Disclaimer: Not mine, just borrowing. The religious information contained in this chapter was merely to draw some interesting parallels, not meant as any kind of conversion or blasphemy. It is certainly not a main theme.

Divine Discoveries

The meeting of the Order of the Phoenix went as well as could be expected. Ron, Hermione and the twins officially joined. Hermione had come up with a new roster, based on her old D.A. invention. For the Order, however, instead of painful pustules for disloyalty, anyone revealing anything about the Order would be Silencioed instantly and Transfigured into a diricawl. Then they would be Banished to the Hogwarts owlery, where they could be dealt with accordingly. This seemed an ideal solution, because they would not be able to divulge sensitive information, even under torture, and would have a ready-made escape route from Voldemort's clutches. Invisible birds were notoriously difficult to catch, after all.

Harry knew he would not be allowed to officially join until his birthday, but he and Ginny signed the roster in the interest of safety, and attended the meeting.

"Woo hoo!" Ginny grinned. "We're Junior Phoenixes! I'm gonna get some badges and start selling cookies."

Tonks did most of the talking for the teens, presenting their suggestions to the group. Surprisingly, Molly and Arthur did not protest Ginny's ideas. They seemed resigned to her joining Ron, Harry and Hermione at Headquarters for the summer, and taking NEWTSs with them at Hogwarts.

McGonagall also did not argue with the proposed change in curriculum for the teens. Harry told her in no uncertain terms that he would not return to Hogwarts otherwise. Though she didn't know the exact nature of the mission he was on for Dumbledore, she did know about the prophecy. Keeping him safe within Hogwarts' walls as long as possible seemed the least she could do, she said. "I will do what I can to bend the rules without seeming to give you special treatment. If that provides assistance in ridding the world of Voldemort, I shall consider the rules well bent."

She said Ron and Hermione would be Head Boy and Girl and have rooms away from their dorms and be expected to miss some classes. She also proposed reintroducing the D.A. Harry, Ginny, Lupin and Tonks could head up the group. Planning sessions would give them an excuse to be absent occasionally as well. She complimented Hermione on the roster she'd designed, saying she did her house proud.

After the meeting, Harry and Lupin went back to the Dursleys' to collect the rest of Harry's things. While Harry packed up his room, Lupin had shot of Firewhiskey, and broached the subject Tonks had brought up with the girls earlier, but concentrated more on the practical applications. Harry had been distracted and really not listened to the first part of the conversation, but when he finally clued in, he was shocked and mortified. Lupin did his professorly best, keeping his voice professional and clinical, but when he started drawing diagrams, Harry covered his eyes with his hands and peered between his fingers. After Lupin finished his tutoring session, he gave Harry a shot of Firewhiskey, and had another one himself.

Finally, Harry had packed up all his belongings and took a last glance around the house while Lupin explained to the Dursleys that the blood protection would probably be wearing off on Harry's birthday, if it hadn't already, and they may want to relocate. Harry held up a hand to wave as they walked out the door but stopped when he spotted Vernon and Dudley trying to dance for joy in the kitchen. Petunia gnawed on her nails and glared at him. The hand he had thought to use in a gesture of farewell dropped to his side and turned instead into a two-fingered salute hidden against his leg.

"Let's go."

His conscience clear, Harry felt free. It reminded him of his first flight on a broom. Remus sent his trunk ahead and Side-Along Apparated Harry back to Grimmauld Place, where the others were congregated in the library, scanning the titles for anything helpful.

Harry joined Ginny, watching Ron and Hermione bicker about something inane.

Harry frowned.

"Gin," he said finally. "Make me a promise, please?"

"Of course," Ginny replied instantly. "Anything."

Harry's eyebrows shot up. "Shouldn't you ask what it is first? I could ask you for anything right now and you'd be stuck."

Ginny smiled in a way that seemed to fry his brain before murmuring, "I should be so lucky."

