The True Halv Blood Prince

After his rather profane reaction to the news about the prophecy, Percy excused himself from the meeting, ignoring the shouts of for him to stay and explain just what the hell would cause him to react in such a way. Normally, he would have been more than happy to put the arrogant snobs in their place, but he had more pressing issues to deal with. He had hopped into his car, phoned Freeman, and told her that they needed to convene a meeting immediately to discuss the latest development.

He knew that it was late, and as he walked into the backroom of the small pizzeria he felt a twinge of guilt at the sight of the dark circles under the eyes of his colleagues. Judging from the large stack of folders on the large oak table in the meeting room, the agents had been slogging through financial reports and data for days now. Taking a seat next to Caitlin, who flashed him a tired but encouraging smile which he returned, he waited silently for a second as Freeman strode into the room.

"Sorry for the short notice you two" she said, addressing the pair of tired agents, "But Jackson assured me that what he learned tonight is of vital importance to our goals here." And with that, she silently handed the reins over to Percy, who took the cue and rose out of his seat, nodding at the lead agent before taking her place at the head of the table.

"Tonight at the meeting with the Order I was granted access to some…annoying new information." He could see raised eyebrows at this, but thankfully nobody interrupted, "According to Dumbledore, the "weapon" that is being guarded by the Order is in fact a prophecy." He paused, letting the information sink a little. If nothing else, their reactions were at least a little entertaining. Caitlin choked on her spit and began coughing rather violently. Dempsey's looked like he was about to fall out of his chair. Freeman handled it considerably better, but only because she had been informed prior to the meeting taking place.

It was moments like this that cemented to Percy the strange circumstances of his life. His most formative teenage years had quite literally been dictated by prophecy. One after the other, they were a common and painful aspect of a demigods life. However, the vast majority of the magical population had never and would never, have reason to interact with prophecies. Few were ever even party to a prophecy, and for most magical communities, this most abstract of magiks had attained a mythological status. To hear that the subject of a major investigation was also part of a prophecy, was damn near earth shattering, and demoralizing.

Dempsey was the first to recover, his New England accent peaking through as his stress over the revelation. "Ok…so the kid is part of a prophecy. What exactly does that mean for us?"

Percy shrugged noncommittally, "could mean we're involved in some way or it could not. I'm going to guess that you two don't have much experience with the damn things?" Freeman, Dempsey and Caitlin all shook their heads.

"But I'm guessing that you do?" Caitlin said, eyebrow raised. Dempsey's eyes narrowed somewhat and Freeman turned a hard stare in his direction.

Percy nodded, "I have probably some of the most experience with prophecies next to a genuine seer or oracle." Seeing the interruption that was coming he held up a hand, "And no, I can't explain why. Classified, not even Freeman is party to that kind of information." As one, Percy's fellow agents turned their gaze to their field commander, who shook her head in affirmation of Percy's claim. "For all we know the prophecy could mention, or it could not. Honestly it doesn't matter much and won't mean much to what we're trying to accomplish here."

"And how the hell can you know that?" Freeman growled out. She was not used to being in the loop, and finding out that this outsider to her space of operations was operating on intelligence she was not privy to was extremely worrying and agitating.

Percy raised two fingers, "As far as prophecies go there are two universal truths. The first, is that they always come true. No matter how hard you may try and act against them, a genuine prophecy will become a reality whether you like it or not. Even if you think that your actions are going against the supposed prophesized order, they are not. No changing that."

He lowered his middle finger but kept his pointer finger raised. "Number two, prophecies are vague as all hell and open to interpretation. Even if we find out what the prophecy says, it will likely be stated in such a way that we have no idea what it even is really saying. That's kind of the point. Contrary to popular belief, these things aren't always an if then statement. Prophecies describe a series of events that will lead to an eventual outcome. Usually there are a handful of possible endgame scenarios that are completely determined by the choices made by the parties involved. Unless we have a stated purpose in this prophecy, which I honestly kind of doubt given what I know about the situation here, I'm guessing that any actions we take will be well within the guidelines of whatever the hell this prophecy is about."

"You know that is the opposite of helpful right?" Caitlin said dryly.

Percy shrugged again and rubbed the back of his head nervously, "I know, I don't make the rules though."

Dempsey spoke up, "So if the prophecy doesn't really matter, why tell us at all? Why not just ignore the damn thing and let us go on our own way?"

Percy arched an eyebrow, "And get my ass chewed out later for keeping something like this to myself? Hell no. Besides, it doesn't matter if we care about the prophecy, what does matter is that this Voldemort guy clearly does. That gives us an advantage."

