As always a huge thank you has to go to Ambush99 for her continued support and amazing betaing skills!

Chapter 21

"Good evening Sirius. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Arthur said, as he opened the door.

"Good evening Arthur, I was wondering if I could trouble you this evening. I would like to discuss something with you," Sirius said slowly, as he tried to gauge Arthur's reaction. He wondered if Arthur fell into the category of those who believed he was a crazy, attention seeking fool.

"Oh? Well, you better come in then," Arthur said, standing aside, letting the other man in.

"It's of a sensitive nature, something I do not feel comfortable discussing at the Ministry," Sirius said quietly.

"Of course," Arthur said, standing a little straighter. "You will have to excuse the mess, we have a full house. The boys and Ginny are back from school, Charlie is over from Romania, plus Bill is over as well."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realise I was intruding on a special occasion. This can wait," Sirius said, as he looked towards the door.

"No, no, it's fine," Arthur replied with a smile. "It's just with everything that happened a couple of weeks ago, we wanted to be together as a family, and this is our first opportunity."

"Arthur, this can wait. This is obviously a special occasion for your family."

Arthur laughed. "No Sirius, right now this is crazy time in the house. I doubt they'll even notice you are here. Please, come into the kitchen."

Sirius followed Arthur down the narrow corridor, full of boots, coats, brooms and everything else. He smiled, the place felt warm and homely. Like the first time he had walked into James' house.

"Please take a seat," Arthur said, as they wandered into the kitchen. "Do you want tea, something stronger?"

"Tea would be great, thank you."

Placing a steaming mug of tea in front of the other man, Arthur sat down and faced him. "So, what do you want to discuss?"

"Well, you know when I was asking for your advice," Sirius started slowly.

"Yes."

"Well I was, shit, I don't know how to say this."

"You were gauging my reaction. You wanted to fight you-know-who and didn't trust the Ministry," Arthur said calmly, as he carefully watched Sirius. "And you were proven right. I knew he was deluded, but I didn't think he was this bad!"

"Arthur, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to mislead you in any way; I just needed to know if, well, I don't know. I was away for such a long time, I didn't know who the players in the Ministry were or anything," Sirius said, as he took a sip of tea.

"What do you mean?"

"I needed to find out who was friend and who was foe, and I am sorry I did it in this clandestine way, I really am. I just needed to-"

"Do you think we can beat him?" Arthur asked.

"I don't know," Sirius said, running a hand through his hair. "It's, well, complicated."

"You don't trust a lot of people do you?" Arthur said simply, as he looked Sirius up and down.

Sirius closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. This was putting him on the spot. Give him a death eater trying to kill him, he could deal with that. But this? What did he need to do? What did he need to say? What did, what did James say he should do? Just be honest, that's what. "No, I don't," he said simply.

"I don't blame you. I doubt I would if I was you," Arthur replied. "You're too hard on yourself."

"What?"

"You are too hard on yourself," Arthur repeated.

"Perhaps, but these aren't decisions I take lightly," Sirius said simply. He stared into the tea mug, as though looking for inspiration. No tea leaves, he thought dryly. "Did you ever hear about a counter Vold-, you-know-who, organisation during the last war?"

"I heard rumours."

Sirius nodded. "The rumours were true. Dumbledore formed the Order of the Phoenix in-". He paused for a moment as he struggled to remember the date. "I think it was in 1974, I was halfway through Hogwarts. It was created to try and counter you-know-who's ascent to power. I was told it was disbanded shortly after his disappearance."

"And Dumbledore wants to reform it?"

"Not Dumbledore."

Arthur nodded slowly, Sirius' words confirming what he'd been thinking. "You don't think the Ministry is capable of handling the situation."

Sirius looked away for a moment. "Do you?" He watched Arthur shake his head. "You've worked at the Ministry for what, twenty-five years?"

"Twenty-six this August."

"Impressive," Sirius acknowledged. "Do you get a watch or something?"

"I got an extra day's holiday. If I make it to forty years, I think I get an additional day," Arthur said with a sly grin.

"Indeed, so very generous of them," Sirius joked. He paused for a moment, trying to gauge the situation before posing his next question. "Do you think the Ministry in its current state is capable of defeating you-know-who?"

Arthur exhaled slowly. It was good to finally talk about the Ministry's failings with someone as intelligent and as balanced as Sirius. He had spoken about it with Molly, but as intelligent and balanced as she was, she didn't work for them, so didn't have the inside understanding. He wondered if he was influencing her opinion. "There is no simple answer, but no. I think there are a lot of good, capable people who work there, but the leadership leaves a lot to be desired."

Sirius nodded. "How badly do you think their minds have been twisted by Fudge?"

Arthur sighed. "I think the rot started before Fudge's reign, but he did nothing to quash it. I do, however, think we can recruit people to our side. Are you suggesting we perform a err…"

"No, absolutely not! Performing a coup d'état will massively destabilise the Ministry."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest…"

"No, don't worry about it. When Moody first suggested it, I thought the same. I guess it doesn't help matters with the cloak and dagger way I'm going about it."

