The Order of the Phoenix
"That hag is your mother?" Arthur asked, absolutely shocked for two reasons. One, that Sirius' mother was that screeching freak of a woman in that portrait. And two, that this meant that this place was Sirius' home and came from a family of Slytherins.
"Yeah, my dear old mum." Sirius replied as he gave Arthur a hug. "We've been trying to get her down for a month now, but we think she put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the back of the canvas. Let's get downstairs, quick, before they all wake up again."
"Am I right in guessing you once lived here?" Arthur asked him as they went through the door from the hall and led down a flight of narrow stone steps, the others following behind them.
"Yes, it's my parents' house." Sirius said. "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."
Based on how bitter and hard Sirius spoke just now, it seemed that he's also bitter with Dumbledore, something the two can relate to.
He followed his godfather to the bottom of the steps and walked through a door that led them into the basement kitchen.
It was barely less gloomy compared to the hall above, being a cavernous room with rough stone walls.
Most of the light came from a large fire over at the far end of the room. A haze of pipe smoke hung in the air, reminiscent of battle fumes, through which loomed menacing shapes of heavy iron pots and pans that hung from the dark ceiling.
There were many chairs that were crammed into the room for the meeting and a long wooden table stood in the middle of them, littered with various rolls of parchment, goblets, empty wine bottles and a heap of what looked like rags. Martha, her eldest son Rob and Sam were talking quietly with their heads together at the end of the table.
Marthe cleared her throat and her husband, Benjamin Merlon, a tall man with short silver hair and now with stubble looked around and got to his feet.
"Arthur!" He said, hurrying over to greet him, shaking his hand. "It's good to see you're alright!"
Over his shoulder, Arthur saw both Rob and Sam. Rob still had his long silver hair in a ponytail, hastily rolling up lengths of parchment that were left on the table. Sam still had his hair proper.
"Was your journey alright, Arthur?" Sam asked as Rob was gathering twelve scrolls up at once.
"Moody had better not make you come here via Greenland." Rob joked/
"He tried." Tonks said, striding over to help Rob out, immediately toppling a candle onto the last piece of parchment. "Oh no, sorry -"
"Let me." Martha said, now sounding exasperated as she repaired the parchment with a wave of her wand. In the flash of light that was caused by her charm, Arthur caught a glimpse of what looked like the plans of a building.
Martha noticed him looking and snatched the plans off the table, stuffing it into Rob's already overladen arms.
"This stuff really should be promptly cleared away when meetings end." She snapped before she sweeped off towards an ancient dresser from which she unloaded dinner plates.
Rob took his wand out, muttering "Evanesco!" and the scrolls all vanished.
"Sit down, Arthur." Sirius said. "You've met Mundungus Fletcher, haven't you?"
It turned out the pile of rags was just Mundungus, who gave a prolonged, grunting snore before he jerked awake.
"Some'n say m'name?" He mumbled sleepily. "I 'gree with Sirius…." He raised a grubby hand in the air like he was voting, his droopy, bloodshot eyes unfocused.
This made Mary roll her eyes in disgust.
"The meeting's over, Dung." Sirius said as they all sat down around him at the table. "Arthur's arrived."
"Eh?" Mundungus said, peering balefully at Arthur through his matted ginger hair. "Blimey, so 'e 'as. Yeah… you alright, Arthur?"
"Shut up, Fungus." Arthur spat, resulting in numerous others snorting at the nickname.
Mundungus thumbled nervously in his pockets, still staring at Arthur, pulling out a grimy black pipe. He then stuck it in his mouth, ignited the end of it with his wand, taking a deep pull on it. Then greenish billowing clouds of smoke obscured him within seconds.
"Owe you a 'pology." His voice grunted from the middle of the smelly cloud.
"I'm sure he doesn't want an apology from you, after what you've done, Fungus, so shut up." Ben snarled, now using the new nickname.
"And for the last time, stop smoking that thing in the kitchen, especially since we're about to eat!" Martha then called out.
"Ah." Mundungus said. "Right. Sorry, Martha."
The cloud of smoke vanished as he stowed his pipe back into his pocket, an acrid smell of burning socks lingering.
"And if any of you want dinner before midnight, I'm gonna need a hand." Martha said to the entire room. Arthur didn't volunteer, not only because he was a bit tired, but also because Martha wouldn't let him.
"What can I do, Martha?" Tonks said enthusiastically, bounding forwards.
"No offence Tonks, but you should rest, you've already done enough for today." Martha said, looking apprehensive, due to Tonks being clumsy.
"No, no, I want to help!" Tinks said brightly, knocking over a chair as she hurried towards the dresser, which Mary collected cutlery from.
