Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

A Different Kind of Hero	By : JunjouSlashGirl Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 53264 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 10
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the characters. All rights belong to J. K. Rowling. I do not earn any money with this story.

Chapter List
- 22
- 23
- 24
Chapter 23: A Very Busy Weekend
HP
The next morning, Harry didn't even bother going to the Great Hall for breakfast, and neither did his father. Instead, they sat down in front of the man's fireplace with a goblet of blood that Oscar had brought them.
"I haven't asked how your visit to Voldemort went yet," Harry said after he had taken a sip. "So, how was it?"
His father sneered: "Unpleasant as ever, but I didn't expect much. The Dark Lord took all the glory and praise for sparing the Malfoy Heir and still gave Lucius and me a round of Crucio’s for not telling him earlier, especially me, but the pain grows lesser with every visit. I believe that our vampire genes are still growing stronger."
Harry sighed, he did not like that his father and mate had to endure all this torture. "I wish you two don't need to do this," he said, staring into his goblet, not seeing the stern look his father gave him.
"We would have had to endure the Dark Lords mad character even if we weren’t spies because of our youthful stupidity and foolishness; this way we at least do something good."
"I know," Harry sighed. "I just wish I could finally stop all this torture and killing forever."
"You will soon enough. Of that I have no doubt," Severus smiled softly, taking his goblet as well, before asking: "Am I right in assuming that Draco was an especially difficult ‘prick’ yesterday?" His father wrinkled his nose at the word prick, as if not liking it, but not finding a better description either.
Harry gripped his goblet tighter until it actually got dented: "He flirted with Parkinson in front of everybody!" He hissed, not able to contain his anger and hurt any longer. Until now he had successfully pushed it aside, but he couldn't do that any longer when his father asked him so openly about it.
"He escorted her on his arm and allowed her to hug him! She was practically all over him!"
Severus only smirked and said dryly: "And I take it, you took it calmly and without thoughts of revenge?"
"No!" Harry exclaimed. "I think I am too much of a Slytherin to not think of revenge. Those are your genes by the way," he mock-glared at his father.
"Oh I know and I am proud of you. Even a submissive should not accept that kind of treatment," Severus reassured him.
Harry smiled at his words: "Thanks."
"So, what did you do or say?" Severus smirked.
Harry smirked as well: "I told him that Parkinson had told his friends in front of your class on Monday that Lucius was sexier anyway and that she would just marry him."
His father winced: "I can imagine the outcome of that little comment."
Harry nodded: "He called me ugly and told me, that he would never choose anyone who couldn't give him an heir and then I politely pointed out that he is sterile now."
"You politely pointed out? How can you point something like that out politely?" Severus raised an eyebrow in amusement.
"Ok, fine. I called him an sterile ferret face," Harry admitted, but couldn't hide the grin, even though his father shook his head in exasperation. He couldn't really feel guilty about the insult, not after Draco had hurt him so much.
"As much as I admit that you have every right to give as good as you have gotten, Draco is still your second dominant and bloodmate and you should not provoke him too much."
"I know," Harry admitted. "But it really hurt."
"He will come to realise the truth, at the very latest when he starts to starve," Severus huffed and cast a tempus.
"I think we should go up to your private quarters," the man said and rose to his feet. Dumbledore had not given them an exact time for Harry's first training lesson, he had only said after breakfast, but breakfast started at 9 am on a Saturday and it was already quarter to ten.
Harry followed him to the private passageway that led directly to his rooms, asking: "Do you know what Albus has planned for today?"
"No, he has never accepted an apprentice before, even though many wizards and witches have begged for the position over the years and even more parents have promised to make him the richest man alive if he accepted one of their children." His father snorted. "As if that would be possible with the Malfoy’s fortune as a base scale."
They climbed up the stairs, entered Harry's hallway and went to his living room. To Harry's dismay, he saw two blondes sitting there, apparently waiting for him. He knew it sounded cruel, but right now he didn't want to even see Lucius; their relationship was strained because of Draco and he didn't know how to behave around father and son. There was something else nagging at his mind too, but he could not pinpoint it. It was an uncomfortable feeling, something that tore him in two, but he couldn't say why.
"Good morning Lucius, Draco," his father greeted politely and inclined his head a bit, before adding in a drawling voice: "I expected to see you here, my friend, but as far as I heard your son is not interested in his mate, so why he is here at all?"
Shrugging nonchalantly, Lucius drawled in the same voice: "You know how boys tend to react at this age when they fall for someone: With denial."
Harry tried his best not to turn his head to Draco and grin openly at him and instead settled on sitting down in an armchair and continued to watch the exchange of the older men, but he hadn't miss the quick flick of something in Draco's icy eyes:
"Oh I know, I have definitely been a Professor long enough to pick up on the improper ways teenagers use to solve their problems," Severus mused, came over to Harry, picked him up and sat down in the armchair himself before placing him into his lap. For a moment he wanted to protest the child-like treatment, having always felt the need to make a strong and imposable impression in front of the younger blonde, but then shrugged mentally: He liked that his father cared so much about him and wanted to be near him and he was a submissive, thus loving being spoiled and pampered on occasions.
Draco glared at his godfather's dry comment, looking rather irritated, but neither his father nor his godfather explained anything to him and Harry certainly would not be helpful either. Seeing his soulmate with another girl had hurt too much. Why had Parkinson been allowed to touch and cling to his mate, when he wasn't even allowed to take a proper look at Draco? He had tried to get a glimpse in the pool yesterday, but Draco had always glared at him until he had averted his eyes again, but Harry was sure that Draco would be as gorgeous as his father, at least, if he would stop sneering at him.
That Draco would be joining his training did not make him feel particularly joyful. He had been looking forward to his new lessons; Albus would surely teach him a lot and he had always had liked the man, but now it would be ruined by glares and a lot of snide comments probably. But if the blonde boy was going be too much of an arse, he would kick him out of whichever room they would train in; he was the owner of Hogwarts after all, he was sure he could do something like that and it wasn't as if he would forbid Draco to study here, only to continue annoying him.
He was pulled out of his musing as he heard a door open and his mentor's voice call: "Harry my boy, are you ready?"
"I’m coming!" he answered and jumped up, not sparing his mates a glance as he dashed off to meet Albus.
The Headmaster looked like always, clad in a bright green and yellow robe and a happy twinkle in his eyes, whilst Harry had pulled on one of his old sweatpants and a loose fitting t-shirt, an outfit he was sure that Lucius would expect him to throw away as soon as possible. How Albus wanted to train in his heavy robe was a mystery to him, but then again he had worn something similar at Kings Cross as he had fought Voldemort.
"Ah, there you are my boy," Albus greeted him and then added with a look over Harry's shoulder: "Good morning Severus, Lucius, Draco."
Harry assumed that the three Slytherins had inclined their heads or something because no answer came and so he asked: "So where will we train."
"We will train in a place that you have not visited for over two years and I will need your help to get in there," Albus announced and motioned for Harry and the others to follow him. That sounded rather suspicious. Even more though, because Dumbledore didn't try to hide his crazy ideas and Harry would be proven right with his assumption as he was lead to the second floor and Albus held open the door to the unused girl's bathroom.
"Albus, you can't be serious!" His father exclaimed, coming to a halt behind Harry.
"Oh but I am. No one will disturb us down there, we will have plenty space and the magic of the room is strong enough to hold Harry’s and my magic," Albus replied happily.
Harry had to admit that the old wizard was right on those points, but his stomach knotted uncomfortably at the thought of going down once again into the Chamber of Secrets. Sighing, he made his mind up and stepped inside the worn down room, looking for the sink with the small engraved snake.
"Hello Harry, you haven't visited me for months!" Harry flinched as suddenly Myrtle appeared from the drain.
"Hi Myrtle," he answered, feeling uncomfortable, especially when she asked:
"Are you planning on brewing another one of these foul-smelling potions in my bathroom?"
"No, I am here with Professor Dumbledore, he wants to train me," he replied, ignoring the suspicious glare Draco gave him and the amused chuckle of both Albus and Lucius.
"That's a shame, I had hoped to see you more often again," the ghost said, batting her lashes rather seductively and floating a bit closer to him as if planning on cuddling against his side.
