"Brooklyn! We're so glad you're okay!" Cried Una in happiness, continuing to hug the red gargoyle until he felt his air supply being cut off.
"Yeah, great to see you too, but now, I can't breath!" Leo quickly pulled Una away, but gently. She looked somewhat sheepish, from hugging him too hard.
"Sorry," she said, backing up. Leo approached Brooklyn next, holding out his hand. "It has been too long, friend." Brooklyn grinned, he was glad that they were able to make it, and it wouldn't be just him having to face Demona and Voldemort alone! Wyvern was there, too, hooting happily at the sight of his gargoyle owner and landed on Brooklyn's shoulder.
"Una also sent a message with her magic to Goliath to tell them you are alive," Leo added, and Brooklyn felt his soul lift at this. The idea of eventually seeing his family again, and possibly introduce Harry to them, it just felt so unreal, even if he didn't return home once Dumbledore had offered it to him, his Clan could somehow come to them instead!
"When do you think we will hear from Goliath?" He asked. Leo shrugged. "It all depends on how fast Una's magic is right now to send the message. It could take a while, a few months, so who knows?"
Brooklyn lowered his head slightly. He hoped to see his family sooner than later, but he guessed he could wait a bit longer, and pray his owl can make it through to Manhattan okay without being intercepted or injured.
Mrs. Weasley came out along with Griff, who also shook hands merrily with Brooklyn who hadn't seen him since he came to New York with King Arthur, who was watching from the room next to Sirius.
She hugged Harry. "You look a bit peaky, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait until the meeting's finished. The two of you can go up to Ron and Hermione's room. And Griff, could you go with them until then?" She asked the griffin gargoyle who nodded. He had questions for Brooklyn, anyway.
The three of them proceeded up the stairs, where eventually in low voices as to not to wake the portrait of Sirius's mother, Brooklyn telling Griff everything that had happened, even being brave enough to tell him about finding Riddle's diary and getting possessed. He had almost freaked when Brooklyn showed him his redwood wand, amazed that he even had one at all!
"Whoa, mate, I had no idea how much you have gone through, and that you managed to survive without your Stone Sleep, it's impressive," Griff complimented, as they approached the landing. He now wanted to go to Hogwarts for himself to have an adventure of his own. Brooklyn smiled a little, glad that Griff hadn't gone cold at him when he mentioned being cursed by the diary.
"Yeah, it hasn't been all butterbeer and chocolate, but so far this magic world hasn't been all bad, there were some nice things about it, like Hogsmeade. You'll have to see it, Griff, you'll like it!"
The griffin gargoyle grinned, nodding, while Harry watched the interaction between the two, happy that Brooklyn wasn't the only gargoyle here anymore.
The trio had spotted Kreacher at one point prowling about before going to clean with a filthy rag, glaring at them. Griff shook his head.
"I swear, mate, that elf of Black's doesn't do any cleaning, other than preserving everything, even the dirt!" He had muttered after the elf left. Brooklyn chuckled at his words, as they reached the bedroom, opening the door, and somebody came out with bushy brown hair, hugging Harry as tightly as Una hugged Brooklyn, crying as well.
"Oh, Harry! Brooklyn!" Brooklyn smiled, watching her hug his brother. Ron was there, too, smiling at the sight of them.
Griff liked these kids, they seemed quite cheerful when they first met before Brooklyn had returned from his mission. He could tell the three of them had been friends since their first year at Hogwarts.
"Let the man breathe, Hermione," Ron then said, after Hermione had pestered him to tell them everything about the Dementor attack.
"They just came at us out of nowhere, we had to use magic, we had no choice," Brooklyn said, angry at whoever had sent those terrible dementors to attack them.
Griff had narrowed his eyes. From the way Brooklyn had described these hooded monsters from his encounters, dementors sounded like bad news. Who hated his friends enough to send them, anyway? Possibly that Voldemort guy and Demona? They were certainly on the subject list.
Harry didn't quite look so happy. And Brooklyn could understand if he were in Harry's position, left in the dark, forced to find old newspapers to find out what's going on.
