Chapter 10 - Easter at Grimmauld Place

"There wasn't anything about the break out in the Prophet."

It was the first day of the Easter holidays. Harry, Remus, Tonks and Sirius were in the kitchen having breakfast and discussing, again, the events from their time at Azkaban.

Of course he'd heard about it straight away. Sirius had come to see him at Hogwarts, after speaking to Dumbledore there.

He'd been a bit strange, as Harry remembered it.

"I hope one day you'll forgive me, Harry." He'd said as they took a walk of the grounds. Harry knew Dumbledore had allowed Sirius to stay at the school to see him as an exception. It wasn't exactly common for students to have their parents or guardians visit them during term time.

Harry had frowned at him. They were very nearly the same height now. "What do you mean? What do I need to forgive you for?"

Sirius stopped walking and looked out to the lake, his gaze very far away. "For being so bloody arrogant."

"Er…" He didn't really know where to begin with that.

"I under-estimated Wormtail." He said, turning back to Harry. "I always have. Dumbledore helped me see that. I… wasn't especially nice to him and didn't realise he might ever not be loyal to James and me."

"It wasn't your fault!" Harry insisted. "I'm sure Dumbledore didn't say that."

Sirius shook his head. "No, we mostly spoke about Azkaban. But he did mention it."

"Well I don't think there's anything to forgive." Harry said firmly. "You're a brilliant godfather and I'm sure you were a brilliant friend. No one forced Wormtail to do what he did."

"No." Sirius agreed. "But I had a hand in making it happen…"

Harry didn't argue with him. He knew Remus would help his godfather feel better again, and he didn't want to talk about Wormtail. They'd gone to Hagrid's for tea and then Sirius had bade him goodbye. That had been about a week ago now.

"Of course there's not anything in the Daily Prophet!" Sirius said impatiently. "When did they ever print the truth?"

"They're covering it up." Remus explained more gently. "They don't want people to panic."

"But people are panicking!" Harry said, remembering again the students who had been withdrawn from Hogwarts by their parents. "At least if they tell us what's going on we'll know what we're up against."

"Will we? Not even the ministry knows what we're up against…"

"Does the Order?"

"A lot more so." Sirius smiled.

"What can I do to help?"

Sirius and Remus both gave him the familiar patronising look they wore whenever he expressed his desire to do anything useful in the fight against Voldemort.

It was very frustrating as Dumbledore clearly thought he was capable of it.

The two of them still met to discuss Voldemort's past and possible locations of his horcruxes.

This, Harry realised, was key to truly stopping the dark activity that was going on around them. It was fine to fight the death eaters on the ground but it was only really in taking down their leader that the trouble would end for good. And that started with the horcruxes. It was important that they were actually able to kill Voldemort before they attempted to do so.

"How are your classes?" Remus asked and Harry sighed in frustration.

"They're fine."

"Quidditch?" Tonks tried.

Harry glowered. The memory of his last match, in which McLaggen had knocked him out with a bludger, still rankled.

"Terrible."

"How's Snivellus?"

For someone who apparently loathed Snape's guts, Sirius certainly did ask after him a lot.

Harry looked at his godfather. "Why on earth would talking about Snape make me feel better?!"

Sirius shrugged. "Confidence boost by comparison?"

"We're not all still fifteen." Remus said, sounding half exasperated, half amused. "Tell us what Dumbledore's teaching you in your private lessons, Harry…"

"I swear that man shares more with a sixteen year old than he does us." Sirius said, shaking his head as Harry relayed what he'd learned.

"Well I am the one who has to defeat him!" Harry said indignantly. "And what does being sixteen have to do with anything?!"

"Nothing, Harry." Remus said, smiling at him. "Sirius just likes doing everything himself."

"That's such a lie!" Sirius scoffed, propping his feet on the table and taking another sip of his butterbeer. "I just don't see why he thinks Harry has to be the one to defeat him."

Harry could understand why the idea that his life had to end with killing or being killed by Voldemort was not a pleasant one to his godfather, but his constant denial of it really wasn't helpful.

"There was that little thing called a prophecy…" Remus began.

Sirius snorted. "Oh don't give me that fortune telling bollocks. You hated divination as much as I did at school. Why Dumbledore's suddenly gone all dewy eyed over it…"

Harry would dearly like to believe Dumbledore had got this all wrong too. It would certainly be easier not to live his life with the heavy burden of having to kill Voldemort resting on his shoulders alone. But did Sirius really think he knew better than Dumbledore? Wasn't Dumbledore the only one Voldemort had ever feared? Surely he'd know better than anyone how to defeat him.

"Go on up to the castle and fight it out with him again then." Remus said in a long-suffering sort of voice. "We all know how well that ended for you last time."

"I will." Sirius promised. "But pudding first..." And he got to his feet, leaving Remus and Tonks to grin affectionately after him.

