In which Tabitha finds the order of the Order
OR
In which Tabitha finds a door.
Chapter eight:
My first day of classes flew by me. I had way to much on my mind to pay attention. I know now though, If I had been paying attention to anything that morning, I would've been very amazed.
Lunch in the Great Hall was stupendous, and I was glad that they didn't believe in creating 'Healthy Food Choice' laws like they did in the US, because Hogwarts would have immediately been shut down.
I ate a bit of mashed potatoes, chicken, and a twisty French garlic bread that was very good.
When we were all finished, and about to be let out for our afternoon classes and such, A cream colored card sat on the blank table in front of Me, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. I was fairly sure that Neville and that Luna girl had gotten a note too as I followed everyone else out of the Great Hall.
Please adjourn in the headmaster's office after lunch for a
meeting of the Order of Phoenix. Please bring your wands.
Minerva McGonagall
Instead of following the rest of Gryffindor upstairs, we turned right at the first corridor we saw. Professor McGonagall was whispering something to a statue of a Gargoyle when a staircase appeared, and she shooed us into it, hurriedly following after us.
A large circular table took up the majority of the room, where there was already seated The Weasleys, Dumbledore, Professor Snape, and a few dozen strangers.
Ron was seated by George, Ginny next to him, followed by Harry, Hermione, then Me, taking up the last available chair between Hermione and a girl probably in her mid twenties with bright purple hair.
"I'm Tonks" she whispered, patting my hand, "You're Tabitha, right?"
I nodded and smiled.
The Weasley family seemed to have seated themselves by age. Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny all sat relatively to the right side of the table.
"This meeting of the Order of the Phoenix will now come to order."
I giggled at the double usage of his words, as did Tonks. I was pretty sure that Tonks and I were going to get along just fine.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, but soon turned somber as he described Harry and his adventure the day and night before.
As he finished his story, Mrs. Weasley looked worriedly over at Harry, customarily looking to see if he was in any kind of pain.
"Molly, I assure you, he's fine." Dumbledore added, patting the witch's hand as she blushed. The rest of the table chuckled.
Dumbledore sat down.
"We've got to plan out our order of attack." He said grimly, and the smile on everyone's faces instantly faded.
"Charlie?" He asked, looking at the second Weasley child.
"Dragons. How many can you get us?"
Charlie thought it over, and grimaced, "17 at the most."
Dumbledore nodded, "That's way better than I expected."
"Kingsley? I'll need the Aurors. How many are already on our side? And how many do we need to persuade?"
That tall black man sitting almost directly across from me looked down at a sheet of paper below his hands.
"We have about 116 on our side, Albus. They're Aurors, they're meant to save the world." Kingsley answered, grinning back at Dumbledore, "We only have one who isn't very apt to jump into a battle."
Dumbledore nodded, "that'd be you, correct?" He chided.
Kingsley chuckled, "I'll do whatever I can."
I noticed Harry scribbling something on a piece of paper. He seemed to be taking notes.
Right then, Neville and Luna arrived late, huffing and puffing.
"We had to go get our wands." They said, sitting in two chairs behind Harry.
"Quite alright." Dumbledore said, turning to Bill.
"Goblins." He said simply.
"We've gotten all three hundred and twenty six of them."
"Fellow curse-breakers?"
"24 definite, 3 pending, 6 no."
Dumbledore nodded appreciatively at the young man. "Thank you Bill."
He then turned to his left.
"Alastor." He said, drumming his fingers on the table.
"I would like you to pair up with Nymphadora (at this Tonks twitched and growled in Dumbledore's direction.) and train Harry and Tabitha in paired dueling."
At this my eyes widened. I was expected to fight with Harry?
He didn't stop there, but rather continued.
"Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna will need to watch their lessons, and then be trained on defending them while Tabitha and Harry watch."
Uh…wow.
Tonks and Alastor nodded, and Dumbledore moved to face Harry.
"Harry. During the D.A., do you remember any students who were particularly… swift?"
Harry nodded, writing some things down, "I'll send you a list of people who I think are capable."
"I also need people who are good with Charms."
"I know some."
He turned to Hermione.
"Hermione, you've read up on animaguses, have you not?"
she nodded eagerly.
"I need you to develop yours."
Her eyes widened, and she nodded vigerously.
"And once I select certain students, I'm going to need you to help them develop theirs."
She, again, nodded, smiling.
