A/N: Does it even mean anything for me to say that I'm sorry anymore? For what it's worth, I am. I haven't forgotten this story or given up on it, I've just been really busy with "real life." I'm going to try to do better, I promise! And, I'm sure you'll be glad to know that I'm only nine weeks away from the end of the school year; I'm sure I'll be able to write more over the summer!

I don't own the Harry Potter universe.

Taking a Stand

Tonks had never been so frustrated in all her life. It was as if the entire universe were conspiring against her.

Remus had been on the verge of admitting that he had feelings for her. They had been so close! Then Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys had intervened, finishing their conversation long before it should have ended. Though far shorter than it should have been, that moment had given her hope. She could hardly wait to have a proper conversation with Remus.

However, as soon as they had left their teenage charges at Hogwarts, they had received a dire message ordering them back to headquarters. They had instantly Disapparated without even saying goodbye, let alone making plans for their next conversation.

Upon reaching headquarters, they both had received new orders that sent them on missions – separate missions – that took them, in Tonks's opinion, as far away from one another as possible. Remus had been sent back into that horrid werewolf colony, and Tonks had been sent to work. Apparently, she had been called in on her day off. Kingsley had covered for her – he had told Scrimgeour that she was off for a romantic evening with her boyfriend that had not yet ended. Fortunately, Scrimgeour abhorred any personal conversation at work, and did not ask either Kingsley or Tonks for further information.

"You could have just told him that I was with my mother or something," Tonks said when Kingsley admitted what he had told their superior.

He shrugged and smiled in the least-apologetic way possible. "It was the first thing that I could think of! Besides, I knew he'd never ask for more information – you know how he is about bringing our personal lives into work."

"You'd just better hope that story doesn't get back to Moody," she said. "I'm telling you right now that if it does, you'll be the one explaining to Moody that I do not have a boyfriend and therefore was not spending time with him the night before I had to take the kids back to school."

"He already knows all that," Kingsley said. "Even if he did hear that rumor, he'd never believe it. He knows where you were this morning."

"Still . . ."

Kingsley smiled. "Let's just get to work, shall we?"

"Fine," Tonks sighed. "But, for future reference –"

"Yeah, yeah, don't tell Scrimmy that you have a boyfriend. I've got it."

"Good."

Kingsley looked at her closely for a moment. "What's wrong, Tonks?"

"I don't like the idea of you spreading false rumors about me."

He shook his head. "You don't care what people think about you. You never have. Tell me what's got you so worked up, or we're not going on our mission."

"You'd never defy Scrimgeour like that."

"Wouldn't I?" he asked. "Tonks, unless you're going to be able to devote one hundred percent of your mental powers to this, we're going to be useless. I'd rather they send someone else out into the field then have the two of us go out and fail."

She looked at him wordlessly, knowing that he was right.

"I'll take your silence for understanding that I'm making complete sense," he said. "Now, either you tell me what's going on and get it off your chest, or I'm going to go to Scrimmy right now to tell him to find another team."

"All right," she said peevishly. "You win. I'll tell you all the gory details."

"Good," Kingsley smiled, settling back against the edge of his desk.

Tonks rolled her eyes, knowing that he was thrilled to get all her news and gossip. "Remus and I talked."

Kingsley's eyes rounded. "And?"

She sighed. "The kids came in and ruined the moment."

"What moment?"

"Well, he asked if the kiss meant anything to me."

"And you said . . .?"

"I said that I don't kiss without meaning it."

"Whoa," Kingsley said. "Good answer."

"Thanks."

"And what did he say?"

"He said that he doesn't kiss without meaning it, either."

"Tonks! This is brilliant!" Kingsley exclaimed. "Do you realize what you've both all but admitted to one another?"

"Yeah, King, I know what it could mean – but we never got that far."

"What do you mean?"

"The kids came in, and we had to end the conversation."

"But you picked it back up again, right?"

"We didn't have a chance!" she wailed, pacing around the room. "We got the kids to Hogwarts, then we were both summoned back to headquarters. From there, I was called here and Remus was sent back to the werewolf colony."

