I am amazed with myself. 5,000 words. It's been a while since I have done that. A bit of plot . . . kind of . . . maybe? Well, you can decide. We should be heading to Hogwarts soon. That is when shit will really go down. Maybe next chapter if I decide to skip over some of the other drama that occurs in the Black household. Personally I would rather move on and start causing shit with the pink she-devil. Hopefully you enjoy. I put an extra-long book recommendation in there. I couldn't help myself. It was one of the first true books that I read that was not meant for children (I was in 4th grade and vastly outpaced that reading level). I can still remember the day that my father handed me this book from his shelf (after refusing to bring me to the library for the third time that week). I started to reread the series recently and remembered how much I loved it. Hopefully you all don't mind. Comments are appreciated and earn you good karma points in all of the afterlives.

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Black Manor was much louder than the Dawsen-Snape household that Harry had gotten used to over the summer. Granted, there were constantly at least three times the people and that group included the twins and Sirius. Snape was always calm and dogmatically quiet unless absolutely necessary. Mr. Dawsen was not calm but his energy was tempered and not as brash. So their household was just as lively but not so . . . loud. Harry wasn't complaining though. He was happy to get swept away in the chaos that was the Weasley family. Most of their days were filled with cleaning up the house. Since Fred and George were the only kids that were allowed to use magic, it was cleaning the old fashioned way.

Which apparently Harry was the only one who was good at it. He hadn't really expected Ron to be good at cleaning. After all, he had lived his whole life in a house where scrubbing up was just having your mother wave their wand. Hermione though, that had surprised him. After getting frustrated that she could not actually figure out how to sweep up dust without leaving that last little sliver at the edge of the pan she finally admitted that she rarely had cleaning duty at her house. Once a week a cleaning person would come over to the Granger household, she was only responsible for hanging up clothes and occasionally putting dishes back into the washer.

Harry quickly became the unofficial leader of their little cleaning crew. He also became the part time twin wrangler. The fire-haired twins always promised to help out. Harry counted twenty minutes as their longest running time till they got distracted. Sure, in twenty minutes and their wands they could do more than Harry could with a scrub brush and five hours. But on the other hand; with twenty unsupervised minutes and their wands they could do more damage than Harry could fix with a scrub brush and five days.

When they weren't kept busy with cleaning they spent the time leisurely hanging around in one of the cleaned out sitting rooms. Often they played games of exploding snap or chess. Sometimes the twins would show them new products that they were making. Harry also spent his time reading while others were working on homework. None of the Weasleys had finished all of their assignments. Hermione technically had but was in the process of doing extra research on each topic that was given. Harry had finished all of his at Snapes house. While the man was working on his own paper work, Harry had been required to do his. Afterwards Snape would examined the papers, not outright helping but giving a few subtle hints on things Harry needed to correct.

So Harry was reading. Recently he had been delving deep into the world of science fiction, thanks to the influence of Mr. Dawsen. He had always found his obsession with sci-fi a weird quirk he could not get over. They lived in a world of fantasy, with magic and creatures. One would think that if you were going to read muggle books that you would read about that, to laugh at or to gain ideas. Or maybe you would read realistic fiction, to see what is going on in the muggle world. Things like lasers, spaceships and aliens seemed like a weird direction to go in. Most wizards didn't really understand the technology that the muggles had now. And magic seemed to take over every future invention that muggles were thinking of. Wizards could already shoot beams of light and destroy things. They could even go into space, given that they knew the right types of charms and were willing to risk the danger. But Dawsen adored them and Harry had found himself lifting a few of the books from the shelves.

The book he was reading now seemed even stranger to be on Mr. Dawsens shelves, forgetting that it was a science fiction. Mostly because it was about the military and war. Mr. Dawsen was fairly outspoken against things like wars and battles. Sure, he agreed that not having conflict wasn't always an option. But he always viewed as a last resort that everyone came to much too quickly. He claimed to be a pragmatic optimist about war. Hope you never need it but use it when you have to.

The Clone Republic, the book he was reading, was distinctly not of that nature. Instead it focused on a completely different future world. One where America, because of course it would be them, conquered the entire planet. After collecting everyone under the flag of the Unified Authority they set about conquering the rest of the galaxy with an entire military made of clones. But on the first page Harry quickly realized why the man liked the series. It started with a quote from Plato. The book would go on to reference the philosopher many times, explaining how the future world was based on Platos' belief of how the classes and the government should be set up.

Harry, on the other hand, was drawn to the main character. The main character was Wayson Harris. He was a clone. He was also one of the few characters in the books that actually knew he was a clone. Most were standard issue with a built in reflex that made them die when they knew that they were clones, based on an idea from Plato. But Harris was a specially made clone, one more violent and independent than the others did not die and had to live with the knowledge that he was just another synthetic person, no more important or unique than a bullet.

