Fate

Chapter 3 - I Used To

It was different, Harry realized. And the fact that it was so different that he noticed, and even Ron noticed, was something to be said.

"Bugger, you'd think someone died," Ron whispered to him as they both shot meaningful glances up toward the head table. All the teachers were in highly somber moods, conversing furiously with one another in low tones and each with frowns on their faces. The only one who didn't seem to be different was Dumbledore, which calmed Harry down a bit. He was casually eating his breakfast, occasionally answering another professor's comment, but mostly just sitting there eating.

He wasn't smiling though, and that made Harry nervous.

"I told you two!" Hermione whispered forcefully over at them. She and Ginny sat across from both of them, an open transfiguration book in her lap and a calculating expression on her face. Ginny dramatically rolled her eyes, probably wondering why Hermione was even bothering to try and explain it to them, and continued to eat. "Something's going on today, that's why they changed the Hogsmead day..."

Ron and Harry looked at one another doubtfully. She did have a point, but there were too many unanswered questions. They both wisely kept their moths shut and Harry began to scan the rest of the Great Hall for anything else out of the ordinary.

Nothing seemed too weird. Draco and his gang of Slytherin's were huddled together, whispering. Harry frowned and would have been suspicious, but that's exactly what he and his friends were doing, so he probably had no right to judge that.

Down the lengths of the Gryffindor table, nothing seemed very suspicious either. His eyes finally landed on Ginny who was looking him with a peculiar expression on her face. When they locked eyes, Ginny tilted her head slightly and her expression changed to concern.

Harry waved her off and went back to eating his breakfast, though he still felt her eyes burning into him every so often.

"What could possibly be this important?" Ron asked Hermione. Harry was surprised that they had been carrying on a quite civilized conversation for the past few minutes and he hadn't even gotten to see it.

"Probably about the Order," Hermione mumbled back, clearly trying not to say too much in such a public place. Harry caught eyes with her and motioned out the door. She nodded and grabbed Ginny, who only complained for a half a second before following her out. Harry nudged Ron and he nodded in understanding, grabbing a last piece of toast and following Harry out the large doors.

They met up with Hermione and Ginny near the front gates and together walked to Hogsmead.

Order or no Order, they were still kids, and they didn't get a holiday everyday.

----

"Please, everyone can I have your attention quickly? We haven't much time."

The room quieted down as Dumbledore spoke, everyone's eyes turning up to him where he sat at his desk. It was rather crowded in the small confines of his office, but the Order of the Phoenix had met in smaller and less joyful places. They were used to it.

Remus glanced around the room, trying to decide if they were doing the right thing. Just him knowing had shaken him to the very bone...was it right to get everyone here involved too?

Boy, Sirius, you really screwed up this time...he thought to himself, trying to calm his beating heart.

He looked back at Dumbledore to see the old man smiling out at the order members.

"Thank you. Remus, would you start us out?"

Remus stood up, feeling rather nervous, being a relatively young member, but one of the top ranking members of the Order.

"As I'm sure most of you know by now, Sirius Black has returned from the other side of the veil."

A few broken murmurs broke out through the room, but not many. Remus took a deep breath before continuing. "We know for a fact that it is Sirius, and though he did want to be here for the meeting, we thought it best he stay at headquarters of the Order for the time being." So that wasn't exactly true, but they didn't need to know that.

"Sirius' return brought up a lot of new questions for us, many that members of the order are looking into, but the most crucial one was something that Dumbledore and I figured would need to be discussed with the entire Order. Sirius has already been told and we've been trying to work it out among the top circles, but no answer has come to us"

He glanced over to Dumbledore for support and the old Wizard nodded. Remus managed not to make his voice waved too much as he spoke again.

"Two days ago, we recovered Sirius' body from behind the veil...his dead body."

----

"Oh, you are SO going to pay for that Weasley!"

Harry dashed after Ginny, feeling the freezing snow on his hair drip into his clothes, gritting his teeth against the chill. Ginny just laughed cheekily and dashed away, up to where Hermione was pelting Ron with a particularly lethal snowball that smacked him on the back of the head, just like Harry.

"They're bloody crazy!" Ron called over to Harry as they both built their snowballs, dragging through the snow as they tried to catch up to the girls. Ginny and Hermione had taken refuge near the Shrieking Shack and Harry could see them plotting something terrible.

Ron walked up to him, a snowball in each hand, glaring suspiciously over at the two giggling girls. "Ganging up," he snorted. "Typical."

Harry finished packing his snowball and grinned up at Ron. "We can gang up too you know."

Ron, who still kept a watchful eye on the girls, nodded with a sly grin and the two boys hurried back into the protection of the few trees and peaked out.