Harry's eyes widened and he blinked several times. He shook his head slightly, clearing images of Lupin's diagrams from his skull. "Erm, yeah, anyway… Right, listen, I expect you know that I'm really bad at this whole relationship thing…"

"No, Harry, of course you're not!" Ginny protested.

Harry gave her a look of utmost disbelief. "So what I want is..." He took a fortifying breath. "Tell me when I'm doing something wrong. And tell me why. It's inevitable, because I have no people skills. I was raised in a closet, you know. Why couldn't I have been raised by wolves, I ask you?" He ran his fingers through his messy hair. "You know, I never even had a friend before until Ron and Hermione. I'm really awful at... feelings." He shifted uncomfortably. "I don't want to hurt you, but I know I have in the past, and I probably will again. All I'm asking is that you help me learn from my mistakes. I apologize in advance for every idiotic thing I do and say." He gave her a lopsided, hopeful smile.

"Now that is the easiest promise I've ever made," Ginny gave him that sexy smile again.

Harry reached for her fingers, interlacing them with his own.

Several intense days of training and studying later, the four teens were taking a bit of a break while Tonks and Lupin "tidied up" the ballroom. Ginny chucked a dungbomb at the door. Sure enough, it was Imperturbed.

"Well, well, well," she grinned. "I do believe we have about an hour to kill before they're done in there."

"We didn't make an hour's worth of mess," Harry protested. "If it was that bad, they should have asked for help."

Hermione and Ginny shared a glance and burst into laughter. Hermione smirked and said they definitely did not need, nor would they appreciate any help.

"Oh Merlin," Harry winced.

"Harry, could I borrow Dumbledore's Pensieve?" Hermione queried. "I was wondering about something…"

"Sure," he answered, retrieving it from his trunk. "You know how to use it?"

"Yes, I've read all about it." She bit her lip and said hesitantly, "Maybe you could put the memory of the night in the cave in there? So I could try to get a sense of Voldemort's methods..."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "But those may not have been his methods. That may have been R.A.B.'s. And how much of that night?"

"Er, well," Hermione didn't quite meet his eyes. "All of it? There might be clues…"

Harry took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and pulled a very long silvery strand from his temple and dropped it in the small bowl. "Cheers." He handed her the bowl of swirling silver. "Just touch it, it'll suck you in. You'll come out when it ends. No one can see or hear you in there, you can only watch."

Hermione nodded quickly and disappeared into the memory.

Harry found Ron and sent him to wait for her return.

Restless, Harry wandered the house. He stopped at the door to the drawing room before roughly shoving it open. The huge tapestry on the wall drew his attention as one of the few remaining items in the room. Harry traced a few gold threads on the tapestry, feeling a pang whenever he saw "Potter" in the stitching.

Near the bottom, he saw names that gave him a different kind of pang. "Rabastan, Rodolphus… oh holy hells, Regulus... Regulus Black." Harry felt the hairs at the back of his neck rise. It was like a puzzle piece falling into place. "Shit."

He thundered down the stairs.

"Well, it's official," Harry announced. "I'm a moron. This R.A.B. person was as close as the nose on my face. Or at least, as close as the roof over our heads."

"What?"

"What's Sirius' last name?"

Ron and Ginny both promptly answered, "Black."

"Do either of you recall his brother's name?" Harry continued.

Ron's eyes widened. "No. But does it start with an 'R'?"

"Right-o, Ron," Harry said, voice tight. "Little brother Regulus, the Death Eater who was killed for wanting to bow out of his duties."

Ginny gasped. "It fits, doesn't it. So he hid the locket? It could be here?"

"We better save some of this discussion for Hermione," Ron warned. "Or we'll just have to go over it again when she comes back."

"Where would a Death Eater on the run hide a locket?" Ginny wondered, her eyes searching the room as though it could be in any dark corner. "What if we threw it out when we cleaned?"

"I don't know," Harry said bitterly. "But why can't I just have a nice, boring, peaceful existence? Why me? I have the worst luck."

"Or the best, to have survived everything you've done so far," Ginny said pointedly.

