Harry Potter and the House Divided

Chapter Seven "Through and into Fire"

Harry awoke on the morning of his birthday, scar hurting more than it had all summer. He couldn't remember if there had been any clear connection to Voldemort the previous night but did know that the pain was a sign of how confused his thoughts had been when he tried to practice his Occlumency the night before. He felt very lucky not to have suffered some kind of vision. He knew that this was a warning that Voldemort was beginning to show interest in him again as well as a reminder of the need to continue working on his Occlumency.

One thing that Professor Dumbledore's lessons had not given him was a sense for the kinds of things that might leave him less able to protect his thoughts and so even before writing Hermione and the rest of his friends he sat down to write a note to someone in the order who might be able to tell either Fleur or Professor Dumbledore that he needed to see one of them early.

Dear...

Harry was more than a bit unsure how to frame his letter.

After some thought on the matter it seemed best to him to send Hedwig to headquarters with a generic note that someone could get to either Fleur or Professor Dumbledore.

This decided, he restarted his letter.

Dear... whoever's there

I wanted to write to see if you could send either my tutor or my teacher as I have a headache this morning and need to ask for some help in making sure that I don't get any more. Please ask one or the other of them to stop by as soon as they can.

Thanks

Harry

He tied this note to Hedwig and after asking her to take the note to No.12, Grimmauld Place, turned to reading Professor Moody's fascinating book on magical self-defence.

The most interesting chapter he'd seen when skimming the table of contents the night before was on perimeter charms. There were a lot of them, and they could be tuned to watch for specific people, creatures or magical effects as well as more generalized ones that simply warned you whenever anything crossed them. He'd not seen anything that looked like a way to permanently shield yourself which he thought was too bad as he was sure that Malfoy would try to follow up on the threat that he'd made at the end of last year. Hopefully the presents from Remus and Sirius would be some help with that but Harry suspected that at least some of his teachers wouldn't be very happy with his wearing the equivalent of body armour all of the time.

Harry read for several hours and was beginning to feel the now familiar frustration at his inability to use magic when a burst of fire announced the arrival of Fawkes and Professor Dumbledore.

"Happy birthday, Harry," the headmaster said, eyes far more serious than Harry was used to seeing them.

"Uh, hi!" Harry said, scrambling to his feet. "I thought you weren't going to be here for a few more days."

"Yes, that was my original plan, but unfortunately your note to the order and some other events have conspired to force me to decide to move you early."

"What happened?" Harry asked, desire to know what was happening nearly overwhelming him.

"I can't say right now, but I promise you that everything will be made clear to you as soon as we get to headquarters. For the moment, I need you to pack your things and prepare for an immediate departure. While you're doing that, I will notify your relatives that you will be leaving their home and not back until the beginning of next summer."

As soon as he began packing his things, the professor departed. Fawkes seemed to have been asked to maintain some kind of guard and remained perched quietly on Hedwig's now empty cage, bright eyes following everything that Harry did.

Within minutes, Harry realized that he had a problem. He'd acquired so many books and large presents that for the first time, he didn't have room for everything he owned in his trunk. He temporarily stopped packing, not sure how to proceed.

Within moments, Professor Dumbledore was back, and after a moments surprised look at Harry's silent form, the older man comprehended the young wizard's problem and quickly charmed the trunk so that it would expand to hold three times as much as it could before. A quick application of Tonks' "pack" charm and Harry's worldly possessions began funnelling into the trunk, his socks whirling around as if in a small tornado before lining up neatly folded and arranged by colour as well.

Harry stared, awed by this display of the headmaster's ability. Professor Dumbledore, smiling hugely, responded to Harry's apparent awe by noting that: "I could also have them arranged by size, thickness or age as well if you like."

"Uh, no thanks." Harry said. "Can I learn how to do that some day?"

"Oh, most definitely. In fact, I suspect that if you were to use the packing charm now, you'd get that result at least and might even be able to command organization by size or thickness if you wanted."

"Cool!" Harry said in a whisper, only now seeing what focus, training and power could bring. Comparing his classmates' efforts at spells was one thing, but seeing how two full adult wizards performed when using the same charm was... well, most enlightening.

