Chapter 9:
"Your — ?"
"My dear old mum, yeah," said Sirius. "We've been trying to get her down for a month but we think she put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of the canvas."
"Like mother like son." Alicia said before she walked past and down to the kitchen as Sirius smiled at her slightly before turning back to Harry.
"Let's get downstairs, quick, before they all wake up again."
"But what's a portrait of your mother doing here?" Harry asked, bewildered, as they went through the door from the hall and led the way down a flight of narrow stone steps, the others just behind them.
"Hasn't anyone told you? This was my parents' house," said Sirius. "But I'm the last Black left, so it's mine now. I offered it to Dumbledore for headquarters — about the only useful thing I've been able to do."
Harry noted how hard and bitter Sirius's voice sounded. He followed his godfather to the bottom of the stairs and through a door leading into the basement kitchen.
"He's no happier with Dumbledore then we are." Alicia said simply when Harry reached the bottom of the stairs. It was clear instantly why she hadn't sat down yet. Mr. Weasley and his eldest son, Bill, were talking quietly with their heads together at the end of the table before them.
Mrs. Weasley cleared her throat. Her husband, looked around and jumped to his feet.
"Harry!" Mr. Weasley said, hurrying forward to greet him and shaking his hand vigorously. "Good to see you!"
Over his shoulder Harry saw Bill, who still wore his long hair in a ponytail, hastily rolling up the lengths of parchment left on the table.
"Journey all right, Harry?" Bill called, trying to gather up twelve scrolls at once. "Mad-Eye didn't make you come via Greenland, then?"
"He tried," said Tonks, striding over to help Bill and immediately sending a candle toppling onto the last piece of parchment. "Oh no — sorry —"
"Here, dear," said Mrs. Weasley, sounding exasperated, and she repaired the parchment with a wave of her wand: In the flash of light caused by Mrs. Weasley's charm, both Alicia and Harry caught a glimpse of what looked like the plan of a building. Alicia raised an eyebrow.
There wouldn't be blue prints for the Ministry would there? Sounds too muggleish… she wondered.
Mrs. Weasley had seen the two of them looking. She snatched the plan off the table and stuffed it into Bill's heavily laden arms.
"This sort of thing ought to be cleared away promptly at the end of meetings," she snapped before sweeping off toward an ancient dresser from which she started unloading dinner plates.
Bill took out his wand, muttered "Evanesco!" and the scrolls vanished.
"Sit down, Harry," said Sirius. "You've met Mundungus, haven't you?"
Harry followed Alicia and Sirius as they sat down at the dinning table, Harry sitting bedside her.
"Some'n say m' name?" Mundungus mumbled sleepily. "I 'gree with Sirius…"
He raised a very grubby hand in the air as though voting, his droopy, bloodshot eyes unfocused. Ginny giggled.
"The meeting's over, Dung," said Sirius, as everyone else all began to sit down around the table. "Harry's arrived."
"Eh?" said Mundungus, peering balefully at Harry through his matted ginger hair. "Blimey, so 'e 'as. Yeah… you all right, 'arry?"
"Yeah," said Harry.
Mundungus fumbled nervously in his pockets, still staring at Harry, and pulled out a grimy black pipe. He stuck it in his mouth, ignited the end of it with his wand, and took a deep pull on it. Great billowing clouds of greenish smoke obscured him in seconds.
"Owe you a 'pology," grunted a voice from the middle of the smelly cloud.
"For the last time, Mundungus," called Mrs. Weasley, "will you please not smoke that thing in the kitchen, especially not when we're about to eat!"
"Ah," said Mundungus. "Right. Sorry, Molly."
The cloud of smoke vanished as Mundungus stowed his pipe back in his pocket, but an acrid smell of burning socks lingered.
"And if you want dinner before midnight I'll need a hand," Mrs. Weasley said to the room at large. "No, you can stay where you are, Harry dear, you've had a long journey —" Harry had began to get up and looked at Alicia as though expecting her to do the same but the girl hadn't moved.
"What can I do, Molly?" said Tonks enthusiastically, bounding forward.
Mrs. Weasley hesitated, looking apprehensive.
"Er — no, it's all right, Tonks, you have a rest too, you've done enough today —"
"No, no, I want to help!" said Tonks brightly, knocking over a chair as she hurried toward the dresser from which Ginny was collecting cutlery.
