Chapter 14 - Rebuilding the Order
Harry woke up in a hospital bed to find Hermione asleep in the chair next to him. There was a faint layer of light sliding through the gaps in the blinds in the window opposite Harry's bed, illuminating the large stack of letters on the table at the far end of Harry's bed. However, it was the newspaper that had fallen from Hermione's hand onto the floor that caught Harry's eye. Still a bit groggy, he reached down over the side and picked it up, and found there were actually several copies of the Daily Prophet on the floor underneath. Pulling on his glasses and looking at the dates, Harry realised that he must have been unconscious for several days. Looking at the headline of the earliest one, Harry felt grief well up inside him as the last thing he could remember swam into his mind.
"The end of an era: Albus Dumbledore killed in battle at Hogwarts." Beneath it was the subtitle: "Harry Potter in critical condition in St. Mungos."
Harry's mind raced over the last thing he could remember: chasing Andromidus from the grounds, and hearing a crack as he apparated out of Hogwarts. Numbly registering again that this was impossible, he pondered over the subtitle. Why was he in critical condition? There had been no spell from Andromidus' wand before he apparated out of the grounds, but then how had there been that much pain, enough to force him into an unconscious heap on the floor?
And who had the mysterious figure been? Because, through the pain that was becoming ever more palpable, Harry's certainty of the existence of a second figure was rising also. Who else could have hit him with that spell? No one from behind, the pain was in his head and throbbing chest, and not from Andromidus. The spell had come from ahead, from a small, shadowy figure barely discernable against the moonlit forest that had marked the end of Harry's field of vision. Harry could not remember anything else beyond this and, just as the thoughts about Dumbledore returned, he dropped the paper onto the floor, and Hermione awoke next to him.
"Oh, Harry!" she exclaimed, her tired face, scarred by grief and worry, lighting up as she leapt up and gave Harry a tight hug, which she loosened as Harry gave a twinge of discomfort. "Oh you're okay!"
"Just about," Harry said wearily, adjusting his pillow so he could sit upright, "what time is it? My watch seems to have been broken."
Hermione yawned and craned her neck to look at the clock in the hallway. "Just past six o'clock in the morning. You would have to wake up at dawn wouldn't you?" She gave Harry a small smile. "Shall I go and get everyone else? Some are at Godric's Hollow and some are in the Leaky Cauldron. Hagrid couldn't fit into any of the beds in your house." Her smile broadened slightly, but Harry was frowning.
"Why isn't he at Hogwarts?" he asked, and by the look on Hermione's face, he found that he knew already. "It's been closed, hasn't it?"
Hermione nodded, her face going suddenly slightly pale. "I think it's only temporary, the Aurors are going over the whole place, trying to ensure that there are no holes in the protection of the school."
"And to find out how he -" Harry paused for a moment, before collecting himself again, " how Andromidus escaped." Hermione nodded, the worry lines etching themselves deeper into her head. "He had help. There was someone else," Harry continued, and Hermione blanched.
"Someone else? But we caught everyone else!" Hermione's face darkened. "Unless Regalus escaped also?"
Harry shook his head vehemently. "Absolutely not. I saw – I saw him die. He drowned. I couldn't save him."
"He was trying to kill you Harry," Hermione reminded him gently, before drawing something out of her pocket and tapping it lightly with her wand, mumbling something as she did.
"What are you doing?" said Harry, sitting himself up straighter on his bed. Hermione held up a coin.
"It's from the D.A.," she explained, tapping the coin once more before placing it back in her pocket, "so that when they wake up they'll know." A tired and small smile briefly flitted across Harry's face, while Hermione filled Harry in as to what had been going on in his absence.
"Well, obviously the wizarding world is terrified," Hermione started, casually tapping the window with her wand to let a pleasant draft creep into the room, "but there has been no sign of Andromidus or any other Death Eaters since that day. We caught all the rest that were there, but we know from you and Neville that there were quite a few more than those that showed up at Hogwarts."
"I wonder why they didn't bring all of them..." Harry mused aloud, asking himself more than anyone else. "Maybe they could only get a certain number in?"
"I had that thought too," Hermione answered, nodding, "as there seems to be no indication that they broke through the charms at all! And yet, obviously, they found a way. They found a way around Dumbledore's personal protection..." She trailed off and the enormity of what had happened struck Harry again: not only was Dumbledore dead, but he had been overpowered. Harry knew that his own magic had been enhanced by his visit into the Golden Room and by Dumbledore's own "gift" of Occlumancy and Legilimancy, but there was no match for raw talent. Andromidus had obviously had both in huge quantities. Harry's thoughts were interrupted however, as the doors nearly burst off its hinges as Hagrid barged in.
"Harry!" Hagrid yelled, running forward and pulling Harry into one of his now legendary painful embraces.
"Morning Hagrid!" Harry gasped through Hagrid's suffocating grip, until eventually Hagrid drew back. "Are you okay?"
"Better than you by the looks of it," Hagrid said with a broad grin on his face, a smile which slid away when he spotted the newspapers by Harry's bedside. Hermione quickly got to her feet and stood in the way under the pretence of giving Hagrid a fleeting hug.
"The rest'll be on their way soon I 'spect," Hagrid continued, unusually managing to get a grip on himself before getting too emotional. "I'll get out o' yer hair." With a small sad smile, Hagrid departed, leaving Hermione and Harry to share pensieve glances.
