Chapter 2: Back to the Beginning

Went to go see Rose and her family today. James wanted to come along to see Lily but I told him his fat head would never fit on the Knight Bus. I'm expecting a retaliatory prank any day now. Anyway, Petunia's boyfriend, Vernon, was there. Whale of a man he is and comes off with a superiority complex to rival James's. Tuney seemed upset that I joined them for dinner and Rose later told me it was because my presence distracted their parents from the fact that she also had a boyfriend. Don't know how anyone can miss him.

Leo wanted to stay and help Harry pack, but his father ordered him to pack his things while he assisted Harry. With a small pout, he ran next door to his house, unlocked the door, and flew up the stairs to his room. He was surprised to see his barn owl, Apollo, sitting there waiting for him. Apollo gave a small, greeting hoot that Leo returned with a small salute. He ran around his room, tossing things in his trunk without much care for organization. When everything was packed, he stood next to Apollo's cage and stared at the owl warily.

"Can I assume that you'll try to peck my eyes out if I try to put you in the cage?"

Hoot.

"Do you know where Order headquarters are?"

Hoot.

"I'll see you there then."

With a final hoot of confirmation, Apollo took flight out the open window, eventually disappearing from view. Leo grabbed the handle of his trunk and lugged it downstairs, surprised to see his father and Harry waiting for him. Cas ran over, shrinking his trunk and putting it in his pocket before looking around the house and grabbing a cushion. He paused, staring at the two.

"You two should know that the headquarters are under a Fidelius. So, even if you've already been there, you need to be told where it is," he paused briefly. "The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix can be found at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, London."

"We're going back to -?" Leo began, his eyes shining.

"Yes, Sirius offered it up, much to my annoyance," Cas sighed in irritation. "Fortunately, I did some damage control and had Dumbledore make me Secret-Keeper. Don't want its location getting out to people he thinks can be trusted."

Leo, who couldn't help but think of Pettigrew, nodded.

"How're we getting there?" Harry asked. "Floo powder? Apparition?"

"Can't use Floo Powder for a number of reasons and I can't Apparate," Cas shrugged. "So, we're taking a Portkey."

Both Leo and Harry looked nauseous at the thought. Portkeys were always uncomfortable and both agreed it was the most unpleasant way to travel. Cas held out the cushion to them, which they both placed their hands on with a mild sense of trepidation. He tapped it with his wand, saying the proper spell, and looked on as it glowed blue for a moment. A second later, the familiar feeling of a hook behind his navel took hold of Leo and they pulled away in a fast-moving blur.

They landed seconds later on the dark, wooded floors of Grimmauld Place. Or, at least, Cas did. Leo and Harry had both fallen over and were doing their best not to throw up. Cas threw the cushion off to the side. There were hurried footsteps and Ron's mother, Mrs. Weasley, emerged from a door at the far end of the hall. She was beaming in welcome as she hurried toward them, though Leo noticed that she was rather thinner and paler than she had been last time he had seen her.

"Oh, boys, it's lovely to see you both!" she whispered, pulling them each into a rib-cracking hug before holding them at arm's length and examining Harry rather critically. "You're looking peaky; you need feeding up, but you'll have to wait a bit for dinner, I'm afraid..."

She turned to Castor and whispered urgently, "He's just arrived, the meeting's started..."

"'Fraid I'll have to miss it," Cas replied in a tone that said quite clearly he didn't mind having to miss it at all. "Have to get the papers filed with the Ministry before Fudge can interfere again. Tell Siri to take notes for me." He clapped a hand on Leo and Harry's shoulders. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

With that, he turned and walked out the doors to Grimmauld, disappearing from view.

"Draco, Ron, and Hermione are upstairs, you can wait with them until the meeting's over and then we'll have dinner. And keep your voice down in the hall," she added in an urgent whisper.

"Let me guess, dear old grandmum's still causing problems?" Leo snorted as Mrs. Weasley nodded. "Right piece of work she is."

