Chapter 6: Order of the Phoenix Pt. 2
"Hang on!" interrupted George loudly.
Peri looked down at the table at him.
"How come they get their questions answered?" Fred asked angrily, startling Hallie as she lifted her head quickly from his shoulder.
"We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking thing!" said George.
"You're too young, you're not in the Order," said Fred, in a voice that mimicked Molly's. "You say Peri should be allowed to join and know almost being seventeen. We are seventeen, so we should be allowed to know and join then."
"It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing. That's your parents' decision. I won't let my children know, but Harry on the other hand —"
"It's not down to you to decide what's good for Harry!" Molly said sharply. She appeared dangerous. "You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?"
"Which bit?" Sirius asked politely, but he appeared ready to fight. His eyes drifted over to Peri then Cassie. Cassie appeared ready to fight as well.
"The bit about not telling Harry and Peri more than they need to know," Molly said, placing heavy emphasis on the last three words.
"I don't tend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly. As for Peri, that is Cass and Richard's decision…depending on how the trial goes in a few days then Snape's as well."
Cassie jumped to her feet, "HE WILL NOT WIN! HE PROVIDED NOTHING MORE THAN HER LIFE NOTHING MORE!"
Sirius swallowed looking at her, "Cass, it will be up to the courts. You have no proof he received the letters you sent. You left two years later, and most lose contact after graduation. This will be a fight but there's no way to truly prove he ignored her."
"Who's side are you on, Sirius?" Cassie snapped as Richard lowered her back into her chair.
"Your side. Always. But they need proof." He looked back at Molly, "But as they were the ones who saw Voldemort come back they have more of a right than most to —"
"They are not members of the Order! He is only fifteen and she is only sixteen and —"
" — and they have dealt with as much as most in the Order. And more than some —"
"No one denying what they've done! But they are still —"
"Not a child!" Sirius said impatiently. "Don't start, Cass." He spotted her in the corner of his eye trying to fight back.
"Not adults either," Molly argued back with color rising in her cheeks. "He's not James, Sirius! And she is not Cassie!"
"I'm clear who they are, thanks, Molly," Sirius said coldly.
"I'm not sure you are! Sometimes, the way you talk about him, it's as though you think you've got your best friend back! Or the way you talk about Peri you feel you have a younger Cassie back. A Cassie before children. A trapped Cassie. Who sacrificed herself to protect herself till she got pregnant. You couldn't protect her then since you were disowned from your family, but you can protect Peri if she is inside the Order."
"What's wrong with that?" Harry asked.
"What's wrong, Harry, is that you are not your father, however much you might look like him! Cassie, on the other hand, might look like her father but is very much like a younger version of her mother in personality."
"Really?" Peri asked.
"A little," Sirius answered. "You just think I'm an irresponsible godfather for both of them."
"I think Patrick was my godfather?" Peri asked Cassie.
Cassie sighed, "He was. But I still wanted someone to care for you, Hallie, and Holly if something happened to me and with them gone I left Sirius and Molly to be the guardians in the case of my death. But I married Richard making him guardian over all of you. Now if something happened to both of us then it would be between Sirius and Molly."
"You trust me then, to make me godfather and guardians over them."
Cassie looked at Sirius, "You are my oldest friend, so yes I trusted you then. Not sure if I trust your actions now as to what you think is alright for them. You protect your children but won't protect your godchildren."
Peri exchanged looks with Harry.
"You act rashly, Sirius. You always have. Which is why Dumbledore keeps having to remind you to stay home for your sake and —"
"We'll leave my instructions about me and my family from Dumbledore out of this if you please!"
"Arthur!" Molly rounded to her husband as Cassie looked at Richard. "Arthur, back me up!"
Arthur did not speak at once. He took off his glasses and cleaned them slowly on his robes, his eyes glanced down the table at Richard. No words were exchanged between the two, Richard sighed as he stood up. "Dumbledore and I have had words about this. He is aware the position has changed, Molly and Cassie. He accepts that they will have to be filled to a certain extent now that Harry has arrived. He was waiting for Harry to arrive before we shared the details with both of them because it will relate to them both."
"What!" Cassie said going back to standing.
"Personally," Remus spoke quietly, looking away from Sirius at last, as the mothers turned to him quickly. They seemed hopeful for someone to be on their side. "I think it better that they receive the facts — not all the facts, but the general picture — from us, rather than a garbled version from … others. Peri is Slytherin they will surely tell her information and she needs to know. Who knows what Harry will be told?
Remus' expression was mild, but Peri felt confident in knowing that he knew that some of the Extendable Ears had survived the purge.