"Oh," Kingsley said, deflating in a moment. "How long will he be there?"

"I don't know. No one ever tells me anything." She came to a stop beside Kingsley and leaned up against his desk with him.

"Sirius would probably know. You could ask him."

She shook her head. "Sirius seemed a bit off today. I think that saying goodbye to Harry really got to him. I sort of want to leave him alone for a bit so he can deal with everything."

"So you're back to waiting?"

"So I'm back to waiting," she agreed glumly.

"Hey," Kingsley said, nudging her shoulder with his, "this is a good thing, Tonks. Now you know that he's into you."

"Yeah, I guess there's that."

"I'd say that's pretty huge, sweetheart."

She gave him a mischievous grin. "So says the man who was so sure that Remus was into me before we had any of this information."

Kingsley grinned back. "Well, now we have proof that I was right."

Miserable.

Remus was utterly miserable.

He had all but admitted his feelings to Tonks. Granted, she had admitted the same to him. However, far from making him feel better, he thought that knowing how she felt actually made him feel worse.

She couldn't love him. She just couldn't. She was merely infatuated with him – he was older, he had been though this experience of a war against Voldemort before, he was her cousin's best friend . . . there were plenty of reasons for an infatuation. But, an infatuation was nothing more than a silly, schoolgirl crush. It wasn't something that he could seize and nurture into a relationship. It would fade away in time, leaving Tonks free to fall in love and Remus free to nurse his broken heart.

No, he couldn't let that happen. He wouldn't get close enough to her to let her break his heart when she walked way. He'd just walk away first.

After all, she wouldn't have to nurse a broken heart. She was in the middle of an infatuation. Once it had run its course, she would forget all about him. That was how infatuations worked. She would have all the romantic feelings in the world for him, but when they ended, she wouldn't be all that upset. Infatuations were easy to get over. Lost loves, on the other hand, could take a lifetime to recover from. He knew that all too well.

She was fortunate, really, that she was just infatuated with him.

Wasn't she?

By the time Remus returned to headquarters, he was firmly convinced that staying away from Tonks was the appropriate course of action. He had reasoned it all out in his mind, and was sure that by not allowing himself to get close enough to her to fall in love, he was saving them both from a lifetime of heartache.

Part of him wanted to confide his new attitude in Sirius, but he knew, as soon as he walked through the doors of Number 12, Grimmauld Place, that he couldn't. Sirius would try to talk him out of it, and he knew that he couldn't change his mind. This was for the best. It was the way things had to be.

Confident in his new mindset, Remus walked quietly through the house, looking for Sirius. Even if he didn't want to discuss his love life, he was still eager to talk to his friend. After looking into one empty room after the other, he finally found Sirius in the attic with Buckbeak.

"Hello," he said as he entered the dark space. "What are you doing up here?"

"Keeping Buckbeak company," Sirius said listlessly. "You're later than I expected."

Remus nodded. "It took some time for me to find a safe path to exit. Greyback was home, and it was like he was everywhere. I didn't want to chance running into him, even with the invisibility cloak."

Sirius nodded, but remained silent.

"Are you all right?" Remus asked.

"I'm bored," Sirius said shortly.

"Are you sure that's all that's wrong?" Remus asked, looking at him closely.

"What else could be wrong?" Sirius asked sarcastically. "I mean, I'm trapped in this house all the bloody time. How could anything possibly go wrong? I don't have enough contact with others for anything to go wrong!"

Internally, Remus screamed. Sirius was back to being the moody, unreasonable man that only James had been able to truly help. It had always been James who could best reach Sirius. Remus had never been able to talk to either of them the way that they could talk to one another.