Mrs. Weasley gave a soft laugh before leading them on tiptoes up a flight of stairs that used to contain house-elf heads mounted on the walls. Leo was pleased to see that Kreacher had been keeping up with the house, as everything looked relatively clean and dusted.

"There" — they had reached the second landing — "you're the door on the right. I'll call you both when it's over."

And she hurried off downstairs again.

They crossed the dingy landing, turned the bedroom doorknob, which was shaped like a serpent's head, and opened the door.

Leo jumped at a loud shriek, whipping out his wand as a head of bushy hair ran past him to hug Harry, almost knocking him to the floor. Leo snickered as he sidled into the room around her, nodding at the red-headed Ron and approaching Draco with a broad grin. He tapped the side of his cheek, to which Draco nodded and tapped his own. Good, that means he still has his leaf. He nodded with satisfaction as he turned to look at Hermione, who was in the process of rambling to Harry.

"-I've looked it all up, they can't expel you, they just can't, there's a provision in the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations —" she was saying.

"Let him breathe, Hermione," said Ron, grinning, closing the door behind Harry.

Hermione, still beaming, let go of Harry, and ran to give Leo a crushing hug of his own. He patted her on the back somewhat awkwardly before she released him. He gave a lopsided smile before a flash of white flew across the room to Harry. Huh, I was wondering where she'd gone to. He mused, observing the owl that Harry seemed quite happy to see.

"Hedwig!"

"She's been in a right state," said Ron. "Pecked us half to death when she brought your last letters, look at this —"

He showed them the index finger of his right hand, which sported a half-healed but clearly deep cut. Leo was wondering what on earth had put her in such a state. Pecking someone into oblivion was usually Apollo's move.

"Oh yeah," Harry said. "Sorry about that, but I wanted answers, you know..."

"We wanted to give them to you, mate," said Ron. "Hermione was going spare, she kept saying you'd do something stupid if you were stuck all on your own without news, but Dumbledore made us —"

"— swear not to tell me," said Harry. "Yeah, Hermione's already said."

"Fen says Dumbledore's a fool for trying to keep us all in the dark," Draco stated, sitting on one of the two bunk beds. "Reckons we should know more about what's going on."

"Since when are you on a nickname basis with my dad?" Leo frowned.

"Since he threatened to hex my mouth shut if I ever called him 'Mr. Black' again."

Leo snorted before looking at Harry, frowning when he noticed his cousin was avoiding eye contact. Oh, great. Brooding Harry is back. He rolled his eyes. Teenage hormones had hit the boy hard. There were often days during the summer where Harry just wanted to sit in his room and read newspapers or try to sneak into the Dursleys' living room to watch the news. Leo felt he was becoming a bit obsessed with trying to find information about Voldemort.

Despite the fact that he wanted to know what the noseless git was up to just as much as Harry did, Leo didn't think that the best way to find answers was by sending his owl to attack people. It would've, no doubt, been hilarious, but not at all practical. He had tried to weasel information out of Sirius, but the man had stated quite clearly that he wasn't saying anything outside of headquarters. Cas had been too busy with the Ministry to be of much help either.

"He seemed to think it was best," said Hermione rather breathlessly. "Dumbledore, I mean."

"Right," said Harry.

"I think he thought you were safest with Castor and the Muggles —" Ron began.

"Yeah?" said Harry, raising his eyebrows. "Have either of you been attacked by dementors this summer?"

Leo felt he had a fair point there.

"Well, no — but I think he hoped having Castor around would keep you safe -"

"My dad's been too busy with the Ministry to be around to help us," Leo rolled his eyes. "Because of that, he hasn't been at the meetings -"

Leo stopped suddenly, a thought occurring to him as he frowned, looking at Harry and Draco.

"D'you think Dumbledore might've been interfering a bit when it came to getting Harry's papers?" he asked.

"Why do you say that?" Hermione questioned.