"Well," Molly said with a deep breath as she searched the table for support from anyone other than Cassie. "Well…I can see we are being overruled, Cassie. I'll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Harry and Peri to know too much and speaking as someone who had their best interests at heart. This includes Peri's mother —"
"They are not your children," Sirius said quietly.
"Harry is as good as. Peri, I helped Cassie raise in the beginning. She is as good as my child, too. You worry about your children, parent them."
"My children are fine. They behave and are good kids. The best thing to come from the Black name…Noir though, but still."
Peri looked at Ida, she appeared like she was ready to speak her true feelings.
"It's been rather difficult for you to look after him while you've been locked up in Azkaban, hasn't it? Even Remus had to care for your children with Emilie. Worry about your children before you worry about a child you barely know."
Sirius started to rise from his chair, and Emilie placed her hand on his.
"Molly, you're not the only person at this table who cares about Harry," Remus said sharply. "Sirius, sit down. Emilie, control your fiance."
Molly's lower lip began to tremble. Sirius placed a hand atop Emilie's as he lowered himself slowly back into his chair, his face white.
The room was silent for a moment as everyone, mostly Molly, Cassie, and Sirius calmed down. Ida looked up and down the table, before speaking, "It would have been nice if you chose us first."
Sirius looked in her direction, "What do you mean, Ida?"
She looked at her hands as they played with a napkin, "You chose Harry over us. You chose him. We needed you. Your children needed you…wanted you. But you chose Harry. You have never picked us first. Always Harry."
"That is not true, Ida."
"Really? You missed the birth of Remy to fight in London."
"To protect you, your mother, and your brother."
She raised her head as she moved a dark, wavy piece of hair back. "Really? Because you escaped and went to Harry. You chose us last."
Sirius' eyes narrowed at his eldest, "You know I would do anything for you, Cressida."
"Mum, may I be excused?"
Emilie nodded. Ida stood up from the table.
"No!" Sirius released his hand from Emilie's. "No! Ida, come sit down!"
She left without a word back to him, "What was that about, Emilie? Moony?"
Remus and Emilie exchanged looks, "She loves her father and simply wants to be around you all the time. You were away for the majority of her life. She simply wants to be with you but she is seeing you only want Harry. You didn't even come back at Christmas when you escaped, you stayed away. Remus returned, but you didn't."
"I think we are going off course here —" Remus said. "We will discuss this part more privately later, us three with Remy and Ida. For now, though, I think Harry and Peri ought to be allowed a say in this. They are old enough to decide for themselves."
Harry looked at Peri, "We want to know what's been going on," they said together before looking back at everyone.
"I want to know what they want from me. What is going to happen to me?" Peri asked as she sucked in a breath. "Ever since we have returned to England there's been trouble and I am scared. They want to use me simply for breeding more Death Eaters as if I were some dog."
Everyone looked at her stunned, "What?" George said in disbelief.
"This can't be true?" Hallie said.
Cassie looked at her hands, "It is…they wanted it from me before. The generation of Death Eaters they have now are older and past their prime of creating the next generation. As of now, the few that remain who had children and would join are Crabbe, Goyle, my niece, Nott, and…Malfoy. Other than that, those back then who were old enough to have children and could didn't have children. I have Peri but she was not raised to end up becoming one, but the target is on her back to become one. To fill the spot I was supposed to do. The Dark Lord will not create his heirs himself so he picks a young girl of high power but will not fight in battle and a powerful young man who will fight to be the ones who will create heirs for him to live out his legacy. He wants to live forever, but at some point, he will get too old and will need a line of succession to carry it on. He has picked from what we hear from Severus that He wants Peri and Draco."
Peri nodded as she sat there remaining quiet as she had been most of the evening.
"Very well," Molly said with her voice cracking. "Ginny — Ron — Hermione — Fred — George — Hallie — Holly — Remy — Mallory — Alicia — I want you out of this kitchen, now."
This started an uproar.
"We're of age!" Fred and George bellowed together.
"If Harry's allowed, why can't I?"
"Mum, I want to!" wailed Ginny.
Alicia bounced in her seat, "Mum! Dad! Can I stay?"
"I rather go sew," Hallie said, "So I am happy to leave. Fred, you are not joining. George, go ahead."
"Molly. Hallie, you two can't stop Fred and George," said Arthur wearily. "They are of age —"
"They're still at school —" Molly attempted to argue.
"I rather like having my boyfriend alive," Hallie said. "And would love to keep it that way."
"But they're legally adults now," Arthur said in the same tired voice.
Molly was scarlet in the face with Hallie not enjoying this feeling of not getting her way.
