Shadows of War

The Order

When the world came back into view, the scattered garbage and overflowing dumpsters were replaced by the long, slow arcing row of houses that made up Grimmauld Place. They made their way down the line of houses in silence. Harry noticed that just as before there was no light coming from any house on the street. The only light cast on the dimly lit street was that which came from the pale crescent moon overhead. The only notion of the time was that it was well-past midnight.

They came to the point between numbers eleven and thirteen and just as it had before, the two houses were forced aside to make way for the concealed building between them. As they walked forward, Harry could see a doorway appear with a number twelve emblazoned on the center. Lupin opened the door, glancing around the neighborhood before following Harry through the door.

As soon as Harry made it across the foyer and crossed the threshold into the living room he was accosted by Mrs. Weasley, fussing over him and the danger he was put in. After a few minutes of convincing from her husband, Mrs. Weasley finally let Harry breathe and returned to the kitchen.

With the departure of the Weasley matriarch, Harry was then able to see the two teenagers standing in the next room: Ron and Hermione. Trying to come up with a somewhat witty remark and failing miserably he decided to settle with, "Hi."

"Hi Harry!"

"Heya mate, heard you had some trouble on the way over," Ron remarked walking towards Harry and clapping him on the back.

"Yeah," Harry winced stretching his shoulder. "Sorry about your kitchen."

"No worries, though mum threw a fit after she found out there were Death Eaters there, but she's just glad you're okay," Ron answered with his trademark grin in place. "So, whatcha been up to other than trouble, and don't think you can leave out the Burrow 'cause I want the full story!"

Harry sighed and informed his two best friends what had happened. He told them how he was ignored by the Durseleys until the Order showed up. He also mentioned Cleir and that he was Hogwarts' new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor. Hermione is delighted by the idea that she'll be able to question the new teacher before class starts.

"He might be our new DADA teacher, but something doesn't feel right about him."

"You mean like Umbridge?" Hermione ventured cautiously knowing Harry's distaste of their last "teacher".

"No, he doesn't seem like a Ministry git, but I'm not sure what it is," Harry's confusion still left him wondering what was going on.

"Have you told anyone?"

"I told Lupin, but he thought I was being paranoid."

"Alright we can talk about this later, what happened at the Burrow," Ron interrupted their musings and Hermione gave him a glare comparable to Dumbledore. Harry grinned slightly at his two friends usual antics.

Harry moved on to what occurred at the Burrow. Once he began explaining the situation that occurred he remembered the wall that suddenly split the kitchen in two, and quickly asked Hermione if she had ever heard of such a spell to which she replied she hadn't.

"Whoa, we found a spell that Hermione doesn't know," Ron let out a loud exclamation causing Hermione's face to turn a deep red before quickly leaving the room. "Did I say something?"

Harry smirked at his friend's ignorance, "She probably just went to find out what spell it was."

"Harry, may I speak with you for a moment?"

Harry turned slightly, his gaze coming to rest on the aged features of Albus Dumbledore. He felt something build up within him, but merely forced it aside and grudgingly followed the Headmaster from the room. The aged wizard led him down a long set of stairs which terminated at a single door. Dumbledore pushed the door open and stepped inside. Harry's intrinsic curiosity pushed him through the doorway and into the dimly lit basement.

If this room was anything, it was large and dark. Aside from that Harry couldn't make anything out save for the four wizards surrounding a brilliant orange flame in the center of the room. The faces of Albus Dumbledore, Arthur Weasley, Alastor Moody, and Remus Lupin were lit from the unearthly glow from the small torch in the center of the room.

"Harry," Dumbledore began, "We have decided to offer you membership into the Order of the Phoenix. Now it would be a full membership but as you have not graduated from Hogwarts as of yet, you will not be involved in any mission the Order is sent on-"

"So what is it then?" Harry cut in, "What's the point of not being around to help when I have to face Voldemort in the end?"

