A/N: Hey everyone, a shorter chapter here today, but I wanted to get something out to y'all since it has been a while since I have posted a chapter. Sorry for the delay, but I have been really busy with school and family for last few weeks. I've only got about a week and a half left of school for the semester though, so I will have plenty of time to write during the Christmas break! Hope everyone is doing well, and that my American readers had a good Thanksgiving!

Chp. 4

Raising my eyebrow at the headmaster's statement, I decided I would humor him and see how this played out. I knew almost everyone currently in the order would object to my joining it, regardless of the fact that there were less than a handful who could beat me in a duel. Well, I guess they did not know that, but oh well, that's Albus' problem now.

For the next ten minutes or so I watched the room fill with various people, some of whom I had no idea were in the order at all. This must be a full meeting with every member being called to attend. Once it seemed as if every chair was taken, Albus called everyone to order and the noise level in the room immediately died down.

"Thank you all for coming," the Headmaster said happily. "I trust everyone has been well?" Seeing nods around the room he continued. "Now, I know some of you are likely to object to this proposal, but it is my wish that Harry here join the order."

Immediately there were shouts of outrage from around the room, most notably from Mrs. Weasley, and professors McGonagall and Snape.

Tuning them all out I waited for Albus to once again take control of the room; I knew he would only put up with so much of this before he put his foot down.

"Alright quiet down everyone," he said. "I understand that some of you object to the appointment of a soon to be fifteen year old boy to the order however, need I remind you that apart from myself, Harry has fought Voldemort more times than anyone else within this room." Letting that information wash over the group the Headmaster continued. "Do not think that I intend to order him out on raids, but there is a vital role that he will play in the upcoming conflict, and we will need him before the end. This is why I am officially inducting Harry James Potter into the Order of the Phoenix, so I say, so mote it be."

Finishing his statement, the headmaster waved his wand at me and with a flash a metal pin in the shape of a phoenix appeared upon my robes. Nodding at the headmaster I said, "It is a pleasure to be included Headmaster. I know that there are some who do not wish me to be here, but I just want to say that the knowledge I can gain through this group will hopefully see me better prepared the next time I meet with Voldemort." Shuddering at the name, most of the members smiled back and voiced their welcome to the group. Well, nearly everyone except for Snape.

After my induction the meeting started in earnest; everyone in the room gave a report, or a group report in the case of an assignment with multiple people, about the progress of their specific assignments. There were some who were tasked with watching people suspected of Death Eater activity, those who monitored the goings on in the ministry, those who were buying up valuable potion supplies and other essentials that would be necessary when a war broke out, and those who simply provided aid to those on other missions. None of the assignments seemed to actively be focusing on combat at the moment, however that was sure to change as the war picked up. Snape of course gave, what I assumed, was his usual report about what Voldemort was currently up too. The longest report came from Charlie Weasley and three others, two men and a woman, who I had never seen before. It appeared as if they had been tasked with gaining the support of European Ministries and were not having much success in their endeavor.

The meeting as a whole took a little over two hours, but that was not altogether surprising given the number of people involved and the numerous different tasks that were being undertaken. As people started to depart Albus motioned for me to stay seated, so I settled in, content to wait for our discussion just a bit longer.

While I watched some of the order mingle, and others quietly slip out the door, I saw Sirius making his way towards me from across the room where he had initially been seated. "Hello Sirius," I said when he was close enough. "Bit of a surprise, isn't it?"

Snorting in amusement he replied, "I don't think anyone expected Dumbledore to induct someone so young, regardless of who you are. I do have to agree with his assessment though; you need to know as much as possible so that you are prepared for the war. I believe that it may even be time to start training you in duelling."

Looking for any sign of deception, and finding none, I smiled back at Sirius. However, before I could respond Albus beat me to it. "I quite agree with you Sirius, but wait just a moment for me to ensure we will not be overheard." Watching the last person, aside from the three of us, leave the room, Albus started casting what I recognized as privacy wards around the room. Suddenly realising how serious this must be if the Headmaster was resorting to wards and not just runes, I sat up a bit straighter and shared a quick look with Sirius, who appeared to notice the same thing about the wards.

Taking about five minutes to complete the wards, Albus sat in a chair across from the couch that Sirius and I were occupying and had Kreacher bring us some tea. "Now that we are all comfortable, let us begin," Albus stated while sipping his tea. "Our first order of business is for Sirius to take an oath not to speak of this discussion to anybody outside of this room. And yes Sirius, it is that serious," Albus said with a twinkle in his eye.

Sighing in annoyance but complying anyway Sirius took out his wand and spoke his oath, "I, Sirius Black, swear upon my magic that I will not divulge the information spoken about during this meeting with anyone who was not a part of the meeting itself, so mote it be." With a flash, the oath was accepted and Sirius pocketed his wand. "Now tell us Albus, what is this all about."

"Some of the answers that I am sure you seek are unfortunately not going to be shared tonight. Harry already knows this, although I felt I should warn you as I am sure you will not be satisfied with some of what you are about to be told," Albus started off. "However, there is much that I can answer, so we will start there. First, when I brought Harry here to Grimmauld Place last night, Kreacher unintentionally mentioned something that, if shared with the wrong people, could be quite dangerous to know. Harry is a Lord, and not the made up kind that Lucius pretends to be."

"What exactly does being a Lord mean Headmaster?" I asked.

