I will be busy tomorrow and so thought that it would be better to upload the chapter earlier instead of later...

Harry looked around at the kitchen of Number 12 Grimmauld Place, contemplating the past few hours.

The day so far had been eventful, but not as eventful as what had happened to him two nights back at the Department of Mysteries.

He was happy that he had the chance to meet Sirius one final time after losing him. However, he had mixed feelings about meeting his parents. While he would cherish the one-of-a-kind opportunity to meet his deceased parents properly, he really did not know what to think about his parents feeding him a piece of Voldemort's soul and only revealing that fact to him right at the end after he had gaily devoured it. Sure, they had given some guff about how it was all metaphorical, but it was the principle of the thing!

Suffice to say, he was off pork for the moment.

Dumbledore did speculate about the ramifications of Harry consuming a piece of soul, but Harry wasn't too worried. As he told the headmaster, his mother had apparently "cleaned" the meat of all the "bad parts" before … feeding it to him.

On second thoughts, he was off pork indefinitely. Possibly for the rest of his life.

Regardless, he had not felt different nor had he noticed anything different after that encounter.

He still could speak Parseltongue. Although, he wasn't sure if that was an inherited gift or something that Voldemort had bestowed upon him.

But the day wasn't over yet. Dumbledore mentioned (quite ominously in Harry's opinion) that there was some news he had to share with Harry.

He had not seen fit to tell Harry exactly what it was, other than that it was a recent discovery somehow involving Harry. It also was something that involved the Order as well.

And so, Harry was whisked off to Grimmauld Place where the first thing they did upon arriving was securing the Locket that Regulus Black had stolen from Voldemort. Kreacher had tried to resist initially, but when the elf found out that they intended on destroying it, he changed his tune entirely.

In fact, Kreacher seemed to have become an entirely different person as he flitted around the house cleaning at a very invigorated pace. Harry wagered that the elf was on the way to surpassing their combined efforts over the summer.

And it wasn't even time for the meeting yet.

'Harry, dear!'

The sound of Mrs Weasley's voice bought Harry out of his reverie. 'Mrs Weasley,' he said standing up.

Ron's mother enveloped him in a hug. 'Look how tall you've grown,' she said looking up at him. 'You are as bad as Ron. Why, I think you'll be surpassing him soon!'

'I doubt that, Mrs Weasley,' Harry said with a smile.

'How are you doing, dear,' Mrs Weasley said, ushering him back down on his seat and sitting across him. She held his hand sympathetically.

'I am fine,' Harry said sincerely.

'Are you sure, dear?' Mrs Weasley said, looking at him searchingly.

'I mean … I – I miss him and everything, but I doubt he'd have wanted me to mope around missing him too much.'

She smiled sadly at him, reminding Harry that she herself had lost family in the first war. 'That is a lovely sentiment, dear.' She then bustled over to the kitchen countertop, waving her wand at the various utensils. 'So what brings you here, Harry?'

Harry pretended not to hear the tremor in her voice as he answered as steadily as he could. 'Well, this house now belongs to me, so professor Dumbledore wanted to ensure that there weren't any enchantments that would get in the way of me inheriting it. Also, he said he had some business concerning me.'

Mrs Weasley hummed noncommittally. 'And how is that son of mine doing? He barely writes anymore…'

'Ron woke up this afternoon. Madam Pomfrey says he should be out in a few days.' Harry paused, not knowing how to say what he felt.

Mrs Weasley, however, seemed to have an idea about what he was thinking. 'That was a series of very unfortunate events. We all did our best. Blame really can't be laid squarely upon anyone. Well, except You-Know-Who and his followers.' She put a plate of sandwiches in front of Harry and smiled at him kindly. 'While I wish you kids had made better choices, I know that reality rarely adheres to a mother's wishes. All I can do is be grateful that all of you are safe, Harry. Even though you … well…'

Their moment was interrupted by the kitchen door opening and Order members piling in. Mr Weasley and Bill entered together, exchanging greetings with Harry.

'Goodness, is it time for the meeting?' Mrs Weasley said, flustered. 'I think you should go now, Harry.'

'Actually, Molly,' Kingsley said from the doorway. 'Albus has informed me that Harry's presence is required for this meeting.'