"The point, Harry, is full disclosure," Dumbledore replied, trademark twinkle in full effect. "You may not be able to go on missions but you will know everything the Order is doing during this war. We will – I will not be keeping any information from you. We all know where that led…"

Harry nodded solemnly, "What do I have to do?"

At his words, Lupin stepped forward holding the small torch that had been in the center of the group. "Place you hand over this."

Harry looked from the flame to Lupin's face, who nodded slightly, and Harry placed his hand over the flame…why's it cold?

"I, your name, swear to assist the Order of the Phoenix during these dark times so that the shadows of war that threaten our way shall be lifted."

Upon finished the oath, Harry could see that every wizard in the room had their wand out. Harry was about to draw his own before Lupin shook his head, "This is part of the oath."

At that he felt the tip of a wand touch the hand that was still over the flame. He looked to the owner of the wand and Lupin merely grinned. "I, Remus Lupin, as member of the Order of the Phoenix accept the oath given by Harry Potter. May he join our ranks and assist our cause."

Mr. Weasley stepped forward and tapped Harry's hand with his own wand. "I, Arthur Weasley, as member of the Order…" It continued until once again as Moody stepped forward and repeated the same words. It was when Moody finished that Dumbledore stepped forward.

"I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, as member of the Order of the Phoenix, accept the oath given by Harry Potter. May he join our ranks and assist our cause. Signum!" With one final tap, the flames rushed upward and enveloped Harry's hand. They centered on a spot slightly above his wrist on the top of his hand. It was there the flames formed a feather of golden hue before dissipating completely. The flames beneath his hand were extinguished as well plunging the room into near darkness.

There were four other golden feathers floating in the black. Harry was mesmerized as the closest rose and slid horizontally. A resounding clap filled the darkened basement and torches on the walls suddenly sputtered to life bathing the room in flickering light.

"Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix."

- - - - -

"So what was so important last night that you needed to the basement with half the Order?" Ron asked while his knight pummeled Harry's rook senseless.

"Oh, Dumbledore wanted a full account of what happened at the Burrow," Harry lied quickly, knowing full well that he couldn't tell Ron about being admitted to the Order within hearing range of Mrs. Weasley.

"Did you ask him about the wall?"

Harry's mind started…I should have asked him come to think of it… "I'll tell you later."

Ron nodded absentmindedly as Harry took to studying the chessboard.

Three hours and five games later (Ron with an impressive 5-0 win-loss record) Hermione finally appeared at one end of the table with an impressive stack of books. Neither noticed her until the books slammed onto the table next to Harry and actually caused a temporary truce to break out amongst a few of the pieces who grabbed onto each other for dear life. Harry cast a questioning look her way but was surprised to see deep rings underneath her eyes and her hair more than a little disheveled.

"Hermione, what's all of this?"

"Can't talk, reading," she replied briskly grabbing a book and burying herself in it. Harry cast a quick glance towards Ron who shrugged.

"Is it about that spell?" Harry asked nervously and knew he was right when she slammed the book shut, gave an indignant "hmph!" and leaned backwards into her chair with her arms crossed against her chest. "It doesn't make any sense! I spent all night looking through defensive and transfiguration books and there isn't a spell that creates a wall like that. It just doesn't exist!"

"I didn't lie."

"I didn't say you did, I just said that whatever you saw wasn't a shielding spell. Look at this," she flipped open a book and spun it around so he could see. He watched as a wizard twisted his wand and mouthed the word "Protego!" before a translucent shield appeared before him. The image reset and the process began anew. Harry flipped through the book to see various wizards casting spells. They were always casting shielding spells and every one was a translucent shape before them. "I believe you, it just wasn't a shielding charm and it wasn't any form of transfiguration that I know of. It might be some kind of magic we've never heard of."

"But how's that possible?" Ron blurted out, unable to contain himself anymore. "We all know that Death Eaters are stupid gits but even they know not to save our butts."

"Well obviously-" Hermione began but was cut off as Ron continued.

"So the only option is that someone on our side did it and…who were you with again?"

"Lupin, Tonks, Moody, Cleir, Kingsley and your Dad."

"So it was one of them."

