CHAPTER EIGHT: Brought to Order

Harry hadn't expected to find himself returning to Grimmauld Place so soon. He had placed an enchantment on the house meaning it would allow access to all the members of the Order but he'd viewed it more as a private club than the base of an anti-terrorist organisation. But recent events had meant he'd had to change all that. He'd had to summon the Order of the Phoenix.

He looked over the group that had gathered there. Hermione, of course, with Neville and Luna. Ron and Parvati were there with Ron's brothers Percy, Charles and George and Parvati's sister Padma. Teddy and Victoire. Ernie. Hannah Abbott. Seamus Finnigan. Oliver Wood, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, Cho Chang, Michael Corner, Gabrielle Delacour. He was reminded briefly of the faces missing from when he'd first called them together and forced the memories away. Guilt would make him no good to anyone.

"I suppose you've all heard the reports,"he remarked. "Hermione and Ernie have both been attacked recently."

"Did they see who did it?"Hannah asked.

"Yes, they saw who did it,"Harry confirmed. "The people they saw do it are in this room."

Those present who hadn't heard the full story quickly turned their gaze on Hermione and Ernie. "I saw Parvati,"Hermione said after a moment's silence.

"I saw Neville,"Ernie added.

All eyes instantly turned on the two suspects. "I didn't do it,"Neville said hastily.

"Neither did I,"Parvati put in.

"We know that,"Harry agreed. "So the question is, how did their attackers manage to look like someone else?"

"They could be your doubles,"Luna suggested.

Harry stared at her. "What?"

"Their doubles. It's well known that a magic trace is taken of all witches and wizards when they're children. Then doctors use it to create a fully fledged duplicate of someone whenever it's requested." She looked at Neville in some consternation. "I hope there's not a double of you around. That would be very confusing."

"Well, it's a possibility,"Harry agreed. "Anything else?"

"Could it be a perception spell?"Padma asked. "So the caster doesn't actually look different but people that see them fill in the blanks with their own mind?"

"Or a mask,"George added. "We've been working on them at the joke shop, magic masks that can make you look like whoever you like. Never quite managed to get it right but someone might be using the same idea."

"Well, this is a good start,"Harry replied with relief. "What we need to do is work out a way we can prove any of these theories. And we need to keep an eye out for any similar incidents."

"The Quibbler issued a special box once that lights up when duplicates are around,"Luna remarked. "I'm sure I've still got mine around somewhere…"

"One question,"Victoire interjected. "Do you think this is anything to do with those Death Eaters we captured?"

Harry hesitated. "Well… we're not ruling anything out."

Hermione had been looking through old copies of the Daily Prophet with Neville and Luna but her attention kept wandering over to where Parvati and Padma were doing their own research. "I'm going to have to do something,"she said at last. She glanced at her two friends. "Wish me luck." She took a deep breath and walked over to the two sisters. "Parvati, I'm sorry."

Parvati stared at her. "What for?"

"For accusing you. I should have known it wasn't you but…the things that you, I mean she, said…"

"You think they're right?"Parvati prompted. Hermione coloured slightly. "We both know you hurt Ron but I'm not your enemy."

"I know, I know! I've been trying to say that I'm not yours. I guess we both made a mess of things."

There was an awkward silence. "I think we need to check that pile of papers over there,"Padma interjected.

Parvati nodded in relief. "Yes, I think we do." She hurried off with her sister.

Hermione let out a breath. Then she heard a voice behind her. "That was a very brave thing you just did."

Hermione turned round. She hadn't realised Cho was there. "Thank you."

Cho didn't seem in any hurry to move. "I was wondering… do you think that they really are behind this? The Death Eaters that you captured? I mean…all of them."

Hermione understood. It had shocked her to see people that had been in Gryffindor among the Death Eaters' ranks but, despite their ill-advised date to Slughorn's party, she hadn't known Cormac McLaggen that well and Romilda Vane was just someone she shared a common room with. For Cho it was different. She'd been best friends with Marietta Edgecombe, she'd played Quidditch with Roger Davies. It must be hard for her to see them as the enemy.

"They did some terrible things,"she said quietly, remembering the deaths of Susan and Fleur.

Cho nodded slowly. "How are the children?"

Hermione was surprised by the question. "They're okay."

"It's just…Michael and I have had our rough patches and I know they've been hard on Li. We were nearly divorced once."

Hermione hadn't known that. "But you're still together?"