Harry sympathized with him because the man, who was just trying to do his job as a marine clone made for battle, was often sucked into politics of people much more powerful than him. It seemed as though random chance had made him important but it was actually the mechanisms of significant people who never told him anything until it was too late. He was liked or hated in equal measures both by his enemy, as well as those supposed to be on his side. Harry knew how that felt. In fact, as time passed closer and closer to another all-out war with Voldemort it seemed likely that Harry was going to be in the same position. That he was going to be tailor made and trained to fight like one of those clones. That those in powers would send him into battle with little knowledge. That people were going to use him as a playing piece against each other with no consideration, thinking him as disposable.

Well, maybe that seemed a bit dramatic. But the signs were already there. After all, there were war meetings going on almost every night in the Black house. Certainly they would be talking about him. And yet he was always left on the other side of the door. There were his enemies, obviously the death eaters. But the Ministry should have been an ally and yet they were continuing to pump out bullshit news articles about how he was crazy, power hungry, attention seeking, or some hellish combination of the three. Perhaps there was hope. After all, Wayson Harris always managed to end every battle alive, if not completely okay. Though he also killed a lot of people and Harry was hoping that he would not have to do the same.

"We should be in there." George pipped up. He and Fred were suspiciously hunched over a table. Harry had wandered over earlier but it only looked like they were writing something up. The page was filled with numbers and symbols. But their wands were put away and nothing was smoking so Harry was content to leave it alone. It's not that he didn't like the twins playing pranks, but with a limited number of victims it was better to keep an eye on them.

"Yeah!" Ron agreed from the other side of the room. He had managed to badger Ginny into a game of chess. She was losing spectacularly but she had been too bored to think of any reason to disagree.

"They're not going to let you in. They are only allowing members of the order in. You have to be an adult to be a member of the order. And out of school." Hermione admonished, not happy to be interrupted by a conversation that they had many times before. She was with Harry, lounging around on an arm chair with a book. Hers, however, was some monstrosity about the value of using pi in advanced Arthimancy. Harry was a bit tired of the conversation as well. He agreed whole heartedly but that did not mean that they weren't rebuffed every time they tried to argue about them staying.

"The meeting is just about to start. We can go down and ask." Ginny interrupted. "It's not like it would hurt. And maybe if we don't demand or try to sneak in they might actually let us in." She reasoned. Hermione scoffed. However, no one had any good reason to say no. So they tramped downstairs and stood at the door of the kitchen. Since the meeting hadn't officially started yet the door was still open and unlocked. More demurely than they ever had before they walked in.

"What are you children doing here? You know the meeting is about to begin. Shoo! Go on upstairs."

"Mrs. Weasley," Hermione started, using her 'attentive pupil voice' that adults seemed to like. "We would like to stay, please. We have had to face He Who Must Not Be Named before. We just want to know what is going on. We promise to be quiet."

"We should let them stay." Sirius pipped up from his seat at the table. He had been sitting next to Remus, looking at some papers. "They should know what is going on, especially Harry." The man gave Harry a sly wink. A happy warmth filled Harry at the acknowledgment.

"They are just children. They haven't even taken their OWLs yet." Mrs. Weasley hissed, ignoring the indignant shouts from the twins. "This is a meeting for adults. And Albus said that we do not need to tell them anything more than they need to know."

"That may be," Remus said, using his calm tones to soothe the ruffled feathers that were starting to rise. "But you have to agree that they are more than just normal children. Perhaps it may be good that they sit in. After all, this is just an update meeting. Nothing too . . . significant will be talked about. It may be a good one for them to sit in on." There was an excited murmur from the children's group, glad to have the support. Mrs. Weasley was about to rebuff him but there was a sudden flair as the fireplace lit up. Out stepped the headmaster, looking a bit ridiculous in bright pink robes covered in otters holding hands.

"Good evening everyone." He greeted as the fireplace lit up again and Professor Snape walked out. Of fucking course. Snape was a spy. He had admitted as much to Harry not a few weeks ago. Of course he knew about the secret society that they were using to fight Voldemort. Harry felt anger bubble up inside of him. The man who he had trusted the most to tell him what he needed to stay safe had not told him about this? What else has he not told him? He had to know that it was not fair. The man in question looked a little shocked to see him there, though you would really have to know the man to be able to differentiate it on his normal sneering face. With a small sharp shake of his head he stopped Harry in his tracks. He had just noticed that he had angled his body to go and confront the potions master about the deception. That was when he remembered that no one here knew the relationship between the two of them. Most people still assumed that they hated each other. A few people knew that they had supplemental lessons together and had migrated to a working dislike. Either way, a confrontation in front of everyone would end up with trouble.