"But Lupin and Kingsley had already apparated," Hermione interjected.

"So that leaves Tonks, Moody, Cleir, and my dad," Ron thought aloud. "Well it couldn't have been my dad; he never was that good at DADA."

"And it couldn't have been Tonks because she was too injured to apparate, I doubt she could've made a wall out of thing air," Harry added remembering how he had carried the wounded Auror across the kitchen under fire.

"So we're down to Moody and Cleir…I wouldn't be to surprised if Moody had a few tricks up his sleeve that we don't know about," Ron paused in thought.

"Remember the Department of Mysteries?" Hermione ignored Harry's grumbled "How could we forget?" and continued. "Moody got hit pretty fast from what I heard. He may have been the top Auror but he is a little old," Hermione turned to Harry who nodded in agreement. "Someone who is that powerful most likely wouldn't get knocked out of a fight that fast."

"So our lead suspect is Cleir," Harry mumbled bitterly.

"Geez mate, you're really got it out for this guy."

"No, it's just…something…"

- - - - -

It wasn't until noon that Tonks arrived escorted by Lupin and it wasn't even twelve-fifteen when she was banished from the kitchen by a very angry, broth covered Molly Weasley. Harry had given up against Ron when he reached an unprecedented low of nine games lost in one day. Ginny had apparently decided that she would take it upon herself to avenge Harry's honor and was currently losing spectacularly to her older brother as well.

The only thing that had actually ceased the onslaught was Fred and George's ability to make something that looked like butterbeer, smelled like butterbeer, and tasted like butterbeer…but wasn't a butterbeer. So it was much to everyone's surprise when Ron's body began to inflate and float towards the roof. He bounced across the ceiling for nearly five minutes before he began to deflate and sink back to the floor.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you have just witnessed the newest of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes: Bubblebeer!" Fred exclaimed from the stairs with a grin that made him look too much like a used car sales man. "Looks, smells, and tastes just like butterbeer, but is guaranteed to inflate anybody-"

"Including your aunt-"

"To the twice their size! So act now before-" Fred's speech cut of abruptly as Ron tackled him to the floor with the bottle of bubblebeer still gripped in his hand and in the midst of trying to get the twins to drink their concoction there was a shout that stopped all motion.

"Ronald Weasley! How dare you start a fight with your brothers!" Mrs. Weasley was standing in the doorway to the kitchen with a glare that could have made Dumbledore wither. She came striding across the room exuding an aura that made everyone in the room back away as many usually do when the Weasley matriarch was on a war path. She grabbed Ron by the back of his shirt and with no effort had pried to the teenager away from his twin brothers. "And what is that?"

Ron stirred from his stupor but only managed to mumble incoherently. Mrs. Weasley quickly wrest the bottle from his hand and sniffed the drink. She took a small sip and Harry could see that even in this predicament, Ron and the twins began to grin manically.

"Butterbeer? You got like this over a butterbeer?" Her rage kept her from noticing the grins on her sons faces. "I don't want you ever drinking these again!" She turned and strode from her three sons her face still red from whole ordeal.

She barely made it halfway across the room before she began to inflate as well. As her feet left the floor the house began to ring with her screams toward Fred and George. The twins knew, however that since their mother hadn't consumed too much of the drink the effect wouldn't last that long so they decided the best course of action would be to make a hasty retreat…

It was two days later when Mrs. Weasley hit the roof once more, although this time in less of the literal sense and more of the figurative sense of the phrase. The day wasn't that bad, the twins had disappeared for fear of retribution of the now infamous bubblebeer incident. Harry and Ron had once again taken to sharpening their tactical abilities by playing countless games of Wizard's Chess. Hermione was occupying a large chair before the fireplace and had an even larger stack of books near here. The closest thing that Ron or Harry could determine was the idea that she had taken personal offence to not being able to figure out the mystery spell and was now determined to find it. Ginny had actually disappeared into the kitchen with her mother before ten in the morning and curiosity had piqued in Harry as to what they were up to when she finally emerged, crossed the room to where Hermione was reading, whispered something, and the two girls returned to the kitchen. Harry tried to push his mind from wondering what was going on but to no avail.

