Harry Potter and the Daoimear de Dán

Chapter Three- Destiny Rides Again

They arrived at the long-deserted classroom selected for the night's meeting. The rest of the Order of the Phoenix were there, including Remus, Sirius and Snape. The latter two weren't bothering to disguise their disgust and dislike for each other. Each member of the Order seemed to glare at Hermione for coming into a group she wasn't part of. Sirius, however, grinned broadly as his godson came in.

"Hello Harry, how are you?" he asked, enveloping Harry in a warm hug.

"Fine Sirius. You?" Harry asked, scrutinising his godfather carefully. His long hair was clean and tidy, and he looked like he'd been getting proper meals at least once a day. Harry was glad: he worried about Sirius as much as Sirius worried about him.

"I'm well. Remus has been feeding me," he said as Harry slid into his seat at the table.

"We're all here, aren't we?" asked Snape testily. "Can we get started?"

"We're waiting for our second guest," Professor Dumbledore said. "Please, Hermione, sit down. No need to stand on ceremony here."

"Thank you," she said quietly, quite intimidated by the group. She sat down on one of two chairs set away from the table. The door opened again and in walked Maura. If she was intimidated, she didn't show it. Hermione admired her ability to remain cool and collected, although part of her wondered if it wasn't simply coldness.

"Here is our second guest," Dumbledore said. "Please sit down, Miss Kennealy."

She did so, sitting next to Hermione.

"This meeting of the Order of the Phoenix is called to session," said Dumbledore formally. "We have two guests today, Maura Kennealy and Hermione Granger."

"Dumbledore," the man Hermione recognised as the real Mad-Eye Moody barked, "What about the attacks in Diagon Alley? And that incident in Ireland?"

Harry and Hermione shared a look of questioning horror. What incident in Ireland?

"What incident in Ireland?" Maura asked suddenly. Most members of the Order looked at her with disdain. Dumbledore however, smiled gently at her.

"There's been a spate of killings in Ireland," Sirius told her. Maura looked concerned at this news.

"What happened?"

"Young women have been killed seemingly randomly. The Muggle police think it's just a serial killer. But what they don't realise is that each of the women has been branded with the Dark Mark."

"Which is?" she asked impatiently.

"Voldemort's calling card," Sirius clarified. Maura looked quite horrified now.

"Where are the killings happening?" she growled. For a moment nobody answered. "Where?" she demanded.

"Galway, Mayo, Sligo and Roscommon," said Sirius.

"I need to get to a telephone," she said.

"Why?"

"Isn't it obvious? Oh bloody Hell... You don't all know, do you?"

Most Order members looked perplexed. Dumbledore, Harry and Remus did not.

"It's you," Remus said very quietly, perhaps thinking of Lily in that moment. "You're the Heir."

"Yes."

"Heir of what?" McGonagall asked quite testily. She had been wondering what this girl had been doing hanging around the school, and she had hoped she'd get her answers tonight.

"I am the Heir of Maeve, Warrior Queen of Connaught, Commander of the Armies of the West," Maura said grandly. "And mother to the Heir of Ulster."

Mother? Harry and Hermione's mouths both fell open. But the rest of the Order just looked completely perplexed. For their benefit, Maura gave them a very short, somewhat terse account of Maeve and her heirs. What she did not do, was explain anything about the Heir of Ulster.

"You're telling me that this slip of a girl wants to help defeat the Dark Lord?" Mad-Eye shouted derisively.

"No," said Maura coolly. "I'm going to do it myself."

Harry opened his mouth to interject, but Hermione shook her head at him. This wasn't the time. In any case, he would've been drowned out by the laughter which rang through the room. Maura, to her credit, bit back any smart remarks going through her head.

"You don't believe me? Fine. Your Lord Voldemort does, or he wouldn't be slaying girls in Connaught."

This sobered the group.

"This is because of you?" Arabella Figg asked.

"I don't know for sure. I need to call some... people." she said. This caused more consternation.

"What if he has found out? What if he comes here?" McGonagall asked.

"We will each keep our eyes open. Constant vigilance, as our friend Moody puts it," said Professor Dumbledore with a nod to Mad-Eye.

"Indeed, Professor. I can go to Ireland," offered Moody.

"Yes. A good idea," said Dumbledore with a nod.

