I sit through an Order meeting, feeling bored as hell. Looking over at the door, I see a fake ear slide under it, making me smile amusedly to myself. I thought Molly had been putting an Imperturbable Charm on the door which stops them from being able to use the ears. I guess she must've forgot today.
I decide not to point it out to anyone else, I believe the kids have a right to know what's going on and I respect how creative they're being. Also, the meeting is almost over - I think. I hope - so it's unlikely they're going to hear much interesting stuff.
I suddenly zone in when Sirius snaps his fingers in front of my face, grinning at me.
"The meeting is over," He says, and I notice everyone is getting up to leave. "So how long were you zoned out?"
"I don't know," I shrug. "How long was the meeting?"
"About an hour," He answers, checking his watch.
"Then I was zoned out for about an hour."
He chuckles.
"I'm gonna go say bye to Marls," I say, getting out of my seat and kissing him on the cheek before walking over to Marlene.
"So, what did you think about the meeting?" She asks with an amused smirk, suggesting that she definitely knows I zoned out.
"Boring as hell," I answer honestly. "I apparently refuse to listen."
"Yeah, Snape's voice was making me wish for death," She says. "Like seriously-"
"Siriusly." Sirius chimes in and Marlene glares at him.
"Anyways," She rolls her eyes before continuing. "How can one person's voice be so horrifically boring? I'd rather put my hand in a hot oven than listen to him talk for another minute."
"A tad overdramatic there Marls, but to be honest I agree."
"So, how is it staying here?" She asks.
"Awful," I answer. "Whenever we're not in meetings we just clean the house, which I guess makes sense because we want the place to not be a disgusting shithole, but oh my fucking god I'm losing my mind in here. I cannot wait until the kids go back to school and I can finally go home. I miss my bed. And my tv. And feeling joy."
Marlene chuckles. "Look who's being overdramatic now."
"No, I am being a reasonable amount of dramatic, this place is hell."
"Okay, well I'm gonna head home, have fun being trapped in hell."
"Take me with you," I jokingly plead. "But I'll see you soon. Tell Dorcas I say hi and that I miss her."
"Alright," She pulls me in for a quick hug. "Bye."
She apparates away and I wander back over to Sirius, who was talking to Regulus.
I talk with the two of them for a moment before I notice Molly is beginning to cook dinner, so I offer to help her, especially since there is a lot of people living here at the moment, it's not fair for her to have to do all the cooking alone.
Its soon done and we get the kids down for dinner. But when walking through the hall, Tonks trips over an umbrella stand, setting off the stupid portrait.
"Mudbloods! Bloodtraitors! Scum! How dare you enter my home! How dare you live under my room!"
"Oh shut up, you're dead, you have no use for the house," I argue.
"You have no right to even talk in my presence, mudblood!"
"And you have no right to be a horrible assface."
"Y/n, are you really arguing with the portrait?" Remus questions, trying to shut the curtains that usually cover it.
"Well she's being stupid."
"How dare you insult me, mudblood!" The portrait yells offendedly.
"How dare you be a bitch," I argue.
"Y/n, this is not helping," Remus says. I notice Sirius standing against a wall, smiling amusedly.
"Well she started it."
"She's a painting."
"A bitchy painting," I mumble.
Sirius comes over and helps Remus, and after shouting a few more insults the painting finally shuts up.
"Y'know, it's extremely entertaining watching you argue with the portrait," Sirius says as we walk through to the dining room.
"Well, I've always wished I could've argued with her while she was alive because she's an awful bitch and I want to murder for ever hurting you, but I guess arguing with a portrait of her is the next best thing."
"I love you so much," He chuckles.
We sit down at the dinner table as Molly waves her wand to lay the food out on the table, allowing everyone to help themselves to whatever they want.
Everyone immerses themselves in conversations.
"Y'know Harry," Sirius says. "I thought that the moment you got here you'd start asking questions about Voldemort."
At the mention of the name many people around the table flinch, and everyone goes silent.
"Well I just assumed we weren't allowed to know anything," Harry shrugs. "Ron and Hermione said they haven't been told anything because they're not in the Order."
