Hermione pursed her lips and smiled lightly, Harry smiled more uncaringly.
“What’s wrong?” Lupin asked suspiciously.
“Nothing, nothing,” Harry laughed even harder, “of course the professor is on our side, that’s quite natural–”
“You have a point,” Lupin said with a straight face, “but he’s so self-willed that sometimes I can’t keep up with him … I almost got killed by him.”
“What happened?” Harry stopped laughing.
“I took a few days off a while ago to catch up with my kind,” Lupin said gloomily, “You should know very well what I mean by my kind …” Harry and Hermione nodded lightly, Knowing he was talking about werewolves.
“Originally Dumbledore wanted me to infiltrate the werewolf community, but I have gained some fame as my pictures have been in the newspaper a few times … so I simply organized some semi-public activities and tried to convince the relatively mild werewolf groups by promising a steady supply of wolfsbane potions to get them to side with us, or at least to remain neutral. One time, I ended up running into Felix who came looking for a dark wizard at the door – werewolves and dark wizards have a complicated relationship and they sometimes will mix together, probably because they are both on the edge of society, it is just that the werewolves are forced … There was a bit of conflict afterward, and a few impulsive werewolves rushed up, and the next second they were splintered back by black lightning.”
“The speed is too fast to react.” Lupin said with palpitations, “but the mission was accomplished, the group of werewolves removed overnight.”
Harry and Hermione looked at each other.
“Children, I’m not saying this to blame Felix – although he did act a little brutally.” Lupin concluded, “But you must recognize one thing: werewolves are dangerous. Although they are divided into brutalists and moderates, they are all still within the realm of danger, the difference only lies in whether or not they actively attack people, so do not form the illusion that moderates are good-tempered-”
“I don’t think so, Remus, you have a better personality than most people I know.” A young woman’s voice emerged from the living room.
The witch had a pale, heart-shaped face, a pair of sparkling black eyes, short, spiky hair that glowed in a vivid, violet colour, and she dressed in a Muggle style, with a weird shirt and patchy jeans, like the rebellious teenage girls Harry occasionally saw.
Harry found her a bit familiar, and it took a few seconds of close examination for him to remember that he had seen her in his third year.
“Hello, Tonks.” Lupin calmly introduced her to the two, “Tonks is an Auror in the Ministry of Magic and has been chosen as a permanent member of the Order of the Phoenix to act as a mutual link between the two sides.”
Harry and Hermione understood at once.
Tonks stepped forward and sized them up with great interest as she held out her hand, “Hello there, I’ve been trying to find a chance to talk to you.” She said freely.
Harry and Hermione reached out their hands fidgetingly, and Tonks came closer and said quietly to them, “I’ve joined the Order of the Phoenix.”
“Congratulations-” Harry said woodenly, he couldn’t really think of anything to say in response.
All this time, Kreacher remained silent, and only when Harry looked over at him, he bowed respectfully, “Please allow Kreacher to make tea for the young master.”
“Oh, uh, okay.” Harry said. Then Kreacher disappeared before his eyes. He thought there is something odd about Kreacher’s attitude.
“He treats us like air,” Lupin said, “for me, It’s because of my werewolf status, but he actually should have treated Tonks better, but-”
“My mother was erased from the Black family.” Tonks shrugged and said, “I don’t think he approves me either.”
“Erased? That tapestry?” Harry asked.
“Yeah.” Tonks made a gesture of fire sparks.
Hermione watched the conversation between them in confusion.
Harry explained in a whisper, “There’s a tapestry on the wall on the first-floor drawing-room that shows the Black family tree, but not everyone is on it, and some members who seriously violated the family traditions were erased from the tapestry, like Sirius was before.”
Hermione nodded in understanding.
“So – welcome to you all.” Lupin smiled as he opened his arms and hugged them.
…
Harry and Hermione sat on the couch, finding the novelty all around them.
“Is it just you guys?” Hermione asked.
“Of course not, Sirius has contributed this place to serve as the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Usually, we are all very busy, and it is rare to get together and find free time to drop by.” Lupin explained, “Molly tidied up a few rooms, making it barely habitable now.”
“I remember Sirius and Kreacher used to tidy up the house.” Harry said, he had lived here for a few days, and it was considered worse then.
“Well, let me put it another way, it’s barely adequate for the new occupants,” Lupin said with a smile, “Sirius is a bachelor and Kreacher … is old if you ask me, although he’s still doing his job, and I strongly suspect that his sense of perspective has been skewed …”
Lupin looked up at the time, “Sirius will be back pretty soon, he said he’d try to finish as early as possible today, so I’ll make some dinner.”
“Need a hand?” Tonks asked.