Freeman leaned back in her chair, arms crossed and brows raised, "Bait the bastard?"

Percy's smiled predatorily, "Exactly my thinking." Find the prophecy, steal the thing first and put a fake in its place. Then when Voldemort comes to take it, we blow him and his merry band of assholes straight to Hades." Freeman narrowed her eyes at the expression but didn't say anything.

Caitlin chimed in, "Wait, why is Voldemort even waiting to steal it in the first place? If he is such an un-killable badass, why not just walk in, take the thing and leave?"

Percy nodded at the question, and was about to answer when Freeman beat him to it, "Because to steal the prophecy, one specifically about him and Potter would bring all kinds of hell down on the ministry and get the wrong people asking questions. He isn't ready to wage all out war yet, he's still gathering resources and allies. He won't make his move until he's certain that he is in a position to begin an open conflict with the British ministry. Which reminds me, any idea how long we have until that becomes a reality?"

"Probably close to a year at this rate. I guess his negotiations with the vampires, werewolves, and giants haven't been going as well as he had hoped. He has been successful in drawing out his former allies but there are still a hell of a lot of them locked up in prisons across England and Europe. He probably won't be ready until May or June at the earliest would be my guess." Percy answered,

"So we still have some time to begin prepping." Freeman said, more to herself than to anyone else.

"Even then, how can we be sure that our boy is even going to come and collect it himself? Why not just send some lackey to grab it for him, minimize the risks involved?"

Percy nodded at her, "A good point. First, this guy is like the textbook definition of a megalomaniac and micromanager. He would not trust such an important task to some stoogie. If nothing else, he would at least be on site in order to oversee the operation himself. Second, I have it on VERY good authority that the type of prophecy we are dealing with can only be retrieved by the person or persons who its about. In this case that means either Harry or Voldemort."

Freeman's gaze became cold as ice, "Back up Jackson. You just said that only Potter or Voldemort can retrieve this thing right?" He nodded as both Caitlin and Dempsey's eyes widened in understanding , "Then I hope you have an alternative idea that does not involve a minor stealing a class five magical artifact from the bowels of the British Ministry."

"No that's pretty much my plan" Percy said simply,

"Explain" was Freeman's only reply.

Percy sighed and rubbed tiredly at his face, "Ok, so Voldemort has tried to kill Harry like what, four-five times now? Sends a pretty powerful message doesn't it? This guy will not stop until Harry is dead and gone, that makes this as much his fight as it does ours. Like it or not, he's going to be involved and I all but guarantee that this prophecy will back me up on that."

"That doesn't change the fact that you are trying to indoctrinate a child!" Freeman snarled, her patience finally wearing out. She had been uncharacteristically patient with Jackson ever since his arrival. His authorization by the ICW made him essentially head of the operation, effectively yanking control of her tiny substation out from under her. She did not like having her authority superseded, much less by some gung-ho hotshot, barely out of training. She didn't care what kind of qualifications he had, this kind of reckless cowboy bullshit was exactly how people, specifically innocent civilians got killed.

"I'm not saying that we give the kid a gun and throw him into a den of Death Eaters!" Percy snapped back, his own frustration and stress mounting. "But the kid has a right to hear what this prophecy says, its his life not ours! And I'm not suggesting he goes alone, he has an invisibility cloak and I have my own ways of making myself invisible! I would be there with him every step of the way!"

His features softened considerably and his tone became more subdued. "Our job is to see to it that the lives of the mortals are safeguarded at all costs. Like it or not that means bringing the kid into the fold at least a little bit. Lord knows that I don't want Harry to be put in unnecessary risk, but that is exactly why I am suggesting we do this now, rather than later. We have an advantage here and we need to exploit it. Besides, the kid has made it this far, I think he has more than proven himself capable."

Freeman gritted her teeth, her hands clenching and unclenching under the table. She took a deep breath, and counted backwards from ten. When she reached four, she was calmer and more relaxed, but not less annoyed. Still, she relented, "Fine, this is your show. But if this goes pear shaped, it's your ass on the line. You got that!"

"Crystal ma'am." Percy said, a grin on his face.

Dempsey rubbed his eyes exhaustedly, "This is all too damn much for this small of a team boss. We have barely made a dent in the records we took from Greengrass and haven't even begun our bugging of the known Death Eaters. I don't suppose there is going to be any chance of us getting backup on this?"

Freeman shook her head, the exhaustion in her own eyes now matching her subordinates. "I called home office today about that very thing. They told me that the ICW wants this kept as small as possible until things go loud. I hate to say it but I kind of agree with them. The Brits can be pretty oblivious but even they would notice if suddenly throngs of magicals with ties to the Magical Intelligence Communities were showing up all over England."

