Chapter 15

Harry awoke suddenly, feeling a hand shaking him gently and a rough voice whispering in his ear.

"Wake up, Harry!" Harry opened his eyes blearily and looked at his godfather questioningly. "An emergency Order meeting's been called, Kingsley didn't go into details but I have a feeling we might be about to find out what made Voldemort so angry yesterday…" Sirius trailed off, striding from the room. Groaning, Harry dragged himself out of bed and padded towards the bathroom. Intrigued though he was about the meeting, he really wasn't a morning person.

A few minutes later, after hurriedly freshening up and throwing on some clothes, Harry walked into the kitchen to see several Order members sitting around the table in tense silence. He slowly sat down in the chair next to Sirius, gazing round the room and wondering what on earth had happened. Kingsley was sitting at the head of the table, he seemed to be the leader whenever Dumbledore wasn't around. Remus and Tonks were here too, hand in hand, Mundungus Fletcher was sitting slouched in one corner of the room, and Mad Eye Moody was a few chairs along from him, his magical eye pointing sideways at him as if keeping watch. They all had grim expressions on their faces.

Kingsley was the first to break the silence. "I'm sure you're wondering why we're here," he began in a slow, gentle voice, looking directly at Harry. "We had word in the early hours of the morning that there had been an attack, almost definitely by Voldemort himself, on a group of Muggles." Harry's eyes widened, connecting this immediately to the vision he'd had last night. There had been screams, torture, and Voldemort's distinctive chilling laugh. Why was Kingsley speaking as if this was directly relevant to Harry though? One glance into Kingsley's sombre face told him there was more.

"Harry…the family of Muggles that were murdered. They were the Dursleys." Kingsley looked uncharacteristically cautious, as if trying not to upset Harry. A quick sweep of the room told Harry that everyone else, barring Sirius, seemed to expect him to burst into tears or something. He was shocked, yes, but he couldn't bring himself to feel particularly upset about the deaths of the family that had abused and neglected him for all those years. Clearly, the Order hadn't been told the details of Harry's upbringing.

"You can stop looking at me as if I'm going to break down, it's not going to happen," Harry said tersely. "I won't say I'm happy that they're dead, because I'm not that twisted, but I'm certainly not upset about it." Harry scowled, and noticed the looks of shock on the faces of the Order members.

"But Harry…you've lived with them since you were a baby, they raised you!" Remus said quietly to him, a look of confusion on his face. Harry was slightly surprised that Sirius had never mentioned anything to him about the Dursleys, but he was happy that Sirius had kept it private for him. It seemed the truth was going to come out now, anyway.

"They may have let me stay in their house, but that's about as far as their so called kindness went. Until I was eleven, and they realised I might be magical, I had to live in the cupboard under the stairs. If I did something wrong, which happened fairly often because of my accidental magic, they would lock me in there and not let me eat for days…" Harry spoke bitterly, and he relished the looks of revulsion and horror on the faces of the Order members. Remus had put his head in his hands, and Kingsley's eyes were wide. Moody was muttering something under his breath that Harry couldn't quite hear but he gathered that it was fairly aggressive.

"Harry…" Remus said weakly, "I wish I'd known. I knew your father so well, and yet I left his son to be raised by an abusive family instead of seeking you out to raise you myself. I was terrified that my…problem…would be dangerous for you, but even that would have been a better environment to have been raised in." He looked distraught, and Harry tried his best to comfort him.

"Hey, it's fine. I got through it. There's no point dwelling on the past when there's nothing we can do to change it. I don't blame you at all," Harry said softly.

"Yeah, let's not forget that the people to blame for this situation are the Dursleys. They're the ones who let their fear of magic turn them into abusers." Sirius' voice was dark, and Harry wouldn't have been surprised to learn that Sirius had a twisted pleasure in finding out that Harry's tormenters were dead. Remus looked slightly placated, but still remorseful.

"Let's forget about my childhood for now," Harry said quickly, anxious to continue the meeting, "how did Voldemort find the Dursleys in the first place?"