*
Whilst Harry's recovery rejuvenated everyone, Ron and Ginny particularly, the atmosphere was subdued over the next few days. Dumbledore's funeral took place at Hogwarts two days after Harry recovered. Harry was sat at the front in a wheelchair, the rest of the Order and the Hogwarts teachers alongside him, with the rest of the school and seemingly half the wizarding populace gathered further back. The ceremony was conducted by an unfamiliar wizard who looked as aged as Dumbledore, a man who Harry eventually discovered to be Nicholas Flamel. There were speeches by Professor McGonagall and Mr Weasley, and pupils were offered the chance to lay wreathes and personal tributes beside the grave stone. There was to be no tomb for Albus Dumbledore; the will of Dumbledore left all he had to the school, and made only the request that he be laid to rest within the Hogwarts grounds.
Harry himself had been asked whether he wanted to speak, but he had known that he would not have any words to say. Dumbledore had been his mentor, a man who had stuck by him through all his troubles, who had both grieved and celebrated with him. He had been as close to a father as he could have hoped for: whilst Sirius had emboldened Harry and Mr Weasley had looked after him, Dumbledore had guided and taught Harry in a way that no other wizard had done. And now he was gone.
Andromidus had not been heard from since the attack on Hogwarts, and Harry was both burning with vengeful fury and petrifying horror. It had taken all his strength and the aid of others to defeat Voldemort, but Andromidus seemed to be something more. There was the mystique of the unknown about him; Harry had had no chance to prepare or time to understand his new opponent, or his past.
Then there was the Order, and Brian Hinks. There had not been a meeting of the Order since Dumbledore's death, (although Mad-Eye had made it clear that he wished to hold one soon), and Harry hadn't had a moment to check upon the progress of the child, or indeed on who was now keeping watch over him. The remembrance of those malicious eyes had once again begun to disturb him, and Harry knew that he could not postpone his meeting indefinitely.
*
The first meeting of the Order took place the day after the funeral. The entire Order was in attendance except for Mrs Weasley, who was watching over Brian Hinks for the day. One by one the Order arrived solemnly into the headmaster's office at Hogwarts. There was, as of yet, no sign of a portrait of Dumbledore, nor did Harry know if and when one would appear. Finally, with the Weasleys (save for Mrs Weasley), Hermione, Hagrid, Minerva McGonagall, Snape, Charlie, Aaron, Lucy and Harry present, Mad-Eye Moody cleared his throat.
"I know this is a difficult moment, but we do not have the luxury of time," he growled, his business-like manner juxtaposing against the sombreness that everyone else was feeling. "Andromidus is on the loose, and gathering forces to him again. We believe that his aim is to capture the child, Brian, and somehow resurrect Voldemort. Our priority, therefore, is to protect the child, and then to go after Andromidus."
"Where are Brian and his mother now?" asked Aaron.
"Molly's looking after them in a safe house near Coventry," Moody replied, both his eyes looking at Aaron, "but I'm not convinced that they should stay there."
"Would you rather we moved them constantly, Alastor?" Snape asked, lazily raising an eyebrow, "Or do you not think that ensuring that they are in one, safe and secure location would be sensible?"
"I just think we need to be vigilant," Moody growled, his magical eye swivelling around to look at Snape. "As was shown with the undetected entry into Hogwarts he has somehow found a way to pierce our outer defences, and I don't think it'd hurt to ensure he can never get a hold on anything for too long."
"I'm with Alastor," Mr Weasley agreed with a small nod and stretch. "I'll go and see Molly now and we'll look at moving him in a couple of hours to the Burrow, before finding somewhere new." He turned and, with a brief nod at the group in general, left the room.
"Thanks Arthur," Moody grunted as he left, before turning his attention back to the rest of the group. "What's the situation going to be here?" His eyes moved from Hermione, to Harry, to Hagrid, to Snape and then finally to Minerva McGonagall.
"I think we need to look through all the defences again," Harry answered quickly. "I know the Aurors are already going over them to find how they got in, I think we should be looking at new ways to prevent others from finding ways in."
"I agree," said Minerva briskly, "and I am happy to rejoin the Hogwarts staff temporarily should there be a need for me as an acting headmistress." Moody glanced at Snape, who gave a very small nod.
"When would Hogwarts reopen then?" Ron asked Moody, who seemed to have been delegated as the new leader of the Order, despite Mr Weasley's status as Minister for Magic. Moody paused.
"Once the defences have been rechecked and re-enforced then I think we should be able to let the kids back," he answered eventually. "Any questions?"
"I have one," Ginny asked, her voice unusually quiet sounding, as if she wasn't quite sure whether she should be asking this question at all. "Err.... when – when will Professor Dumbledore's portrait appear?"
Harry felt a pang in his stomach and there were several small gasps from around the room at the mention of Dumbledore's name. Her question was at Moody, who looked over at Minerva. "Ahem – it is, usually, a week after a new head-teacher has been found and officially inducted. We shall just have to see."
"So it isn't like the emberic paint at Godric's Hollow?" Harry inquired, confused.
"I believe it is the same magic," Minerva answered, frowning as if struggling to remember, "but it is not magic conjured by any individual witch of wizard. No one exactly knows how, but Al – Professor Dumbledore believed that it was the school itself that created the painting. No one, not even those in the paintings here, has seen or can even remember the arrival of a new painting."
After a few moments of silence, Moody ended the meeting. Harry walked Ginny back up to Gryffindor tower, although neither said much, and, as he kissed her goodbye at the portrait of the fat lady, Harry wondered how he would feel when he saw the headmaster's portrait.