It was then that Percy voiced an idea that had been ruminating in his head for the past few days. "I might have an idea about that…"

Caitlin rolled her eyes, "Of course you do."

BREAK

It had all gone by so quickly. One minute, he had been having another dreadful summer with his relatives, resigned to the idea that he would be spending the next several months completely isolated from the world he so loved. Then the next, he had been attacked by the very embodiment of fear itself, and dumped headfirst into a game of political maneuvering and criminal law. It was enough to make his bloody head spin.

That being said, he could not say that his time at the safe house with Percy and the lovely lawyer Sarah had been unpleasant. Percy, when he was around, was a riot. The man was quick with a joke, or a funny story, and was easy to relate to. He had never been able to bond so quickly with someone before, the fact that Percy was several years Harry's senior didn't bother him, he had always been able to connect better with adults than people his own age. Despite this, he was quite excited to finally be going where he felt he truly belonged, wherever it was that Hermione, Ron, Sirius, and the rest of the Weasley's were hiding out; Percy still hadn't told him the exact place they were going which led him to believe that it was not the burrow. A fact that was further hammered home when instead of firing up a floo, Percy had instead packed up all of Harry's belongings into the trunk of a very large truck.

Percy had been rather right-lipped about the entire ordeal, telling him not to worry and that he would explain everything as soon as they were on their way. But Harry couldn't help the twinge of anxiety build up in the pit of his stomach as he eyed the large vehicle, or the two other black trucks parked up the street that Percy had said would be part of their escort.

"It's not like I'm expecting any actual problems with this, but in this line of work, it was better to be safe than sorry" Percy had told Harry when asked about the extra security. Percy had also explained why they were doing things the muggle way, that the Death Eaters, if they were actually planning something, likely would not expect Harry to be transported by armored convoy like a muggle politician. Harry was inclined to agree, and found that he was surprised by the amount of forethought that seemed to go into just about every action being taken in the name of his safety.

Legal counsel was not all that Harry had been thinking about during his stay with the Americans. He had spent a great deal of time considering the direction his life had taken since discovering the muggle world. While his time with his relative had been by no means a picnic, he had to admit that he had more brushes with death since his admittance to Hogwarts than someone his age ought to have had. He had begun questioning the ability of Dumbledore to actually take care of him, furthermore, he had begin questioning likelihood than any of the adults, sans Arthur, Molly and Sirius, had his best interests at heart.

His professors all allowed him and his friends to be ruthlessly bullied, he could not remember one instance in his last year where Professor McGonagall had come to his aid when he had been completely ostracized by the entire school. She was supposed to be his legal protector while he was away from the Dursley's and yet she had allowed his classmates to relentlessly insult and belittle him. The same had happened in his second year. In fact, no professors, as far as he could recall, ever once came to his defense or aided him in any way. Hell, Snape went out of his way to bully Harry himself. Now that there were people, relative strangers he had to admit, that seemed to be going out of their way to care for him, it really put things into perspective. Was there anyone at Hogwarts he could trust?

He wanted to trust Ron and Hermione, but given their utter silence over the summer, and lack of any kind of information, he couldn't help the sting of betrayal that threatened to turn into something more sinister.

"You're a million miles away kid, what's going on in that head of yours?" Percy's voice jerked Harry out of his musings. He turned his head and looked at Percy, on hand on the steering wheel and the other propped up casually on the window. He looked the picture of lazy relaxation, but Harry thought he knew better. He could tell in the way his muscles would occasionally tense before relaxing, and while he couldn't see under the dark sunglasses on Percy's face, he was willing to bet that they were continually surveying their surroundings for potential danger. Harry knew, they were habits he himself had unconsciously picked up over his tenure in the magical world.

Realizing he hadn't said anything in respond Harry hastened a response, "Just…things." He said rather lamely.

Percy smirked, "Things huh? What kind of things? Are they tall, beautiful, lawyer things?" he teased and Harry felt his ears and cheeks burn in embarrassment. His infatuation with his lawyer was clearly not as subtle as he had thought.

"Shut up" he said as he averted his eyes,

Percy chuckled but his voice gained a bit of a serious edge to it, "Seriously Harry, what's wrong? You're finally getting to see your friends and Sirius again, I figured you'd be over the moon by now." When Harry didn't answer, Percy looked over and realization dawned on him. "Ah, this is about the whole incommunicado thing huh?"