Arthur laughed a hollow laugh. "The current climate doesn't help. When our leadership, unelected might I add, refuses to believe you-know-who is back, it's hard to not do anything. You're setting up the Order of the Phoenix to work alongside the Ministry, aren't you?"

"Yes, but in secret for now. The hope is, when they finally come around to the fact you-know-who has returned, we'll already have a plan in place."

"Where do I sign up?"

"Arthur, joining the Order is-"

"Dangerous, yes I know, but doing nothing is dangerous as well. Do you honestly think he won't target my family?! I know he will, we are known as one of the biggest blood traitors around," Arthur countered passionately.

"But-"

"If I believed what Fudge was spewing out of his uneducated mouth, you and I wouldn't be having this discussion. The fact is I've doubted his ability for a while now, but it took someone like you to wake me up to the fact. There are a lot of people who think the same."

"Whilst that might be true, I still urge you to discuss this with Molly," Sirius urged.

"I will. You know she is highly skilled in charms. She was the best in the school when we were there," Arthur said fondly.

"I did not know that. I mean, I never questioned her intelligence in any shape or form, I just did not know she had quite the flare for charms," Sirius said respectfully.

"Should I..." Arthur started and then stopped, as he watched his youngest son wander into the kitchen.

"Dad, when's dinner?" Ron said as he stuck his tall, lanky frame into the larder.

"Your mother is just sorting something in the garden, it won't be long. Doesn't Hogwarts feed you?" Arthur said lightly.

"Yeah, but that was ages ago. I'm so hungry!" Ron whined as he stepped out of the larder. "Oh, hi Sirius!" he said, noticing the other man for the first time.

"Hi Ron. Good term?"

"Yeah, I mean the exams were so annoying and history of magic, gawd! But those hexes you sent were so cool!" Ron exclaimed.

"They were to help Harry in the third task, not to be used on your classmates or your siblings for that matter," Sirius said lightly, with a slight smile and raised eyebrows.

"No, no, of course not," Ron stammered, suddenly finding his feet fascinating. "I'll go and unpack then."

"You haven't started?" Arthur exclaimed.

"No," Ron whined. "Dad, it's so boring."

"That it might be, but it needs to be done. No flying until you've unpacked!"

Ron sighed heavily as he started to walk towards the door. "Sirius, if you're at Harry's can we play Quidditch? Harry said you used to play for Gryffindor."

"Sure," Sirius replied, half smiling as he watched the interaction between the two.

"That would be so cool!" Ron started, then stopped as he looked at his father. "Okay, I'll go and unpack. Bye, Sirius."

"See you later, Ron," Sirius said to the retreating figure.

"Sorry about that," Arthur apologised. "You know..?"

"Harry's my godson and James is my best friend. I spend a fair amount of time at their house," Sirius explained. He watched Arthur nod. "Do you play Quidditch?"

"Me? No, not for a long time. Back in the day, I used to play keeper," Arthur said as he smiled fondly. "Do you still play?"

"Beater. We had a game a couple of days ago. You should join; it's only in the next door village."

"I don't know, I feel like I would be out of place."

"Why? Because you haven't played since you were at school? In any case, I am sure we can dig out a broom from someone's shed," Sirius persuaded. "I haven't played since school, most of us haven't. James dragged me along, which I'm sure he felt great about the next day. I may have knocked him off his broom; you forget you are stronger than your sixteen-year-old self." Sirius laughed at the memory. "Look it's an escape from the daily grind. It's an escape from the talk of war and you-know-who. For that hour or so, you can pretend you're a kid again, when the worst thing you had to worry about was the two inches of parchment you still needed to complete before the next day's charms lesson."

"Okay," Arthur said smiling. "Sure, I'll give it a go."

"Great, It'll be good to have another person join the group. Anyway," Sirius said as he raked his hands through his hair. "Where were we?"

"Molly, my wife. I know you are reforming the Order but what do you say to new recruits?" Arthur asked nervously.

Sirius sighed. He thought back to what James and Remus had said, and what Moody had told him on countless occasions. He could not do this alone. How it wasn't his decision if people wanted to put themselves at risk. "Arthur, this is something I am massively conflicted about," he said honestly. "But my friends say I cannot make these decisions for people. I think the Order will benefit tremendously from you joining. As to your family..." He sighed, and bit his lip for a moment. "In a perfect world, well, in a perfect world we wouldn't have to do this but here we are, and we have to. I trust your judgement."

Arthur nodded. "I'll talk to her, and I better talk to my oldest two as well. I know they want to fight you-know-who, and this way…"

"You would know what they were doing," Sirius offered.

"Yeah," Arthur said slowly. "I know it wouldn't make them any safer, but at least I'd know where they were. My youngest; Fred, George, Ron and Ginny would like to think they could fight you-know-who, but..." Arthur paused for a moment and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I don't want them to."