For some reason, Remus's mind transported him back to second year, when Sirius's brother had been Sorted into Slytherin. Remus could remember the look on Sirius's face as he raged against his family, the Slytherins and even the Sorting Hat. He was sure that if he closed his eyes, he would be able to see the hangings that Sirius had pulled closed around his bed to shut out the world, the broken objects on the dormitory floor that he had thrown in a fit of anger and looks on James's and Peter's faces as they, too, tried to help their friend. That had been the one time that it had been Remus, not James, who had been able to reach Sirius. He had been able to help him all those years ago. Maybe, he could do it again.

"Okay," Remus said slowly, coming back to the present. "You're not going to tell me what's wrong?"

"I already told you that nothing's wrong."

"Great," Remus said, wondering if perhaps some reverse psychology would work. "I'm glad to hear that you're fine, then."

"Don't patronize me, Remus."

Something in that statement triggered a reaction within Remus. He had been doing this – dealing with this – for too long. He had truly reached the end of his endurance with Sirius, his mood swings and his temper tantrums. He was sure that Sirius had been more reasonable and easier to deal with as a teenager than he was as an adult.

"I'm sorry to have asked," he snapped. "In the future, I'll just callously wait for you to come to me when something is bothering you. I won't bother trying to be a good friend."

With that, Remus spun around and stalked out of the attic.

By the time he had made his way down to the kitchen, Remus had worked himself into a nearly towering rage over Sirius's attitude. He pushed the door open rather roughly, feeling oddly satisfied as it slammed against the wall.

"What's got you so worked up?"

Remus jumped at the sound of her voice. "I didn't think anyone would be down here."

"Sorry," Tonks apologized. "I actually came looking for Moody. Someone told me that he might be here."

"I haven't seen him," Remus said considerably more rudely than he had intended.

Tonks's eyes widened at his tone. "Did you want to be alone?"

"No, not particularly," Remus said. "I just don't want to be alone with Sirius."

Tonks frowned, looking rather surprised. "Why? What's wrong with Sirius?"

"What isn't?" Remus snapped. Immediately realizing that she didn't deserve to be yelled at like that, he sighed, and ran his hands over his face. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't take this out on you. It's not your fault that Sirius is in a mood."

Tonks sighed and sat down at the table. "He is rather moody, isn't he?"

Remus sat down with her and smiled slightly. "James would say that he's worse than a bloody woman." He smiled again. "Not that I in any way mean that as a reference to you, of course."

"Oh, of course," she smiled. She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I wish there was something I could do to help him. It can't be easy being locked up in here all the time – especially considering his past experiences in this house."

"I know," Remus said, truly beginning to feel awful about himself. "I know that I should try to be more patient and understanding with him, and that I should never have yelled at him like I just did. I know that he's going through far more than any of the rest of us with all this. It's just so hard sometimes to constantly have to do battle with Voldemort and the Death Eaters and with Sirius."

"Do you think that perhaps a visit would help him?"

Remus shrugged. "It might. He's up in attic if you want to go talk to him."

"No, I didn't mean a visit from me," Tonks smiled. "I meant from my mother."

"Oh!" Remus exclaimed, his face brightening considerably. "Tonks, that's a great idea! I think it would do him a world of good to see Andromeda again."

She grinned. "I think Mum would be pretty excited to see him, too."

"When do you think she'll be able to come?"

"I don't know," she said thoughtfully. "When do you think would be a good time?"

"The sooner the better," Remus replied.

She looked at him, realizing how utterly desperate he was to help his friend. And, even though she wanted more than anything to stay and talk to him about their Christmas kiss, she knew that helping Sirius was, at least for the moment, more important.

"Tell you what," she said, "I'll go talk to her right now. I'll see how soon I can get her here."

Remus beamed. "That's brilliant, Tonks. Thanks so much."

She stood to her feet, and started to walk toward the door. "You know," she said, pausing before leaving the room, "I think a visit from Olivia might help, too."

Remus shook his head. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Sometimes two heads are better than one," she shrugged. "I'll see you soon, Remus."

Remus Disapparated almost immediately after Tonks left. He was sure that there was no time to waste.

He arrived in Olivia's house just as she was starting to make dinner. She jumped a mile when he Apparated into her kitchen.