"Well, think about it," Leo began pacing. "Draco said my dad wanted us to know what was going on – and I'll bet anything he would've told us too. So, in order to keep us in the dark, he kept my dad in the dark. Kept him too busy with the Ministry to come to the meetings."

"That sounds a little too Slytherin for Dumbledore," Ron frowned, wrinkling his nose.

"Dumbledore's the leader of a secret spy organization, Weasley," Draco rolled his eyes. "Wouldn't be very good at it if he didn't have at least a few Slytherin qualities."

"Why would Dumbledore want to keep us in the dark?" Harry interrupted before Draco and Ron could get into a proper fight. "Maybe he thinks we can't be trusted."

"Don't be thick," said Ron, looking highly disconcerted.

"Or that we can't take care of ourselves —"

I resent that.

"Of course he doesn't think that!" said Hermione anxiously.

"So how come we have to stay at Privet Drive while you three get to join in everything that's going on here?" said Harry his voice growing louder with every word. "How come you three are allowed to know everything that's going on —?"

"If you were paying attention, Potter, you'd know we aren't allowed at the meetings," Draco drawled.

Having a feeling of foreboding, Leo clamped his hands over his ears. It was lucky he did as less than a second later, Harry began shouting.

"SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL! YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE, HAVEN'T YOU? YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER! ME, I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS' FOR A MONTH! AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT — WHO SAVED THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE?"

"Uh, well, technically, I destroyed it," Leo interrupted him.

Harry grunted in acknowledgment before he continued shouting.

"WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE?"

"Well, I dueled him and kept him off you while you dealt with the snake," Leo input, receiving a glare. "Plus, I made it so the basilisk couldn't smell you so..."

"FINE! WHO SAVED YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENT -" Harry stopped abruptly, recalling that Leo had assisted quite heavily with that as well.

"I think what Harry's trying – and failing – to communicate is that we've been through a hell of a lot more during the past five years than most wizards have been through during entire lifetimes," Leo said in an even tone when Harry had stopped talking for some time. "We deserve to know what's going on – more than anyone else here." He glanced at Harry. "Perhaps we should try asking questions they can actually answer?"

Harry nodded grudgingly, still fuming as he began pacing the room to work off his anger.

"What's the Order?"

"The Order of the Phoenix," Draco replied smoothly. "Is a secret society Dumbledore created during the first war to fight the Dark Lord."

"Who's in it?" said Harry, coming to a halt with his hands in his pockets.

"Quite a few people —" Hermione began.

"— we've met about twenty of them," said Ron, "but we think there are more..."

Harry glared at them.

"Well?" he demanded, looking at each of them.

"Are we expected to read your mind, Potter?" Draco sneered.

"Think he wants to know about Voldetort," Leo stated. "Been rather lax on news on that front."

"We've told you, the Order doesn't let us in on their meetings," said Hermione nervously. "So we don't know the details — but we've got a general idea —" she added hastily, seeing the look on Harry's face.

"Fred and George have invented Extendable Ears, see," said Ron. "They're really useful."

"Extendable —?"

"They let you hear any conversation you want – go under doors and everything," Draco explained. "Mrs. Weasley found out about them and went ballistic – started chucking them out -"

"But we got a good bit of use out of them before Mum realized what was going on," Ron continued. "We know some of the Order are following known Death Eaters, keeping tabs on them, you know —"

"— some of them are working on recruiting more people to the Order —" said Hermione.

"— and some of them are standing guard over something," said Ron. "They're always talking about guard duty."

"Whatever it is, Fen doesn't seem too happy about it – keeps going on about how it should be destroyed," Draco added.

"Shocking that no one's listened to him," Leo rolled his eyes. "It's not like he's been right about everything else... oh... wait..."

Harry snorted. He walked around the room again, looking anywhere but at Ron and Hermione. "So what have you three been doing, if you're not allowed in meetings?" he demanded. "You said you'd been busy."