The girls were gone.

"Bloody...we're gonna die..." Ron whispered fearfully. They both looked all around them but saw nothing, and, worse heard nothing. Harry too felt his heart speed up. Who knew what those two girls could do?

"Let's go," Harry finally urged him, dragging Ron out into the open. Ron however seemed terrified.

"Harry, mate, you've never been in a snowball fight with Ginny. She's brutal! Gave me a bruise on my arm for five weeks!"

Harry just rolled his eyes. "I already got beamed in the back of the head by one of her "lethal" throws."

Despite protesting that this would lead to a most certain death, Ron followed Harry closer towards the Shrieking Shack, both of them still gripping their snowballs tightly.

Harry gulped turning the corner around the house and still seeing nothing around. Ron bumped behind him when Harry stopped suddenly and due to his fright, made them both collapse onto the ground.

Harry shoved Ron off him and as he was about to tell him off, a loud voice hollered "FIRE!"

Immediately the two boys were bombarded with snow from a dozen different directions.

"Ack! We surrender! We surrender!" Ron hollered during the barrage.

"Never!" Harry shouted cheekily, shielding his face as best as he could with his arms. "Where's your Gryffindor courage?"

"I think it's been successfully pummeled out of him."

Harry looked up to see Ginny, Hermione, and apparently a troop of recruits they had scouted out in the few seconds that Ron and Harry had lost them. Luna was there, along with Parvati and Padma, Lavender, Neville, Dean, Seamus and the two Creevy brothers.

Harry smirked up at Ginny who had spoken and gave her a defiant glare. "Is that the best you all can do?"

Ron's shouts of protest were covered up by another barrage of snow coming their way.

----

"Bliminy, Harry. You look like a snowman."

Harry frowned and glared at Hermione and Ginny who were giggling together, eventually leading to all the girls in their group giggling. "Like I asked for it," he bit back, brushing the layers of snow off him as they trooped down the main road of Hogsmead.

"Oh but you did," Ginny reminded him in a very matter of fact way. "Besides, the first snow of the season must be celebrated, no?"

Everyone laughed, even Harry and Ron who, indeed, did look rather silly, caked in snow that they were desperately trying to rid themselves of.

They pushed open the door into the Three Broomsticks, the warm air slapping their faced seemingly heaven sent. Thankfully finding a large table still free near the back, the group tromped over and collapsed in laughter, happiness, and snow.

"What'll it be, love?" Ron's ears turned red as Madam Rosmerta used her trademark line when she came for the table's order. Dean elbowed him in the ribs as everyone covered their laughter and Harry, ever the hero, quickly counted up the people and ordered 13 Butterbeers.

----

He wouldn't have been more comfortable with an uproar, projectiles thrown at him....heck, he'd take curse words. Anything but this dead silence that penetrated the room.

Everyone seemed to be shell-shocked by the news, many not even blinking, just staring at him, dumbfounded, probably trying to tell if he was joking or not.

Remus silently chided himself and Dumbledore. They should never have told anyone. Stuff like this just didn't happen everyday and it was obvious that they weren't taking it well. He risked a glance over at Dumbledore who was once again looking at the small model of the universe that sat on his shelves.

Sighing, he turned back to the members, who had mostly broken out of the initial shock and were now throwing glances at one another, no one really sure how to act or what to do.

Emergency Order meeting indeed! Remus was just thankful Dumbledore had the foresight to send the students away today. Harry, Ron and Hermione would, without a doubt, have been listening on the other side of the door, just as James and Sirius would have.

Speaking of Sirius...

The door cracked open slightly and a shabby looking dog peaked its head in. Remus glared at it instantly, recognizing Padfoot and also recognizing that Sirius was purposely supposed to not come to this meeting.

The dog hurried in before anyone could say anything and transformed into a very tired looking Sirius Black, who stared defiantly back at his fellow Order members.

"Ah, Sirius, glad you could make it," Dumbledore said all too cheerfully.

Remus bit back a rebuke to Dumbledore and just managed to give him a questioning glance before Dumbledore motioned him to sit.

Bullocks! Remus thought to himself as he sat down, suddenly feeling very tired. That man always seems to know something that no one else does.

Sirius, though, seemed to know what he was doing. He walked past everyone who had now broken out into whispers and made a beeline for Dumbledore's desk and Remus sitting right by it.

"I just finished the tests," Sirius blurted out before Remus could open his mouth. Both Remus and Dumbledore looked sharply up at Sirius at those words, but from Sirius almost haunted look that suddenly appeared in his eyes, they already knew what they needed to know.

Dumbledore gave Sirius a piercing look before turning back to the other Order Members.