"Remus!" she exclaimed. "Are you trying to scare me to death?"

He laughed. "No, not exactly." He crossed to kiss her cheek. "How are you, darling?"

"I'm fine," she said. "What brings you all the way to France?"

"Would you believe me if I said that I just missed you and wanted to see you?"

She surveyed him critically for a moment. "Not a chance," she said. "What's wrong?"

He smiled. "You know me too well."

"I've known you too long," she smiled. "Out with it. Tell me what's the matter."

"Sirius," he sighed.

"Sirius? What about him?"

"Well, he's not allowed out of the house."

"That's not exactly news," Olivia frowned.

"Would you let me talk?" Remus smiled.

"Sorry, Teacher," she laughed. "I take it Sirius isn't doing well with the forced confinement?"

"No, he's not," Remus said. "To someone like Sirius, being locked up like that – especially in that particular house – is probably the worst torture possible. He's been inside the house forever, Harry's gone, and now he's sinking down into this horrible, moody depression."

"Oh, no," she sighed, remembering fits of Sirius's anger that she had endured in the past. "Is he breaking things?"

"He's not exactly angry right now," Remus said slowly. "I think he's beyond anger, and it's actually a bit scary to me. I don't know how to help him, Liv."

"Can I see him?" she asked. "I mean, Remus, I can give you all the advice in the world, but it won't be the same as actually seeing him and talking to him myself."

For the second time that day, his face broke into a beaming grin. "I'm so glad to hear you say that. Now I don't have to worry about convincing you to come to London."

She grinned back. "Let me check my schedule. I'll come as soon as I can."

Andromeda jumped at the chance to visit her cousin. Even knowing that Sirius was in the midst of a bout of what she termed "typical Black moodiness" wasn't enough to slow her down. She left her house almost before her daughter could tell her the whole story.

"Wait, Mum, you should know –"

"I know all I need to know," she said. "Sirius has been locked in his parents' house for months, Harry has just gone back to school, and Sirius is stuck in one place while everyone else he knows it out doing dangerous, death-defying work for the Order of the Phoenix. What more information do you think will help me?"

Tonks smiled slightly and shook her head. "Good luck, Mum."

"Thanks, love," she smiled. She blew her daughter a kiss and Disapparated.

Andromeda arrived in the quiet house, and tiptoed up the stairs. She didn't even stop to consider where she was going. She didn't need to think about it. She knew where she'd find him.

She paused outside the closed door of his childhood bedroom, letting the memories flood over her. On any given holiday, the two of them would hide out in one of two places: the kitchen or Sirius's room. The kitchen was their preferred hiding place when they were hungry. Sirius's room was the place they went when they wanted to be completely invisible. Looking back, she had no idea how their family had never managed to find them when they always went to the same places. Perhaps the sad truth was that their family wanted to find them as little as they wanted to be found.

She knocked lightly on the door, then pushed it open. "Sirius?" she asked, poking her head around the door.

"Andromeda!" he exclaimed, jumping up from his spot lying on the bed. "What are you doing here? And how did you know where to find me?"

She smiled. "You know, this was the first placed I looked. Habit, I suppose."

He grinned. "We did kill a lot of time up here, didn't we?"

She nodded with a smile. "Do you still have the chess set up here?"

"Yeah," he said, pointing to wooden chest pushed against a wall. "A bunch of my old stuff is still in there. I'm amazed my mother never threw it out."

"Maybe she was more sentimental than we knew," Andromeda said, stepping fully into the room.

"Let's not go that far," Sirius smiled. "It almost sounds as though she could have potentially had a heart."

Andromeda smiled as she sat down at Sirius's old desk. "How are you?" she asked.

Sirius sighed, knowing that he could never hide from her. While Remus would deal with his moody replies and snappish remarks – to a point, he thought, remembering how Remus had responded to him earlier – Andromeda would not. She allowed no self-pity or wallowing in moodiness. She was a tough woman – she was exactly what Sirius needed at that moment.