“No need.” Lupin said, but Tonks followed him anyway, and within a few moments, the sound of banging and Tonks’ apologies came from the stairs below – “Oh! Sorry–”
Just as the two had left, Kreacher appeared, he brought up a kettle of tea, “This is for young master Harry–” he thoughtfully filled the cups with hot tea, then he glanced at Hermione with big eyes, without moving.
Hermione poured herself a cup of tea with some embarrassment and took a small sip.
“If young master Harry has any orders, just call Kreacher, Kreacher is always at your service.” Then the house-elf disappeared with a bang.
Harry explained in a whisper, “Kreacher has been serving the Black family for generations and has been greatly influenced by pureblood mentality, it took Sirius a lot of effort to get him to stop cursing, but I guess it only worked half the time, Kreacher now completely ignores non-pureblood wizards.”
“I can understand that.” Hermione held her cup of tea and surveyed the direction Kreacher had disappeared in with great interest.
“Come on, I’ll show you around the house, I’ve been here a few times before, but it’s strange, I didn’t find any place suitable for practicing magic … We’re on the first floor now, the entrance hall and dining room are on the ground floor, and there are a few bedrooms on the third floor, but a lot of rags were piled up inside during the major cleaning earlier, I don’t know what the situation is now … the end of the corridor is the study …”
Harry and Hermione glanced toward the study and saw the professor sitting in a chair, muttering to himself, “Animagus?” He looked up at Harry and Hermione as he asked, “Has Sirius come back yet?”
“Not yet.” Harry said honestly.
“Professor,” Hermione asked, “where can we practice magic?”
“There are two places. The fourth floor has two bedrooms that once belonged to Sirius and Regulus, as well as a spacious activity room that was previously chained up, so practicing general magic isn’t a problem, and on the ground floor – there is a hidden entrance next to the kitchen where a long staircase leads down to a huge area that can barely count as the second basement, which I guess might have been the Black family’s spell testing room, but then later abandoned. But the walls are built with extremely strong stone, with all kinds of magic protection …”
Felix finished his explanation and asked, “By the way, do you know about the Award Ceremony?”
“Award Ceremony?” Harry and Hermione asked in unison.
Felix smiled, “Didn’t Ms. Bones had said that you have a chance of receiving the Second Class Order of Merlin? It is not a lie.”
Harry completely forgot about it.
All the way back to the living room, Harry’s mind was giddy, he is about to get the Order of Merlin?
…
The time approached eight o’clock when some loud noises came from downstairs.
Harry pricked up his ears, he heard familiar footsteps, it is Sirius!
“Harry!” Sirius appeared in the living room doorway and flashed a smile at Harry, “Mundungus finally managed to pull off something solid.” He sat down across from Harry and almost placed his butt on Mundungus, “Ouch-”
“Is it dinner time?” Mundungus asked sleepily.
“Not yet.” Sirius said. He changed his seat and Crookshanks jumped on him, making Sirius scratch his chin.
Mundungus muttered something that no one heard, then he pulled his ragged clothes over his head, and went back to sleep.
“What have you been up to lately?” Harry asked.
“There are tons of things to do,” Sirius leaned back wearily on the couch, “We’re in the preparation phase, both sides are cautious, in fact … we haven’t gone head-to-head since– -if you don’t count a few incidents of Dementors injuring people. We think Voldemort is secretly gathering troops, recruiting forces, or planning some kind of conspiracy … in any case they won’t be idle. We are also doing the same thing, but we are firmly on the defensive side,” he glanced at Harry, “While there is no place to live, we still have a big family, that’s how it is.”
“The magical world has been peaceful for many years, most people have little vigilance, there are many loopholes to exploit, you should have heard about Azkaban … Amelia has been working on it during this time.”
“And the floo network.” Mundungus muttered in his sleep.
Sirius grinned.
“That’s right, who would have thought the unassuming Floo Network Authority would become so important in wartime? Amelia ordered the Floo Network Management Team to clean up old and illegal lines, and to monitor them for anomalies-”
“And what about here?” Harry asked, thinking of what Montengus had told them earlier about the Black family’s mastery of some technology that is needed to build the floo network.
” There’s no need to worry about it yet,” Sirius said cunningly, baring his teeth, “It’s under the Fidelius Charm, so the Ministry of Magic can’t find it; at best they’ll find an uncontrolled node, but they won’t be able to pinpoint it.”
…
At dinner, the group exchanged information as they ate.
“Fudge was sent to various European countries to persuade people to be alert about the activities of Death Eaters in their region … It’s considered as making good use of people.” Sirius said with a shrug.
Harry looked amazed.
“Molly told me she’ll be moving in, in a couple of days, with her kids.” Lupin also revealed a piece of information.
Both Harry and Hermione perked up at the news.
“I’m leaving for a few days,” Felix said, “and will be back before the awarding begins.”
“Going where?” Lupin asked perceptively.
“To visit Mr. Scamander, I kind of miss the little ones he keeps in the basement.”
————
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