Hey! I know you guys are pissed off at me but here be out before cursing me. I haven't told anyone that I am writing fanfictions, not even to my family. And I would like to keep it that way. So, its a bit hard to write when your Mom is hovering around you to see whether you are studying or not. Anyway this chapter is longer than what I have ever written. Most of it is from Harry Potter but I have edited it a little bit. Also do not forget to review and follow this story. It keeps me motivated.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. All of it is the amazing work of J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. I only own the plot.
Three helpings of rhubarb crumble and custard later, Percy was chatting with Ginny, who was Ron's sister and who reminded him a bit of Thalia, though without the occasional 'I will kill you!'s and the powers and the arrows (He had been on the receiving end of that one, it still hurt every time he touched it). She knew that Percy was the grandson of the magical version of Hitler. Only the members of the Order and their kids knew about Percy's heritage (Well, not the godly one, only the mortal side. Or maybe the wizard side. Wow. His life just got so much weirder). Mr. Weasley was leaning in his chair, relaxed. He had a fascination with mortals and asked a lot about their technology.
"Nearly time for bed, I think," Mrs. Weasley said, yawning.
"Not just yet, Molly," Sirius said, pushing away his empty plate and turned to look at Harry. Percy was a little intimidated by him. Even though Ginny had told him that Sirius was innocent, he sometimes looked like a madman. But he had respect for him. After being wrongly accused of killing his friends, he still managed to stay sane. If that happened to him, he definitely would have gone on a rampage.
"You know, I thought the first thing you would do when you got here would be start asking questions about Voldemort."
The atmosphere in the room changed rapidly. Where seconds before it had been sleepily relaxed, it was now alert, even tense. A frisson had gone around the table at the mention of Voldemort's name. Percy suddenly felt the power in that one name. Lupin, who had been about to take a sip of wine, lowered his goblet slowly, looking wary.
"I did!" said Harry indignantly. "I asked Ron and Hermione but they said we're not allowed in the Order, so —"
"And they're quite right," said Mrs. Weasley. "You're too young." She was sitting bolt upright in her chair, her fists clenched upon its arms, every trace of drowsiness gone.
"Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?" asked Sirius, "Harry's been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. He's got the right to know what's been happen —"
"Hang on!" interrupted George loudly.
"How come Harry gets his questions answered?" said Fred angrily.
"We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking thing!" said George.
"'You're too young, you're not in the Order,'"said Fred, in a high pitched voice that sounded exactly like his mother's. Percy smirked at that. "Harry's not even of age!"
"It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing," said Sirius calmly. "That's your parents' decision. Harry, on the other hand —"
"It's not down to you to decide what's good for Harry!" said Mrs. Weasley sharply. Her normally kindly face looked dangerous. "You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?"
"Which bit?" Sirius asked politely, but with an air as though readying himself for a fight.
"The bit about not telling Harry more than he needs to know," said Mrs. Weasley, placing a heavy emphasis on the last three words.
Ron, Hermione, Percy, Fred, and George's heads turned from Sirius to Mrs. Weasley as though following a tennis match. Ginny was kneeling amid a pile of abandoned butterbeer corks, watching the conversation with her mouth slightly open. Lupin's eyes were fixed on Sirius.
"I don't intend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly," said Sirius. "But as he was the one who saw Voldemort come back" (again, there was a collective shudder around the table at the name), "he has more right than most to —"
"He's not a member of the Order of the Phoenix!" said Mrs. Weasley. "He's only fifteen and —"
"— and he's dealt with as much as most in the Order," said Sirius, "and more than some —"
"No one's denying what he's done!" said Mrs. Weasley, her voice rising, her fists trembling on the arms of her chair. "But he's still —"
"He's not a child!" said Sirius impatiently.
"He's not an adult either!" said Mrs. Weasley, the color rising in her cheeks. "He's not James, Sirius!"
"I'm perfectly clear who he is, thanks, Molly," said Sirius coldly.
"I'm not sure you are!" said Mrs. Weasley. "Sometimes, the way you talk about him, it's as though you think you've got your best friend back!"
"What's wrong with that?" said Harry.