"We think that Voldemort has been having his Death Eaters scout the area around Little Whinging ever since you've been there, just in case an opportunity arose, although they've never been able to get close due to the strong enchantments put on the house by Dumbledore. However, since you were expelled and started living at Grimmauld Place, you no longer call Number 4 Privet Drive home, so the protections broke. We're just speculating at the moment, but we assume that a Death Eater found this out by chance, summoned Voldemort immediately and they proceeded to torture the Dursleys to attempt to find your whereabouts."

Harry gazed at Kingsley, his mouth slightly open. This explained a lot, and he was suddenly filled with a sense of dread. Voldemort now knew that he wasn't at Privet Drive, and would be searching for him. No wonder his scar had been prickling on and off since the visions of yesterday, Voldemort was probably fuming at the knowledge that Harry wasn't where he was supposed to be. He could imagine him now, pacing up and down, ordering his followers to search high and low for the Boy Who Lived. Harry felt a sense of grim satisfaction that he'd at least outsmarted the Dark Lord.

As if on cue, Harry's scar gave a particularly violent twinge and he winced. Sirius looked concerned, but Harry waved it off. He was going to have to get used to this, because he was pretty sure Voldemort was never going to find him here. Not unless a member of the Order betrayed them…but that wasn't going to happen, he was sure. His mind flicked subconsciously to Snape, and he narrowed his eyes. Could he trust that his bat-like professor was on the side of the Light?

"How can we be sure that no one in the Order will betray my whereabouts to Voldemort?" Harry asked suspiciously. "I don't trust Snape-"

"Dumbledore trusts him," Remus started, but Harry scowled at him.

"Maybe Dumbledore is wrong."

"Or maybe he trusts Snape because he has solid proof that he doesn't feel the need to share with everyone else," Remus said with a wry smile on his face. "Dumbledore wouldn't let Snape into the Order unless he was one hundred percent sure that he could trust him."

Everyone else in the room seemed to agree with this statement, so Harry decided to let it go for now. That didn't mean he had to trust Snape himself though… He zoned out while the meeting continued, his mind wandering absently over the death of the Dursleys. It was strange, knowing that they were dead, he felt almost empty as he thought about it. He remembered what Kingsley had mentioned about them being tortured for Harry's whereabouts, and he felt an almost grim sense of satisfaction. Wrong though it probably was, he was glad that they had suffered after all that they'd put him through during his childhood.

Before he knew it, the Order members were saying their goodbyes and pushing their chairs back. Harry sat up straight, blinking and trying to look as if he'd been paying attention the whole time. Sirius gave him a suspicious look, but smirked at him when Harry half-heartedly shrugged in response. Harry dimly registered the voices of his fellow Order members moving towards the front door, and he shook himself mentally, trying to snap back into reality. Sighing, Harry rubbed his eyes and stretched, wanting nothing more than to talk to his two best friends. It had been way too long since they'd spoken, and he had loads to discuss with them now.

Standing up slowly, Harry began making his way towards the stairs when he was interceded by Sirius' hand on his arm.

"Harry…" Sirius's voice was rough, almost a whisper. He looked searchingly into Harry's eyes and gave a dark grin, obviously pleased with what he saw. "You're glad, aren't you," he said quietly, a glint in his eye, "that Voldemort tortured them before he killed their worthless selves."

Harry looked at Sirius for a moment, slightly disconcerted, but he couldn't deny the truth. "Yes…" he whispered softly, echoing Sirius' dark smile on his own face.

Sirius smirked and put his arms around Harry's waist, pulling him closer. Their lips met, passionate, hungry for each other. Harry gripped Sirius as if he was a lifeline, almost growling with want as he tasted Sirius' unique taste on his tongue. He couldn't get any closer to the older man but it still wasn't enough, Harry impatiently broke away and pulled Sirius' shirt roughly off of him, repeating the action on himself before throwing himself on his godfather again. Sirius moaned at Harry's obvious desire, and Harry revelled in the feeling of their bare chests pressed together.

