you were wondering.
Thiswill be very very very loosely based on HBP, but is mostly AU. The traitor will still be there, but not the death. Slughorn turned the job down, basically, because Harry did not go with Dumbledore. Therefore, Snape is still Potions master, and Tonks is DADA Professor. The death won't be there, although perhaps maybe another character or two in their place…we'll see. I couldn't let this person die in mine - I love them! I was distraught when I read that, and about the betrayal…
Before I start rambling on about it, once again, thanks for your reviews - even the bad ones were rather amusing. Someone mention about puberty and the likes, and romance…I didn't fully understand that one, but I don't really want a repeat, thanks.
(P.S. - I've been putting the wrong year…it's supposed to be 1996...silly me, lol)
2nd October, 1996
The Daily Prophet, for the first time in the memory of the current Hogwarts era, reported the full truth of the Battle of Diagon Alley, including the mysterious Army who had 'valiantly and bravely defended the people at fought the Death Eaters with no fear in their noble hearts'.
The newspaper had several sources claiming that they were named the Dragons, or something with the word Dragon in it, and they were hailed as the new heroes of the Wizarding World, despite the fact that they were unknown to all but themselves and, of course, Lord Voldemort.
The only lead the Ministry, who were tracking them down, had was that their Leader was called Snidget.
It wouldn't get them far, but it was a start.
However, someone more powerful and influential than the Ministry was on the scent, and that was one, Albus Dumbledore.
It was a common rumour that he knew everything that happened in Hogwarts.
They were partially right, because few things did indeed steal away from the man's notice, like possessed and impersonated teachers, a diary that possessed a girl within the school and the fact that one of his teachers was a complete fraud; but apart from that, he did indeed know most things.
And one of them was that, in his mind's eye, it was very likely that his young charge was indeed Snidget, and the DA, significantly larger, was the 'Dragon Army'.
He had no proof.
But he was so certain of his suspicions that, after breakfast, he sent a note to the young man to meet him up in his office.
He was rather surprised whenever he popped up in front of him.
Literally.
"Hey Professor, you called?"
To his credit, Albus didn't show outward shock, but instead leant forward calmly in his chair, signalling for the young man to take a seat.
He took it without word.
"Yes indeed, Harry. And I believe you know the reason why I've called you here today?"
Harry raised an eyebrow.
"You mean you've finally decided to say? Yourself? I wouldn't have expected this for a while."
Albus looked slightly confused.
Harry slowly mirrored this look.
"I don't think we're talking about the same thing here, Professor." He said slowly.
'It took you that long to figure it out!'
'Sirius, don't make me hurt you.'
'What can you do to me now?'
'It's more what my mum can do now, and what I can do later.'
'Oh…well, um, I'll shut up then.'
'Good.'
Albus blinked.
"No, I don't think we are."
It was obvious he wanted to ask about this, but held his tongue, instead working towards what he had originally wanted to talk about.
"Harry, as you are aware via the Daily Prophet, there is a new Order fighting against Lord Voldemort."
Harry nodded, now very well aware of where this was going.
"Now, after seeing this group in action the other day, and seeing their leader battle against Tom, I can only come to one conclusion"
"That I'm Snidget and that the DA are the Dragons." Harry completed for him.
Albus nodded, smiling calmly, rather pleased that Harry had gotten his point so quickly.
"Well, I have to say that you are very perceptive, Headmaster…that's all true, bar that the traitor and her friend were not invited back, and that we invited other members, including several Slytherins. But before you say something else, I can explain why I did this."
Albus had begun to speak, and released his breath, nodding in consent.
"Many of the Order of the Phoenix, not yourself I know, believe that we are too young to fight, but as you know, this is my war.
"And whether I like it or not, these youngsters and this school are going to be in danger. So I trained them up and prepared them. It is our mission to help defend those too weak to defend themselves and to help stop the killings by attacking the Death Eaters whenever they strike…and not to be found out by adults who don't want us to be fighting." He added, more to himself than to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore had looked slightly startled at the addition of the Slytherins, but then again Harry Potter was not as prejudiced as most, if not at all, to Slytherin's supposed darkness. He had almost been sorted there himself after all, even if it was not known beyond himself and the sorting hat, and the Headmaster.
"I can definitely agree with that, Harry. Molly Weasley, for example, has been adamant that none of her children will join until they are out of age, even later if she can prevent it."
Harry nodded.
"Obviously you know about us…all I ask is that you don't tell anyone. We won't affiliate with the Order of the Phoenix, but we will stand by you in Battle whenever the time comes." Harry started, sounding professional, even though he was laughing on the inside, as his mum shouting at Sirius for something.
