Chapter 29: Dumbledore, You Moron.
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Dumbledore, being Dumbledore, decided to go in front of the Wizengamot and let them know that he thought that Voldemort was back. That was a huge mistake on his part. Now they thought he was a complete idiot and had lost the plot.
He tried to bring Harry Potter into it, but Sirius stood up and said that Harry had nothing to do with Dumbledore's delusions. He made it a point that Harry had never said anything to anybody in public, and that Dumbledore was making his own conclusions. And if anybody slandered Harry in the newspaper that he was going to take it to his lawyer and sue the hell out of anybody who said something different.
And slander the paper did. They called Dumbledore a crazy old coot and that he had finally cracked. And they weren't polite in their defamation. They ragged on him something fierce for almost every page of their paper.
"I can't believe he did that," said Harry. He, Sirius, Millie, and Remus were sitting in Millie's living room having some tea. It was almost dinner time, but they were having a late tea. Since it was close to dinner, they weren't having any cakes, just biscuits.
"I can't believe he did it either. We were trying to keep it quiet, yeah," said Millie, sipping her tea and crossing her legs in a frustrated fashion. She started moving the top one in an agitated manner.
"Why would he do something like this?" said Harry, more confused than everybody else there. He didn't understand the ways of adults.
"I don't know. I don't understand why he did it," said Sirius, pacing back and forth behind the couch. "It doesn't make tactical sense. Voldemort hasn't done anything to show that he's back. Why tell the public?"
Dumbledore had done this without asking anybody about their opinion. He just called the meeting and blurted it out in front of everybody. He didn't even ask the Order of the Phoenix if they thought it was the right thing to do.
"He said he did it just because he wants the public to know that Voldemort is back," said Remus, leaning back in a casual manner. He was a supporter of Dumbledore and felt the man had done the right thing.
"That doesn't make a lick of sense. Voldemort is keeping quiet for now," said Sirius, throwing up his hands in frustration. "It would do us best just keep it quiet too."
"He doesn't want the public to be caught unawares," said Remus, calmly sipping his tea.
"Now they just think he's crazy though," pointed out Harry, looking over to Sirius. "And he tried to drag me into it."
"And I won't forgive him for that," said Sirius, a growl in his throat.
"Here, now, that's not right," said Remus, putting his cup on the table. "He was only trying to get the public to be aware." He was getting frustrated now that nobody was listening to him. Everybody here in this room seemed to be against Dumbledore.
"By dragging a teenage boy's name through the mud? How is that going to make everything be okay, yeah?" Millie asked, all but slamming her cup on the table. She was beyond upset that Dumbledore did that to Harry.
"He was only trying to add credence to his words," Remus said defensively, He was getting quite upset with this line of questioning. Who did they think they were, putting Dumbledore down like this? Didn't they know that he was the greatest wizard of all time?
"He should have asked us first, yeah," said Millie, not backing down one iota. She couldn't give a good hot damn whether the man liked the headmaster or not, she wasn't going to back down from him.
"Let's not argue," said Harry, trying to diffuse the tension. He didn't like it when the adults got into arguments. It just made for an anxious situation in the flat. "We've got enough problems without arguing amongst ourselves."
"Then he's got to quit defending Dumbledore," said Sirius, stopping his pacing and pointing an accusing finger at his best friend. He knew Remus had his head up his arse when it came to the headmaster, but he hated it when he defended him against everybody else.
"Dumbledore is a great man," said Remus, getting to his feet and then getting into Sirius' face.
"Who is causing us nothing but problems at this point in time," stated Sirius, not moving one inch.
"He's just trying to make the public to be aware," said Remus one more time, throwing his hands in the air and spinning around and walking away.
"Why don't you just go back to hiding under Dumbledore's skirts?" accused Sirius, completely done with this argument. It was like banging your head against a brick wall. He was done having it.
"You know what? I think I will. Because I'm not just gonna sit here and let you slander his name in front of me," Remus said, twirling around and leaving, slamming the door behind him.