"I'm afraid that its time to leave, Harry," the headmaster said, gently.

"Right," the young wizard said, snapping back to the matter at hand. "Are we taking a portkey?"

"No, I shall apparate to headquarters. You will go with Fawkes and I will have someone come to get your things later."

"Go with Fawkes?" Harry asked, momentarily unsure how this was to be done. Before Professor Dumbledore could explain however, Fawkes rose, taking position directly in front of him. Harry, as if in a trance, reached out and caught hold of the warm golden tail feathers of Professor Dumbledore's familiar. There was almost no sense of motion and yet moments later, Harry stood in the middle of the kitchen of No.12, Grimmauld Place.

It seemed that he had arrived at the beginning of a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix and as Harry looked about the room he immediately recognized many witches and wizards who were members last summer. Tonks gave him a quick wave hello and Professor McGonagall gave him one of her rare, thin-lipped smiles.

Bill and Charlie Weasley grinned at him and seemed just about to say something but were prevented from doing so by two heavy hands that landed on Harry's shoulders.

"It's our partner," cried a voice to his left.

"Yes, our investor and pillar of finance!" cried another, this time on his right.

"Our backer-"

"support"

"-and so much more!" the Weasley twins cried in unison.

Despite the nervousness and deep sense of loss that he felt as a result of his sudden return to No.12, Grimmauld Place, Harry couldn't help but laugh at their antics. If he'd ever had any doubt that he'd done the right thing by giving them his winnings from the Tri-Wizard-Tournament, they were swept away by Fred and George's enthusiastic welcome.

Unfortunately, others were far less happy to see him.

"Potter!" a voice hissed from his left. "What do you think you're doing standing there as if we didn't have better things to do than to wait for you to leave and let us get on with our business?"

Harry turned, not surprised to see Professor Snape standing in a corner, eyes sweeping back and forth as if he thought someone would attack him if he turned his back on the people who shared the room with him.

"Actually, professor, I'd not known that the order was meeting today. Professor Dumbledore came to get me from my relatives' house and Fawkes brought me here. So if you've got a problem with my being here, mention it to one of them."

Fawkes, as if in agreement with this statement, settled on Harry's shoulder, demonstrating, to Harry's mind at least, which of the two dark haired wizards he thought was in the right.

"Just because you're brought somewhere doesn't mean that you're necessarily welcomed to stay," Hogwarts' Potions Master replied coldly.

"Severus," Professor Dumbledore said from almost directly behind Harry. "I think that we have other, more important matters with which we must deal at the moment. Not least of which is an official notification of a change in status for Mr. Potter and at least some of his friends."

"What change in status?" Snape demanded in near stereo with Mrs. Weasley who was staring at Harry, eyes far colder than they had been when she confronted Hermione over the mistaken belief that the younger witch had been toying with Harry's affections during his fourth year.

"Events at the end of the last year show that Harry is more than just an important target for Lord Voldemort. He seems to be Tom's primary focus and is therefore endangered by not knowing what is happening around him. He is also endangered by the fact that he has no secure way to communicate with members of the Order when he needs to. All of these factors have led me to decide that although he will not take part in order meetings as his mind is still not fully secure against probing from Lord Voldemort, Harry must be given more information than he has been so far as well as unfettered access to myself and at least some other members of the order no matter what time of day or night he may need it.

He will therefore receive membership in the order but will be treated as a special auxiliary. As I'm sure that his friends also want access to at least some of this information, I am going to offer them the chance to take the oaths of the order when they return to Hogwarts this fall."

"No!" cried Mrs. Weasley and Professor Snape, yet again in near stereo.

This time it was Mrs. Weasley who spoke out.

"I will not have Ron and Ginny involved in order business in any way. If it's a choice between having them involved in the war before they've come of age and taking them out of Hogwarts, I'll take them out of Hogwarts."

"Now Molly," said Mr. Weasley as he slipped an arm around her shoulders.

"Arthur," she said warningly.

