Shadow Phoenix

@ firelordeg, Dark Dragen, April, Mo & garsdal: Thank you for your reviews, they keep me writing.

@ Mo: Schön zu lesen und Klasse, dass ich auch Leser unter meinen Landsleuten habe, obwohl die Fanfic auf englisch ist.

@ garsdal: lol, funny. You'r right your german needs slight improvement, it should be: 'Bitte schreib mehr Kapitel!' Nice idea though and don't worry, German is way more difficult than english. All these stupid and illogical rules... And yes, I do and will.


@ ALL: I have a bad and two good messages for you! First the good ones: I have a second beta! Drew volunteered to correct my mistakes! Second: He's currently betaing my 30th chapter, you'll get it on Saturday!

Now the bad one...


C29: Legilimency Master

Neville met the newest candidate for the Dark Order in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady and brought her up to the Gryffindor 5th year dorm.


Within the empty dorm room, he warned her:

“If you fail to prove yourself worthy to become a member of Harry's order, your memory of the interview from the moment you meet him will be obliviated.”


Susan had to swallow, before she could reply: “Yes, I'd heard that...”


Neville nodded and opened Harry's trunk, showing her the first room.


“Good luck, Susan!”, Neville wished her, before closing the door behind the nervous girl.

“Come and take a seat, Miss Bones.”, Harry's voice sounded through the room.


Susan took her time as she surveyed the room she had entered.


Impressive furniture adorned the room, every piece decorated with the Potter family crest in varying sizes.


But she couldn't see Harry.


Deciding he would reveal himself sooner or later, she sat herself on the nearest seat, in front of the one with the biggest crest, where she thought that Harry, as the heir of the family, would want to sit.

The next moment Harry let his disillusionment charm fade away, sitting right where she had deduced he would.


“I'm glad you want to join us, Miss Bones.”, Harry said.


A wave of his wand later there was a small table between them, bearing three small bags.


One of them was open, the interior enlarged and compartmentalized, to contain a vast number of different potions with several vials of each.

“Every member of my order gets this. It contains potions and artefacts that may come in handy... some for private usage, but most are to help you with your work as a member.”

Harry looked at her intensely.

“Do you know of Dumbledore's Order?”


“Yes, the Order of the Phoenix. Why?”


“For now, they act way more open than we. They are the Light while we are their Shadow. I named us the Dark Order.”


“I had been wondering what DO meant...”

“Now, each member of the Dark Order has to be loyal. We can't have members who turn traitor on us. There is one way to ensure you are.”


“Veritaserum.”


“No. Veritaserum makes you tell the truth to a specific question, as you view the truth to be. Besides, if I was to simply ask: 'Are you loyal to me and my order?', some would answer 'Yes', simply because they believe they are, but don't really understand what they agree to. Others would answer 'No', because they won't obey me if I ordered them to kill innocents... what loyal means, depends on each individual person's own point of view.”, Harry explained.


“Then how?”


“The answer is as simple as it effective. I have to read your mind using Legilimency. Do you agree to the procedure?”

Susan thought about it for a second, before she answered: “Yes. Do it.”


“Relax. Trust me and let me see.”


Harry raised his wand, pointed it at her and said the incantation gently: “Legilimens.”


It wasn't as invasive or intimidating as she'd anticipated.


The feeling of him in her mind was warm and gentle.


She felt only a hint of his power, but enjoyed his presence like she would enjoy a hot soak in the bathtub.

His search of her mind and his retreat out of it was so gentle, she first was too lost in its afterglow to realize he was gone.


When she finally realizedhe had left, she lazily opened her eyes, to find Harry standing right before her.


He had one of his amulets in his hands and put it on her.


“Welcome to my Dark Order, Susan.”, he whispered into her ear.

A flash of black later, she was in her dorm on her bed, the bags with potions and artefacts right beside her.


Her best friend, Hannah Abbott came to her, sitting down on the edge of her bed and flashing her a mile wide grin.


“I knew you'd become one of us”, Susan heard her friend say.


A moment later she realized, Hannah hadn't moved her lips at all.


