Chapter 15
The Marauder's Den
"Expelliarmus!"
Harry's shield buckled and his wand flew from his hand as he was thrown backwards. Rolling as he hit the ground, he regained his feet, dodging desperately as two spells as flew just past his ear. He saw his wand laying on the floor only a few feet away and lunged for it, only to slam into the ground as ropes wrapped themselves around his legs. Struggling to free himself, he looked up just in time to see another burst of light hit him in the forehead, causing his arms to snap to his side. Unable to move, he stopped struggling and waited silently while his attacker slowly made her way towards him breathing heavily.
She pointed her wand at him for a moment, before smiling deviously and raising it towards the ceiling, "Hmm.. what was that counter-curse again?" she asked, putting her hand to her chin as if she were trying to think. "You don't happen to know it do you Tonks?"
Tonks moved towards them from the spot along the wall where she had been watching their duels, "I don't think so," she said, adopting a similar pose, "what about you Harry?" she asked looking down at him. Unable to move anything but his eyes, Harry glared at them both. "What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" she teased as he looked up at her, unable to speak. "Oh don't look at me like that, I was only teasing you," she said with a roll of her eyes, before giving her wand a quick wave, canceling the bond-bind and the silencing spell she had placed on him before the duel.
Harry quickly jumped to his feet as she freed him, "Best of seven," he growled as Susan returned his wand.
"No one likes a sore loser Harry," Tonks said, quickly stepping between them before they could begin another round. "The Order meeting is going to start in half an hour and you need to shower," she said, waving her hand in front of her nose, "you'll just have to try again tomorrow."
He grimaced, "Ugh, do I have to? Come on Tonks, you know I'm no longer welcome in there," he said wiping the sweat from his nose. He couldn't bear the thought of watching all the useless old codgers walking past him, knowing he had been kicked out.
Tonks shook her head, "Harry, you know Dumbledore won't leave until you talk to him. Besides, the rest of your friends should get here around the same time and I'm sure they are looking forward to seeing you," she said taking his arm and guiding him towards the door.
"I'm tired anyways," said the redhead, taking his other arm in hers as she used her other hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead, "there's only so many times I can kick your arse before I keel over from exhaustion," she teased, causing him to snort humorlessly.
"I guess I should make sure Dumbledore doesn't try to weasel his way out of giving up his headquarters," he sighed, allowing the girls to drag him from the training room. Making his way upstairs with Susan, they left Tonks in the sitting room before quickly grabbing some clothes from his room and heading towards the bathroom.
Just as he made it to the door, Susan shot past him, "Ladies first," she said, shutting it in his face. Scowling at the door, he turned on his heel and returned to his room to relax and plan for the upcoming confrontation with Dumbledore.
OoOoO
"I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to do this," said Dumbledore, causing Harry to bristle with anger.
"Allow me? I don't think you understand Dumbledore, but you don't have to allow anything. It's my house, you have no say in what I do with it," replied Harry. He had no intention of allowing the old man's useless groupies to continue using his home as their clubhouse. "You should be thanking me. Without any meetings you won't have to put up with anymore of their useless rambling. "
The headmaster scowled at him, "Harry, insulting the people who have are putting themselves at risk to fight Voldemort is unnecessary. The Order must remain at Grimmauld Place. The phrasing of the Fidelius charm on this house is 'The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be foundat number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.' If this house is no longer home to the Order, the Fidelius around it will fall," said Dumbledore, desperately trying to convince him that it was necessary for headquarters to remain in the dark manor.
"Perfect," he replied, completely unfazed by the revelation, "we'll cast a new one. I think Remus would make a fantastic Secret-Keeper, don't you?" Dumbledore watched him with a combination of fear and shock at his uncaring attitude.
"That isn't how the Fidelius charm works, Harry. Remus can not be the Secret-Keeper for Grimmauld Place for the same reason your mother and father could not be their own Secret-Keeper."
Harry crossed his arms in front of his chest, "And why is that?" he demanded.
"Every minute the Secret-Keeper spends inside the Fidelius charm weakens it."
"Then how can you be here?" Harry asked, looking at the headmaster with distrust.
"There is a reason I only spend a few hours a week inside Grimmauld Place and it is not only due to other commitments. The longer I remain within the wards at Grimmauld Place, the weaker the Fidelius becomes. It would likely only last two or three days if I were to remain inside," Dumbledore explained patiently. Harry looked at him suspiciously, wondering what the old man's new ploy would be now that he had made it clear he had no intention of allowing his little sewing circle to continue using his home as their meeting spot. "However, if you insist on barring the Order from you house, I offer my services as Secret-Keeper."
'And there it is,' he thought to himself. "Thanks for the offer," he sneered, doing his best Snape impression, "but I would rather my Secret-Keeper be someone I could trust."