"I — oh, all right then, Fred and George can stay, but Ron —"
"Harry and Peri'll tell the rest of us!" Ron said hotly. "Won't — won't you?" he added uncertainly as he met Harry's eyes.
"Of course, we will," Peri said. "Although depending on the information I may not share with anyone younger than your age so Remy, Alicia, and Mallory I may not share."
"We will just get the Extendable Ears then!" Alicia said.
"Licia!" Fred and George snapped at her.
"Oops!"
"You still have more of those bloody Ears?" Molly yelled.
The twins shook their heads, "No…no…you got rid of them, Mum. She's talking nonsense."
"Ginny. Alicia. Mallory. Remy — BED!"
Sirius spoke up, "No…Remy. Stay. Ginny, ask Ida if she would please come to join us. She should know."
"You sure?" Emilie and Remus asked.
He nodded as the others left the room but not quietly. This woke Sirius' mother's portrait. Remus ran out of the room to make her quiet.
After they were gone, the room turned to silence until Sirius asked them what they would like to know.
"Where's Voldemort? What's he doing? I've been trying to watch the Muggle news and there hasn't been anything that looks like him yet, no funny deaths or anything —"
"That's because there haven't been any suspicious deaths yet, not as far as we know, anyway…and we know quite a lot."
Remus returned and took his seat with Ida behind him, Harry stood up moving so she could sit beside her father. He took a different chair, and Remus started talking as Harry got himself resettled, "More than he thinks we do anyway."
"How come he's stopped killing people?"
"Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself at the moment. It would be dangerous for him. His comeback didn't come off quite the way he wanted it to, you see. He messed it up."
Remus gave a satisfied smile, and Peri noticed Richard had that same smile. "Or rather, you two messed it up for him."
"How?" Peri asked.
"Harry was not supposed to survive and you were supposed to join him willingly…"
Sirius nodded, "Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But Harry survived to bear as witness and Peri you escaped capture."
"And the very last person he wanted to be altered to his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore…we think Richard, too but that one we are a little foggy on. Harry, you made sure Dumbledore knew and Peri made sure Richard knew."
"How has that helped?" Harry asked.
"Are you kidding?" Bill said incredulously. "Dumbledore was the only one You-Know-Who was ever scared of! As for Richard, he is more powerful than he leads on, he is a living descendent of Merlin."
"Which honestly is not a big deal, my father never even pushed that since he developed a name for himself with real estate."
Sirius nodded to agree with Bill, "Thanks to both of you, Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix about an hour after Voldemort's return. Richard was a little slower, but he was able to get word to his contacts around the world."
"So what's the Order been doing?" Peri asked.
"Working hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans."
"How d'you know what his plans are?" Harry asked.
"Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea," Lupin said. "And Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate."
"So what does Dumbledore reckon he's planning?" Peri asked.
"Well, firstly, he wants to build up his army again. That is where you were supposed to come into play, Peri. In the old days, he had huge numbers at his command; witches and wizards he's bullied or bewitched into following him, his faithful Death Eaters, and a great variety of Dark creatures. Giants are one of the many groups he will be after. He's certainly not going to try and take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters."
"So you're trying to stop him from getting more followers?" Harry asked.
"We're doing our best," said Remus. "But he is hoping to get Peri. It is another reason why the trial is in a few days Severus cannot get any custody of Peri. If he has any You-Know-Who will have better access to her, even if Severus is on our side. He won't be able to stop her from being forced into You-Know-Who's control."
Peri swallowed, "We have to win…"
"And we will," Cassie assured her. "I got pregnant with you to escape. That was my reasoning for having you, I don't regret having you. I love you but that was my intention then. I wanted out, but he wants children from you so I don't encourage getting pregnant as a teen." She threw glances down the table at Fred and Hallie before looking back at her daughter.
Fred and Hallie rolled their eyes.
"How are you planning to stop him?"
"The main thing is to try and convince as many people that He has returned, put their guard up," Richard said. "It has been quite tricky actually."
"Why?"
"Because the Ministry's attitude and the rest of the world are not concerned," Tonks said.
Richard nodded, "You both saw Fudge are You-Know-Who come back. Well, he hasn't shifted his position at all. He's refusing to believe it's happened."
"But why?" asked Harry desperately. "Why's he being so stupid If you and Dumbledore —"
"Ah, well, you've put your finger on the problem," Arthur said with a wry smile. "Dumbledore. Richard, he does not see as a threat, although the beloved worldwide by many he is hoping they will ignore Richard by thinking he simply wants to protect Peri."
"As for Dumbledore," Tonks began. "Fudge is frighted of him, you see."