"Now, might I ask what this young lady is doing here?" asked Mundungus Fletcher, the first time, in fact, that he had spoken. And he was pointing at Hermione.

"We have reason to believe that she has more to do with the coming battles than we at first thought," Dumbledore told them. For her part, Hermione looked as stunned as everyone else.

"I do?" she asked.

"Yes. We've been investigating you, Hermione Granger," said Maura with a sly smirk. Hermione's expression went from surprised to terrified.

"Yes. It seems that you're not as Muggle as you think," now Snape spoke. Hermione's eyes darted around the room. Had it been her they'd been talking about earlier?

"You're also one in a long line of Druids," said Maura. "And I'm sure I could dig up some more destiny for you if you like?"

"I think I'm fine," said Hermione weakly? Her family not Muggle? Druids?"

"And your friend Ron," Maura said. Both Harry and Hermione looked at her very curiously. "He's got Celtic shaman blood. But with hair like that, I'm not surprised."

"Ron?" asked Harry.

"Yes. There's more to Weasley than meets the eye, apparently," drawled Snape.

"What do shamans do?" Harry asked.

"They're divinators mostly. The best, most highly trained can be shape shifters and can travel to alternate realities," said Maura. "And Druids, as I'm sure you're wondering, were the High Priests of old. They could do all sorts of things. They were the most learned of their community,"

"Well, that's definitely Hermione," cut in Harry. She blushed under such scrutiny.

"What does that have to do with me? Or the war against Voldemort?"

"Everything. You see, if we have our Druid/priestess, that's you, Ron, the shaman, Harry and me the warriors, it's a circle. Or a diamond. Or anything you care to choose as some sort of mystical... thing. We need the four to defeat him. Harry has magical power, I have whatever mystical ancient mojo I've got and a pretty good right hook. You were right, Hermione," she admitted. "I can't do it on my own. But Harry can't either."

"What about everyone else?" Mad-Eye suddenly barked.

"When has a war been won without an army?" Dumbledore said calmly. "We need everyone."

"I've spent all day in the library learning everything I could about your magic in terms of this war. Professor Snape and I have been doing all sorts of tests and spells to track down the information we needed about Hermione and Ron. I went into my last battle unprepared, I don't intend to do so again," said Maura gravely.

"Right, well, what's the plan?" Sirius asked. Dumbledore stood up and addressed them.

"It has already been made quite clear that the Ministry don't even believe that Voldemort is back, much less preparing for his offensive. We must make efforts to discover what plans he does have. We have spies in place, and we must wait for their information. Harry and his friends will step up their training in preparation for what is coming."

He paused and turned to Maura.

"Sirius will take you into Hogsmeade now. I believe that the Three Broomsticks has a Muggle telephone. You can find out about these killings. Perhaps it would be useful for your guardians to pay a visit to Hogwarts, as well."

"All right," said Maura, getting up. Sirius got up and followed her out.

"Harry, Hermione, I think it's time you went back to the common room," the Professor said.

"This is the part where you get us to leave so you can talk about us, right?" Harry said. Dumbledore laughed, while several other Order members looked a little annoyed that he'd worked it out.

"Yes, Harry," said Dumbledore. "I will speak to you tomorrow, with Hermione and Ron as well."

"All right," Harry said. They bade farewell to the adults and then headed back to the Tower.

"We could've stayed outside and listened," said Hermione in a mischievous tone.

"No we couldn't. Mad-Eye can see through stuff, remember? Happened to me in fourth year."

"Oh. Never mind. We should tell Ron everything now!" she said, picking up the pace.

They went into the common room and found Ron sitting with Neville. They were both doing their homework- Ron helping Neville with his Divination, Neville helping Ron with his Herbology.

"Ron!" Hermione called. He looked up to see them come in. "We really need to talk to you!"

"I think I'm done, Neville," he said in a cold voice. Neville didn't question him.

"We can, uh, finish off upstairs if you like," he said, shooting Harry and Hermione an apologetic 'don't look at me' face. Ron nodded.

"Thanks Neville, you're a real pal." Ron scooped up his things and stomped off up the stairs.

"Oh bloody Hell!" exclaimed Hermione angrily. Several people looked up, surprised to hear Hermione swear. She slumped down into her usual armchair by the fire.

"We'll set it all straight tomorrow when we see Dumbledore," Harry said comfortingly, settling down in the chair opposite hers. He kicked off his shoes and put his feet up- on her lap.