“You'll get used to communicating through the amulets.”, Hannah's voice promised in her head.

“Don't overdo it. Give her some time to adjust to it.”, another voice stated, which Susan recognised as Padma Patil, the Ravenclaw Prefect, and her and Hannah's second best friend. “To answer, just concentrate on the amulet and who you want to talk to. Then we'll be able to hear your thoughts. Soon you'll get used to it and do it as automatically as us.”


Susan tried, focusing on the question in her mind, to do what Padma was instructing.


The next moment, pictures streamed into her mind.


She saw trough Padma's eyes.


The Ravenclaw girl laid on her bed, on her stomach, reading her favorite book, which rested against her headboard.

“Now I have to worry, who peeps on me through the other girls eyes, while I shower...”, Susan thought.


“No. Harry doesn't allow for the amulets to be used that way. He is the one to relay our thoughts to one another, so he can prevent it.”, Hanna mentioned. “Cheating during exams isn't allowed either.”


“So he sees and hears everything?”, Susan asked. She wondered why it didn't bother her at all.


“Kind of. He can block out what we talk about, after he creats the connection, but reacts to our desires and emotions. Just like when he relayed what I saw for a moment.”, Padma told her. “Of course, he can also relay emotions and body senses.”


“But whenever he has to concentrate, he'll cut your connection, if you masturbate...”, Hanna added. “He says, it's a major distraction.”

Susan could do nothing but laugh.


“Did you really?”, she asked finally, glad she didn't have to use what little of breath she had to do it.


“Well... we forgot he heard everything.”, Padma confessed.


“He told me at the third time, just when I had started, that he had to concentrate, so he'd cut the connection as he couldn't stand the distraction.”, Hanna added.


“Then we remembered, what he had told us when he gave them to us.”


“It must be like my twin bond with Parvati.”, Padma mentioned. “Whenever she gets aroused I feel an echo of it. Believe me, that can be more than distracting...”

“Why didn't he tell us that stuff?”, Susan asked.


“He's busy interviewing the next candidate for the DO.”, Hanna said. “He ordered us to tell you everything you need to know.”


“Speaking of that... open the bags he gave you.”, Padma said. “One of them should contain books.”


Susan found it right away. There were at least twenty books in it.


“Take out 'Shadow of Battle' and 'Meditation, Occlumency and how to use them to throw off the Imperious Curse'.”, the Ravenclaw ordered. “Tell me if something about them catches your attention.”

Susan didn't have to look for long to find what Padma wanted her to find.


“There is no Author mentioned, and there is a picture of a black phoenix. It looks exactly like our amulets...”, Susan said. “But if something like this exists, why hasn't the ministry...?”


“Harry wrote them.”, Hanna told her. “'Shadow of Battle' is a collection of above Auror level duelling spells and techniques. The other one explains itself...”


“There are different membership-classes within the Order. A, B, C, D and S.”, Padma told her. “D is the lowest. That's just Marietta for now. She is not loyal enough to be a free member. The slave collar ensures she won't betray us again. C are members with under Newt level battle skill. B is above Newt and up to Auror level like all of us for example. A is above Auror level.”


“What's S-class?”


“Call it superior or special... you can ask to be tested for it, as soon as you're A class and are capable of most spells and techniques mentioned in his books.”, Hanna said.


“We don't know exactly what kind of test it is, but we know only Queen, Beary and Silver have passed it until now. That's Hermione, Neville and Draco... Malfoy failed it three times, before he managed. And one of the seventh year A-class members, a Slytherin, insisted on taking the test, when he heard of the class, even though he hadn't learned the Spells from the books.”, the Ravenclaw said, “The rumour is, he looked like he had a fistfight with a troll afterwards, but I don't think that's true. Another rumour says, he didn't even last a second before failing the test – that's what I think happened, too. What we know for sure is, he's currently learning with the books and plans to retake the test.”

“Wow... Who'd have thought that Slytherins are loyal enough to get into the DO...”


“They can be loyal... mostly to the most powerful, to themselves and their families.”, Hanna explained.


“They know Harry's at least as powerful as You Know Who or Dumbledore and his power is still growing”, Padma said.


