Helllllloooo! I'm back again! I don't really have set time to update right now (considering I don't even know if people actually like it) so for now I'll probably just kinda update every day or so. Pretty much just letting it happen :D
Disclaimer: I own nothing...not making any money off of this, but if I did-not gonna lie, that would be an awesome job..
Chapter Two
Harry and the Twins spent most of the afternoon debating over whether or not to tell Hermione and Ron about the visitor they were going to be having.
Harry had been avoiding them since he'd shouted at them, and would only speak in short, terse sentences in their presence. The twins had offered to share their room (to which Harry gratefully accepted), after they saw how Harry's face would completely close off when Ron or Hermione entered a room, how he shut down and willfully ignored them whenever they tried to talk to him.
The twins didn't blame him, but on the other hand, they didn't exactly think Ron and Hermione were at fault either. They did, however, decide to side with Harry on the principle that Harry was alone while Ron and Hermione had each other—well, that and the fact that Ron was decidedly uninteresting and Hermione had no sense of humor.
Harry was completely different from his friends, which had surprised them because he was always quiet. Although, in many cases, the quiet ones were the ones you had to look out for For instance, Harry's sense of humor was waspish and snarky; many times Fred would crack jokes with George while Harry silently observed. But every time they weren't expecting it Harry would come out with a sarcastic one-liner that would have the Weasley twins rolling on the floor, then he'd smirk and go back to polishing his broom, leaving the red-heads to dry calm themselves, and then repeat the process.
As of now, Fred was lying half off his bed with his head grazing the floor and his feet in Harry's lap. Harry was sitting on Fred's bed and lazily making his transfiguration textbook float about the room; purposefully making it bump into George's face every once in a while. George was "trying" to finish his potions essay, but was only succeeding in filling out hiss parchment with doodles of Snape in various states of demise.
The afore mentioned debate over leaking their recently acquired information was put on hold since they couldn't come to a good compromise; Harry was firmly against it, George wanted to tell (he said he wanted to be sure to see Ron's face when he found out about the mini-Snape), and Fred was undecided. So they simply chose to ignore the problem altogether.
George was just about to ask Fred if maybe they should hex Snape more this year to retaliate against this obvious declaration of war (because living with people's relatives were the worst sort of punishment), when the call for dinner went up, although quietly so they didn't wake Sirius's mother. They filed downstairs to the kitchen. Harry studiously ignored two certain individuals and took a seat at the opposite end of the table, in-between the Weasley twins. Mrs. Weasley hovered a bit around Harry, but kept sending worried glances over to Ron and Hermione; obviously concerned about the situation.
"Oh, Harry dear, you're so thin—here's some seconds." She slid more potatoes on his plate without waiting for an answer and bustled off to hand more food off to Remus; the other "much too thin" person at the table. She served him with mutters of "Skin and bones…no meat at all…"
Fred and George broke out in snickers and started to emulate their mother:
"Oh, Harry!" Fred cried, wringing his hands, "I can see your ribs right through your shirt!" He pinched Harry's cheek and tried to shovel more food in his mouth. Harry's face turned bright red and his arms flailed around as he tried to pry Fred off of him.
Sirius and Remus chuckled at the red-heads antics but George soon put a stop to Remus's laughter as he ran over and started fawning over him as well, minus the pinched cheeks—he was under no illusions that he would get away with it, so he substituted it for hair-ruffling.
Sirius fell out of his chair from laughing so hard at the sight of his best mate being molly-coddled—he wasn't able to wring himself out of George's grasp, and even Ron couldn't hide his chortling.
Mrs. Weasley and Hermione were of a different mindset:
"Honestly!" Mrs. Weasley fumed, "Do you lot have no sense of decorum" She smacked George on the back of the head and snapped at him, "Fred! Leave Remus alone! Really, the way you two act, you'd think you were raised by ruffians!"
Hermione seized the opportunity to berate Fred—or "George"—as everyone now thought he was, in a doomed attempt to get back in Harry's good books.
"George, stop being so foolish," she hissed, throwing her copy of The Daily Prophet at his head for good measure. "Leave Harry be, you're going to wake up Mrs. Black's portrait if you keep this up!" She glared at him as he stopped, but frowned in confusion when Harry leveled a glare of his won that was so filled with anger and disgust that it shut her up.
Ron simply grabbed the dinner rolls and hid from the fighting underneath the table. Ginny kicked him for stealing the food, causing a muffled "Ouch!" to be heard from the table near Ginny's feet and drawing everyone's attention.
