4. Plans
Mrs. Weasley was up early, attempting to get everyone else up without waking Harry. Yesterday was Harry’s birthday, and none of them had even wished him a happy birthday. Molly could not let that stand, so once everyone had gathered in front of Harry’s door, she called for Dobby. Ginny was the only one who did not want to see Harry happy at all, but was forced to come by her mother.
With a crack Dobby appeared at Molly’s side. “Yes, Mrs. Weasley?” asked Dobby, eager to serve.
“Will you make sure that Harry is decent so we can surprise him for his birthday?” asked Molly.
“It is Harry Potter’s birthday?” Dobby squealed. “Dobby did not know or Dobby would have gotten Harry Potter a present.”
“Well, Dobby, his birthday was yesterday, but with everything that happened, we missed it. Could you check for us and make sure he doesn’t know what we are up to?” Hermione asked in an over polite voice that Ron thought was almost as insulting as anything he had ever heard.
“Dobby would be happy to, Miss, but Dobby already knows Harry Potter is not in his room. Harry Potter is in the potions laboratory working, Miss,” Dobby provided for the group.
Plans were quickly made for Hermione to collect Harry and bring him back to Molly and Author’s rooms where they could surprise him. She dismissed Dobby after she had him show them where to find him. Opening the door slowly, Hermione saw Harry working at a table. The table had various ingredients, a bubbling cauldron, and a book that lay open. As she approached Harry said, “Morning, letting her know that he had seen her.
“Good morning,” she replied. She was about to ask him what he was doing, when she noticed the book he was using. “When did you go back and get that?” she asked, the contempt her voice obvious.
“End of last term,” Harry answered with no emotion.
Harry was getting better at Occlumency. Hermione had bought every book she could find on the subject, and they had been working on it together since the end of the school year. Both had learned the basics of Legilimency as well, but neither one was very good at it.
“But-,” she started, but could not finish.
“I know it belonged to that bastard, but I can’t think of a better way to rub it in than use his own book against him,” Harry said, as he went back to what he was doing. The bastard he was referring to was Professor Snape, the very same man who killed Harry’s mentor, Albus Dumbledore.
“Harry, Mum asked me to bring you to her rooms. She wants to talk to you about something,” Hermione said, unsure what to say to his statement.
“Mum!” Harry said surprised the way she had referred to Mrs. Weasley.
“Yep, she said that I should call her Mum as I was as much a part of her family as any of her children,” she explained with a smile.
He smiled as he said, “Tell her I will be there in about fifteen minutes or so.”
“Oh, and Hermione, I was stupid last night, and I think I really hurt Ginny. Could you check on her?” asked Harry, as his emotional shield cracked and she could see the pain he was feeling clearly on his face. ‘He’s getting better at Occlumency, but still had a long way to go,’ she thought.
“Sure, Harry,” she said sympathetically as she left.
Harry walked slowly to Molly and Arthur’s rooms, thinking about what today had in store. Standing in front of the large double doors, Harry knocked and waited.
“Come in,” offered Mr. Weasley.
As Harry opened the door everyone shouted “Happy Birthday, Harry!”
The entire household sat on or around the enormous bed in his adopted parents’ room, the lone exception was Ginny, who stood next to the far wall, unwilling to join in the celebration. Harry was beginning to regret living in the same house as her.
“Quick, Harry, open up your presents,” Ron blurted impatiently.
Harry obeyed and took the first present from the pile. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had gotten him a new traveling cloak. Bill, Charlie and Fleur got him two tickets to the England vs. Bulgaria Quidditch match at the end of the month. Ron got really excited at this, knowing his best mate would not go without him. The Weasley twins gave him a pair of glasses that looked just like his. Harry looked at the twins puzzled.
“Those are special,” said Fred. He continued to explain that the glasses Harry was holding enabled the person wearing them to see in pitch dark, as if the moon was high in the sky, and also allowed you to see through most Concealment Charms, including invisibility.
