Beaten and Blown By the Wind

Chapter Two: Harry's Letters

"Ron! Ron! Wake up, Ron!" Ginny whispered, shaking Ron vigorously. Hedwig had just swooped through her window in number twelve Grimmauld Place having been unable to get into his, which was extensively locked.

"Hmmm? Ugh, Ginny, it's...it's...what time is it?" Ron asked peevishly.

"Six AM, or there about," Ginny said, looking a little frightened at the idea of waking up her brother at such an early hour. "Harry sent you a note. He sent one to the Order as well. Do you think something happened? It's only been a day!"

"He's probably just bored," Ron said to her, taking the note she was shoving in his face. In truth, he was a little worried too, but figured that he was overtired and Ginny was plenty worried enough for the both of them. "The Dursleys are horrible. Maybe he just can't stand staying in a house with people who no nothing about what he's been going through."

"Can you read the letter out loud?" Ginny questioned hopefully. Ron grumbled something about lack of privacy in his family, but none the less couldn't imagine Harry writing something that he couldn't share with Ginny or that she wouldn't normally find out. If it was, he could stop reading it to her, simple as that.

Dear Ron,

How has your summer been so far? Short, I assume. I don't know if you're at the Borrow or elsewhere yet, but I'm sure Hedwig will find you all the same. Dumbledore owled the Dursleys about Sirius a few days ago. They are of course not listening to a word he wrote and made sure to mention him and his 'disgraceful' presence on the earth several times on the way home from the station...no one's talked to me since we've arrived at Privet Drive. Well, almost no one. But that's what I really owled you about. I got a letter from someone claiming to be an old acquaintance of my parents and Sirius. I figured if she were familiar with several people from the Order of the Phoenix, she may be acquainted with your family as well. Do you happen to know anyone named Aislynn McGarret? If not, that's no problem. In fact, don't even bug your parents about it, I was just curious if you recognized the name or not. Hope your summer's fantastic. I hope even more that I'll be there for most of it this year.

Harry

"Aislynn McGarret?" Ginny questioned, repeating the name to Ron.

"Yeah, I don't recall anything about her either. I would go bug mum and dad, but Harry said not to bother if I didn't know and I hate to wake them up...mum isn't always in the best temper this early in the morning."

"No, no. I remember that name from somewhere. I think we know her, Ron."

"Do we really? From where?"

"Well, for one, she sends a Christmas card every year for the family. She's the one who keeps sending you those chocolate frogs on your birthday and Fred and George all those things from Zonko's on theirs."

"Oh yeah, I remember now! Does she get things for everybody's birthdays or just mine, Fred, and George's?"

"Everyone's, silly! She's been sending Percy books for years and usually sends me some sugar quills or some sort of Honeydukes sweets of one kind or another. I think mum's in contact with her, though, because my first birthday after the Chamber of Secrets incident she sent me a brand new muggle diary with a small note in the front saying that she thought I could use a new one that wouldn't have the audacity to talk back! It sounds kind of mean in retrospect, like she was teasing me or something, but she worded the letter very nicely and it seemed that she was really just trying to be thoughtful. Plus, she got me some really nice quills and ink that looks black in the bottle, but writes in rainbows. I don't know what she gets Bill or Charlie...or mum or dad, for that matter..."

"Have we ever met her?"

"No, I don't think so. I asked mum about her once and she told me that Aislynn was in the original Order of the Phoenix and was a good friend of hers in school, though she was a couple years younger. She did mention that Aislynn had been one of Dumbledore's favorites...apparantly she was the silent backer of the Marauders, her and Remus Lupin were prefects, you see. Mum says she was as mischievous as any of the Marauders, but smart enough and a quick enough thinker to never be caught. Mum said she got Sirius and Harry's dad out of bunches of detentions, despite all the ones they were forced to serve. I guess she must have known how unlikable the Dursleys were if Harry hasn't heard from her before."

"But Sirius never said anything about her...neither did Professor Lupin," Ron said, looking doubtful. "And why would she owl Harry anyway? Are you sure there isn't something funny about this?"

"Stop being such a prat, Ron! She probably owled Harry because of Sirius, you know, to send condolences and such," Ginny said exasperated. "Do you really think mum would've let someone untrustworthy send us candy and presents every year? And mum had nothing but nice things to say about her! Besides, if she was in the original Order, chances are she's in the new one as well. She's probably doing something somewhere else at the moment."

"But no one's mentioned her in the Order...not ever, if my memory serves me right."

"I don't know," Ginny said, her face screwed up in a Hermione-like concentration. "They might have behind closed doors if she's really on a mission for them. Or maybe...oh! I know!"