While Harry had been thinking about this an additional conversation had been going on between the headmaster and the various adults. Harry retuned in just as the conversation had been winding down.

"-understand your concerns Molly. Perhaps it will be okay if they sit in on this one. So long as we watch what we say and they stay silent." He glanced at the little group but did not make eye contact with Harry. Molly Weasley huffed and turned to them.

"Ginny go upstairs." She demanded, using her finger to direct.

"But mom!"

"No young lady! No matter what the Headmaster says you are too young and I am your mother." With an angry grumble and a slammed door the youngest Weasley left. There was a momentary shuffle as people sat in their seats. The Harry and his group had chairs transfigured for them and set against a back wall. Then the meeting began.

"Bill. I know you will have to be leaving soon. Will you give us an update on your work?" Dumbledore started. Bill Weasley, who had been out of sight sitting at the edge of the room where he had been talking to his father.

"The goblins won't join us. Same as last time, they are staying as neutral as possible. They will not allow the Death Eaters to do anything illegal, which is all that they can promise us. As long as their business is legal they will be allowed to do as they wish." Bill explained in a surprisingly deep tenor. "The Curse breakers I have spoken to will try to stay neutral as well. The goblins hate being dragged into messes and this is exactly that."

"Thank you Bill." Dumbledore said, not sounding surprised. Bill nodded before disappearing into the fireplace. "Severus. Can you update us on what Voldemorts movements are?" Ignoring the gasps of those who didn't like the name. Severus answered in a clear and smooth voice.

"The Dark Lord is content to stay out of the lime light for the time being. While he is making some small moves to call back all those who are loyal to him, he is not planning on any attacks as of late. He believes that the chaos that is created by the minister denying his existence will be to his advantage. He has many plans to collect power and people which will be easier if people are not expecting him to appear. He has been holding his plans close to his chest. He has not divulged them to me."

"Then what use are you?" Sirius grumbled, glaring at the potions master. The man in question raised an imperious eyebrow before glancing around the room, sweeping his eyes across the walls and the ceiling. It was well known that Sirius was trapped in the house, unable to do anything because of the bounty on his head. Snape as content to silently point out the cage the Sirius was forced to put himself in. Sirius growled but Dumbledore raised a hand to stop the argument before anything started.

"Well that is both good and bad news. At least that means we will not have to work at protecting against raids and attacks. However it is unsettling to know that the man has plans. Severus, please try to learn all that you can about those campaigns. It would be good to know what he is looking for and how he plans to use it." Snape nodded sharply and settled back in his chair.

"And what about adding people to our ranks?" Dumbledore opened the question to the group.

"I have had no luck." A woman that Harry didn't know answered.

"I know someone who might be interested but that is the best that I have gotten." A man piped up afterwards.

"Even I haven't managed to convince anyone." Arthur said softly.

"No surprise there." Mundungus Fletcher, a creepy little man that Harry had the displeasure to get to know over the last few days. "You guys don't have the best reputation. Look around." He sniffed loudly, hacking disgustingly.

'What do you mean?" Arthur asked.

"Well I mean, you are sitting next to a murder." The grimy man pointed at Sirius with a wicked grin. "And a werewolf. And an ex-death eater. Even if you weren't, it's not like you have the support of the ministry."

"Fudge is a fool." A man hissed. There was a murmur of agreement.

"That is true but he is a fool with power." Snape interrupted, dampening the little bit of humor that came with the statement.

"He thinks Dumbledore is after his job." Tonks piped up, her hair a startling blue. "He thinks that the headmaster is trying to make everyone scared so that he can take over." The look of absolute disgust and exhaustion at the stupidity on Snapes face was hilarious and Harry had to try not to laugh.

"He has threatened to fire anyone who spoke out of line at the ministry. Anyone who sounds like they agree with Dumbledore ends up packing up their stuffs by the end of the day. People aren't really willing to risk that type of loss on the word of the Headmaster. Not that I blame them." Remus explained.

"And with the Dark Lord laying low there is not really proof that they need to join the resistance. Without definite proof it will be difficult to get people out to fight. That is something that the Dark Lord is hoping for." Snape hissed out.

"So we are up shits creek and without a paddle. No one will be willing to fight unless He Who Must Not Be Named shows himself. And he won't do so for that very reason." Sirius cursed.