"Frightened of Dumbledore?" Peri asked rather confused.
"Frightened of what he's up to," Arthur answered. "You see, Fudge thinks Dumbledore is plotting to overthrow him. He thinks Dumbledore wants to be Minister of Magic…or appoint Richard to be."
"But Dumbledore doesn't want —" Harry began.
"And Papa is American. He's can't become Minister of Magic."
"Of course, Dumbledore doesn't," Richard said. "And we seem to think with my bloodline I could be Minister or President of any wizarding country since my ancestor, Merlin, is one the most respected wizards around the world."
Cassie nodded, "Dumbledore has never wanted the Minister's job, even though many have tried to get him to take it since Millicent Bagnold retired. Fudge came to power instead, but he's never quite forgotten how much popular support Dumbledore. Though he never applied for the job, because like Richard, people respect him and want him for the job."
Remus agreed with a nod, "Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore's much cleverer than he is. Richard is as well, more than he leads on —"
"I don't like to brag, Remus. What good does it do? I don't need anything in life I have my wife and children, I am set."
Richard looked at Cassie with a gentle smile, "And I want the same," Cassie said softly as she placed a gentle kiss on her husband's lips.
"As I was saying," Remus continued. "Dumbledore is a much more powerful wizard, and at the beginning of Fudge's Ministry days he was forever asking Dumbledore for help and advice, but it seems that he's become fond of power now, and much more confident. He loves being Minister of Magic, and he's managed to convince himself that he's the clever one and Dumbledore's simply stirring up trouble for the sake of it."
"How can he think that?" Harry barked. "How can he think Dumbledore would just make it all up — that we'd make it all up?"
"Because accepting that Voldemort's back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn't had to cope with nearly fourteen years," Sirius said bitterly. Emilie took his hand once more, this seemed to calm her as he gave her a weak smile and released a slow breath. "Fudge just can't bring himself to face it. It's so much more comfortable to convince himself that Dumbledore and Richard's lying to destabilize him."
"You see the problem," Remus started. "While the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort, it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they don't want to believe it in the first place. What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumormongering, so most of the Wizarding community are completely unaware anything's happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperius Curse."
"But you're telling people, right?" Peri asked the adults as she looked at them.
Hallie spoke up with fear in her voice, "You're letting people know he's back?"
The adults all smiled humorlessly.
"Well, as everyone thinks I'm a mad mass murdered and the Ministry's put a ten-thousand-Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?" said Sirius. "I couldn't even go to Diagon Alley to help my children pick out their things for school. Although Remy is wearing my old Gryffindor uniform."
"GO GRYFFINDOR!" Remy cheered.
Sirius laughed ruffling his son's dark curls.
"And I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community. It's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf," Remus said. "But I was able to go to Diagon Alley with Emilie, Remy, and Ida."
"And people say the French are mean," Emilie spoke up. This was rare for her, she was typically a quiet person. "They did not want to help us because of my association with Sirius and Remus." She huffed, "But Richard and Cassie were there to get us assistance."
"Tonks and Arthur would lose their jobs at the Ministry if they started shooting their mouths off," Richard said.
"What about you and Cassie?" Harry asked. "You both work in the Ministry."
"They do," Sirius said. "But they are high in society that it protects them from being fired. They could speak their minds and it wouldn't cost their jobs, but they know there would be an uproar. They could lose their place in society, and we need their ears in those groups as most are targets for becoming Death Eaters. If they did lose their jobs there would be an uproar from all over because the Banks family is highly respected worldwide. We need spies inside the Ministry because you can bet Voldemort will have them."
"And that he does," Cassie said. "But the spies he does have they know I am on the other side never theirs."
"We've managed to convince a couple of people though," Arthur said. "Tonks here, for one — she's too young to have been in the Order of the Phoenix last time, and having Aurors on our side is a huge advantage — Kingsley Shacklebolt's been a real asset. He's in charge of the hunt for Sirius, so he's been feeding the Ministry information that he is in Tibet."
"That was how we were able to sneak me back and forth easily from France, including in France. Once I got here though I needed to lay low."
"But if none of you's putting the news out that Voldemort's back —" Harry began.
"Who said none of us was putting the news out?" Sirius asked. "Why d'you think Dumbledore's in such trouble?"
"What d'you mean?" Harry and Peri asked.
"They're trying to discredit him," Remus said. "Didn't you see the Daily Prophet last week, Harry? They reported that he'd been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards because he was getting old and losing his grip, but it's not true, he was voted out by Ministry wizards after he made a speech announcing Voldemort's return. They've demoted him from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot — that's the Wizard High Court — and they're talking about taking away his Order of Merlin, First Class, too. Thankfully with Richard being in charge of who receives the Order of Merlin now, he is stopping it or trying to."