"We have," said Hermione quickly. "We've been decontaminating this house and disarming traps and stuff – it's been a lot of hard work. I think we're doing the drawing-room tomo — AARGH!"

With two loud cracks, Fred and George, Ron's elder twin brothers, had materialized out of thin air in the middle of the room. Leo roared with laughter at the look of surprise on Hermione's face.

"Stop doing that!" Hermione said weakly to the twins, who were as vividly red-haired as Ron, though stockier and slightly shorter.

"Hello, Harry," said George, beaming at him. "We thought we heard your dulcet tones."

"And if it isn't our favorite little lion," Fred grinned, walking over and pinching Leo's cheek. "So glad you could make it. No offense, but we really hate your house -"

"It keeps trying to kill us -" George added.

"Yeah, it does that," Leo chuckled. "It's what makes living here so fun and exciting. See you two've passed your Apparition tests then."

"With distinction," said Fred, who was holding what looked like a piece of very long, flesh-colored string.

"It would have taken you about thirty seconds longer to walk down the stairs," said Ron.

"Time is Galleons, little brother," said Fred. "Anyway, Harry, you're interfering with reception. Extendable Ears," he added in response to Harry's raised eyebrows, holding up the string, which Leo now saw was trailing out onto the landing. "We're trying to hear what's going on downstairs."

"You want to be careful," said Ron, staring at the ear. "If Mum sees one of them again..."

"It's worth the risk, that's a major meeting they're having," said Fred.

The door opened and a long mane of red hair appeared.

"Oh hello, Harry!" said Ron's younger sister, Ginny, brightly. "I thought I heard your voice. Good to see you too, Leo."

The blonde gave a wave as she turned to Fred and George and said, "It's no go with the Extendable Ears, she's gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door."

"How d'you know?" said George, looking crestfallen.

"Tonks told me how to find out," said Ginny. "You just chuck stuff at the door and if it can't make contact the door's been Imperturbed. I've been flicking Dungbombs at it from the top of the stairs and they just soar away from it, so there's no way the Extendable Ears will be able to get under the gap."

Fred heaved a deep sigh. "Shame. I really fancied finding out what old Snape's been up to."

"Snivellus is here?" Leo wrinkled his nose, not really thrilled with the thought of that greasy-haired git in his house.

"Yeah," said George, carefully closing the door and sitting down on one of the beds; Fred and Ginny followed. "Giving a report. Top secret. Castor wasn't too pleased with having to let him in. Told us he was only allowed in in order to – and I'm quoting him directly here - 'stop Dumbledore's constant bitching'."

Leo, Harry, and Draco all snorted.

"He's on our side now," said Hermione reprovingly.

Ron snorted. "Doesn't stop him being a git. The way he looks at us when he sees us..."

"Bill doesn't like him either," said Ginny, as though that settled the matter.

"Snape doesn't ever really come across as the most likable person," Leo remarked.

"He seems fine to me," Draco stated.

"Yeah, but that's because you're in Slytherin," Ron reminded him. "Snape obviously favors you."

"Charlie's in the Order too," said George, cutting off Draco as he opened his mouth, "but he's still in Romania, Dumbledore wants as many foreign wizards brought in as possible, so Charlie's trying to make contacts on his days off."

"Couldn't Percy do that?" Harry asked.

At these words, all the Weasleys, Draco, and Hermione exchanged darkly significant looks.

"Whatever you do, don't mention Percy in front of Mum and Dad," Ron told the cousins in a tense voice.

"I usually forget Percy even exists," Leo shrugged. "But why not?"

"Because every time Percy's name's mentioned, Dad breaks whatever he's holding and Mum starts crying," Fred said.

"It's been awful," said Ginny sadly.

"I think we're well shut of him," said George with an uncharacteristically ugly look on his face.

"What's happened?" Harry said.

