Chapter 47

Everyone was gathering at Phoenix House for the first official Order meeting. Tonks, Alex, Arthur, Molly, Bill, and Charlie were joining today. The twins wanted to of course, and kept reminding everyone that they were of age now. Since they were still in school though, they were told absolutely not. But that didn't mean they weren't going to listen in every chance they got with the help of their newest invention, extendable ears. That was how they first heard Sirius call Remus "Moony." In half a second the two apparated in front of Remus.

"Moony!" They gasped in unison.

"Moony as in Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs?" George asked.

"Moony one of the four best pranksters Hogwarts ever saw?" Fred asked.

"The Marauders' Moony?" They shouted together.

Suddenly Remus was an instant hero to them.

"And here we thought we had you figured out after all this time," Fred said.

"Yeah, we figured we knew your type. Perfect grades," George started.

"Made a prefect,"

"Never get in any trouble,"

"Of any kind ever."

"And here you're a Marauder!"

"You have to teach us everything you know," Fred said.

"I mean we knew you're a brilliant teacher, but we didn't know you could teach us the important things," George added.

"Yes, I got that idea the time I assigned you a report on lethifolds and you handed in an essay on how to perfect the dungbomb," Remus told them with a scolding tone and an amused smile.

The twins gave him a pair of mischevious grins before George asked "So any chance of you helping us with our prank supply business?"

Remus had a mischevious grin of his own as he glanced at Sirius and said "I think my friend Padfoot would be the one to help you with that."

The twins' mouths dropped. "Padfoot!"

Together Fred and George went into a display of pretend bowing in front of the Marauders and started chanting "We're not worthy."

Remus rolled his eyes and put a hand to his head and Sirius laughed and was about to say something when Molly came in.

"All right you two. Meeting's about to start. Head upstairs." She turned behind her. "Ginny, you too."

Then she turned to Remus and Sirius after making sure her children had done as she asked.

"There's a meal I cooked waiting for everyone after the meeting. You lot look more peaky every time I see you." It was true that Sirius had not yet regained the weight he'd lost in Azkaban and he, Remus, and the others had naturally thin builds anyway.

Remus hid a chuckle. "We haven't been going hungry Molly. We do eat."

"Not nearly enough," she commented in a tone that was more like a scolding before heading to join the others.

"Harry, Mila. Upstairs with you now," Remus told his children.

"But Dad shouldn't I st-"

"No, Harry," Remus said with a shake of his head. "You're too involved in this already. And I've had to wake you up from nightmares twice this week as it is."

"But only one of those was about the graveyard," Harry protested. "The other was about this door. I don't know where it is or where it goes, but I know something important is behind it."

"Still, you shouldn't have to be worrying about those things," Remus said. "Now C'mon. Upstairs."

So they went upstairs, a little too willingly Remus would have realized if he hadn't been so focused on the upcoming meeting. There was no reason to protest too much as long as they had the extendable ears. Unfortunately Crookshanks decided those extendable ears were yarn to be played with, which affected the reception more than a little. But they heard enough to know that some members would be tailing known death eaters, others would be recruiting new members, while others were supposed to be guarding something. Harry wished he could have heard what. Before the meeting actually started he heard something that was interesting in a different way. His dad wasn't the only one who seemed to be glad Alex was a girl.

Remus was trying not to chuckle as Sirius slid his chair a little closer to Tonks' friend. Alexandra turned out to be quite a good looking young witch, only a few years older than Tonks with whiskey colored hair and the bluest eyes Sirius had ever seen. If she noticed Sirius at all though, she didn't show it. In fact she was giving him the cold shoulder. Sirius was irritated to no end by that and started trying to ignore her back as she was asked to talk about how she hoped to contribute to the Order. When she'd finished speaking her piece Sirius turned to her.

"Think highly of yourself, don't you? Talking about how you were tops in all your defense classes and Auror training."

She shrugged. "I'm smart enough not to go out for a drink with you."

He blinked before answering. "Well I wouldn't ask you."