"No, Molly. We've already discussed this and much as it pains you to know it, Ron and Ginny are already involved because we are. Even if they had not come to know Harry they would have been involved when You-Know-Who came back. Ginny would have died if Harry hadn't saved her life by risking his own for her and Ron, well, Harry's been the best thing that could ever have happened to him."

"That may be so, but I will not have them involved in this. I will not have them running around the castle having secret meetings, learning how to risk their necks and putting themselves in the middle of something that they're not really old enough to understand."

"I think, Molly, that whether they understand the greater issues, they know that their friend is in danger and will, for loyalty's sake, fight to help him if they can." Mr. Weasley said with a sigh, making it obvious that this battle had been fought many times at the burrow this summer.

"I think that this is a matter that you should resolve at home." Professor Dumbledore said from the seat that he had taken at the head of the table. "Though I would remind all of you that divisions in our ranks only benefit Voldemort and do nothing to forward our cause."

"Very well!" Mrs. Weasley huffed, before saying, "but I still think that people as young as Ron, Ginny and the rest should be focusing on growing up and not on You-Know-Who..."

This was too much for Harry who strode forward angrily, nearly dislodging Fawkes from his shoulder in the process of confronting the mother of two of his best friends.

"You think that I like thinking about Voldemort every day?" he demanded, disgusted that almost all of the adults in the room gasped at his use of the enemy's name. "I'd bloody well much rather focus on classes, Quidditch and other stuff but Voldemort isn't going to let me think about that. You find a way to stop him thinking about me and I'll be more than happy to stop thinking about him."

Harry didn't know what the silence that met his pronouncement meant. Maybe the members of the order agreed with him or maybe they agreed with Mrs. Weasley but weren't willing to challenge him because they knew that whether they liked it or not, he was also right.

"Harry, I need you to tell us about the incident with your scar this morning and then I would appreciate it if you'd go upstairs for some time. We must talk about how the rest of your summer will be organized from this point forward and I'd like to do that once the meeting is over." said Professor Dumbledore, eyes twinkling somewhat less intensely than they usually did.

Harry, angered at being told that he would be sent away, shot an angry look at the older wizard.

After a couple of seconds under Harry's furious glare, the headmaster smiled and did just enough to keep Harry from making trouble over how he was being treated.

"I promise that I'm not doing this because I want you to be uninformed, rather I want to be sure that you are not privy to information that could prove dangerous to someone here until such time as your Occlumency training is closer to completion. Until that time, I dare not let you have all of the information that you seek as it might threaten the safety of many people in this room and elsewhere."

Harry nodded, knowing that Voldemort's knowledge of Sirius' importance to him had been an important part of the trap laid for him in the Department of Mysteries. Even though he was now reassured about Professor Dumbledore's willingness to tell him things that he needed to know, he took a moment to gather his thoughts as he'd never been asked to speak before a large group of adults before.

"I was up late last night since it was my birthday and my presents always seem to come at midnight. I didn't want Uncle Vernon to go nutters because there were a bunch of owls trying to get into the house so I stayed up to let them in. I looked at my presents and read everyone's notes and, well, had a lot on my mind since some of them reminded me about Sirius and so I couldn't do a very good job with it before I went to sleep."

"Not surprising," hissed Professor Snape from his corner.

"Severus," Professor Dumbledore said softly, flicking a look at the man who was the order's spy in Voldemort's inner circle.

Harry glared at Snape before getting back to his report.

"I woke up this morning and my scar was hurting more than it has since...well,"

"Yes," Professor Dumbledore said, seemingly willing to let the reference to the events of mid June stand as it was.

"Since you told me that he wouldn't be ready to try much of anything in my mind for a while, I was surprised that my scar hurt as much as it did. I sent Hedwig to you since I knew that Fawkes wasn't supposed to come by until the day after tomorrow."

"And you didn't see anything when your scar hurt?" Tonks asked nervously.

"No," Harry said. "Should I have?"

"Never you mind, Potter!" snapped Professor Snape.

"I think I do mind, Professor, since whatever it was caused my scar to hurt and Professor Dumbledore to move me back here before he said he would."