"Hey, uh, Tonks." Alicia began and the girl turned to her "I'm not sure about everyone else but I don't think I feel safe with you, a wand and knives." she giggled slightly as Tonks looked at her, amused annoyance on her face.
"Oh is that so?" she asked as a few other people chuckled also.
"What?" Alicia shrugged innocently "I have told you before." she grinned.
Soon a series of heavy knives were chopping meat and vegetables of their own accord, supervised by Mr. Weasley, while Mrs. Weasley stirred a cauldron dangling over the fire and the others took out plates, more goblets, and food from the pantry.
Alicia and Harry were left at the table with Sirius and Mundungus, who was still blinking mournfully at him.
"Seen old Figgy since?" he asked.
"No," said Harry, "I haven't seen anyone."
"See, I wouldn't 'ave left," said Mundungus, leaning forward, a pleading note in his voice, "but I 'ad a business opportunity —"
"No one cares Dung." Alicia said cutting him off as Harry felt something brush against his knees and startled, but it was only Crookshanks, who wound himself once around Harry's legs, purring, then jumped onto Sirius's lap and curled up. Sirius scratched him absentmindedly behind the ears as he turned, still grim-faced, to Harry.
"Had a good summer so far?"
"No, it's been lousy," said Harry.
For the first time, something like a grin flitted across Sirius's face.
"Don't know what you're complaining about, myself."
"What?" said Harry incredulously.
"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, get into a few fights… I've been stuck inside for a month."
"How come?" asked Harry, frowning.
"His covers blown Harry." Alicia said
"The Ministry of Magic's still after me, and Voldemort will know all about me being an Animagus by now, Wormtail will have told him, so my big disguise is useless. There's not much I can do for the Order of the Phoenix… or so Dumbledore feels."
"At least you've known what's been going on," he said bracingly.
"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've sat on my backside here having a nice comfortable time… asking me how the cleaning's going —"
"What cleaning?" asked Harry.
"Trying to make this place fit for human habitation," said Sirius, waving a hand around the dismal kitchen. "No one's lived here for ten years, not since my dear mother died, unless you count her old house-elf, and he's gone round the twist, hasn't cleaned anything in ages —"
"Sirius?" said Mundungus, who did not appear to have paid any attention to this conversation, but had been minutely examining an empty goblet. "This solid silver, mate?"
"Yes," said Sirius, surveying it with distaste. "Finest fifteenth-century goblin-wrought silver, embossed with the Black family crest."
"That'd come off, though," muttered Mundungus, polishing it with his cuff. Alicia reached forwards and grabbed it.
"Don't you dare go selling off things in this house Mundungus!" she snapped angrily
"It's better than having it here Alicia."
"Don't you start." Alicia snapped at her god father as she put the goblet before her on the table. Harry looked confused as Sirius sighed and rolled his eyes at his goddaughter.
"She's been collecting random things from this house as heirlooms. God knows why."
"Because it's something to pass down." she snapped stubbornly
"Fred — George — NO, JUST CARRY THEM!" Mrs. Weasley shrieked.
Harry, Alicia, Sirius, and Mundungus looked around and, a split second later, dived away from the table. Fred and George had bewitched a large cauldron of stew, an iron flagon of butterbeer, and a heavy wooden breadboard, complete with knife, to hurtle through the air toward them. The stew skidded the length of the table and came to a halt just before the end, leaving a long black burn on the wooden surface, the flagon of butterbeer fell with a crash, spilling its contents everywhere, and the bread knife slipped off the board and landed, point down and quivering ominously, exactly where Sirius's right hand had been seconds before.
"FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!" screamed Mrs. Weasley. "THERE WAS NO NEED — I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS — JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE ALLOWED TO USE MAGIC NOW YOU DON'T HAVE TO WHIP YOUR WANDS OUT FOR EVERY TINY LITTLE THING!"
"We were just trying to save a bit of time!" said Fred, hurrying forward and wrenching the bread knife out of the table.
"Yet now you've wasted more time by having everyone clean up." Alicia pointed out, trying to keep her laughter in but Fred simply grinned
"Sorry Sirius, mate — didn't mean to —"
Harry and Sirius were both laughing. Mundungus, who had toppled backward off his chair, was swearing as he got to his feet. Crookshanks had given an angry hiss and shot off under the dresser, from whence his large yellow eyes glowed in the darkness.