"We went to see the elders and they said the marriage bond between us was still strong. So we worked at it."

"Ron and I went to see the elders about dissolving our bond,"Hermione sighed. "They said it shouldn't be a problem."

Harry found what seemed to be a gathering of Weasleys in the kitchen: Ron, George, Percy and Charles. His mind started imagining all sorts of things that could happen if they all turned their wands on him but he forced himself to do what he'd intended to do. "Ron, can we have a word?"

Ron's three brothers all looked at him. "Yeah, sure,"he answered, giving them their cue to leave. He stood in silence until he and Harry were alone before asking "So?"

"I just thought…we haven't spent much time together lately."

Harry could hear the nervous tone to his voice. His nervousness wasn't helped by the almost scornful look Ron gave him. "Yeah, funny that."

Harry winced. "Come on, Ron, we've been friends for a long time."

"Do you really want to have the 'You're sleeping with my wife' conversation now? Because it's not why we're here." Ron paused, as though inviting Harry to answer. When it became obvious he wasn't going to, he went on. "We're on the same side. And we're family. I mean, literally family. Just literally, not the way we were before. Hermione's my children's mother, you're my nephews' and niece's father. So I'm here and I'll work with you on this. But we're not friends."

Harry was silent for a long time. "That's the best I'm going to get, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is,"Ron replied firmly.

Harry looked at him with regret, wondering if this could have been avoided. Probably not, he decided. Not without losing Hermione. Being with her had meant losing Ron. He'd known that for a long time and, when he'd finally been given a chance to act on his feelings for her, it hadn't been enough to stop him.

He heard someone clear their throat behind him and turned to see Seamus standing there. "Sorry to interrupt you both,"he remarked,"but you've got some visitors."

Harry and Ron followed Seamus into Harry's old office. Hermione, Neville and Luna were already there. And so, sitting together and looking slightly awkward, were James, Albus, Rose, Lily, Hugo, Martin, Emily and Scorpius.

James raised a hand in a self-conscious gesture of greeting. "Hi, Dad."

"Hi, Dad,"Rose echoed.

Harry stared at the group of children. "What are you doing here?"

"We used to live here,"Lily reminded him. "We used the floo network in Hogsmeade and the house was happy to let us in."

"Since when were second years allowed to visit Hogsmeade?"

"We smuggled them down there,"Martin explained proudly. "You'd be amazed how many secret passages we've found…" He noticed the annoyed looks the grown-ups were giving him and shut up.

"So was there a reason you came down here?"Ron asked.

"We figured trying to do this on our own got us into trouble last time,"Albus explained. "So we decided we'd come to you."

"Come to us with what?"Harry asked.

Albus looked at James. "You tell them."

"There's someone at Hogwarts,"James blurted out. "Maybe more than one someone."

"We already know that,"Seamus pointed out. "Because of Ernie being attacked."

"But I've seen more,"James maintained. "There was a woman on the Hogwarts Express, one I hadn't seen before. Or since. She seemed to be taking some sort of potion."

"Polyjuice potion?"Hermione suggested.

"I've heard of that,"Scorpius recalled.

Harry grinned. "We used it all the time when we were at school. So did other people, for that matter."

"It makes you change your appearance,"Hugo said quietly. Everyone looked at him, not used to him giving the explanations. He nodded towards Ron. "Dad told me the stories."

"Posing as Crabbe was an unforgettable experience,"Ron agreed.

"It's not just any appearance though,"Rose pointed out. "You need to look like a real person. And you need to get a sample of them. So if the woman James saw was disguised, she had to be disguised as someone."

"So it could be a simple spell and the potion was something else,"Emily added.

"It could still be doubles,"Luna argued, sounding slightly sulky.

"Do doubles use potions?"Emily asked her.

"Yes. They have to take sanguinem potion all the time or their bodies waste away."

"So, let's say there's plenty of options,"Harry interrupted hastily.

"What do you want us to do?"James asked.

"Stay out of it and let the adults handle it,"Hermione snapped.

Neville looked sideways at her. "Yeah, cos that always worked on us."

Harry looked at Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna in turn. This affected their children as well as his. They all gave brief nods. "Keep your eyes open,"he told the children. "But stay out of trouble. If you've got anything to report, talk to Neville or Ernie. You know they're both in the Order. And try and make sure you don't get locked up in a dungeon, okay? You know how much trouble that causes."