With a completely casual attitude she looked at him and said ""You asked what makes me smart? Well if you wouldn't ask me out, that's what makes you stupid."

Remus choked and coughed. For the first time, Sirius Black had been turned down by a girl. One with an attitude and ego similar to Sirius' own in his youth. And the look on his face was priceless.

The meeting was over, and the extendable ears had been put away. That was when Dumbledore pulled Remus and Sirius aside. It wasn't hard to guess this was about Harry, and it couldn't be good.

"You both know that members of the Order will be taking turns guarding a prophesy in the Department of Mysteries. So far I haven't told anyone else the contents of the prophesy, but I'm telling you both because it concerns Harry.

"Concerns him how?" Remus asked nervously. Dumbledore paused before answering.

"It describes a child, born at the end of the seventh month-"

"July," Remus said, understanding where this was going. Dumbledore nodded.

"And to parents who thrice defied Voldemort."

"James and Lily refused to join him and came close to being killed by him twice before he finally got them," Sirius said. "That's three times they defied him. So Harry's the child of the prophesy."

"He's one of two children it might have referred to," Dumbledore explained. "But Voldemort made him the child of the prophesy. He knew the child would have the power to kill him someday, but was never able to learn just what that power is. And he never heard the part that said the child would be marked by him as his equal."

"Harry's scar?" Remus asked. "You said that when Harry got that mark, Voldemort transferred some of his powers to him. But we all know Divination is a very foggy branch of magic." He didn't want to believe what he was hearing, because he knew it meant Voldemort had all the more reason to come after Harry.

"But the problem is Voldemort believes it. So you can see the danger."

Sirius nodded. "He sees killing Harry as a way to guarantee his immortality, the same as making horcruxes. That's why he tried to kill Harry the night Lily and James died even though Harry was just a baby at the time."

"And why he's after the prophesy," Dumbledore said. "He wants to hear the rest of it and study all the possible interpretations it could have, such as what power Harry has that he does not know."

Remus of course knew Harry best, but he couldn't think of what that power could be. Harry was brilliant at Defense and Quiddich. He was remarkably brave and daring. But those were things everyone already knew about. And both Voldemort and the students knew Harry could talk to snakes. He was a good student, very smart, but not a standout that way like Hermione was.

He tried not to think about what else the prophesy meant. That when the final battle came, Harry would have to fight if it came true. Thinking back on this later, Dumbledore would be glad he had not told them that the prophesy also said neither could live while the other survived. For now, they could believe it was just a prediction that didn't necessarily have to happen.

When Harry tried to find out more than he'd been able to hear through the extendable ears, Remus didn't want to tell him any more than he'd already known. But Sirius reminded them that although Harry was not yet of age, he was not really a child anymore either.

"Knowing you, you'll find out anyway. And I'd rather have you hear the truth from us than a distorted version from others,' Remus finally said. So they let Harry know that Voldemort was after something he hadn't had last time, and was recruiting the same as the Order was.

"Dumbledore learned just today that Seth was approached by Greyback and asked to join Voldemort," Remus said. His tone was sad, but there was pride in it too. "Let's just say Seth told Greyback that he and the other death eaters could go to an extremely hot place that it isn't polite to say. Needless to say, Greyback wasn't happy. He's used to other werewolves following him without question." He looked down. "Seth ended up with a few new scars out of it, but thank Merlin he wasn't too badly injured."

"Anybody who knows Seth knows he'd never join Voldemort," Harry said. "Too bad people like Umbridge don't know there are werewolves like him, you, and Mila."

"Speaking of Umbridge," Sirius said, "the Ministry has decided to start interfering at Hogwarts. They want someone on staff there."

"Don't tell me," Harry said. "Umbridge is going to be working at Hogwarts?" He sounded sick himself. They nodded.

"And there's only one position open," Remus said.

Harry knew what that was. Umbridge was taking over the very position she had forced Remus out of.

AN: For those who asked in the reviews, Cedric's part in this and possible payback for what Fudge said about Remus will come in the next chapter.