"Thank you ma'am." Harry said politely as a plate was set in front of him.
"Oh, think nothing of it dear." Mrs. Weasely smiled.
Harry ate his kidney pie with a silent politeness as he watched those around him. The whole Weasely clan, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Moody, a few aurors, a few of his teachers, some strangers, and Dumbledore were crowded around the table, eating and laughing and talking. Harry hated the light and dull warmth they gave off. He himself was settled in a fare shaded corner. Remus Lupin sat next to him on his right with a Bill Weasely on his left.
Harry highly disliked how the Weasely girl was staring at him with hearts in her eyes and how the youngest boy was watching with jealousy smouldering his gaze. The others mostly only sent him the odd curious glance.
"How has your summer been so far Harry?"
Harry glanced up at Dumbledore's smiling face. He noted that most everyone had quieted to listen.
"Fine so far." Harry replied easily.
"May I ask what competition you joined to save the girl?" Dumbledore asked kindly.
Harry noted he had said 'saved', not 'won'. He supposed that Dumbledore was trying to make him sound far more valiant then he truly was. Had she not been the prize to a bloody tournament he would not have spared her a second thought. As it was he had had a few more gruesome ways of getting rid of her after winning then handing her to the old man.
"Sword battle."
"I was unaware you knew how to wield a blade." Dumbledore said with surprise.
"I have many things you are unaware of." Harry said simply.
Harry saw the man smile. He tolerated Dumbledore for one main reason. The man, while he did pry a bit, did not force him to try and answer anything. And the man respected him. Harry liked respect. It was as close to love as possessiveness in his mind.
"I have been practicing the sword for many years." Harry admitted deciding there was no harm. "Just as I have practiced the violin and painting.
"Ah, yes." Dumbledore smiled. "I do enjoy you paintings. And you music is something I am forever glad to have heard. Flitwick feels the same with the music. He has been trying to think of ways to ask you to play again."
Harry tilted his head with a pleased small smirk. He wondered faintly when he'd gotten so good with putting emotion into his façade so easily.
"How is D?" The man inquired politely.
"Yeah. I still have to meet this D fellow." Sirius perked up at the topic.
"He is fine." Harry said. "I doubt you will get a chance Sirius."
"Why?" Sirius whined.
"I doubt I will be seeing him much anymore."
"Why?" Dumbledore frowned. "Is he not your guardian?"
"He is my guardian." Harry nodded, "But our lives had separated a bit more."
"May I ask why?" Dumbledore said.
"Because he fell in love with a human." Harry smiled.
For a long moment there was silence.
"Is he not human himself?" McGonagall choked.
Harry raised a brow at her but did not answer. Dumbledore gave a searching look but found nothing and let it drop knowing Harry could handle himself. He wondered why it was such a shock that D was not human. Then again D was as good at acting human as Harry was at faking emotion.
They returned to their dinner and the subject dropped, to many confused about it. Only Dumbledore, Moody, and the ever watchful Remus noted that Harry had said 'Human' as if he were not one.
.-.
"Where's your friend? The know-it-all?"
Harry sighed and turned slightly to look at the sneering Ronald Weasely. Harry could sense much Jealousy in him. And greed. And envy. And sloth. And wrath. And pride. And gluttony. And even lust for the bushy haired girl deep in him. The boy was brimming with the seven deadly sins. But then again, most humans were. The sins were a human trait after all.
"She is at my other friend's." Harry said.
He did not mention that she was jumping between Blaise's and Victor Krum's.
"The gay git Zabini?" Ronald snorted. "Consorting with dark wizards Potter?"
Harry noted the few other people in the lounge were listening closely. He disliked how whenever he was drawn into conversation everyone stopped to listen. Like they expected that he would say something that they needed to hear. Like he was on display.
"For your information," Harry drawled, "Zabini's are Neutral. And do you have a problem with homosexuality?"
"Hell yes." Ronald snorted. "It's not right."
Now Harry smirked. The boy did not seem to see his twin brothers and two eldest brothers towering behind him. Harry knew for a fact that Charlie Weasely and Fred Weasely were gay, while Bill Weasely was bisexual. George Weasely, straight as hell, just stood up for his brother on this matter.
"Better tell this to them then." Harry smirked and turned, not bothering to watch as his older brothers tore into him.
.-.
"Potter."
Harry turned just slightly to tilt his head. His long black hair fell to the side giving him a view of Moody. The man stood only a few feet behind him, wand in hand but lowered. Harry knew the man was both giving a warning and showing he was wary of Harry.
"Moody." Harry purred, "What are you doing out so late?"
"I could ask the same of you Potter, and on the roof no less."