"Do you mind?" she asked. He grinned.

"Not in the slightest. You're very comfortable."

"Fine," she said, her mind too full of other things to complain.

"So, you're a Druid, then?" Harry said in a conversational tone.

"No. Druids go through about twenty years of learning their craft. Probably more."

"Sounds ideal for you."

"Hardly. I remember reading about Druids ages ago. I thought it sounded quite interesting, but... Twenty years is a bit much for me. Besides, I'm not a Druid. I just share a few genes with some."

"But still... And Ron's a shaman. That's cool, huh?"

"I guess. I read that the Native American shamans would take peyote and go into trances and stuff. And a rock star called Jim Morrison thought he was one."

"He probably was," Harry mused. "You know he went to school here?"

Hermione sat up straight, eyebrows raised as high as they would go.

"What?"

"Oh yeah. Sirius told me about it once. In the fifties this was, before his time of course. Jim Morrison came to Hogwarts when he was eleven because he didn't want to go to Salem. He was in Ravenclaw apparently."

"I'm still getting over the fact that Jim Morrison was a wizard," she said. "Wait till I tell my dad. He's a big fan of the Doors, you know."

"Oh, you'd be surprised who in the Muggle world are actually wizards. John Lennon was one..."

"Paul McCartney?"

"No. But Jimi Hendrix was one too. There was a big vogue in the sixties for wizards to work in the Muggle entertainment world. Sirius told me all about it."

"Oooh!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Was Frank Sinatra a wizard?"

"No," he laughed. "Not that I know of. Not every single famous person was a wizard, you know. Just some of them."

"I suppose magic doesn't really make up for talent, then?"

"No. Otherwise Gilderoy Lockhart would be Marlon Brando."

"Yes. And the world as we know it would cease to exist," she said with a smile.

"Are you going to be all right?" he asked, his brow furrowing in concern. "I know it must be weird to find out you've got this big Druid thing going on."

"Oh, it's not that," she said. "I was thinking about Maura. She said she's the mother of the Heir of Ulster. What? She's only eighteen, isn't she?"

"So? Lots of girls have children very young. Britain has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in Europe, you know," Harry said knowledgeably.

"I did know that, actually. Where did you learn that?"

"The 'Six O'clock News' over the summer. Uncle Vernon went into a rant about them being tarts and all that sort of thing. Managed to get onto foreigners and Catholics before long."

"I think your Uncle sounds terribly unpleasant. And he'd annoy Maura on two counts."

"He doesn't just sound it. He is it. And what do you mean, two counts?"

"Well, I don't know for sure, but guessing from the big gold cross I saw hanging around Maura's neck, I'm guessing she's Catholic," Hermione said. "And as for the Dursleys, I wish you didn't have to stay with them," she said softly. He smiled quite sadly.

"Me too."

"Maybe you won't have to this summer."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, both sides seem to be mobilising for the big battle. Maybe by the summer, Sirius will be a free man. And we'll have left school behind as well."

"Here's hoping," he said quietly. Then he took his feet off her lap and stood up.

"Where are you going?"

"To get my cloak. I feel like going for a walk," he said before going up the stairs. She sighed. He seemed quite sad today. Perhaps it was the idea of finally going up against Voldemort, and knowing that he needed to take her and Ron with him.

When he came down again, she was standing by the portrait hole.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Coming with you," she said with a bright smile.

"Now..."

"Now nothing, I'm not letting you wander around the castle on your own even if you will be invisible," she said firmly.

"Fine," he sighed and threw the invisibility cloak over them both.

***

They walked into the crisp night air and walked as they had at dinner time, down to the lake. But they walked around the edge and settled under a tree, where they were not immediately visible to anyone in the castle. Only then did Harry remove the cloak.

"It's getting cold, isn't it?"

"Yes," she said, shivering. Without really thinking, he slid his arm around her shoulders.

"We were always going to come with you, Harry," she said quite suddenly.

"I know. But I didn't want you to have to. I wanted you to have a choice. This is still my fight, you know."

"Well it shouldn't have to be. You don't have to do everything on your own, you know."

"I know."

"What do you want to be, you know, when you leave school?" she asked.

"That's a random question if ever I heard one."

"I know. But I want to know."

"I don't know. I don't think about the future."

"Why not?"

"I'm not sure I've got one."