"My friends, please welcome back Sirius Black."

Utter silent again.

Remus scowled, his mind racing with all the things that had happened in the last few second. Sirius had had to stay at headquarters to conduct the test on the body, to see if it really was Sirius Black. From the four of them who knew about the body, three had been convinced after the few standard tests, but Dumbledore wanted absolute proof, and Remus was beginning to understand why.

Sirius turned to the group, holding his hands out slightly as if to say 'yes, I'm alive, so what?'

Nymphadora Tonks suddenly broke away from the group, rushing forward to engulf her cousin in a crushing hug. She seemed to set off a chain reaction as suddenly Sirius was surrounded on all sides by well wishers and handshakes, most of them still looking a bit apprehensive around him. Plenty of the Order members had seen him since his miraculous return, but there were still plenty that hadn't.

"Remus?"

He turned to Dumbledore's voice and scooted closer as the old man bent down to speak to him.

"I would advise you to not tell Harry about the body just yet. I know we agreed to tell him soon, but Sirius still wants to talk to us about something."

"If it's about the bloody veil-"

"Remus," Dumbledore warned. "Don't act as if that means nothing to you."

Not wanting to lie, Remus shrugged and his frown deepened. "Even if it does, I've learned not to put trust in dreams."

"Why is that?"

"They're not real," Remus said in annoyance. More than anyone probably, he knew this too be true. He had spent too many years dwelling on the dream that his life really wasn't the hell it was turning out to be. "They're a trick from our subconscious to pull us out of the crappiness of life."

Dumbledore gave him a peculiar look that was almost pity. "And what about Fate, Remus? Do you believe in that?"

Remus glanced over at Sirius who was now sitting down, in a deep discussion with Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt. "I used to." He turned back to Dumbledore. "Before Lily and James died."

"And how come?"

The meaning hit him suddenly and he almost felt the air leave him as he couldn't believe what he said next.

"Because they weren't meant to die...that wasn't supposed to happen..."

"Really? How interesting..." Dumbledore gave him thoughtful look and his eyes twinkled for a moment before he turned away again.

----

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny trudged up the front steps of the large castle of Hogwarts, brushing the snow off of them as they came into the warmer confines of their school.

Ron and Hermione were bickering, as usual, about Ron's apparent infatuation with Madam Rosmerta.

"Hermione! She could be my mother!"

"Exactly, Ron! That's disgusting!"

"At least I don't practice writing her name all the time and draw little hearts around it!"

Both Harry and Ginny snorted with laughter as Hermione turned beet red.

"Not so very different from Lockhart, now is it?" Ron said smugly, grateful to finally have the upper hand in one of their arguments. "Oh, but wait, he's insane!"

Ron, Harry and Ginny all burst out laughing, even Hermione joining in a few seconds later as she realized the silliness of it all. They laughed all the way up to the Gryffindor tower, Ron and Hermione's snit forgotten, and the conversation turning back to what they had all been itching to speak of since that morning.

"I don't see any teachers in the halls," Harry commented as they climbed the last staircase towards the Fat Lady.

"It has to be and Order meeting. Otherwise-oft! Oh sorry-oh!..."

Hermione was cut off as she bumped into someone who had, rather suddenly appeared in front of them right as they were reaching their common room entrance.

"Hello professor," Ginny added for Hermione, who seemed to be quite embarrassed.

Remus smiled at them. "Not your professor anymore, am I?"

"Were you here for the meeting?" Ron blurted out. Harry elbowed him in the ribs but was secretly grateful that at least someone else had been curious.

"Hum, not my place to say," Remus smiled at them mysteriously. "I thought the four of you, or at least you three, knew everything about that stuff."

"That was downright low," Harry rolled his eyes, smirking. "Changing the Hogsmead day. You knew we were going to go."

Remus just smiled a mischievous smile that Harry had often seen on Sirius, but never really on Remus. It was rather...refreshing. Remus didn't smile enough as is, so to see him truly happy for once made Harry feel better himself.

"Just trying to keep up with the next generation, Harry," he finally admitted. "I'm here to see you actually." Harry noticed how he never actually admitted going to a meeting, but made it sound as if he came just to see Harry. "Snuffles is here and we wanted to have a little chat for a moment."

"How come Harry gets to have all the little 'chats'?" Ginny huffed indignantly. "You know he's just going to tell us anyway."

Harry rolled his eyes and Remus just smiled. "Well, Harry can surely tell you when he gets back, but only if he wants to."

Harry looked up at his father's old friend curiously.

"Let's go Harry."

He waved goodbye to his friends, promising them he wouldn't think to hard about it and followed Remus down the hall.