Realizing that the dead girl wouldn't disappear anytime soon, he just said: "Open," in Parseltongue to the sink and took a step back. Draco gasped, whether at his use of the snake language, or because the entire sink was now disappearing into the ground, Harry couldn't say.
"Amazing," Albus hummed, eyeing the procedure. "I did not see it open up last time."
Harry stepped closer to the edge of the hole, followed by Draco, Lucius, and his father.
"Do you expect us to go down there, Potter?" Draco snapped as if it had been his idea to train in the Chamber.
"You can stay here, I would certainly be happy," he snapped back.
Draco only sneered at him and then asked: "How do you think we will get down there?"
"Simple," Harry smiled, grabbed his younger mate by the sleeve and then said: "Jump!" and pulled the blonde along. He could hear Albus chuckle from above him just before he landed roughly on the grimy floor, with Draco on top of him.
"Potter!" his mate exclaimed and quickly scrambled up. "What do you think..." luckily the boy’s words, which surely would have become an insult, were interrupted as Lucius, Albus and Severus landing next to them, on their feet and looking for all the world as if they had just jumped down a single step and not an entire tunnel which led far beneath the castle.
"Go ahead, you are the only one of us who has been here before," Albus said and lightly pushed his shoulder, giving Draco no chance to continue his rant.
"Okay..." Harry said and turned to the right tunnel.
The skeletons of all the dead rats the Basilisk had killed over the years crunched under their feet as they walked down the pipes. Harry still remembered the way all too well, as if it had been only yesterday that he had been down here and they quickly reached the entrance. He gave the command to open again and they finally stepped inside the dusty Chamber.
"Oh boy, I think we have to clean up a bit," Albus commented and looked around, an impressed look in his blue eyes, whilst Harry’s and every other pair of eyes were fixed on the huge corps lying a bit to the left at the end of the Chamber.
The Basilisk looked as if it had only died minutes before, frozen in time and perfectly preserved. Its dead eyes seemed to glare directly at Harry and the broken off tooth lay only a few feet away from it.
"So, the story had actually been true? Never believed it," Draco said, not quite succeeding to drawl.
No one reacted, instead, Lucius said: "Do you know how huge a fortune you have lying here?"
His father snorted and added: "Do you know how many valuable and rare Potions Ingredients you have here?"
Harry only shrugged, not quite knowing what he should answer: "I thought it would have rotted a long time ago."
"Magical creatures, killed by a wizard do not rot, they preserve themselves as trophies," Albus explained and started to wave his wand chanting a cleaning spell. Harry did the same, as did his father, but when his two stubborn mates just continued to stand there and watch, he snapped: "Don't Malfoy’s know any cleaning spells?"
Lucius and Draco narrowed their eyes simultaneously and Draco sneered: "Malfoy’s do not..."
"Yeah, yeah, sure... Malfoy’s don't do physical labour; I already told your father that it doesn't work like that with me. Get your arrogant arse moving and start helping, or you can go back up and leave me alone," Harry snapped, having no patience for the huffy antics of his two mates right now. Really, had they never wiped something up? But then again, he knew the answer and it was a sad one.
Draco seemed about to reply when his father placed a hand on his shoulder and started to help as well. With an evil glare the younger blonde joined them as well and 15 minutes later the Chamber was nearly spotless, or at least as clean as it would ever get after decades of abandonment. Albus conjured three armchairs directly next to the left wall and then politely indicated that he expected the three Slytherins to stay out of their way and lastly motioned for Harry to stand across from him.
"As Lucius quite correctly told you in his first lesson, it does not help you to know powerful offensive spells, if you cannot defend yourself properly and will therefore not live long enough to use them," Dumbledore started his lecture. "Due to the ritual, you already know many defensive spells and we will start to practice them. You will learn to raise them quickly and which one is most effectively for which kind of curse or hex by trial and error; I always found it is the best way to learn. Once hit by a Dark Fire Spell and you will never forget that Protego will not help you in that particular situation."
Three silent growls came from the side where Harry's mates and his father sat, but Dumbledore only smiled and said: "Madame Pomfrey has offered to patch every eventual injury up and due to your changed genes, you will be much more resilient to spells which might hit you."
Harry nodded, he could understand his mentor’s tactic, even though it sounded cruel, but no Death Eater would go easy on him either. But one question bugged him:
"Does that mean that you will use Dark Magic?" he asked curiously.
The Headmaster nodded: "You will come to know that every wizard who is good at defence has at least a basic knowledge of the Dark Arts as well. One can only defend themselves against something they understands fully. The further we advance in our training, the more spells you will use and at some point even Dark Magic. I hope you will never face a situation where you will need the Dark Arts, because it can be dangerous to use them, but I believe your mind will be strong enough and if it takes a Dark Spell to keep you alive, I will not stop you because of moral reasoning," Albus smiled with a harsh glint in his eyes that Harry had never seen there before, but he believed that this was how the man looked when he faced Voldemort.
"Considering who your mates are, you probably already have your fair share of knowledge of the Dark Arts," Albus turned questioningly to Lucius, who nodded:
"I tested Harry at the end of summer, the Manor Magic is working nicely, although I would not promote him as a tourist guide yet as his skills with foreign languages are still rather... lacking."
Draco lifted a mocking eyebrow at him and Harry scowled, quickly turning around to face his mentor again.
"Let us start then," Albus said and instructed him with a motion to take a defensive stand. Harry did so and as soon as he had pulled out his wand the first curse flew. It was a simple enough spell and Harry quickly raised a shielding charm he had learned, trying to use a reasonable amount of magic to not drain himself too quickly, but when Albus repeated the spell, this time with visibly more magic behind it, his shield started to waver and when the spell flew for the third time in his direction, Harry knew that he needed to change to another barrier.
This time he shouted a spell he had never heard before, but it was at least effective:
The green barrier seemed fairly strong, absorbed the spell and then rained to the ground like toxic rain. At least he knew now, that the spell was only effective against one attack.
Albus' eyes twinkled mischievously as he took a few steps back and then swished his wand. For a split second, Harry thought that nothing had happened, but then a black light shot from the ground, just in front of him and rained down on him. Cursing, Harry waved his wand over his head and produced a shield that hopefully would be strong and hold long enough for him to get out unharmed. The problem was, Harry noticed a bit too late, that the shield needed to be held up actively, so as Albus threw the second curse at him, he found himself with a problem. Hoping that his vampire skills would be good enough, he let go of his shield and rolled from under the black rain and out of the way of the red jet of light.
"Good," Albus praised him and started yet another attack.
The next attack was a swirl of fire, remembering that Protego would probably be of no use, Harry shouted a protective spell in which the Latin word for water was in and watched in awe as something like and huge, at least 12 foot wide waterfall spread in front of him. Dumbledore's fire spell hit the barrier, and with a fizzling sound steam, like fog rose into the air and took away a good portion of the view.
Harry's vampire eyes luckily could still make out the shadow of Dumbledore and so he was prepared as yet another spell flew in his direction, thundering like lightning. Having no clue in which category the spell belonged, he quickly threw himself to the ground, finding his guess proven when Dumbledore’s spell crashed into the wall behind him and exploded like a thundercloud, splitting huge pieces of stone from the ancient material.
His mentor's attacks grew more frequent then and Harry had to react even faster. Sometimes he simply had to jump out of the way, because he did not have enough time to cast a new barrier or reinforce the old one.
Dumbledore attacked like that for over an hour and Harry found himself amazed at how physically fit the old man still was. Albus seemed to dance around the room, attacking from every angle and often moving much quicker than Harry had thought possible for a human. His range of spells was even more amazing: Harry did not see a spell cast a second time even once. Sure, sometimes he cast a spell again with more force like he had done in the beginning, but when he was through with it he never used it again, assuming that Harry had memorized its name, colour, and other properties.
Harry threw almost as many barriers, ducked, ran and jumped over curses. He quickly noticed, although he was not very strong physically as a submissive, he was extremely agile, his lack of heavy muscles helping him to get out of harm's way many times. His enhanced body did not become tired and due to his careful use of his magic, the magical exhaustion did not occur either.
It was after 76 minutes that Dumbledore threw another curse, this time an obviously dark one. Harry raised yet another unknown barrier, when he was suddenly pulled roughly from his feet, landing harshly sprawled atop Lucius’ body, above him his shield shattered and Dumbledore’s curse went straight through it like a knife through butter.
