A/N) Thank you to everyone who is still reading this story. I am still writing the next chapter. I think it is going to be quite a long one! I hope people are still enjoying reading this story. At present, I am currently re-reading the Deathly Hallows and thinking about how to fit that into the story. Hopefully, with what I'm planning, it will still be a surprise to people!

Enjoy!

Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Plot

HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED BREAKS INTO AZKABAN

TEN HIGH-SECURITY PRISONERS HAVE ESCAPED

MASS DEMENTOR REVOLT AS THEY ATTACK BLACK AND POTTER AT HOGWARTS!

That was the headline of the 1st August 1995 edition of the following morning's Daily Prophet. Amongst those that had been rescued by Voldemort – as Sirius had put it – was Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius' rather deranged cousin who had tortured Neville Longbottom's parents into insanity. He had never known this before but the crimes to which the Death Eaters had been imprisoned for had been published in the paper making the knowledge public. Compared to what Frank and Alice Longbottom had gone through, James and Lily Potter had gotten off lightly.

It was a few days later, on Wednesday 4th August, that Remus was finally discharged from hospital and he returned to Grimmauld Place where he permanently set up home for the duration of the war. With the Weasley's, Hermione, Remus and regular members of the Order visiting the house, Harry never had a boring day, though Hermione was insistent on him and Ron getting his homework completed over any other fun plans they had as they were due to start their O.W.L year. They were forbidden from even going into the back garden at the house and were told expressively they could not leave the house unless they were accompanied by two adults.

Voldemort's return had sent the Ministry of Magic into further disarray and the government was determined to protect Harry at all cost, however they remained unaware of the Order's existence and their own efforts to protect the Wizarding Community.

Late on Thursday night, Harry and Ron were woken by the yelling of Mrs Black's Portrait which had proved impossible to move as she had placed a permanent sticking charm upon it. No matter how much Sirius had tried to remove her from his house, it had proved an impossible feat. She was there permanently however some Order members were prone to waking her up when they arrived at headquarters. Harry always felt sorry for Sirius when he had to yell at her himself to shut up while struggling to pull the curtains across her painting.

Creeping out of his bedroom, Harry met Ron in the landing down the following floor where they moved slowly down until they reached the first floor just above the kitchen entrance where it was evident another Order of the Phoenix meeting was going on. Although Sirius would tell him what was going on, it was far more fun to eavesdrop. Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George joined them shortly – the twins holding an Extendable Ear, which they then shared between one another. As long as a charm had not been placed over the door, they would be able to overhear everything that was discussed within the meeting.

Thankfully, the charm had not been performed. Grinning to one another, one Potter, one Granger and four Weasley's settled into listen.

"The Dark Lord, if I am not mistaken, is angry at the Prophecy's removal from the Ministry. He was unconcerned with its contents up until a few weeks ago, but he has renewed his fixation upon it and wishes to learn the entire Prophecy. He now knows that Potter is aware of its contents. I would advise Headmaster, that he is taught Occlumency as he may attempt to read Potter's mind. Their connection to one another may make this an advisable strategy. The Dark Lord did not need to take the information from Potter's mind that Black is the most important thing to him. He deduced that himself. The Dark Lord also knows that Black knows the contents of the Prophecy too and is making more of an effort to acquire him." Here Snape levelled his gaze at Sirius who was sitting to the left of the Headmaster, who was at the head of the table. "I would therefore suggest you keep your head low, but of course... one as stubborn as yourself... one cannot expect that from you."

Sirius glared at the Potion's Master. "It is my job at catching Dark Wizards Snape; however that little fact seems to have escaped your notice. Keeping my head down is not part of the job description."

"Enough," said Dumbledore, his eyes going between the two. "Sirius, you very well know that what Severus says is true. You have already defied Voldemort twice in the last month alone: first with the trap in the forest and secondly with the Dementor attack. He has two uses for you, we have discussed this. Out of anyone in this room, you are the one in the most danger."

Sirius ran his hands over his face. "I know and you keep on reminding me. The only way I won't keep on risking my neck will be if I'm dead."

"I think it is virtually impossible to be much of a threat or use to the Dark Lord if one is dead, Black," replied Snape sarcastically.

Dumbledore did not bother to reprimand them as Sirius managed to hold his tongue, instead he continued, his bright eyes focused entirely upon Sirius. "Voldemort has issued a directive to the Lestrange's. They will be on your trail Sirius, so, keep a look out. Wherever you go, undoubtedly they will turn up."

Sirius nodded. "I'll be extra careful on the job," he said, though he knew it would be practically impossible to achieve that.

"The Dementors have also taken to lurking the streets of major cities. Since they are now out of Ministry control, we cannot keep people posted everywhere trying to keep them back. The Auror's and the Magical Law Enforcement are doing everything in their power to drive them away whenever possible but it is proving a task that is practically impossible, especially whenever we get reports of Death Eater activity almost every hour of every day from concerned members of the Wizarding Community," reported Kingsley Shacklebolt. "Our liaisons in the Muggle Police Department are also passing suspicious activity onto us as well, which is making our jobs even more difficult. Not only do we have to contend with the Wizarding World, we also have to help the Muggle world."

"I understand that this is difficult for you," said Dumbledore, "however we must all come together during this difficult time. The Muggle Prime Minister is aware of the situation... and discussions are ongoing as to whether the magical community should become public knowledge among Muggles."

"Not a good idea," said Arthur Weasley immediately. "I deal with them and they are fearful of anything to do with magic. We do not want a repeat of the Witch burnings, the least they know about our world, the better... but more we know about their world would be more beneficial for us."

"Then that is settled," said Dumbledore. "I will pass on your words to the Minister."