"Huh?" was Harry's intelligent response,

"Your friends not mailing you or whatever, just staying radio silent all summer. You feel pretty miffed about the whole thing don't you?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat, "Well, yeah. They're supposed to be my best friends, but they've apparently been together wherever the hell they are, just having good ol' bloody time and I've been stuck here, or tucked away in our little safe house with little to no idea what's going! Voldemort is out there, planning and preparing to come back and I've just been stuck on my arse twiddling my thumbs with no one left to tell me anything!" By the end of his rant Harry had been shouting, the rage and frustration at what he felt was utter abandonment finally spilling out of him all at once. Percy sat quietly and listened. When Harry was done, his chest heaving and his face slightly red in anger Percy finally spoke.

In a quiet, but firm voice he said, "Listen Harry, I get it. You're feeling completely left behind and to fend for yourself at the exact moment you need them the most. Your stressed and have more on your plate than anyone really should. But have you stopped and considered this from their perspective?" When Harry only looked at him in confusion he clarified, "Allow me to explain exactly what has been going on, they are at the headquarters for a paramilitary organization designed to combat Voldemort." Seeing the rising anger and the burst for an interruption Percy raised a hand, "Let me explain before you go off the handle."

"They are not part of the meetings, they do not know what is going on or what we are doing."

"We?" Harry asked,

"Where do you think I've been going every night for the last two weeks? And before you ask, yes I will tell you everything that has been going and where things stand concerning this dark dweeb alright? Now let me finish. Like I said, they have absolutely zero role in the fight, instead they have been cleaning the headquarters. It's Sirius' parents house and is the most disgusting damn place I have ever been in my entire life. And I get it, they may not know what's going on but they still all get to be together right? And yeah, that's not ok, its not fair to you that you have to be stuck by yourself with your friends hanging out together. It's why I pushed so hard to get you over there as soon as possible. They wanted to wait almost another two weeks but I pressed them for today."

"Anyway, what I'm getting at here is this: have you considered things from your friends point of view? They are stuck in a disgusting and creepy ass old home, they're locked out of all interesting meetings and are completely unable to leave the building under the guise of 'Operational Security.' Then the freaking principal of their school-"

"Headmaster"

"Principal" Percy stressed, ignoring Harry's good-natured eye roll. The principal of their school tells them that they can't send their best friend any letters, because if they do, those letters could potentially be intercepted and it could end up killing him." Percy wasn't sure how true that statement was, but felt it was applicable all the same.

"So now they're stuck there, knowing they can't get in touch with you or tell you anything important, just knowing that the minute you see them, you're going to explode. I'm not saying that they're without fault, if they had really wanted to I'm sure they could have gotten in touch."

For a long moment, Harry was silent as he thought over what Percy had said. Part of him, the colder and more logical part of his brain, agreed with the assessment. Even now, with his newfound questioning of the esteemed headmaster, Harry would be hard pressed to have the nerve to say no to an order like that. That was the logical part of him though, his heart was a different matter. He was rightfully pissed at the actions of his two friends. He felt that surely, they should have been able to do something for him, Hermione was one of the most clever people he knew. But then again, she was also blindly devoted to figures of authority and the rules, not mention Ron's own blind devotion for the headmaster. In the end, logic was still losing out to emotion.

"I still don't really understand why it matters why Ron and Hermione left me all alone, the fact remains that they did!"

Percy sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "That's the thing though Harry, sometimes you have to be able to look at things from another person's perspective, understand why they acted the way that they did."

"Even if what they did was dumb and hurtful?" Harry asked, sounding incredulous,

Percy nodded, "Especially then Harry, there will be points in your life when you make mistakes, sometimes that hurts other people, whether its physically or emotionally. When those mistakes happen, you don't want someone to yell and scream at you do you? It just makes you feel worse than you already do. But when you talk to them about it, or consider their side of the argument, even if you disagree with it, it starts a dialogue to hopefully keep the same thing from happening in the future."

Harry crossed his arms over his chest and looked out the window, "That's funny, because it sure doesn't seem like anyone else thinks that way. Every time something bad happens, I'm always the first to be blamed."

Percy nodded in understanding, he understood what Harry was feeling, he had ben there himself all too many times in his own life. But he still wanted to try and impress on the young man the lesson he had been forced to learn himself.

"And do you want to sink to their level? Or do you want to rise above it? It's easy to sink to shouting and name calling Harry, its harder to be calm and rational. But at the end of the day, I think you'll find that your relationships last longer and are more meaningful when you do. A wise person once said that just because something is easy, doesn't mean that it's right."

