Shadow Phoenix
Arrival
C2: Arrival
Harry sat on the bed in the room the Dursleys had given him and waited. It was 9.58pm. He had already sent Hedwig to Ron and Hermione, who were where ever they would be taking him to. Suddenly he heard several loud cracks from downstairs.
Then he heard someone call his name, and a moment later something heavy fell to the ground followed by the cursing of some female, whose voice Harry didn't recognize. Harry came down the stairs, just in time to see Remus Lupin help up a beautiful young woman, who as it seemed managed to fall down the stairs, after stepping it up partly.
“Now I see what Dumbledore meant with: 'I'll send you someone to get you.'” Everyone immediately had their wand pointed at Harry, who just ignored them.
“What's your Patronus form, Harry?” Lupin asked.
“Stag, but that question is shit, because I used my Patronus yesterday, a single street away from here.” Lupin sighed. “Then I'll think of something else...”
“You better. But of course I'll have to give you a little more time than usual, as that hot lady which just fell before your feet is clouding your mind Moony.” Harry said casually, teasing the man, who was like a uncle for him. Several others started laughing, while Lupin and the woman blushed.
“What's your biggest mistake till now?” Mad-Eye Moody, who was also part of the group asked.
“Failing to save the life of Cedric Diggory.” Harry answered.
“Ok, he's Harry.” Mad-Eye decided.
“He? What?” the woman asked.
“Hermione told me, that question and that answer.” Mad-Eye explained.
“I need to get my things. How will we travel?” Harry asked, while going up the stairs again.
“Brooms. We have no other safe possibility except for a portkey and none of us would make one unauthorized.” Mad-Eye explained.
“No problem with me. I like flying.” Harry went into his room and got his Broom out of his trunk.
Than he pulled his trunk out of the room.
“A Firebolt? Oh Lord, I've always wanted one of those!” the woman said, on her way to Harry's room.
“Let me do this!” she demanded and used a spell to levitate the trunk behind them.
After they were down again, Mad-Eye said: “We need to put a disillusionment charm on you, Harry. After that we’ll go flying.”
“Before you put that charm on me, shouldn't you undo the tracking charm on her right boot?” Harry asked, pointing at the woman's feet. Mad-Eyes magical eye flashed towards the boot immediately.
“Nymphadora Tonks!” Moody all but growled, followed by a short but loud lecture, that every Auror had to search themselves and their clothes before and after every mission for tracking charms and undo them.
“Never call her Nymphadora. Only Tonks.” Lupin whispered to Harry. Mad-Eye finally undid the tracing charm and cast the disillusionment charm on Harry. Harry looked at the pattern of the charm that made him a human chameleon. It was way more complicated than the tracing charms.
“Well, let’s go.” Harry said. After he got out of the House he got on his Firebolt and hovered a few feet above the ground, waiting for the others.
A still embarrassed Tonks used a spell to make Harry's trunk weightless and attached it to her own broom.
They took flight forming a protective formation around Harry. Following Mad-Eyes seemly random orders for directions they travelled nearly an hour. Harry didn't mind. He had always loved flying and after the first half hour cast a charm on himself to keep warm and dry. The others however did seem to mind. Maybe it was because they hadn't cast that spell on themselves.
“We should fly back a little, to make sure, we are not followed.” Moody claimed.
“No!” Tonks snapped at him. “We are nearly there and cold and wet from that dammed clouds you made us fly through. Flying back will only increase the danger to get spotted by DEs! Our mission is to bring Harry safely to HQ.”
She descended with Harry right behind her. After they were on the ground once again, Harry mentioned to Tonks: “You know, that the spell to keep warm and dry is second years level in Hogwarts, don't you?” The face she and several others gave was worth gold.
“Shit, I forgot.” she confessed.
“And I wondered why only I and Mad-Eye used that charm...” he said.
“Read and memorize this!” Mad-Eye interrupted, giving Harry a small piece of paper.
Written on it was:
The Headquarter of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.
