Harry & Ginny

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Breanie - A Different Beginning
Chapter 24 - Animagi and the Order of the Phoenix

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Chapter XXIV — Animagi and the Order of the Phoenix

Chapter XXIV — Animagi and the Order of the Phoenix

The first few days after Harry returned home he was both anxious and antsy. There had been no news in any way of Voldemort or of what he was doing. It worried Harry because he remembered James telling him that when Voldemort was around there had been mysterious deaths, weird things going on, unexplained occurrences even for the muggles, and lots of trouble. Yet here was Voldemort, newly born into his body and he was laying low. He wasn't causing any trouble and he was worst of all, making people believe that he hadn't really returned. Harry did not like the sound of that.

He knew that he wasn't the only one either as James, Remus, and Sirius all seemed to be on edge as well. They were doing something and corresponding with Dumbledore but when Harry asked the only answer he got was that they couldn't explain it now but they would in a little while. This was not the answer that Harry was looking for. He felt like he was being shut out, trapped in a house with three people that knew exactly what was going on but refused to share it. He deserved to know, after all, it had been him that had witnessed Voldemort's rebirth. He also knew deep down that they weren't doing this to annoy him, but because they couldn't really explain at the moment. He wasn't sure if this made him angrier or not.

But worst of all were the nightmares. Every time he closed his eyes at night he found himself back in the graveyard. He would watch Cedric die and then the potion. He couldn't count the number of times that James had rushed into his room to wake him from fitful dreams and to try to help him calm down; to hold him in his arms shaking because he had been just as terrified of Harry's screams as Harry had been of the memory that caused them. He felt guilty by it as he knew that his Da was barely sleeping because of the worry. This was why he had to ask Sirius for something.

Harry waited until James had gone to work and Remus was upstairs doing research. Sirius had yet to find a job as he was unsure of what he wanted to do though he did tell them that he was thinking of becoming an Auror again. Harry was secretly hoping that Sirius didn't go back to work any time soon as he liked having him around all the time.

"Uncle Sirius, can I talk to you for a minute?" Harry asked as he stepped into Sirius' room.

Sirius turned to grin at him. "Of course, Harry. You know, I get such a kick out of hearing you say Uncle Sirius, almost as much of a kick as when you were little and called me Siri."

Harry laughed. "I called you Siri?"

Sirius nodded. "Well, Sirius was hard to say. I was Siri, Wormtail was … actually I don't think you called him anything. You hadn't quite mastered Peter yet. Remus was Reemssh. It was cute."

Harry laughed. "Well, I can definitely say your names properly now. Listen, can I ask you for a favour?"

Sirius nodded as he took a seat in one of the armchairs near the fire. "Sure, what's up?"

"Okay, but you have to promise not tell to Da and Uncle Remus?"

Sirius looked at Harry suspiciously now. "Not tell them? Harry, what's going on?"

"It's nothing bad, I promise. It's just; I don't want them to worry."

Sirius' left eyebrow rose slightly. "And you think that I won't worry?"

"No, I mean, it's just that you're going to know what's going on, you know."

Sirius nodded. "I got it. I promise, Harry, now what's going on?"

Harry sighed. "I'm still having nightmares. It's almost been a week now but I'm still reliving the graveyard every time that I close my eyes. My scar is always hurting now and I know its worrying Da more then anything. I wake him up almost every night because of my dreams and he comes into my room all worried and sad. He's not sleeping properly because of it. And it's making me worry about him."

Sirius sighed. "Harry, worrying is part of a parent's job. He's always going to worry about you, even if you didn't have some evil wizard's hatred."

Harry laughed. "Evil wizard's hatred?"

Sirius shrugged. "Well, you know what I mean." He grinned. "Alright, so what does James worrying too much have to do with me?"

"Well, I was wondering if maybe you could put some kind of silencing charm around my room so that he won't hear me if I dream. I mean, I'll still tell him if I happen to have an odd dream or something but he doesn't need to be there with me whenever I have a repeat of an old nightmare. Will you do it?" Harry asked.

Sirius smiled at him. "Of course I will. That sounds like a pretty reasonable request to me."

"Great, will you do it now? Before he comes home?"

Sirius laughed. "Sure."

They walked over to Harry's bedroom and he stood in the center of the room, he waved his wand around and said: Silencio!

"Okay, that should have worked. Now you stay in here and scream and I'll tell you if I hear it, okay?" Sirius suggested.

