Ch. 14: Order of the Phoenix
November became December and snow enveloped everything peacefully. Harry made sure that nobody heard about his little run in with Raven and Hatter and thus nobody had reasons to change their attitudes towards Oz, Alice, Elliot and Leo. The four also seemed unwilling to ever mention the episode and life went on as usual, at least on the surface.
Only now Harry and Oz shared a secret. Harry knew about the raw magic and Oz about the Invisibility Cloak. Somehow, that made Harry feel closer to Oz than ever before and he was glad that he could keep Oz as a friend.
'So what are you doing for Christmas?' Ron asked one day in the middle of the month, when the seven of them were sitting in the Gryffindor common room, enjoying the sweets they bought in Hogsmeade the previous day. 'Are you going back to Hebrides to see your families?' he asked. Oz exchanged somewhat dejected glances with the other three exchange students and Harry got a bad feeling.
'We're staying in Hogwarts,' he said, not sounding enthusiastic about it at all. 'And what about you guys?'
'We're spending Christmas with my family, as usual,' Ron replied, apparently not noticing the gloomy mood of the other four.
Harry wondered if it was Dumbledore's doing. He found out that it has already been a hassle to let the four go to Hogsmeade the previous day. Only when Raven and Hatter had promised to stay with some teachers for the whole day, the exchange students have been allowed to enjoy the wizarding village. Harry didn't like that.
'Aren't you going to visit your parents?' Elliot asked Hermione, who was sitting next to him, sounding genuinely surprised. The girl blushed under his studious gaze and said that she usually spent the Christmas break with the Weasleys and Harry. Harry couldn't hear his answer, nor could he hear Hermione's reply, because Oz asked about wizarding Christmas traditions.
Ron babbled happily about his family's Christmas traditions but Harry could see Oz's wistful expression and he wondered if the islanders missed their homes. Why would Dumbledore not let them go back? Harry had thought that he rather wanted to keep them away so it made no sense.
'Then of course, this year it'll be different, at Grimmaud's Place and all,' Ron finished and Harry stared at him in horror. The red-head realised what he just said and covered his mouth with his hand. Hermione and Elliot finished their private conversation to look at them questioningly, while Alice, Leo and Oz looked simply curious.
'You'll not be at home this year?' Leo asked finally. Hermione seemed to have realised what the problem was, because her eyes widened. 'Is it because of Voldemort?'
'Yeah,' Harry replied, catching a lifeline that Leo had accidentally thrown them. 'Because Voldemort knows that the Weasleys are against him, they cannot stay at home for the moment, so Christmas will also be in the safe location,' he explained.
'Oh,' was all Oz said and the only reaction that Harry got for his revelation. 'But at least you will be with your family and friends, right?'
Harry couldn't stop thinking about that last question. Even when they said goodbye to the exchange students and have arrived at Sirius' place, the phrase echoed in his head: "at least you will be with your family and friends." As he hugged Sirius in greeting and joked about things with him and the twins, the sad expression on Oz's face haunted him.
Eventually, the feelings of guilt for having a good time faded, as Harry was busy, together with Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the twins, trying to spy on the meetings of the Order. Mrs Weasley absolutely opposed the idea that they participate in any of the meetings and shooed them out of the kitchen every time they happened, unaware that they simply used an extendable ear to catch glimpses of the discussions.
They caught enough to know that Raven and Hatter were indeed somehow cooperating with the Order, although under some serious observation from Mad-Eyed Moody, among others. Mrs Weasley, probably having heard the whole story surrounding their admittance into the Order, probably from Lupin, vigorously opposed the inclusion of the two islanders into the group. She railed every time they were supposed to come over.
Harry had yet to see the two men, probably due to her motherly intervention of removing him on time. Not that Harry was looking forward to seeing them, regardless of what Oz had said the other day. They have never mentioned the incident again afterwards. He trusted Oz, in a way, but too often he looked down the barrel of a gun in his nightmares.
'And I'm supposed to cook for them as well,' Mrs Weasley complained, bringing Harry back to reality. He suspected whom she was talking about because even Snape didn't provoke such negative emotions in her anymore.