It was now Harry's turn to sigh. Percy was right and he knew it. He was still frustrated, but was nowhere near the volcano of fury simmering below the surface. "When the hell did you get insightful?" Harry asked,

"First of all, ouch. Second of all I have my moments. They had to get beaten into me, sometimes literally, but I made a lot of mistakes because I spent too much time reacting to something instead of thinking it through. But I was lucky and had people in my life who were more than willing to tell me when I was being an idiot." Percy said, with a pointed sideways look in Harry's direction.

Harry groaned and slouched in his seat, "Why does life have to be complicated, I miss when the hardest part of my life was dodging trolls and flying a broomstick. All of these feelings are a right bastard."

"It's called puberty Harry, have fun."

BREAK

He hadn't heard any shouting since Harry went upstairs, which he figured was good sign that the kid had taken their little heart to heart seriously. Still, Percy couldn't help but be troubled. He had noticed over their time together that Harry would occasionally develop wild mood swings. Mind you, these weren't the typical lashings of a teenager pumped to the gills with hormones, gods above knew he had dealt with that enough to know the difference, no this something different.

It would be the smallest things that would set the young man off, a broken pen while doing homework or a stubbed toe on the corner of the counter. Aggravating to be fair, but not rage inducing. It was a far reach from the psychological evaluation he had been given before hit trip to England. The boy was said to be mild mannered at best, and utterly submissive at worst. These complete one-eighties of mood were disconcerting for Percy. It could be something, but you didn't live as long as Percy, for a demigod, without trusting your gut. When it could be something but might be nothing, it is probably something. Percy added it to the laundry list things he needed to get done.

He was yanked out of his musings by a harsh kick to his shin, only for Sirius to yelp in pain instead of Percy. Turning an amused eyebrow to the fugitive, who was massaging his wounded foot, a cough dragged Percy's attention back to the head of the table. Albus Dumbledore, and the majority of the order, were looking at him expectantly. Percy and Harry had arrived at the headquarters about an hour ago, and Percy had immediately been dragged into a meeting of 'utmost importance'. Apparently there had been an important development in the talks with the giants. The news? That apparently the Order was not alone in its efforts to reach out to the giant chiefs. Like that was any sort of a surprise.

Refocusing, Percy scratched at his ear, "Um sorry, could you repeat that?" he asked, knowing he had been asked a question and had been caught not paying any attention. Dumbledore took it in stride and smiled the way a teacher does to a particularly slow student.

"I was simply inquiring into the nature of your investigation of the attack on both you and young Harry. Have there been any new developments?"

Percy sat up a little straighter in his chair, "So the night after the attack by the Dementors I was jumped coming to my hotel." Now everyone in the room was sitting a little bit straighter, "I took care of the problem with only a few problems." He decided not to mention the car he'd totaled or the hole in the roof of the garage, "Turns out they were hitwizards. One of them was still breathing so I took him to our CP, sorry command post, and we interrogated him. Turns out someone hired these douchers to follow Harry the night of the attack, you know, to make sure the job got done right. We followed the money back to Greengrass and Davis, a couple of our agents uh, convince their CEO to lend us any documents relevant to our investigation. We don't have any names as of yet but we know that it was someone from inside your ministry."

A number of people around the table looked more than a little surprised at the developments, Molly Weasley was the first to comment, "And you didn't deem it important enough to mention that your little" she mimed air quotations, "'safe house' wasn't safe for Harry? He could have been hurt!"

Percy couldn't stop himself from snorting, "Yeah, cause he was so much safer in a neighbor swarming with dementors." He didn't give her a chance to rebuttal, "Listen Molly, this isn't our first rodeo, when we moved Harry we did it carefully, switched cars three times and redoubled the route in two different directions. We weren't followed, and now the kid is here safe and sound."

Molly looked like she wanted to say more, and was halfway out of her chair to do just that, when a calming hand from her suspend gently grabbed her by the shoulder and lowered her back to her seat. She shot an accusing look at Arthur but stayed quite, it was Arthur's turn to talk, "Do you think that one of You-Know-Who's people inside the ministry is responsible? We know that he has more than a few followers in high ranking positions. It wouldn't be out of the question for one of them to have ordered the attack."

Percy shook his head, "We don't think so. It doesn't fit Voldemort's MO. He wants Harry dead by his own hand, he wouldn't send dementors to do it. No, the running theory at the moment is that it's someone likely unaffiliated with the Death Eaters, someone high up on the food chain and probably one of Fudge's people. Only someone close to the minister would the pull to have something like this ordered."

Tonks, who had been relatively silent up until this point said, "I could ask around, I have some friends who work the Azkaban shift. I could poke around, try and see if anyone who shouldn't be there has been poking around the cells and release schedule."

Percy nodded, a smile making its way onto his face, "Thanks, I would really appreciate it."