"Trapped," he said softly.

She nodded. "I was afraid of that."

"It's not just the house," he said before she could even ask. "Okay, you know that I hate this place, so I won't try to tell you that I'm glad to be here. I'm glad that the Order can get some use out of this place, and," he continued with a grin, "I'm glad, in a twisted way, that by turning the house over to the Order, I can defy all that my parents wanted me to be. But, Andromeda, I'm in complete limbo with my life."

"Don't you think you're being a bit melodramatic?" she asked.

"No," he said. "I'm a convicted murdered, but I've broken out of prison. Don't get me wrong – I'm thrilled to be out. But, I have to stay hidden away so I'm not sent back. That means I can't go back to being an Auror. I can't be an active Order member. I can't be a godfather to Harry – not the way James and Lily meant for me to be. I can't be with Olivia. But I can't not be any of those things, either, because, to various degrees, I am all those things. I'm totally caught in between what I'm supposed to be and what I can be." He grinned sardonically. "I'm not even truly the murderer I'm supposed to be."

"Well, I can't say that's a bad thing," Andromeda said. "Sirius, I know this is tough for you, but you've got to hang in there. Things will get better. Once your name is cleared, you'll be able to be an Auror, to work for the Order, to be Harry's godfather and to be with Olivia however you want."

He sighed. "At this point, I'd settle for any one of those things."

"Just be patient, Sirius. If you wait long enough, you can have them all."

"You know I don't do patient very well," he grinned.

"Well, maybe that's why you're here now," she suggested. "Maybe it's time for you to learn some patience."

"Don't you think you're asking a lot of me?"

"Don't you think you can do it?"

"Oo, that was low," he said. "Now I feel like I have to prove something to do you."

"Prove it to me, then," she challenged. "Prove to me that you can be patient enough to stay here like a good boy until it's safe for you to reclaim your life."

He sighed. "I'll do my best."

"That's all I can ask."

Olivia arrived in the house the next day. She Apparated into the gloomy building in the shadowy darkness just as the sun was coming up. Knowing that Sirius would still be asleep, she crept up the stairs to his bedroom. She turned the doorknob as quietly as possible, and slipped into the room. Sirius, as she had anticipated, was sprawled across the bed, sleeping soundly. She smiled to herself, and crossed the room to the bed. She leaned down and pressed her lips against his.

Even before he was fully awake, Sirius began to kiss her back. His eyes opened slowly, and he looked up at her in shock.

"What are you doing here?" he whispered.

"Do you want me to leave?" she asked.

He grinned. "What kind of a question is that?"

He wound his arms around her, pulling her down into the bed. She laughed as she fell on top of him.

"Missed me?" she teased.

"You have no idea," he said, pulling her down for another kiss. "I don't mean to put you off or anything, but do you mind if we talk later?"

She let her head fall back as his fingers danced over her body. "Sirius, I don't mind if we never talk at all."

"Hey, Remus, have you seen this?"

"Seen what?" Remus asked as he waved his wand to send clean breakfast dishes into the cupboard. Following visits from both Andromeda and Olivia, Sirius was returning to his former self. Although he was not completely back to normal, Remus was thrilled to have as much of his friend's old personality back as he could.

"The Quibbler," Sirius replied.

Remus smiled. "More stories about your secret life?"

Sirius laughed. "No, but they do have an interesting story about Harry."

"Oh, tell me they haven't jumped on that bandwagon," Remus sighed. "I still can't believe all that the Prophet prints about him. If Lily knew what that paper is doing to her son, she'd hex the entire staff into next week."

"This – Remus, this isn't like the Prophet stories."

"What do you mean?" Remus asked, suddenly interested in spite of himself.

"I mean this one is true – or, at the very least, it rings true. It tallies with all that Harry's told us before."

Remus wordlessly held out his hand, much as he would have done with a student. And, as a student would have reacted, Sirius silently handed over the magazine. Remus looked down at the front cover, and his eyes grew to the size of saucers.