"Very good Black. You can hear someone speaking plain English and repeat it again." Snape sneered, sharing a glare with the man. There was a silent stare down. Remus elbowed Sirius to make him stop and Dumbledore cleared his throat. Harry felt a twinge in his stomach as the two poked jabs at each other. Neither seemed to be backing down from their animosity. He hated that. But they were the adults and nothing Harry had said or would said would do much to affect their relationship.

After that the meeting slowed down. There was a talk about funding. They spoke about current figures and who they can go to for donations. They spoke about safe houses and their current status. There was some talk about people and positions. However, it was very obvious that the adults were censoring themselves. There were no names, not of places or of people. He, she, and they but no real names. That place or that thing was littered all over the place but not a single specific thing. It was frustrating. They had been let into the meeting but it seemed it was only a courtesy. There was real information but they weren't giving it.

"Now there are some other things that we need to discuss. If all those not officially sworn into the Order could leave?" Dumbledore asked, but really ordered. He wanted to protest but Snape caught his eye and shook his head, stopping whatever had had planned. Silently he tried to convey that he wanted to speak to the man after everything. It resulted in what was probably a terrifically awkward wide eyed, pierced lip, twitchy head expression. But it seemed to work. The man gave a quiet, imperceptible sigh but nodded his head.

"I can't believe that they kicked us out!" Ron howled, just as upset as Harry felt.

"Really Ronald. You got what you wanted. You still got to sit in on a meeting. It makes sense that there was some stuff they couldn't tell us." Hermione tried to placate but it wasn't really working. Ron continued to grumble, with the twins piping up at every opportunity. Hermione was trying to talk about secrets and adults and responsibility. But no one really wanted to hear that, including Harry. Whatever Dumbledore had to say at the end of the meeting was apparently very short. Soon the door was open again and people were streaming out. Harry saw Snape standing alone in a corner. The dark man jerked his head for Harry to follow. Harry did so, slipping between people and into an empty room.

"Harry." Snape greeted, keeping a blank face.

"Really? That's all you have to say?" Harry demanded.

"What do you mean?" Snape goaded.

"You didn't tell me about the Order! You had been coming here for weeks and you didn't think to tell me that there was a secret organization that is supposed to fight Voldemort. You didn't think I would fucking want to know that?" Harry demanded, trying to resist the urge to stomp his foot like a petulant child. He did stop himself though. There was little more that Snape disliked than someone acting like a child. Really the man should not have gone into teaching.

"Potter. I assume you have spoken to Miss Granger since you have been here?" He purred.

"Well, yeah." Harry shrugged.

"Then I assume that you know that those who are in the order cannot speak or communicate its existence to those who are not in the order." He explained slowly, as if Harry was being particularly stupid.

"So you couldn't tell me. . . How did you know that Hermione was trying to tell me?" Harry asked.

"I could smell the smoke." He smirked.

"So that means that Alex doesn't know anything?" Here Snape paused.

"I would not say that."

"So he is part of the Order?"

"I would not say that either."

"That doesn't make any sense." Harry complained, nose wrinkled.

"Yes well. Alex was never officially informed of the Orders existence. I never told him nor would I be able to. He still knows. He has never told me how he knows, and I have never bothered to ask." Snape said, a strange look passing over his face. Harry desperately wanted to prod more but he didn't. This was just another one of those things. Snape and Dawsen always had a mysterious past and they had never budged when Harry asked.

"But this is good. That means that you can tell me what is going on in the meetings!" Harry said, smiling happily. He paused when he saw the expression on Snapes face. "What?"

"I will not be telling what happens in those meetings."

"What? Why the fuck not?"

"Language." He admonished.

"Screw my language. Why won't you tell me? I have the right to know. It's not fair!" Harry yelped.

"I do hate platitudes but you are aware that life is not fair?" Snape sneered, obviously displeased that he is being yelled at. Harry just glared in response to the retort.

"You told me to make things fair! That I take advantage of every way to protect myself, even when people won't give it to me! Yet you here doing the exact fucking thing that you said was wrong."

"Potter!" Snape boomed, stopping the yelling boy in his tracks. Snape rarely yelled. Sneered, sniped, insulted, and glowered. Yelling though, was a rarity. Harry was sure that Snape would not lash out at him. Obviously though, he had crossed the line.

"I told you to protect yourself." Snape hissed, taking a step forward so that they were within arm's reach. "I told you to do what you need to make sure you survive. What part of joining a war that you have no hope of fighting sounds like protecting yourself?"

"I'm not-" Harry was interrupted.

"You are asking to join a war council. You are demanding to be included in the fight, whether you think that is what you are doing or not. You are asking to be privy to information that would make you a direct liability and an additional boon for any person who would wish to capture you." Snape loomed angrily.