"Well, that didn't work out well," said Harry, picking up his cup and taking a sip, for lack of anything better to do.
"He always was one to stand behind Dumbledore, instead of his friends," said Sirius, coming around the couch and slumping down onto it. He was all paced out. It was tiring, arguing with friends, even more so than arguing with enemies.
"I'm really sorry about that, yeah," said Millie, reaching over and putting her hand on his arm. She didn't want it to escalate to that, but sometimes it just happened that way.
"It was inevitable," said Sirius. He had seen it coming since his days at Hogwarts. Remus had always taken Dumbledore side over everything else. Ever since Dumbledore let him into Hogwarts, the moon shone out of the headmaster's arse, according to Remus Lupin.
"Still, it can't be good to see your friend pick somebody else over you," said Harry insightfully. "I don't know what I'd do if Hermione picked Dumbledore over me." He shivered at the thought. He didn't want to think about it because he could see it happening.
"I wouldn't put that to the test if I were you," said Sirius, echoing Harry's thoughts. "She does have a thing for authority."
"Yeah," said Harry with a great deal of resignation.
And with that, the three went about preparing for the evening meal. Today they were going for homemade fish and chips with beer batter. This was going to be fun to make because only Harry knew how to make it, and he was teaching Millie and Sirius. Sirius knew nothing about cooking, so that was always fun to teach him how. The kitchen would be a complete mess by the time they were done. However, it was just what they needed after such a tense situation.
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Things were tense at the next Order of the Phoenix meeting. Half of the Order thought Dumbledore was out of line for doing what he did, and the other half of the Order thought he was completely within his rights for doing it. It made for a very strained situation. Old Mad-eye Moody was on the half that thought he was out of his mind.
"Albus, what have you done, you moron?" Moody said, stomping over to his chair and sitting down. "Constant vigilance!" he yelled, slamming his hand on the table, making everybody jump.
"I don't understand why you're upset, Alastor," Albus said, looking at his old friend with a twinkle in his eye. He did know why Alastor was upset. He just didn't want to say it.
"You've given away our element of surprise," said Moody, once more slamming his hand on the table in anger. He couldn't believe Albus had pulled such a boneheaded stunt.
"However did I do that?" the old man asked, genuinely confused because the headmaster was not a tactician, he was a puppet master.
"Voldemort didn't know we knew he was alive. Now he knows. And he knows we're going to be making tactics to stop him," the one-legged man said, pointing an accusing finger at the old man. Moody was a tactician. He knew how to run a war. Unfortunately, Albus was in charge. Only because he had defeated Grindelwald. Not because he was a great leader.
"I am sure he did know. He is not such a fool that he did not know that," the headmaster said, stroking his beard in a wise fashion, causing those that admired him so to nod their heads sagely.
"You're an idiot," said Alastor, shaking his head sadly. They were going to lose this war. He just knew it. It would take a miracle for them to win, just like the last time.
"Can we get through this meeting without name calling, please?" said Albus, looking around at everybody with that grandfatherly smile of his.
"I doubt that very seriously," said Sirius with a disappointed frown. "Very few people here think what you did was right. Not only do we think you did wrong, but you didn't ask us in the first place." He looked around and saw that quite a few people were nodding along with him in agreement.
"I did not think I had to have your permission to do anything," said the old man, imperiously.
"It's not so much that you have to have our permission, it's that you should have asked us our opinion," said Sirius, sighing in frustration. He hated it when the headmaster got all high and mighty. It was like the man thought he was Merlin or something. Or God. Anyway, he thought he was better than everybody else in the room, and that was infuriating.
"Whyever, would I need your opinion?" said Albus, genuinely shocked. He looked around the room and all the faces and saw that some of them were quite hurt at his declaration.
Half the table raised their voices in protest.
"I think you should have asked our opinion, because I thought we were a group of peers," said Arthur Weasley, surprisingly. He wasn't normally one to speak up against the headmaster. He usually was one on Albus' side.
"Come now, Arthur, of course we are a group of peers," said Albus, making a calming gesture. "And I value your opinion. I just felt that the time was right, and it was imperative that I get the word out immediately."