Harry dimly registered that Sirius was walking him backwards, feeling a cold wall pressing against his back and the warmth of his godfather pressing pleasantly against his front. Sirius' mouth moved from Harry's lips to his neck, biting and sucking the soft flesh and making Harry squirm in pleasure. He gasped for breath, his heart beating twice its normal pace, lost in the feeling of the older man's mouth on him. It was going to leave a mark, but he found that he really didn't care. If anything, the thought of Sirius marking him and claiming him turned him on even more. Running a hand through his godfather's soft hair, Harry's eyes flickered shut and he lost himself in the moment, feeling Sirius' lips return to his own and responding eagerly, darting his tongue into Sirius' mouth and tasting him.

They carried on this way for some time, until Sirius' stomach growled and Harry laughed at him. "Hungry?"

"I guess so," Sirius said sheepishly. "I should make some breakfast, seeing as the Order didn't give us time to have any. You want anything?"

"I'll have something in a bit, I want to talk to Ron and Hermione," Harry said, suddenly remembering what he had been heading upstairs for before he'd been distracted by Sirius. His godfather smiled understandingly at him and turned away to see what was in the fridge. Harry grabbed his shirt and ran up the stairs, hastily throwing it back on before finding his mirror and calling Ron's name.

Impatiently, Harry tapped his foot, sitting on his bed and leaning against the wall. After a minute or two, Ron's face appeared in the mirror with a mildly annoyed expression.

"Harry! Where've you been, mate, you haven't spoken to us in ages!" Ron spoke accusingly, then turned and beckoned Hermione over. "Oi, 'Mione, guess who's finally decided to show his face!"

A moment later Hermione appeared next to Ron, her look of annoyance mostly outweighed by her obvious relief that Harry was ok.

"Thank goodness you're okay Harry, we were starting to worry. Well, I was worrying, and Ron was plotting your speedy demise."

Harry smiled at his friends, wondering why he'd left it so long before talking to them. He supposed he'd had plenty to get distracted by, such as his relationship with Sirius, joining the Order, lessons with Sirius and Remus, plus trying to learn how to become an Animagus. Somewhere in all of that he'd left his friends behind, and now he was determined to catch up with them properly.

"I'm really sorry guys, it's been so busy round here. In fact, I had some pretty serious news this morning…" He proceeded to tell them about the death of the Dursleys, and by the end of his explanation Hermione looked horrified, and Ron mildly vindictive.

"Harry, that's terrible! I know you didn't get along with them, but-"

"Terrible? Of course it's not terrible, they pretty much abused Harry his whole life. If anything it's a good thing they're dead…" Ron interrupted Hermione angrily, and she looked scandalised at his opinion.

"How dare you say that, Ron? They're still human beings, even if they were terrible people."

"So you're saying you wouldn't be happy if someone like Bellatrix Lestrange, or You Know Who died?" Ron asked her incredulously.

"You Know Who doesn't count, he's barely human anymore. But I can't say I wouldn't be at least a little bit pleased to know that Bellatrix was dead…" Hermione trailed off, her face becoming slightly bitterer.

"That's more like it, Hermione," Harry said with a dark look on his face again. "Anyway, the important point isn't that they're dead. It's the fact that Voldemort now knows I'm not at Privet Drive, and he'll be searching for me."

"Oh my!" Hermione exclaimed anxiously, "but what if he finds you?"

"He won't," Harry said firmly. "Grimmauld Place is impenetrable. The only thing I'm worried about is Snape, I don't completely trust him not to betray me to Voldemort." Harry ignored the fact that both of his friends flinched at the name. "But I suppose Dumbledore must have a reason for trusting him. I may disagree with how controlling and downright annoying the old man can be, but even he wouldn't let someone like Snape into the Order unless he was completely sure he could trust him." Much as it pained Harry to say this, he thought it was probably true.

"You're right, Harry," Hermione nodded, "Dumbledore must have seen some sort of proof before he decided to trust that Snape was on our side."

They discussed Snape and his loyalty for a little while, Harry also mentioning that he was now an official member of the Order of the Phoenix. Ron looked jealous and Hermione awed, but Harry assured them that he wasn't going to be doing anything interesting other than sitting in meetings. They were still enthused by the news, and also downhearted when Harry told them that he had signed a magical document that would stop him from telling them anything he heard in meetings.

"I don't suppose you heard anything about Hagrid, did you?" Hermione asked Harry anxiously. "He still isn't back yet and we're really getting worried now."