Harry's heart hammered in shock, as Lucius clutched him tightly to his chest for a moment, obviously agitated, before releasing him again, staring directly into his eyes.
Harry gulped as he looked back into those silver-red orbs, which stared back with wide blown pupils. He did not know what the spell would have done, but he was sure that it would have been something unpleasant, considering Lucius’ still panicked look. A hand came up and cupped Harry's cheek lightly.
Harry closed his eyes for a moment; the touch was warm and caring and held every ounce of love Lucius held for him. Harry had not touched his older mate since their good night kiss on Thursday evening. This felt so good, so familiar and right now so wrong. Lucius lifted his head a bit as if planning on kissing him, but he averted his eyes. This wasn't right; something was missing, or more precisely: someone was missing. Harry wanted to be kissed by Lucius, but only if Draco scattered his neck with small nibbles and licks at the same time. He wanted to just have to turn around to be able to kiss his other mate; he could not just kiss Lucius like this whilst their third mate sat a few feet away feeling miserable and not even able to hide it completely, even though it was Draco's own fault and caused by his denial.
He was already opening his mouth, wanting to explain his feelings to Lucius, who looked slightly hurt by his rejection, when he was suddenly roughly grabbed by the collar and pulled off from his mate.
"Take your filthy hands away from my father!" Draco snarled and tossed him to the ground.
Harry's head collided with the stone floor and he could feel a bruise forming because Draco had thrown him with so much force. The newly transformed vampire was above him with only two of his long strides, his ice blue eyes burning with barely restrained anger, but Harry could also see the confusion in those orbs. His fists were clenched and trembling and Harry thought absentmindedly that it would be wise to get the hell away from him, but he would not flee from one of his mates. He blinked with surprising calmness up at the young dominant, who still looked about to kick him, or maybe curse him because he was sure that a Malfoy would never kick or hit somebody.
But before Draco could actually do something, Lucius was behind him, grabbed him around his neck and growled threateningly. Draco answered the growl of his father with his own growl and Harry decided that he should get far away after all. Within the blink of an eye, he was on his feet and several steps away.
"I believe it is better that you and your son go now, Lucius," his father growled and stepped up behind him with bared fangs.
Lucius didn't lift his gaze but nodded once, before turning his still growling son around and shoving him in the direction of the exit. "I am sorry, Harry," the man said as he had already turned around and was giving Draco another shove, but Draco didn't seem to want to leave, he was craning his neck and snarling at Harry. Harry shuddered and stepped a bit closer to his father, who laid an arm around his shoulders and started to growl louder.
"Move!" Lucius hissed and shoved the blonde boy the third time. With a last snarl and a spit to the ground, Draco finally turned completely, straightened and walked proudly out of the Chamber.
Dumbledore cleared his throat and said: "Maybe we should do something not fight-related for now."
"Maybe," Severus agreed and let go of Harry again, before asking: "Are you alright?"
Harry nodded, feeling slightly dazed and very shocked. He didn't want his mates to fight because of him. They should be all equal in their relationship and Lucius and Draco were not only mates but father and son as well. To see their relationship so strained because of him hurt a lot. A single tear escaped his eye, but he quickly wiped it away. He would not cry over this, he was not a typical submissive, he was Harry Potter and now he had to focus and train with Albus.
That thought actually helped for once, as he pushed his sadness aside and looked up at the older man: "What will we do then?"
Dumbledore smiled knowingly at him as if knowing Harry's thoughts like his own and said: "Have you ever apparated?"
Harry's eyes widened, did the old wizard suggest that he would teach him how to apparate? In the middle of Hogwarts? He shook his head and Dumbledor’s eyes twinkled merrily, as he lifted his wand and waved it in a complicated pattern around himself. The walls, ceiling, and even the floor glowed golden for a moment and then the Headmaster explained: "I adapted the wards so that you will be able to apparate. I am sure Ms. Granger told you that apparation within the school is normally impossible."
"Yes, it's explained in: ‘Hogwarts, a History’," Harry answered drily, having heard his friend say that particular sentence often enough over the years.
Dumbledore smiled at him and explained: "Even though many young witches and wizard think apparation is difficult, it is not that difficult, especially, if you are a powerful wizard like you. The important thing is to visualize your destination and concentrate on taking every part of your body with you, or you will splinter yourself. In the beginning it is often helpful to imagine enveloping yourself in your magic, because your magic will take you to your destination."
Harry nodded in understanding and Dumbledore said: "Your father will remain beside you and I will go to the other end of the hall so that you know where to apparate to. You will start with apparating back and forth for the beginning so as to get a feeling for the spell."
With a loud crack, his mentor disappeared in front of him and appeared in front of Salazar's statue again.
"Just try to relax and try to visual the two things Dumbledore has told you," His father said and squeezed his shoulder in reassurance.
Harry took another look at the place where Dumbledore was standing and then closed his eyes to visualize the image in his mind. A shudder went down his spine when the words Voldemort’s memory had written on the wall appeared in front of his inner eye, but he suppressed the memories of his second year and concentrated only on the present. When he was sure that he saw it clearly enough, he imagined his magic enveloping him and could actually feel his magic leaking from his body and covering his skin. It felt warm, like a strong spring sun on your skin, very pleasant actually. A loud crack sounded and Harry felt the familiar sensation of being pulled through a straw, before his feet touched the ground again a moment later and then heard his father groan next to him, much closer than he should be.
He opened his eyes and gasped in shock, as he saw his father next to Dumbledore and himself, his face contorted with barely hidden pain, clutching his right arm where, to Harry's horror, half of it was missing. Blood was flowing rapidly from the gruesome looking wound and despite his father's vampire genes the wound was not closing up. Harry looked around in panic and saw the rest of the arm wriggling in the air, where they had stood only a moment before, as if the appendage wanted to follow its owner, but couldn't because of the apparation.
"Albus!" Harry shouted, but Dumbledore was already reacting and apparating to Harry's starting point, returning only a second later with Severus’ underarm and hand. Harry's heart was racing by now; he had definitively done something very wrong with the spell. Why had he taken his father with him in the first place? Wasn't contact needed for a side-along apparation? He didn't want to imagine the pain it caused Severus, it had to be nearly unbearable if the vampire still felt it so strongly, normally they were fairly resistant to pain.
Dumbledore held the arm out and luckily it instantly started to reattach itself to Severus’ body. His face grew more relaxed with every second, but Harry couldn't feel very relieved, not when he was the reason for his father's pain.
"Albus, I think the idea of suggesting to Harry that he should imagine enveloping himself in his magic was not the best one you ever had," Severus sighed sarcastically when his arm was finally reattached to his body.
"What happened?" Harry asked, voice shaky and watching Dumbledore shake his head. The Headmaster sighed and explained: "You enveloped your father in your magic as well, at least everything with the exception of his right arm."
Harry blinked in confusion; he did not possess enough knowledge about the theory of apparation to understand what he had done wrong with his mentor's short explanation.
His father shook his head, a small smile spreading over his features: "You are just too strong and have too little control, brat."
Harry blinked, somehow, everything these days came back to his high magical power. "Too strong?" Harry wondered. "But I didn't want to take you with me."
"I know," Severus said and ruffled his hair, before explaining: "To apparate, you need to make sure to take your whole body with you; most wizards learn this by imagining covering themselves in their magic. To side-along somebody, you have to cover them as well, that is why you usually take the other person's hand, or arm; it makes it easier to transfer your magic, but apparently your extreme magical power is already covering you quite thoroughly enough and by imagining spreading it further, you spread had it around me, even with the distance between us. It is quite remarkable."
"But I splintered you!" Harry protested.
"You did and it would have been even more painful if it weren't for my vampire genes, but it was still a show of impressive magic," his father smiled.
Harry was not sure about the whole learning how to apparate thing any longer, he was scared of repeating his mistake, so shuffling with his feet, he said: "I think we have done enough for today."
"Oh no," Severus admonished him sternly. "You will not develop some stupid fear only because you splintered me. Everybody makes a mistake at their first attempt to apparate. Some land themselves in a lake, others in the heath of their parents happily burning fireplaces; you splintered me and be assured that I would rather have it this way than seeing you injure yourself."