"What's wrong, Harry, is that you are not your father, however much you might look like him!" said Mrs. Weasley, her eyes still boring into Sirius. "You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!"
"Meaning I'm an irresponsible godfather?" demanded Sirius, his voice rising.
"Meaning you've been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and —"
"We'll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this, if you please!" said Sirius loudly.
"Arthur!" said Mrs. Weasley, rounding on her husband. "Arthur, back me up!"
Mr. Weasley did not speak at once. He took off his glasses and cleaned them slowly on his robes, not looking at his wife. Only when he had replaced them carefully on his nose did he say, "Dumbledore knows the position has changed, Molly. He accepts that Harry will have to be filled in to a certain extent now that he is staying at headquarters —"
"Yes, but there's a difference between that and inviting him to ask whatever he likes!"
"Personally," said Lupin quietly, looking away from Sirius at last, as Mrs. Weasley turned quickly to him, hopeful that finally she was about to get an ally, "I think it better that Harry gets the facts — not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture — from us, rather than a garbled version from . . . others."
"Well," said Mrs. Weasley, breathing deeply and looking around the table for support that did not come, "well . . . I can see I'm going to be overruled. I'll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much, and speaking as someone who has got Harry's best interests at heart —"
"He's not your son," said Sirius quietly.
"He's as good as," said Mrs. Weasley fiercely.
"Who else has he got?"
"He's got me!"
"Yes," said Mrs. Weasley, her lip curling. "The thing is, it's been rather difficult for you to look after him while you've been locked up in Azkaban, hasn't it?"
Sirius started to rise from his chair.
"Molly, you're not the only person at this table who cares about Harry," said Lupin sharply. "Sirius, sit down."
Mrs. Weasley's lower lip was trembling. Sirius sank slowly back into his chair, his face white.
"I think Harry ought to be allowed a say in this," Lupin continued.
"He's old enough to decide for himself."
"I want to know what's been going on," Harry said at once.
He did not look at Mrs. Weasley. He had been touched by what she had said about his being as good as a son, but he was also impatient at her mollycoddling. Sirius was right, he was not a child.
"Very well," said Mrs. Weasley, her voice cracking. "Ginny — Ron — Hermione — Fred — George — Percy - I want you out of this kitchen, now." There was instant uproar.
"We're of age!" Fred and George bellowed together.
"If Harry's allowed, why can't I?" shouted Ron.
"I want to know what the heck is going on! "Percy yelled. He was done being in the dark.
"Mum, I want to!" wailed Ginny.
"NO!" shouted Mrs. Weasley, standing up. "I absolutely forbid —"
"Molly, you can't stop Fred and George," said Mr. Weasley wearily. "They are of age —"
"They're still at school —"
"But they're legally adults now," said Mr. Weasley in the same tired voice. "Percy, how old are you?"
"Seventeen," He replied instantly.
"I'm sorry Molly, dear, but you can't stop him either." Mr. Weasley said.
Mrs. Weasley was now scarlet in the face.
"I — oh, all right then, Fred and George can stay, but Ron —"
"Harry'll tell me and Hermione everything you say anyway!" said Ron hotly. "Won't — won't you?" he added uncertainly, meeting Harry's eyes.
For a second, it looked like Harry would say no, but then he spoke.
"'Course I will," Harry said. Ron and Hermione beamed.
"Fine!" shouted Mrs. Weasley. "Fine! Ginny — BED!"
Ginny did not go quietly. They could hear her raging and storming at her mother all the way up the stairs, and when she reached the hall Mrs. Black's earsplitting shrieks were added to the din. Lupin hurried off to the portrait to restore calm. It was only after he had returned, closing the kitchen door behind him and taking his seat at the table again, that Sirius spoke.
"Okay, Harry . . . what do you want to know?"
Harry took a deep breath and asked the question that had been obsessing him for a month.
"Where's Voldemort? What's he doing? I've been trying to watch the Muggle news," he said, ignoring the renewed shudders and winces at the name, "and there hasn't been anything that looks like him yet, no funny deaths or anything —"
"That's because there haven't been any suspicious deaths yet," said Sirius, "not as far as we know, anyway .And we know quite a lot."