A hurt look crossed Dumbledore's face, "Harry, you know you can trust me."
"Can I?" he asked, "You've hidden things from me from me, you've ignored me when I needed your help and I've lost track of the amount of times I've almost died when I was supposedly under your protection in the so-called 'safest place in Britain,'" he said with as much sarcasm as could manage.
"I am truly sorry Harry, but I did explain my reasoning to you. I wanted you to have a normal, happy childhood."
"Another one of your failures," Harry replied angrily, "I've told you before about my so-called 'happy childhood', you know, the one where I was worked like a slave and beaten for fun. Is that the childhood you're talking about?"
"I only wanted you to be safe Harry. It was for-"
He cut off as Harry interrupted him, "Don't you dare say the 'Greater Good.' I'm sick and tired of hearing how all of your failures are just mistakes that you were supposedly doing for the bloody 'Greater Good.' Who's 'Greater Good' is this for Dumbledore? It certainly wasn't mine."
The aged wizard looked at him for a moment before speaking, "I truly am sorry Harry. But as you know, your safety is of utmost importance, so it would be best if I were to remain your Secret-Keeper."
It took all the willpower Harry had not to curse the old fool. He took a few deep breaths and focused on his Occlumency exercises to calm himself before he replied, "Listen to me, you dense old goat, I absolutely refuse to use someone willing to trust a Death Eater as my Secret-Keeper. If you don't get that through your thick skull, I will bring down the Fidelius right now and find someone else to recast it."
The old headmaster looked at him in shock, "I would never give the Secret to any of Voldemort's followers," he said, sounding outraged, his normal calm dissipating.
"Still trusting Snivellus, aren't you?" asked Harry with a sneer.
Dumbledore sighed dramatically, "Severus is your Professor, Harry and deserves your respect. I have told you many times, Professor Snape has my complete confidence and he should have yours as well."
"Well he doesn't," responded Harry, "and seeing as you feel it unnecessary to tell me why the greasy git has your complete confidence, I don't see him gaining it any time soon."
The headmaster turned looking for aid, "Remus, surely you can convince Mr. Potter that I would be the best choice for his Secret-Keeper," he pleaded of the werewolf.
Harry turned towards his new guardian, holding his breath. They had argued over kicking the Order out of Grimmauld Place and while Harry was technically the owner, as his guardian and Regent of House Black, Remus had the authority to overrule him. "I'm sorry Albus, but the house belongs to Harry and it is therefore his decision. I won't force him," he said, causing Harry to exhale in relief and the headmaster to drop his head in defeat.
"Alright Harry, if that is your wish, I will make the preparations and return tomorrow to recast the charm. I will meet you and your chosen Secret-Keeper here at 8:00," he said, turning and walking towards the fireplace. "I only hope that your choice is more trustworthy than that of your parents," he finished, causing Harry to snarl and resist the urge to hex him as he Flooed to his office.
"Are you sure that was a good idea Harry?" asked Remus as Dumbledore vanished in a flash of green, "I know you don't like Dumbledore right now, but I can't think of anyone better to protect our home."
Harry smiled at the older man's use of the words 'our home' and nodded, "If it wasn't for Snape, than maybe I would, but he trusts the greasy git way too much. He wouldn't hesitate to give him the secret and then we would have to worry about a Death Eater attacking us in our sleep."
"I don't like Severus either, but he wouldn't betray us. Dumbledore may be trusting, but he is not easily fooled."
"And Voldemort is?" Harry demanded, "He has one of them fooled and it would be stupid to assume it isn't Dumbledore."
Remus sighed, unwilling to rehash old arguments, "Alright Harry, it is your decision after all, but if I can't be Secret-Keeper, who will you use?"
OoOoO
"Incarcerous, Incarcerous!"
Harry grinned as he silently burnt both set of ropes that flew towards him, before quickly returning his own along with a stunner and a body-bind. Susan quickly cast a diffindo, severing the bindings that had been speeding towards her, before raising a shield as the other two spells raced towards her. Her shield held against the first, but the second broke through, causing her arms and legs to snap together, before she fell heavily to the ground.
He raised his arms in victory, allowing himself to do a small victory dance before moving to the paralyzed redhead. He carefully rolled her over so that she could see him, pointing his wand at her, before stopping and scratching his chin thoughtfully with a grin. The grin swiftly disappeared as he slapped his hands over his bum in pain.
He glared at Tonks as she walked up beside him, releasing Susan from the body-bind. He waited patiently, tapping his foot as she helped her up. "What do you think Sue, should we make it a best of seven? Harry was insisting on it yesterday," Tonks said, glancing at him with a sly grin.