Harry nodded, feeling thoroughly scolded. So, this was how it felt to have a concerned parent, it felt somewhat nice, despite the feeling of guilt at the scolding.
"Just try to concentrate on how much magic you used; you were quite successfully with controlling your new powers at our defence training, my boy," Dumbledore smiled reassuringly and Severus apparated back to his former spot.
"Okay," Harry agreed, feeling much more nervous now that he had seen what could go wrong. Closing his eyes he tried to reach his meditative state and visualize his magic actually. It was mostly gold and warm, but there were also red hotspots and veins pulsing in it. Harry could feel the two aspects which made up his character mostly in it: His purity of mind and body, which his vampire genes had preserved and his fiery Gryffindor nature. That was nice and all, but he could not really figure out how he could visualise his magic covering his skin. Either way, he was seeing his skin from the outside, but not his magic, or his magic from the inside. Maybe he should just try and get a feeling for it.
Visualizing the place where his father stood, he pushed his magic outwards and apparated away. Harry felt the feeling of being pulled through a straw again and after he felt solid ground under his feet again, he first listened for any pained sounds, but as the Chamber stayed silent, he opened his eyes carefully.
A wide grin spread over his face when he saw his father next to him and Dumbledore still unharmed in front of Salazar's statue.
"Well I think now we can call it a day," Dumbledore announced with a twinkle in his eyes and a moment later he stood next to Harry and Severus, asking: "Did you send the letters last night?"
Harry nodded. He had sent them with Justitius, his father telling him that it would make a bigger impression to let them be carried by a Phoenix Foundling than a school owl, but because the miniature bat could not carry so many letters at once, Severus had charmed the tie with which the letters were tied to the familiar’s legs, so that it would re-tie itself with a new letter as soon as the last one was taken off.
"Good. The guests will arrive tomorrow at 11 AM, so I would suggest we meet at a quarter to 11 in the staff room. Do you know where the staff room is?" Dumbledore asked.
Blushing, Harry cleared his throat and said: "I could look it up."
The twinkle in the Headmaster's eyes grew even brighter, but he said nothing. "Then let us return to the upper levels, I am sure Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger are already curious about what you learned today," Dumbledore said and they left the Chamber again.
His father cast a levitation spell on him as they reached the tunnel which lead back up to the girl's bathroom and then the two older wizards did the same on themselves.
With surprise Harry noticed that lunch had already started five minutes ago, so he hugged his father quickly in the safety of the abandoned bathroom and then hurried down to meet his friends. As expected he found Ron already hungrily shoving down food, whilst Hermione rolled her eyes exasperatedly.
As soon as she saw him, she poked Ron in his side and waved eagerly. Ron actually stopped his attack on his roasted beef with fried potatoes and asked: "How was your training, man?"
"Good, for the most at least," Harry told them, sitting down next to him.
"Most part?" Hermione frowned, putting some vegetables on her own plate.
Harry fished a Blood Drop from his velvet bag, before explaining with a cringe: "First we practiced Defensive Barriers; that went all rather well, but then he told me he would teach me how to apparate."
His friend's eyes widened and Hermione gasped: "But you cannot apparate inside of Hogwarts, it is impossible!"
Having foreseen this reaction, Harry smiled and told her: "Albus altered the wards of the Chamber..."
He was interrupted by Ron, who frowned: "The Chamber?"
"Yeah, we practiced in the Chamber of Secrets, we had the largest space there and we didn't need to worry about being interrupted by other students," Harry explained.
Ron shivered, probably remembering the incident of their second year where his sister had been brought down there by one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes.
"I still wouldn't want to train there," Ron shuddered.
Hermione waved him off asking: "And what went wrong?"
Harry flushed a bit and cleared his throat. By now he was feeling like his mistake had been a stupid one, one he should have foreseen and prevented; after all, he had already noticed how much damage his magic could make with a simple drawer.
"I apparated and took my father along...but not all of him..." he mumbled in embarrassment.
His friends' eyes widened in horror and Ron gasped: "Don't tell me you splintered Snape!" His friends face had gone pale by the mere thought of harming the fearsome Potions Master.
"I left his right underarm behind," Harry admitted sheepishly.
His friends actually flinched and Ron even grabbed his right underarm as if imagining the pain.
"But Harry," Hermione asked hesitantly. "Why did Professor Dumbledore let you try side-along apparation so soon in the first place? It was your first apparation lesson, even with your magical power that was still reckless."
"He didn't tell me to side-along," Harry answered, feeling even more ashamed. "I kind of spread my magic too far and included my father, even though he stood two steps away from me."
Hermione gasped again and then shook her head as if she had no idea what to say about the matter.
"Well, hopefully the rest went fine," Ron tried to sooth him.
Wanting to change the topic, Harry asked: "And what have you guys done the whole morning?"
"Oh, I almost forgot!" his brainy friend suddenly exclaimed and pulled a small pouch from her school bag; why the girl had come down to lunch on a Sunday with her schoolbag was a mystery to Harry. But instead of trying to understand the mystery that was Hermione, something he would never accomplish, he watched her taking a galleon from the pouch.
"I enchanted these. The writing on the edges of every galleon is a number, normally it's just a serial number, but you can change these to the date and time of the next meeting with the Order, and they also heat up when the data changes. Now you only have to decide if only the new Order members from Hogwarts should get one or every member. Do you already know who will join the Order?"
Harry gaped at his friend. These coins were brilliant, especially if students from other houses other than Gryffindor were to join him. He could give them the password to his quarters and they would not have to worry about someone listening in, with the exception of Draco, if the blonde decided to continue to go into and out of his rooms as if the prat owned them.
Answering Hermione's question he said: "I have not yet decided whom to ask, but I thought we could use Albus’ list for today's meeting as a basis and I have asked Nagini to keep an eye on the students. Maybe we could fetch the list and ask her if she has noticed anything specific about the students."
"But wouldn't she need to see a picture of them?" Ron asked with a frown and piled a second portion of meat onto his plate.
Harry shrugged, but Hermione already had a solution:
"I know a charm which will add a picture to a name, so that won't be a problem."
"Okay, then I will ask Oscar to go to Albus and ask for the list, maybe we even have enough time to invite them to a second meeting in my quarters after their families have left. And I still have to tell Fred and George to meet us at quarter to five in...I actually don't know in which room we will meet yet," Harry sighed and laid his head on the table top; this sounded like another long day and at the end of it, he would still have to somehow deal with his two mates.
"Then let's go, or we might not have enough time to prepare everything," Hermione commanded and stood up.
Ron gave his half eaten steak a remorseful look but followed her example and they all left the Gryffindor table.
Harry had just wanted to open the door to leave the Great Hall, when a strong body shoved him roughly to the side and a well-known voice drawled: "Watch where you are going pothead!"
He heard Pansy giggling while hanging on Draco's arm and his vision reddened for a second, but luckily his temper didn't snap...yet.
"Open your ugly eyes yourself you little fairy-ferret!" Ron shouted after his annoying mate, but the blonde didn't spare them another backward glance.
"Am I imagining it, or is the bastard even more annoying than last year?" Ron huffed and held open the door for Harry and Hermione.
Harry could only shake his head, because he wasn't sure whether Draco was indeed even more of a prick than before, or if he was just reacting overly sensitive due to their new connection, but Hermione agreed with their friend:
"I think you are right Ron, he seems to purposefully search Harry out to make trouble," she huffed.
As they crossed the Entry Hall, Harry could see his mate disappear along with Pansy down to the dungeons, the girl nuzzling his arm. Quickly looking away, Harry decided to quicken his pace before he lost himself and ripped the impudent girl’s head from her shoulders.
They went up the stairs and entered his quarters, before sitting down in his living room.
"Do you want some tea or hot chocolate before I send Oscar off?" Harry asked, thinking that he definitively needed some of his father’s specially made pumpkin juice to calm his nerves.
"Hot chocolate sounds great!" Ron grinned and after a hesitant look, Hermione nodded as well.
"Oscar!" Harry called and the little elf popped into view.
"Hello Master Harry, sir. What can Oscar do for you?"
"Could you bring my friends hot chocolate and some juice for me?" he asked, hoping that his servant would get the hint. Oscar nodded and disappeared again, only to return a second later with a tray, placing their drinks in front of them.