Dumbledore reclined, and offered the young man a lemon drop.
Harry took it.
The Headmaster in return had to smile - he was the first person in many years who had taken one…the first one ever, actually. He really was his Grandson….
He sighed.
He hated to keep such a large secret, but he knew he would have to wait until the right time to share it, no matter how much he wanted to break and spill all
Harry managed to conclude the general idea of what he was thinking, causing him to suddenly stand up, and new set of thoughts laid upon him, adding to the numerous layers of Harry Potter.
"I've got to go, Professor."
Without another word, he near ran out of the office.
And all day his thoughts drifted on how to break the news that he knew.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3rd October, 1996
Owing to the fact that Ron hadn't gotten a howler from his mum that morning, it was clear to Harry that the Headmaster had kept his promise and not uttered a word about the identities of the mysterious Order of the Dragon.
However, Harry was watching the Headmaster closely…after all, a Marauder's prank could not be missed by the Marauder himself, and he had been itching to try this particular prank out.
Well, he had to get back into the swing of it somehow, didn't he?
He did feel slightly guilty for what he was about to his professors, but hopefully they would see the funny side.
Hopefully.
He counted down the seconds on his watch.
And finally, whenever it hit midday, it began.
Music started pumping into the Hall, and the students looked around confused, until white smog spread across the front of the Hall, and from it emerged four people.
A policeman, a biker, an Indian chief and a builder - Flitwick, Snape, Dumbledore and Hagrid in such order.
Those Muggleborns and Half-Bloods, who already recognised the tune, were torn between laughter and shock as the four men started dancing to the 'YMCA', but eventually laughter won out, and they could barely catch breath.
Those who had no idea about this particular part, could themselves barely hold back their guffaws, as the four started 'bumping' and doing a series of letters, in the form of 'Y', 'M', 'C' and 'A'.
The Muggleborns accompanied the four with the letters, all singing along cheerfully, and clapped the loudest whenever the music finally finished and the costumes vanished.
The four men were now all rather red in the face (this looked rather amusing on Snape) and quickly took their seats, three of the four laughing along in good spirits.
A faint red mist arose from the ground, and a symbol with a bold, red 'M' came into view.
'With compliments, Prongs Jr. - welcome back to the Marauders' era.'
The students all started muttering about this new development between their bouts of laughter, and Ron and Hermione turned to look at Harry, as did Albus and Minerva, the last of whom was already standing up.
So he did what any other person would do.
He fled, amongst the heavy applause and cheers of his schoolmates.
1234567890
After hiding out in the Common Room for a couple of hours, and a short band practice, Harry managed to make his way to the Room of Requirement without being found.
He walked past it three times and finally, whenever it appeared, entered quickly.
The room was a large empty chamber, the walls made of stone.
"Come on guys, let's go." Harry said to himself, and the two appeared in solid form, both in blue robes, already shooting silent spells at him, before apparating around the room.
Swiftly, Harry dodged the two spells, and he himself apparated, his muscles slowly growing heavier as he duelled the two men, who were relentless in their attacks.
Finally, he managed to take out Godric, and twenty minutes after, defeated Salazar.
He didn't boast - on the contrary, his wiped the sweat off of his forehead and smiled.
"That was a great duel…you two work well together whenever you aren't bickering."
Godric and Salazar looked at each other in horror, and Harry laughed.
"Ok, ok, sorry…anyway, is there anything I need to work on?"
Harry leant back against the chair which had appeared, and sat in it.
"Well, you should try and make less use of shields…being physically tired from dodging is better than being magically exhausted from continually producing even the smallest of shields."
"And is there any sign of my wandless magic coming back fully yet?"
The two men had admittedly been rather puzzled whenever his wandless magic had not nurtured itself completely once again, and had taken to studying him for it.
"Nothing," Salazar admitted. "Although I believe that it will happen whenever you least expect it - perhaps during a stressful situation on the likes. Until this happens, however, try and keep your usage of it to a minimum, and use it only whenever you can."
Harry, once again running a hand over his sweating forehead, grudgingly agreed.
"Fine, fine…but as soon as it comes back I'll happily use it to make cold drinks."
"We wouldn't expect any less."
"Shut up, Godric."
"Don't start again."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5th October, 1996
The announcement spread throughout the Hall wildly.
The Hogwarts Duelling Tournament would be held that day, beginning in approximately half-an-hour.
Anyone could enter, and the winner would be awarded fifty house points and the title 'Hogwarts Duelling Captain'.
