Spending the first two weeks of summer after Professor Dumbledore’s funeral at the Dursley’s should have been hell on earth for Harry Potter. What made it bearable was the company he was keeping hidden in his room. His best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were with him the entire time. Hermione had taken Ron along to Privet Drive using side-along Apparition from the train station. When they saw the car coming with the Dursleys and Harry in it they ducked under Harry’s Invisibility Cloak and snuck in behind the family. Following Harry up to his bedroom, Hermione then cast a simple silencing charm on the room. No one would be able to hear the trio talking and making plans for hunting the Horcruxes.

Not knowing how Harry would be able to bring them food had at one point posed a problem, until Ron hit upon the idea of asking Dobby if it was possible to bring them food without letting anyone know what he was up to.

The house elf never batted an eye when he said, “Professor Dumbledore told Dobby that he was supposed to take care of Harry Potter sir if something happened to the Professor. Dobby is thinking that this is what Dobby wants most in the world sir.” He bowed down low and looked up at Harry as if expecting Harry to yell at him. “Dobby is hoping that Harry Potter sir will let Dobby come and be his house elf at his new home. Dobby knows that Harry Potter sir has a house elf already, sir, but Dobby is hoping that Harry Potter will want Dobby anyway. Dobby will work very hard for Harry Potter and will keep his secrets safe.”

Harry looked at Dobby for a few seconds then asked “Dobby, how much was Professor Dumbledore paying you?”

“One Galleon a week and one day off a month sir.” Dobby squeaked.

“Well Dobby, if you want to work for me, you’ll be paid ten Galleons a week and have one day off a week.”

“Oh no sir, that is too much Harry Potter sir. Dobby will only take the same as what Professor Dumbledore was giving Dobby.”

“Dobby, that’s not enough. I want you to work for me because you want to not because I’ve enslaved you by not paying you enough.”

“But Harry Potter sir, Dobby is wanting to work for you. Dobby is only needing one Galleon a week and one day off a month. Dobby is only wanting to help the great Harry Potter and his friends. Harry Potter is the one who will get rid of the Dark Lord and Dobby will do anything to help the greatest wizard of all time.”

“Stop right there, Dobby, I am not the greatest wizard of all time. Albus Dumbledore was. Please don’t forget that. Next, you can work for me for whatever you’ll take as payment. I’ve considered you my friend for years and I’ll not take advantage of you. As a matter of fact, I’ll instruct the Goblins at Gringotts to allow you full access to my vault. You take whatever you need. Even if it means you’re taking more than a Galleon a week. Okay Dobby? Does that sound like a good deal to you?” Harry asked while squatting down to Dobby’s level.

“Harry Potter is too good to Dobby. Dobby will take the deal and will get straight to work. You is needing food for all three of you at the bad house you is staying in for the summer?”

“Yeah, and one of us eats like there is no bottom to his stomach. So make sure you bring a lot. Thank you Dobby. We will see you at Number Four, Privet Drive, three times a day, until I tell you different.”

The last night the trio planned to spend at Privet Drive, Dobby brought the dinner and Harry told him, “Tomorrow morning we’re leaving here Dobby. You won’t have to bring us breakfast. I don’t know if you’ll be able to come to where we’re going, until I talk to Professor McGonagall. The house was protected with the Fidelius Charm, and Professor Dumbledore was the secret keeper. As soon as I know I’ll call for you.”

“Yes, Harry Potter, sir. Dobby will wait until Harry Potter calls for him.”

Harry looked to Ron, who was just finishing a letter to his mother. Handing it to Dobby, he asked, “Will you take this letter to the Burrow for me, Dobby? We don’t want to risk sending Hedwig, she is too easily recognized.”

“Dobby will take it Mr. Wheezy. Is Mr. Wheezy needing a reply?”

“No Dobby, we’ll see them tomorrow. Thank you.”

Dobby left with a loud crack, and Hermione asked Ron what he had written.