"Oh yeah, I've been meaning to tell you about that! Now that I'm in the Order I'm hoping I'll be able to get some more information from Sirius, but so far he's told me that Hagrid is on an important mission for the Order and he should've been back by now."

"What?" Ron and Hermione said together, looking horrified.

"Apparently they're not sure what's happened to him, although Sirius said that they weren't worried about him just yet. He was with Madame Maxime, but they got separated on the journey home and she arrived back without him. I must remember to ask Sirius what it was that Hagrid was doing…" Harry tailed off, making a mental note to ask him about that later. Maybe it would give them an idea as to what could've happened to hold Hagrid up for so long.

"I just hope he's okay," Hermione said in a small voice.

"Me too," Harry agreed emphatically. "So what's been happening at Hogwarts since we last spoke?"

He was filled in on a lot of goings on from both Ron and Hermione, in between brief arguments between the two of them. Their Defence lessons were still disappointingly without magic, and Umbridge was becoming unbearable. Hermione spoke about how worried she was that they weren't learning any defensive magic at all, and not only would they fail their exams but they wouldn't be able to defend themselves against Voldemort or his followers outside of school if they didn't learn any magic all year. Harry suggested trying to learn magic outside of lessons, and they discussed this topic enthusiastically although they couldn't come up with a fool proof way of doing it.

"What about Dumbledore, is he still mysteriously disappearing all the time?" Harry asked interestedly.

"It's funny you should bring him up, actually," Ron said thoughtfully, "he turned up to breakfast this morning after being gone for at least a week this time, and his hand was all…well…kind of dead," Ron said with a grimace on his face.

"Yes, it was withered and black looking, as if he'd touched some horrible dark curse," Hermione added, and Harry frowned, now even more interested about what Dumbledore could possibly be doing outside of Hogwarts.

"That's strange…I wonder what he's up to. Sirius seems to think that it doesn't have anything to do with the Order."

Their headmaster's odd behaviour turned out to be a fascinating subject to discuss, and they speculated on it for quite a while before Ron suddenly stared at Harry and widened his eyes.

"Hang on a minute, mate, what's that?" His face got closer to the mirror as if he was leaning in.

"What?" Harry said, confused.

"On your neck. It looks like a bruise…"

Harry immediately went bright red, and turned away, embarrassed. He knew exactly what that mark was, and he really didn't want to talk about it. When they'd been caught up in the moment, Harry had thought it was a great idea for Sirius to give him a love bite but now he was seriously regretting it.

"It's nothing, really," he said quickly, but he wasn't fooling anybody.

"It's not nothing! It looks like…" Ron's eyebrows shot up and he looked both impressed and surprised at the same time, "it looks like a hickey! It is, isn't it?" he said, laughing at Harry's obvious discomfort.

"No, it isn't," Harry said adamantly, but there was no convincing Ron. He turned desperately to Hermione but she looked like she agreed with Ron, although she was looking more displeased than amused by it.

"Honestly, Harry, who did that to you? Got a bit hungry, did they?" She said in a somewhat amused but still cool voice.

"I…look, I really don't want to talk about it," Harry said anxiously. This really wasn't how he'd imagined telling his best friends about his relationship.

"Come off it, mate, there's no point hiding it now. We know you're with someone, and it must be someone in the Order because they're the only people that can get into Grimmauld place! I know! It's Tonks, isn't it?" Ron asked, leering at Harry.

"No, it isn't Tonks," Harry said shortly. "She's in a relationship with Remus."

"Really?" Hermione asked excitedly, "that's so sweet!" Ron gave her a look, and carried on grilling Harry.

"But there aren't any other girls in the Order, are there?" He asked confusedly. "Unless you count McGonagall," he said, cackling with laughter. Harry rolled his eyes, annoyed at Ron's attitude.

"There's also your mother," he said snidely, chuckling to himself as Ron sobered up and glared at him.