Soon, a bunch of heavy knives chopped meat and vegetables of their own accord, thanks to Ben, while Martha stirred a cauldron over the fire as the others took out plates, more goblets and food from the pantry.
Arthur was left at the table with Sirius and Mundungus, who still blinked at him mournfully.
"Seen old Figgy since?" He asked.
"I thought me and Ben told you to shut up." Arthur snarled, making him go quiet.
Arthur then felt something brush against his knees, startling him for a second, only to see that it was just Crookshanks, Chrys' bandy legged ginger cat, who's also part Kneazle, wounding himself once around Arthur's leg, purring before jumping up onto Sirius' lap and curling up. Sirius scratched him absentmindedly behind the ears. He then turned to Arthur with a sympathetic look.
"Good summer?"
"No, it's been the worst." Arthur shook his head.
"I'm sorry about that." Sirius said, looking a bit guilty as he looked at the others. "I know you're most likely bitter towards Dumbledore, and you have every right to be. At least I have everyone here, even though I've been stuck here for a month."
"Because of Dumbledore." Arthur said, clearly knowing why.
"Yes. Because 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, making my big disguise useless. There isn't really much I can do for the Order… according to Dumbledore, who forced him to remain here."
"Plus you've been knowing what's going on." Arthur said bracingly.
"Yeah." Sirius said sarcastically. "Listening to Snape's reports, having to take all his snide hints that he's out there risking his life while I'm sat on my backside here having a nice comfortable time… asking me how the cleaning's going -"
"The cleaning?" Arthur asked, growing resentment towards Snape for his snide remarks toward his godfather.
"Trying to make this place fit for human habitation." Sirius said, waving his hand dismissively. "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." Mundungus said, clearly not paying attention to the conversation, instead examining an empty goblet. "This solid silver, mate?"
"Yes." Sirius said, surveying it with some distaste. "Finest fifteenth century goblin wrought silver, embossed with the Black family crest."
"That'd come orf, though." Mundungus muttered, polishing it with his cuff, making Arthur shake his head.
Both Jack and Kevin did their tasks one at a time, firstly bewitching a large cauldron of stew to be placed on the table. They then carried with their own hands an iron flagon of Butterbeer and finally a heavy wooden breadboard with a knife.
"We tried using magic to sort things out once." Jack whispered to Arthur. "It was disastrous."
"Come on, let's eat." Rob said.
"It looks wonderful, Martha." Lupin said as he ladled stew onto a plate for her, handing it across the table.
For the next few minutes, there was nothing but silence, excluding the chink of plates and cutlery and the scraping of chairs when everyone settled down to their food.
Martha then turned to Sirius.
"There's something trapped in the writing desk in the drawing room, it keeps rattling and shaking. There's a chance it could be a Boggart, but I think we should ask Moody to take a look at it before we let it out."
"Sure." Sirius replied.
"Also the curtains in there are full of Doxys. We should deal with them tomorrow." She then said.
"That'll be fun." Sirius said sarcastically.
Opposite of Arthur, Tonks was entertaining Chrys and Mary by transforming her nose between mouthfuls. She'd screw up her eyes each time with that same pained expression and her this time, her nose swelled to a beak-like protuberance resembling Snape's, shrank to the size of a button mushroom and sprouted some hair from each nostril. This had to be a regular mealtime entertainment because the two girls requested their favourite noses.
"Do the pig snout, please!"
Tonks obliged and Arthur saw what looked like a female version of his old school bully before he learned he was a wizard.
Arthur then noticed that Ben, Rob, Sam and Lupin were in an intense discussion about goblins.
"They aren't giving anything away yet." Rob said. "But I'm very sure that they aren't picking a side, regardless of whether they think Voldemort's back."
"I'm sure that it's because of what Bagman did, that stupid moron." Sam spat in contempt. Arthur realised that he may be right. He knew that goblins don't really trust wizards, mainly because he learned of it all from History of Magic lessons, and being told of what Bagman did to a group of goblins, he just might've made things difficult.
"Besides, even if they did choose sides, I don't think they'd go and join Voldemort." Ben said, shaking his head. "They've suffered losses of their own, like that family he murdered the last time, up near Nottingham."
"I think it depends what they're offered." Lupin voiced his thoughts. "And I'm not talking about gold. If they're offered the freedoms we've been denying them for centuries they're going to be tempted. Have you still not had any luck with Ragnok, Rob?"
"He's still anti-wizard at the moment." Rob said. "He continues raging about what Bagman did, reckoning the Ministry did a cover up, that those goblins he dealt with never got their gold from him -"
Arthur's attention was now on the middle of the table where Mundungus was telling a story to the twins, David and Mike.
