The Summer of the Phoenix

Chapter 30

When the young Weasleys and Hermione had left the room, Dumbledore turned back towards the remaining members of the Order. "Thank you to you, too," he said gravely. "I hardly dare to imagine where matters might stand now if it hadn't been for you all." He put the slightest emphasis on the last word.

"That's all right," Kingsley Shacklebolt said lightly, closing his briefcase with a snap.

"Only doing our duty," Moody grumbled, getting to his feet.

"'t's a pleasure," Mundungus Fletcher's voice came out of his corner.

"Well, then," Dumbledore said, "I must be on my way. I hope we're prepared as well as possible now for the next few days, but in case anything out of the way happens and you need to contact me, I'll be at the International Confederation of Wizards' conference over the weekend."

"Good luck, Albus," Lupin said quietly.

"Yes, good luck," the others echoed him.

Dumbledore smiled, if a little wearily. "We shall see," he said. "Good night." Accompanied by Mrs Weasley, he left the kitchen, and the door fell closed behind him.

"He wasn't talking about you," Moody snapped at Mundungus Fletcher.

"How d'you know?" Mundungus asked. "Ah, righ', if he'd known what I've got 'ere, he wouldn' just 'ave said thank you, he'd 'ave stayed right 'ere." He picked up his cardboard box from under his chair, and carried it over to the table. "I'll leave this with you then," he said, lifting the box onto the table with a soft clanking sound. "I don' like bein' dry for too long, I figured you didn' like it either. One of 'em's for me, to cover me expenses."

"What's in there?" Tonks asked curiously.

"What expenses?" Moody asked sharply.

"Lil' bonus for occupational hazards, guv," Mundungus grinned at him. "Same as they pay you chaps at the Ministry. Help yourselves." With a grand gesture, he opened the mysterious box and invited them to take a look.

Tonks peered inside. "Wow," she said, producing a bottle of red wine from it. "A round dozen."

Kingsley came to her side, looked appreciatively at Mundungus's gift, and turned to the rest of the group. "What do you say, anyone care for a glass right now?"

"Oh yes," Tonks said eagerly. Sirius went to fetch some goblets before Tonks could produce any broken glass.

"Do we have a corkscrew anywhere?" she asked, rummaging in the cutlery drawers.

"A what?" Kingsley Shacklebolt asked back.

"A corkscrew," she said, waving her left hand in the air, making a twisting movement with her wrist. "You know, what Muggles use for -"

"For what?"

Tonks turned back to them just as Kingsley Shacklebolt was pulling his wand away from the wine bottle with a little pop, the cork sitting on the tip. He twisted it off and threw it into the fire.

"You've got style," Tonks said admiringly.

"You can have some style with next bottle, if you like," Kingsley offered.

"Snap my wand in half in the process, that'd be my style," Tonks replied. "I think I'll leave the showing off to you."

Shacklebolt grinned good-naturedly and started filling the goblets Sirius had placed on the table. He offered the first to Mundungus, who waved it aside.

"Nope. I've got to be goin'. Urgen' business, y'know. I'll see you aroun'." One of the remaining bottles vanished without trace in one of the bottomless pockets of Mundungus Fletcher's overlarge coat. He tapped his forehead in a mock salute, and left.

"Cheers, Mundungus!" Tonks called after him.

"I'll have his," said Sirius.

"No, I will," Lupin said quickly, taking the goblet out of Kingsley's hand. "You're not getting any wine tonight, Sirius, you've already talked enough nonsense."

"You can say that again," Moody grumbled, giving Sirius a dirty look.

"He asked for it," Sirius shot back, making a grab for the wine, but Lupin held it out of his reach.

"I don't recall that."

"You weren't listening."

"Careful, you two," Kingsley warned them, and handed Sirius one of the other goblets. "There'll be enough for everyone, if you don't spill it all. Moody?"

"No thanks," Moody grumbled. "I know better than to drink anything of dodgy origin."

"Dodgy origin?" Shacklebolt raised his eyebrows and looked at the label on the bottle he was holding. "It says here, Cabernet Sauvignon, Appellation Contrôlée Premières Côtes de Bordeaux, Mis en Bouteille au Château. You call that dodgy?"

"I'd call that French," said Sirius dryly.

"What does it mean, Kingsley?" Tonks asked.

"It means that I couldn't afford even one bottle of it, not even for Christmas," Lupin said cheerfully, drawing up a chair to sit at the fireplace.

Sirius followed his friend's example. "I wonder where Dung got this stuff from," he said, sniffing at the wine.

"You don't want to know," Moody grumbled, but he joined them by the fire all the same, producing his hip flask from a pocket of his robes. "Probably couldn't get rid of it at a profit. Now he's using you to destroy the evidence."

