A/N

Hello, hello! I'm sorry about the delay in updating, but I had an assignment to hand in and…well, let's just say that I don't think I'm going to get a spectacular mark on that one. Oh well. There are always others, I suppose.

Anyway, once again, thanks for everyone who reviewed! I really appreciate your thoughts and comments on this, so…THANK YOU!

And now, about this scene; it's all about the Order of the Phoenix – and of course, about Sirius. Again, this takes place before the beginning of The Order of the Phoenix.

That's about it from me here.

On to Chapter ten!

Chapter Ten: The Order of the Phoenix Meets Once More

They were all seated in the kitchen, which, according to Remus and Sirius, was the one room that was decent enough for human interaction. Of course, Dumbledore had insisted on taking a look around the rest of the large rooms on the ground floor, and had soon seen a large, very large room that would be perfect – when properly cleaned out, of course – for future meetings.

"Alrigh' enough of this," came a raspy voice, and everyone turned to look at the grizzly-haired old man. "Dumbledore, don't you think it's about time we started this meeting?"

Dumbledore smiled.

"You're quite right, Alastor," he said, nodding. "But I would like to wait until-"

"-Until what? In case you haven't noticed, some of us are employed in institutions where people tend to get suspicious when we're not around. Especially in times like these, when we have murderers to catch."

"Exactly," agreed a powerfully built Auror, whom both Mad-Eye and Tonks had said was loyal and willing to fight for the Order and for Dumbledore. "I mean no offence, of course, Dumbledore," he said, nodding at the elderly wizard, "but my team and I could be out there looking for any trace of Black at this very moment…"

Silence fell upon all those gathered in the room.

"And why," said Bill Weasley, slowly, "would you be doing that, Kingsley?" The black Auror smiled grimly.

"He's rumored as being one of the Dark Lord's most faithful – not to mention powerful – allies," he said, "Imagine how it would affect him if we were to capture him."

Mad-Eye Moody shook his head.

"No," he said, slowly. "We wouldn't be able to catch him. The bastard's probably already joined his dear, beloved master." A disgusted expression found itself on his face. "I don't know why Fudge refuses to appoint me team leader – no offence, Kingsley – but I would dearly love to hunt the wretched traitor down…"

Lupin was fidgeting in his seat, but no one apart from Arthur, Molly and Bill Weasley, Dumbledore and Tonks saw this.

"No offence taken, Mad-Eye," said Kingsley Shacklebot, pleasantly, "but rest assured that my team and I will not rest until we have Sirius Black in our hands."

"I don't think-"

"-Remus," interrupted Dumbledore, pleasantly, "have you heard anything from Minerva? I fear that she is late, very late…"

The brown haired man took only a moment to compose himself.

"She should be arriving with Severus, Albus. I think-" The door to the kitchen opened at that moment, cutting him off.

Severus Snape strode into the room, only pausing to glance lazily around the room, dark eyes taking in the faces of all those seated at the table, before sneering at Arthur Weasley, and taking the free seat next to him.

"Severus, didn't Minerva come with you?" Snape shook his head at the Headmaster.

"There was some…strange activity in the Forbidden Forest, or so Rolanda said. Minerva went to see what it was about, seeing how Hagrid is currently…away."

A slightly troubled look crossed the elderly Headmaster's face.

"Hmm…"

"You should have gone with her, boy!" growled Mad-Eye Moody. "The Forbidden Forest is no place for a woman to-"

"-I assure you, Alastor, that I have every faith in Minerva's magical skill and abilities. She can take care of herself," interrupted Snape, curtly.

"Why you-"

Dumbledore could not help but smile as he caught the slightly uncomfortable expression on the dark-haired man's face.

"Did she threaten to hex you to next week and back if you even thought of accompanying her, Severus?" The flush that spread across the Potions' Master was all the answer that he needed.