"What has he done?" he whispered, staring at the picture of Harry that smiled up at him.

"He's told his side of the story," Sirius said gleefully. "Rita Skeeter interviewed him and wrote the story – I must say, she's very complimentary toward him. Strange, don't you think? Last time I read anything she wrote, she was tearing Harry to pieces." He paused. "Actually, I haven't read anything of hers in ages. Where do you think she's been all this time?"

Remus shook his head, flipping through the pages to find the article. "This is incredible," he whispered as he started to read.

Sirius poured himself a cup of coffee while Remus sank into a chair to read the interview. When he had finished reading, he looked up at Sirius in amazement.

"Can you believe it?"

"Which part?" Sirius asked. "The fact that he lived through that experience, the fact that he's now forced to act as though it never happened or the fact that he kept himself together enough to tell the story to Rita Skeeter, of all people?"

Remus shook his head. "He is the most incredible person."

Two pops sounded, and Remus and Sirius looked up. Standing before them in the kitchen were Dana and Olivia, both clutching copies of The Quibbler.

"Have you seen this?" Dana asked at once.

Remus gestured wordlessly to the copy spread out on the table in front of him.

"Can you imagine what Lily and James would say?" Olivia asked, joining the men at the table. "I wish they could be here to see this!"

"He truly is their son, isn't he?" Dana asked as she, too, sat down. "And, he's truly a Gryffindor. I can't believe how brave he's been!"

"He's amazing," Sirius said. "He's one of the most amazing people I've ever known. It's like he's the best of both of them, all thrown together into one little boy."

"Do you think that people will buy this?" Remus asked. "I don't mean the magazine – people always will buy that – but do you think anyone will believe his story? Do you think that good can come of all this?"

"Well, it was published in The Quibbler," Olivia said. "And that can be good or bad, depending upon how you look at it. There are people who read magazines like this one religiously and believe every word they say. One of my colleagues, who is normally a well-balanced, intelligent man, swears by every story The Quibbler prints." She gave Sirius a grin "If he knew that I know you, he'd be begging me for your autograph on a daily basis. He, for one, will definitely believe Harry's story.

"But, there are others, like me, who believe that this magazine prints complete rubbish," she continued. "I've never been a fan of The Quibbler. I've never even bought it before. I wouldn't have known about this article except for Dana bringing it over."

"Are you a Quibbler believer?" Sirius asked Dana with a grin.

She laughed. "My mother is," she said. "She has it delivered to the house. She hasn't seen it today, though. I snatched this one as soon as I saw it and took it to Liv's house. As much as I don't usually believe what they write . . ."

"This is the truth," Sirius said firmly. "It's exactly the story that Harry told Dumbledore and I when he came out of the maze last year."

Dana shivered. "I was sort of hoping that it wasn't true," she confessed. "I mean, I know that he's back, I know that Harry was there, I know all of it . . . I just wish that it wasn't as awful for him as this. To think of a child – James and Lily's child – living through that horror is just too much."

"Thank God they were his parents," Remus said softly. "Thank God they were able to pass on to him, even in the short time they had with him, some of themselves. If he were anyone else's child, if he were anyone else at all, I don't think he could have lived through it. I really don't."

"Sirius is right," Olivia said quietly. "He's the best of both of them. And that's exactly what has saved him thus far. And, I think it's what's going to keep him going into the future. Because, as much as I hate to say it, this is far from over. Harry's got a long, difficult road ahead of him."

"And he'll have us fighting with him every step of the way," Sirius said. "I'm not letting him do this alone."

"I still say that it was the Imperius," Emmeline Vance said firmly. "There is no way that he would have done that. None."

"I agree," Mundungus said, his voice surprisingly free of the effects of alcohol. "Bode wasn't the brightest of the lot, but he was an honest, decent man. What's more, he was with the Order from the beginning. He would never – it's like Emmeline said. There's no way he would have tried to break in on his own. He knew the risks involved – aside from the magic guarding the thing, he knew that the Order would curse him to the next life for even trying."