Harry nodded and as soon as his godfather closed the door he yelled. Then he stepped out of his room to where Sirius was standing in the hallway. "Well?"

Sirius grinned. "Nothing."

"Thanks, Uncle Sirius!"

Sirius grinned. "No problem. Come on, why don't we go work on your animagus transformation. You never did mention if you had progressed any farther then both arms?"

Harry grinned. "I forgot to tell you! I managed to change my head too!"

Sirius' grin widened. "Mate, I have got to see this."

They headed back into Sirius' room and Harry concentrated on his phoenix form and on transforming. He changed both of his arms into the red and gold phoenix wings and then he changed his head into a phoenix with piercing emerald green eyes.

Sirius whistled. "Blimey, it is something to see those eyes out of a red and gold bird. Great job! Let's try the next thing then. If you managed to transform your torso into the bird then you've got the cat in the bag! It shouldn't be a problem at all now that you've got the head."

Harry began to work hard on concentrating his changing. He pictured the torso of the phoenix with a beautiful gold belly and reddish gold feathered wings. Within minutes he was a phoenix with human legs.

"Holy shit!" Sirius said with a grin. "Harry that's amazing! Change it back and try again."

Harry did this and returned to the same form. Sirius urged him to try to change his legs next. The legs came on the first try and he found himself standing in the middle of Sirius' bedroom as a phoenix. Sirius applauded and urged him to change back.

"One year! It took you one year! I can't believe it! That's an entire year faster then it took James and I. Alright, now here comes the hard part. You need to learn how to transform your entire body in one go, quick and back. Go."

Harry nodded. He began to concentrate on what his body had felt like in the phoenix form as well as what it had looked like. It took him exactly one minute to go from a human to a phoenix and back again. Sirius told him that the more he practiced the faster it would be. They worked for three more hours and by the end of the time, it took Harry less then five seconds to transform into a phoenix and less then five seconds to go back.

Sirius grinned. "This is great! Now we need to work on your skills. Are you up for it or do you want to rest?"

Harry shook his head. "No way do I want to rest."

Sirius grinned. "That's my boy! Alright, let's start with flying. Don't do too much at once now as I'm not sure how flying will affect you."

Harry nodded and he changed into a phoenix. Then he lifted his wings, flapped them once, twice and took flight. It was incredible. It was even better then being on a broomstick. He felt like he had the world at his feet. He flew in circles around Sirius and in his happiness let out a stream of phoenix song. The song filled him up with hope and joy as Sirius grinned up at him.

Remus came to the door of the bedroom. "Padfoot, I thought I heard phoenix song? Did Fawkes — is that Harry?"

Sirius grinned. "Come on down, Harry!"

Harry landed on Sirius' bed and then changed back into himself. "I did it!"

Remus goggled at him. "You most certainly did! Harry, that was amazing!"

Sirius nodded. "Incredible! And you looked like you were having the time of your life flying up there."

Harry grinned. "I was. And the phoenix song! It's wonderful! It makes me feel good and happy and hopeful!"

Remus smiled. "That's the purpose. I wonder if you can do the other skills."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, phoenixes are supposed to be able to carry impossibly heavy loads and have healing tears. Do you want to test it out?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah."

Remus grinned. "Alright, well let's see if you can lift me off the ground."

Harry nodded. He changed back into his phoenix and flew above Remus, holding out his tail feathers. Remus grabbed hold of them and to his surprise Harry flew around the room with Remus holding on, feeling as light as a feather. Sirius laughed and grabbed a hold of Remus' foot. Harry only sang cheerfully as he flew around the room with both of them dangling below. James came to the door then.

"What is going on around here?" He glanced up at the phoenix that dropped Remus and Sirius back onto the ground and landed on his shoulder. "Harry?"

Harry flew over to the bed and changed back. "I got it!"

James let out a whoop as he pulled Harry into his arms. "I'll say you've got it! When did this happen?"

"Today! Sirius asked me if I had progressed any farther and I told him that I had managed to change my head during my last lesson with McGonagall. Then I managed this! We were just testing my skills. The only one we haven't tried yet was my phoenix tears to see if they can heal anything." Harry explained.

Sirius nodded. "He can do the song beautifully and he just flew Remus and I around the room for ten minutes so I'd say that he's got the hang of it."