"But Dumbledore says he doesn't care what they do as long as they don't take him off the Chocolate Frog cards," Bill laughed.
"It is no laughing matter," Arthur said shortly. "If he carries on defying the Ministry like this, he could end up in Azkaban and the last thing we want is Dumbledore locked up. They would never lock up Richard, but they could…"
The room went silent as Cassie gave a shuddering breath.
"What? What could happen?" Harry asked.
Richard cleared his throat, "Kill me." His green eyes moved to Peri, "And they will have full access to the piece they want most right now."
"While You-Know-Who knows Dumbledore and Richard are out there and is wise to what he's up to, he's going to go cautiously for a while," Arthur continued. "If they are both out of the way — well, You-Know-Who will have a clear field for the pieces he wants."
"But what if Voldemort's trying to recruit more Death Eaters, it's bound to get out that he's come back isn't it?" asked Harry desperately.
"Voldemort doesn't march up to people's houses and bang on their front doors, Harry," Sirius said. His eyes moved from Harry to Peri, "He tricks, jinxes, and blackmails them. He's well-practiced at operating in secrecy." His eyes returned to Harry, "In any case gathering followers is only one thing he's interested in, he's got other plans too, plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed, and he's concentrating on them at the moment."
"He needs me," Peri croaked. "With Richard gone and I am his oldest heir," she swallowed. "The communities will turn to me."
"Exactly," Sirius said. "We need to ensure both of you are protected. With you Peri, we need to try and make sure Snape never gets custody of you. This is something he doesn't understand. He wants you because you are his child but Voldemort will have easier access to you. If your mum and papa win then Richard has a target on his back. Neither option is ideal, but Richard rather protects you and risks his life to do so."
She shook her head, "No…no…there needs to be another option."
"Unfortunately we haven't found one," Richard said. "I am not going anywhere and Dumbledore has assured all of us are safe."
Cassie scoffed at this, "He said the same thing when Ann learned she was expecting and then promised all of us they would be safe. He promised Lily and James their protection. Now where are all of them?"
"Then I want to —
"No."
It was not Cassie or Richard to speak but George. Peri turned her head down the table.
"What?"
"No. We are not losing you. You are not fighting this, Peri. Let us fight it for you."
She was stunned with no words to say.
"Other than Peri —" Harry broke the conversation to begin down a different route. "What is he searching for? Is it some kind of secret weapon?"
Remus, Sirius, and Richard all exchanged looks of the most fleeting of looks before Sirius answered, "Stuff he can only get by stealth."
This puzzled Peri and it seemed to puzzle Harry too, "Like a secret weapon?"
"Sort of. Something he didn't have last time and that isn't the heirs he wants from Peri."
"He wants something he didn't have last time? When he was powerful before?"
"Yes."
"Like what kind of weapon? Something worse than the Avada Kedavra."
"That's enough," Molly spoke up from the shadows beside the door. Peri never noticed her return after taking the others upstairs. Her arms were crossed and she appeared furious.
"I want you in bed, now. All of you," she added looking at the other end of the table away from Peri, Harry, Remy, and Ida.
"You can't boss us —" Fred began.
"Watch me. And in your bed, don't be sneaking down to Hallie's room," snarled Molly.
Fred gasped, "I do not."
"I am not stupid, Frederick."
Fred slumped in his chair as he continued to hold Hallie's hand. Molly looked down the table toward Sirius, she was trembling. "You've given them plenty of information. Any more and you might as well induct them into the Order straightaway. Which it seems Peri wants that."
"Why not?" Harry asked quickly. "I'll join, I want to join, I want to fight —"
"So do I!" Peri announced. "If everyone is fighting for my safety I should be allowed to fight for my safety and protection."
"No."
It was not Richard, Cassie, George, or Molly this time but Remus to speak up.
"The Order is comprised only of overage wizards," he said. "Wixard who have left school," he added, as Fred and George opened their mouths. "There are dangers involved of which you can have no idea, any of you…I think Cassie and Molly are right, Sirius. We've said enough."
Sirius gave a half-shrug but did not argue. Molly beckoned to her sons and Hermione. Cassie stood up slowly with them as she ushered Hallie, Holly, and Peri out. Everyone left one by one with Harry and Peri standing as well to leave noticing their defeat.
Ida and Remy started to stand, but Sirius asked to stay. The rest of the adults left the kitchen except Remus to give the Black/Noir family privacy.