“Wow,” said Harry, impressed by the twins’ ability.
“How much for a pair?” Ron asked, as impressed as Harry was.
“Don’t know yet, little bro. We have only made three pairs so far,” said George, and Fred added, “They’re not cheap to make, and we’re not sure we want to sell something like them.”
“Oh,” said Ron, sounding very disappointed. Harry made a mental note to have the twins make Ron a set so he could give them to his best mate for Christmas.
Harry finished opening his presents, and the family went to the dining room just down the hall. The dining room for this part of the manor was much smaller than the one they had sat in yesterday, but there was more than enough room for the family. Shortly after breakfast the rest of the Order showed up for Harry’s first meeting.
Molly quickly made to send Ginny away.
“Mrs.- I mean, Mum, I think Ginny should stay,” said Harry.
“As you are the Head of the Order now, Harry, you have the right to control the affairs of the Order, but it doesn’t give you authority over my daughter,” stated Molly, in a tone that suggested that she did not like him questioning her on how she raised her daughter.
“I know I don’t have any authority over Ginny, but I would like you to please give your permission for her to stay. The most important thing I have ever learned from Dumbledore and from Sirius’s death was that knowledge is dangerous, and not having knowledge is even more dangerous,” said Harry, sounding very much like Dumbledore.
Any doubt the members of the Order had that Harry would not do well as its leader were gone; they knew he would do well.
With Molly’s consent to Ginny staying, the meeting started. If Ginny was confused about Harry before, it was nothing compared to now.
“Well, I guess I should get things started. As most of you know, the Daily Prophet reported that the Ministry has released four people who were wrongly accused of being Death Eaters. I had hoped this would happen. Yesterday I had an opportunity to speak with the Minister about this; I offered to throw him a bone if he would release those who were innocent,” Harry said to a surprised audience.
“What did you offer him?” Lupin asked.
“I offered to provide damning information about Voldemort and how it should be used against him, and nothing more,” smiled Harry.
“Well that’s very cryptic,” snorted Bill.
“Do you know what you’re going to give him for doing what you asked?” asked Lupin while beaming at Harry, his pride in the young man growing with every second.
“Yes, I intend to give him my memory of Tom Riddle’s diary. To be more specific, I am going to share what Tom told me,” said Harry simply.
“I did not tell the Minister that I intended to make what Tom said public knowledge anyway, but what he does not know won’t kill him,” finished Harry, who was not willing to look at Mrs. Weasley after making a speech about the dangers of not sharing knowledge.
“The first part of my plan is to distract Tom from his goals and the Order’s Goals, and that brings me to the first order I am going to give you. Lord Voldemort is from this moment, to be called Tom Riddle.” This declaration by Harry had everyone wondering what he was thinking.
“The one thing that Lord Voldemort hates more that anything is his Muggle parentage, and anything that we can do to needle him will help keep him off our true mission,” he explained.
“You want us to take the mickey out of him?” Fred asked, incredulously.
“In so many words, yes, we are going to use whatever means to distract Tom from our real goal: the Horcruxes,” Harry smiled as he answered.
“One of the first things we are going to do is get the Wizarding community to start calling Voldemort by his real name. I am also hoping that the spread of his lineage will help weaken his support, although I don’t put much stock in it. To accomplish this I asked Hermione to contact an old journalist friend of hers so I can give yet another interview. I plan to share it with her and the Minister.
Hermione gave Harry a nasty look for calling Rita Skeeter an old friend of hers.
Smiling at Hermione he continued, “I know that the Minister will not be happy with what I am going to give him, so I intend to say a word or two in support of the Ministry. Once that is done, I hope the Minister can be convinced to get the ball rolling on the next phase.”
“Kingsley, how well do you get on with the Minister?” Harry asked.
“Well enough, why?” Shacklebolt returned.
“Good,” said Harry and he began to tell them his and Hermione’s plans to direct Tom’s attention away from their real mission. At the end of the meeting he wished them all good luck and told them to be safe.