“That we’d see them tomorrow at the dog house.” Ron laughed as he said the last. “Where else could it be but headquarters? Anybody in the Order could figure it out, and maybe a few Death Eaters. But by sending it with Dobby no Death Eaters should ever see it. Just thought it’d be a laugh.” He shrugged and rolled onto the bed, propping himself up on an elbow, he looked at Harry.

“Good thinking, Ron,” Harry said. “I wouldn’t have thought to say it like that. We need to be downstairs at six-thirty. That’s when my uncle eats breakfast before going to work. He and my Aunt should be alone in the kitchen, since Dudley rarely makes an appearance before noon. I want to tell them goodbye and give them a never going to see me again gift.” At this, Harry’s lips tilted into an evil grin.

“What in the world are you going to give them? It better not be a hex or jinx. You know that even though the Ministry is trying to get you to endorse the way they’re dealing with the war, they’d like nothing better than to get you for illegal magic.” Hermione was working her way into a full-blown snit.

Harry stopped it with one word, “Money.”

“WHAT?” in unison, Ron and Hermione’s jaws dropped.

“Yup...lots of money,” Harry replied. “How do you think they’ll feel when I hand over a bank note for one hundred twelve thousand pounds?”

“Why so much, Harry?” Hermione asked with a very perplexed look on her face.

“Mate, I knew you were rich, but how can you give away that much gold? Especially to people that never treated you worth a damn?” Ron was on his way to getting worked up. His ears had started turning red.

“Well they kept me safe for sixteen years. Even though they didn’t want too, they did. Seven is our most magical number and it seemed fitting to multiply the years that I’ve had to be where magic is hated by the most magical number there is. And then I just added the word thousand.” Harry chuckled, and as the other two started laughing, he doubled over and soon all three were breathless. “We better get to bed; morning is going to come awfully quick.”

The three of them collapsed onto the beds and, still chuckling, slipped into sleep.

At six the next morning, Hermione shook both boys awake. “If we’re going to be downstairs at six-thirty, we need to get up and dressed, so I can pack,” she told them.

The boys grumbled their way into clothes and Hermione used her wand to ‘pack’, so that within twenty minutes they were ready to head downstairs.

Hearing movement in the kitchen, Harry led the way. When they walked through the doorway, Vernon turned purple and started ranting. “What the devil do you think you’re doing? Bringing them into my house? Haven’t I told you about that unnaturalness? I won’t have it!” Petunia was trying to hide behind her husband after letting out a shriek that would have made a banshee proud.

All three pulled out their wands and pointed them straight at Vernon. “My friends’ve been here since I got back from school,” Harry said rather calmly.

Swallowing audibly, Vernon was still visibly furious. “What? You’ve let these freaks stay in my house?” he roared.

“Yep, and if you know what is good for you, I wouldn’t call them freaks,” Harry said sharply. “Both are of age and can and will jinx you for insulting them.”

Vernon seemed to shrink into himself, trying to hide himself and Petunia behind him.

“I wanted to tell you good-bye and to let you know that I’m not coming back here. I have something for you, and I wanted to say thank you for keeping me safe for the last sixteen years. You didn’t have to do it, and I am actually surprised that you did.” Harry took a breath and with a look of pure satisfaction, handed over a bank note worth one hundred twelve thousand pounds. “You’ve said too many times that I’ve been a burden, and that you’ve had to shell out money for me. Well here’s a hell of a lot more back than you ever put out.”

“Where did you get that much money?” Petunia asked suspiciously. Vernon looked as though he would choke any second.

“My parents left me with more gold than I’d ever be able to spend, and then, when my Godfather died, he left me with a whole lot more.” Harry smirked at them and said, “Just think, if you’d been nicer to me, I would’ve given you access to it. But my unnaturalness, as you call it, kept you from being richer than you could possibly imagine.” At this Harry, Ron, and Hermione started laughing.

“See what happens when you’re a bigoted git?” Harry sobered and continued, “You gave me a home...” Ron started coughing to disguise his snort of disdain. “You fed me, and clothed me, even if it was cast-offs from Dudley. For that I have to say thank you. This money is my way of removing any obligation I have to you. This money is way more than you spent on me to raise me. Now if you will excuse us, we’ll be leaving. I hope never to see any of you again.”