"Percy and Dad had a row," said Fred. "I've never seen Dad row with anyone like that. It's normally Mum who shouts..."

"It was the first week back after term ended," said Ron. "We were about to come and join the Order. Percy came home and told us he'd been promoted."

"Surprising, given the whole Crouch fiasco," Leo remarked with a frown before his expression cleared. "Unless Fudge was buttering him up and trying to get him to spy for him. He must know how close you lot are with old Dumbles."

"Yeah, that's what Dad thought," Fred nodded.

"He came home really pleased with himself — even more pleased than usual if you can imagine that — and told Dad he'd been offered a position in Fudge's own office. A really good one for someone only a year out of Hogwarts — Junior Assistant to the Minister. He expected Dad to be all impressed, I think," Ron explained, noticing Harry's confused expression.

"Only Dad wasn't," said Fred grimly.

"Apparently Fudge has been storming round the Ministry checking that nobody's having any contact with Dumbledore," said George.

"Dumbledore's name's mud with the Ministry these days, see," said Fred. "They all think he's just making trouble saying You-Know-Who's back."

"Dad says Fudge has made it clear that anyone who's in league with Dumbledore can clear out their desks," said George.

"Trouble is, Fudge suspects Dad, he knows he's friendly with Dumbledore, and he's always thought Dad's a bit of a weirdo because of his Muggle obsession —"

"Which is why your Dad thinks he's getting Percy to spy on him," Harry caught on. "Bet Percy loved that."

Ron laughed in a hollow sort of way.

"He went completely berserk. He said — well, he said loads of terrible stuff. He said he's been having to struggle against Dad's lousy reputation ever since he joined the Ministry and that Dad's got no ambition and that's why we've always been — you know — not had a lot of money, I mean —"

"Knew I always hated Percy for a reason," Leo said darkly.

"It got worse. He said Dad was an idiot to run around with Dumbledore, that Dumbledore was heading for big trouble and Dad was going to go down with him, and that he — Percy — knew where his loyalty lay and it was with the Ministry. And if Mum and Dad were going to become traitors to the Ministry he was going to make sure everyone knew he didn't belong to our family anymore. And he packed his bags the same night and left. He's living here in London now."

"Bet Fudge wasn't too happy with that," Leo raised an eyebrow. "He lost his spy because Percy didn't believe he was one. Judging by the fact Percy hasn't come back, I'm guessing he got to keep his position?"

"Yeah, Fudge couldn't exactly let him go after that," Draco nodded. "Otherwise it would've been a huge tip-off and he would've lost his spy regardless."

"Mum's been in a right state," said Ron. "You know — crying and stuff. She came up to London to try and talk to Percy but he slammed the door in her face. I dunno what he does if he meets Dad at work — ignores him, I s'pose."

"But Percy must know Voldemort's back," said Harry slowly. "He's not stupid, he must know your mum and dad wouldn't risk everything without proof —"

"Yeah, well, your names got dragged into the row," said Ron, shooting Harry and Leo a furtive look. "Percy said the only evidence was your word and... I dunno... he didn't think it was good enough."

"Percy takes the Daily Prophet seriously," said Hermione tartly, and the others all nodded.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, looking around at them all. They were all regarding him warily.

"Prophet's been taking shots at us, Harry," Leo informed him. "Dragging our names through the muck. They keep saying you're this deluded, attention-seeking person who thinks he's a great tragic hero or something. They like to say I'm certifiably insane and dangerous and that I may one day grow up to 'pull a Sirius Black and go on a murder spree'."

"They didn't - I don't want – what?" Harry spluttered, not seeming to know what he should be focusing on.

"I mean, they're not entirely wrong about me," Leo continued in an off-hand tone. "I am very dangerous. And quite mad, according to you lot."

The others snorted as they heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Uh-oh."

Fred gave the Extendable Ear a hearty tug; there was another loud crack and he and George vanished. Seconds later, Mrs. Weasley appeared in the bedroom doorway.