Kingsley Shackelbolt, a tall and muscular black man, spoke up from the corner, "I will ask around as well. I have a bit more sway over our colleagues than young Tonks." Tonks' hair reddened but she didn't say anything and I nodded my thanks in his direction.

Dumbledore clapped his hands together, "Wonderful, well then it is getting rather late. I believe for now we will adjourn." The dismissal given, chairs scraped as people began getting up to leave. As Sirius was getting up out of his chair, Percy grabbed him by the arm. Percy motioned to the door with an incline of his head and Sirius nodded reluctantly before Percy followed him out of the kitchen. Once in the hallway he opened a door leading to a flight of stairs. The pair descended into a literal dungeon. Braziers hung on the walls and the scent of mold and mildew filled Percy's nostrils. As they reached the bottom step, the braziers on the wall sprang to life illuminating a completely barren room.

"This was a dueling chamber when my parents still lived here. Perfect place to practice all of the horrible dark curses messed up little psychos could think up. " Sirius explained, "Now, what did you want to discuss?"

Percy turned and looked Sirius in the eye, he was all business. "Do you think that what the Order is doing is going to be at all effective in winning this war?"

Sirius considered the man for a moment before shaking his head. "What we are doing now is exactly what we did fifteen years ago. We are not fighting anything, only reacting purely defensively. When Voldemort makes his return I fear nothing will have changed." Percy nodded as though he had expected that answer.

"I figured you'd feel that way. My team and I have similar issues. We found out today that we won't be able to draw any international support, it would draw too much attention from the British ministry and could potentially show our hand before we're ready. So I had an idea. What would you say to working for me and my people? How would you like to make an actual difference? Instead of sitting in this prison of a home twiddling your thumbs, you would be with us, in the field, actively working to counteract Voldemort's plans."

Whatever Sirius had expected Percy to say, this had not been it. He'd expected the man had simply wanted to vent off his frustrations, maybe rant some more about their inaction. But this? This was something else entirely, this would be going against not just the Order, but Dumbledore himself. Could he really bring himself to go against the man that had sworn to do his utmost to protect him? Unbidden, his thoughts drifted to the boy upstairs, the last living reminder to his brother and all but blood, his godson. He loved that boy, loved him more than life itself and knew that without hesitation, he would lay down his own life if it meant that Harry lived to see a family of his own.

Sirius' fists clenched and his jaw tightened, not in anger, but in steely determination. He raised his head to meet Percy square in the eye. "I'm in, what do we do?"

Percy grinned, "First, you tell me who might be feeling the same way we do. And then? We get to work."

BREAK

Upstairs, away from the plotting of Percy and Sirius, Harry had just finished confronting his friends on what had been happening this summer. When he first saw them, he had been initially overcome with an anger that, now he was calmer, frankly startled him. However, he had forced himself to breathe deeply, and follow Percy's advice. He had willed himself to remain calm and allow them to explain what had been happening and why they had refused to really talk to him. It had been exactly as Percy had told him, and all of the anger he had felt towards his friends disappeared.

Now that he was actively aware of it, he noticed that both Ron and Hermione, even Ginny for that matter, had been braced for what they expected was going to be an explosion of rage. He felt guilt well up inside of him, what can friend was he that his best friends in the world looked scared of him? Percy was right, this wasn't what he wanted at all. He had told them that he had forgiven them, and that none of it mattered because Percy had promised to bring Harry up to speed himself. That and the threesome had endeared themselves as they shared what they did know about the meetings.

"Is that where you've been then?" Ron asked, "With the American?"

"Yeah," Harry replied, taking a seat on the bed next to Ginny, "After the whole dementor thing, he took me to a safe house somewhere outside of London. That's where we've been hiding out, he said it was safer there than it was with the Dursley's." Understatement of the century that was. "Have you lot talked him at all then?"

The three of them shared a look, but it was Hermione who responded first, "Only once, he asked us why we weren't sending you any letters. We told him, and he just left. That's really the only time any of us have ever really talked to him."

"Probably thinks he's too bloody good for us" Ron grumbled,

"No he does not" Ginny said with more heat than Harry was anticipating,

"You're only saying that 'cause you fancy him" Ron shot back and immedietly Ginny's ears went scarlet, whther from embarrassment or anger Harry couldn't tell.

"No I do not!" Ginny Snapped, though her reddening face was quickly dissuading that notion in Harry's mind. He noticed that Hermione too was sporting a bit of a blush and filed that away to tease her for later. "I just think-" Whatever she was about to say way drowned out in a loud CRACK, as a pair of red-headed identical twins suddenly materialized in the bedroom. Ron's brothers, Fred and George.