Hermione stepped up, grabbed both boys arms, and Apparated to the empty park at Grimmauld Place.

Walking down the street to Number twelve, they all chuckled over the reactions to the money. “It’s too bad Dudley wasn’t in there too. I bet he’d have turned as purple as his father.” Ron laughed.

“I’m just glad it’s all over. I never have to go back there. I never have to deal with any of them anymore.” Harry breathed his first really free breath since he was a year old.

Opening the door to Number twelve, Harry ushered his friends into his house. They quickly walked down the stairs to the kitchen, where they stopped short at the sight of all of the Weasleys waiting along with Lupin, Tonks, Moody, Shacklebolt, and McGonagall.

“Whoa! What the bloody hell are you all doing here this early?” Ron asked after jumping back about a foot.

“You said you ‘d be here this morning, so we thought we’d come and welcome you home.” Mrs. Weasley came over and gave her customary, bone crushing hugs to all three.

“Mr. Potter, we need to talk to you.” Professor McGonagall spoke with a crispness to her voice that had Ron and Hermione sending him looks to see what he had done to bring her wrath down upon him.

“Since Albus is gone, we need a new Secret-Keeper for the Order. He made sure the magic would extend until your birthday, but after that Snape could tell anybody that wants to listen. You need to tell me who you want to keep this secret.”

Everyone had retaken their seats, and Ron and Hermione seated themselves. Harry remained standing and started to pace when he said, “Before I answer you, I have a few questions that I need answers to. First, with a new Secret-Keeper, will Snape still know where we are? Second, who’s the new Head of the Order? And last, can Dobby the House Elf come here to work for me?” Harry was ticking things off on his fingers as he said them.

“Actually Mr. Potter, as soon as the new Fidelius Charm is cast, Severus will not know where the Order is headquartered. He could bring the entire force of the Death Eaters and Voldemort himself here, but he wouldn’t be able to show them anything. Number twelve would remain invisible to them...unless the new Secret Keeper tells them.” Professor McGonagall nodded towards the others at the table and said, “We were in the process of figuring out the answer to your second question when you arrived.” Taking a breath, she went on, ‘As for Dobby, When you have gotten the new Keeper, you only need to have them tell Dobby where we are, and he will be able to come look after your home.”

Harry had spent a lot of time over the last two weeks thinking of who could be the new Secret-Keeper, and had made his decision. “I know all of you will probably think that I’ve gone completely mental, but I want the Secret-Keeper to be someone who isn’t in the Order.”

That was as far as he got before everyone started talking. “You what?” This was from Kingsley.

“Harry how could...” Mr. Weasley tried to be heard.

“Potter, you know how important keeping this secret is. How could you justify using someone that isn’t in the Order?” Professor McGonagall interjected at a volume meant to be heard. It did make everyone else be quiet long enough to hear the answer though.

“Let me ask you something. If you,” Harry pointed to all of them, “were captured, how long do you think it would take a highly skilled Legilimens to figure out who the Secret Keeper is?” None of them had a response to that. “Okay, how long do you think it will take for him to move on to other things if you don’t know who or where the Secret Keeper is?” Harry now knew he was getting through to them.

“I am not going to tell you who it is. There’ll only be two people that know.”

McGonagall interrupted at this point. “There will be three people that know...you, the secret keeper and Professor Flitwick.”

“Actually, Professor, only two people will know. Me, and the one of my choosing. I am not going to put more people in danger for helping us and in turn me.” Harry looked around the table, ‘None of you have ever thought twice about protecting me, well it is my turn to start protecting the ones I can.”

Lupin spoke up at this point, “Harry, none of us know what the prophecy said. We only know it was about you and Voldemort. Professor Dumbledore was a man that all of us respected, and we knew he wanted you kept as safe as possible until you were ready to face Voldemort.” There were still small flinches around the table at the mention of Voldemort. But Harry was happy to see that they were getting used to hearing it. “Some of us care more for you than as a savior, you are the son of two of my best friends, and the godson of another. I would gladly lay down my life to save yours. But you can’t keep us in the dark as Dumbledore did. We can’t keep fighting blind.”