"More than he thinks we do anyway," said Lupin.
"How come he's stopped killing people?" Harry asked. He knew that Voldemort had murdered more than once in the last year alone.
"Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself at the moment," said Sirius. "It would be dangerous for him. His comeback didn't come off quite the way he wanted it to, you see. He messed it up."
"Or rather, you messed it up for him," said Lupin with a satisfied smile.
"How?" Harry asked perplexedly.
"You weren't supposed to survive!" said Sirius. "Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But you survived to bear witness."
"And the very last person he wanted alerted to his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore," said Lupin. "And you made sure Dumbledore knew at once."
"How has that helped?" Harry asked.
"Are you kidding?" said Bill incredulously. "Dumbledore was the only one You-Know-Who was ever scared of!"
"Thanks to you, Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix about an hour after Voldemort returned," said Sirius.
"So what's the Order been doing?" said Harry, looking around at them all.
"Working as hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans," said Sirius.
"How d'you know what his plans are?" Harry asked quickly.
"Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea," said Lupin, "and Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate."
"So what does Dumbledore reckon he's planning?"
"Build an army," Percy said, thinking of Kronos and Gaea." He wants supporters. The more he gets the more powerful he becomes. And the easier it becomes for him to control the others who fight against him." Everyone looked at him in shock.
"Yes," said Sirius. "In the old days he had huge numbers at his command; witches and wizards he'd bullied or bewitched into following him, his faithful Death Eaters, a great variety of Dark creatures. You heard him planning to recruit the giants; well, they'll be just one group he's after. He's certainly not going to try and take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters."
"Wait a minute. Giants?" Percy asked. Lupin nodded. "We are doomed," Percy mumbled.
"So you're trying to stop him getting more followers?" Harry continued with his questioning.
"We're doing our best," said Lupin.
"How?"
"Well, the main thing is to try and convince as many people as possible that You-Know-Who really has returned, to put them on their guard," said Bill. "It's proving tricky, though."
"Why?"
"Because of the Ministry's attitude," said Tonks. "You saw Cornelius Fudge after You-Know-Who came back, Harry. Well, he hasn't shifted his position at all. He's absolutely refusing to believe it's happened."
"But why?" said Harry desperately. "Why's he being so stupid? If Dumbledore —"
"Ah, well, you've put your finger on the problem," said Mr. Weasley with a wry smile. "Dumbledore."
"Fudge is frightened of him, you see," said Tonks sadly. "Frightened of Dumbledore?" said Harry incredulously.
"Frightened of what he's up to," said Mr. Weasley. "You see; Fudge thinks Dumbledore's plotting to overthrow him. He thinks Dumbledore wants to be Minister of Magic."
"But Dumbledore doesn't want —"
"Of course he doesn't," said Mr. Weasley. "He's never wanted the Minister's job, even though a lot of people wanted him to take it when Millicent Bagnold retired. Fudge came to power instead, but he's never quite forgotten how much popular support Dumbledore had, even though Dumbledore never applied for the job."
"Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore's much cleverer than he is, a much more powerful wizard, and in the early days of his Ministry he was forever asking Dumbledore for help and advice," said Lupin. "But it seems that he's become fond of power now, and much more confident. He loves being Minister of Magic, and he's managed to convince himself that he's the clever one and Dumbledore's simply stirring up trouble for the sake of it."
"How can he think that?" said Harry angrily. "How can he think Dumbledore would just make it all up — that I'd make it all up?"
"Because accepting that Voldemort's back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn't had to cope with for nearly fourteen years," said Sirius bitterly. "Fudge just can't bring himself to face it. It's so much more comfortable to convince himself Dumbledore's lying to destabilize him."
"You see the problem," said Lupin. "While the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort, it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place. What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumor mongering, so most of the Wizarding community are completely unaware anything's happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperius Curse."
"But you're telling people, aren't you?" said Harry, looking around at Mr. Weasley, Sirius, Bill, Mundungus, Lupin, and Tonks. "You're letting people know he's back?" They all smiled humorlessly.
"Well, as everyone thinks I'm a mad mass murderer and the Ministry's put a ten-thousand-Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?" said Sirius restlessly.
