Perceptions
A/N If you don’t know by now that I get no money or fame from this fic, then you have not been paying attention!
When the mouths around the room finally closed, they immediately opened again. Everyone seemed to start talking at once. There were so many questions being fired around the room. Harry just watched on, still in a bit of shock. He noticed that Professor Snape was the only other one not moving or talking, he was just staring at Harry as if he had never seen him before.
Maybe my little speech finally sunk through all that grease in his hair and into his brain. Of course, it could be the shock of what Madame Bones just told us. I can’t believe that she has been working behind Fudge’s back for so long. Well… ok… I can believe it. She was so willing to hear the truth from me last year. She also stood up for me during the trial, even though she had to try to be impartial. At least she did not treat me like I was mental. Now, to be able to practice magic all summer, and learning to Apparate early; this summer just kept getting better. Stranger, but definitely better.
Harry was yanked from his inner revelry by the sudden and absolute silence. He looked up to see Professor Dumbledore holding up his hand for quiet. Professor Dumbledore caught Harry’s eye and winked. He had known what Amelia Bones was taking steps to do. Dumbledore was one of the only ones in the table who was not shocked at the announcements.
“If everyone will please settle down, we still have a lot to do. First I would like to say thank you to Madam Bones. First, for believing in Harry and me when so many around her were trying to prove we were both a bit on the mental side. Secondly, for pulling the strings she has to get things moving and to keep everyone safe from the Death Eaters that were captured. Now, I’m sure you all know our newest members, Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger. I know we had age restrictions in our charter before, and that they were placed there for very good reason. However, with the unveiling of the prophecy, I feel it is necessary that these young people be in on our meetings,” said Professor Dumbledore, giving Snape a look that would silence any objection if there had been any. “Many times, our destiny is not ours alone. Destinies intertwine as easily as loose strings in the wind. At times we may not particularly like a person with whom we are so entwined, but must show tolerance and grace to get the job done, together,” this time Professor Dumbledore looked straight at Harry. Harry knew that he needed to try harder with Professor Snape. But honestly, Snape had started all of this.
“We need to work as a group. The support and love felt for Harry by most in this room may turn out to be our strongest weapon. Are there any questions?” Professor Dumbledore looked around the room and saw that there were none. He then went on, “In the spirit of cooperation, I would like to welcome Petunia Dursley, our first official Muggle, to the Order of the Phoenix.”
A smattering of light applause, and Petunia blushing a crimson red followed this introduction. She was stunned when Professor Dumbledore had asked her earlier if she would be supportive to the Order and if she would like to be the first Muggle member. She was still not sure what she could do to help the cause, but accepted nonetheless.
When Dumbledore had continued talking and had taken the spotlight off her, she surreptitiously looked around the room. Her eyes first fell on Ginny. Petunia had not failed to notice how much this girl looked like Lily. Seeing Ginny with Harry was almost like looking at Lily and James all those years ago. They were so smitten with each other. Young love could be so grand. While thinking of young love, she turned her gaze to Ron and Hermione. That was so much a match of opposites. He was so laid back, and Hermione was… well a bit pushy, but in a good way. Petunia sincerely hoped it would all work out for both of the couples. They had a hard road in front of them but they had each other to lean on. She then wondered if Dudley would be so lucky.
Tonks was also looking at the new couples. She was not at all surprised at either of them. Tonka had talked to both Hermione and Ginny last year. She had tried to tell them both to be a bit more aggressive, to no avail. Her gray eyes sparkled as she thought that Harry was definitely going to have his hands full these days. She gave a sigh, wishing that she could take her own advice and be a bit more aggressive. The man that she had dared to fall for was a bit older than she, and somewhat of a recluse by nature. She was afraid to even admit aloud that she had feelings for him. What if he rejected her? She knew that he was a werewolf, and that rabble about half-breeds and all did not mean a thing to her. Despite being part of the Black family by blood, she was raised with none of the prejudices that most of the Blacks tried to instill in their children.
Thinking of prejudices, Tonks was happy to see that Petunia seemed to be getting on a bit better, especially with Molly. She knew Molly would come around after a while. When Professor Dumbledore made the announcement of Petunia being the first Muggle and such, Tonks watched everyone’s reaction closely. Most of the people in the room did not change expression much at all, maybe to happiness at the progress. However there was one that was a dramatic change, Snape. Of course, Snape WOULD turn up his nose at a full Muggle in the Order. He had better hope he does not step out of line. Harry just might go off again.
Tonks turned her attention back into the meeting, just as it was coming to a close. She looked at Remus out of the corner of her eye and just sighed. That would teach her to watch the kids as they hold hands and give each other affectionate pecks. Seeing that was putting silly thoughts in her head; thoughts of love and happiness with a certain werewolf. She sighed a second time and got ready to leave the room. Just as she was turning to go, Hermione’s cat Crookshanks ran under Tonks’ feet and tripped her. Lacking some of the natural grace bestowed on some by nature, Tonks began to fall to the floor. Remus was at her side in a flash, catching her seconds before she made painful contact with the floor. Tonks blushed about ten shades of red, her hair and eyes changed color multiple times before they settled on her natural colors of rich brown hair and light gray eyes. During times of extreme embarrassment Metamorphmagi could lose control of their powers.