“Remus, I’m not asking you to fight blind,” Harry said quickly. “I’m going to tell you a great deal more than Professor Dumbledore did. But you have to understand, there are some things that I really can’t tell you. If you knew them, and were captured, not only would he get the information, but your life would be over. He would kill you on the spot.” Harry looked at all of them with a plea for understanding. “I want to implement a new way for people to be told the secret of where the headquarters is and how they get into this house. Hermione’s come up with a new ‘test’ if you will that won’t let another traitor into our ranks.” At this Harry looked to Hermione to take over, and he sat down.

“How many of you are familiar with the defense organization that we started in our fifth year?” Hermione started out. When they had all raised their hands, she went on, “If you recall, Marietta Edgecombe told Umbridge about us, and had the word sneak across her face as a result.” Here everyone chuckled. “Well as of two weeks ago, her face still said sneak and I know she’s gone to St.Mungo’s several times. I’ve even gotten letters from the Healers there, asking me how to get rid of it. Not that I plan on telling them. But anyway, back to the point, I found that jinx in a book on Rowena Ravenclaw, and I found a stronger version of it.” Hermione waited for the gasps to fade. “How were you told where the Headquarters is, Moody?”

“Dumbledore wrote it down and showed it to me.” Moody growled.

“What about you, Tonks?”

“It was the same with me; a note,” Tonks replied quickly.

“Exactly,” Hermione went on. “The only way to keep a Secret safe is to never say it out loud. Notes can be read then destroyed, but an overheard voice can’t be called back.” Hermione stood up and walked around the table to stand behind Harry. “When Harry asked me about the jinx I put on the DA list, I told him about the stronger one I’d found. We decided to enchant a new piece of parchment, with the ability to make anyone looking at the address to headquarters not see the right address if they aren’t one hundred percent devoted to the Order. Then the main body of the parchment will be placed in the entryway to this house. After you’ve read the right address, you’ll have to sign your name on it to enter the house. And trust me, if you ever betray the Order in even the slightest way, you’ll wish you’d been captured and tortured for an eternity by Voldemort himself than endure what the parchment will do to you.” Hermione had a blazing fury in her eyes that took most at the table aback. None of them had ever seen her this worked up over something.

Lupin looked at Hermione with something akin to awe. “Hermione, I said once before that you were the brightest witch of your age, but I think I must revise that to say, you are the brightest witch of any age, since Rowena Ravenclaw herself.” Hermione looked like she might catch fire from the blush climbing her face at this compliment.

Ron took his cue to speak, and came around the table to stand beside Hermione. “We think that all of the DA members that are now of age should be offered membership into the Order. With the parchment Hermione enchanted, no one can find this place without passing the test. But so many of them have stood with us when we needed them.” Ron looked to his mother and went on, “I know you won’t let Ginny join yet, but you need to know that I plan to join, just as soon as this meeting is over and the new Secret Keeper is asked. We aren’t going back to school this coming year, but are going to do everything we can to stop Voldemort.”

Ron had to stop talking here, because his mother had blown through the roof. “Have you any idea how much your education matters?!” Mrs. Weasley exclaimed. “You will not join the Order, and you will go back to school. There will be no more talk of anything different.” Mrs. Weasley crossed her arms over a heaving chest. It looked as if lightning bolts could shoot out of her eyes at any second.

“Mum, I know my education is important,” Ron said. “I �“ we �“ all plan on finishing our N.E.W.T’s, just as soon as Voldemort is gone. I want to be an Auror. You know that. I can’t be one without my N.E.W.T’s, and I know that.” Ron looked to his father to help. “I’m of age, and I won’t cower in school while my best mate is out hunting the darkest and foulest wizard of all time. It’s just not gonna happen.”

Mr. Weasley leaned over to Mrs. Weasley and spoke to her softly for a few moments. When he sat back, Molly had a resigned look on her face. “I guess I don’t have much choice about this, but you will promise me that all of you will finish your education when this is over!”