"Boys," Mr. Weasley said, lifting the stew back into the middle of the table, "your mother's right, you're supposed to show a sense of responsibility now you've come of age —"
"— none of your brothers caused this sort of trouble!" Mrs. Weasley raged at the twins, slamming a fresh flagon of butterbeer onto the table and spilling almost as much again. "Bill didn't feel the need to Apparate every few feet! Charlie didn't Charm everything he met! Percy —"
She stopped dead, catching her breath with a frightened look at her husband, whose expression was suddenly wooden.
"Let's eat," said Bill quickly.
"It looks wonderful, Molly," said Lupin, ladling stew onto a plate for her and handing it across the table.
For a few minutes there was silence but for the chink of plates and cutlery and the scraping of chairs as everyone settled down to their food. Then Mrs. Weasley turned to Sirius
"I've been meaning to tell you, 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.
"The curtains in there are full of doxies too," Mrs. Weasley went on. "I thought we might try and tackle them tomorrow."
"I look forward to it," said Sirius. Harry heard the sarcasm in his voice.
"Alicia," Sirius began and she scoffed without saying anything else. Sirius sighed and Harry looked at him.
"She's stubborn that sister of yours." he admitted
"I've got to get it from somewhere." she said before putting her fork in her mouth.
Opposite the Potter twins, Tonks was entertaining Hermione and Ginny by transforming her nose between mouthfuls. Screwing up her eyes each time with the same pained expression as usual. Her nose swelled to a beaklike protuberance like Snape's, shrank to something resembling a button mushroom, and then sprouted a great deal of hair from each nostril. As usual Hermione and Ginny started requesting their favourite noses.
"Do that one like a pig snout, Tonks…"
Tonks obliged, and Harry, looking up, had the fleeting impression that a female Dudley was grinning at him from across the table.
Mr. Weasley, Bill, and Lupin were having an intense discussion about goblins.
"They're not giving anything away yet," said Bill. "I still can't work out whether they believe he's back or not. 'Course, they might prefer not to take sides at all. Keep out of it."
"I'm sure they'd never go over to You-Know-Who," said Mr. Weasley, shaking his head. "They've suffered losses too. Remember that goblin family he murdered last time, somewhere near Nottingham?"
"I think it depends what they're offered," said Lupin. "And I'm not talking about gold; if they're offered freedoms we've been denying them for centuries they're going to be tempted. Have you still not had any luck with Ragnok, Bill?"
"He's feeling pretty anti-wizard at the moment," said Bill. "He hasn't stopped raging about the Bagman business, he reckons the Ministry did a cover-up, those goblins never got their gold from him, you know —"
A gale of laughter from the middle of the table drowned the rest of Bill's words. Fred, George, Ron, and Mundungus were rolling around in their seats.
"… and then," choked Mundungus, tears running down his face, "and then, if you'll believe it, 'e says to me, 'e says, ' 'ere, Dung, where didja get all them toads from? 'Cos some son of a Bludger's gone and nicked all mine!' And I says, 'Nicked all your toads, Will, what next? So you'll be wanting some more, then?' And if you'll believe me, lads, the gormless gargoyle buys all 'is own toads back orf me for twice what 'e paid in the first place —"
"I don't think we need to hear any more of your business dealings, thank you very much, Mundungus," said Mrs. Weasley sharply, as Ron slumped forward onto the table, howling with laughter.
"Beg pardon, Molly," said Mundungus at once, wiping his eyes and winking at Harry. "But, you know, Will nicked 'em orf Warty Harris in the first place so I wasn't really doing nothing wrong —"
"I don't know where you learned about right and wrong, Mundungus, but you seem to have missed a few crucial lessons," said Mrs. Weasley coldly.
Fred and George buried their faces in their goblets of butterbeer; George was hiccuping. For some reason, Mrs. Weasley threw a very nasty look at Sirius before getting to her feet and going to fetch a large rhubarb crumble for pudding. Harry looked round at his godfather.
"Molly doesn't approve of Mundungus," said Sirius in an undertone.
"He's not exactly noble." Alicia muttered
"How come he's in the Order?" Harry said very quietly.