"Rightfully so," Molly says. "You're all too young to be concerning yourselves with the Order."
"Molly, since when does someone need to be a part of the Order to ask questions?" Sirius questions.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Fred exclaims. "How come Harry gets to ask questions?"
"We've been asking questions for a month and haven't got any answers!" George adds.
"And that decision is up to your parents," Sirius says. "But-"
"Are you forgetting what Dumbledore said?" Molly asks.
"What part exactly?"
"The part about not telling Harry more than he needs to know," Molly answers.
"I don't intend to tell him more than he needs to know," Sirius says. "But he deserves to at least have some idea of what's going on."
"He's not a member of the Order," She exclaims. "And he's only fifteen and-"
"-and he's already dealt with as much, if not more, than everyone here."
"I'm not denying what he has done, but he's still-"
"He's not a child, Molly," Sirius insists, and I can see he's getting frustrated.
"He's not an adult either," Molly argues. "He's not James, Sirius. You need to stop looking at him like he's your best friend."
"That's enough," I say angrily, jumping into the conversation because she took it too far. "Molly, I understand that you have good intentions, but he's not your son, this is not your decision to make. Sirius and I both agree that Harry deserves to know some, not all, of what is going on, and he should hear it from us rather than a jumbled version from others."
"Very well," Molly says. "Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, I want you out of this kitchen, now."
There is immediate uproar.
Leo and Rosalie both look over at Sirius and I, silently questioning if we're going to let them stay. And of course we are. All of this affects them too - even though I wish it wouldn't - so they deserve to know what's going on. Sirius nods slightly, which they both seem to understand.
"We're of age!" The twins yell together.
"If Harry's allowed, why cant I?" Ron questions.
"No, I absolutely forbid it," Molly says frustratedly.
"Molly, you cant stop Fred and George," Arthur says. "They are of age-"
"But they're still in school," Molly argues.
"But they're legally adults," Arthur says calmly.
"I- fine, they can stay, but Ron-"
"Harry will tell me and Hermione everything anyways," Ron says quickly.
"Fine, Ginny, go!" Molly says frustratedly.
Ginny does not go quietly. She stomps up the stairs, clearly being annoyed at being the only one left out. Molly follows after her, probably making sure Ginny isn't going to attempt to listen in on the conversation using something the twins have made.
"Just to be clear," I whisper to Rosalie sitting beside me. "You're gonna tell her everything when you go upstairs anyways and all of this is for nothing?"
"Yep." Rosalie nods.
"Cool." I sit back up.
Ginny's anger had woken the portrait, so Remus goes through to shut her up again, and once he and Molly have returned, Sirius turns to Harry.
"So, what do you want to know?" He asks.
"Where is Voldemort? What's he been doing?" Harry asks.
"We don't know exactly where he is," I answer. "But we do think he's still in Britain, probably hiding out at some Deatheater's house. As for what he's doing, we believe he's gathering as many people as he can, but he's trying not to draw any attention to himself."
"Why?"
"Because you messed up his return," Sirius says. "You weren't supposed to survive. Nobody except the Deatheaters were supposed to know about his return."
"But you lived," Remus says. "And then you went and told the one person Voldemort fears. Dumbledore."
"How has that helped?" Harry questions.
"Thanks to you, Dumbledore was able to reform the Order of the Phoenix immediately," I answer.
"So what has the Order been doing?"
"Trying to stop Voldemort from building up his army," Sirius answers. "So we're doing our best to recruit as many people and creatures as we can. We suspect he is going for the giants next, so we plan to get there first and convince them to join our side, or at least just convince them not join Voldemort's."
"What's going with the ministry?" Harry asks, moving on. "Is Fudge still-?"
"He's still refusing to believe You-know-who is back," Arthur answers. "He's acting as if nothing happened. And he's been spreading rumours that Dumbledore has gone mad."
"What? Why?"
"Because he think's Dumbledore is after his position," Remus says.