"Oh, I'm very willing to be used in this way," Kingsley chuckled.

"You know what that's called in wizarding law, don't you?" Moody growled. "Suppressing evidence? Perverting the course of justice, that's what it's called."

"Don't report me, Tonks," Kingsley said lightly.

"I won't," she laughed, and drew up two more chairs. Shacklebolt put the bottle within reach on the table and sat down on Moody's right side. Tonks took the remaining place between Kingsley and Lupin in the middle of their little semi-circle. They settled down comfortably, stretching out their feet towards the warmth of the crackling fire, sipping at their wine, all of them relaxing properly for the first time in days.

Kingsley leant back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head. "What a week," he said with a sigh.

Tonks yawned hugely. "I'm so glad it's over."

"What a soft lot you are," Moody muttered, stretching out his stiff wooden leg with a groan.

"As in, get drunk on stolen wine, but can't do without sleep for more than three nights in a row?" Sirius asked in a mocking tone.

"You can talk," Moody snarled at him.

"Don't - " Lupin said warningly, but Sirius only shrugged.

"I suppose someone's got to stay at home and look after the kids," he said with a wry grin.

"Hear, hear!" Tonks applauded him.

"Don't envy us, Sirius," said Lupin wearily. "Not as long as Alastor's in charge of this madness anyway. I can't see anyone survive a year of Auror training under him, let alone three."

"I know someone who did," Kingsley Shacklebolt remarked. "But only just about."

Moody only grunted.

"Moody, we know everything was better in the old days," Tonks teased him. "It's not like we aren't doing our best. At least we now know what we're doing it for."

"Do we really?" Kingsley asked thoughtfully. "I must admit, I don't really feel we're any wiser than before. All this stuff about You Know Who using a prophecy as a weapon. A prophecy, I ask you. Lots of people don't even believe in them."

"Dumbledore wouldn't make such a fuss about it if he didn't think it was really important though," Sirius objected. "He knows he can't afford to waste our time and energy. Your time and energy, sorry."

"Then why was he so reluctant to tell us about it at all?" Tonks asked. "If I'm supposed to risk my neck, I'd like to know what I'm doing it for."

"For our cause, that's what you're doing it for," Moody snapped at her.

"Yeah, I know, keep your head down, follow your orders and don't ask any questions!" Tonks retorted rather heatedly. "Can I remind you that I'm here privately and I'm volunteering to do all this?"

"You're quite right, Tonks," Lupin agreed quietly. "Look, Alastor, you can't expect people to risk their lives and their freedom if you don't give them a good reason why they should."

"And at least for the practical side of things," Kingsley added, "you said so yourself, Moody, it was absurd to be sitting there guarding we didn't know what."

Moody didn't reply. It was as close as he'd ever get to admitting that the others were right and he was not.

"Did even Dumbledore know it right from the start?" Sirius wondered.

"Yeah, and how did he hear of it in the first place?" Tonks asked. "He was talking about protecting his sources. It's not one of us, is it? Kingsley, did you know about the reform of the Ministry Departments?"

Shacklebolt shook his head. "No, I didn't. His source must be someone pretty high up in the Ministry, to get wind of it so early."

Sirius and Lupin exchanged a look, both remembering what Minerva McGonagall had reported to Dumbledore more than a week ago, and both wondering if Amelia Bones had recently had another visitor for tea. But none of them spoke.

"And the prophecy itself," Tonks continued, "all right, so we can't know what it says, but what about this other person it speaks of? The one that would be in danger if You Know Who knew about him? Could that be Dumbledore himself?"

"Dumbledore wouldn't need our protection if it was him," Moody objected. "He is the only one You Know Who ever feared."

"It can't be anyone from the Order," Kingsley said slowly, "or Dumbledore wouldn't have insisted that we can't tell anyone else about all this. That was what he seemed most worried about, that someone outside the Order would find out. So it can't be one of us, but chances are that it's someone we know, someone we could have told if he hadn't warned us not to."

Another look went back and forth between Sirius and Lupin, and by the same silent understanding they agreed not to drag Harry Potter's name into this either.

"It's no use speculating," Moody muttered. "Dumbledore will have his reasons, he always has."

They fell silent, sipping at their wine again and looking into the fire.

"This wine is so good," Kingsley said appreciatively, and Moody rolled his mismatched eyes.

Lupin turned to Sirius. "How's it going with the Weasley family in here?"

"Fine," Sirius replied curtly.

"Arthur told us about Percy. Awful."

"Could have taken a much worse turn for us, though. At least he's out of our way now."

"That's cruel, Sirius," Tonks protested. "I'm so sorry for the kids. I've got to meet them properly soon. They look like a really sweet lot, don't they?"