"He's useful," Sirius muttered. "Knows all the crooks — well, he would, seeing as he's one himself. But he's also very loyal to Dumbledore, who helped him out of a tight spot once. It pays to have someone like Dung around, he hears things we don't. But Molly thinks inviting him to stay for dinner is going too far. She hasn't forgiven him for slipping off duty when he was supposed to be tailing you."
"You should have seen her when he turned up. Of course it was Dung that made everyone believe me when I told them what happened." Alicia said "But she was furious."
Three helpings of rhubarb crumble and custard later and Mr. Weasley was leaning back in his chair, looking replete and relaxed, Tonks was yawning widely, her nose now back to normal, and Ginny, who had lured Crookshanks out from under the dresser, was sitting cross-legged on the floor, rolling butterbeer corks for him to chase.
"Nearly time for bed, I think," said Mrs. Weasley on a yawn.
"Not just yet, Molly," said Sirius, pushing away his empty plate and turning to look at Harry. "You know, I'm surprised at you. I thought the first thing you'd do when you got here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort."
The atmosphere in the room changed, where seconds before it had been sleepily relaxed, it was now alert, even tense. A frisson had gone around the table at the mention of Voldemort's name. Lupin, who had been about to take a sip of wine, lowered his goblet slowly, looking wary.
Harry looked at Alicia who in turn was looking at Sirius with the most utmost annoyance Harry had ever seen on her face.
"I did!" said Harry indignantly. "I asked Ron and Hermione but they said we're not allowed in the Order, so —"
"And they're quite right," said Mrs. Weasley. "You're too young."
She was sitting bolt upright in her chair, her fists clenched upon its arms, every trace of drowsiness gone.
"Mrs Weasley you do not get to make that decision for Harry and I." Alicia said yet again looking angry.
"Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?" asked Sirius. "Harry's been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. He's got the right to know what's been happen —" Alicia sat back, her eyes closed as she looked like she was trying to contain her anger, her fists balled up on the table. She took several deep breaths and Harry stroked her arm, trying to keep her calm.
"Hang on!" interrupted George loudly.
"How come Harry gets his questions answered?" said Fred angrily.
"We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking thing!" said George.
"'You're too young, you're not in the Order,'" said Fred, in a highpitched voice that sounded uncannily like his mother's. "Harry's not even of age!"
"It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing," said Sirius calmly.
"Then what about Alicia!?" Fred demanded
"That's your parents' decision." Sirius continued "Harry, on the other hand —"
"It's not down to you to decide what's good for Harry!" said Mrs. Weasley sharply. Her normally kindly face looked dangerous. "You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?"
"Which bit?" Sirius asked politely, but with an air as though readying himself for a fight.
"The bit about not telling Harry more than he needs to know," said Mrs. Weasley, placing a heavy emphasis on the last three words.
Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George's heads turned from Sirius to Mrs. Weasley as though following a tennis rally. Ginny was kneeling amid a pile of abandoned butterbeer corks, watching the conversation with her mouth slightly open. Lupin's eyes were fixed on Sirius.
"I don't intend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly," said Sirius. "But as he and Alicia were the ones who saw Voldemort come back" (again, there was a collective shudder around the table at the name), "They have more right than most to —"
"They're not a member of the Order of the Phoenix!" said Mrs. Weasley. "They're only fifteen and —"
"— and both have dealt with as much as most in the Order," said Sirius, "and more than some —"
"No one's denying what either have done!" said Mrs. Weasley, her voice rising, her fists trembling on the arms of her chair. "But he's still —"
"He's not a child!" said Sirius impatiently.
"He's not an adult either!" said Mrs. Weasley, the colour rising in her cheeks. "He's not James, Sirius!"
"I'm perfectly clear who he is, thanks, Molly," said Sirius coldly.
"I'm not sure you are!" said Mrs. Weasley. "Sometimes, the way you talk about him, it's as though you think you've got your best friend back!"
"What's wrong with that?" said Harry.
"What's wrong, Harry, is that you are not your father, however much you might look like him!" said Mrs. Weasley, her eyes still boring into Sirius. "You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!"
"We get into all of our trouble at school remember!" Alicia said but she was ignored.
"Meaning I'm an irresponsible godfather?" demanded Sirius, his voice rising.