"I wish you'd share it with the rest of us, seeing as you're so smart," Ron grumbled.

"They have talked about her. At least I think they have," Ginny took a breath before continuing, ignoring Ron's incredulous expression. "I know that I heard Sirius and Professor Lupin telling Tonks about someone one night when I was sneaking into the kitchen for a late snack last summer...some girl named Lynn. They were laughing and such, she was obviously a friend with good memories attached, it could be Aislynn McGarret they were talking about. Lynn, Aislynn, it makes sense considering we've never heard either...and what's that look for?"

"You sound a lot like Hermione sometimes, you know that, right?"

"Oh, sod off!" Ginny retorted, causing Ron to dodge a pillow meant to smack him across the face.

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I mean, she is the top girl in our year and now I have something to tell Harry, but it's a little creepy, you know?"

Ron dodged the pillow once more as Ginny sent it flying in his direction and wrote his letter to Harry in great difficulty due to Ginny's reading over his shoulder, making corrections and additions the whole while. When he was finally finished, he tied the letter to Pigwidgeon's leg and told his hyperactive owl to take Harry's letter to him quickly, but without a fuss - that she would get Harry in trouble and probably hurt by the Dursleys herself if they knew she was there. Ginny laughed after Pig, who fluttered out of the window excitedly, telling Ron all he was doing was getting Harry in trouble and a dead owl because any attempt to calm down or shut up that bird was completely futile. He told her she was sounding like Hermione again, which promptly shut her up with an angry huff and a pillow flying towards his head before she left the room.

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Dear Professor Lupin, Tonks, Moody, and whomever else I'm supposed to be writing to,

This is just my first letter to let you all know that I'm alright. Things here are excruciatingly boring. So boring, in fact, that I can't even sleep and I've already started my summer work. That's why I owled you so quickly. I had some questions I wanted to owl to Hermione and I didn't know how long Hedwig would take. (I can only imagine how wonderful things would be here if I got a visit from you guys because I was careless. Not to mention that you probably wouldn't be the happiest either, so I decided to save you the trouble.) I'm not quite sure what else you wanted me to write or what else I should write, so I'll end this here. Hope to see you all soon.

Harry

Remus Lupin read this letter aloud to Tonks, Moody, Severus Snape, Aislynn McGarret, and Molly, Arthur, and Bill Weasley - in other words, all the members of the Order of the Phoenix currently in the old Black home. (The Order was still in the process of finding and securing a new headquarters. He looked around at everyone sitting in the kitchen after he finished reading, taking in each of their expressions. Tonks seemed pleased to be hearing from Harry so promptly, as did Arthur and Bill, whereas Molly looked relieved that everything was ok but none the less worried about Harry's well being. Moody had a suspicious look in his non-magical eye, Aislynn had a strange and indecipherable expression that Remus wrote off as to hearing from her godson for the first time ever, even if it wasn't directly addressed to her. Snape, of course, was wearing his nonchalant sneer that was always plastered on his face anymore.

"Well, he may be bored out of his mind, but at least he's safe," Remus said, hoping to get some insight from the other members of the Order. He wasn't quite sure how they were going to go about this communication with Harry, especially now that Aislynn had put herself in such a precarious position with Dumbedore over the Harry issue.

"Poor dear, I think I'll write back to him," Tonks said, causing everyone to look at her a little oddly. "Ok, so I didn't know him the best, but he sounds really bored and homework only takes up so much time! I'm sure Ron and Hermione will be writing him as well, but it's never a bad thing to get extra letters. Besides, he's spent the last couple summers writing to three people and now without..." she trailed off with a hesitant glance towards Remus and Aislynn, but continued, "without Sirius' letters, I'm sure he'll be missing him worse than necessary this summer. I'm not trying to say I can fill his shoes or anything, I'm just saying that I'm sure Harry won't mind an extra letter every now and again," she finished quickly, her words starting to run together. Molly smiled at her warmly and Bill and Arthur nodded slightly. Tonks was stealing anxious glances at Aislynn, as if afraid the woman would start screaming at her.

"That sounds lovely, I'm sure he'll love getting extra letters," the woman assured her with a slight smile, as if Tonks had took the idea right from her head, causing Tonks to calm immensely.

"But I'm sure those extra letters aren't going to be from you until Dumbledore agrees it's wise," Snape started, searching Aislynn's face for anything peculiar. "I wouldn't imagine you ever doing anything that could possibly be read as against the rules or mischievous," he added with his greatest sneer and as much sarcasm as possible without causing too many problems.