James laughed. "This is wonderful! Alright, healing tears eh?" He pulled out a pocket knife and made a little slice in his arm. "I can heal this with a charm but let's see what you can do, Harry."

Harry changed back and when he saw the cut from the phoenix's viewpoint he felt a wave of grief wash over him, sadness that the cut was there. Crystal clear tears fell from his eyes and onto the cut. Misty grey smoke rose up from James' arm and then the cut was gone. Harry changed back and grinned.

"I'm a phoenix!"

James grinned and hugged his son close. "You most certainly are!"

"What were the other animals you said you saw? A lion, an owl, and a wolf?" Sirius asked.

Harry nodded. "Yeah. I asked McGonagall about it too and she said that it is possible but it's rare and that if I saw four animals then I can become all four animals."

James nodded. "That's amazing to me. Alright, so what animal do you want to attempt next?"

"I think that he should do the owl," Remus suggested. "I think that because he already has the phoenix form down-pat and since the owl is also a flying creature that he would get that form very quickly. Faster then say the four-legged animals."

Sirius nodded. "That makes sense. I'd listen to Remus. Go for the owl."

"Can I try it right now?"

James shrugged. "Why not?"

Harry closed his eyes and brought back to mind the owl that he had seen. A black owl with his own emerald green eyes. Then he began to imagine that his arm was an owl wing. He felt a tingling on his arm and when he opened his eyes, he had a black wing. "Wow."

James nodded. "Keep going, Harry."

Harry did keep going and within half an hour he had managed to change every part of his body. He changed back into himself and went for the full transformation. He continued to practice changing back and forth like he had with the phoenix and within an hour he could do the owl just as fast.

Sirius only grinned. "Blimey that is brilliant, Harry!"

Harry grinned. "I can do it!"

Remus smiled. "You certainly can. Try for the wolf now. I think that it will be more difficult because it is a completely different creature."

James nodded. "Yeah I think that you might have more trouble getting this one as quickly."

They were right. Harry was doing his hardest to change his left arm into a wolf's paw but he was getting nothing. After half an hour he gave up. "I'm tired."

James nodded. "That's alright. You did brilliantly, Harry, I think it's time that you take a break. Besides, there are some things we need to discuss."

Harry nodded. He followed James, Sirius, and Remus down into the kitchen for dinner and as they helped themselves to plates of Lasagna, salad, and garlic bread that Maddy and Mickey had made, Sirius started.

"Alright, Harry, do you remember how I was telling you about this house that I inherited because I'm the only Black left?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, the one that you hated because your parents were all into the dark arts and disappointed because you weren't a Slytherin; you said that no one's lived in it in at least ten years. You went there last year with Da to retrieve your belongings. Why?"

"Well, we're going to see it tomorrow. We need a secret location for the Order of the Phoenix."

"Order of the Phoenix?" Harry asked.

James nodded. "Yeah, do you remember me mentioning it? It was an association that Dumbledore started in the first war against Voldemort. That's what we've been working on the last few days and what Dumbledore meant in the hospital wing by getting the old crowd together. We're going to start it up again since Madam Bones still refuses to believe that Voldemort is even back. She has Fudge on her side and he is in charge of the Law Enforcement Department, which is just as bad. There's nothing that the ministry can do to help us at the moment, well, they're refusing to help anyway."

Remus nodded. "And Sirius has offered Grimmauld Place to Dumbledore as the location. So we're going to go check it out tomorrow and see and then we'll find out if it can be used or not."

"The old house elf Kreacher should have been taking care of it since my mum died but you can't hope. The elf is a whack!"

"So this Order is going to fight against Voldemort?" Harry asked.

"That's the plan. It's what happened before." James replied.

"Alright," Harry replied. "Then I guess I can't wait to see the house."

Harry regretted those words deeply when he stepped inside of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place the next day. It was dark, dingy, and extremely depressing. There was a picture of Mrs. Black in the entrance hall and as soon as they walked in she started screaming about what a terrible mistake and disappointment Sirius had been and about letting half-bloods and werewolves into her home. Sirius ignored her and shoved some curtains in front of her face.

They found Kreacher in the kitchen and Harry could see why Sirius had called him a whack. He wore a filthy pillowcase that reminded Harry strongly of Dobby and he muttered under his breath. He would insult them constantly but then look confused when they responded. Sirius thought it was probably because he had lived alone for so long. He obviously hadn't taken care of the house either. It was filled with dark arts stuff and was so dusty and full of cobwebs that Harry wasn't even sure what colour the walls were.