'Cook for whom, mom?' Ron asked, sitting next to Harry at the kitchen table. It was soon dinner and they were hoping to stall long enough to see who would be attending the evening meeting of the Order. 'Mom, Dean Thomas is making a New Year's party, can we go?' he asked, not waiting for the answer to his first question.
'Dean Thomas is making a New Year's party?' Harry repeated, surprised. Why didn't he know that? Ron looked at him funnily and reminded him about the invitations they have received just before leaving. Sitting opposite to them, reading a book, Hermione glanced up furtively.
'You will not be leaving the safe house, except to go to Hogwarts,' Mrs Weasley replied sharply, all but throwing the potatoes into the sink, washing them with a violent stream of water. Harry blinked at her actions.
'But mom, Hermione is going!' Ron protested and Harry looked at the girl with wide eyes.
'Hermione is going?' Mrs Weasley repeated, looking at the girl as well, surprised. To Harry's astonishment, Hermione blushed under the gaze and muttered something inaudible. 'What was that?'
'Elliot invited me,' she repeated louder, blushing some more and refusing to look up from the book. Harry blinked again, trying to process the idea that the blond islander, acting so cold and formal, would even be going to a party.
'What?' Ron yelled, jumping up from his chair. Mrs Weasley started talking about how dangerous it would be and how Hermione should seriously consider her ideas because Mrs Weasley was going to write to her parents and warn them that allowing Hermione to go was a mistake because Voldemort was lurking.
'It's the night when the Order is planning to lure Voldemort into a trap, so he will be busy otherwise,' Hermione announced promptly in a very matter-of-fact tone, again shocking everybody present in the kitchen.
'Have you been eavesdropping on the meetings again?' Mrs Weasley thundered. 'I will take all those extendable ears and I'll make sure to lock you up in your rooms next time there are people coming! Don't you think that it's for your own good that we are keeping you away from this kind of knowledge?'
'We haven't been eavesdropping,' Hermione lied smoothly, once Mrs Weasley finished her riot. 'Elliot told me about it,' she added. Ron looked about to explode and Mrs Weasley finally found it in her to ask who "Elliot" was, since she didn't remember that name from their stories about school.
'Elliot Nightray, he's one of the exchange students from the Four Great Dukedoms,' Hermione said as calmly as she could and Harry watched Mrs Weasley boil internally. It was only a matter of time before she exploded and Harry was willing to bet it would not be pretty.
'So you are the girl he had mentioned?' asked a voice Harry recognised immediately, stalling Mrs Weasley's explosion. Sure enough, when he turned to the entrance, Hatter was standing there, smiling at Hermione, who blushed yet again. Behind him was Raven, looking pretty emotionless and somewhat bored, even when his golden eyes met Harry's and the latter recoiled.
Did they not recognise him?
'You're early,' Mrs Weasley said, sounding as though she wished to never see them again.
'Ah yeah, sorry for that,' Break said, turning to her with a somewhat creepy smile. 'Our charming escort insisted that we arrive much before everybody else in case we are being followed,' he added in explanation, waving his hand towards Mad-Eyed Moody.
'Hello Mad-Eye,' Mrs Weasley said, much friendlier. 'I do feel sorry for you for being stuck with such a duty,' she added and proceeded to talk to him, completely ignoring the two islanders. Hatter sat down next to Harry, while Raven took a seat as far from him as possible.
'How are you Harry?' Hatter asked suddenly, making Harry jump on his chair. He leaned away from the man, trying to avoid the weird looks that Ron and Hermione were sending them. 'Ah, a bit jumpy,' the Hatter answered his own question and cracked the lollipop between his teeth, the sound making Harry jump on his chair again.
'Give it a break, Hatter,' Raven muttered. For some inexplicable reason, Hatter giggled at the statement, but leaned away from Harry.
'Since you ask so nicely, Raven,' he said. 'So you are the girl Elliot has been seeing in secret?' he asked Hermione, who blushed darker than Ron's hair.