Harry looked up.. He saw number eleven and thirteen, but twelve wasn't there. Mad-Eye took the Paper back and burned it.
“Concentrate on what was written on it.”, he ordered.
Harry did and out of nowhere another house between eleven and thirteen appeared and seemed to push the other houses out of it's way. They got in, wands still drawn to make sure, it was no trap, but put them away, as soon as Molly Weasley, Ron's mother appeared out of one door, beaming her happy smile brightly at Harry.
“Welcome, dear.” she whispered, giving Harry a hug, before she turned to the others.
“He just came. The Meeting is about to start. Go in, all of you. Harry, Ron and Hermione are upstairs. Just go to them, they'll explain everything to you. And keep quiet in the Hall. The paintings are a pain, but we haven't yet found a way to get rid of them.”
“I will. Meet you later.” Harry said, before taking his trunk and making his way up.
After he reached his room and put his trunk somewhere, Hermione stormed into his room, followed by Ron more slowly. She hugged Harry forcefully enough for him to be very thankful for the additional strength his body had gained after drinking the potion. Otherwise her death grip might actually have broken his bones.
He too brought his arms up and around the witch, suddenly very aware of her breasts being pressed against his chest. Harry slowly stroked her hair and back, while willing his body not to react to hers.
“I'm sooooo sorry Harry! You must be really pissed on us, that we didn't write you any important news, but Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn't. He said the Owls could be intercepted. I'm soooo sorry.”
“It's ok, Hermione” Harry said. “I didn't tell any of you either, what I was doing.”
Hermione suddenly let go of Harry and asked: “Is it true, that you got rid of the tracing charms and fought Dementors?” Harry smiled.
“Yes!” he whispered.
“Can you undo the charms on us too?” Ron asked eagerly.
“Maybe, but...”
“What maybe?” Hermione asked.
“First, the tracing on your wands wouldn't be any problem. I would have to undo them somewhere special though. Second, to undo the charms on yourself I would have to look at and touch every square inch of your skin... Third, at Private Drive there is a tracing charm for underage magic. On the whole house! I can't undo it and didn't try. If you'd use magic in a place like that, they'd get you. You can't see that charms’ difference. But if you still want me to undo the tracing spells, of course I'll do it.”
“We could train our spells during the vacations...” Ron said with a big smile.
“I can charm rooms, so the tracing won’t work inside... I trained a lot this month, even before I got rid of the tracings.” Harry mentioned.
“What?” his two friends asked as one.
“You heard me. Now I want to show you something.” Harry opened his trunk and stepped in leaving the 'door' wide open. Hermione and Ron followed him, too eager to remember to close it behind them. Or to notice the little red headed girl watching them through a barely opened door and following them nosily.
Harry went into his Potion Lab and showed Hermione and Ron around, while controlling the potions for failures. At last he led them to the back of the room, where a single, rather big cauldron stood.
“What's this?” Hermione asked. Ron looked onto her, unbelieving, that she would fail to recognize a potion.
“Animagus Potion.” Harry said. “It needs to brew another month till it'll be ready, but it looks fine till then.”
“But it's so much!” Hermione said. “It would be enough for at least twenty people!” Ron gasped.
“Twenty-five to be exact.” Harry corrected. “I'm sure we'll find enough people, who want to become Animagi and I'll train them for it. First I thought of you two, Ginny, Fred, George, Neville and some other Gryffindors. We'll see whom else we offer this.” He went into the next room, followed by his friends and someone else.
“This is the training room. You can use magic in here without the Ministry noticing.”
“What's this?” Hermione asked, her eyes looked onto the chained chair.
Harry sat down on it and said: “Restrict.” The chains captured him once more, making both of his friends gasp.
“Free.” The chains fell to the ground, freeing him and Harry stood up.
“I used this chair to prevent myself from clawing at my eyes, while I changed them...”He took of his glasses, showing his friends his slit pupils.
“How? Why?” they asked.
“Do you think I was able to see the magic patterns of spells before I changed them?” he asked.
“No.”, Hermione answered.
“Then you have your answer.”