"Meaning you've been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and —"
"We'll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this, if you please!" said Sirius loudly.
Both stopped as Alicia suddenly slammed her hands down hard on the table and stood to her feet angrily, angry at being ignored.
"Excuse me!" she shouted and everyone looked at her before she turned to Sirius "Are you fricken kidding me?!" she snapped "I'm glad you think I deserve to know but I've been here for two fricken weeks!?" she seethed.
"There's a difference between having Harry hear it first hand or through you."
"So you're telling me now, after two weeks, only because Harry's here?" she asked
"Yes. I'd rather tell him in person that have it transferred through you."
"And you decided not to even bother making that agreement with me because!?"
"Because I knew it would do nothing to placate you." Sirius admitted "Besides you already knew more than any of the others, and that was without us needing to tell you anything." he added on when Mrs Weasley looked about to explode.
"So you were just going to have me frustrate over whether my theories were correct or not?"
"That wasn't my intention. I planned on telling you and Harry, as you tried so hard to tell him yourself, I assumed he'd be here in order for me to do so. And now he is." Sirius said
Alicia sat back down but Harry felt the need to inch away from her from the look on her face. It seemed to be screaming pure murder to whoever dared look at her.
"What do you mean she knows more!?" Mrs Weasley questioned
"Alicia's smart, she knows how to connect the dots and the small pieces of information." Sirius said simply "Her theories are rather spot on if I'm being honest and I'd rather confirm all of that then have her running into trouble to prove them."
"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 say, "Dumbledore knows the position has changed, Molly. He accepts that both Alicia and Harry will have to be filled in to a certain extent now that Harry is staying at headquarters —"
"Yes, but there's a difference between that and inviting him to ask whatever he likes!"
"Personally," said Lupin 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 Harry gets the facts — not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture — from us, rather than a garbled version from… others. Even Alicia's theories are just that."
Alicia knew Lupin didn't expect the Extendable Ears were all gone. After all, he was one of the best troublemakers just like the twins were when he was a student. He'd know how they thought.
"Well," said Mrs. Weasley, breathing deeply and looking around the table for support that did not come, "well… I can see I'm going to be overruled. I'll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much, and speaking as someone who has got Harry's best interests at heart —"
"He's not your son," said Sirius quietly.
"He's as good as," said Mrs. Weasley fiercely. "Who else has he got?" Alicia stared at her as though she wanted to both rip into the women and cry at the same time.
"Hello!" she snapped "I happen to be his only blood relative!"
"You're not an adult!"
"I'm as smart as one." she snapped
"He's got me!" Sirius said
"Yes," said Mrs. Weasley, her lip curling. "The thing is, it's been rather difficult for you to look after him while you've been locked up in Azkaban, hasn't it?"
Sirius started to rise from his chair.
"That's not his fault!" Alicia snapped, standing up herself "And you do not get to pin that on Sirius." she said and Mrs Weasley looked at her just as angrily. Alicia could see right there that all of the anger the women had felt to her the last two weeks was coming to the surface. She wouldn't have been surprised if she started screaming hoarse at her.
"Molly, you're not the only person at this table who cares about Harry or even Alicia," said Lupin sharply. "Alicia, Sirius, sit down."
Mrs. Weasley's lower lip was trembling. Sirius sank slowly back into his chair, his face white. Before Alicia took a deep breath and sat back down also.
"I think Harry ought to be allowed a say in this," Lupin continued. "He's old enough to decide for himself. And we all know Alicia's opinion."
"I want to know what's been going on," Harry said at once.
"Very well," said Mrs. Weasley, her voice cracking. "Ginny — Ron — Hermione — Fred — George — I want you out of this kitchen, now."
There was instant uproar.
"We're of age!" Fred and George bellowed together.
"If Harry's allowed, why can't I?" shouted Ron.
"Mum, I want to!" wailed Ginny.
"NO!" shouted Mrs. Weasley, standing up, her eyes overbright. "I absolutely forbid —"
"Molly, you can't stop Fred and George," said Mr. Weasley wearily. "They are of age —"
"They're still at school —"
"But they're legally adults now," said Mr. Weasley in the same tired voice.
Mrs. Weasley was now scarlet in the face.
