Harry took a deep breath and asked "Where's Voldemort?" Another shudder from Tori. "What's he doing? I've been trying to watch the Muggle news, and there hasn't been anything that looks like him yet, no funny deaths or anything—"

"That's because there haven't been any funny deaths yet,"  Sirius said, "Not as far as we know, anyway... And we know quite a lot."

"More than he thinks we do, anyway," Lupin added. Tori wanted to jump in and ask if her family had been spotted doing anything but bit her tongue.

"How come he's stopped killing people?" Harry asked. Everyone knew Voldemort had murdered more than once in the last year alone.

"Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself," Sirius shrugged as if it was no big deal. "It would be dangerous for him. His comeback didn't come off quite the way he wanted it to, you see. He messed it up."

"Or rather, you messed it up for him," said Lupin, with a satisfied smile.

"How?" Harry asked, perplexed.

"You weren't supposed to survive!" Sirius told him. "Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But you survived to bear witness."

Nobody apart from his Death Eaters. Nobody apart from Tori's father and Avalon.

"And the very last person he wanted to be alerted to his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore," Lupin said. "And you made sure Dumbledore knew at once."

"How has that helped?" Harry asked.

"Are you kidding?'' Bill asked incredulously. "Dumbledore was the only one You-Know-Who was ever scared of!"

"Thanks to you, Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix about an hour after Voldemort returned," Sirius continued.

"So, what's the Order been doing?" Harry asked, looking around at them all.

"Working as hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans," said Sirius.

"How d'you know what his plans are?" Harry asked what everyone was thinking."

"Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea," Lupin replied. ''And Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate."

''So what does Dumbledore reckon he's planning?"

''Well, firstly, he wants to build up his army again," said Sirius. "In the old days, he had huge numbers at his command: witches and wizards he'd bullied or bewitched into following him, his faithful Death Eaters, a great variety of Dark creatures. You heard him planning to recruit the giants; well, they'll be just one of the groups he's after. He's certainly not going to try and take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters."

Tori went pale causing Fred to place a hand on her shoulder to stead her upright. "Are you alright?" He whispered, but Tori waved him off.

"So you're trying to stop him getting more followers?"

''We're doing our best," said Lupin.

''How?"

''Well, the main thing is to try and convince as many people as possible that You-Know-Who really has returned, to put them on their guard," Bill signed. "It's proving tricky, though."

''Why?"

''Because of the Ministry's attitude,'' Tonks spike up for the first time. "You saw Cornelius Fudge after You-Know-Who came back, Harry. Well, he hasn't shifted his position at all. He's absolutely refusing to believe it's happened."

''But why?" Harry asked desperately. "Why's he being so stupid? If Dumbledore—"

''Ah, well, you've put your finger on the problem,' said Arthur with a wry smile. "Dumbledore."

''Fudge is frightened of him, you see," said Tonks sadly.

''Frightened of Dumbledore?"

''Frightened of what he's up to," Arthur told him. "Fudge thinks Dumbledore's plotting to overthrow him. He thinks Dumbledore wants to be Minister for Magic."

''But Dumbledore doesn't want—"

''Of course, he doesn't, he's never wanted the Minister's job, even though a lot of people wanted him to take it when Millicent Bagnold retired. Fudge came to power instead, but he's never quite forgotten how much popular support Dumbledore had, even though Dumbledore never applied for the job."

''Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore's much cleverer than he is, a much more powerful wizard, and in the early days of his Ministry he was forever asking Dumbledore for help and advice," said Lupin. "But it seems he's become fond of power, and much more confident. He loves being Minister for Magic and he's managed to convince himself that he's the clever one and Dumbledore's simply stirring up trouble for the sake of it."

''How can he think that?" Harry demanded angrily. "How can he think Dumbledore would just make it all up—  that I'd make it all up?"

''Because accepting that Voldemort's back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn't had to cope with for nearly fourteen years," said Sirius bitterly. "Fudge just can't bring himself to face it. It's so much more comfortable to convince himself Dumbledore's lying to destabilize him."

''You see the problem,' Lupin spoke once again. "While the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place. What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumor-mongering, so most of the wizarding community are completely unaware anything's happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperius Curse."

''But you're telling people, aren't you?" said Harry, looking around at Arthur, Sirius, Bill, Mundungus, Lupin, and Tonks. "You're letting people know he's back?"