“We promise,” all three teens said in unison.

Harry waved the other two back to their seats and took his turn again. “I want all of you to know that no matter what happens after I leave this room, I love each and everyone of you. I never got to tell my parents, Sirius, or Professor Dumbledore that. I’m through thinking there will always be a tomorrow. Voldemort can and will do everything he can to take all of you from me. I don’t plan to let him.”

Harry looked at Lupin. “Remus, you said you don’t know what the prophecy said...well, this is it… Harry pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to Lupin, who read it aloud:

“THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES . . . BORN TO THOSE WHO HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM, BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES . . . AND THE DARK LORD WILL MARK HIM AS HIS EQUAL, BUT HE WILL HAVE POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT . . . AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER FOR NEITHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES . . . THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD WILL BE BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES . . .”

“You need to know that until he’s dead, Voldemort will continue to try to find out what it said,” Harry told them. “I’ve come to realize a few things...this war is fought because an egomaniac wants total domination of the wizarding race. He’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants.” Every one at the table had stunned looks on their faces. Not one of them knew what to say.

“When I heard the prophecy, Dumbledore told me it could have meant another wizard child, born the day before me, but Voldemort chose me because I was just like him. A half-blood. Which is kinda funny when you think about it. He wants a cleansing of the blood. He says the only wizards worth being or knowing are purebloods.” Harry paused here to laugh a little.

By this time they all had regained a little composure and Lupin asked what was on all of their minds... “What’s more important than the contents of the prophecy? You said you couldn’t tell us some things, but it seems to me that is the most important.” Lupin looked confused.

“Maybe I’m being selfish, but I wanted you to know what you’re fighting for. The things I can’t tell you are an instant death sentence if you know. I won’t let any more innocent blood be on my hands. You must understand, the ‘errand’ Professor Dumbledore and I went on, was a thousand times more dangerous than him knowing what’s in the prophecy. If he finds out what it said, he’ll still think he’s safe, but I am going to make sure, with Ron and Hermione’s help, that when we meet face to face again at last, he will die.” Harry was trying to make them believe how important everything was.

“Harry, do you mean to tell me...my son knows what you just called an instant death sentence?” Mrs. Weasley’s voice was low and very scary.

“Mum, I’ve known since last summer,” Ron cut in. “I will always be with Harry and Hermione. If I’m captured, then they are too, and you can pretty much count on all three of us dying, if we haven’t finished our tasks.” Ron was obviously trying to calm his mother.

“You’ve known for an entire year?” his mother said. “You haven’t told us what you were doing and planning for an entire year?” Her voice was getting louder with every word.

“Mrs. Weasley, listen to me.” Hermione jumped in; trying to stop the explosion they were all expecting. “When Harry and Dumbledore started private lessons, Harry asked if he was allowed to tell anyone. Dumbledore told him he could only tell us. After he did, we’ve never been far from the others. I will not let anything happen to my two best friends, and I know they won’t let anything happen to me. You must know that Harry can’t do this by himself. Nobody could.”

“Harry, I love you as if you were my own son. You know that. But what you are asking from everyone is crazy. There is no way this can work unless we know what you three are planning. I will lock you in your bedroom until you tell me if I have too.” Molly was pleading with Harry by this point.

“Mrs. Weasley, I’ve been locked in rooms all of my life. I don’t think you’d stoop down to the Dursleys’ level, would you?” Harry shook his head at her sadly.

“How can I keep you safe if I don’t know what you are facing?” she asked as the tears started rolling down her face.

“You can’t keep us safe anymore. It is up to us to keep you safe now.” Ron told her.