"I — oh, all right then, Fred and George can stay, but Ron —"
"Harry and Alicia'll tell me and Hermione everything you say anyway!" said Ron hotly. "Won't — won't you?" he added uncertainly, meeting Harry's eyes.
Harry and Alicia shared a look and Alicia knew exactly what he was thinking. He was angry for being kept in the dark by the two, so maybe he wouldn't, but then again…
" 'Course we will," Harry said. Ron and Hermione beamed.
"Fine!" shouted Mrs. Weasley. "Fine! Ginny — BED!"
Ginny did not go quietly. They could hear her raging and storming at her mother all the way up the stairs, and when she reached the hall Mrs. Black's earsplitting shrieks were added to the din. Lupin hurried off to the portrait to restore calm.
Alicia took a deep breath trying to calm herself down from her anger and when Lupin had returned, closing the kitchen door behind him and taking his seat at the table again, did Sirius speak.
"Okay, Harry… what do you want to know?"
Harry took a deep breath and asked the question that Alicia could tell he would have been obsessing him for a month.
"Where's Voldemort? What's he doing? I've been trying to watch the Muggle news," he said, ignoring the renewed shudders and winces at the name, "and there hasn't been anything that looks like him yet, no funny deaths or anything —"
"That's because there haven't been any suspicious 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 Lupin.
"How come he's stopped killing people?" Harry asked.
"Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself at the moment," said Sirius. "It would be dangerous for him." Harry looked at Alicia
"Yeah, that's what I said a month ago." she nodded.
"His comeback didn't come off quite the way he wanted it to, you see." Sirius continued "He messed it up."
"Or rather, you two messed it up for him," said Lupin with a satisfied smile.
"How?" Harry asked perplexedly.
"You weren't supposed to survive!" said Sirius. "Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But you two survived to bear witness."
"And the very last person he wanted alerted to his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore," said Lupin. "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.
"Which means Voldemort doesn't have a head start." Alicia added to Harry and the Order members nodded.
"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?" Harry asked quickly.
"Well for one Snape's tattle tailing." Alicia shrugged and the others all looked at her, the majority of them surprised. "I'm smart. I know the guy was a Death Eater and he's imposing on them again." Lupin sighed and nodded.
"Dumbledore's also got a shrewd idea," he said turning back to Harry, "and Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate."
"So what does Dumbledore reckon he's planning?"
Alicia sighed and slumped. Didn't they know that already? Dumbledore had sent people on missions answering this questions last year right in front of them after all.
"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."
"Giants Harry, the dementors, werewolves, witches and wizards." Alicia listed gaining Harry's attention and cutting Sirius off. Bill, Mr Weasley and Tonks looked at the girl surprised but Sirius nodded
"You heard him planning to recruit the giants; well, they'll be just one group he's after. 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 Lupin.
"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."
"Another reason he's controlling the Daily Prophet." Alicia said annoyed
"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. "You see, Fudge thinks Dumbledore's plotting to overthrow him. He thinks Dumbledore wants to be Minister of Magic."
"I'm sorry, what?" Alicia asked amused by the stupidity of the belief.
"But Dumbledore doesn't want —"
"Of course he doesn't," said Mr. Weasley. "He's never wanted the Minister's job, even though a lot of people wanted him to take it when Millicent Bagnold retired. Fudge came to power instead, but he's never quite forgotten how much popular support Dumbledore had, even though Dumbledore never applied for the job."
"Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore's much cleverer than he is, a much more powerful wizard, and in the early days of his Ministry he was forever asking Dumbledore for help and advice," said Lupin. "But it seems that he's become fond of power now, and much more confident. He loves being Minister of Magic, and he's managed to convince himself that he's the clever one and Dumbledore's simply stirring up trouble for the sake of it."
"How can he think that?" said Harry angrily. "How can he think Dumbledore would just make it all up — that I'd make it all up? Or even Alicia?"
"Because 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 Dumbledore's lying to destabilise him."
"You see the problem," said Lupin. "While the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort, it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place. What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumourmongering, so most of the Wizarding community are completely unaware anything's happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperius Curse."
"But you're telling people, aren't you?" said Harry, looking around at Mr. Weasley, Sirius, Bill, Mundungus, Lupin, and Tonks. "You're letting people know he's back?"
They all smiled humourlessly.