Susan smiled at him for a moment as well as she considered it, before shaking her head, "Nah, he won fair and square. I'll just have to start a new winning streak tomorrow," she said, her stomach rumbling as she turned towards the door, "Besides, I'm hungry, let's go get something to eat."
"Me too," replied Tonks as they began walking towards the door, "though I have that nagging feeling that we're forgetting something." Harry quickly moved between them and the door, blocking their path as he pointed to his throat. "Is something the matter Harry?" asked Tonks, laughing as he failed to respond. "What was that? You're going to have to speak up," she said, causing Susan to burst out laughing and Harry to glare at her as they both walked around him.
He followed them upstairs towards the kitchen, where Remus had just finished making dinner. "Hey guys, so how did it go?" he asked, before he noticed Harry trying to gain his attention, pointing to his throat with a pleading look. He rolled his eyes as he pulled his wand and canceled the advanced silencing charm Tonks had placed on his young ward before they had started their duels.
"Merlin, thanks Moony," he said, grateful to finally have his voice back. The charm that Tonks had used couldn't be canceled with a simple Finite and she refused to teach him the counter. "I was worried that they were going to leave me like that."
"I was just trying to get you to practice your silencing charms," Tonks replied, trying and failing to look innocent as a grin crossed her face.
Harry snorted, "If there's anyone that needs to practice their silencing charms, it's you two," he muttered, causing Remus and Tonks to both blush furiously and Susan to break out laughing once again.
"I'm not sure what you're talking about," Tonks said, ducking her head to hide her rosy cheeks as she began to eat.
Harry grinned as he noticed her blush. He hadn't intended to say that out loud, but if it gave him the chance to get a little bit of revenge on the metamorph... "Are you sure Tonks? Well I suppose it must be one of the neighbors yelling for their 'big bad wolf' to come in and-" he cut off as he blocked a spell from Tonks, but was unprepared for the one Remus shot at him. He tried to cancel it, but it seemed to be the same silencing spell that Tonks used on him during his duels with Susan. He glared back and forth between the metamorph and the werewolf while Susan sat, laughing so hard she was almost falling from her chair. Pointing at his throat, he tried to convince the old Marauder to cancel the charm.
Remus shook his head, "I'm your guardian now, I can't just let you go about disrespecting your elders." He laughed as Harry attempted giving him a sad look, "Sorry pup, it's not going to work. Padfoot had the puppy dog eyes mastered, I built up an immunity." Harry ate silently for a few minutes as the others teased him, before Tonks took pity on him and canceled the charm.
Eventually they moved out into the sitting room to wait for their guests. Madam Bones was the first to arrive, causing Susan to rush over to greet her, "Auntie!" she cried, throwing her arms around her. While he hadn't noticed until after he had chased the old bastard out of his house, it had been a nice surprise to find that he had done something right for a change and had apparently accepted Madam Bones into the Order. Of course his surprise over the headmaster's unusual competence had been surpassed by his even greater surprise when the usually stern woman had embraced him tightly, thanking him over and over for saving her niece.
Dumbledore was next to join them, exiting the basement where the ward anchor was hidden. He looked around the room, stopping as he reached Madam Bones, "Harry, while Madam Bones is a terrific witch, are you certain you wouldn't like to choose someone that you are a little more familiar with?" he asked, once again clearly hinting that he himself would be the proper choice.
"I believe I have made the correct choice," he replied coolly, as Madam Bones gave the headmaster a hard stare that he pretended not to notice.
Dumbledore sighed in defeat, "Alright then, if everyone is here-"
"Everyone isn't here, we're still waiting on one more," interrupted Harry.
Dumbledore looked around confused, "Who are we missing?"
"The Secret-Keeper Albus," said Amelia, sniffing at him in disdain, "you will be happy to know that I am only here to observe. I plan on casting the Fidelius on my own home sometime in the next few days."
"If you're not the Secret-Keeper, then who-" asked Dumbledore, cutting himself off as the fireplace flared green once more.
"Ah, Professor, I'm glad you could make it," Harry said, striding towards the fireplace to greet the new arrival.
"Minerva?" asked Dumbledore, stunned.
"Yes Albus," she replied, using her wand to clean herself off, "I must admit I was surprised as well when Mr Potter contacted me this morning with his request, though I am honored that he thinks so highly of me," she said, flashing him a rare smile.
"I must admit, I hadn't thought of you using Minerva as your Secret-Keeper," said the headmaster sounding pleased with himself, the twinkle suddenly returning to his eye. "Do you mind if I ask why you chose her?"