Harry had to admit it was hard to believe they were under any kind of threat from the outside world while life at number twelve was so comfortable and… fun.

Being with Sirius, Remus and Tonks was quite as enjoyable as being with Ron and Hermione. It was odd having Sirius as a godfather, because he didn't really seem old or serious enough to be like a parent to him (he was nothing like Mr or Mrs Weasley), yet he was clearly much older and more responsible than a brother. Although possibly not on the 'responsible' side of things…

"What are you doing?!" Remus said crossly on finding Sirius and Harry sharing a bottle of firewhisky in the drawing room one night. "Harry's not of age yet!"

"Oh lighten up, Moony." Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "We drank at his age."

"It's bad for his liver." Remus said, moving to take the bottle away, but Sirius held it firm.

"My house, my rules."

Remus fixed him with a very stern look. "Sirius, can I have a word with you?"

Sirius looked at Harry and raised his eyebrows.

"Now, please."

Sirius sighed and got to his feet. "Yes, Professor Lupin." And he followed Remus out of the room.

Harry could hear them arguing loudly from out in the corridor. He felt suddenly very guilty for being the cause of it. If Remus didn't want him drinking he didn't mind not doing it. He'd only taken the firewhisky because Sirius had poured it for him.

"Wotcher, Harry!"

Tonks had appeared with a loud crack beside him in the drawing room.

Harry couldn't wait to pass his apparition test so he could move quickly through the house like she did.

"Hi, Tonks." He said, his mind still on his godfather and Remus.

"Yes, Sirius, and that's exactly why I'm telling you this!" Came the angry voice of Remus from outside the drawing room door followed by an equally angry retort from Sirius.

Tonks rolled her eyes at Harry. "Like an old married couple, aren't they?" She grinned. "But we love them really."

Harry knew Tonks certainly loved Remus. She rarely looked at anything but him when in his company and her eyes sparkled whenever his name was mentioned (even if in arguing with his best friend).

"Well if you want to raise him to be a goody-goody twit like…"

"Like me?!" Remus challenged.

"I'm just saying, James made me godfather for a reason!"

"Fine, Sirius, you win. You raise him to be exactly the way you and James were at his age. What fantastic pillars of society you both were."

There was the sound of loud footsteps as Remus walked away.

"Oh don't do this Moony…"

There was no reply.

The door to the drawing room opened and a somewhat abashed looking Sirius entered.

"Trouble in paradise?" Tonks grinned at him and Sirius nodded, making Harry feel even worse.

"You shouldn't argue over me." He said quietly. The guilt was eating him alive.

"Don't be daft, Harry." Sirius said. "He's just being over-protective. Anyway, you're pretty much of age already, it's not exactly like there's a lot more we can do for you."

"What did he mean… you and my dad weren't great role models?" Harry asked, feeling a bit hurt and confused.

Sirius glanced awkwardly at Tonks. "Nothing, mate."

This made Harry feel even worse. Sirius was one of the most honest men he knew. If he wasn't saying anything it was because he had something to hide.

Harry looked at Tonks.

"Why are you both looking at me!" She said, clasping her hands to her face and peering through her fingers at them both.

Harry turned back to his godfather. "Will you and Remus make things up?"

"'Course we will."

"I'll go and get him." Tonks said, getting to her feet. "He's such a grumpy old man sometimes." She laughed. "Though I love him dearly." She added, quite unnecessarily.

The argument did indeed blow over quite quickly. Remus was able to concede that he was perhaps thinking 'with his teacher's hat' on and Sirius could see that some rules were there for a reason (or at least he pretended to).

Harry was very glad things were back to normal between the two of them.

"You're lucky." Tonks said to him after dinner. "They both adore you. And Remus' love is worth all the gold in Gringotts.

Harry smiled. He knew that. He'd spent too many years with the Dursleys not to know the real thing when it came. And he had to admit, it was worth the wait.

There were two Order meetings during the time Harry was staying at headquarters. Sirius and Remus both agreed he could join them, although Snape of course had another opinion on the matter.

"Potter." He said, lip curling distastefully as it did every time he saw Harry.

"Oh just hex him, Harry." Sirius, who had just entered the room, said.

Snape spun around. Harry had the distinct impression he would have remained silent if his arch nemesis had been in the room before he'd spoken.

Sirius raised his eyebrows at him. "Snape." He said coldly, which Harry had to admit was highly hypocritical.

"Anyone else need to announce the presence of another or can we get down to business?" Tonks said brightly, diffusing the tension in a way only she could.

"Business is for members of the Order of the Phoenix only." Snape said icily. "What is Potter doing here?"

"Oh let's just let this one slide, shall we, Severus?" Tonks said amiably. "Now where's Albus when he's at home?"