Harry smirked and turned back to gaze into the darkness, legs dangling off the edge of the roof. Moody clomped over and stood a few feet to the side. For a long moment they shared a silence.
"What side are you on Potter?"
"You don't know?" Harry asked dramatically, gasping.
Moody sneered at him, hand tightening over his wand.
"I'm on my own side Moody."
"Are you a threat to the Order?"
"Only if they are a threat to me."
"So you are Neutral?" Moody snorted, with obvious amusement.
"No, no." Harry smirked shaking his head as he stood. "I'm Dark. Dark as they come and all the way through."
Moody's grip on his wand tightened but he wasn't biased enough to attack outright. Moody had been alive far too long and in far too many fights to automatically attack anything dark. Never attack outright if it's not quite a threat. It creates too many problems.
"But I am not Dark like Voldemort." Harry said easily. "I am the Dark that is opposite to Light. I am not Evil to Good. Nor Wrong to Right. Just Dark to Light."
He sashayed up to the man like a lazy cat, watching as Moody tensed but made no movement. Pressing against the man he leaned up, raising a hand to trace the scar around his magical eye.
"As for what I'm doing up here…" Harry breathed, "I was dreaming. Dreaming of wind in my hair and silence in my ears. I was dreaming of the all encompassing darkness and coolness of freedom and falling. I was dreaming of sprouting wings and flying away. Dreaming of leaving behind all this silly dullness called life."
He pressed closer, whispering the words to the stiff man as he let his lips dance so close to his skin he was practically kissing the man.
"I was dreaming." Harry smiled.
Then he pulled back and leisurely swung back to the trapdoor.
"Do not worry about me Moody. I do not see the Order as a threat so I am not threat."
Moody heard the words. Moody heard the 'none of you will ever be a threat to me, you're too weak, too insignificant to garner my attention beyond a glance'.
Harry left the retired auror along on the roof and swept back inside. Seeing Bill Weasely stepping from a bathroom and heading for his room with only a towel around his waist Harry smirked. He'd needed something to amuse him.
.-.
Harry stepped into the kitchen with a whimsical step and slight smile.
"The meeting is about to start Harry." The auror named Tonks piped up. "You'll have to stay out of here for now."
"I'm here for the meeting." Harry said easily.
She went to say something but Dumbledore swept in at that moment.
"Harry." The man smiled. "The woman you handed over to use been returned home safely."
Harry raised a brow. Dumbledore sighed and waved to an empty seat. Some started to protest, especially Molly Weasely, but Dumbledore quelled them with a few words. As Harry sat he caught Bill's eyes. The boy blushed slightly. Harry just licked his lips teasingly and blew a kiss. Bill blushed more but gave a hesitant smile. Very few noted. Only Remus, Moody, and Sirius to be exact. Moody ignored it while Remus just sighed and Sirius winked at him.
He'd sat down both his godfathers many nights ago and spoke with them at length. They understood that he was his own person and that he understood responsibility. He was quite sure that Remus understood more. He could sense the air around Harry using his werewolf side and knew Harry was not one to trifle with, nor one to smother. He knew to stand a ways away and offer support but very little else. Sirius's views of the world had been more then a bit skewed from his stay in Azkaban and from his own childhood even. He saw nothing wrong with a fifteen year old Harry doing what ever he wished, especially if he had the power to do it.
"Today," Dumbledore began, snatching everyone's attention, "We have two guests. They're very important. Please welcome Maen and Noir."
The two swept into the room affectively getting everyone's surprised eyes. Harry saw Snape stiffen slightly from remembrance while Remus who almost flinched as Maen looked at him in a curious manner.
"Who are they Albus?" Moody asked suspiciously.
"Maen here is a werewolf and Noir is a vampire."
More stiffened posses and intakes of breath.
"And why are they here?" Came the question.
"Because we are powerful." Noir tittered smiling at them all wide enough to show his fangs.
"I am the oldest and strongest werewolf." Maen said. "My stance in the war will decide the alignment of most werewolf tribes."
"How old are you?" Charlie Weasely ventured.
"Two hundred and Seventy one." Maen said with a fanged grin.
"That's not possible." Tonks gasped.
"Oh, it is my dear." Dumbledore twinkled. "If a werewolf becomes very in touch with his werewolf side they blend together. They become so close it's almost impossible to separate the two mind frames. Magic is much closer to them and longevity is a gift that comes with such a bond. It is a very hard state to reach though. Only eight werewolves in all of history have reached such a state."
"And the vampire?" Molly fretted.
"I am what you would call the Prince of vampires." Noir said elegantly. "Like my partner Maen said, my position in the war will decide the alignment of most vampires."
"And how old are you?" Tonks ventured.