"Why couldn't you two have written to me about this? Brooklyn was good enough to explain as best as he could about why he had been watching me with Mundungus, and yet my best friends couldn't give me any news about Demona and Voldemort?" Harry growled, his voice rising. Ron and Hermione both looked somewhat guilty.
"Dumbledore made us swear not to tell you anything, but we really did want to!" Hermione replied, her eyes still having tears in them.
Brooklyn decided to step in, before Harry lost control. "Guys, Dumbledore did have his reasons for keeping Harry out like this, but Harry, this isn't your friend's fault, he also asked me not to say anything big about the Order, either. Just please, don't yell at Ron and Hermione for this!" He exclaimed, his voice raised as well. Harry still looked angry, but eventually it died down in his eyes, and looked pretty guilty for yelling at them.
"Sorry, it's just hard when you're stuck at Privet Drive all summer without a scrap of news," he muttered, looking away.
Griff smiled at the boy. "Hey, I would've been angry too, if it was me—what the?!" He yelped out loud, for Fred and George had Apparated out of nowhere next to Harry, and Griff hadn't seen that appearing magic yet.
Brooklyn laughed at his friend's reaction. "It's just the Twins fooling around, and that was called Apparition, it lets you disappear and reappear wherever you want. Guess they passed their examination for it."
Fred grinned. "Too right, Brook! We're taking advantage of our magic outside school privilege, because we're almost done with Hogwarts! And, since we've heard you guys yelling, perhaps you'd like to listen in, with this?"
He held up an ear attached to a flesh colored string. Brooklyn stared, this had to be one of the craziest things the Twins had invented yet! "What the heck is that?" He asked George who smiled as he pulled out his, tossing it to Brooklyn.
"Extendable Ears, for our joke shop. That one is for you, no price. Lets you listen in on conversations like you're right there in the room. Thought we could try them out!"
In a few minutes, the group was standing at the edge of the stairs, lowering their Extendable Ears, Griff, Brooklyn, and Harry listening from theirs, while Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and the Twins used their ear.
From what they could hear, it wasn't quite much, mostly about Harry. It ended with Mrs. Weasley yelling at Sirius about him not being his father, with Snape taunting Sirius who had apparently arrived just for this meeting. Brooklyn hoped that Una, Leo, and King Arthur were able to tolerate the Potions Professor well.
Crookshanks then arrived, eyeing the ears. Brooklyn managed to pull his up out of reach, but the blasted cat got hold of Fred's, yanking it out of the string, and carrying it with him, probably gonna eat it, too.
"Hermione, I hate your cat," Ron had grumbled. She just ignored him, rolling his eyes.
It was finally dinner, and Mrs. Weasley had called them all down. They all sat at the table, and so far it had been rather pleasant. Ginny found a new friendship with Una, because she liked how this gargoyle looked like a unicorn. Tonks even ended up doing face impressions for entertainment. Leo and Lupin made polite conversation with one another, and King Arthur complimented on Mrs. Weasley's cooking, saying it was divine, along with telling stories to the kids of his adventure for Excalibur with Griff.
"But why did you and Griff return to London?" Brooklyn asked King Arthur, who shrugged.
"Avalon probably sensed the darkness from this Voldemort person and Demona, figured it needed the help of a King like me and his gargoyle knight. I say it will be an honor to fight these fiends side by side with you, Brooklyn of Hogwarts!" The red gargoyle smiled gratefully to Arthur. From what he heard, Mr. Weasley when he first met Arthur was quite excited to meet this legendary figure from the storybooks, and that they both had the same first name, which was a bit confusing at first, but Griff sorted it out in a way by having them call his Arthur KArthur, and Mr. Weasley WArthur. At first the two Arthurs felt rather awkward about it but accepted the nicknames.
Then it got serious, as the talk turned to why Harry had been kept in the dark, and Harry had been given permission from Sirius for a couple answers after Mrs. Weasley shooed an angry Ginny to bed who had wanted to hear the secret information. Kingsley handed them a copy of the Daily Prophet, that Brooklyn had quit reading ever since the cow posted lies about them last year.