"And I wouldn't accept them. When you were eighteen did you think you knew the world and were invincible? I know I certainly did. Then you grow up and reflect, you realise you really didn't know anything and you were most certainly not invincible," Sirius said reflectively.

"Good. It's just, well the Ministry would-"

"Merlin, the Ministry would probably accept a thirteen-year-old kid to fight their wars," Sirius said bitterly. "It seems as corrupt as it did last time; they've just done a better job of dressing it up."

"Ah Molly," Arthur greeted, as she walked in from the garden. "This is Sirius Black; he's a work colleague and Harry's godfather."

"A pleasure to meet you," Sirius said as he stood and took her hand.

"You too," Molly said with a smile. "Are you staying for dinner?"

"Thank you for the kind offer, but I'm having dinner with my family," Sirius said politely. He looked at his watch. "Talking of which, I really better get going."

"Thank you Sirius, well, for the opportunity," Arthur said rising to meet the other man.

"No, thank you Arthur for considering it," Sirius said shaking Arthur's hand. "Molly, thank you for your kind hospitality."

"Is that Sirius Black?" Fred exclaimed as he watched the tall auror walk out of the house.

"Yeah," Ron said nodding.

"How do you know?" George exclaimed.

"I've met him a few times," Ron said with a shrug. "He's a cool guy."

"I'd say! He's amazing. He's like Moody's right hand man, and he's so cool," Fred said excitedly.

"Yeah, and you might know him by his other name, 'Padfoot'."

"Sirius Black is Padfoot?!" George said awestruck.

"Seriously?! How do you know?" Fred added excitedly. "The Marauders are like gods to us. We owe them so much."

"Well, I've met them. Come to think of it, so have you," Ron baited. He grinned at his brothers' reactions. "Ah, I would love to discuss this further but it appears mum is calling us for dinner, and you know how much she hates it when we are late," he said as he hurried downstairs.

"This is not over!" George growled, as he chased his brother down the stairs into the kitchen.

"Was that Sirius Black leaving?" Bill asked as he started to pour the butterbeer.

"Yes, he just wanted to discuss a couple of things," Arthur said calmly.

"I've meet him a couple of times at Gringotts; smart guy," Bill observed. "The Goblins respect him, well, as much as Goblins will ever respect a wizard."

"I thought Sirius Black was missing and wanted by the Ministry for murder," Charlie said frowning.

"Turns out he was innocent all along. He was kidnapped and imprisoned by you-know-who and his death eaters for thirteen years. He escaped and is now Moody's right hand man," Bill explained.

"Tough guy," Charlie whistled.

"What did he want to discuss?" Bill asked.

Arthur looked at his oldest son and then back at his wife. "This is strictly confidential," he said in a low voice. "I mean that. You cannot discuss this with anyone outside of this room, that includes Percy."

"Of course," Bill replied, shooting a piercing glare at the others.

"During the last war Dumbledore formed an organisation to fight you-know-who," Arthur started in the same low voice.

"Something to do with a Phoenix?" Charlie asked.

Arthur nodded. "The Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore had concerns about the Ministry's handling of the matter, so he formed the group in secret."

"And Dumbledore has the same concerns this time as well?" Bill asked. He watched his father shake his head. "Sirius?"

"Yes, he and Moody are concerned. They were concerned before Fudge's reaction a couple of weeks ago. They predicted Fudge's reaction and they knew you-know-who would return," Arthur explained.

"Sirius wants you to join?" Bill asked. He watched his father nod again. "Do you trust him?"

"Yes, without a shadow of a doubt. He has no reason to lie about you-know-who's return. We all know Fudge controls the media, and he'll use it to his own ends."

"You think Fudge is smearing Sirius?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah," Arthur replied. "Fudge is threatened by Sirius. Sirius is everything Fudge isn't. This is a man who first faced you-know-know when he was twenty!"

"Sixteen," Ron said through a mouthful of mashed potato.

"What?" Bill asked.

"He was sixteen when he first faced you-know-who. That's why Harry's grandparents adopted him," Ron explained. "His parents tried to sell him to you-know-who."

"How the hell do you know this?" Charlie exclaimed.

"Because I was there when Peter Pettigrew was arrested."

"What?!" Arthur exclaimed. "Why were you there?"

"You know why. Dumbledore told you. I was there because they needed Scabbers!"

"What did Scabbers have to do with it?" Molly asked. "Come to think about it, where is Scabbers?"

"You don't know?! Dumbledore didn't tell you?"

"Tell us what?"

"Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew, he is an animagi. He was nearly Harry's parents' secret keeper. He sold them to you-know-who, he kidnapped Sirius. I want to join the Order. I want to fight you-know-who; I want to fight with Sirius!"

"NO!" Molly yelled. "I will not allow it. You are underage."

"I will not allow it, nor will Sirius."

"Dad," the twins exclaimed. "We are of age."

"And I won't allow you to join either, again neither will he."

"But,"

"We have considerably more experience than you two. The decision is final. Bill, Charlie, that decision is up to you," Arthur said hotly. "Shall we enjoy our meal?"