Chapter Ten

The Order of the Phoenix

He stood at the edge of the village, watching as the students departed. He was shrouded in a cloak of invisibility and there was a cruel smile upon his lips.

So, Voldemort had been right. There were strangers in the wizarding world. Strangers who could possibly help the Potter boy bring about his downfall.

Find out who the strangers are, said a voice in his mind. Whatever they are they will not stop the events that are about to happen. The events that have been prophesied. But they will prove annoyingly in the way if they are who i think they are. Find out all you can.

It is already being taken care of, he replied

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It was getting late. Harry sat in the shadows by the window at the back of the common room, listening to the storm rage outside that had slowly been building all day. The fire was only barely alight, the room dark. He shivered slightly, but he couldn't get to sleep. Too many thoughts raced around his mind

Half an hour ago, Ron and Hermione had entered the room, but hadn't noticed him as they'd slipped upstairs. He'd looked away as his friends had said they're goodnights and gone their separate ways. Guess he'd have to get used to that now, he thought a little sadly. It was going to make things even more weird around here, that's for sure.

Needless to say, he hadn't had the chance to tell them what he had found out that afternoon, much to his disappointment. Because he didn't know what to make of it, and Hermione was the girl for that sort of thing!

He had been hiding outside the staff room, listening in on the new teacher's conversations, as Hermione had told him.

Paige, Phoebe and Angel had been in the room, talking to Giles and Cordelia.

"What time are they back from the trip?" asked Cordelia.

"Should be any minute now," Angel answered her. "I agree with her about this whole thing being a bad idea."

"And I agree with Piper," said Phoebe. "I really need to know when the big showdowns gonna happen. I hate waiting - everyone nows that! I mean - is this a long term thing?"

"It certainly looks that way," said Giles. "And if it is we must make more stable preparations on the hell mouth. Spike may do whatever Buffy says since she came back….but that won't last for long".

"Spike?" Angel had said, sounding less then pleased to hear the name. "You left Spike in charge of the hell mouth? Giles…a chip in the head is not the same thing as a soul. He could turn on Anya and Tara at any minute…."

"The chip prevents him from hurting anyone," said Giles. "He feels immense pain if he does. And while Buffy's been gone, I hate to say it, but his proven a powerful ally. Annoying but powerful. And he looks out for Dawn, a promise he kept to Buffy. I'm not defending him Angel, don't give me that look. I agree with you completely, there is great evil in him. Which is why we need more stable arrangements."

"I'm lost here," Paige had said.

Don't worry," said Cordelia. "Me too. Since when does Spike work for the good guys again?"

"But I guess we have no choice but to trust him since we're here," Continued Giles. "Unfortunately. Sorry Cordelia. In answer to your question - I'm not honestly sure".

Harry had been completely lost as well. What was this talk of souls and chips? And what was a hell mouth?

He sighed. No real answers had been found out except one. Dumbledore was hiding things again. Last year he'd been mad about the prophecy being kept from him. But this time was different. Everyone knew about something. He was beyond mad, beyond angry. And he wasn't sure he could look Dumbledore in the eye if he ran across him. At least this time I'm controlling my anger though, he thought bitterly. Have to get points for that, right?

By this time the fire had gone out completely. Harry had just been drifting to sleep where he was, when he heard the sound of footsteps. He looked up, but couldn't quite make out who it was. They had long hair, so definitely a girl.

He grabbed his cloak He just knew if he followed, he would get some answers. He whispered the new password to get out of the room and followed the girl out of the Gryffindor tower. He now knew that it was Dawn.

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"Hey Piper," said Dawn.

"Dawn!" exclaimed the oldest Halliwell sister. "What are you doing out here?"

Dawn smiled innocently. "You didn't think I'd miss out on a secret meeting did you?" at Piper's puzzled look, she laughed. "Oh come on. You must have known I'd find out somehow! I over heard Buffy talking to you guys when she got back from the trip today".

For a moment there was silence. "I guess you're going to have to come with aren't you?" sighed Piper. "Fine, ok. This way".

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"I'm glad you could all attend this meeting at such a late hour," said Dumbledore. "I know that the past few weeks have been trying for you all".

"That's one word for it," said Paige with a grin. "Information overload," agreed phoebe.

The door to his office opened slightly and in walked Piper and Dawn. "What are you doing here?" asked Buffy at the same time as Paige said "I wondered where you were," to Piper.

"I had to come," Dawn replied. "I'm part of this too, right?"

"Now that you are here though, before we get into long speeches, I would like to introduce you to the main members of The Order of the Phoenix. They have risked their very lives in coming here tonight of course, but Buffy is right. The time has finally approached where I need explain things to you in more detail".

A secret door at the back of the office opened, one that Buffy had missed when she had been up here before, and the order filed into the room.

"Yes, it is a bit cramped in here isn't it?" Dumbledore smiled. He waved his wand and an illusion was set in place. The room was made to look twice as big as before, with extra chairs added, and teas, coffee's and hot chocolates on the table.

"Let me introduce you," said Dumbledore after they had settled down. "This is Remus Lupin. Alastor Moody - known to us as Mad Eye. This is Arhur Weasley… and you all know Severus Snape".

Piper blinked in surprise. "But…"she started lamely.

"Does this surprise you, Mrs Halliwell? Good," Snape answered her coldly.

"I don't mean to be rude…actually, yeah I do….but you don't seem to be the save the world kind of guy that's all. You don't seem to care much about Harry".

There was a silence. Piper cringed slightly, realising that wasn't the best first impression she could have made. Everyone was looking at her in surprise. Snape actually looked away. "I have my reasons," he answered her finally.

"Shall we continue?" asked Dumbledore.

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Harry stood outside the door to Dumbledore's office. He knew what happened after you figured out the password. The door opened and you went up a moving spiral staircase that seemed to go on forever. Then you entered the most interesting room in the castle. But there was a slight problem. He didn't know the new password. He'd tried everything from the last years pass word sherbet lemon to open , but nothing worked.

Sighing impatiently, he sat on the floor hidden in the shadows behind a statue- that luckily didn't move. I'll just have to wait, he thought, annoyed. They have to talk about what happened on their way down. And when they do, maybe I'll be able to find out some real answers.