"Don't you dare talk like that Harry Potter!" she exclaimed quite loudly, the sound ringing across the water.

"Like what?"

"You have a future! You're going to beat Voldemort and you're going to live a long, happy life."

"You know this how?"

"Because you're Harry Potter. That's what you do. You're a hero, Harry. You will beat him. You will."

"How do you know?" he asked stubbornly. She thought about this for a moment.

"I don't know it for sure," she admitted. "But I believe it."

"You're getting philosophical in your old age, Hermione," he said with a smile, hugging her a little closer.

"I am?"

"Yeah. Perhaps it's a side-effect of the priestess thing."

"I don't want you to give up hope. You will beat him. I know you will. You're a great wizard."

"You've told me that before. Say it too many times and I'll get a big head."

"You already have a big head."

"I know, but you love me anyway."

"Yeah."

An uneasy silence now filled the air as they pondered their thoughts, which weren't as dissimilar as you might imagine.

"Is that Sirius and Maura?" he asked suddenly. She looked up. Sure enough, Sirius and Maura were walking through the Hogwarts grounds towards the Castle.

"I wonder how it went?" Hermione mused aloud.

"Don't know," he replied immediately.

"I suspected that," she told him. "As you've been with me the whole time. I was just musing."

"Musing, really?"

"Yes."

"What's that like? I don't think I've ever mused before."

"You're just being stupid now."

"I know. Don't you find it endearing?"

"It's irresistible," she said dryly. He hugged her closely again, and she felt her heartbeat quicken. It always seemed to do that around him recently, she realised.

"Do you think Ron will be all right?" he asked out of the blue.

"I think so. He gets insecure sometimes, that's all," she said. "Once he realises that we didn't mean to abandon him or ignore him, he'll be all right. I hope."

"Yeah. I hope so too." Harry stood up. "It's really getting cold out here. We should go back inside."

"We've only been here a few minutes," she pointed out.

"I know. But I don't want you to get a cold or something," he said, throwing the cloak back over them. Hermione wasn't sure if she just imagined it, but he seemed to hold her a lot closer than usual on the walk back.

***

"What did you find?" Harry asked. He and Hermione had been quite surprised to find Maura and Sirius waiting for them outside the portrait hole. After giving the Fat Lady the password they went inside to find a thankfully deserted common room.

"Oh it's him all right. The Guardians said that each of the girls had the potential to be the heir," Maura told them, looking quite ashen faced.

"Are they coming here?" asked Hermione, settling down on the seat beside Harry.

"Who knows?" Maura said. "They never tell me what they're going to do."

"Well, you should be safe here," Sirius said. "It's the one place Voldemort has never tried to take."

"Really? What is there here for him to fear?" Maura looked quite impressed.

"Dumbledore," Harry said. "Don't let his soft appearance fool you. If there was anyone I'd hate to have as my enemy, it's him."

"Not Voldemort?" asked Hermione with a grin.

"Him? I've beaten him before," he said casually. "He's old news."

"I told you that you were getting a big head," she said with a grin. Sirius shot Maura an amused smirk.

"Well, I'm sure you're both tired," Sirius said. "So I think we'll be off. Don't you, Maura?"

"Of course. Good night!"

"Good night," Harry said, a little perplexed at their sudden departure. They practically bolted out of the room.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"Uh, Harry?" she asked. He looked at her in question. She pointed down and he realised that his hand had come to rest on her knee. He jerked it away as if it was on fire. That, he realised, was exactly how it felt.

"We just came back in the invisibility cloak... We just sat down and... Oh dear God! Sirius must think we're going out!" she exclaimed.

"Which means Maura probably thinks it too," he reasoned.

"They left us alone so we could snog!"

"Yeah. Damn them," he said dryly.

"What?" she turned, having not heard him.

"Nothing."

"Oh."

They sat in slightly awkward silence for the second time that evening.

"What are you thinking?" Hermione asked him.

How do I answer that one? he wondered with a sigh.

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Your mind is a total blank?"

"Not a total blank. But it's very late and I'm sure it's very nearly blank," he lied. He was thinking about the girl next to him. He had, in fact, been thinking about the girl next to him for some weeks.

"Oh."

"What are you thinking?"

"Not a lot," she lied. She was thinking about the boy next to her. She had, in fact, been thinking about the boy next to her for some weeks.

"Harry?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Are you scared?"

"Of what?"