"It's er, nice," Harry said when they made it to the third floor and Harry still wasn't seeing anything different.

Sirius snorted. "Please! Don't lie to me it's a dump! But I suppose if we get some decent house elves we can clean it up."

"What about Kreacher?"

Sirius shrugged. "He's too far-gone. He's been alone too long and I don't think he even knows how to clean anymore. I'm setting him free."

Harry nodded and then he thought of something. "Hey Sirius, there's this house elf at Hogwarts who well … he'll do anything for me because I helped set him free in second year. I'm sure if I asked him he would be more then willing to help out."

Sirius grinned. "That'd be great. Send him an owl right away."

Harry nodded as he followed Sirius into what must have been at one time the master bedroom just as Kreacher came into the room.

"Kreacher, come here." Sirius replied.

"Stupid poor master, he's a criminal and the mistress always said that he was no good," Kreacher muttered.

Sirius rolled his eyes and pulled out a pair of musty clothes from the dresser. "Kreacher, I'm giving you clothes."

Kreacher shrugged. "I is not wanting to work for you anyway." He took the clothes and disappeared on the spot.

"What happened?"

"I set him free. Now I can place the appropriate charms on the house to make sure that he can't get back in." Harry watched as he muttered a few incoherent things and then he grinned. "All set, so how quickly can you get a hold of this elf?"

Harry received a letter back from Dobby that evening. Dobby was thrilled at the opportunity to work for Harry's godfather and he said that Winky was willing to help. Harry asked them to meet him at the address the next day. Dobby and Winky goggled when they walked inside the house and Harry winced.

"I warned you that it was bad."

Sirius nodded. "I think that it might be a hopeless cause."

Winky rolled up her sleeves and grinned. "Of course not, sir! Dobby and I will have it spick and span and better then new very soon, sir."

The elves were good to their word. By the next day the house was spotless. It was still drab and depressing but it was clean. Minus the creatures and other things that were still hiding around the house; but they would get cleaned up soon. Sirius was shocked when he walked back in.

"You two are miracle workers."

Dobby and Winky blushed. "Thank you, sir."

Sirius grinned at them. "Do you two need work? Because I could use house elves like you to help me keep the place up?"

Dobby grinned. "I is honoured to work for Harry Potter's godfather, sir."

Winky nodded. "I is just glad to work where Dobby is working."

Sirius grinned. "Now Harry tells me that you get a wage, Dobby, how much would you like to work for me?"

"One galleon a month, sir," Dobby beamed.

"That's it?"

Dobby nodded. "I is not wanting a sickle more, sir, it would be too much."

Winky smiled. "And I is not wanting anything!"

Sirius shrugged. "Alright, then you're both hired! Welcome to Grimmauld Place."

They beamed and Harry only grinned, maybe they could help brighten the place up a bit.

The next day, James stepped into the kitchen at Potter Manor where Harry was eating his breakfast. "Well, Dumbledore agreed last night. Grimmauld Place is the perfect location. The proper wards and precautions have been set up for the Order."

Harry grinned. "That's great! I'm glad that you found a place to hang out. Though I'm hoping Sirius gives Dobby and Winky some tips to redecorate the place. It's pretty depressing."

James snorted. "Not to mention the dark objects and creatures hanging around. Winky found doxies in the curtains and not to mention three Boggarts! They've got their work cut out for them. But I'm glad Kreacher was set free. That elf has always been terrible and he's very untrustworthy."

Harry nodded. "Dobby and Winky will enjoy it better there I think."

James nodded. "Another thing. Dumbledore wants the Weasleys and Hermione to move into Grimmauld Place for the summer. He thinks that it will be safer for them."

"WHAT?" Harry protested. "Da, no way, you can't let them live there! It's so depressing and … no!"

James smiled. "I was thinking along the same lines. So I mentioned it to Dumbledore and he agreed though he wants to add his own wards to the manor first."

Harry tilted his head to the left as he realized what his father had just said. "They get to move in here for the rest of the summer?"

James grinned. "Well, it's not like we don't have the room. Besides, they'll have the Quidditch pitch and the game room and the pool. This way they will also be away from Order headquarters. Well, what do you say?"

Harry jumped to his feet and hugged his father. "I think it's brilliant. So when do they get here?"

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