"Oi, uncalled for," he said moodily, and gave up on joking around. "Look, if it's not Tonks then it must be a guy, right?" Ron looked uncertain at this, but even he had worked out that it was the only available option left. Harry's blush confirmed it for him, and his eyes widened. "Blimey mate, I didn't realise you were…I mean, I'm fine with it," he said hurriedly, seeing Hermione raise her eyebrows at him. "It's just unexpected, that's all."

"It was unexpected to me too, trust me," Harry said begrudgingly.

"Come on, you have to tell us now," Ron said eagerly. "Who is it?"

"Fine, fine," Harry conceded, feeling his heart race and heat rush to his face, "but promise me you'll try to be understanding."

"Of course we will," Hermione said at once, smiling encouragingly at him.

"Alright. Well," Harry said nervously, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. With his eyes still closed, he blurted it out before he could lose his nerve. "It's Sirius."

Hearing silence at the other end, he tentatively opened his eyes and saw his friends staring back at him, dumbstruck.

"What?"

"But he's your godfather-"

"He's so much older than you-"

"Are you crazy, Harry?"

Their reactions were just as Harry expected them to be, and he sighed. "Look, I don't even know how it happened. We just started, you know, developing feelings for each other." He felt himself blush again, and bit his lip. He was really bad at this kind of conversation. "Look, I don't really want to talk about it. The point is, we really like each other and if the both of us can get past how complicated this relationship is, then I hope that my best friends can accept it too."

They both looked sceptical, but Hermione was the first to speak up. "Oh Harry, nothing is ever simple for you, is it?" She smiled tentatively at him, and Harry grinned back, letting out huge sigh.

"Nope, I'm not sure anything will ever be easy for me," he agreed readily. "I'm just glad that something great, something really incredible came out of it this time." He smile softly, thinking of Sirius, and his friends glanced at each other. They could really see just how important Sirius was to Harry, and they weren't going to argue with that.

"Look, we have to go, Harry, but it's been good to catch up," Hermione said softly. "Good luck with Sirius. I know it must be really hectic for you at the moment, but please remember to ask about Hagrid. We miss him."

Harry smiled at her warmly and assured her that he would find out as soon as possible. They went their separate ways soon after that, and Harry laid back on his bed, looking at the ceiling and pondering what they'd discussed. He felt strangely relieved now that Ron and Hermione knew about his relationship with Sirius, and accepted it so willingly. His mind wandered to what they'd told him about Dumbledore, and his withered hand. What did that mean? Was Dumbledore messing with some kind of dark magic on his frequent trips away from the castle? Was this something to do with Voldemort?

As he thought about the Dark Lord his scar started prickling again, and he screwed up his eyes, wishing it would stop doing that. The pain got steadily worse, and he got flashes of red in front of his eyes, a feeling of intense anger bubbling in his mind which had nothing to do with the contented and thoughtful mood he'd been in a moment ago. Feeling the anger building up, he stood up and began pacing back and forth in his room, suddenly feeling the urge to smash and break things. He gave in to his temptation and pulled out his wand, pointing it at all the faded old furniture in his room and blasting it, smashing everything to smithereens and shouting out loud in frustration.

The rage was gone as quickly as it had appeared, and he collapsed weakly onto his bed. Footsteps soon came charging up the stairs and Sirius barged into his room surveying the damage with a wild expression.

"What the hell happened?" he said, confused.

"I…I don't know what's happening to me," Harry said worriedly, putting his head in his hands. "One minute I'm fine, and the next I'm full of unexplained anger. I know it's because of Voldemort, but I just wish I knew why." He watched absent-mindedly as Sirius waved his wand and fixed everything in the room, then climbed onto the bed next to Harry and lay down, putting an arm around him and pulling him close.

"I don't know why this is happening to you, Harry, but I know that it's not your fault, so don't blame yourself. It'll all work itself out in the end," Sirius comforted him softly, and Harry calmed down, enjoying the moment with Sirius. They looked up at the ceiling and watched the stars twinkling in the artificial sky that they'd created together on their bedroom ceiling. Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, shone down brightly and counteracted the irritating pain that continued to build in Harry's scar. It reminded him of how lucky he was to have the man next to him, and as he focused on that feeling, the prickling sensation faded away.

I really hope you enjoyed that chapter, please leave me a review to let me know what you thought! :) x