"...and then…" Mundungus choked, 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's 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 a lot more'n what 'e paid in the first place -"
"We do not need to hear any more of your business dealings, Fungus." Martha said sharply, seeing that her sons and Mike weren't all that amused.
"Beg pardon, Martha." Mundungus said at once, wiping his eyes. "But, you know, Will nicked 'em orf Warty Harris in the first place so I wasn't really doing nothing wrong."
"Wherever or however you learned right and wrong is clearly twisted, Fungus. And you've missed a few crucial lessons." Martha said coolly before she got to her feet and fetched a large rhubarb crumble for pudding.
"Why is that pathetic trash part of the Order?" Arthur asked his godfather.
"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 Fungus around, he hears things we don't. Martha, as well as Ben, thinks that inviting him to stay for dinner is going too far. The both of them, especially Ben, haven't forgiven him for slipping off duty when he was supposed to be tailing you."
After three helpings of rhubarb crumble and custard, making the waistband on Arthur's jeans being uncomfortably tight and laying down his spoon, there was a lull in the general conversation
Ben leaned back in his chair, looking very relaxed; Tonks now yawned widely, her nose back to normal, and Mary sat cross legged on the floor with Crookshanks, rolling some Butterbeer corks for him to chase.
"Nearly time for bed." Martha said with a yawn.
"Not yet, Martha." Sirius said, pushing away his empty plate, turning to Arthur. "I'm honestly surprised that you didn't ask any questions about Voldemort."
The atmosphere changed instantly, now becoming tense and alert. Lupin even looked wary, lowering his goblet.
"I did!" Arthur said indignantly. "I asked David and Chrys, but they said that we're not allowed in the Order -"
"And they're right." Martha cut him off. "You're just too young." She now sat bolt upright in her chair, fists clenched.
"You're really using that stupid argument after all that we've dealt with since going to Hogwarts?" Arthur retorted. And he was right, they've faced things that adult wizards would have some difficulty with and yet they've managed to still live.
"And since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?" Sirius said. "Arthur's been trapped with his Muggle relatives for a month. He has the right to know what's been going on!"
"And what about us?" Jack said angrily. "We're not little children! We can handle whatever information you're thinking of telling Arthur! And Kevin and I are of age already!"
"Did you forget what Dumbledore said?" Martha asked Sirius, ignoring him.
"Forget what?" Sirius asked, looking like he was about to start a shouting match.
"The bit about not telling Arthur more than he needs to know." Martha said, placing a heavy emphasis on the last three words.
"We're talking about Arthur, remember?" Sirius said. "He was the one who saw Voldemort come back. He has the right to know."
Martha looked at him and Arthur, going back and forth before looking over to her husband, who nodded, saying that Sirius was right.
"Martha, I get that you're trying to care for me, but I'm not some scared little child." Arthur spoke. "None of us are." He gestured to the other underage people at the table. "And if I'm getting told of what's going on, then so do they."
"But Dumbledore told us -"
"Well Dumbledore is wrong for thinking I don't deserve to know what's going on!" Arthur cut her off angrily.
"And besides, Martha…" Lupin said quietly. "...we don't need to tell him all the facts, just the general picture. Especially from us, and not some garbled version from other sources."
Arthur looked at Lupin gratefully, seeing that he understood Arthur's frustrations.
Martha now looked like she was thinking it over and eventually sighed.
"Alright. You deserve to know what's going on. And everyone else can stay and listen." She said, gesturing to her children, Chrys and Mike.
"So, Arthur… what do you want to know?" Sirius asked, getting to the point as everyone leaned in to pay attention.
Arthur took a deep breath, prepared to ask questions he's been thinking about over the past month.
"Where's Voldemort? I've been keeping my eyes and ears open for any strange deaths or accidents and nothing. It's like he's hiding.
"That's because there haven't been any strange deaths or accidents yet." Sirius said. "Not as far as we know, anyway… and we know quite a lot."
"More than he thinks we do, anyway." Lupin added.
"So he's not killing because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself?" Arthur asked, having this thought in his mind for a while, and because his uncle pointed this idea out before the Dementors attacked.
"Exactly." Sirius nodded. "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." Lupin said with a satisfied smile.
"Because I lived and told Dumbledore." Arthur replied, knowing why that is.
"Yep! You weren't supposed to survive!" Sirius said. "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. And you made sure Dumbledore knew at once." Lupin said.
"And we all know that Voldemort fears Dumbledore like some scared little brat." Arthur snorted.
"So thanks to you, Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix about an hour after Voldemort returned." Sirius said.