Remus stood there for a moment, Tonks in his arms. He had never realized just how beautiful she was. He wondered if this was her natural coloring, it was so very similar to Sirius’. He didn’t know how long he stood there with her in his arms, but he suddenly snapped back to reality and made sure she was steady on her feet before he released her.
He wondered at his momentary lapse. He was actually beginning to see Tonks as a woman, instead of just an Order member. He felt he had to push aside the thoughts though, as a werewolf, there could be no love life for him.
“Thank you for catching me. You have wonderful reflexes. Sometimes I wonder if all the natural grace in the gene pool was used up before it got to me,” she laughed, trying to cover her embarrassment and discomfort with a joke.
Remus laughed along with her. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. We all have our moments. You just seem to have a few more moments than usual,” he said with a slight wink. With a small bow he turned and walked away.
Tonks sighed again, looked around to make sure she would not trip over the cat, and walked toward the kitchen to find something to do to get her mind off Remus.
Molly quietly watched the exchange between Remus and Tonks. She had known that Tonks had a crush on the poor loner werewolf. This was the first time though that she had seen a reaction out of him. He looked absolutely besotted for a few moments there, before he put his walls back up and made his face expressionless. This was an interesting development. She wondered to herself what she could do to help push things along.
Professor Dumbledore stopped Harry and the others as they were leaving the dining room. They turned to him with expectation on their faces as he said, “I will have a schedule set up within the next few days for studying and which person will be helping you in which area. I also want all four of you tested to see if you can become animagus. For now, we can avoid the registration process… in the name of secrecy against Voldemort that is. We don’t want to lose the element of surprise we can gain if any of you are able to transform. I do apologize for seemingly cutting your vacation short, but with war at hand, we need to be prepared. Do you have any questions?”
The four looked at each other for a moment and then shook their heads; there were no questions. They were dismissed and started upstairs. They all had things they wanted to discuss. Much had been learned at their first Order meeting.
“I cannot believe you Harry. You, going off on Professor Snape like that. Now he will just make all of our lives miserable,” Hermione said with a slight whine.
“I think it was brilliant! It was about four years overdue, but brilliant. It’s about time someone set that dungeon crawler back in his place. I’m tired of him insulting Harry,” said Ginny, jumping to Harry’s defense.
“Everyone is Ginny, but do you think he is going to take that laying down?”
Ron, who had been quiet through the entire exchange, suddenly stopped in his tracks, almost pulling Hermione off her feet.
“Hey, what is the big deal here?” Hermione asked, exasperated.
“I have to go ask Dumbledore something. Something has been weighing on my mind since the reading of the will, but I could not place my finger on it,” Ron said as he turned and ran down the steps to catch the headmaster before he left. The others followed, their curiosity getting the better of them.
They caught up to Professor Dumbledore, as he was just about to go into the kitchen. Ron once again quickly stopped, Hermione running into him. She was huffing in disgust with him when he said, “Professor, you asked if we had any further questions earlier. I came up with one that had been tickling the back of my mind since the reading of the will today. How is the will legal if Sirius was still a fugitive when he died? Wouldn’t that make everything that was given invalid?”
“This is a question I was hoping no one would figure out until tomorrow,” the kindly old professor said. “However, since it has been asked, I will spoil the surprise. It seems that some of the Death Eaters began talking under interrogation by the Special Task Force. They were mentioning names of other Death Eaters. Peter Pettigrew’s name came up so frequently that the officers decided to test the Death Eater testimony by giving Veritaserum to Lucius Malfoy. Alas, Lucius not only gave them Peter’s name, but he also laughed about the fact that Peter had fooled everyone by pretending to be dead and throwing the blame off on Sirius. Sirius has been cleared of all charges. This was to be in the Daily Prophet in the morning.”
All four children just stared at the headmaster with their mouths open.
“Cleared… Sirius has been cleared? Why didn’t anyone tell me? Didn’t anyone think I would want to know of this immediately, especially as his heir?” Harry was almost yelling, getting more agitated by the moment.
“I only wanted to surprised you Harry. There seems to be so much going on these days, I wanted you to be able to start tomorrow off with a bit of good news. I knew you’d want to know, but that you would also want the world to know; tomorrow, they will. It will be on the front page of the Daily Prophet. I arranged it to where he would get as big of an article as he did when he escaped from Azkaban,” Professor Dumbledore said, not looking at Harry. He could not stand for Harry to go back to being mistrusting again because of yet another of his own actions. “You have to understand Harry, they just finished questioning Lucius yesterday. The Wizengamot only decided and hour before the will was read to clear his name.”
Harry appeared to think this over for a moment. “You were really just trying to keep this as a surprise? You weren’t trying to keep anything from me today?” Harry asked incredulously.
“Wizard’s honor Harry. I did promise you that I would start treating you like the adult you legally are now,” Dumbledore said, the twinkle back in his eye.
“Okay then. Now, when can I see these properties I own? I presume some sort of guard will be going along. And why was I not told that Potter Manor still existed?” Harry was still in a demanding mood with his questions. The other three looked at him in total shock for talking to the headmaster this way.
“You were not told because we did not know. That information was divulged to Sirius only I presume,” Professor Dumbledore confessed. “As for venturing to the manor itself, I will see what I can arrange for tomorrow. For tonight, I will bid adieu. Sweetest of dreams to you all.” With a small pop, the headmaster disappeared from the house.
A/N A very big thanks to all that have read and reviewed. Special thanks to CraftySlythern for all her words of support…please check out her fanfic Caves of Consealment!