"Might want to keep it down a bit dearest little sister" One of them said, Fred maybe, "We could hear your delightfully dulcet tones all the way upstairs." The other finished. They turned as one and addressed Harry, "There you are Harry old boy, we had been wondering when you would show up" "Yeah, we but we didn't hear any shouting from you so we thought you musn't have arrived at all"

Harry cocked an eyebrow, and was about to respond but the twins were on a roll and shut him out before he could, "Keep quiet you lot, we've been trying to listen in."

"Listen in?" Harry asked, "To what?"

The twins sported identical grins, "Why the meeting of course" One of them pulled out a large piece of string with what looked like,

"Is that an actual ear?" Harry asked, feeling slightly nauseous,

As one, the twins rolled their eyes, "Of course it isn't" "It's how we've been listening in on the meetings" "Really rather brilliant if I do say so meself" "Now be quiet Harrykins," "and listen" Carefully, one of them opened the door to the bedroom, as the one with the ear launched the ear piece out the door and down the hall, once the ear had been launched the door was closed again.

"So they don't let you into the meetings either then?" Harry asked as one of the twins fiddled with an identical fleshy ear, the twins expressions darkened somewhat,

"No" Fred said, "Mum won't let us, says we're still too young." "Even though she and dad were same age when they joined up" George chipped in.

"They said anything interesting yet?" Ron asked and Fred shook his head,

"Same old shite, talking about meetings and schedules and whatever the hell it is they're guarding, this lot catch you up to speed on that by the way Harry?"

Harry nodded, "sounds like a whole bunch of nothing"

"That's because it is, no actual plans just a bunch nonsense none of us can really work out, we have no idea what they're trying to guard at the ministry but whatever it is we think it's important." George said, still tinkering with the ear.

"We think it's a weapon," Ron said excitedly. Hermione rolled her eyes but didn't say anything, Harry just nodded but also chose not to respond, he didn't really believe that Voldemort would really need any kind of a weapon, after all, what was magic if not the ultimate weapon. Especially in the hands of someone like him.

Suddenly the room was flooded with Dumbledore's voice. The group listened intently as the exchange between Dumbledore and Percy went it's course, followed by Percy's recounting of the events leading up to the move, as well as his analysis of who was behind the attack. Harry was suddenly floored, he could hardly believe what he was hearing. Percy believed that someone in the ministry was actively trying to snuff him out? For telling the truth about Voldemort's return, he didn't want to believe it. But, this was the same ministry that had allowed him to participate in the triwizard tournament and had tried to have Buckbeak murdered because of a schoolboy grudge. Whether he wanted to believe it or not, he could see the sense in Percy's analysis.

Everyone in the room was watching him now, looking and waiting to see what his reaction would be, Hermione looked just about fit to burst, as though she wasn't sure whether she wanted to laugh, cry, scream or an odd combination of the three. The Weasley's just looked, well, grim. As though this evidence of ministry exploitation and repression was not at all surprising and, as far Harry knew, maybe it wasn't.

He was saved from responding to the nonverbal questions when suddenly George swore, yanked on the string, and the pair disapperated from the room with another loud CRACK. Not a moment later, the door opened to reveal Mrs. Weasley smiling in at them and telling them it was time to head downstairs for dinner. Without saying anything, the remaining four followed her out the door and down the stairs. Passing by a large ornate picture frame at the bottom of the stairs. However it wasn't the picture frame that garnered Harry's attention, he hadn't noticed it when he had first entered the gloomy building, too preoccupied with the coming confrontation to concern himself with much else. But now that he had the time to consider it, he noticed there was a long vertical gash in whatever the picture used to be. It looked like someone had run a long knife through the canvas.

A hand on his shoulder jerked Harry out of his musings, looking up he saw the smiling visage of his godfather. "I see you've met my dear old mother."

Harry was somewhat taken aback, "What?" he asked,

Sirius pointed to the painitng, "That" he said, "Used to be a painting of my mother. Awful old bint she was. Would scream vulgarities at anyone not associated with the House of Black, including me mind you, until our new friend Mr. Jackson got a little too annoyed so he-"

"Cut her in half " Percy interrupted, a self-satisfied smile on his face as he walked up behind the pair. "Thought that demented little house elf of yours was going to kill me for it too."

Sirius barked out a laugh, "Probably would have too if I hadn't done anything about it"

Percy shook his, "I could have handled myself just fine, thank you very much"

"I'll believe that when you stop tripping over the troll leg in hallway."