"But Dumbledore doesn't-"
"Of course he doesn't want to be minister," Arthur interrupts him. "But Fudge seems to believe that Dumbledore is planning to overthrow him. A lot of people support Dumbledore and wanted him to run for minister, but he has no intention of doing so."
"Fudge has seemingly gone mad with power," I say. "And he's going to great lengths to try and keep that power, even when nobody is trying to take it from him."
"But if Voldemort is recruiting new members, it's bound to get out that he's back, right?" Harry questions. "Fudge cant deny it forever."
"Voldemort doesn't march up to people's houses and bang on their front doors, Harry," Sirius says. "He tricks, jinxes, and blackmails them. He's well-practiced at operating in secrecy. In any case, gathering followers is only one thing he's interested in, he's got other plans too, plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed, and he's concentrating on them at the moment."
I can see Molly is getting frustrated at how much Sirius is saying by the way she is glaring at him from across the table.
"What other plans?" Harry asks.
"He's looking for something else," Sirius says. "Something he didn't have the last time."
"Something other than followers?"
"Something he can only get by stealth. A weapon. Something worse than Avad-"
"That's enough," Molly exclaims angrily. "You have told him more than enough. You might as well just induct him into the Order at this point."
"Why not?" Harry questions. "I want to join the Order, I want to fight."
"No, absolutely not," I say calmly. Harry looks over at me. "There is a difference between keeping you informed and allowing you to fight. While I do think you deserve to know what's going on, there is no way I am letting you put yourself in unnecessary danger."
"It's not unnecessary," Harry argues.
"It is for you," I say. "You are too young to be fighting this fight. The Order is for adults. Adults who have left school." I add that last part as I see Fred, George and Leo open their mouths to argue. "Look, you have already been through more shit than you should have because of Voldemort, I am not letting you join the Order and put yourself in even more danger."
"Okay," Harry nods in understanding.
"Alright, everyone, bed, now." Molly says.
I hug Harry, Leo and Rosalie goodnight before they head upstairs to 'sleep' - even though I know they're all probably going to be up for hours discussing what they learnt tonight.
I notice Sirius is now stood at the side of the room, a frown on his face. I go over to him, taking his hand as I gently kiss him.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"Nothing," He mumbles, resting his head on my shoulder. "Just wanna go to bed."
I know that something is bothering him.
"Alright, come on."
I keep hold of his hand as we head upstairs to our room. Before he can escape to go put pyjamas on, I lead him over to the bed and we sit side-by-side.
"Talk to me," I say softly. "What's on your mind?"
"Do you think I look at Harry like he's James?"
Yep, that's what's bothering him.
"No, I don't think you do," I answer honestly. "You treat Harry the exact same way you treat Leo and Rosalie. You just have a laidback parenting style, you like to joke around with the kids, that's just who you are, but never once have I thought that you were treating Harry like he's James. What Molly said was completely out of line and completely untrue."
Sirius sighs, leaning into me.
"I cant wait to go home," He says quietly. "I hate it here. And I hate how many people there is, we never get much time alone. And I hate that stupid bloody portrait."
"I know this isn't really related to what you're saying, but I had this thought a while ago, do you think if the portrait was stabbed it would just rip, or since she has some sort of sentience, would she bleed?"
"What?" Sirius questions amusedly.
"Look, you said 'bloody portrait' and now I'm thinking about it again," I say.
"Y/n, are you planning on stabbing the portrait?" He asks.
"No," I mumble quickly.
He chuckles. "Well, I'm definitely not against you doing that."
"Good, because I really wanna," I say. "Especially because she keeps saying mean shit about you and the kids. Nobody insults my family and gets away with it."
He smiles slightly. "How do you always manage to cheer me up?"
"By saying dumb shit apparently." I shrug.
"I love you so much."
"I love you too," I respond, leaning in to kiss him.
He wraps his arms around me, falling backwards without breaking the kiss so I'm now laying on top of him.
He stops kissing to look at me lovingly.
"You are the most amazing person ever," He says. "I'm so happy you're in my life."
I kiss him once.
"I'm happy you're in my life too," I say, pulling away. "You make me so happy. So, so happy."