"You could have asked our opinion. It would have taken a matter of minutes. Possibly an hour," said Arthur, folding his arms over his chest and ignoring his wife's protest at his side. She was starting to get quite loud, but he was ignoring her quite easily.
"Arthur Weasley, you quit being mean to the headmaster," she said. Her voice could peel paint from the wall.
"I agree," said Sirius, also ignoring Molly Weasley.
Half the table raise their voices in agreement as well. While the other half raised their voice in protest of the first half.
"I apologize," said Albus, raising his hands for quiet. "I will endeavor to ask your opinion henceforth. Severus, have you any news of what is going on with Voldemort?" he asked, quickly changing the subject from his supposed faux pas.
"The Dark Lord is doing nothing at this time," said Snape from his dark corner of the kitchen. He never stepped further into the kitchen. He always stayed in that one corner away from everybody else, as if he were detached from the Order. "At this time, he is focusing on the Department of Mysteries. I know not what he wants there."
"I know why he is doing that," said the headmaster, his eyes were twinkling madly.
"Are you going to tell us why he's doing that?" asked Sirius, there was accusation in his tone. As if he already knew the answer and didn't like it.
"There is something in the Department of Mysteries that Voldemort wants. What we are going to do is protect it," said the old man, with a great deal of wisdom, as if he were laying out a great battle plan.
"How are we going to do that? The Department of Mysteries is well guarded," asked Arthur. He didn't like this idea already. He could get fired if he were caught lurking around the Department of Mysteries, and the last thing he could afford was to get fired.
"We're going to stand guard in front of The Room of Doors," the Leader of the Light said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"And if we get caught?" asked one of the other members, there was strain in that voice.
"Then we will just say that we got lost," was the unhelpful answer.
"That'll only work so many times," said somebody else.
"We will have to do our best," said Albus, giving them the kindly old man smile.
And many protests were raised around the table. Voices were heard and complaints were made. Because many of the people there did not work at the Ministry and had no business being in the Department of Mysteries. Albus held up his hand for silence.
"Only those who work at the ministry will be on rotation to guard the Department of Mysteries. Unless it is after midnight. Then I will take volunteers for those who would like to guard," he said, looking around the room at all the people who admired him, and he knew they were going to take guard duty at night.
There were only a few diehard Dumbledore fans that volunteered to guard after midnight.
After the meeting broke up, Sirius asked Millie. "What did you think of your first order meeting?"
"You guys really don't do anything, do you, yeah?" she asked, laughter in her voice. She had kept quiet during the whole meeting. She wanted to see the dynamic of it without interfering. She was not impressed. There was so much discord and so little done. Even their spy was useless.
"No, we really don't. But it makes us feel important," he said, a chuckle in his voice. He too was unimpressed, but he wanted to keep an eye on the group.
"I'm not sure if I'm going to be sticking around for these," she said, still laughing. "I've got more important things to do, like getting people ready to fight." By this time, they had already gotten to Hogsmeade.
"So, you're not going to volunteer to guard the Department of Mysteries?" he asked, chuckling at her evaluation.
"It's already well guarded," she said, giving him a knowing look. Sirius knew how well the Department of Mysteries was guarded. He went there almost every day talking to the Unspeakables.
"Aren't you curious as to what's going to be guarded?" he asked. He was curious about it. Then again, he was a curious person by nature.
"Not particularly," she said with a shrug. She'd leave that up to other people to take care of. She had other more important things to do, like teach people how to fight, like she said before. If there was going to be a war, people needed to know how to get away from Death Eaters.
"Well, if Voldemort wants it. Then it must be important," Sirius pointed out. To him that was very significant. And he very much needed to know.
"You can guard it and figure it out. You are already talking to the people in the Department of Mysteries, and you've got an in with Amelia Bones, so you should be able to figure out what's going on. By the way, are you going to tell Amelia that the Order people are going to be guarding something there?" she asked, thinking that was a great idea. That way it would keep the people of the Order out of jail, or put them in jail faster, one of the two.
