When Harry walked in, he was greeted by Sirius, arms out and Harry rushed forward and gave Sirius a hug.
"Hey Padfoot, how have you been?" asked Harry.
"I've been alright, how about you?" Sirius replied.
"Apart from the Dementor attack, just been the Dursleys. A bit lousy."
"I don't know why you're complaining." said Sirius with a shrug.
Harry looked at Sirius incredulously. "What?"
"Personally, I'd have welcomed a Dementor attack. A deadly struggle for my soul would have broken the monotony nicely. You think you've had it bad, at least you've been able to get out and about, stretch your legs, get into a few fights...I've been stuck inside for a month."
"How come?" asked Harry, frowning.
"Because the Ministry of Magic's still after me, and Voldemort will know all about me being an Animagus by now, Wormtail will have told him, so my big disguise is useless. There's not much I can do for the Order of the Phoenix...or so Dumbledore feels."
There was something about the slightly flattened tone of voice in which Sirius uttered Dumbledore's name that told Harry that Sirius, too, was not very happy with the Headmaster. Harry felt a sudden upsurge of affection for his godfather.
"At least you've known what's been going on," Harry said bracingly.
"Oh yeah," said Sirius sarcastically, "listening to Snape's reports, having to take all his snide hints that he's out there risking his life while I'm sat on my backside here having a nice comfortable time...asking me how the cleaning's going-"
"What cleaning?" asked Harry.
"Trying to make this place fit for human habitation," said Sirius, waving a hand around the dismal kitchen, "no one's lived here for ten years, not since my dear mother died, unless you count her old house-elf, and he's gone round the twist - hasn't cleaned anything in ages."
Their conversation was interrupted by dinner being served. Everyone was eating, talking cheerily before Mrs Weasley said that it was nearly time for bed for the younger ones.
"Not just yet, Molly," said Sirius, pushing away his empty plate and turning to look at Harry, "you know, I'm surprised at you. I thought the first thing you'd do when you got here would be to start asking questions about Voldemort."
The atmosphere in the room changed. Where seconds before it had been sleepily relaxed, it was now alert, even tense.
"I did!" said Harry indignantly. "I asked Ron and Hermione but they said we're not allowed in the Order, so-"
"And they're quite right," said Mrs Weasley, "you're too young."
She was sitting bolt upright in her chair, her fists clenched.
"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. He's not a child!"
"He's not an adult either!" said Mrs Weasley, the colour rising in her cheeks. "He's not James, Sirius!"
"It's perfectly clear who he is, thanks, Molly," said Sirius coldly.
"I'm not sure you are!" said Mrs Weasley. "Sometimes, the way you talk about him, it's as though you think you've got your best friend back!"
"What's wrong with that?" said Harry.
"What's wrong, Harry, is that you are not your father, however much you might look like him!" said Mrs Weasley, her eyes still boring into Sirius. "You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!"
The other adults were siding with Sirius, saying that it was best that Harry got told some things but not everything.
"I want to know what's been going on," Harry said at once.
Molly tried to usher Ron and the others out, however since Fred and George were of age they were allowed to stay and Harry was going to tell Ron and Hermione anyways so they stayed. In the end, Ginny was the only one who had to leave.
"Where's Voldemort?" Harry then said. "What's he doing? I've been trying to watch the Muggle news, and there hasn't been anything that looks like him yet, no funny deaths or anything."
"That's because there haven't been any funny deaths yet," said Sirius, "not as far as we know, anyway...and we know quite a lot."
"How come he's stopped killing people?" Harry asked.
"Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself," said Sirius, "it would be dangerous for him. His comeback didn't come off quite the way he wanted it to, you see. He messed it up."
"Or rather, you messed it up for him," said Lupin, with a satisfied smile.
"How?" Harry asked, perplexed.
"You weren't supposed to survive!" said Sirius. "Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But you survived to bear witness." his voice broke. "A-and, you brought evidence back." he was referring to Y/N, there was a silence. Y/N's parents, Steven and Joyce, who had been sitting together by the table with Issac (who was allowed to be part of the Order), had a grave look on their faces.
Lupin then carried on the conversation. "And the very last person he wanted to know about his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore and you made sure Dumbledore knew at once."
"So, what's the Order been doing?" asked Harry.
"Working as hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans," said Sirius.
"We're trying to stop him getting more followers." said Lupin.
"How?" asked Harry.
"Well, the main thing is to try and convince as many people as possible that You-Know-Who really has returned, to put them on their guard," said Bill Weasley, "it's proving tricky, though."
"Why?"
"Because of the Ministry's attitude," said Tonks, "Cornelius Fudge is absolutely refusing to believe it's happened."
Harry took a breath. "What about Y/N?"
"Fudge...once he found out about Y/N's heritage thought he was scum. He played off his death as a tragic Triwizard accident." said Steven L/N shakily. "He ignored it because he found out about Y/N's connection."
"As well as this, accepting that Voldermort's back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn't had to cope with for nearly fourteen years," said Sirius bitterly, "Fudge just can't bring himself to face it. It's so much more comfortable to convince himself Dumbledore's lying to destabilise him."
"You see the problem," said Lupin, "while the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place. What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumou-mongering, so most of the wizarding community are completely unaware anything's happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperius Curse."
"But you're telling people, aren't you?" said Harry. "You're letting people know he's back?"
They all smiled humourlessly.
"Well, as everyone thinks I'm a mad mass-murderer and the Ministry's put a ten thousand Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?" said Sirius restlessly.
"And I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community," said Lupin, "it's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf."
"Steven, Joyce, Tonks and Arthur would lose their jobs at the Ministry if they started shooting their mouths off," said Sirius, "and it's very important for us to have spies inside the Ministry, because you can bet Voldemort will have them."
"Not to mention, we hid the fact that our supposed son was the grandson of Voldemort." said Steven dryly.
"There's rumours he's got a new weapon, a bigger and more powerful one." said Sirius.
"Like what kind of weapon?" said Harry. "Something worse than the Avada Kedavra?"
"That's enough!"
Mrs Weasley spoke from the shadows beside the door. Her arms were crossed and she looked furious. "I want you in bed, now. All of you," she added, looking around at Fred, George, Ron and Hermione. She couldn't boss Issac however since his parents had already allowed him to be part of the Order.
Mrs Weasley looked at Sirius. "You've given Harry plenty of information. Any more and you might just as well induct him into the Order straightaway."
"Why not?" said Harry quickly. "I'll join, I want to join, I want to fight."
"No."
It was not Mrs Weasley who spoke this time, but Lupin. "The Order is comprised only of overage wizards," he said, "wizards who have left school or have permission," he added, as Fred and George opened their mouths, "there are dangers involved of which you can have no idea, any of you...I think Molly's right, Sirius. We've said enough."
Sirius didn't argue back, instead, Harry found him and the others being ushered out the room.