They all smiled humourlessly.

''Well, as everyone thinks I'm a mad mass-murderer and the Ministry's put a ten thousand Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?" said Sirius restlessly.

''And I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community,' said Lupin. "It's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf."

Tori muttered something not so nice about Snape under her breath.

"Tonks and Arthur would lose their jobs at the Ministry if they started shooting their mouths off," Sirius continued but smiled at Tori as if he had heard her. "And it's very important for us to have spies inside the Ministry because you can bet Voldemort will have them."

''We've managed to convince a couple of people, though,' said Arthur. "Tonks here, for one —  she's too young to have been in the Order of the Phoenix last time, and having Aurors on our side is a huge advantage — Kingsley Shacklebolt's been a real asset, too; he's in charge of the hunt for Sirius, so he's been feeding the Ministry information that Sirius is in Tibet."

''But if none of you are putting the news out that Voldemort's back—" Harry began.

''Who said none of us are putting the news out?" Sirius asked. "Why d'you think Dumbledore's in such trouble?"

''What d'you mean?"

''They're trying to discredit him,' said Lupin. "Didn't you see the Daily Prophet last week? They reported that he'd been voted out of the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards because he's getting old and losing his grip, but it's not true; he was voted out by Ministry wizards after he made a speech announcing Voldemort's return. They've demoted him from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot—  that's the Wizard High Court—  and they're talking about taking away his Order of Merlin, First Class, too."

''But Dumbledore says he doesn't care what they do as long as they don't take him off the Chocolate Frog Cards,' Bill grinned, causing a light chuckle to go around the room.

''It's no laughing matter,' said Arthur sharply. "If he carries on defying the Ministry like this he could end up in Azkaban, and the last thing we want is to have Dumbledore locked up. While You-Know-Who knows Dumbledore's out there and wise to what he's up to he's going to go cautiously. If Dumbledore's out of the way—  well, You-Know-Who will have a clear field."

''But if Voldemort's trying to recruit more Death Eaters it's bound to get out that he's come back, isn't it?" Harry asked desperately.

''Voldemort doesn't march up to people's houses and bang on their front doors, Harry," said Sirius. "He tricks, jinxes and blackmails them. He's well-practiced at operating in secret. In any case, gathering followers is only one thing he's interested in. He's got other plans too, plans he can put into operation very quietly indeed, and he's concentrating on those for the moment."

''What's he after apart from followers?" Harry asked swiftly. Sirius answered, ''Stuff he can only get by stealth."

When everyone continued to look puzzled, Sirius said, ''Like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time."

''When he was powerful before?"

''Yes."

''Like what kind of weapon?" Harry asked. "Something worse than the Avada Kedavra?"

''That's enough!"

Molly spoke from the shadows beside the door. Harry hadn't noticed her return from taking Ginny upstairs. Her arms were crossed and she looked furious.

''I want you in bed, now. All of you,' she added, looking around at Fred, George, Tori, Ron, and Hermione.

''You can't boss us—" Fred began.

''Watch me," Molly snarled. She was trembling slightly as she looked at Sirius. "You've given Harry plenty of information. Any more and you might just as well induct him into the Order straight away."

''Why not?" Harry asked quickly. "I'll join, I want to join, I want to fight."

''No.''

It was not Molly who spoke this time, but Lupin.

''The Order is comprised only of overage wizards," He said. "Wizards who have left school,' He added, as Fred and George opened their mouths. Tori crossed her arms, mumbling under her breath. ''There are dangers involved of which you can have no idea, any of you... I think Molly's right, Sirius. We've said enough."

Sirius half-shrugged but did not argue. Molly beckoned imperiously to her sons. One by one they stood up and Harry, recognizing defeat, followed suit. Tori stayed behind, getting up slowly.

"Bill, can I talk to you about... something with Gringotts?" Tori went up to the eldest Weasley, who nodded.

"Of course. What's going on?" He asked.

"I need help moving money out of my vault— without alerting my parents," Tori whispered, repeating herself several times so Bill could hear her.

"May I ask why?" Bill scrunched his eyebrows together, confused. Tori hesitated but decided that he would have to know why to help her. "My siblings sent me a warning. Once I graduate, my parents are going to try and seal my vault."

and i oop