"But how could that have happened?" Molly asked. "How could he have been put under the curse? The Ministry has guards –"

"The guards aren't necessarily on the same side as we are," Arthur said gently. "I know that they're there to protect the Ministry and its workers, but that doesn't mean they aren't working for You-Know-Who."

"So, Arthur, you're suggesting that someone within the Ministry did this to Bode?" Moody said gruffly.

"I don't see how we can not assume that to be the case," Arthur said simply.

"I agree," Sirius said. A shadow crossed his eyes. "It's like last time – you can't trust anyone but yourself."

"Don't you think that's a bit dire, Sirius?" Bill Weasley asked.

"I agree that we need to be vigilant," Moody said. "Black is right. I think we all learned in the last war that trust is a very precious thing, and should only be given with the utmost care."

Sirius looked straight into Moody's eyes as the older man spoke. Yes, he had learned his lesson. He would regret for the rest of his days that learning it had cost two of his dearest friends their lives.

The tension in the room was broken by a pop. The Order members all jumped in their seats in surprise as Dumbledore appeared in their midst.

"Dumbledore," Moody said, clearly taken aback. "No trouble at the school, I hope?"

"Well, that depends on your definition of 'trouble,'" Dumbledore replied. "Dolores Umbridge has taken over as Headmistress of Hogwarts."

Remus nearly fell out of his chair. Looking at him, Sirius wondered if he was on the verge of passing out. He was sure he had never seen Remus so pale.

"What do you mean?" Remus managed to ask through stiff lips. "How could that – that vile woman take over the school?"

"Well, it would appear that the Ministry no longer wants me to be there," Dumbledore said cheerfully.

"Then why didn't Minerva take over?" Molly asked, her own face nearly as chalky as Remus's. "She's Deputy Headmistress."

"Ah, yes," Dumbledore said, "so she is. And, thankfully, she is still there. However, when Dolores named herself High Inquisitor of the school, she also named herself second in command. When I left, she declared herself the new Head."

Remus shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You said that the Ministry wanted you gone," he said. "Why?"

"Well, I think that would be because of the army I have created among the students."

"The what?" Sirius exclaimed.

Dumbledore smiled again. "I believe you remember Mundungus telling us of a defense organization the students had started?"

Molly gave Sirius a sharp look. "I thought you had talked them out of that!"

"Teenagers can be very determined," he said innocently, shrugging his shoulders.

"Let me assure you, Molly, that they did go forward with it," Dumbledore said. "They have named themselves Dumbledore's Army. Catchy title, don't you think?"

"But what does any of this have to do with you, sir?" Bill asked.

"One of their members couldn't take the strain of keeping the organization a secret any longer," Dumbledore said. "She told Dolores what was going on – to her own aesthetic detriment, I must say. This student also informed her of Harry's involvement as the leader of the group. Dolores called in the Minister and several Aurors, our own Kingsley included, to deal with Harry."

"Is he all right?" Molly asked.

"Yes, he's fine," Dumbledore said. "When I saw the paper with all the students' names written on it under the title 'Dumbledore's Army,' I took responsibility myself. I managed to escape before Fudge could do anything more than threaten me."

"But Harry's fine?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, and he will remain that way," Dumbledore said firmly. "Minerva, Hagrid and Severus are all there. They will look after him."

"And what will you do?" Moody asked.

"I am in a bit of an unfortunate situation," Dumbledore admitted. "The Ministry is out looking for me, so I will have to make certain that they cannot find me." He gave Sirius a smile. "It would appear that invisibility will be my greatest ally for the next several weeks."

"What are you saying?" Emmeline asked in shock.

"I am going into hiding," Dumbledore said simply. "I have already told Minerva that I trust her with my school. I am now telling all of you that I trust you with my Order. I will be in touch. If any situation arises that requires my immediate attention, you know that your Patronus will find me."

"But, sir," Mundungus began.

"I will be in touch," Dumbledore repeated.

Then, smiling at all of them, he Disapparated.