"Oh screw you, Tonks is with me on that one, that damn thing is a tripping hazard"

"Mate, I don't know how to say this, but basing your argument on Tonks being equally clumsy is about as flimsy as my dear old mum's brittle painting."

The two shared a loud laugh at the joke and Harry couldn't help laughing along with them. For the first time in what seemed like years, he felt like he was home. He was with the people that cared about him. He smiled as Sirius directed the trio into the dining room. While the meeting had been over for a few minutes, members were still loitering about, cleaning papers off of tables and talking in small groups. Harry didn't recognize many of the faces in the room, but he wasn't too worried about it. Harry, Percy, and Sirius strode over to a series of empty chairs, and Harry took the one directly across from his old Defense professor, Remus Lupin.

The man looked somehow even more tired and weathered than he had the last time Harry had seen him. Stress lines marred his face and he had dark, thick circles under his eyes. Despite all of this, he still smiled and shook Harry's hand. The two conversed quietly with one another as Percy and Sirius had their own conversation in hushed whispers next to him. As Harry and Remus conversed, the remaining members of the order not staying for dinner steadily streamed out of the room until only a handful were left. As Percy glared a foul smelling man smoking a pipe out of the room, there was only one person left whom Harry did not recognize. He was quickly introduced to Tonks, a woman whom had been in the process of turning her nose into a pig snout for Ginny's amusement.

Dinner turned out to be a rather subdued affair, everyone it seemed was rather hungry. The only conversation had been between Percy and Bill, who had been ribbing Percy for actually staying for dinner for once. After dinner was over, and Harry's belt on his pants was feeling sufficiently tight, Mrs. Weasley rose and announced that it was nearly time for bed.

"Not quite so fast Molly" Sirius said, gaining the room's attention. He turned to Harry, "You know I'm surprised at you. I thought the first the thing you would have done once getting here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort."

Ignoring the group shudder at the name Harry responded, "Well I did. But Ron and Hermione told me we weren't allowed in the meetings so-"

"And they're quite right!" Molly interrupted, "You're too young." She was sitting bolt upright in her chair, her fists clenched upon its arms, every trace of drowsiness gone.

"Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?" asked Sirius.

"Harry's been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. He's got the right to know what's been happen —"

The next several minutes devolved into a drawn out argument that had Percy rolling his eyes. It was the same damn thing week after week, and he was sick of it. He finally tuned back into the conversation when the door slammed violently, and Percy noticed that Ginny, the youngest, had left the room and all eyes were now between Harry and Remus, who had somehow defused the situation. Bless his heart.

"Where's Voldemort? What's he doing? I've been trying to watch the Muggle news," Harry said, ignoring the renewed shudders and winces at the name, "and there hasn't been anything that looks like him yet, no funny deaths or anything —"

"That's because there haven't been any suspicious deaths yet," said Sirius, "not as far as we know, anyway. . . . And we know quite a lot."

"More than he thinks we do anyway," said Lupin.

Percy couldn't help himself, he snorted. A little too loudly to mask it as anything and suddenly all eyes were on him. "You had something to add, Percy?" Percy rolled his eyes but sat up straighter anyway, looking at Harry with a look that said, might as well tell you now, he said "We don't know anything we didn't already know. This organization is laboring under the delusions that we have some unique advantages over Voldemort and his people but we don't. All we have are a bunch of names of death eaters we already knew about, and that he's trying to recruit an army of hit-wizards and mixtures of magical creatures from vampires, to werewolves and giants." Glaring at Molly who was beginning to rise out of her chair in anger but stopped at his look, he continued.

"We have a very loose idea of what the bastard wants and that's locked away in the bowels of the ministry. And even then, we know that's a short-term goal, nothing long term. We don't know who's backing him financially, who he has control of in the ministry, what kind of foreign assets he has or what his timeline is for returning. We don't know any of this because the spy we have in their ranks is likely a triple crossing shit slinger who is playing his own game." Percy was of course referring to Severus Snape, who he most certainly did not get along well with.

"I believe that you might be a little overly critical Percy" Lupin said

"This thing that Voldemort wants at the ministry," Harry said, ignoring all of the other things Percy had told him, "What is it exactly, a weapon?"

"No not exactly, rather its something…new" Lupin said, "Something he didn't have last time."

"And you won't tell me what it is then?" Harry asked, It was Molly who responded,

"Absolutely not, I believe enough of this has been said, why I ever let you talk me into letting this happen I'll never know but enough is enough. No more talk weapons or anything else we are done-"

"It's a prophecy" said Percy, looking more serious than Harry had ever seen him look.

"It's a prophecy Harry about you and Voldemort." The room fell silent.

And then bedlam.