Chapter 11: Yep, there is an Order!

Harry started his 5th year at Hogwarts. Malfoy was becoming jealous of Harry. He thought Harry was very lucky to have been spoken to by the Dark Lord and given an assignment on top of that. He was dying to find out what it was but Harry wouldn't tell. Harry was very busy now; he had to research the Ministry of Magic, and especially the Department of Mysteries. Voldemort had asked him to keep it a secret; so he couldn't possibly just walk in there in broad daylight and ask for it; surely it would raise some suspicions. Lucius had been ordered to do whatever Harry asked him, he was to help him get the Prophecy, although he didn't know that yet…..

Harry also had a lot of research to do on dark arts and especially the ability to speak Parseltongue. His findings were quite exhilarating; it showed him how powerful he could be if he developed his powers in the right direction. Harry liked the sound of that.

Harry's grades were getting better; what a change! He seemed to be spending a lot of time studying; which was very out of character for him. The reason was that his mind was almost always on Ginny although he didn't want it to be. Studying seemed to be the only thing that would occupy his mind enough to push Ginny out of it. And he was glad for that because he thought he was going crazy thinking of her all the time. I mean she is a Weasley! Eeewww!

Having not had a Quidditch Cup the previous year because of the Triwizard Tournament, Harry was excited to play Quidditch again this year. Since Harry came to Hogwarts, his team won the Quidditch cup every year (except last; I just said that!). This year would be no different. Malfoy was Quidditch Captain, against Ginny for Gryffindor. She was of course Seeker, which made it hard for Harry at times. The Slytherin vs. Gryffindor games were of course the worst. The Infirmary would usually be busy for the weeks before, and after the match. Madam Pomfrey was close to having a nervous breakdown!

The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher that year was Mad-Eye Moody. He was a very weird guy; he would jump every time someone made a noise around him. He was a ticking bomb ready to explode any minute. Paranoid he was! Rumors had it that his time as an Auror really took its toll on him; he saw Dark Magic at every corner. The students (especially Potter & Malfoy…no surprise there) enjoyed torturing the poor teacher, by sneaking up on him and preparing evil schemes during classes. The scheming caused all of the teachers' sneakoscopes to spin and whistle; that would make him panic beyond measure.

Harry had been made Prefect that year along with Pansy Parkinson; needless to say he enjoyed it thoroughly. Hermione & Ron were the Gryffindor Prefects; hence the war between them got worse, if that was at all possible! House Points were flying off all over the place; points were being taken for stupid things like "Sneezing too loud" or "Walking funny" or even "Being too cheerful". Harry was enjoying every minute of it.

The Marauders Map had come in very handy. Malfoy had given it to Harry as it was more useful in the hands of a Prefect. He could easily catch students where they weren't supposed to be after hours. Thanks to the map, they were now in the lead for the House Cup. One night, in October, Harry was using his map to try and spot students who were out of bed late, as he usually did, when something on the map caught his eye. He had never noticed it before; to tell you the truth he had never thought to look up Dumbledore's office on the map.

"What were these three people doing in Dumbledore's office this late at night?" he thought to himself. There was Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and someone named Fawkes. What a strange hour to have a meeting; especially since they weren't teachers anymore.

As the weeks flew by, he would often find those same people in Dumbledore's office late at night. Sometimes Moody would be there as well, and sometimes it was McGonagall.

Harry thought it was very strange; something was definitely up. It bothered him for a while, and then he stopped losing his sleep over it.

"There's a good explanation I'm sure" he thought. Indeed, there was…

Harry found Dumbledore's attitude towards him change. Not that it made any difference to him; it just made him feel a bit more relaxed. For some reason, Dumbledore wouldn't give him "the stare" anymore. In fact, he almost never looked at him at all. He liked the change, whatever brought it on.

What Harry didn't know is that Dumbledore knew of his secret assignment. Nobody had told him what it was, as there had been no witnesses to his little chat (no one who could actually understand I mean). But a reliable source did tell him that the Dark Lord had given Harry a very important assignment. Dumbledore had no problem guessing what it was; he had been expecting this for some time now.

Can anyone guess who the "reliable source" is! And of course i'm sure you can guess what Lupin and Sirius are working on with Dumbledore!Please make suggestions; i'd love to hear what you think.

Thx