"The meeting's over, you can come down and have dinner now, everyone's dying to see you two. And who's left all those Dungbombs outside the kitchen door?"

"Crookshanks," said Ginny unblushingly. "He loves playing with them."

Leo gaped at her, impressed by how quickly and confidently she was able to lie to her mother.

"Oh," said Mrs. Weasley, "I thought it might have been Kreacher, he keeps doing odd things like that. Now don't forget to keep your voices down in the hall. Ginny, your hands are filthy, what have you been doing? Go and wash them before dinner, please..."

Ginny grimaced at the others and followed her mother out of the room. Leo slowly turned to look at Harry, pointing in the direction Ginny had just left.

"Harry," he began. "Marry that girl."

Everyone snorted before getting up and traipsing out of the room, Leo in the lead. Before they could descend the stairs — "Hold it!" Ron breathed, flinging out an arm to stop Draco, Harry, and Hermione walking any farther and prompting Leo to stop. "They're still in the hall, we might be able to hear something —"

The five of them looked cautiously over the banisters. The gloomy hallway below was packed with witches and wizards. They were whispering excitedly together. In the very center of the group, Leo saw the dark, greasy-haired head and prominent nose of his least favorite teacher at Hogwarts, Snape.

As he was wondering if he could Scourgify the man's hair from this distance, a thin piece of flesh-colored string descended in front of Leo's eyes. Looking up he saw Fred and George on the landing above, cautiously lowering the Extendable Ear toward the dark knot of people below. A moment later, however, they began to move toward the front door and out of sight.

"Dammit," Leo heard Fred whisper, as he hoisted the Extendable Ear back up again.

They heard the front door open and then close.

"Snape never eats here," Ron told them quietly. "Thank God. C'mon."

"And don't forget to keep your voice down in the hall," Hermione whispered.

"You know, we've lived here before, Hermione," Leo rolled his eyes.

As they descended the stairs, they saw Remus, Mrs. Weasley, and a woman with bright pink hair at the front door, magically sealing its many locks and bolts behind those who had just left. Leo suppressed a squeal of delight as he ran over to embrace his godfather.

"Good to see you too, Leo," the man grinned broadly. "C'mon, we're eating down in the kitchen -"

CRASH.

"Tonks!" cried Mrs. Weasley exasperatedly, turning to look behind her.

"I'm sorry!" wailed the other woman, who was lying flat on the floor. "It's that stupid jinx someone left behind – always trips me up —"

Leo snickered, recalling that he had placed a long-lasting trip jinx there when he and Sirius had their prank war two years ago. A second later, he covered his ears as a blood-curdling screech filled the air. The moth-eaten curtains had opened, revealing a portrait of Walburga Black – Leo's grandmother.

The old woman was drooling, her eyes were rolling, the yellowing skin of her face stretched taut as she screamed, and all along the hall behind them, the other portraits awoke and began to yell too.

Remus and Mrs. Weasley darted forward and tried to tug the curtains shut over the old woman, but they would not close and she screeched louder than ever, brandishing clawed hands as though trying to tear at their faces.

"Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers —"

Tonks apologized over and over again, and Leo felt somewhat bad at this point. Mrs. Weasley abandoned the attempt to close the curtains and hurried up and down the hall, Stunning all the other portraits with her wand. Then a man with long black hair came charging out of a door facing the group. It was Sirius.

"Shut up, you horrible old hag, shut UP!" he roared, seizing the curtain Mrs. Weasley had abandoned.

The old woman's face blanched.

"Yoooou!" she howled, her eyes popping at the sight of the man. "Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh!"

"I said — shut — UP!" roared the man, and with a stupendous effort, he and Remus managed to force the curtains closed again.

The old woman's screeches died and an echoing silence fell. Panting slightly and sweeping his long dark hair out of his eyes, Sirius turned to face them.

"Hello," he said grimly, "I see you've become reacquainted with my mother."