"Well, as everyone thinks I'm a mad mass murderer and the Ministry's put a ten-thousand-Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?" said Sirius restlessly.
"And I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community," said Lupin. "It's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf."
"Tonks and Arthur would lose their jobs at the Ministry if they started shooting their mouths off," said Sirius, "and it's very important for us to have spies inside the Ministry, because you can bet Voldemort will have them."
"We've managed to convince a couple of people, though," said Mr. Weasley. "Tonks here, for one — she's too young to have been in the Order of the Phoenix last time, and having Aurors on our side is a huge advantage — Kingsley Shacklebolt's been a real asset too. He's in charge of the hunt for Sirius, so he's been feeding the Ministry information that Sirius is in Tibet."
"But if none of you's putting the news out that Voldemort's back —" Harry began.
"Who said none of us was putting the news out?" said Sirius. "Why d'you think Dumbledore's in such trouble?"
"What d'you mean?" Harry asked.
"They're trying to discredit him," said Lupin. "Didn't you see the Daily Prophet last week? They reported that he'd been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards because he's getting old and losing his grip, but it's not true, he was voted out by Ministry wizards after he made a speech announcing Voldemort's return. They've demoted him from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot — that's the Wizard High Court — and they're talking about taking away his Order of Merlin, First Class, too."
"But Dumbledore says he doesn't care what they do as long as they don't take him off the Chocolate Frog cards," said Bill, grinning.
"It's no laughing matter," said Mr. Weasley shortly. "If he carries on defying the Ministry like this, he could end up in Azkaban and the last thing we want is Dumbledore locked up. While You-Know-Who knows Dumbledore's out there and wise to what he's up to, he's going to go cautiously for a while. If Dumbledore's out of the way — well, You-Know-Who will have a clear field."
"But if Voldemort's trying to recruit more Death Eaters, it's bound to get out that he's come back, isn't it?" asked Harry desperately.
"Voldemort doesn't march up to people's houses and bang on their front doors, Harry," said Sirius. "He tricks, jinxes, and blackmails them. He's well-practiced at operating in secrecy. In any case, gathering followers is only one thing he's interested in, he's got other plans too, plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed, and he's concentrating on them at the moment."
"What's he after apart from followers?" Harry asked swiftly.
Sirius and Lupin exchanged the most fleeting of looks which both twins caught before Sirius said, "Stuff he can only get by stealth." When Harry continued to look puzzled, Sirius said, "Like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time."
"When he was powerful before?"
"Yes."
"Like what kind of weapon?" said Harry. "Something worse than the Avada Kedavra — ?"
"Something that's in the Ministry apparently… but I don't understand what he could be so desperate for?" Alicia said turning from Harry to Sirius and Lupin.
"That's enough."
Mrs. Weasley spoke from the shadows beside the door. She had return from taking Ginny upstairs. Her arms were crossed and she looked furious.
"I want you in bed, now. All of you," she added, looking around at Fred, George, Ron, and Hermione.
"You can't boss us —" Fred began.
"Watch me," snarled Mrs. Weasley. She was trembling slightly as she looked at Sirius. "You've given Harry and Alicia plenty of information."
"You haven't told us anything." Alicia said "Nothing I didn't already guess anyway." she complained and a few looked at her as Mrs Weasley's nose flared.
"Any more and you might just as well induct him into the Order straightaway." she turned her gaze from Alicia to Sirius
"Good!" Alicia said loudly
"Why not?" said Harry quickly. "I'll join, I want to join, I want to fight —"
"No." It was not Mrs. Weasley who spoke this time, but Lupin.
"The Order is comprised only of overage wizards," he said. "Wizards who have left school," he added, as Fred and George opened their mouths. "There are dangers involved of which you can have no idea, any of you… I think Molly's right, Sirius. We've said enough."
Sirius half-shrugged but did not argue.
Alicia sighed and stood to her feet.
"Personally I think we can handle it." but she wasn't angry or shooting looks, it was a casual belief "I mean Harry and I have only almost died how many times already? And they all happened at school." she sighed as Mrs. Weasley beckoned imperiously to her sons and Hermione. Sirius looked at her strongly.
"You shouldn't be in such a hurry to die." he said
"Not to die. To stop twiddling my thumbs." and she followed the others and Harry from the room.