Lupin gave a short laugh. "A sweet lot, especially the twins," he said resignedly. "You get to know them a little, and I'll ask you again about sweet."

"Why?"

"That's speaking as their former teacher," Lupin explained. "I don't know how they're at home, but at school, they're legendary troublemakers. Try to keep them in check, you'll be fighting a losing battle. I don't know anyone who has tried who hasn't given up. And they know that very well, and have a cunning talent for making the best of it, or rather the worst. They kept reminding me forcefully of you and James, Sirius. Gifted but lazy. Every teacher's nightmare."

"Thanks a lot," said Sirius dryly.

"Sweet or not," Kingsley Shacklebolt said, "they're a brave lot, so much is clear. Particularly Ron Weasley and the other girl, his friend from school, what was her name again? First going secretly after a mad mass murderer, Sirius will excuse the expression, and then standing up to twenty Ministry wizards at the Quidditch World Cup, where, I've just remembered, I've actually seen them before."

"Oh, don't remind me of the Quidditch World Cup!" Tonks exclaimed dramatically.

"Why, were you supporting Bulgaria?" Lupin asked innocently.

Kingsley Shacklebolt chuckled. "The Quidditch World Cup was the first time Tonks went into action with us after she'd qualified. And it was the grandest entrance into Auror service I've ever seen."

"Don't say that!" Tonks cried, her face a very bright shade of red. "Don't make fun of me! It was dreadful!"

"What happened?" Sirius inquired curiously. "Come on, Tonks, tell us."

"It was like Kingsley says," Tonks said reluctantly. "The first operation I was involved in. And it was horrible. I messed up completely."

"Oh no, you didn't," Kingsley said firmly. "It was a baptism of fire, Tonks, and you rose to the occasion magnificently. If anyone messed up, it was us others, everyone except you."

"And what exactly did you others mess up?" Sirius asked.

"The Dark Mark," Kingsley explained. "You know about this unpleasant scene after the World Cup final, when some Death Eaters had a little get-together, and it turned into an ugly bit of Muggle hunting? And then the Dark Mark appeared in the sky? That was about the only scenario that didn't feature in what must have been the most concise security strategy we've ever come up with for an event like this, but of course it was the one that had to happen. There was no coordination at all, all the Aurors just Disapparated away from the scene of the action to catch the culprit, and Tonks was the only one of us who kept a cool head and stayed behind to take care of the Death Eaters."

"It wasn't like that," Tonks corrected him unhappily. "I just stayed behind because I had missed that I was supposed to go elsewhere."

"Don't be so modest, Tonks," Kingsley grinned. "You did exactly the right thing. You should have seen her," he told the others, "our Tonks, left alone in command of the Ministry's entire Magical Law Enforcement corps, plus two dozen volunteers. She was brilliant. She was a natural. She directed a battle like a seasoned general, and that was like, what, two weeks after she'd qualified? I've never seen her shout like that again."

A hearty laugh went around their little group.

"I never knew that," Moody grumbled, unable to hide how impressed he was. Sirius felt a sudden fierce pride of his cousin standing her ground when the best of them had lost their heads.

"It's not funny!" Tonks cried. "I really had no idea what I was doing. I suddenly found myself out there on the campsite, the only Auror for about a mile around, with the Death Eaters still on the loose and the poor Muggles still up in the air, and none of my superiors left to take charge, and all the other Ministry people shouting at me for orders. So I just shouted some orders back, but it didn't work at all. It was complete and utter chaos, people running everywhere and bumping into each other and getting hit by stray spells, it was a nightmare. In the end, all the Death Eaters got clean away. We didn't catch any of them. Not one. It was a disgrace. Dawlish went absolutely ballistic. He gave me such a talking to afterwards, I think I cried."

"And then I gave Dawlish a talking to about what I thought of him having a go at the best Auror in my squad instead of kicking himself as he ought to have, if you'll remember," Kingsley reminded her. "At least you got the Muggles safely back to the ground. The real disgrace was our great official security coordinator making the beginner's mistake of abandoning an operation without putting anyone else in charge of sorting it out. Well, he knows that, I told him as much. If Britain ever gets to host the World Cup again after this, we'll make sure to put you in charge of security, Tonks, not Dawlish."

"I hope that never happens," said Tonks, but she had calmed down a little, the blush slowly fading from her face. Remus Lupin was gazing into the fire, smiling to himself and shaking his head.

"More wine?" Kingsley asked pleasantly, getting up to fetch a new bottle from the table.

"Yes," Moody said to everyone's surprise, "after that story, I'll have some. To drink to the health of the only one of your lot that still truly deserves to be called an Auror." He gave Kingsley a look of profound contempt. "Shame on the rest of you, Shacklebolt."