“But why did you need the chair?” she asked..
“You should know... there is always a price to be paid for new powers.”, Harry said. “These eyes and everything that comes along with them is paid in the currency of pain.” He waited a moment without anyone saying anything, before he continued.
“Only those who were once tortured by the cruciatus curse without going crazy can stay sane through the change. I will not tell you any more about it.”
He left the room and his shocked friends to go directly back into the first room, seating himself onto the throne. Soon after, they followed and started to ask him a lot of questions which he didn't answer.
“Stop!” he said finally. “It's enough. You decide if you want me to undo your tracings. If yes, we'll have to do it in a room charmed like the training room. You may use the training room whenever you want. I won’t answer further questions and now leave, please.” It took some time, but finally after he ignored them a view minutes, they followed Harry's request, closing the door behind them.
“Ginny, come here,” he said after a moment. The girl hesitated, but then hurried to him.
“I knew you'd been there all along. I offer you too, to undo your tracings.” He laid his index finger on her lips to stop her from answering that very moment.
“I also offer you to help you becoming an animagus. I don't want you to answer today. Come to me tomorrow or later if you need more time to decide.” He looked directly into her eyes making her blush again. Then he leaned back in his seat, closed his eyes and relaxed his muscles.
“Now leave, I have to rest. My body still adjusts to my new powers.” Ginny followed his order, after staring at his face for another few moments.
Half an hour later Harry exited his room and stepped down the stairs. In the middle of the stairs crouched Fred and George. Each of them had something like a string coming out of their right ears which lead down and to the door behind which the meeting of the Order was held.
“Do you hear anything?” he asked, startling the two.
“Harry, you scared ten years of my life away! By the way: Welcome.” Fred said.
“We tried to, but there are spells on the door preventing us from hearing anything.” George answered Harry's question.
“What a shame. Something else. I have a suggestion and an offer for the two of you. Apparate to my room after we're done later tonight, and go into the trunk if you don't find me in the room.”
After that, Harry went down the other half of the stairs and stepped into the hall. At the very same moment, the door of the meeting room flew open and Snape went out in a hurry and stormed to the front door without so much as glancing at Harry. While Harry slowly walked into the room other members of the Order came out, greeting Harry and went their way afterwards.
Mr. Weasley and Bill Weasley sat on the end of the table and discussed something over several plans. They were eager to put them away, once Mrs. Weasley cleared her throat, which made them look up and recognizing Harry's presence.
“Harry! It's wonderful to finally meet you again!” Sirius welcomed, hugging his godson.
“Great to be here. Care to tell me what this place is?”
“Didn't Ron and Hermione tell you?” Molly asked.
“We had more important matters to talk about.” Harry said. “Mainly, how I got rid of my minor tracing charms.”
“You did what?” Everyone still in there except Tonks and Lupin asked in shock. Bill even let all the plans in his arms fall down.
Harry simply raised his wand and with a little wave put them all back into his arms, this time neatly rolled up for them to be easier to carry.
“Don't worry, I haven't seen that you've plans of the Ministry, that shouldn't even exist in the first place, if you don't tell them about my tracings.” he offered. Sirius and Tonks laughed and Lupin grinned, while the Weasleys seemed to be too startled to do anything but stare at him.
“You're a true Marauder, Harry!” Sirius said. “Maybe the best ever, 'cause even James never managed to get rid of them. Even though he tried every summer, till he was of age.”
“How did you do it?” Tonks asked nosily.
“I won’t let any of my friends get murdered again. This is what I decided. To reach this goal I have to get stronger, way more powerful. I will use whatever means I have to do that and I'll gladly suffer whatever consequences for myself as long as I can save them.”
Harry took of his glasses and put them onto the table. He than looked into everyone's eyes one after the other.
“What's happened to your eyes, my dear? They've slit pupils like a cat's.” Molly Weasley asked.
“I used a potion, now I can even see the magic pattern of spells.” Harry claimed. “Once you can see the tracing charms, you can easily get rid of them.”