"I was just getting to that Harry," he responded. "A Lord, a true Lord, is not something that someone can gain with money or influence, it is something that you are born with. Magic herself decides who and when a new Lord will be born, and it has been nearly a thousand years since so many have walked the earth at once. The term Lord is just something that was come up with many years ago, however it essentially denotes someone who has such a deep connection with magic that they are as close to magic incarnate as you can get on this earth. It also means that they tend to be quite a bit more powerful than your average mage, and is in fact where the term warlock was started, as true Lords are the only people who are powerful enough to be classed as a warlock."

Staring wide eyed at the Headmaster both Sirius and I were too shocked to respond. Sirius recovered first and turned towards me saying, "Damn pup, I knew you were special but this is so far out of the realm of anything that I would have expected it's hard to wrap my head around it."

Simply nodding in agreement, I asked Albus, "So how do you know I am a Lord, and what does that mean for me personally?"

"It really is not too hard to tell when a warlock, I prefer the term to Lord, is born," Albus replied. "When a witch or wizard is born there is a slight burst of magic, the strength of which depends on the magical strength of the baby. Warlocks, obviously, release a much more powerful burst of magic upon birth than a normal witch or wizard. Your birth could be felt everywhere in the United Kingdom and in some parts of Ireland and France. Apart from that initial magical outburst, the ease with which magic comes to them is a fairly tell tale sign, especially since their accidental magic tends to start within a week or two of their birth as opposed to a year or so later. As they grow, warlocks are known to visibly project an aura when they feel particularly strong emotions, and some can even learn to display the aura when they choose. Wandless magic is also very easy to learn for a warlock, although a good wand is still ideal for the more complex spells. The ministries around the world also monitor the birth of children of Warlock potential since they do not like to have people with that much power going about unaccounted for."

"So you just happened to pick up on those signs and was then able to determine I am a warlock?" I replied somewhat confused, something was not adding up, however I had a feeling that I knew where this was going.

Smirking at me and wandlessly summoning his teacup from the table he had placed it on while he spoke the Headmaster said, "Being a fellow Warlock does make it easier to read the signs Harry, we tend to have a familiar feel to our magic. Sirius you may want to close your mouth, you're catching flies."

Oh I'm an idiot. I definitely should have guessed that Albus, who was widely considered the most powerful wizard in the world, would also be a warlock. Starting to consider everything the Headmaster had just told us, I zoned out what Sirius was asking Albus while I thought about how this would affect me personally.

First, this unfortunately meant that the ministry was definitely keeping tabs on me, something that I had been suspicious of ever since the Minister had met me at the Leaky Cauldron before third year, after I blew up my aunt. I think it must also mean that the ministry is responsible for my magic feeling caged, and probably the Headmaster's too. Shit, this also means that Voldemort is definitely a warlock since we've got near identical magic, something else that I should have suspected as soon as Albus mentioned some of the telling signs. If I am being completely honest with myself, this does not really change anything except for my knowledge of what it is that I am. I have always known that I was different, even amongst the magical population, however now I have a name for what this difference is. It is also a bit reassuring that there are a few others who are like me, so that I do not have to discover everything by myself, even if one of the others is a psychotic murderer.

Since everyone in the room knew what I was, I started to roll a small ball of fire around my hand, a habit I had picked up for when I was alone and just thinking. I was trying to figure out how many warlocks were alive right now. There were at least three of us, myself, Albus, and V0ldemort. However, Albus had said that this was the first time in about a thousand years since so many have been alive at once, and following that time frame, it puts us at about the time the founders were alive. It would not be too surprising if the founders were all warlocks, kind of obvious really when you think about both the type and amount of magic that would have been needed to build Hogwarts. Knowing that, it makes me think that there is at least one more warlock alive today, however there is no one in England that I can think of who is powerful enough that I would consider them. So unless it is someone that is well hidden, or I simply haven't met, any other potential warlocks are foreign, significantly narrowing my guessing ability on who it may be. Actually, if I didn't know that Albus had killed him years ago, I would have guessed Grindelwald. I could probably ask Albus, but I decided that I wanted this last bit to remain a surprise for now, and honestly as soon as I encountered them I would know anyway.

I finally noticed that Sirius kept shooting me weird looks, or my hand more specifically. I guess he had never seen someone play with fire, pun intended. "My eyes are up here Sirius," I said smirking at him.

He started a bit, not having noticed that I was watching him, but he replied, "It's not everyday you see someone play with fire like that pup. As a matter of fact, I've never seen someone handle a ball of fire like that before, so excuse me for being a little curious."

"Magic, my dear dogfather, it's simply magic," I laughed.

Sirius tried not to laugh but that quick joke got a laugh out of him. Albus too chuckled a bit, but he became serious once again and said, "Another thing you both should know is that Kreacher has recognized Harry as one of his masters. This means that Harry here has somehow become the Heir Black, a role that I believed that young Draco held."

Looking just as surprised as I felt at this news Sirius replied, "I have no idea how that could have happened since I have not been able to make a trip to Gringotts yet to accept the role of Lord."

"It looks like the two of you need to get to Gringotts and get this sorted out as soon as possible Sirius, this is not something that should be left unattended. I will provide you transportation tonight at midnight, after the others have fallen asleep, there is no need for them to know about this outing."

I was just as confused as Sirius, however I was looking forward to the chance to visit my vault and take out some spending money for this upcoming school year. After voicing my agreement with this plan, Albus took down the wards and told us he would be back that evening, and to wait in the library for him.

Standing up and leaving the room, I made my way towards my bedroom where I fully intended to continue the book that I had been reading prior to the start of the meeting. Hopefully I would get a few hours of quiet before dinner so that I could read, but you never knew with the imbeciles who were staying here too.