As Sirius stood in front of the Weasley's Floo, he leaned over, one person at a time, and gave them the secret to his house, barring Tonks who already knew. Each person nodded to him and stepped into the Floo. Nymphadora first.
"Mum," Tonks said as she brushed the ashes off. She went to hug her mother. The Floo flared again, making Andi jump a bit, especially when Moody came out. Then flared more, letting the rest through.
"Nymphadora, I didn't expect you back so soon and with company. Sirius, I thought you were keeping the house hidden from the Order," Andi said, composing herself, and releasing the hug. She looked at Sirius with a quirked eyebrow.
"Things got a bit out of hand," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yes, they tend to do that around you," she replied, then looked at the rest of the group.
"Albus is being his usual self and not telling anyone anything," the dark-haired man explained, huffing as he sat at the table. "You know how he is. So, I kinda let them all know what we know. Then he tried to quash it, so I asked these guys if they wanted to help," Padfoot defended himself as he waved to the rest, who were settling at the table.
"I don't know how such a pacifist could try and lead a group of vigilantes. Don't get me wrong, Albus is a good friend. But his don't kill orders are annoying. Still, he was the only one trying to do anything," Moody said, thumping down in a chair, letting his wooden leg slid forward. "Andi," he greeted with a nod.
"Alastor, it's been a while," Mrs. Tonks said, with a return nod in her old friend's direction. While they hadn't been in school together, they did know each other from mutual friends. It had been a very long time since she had seen him.
"Good to see you too," Alastor said, taking a seat as he looked around the very tidy room. "Like what you did with the place," he said, glancing at the many house elves standing around waiting for orders. He never really trusted house elves. The ones he knew worked loopholes like pros. He respected them for it, but it made him trust them a lot less. If house elves could be sorted, most would go into Slytherin.
"Yes, it is homier now," Remus agreed, taking a seat next to Moody.
"I got some new house elves," Sirius said with a deep sigh. He hadn't intended to hijack people from the Order, but Albus' brushoff was grating. "Dinky, some tea, please," he called out as he sat at the head of the table.
A few seconds later biscuits, rolls, some triangle sandwiches and tea appeared. Many of the occupants reached for something and then settled back.
"So, to repeat your earlier question," Bill said, snagging a biscuit from the center of the table, "why are we here?"
"Hold on a moment, Bill," Sirius said, holding up his hand and turning to his cousin. "Andi, can you keep the kids upstairs? As much as I hate to keep things from them, this needs to be discussed first," he asked, taking the teacup Dinky had just brought him. "Make sure the twins don't use their extendable ears, please. As much as I love their inventions, this needs to stay in this room. We'll suss out what to tell them later."
"Is it dangerous?" she asked, looking around like evil was going to pop up any second. Her hand straying to her wand.
"Not at the moment," he answered with a shrug. "However, it can get that way if the wrong people know about it," he finished, once again shrugging.
Then he cringed a bit when Andi gave him a look. Her pureblood upbringing made her want to chastise him. Purebloods don't shrug. He just smirked at her, while Tonks giggled. It was a bad habit he picked up in school. Something that made his mother furious. She hated his causal ways and did her very best to beat it out of him. That was one of the reasons he ran away.
"I'll do my best," she said with a sniff, glaring at her rebellious daughter, who just smirked back.
Tonks took after her dad, who only had the minimal manners needed for a lawyer. Which were high in the courtroom, or boardroom, but when at home, he was more of a couch potato. It had infuriated her at first, but after years of marriage, she just went with it. Still, her upbringing did make her want to jinx those that knew better.
"That's all I can ask with that bunch," Sirius chuckled, and gave her a wink. He knew she could keep the twins in line. She had Bellatrix as a sister, and from what he heard, before she ran off and married Ted, Andi was the one in charge. Sometimes he wondered if Bella went mad because Andi left. Something he'd probably never know.
"You'll keep me, and Ted, informed?" she asked, looking back as she came to the doorway.
"Yeah, just let us think up a plan," he answered, relaxing a bit more now that he was doing something.
"Very well then. Nymphadora, come find me when this meeting is over," she said as she opened the door and went through. She locked and warded the door and went to find the teens. She had a few ideas on how to keep them occupied. Like maybe teaching them a few new spells for everyday things.
After they felt the wards go up, everyone relaxed a bit.