"And what has the Order been doing?" Arthur asked, looking around at the table.
"Working as hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans." Sirius told him.
"And what are his plans, exactly?"
"Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea…" Lupin replied. "...and Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate."
"And what does he think Voldemort's planning?"
"Well, firstly, he wants to build up his army again." Sirius said. "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. You heard him planning to recruit the giants; well, they'll be just one of the groups he's after. He's certainly not going to try and take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters."
"And you're trying to stop from gaining more followers?"
"We're doing our best?" Lupin said.
"How, exactly?"
"Well, the main thing we've focused on is trying to convince as many people that Voldemort is back, to try and put them on their guard." Rob said.
"But it's been tricky, to say the least." Sam said.
"Because of the Ministry?" Arthur asked.
"Exactly." Tonks said. "You saw Cornelius Fudge after You Know Who came back, Arthur. Well, he hasn't shifted his position at all. He's absolutely refusing to believe it's happened."
"But why would that stupid idiot think like that?" Arthur asked. "If Dumbledore -"
"That's the issue, there." Ben said with a repulsed expression. "Dumbledore."
"Fudge is frightened of him, you see." Tonks said sadly.
"Frightened of Dumbledore?" Arthur said incredulously.
"More like frightened of what he's up to." Ben said. "Fudge believes that Dumbledore's plotting to overthrow him. That Dumbledore wants to be Minister for Magic."
"No one in their right mind would think that Dumbledore would want -"
"Well, of course he doesn't." Ben replied. "He never wanted the job, at all, despite a lot of people wanting him to take it when Millicent Bagnold retired. Fudge came to power instead, never forgetting how much more popular support Dumbledore had, despite Dumbledore never applying 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." Lupin said. "But it seems he's become fond of power, and much more confident. He loves being Minister for 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."
"But how could that fool think that?" Arthur hissed angrily. "How could he think Dumbledore, and myself, made it all up?"
"Because accepting that Voldemort's back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn't had to cope with for nearly fourteen years." Sirius said 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." Lupin said. "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 rumour mongering, 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 aren't you telling people?" Arthur asked, looking around at Ben, Rob, Sam, Mundungus, Lupin and Tonks. "Aren't you letting people know he's back?"
They all smiled humorlessly.
"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?" Sirius said.
"And I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community." Lupin said. "It's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf."
"Tonks, Ben and Sam would lose their jobs at the Ministry if they started shooting their mouths off…" Sirius said. "...and it's very important for us to have spies inside the Ministry, because you can bet Voldemort will have them."
"But we did manage to convince a couple of people." Ben said. "Tonks, for example. She would've been too young to be in the Order last time, and to have more Aurors on our side is a big advantage. I managed to convince Kingsley Shacklebolt, who's been a real asset, being in charge of the hunt for Sirius, feeding information to the Ministry that Sirius is in Tibet."
"But if none of you are putting out the news that Voldemort's back -?"
"Who said none of us are putting the news out?" Sirius cut him off. "Why d'you think Dumbledore's in such trouble?"
"What trouble?" Arthur frowned.
"They're trying to discredit him." Lupin said. "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."
"Though Dumbledore has said he doesn't care what they do, though he hopes they don't take him off the Chocolate Frog Cards." Rob said.
"The issue is that if he keeps defying the Ministry like this, he could end up in Azkaban." Ben said grimly. "And that's the last thing we want. While Voldemort knows Dumbledore's out there, he's being cautious. If Dumbledore's out of the way, he'll have a clear field."
"But if Voldemort's trying to recruit more followers, it has to eventually get out that he's back, right?" Arthur asked desperately.
"Voldemort doesn't march up to people's houses and bang on their front doors, Arthur." Sirius said. "He tricks, jinxes and blackmails them. He's well practised at operating in secret. 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 those for the moment."
"And what is it he's after, other than followers?" Arthur asked swiftly. He saw both Sirius and Lupin exchange a fleeting look before Sirius answered.
"Stuff he can only get by stealth."
Arthur looked a bit puzzled, making Sirius say "Like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time."
"When he was powerful before?"
"Yes."
"Something more powerful than the Killing Curse?"
"That's enough!" Martha spoke, shooting up to her feet. "It's time for you all to go to bed." She then said, looking at all the underage people and the twins.
"You've given Arthur enough information." She then said to Sirius.
Begrudgingly, they were all beckoned by her and one by one, they all stood and left, Arthur in particular, feeling a bit annoyed.
Talk about dark times. At least Martha doesn't boss and baby her children and Arthur like Molly, who can be unbearable when she does that.
And happy July 4th to all Americans reading this.