"Can Oscar do something else for Master?" Oscar asked with a small bow and looked at Harry hopefully.
Smiling, Harry nodded: "Could you go to Albus and ask him if he would lend us the list of the students meeting today?"
"Of course, sir," Oscar squeaked and disappeared again.
"He is really nice, I like him," Hermione mused and they all took their drinks. Oscar had indeed gotten his hint and Harry inhaled the delicious scent of blood mixed with pumpkin juice, before taking a sip. A contented silence fell between them and Harry used the time till Oscar’s return to simply relax; he would not let his thoughts wander off to Draco and Lucius right now, he really had no patience to worry about them in that moment.
Oscar returned after five minutes, a scroll of parchment in hand and informed him: "Professor Dumbledore says that Master is to meet him in the staff room later."
"Good," Harry said and then added: "Could you go to Ron's twin brothers and ask them to meet me in there at quarter to five?"
Oscar nodded and left again.
Sighing, Harry rose and said: "I will search for Nagini; maybe you could prepare the parchment?"
°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°
HP
Hermione nodded and he left the living room to search for his snake. He first stopped at his bathroom but finally found her lying on his bed, watching Justitius trying to open his bat treats. Chuckling, Harry went over to his little familiar and helped him with the task, giving him a candied slice of apple, before turning to his snake:
"You told me, that you would watch the students, have you done that?"
"Of course, little Master," the reptile hissed and lifted her heavy head.
"I would like to show you some pictures and hear your opinion of them. Would you come with me to the living room?"
Instead of answering, Nagini simply slithered from his bed and out of his bedroom. Careful so to not step on her long tail that was laying in the doorway, Harry followed her back to his friends.
Hermione had already unrolled the scroll and had 29 pictures next to the marked students who might be possible candidates for the Order.
Turning to Nagini again, Harry asked: "Who do you think might be willing to help us in the fight against your former captor?"
Nagini scanned the pictures and then started to point on some, whilst Hermione copied the names of the students.
"Thank you," Harry said after she had stopped, but instead of slithering back to his room, Nagini slithered up his lap and nudged his hand to be pet. Chuckling he fulfilled her wish and took the list, reading the names out loud:
"Fred, George and Ginny, Collin and Dennis Creevey, the Patil twins, Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, Dean Thomas, Ernie McMillian, Hannah Abbott, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Katie Bell, Lavender Brown, Luna Lovegood, Susan Bones, Terry Boot."
"What about the others?" Ron asked, pointing at the pictures.
Harry questioned Nagini, who hissed: "Too skittish to fight."
"What did she say?" Hermione asked and he repeated her words.
"Well, then we don't have to ask them," she said and folded her own list.
For a split second Harry thought about adding Draco to the list as well, but then he thought that he was not reliable enough currently, so instead he asked his friends: "How do we tell everybody to come to my quarters? It will be suspicious if I just call random names and tell them to meet me here after the first meeting."
"You could send letters," Ron suggested, but Harry shook his head; it was difficult for owls or other animals to find students within Hogwarts, the castle and its grounds were big and crowded, this was also why they delivered the mail in the Great Hall, where everybody at least sat in one spot.
Hermione sighed and then said: "It really rubs me wrong, but you could ask Oscar again. He can easily find them all." She worried her bottom lip and Harry asked:
"What is it? Did I miss something?" He studied the list again but could not find anything amiss.
Hermione shook her head: "No, not directly, but...um... I know they are not on the list, but could I ask Oscar to bring my parents to the meeting as well?"
Harry's eyes widened and shame gripped his heart; how could he have forgotten Hermione's parents? They were surely in bigger danger than most of the other people on their list; after all, they were both muggles and the parents of one of his two best friends, who had helped him to stop Voldemort countless times.
"Of course you can. I should have remembered them, I am sorry," He mumbled, his cheeks red.
"Don't worry, I will just send Oscar to pick them up," Hermione smiled and they called the little elf again.
Oscar was immensely honoured to bring Masters best friends parents and promised to deliver every invitation, also.
"And tell them where they can find my quarters, or some of them won't be able to find it," Harry added just in time before his eager servant could pop out again.
"So, what shall we do now? And homework, studying or research is no option," Ron stated, putting his feet on Harry's antique coffee table.
Harry watched Helga and Rovena wrinkle their noses in disapproval, but the two witches stayed silent. Looking at his watch he said: "We don’t have enough time to do much. Maybe a game of chess?"
"Sure, why not?" Ron replied and Harry conjured his battered chess set. His pieces had not liked him in the beginning, no real wonder with his lack of natural talent, but since he had gotten better he had slowly started earning their respect.
Hermione watched their game intently, still intrigued by Harry's new tactics. Ron was still better than him; the years of experience helping him immensely, but Harry could hold his own by now. They were heading once again in the direction of a standoff when their female friend interrupted them: "Harry, you should change into something else other than sweatpants now unless you want to go to the meeting like that."
Nodding, Harry pushed Nagini carefully from his lap and stood up.
"Where are you going young master?" the female snake asked curiously.
"I have to get changed for a meeting. We are trying to save some people who your former Master wants to kill," he explained.
"I will come with you. As your familiar, I should be by your side more often, especially now that you have this new mate," she huffed and started to slither out of the armchair. Shrugging, Harry let her follow him. By now everybody knew that Nagini had bound herself to him and it was her right after all, to keep an eye on him.
Opening his wardrobe, he eyed the outfits hanging there. Deciding that he would wear one of the knee-long pants for this occasion, he pulled out a pair in royal blue, a white button down, a black waistcoat, a blue coat and a pair of short stockings and matching loafers.
A minute later he was finished and sat down on his bed to wait a further ten minutes or so that a normal human would take to change. Nagini eyed him curiously, so he explained:
"If I return too quickly, my friends will get suspicious. Humans are not as quick and most magical beings either. Hermione is clever and she would figure me out in no time."
The snake tilted her head questioningly: "Why don't you just tell them what you are?"
"Because they would instantly know that I am mated because unmated vampires have to kill humans and then they would find out that my mate is Lucius...and Draco now as well," he sighed in desperation.
"Why would that be so bad?"
"Draco, my friends and I have been rivals for over four years and we never got along with his father either, in fact, Ron's family and the family of my mate’s have been in a twist for generations."
His snake frowned and then asked: "Like a fight over territory?"
"I guess," Harry shrugged, not knowing what had started the fight between the Weasley’s and the Malfoy’s.
He finally rose again, took the two Marauders Maps from his nightstand and motioned for his familiar to follow him. Apparently not wanting to be left out, Justitius fluttered over to him with a chirp and attached himself to his sleeve, like he preferred doing. Chuckling, Harry entered the living room again asking:
"Do one of you have an idea as to where the staffroom is, or shall I check for it on the map?"
Both his friends shook their heads, so he unfolded his new map, saying: "Lux Vincet Semper!" Pointing his wand to Hogwarts, he enlarged the castle and started to search for the room. Thinking correctly that the staffroom would not be near any class or dorm rooms, he quickly found it: "It seems as if there has to be a hidden door behind Albus’ usual seat in the Great Hall," he mused and finished with the map, before giving his friends the older version.
Ron blinked a bit confusedly at him, so he explained: "I think you two should have at least this one for now, just in case you need to find somebody or Death Eaters somehow manage to get into the castle."
His friends' eyes widened in disbelief as they tentatively took the old map.
"Harry, are you sure? This is after all from...James," Hermione asked carefully.
Shrugging, Harry answered: "You can always give it back to me after the war and an heirloom is not as valuable as a friend. I’d rather have you safe and this getting somehow destroyed along the way, than the map safe and you dead."
Hermione nodded with a soft smile and pocketed the Marauder's Map, whilst Ron pat his back with a wide grin. "Thank you man, that will surely come in handy."
"Ron!" Hermione scolded. "You will not use the map to sneak down into the kitchen every evening!"
Ron grinned sheepishly, but Harry only laughed and said: "He can do that if he wants, I have no problems with it. The House Elves will get lonely with me not needing to go down there for snacks anymore."
"See, Mione, Harry understands me! We blokes are like that, we need a lot of nutrition to keep all our muscles strong."
Hermione sighed exasperated and turned to leave the quarters.
Snickering, Harry followed her with Ron and Nagini in tow.