"Okay, so we know Voldy has horcruxes," Bill started, leaning back in his chair. "Do we know what any of them are?"
"I have one, possibly two," Sirius confessed, and called Kreacher. "Kreacher," he said when the elf popped in, "get the iron box out of the safe, please."
The elf popped away, and reappeared in a matter of seconds, box in hand. "Does Master need Kreacher to open the box?" Kreacher asked, holding the box out for Sirius to take.
"No, I spelled it to only open for me," Sirius said, taking the box and putting it on the table. "Thanks, Kreacher, you can go."
The elf bowed and left.
"Kreacher brought this to me. Regulus, my brother, stole it from Tom. It was his last act, defying Voldy," the man explained, bitterness tingeing his voice. So much time lost with his brother. He sighed and put those thoughts away for now.
"Open it up. Let's see what it is," Kingsley said, leaning forward to get a good look at what old Tom might have used to make his horcrux.
Sirius waved his wand over the box and it snapped open. Evil permeated the air, and everyone leaned back. They could almost taste the vileness that came from the necklace. It made the air rank. Many screwed up their noses and held their hands over their mouths. Sirius wondered why the evil was more predominate than it had been but brushed it off as it being locked up for a while. Maybe it was a bit sentient and was trying to escape all this time. Who knew? It was part of a soul after all.
"Isn't that Slytherin's locket?" Moody asked, examining it with his magical eye. The oppressiveness wore down, and everyone could breathe again. "I know Tom said he was the heir, but I didn't know he found anything belonging to the man," he finished, still looking over the evil thing.
"I don't know, probably," Sirius answered, pushing the box in the middle of the table.
Bill stood up and came around the table and peered inside. He waved his wand in an extraordinarily complex manner and said, "Socios inveniet". When he finished, six beams of dark blue light flew from the necklace. "Shite," he said, waving his wand again.
This time a piece of parchment popped up with a quill and inkpot. The quill started writing for a few seconds, then disappeared along with the inkpot. He snatched the parchment and started reading.
"Well, what does it say?" Moody asked, knowing just what Bill had done.
"There's five more. One in this house," he said, looking at Sirius. "The sixth light was for Tom, himself."
"Harry," the man said, sadness laced his voice. "I brought you here, not only to take out Voldy, but I need to save Harry," his tone was desperate. He knew if anyone could save his godson, these people would, or at least point him in the right direction.
Bill smiled, placed a hand on Sirius' shoulder. "We will," he said firmly.
"You know how?" The dogman perked up immediately.
"Of course. My time in Egypt taught me many things. One, is that these vile pieces of dung are pretty much worthless. Sure, they keep you tied to this plane, but they are easily dispelled. That and if left alone they will only live a normal life span. The soul is finite, it has an expiration date. The people who wrote the books on how to make one, were lying. They don't make you live for ever. You're just harder to kill during your life span.
"Oh, well I guess that explains why Herpo the Foul isn't around anymore," Tonks said, tapping her chin in thought.
"Exactly," Bill said triumphantly. "Now the one in Harry will be tricky. We'll have to go to Gringotts to get it out, but it can be done," the redhead explained, taking the seat next to Sirius.
"Where are the others, lad?" Moody asked again, putting aside the notion that Potter was connected to Riddle. He'd have to keep an eye on the teen, not out of mistrust, but to make sure the evil doesn't take over.
"Let's see, one is in a town called Little Hangleton. I've never heard of it, so it must be a muggle town. Good thing the coordinates are here, we can check it out when we're done here. Besides being warded by… Riddle, it should be the easiest," he read off, squinting at the paper like the words were small.
The others looked at each other and nodded.
"That sounds like a plan," Tonks said, smiling at Bill. She was overwhelmingly happy that finally progress was being made to end this war. She, like the rest here, had been frustrated at the lack of action in the Order. Dumbledore for all his greatness, was not a fighter. Sure, he had some tricks up his sleeve that she would probably never match, but he believed that all life was sacred and should not be taken. She didn't subscribe to that.
"There're two in Wiltshire, I think one is Tom. Its power signature is higher than the rest. They are together, so it might not be as easy. I wish this spell told me what the items were," the curse breaker grumbled. "The next one, I'm going to have to speak to the goblins about. It's in London's Gringotts," he sighed heavily, hoping that the goblins would help. They were very much for staying out of wizarding conflicts, but they could be bought. It would jus take a lot. Perhaps, he could get Sirius to part with all the goblin made silver scattered about the place.