"Nine hundred and thirty nine." Noir smirked. "I'm the only vampire that is more then three hundred years old."
"Why is that?" Tonks asked.
"Most commit suicide." Noir said flippantly. "Do you know how boring it gets after a while? And though we stay young and physically strong forever, our magic can wane and even turn on us. It is quite hard to survive as long as I have without our magic rebelling and letting our corpses wither away like they should have when we first died. My own magic sometimes eludes me and does not listen. And besides that others kill them, fearing their powers, their knowledge."
Harry hummed to himself. He had believed the vampire to be older then that.
"So you both lead all the vampires and werewolves." A man asked.
"No." Maen sneered. "We are highly respected and have much power over them but we do not command them. We prefer to stay out of their lives, tribes, and groups. Only in situations like this or in large squabbles do they actually come to us."
"So you are going to join us?" Arthur Weasely asked.
"No." Maen said strongly.
Many flinched back at the tone and everyone waited with bated breath.
"No." Noir agreed. "We came to inform you that we are not on your side, but nor are we on Voldemort's side."
"Then you are neutral?" Moody barked.
Harry was hit with deja-vu and smirked.
"We are on Harry's side." Noir smirked. "Hello little flame."
Every eye darted to Harry.
"Noir, Maen." He nodded.
"We miss you." Noir whined.
"You saw me four days ago." Harry said easily.
"Four days too many." The vampire clucked.
"He's been bored." Maen drawled. "The blood I gave him last time was powerful enough to give him a kick and made him a bit hyper."
Harry chuckled. Everyone was staring but the three disregarded it.
"Do you know them Harry?" Dumbledore asked with a raised brow, curiosity radiating from him.
"Yes. You could call us…"
"Teachers, trainers, allies?" Maen grinned.
"Friends, enemies, lovers?" Noir added.
More then a few stiffened at the end. Dumbledore quickly had to shush the few outraged cries, mostly from Molly. Harry noted that Bill eyed him oddly before glancing at the other two. They were staring at Bill now. The red head leaned back and swallowed thickly. Noir finally chuckled.
"Lovers is a good term." He said. "Cause at the same time we could be anything else."
Dumbledore coughed lightly. There was a slight blush to his cheeks.
"Back to the main topic. Are you against us?"
Even as he addressed the two he looked at Harry.
"Only if Harry is." Maen said lightly, dismissively.
"You know, we could have just sent a letter with this." Maen sighed.
"Where's the fun in that?" Noir chuckled.
"I wished everyone to hear. I may keep everything controlled but this is more of a democracy then a dictatorship." Dumbledore hummed.
Noir rolled his eyes and Maen snorted. Then the two turned and left leaving everyone blinking at the abruptness. Only Harry knew it was usual for them. Slowly everyone drifted off, eyeing Harry at least once before leaving. Soon all that was left was Remus, Harry, Moody, and Dumbledore. Remus just leaned over and kissed his cheek.
"I am with you Harry."
"Because of Maen?"
"No." Was all Remus said before leaving to find Sirius.
"You can go Moody." Dumbledore smiled.
Moody eyed Harry again before grunting and turning on his heel for the fire. When he was gone in a blaze of green, silence crept in. Dumbledore didn't move from his seat while Harry had migrated closer and now sat on the edge of the table.
"This is… not completely unexpected." Dumbledore finally said softly.
"Did you ever expect me to be fully on your side?"
"Since I first saw you when you were eleven? No." Dumbledore shook his head.
"But you did before that."
"Yes. But then I stared into deep green eyes and I saw the truth." Dumbledore sighed. "At first I thought to manipulate you into going against Voldemort. And then I thought I should just stand back and watch. In the end I decided I could not factor you in, in this game of chess."
"Why?"
"Because you are to unpredictable." Dumbledore smiled. "You don't go where another would go, you float off in the opposite direction, one which I never thought possible and yet you still come out ahead. The world is a game board to you, but the game has no rules."
Harry cracked a slight smile that was more genuine then fake.
"If I was not so Dark," Harry decided, "I think I would have been on your side. But while I do not dislike you, nor always disagree with you, we differ in some key ways."
Dumbledore nodded as he gazed at Harry almost sadly.
"You will be great Harry." He said softly. "Great beyond what humans are. I just have not figured out what you will be."
Harry chuckled. Dumbledore just gave a wistful sigh.
"Will you play a song for me?"
Harry smiled just slightly again and reached into his pocket. As he pulled the violin out it grew until it was regular size. He lifted the bow and settled the violin and started to play. And they stayed there, an old man and a not quite human teen with his haunting melody.
.-.
End of Chapter 42. Order Meetings