The tension in the room dissipated slightly as several people chuckled, while others smiled. Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling once more. "No need to be ashamed, my boy," he said, catching everyone attention. "She does that to me quite often – threatens me, that is. And I must admit that I do whatever I can to avoid such an occurrence; she is a formidable duelist after all."

Tonks was staring wide-eyed at her former Headmaster as the others laughed.

"She threatens you?" she asked, surprised. Dumbledore nodded.

"Oh yes, she has quite…innovative threats too," he said, pleasantly. "Why, there was this one time when I had decided that she needed a holiday, and organized a week's…reprieve to France – just for her, of course. When I suggested that she leave, she refused, just as I had expected. But I sent her away saying that Madame Maxime – of Beauxbatons – was having a few problems with her Transfiguration Professor and needed help from an expert…"

His eyes twinkled as he noticed that everyone was paying rapt attention to him. "Of course, it didn't take Minerva long to realize that she was tricked, but luckily, Madame Maxime and I had discussed the possibility of this happening, and she managed to keep Minerva within the school's premises using the wards she put up around the school for its protection…it took her a few days, but Olympe tells me that dear Minerva did start relaxing…"

Molly Weasley had a wide smile on her face.

"And what did she do when she got back to Hogwarts?"

Dumbledore's smile widened.

"Oh, she screamed for the whole school to hear, that she was going to hex me to France and back and then kill me and feed my remains to the Giant Squid." Most of the Order members were wide eyed at this – particularly those who had once been taught by the Transfiguration Professor. "It turns out that Olympe had tried to introduce her to some…er, eligible French men who were her age and who were looking for a…life-partner."

Mad-Eye guffawed, unable to stop himself.

"Oh my," said small-made Hestia Jones, as she tried to stop smiling.

"And how did you get out of that one, Dumbledore?"

The Headmaster smiled benignly.

"Oh, it was quite simple, really. I took a little holiday. A month long holiday. It's a good thing that it was during the end of year holidays too, or I would most certainly not be seated here right now."

He sighed from his seat on the bottom step of the wide staircase, seating so that he could rest his back against the banister. The meeting with the Order was going on in the kitchen downstairs, and here he was, being forced to hide from the Order members.

"Honestly," he muttered, to no one in particular, "why is it that I am always forced to hide?" There was a bitter not in the dark-haired man's voice. "If Dumbledore's going to tell them about my innocence, shouldn't I be n that bloody meeting?"

Sighing, he leaned his head back against the wooden banister, brushing the long black bangs out of his eyes. He hated the fact that he was forced to hide; honestly, was this what his life was meant to be? Hide until-

"-FILTHY MUGGLE-LOVERS! THERE IS NO ONE HERE FOR YOU TO CORRUPT! LEAVE MY HOUSE AT ONCE! GET OUT! YOU ARE ALL TAINTING MY HOUSE!"

He jumped, startled, at the lovely soprano voice of his dear mother's portrait, growling as he hit the back of his head on the banister.

What the hell, he thought, as he jumped up and ran, heading towards where he knew the portrait was, I thought Dumbledore told them not to make so much noise, dammit!

"FILTHY MUGGLE-LOVERS! THERE IS NO ONE HERE FOR YOU TO CORRUPT! LEAVE MY HOUSE AT ONCE! GET OUT! YOU ARE ALL TAINTING MY HOUSE!"

Everyone in the kitchen jumped, startled, as they heard the screaming voice from the floor above them. Lupin sighed, ready to stand up and shut the portrait up, but was stopped when Dumbledore raised a hand.

"Oh no, Remus, don't worry about it. That must be Minerva," he said, cheerfully. "Walburga always did have a rather…different way of greeting her."

"Walburga?" Mad-Eye was looking at Dumbledore strangely. "Walburga who?"

"Walburga Black."

There was a moment of silence.

"What in Merlin's name is-?"

"-This is her house, Alastor. Or rather, this was her house."