In the Great Hall, they were surprised to find the door to the staff room immediately. It was a beautiful door, with the Hogwarts crest engraved in the auburn wood.
"I think it has a spell on it so that only the people who know about the door can see it," Hermione mused cleverly as Harry opened the door. It didn't surprise him at all to see Fred and George already waiting there, sitting on a huge, round table, a bowl with colourful bonbons between them.
"Hi Harry, Hermione, little brother," they greeted with a grin and waved for the trio to come over. Looking into the bowl, Harry asked: "Aren't there too many candies?"
Fred shook his head: "We thought that it would be better if everybody can take two, just in case. Better safe than sorry. Bonbons are easily lost."
His twin brother nodded and added: "We only hope that no little children will eat them accidentally. You should warn the parents."
Harry had not thought about the possibility that some of his fellow students might have little sisters and brothers and nodded. Sometimes, he really wished that he had known a proper family life, and then he would not always forget these types of things.
Albus, McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick and his father entered then and joined their little group.
"Ah I see you have all found the room," Albus twinkled and eyed the candy bowl curiously. Fred and George only grinned and Harry, not taking the bait asked his father: "Do Lucius and...Draco plan on joining us?"
His father wrinkled his nose, obviously not happy with his old friends and godson right now and answered: "They did show interest, but I made it clear that it would not only annoy you currently, but also be immensely stupid. Lucius has no reason to be present, he is not the Head of House and Draco has even less reason to attend; it would endanger their position with the Dark Lord and it would surely not help you to gain the trust of those who are coming today."
Nodding thankfully, Harry sighed in relief.
"Our guests will start arriving any minute," Albus said and waved his wand over the round table with a silent spell. "Now we will all fit," the old wizard explained, before pointing at a chair with an especially high back and golden ornaments: "Harry, would you take the Headmaster seat today? It was, after all, you as the leader of the Order, who invited the families."
Nodding, Harry picked Nagini up and went to the chair, telling his familiar: "Would you curl around the backrest and try to not look so intimidating?"
Nagini gave him an odd look, but did as told and curled around the chair, looking nearly as if she was a part of the fancy chair as she stilled. Her head lay on top of the backrest, giving her a good view across the table. His father sat down to his right, leaving one place free for Albus, who had gone over to the fireplace to greet the arriving guests. The students, who were a part of the families who would be attending, had been allowed to Floo home after breakfast and come with their parents and other relatives. This way, Albus had not been forced to give the location to the staff room away to students.
The other Head of Houses sat down, as well as Ron, Hermione, Fred and George who had joined to his left.
The Floo flared and the first group of people stepped out. Harry recognized Katie Bell and a woman who was clearly her mother, a stern looking man with a little girl on his arm and an old woman, probably a grandmother. The female waved at him with a broad grin and sat down with her family, whilst behind her Luna with a slightly odd looking, blonde man had arrived.
"Now we know where Luna got her oddities from," Ron muttered, earning himself a glare from Hermione, but Harry had to agree with his friend silently. Luna was odd, very odd, which didn't mean that she was not a nice girl, but she was odd nonetheless.
He watched Albus shaking hands and greeting everybody with name, even little siblings, who still had years until they would start at Hogwarts themselves. Harry wondered if the man had a talent for names and faces or if it was part of his job as Headmaster to know all these people and could only envy his mentor.
The Creevey brothers arrived five minutes later and to Harry's horror, their father seemed as much of a fan of him, as his sons.
"Harry Potter! It's an honour to finally meet you! I always knew that you would be a great wizard, but the stories my sons tell me excel everything even I had expected!" The man grabbed his hand and shook it enthusiastically, whilst Harry caught an apologetic look from a beautiful, blonde who was within her forties, who had to be Collin and Dennis mother.
"Ah...thank you, sir," Harry said, feeling very embarrassed with the treatment and pulled his hand away politely.
Ron and his brother snickered silently next to him, whilst his father wore an amused smirk. In the past the man had believed that Harry liked the attention his fame gave him, but Severus had come to know him better since the summer and Harry knew that by know his father could not even remember anymore how he could have honestly believed it.
Finally, everybody was there and Albus sat down next to him, before giving him a curt nod to start. Somehow, Harry had not anticipated having to hold the meeting all on his own, but when he gave his mentor a doubtful look, Albus only smiled reassuringly at him, so he rose, trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling.
Every eye settled on him and his submissive instincts squirmed under the attention of so many unknown people, and Harry found himself suddenly wishing that at least Lucius would be there after all.
Clearing his throat, he started the meeting: "Hello everybody, thank you all for coming on such short notice... I think most of you already know my name, but ...um...just in case, I am Harry Potter."
A silent chuckle went through the room, his father smirked and Harry felt his cheeks heat in embarrassment.
Now the complicated part came: He would have to explain why he had established the safe house, without giving his source away. It would be too dangerous to tell so many people about his visions and they would only start to see him as a freak, if he did so. Thinking about how to phrase what he needed to say, he said: "Some of you might have already heard about the Order of the Phoenix, of which I have become the new leader recently."
A silent gasp went through the crowd and many of his guests exchanged curious looks or stared even more curiously at him.
"The main work of the Order is to find out information about You-Know-Who and his followers, in hopes that we will be able to defeat him one day," Harry continued, his nervousness slowly settling a bit as he got used to all the stares.
"But we also try to prevent attacks and help those who have been attacked. Thanks to a source I cannot openly name right now, we came to know that the Dark Lord is planning a huge attack on wizarding families who support the Light Side, and of students who are in close contact with me:"
Harry had expected another gasp, but only silence answered him this time until a hesitating voice asked: "Is that the reason why we are here?" Harry looked up to the woman who had spoken and had to smile. The bushy curls on her head seemed so familiar to him, even though he had never seen her before.
"Yes, Mrs. Granger, that is why you all are here. Every one of you is not only supporting the Light Side but also has a child who is currently attending Hogwarts with me."
"Am I right to assume that you and the Order have a plan to help us?" The man next to Hermione's mother asked. Assuming, that it had to be her father, he smiled at him as well and then told everybody: "It was not only me. Ronald Weasely, Hermione Granger, Remus Lupin, Albus Dumbledore along with Fred and George Weasley have also worked hard to find a quick solution, which can be used by every one of you in case of an attack." He wished that he could also tell everybody that Sirius had helped as well, but that wasn't possible. Even though the people in front of him had great trust in his and Dumbledore’s words, the fear of Sirius Black could possibly be even greater.
Grabbing into the candy bowl, he held up one of the colourful sweats. "These are special Portkeys. They do not start at a specific time, but rather when they come into contact with your body. The Portkey charm is placed on the sherbet inside of the bonbon and will activate if you bite on them and bring you to a Safe House. Potter Manor has been unoccupied for years, but my Head Elf and I have made sure that it is liveable again."
The eyes of parents and students alike widened at the name of his parental home.
"What do we have to do in return to get your protection? Do we have to join the Order as well?" An Indian woman asked suddenly, who sat between the Patil twins.
"Harry Potter would never demand something in return! He is a true hero!" Collin and Dennis's father shouted suddenly across the room and Harry winced in embarrassment. He heard his father and the twins chuckling next to him and felt a blush rising, but having expected such a question at one point, he simply shook his head without feeling offended: "No, I don't expect anything in return. You are all welcome to join the Order if you wish to do so, but your protection will not depend on it."
"How will you know that we have come to your house?" Another male voice asked.
Not wanting to tell them about his map, Harry said. "My House Elves will inform me about your arrival, they will also provide you with everything you will need during your stay."
Taking a short pause, Harry tried to remember if he had to tell them anything else, but when nothing else came to his mind, he said: "There are two bonbons for each of you, please don't hesitate to use them, even if it might be false alarm, or ask one of us for a new one, if you had to use them or even just lost one."
Fred passed the candy bowl to his left and Harry watched, as everybody took two bonbons out of it. The twins had prepared more than needed, so there were still some left when the bowl returned to them. Standing up, Harry smiled once again, unsure about how to end the meeting, finally he scratched the back of his head and said with a nervous laugh: "I honestly hope that we will not see each other too soon because that would probably be at my house."