Mrs Weasley looked a little surprised, but eventually shrugged and sat down next to her husband.

'Hey, Harry!' Fred said as he and George entered the room and sat down opposite Mr Weasley. 'Are you a part of the Order now?' his twin asked curiously.

'Not as far as I know,' Harry said with a smile. 'Congratulations on joining, by the way. How's the shop coming along?'

'Thank you,' George said with a grin. 'Now that we are of age and out of school, we found that we could volunteer.' He and his twin shot their mother a victorious grin which was thoroughly ignored by Mrs Weasley. 'And the shop is doing fantastically. We just opened our doors yesterday!'

'We already made a killing in our mail order sales.' Fred said.

Mrs Weasley just shook her head at the two. She had a type of expression on her face that suggested that she really wanted to have some words over her twin sons' career choices, but was uncertain as to what those words would be and with whom.

Just then Dumbledore entered the room followed by Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks. Moody then stumped in and closed the door behind him.

The headmaster went around the table till he was standing next to Harry, while the other three remained where they were

'Thank you all for coming on short notice,' Dumbledore said to the now silent room. 'As many of you are aware, the ministry was forced to confront the truth of Lord Voldemort's return. Naturally, this has led to a lot of upheaval. Especially at the Ministry.'

His comments were answered with a few snorts and a muttered, 'Serves Fudge right.'

'A lot of rumours and speculation has followed this recent turn of events, most of which are centred around our young guest for the evening,' Dumbledore then laid a hand on Harry's shoulder, bringing the attention of the collective onto the teen.

'However, Alastor, Miss Tonks and Remus made a discovery that night in the Department of Mysteries of which the public, at the moment, are unaware.'

There was a ripple in the crowd as heads turned to the opposite direction towards the three individuals.

While Moody's face was as readable as a fossilised tree, it was Remus' and Tonks' expressions that were concerning to Harry. He noticed that they were all glancing at him with unsettled expressions.

Harry had a very bad feeling about this.

'Miss Tonks, as the person to first make this discovery, perhaps you should explain the whole thing.'

'Uh, yeah,' the young Auror cleared her throat. 'Well, after the battle, Moody suggested that it would be a good idea to secure the premises. So, we left Remus and Kingsley to guard the captured Death Eaters while the rest of us canvassed the area.'

'And that was such a brilliant decision,' Moody growled sardonically.

'Anyway,' Tonks said in a louder voice ignoring Remus rolling his eyes. 'Moody and I were walking down this maze of passages when we came across a locked room that Moody couldn't see through.'

'And we all know just how much Moody loves things he cannot see through,' Remus muttered.

'Oh will you two stop it!' Tonks snapped. 'I'm trying to impart important information here!'

'Who's stopping you?' Moody said casually.

'Oh – you know what? Remus just get the kid in here.'

'Are you telling me that you found a child locked away in the Department of Mysteries?' Kingsley said slowly. 'Why wasn't I told about this when we were there?'

'Well, when we opened the door, we found what looked like a large expanded … living space. And, yes, living there was a boy who I am pretty sure is no older than four.'

Her statement was met with gasps of surprise.

'Why would they lock up a little boy up inside the Department?' Mrs Weasley asked in a hushed voice.

Tonks seemed uncomfortable with the question. 'Well…' she began, her eyes shifting towards Harry. 'I don't really know how to say this.'

Just then the door opened and Remus came in, ushering in a little boy.

There was shocked silence as everyone stared at the newcomer.

'Wh – why does he look like me?'

Harry felt his question was warranted. The boy had the same thin face, the same wild messy black hair and the same colour green eyes as he did. The only noticeable difference, aside from the obvious variance in age, was that there was no scar on his forehead or glasses on his face. Although, Harry doubted that he had ever worn glasses at that age.

At least it explained why Lupin and Tonks were looking at him like that.

And so the first oft-seen concept in Harry Potter fanfiction I was talking about in the previous chapter ... albeit with some modifications. The Harry-is-a-teenage-father concept.

I will be going on a short trip the next week, so I don't think I will be able to upload the next chapter by next Friday (seeing as I prefer not to take my laptop with me on holidays when I can avoid it). But worry not, I will upload the next chapter this Saturday instead!