He did manage to figure out what was going on when Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and Hermione emerged from the kitchen holding an extremely oversized birthday cake. This surprised Harry but not nearly as much as the deafening shouts of "Happy Birthday Harry!" that came from over his shoulder. He turned and grinned when he saw Lupin, Tonks, Moody, Mr. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie standing at the foot of the stairs. Using the distraction, Mrs. Weasley plopped the cake down on the table between Harry and her youngest son, who was now eyeing the cake with and hungry look that Harry knew so well.

"Happy birthday mate, now hurry up and blow out the candles I'm starving."

"Well, with that said, I think I'll take my time," Harry smirked at his friend over the cake. "Hmm…what to do, what to do…"

"Just blow out the candles before Ron does it for you," Lupin joked from behind him.

It took under four minutes for Ron to ask for seconds and the party continued from there. Grimmauld Place

The party continued until eight o'clock when members of the Order began to arrive for the meeting scheduled that night. It was less than a minute after the members began to arrive that Mrs. Weasley began to remove the teenagers from the room. For what it was worth, Ron put up a fairly good fight but knew in the end that both he, his sister and Hermione were going to end up upstairs hoping to hear some information through a couple pairs of Extendable Ears that Harry was sure the twins had given them for exactly that purpose. It was when Mrs. Weasley threatened to take away Ron's broom that the youngest Weasley male finally relented. As he stood, he turned to Harry, "Come on mate."

Harry grinned, here goes nothing, "I think I'll stay down here for a while."

Dumbledore returned Harry's grin, "I think Harry should remain down here as well."

"It'd be a breach in security, he isn't in the Order!" Snape sneered from the doorway.

Harry regarded the potion's master for a moment before raising his right hand, this should shut him up. A collective gasp ran through the room, most noticeably from Mrs. Weasley.

"But he can't, he just turned sixteen. He hasn't even graduated, he's just a child!"

"A child of age yes, but of mind, no," Dumbledore's voice flowed over the assembled Order. "Not one person here, including myself, has done what Harry has done. He has faced Voldemort and emerged alive on five separate occasions. He has faced challenges more fearsome than most wizards face in their lifetime. It is because of this and my recognition of my own errors that I, as well as Remus, Arthur, and Alastor extended an invitation to Harry," everyone noticed the glare Mrs. Weasley directed towards her husband who was conveniently studying the wall opposite the room.

"I would also like," Dumbledore continued, making no comment of Mrs. Weasley's actions, "to extend invitations to those few others who accompanied Harry into the Department of Mysteries, but as your parents still have full custody over your well-being the question must be directed to your legal guardians," at this point Dumbledore turned to Mr. Weasley and his extremely flustered wife.

"I already have four children in the Order," she began softly before pointing to Ginny and Ron, "they aren't old enough to be in the Order-"

"Of their own accord," Mr. Weasley stepped in, "but they are old enough to know what's going on."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement and with a slight flick of his wrist, chairs appeared behind the two youngest Weasleys as well as Hermione. She gave him a confused look before the head master must have realized that he hadn't informed her of what was going on.

"Wouldn't you care to take a seat Ms. Granger, I have already discussed this matter with your parents and even though they disapprove of you doing anything dangerous," Dumbledore grinned as his student flushed and looked away, "they realize that they wouldn't be able to stop you from knowing what's going on."

It was during this that Harry noticed Cleir standing just beyond the doorway conversing with Lupin. They were too far away to make out what was being said, but it didn't stop Harry from trying…until something slammed into his back.

"Mate, I don't know what you did, but I never thought I'd be down here for a meeting, this is great!" Ron nearly hugged him before he came to his senses, then he noticed the look on Harry's face. "That who I think it is?"

Harry nodded.

"Huh, I thought he would have been…darker."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know, he just…doesn't look like a bad guy to me."

Harry was about to respond when Dumbledore called the meeting to order.