"I think I might just," said Sirius, thinking hard on which way that would go. He was sure Amelia would give everybody a warning and let them off.
"That's probably a good idea. They'd be getting less trouble that way. Or more trouble, depending on how you look at it. Or rather, how she looks at it, yeah," she said, putting her thoughts in words.
"There is that," he said contemplatively.
The two of them continued walking towards Millie's flat. It was already going on midnight, and she had classes in the morning. Harry was at home with Dobby as his guard. When they got into the house, they could hear Harry thrashing around in a nightmare. They rushed up the stairs to find out what was going on.
"Harry, Harry, wake up," Millie said, rushing to his side, grabbing his shoulder, and shaking him as hard as she could without hurting him.
Harry woke up drenched in sweat. "What happened?" he asked, pushing his sweat soaked bangs out of his face, and pulling his sweat soaked shirt off his chest.
"You're having a nightmare. Do you remember it?" she asked, pulling him to her and giving him a hug, no matter how gross he was. She just wanted to give him comfort.
"Voldemort's happy about something," he mumbled into her shoulder as he gave her a hug back. He didn't remember the dream, but he remembered the sensation of Voldemort being happy.
"Do you remember what it is?" Sirius asked, hoping to get some information.
"No. No. I just know he's happy about something," the teen said, pulling away from Millie's hug and looking at Sirius. He could see the disappointment in his godfather's face and wondered about that.
"Damn. I was hoping you would know what it was. You must be practicing your occlumency. Good job at that," Sirius said, clapping him on the shoulder in a complimentary way. As much as he wanted to know what was going on, he had to praise the boy for doing what he was supposed to be doing every night.
"Yeah," said Harry, both proud and disappointed. Perhaps he should stop practicing his occlumency so he could know what was going on.
"No," Sirius said, reading the look on his face. "You keep practicing your occlumency. I don't want you to go to bed at night without practicing it. As much as we want to get inside Voldemort's head, I don't want you in there." He was proud of the kid for doing what he was supposed to be doing. He didn't want him to suffer any nightmares just to get information on Voldemort. If the one he had tonight was any indication, if he saw what was going on in Voldemort's head, it would be ten times worse. If not more so.
"Right," said Harry.
"Can you go back to sleep, or do you need something?" asked Millie, sliding her arm over his shoulders.
"I think I'll get a cup of cocoa," said Harry, flipping his legs over the side of his bed and getting up. There was no way he was going back to sleep right away. He may not remember the dream, but he still remembered the sensation and he did not want to go back to sleep. "And maybe a shower," he added, sniffing his armpit.
"Oh, come on then. One cup of cocoa for everybody, yeah," said Millie, standing up from the bed and following Harry out of the room.
And with that they trooped down the stairs and everybody had a cup of cocoa and was ready for bed within half an hour. Harry did get his shower first.
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With that came the end of summer. And Harry and his friends were soon going back to school.
The Order of the Phoenix continued to use Grimmuald Place as their Headquarters. Dumbledore had tried to instate the Weasleys there, but Sirius put his foot down and said it was only for Order meetings and nothing else. They had a curse breaker for a son who could put wards up just as easily as Millie had put them up around her shop.
Molly had tried to clean Grimmuald Place, but Sirius put his foot down on that too and said no, his elf would do it. And that nobody would be able to go into Grimmuald Place except for the kitchen where the Order meetings were held. It was a Black family seat, and that was only for the Blacks.
Harry had kept in touch with his friends all summer, when he wasn't working. He still had his cellphone from a few years ago and had kept in touch with Hermione and Dean via that, and the rest of his friends via owl. Some of them had come to visit him in Hogsmeade, but the rest were contacted by post or cellphone. But now they were on the train.
"How was your summer, Hermione?" Harry asked her, from his place between her and Luna. Luna was asleep right now. Maybe she didn't get enough sleep last night. He didn't know, but she was taking a nap.
"It was quite fruitful," she said, smiling a brilliant smile. "I got to study some of my non-magical studies, and we went to France."