"Well... It looks like you'll finally be fighting Voldemort. Doesn't that scare you?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

"But I try to ignore it," he told her. "Everyone is scared of something, after all."

"You think?"

"Yeah. If you don't have some kind of fear, then you don't fear death. And if you don't fear death..."

"You forget to live," she finished.

"What do you fear?" he asked.

"I don't know. Lots of things, I suppose."

"Like what? Spiders?"

"No. I quite like spiders."

"That's right, you never met Aragog," he said with a wry laugh.

"There's a lot of things I wouldn't go out of my way to meet, like highly poisonous snakes and things, but I wouldn't say I feared them. I suppose I fear being alone."

"Alone? I know what you mean."

"I thought you might," she said gently.

"Well you're not alone any more, are you?" he said. "You've got me."

"Yeah."

He cleared his throat loudly, nervously.

"And Ron too... Once he's forgiven us for being lousy friends."

"And Ron too," she echoed very softly. "I think I'm going to bed now."

"All right. Good night."

She smiled sweetly at him.

"Good night, Harry."

Then she went upstairs. As soon as she was gone, Harry let out a sigh. He'd nearly given himself away about fifteen times so far today. She couldn't know he loved her, not now. He wouldn't let her know, not now that war was most definitely coming.

Sighing heavily again, he headed up to the boys' dorm, hoping that sleep might be his tonight.

***

Both Harry and Hermione were quieter than usual the next morning. Their fellow Gryffindors tactfully left them alone. Ron glared across the table a couple of times, but his anger had dissipated to the extent that his eyes were no longer filled with fire.

"When will Dumbledore call for us?" Hermione asked Harry as they left to go to class- Divination for Harry, Arithmancy for Hermione.

"Don't know. Perhaps he'll wait till after Divination what with Ron being some great divinator or something."

"Yeah. Well try not to fall asleep for too long," she said with a grin. "I'll see you in Potions,"

"OK." Harry watched as Hermione walked off down the corridor towards her class. Once she was out of sight, he sighed slightly and headed off to Divination.

Ron was already there, sitting in his usual place. When Harry sat beside him, he visibly flinched but said nothing. Professor Trelawney came sweeping grandly into the room and the class began.

"Good morning class!" she said in a particularly breathy voice. "We were to continue with the crystal ball, but my Inner Eye has led me to change the lesson plan. Today we will start a new topic. Trances," she said grandly. Parvati and Lavender looked particularly excited at this.

Trelawney looked around the class. She handed Harry, Lavender and Seamus incense sticks and matches.

"If you would please place these in the holders and light them."

They put the thin sticks into the little clay joss stick holders and each lit them. Neville backed away nervously from the one Seamus was holding, hoping not to knock it over.

"Now, lean back, close your eyes and let the incense clear your mind," she said in an overly dramatic voice. Harry did so, but only felt a headache developing from the strong, particularly sickly smell of the burning incense.

Next to him, however, Ron seemed to be doing quite well. Either that, or he had fallen asleep. But what Harry had learned yesterday stuck in his head. Was this how shamans went into trances? Would it unlock some mystical ancient magic within Ron? Was that why Trelawney had switched to trances today? A million questions surged through Harry's mind and he realised that the incense wasn't clearing his mind- it was making it more confused.

He wasn't cut out for Divination. He was cut out for duelling with the Big Bad. He wished he could just walk out, as Hermione had done. But he knew he wouldn't. Instead he'd sit here, headache rapidly developing...

He was jolted out of his thoughts by Ron falling off his chair. Perhaps falling was too strong a word, he thought. Rather, Ron slid out of the chair as if lifeless.

"Ron?" Harry said with worry. Trelawney too, seemed alarmed. She crossed the room and went over to check Ron. The rest of the students, most of whom hadn't come close to entering a trance, now watched.

"Ron?" Harry asked again. Trelawney sat Ron up. His eyes were open but glassy.

"Is he all right, Professor?" Parvati asked. Trelawney looked clueless, lending credence to any accusations of fraud.

Suddenly, Ron blinked twice and then moved.

"Why are you all looking at me?" he asked.

"You went into a complete trance, Mr Weasley," Trelawney told him. He looked quite chuffed.

"I know that," he said, before seeming surprised that he knew that. Then he caught Harry's eye. Harry had known Ron for a long time now, and knew from the look in his eye that the trance had something to do with him. As Trelawney droned on about trances and the new-found wonder that was Ron, Harry became focused on his friend.