"What seems to be the problem?" Lupin asked as he strode through the doorway, Tonks following closely. "Where's Hermione?"

Harry gestured to the Pensieve. "Hi Professor Lupin, Tonks. Hermione is having a little swim."

"We were just discussing Harry's luck. It's really fantastic or really horrible."

"Well," Remus said thoughtfully, "in the spectrum of life, one does have to endure the lows to properly appreciate the highs--the lower your lows, the higher your highs. If you had never known hunger, would you appreciate food? No, it'd be something you took for granted.

"Your lows are lower than most, that's why the dementors seem to target you, I think. Negative emotions are much more substantial for them to feed off, they drain the happy ones in a few seconds. The nasty stuff, that's like their meal after candy floss. And that's also why your Patronus is so strong, Harry. Your happy moments are happier to you, because you appreciate them more, and it takes less to make you happy."

Harry looked confused, so Remus continued, "Could you be truly happy, I mean ecstatically happy, if you've never been unhappy? Think of your cousin, Dudley. He has always been given everything he asked for; everything he wanted. Did that make him happy? Or lucky? No, not really. It just takes more and more to get a glimmer of happiness or excitement, and less and less to go back to the dissatisfied or bored state. And from there, luck is all in how you look at it."

"Oh!" Ginny broke in. "Happiness is like Muggle drugs! In Muggle Studies class, we learned they use drugs like Euphoria potion. After using them, it takes more, or stronger drugs to get the same effect."

"Yes, but can you see how true happiness is different?" Lupin asked.

"Well," Harry said thoughtfully. "If you've known misery, once you have experienced real happiness, no drug would compare. It would be easier to resist the temptation."

Tonks beamed. "Good answer!"

Ron looked disturbed. "What about someone whose life has always been mediocre? Someone average, like, for instance, me."

"Ah, that deals with family dynamics," Tonks said. "You've had a bit more insulation and competition, I'll wager. However, the love outweighs the jealousy. The dementors don't affect you quite as fast, and it took you a bit longer to master the Patronus Charm." Tonks shrugged. "But obviously you know real happiness. You can do a Patronus."

"So Harry's life has been more… extreme… than yours," Ginny said. "Would you want to trade with him?"

Ron shuddered. "Bloody hell, no! Then I'd be dating you!"

Hermione popped out of the Pensieve in time to witness Ginny smack Ron upside the head.

"Am I interrupting?" She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. Harry unobtrusively slipped the memory from the Pensieve back into his head.

"No," Ginny huffed. "My idiot brother was just saying how he'd hate to be Harry and have to date me."

"I wouldn't want to trade spaces with him either," Harry said. "No offense, but I don't feel very 'brotherly' towards you," he smiled.

Ron pretended to sniffle, pulling Hermione to him. "You leave me alone and they start picking on me." Under his breath he whispered, "You okay? You look like you've swallowed one of Snape's potions."

She smiled a real smile then, stepped closer into his embrace, and whispered back, "I'm fine, thanks."

"So, you were looking for Hermoine?" Harry asked Tonks.

"Actually, I was hoping she could help me with some theories," Tonks commented. "My dad is Muggleborn, you know, so I grew up going to church with that side of the family sometimes. Some things stuck in my head. I remember one wedding, the minister talked about faith, hope and love. Quite reminded me of Dumbledore, actually."

Hermione smiled. "Yes, I know that passage. It's from 1 Corinthians. 'If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails… And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love'."

"That was beautiful," Ginny breathed.

"There are quite a few verses about love in the Bible," Hermione said. "John 15:13 'Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.' and Colossians 3:14 'And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity'. Then there's 1 Peter 4:8 'Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins'. I have been doing research on love, since Dumbledore thought it was such an important component for defeating Voldemort."

"Well, it sounds like Christians believe in love also, but it doesn't really help us much, does it? No instructions for defeating dark wizards with magical love," Harry said.

"No, but we can pray," Hermione said softly.