The crowd chuckled and the people rose as well, but instead of just going to the Floo to return back home, many came over to him. It seemed that nearly everyone wanted to introduce themselves, thank him for his kindness and help, or just shake his hands. His schoolmates stood by now to the side, looking obviously embarrassed by the behaviour of their relatives. Harry only waved at them and continued another half an hour with talking, before Dumbledore finally rose and announced:
"I am very sorry, but it is soon time for dinner and I think we should not keep Harry and his friends here much longer, we all know after all how hungry teenagers always are."
The people chuckled in agreement and finally started to line up in front of the huge fireplace, where their children joined them once more to say their goodbyes. Harry could clearly see in their faces, that they had been happy to see their parents, siblings and grandparents so soon again, but also that they hoped that their next meeting would not be before the Christmas holidays.
Finally, the other students left as well and Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Dumbledore, Severus and the Grangers were alone in the room.
"I hope it was not a problem that Hermione invited us to the meeting as well, I am Anna, and that is my husband Michael by the way," Hermione's mother asked and stretched her hand out and a short round of introductions followed.
Taking the hand, Harry quickly said: "No, it was not a problem, in fact, I am very sorry that I didn't remember to invite you earlier."
His friend's father waved his words off: "Don't be sorry, I imagine that you have a lot on your mind and you are still not an adult; it is to be expected that you forget something sometimes."
"Indeed," his father agreed and laid an arm on his shoulder. "But I think we can all be proud of him."
The Grangers eyed the familiar gesture of his stern-looking father curiously.
"Severus Snape, his father," Severus said and stretched his hand out as well.
"His father?" Michael asked. "I thought your parents... died..." the man said awkwardly, clearly not sure whether it would be appropriate to say killed.
Harry smiled at him: "We only found out this summer that James Potter, who was supposed to by my father, was in fact only my uncle. He and my mother raised me as their child because Severus got involved with the Death Eaters and it would have endangered him if the Dark Lord had found out that he had been in a relationship with my mother."
The Grangers eyes widened at first, but Anna’s face softened quickly again: "I am glad to hear that you have a real family after all. As I understand it, the people who raised you did not deserve that title."
Ron snorted: "Those people did not even deserve to be called humans."
Harry watched, as everyone nodded on his behalf.
Michael checked his watch then and said: "I am afraid we have to go back home now, but it was nice to finally meet the people, my daughter always talks about."
Hermione smiled a bit shyly and then said: "I will take you to the Floo and explain how it works."
They all waved their goodbyes and watched as Anna and then Michael took some floo powder and threw it into the fire with slightly unsure looks. But they were as intelligent as their daughter and stepped into the flames without hesitation and Hermione returned to them.
"I think this meeting was very successful," Dumbledore hummed, his eyes sparkling.
"Indeed," Severus agreed and turned to Harry. "Are you going to meet possible new members now?"
"Yes, that is why we must leave now. They will come to my rooms in about ten minutes," Harry answered, before asking the twins: "Would you like to join us?"
"Of course Harry, we have to meet our new brothers- and sisters-in-crime," they answered in unison and with a last wave, Harry and his friends said their goodbyes to the adults.
To their surprise, Neville and an old witch who clearly had to be his grandmother, already stood in front of Harry's door and were waiting. Neville grinned a bit sheepishly as they joined them, but Harry only asked: "Can I help you somehow, Mrs. Longbottom?"
"You can, Mr. Potter," the stern old witch with her huge, red handbag and the vulture on her head replied, eying him from head to toe. Harry wanted to squirm under her scrutinizing look but tried his best to not let anything show. After a long minute the woman spoke up again: "I want to join the Order. I have always supported Albus’ cause and you have his approval," she explained matter of factly.
A bit surprised, Harry stammered: "Oh... okay, then, would you like to come in? There is a binding contract involved..."
"I thought as much," Mrs. Longbottom cut him off. "Albus would have been a fool if he had not insisted on further safety measures after the disaster with your parents."
Now Harry could finally understand why Neville was so afraid of his grandmother; he was as well, not even Lucius had ever made him feel like this and he was sure that the witch would even find something to criticize about his behaviour or appearance. His eyes flickered over to Neville, who shrugged in apology and his grandmother asked: "Well, are you going to open the door, or do I need to conjure a chair?"
Harry quickly stepped closer to his door, which luckily swung open immediately and held it open for Neville and his grandmother.
"I will intercept the others until you are finished," Hermione whispered and grabbed for Ron to stay by her side.
Feeling extra nervous, Harry lead the way into his living room. Mrs. Longbottom eyed his furniture like she had eyed Harry before, and then gave a short nod: "I assume that these are the Founders Quarters?" she asked, but before Harry could answer, a voice from the wall said: "Indeed, they are."
Mrs. Longbottom shot Merlin a disapproving look and said: "It is impolite to intrude on other’s conversation." The powerful wizard actually flushed and pulled his head between his shoulders, before disappearing into another portrait, his great grandchildren quickly following him with nervous glances at the witch.
"So, what do I have to do?" Mrs. Longbottom asked and Harry would rather have run away than saying what he had to say: "I... need to place my wand on your breast... over your heart, I mean." He flushed scarlet and turned to Neville, who only lifted his hands, indicating that he couldn't help him.
Mrs. Longbottom looked down at him and he quickly added: "Dumbledore invented that spell, not me!" His voice actually hitched and then broke in nervousness.
The witch actually opened the first two buttons on her blouse then, but said: "I will talk with Albus about this. It is not proper that a witch has to get naked in front of a young man."
"Gran! You don't have to get naked!" Neville shouted and Harry exclaimed:
"I am no young man!"
Feeling as if his nerves would not survive the next three minutes, Harry quickly pulled his wand from his pocket and placed it over her heart.
"Um... I need your full name," he said, looking up into Mrs. Longbottom's sharp eyes, not daring to look anywhere near where it could be seen as improper.
"Augusta Longbottom," the witch answered.
Clearing his throat, Harry said: "I, Harry Severus James Potter confirm you, Augusta Longbottom, as a member of the Order of the Phoenix. You will hold our secrets and dedicate your life to the fight against the rising darkness."
His magic rose and the eyes of Neville's grandmother seemed to soften a bit as she felt his power.
Having finished the spell, Harry wanted to step back and give the woman some space, but a strong hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him closer:
"I was one of the few people who knew about Lily and James’ family. I always wondered who your real father was. You can be proud of him; he is a strong man. Give him my greetings."
Harry's eyes widened at her words and his heart began to race, as the fear of being discovered rose within him, but Mrs. Longbottom reassured him instantly: "Your secret is safe with me; I kept half of it for many years already."
Harry could only nod as he stepped back with huge, shock-filled eyes. Neville seemed to be shocked as well because he wordlessly formed the word: "Harry?"
Harry only shook his head, glad that the Gryffindor had not noticed anything like his grandmother had. She really was a remarkable woman.
"I will leave you alone again then," Mrs. Longbottom announced, straightening her blouse, which was buttoned again.
"Thank you for joining us, Mrs. Longbottom, I will take you to the door," Harry said and pocketed his wand again.
"You may call me Augusta," the witch said, gracing him with a smile for the first time.
"Then please call me Harry," he replied with a wide smile of his own, he had the feeling that it would be good to get to know the witch.
"Will you stay?" Augusta asked her grandson, who nodded shyly.
"I'll be back soon, you can sit down if you want Nev," Harry said and lead the way back to the door.
Harry could hear the questioning voices of the students he had invited in front of his door, but they all quieted quickly as Augusta opened the door and their gazes landed on her. His schoolmates practically jumped out of the way to clear a path for the witch and Harry thought that not even his father had such a strong impact on the student body.
Augusta smiled at him one last time, before brusquely making her way to the staircases, and then up to Dumbledore Harry supposed. As soon as she was out of sight, he turned to the silent crowd and cleared his throat: "Sorry that I am late, but Nev's grandmother just came by. But I think we can start now."
His hallway never seemed so endless, as when he lead his fellow schoolmates into his living room. They eyed the enchanted ceiling in awe and the many golden portrait frames, silently whispering amongst each other.
"Say, Harry, are there portraits of the founders?" Angelina asked him.
"Not only of them but Merlin as well," they told them and Harry winced; he had wanted to keep that part a secret for now, it would only get him more attention, something he had more than of enough already.
"Merlin? You mean THE Merlin?" Susan Bones inquired, looking around as if searching for the man.