“My aunt said he's the heir to the two wealthiest pureblood families in Britain.”, Susan mentioned. “The moment he gets of age, he'll be Lord of Potter... Lord of the only family with two first class seats within the Wizengamot. They also have blood ties to all of Hogwarts founders. If he somehow gets hold of the Black seat he could block almost any decision he doesn't like.”

“He says Sirius Black is innocent and on our side.”, Hanna told her. “You can talk to him with your amulet. They also plan to give the Weasleys enough to reinstate them into their titles and powers as a most ancient family...”


“Four first class seats...”, Susan whispered.


“Don't forget Draco's on our side... his father might be a Death Eater, but if something happened to him during one of the fights against them, Draco would inherit.”, Padma mentioned.


“... half of the first class seats...”, Susan whispered in awe. “... add Dumbledore's and they can dismiss the Minister of magic whenever they want...”


“What about our enemies?”, Hanna asked.

“They have two first class seats. Malfoy and Nott. They also have a couple of second class seats. Many noble but not ancient families there.”, she grinned. “Dumbledore has a lot more of them on his side. One of the first class seats is neutral, they're known for it, and two others belong to impoverished families like the Weaslys. Harry could try to persuade one or both of them to join him and reinstate them, if they do. That shouldn't be too difficult...”


Susan paled suddenly.


“Eight seats... with a little luck he'll gain control over eight first class seats... enough to change all our laws at will...”


“Well, while they'll be allied to him, they still wont agree to everything, just because he tells them to. They'll be just as loyal to him as we. If he turns evil, they wont support him anymore.”

“You're right.”, Susan whispered into their thoughts. “But I don't think he's as strong as Dumbledore and You Know Who. He is stronger... when he read my mind... It felt more than good and it was very tempting to just let him. My aunt told me about cases, where suspects agreed to having their mind read to prove their innocence. It was a very uncomfortable and long process for all of them. And even when the reading was done by Dumbledore, he was thrown out of their minds several times, when they couldn't bear it anymore, even though it was much more bearable than from other Legilimency users within the ministry.”


Susan waited a moment, before she continued: “Legilimency is one of the most difficult arts to master. Dumbledore is supposed to be the best at it, but for all we know, Harry is way better. If he's able to do that, while he relays our thoughts to one another... that's like one of these ancient myths... something we'd think impossible... but maybe he got that good because of the experience he gained with the amulets.”

“Well... I trust him. Better he has that kind of power than some evil idiot like You Know Who.”


“Hannah... if you can call him a evil idiot, you can also say his name.”, Padma mentioned. “Well think about it, but you get my point.”


“Old habits die hard... maybe we should call him Tom, like Kitty.”, Hanna suggested.


“Or Snakeface, like Ron and Dean...”, Padma added.


“I'm for Tom or Riddle.”, Susan said.


“Good, but I'm still happy Harry is the one with that kind of power and not Tom.”, Hannah stated.

“He is a mighty Lord already, isn't he?”, Padma said. “Even though he's not yet of age.”


“He's our Lord.”, Hannah claimed. “The Lord of the Dark Order.”


Susan smiled, holding the two books firmly to her chest. “Yes, he is.”


Then she closed her eyes and drifted into a daydream of said Lord, while her friends discussed who of their fellow students had become a couple... She couldn't hear that, of cause.

************************


Soon the DO had more than 100 members.


And these students continued to train themselves for battle.


There even was one non-student, other than Sirius, who had joined the Harry's Order.

Madam Pomfrey, by chance, had overheard two students who had failed their interviews talking about it.


(They had eaten some of the Jokesters products to avoid Umbridge's class.)


Instead of telling the High Inquisitor, she asked the next student with a phoenix amulet, who stepped into the infirmary, to ask Harry if she could get a chance to join them.


Of all the things she got after passing Harry's test, (she got class A membership) there was one she was most happy about.


It was a rather large vial of Phoenix Tears.

There where many members of the Dark Order who suddenly got a lot better at Healing.


Everyone attempted to learn Occlumency and with the help of Harry's book, most of them at least managed the basics sooner rather than later.