The Order of the Phoenix

Disclaimer: I wish I didn't have to say that I don't own HP.

Kitty followed the others into the kitchen. "Hi, Kitty," said Bill, rolling up some scrolls. "Sit down," said Remus, pointing to an empty chair, "This is Mundungus Fletcher." A squat stubby little wizard grinned at her.

"So, Kitty, been reading that book I gave you? On Animagi?" asked Remus, "Your father and Sirius managed to become Animagi in our fifth year. Harry's told me that you are good at transfiguration. You should find it easy to become one in a few years. Just keep reading the book. It's the one your father and Sirius consulted when they were trying."

"Speaking of animagi, how are you? Full moon nights going good?" said Kitty, grinning. Remus grinned back. Sirius joined them. 'Personally, I'd have welcomed a dementor attack. A deadly struggle for my soul would have broken the monotony nicely. You think you've had it bad; at least you've been able to get out and about, stretch your legs, and get into a few fights... I've been stuck inside for a month,' said he.

"Tell me about it. Uncle Vernon kept me locked inside the house most of the summer, and Harry locked out. He seemed to think that we would get together and "magick" them out of the house," said Kitty, "At least you've known what's going on."

'Oh yeah,' said Sirius sarcastically. 'Listening to Snape's reports, having to take all his snide hints that he's out there risking his life while I'm sitting on my backside here having a nice comfortable time ... asking me how the cleaning's going-'

"Well,if you won't keep drawing your wand every time you see him; perhaps he won't taunt you too. Act your age, will you?" said Kitty coldly. Remus concealed a smile.

Mrs. Weasley ladled stew onto everyone's plates. 'I've been meaning to tell you, Sirius, there's something trapped in that writing desk in the drawing room, it keeps rattling and shaking. Of course, it could just be a boggart, but I thought we ought to ask Alastor to have a look at it before we let it out.'

'Whatever you like,' said Sirius indifferently. Opposite Kitty, Tonks was entertaining Hermione and Ginny by transforming her nose between mouthfuls. Screwing up her eyes each time with a pained expression, her nose swelled to a beak-like protuberance that resembled Snape's, shrank to the size of a button mushroom and then sprouted a great deal of hair from each nostril. Apparently this was a regular mealtime entertainment, because Hermione and Ginny were soon requesting their favourite noses.

'Nearly time for bed, I think,' said Mrs. Weasley with a yawn, once they had all finished. "Not just yet, Molly, I must first tell them," said Sirius.

"Come on, Sirius, you can't possibly tell them everything. This one's just twelve," she said, motioning to Kitty. "And not to mention they're not in the Order. Dumbledore said that we mustn't tell them more than they need to know."

"It's up to Moony and me to decide how much to tell them," said Sirius, his voice rising. "They're the ones who saw Voldemort rise. They were almost killed, and not to mention, they have been stuck in that muggles' house for four weeks without news."

'Arthur!' said Mrs. Weasley rounding on her husband. 'Arthur, back me up!' Mr. Weasley did not speak at once. He took off his glasses and cleaned them slowly on his robes, not looking at his wife. Only when he had replaced them carefully on his nose did he reply. 'Dumbledore knows the position has changed, Molly. He accepts that Harry and Kitty will have to be filled in, to a certain extent, now that they're are staying at headquarters-'

'Personally,' said Remus quietly, looking away from Sirius at last, as Mrs. Weasley turned quickly to him, hopeful that finally she was about to get an ally, 'I think it better that Kitty gets the facts-not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture-from us, rather than a garbled version from ... others.'

'I think Harry and Kitty ought to be allowed a say in this,' Remus continued.

'I want to know what's been going on,' said Harry and Kitty at once.

After a second argument whether Ginny ought to be allowed to stay and listen or not, Mrs. Weasley sent Ginny upstairs, shooing her out of the kitchen.

'OK ... what do you want to know?'

Harry took a deep breath and asked the question that had obsessed him for the last month.

'Where's Voldemort?' he said, ignoring the renewed shudders and winces at the name. '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 funny deaths yet,' said Sirius, 'not as far as we know, anyway... And we know quite a lot.'

'More than he thinks we do, anyway,' said Remus. 'How come he's stopped killing people?' Harry asked. He knew Voldemort had murdered more than once in the last year alone.

'Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself,' said Sirius. '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.'

'Or rather, you messed it up for him,' said Remus, with a satisfied smile.

'How?' Kitty asked, perplexed.

'You weren't supposed to survive!' said Sirius. 'Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But you survived to bear witness.'

'And the very last person he wanted alerted to his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore,' said Remus. 'And you made sure Dumbledore knew at once.'

'How has that helped?' Harry asked. 'Are you kidding?' said Bill incredulously. 'Dumbledore was the only one You-Know-Who was ever scared of!'

'Thanks to you, Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix about an hour after Voldemort returned,' said Sirius.

'So, what's the Order been doing?' said Harry, looking around at them all.

'Working as hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans,' said Sirius.

'How d'you know what his plans are?' Kitty asked quickly.

'Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea,' said Remus, 'and Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate.'

'So what does Dumbledore reckon he's planning?'

'Well, firstly, he wants to build up his army again,' said Sirius. 'In the old days he had huge numbers at his command: witches and wizards he'd bullied or bewitched into following him, his faithful Death Eaters, a great variety of Dark creatures. 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 getting more followers?'

'We're doing our best,' said Remus.

'How?'

'Well, the main thing is to try and convince as many people as possible that You-Know-Who really has returned, to put them on their guard,' said Bill. 'It's proving tricky, though.'

'Why?'

'Because of the Ministry's attitude,' said Tonks. 'You saw Cornelius Fudge after You-Know-Who came back, Harry. Well, he hasn't shifted his position at all. He's absolutely refusing to believe it's happened.'

'But why?' said Harry desperately. 'Why's he being so stupid? If Dumbledore-'

'Ah, well, you've put your finger on the problem,' said Mr. Weasley with a wry smile. 'Dumbledore.'

'Fudge is frightened of him, you see,' said Tonks sadly.

'Frightened of Dumbledore?' said Harry incredulously.

'Frightened of what he's up to,' said Mr. Weasley. 'Fudge thinks Dumbledore's plotting to overthrow him. He thinks Dumbledore wants to be Minister for Magic.'

Kitty snorted in disbelief. 'Accepting that Voldemort's back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn't had to cope with for nearly fourteen years,' said Sirius bitterly. 'Fudge just can't bring himself to face it. It's so much more comfortable to convince himself that Dumbledore's lying to destabilise him.'

'What's he after apart from followers?' Harry asked swiftly. He thought he saw Sirius and Remus exchange the most fleeting of looks before Sirius answered, 'Stuff he can only get by stealth. Like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time.'

'That's enough!I want you in bed, now. All of you,' Mrs. Weasley said, looking around at Fred, George, Ron and Hermione. Sirius half-shrugged but did not argue. Mrs. Weasley beckoned imperiously to her sons and Herrnione. One by one they stood up and Harry and Kitty, recognising defeat, followed suit. Mrs. Weasley followed them upstairs looking grim.

Kitty went with Hermione and Ginny into a big high-ceilinged bedroom and sat down on her bed, thinking.

Sorry for not updating sooner…was busy with my niece's namekeeping dinner party. My sister named her Absinthe Faye, for short, Abbie. How cute is that!