"Yes, THE Merlin," Harry replied dryly, not wanting to explain anything, but the interest of his friends were already awoken.
"What is he doing at Hogwarts?" Justin Finch-Fletchley wanted to know.
Seeing, that there was no way out of it anymore, he threw Ron an angry look, who had the decency to look sheepish and then told them: "He is actually the great-grandfather of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Hufflepuff."
"But that means that he is your relative as well!" Hanna Abbot exclaimed.
Shrugging, Harry finally entered his living room again, where all five portraits had returned to their frames as if knowing that they were speaking about them.
"He looks like Albus!" Terry Boot exclaimed and Luna added dreamily: "And he has your eyes."
Merlin actually huffed and corrected her: "He has mine, young lady. I was there long before your friend."
Luna only smiled, as if she had not even listened and sat down on the couch. The others followed her example, some conjuring chairs with the lack of enough seats.
Harry himself actually simply sat down on the floor in front of everybody, Ron and Hermione to his right.
"So, Harry, what could you not tell us in front of our parents?" Seamus asked with a smirk.
"I already mentioned the Order earlier. In the past, we only accepted members after they turned 17, but since I have become the new leader, we also accept younger members," Harry started slowly, watching the small group in front of him.
"I don't want to force anybody to do this, but we really could use some people among the students, who just keep their eyes and ears open, especially around the Slytherins."
Snickers followed his words and Hannah asked: "Why couldn't you ask us earlier?"
"Because many parents don't want their under aged children to join, but the war is affecting all of us and I think you should decide for yourselves."
"Do you already have some members here at Hogwarts?" Dean inquired curiously.
Harry shook his head with a small smile: "Nice try, Dean, but that I can only tell you after you have joined."
"Why?" the boy asked.
"Because we would form a binding contract, which would make you unable to spill any Order related secrets," Harry explained honestly.
"Is that really necessary? I mean, we would never betray you," Dennis asked.
Sighing, Harry resigned himself to the fact that he would have to explain at least a little more. "My parents died because one of their best friends betrayed them. Never had they foreseen it, but after that, Dumbledore established this safety measure and I will continue with it. I trust you all, but I don't want to lose any more people."
His friends and classmates fell silent, everybody clearly thinking about his words. Finally, after five minutes Harry said: "You don't have to join and you don't have to decide now, but if you want to, you can come to me at any time."
"I will join. You-Know-Who nearly took as much away from me as he did from you, I don't want that to happen to anybody else," Neville spoke suddenly up, surprising everybody. The boy came forwards and unbuttoned his shirt.
"Are you sure Nev?" Harry asked, even though he knew the answer already.
"I am," Neville said with a serious nod.
Nodding as well, Harry placed his wand over his heart and repeated the same binding sentence he had cast on his grandmother earlier.
As if a dam had been broken, the others slowly came forwards as well, a fierce fire blazing in their eyes. They all had witnessed the horror of the last year to some extent and it had made them realize how quickly Lord Voldemort could get to each of them. The next in line was Luna, followed by Dennis and Collin and then everybody else; not one student on Harry's list had declined.
Ron and his twin brothers watched him with awe, whilst pride shone in Hermione's eyes. It took nearly half an hour to add everyone to the Order and for Hermione to distribute her coins.
"What's that?" Parvati asked curiously.
Hermione threw Harry a questioning look, but the coins had been her invention, so he left her the honour of explaining it to them:
"These galleons will contact you if we need to meet on short notice. They have little numbers on the edge, which will change to the time and the date of our next meeting."
"Do we have to check them regularly, or how will we notice?" Susan asked, eying her coin.
Hermione shook her head: "No, they will heat up, so just keep them in your pocket."
"And where will we meet?" Dennis asked curiously.
Harry answered that question: "We will always meet here; it's the safest place. I am also thinking about establishing a headquarter for us, where we can meet during the holidays or go to on weekends."
"Do you have a house?" Collin asked, only to get smacked by his little brother: "Of course he does, he’s Harry Potter!"
Rolling his eyes at the two Creevey’s, Harry told them. "I have, but I still have to renovate it. It belonged to my muggle relatives, so it has to be changed a lot."
"But it's still cool..." Katie mused, only to get cut off by Fred: "Do you mean that house where George and I saved you from?"
Harry winced inwardly, remembering his escape from Privet Drive just before his second year and nodded.
"Then we will see your ghost relatives?" George asked sounding more curious than Harry thought proper, considering that his late relatives were unbearable.
"I am afraid so."
"Why afraid?" Neville asked.
"Because they are a pain in the arse, like the Malfoy’s, only in muggle form," Ron explained and the whole group made a face.
"Really?" Ernie asked in disbelief.
"They think that wizards are freaks and that we are contagious," Harry answered dryly and then added: "Well, we have to bear with them. The wards on that house are very strong, as strong as a Fidelius because they are blood wards, so we will be safe there, which is the most important point and until now, no Death Eaters have ever searched for me in the small muggle suburb. They just can't imagine that the great Harry Potter lives amongst muggles," he said sarcastically and the others nodded in understanding.
"Well, wouldn’t I have thought that either," Ernie admitted.
"So, will you tell us now who we can trust?" Dean asked again.
"McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout, Snape, and also Dumbledore, Hagrid, Ginny, Fred and George of course," Harry answered, thinking that he better leave Lucius out of this, even though nobody would be able to betray him, but as trusting as his schoolmates were, it would be hard to explain the reason for Lucius’ inclusion; it had already been hard enough at Grimmauld Place and he didn't need that a second time. And in case, his father would someday be discovered and they would still have one spy left this way.
"All Heads of Houses? Even Snape?" Angelina gasped.
"Yes, he has been a spy for eleven years," Harry confirmed.
"Are you serious?" Neville asked, face pale.
"Yes I am," Harry said and then added: "But I would not advise you to go to him. He is a spy and always close to the children of Death Eaters, so it would be dangerous for him if you go to him."
"Don't worry," Susan said with a grimace. "We will not go to him."
The others nodded in agreement.
"He sure can be scary," Harry mused. "But he has saved my arse countless times and many other people."
"When has he ever saved you?" Parvati inquired curiously.
"Do you remember that time in my first year when my broom nearly threw me off?" Harry asked, waiting for the others to nod. "It was actually cursed by Quirrel, but Snape used a counter curse and that is the only reason why I didn't break my neck. He also tried to save me from Sirius Black, back in my third year," Harry told them, hating that he always had to pretend that Sirius was really the crazy killer everybody believed him to be, but he would not give all the secrets away, not even with the binding contract, they were merely students after all and they did not have the experience his friends and he himself had.
"Then he really can be trusted?" Dennis asked, his eyes huge.
"Believe it or not, but he is actually rather decent," Ron muttered and Hermione added: "As spy and Head of Slytherin he has a difficult job; he can never slip up."
"It sure sounds tricky. I bet Malfoy would poison his own godfather if he ever found out that Snape is actually not on their side," Katie mused.
Absentmindedly, Harry noticed, that the painful feeling he always experienced when someone insulted Lucius, did not occur with Draco. Maybe it was because they had not actually mated yet, or because he was just too angry with the blonde currently, but he felt nothing."
"Well, we will contact you if we need you," Hermione said, closing the meeting.
One after the other they all rose, saying goodnight and leaving his room.
"We will also go then," George said, patting Harry's shoulder.
"You really did it, I think the Order has never had so many members," Fred told him with a grin.
"Let's hope that it will help," Harry said and waved at them, as they also left.
"Oh man, this really was a long day," Ron said and yawned.
"You can say that again," Harry agreed. "I think I will only go to bed now."
Hermione suppressed a yawn of her own and said: "We will see you tomorrow, then. Sleep well Harry, and you really did great today."
Smiling, Harry replied: "Thanks and you sleep well too."
His friends left and Harry decided that he would quickly go to his father before one of his mates could show up. He already had enough of Draco for one day and he wasn't in the mood to explain his current behaviour or his pathetic fights with Draco to Lucius either.
His father was not yet in his rooms when he entered, so he just transfigured his school robes into a set of pyjamas and curled up under his mother’s quilt. The scent of Severus lingering on his bed was soothing and he quickly fell asleep within minutes.
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A Different Kind of Hero