"I just want to know!" Harry yelped in response.

"There is nothing in those meetings that will actually effect you, not yet and not for a while. In fact, the information in those meeting will most likely cause you more harm just by association. Recent history does not work in your favor. What do you do whenever you hear about an issue? You run off with your wand raised, leaving behind all the people who are actually supposed to be fighting. Like a bull headed Gryffindor you run towards danger without knowing anything. Right now you cannot protect yourself from even the most basic of attacks. You will not be able to join in any of the battles that are coming. You are a half trained school boy looking to jump into the middle of a conflict of, not only fully trained wizards, but battle hardened and particularly viscous. So far you have managed to save your skin because the Dark Lord has been consumed with killing you himself in a flashy and dramatic way. I know for a fact that will not last. You do not need to be in those meetings. You need to learn and develop your skills if you want any hope of surviving this travesty."

"But what if there is other information that can help? I don't need to fight but they can't keep me in the dark." He pleaded. Snapes' expression softened slightly. Not that it would have been noticeable to someone who was not familiar with the man. But the tightness of his lips loosened and the crease in his brown weakened.

"If there is any information that is directly related to your safety I will make sure that you are aware. Past that I will not be giving you any information." The man said, his tone a bit calmer.

"Why not?" Harry demanded.

"Because you cannot keep it safe. What we say in those meetings could affect lives, cause death. Anyone in those meetings will be expected to protect their minds from tricks and intrusions. You have not even begun your study on occlumency. That ring," He pointed to the silver ring he had given Harry to help protect your mind. "Is not strong enough for the things we will say."

"But not everyone in there knows occlumency! You said that it was hard to learn that." Harry reasoned.

"Many of them do." Snape snipped back. "And those who don't know the basics know ways to protect themselves. They know the charms and actions that can deflect those techniques. They know the symptoms of an attack and can actually work to avoid them. Skills you do not have and will take a while for you to learn.

"You do not understand how important the information that you would be listening to is. Even today, you and your friends learned critical information. Just by knowing the faces of the people in this meeting is dangerous."

"Really?" Harry said softly. He wasn't really happy about how the conversation was going. Every time he was trying to reason his way in Snape was shooting him down. Even more frustratingly was that the professor wasn't wrong on the things he said. Harry hadn't been practicing blocking his mind. Snape had told him that he would need it but he had unconsciously relied on the ring to protect him. And he couldn't promise that if he heard anything that he thought he could stop himself from taking action. He did have a tendency to "run off like a madman towards certain death with lofty ideals of saving the world with nothing but delusional self-confidence and a stick", a direct quote from the man. He and Snape had that conversation many times to unsatisfactory endings for Harry.

"Many of those people work for the ministry. The minister is interested in purging everyone who had an association with the headmaster in his oblivious paranoia. Being at this meeting is proof enough. Do you not think that the Dark Lord would use that information to his benefit? With little effort he could eliminate a large amount of his enemies from positions of power. Then those people can be easily replaced with people closer to his sympathies or too foolish to fight against him. People lose their jobs, their safety, and their power. If he took the effort, he could also hunt these people down. Kill and torture them." He sneered, not mincing his words. "Even if you don't understand a word we say. Even if everyone manages not to let a single secret slip in your presence, it does not mean that you do not know dangerous information.

"If you want to protect yourself, you need to train. Protect your mind. Learn the things you need to protect your body. Practice. That way when you do have to fight. When you are unable to avoid that war any longer, you will be much more prepared to actually protect yourself and others."

"Don't go looking for trouble. It will give you everything you ask for and ten times more." Snape said, looking heavily into Harrys eyes. Harry hung his head and nodded, feeling a little scolded. At least the man told him that he would let him know if there was anything important to him. It was the best he was going to get, it seemed. Maybe, had he talked to another adult he could have talked his way into it. But after that run down, his desire to join in had dimmed greatly. He was still worried though. Snape had kept his promise incredibly vague. Not that Harry thought the man would ever not be purposefully vague when making such promises. "Let the adults fight this war. Your time will come sooner than you wish."

"Okay."

"Good." Snape straightened up, tucking his hands behind his back. "We have been in here too long. If you have any issues, contact me. There should not be anything else until school starts."

"Yes sir." Harry replied softly.

"Study hard Harry. In this old house there are many things to find. Things that Hogwarts will not teach you. It would be to your advantage to find such things." And with that he left, sweeping out the door. Harry left the room just to see the flash of the fireplace.

"What was that about?" Ron sidled up beside him.

"Nothing. I was just asking about our essay." Harry lied, a bit distracted. His thoughts whirled around in his head. "Listen, do you want to go play a game of chess?"