Aislynn's face flickered a sour look almost too quickly to be seen before settling into a too-sweet and innocent smile to answer. "What ever are you talking about, Severus? I would never go against Dumbledore's direct orders for personal reasons."

"She's being truthful," Moody grunted at Snape's sneer of disbelief. "But I wonder if it's the whole truth you're telling...?" Moody mused out loud, falling to a rare habit and chuckling at her in disbelief. "It's a good thing you're on our side, I'd hate to try and read you as an enemy. I never can quite tell if you're messing with my head or not!" The Order was hesitant to laugh until Aislynn and Moody stopped looking at each other and started laughing at something, whether it be Moody's comment or something she said to him without words, they wouldn't ask, but no offence was taken on either side and everyone seemed to be happy.

"That's not the only letter he sent," Aislynn said, sobering up.

"What are you talking about? Who else did he send a letter to, Lynn?" Remus asked, the whole order staring at her suspiciously.

"I was in the study this evening with the window open enjoying the night air when his owl flew in. I suppose it was the only window open. I followed her up the stairs to Ron's room, and then Ginny's when she couldn't get to Ron. Next thing I know, the owl flies out of Ginny's room to go find Remus and Ginny runs to Ron's room with a letter in her hand. That's one smart owl he's got and I didn't even train her!" The order laughed at her joke. "I wonder if Hagrid had a hand in finding her. He knows a thing or two about owls and has quite the intuition as to which'll work out best. He hand picked the majority of the Hogwarts owls that they have bought since he's been working there, you know. The few he couldn't straighten out, he sent my way, but he's done quite an admiral job with all of them."

"You'd be the one to judge, I suppose. I never could understand how you got those creatures to do your will so easily," Snape said, with an almost concealed look of disgust. Animals obviously weren't his thing...that is, unless they were dead and floating in some jar with strange colored liquids for future potions work.

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to ask him soon enough, I'm sure he'd love to talk about her," Molly said in what was supposed to be a reassuring voice that only annoyed Aislynn and made her silently vow to not cut off her communications with Harry. She neglected to tell them that she was sitting beside an open window waiting for Hedwig to bring her a note from Harry and wasn't altogether surprised that he had taken the opportunity to write to Ron and the Order of the Phoenix as well. She was, however, grateful that he hadn't mentioned her writing to him to the Order. She assumed that he must have realized that he would find out more about her without getting them involved if she was going against direct orders from Dumbledore. But she wasn't going against his orders for her own personal reasons. No, she hadn't lied to Snape, but hadn't told the whole truth either. She was talking to Harry, but it was for his own safety, and she had promised to keep him safe long before she promised to not speak with him.

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Aislynn sat still and silent as best she could for the remainder of the meeting. They decided that Lupin would be the person to officially respond to Harry's letters, telling him just enough in each one to keep him from going stir-crazy like the past summer and that Tonks would do as she liked in accordance to owling Harry. Dumbledore had finally arrived, Snape had made his report, and a few other things were discussed and addressed. She tried to escape while everyone fell to chit-chat, but was held up by Snape, who had not believed her earlier when she had assured everyone she was not in correspondence with Harry.

"Not running out so soon, are you, Lynn?" his silky voice oozed into her ear. "It would look awfully suspicious for someone under such scrutiny from Dumbledore and the Order to disappear so quickly after important meetings...you don't want people thinking you're up to something suspicious."

It took all of Aislynn's self restraint from giving him a look that would even manage to scare Harry, who was used to Snape's dirty looks, had it been on Snape's face. Instead, she instantly controlled and suppressed her anger and turned to him with a playfully exasperated look, half smiling.

"Why would I be running out? I'm just a little tired that's all," she reasoned.

Snape's smile, which was usually reserved for catching the dream team doing something against school rules, had faded into a sneer of disbelief.

"Oh, come on. Don't give me that look! I'm not up to anything, I just haven't gotten a chance to sleep for more than a couple hours the past few days - you should know. And don't try giving me that sneer, it doesn't intimidate anyone, least of all me. Honestly, Sev, I know it's been a few years since we were in such constant contact, but do we have to regress to testing each other's limits to see how far we can push the other? I thought we got past this years ago," she questioned, whining slightly with a fake pout, knowing it would get him off her back.