"That sounds like it was lots of fun," said Dean, from his place across the aisle sitting between Neville and Seamus. Ron was sitting on the other side of Neville, nearest the door. It was quite crowded on that bench. But Luna was taking up enough space for two people with her nap.
"It really was," she said, bouncing a little bit. Which made the boys' eyes draw downward just a tad. "Have you been keeping up with your non-magical studies?" she asked everybody.
"I have," said Dean and Harry, a bit of smugness in their tones. They were both very proud of keeping up with their age group in non-magical studies.
The rest of the group shook their heads. They had not. They were all magical. Well, Luna had, but she was asleep.
"Well, I'm very proud of you two," said Hermione, giving them a winning smile.
"What do you think we're going to be studying this year?" asked Harry, changing the subject slightly.
"It's our OWL year, so we're going to be studying very hard," said Hermione, getting excited. She had been looking forward to this year for four years. This would be the year she would prove she was the smartest witch of her age.
"That's right, I had forgotten," said Harry, a bit sheepishly. He really, truly had forgotten.
"How could you forget the OWL year?" asked Seamus, his jaw slacked in shock.
"I've had a lot on my mind this summer," said Harry, protest in his tone. He did have a lot on his mind this summer. He just couldn't tell them about it and that kind of put a damper on the subject.
"What possibly could be on your mind that you would forget your OWLs?" asked Hermione. To her, there was absolutely nothing more important, other than her NEWTs. Tests were very crucial. They showed exactly how much you've learned and how smart you are.
"I can't tell you," said Harry, rubbing the back of his head, not meeting anybody's eyes. He hated keeping secrets from his friends, but he knew how vital this was. He wasn't going to give validity to Dumbledore's words. If the headmaster wanted to look like a fool to everybody. That was his prerogative. He wasn't going to do that.
"You have a secret you can't tell us?" asked Ron, the tips of his ears turning red, showing he was getting angry.
"Yes, I have a secret I can't tell you," said Harry, looking at his redheaded friend.
"That's not right," said Ron, in protest. As if Harry wasn't allowed to have a private life.
"Why is that?" said Harry, getting angry himself. He wasn't sure if this was more of That Boy Who Lived bullshit or if it was because he was supposed to be Ron's friend. If Ron felt it was because of friendship, then that was one thing, but if it was because of the whole Boy Who Lived thing, that was quite another. But either way, he was allowed to have secrets.
"You should be able to tell us everything," the redhead said, this time, his ears were fully red, showing exactly how angry he was.
"There's always going to be something somebody can't tell you. I'm sure there's secrets you have that you can't tell me," said Harry, trying to bring logic to the table. He knew it was futile, but he had to try.
"No, I tell you everything," said Ron, though now his cheeks were tinged red, showing that he was lying.
"I'm not getting into this argument with you," said Harry, making a slashing motion like he was just fed up with it all. He was not going to argue about it. "Just know that there is something I can't tell you. If you can't handle that, that's not my problem." He was surprised Luna was sleeping through the whole thing.
"Be that way then," said Ron and he got up and left the compartment.
"I'm not sure I like the fact that you have something you can't tell me, but I respect it," said Hermione, laying a hand on his arm.
"Thank you," said Harry, patting her hand. He was glad that she understood. He looked at the three boys across from him and they were all nodding their heads too. He was just glad that he had such good friends.
"Does the headmaster know your secret?" Hermione asked out of nowhere.
"Why would the headmaster need to know my secret?" asked Harry, completely shocked that she would ask that question.
"Because he's the most powerful wizard in the world," was her response.
"But it's my secret," said Harry.
"That's right," said Dean, looking at her queerly. "It's his secret and only he needs to know it."
"I guess you're right," said Hermione, though her tone was thoughtful.
And with that, the group of friends got to talking about other things, and the train went on to Hogwarts. Harry was convinced that there might be a time when he and Hermione had a confrontation like Sirius and Remus had had earlier that summer. He hoped it didn't end the same way theirs had.