"Are you all right?" he whispered. Ron nodded. "Did you see something?"

"Yes, I did," he said. His tone had thawed slightly, but was still cold. It also told Harry that Ron wasn't going to tell him, so he turned his attention back to Trelawney.

***

As Hermione had guessed, the note came during Potions. Snape did not looked pleased, but he knew what it was about and so did not complain too much. Ron, however, looked quite bemused as to why he was coming with them. But on the walk to Dumbledore's office, he said nothing.

"Will Maura be there, do you think?" Harry asked Hermione.

"No idea. Probably."

"Maybe those Guardians of hers have decided to put in an appearance."

"Weirder things have happened."

They approached the Headmaster's office, but before any of them could take a stab at the password, the door opened.

"Come in!" Dumbledore called brightly.

The office was already occupied by Maura and two women. Harry, Hermione and Ron took seats. As he always seemed to do, Fawkes flew over and perched on Harry's knee. Since Harry was last here, Burning Day had come and gone, and now Fawkes was covered in beautiful red and gold feathers.

"Good morning," Dumbledore said to them when they'd settled down.

"Morning Professor," Ron said brightly, no real idea of why he was there.

"Maura, you may make your introductions," said Dumbledore.

"Harry, Hermione, Ron, these are the Guardians, Clara and Patricia."

"Hello," Patricia, the older of the two said politely. Clara remained silent. Maura then turned to her Guardians.

"This is Harry Potter, the one I told you about. Hermione is the Druid. Ron is the shaman."

"What? Shaman?" Ron spluttered, completely taken by surprise.

"Your friends didn't tell you last night?" asked Dumbledore, himself a little surprised.

"Uh, no Professor," Ron said, looking down at the floor. "I didn't really give them the chance."

"Well to cut a long story really, really short, Ron," began Maura in her usual, slightly cutting tone, "You're the descendant of ancient Celtic shamans. You likely have a great gift for divination and we need you to fight Voldemort."

"Oh," said a rather shell-shocked Ron. "I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that."

"Well, now that's out of the way, can we get on with it?" Maura said impatiently.

"Yes. Well, we've set up a timetable for your training," Dumbledore said. "You'll attend all your classes as usual, but in the evenings, you will receive further instruction from members of the Order."

"Further instruction?" Hermione asked, looking slightly excited about it.

"Yes," Dumbledore said with twinkling eyes. "Professor McGonagall will be teaching you some very advanced transfiguration. Including," he paused dramatically "animagus training."

"Really?" All three asked with broad grins.

"Yes. Such things have been known to come in useful. It's a challenging process, however. Professor Figg, Sirius and Remus will be teaching you some advanced defence, Professor Flitwick will tutor you in advanced offensive charms, hexes and jinxes. Professor Snape will be teaching you to make some very advanced potions and Madam Pomfrey will be teaching you some elementary medical magic. I think that's everything... Professor Figg and Sirius will be teaching you some physical defence fighting skills as well."

"Sounds comprehensive," said Hermione.

"And hard," Harry added, having gone slightly pale.

"I'm sure you'll all do admirably," Dumbledore.

"What about Maura?" asked Harry.

"Well, she will attend some of your extra classes with you. I'm afraid she won't be able to partake in the magical elements of the training, but there will be things she'll be learning with you."

"All right," said Harry. "Sounds good. When does this all start?"

"Tonight."

"What about Quidditch?" he asked. Dumbledore laughed.

"I'm sure you'll be able to keep up with Quidditch too."

Harry looked hugely relieved at this. "Good. That's good."

"Yeah, we really need to beat Slytherin," added Ron.

"Indeed, Mr Weasley. And I should inform you both that the Order has agreed to swear you in as members," said Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eye.

"What?"

"Us?" Ron and Hermione spoke at the same time.

"Yes. It was unanimous, in fact. Over the last few years you have proven yourselves worthy of a place at the table."

Hermione and Harry shared a curious look- that must mean that Snape had voted for Ron and Hermione to become members of the Order of the Phoenix. Maybe the Potions master had hidden depths of wisdom.

"There will be another meeting in two weeks time to discuss the situation at hand," said Dumbledore. "You will be sworn in then. And now, I think perhaps it's time to explain everything to Ron."

***