'It was supposed to be in secret,' Hermione pointed out after a moment, seeming to gather herself, glaring at Hatter, when he countered her complaint, saying that she did just admit being invited to the party by Elliot. Harry wondered how Hermione managed to not cower in fear when Raven glared at her briefly.
'Elliot takes this kind of things very seriously,' the black-haired man grumbled, glaring at Hatter, when he joked about how Raven was suddenly overprotective. Harry blinked, his mind trying to make the transition between the cold-blooded killers he had met in the dark corridor and what he was seeing in front of him. What was wrong in that picture?
'Alright kids,' Mrs Weasley said, returning to the room with Lupin and Tonks. She paled when she saw the islanders again and Harry could bet that she was kicking herself for leaving them alone with the two men she deemed almost as dangerous as Voldemort. However, Harry was starting to truly understand that they did not mean him harm.
'Mom, can't we stay?' Ron whined. 'We know now what you are planning so it's not like there's any secrets to be shared,' he argued.
'Just because some people are irresponsible enough to involve children into the Order's business, doesn't mean that I will approve of it,' Mrs Weasley replied, glowering at Hatter and Raven who ignored her completely. 'Out, all three of you,' she shooed them out of the kitchen and slammed the door shut.
'That went well,' Harry heard and looked to see the twins snickering on the stairs.
'But Hermione, we need to discuss your affair choices,' Fred said, sounding and looking so serious that Harry honestly believed his displeasure. Hermione was opening her mouth to reply and, judging from her expression, it was nothing friendly, but George spoke up before she could.
'Yeah, I mean, if you needed a sexy guy in your life why didn't you turn to us?' he asked, almost managing to keep his face as serious as his brother. Ron made a strangled kind of sound, while Hermione stared.
'And we are two,' Fred added. 'Imagine all the possibilities.'
'They're enough to give her nightmares till the end of her life,' Ginny cut in. 'Aren't we forgetting something here?' she asked, reminding them about the reason why they were gathered outside the kitchen. Harry thought he could hear her whisper something to Hermione, something along the lines of "go get him Mione, he's so hot", but he preferred not to think about it too much.
Fred cast a Muffliato-nullifying charm on them and they listened. They have greatly improved the charm, so Harry could be sure that the words he heard were the words actually spoken.
'Besides, how can we be sure that you can handle Voldemort?' somebody inside the kitchen asked. Mad-Eyed Moody, most probably judging by the tone. The sound was a bit distorted though, so Harry couldn't be sure.
'I don't care if you believe me or not, as long as you clear the way,' replied a voice that Harry would never forget. It was calm and collected, like when Raven was telling Hatter that he could run. He almost expected the sound of a gun clicking to follow the statement.
'Awfully self-assured, that man,' Fred or George commented. Ron muttered something about whatever he meant by handling Voldemort. In the kitchen, somebody was listing a number of problems that they would have in setting the trap.
'So you are telling us that you have failed to uphold your end yet again?' asked an annoyed voice, probably belonging to the Hatter. A crack resounded through the room and although Harry immediately thought about a breaking bone it was, most probably, a lollipop. Harry hoped so at least.
'Do you imagine how difficult it is to set up a trap like that?' Lupin asked back, not sounding happy either.
'Do you see me caring?' Hatter asked back and something cracked again at the last syllable. Harry shivered: that guy was a creep. 'If you're afraid of Voldemort try explaining to the Four Dukes why we have failed our mission so far,' he added.
'So we call off the trap?' somebody asked.
'Here goes your date, Hermione,' Harry muttered when Dumbledore answered that it was best because they didn't have the certainty that Voldemort would take the bait.
'What if we hint that Harry is in the Department of Mysteries?' Harry tried to listen closer. What was it about the Department of Mysteries? Did it have anything to do with the dreams about transparent balls that were returning?
'Harry is not a bait,' Dumbledore growled.
'Pity, he would be an efficient one,' Raven said, provoking an eruption of violent arguments.
Harry moved away from the door and looked at the group. They looked back at him questioningly.
'Hermione, you said that you heard about the trap from Elliot?' he asked. The girl nodded, albeit uncertainly. 'I need to talk with them, because maybe they know everything that is happening in those meetings,' he added with determination.