Chapter 2
Sirius and the others were in a heated discussion of what they were going to do. They had just learned that Voldemort was planning on getting his hands on the prophecy. It was a weapon he didn't have the first time.
"We need to guard it! If Voldemort gets his hands on that prophecy, we're all dead and harry has no hope!" Sirius yelled.
"Yes, Sirius we understand that, but there will be death eaters there as well. The ministry is crawling with them. It will not be an easy task," Arthur responded.
"Dumbledore, what do you think?" Sirius asked.
"I agree with Sirius. We must protect the prophecy at all costs. There should be at least one member of the Order to guard the prophecy each night." Dumbledore suggested his fingertips folded to his lips as he surveyed the others sitting at the table.
There was a distant click of the front door closing.
"Mr. Potter has arrived," Dumbledore said.
Molly left the meeting room and went to greet everyone.
"Harry, dear, how are you?" Sirius heard Molly ask.
"I'm all right," Harry answered.
"We're just finishing up, so just go wait upstairs. You and Ron will be sharing a room; he should be in there now," Molly pushed Harry toward the stairs.
Everyone from the Advance Guard entered the room. Remus patted Sirius' shoulder.
"Everything went fine other than Mundungus ducking out when things got dicey," Remus said quietly to him. Sirius looked up at Remus and gave him a look of concern. "Nothing the rest of us couldn't handle," Remus squeezed his friend's shoulder before taking his seat.
"Well, now that everyone is here and Mr. Potter is safe, let us continue this meeting," Dumbledore said commanding everyone's attention.
"Now, to recap," Dumbledore began. "Sirius has suggested that we station members of the Order in the Department of Mysteries to guard the prophecy. I have agreed with this idea, and starting immediately, one member of the Order will be guarding it tonight."
"I will take the first watch, Dumbledore," Kingsley said standing up.
"Ah, yes, thank you Kingsley," Dumbledore answered.
"I shall take the watch tomorrow night," Emmeline Vance said.
"Very good," Dumbledore said nodding his head toward her.
"I'll take the next watch," Mad-Eye Moody said gruffly from the back of the room.
"Well, then, that's far enough in advance, I think," Dumbledore said.
Just as Dumbledore was about to adjourn the meeting, the Order could hear furious yelling from the upstairs bedroom.
"SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN ANY OF THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL! YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE, HAVEN'T YOU? YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGTHER! ME, I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS' FOR A MONTH! AND I'VE HANDLED MAORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT—WHO SAVED THE SORCERER'S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS?"
Sirius and Remus sighed; they had been wondering if Harry would react that way. Now Sirius was regretting telling Ron and Hermione that Harry would forgive them so easily.
"WHO HAD TO GET PAST DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME!"
"I believe-" Dumbledore was cut off by more yelling.
"BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?"
They didn't hear what Ron or Hermione said to that, but whatever it was encouraged Harry to yell some more.
"CAN'T'VE WANTED TO THAT MUCH, CAN YOU, OR YOU'D HAVE SENT ME AN OWL, BUT DUMBLEDORE MADE YOU SWEAR—"
"FOUR WEEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK IN PRIVET DRIVE, NICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON—"
"I SUPPOSE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU, ALL HOLED UP HERE TOGETHER—"
"Trust me, Harry, they haven't," Sirius said grimly to himself.
The Order sat for a few moments to make sure they wouldn't be interrupted with anymore yelling.
"Well, it seems we are fine to continue, since Mr. Potter has calmed down," Dumbledore announced.
"Harry seemed pretty angry," Charlie Weasley commented.
"Well, I certainly would be if it were me," Bill answered his brother.
"You have no idea how it feels to be locked up somewhere with no one to talk to," Sirius answered.
"Keep it to yourself, Black," Severus Snape answered shrewdly.
"Shut it, Snivellus!" Sirius called across the table.
"Sirius, calm yourself," Remus ordered. "We need to finish this meeting."
"Yes, thank you, Remus," Dumbledore answered. "So, there is to be a guard, someone from the Order, stationed in the Department of Mysteries every night. Are there any questions?"
"What do we say if any of are caught there? Nearly none of us have permission to be in that department," Bill Weasley asked.
"That is when you must think on your feet, Mr. Weasley. Do your best to not get caught, but if you do, contact me or anyone else from the Order as soon as possible," Dumbledore said. "Is that understood to everyone?"
Everyone nodded and said simple phrases of acknowledgement. Dumbledore stood up.
"If we are all in agreement of this plan, then this meeting is adjourned." There was no argument. "Then, I will be seeing you all at the next meeting in three days' time."
Everyone in the room stood and the door opened. The meeting was finished and many of the members of the Order had other matters to attend to. Kingsley left almost immediately for his shift of guarding the prophecy. Dumbledore and Snape left quickly, too, as did many others from the Order. Remus and Sirius stayed in the meeting room with the Weasley boys and Mundungus Fletcher.
"I'll just go tell the children that it's time for dinner," Mrs. Weasley said standing and leaving the room.
Once Mrs. Weasley left the room, Sirius let out a sigh and his shoulders slumped.
"We should have gone to get Harry sooner," Sirius commented.
"You know that wasn't possible, Sirius," Remus told him.
"I'm going to kill Mundungus," Sirius muttered.
They could hear Mrs. Weasley and the children coming down the stairs. There was a loud crash in the hallway followed by furious screaming and apologies from Tonks. Sirius' mother's portrait was woken up by the crash.
"Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers—"
Sirius had finally had enough of the foul woman screaming. He ran toward the painting and tried to prize the curtain closed on her. She wouldn't stop screaming.
"Shut up you old hag, shut UP!" Sirius roared trying harder to close the curtain.
"Yoooou!" she howled, her eyes popping at the sight of him. Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh!"
It was already enough that Sirius had grown up under the care of this awful woman; he didn't want to be taunted and screamed at now that she was dead, too!
"I said—Shut—UP!" Sirius roared, and with a stupendous effort he and Remus managed to force the curtains closed. Sirius' mother stopped screaming.
Panting slightly, Sirius pushed his long hair out of his eyes and turned to face Harry.
"Hello, Harry," he said grimly, "I see you've met my mother."
"Your—?" Harry asked confused.
Sirius cut him off. "My dear old mum, yeah. We've been trying to get her down for a month but we think she put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of the canvas. Let's get downstairs, quick, before they all wake up again."
Sirius entered the kitchen with Harry right on his heels. He noticed Mundungus sitting at the table; he looked to be asleep. Sirius glared in his general direction, thinking about throttling the coward. He sighed and sat down at the table with Harry, enjoying the company he had been longing for with his godson.
The rest of the night went by in a rush; Fred and George constantly apparated causing Molly to rant, Harry was quieter than usual, which scared Sirius. Harry was thinking, too much. Then Sirius asked Harry if there was anything he wanted to know. The boy immediately asked about the Order of the Phoenix and what Voldemort was up to. Molly didn't like that at all, but Arthur, thankfully, brought Molly down to size. So, Sirius shared as much as he thought should be shared with his godson.
But when Harry asked about what kind of weapon Voldemort was trying to get his hands on, Molly saw that that was quite enough. She sent them all to bed and all of the 'kids' stood up and filed up the stairs. Sirius said good night to Harry, giving him a quick hug and telling him not to let anything in the dark house scare him or convince him of anything that wasn't true.
When the children were in bed, Sirius stood from the table and extinguished all of the lamps on the first floor. He climbed the stairs and opened the door to the large bedroom where Buckbeak was being kept and shut the door.
Sirius sighed, "How much easier this would be if James and Lily were still here." He changed into his night clothes and slipped into bed.