“Look, tomorrow, I am going to be seventeen,” Harry said forcibly. “It’s time for me to stop hiding behind the adults in my life and stand up to my fate. Voldemort knows part of the prophecy, the first two lines, and he’ll keep trying to find out the rest. Snape’s the one that told him those two lines. That is the information he passed on that sent Voldemort to kill my parents and me. And then Sirius died trying to keep the prophecy hidden from him. Dumbledore died trying to help me learn how to destroy Voldemort. I refuse to let their deaths be in vain. I’m going to finish what Dumbledore started. I’m going to kill Voldemort, and I am going to do it in a way that saves as many of us as I can.” Harry was shouting as he finished saying this. “I got the shock of my life when Hermione enchanted the parchment for the Order. A flash of fire and this feather floated into my hand.” Harry held up a Phoenix feather. “Fawkes gave us the quill to write the secret with, and to sign the list. I don’t know where he went after Dumbledore died, but I think he’s still around, waiting to see how he can help us finish this war.” Everyone gasped as they saw the feather.

“Not all of you know this, but when I dueled with Voldemort in my fourth year, our wands connected. They share the same core.” Here Harry held up the feather again. “This core. We...” Harry indicated Ron and Hermione here, “...have done a lot of research, and one thing we found was that Phoenix song gives those that are pure of heart courage, and strikes fear into those that aren’t. When the wands connected, a dome of light shot out of the connection, and all I could hear was Fawkes singing. Voldemort was terrified. I knew then all I had to do was hold on, and I could beat him.”

“How can you defeat him if your wand won’t work against him?” Tonks wanted to know.

“That part I haven’t worked out yet. But, hopefully I will when the time comes,” Harry answered. “But in the meantime, I need you all to understand this...I was kept in the dark for way too long. Dumbledore thought he was protecting me, but all he was really doing was setting me up to fail.”

There were grumblings from all when he said this. “You can’t think that Albus wanted you to fail, Potter?” was McGonagall’s response.

“Dumbledore would never do that, Potter,” was Moody’s answer.

“By not telling me, he had me fighting blind, just as Remus said. I can’t win if I don’t know what I’m fighting,” Harry reiterated. “I won’t let you continue to fight without knowing just what and who you’re fighting. I’ve known since I was eleven that I was a marked man. I didn’t know until a year ago exactly what that meant. Even in this last year, he doled out the information I need in small increments. I refuse to let you fight without knowledge.” Harry was back to shouting by this point. “Knowledge is power. Right now you all know more than Voldemort knows. That gives you the advantage. I know more than all of you. That gives me an even greater advantage, because, make no mistake, I will face him. And even if I die trying, I will beat him.”

Mrs. Weasley was openly crying into her husbands shoulder by this point. Mr. Weasley looked at Harry for a moment, and then asked quietly, “Will you let us stand with you?”

“No, you can stand wherever you can find a place, but I won’t let you die for me.” Harry was calmer now. “If I had my way, none of you would ever leave this house until I had finished this. But I don’t have the luxury of thinking I can do this by myself. I need all of your help. The power I have that he knows not is love. I love you all and a few more besides, and to defeat him I can’t shut you out. That is why I’m telling you this.”

Moody was trying to figure a few things out and spoke quickly into the silence. “When you stand against him, you can’t use your wand, correct?”

“Yes,” Harry agreed.

“Your strength is love, and only you know what is needed to kill him?” Moody grumbled.

“Right again...even though I’m still working on how to use love to kill somebody.” Harry laughed with the rest of the table.

“Why wouldn’t Albus tell any of us about this?” was the last thing Moody wanted to know.

“Dumbledore told me that it wasn’t safe for too many people to know how much knowledge he had of Voldemort’s past and plans for the future,” Harry replied.

“Okay, Potter, what else do you have to tell us?” Moody asked with a resigned look.

“Just who I think should be the next head of the Order.” Harry closed his eyes and hoped he was doing the right thing.

“I think Professor McGonagall needs to focus the majority of her time and effort on the school, and keeping the children there safe.” Everyone nodded their agreement. “Remus, you’d be unavailable at the full moons, so I don’t think you should be it either.” Harry sent an apologetic look at Lupin, who replied, “We had already dismissed me as a candidate Harry, don’t worry about it.”

“Tonks, you know I think you are great right? And you too Kingsley?” Harry looked to them and they nodded. “But I think the one who should lead the Order is someone who was in it before, when Voldemort tried to take over last time.”