"He's running late. He said he's picking someone up." Podmore said, helping himself to a bottle of butterbeer from the kitchen.

"Oh well why did we all come on time then?!" Mundungus said crossly. "Chuck us one of them beers, Poddy."

"We didn't." Arthur Weasley said, frowning as he did a quick head count. "We're missing Mad-Eye, Hestia, Dedalus…"

"We're not missing Dedalus." Remus, who had just entered too, said. "He's upstairs in the drawing room."

"He's examining the Black family tapestry." Sirius said with a grin. "He can't believe no one in the whole history of my family has ever married a muggle or muggleborn."

"What about my mum and dad?!" Tonks said indignantly.

"Yeah." Sirius grinned. "They're not on it."

"That doesn't explain Mad-Eye's absence." Arthur said with a frown. "It's not like him to be late."

"Well he is getting on a bit." Sirius said, helping himself to a butterbeer too. "You know what they're like at his age… forever forgetting things and getting things mixed up. He's probably sitting at home in his boxers and…"

There was a loud bang and Sirius suddenly vanished, to be replaced by a large black ferret.

There was a popping sound and Mad-Eye Moody appeared in the kitchen. "Getting things mixed up am I, Black?" He said, grinning around at them all. "I thought I'd arrive by stealth. Always a good idea to hear what's being said when my back's turned…"

The ferret that was Sirius squeaked furiously from the floor.

Moody waved his wand and a very disheveled looking Sirius reappeared. Snape looked as though Christmas, Easter and his birthday had all come at once.

"Sodding hell, Mad-Eye, you could've given me some warning!" Sirius said crossly, glaring at the auror.

"Nah, that would've ruined the fun." Moody grinned at him. "Albus sent me a note to say he'll be here in five minutes, er, Potter, can I have a quick word?"

Harry, wondering what on earth Moody wanted to talk to him about alone, followed the gnarled man out of the room.

"He's bringing Wormtail." Moody growled, cutting straight to the chase as he always did. "Thought you'd want warning. If you want to sit this one out…?"

Harry's heart missed a beat. Dumbledore was bringing Wormtail, his parents' killer, to the meeting? He felt suddenly a bit sick.

"Why?" He asked. It was all he could say.

Moody shrugged. "Dunno, truth be told. They've been chatting though. I think maybe he's given him a job to do."

Harry stared at Moody. His heart was beating very fast. Dumbledore had given Wormtail a job? Dumbledore trusted him?

"No." Harry said flatly. "I don't want to be there." He didn't want to be in the house at all right now. How could Dumbledore do this to him?! Hot betrayal cascaded through him. He'd trusted Dumbledore. He'd thought the man cared about him. But Harry clearly meant nothing to him. How could he do this?!

There was the sound of the door opening. Harry and Moody looked up and there he was. Wormtail. The man who had betrayed Harry's parents. The man whose fault it was he'd grown up with the Dursleys and not in the happy, loving family he ought to have known.

His eyes met Dumbledore's. There were a million things he wanted to say to the headmaster but not one of them came to him. It was all he could do to stare in dumbstruck horror.

"Harry." Dumbledore said gently. "Please let me explain."

Harry shook his head. He couldn't listen to explanations. He wouldn't hear it. What could Dumbledore possibly say that could justify his actions?!

"Harry, please…"

"No!" Harry shouted, still staring at the headmaster in shock. It was as if a very old friend had suddenly turned traitor. He couldn't believe this of him. "I don't want to listen to you!"

The door to the kitchen opened and Sirius appeared beside them. "Mad-Eye, Harry, what's going…" He looked up to see what Harry was staring at. "Oh you can't be serious…"

"Sirius, Harry, I know you're both upset."

"Oh well bloody done, Dumbledore. Doesn't take a genius to work that one out! It's only the man who killed my best friend and my godson's parents!"

"S-Sirius…" Wormtail stammered. "I promise I mean no harm."

"Oh is that what you said when you sold out Lily and James is it?!"

"I've got to say Albus, I'm on Black and Potter's side here." Moody said, eyeing Wormtail distastefully. "I don't think it was a good idea bringing him here tonight."

"Thank you, Alastor. And thank you, Sirius and Harry. I am well aware of your opinions towards Mr Pettigrew, however it is my wish that he join the meeting tonight. If you do not wish to attend, I will not stop you."

Sirius looked at Harry. Then he looked at Albus. "You're a cruel man, Dumbledore. How could you do this?"

"I'm sorry Sirius. You will not change my mind."

"Well you've got us over a barrel as you know I'm going to choose the Order." Sirius said. "But why?!"

"I will explain." Dumbledore promised. "Harry?"

Harry looked at him. "Please, just hear me out." He said and Harry didn't really have a choice. He nodded numbly.

"Thank you." Dumbledore said. "Come on then. Let's go." And he led the group into the room where the other Order members were waiting.