The headline wasn't pretty at all:
Harry Potter: The Boy Who Lies?And Brooklyn the Gargoyle: Potter's Crime Brother and a Dangerous Lie Spreading Devil
Brooklyn's eyes flashed in outrage. So, the stupid Ministry was still spreading rubbish about him and Harry, eh? And to top it all, they had the utter nerve to call him a devil right on the front page?
"This isn't fair!" Brooklyn growled, throwing the paper onto the table. "Me and Harry had seen him return, and they're still spreading lies? It's been months since he came back! They should be printing his and Demona's face everywhere!" Sirius looked quite solemn about this, with Leo and Una having outraged looks about having a fellow gargoyle being called a devil in front of the entire media!
"This had been happening ever since the Third Task, Brooklyn. Fudge has been using all his power to put you, Harry, and Dumbledore down, to discredit you, and still threaten to remove Brooklyn from Hogwarts protector unless under constant watch. Fudge also thinks Dumbledore is after his job."
Harry frowned. "But that's insane! Nobody in their right mind would think—!"
Lupin interrupted. "That is the point, Harry. Fudge isn't in his right mind, for it has been twisted and warped by fear. Fear makes people do terrible things, Harry and Brooklyn. The last time Voldemort gained power it almost destroyed everything we hold most dear. Now that he has returned with hiring a dangerous gargoyle to work for him, Fudge would do anything to face the terrifying truth."
"The minister is a moron, then! He's willing to keep the people on his side by spreading white lies about me and Harry, and saying everything is cupcakes and rainbows? He has no hell of an idea what me and Harry have been though! I had two unforgivable curses shot at me by him, and Harry almost died!" Brooklyn snarled, banging his fist on the table, making Tonks and Una wince from his action. There were times when Brooklyn could get terrifying when he was angry, for certain! Griff looked quite scared at the idea of having two bad spells being flung at you, and he could see those bruises from the torture one.
Sirius then had his say of things. "We think that Voldemort wants to build up his army again. Now years ago he had a huge number at his command, not just witches and wizards, but all kinds of dark creatures. He's been recruiting heavily and we've been attempting to do the same. But gathering followers isn't the only thing he's interested in. We think, Voldemort might be after something, something he didn't have last time."
Brooklyn furrowed his brow. What else could that maniac want now? He already tried getting his hands on the Sorcerer's Stone, what could possibly be the most dangerous thing he'd sought after this time?
"You mean, like a weapon?" Harry questioned, before Mrs. Weasley interrupted.
"No, that's enough! He's just a boy! Say much more, and you'll induct him into the Order straight away, just like Brooklyn!" She snapped, taking the newspaper. Brooklyn had frowned at the way she spoke about it. He hadn't been inducted, Dumbledore allowed him to join anytime he chose, and he chooses now to help!
"But isn't there anybody else who believes us?" Brooklyn asked in desperation. Mr. Weasley had an upset look on his features.
"Some believed us, but one in our family had taken Fudge's words to heart and-and he left us. It was Percy. He came home after getting a promotion from Fudge, expecting us to be proud of him, but no. It is because Dumbledore's name is mud with the Ministry. He left after arguing with us, and yelling at Molly, calling Dumbledore an old fool and everybody who followed him loony." At the mention of Percy, Mrs. Weasley began to cry, Una putting a comforting arm around her shoulder.
Brooklyn stared in disbelief. He had expected Percy to give him and Harry a benefit of a doubt, but not like this, leaving his own family to a moron like Fudge, because of Dumbledore? He couldn't imagine it if he had taken Demona's lies seriously, and abandoned his Clan. He shuddered at the idea of being near her right now, not safe with his Clan and brother, raging an unwanted war on humans. He at first didn't know what to say.
Harry then asked if there was a chance he could be cleared tomorrow, and Sirius responded that there could be hope, for Dumbledore would be there to help them. But Brooklyn had little hope. With how many people followed Fudge's lies blindly, he couldn't see any light at the end of this tunnel. All that could be done was pray that it all goes well tomorrow.