"And I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community," said Lupin. "It's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf."
"Sorry, but werewolf?" Percy asked Lupin. "You're telling me you're a werewolf?" Lupin again nodded in confirmation. 'Oh my gods' Percy thought 'I just signed my death warrant. What have I gotten myself into?'
"Tonks and Arthur would lose their jobs at the Ministry if they started shooting their mouths off," said Sirius, "and it's very important for us to have spies inside the Ministry, because you can bet Voldemort will have them."
"We've managed to convince a couple of people, though," said Mr. Weasley. "Tonks here, for one — she's too young to have been in the Order of the Phoenix last time, and having Aurors on our side is a huge advantage — Kingsley Shacklebolt's been a real asset too. He's in charge of the hunt for Sirius, so he's been feeding the Ministry information that Sirius is in Tibet."
"But if none of you're putting the news out that Voldemort's back —" Harry began.
"Who said none of us was putting the news out?" said Sirius. "Why d'you think Dumbledore's in such trouble?" "What d'you mean?" Harry asked.
"They're trying to discredit him," said Lupin. "Didn't you see the Daily Prophet last week? They reported that he'd been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards because he's getting old and losing his grip, but it's not true, he was voted out by Ministry wizards after he made a speech announcing Voldemort's return. They've demoted him from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot — that's the Wizard High Court — and they're talking about taking away his Order of Merlin, First Class, too."
"But Dumbledore says he doesn't care what they do as long as they don't take him off the Chocolate Frog cards," said Bill, grinning.
"It's no laughing matter," said Mr. Weasley shortly. "If he carries on defying the Ministry like this, he could end up in Azkaban and the last thing we want is Dumbledore locked up. While You-Know-Who knows Dumbledore's out there and wise to what he's up to, he's going to go cautiously for a while. If Dumbledore's out of the way — well, You-Know-Who will have a clear field."
"But if Voldemort's trying to recruit more Death Eaters, it's bound to get out that he's come back, isn't it?" asked Harry desperately.
"Voldemort doesn't march up to people's houses and bang on their front doors, Harry," said Sirius. "He tricks, jinxes, and blackmails them. He's well-practiced at operating in secrecy. In any case, gathering followers is only one thing he's interested in, he's got other plans too, plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed, and he's concentrating on them at the moment."
"What's he after apart from followers?" Harry asked swiftly.
He thought he saw Sirius and Lupin exchange the most fleeting of looks before Sirius said, "Stuff he can only get by stealth."
When Harry continued to look puzzled, Percy said," A weapon. Or some knowledge that would help him win. Something he didn't have last time." Once again they all looked at him, shocked," What? It's easy to figure out his plans if you imagine yourself to be a power-hungry savage!" Percy argued, 'And if you've fought beings like them before.' Percy thought.
"Like what kind of weapon?" said Harry. "Something worse than the Avada Kedavra — ?"
"That's enough."
Mrs. Weasley spoke from the shadows beside the door. No one had not noticed her return from taking Ginny upstairs. Her arms were crossed and she looked furious.
"I want you in bed, now. All of you," she added, looking around at Fred, George, Ron, Hermione and Percy.
"You can't boss us —" Fred began.
"Watch me," snarled Mrs. Weasley. She was trembling slightly as she looked at Sirius. "You've given them plenty of information. Any more and you might just as well induct him into the Order straightaway."
"Why not?" said Harry quickly. "I'll join, I want to join, I want to fight —"
"No."
It was not Mrs. Weasley who spoke this time, but Lupin.
"The Order is comprised only of overage wizards," he said. "Wizards who have left school," he added, as Fred, George and Percy opened their mouths. "There are dangers involved of which you can have no idea, any of you . . . I think Molly's right, Sirius. We've said enough."
Sirius half-shrugged but did not argue. Mrs. Weasley beckoned imperiously to her sons, Percy and Hermione. One by one they stood up and Harry, recognizing defeat, followed suit.
So that's it. Don't forget to like, follow, and review! Also if the number of reviews reach above 55, I will most definitely be uploading another chapter by this week. :D :)