"She isn't a target like Madam Bones, she isn't an auror, rushing off into danger like Tonks or Mad-Eye," he said, ticking off his points on his fingers, "she isn't the first person that others will expect like Remus, she can meet with other Order members or my friends to give them the secret without raising suspicions. And unlike certain other prospects, I actually trust her," he finished, glaring at the headmaster, giving him no doubt as to who didn't fit his last criteria.
Dumbledore scowled, but otherwise ignored Harry's thinly veiled insult, "Well Harry, I'm impressed, it seems like you've put a lot of thought into this. I'm sure we will be able to find a new meeting place soon for the Order, then we can let everyone know-"
"Oh there was one more reason," Harry said, smiling at the headmaster, "She agreed not to tell anyone without my permission."
"But Harry-" the headmaster started.
"No but's Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and I have already made the decision. I agreed to let her tell you the secret, under the condition that you will not attempt to talk, trick or force her into telling others."
Dumbledore opened his mouth to argue, but cut off as he took in the determined look from Harry, "If that is what it takes, I suppose I do not have a choice in the matter," he sighed, seeming to deflate before turning towards the door to lead the way outside. "Almost everything is ready, the last thing we require is to come up with the wording of the secret and for Minerva to focus on it while I recast the ward," he said as they assembled outside the front door, surrounding themselves and the house in Notice-Me-Not's.
"Why not just say Harry Potter lives at #12 Grimmauld Place?" asked Tonks.
"Because Nymphadora," Dumbledore explained as her hair turned a violent shade of red, "in a little over a month Mr Potter will not be living at Grimmauld Place, he will be living at the castle. For a stable Fidelius we must have a secret that will be true no matter where he is currently residing."
Harry racked his brain trying to think of a way to permanently hide his home, looking around as everyone else seemed to be doing the same thing. "I got it," said Tonks suddenly, moving forward to whisper in McGonagall's ear.
The Transfiguration professor listened for a moment before smiling and nodding, "I believe that will do nicely," she replied.
"Alright then," said Dumbledore, facing the house with his wand drawn, "now because we are just renewing the Fidelius Charm on this house, all the preparations have already been completed. The only thing that remains to do before casting the new charm is to bring down the old one. Harry, if you would," he finished, gesturing for Harry to bring down the current ward.
Harry stepped forward, "The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is no longer at #12 Grimmauld Place," he said, watching the house in front of him. Surprisingly, nothing seemed to change. There were no bangs, no flashes of light and no shockwaves of magic. "Did I do it right?" he asked.
"Yes Harry, the current Secret has been released," the headmaster said sadly, before turning to his deputy headmistress, "Are you ready Minerva? Remember, you must concentrate on the exact wording of the Secret to be successful." McGonagall nodded back at him and Dumbledore began chanting slowly. The incantation lasted several minutes while Harry waited impatiently, wondering how long it would be before he finally felt something. He looked around in confusion, wondering what they were doing standing on a random sidewalk in London.
"What's going on, why are we standing here?" asked Tonks, looking around interestedly. The rest of the group, with the exception of McGonagall seemed to be wondering the same thing as the took in their surroundings, looking around confused.
"It will all become clear in a moment Ms Tonks," she said as she quickly wrote something on a scrap of parchment before handing it to the metamorph. Tonks looked at the parchment in confusion for a moment, before a look of understanding passed over her face and she passed it to Remus.
Harry waited patiently for the parchment to make it's way through the group before it finally made it's way to him. He looked at it for a moment before smiling as he reread the short message, 'The Marauder's Den can be found at #12 Grimmauld Place.'
A/N - Responses to reviews
AlsoKnownAsMatt - The inactivity of the Order annoyed me as well, and I think it would have annoyed Harry even more as he has been fighting this war pretty much by himself since he was 11. The way I look at it, at this point he's realized how useless most of the Order is and decided he has no use for them. He doesn't have any plans to make his own army yet(and likely will never consciously decide to), but already has the basis of it, with Remus, Tonks, Hermione, Ron, Neville and the twins all firmly on his side.
Cateagle - Dumbledore fears being proactive for one reason. He can't win. Other than Harry, no one can, so as far as he is concerned getting into fights isn't worth it, especially seeing as he still thinks the Death Eaters can be redeemed. As far as Augusta is concerned, she won't do anything, at least for a while. While she has tremendous respect for him, she has even more for Dumbledore. She WILL however be one of the biggest supporters of Harry within the Order and try to convince Dumbledore to be more proactive.
The Defenestration of Fools - Remus doesn't need to be blackmailed, his loyalty is with Harry, though he does still respect Dumbledore.
AlsoKnownAsMatt (again seeing as I forgot to add AN before I posted) - Susan was only able to beat Harry because Tonks silenced him before the beginning of their duels to help him learn silent casting. The fact that he is able to match her after little more than a week of silent casting should show just how much more advanced he is.