"I advise you to contact Minerva if you are having great difficulty." He said, a twinkling in his eye, "I don't think we'd like to end up like we did in 2nd year, would we?"
Hermione bowed her head and turned a deep scarlet, shaking her head as Dumbledore chuckled.
"Remus?" He called, looking straight ahead.
"yes, Albus?"
"how are we doing?"
"just fine Albus. I believe we now have twenty five or so on our side."
Dumbledore beamed, "That's great, my boy, just great."
"Hestia, my dear, how are we?"
"Well," she black-haired witch started, "Not so well."
"Ministry Employees not cooperating again?"
She shook her head, "Rumors have spread, Albus, many rumors. They think-
She broke off.
"They think what, Dear?"
"They think that we're all possessed." She whispered, ashamed.
But instead of scowling, Dumbledore burst into a fit of laughter.
"Why Merlin's red and blue socks! I believe that's their best one yet!"
He calmed down and turned back to Hestia, "That's alright my dear. Don't get too worried. We'll still have a chance. Just keep trying."
"Elphias Doge and Dedalus Diggle. What do you have for me?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes still shining with laughter.
"Well, as we were trying to get the population at large informed and such," Started the man with the top hat and flower
"We tried to take over the Daily Prophet. Didn't turn out too well, you see."
"But we did manage to go around, informing people of our cause."
"We left shiny notepads with basic information on them."
"Very shiny. We spent two knuts a piece on them."
Dumbledore nodded, trying to keep his wits in tact, "Yes, well, keep up the good work boys."
The two men beamed and sat back down, as though they'd accomplished a very big feat.
"Hagrid, do tell us about the people of the forest." Dumbledore said, turning to the large man sitting behind him.
"Well, The spiders say that they'll do whatever they can, as long as I'm there to protect them." He puffed out his large chest, "The centaurs though, can't say were on very good terms with them, now, can we? But the small herd of Unicorns. They said they'll willingly bottle up their Strength and stamina and send it to us, but they won't actually be involved in the battle. Can't say much for that, but at least they want to help. The few Crups in the forest say that they'll help. As long as we don't attack them during the battle, they'll help us as much as they can. There are thirty or so Doxies in the forest. They're very eager to help. The Dugbogs. They agreed to be our starting lineup. There's about seventy of them. I've found a large nesting of Phoenixes in the backlands. They've run into Fawkes a couple of times and made friends. They'll be administering tears. I know of some Griffins down in the backlands. They've been domesticated. Don't know how, though, it's usually impossible. They've agreed to be there. Buckbeak and his family are willing. I've sent letters. The school Threstrals said they'd help too, but I don't know how much of a help they'll be, seeing that we're dealing with death eaters and all."
Hagrid finally finished, screwing his face up in thought.
Harry looked up from his piece of paper, "I think I got the part about the dugbogs wrong. Have they agreed to be in starting lineup? Or did they refuse to be starting."
"They agreed." I answered for him.
He nodded, scribbling it down.
Dumbledore looked flabbergasted, "Why Hagrid, you've made astounding progress. Well done, my boy, well done." He finished, patting the now very-red Hagrid on the back.
Dumbledore shifted his gaze to a silver haired woman in the corner, who had been silently observing.
"Mrs. Figg, how are the muggles on this fine evening?"
She shrugged, "They're alright. None of them suspect anything, all they're worried about is the fog. Those Dementors just need to stop breeding. They've been at it for months!" She exclaimed.
Dumbledore nodded, "Alls well."
Dumbledore looked around the meeting room.
"Well then. As were pretty much through for business right now… Hmm.. Has everyone met Tabitha?"
Some nodded, but most shook their heads.
Dumbledore chirped, "Then I won't let you out until you have. Tea anyone?"
AS everyone stood up and got refreshments, I had to meet many people. Most of which I didn't remember their names, but eventually learned them. I figured I kind of had to, seeing as I couldn't be on the battle field yelling, "You there in the purple jeans! Yeah, you! Come over here and help, would you?"
Although that would add amusement to the somber occasion.
By the time the meeting was over, classes were done and we were only waiting for Dinner to be served in the Great Hall.
When we arrived on the seventh floor, Harry nudged me, "come help me in the room of requirement, will you?" I nodded, telling Ron where I was going.
We didn't go far until Harry signaled for me to stop, and then paced back and forth in front of a portrait.
And suddenly, a door appeared.
Oh my. This chapter has gone SOOO quickly, but yet it's taken FOREVER to write. Golly, Is it really dinner time already?