“But wouldn't they alarm the Ministry, if you do this?” Mr. Weasley asked.
“I've enlarged the space in my trunk to several rooms while I was in Hogwarts. I've charmed one of them to suppress tracing charms. I was in there while I undid the charms.”
“We need a Marauder name for you Harry!” Lupin said.
“Not yet. That should wait until I'm an animagus.” Harry declined. “Just wait another month, Moony.”
“You say you'll become an animagus in a month?” Bill asked, finally getting a grip on himself.
“Yes. I'm already preparing everything.” Harry said. “By the way, I'm currently brewing enough Animagus Potion for twenty-five people. If any of you are interested, just ask. I'll give some of it to you. Of course only if it doesn't suddenly turn bad.” The last sentence he said directly to Molly, who didn't seem to be too content about Harry becoming an Animagus. Then he turned back to Sirius.
“You didn't answer my question yet.”
“This house belongs to me.” Harry's godfather said. “I offered for the Order of the Phoenix to use it as a Headquarters. It’s been empty the last ten years except for an old house elf who's gone crazy. It's been the only useful thing I've been able to do so far. Ever since, I'm in charge of making it a place to live in. Dumbledore is the keeper of the Fidelius Charm on it.”
“Seems my life is a little more exciting than yours.” Harry mentioned. “Yesterday I fought two Dementors.... one escaped. The other one wasn't more than a shadow on the street after my Patronus impaled him with his antler and then stomped on the resulting puddle of disgusting, black whatever into the ground.”
“You killed a Dementor?” Mr. Weasley asked disbelievingly.
“He could've escaped, but he was too concentrated on a little Muggle girl to recognize my Patronus until it was too late. I've wiped her memory after Mrs. Figg gave her chocolate and talked to her..”
“Are you 100% sure nobody else has seen you?” Mr. Weasley asked.
“I've used a charm on myself to prevent Muggles from give me any attention. Not even the girl saw me. But she heard me, saw my Patronus and felt me carrying her. She however thought the Patronus was a unicorn.” Harry explained. “Of course if there was another witch, wizard or squib there they would have seen me, but as far as I know, no.”
“God, I wish I could have been there!” Sirius said. “Fighting Dementors sounds a lot more fun than cleaning...”
“It isn't” Harry assured him. “Would you teach me some spells you know that might be come in handy the next time I meet a Death Eater or Voldemort?” Everyone except Harry and Sirius flinched as he mentioned that name.
“Of course! I'd love to!” his Godfather answered.
“Also, if you have some books on magic and spells, might I borrow some?”
“I've a dammed library full of that kind of books. I'll be cleaning it tomorrow. If you help me, you can borrow whichever books you want.”
“NOOOOOO!” Molly shouted. “THERE ARE BOOKS, THAT ARE WAY TO DARK FOR A KID LIKE HARRY TO READ IN THERE! WE MUST SORT THEM OUT, BEFORE HE CAN CHOOSE FROM YOUR BOOKS!”
“Mrs. Weasley.” Harry said slowly. “You are not my parent. Sirius holds this position as my godfather. It is his right and not yours to try to limit what I read and what I don’t. Besides the last part of me that was a kid died along with Cedric Diggory. You can however advice him. But please don't scream like that any more. High volume won’t help you convincing anyone here. It just hurts our ears.”
“Sorry my dear. You are like another son for me. I just want to protect you.”
“I don't mind you trying to protect me, but you can't protect me from Voldemort - ok, if you can't stand hearing that name - Tom Riddle and his minions forever. He wants me dead and they use this dark magic. If I know of it, I just might survive their next attack, because I know how to shield from these spells, or how to protect myself from the dark creatures which might be on their side.” Harry took a long breath and put his glasses back on.
“Now excuse me please, I need to rest. My body is still adjusting to the changes and the new abilities. I'll be inside the first room of the trunk. I've an artefact there, which helps me meditating. Goodnight, everyone.”
“Goodnight, Harry,” all of them answered in several levels of being startled. Harry went back into his room, well aware, that Fred and George had heard his every word.