"WHAT?! What on earth are we doing here then?! Dumbledore, I thought you knew better! This is a Black house?! That woman, Walburga, she's Black's mother!"

"…Sirius Black's mother…?" whispered Hestia Jones, wide eyed. Moody nodded, just as Kingsley sat up straight in his seat.

"Is this true, Dumbledore?"

"Yes, Kingsley, it is."

"Dumbledore, why are we here if-"

"-Let's wait until Minerva gets here. Everything will be explained."

With a scowl on his face, the dark-haired man unlocked the magically warded door – thankful of the wand that Dumbledore had given back to him – ready to give whoever it was a good piece of his mind, and failing to wonder what would happen if it was someone who did not know the truth about his innocence.

But then again, that was who Sirius Black was; he acted on impulse half the time, and right now, he just wanted to get whoever it was to stop knocking so that he could gleefully Stun the portrait of his mother.

He wrenched the door open.

"Look, I don't care what – oh, Professor…" He stepped aside without another word, allowing her to enter, and quickly closed the doors behind her, putting the wards back up.

He turned to face her. "Don't knock so loudly the next time, alright?" he asked, gruffly, "I don't want to deal with –Professor!"

The dark-haired man hurried over to the stern, dark-haired woman, managing to steady her before she collapsed. She stood in place, held up by him, breathing heavily. He noticed that there were a fair number of cuts and tears on her clothes, and frowned – despite himself. "Professor what-"

"-The…the meeting," gasped the witch, her glasses askew, "I – I'm late…"

"Yeah, I believe you are," agreed Sirius eyes taking in the scratches, "but what happened-" McGonagall pushed herself away from him, stumbling slightly as she did so.

"I should go. Where is it?"

"In the kitchens."

"Oh." With that, she started walking forward shakily. The dark-haired man watched her progress, wordlessly, noting that she was not steady on her feet. He watched as she reached the end of the corridor and turned right.

"YOU!! I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO GET OUT!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS?! OUT! GET OUT! I WILL NOT HAVE YOU CORRUPTING THE PURE-"

"-Oh shut up."

"Professor?"

"What?"

"The kitchen's the other way."

"I – oh." She turned and began walking in the direction he had pointed out. When she stumbled again, only managing to hold onto the wall in time, the dark-haired man sighed inwardly, before briskly walking forward.

He stopped in front of the still screaming portrait. First things first, he thought, as he raised his wand.

"BLOOD TRAITOR! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING, OPENING THE DOORS OF MY HOUSE TO THESE FILTHY HALF-BREEDS AND MUGGLE LOVERS? HAVE YOU NOT TAINTED THE FAMILY NAME ENOUGH? MUST YOU-"

"Shut up you old hag. Stupefy." Once the curtains were drawn over her portrait, he walked towards the heavily-breathing elder witch, watching her warily for a moment, before slinging one of her arms over his shoulders.

She looked at him, startled. "Come on," he muttered, trying to keep his voice cold. "Let's get you to the kitchen. And…get someone to see to those scratches…"

"I can handle myself perfectly well, Si - Black." He smirked before he could stop himself.

"Yeah, I'm sure passing out in the hallway would be a good example of that."

"I was not – I am not going to-"

"-You can't even stand on your own two feet. How do you expect to get to the kitchen, especially when you don't know where it is?"

"I-"

"-Come on, I don't have all day." And so, student and teacher – former, of course – made their way down the corridors, heading towards the kitchens.

An awkward moment or two passed, before the dark-haired man cleared his throat. "You know, this doesn't mean that I've forgiven you or anything…"

"The thought never crossed my mind," mumbled the witch, dryly.

But maybe there is some hope…?

A/N

It was way longer than I had thought it would be, when I started typing, but…oh well! Another two-chapter scene, I think!

Hope you all enjoyed it! I'll be putting up part two shortly, once I finished tweaking it here and there.

Till next time,

Siriusgirl1