"I suppose you're right," Snape sighed after looking at her questioningly for a moment, his sneer breaking into one of his rarest smiles - one that held no malice nor joy towards someone getting in trouble, but a real smile that held some semblance of a warmth thought long since extinguished from the bitter man. "You know I'm not hassling you for my own enjoyment, right?" he asked, holding up his hands in defense as she looked at him with a sarcastic smile, ready to catch him in a lie. "No, no. I'm being entirely truthful. There are a lot of people here who aren't entirely sure of your competence or, quite honestly, your, er, being in your right frame of mind. None of them will tell you to your face and, as long as Dumbledore remains confidant in you, they won't even admit they're thinking anything of such. Don't take his approval of you lightly, Lynn. Without it, I fear your fight for a friend or supporter will be far more difficult than anyone, even Sirius, has ever faced...especially now that he's gone," Snape's smile had disappeared to a very neutral expression as Aislynn just stared back at him, the two once again playing on each other's wits trying to see who was lying and who would break first.

"Aisynn, Severus, how nice to see the two of you in decent spirits again, talking like friends...why, it's almost like old times," Dumbledore chuckled at the light hearted nature that was so natural for him despite current events. "Of course, it seems I say that too soon."

"Of course not," Aislynn replied. "My spirits are plenty decent, as, I'm sure, are Severus', but you must be aware of his tendency to get far too serious every once and again. Oh, don't give me that look, Sev. You know as well as I that you're a serious person. You're always serious. You're too serious," she added with a laugh meant to be happy, but hollow and forced at a sudden glimpse of a memory in which she had said the exact same thing to the person Sirius years ago teasing him about his name.

"Yes, well, one of us should be. It may just prove necessary," Snape had noticed the forced nature of her laugh, guessed the source, and was all the more bitter for it.

"It is lovely to see things back to normal. But that's not why I wanted to speak with you. Aislynn, have you been sleeping much lately?"

"No, sir. That's why I was leaving so quickly. There're still a few hours before it's really considered morning to most human beings, so I was hoping to catch a little bit of sleep."

"Do you really think any sleep of yours would be restful tonight, Lynn?" Snape asked, a solemn too serious look on his face.

"That is exactly what I meant by sleep. Have you anything interesting to talk to me about?" Dumbledore asked, his smile now gone and face as solemn as Snape's.

"Nothing concrete. I have clips I can't quite decipher and bad feelings for reasons I can hardly know, but nothing worth telling."

"I'm not sure if that's good news or bad news, sadly. As you know, Voldemort's not letting too much out to anyone these days. Well, keep a close watch on Harry for now, I promise you two will meet quite soon."

"With all due respect sir, I have a feeling that your 'quite soon' will be quite a bit sooner than you anticipate. I'm not sure why, but I'm rather sure of it. I don't think any kind of close watch is going to keep Harry that safe. You're best to just get him out of there. I don't have to meet him or anything - just get him away from Privet Drive. He's not as safe as we think he is there."

"And have you seen anything to back this up?" Dumbledore questioned, more than concerned.

"Did I have anything to back up my belief that you should have been James and Lily's secret keeper? That none of the Marauders should have had anything to do with it?" A strange look crossed Dumbledore's face with her retort.

"Harry will be fine until we go to get him. Unless you foresee anything going wrong before that, we will stick to the plan."

"Yes, sir," she backed off. "But what about Ron and Ginny? It seems so silly to keep hiding from people in the same house. They know someone's here hiding, you know. They asked Molly about it the other day and then Arthur when she got angry with them. They overheard Remus and Tonks mentioning someone else. What harm could it do if they don't know who I am? They're not going to go owl Harry about a new member of the Order - new members come all the time and I'm no more famous or interesting than the last, as far as they'll know."

Dumbledore seemed to consider her and her proposition for a moment before answering. "Alright. You're right, hiding is an unnecessary anymore. As long as you avoid informing them who you are to Harry, I doubt there's much of a problem in them knowing you exist. In fact, it may avoid many problems if they already have questioned about you, they tend to be quite...curious," Dumbledore chose his words carefully with a small smile and chuckle that matched the sudden twinkle in his eye as if remembering some clandestine adventure involving the two youngest Weasleys.

After some friendly chatting, Aislynn excused herself to "get some sleep". In reality, she was eager to go read the letter Hedwig had brought to her that she hadn't gotten to read because the owl had also brought the letter for the Order. One thing she did decide, however, was that she could no longer communicate with Harry via owl. Any owls looking like Hedwig coming into the old Black house with letters addressed to her would be held in high suspicion with the Order - especially now that she knew Snape was keeping a close watch on her. He is hardly here other than meetings, but he knows I'm up to something...he'll talk someone into watching me here. With that thought, Aislynn decided that she should probably keep a close eye on herself as well to make sure that there was nothing odd about her everyday life.