"Harry's right to ask and its not like he won't learn soon enough in any case," Tonks said rising to stand next to Harry.

"True," Professor Dumbledore said with a sigh.

"In very brief, Harry, Death Eaters attacked several wizarding homes last night. Fortunately, none were occupied but all were owned by families that supported the light during Voldemort's last rise. I must assume that if your scar hurt, Tom was involved in at least one or two of those attacks though we had thought that he wasn't yet ready to retake the field after the injuries you did him in June."

Harry, seeing a chance to score a few points against Professor Snape, turned to Professor Dumbledore.

"But I thought that you had someone watching over Voldemort."

"We do, but the information from all of our sources suggested that is weak and not certain of what his next steps should be. Unfortunately, it appears that this information was inaccurate."

Professor Snape's voice cracked across the room, just as Harry had hoped it would.

"Potter, your tendency to meddle in others' business is much like your fathers. If there is as much intellectual capability in your head as your O.W.L. scores suggest, you would be wise to learn from those around you who know how to be seen and not heard."

"Maybe so, Professor, but there are a lot of people who think that you aren't as trustworthy as Professor Dumbledore does and I'm beginning to wonder if they're not spot on about you." Harry said, anger at the potions professor's attitude rising in his chest.

"How dare you!" Snape cried, striding rapidly toward Harry.

"Enough!" Professor Dumbledore thundered, rising from his chair, eyes cold with fury.

"No, Sir, I don't think so." Harry said, suddenly furious with his headmaster. "I know that Professor Snape's got reasons to hate me but until this year, I hadn't done anything to him. Too many of you have either tried to keep me from learning things because you think I can't handle them" at this, Harry's eyes flicked toward Mrs. Weasley, "or blame me for everything that goes on around me and treating me the same way that my aunt and uncle do. I've done a lot of stupid things and one of them got Sirius killed and my friends badly hurt. If you're going to blame me for stuff, blame me for the things that really are my fault and not everything. Otherwise, I'll be happy to return the favour and I've got enough on you to make sure that none of my friends ever see you again," Harry said, staring directly at the potions master.

"Harry, you obviously have even more grievances than I fully realized. This is not the time to address them but I promise you that we will discuss them before you return to school. For the moment, I must ask you to leave so that we may discuss your report and plan our responses to the attacks that occurred last night."

Harry, still angry but willing to back down so as not to embarrass himself more in front of the order, quietly left and crept upstairs, determined not to awaken the fury of old Mrs. Black's portrait.

*-*-*-

Two hours later, he was sitting in Buckbeak's room, feeding the hippogriff from the pail of dead ferrets that he'd found sitting just outside the door. A quiet tap told him that someone must be trying to see if he was there.

He thought briefly about not responding to the summons but knew that he wouldn't do himself any credit by it. The fact that he had a lot of unanswered questions to ask helped to soften his attitude toward whoever was in the corridor.

"Come in," he said quietly, while handing a another ferret up to Buckbeak.

The door opened softly and Harry heard at least two people enter the room.

"Watcher,", one said quietly, and he knew without question that Tonks had come to find him.

"Hello Potter, another said, and Harry was honestly surprised to hear Professor McGonagall's voice.

"Hullo, Tonks, Professor," Harry said, rising to greet his guardian and Head of House.

"What was it that you wanted?"

Tonks and Professor McGonagall exchanged glances, the older woman finally taking the lead.

"I must say, Potter that you've not helped yourself this evening. No matter your grievances against Professor Snape, and I'm aware that you have many, you must not speak to him in that way again."

Harry, knowing this to be at least somewhat true, glanced briefly toward the floor. But no matter how embarassed he might be by his behaviour, he couldn't let his grievances against Professor Snape go unvented.

"Maybe so, Professor, but I'm not going to stand for him abusing me in potions by destroying my samples in front of the class or going off on people like Neville just because they're not so good in his class."

"Potter, you may be right but that doesn't mean that a sixteen year old wizard has the right to, well, do what you did earlier. If you didn't know it before the Prophet got word of what you think of the Minister of Magic, you had better learn that you are a symbol for many in the wizarding world now and can hurt the headmaster and yourself if you're not careful with what you say."