"Good luck to you all." Dumbledore finished, sitting down.
There had been a rush for the sing-up sheet situated at each House table, although at Gryffindor, Harry had managed to grab it first, and pass it to his friends, and the DA members, before he left to prepare, as did all of the Order, ignoring the mutterings and bets on who would win.
Up in his dorm, Harry pulled on a pair of dark green Battle robes.
After adjusting them to fit, and double-checking his Dragon-Hide body armour, he put on his Dragon-Hide boots and fingerless gloves, put his wand inside his wrist holster, charmed his glasses so that they couldn't be summoned, broken or fall off, and finally caught up with Ron and Hermione on the stairs going down to the Great Hall once again.
Ron was dressed in a similar fashion, however, his Battle robes were dark red. Hermione, also dressed in a similar way, wore soft blue robes.
The Hall was bustling, sporting several different areas where the matches would be taking place, and Harry watched in interest as several members of the Order were called upon first.
1234567890
Harry watched in the semi-final as Ron and Hermione stepped into the Duelling area.
Many around them were shouting various 'Go Weasley', 'Go get 'im, Granger' and 'Kill each other' 's, although Harry remained quiet - he didn't want to support one over the other.
It was an impressive twenty-five minute duel.
Ron had taken an early lead, due to more physical strength and reflex than Hermione had. However, being Harry's partner had come in useful, and her sheer knowledge of spells and ability to perform enabled her to fight back.
Wave after wave of power flew over Harry, and he watched the two closely.
Eventually, however, Ron defeated Hermione with a tripping jinx, and disarmed her before she could properly react.
The two, amongst the cheers of the crowd and the marvelling youngsters who looked at them with a new-held respect, then kissed and hugged the other, and surrounded by cat-calls and wolf-whistles, came over to Harry, both blushing red.
Harry smirked, and called over to Ginny, "You owe me ten galleons, Gin. Tell everyone else to cough up!"
He had just won a nice little pot in the Gryffindor betting pool, this one partaken by nearly every member of the House, and was obviously rather pleased about it.
Hermione and Ron, still blushing rather heavily, looked at him in surprise as the grumbling Gryffindors nearby fished out their pockets. They were even further surprised whenever Professor Dumbledore, who was standing nearby, gave him a couple of galleons, under the strict glare of Professor McGonagall, before walking quickly away, his head slightly bowed to avoid the seemingly irate and disapproving woman's eyes, to announce the final - Harry versus Ron.
1234567890
"Go easy on me, mate…I'm too young to die." Ron joked on the platform, as they wished the other good luck.
Harry smiled brightly.
"You've got as good a chance as me, Ron…"
Ron snorted.
"Ok gentleman." Dumbledore called out. "You know the rules…until the other is unconscious or disarmed, the match shall continue. Begin on the count of three…two…one…"
Before he had said 'duel', Ron was shooting spells at a lithely dodging Harry.
The crowd of students and Professors watched in amazement of both young men as Ron, who many had thought gained the leverage in the duel, was beaten back heavily by barrages of spells, and were surprised by the fact that his shield was still holding strong.
After several minutes, Ron's shield, under the weight of two strong stunners, disappeared, and quickly shot some stunners of his own in Harry's direction.
Harry, who had not seen them coming until the last second, threw himself to the floor, rolling backwards, and aimed three successive jinxes at Ron.
Ron dodged the first two, but the third was placed awkwardly, and despite his Dragon-Hide, the cutting curse sliced his shoulder.
He replied in turn with several bombarding curses, but Harry neatly dodged them, and he rolled out of the way to dodge the three stunners aimed at his previous position.
Panting slightly, he looked up to see Harry right in front of him, and before he could react, he had been successfully stunned, and his wand taken.
Silence rang throughout the Hall before a roar of approval and thunderous claps shook the castle to the very core.
Harry, slightly flustered, awoke Ron, and helped him up.
Ron grinned.
"I told you, mate."
"I know, I know…but you put up one heck of a fight."
Beaming in pride, and flushed at the attention he was receiving, he turned and grabbed Harry's arm, raising it up in victory.
Harry stood before them all, his eyes alight and a grin on his face, the congratulations of his mentors, parents and Sirius, and of his friends, worth more than he could ever truly tell them.
Yet another chapter! It was a hard chapter- believe me - butit'll get a lot more juicy later on.
Prank suggestions are welcomed! As well as some Marauder names for Hermione and Ron, who are, once again, Owl and Falcon. They are currently in the stages of learning how to transform, and with time in Harry's trunk, will hopefully be completely finished by the end of the year.