Everyone agreed that this was a good idea so far. They all looked at the elder Weasleys, but Harry stopped that quickly, “Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, I know you couldn’t send any of your children into harms way, even for the good of the Order. I can’t ask you to do that. I really think the only possible candidate is Alastor Moody.” At this Harry started talking directly to Moody. “You devoted your life to stopping dark wizards. You fought against Voldemort last time. I would feel loads better knowing you wouldn’t flinch when it came time to hand out an assignment, just because you cared about someone too much.”

Having talked himself nearly hoarse, Harry summoned a butterbeer from the pantry. “Harry, you know you aren’t allowed to do magic outside of school yet!” Molly scolded.

“Are you going to turn me in?” Harry challenged, smirking.

“I might, Mr. Potter.” McGonagall spoke for the first time in a while.

“In a little over twelve hours I’ll be of age. Good luck with that.” Harry laughed and took a sip of the butterbeer.

McGonagall stood up and looked around the table. “All those in favor of asking the of-age members of the DA to join the Order, raise your hands.” All hands at the table rose.

“All those in favor of using Ms. Granger’s enchanted parchment, raise your hands.” Again all hands at the table rose.

“All those in favor of Alastor Moody replacing Albus Dumbledore as the head of the Order of the Phoenix, raise your hands.” One more time all hands rose.

“All motions carried.” McGonagall sat back down and looked at Moody. “The floor is now yours Alastor.”

“Nothing can be done until Harry gets back from getting us a new Secret Keeper,” Moody growled. “How long will it take you, Potter?”

“I don’t think it’ll take me long, but I’d like for you all to do me one favor while I am gone,” Harry replied.

“What do you need us to do, Harry?” Lupin asked, sitting forward in his chair.

“By magic or Muggle means, I need you to build a small foyer right inside the front door. We need a place for the enchanted parchment to hang for people to sign. Hermione’s already written the warning about betrayal on it, so anyone that signs will know what to expect.”

“Wait a minute,” Kingsley rumbled in his deep voice. “You never did tell us what exactly happens to anyone that betrays us.”

Hermione perked up at this question. “I was hoping somebody would ask me that. When you sign your name, a single grain of sand is magically placed inside you. It will cause you no harm unless you break the contract you have just signed. If you break it, the sand will heat, and grow larger, until you are burned to death from the inside out.” Hermione’s voice was the grimmest Harry had ever heard.

Ron was looking at her with such pride that, if she had cared to look, she would have known what everyone else had known for years. He definitely loved her.

“What? You enchanted a parchment with the ability to kill? Are you out of your mind?!” Mrs. Weasley was on her feet in an instant.

“You’re damn right I did,” Hermione said, and everyone was shocked she’d used such language with Mrs. Weasley. “Dumbledore would be alive now if something like this had been used before.” Hermione stood her ground admirably.

“Listen to me!” Harry yelled.

When all eyes returned to him, he spoke very calmly, “The parchment tells you what it will do. Nobody is going to sign it without knowing what could happen to them. None of us are killers, but I will be damned if I’ll risk more lives to the whims of people that I don’t personally trust. YOU are the only ones I have given any information to. YOU are the only ones that I trust. YOU are the only ones that I know would die for me. Everybody else will have to prove to me they’re trustworthy, by signing the parchment. But know this...I would die for all. Not just you.” Harry couldn’t be any plainer than that. “If it came down to my life for anyone else’s, I would die...no matter who it is, besides Voldemort himself. This way, I know that anyone brought into this house and into the Order would do the same.

“Now if you will excuse me...I’ll send my Patronus to let you know when to step outside. As soon as I can afterwards, I’ll return to let you back in the house.” Harry quickly said his goodbyes, and left them all to discuss this turn of events. When he reached the street, he Apparated to St. Mungo’s.

Moving swiftly to keep too many people from noticing him, he stepped up to the closest fireplace, threw some Floo Powder in, watched the flash of green flames, then stepped in and said, “Longbottom House.” With another flash of green flames, Harry spun out of sight.