"I don't want to be the centre of attention, I don't want to have to be a symbol and I don't want to die either. Too bad for me that I'm going to do all of it if Professor Dumbledore's right, and Merlin knows that all of you always think that he's right." Harry said, the fear and frustration at the almost untenable position that he was now in bursting out of him in waves.

"What are you talking about, Potter?" Professor McGonagall demanded, lips thinning.

"Nothing," Harry growled, knowing that he'd said too much already. If Professor Dumbledore was unwilling to tell him about the prophecy until after Sirius had died, he certainly wouldn't want anyone else to know about it for fear that Voldemort might learn everything.

Unlike Professor Dumbledore, whom Harry suspected had used Legilimency on him more than once when he didn't want to talk about his feelings, Professor McGonagall didn't seem able to read his mind and was not willing to let the matter drop as Professor Dumbledore had done so many times in the past.

"I have learned, Potter, that you almost never say things without reason.

So I repeat my question: What are you talking about?"

"Look, Professor," Harry said, frustration rising toward real anger. "I think its pretty obvious that for whatever reason, Voldemort has it in for me. He's made it pretty obvious that he's going to try to kill me if he can and since he's a lot stronger and more experienced than me, I'm pretty sure that he's going to do it sooner or later. Before he gets there, Snape's going to stay the sodding git that he is and you and Professor Dumbledore are going to tell me to keep taking it from him, the Daily Prophet and everywhere else simply because I'm "The-Boy-Who-Lived". I've already lost my parents, my godfather, and probably will have trouble with two of my friends because their mother's too stupid to open her eyes and see that they're already better at magic than she is. I'm tired of being told to take it just because of who I am and I'm just as tired of people shielding me from what's going on because they think that I can't handle it. I can and will take it but I've got enough to take without having people loading more on me just because I'm Harry Potter."

Professor McGonagall stepped back slightly, apparently surprised by this level of honesty from a student with whom she'd had few meaningful conversations. Seemingly aware that her companion was somewhat at a loss for words, Tonks stepped in with her own message.

"Look, Harry," she said, face serious as it had only infrequently been during their training sessions. "I know that things are rough for you and tonight's chat says that there's a lot that I don't know. I'm your guardian and although you're definitely right that Snape's a git," she said, ignoring the horrified look that she received from Professor McGonagall at this comment, "you're going to have to learn how to deal with stupid gits who outrank you if you really want to be an auror. Most of them are stupid bootlicking arses who couldn't find their way out of a paper bag even with a map and directions from Merlin himself. Even so, you have to do what the older ones say just because they're senior and the seniors give the orders. If it gets really bad, send me a note and I'll come and talk with old Snape. It would be nice to give him a little of what he gave me when I was in his classes," Tonks said, grinning hugely.

"As to the Prophet and everything else, I don't know how to help you there but I will do everything that I can to see that you get a break every once in a while."

Harry smiled, thankful that Tonks was being honest with him and even more grateful for her promise of an occasional break from the responsibilities that his conversations with Fleur and the notes from Ron and Ginny told him would be even more horrible than he'd thought after leaving Professor Dumbledore's office in mid June.

"Uh, Tonks, ...well, thanks." he said, not sure how to express his thoughts without showing her just how much he appreciated her kindness.

"No problem," she said cheerily, while backing quietly toward Professor Dumbledore who now stood in the still open door to Buckbeak's room.

"Minerva, Nymphadora," the Headmaster said quietly. "I think that I need to speak with Mr. Potter for some time. May I ask you to hold any further conversations with him?"

"Certainly, Albus," Professor McGonagall said, distractedly. "I'll go back to Hogwarts and see you tomorrow morning?"

"Yes, Minerva. I think that would be best. Nymphadora, please find mister Weasley and miss Delacour so that you may give Harry a tour of the house once I've finished speaking with him."

Tonks nodded, giving Harry a quick smile before she tripped over Professor Dumbledore in her attempt to leave the room.