"Headmaster..." began Severus, "the other thing?"

It was a prompt.

"Of course," nodded the Headmaster. "It is come to my attention that there is a plot to kill me. I will not divulge who has been given this momentous part however I feel that the Order should be warned that I am putting into place, pieces of a puzzle that will lead to my eventual death."

"WHAT?" exclaimed Sirius, shock registering across his face. He was not the only one at the table but every Order member had raised objections: the thought of a world without Dumbledore while Voldemort was running amok was one that they did not want to consider.

"Unfortunately this is the case, Sirius," explained the Headmaster. "I do not want the person who has been given this task to be killed for their failure for they will be if they do."

"It is a student," answered Professor McGonagall. "He or she has been enlisted as a Death Eater."

"They have been given a time-limit of one year to kill me, otherwise they will die and obviously I would rather they did not tarnish their soul by killing me. Alternative plans are already in place but these will not become public knowledge. The attack on Sirius and Harry on his birthday reinforces my belief that there is a traitor within the Order. Only those in this room knew of the plans, therefore the identity of my confidante will not be divulged to anyone."

"If we lose you, we lose the war," said Mad-Eye Moody in his rather gruff voice.

"No, we don't," smiled Dumbledore. "You have Harry. He will be prepared for what he has to do in the coming months before the event of my death occurs. Everything will be in place, but you have to believe in him, otherwise he will fall and our world will be encroached by darkness."

Silence reigned around the table: Sirius fidgeting with his fingers, not liking the idea of Dumbledore attempting to mastermind his own death. If there was a traitor in this room all this information would get back to the Dark Lord... unless of course the information about Harry's birthday party had been accidently slipped and not passed intentionally...

After all, Hagrid had told Voldemort how to get past the giant three-headed dog that had been guarding the Philosopher's Stone while Harry had been in his first year at Hogwarts. That had been a mistake... and one could not rule out the possibility that the same thing had happened again. But he kept his eyes on Snape wondering, not for the first time, if the Potion's Master was a double-agent for Voldemort and not really working for Dumbledore... but if that was the case how did Dumbledore know about the plot to kill him? He was certainly the source of information that had given the Headmaster that little bit. Glancing around the table Sirius took in every member that had been available to attend tonight's meeting: every single one of them was a suspect.

But who was the traitor and why?

As the meeting disbanded Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny trooped quietly back up the stairs to Harry's room. They were all stunned and overly curious to hear about the Prophecy that concerned Harry and Voldemort. But he refused to say, explaining that if he could tell them he would but he had been told explicitly not to tell anyone. What was even more alarming for his friends was that Harry had a connection to Voldemort and ability to access his mind and vice-versa which worried them, but Hermione reasoned that by in attempting to kill Harry, Voldemort had forged that connection himself without meaning to. But she insisted it was important for him to learn Occlumency in order to protect his friends and family from the Dark Lord's wrath.

"But I can't protect Sirius," said Harry, shrugging his shoulders. "He's an Auror. It's his job. The only thing I can do is learn this Occlu-thing and hope that will do." He shivered. "But I don't want to be taught by Snape. He hates me."

"That doesn't matter," insisted Hermione. "If he is the best man for the job then you'll just have to stick with it, besides you never know, you might be taught by Dumbledore!"

Harry sighed.

"What is more frightening is knowing that Dumbledore is going to allow himself to be killed," said Ron, his voice wavering. "What can we do without him?"

"I dunno... but apparently I'm the one who has to finish it... You heard him..." replied Harry.

"But you're only fifteen," exclaimed Ginny, her face flushed red. "You're not even allowed to do magic outside school yet! You've got the trace on you and everything!"

"Trace?" Harry looked puzzled.

"You don't know?" said Fred, incredulously.

"I grew up with Muggles, remember?" said Harry.

"Every under-age wizard has a trace. It's so the Ministry can pin-point exactly who performs any underage magic in front of Muggles," explained George. "But if you are a Muggle-born and don't know anything about your abilities they just keep an eye on you, but if you perform magic once you start at Hogwarts during the summer in a vicinity full of Muggles and you are the only Wizard or Witch in your area then the Ministry can pin-point exactly who performed it and then punish you. It's a lot more difficult to discipline children of Wizarding families though so they rely on the parents to exert authority, especially if you live in a house of magic: they simply cannot tell who performed it. But once you are seventeen, you can do what you want as long as it is not obvious to Muggles and the Ministry cannot trace you as it wears off then. Fred and I no longer have our trace on us. We're seventeen so we can legally perform magic now. Technically, since this is a house full of magic, you could perform magic... it's full of old protective spells from the Black family. You'd probably get away with doing magic... but with mum around, it wouldn't be advisable."

"No, it wouldn't be!"

Neither of them had noticed Harry's bedroom door open. Standing in the threshold was Mrs. Weasley, her eyes burning with anger.

"Uh-oh..." said George.

And with a POP, Fred and George disappeared. Mrs Weasley continued to stare at Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny. "If I catch any of you..." she trailed off, slamming the door on her way out.

"So, I guess Fred and George have passed their Apparition tests then?" said Harry.

"Yeah, a few days before your birthday," explained Ron. "Mum will catch up with them eventually. They'll probably keep popping in and out all over the place to avoid her. She won't be happy since they were encouraging us to perform magic while underage."

"But we're not stupid," incensed Ginny. "We know not to do it." She crossed her arms, looking exactly like her mother did when she was angry.

Hermione broke the silence that had fallen between them. "I suppose Ginny and I had better get off to bed. She'll come screaming for us if we don't. Good thing Sirius is your legal guardian Harry: he's the only one who can really tell you what to do."

Harry just grinned.

To be continued...

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