When Ron climbed out, empty bread basket in one hand and the other nursing his elbow, Mrs. Weasley looked ready to "blow a fuse" as the muggles would say. Before she could start bellowing at Ron and consequently destroy everyone's eardrums; Dumbledore and Mr. Weasley walked into the room with Tonks trailing behind them like a lost puppy.
The Kitchen was filled with the sound of scraping chairs as everyone hurried to sit back in their seats like civilized people.
The three newcomers joined the rest of the table; Dumbledore and Mr. Weasley wearing serious expressions as they sat down.
Tonks, on the other hand, was humming a Weird Sisters song under her breath while she reached for a helping of food, nearly knocking over the butter dish while she stretched her arm across the table.
Mrs. Weasley looked upset as well, Sirius looked angry…Remus was the only one who looked calm. The children all looked confused, but Harry, Fred, and George exchanged glances that said they suspected they knew where this conversation was headed. These looks were not missed by Dumbledore, who seemed to regain some of the former twinkle in his eyes.
"I'm afraid you children will have to be dealing with yet another Order member in the coming days."
Hermione sat up straighter. "Sir? Who is it? Is it Tonks? But she's already spent the night before, it's not been a problem. Is it someone different?"
Dumbledore chuckled, causing Hermione to blush at her own forwardness.
Harry watched the exchange with a mask of indifference on his face, but inwardly, he was fuming at her forceful attitude. 'I can't believe I put up with this for five years.' He though viciously.
Unaware of Harry's mental ruminations, Dumbledore answered Hermione's questions.
"His name is Kol Ashford, he's a talented young mage not much older than yourselves."
Harry furrowed his brow and saw the twins do the same. 'I though he was Snape's younger brother…why does he have a different last name? Is it a disguise'
"Ashford…" Hermione mused out loud. "Isn't that an old pureblood family from America?"
Dumbledore nodded his head, "Indeed Miss Granger, your memory does you a great service. Yes, he is a pureblood, but like the Weasleys he is vehemently opposed to Voldemort's ideals. And since he related to a member of the Order, he has agreed to come assist us."
Ron piped up, "Sir, who is he related to? I don't think anyone here has Ashford blood. And…Sir…weren't the Ashfords a dark family?"
Harry felt his eyebrows rise up as high as they would go. A dark family? What was Dumbledore playing at? He noticed Mrs. Weasley looked faint, Mr. Weasley and Sirius looked constipated, and Remus just looked exasperated.
Tonks continued eating her dinner.
"No, my dear boy, not at all." Dumbledore assured him, "While they are not a considered a light family, they are most certainly not dark."
"Sir," Hermione said. "Doesn't that mean they are classified as a grey, or neutral, family?"
"Precisely so, Miss Granger, but it would be good to note that simply because your family believes one thing, that your beliefs cannot be different." Here he gave a not-so-subtle glance ever at Sirius.
Sirius glared back.
"Ahem," Dumbledore straightened his glasses. "I can assure you, he is not a dark wizard. I think the fact that he is against Voldemort speaks for itself."
Ginny had been sitting so quietly for the entire conversation that everyone gave a start when she spoke up, "Professor Dumbledore, I notice you forgot to mention who this Kol Ashford is related to."
All eyes turned back to old man.
"Oh, yes, that…Mr. Ashford is the much younger half-brother of Severus Snape."
The teenagers were all silent for a moment. Fred, George, and Harry, because they had already known, but Ron and Hermione looked like they were hoping beyond hope that someone was going to start laughing and admit it was all a joke. Ginny, interestingly enough, looked intrigued at the prospect of having a younger Snape to possibly exact revenge upon.
Harry made a mental note to never get on Ginny's bad side.
Harry decided to finally join the conversation. "Professor Dumbledore, just how is Snape's little brother going to be of any help? You said he wasn't much older than us." Harry tried to keep the sarcasm out of his voice but failed once he said Snape's name. He couldn't bring himself to care that much.
Dumbledore spared him a brief glance before answering, "He has recently turned nineteen years old, and has been out of school since he was your age, Harry, I think that more than enough to be of use."
Suddenly angry about Dumbledore's answer, Harry opened his mouth to retort but Hermione interrupted him.
"W-when is he supposed to come here?" She almost squeaked the last word.
Dumbledore rose from his chair, "He will arrive tomorrow night from America. Please do not let any prejudices get in the way of making friends with him, we are not who our families are." And with that he swept out of the room, leaving behind the silent kitchen.
Ta da! Pleaaaaasseee R/R or at least follow/favorite or something to lemme know I should continue this story. Alrighty then, I think that's it, congrats if you actually read this A/N brownie points for you :)