Then again, goblins took issue with soul magic. When they took Harry in, he'd talk to Ragnok. If anyone could get this item, it would be him.
"And the last?" Kingsley asked, putting his biscuit down he had been holding. The evil in the air made him lose his appetite.
"Hogwarts," was the answer. "But the wards are preventing me from pinpointing it. Like the one in Gringotts. I know it's there, but not which part of the castle."
"Is there a spell that will tell us when we are getting close? If we can teach the kids, they might be able to look for it this coming school year," Sirius asked, thinking up plans to get what they needed.
"Yeah, I'll teach the twins. They're of age," the oldest Weasley said, still glaring at the parchment like it was keeping secrets from him.
"Great, we have the directions," Kingsley said, leaning forward again to get a good feel of the necklace. "I vote Bill, Remus and Moody do the treasure hunting in Little Hangleton, while Tonks and I, do some recon at Wiltshire. Malfoy lives there, and rumor has it so does Tom. I don't want to pop up in that living room," he added, taking out his wand and waving it over the necklace, doing the same spell as Bill.
"Do we want to get rid of them all at the same time, so that Tom doesn't realize that we're trying to kill him?" Tonks asked, taking the parchment from Kingsley and memorizing it.
"That's a good idea, Tonks," Sirius said, taking Bills parchment and glancing over it. "There's no telling if he could feel their… deaths or not. So, I'll find some more boxes, and we can keep them in my safe. Hey, Bill, how will they get it out of Harry?"
"Well, I can't tell you that. It's a goblin secret. Only their most trusted shaman knows," he answered, closing the box and making the last feelings of evil dissipate.
"Right, so we have a plan," Moody said gruffly, standing and taking the parchment from Tonks. "Let's put it into action."
With that the adults, bar Sirius, who wanted to put the necklace away and talk to the kids, left via the front porch.
Sirius really hoped that it was all a simple as Bill said. He really hated that Albus didn't do this ages ago. His godson was in danger, and that man didn't even ask a curse breaker if he could help. Maybe, Albus was going senile.
Sirius knew he was not an expert in dispelling curses like the rest. It had been years since he was an Auror, so he'd let them handle it. Still, now that he thought about it, he might want to brush up on fighting, maybe teach the kids a thing or two. With that in mind, he headed up the stairs.
When he reached the top, he listened to where everyone was. He heard chuckling and headed towards the twins' room, which was the biggest, bar the master suite. Opening the door, he saw that everyone was sitting on any available floor space and they were laughing and playing a card game that seemed to be muggle.
Suddenly Fred called out, "Bullshit." And slammed a card down.
Harry groaned, and picked up the large pile in the middle.
"You need a better poker face, Harrykins," Fred said, cackling madly.
"Yeah, I'll get right on that," the Boy-Who-Lived grumbled.
Andi had to fight hard not to reprimand him. The first time was slightly embarrassing. They explained the rules, and she settled down to watch. Teens will be teens, after all.
"Language," Sirius said halfheartedly.
"Don't worry, Sirius, it's part of the game," Hermione said with a wrinkled nose. She wasn't playing, card games never appealed to her. "I don't know where Harry learned it from, but everyone else seems to be enjoying it."
"Dudley," came the succinct answer.
"Okay," the dogman said slowly, he thought Harry didn't get on with his cousin. "Anyway, put the cards up for now. I have something I need to talk to you all about."
"Sirius, are you sure you should be telling the Weasley children? They are not your charges," Andi said with a good deal of worry as she smoothed down her trousers in nervous habit.
"Even if I don't, Harry and his friends will just tell them anyway," he replied with a shrug. He would just have to word it all to be kid, well teen, friendly. Let them know that there is a danger, but not tell them the whole of it. The adults were already working on stopping most of it anyway. If worded carefully than they would at least know to be careful. He explained that to Andi, but she still pursed her lips.
"That's not true," Hermione denied.
"Well, it is on my part," Harry rebutted. "And I'll thank you for not putting words in my mouth," he snapped.
Hermione opened and closed her mouth a few times, but seeing Harry's glare, she backed off for the moment. Changing one's attitude, was not easy, but she really wanted to maintain her friendship with Harry and Ron. Still, there was probably a good reason that some secrets should remain secret.
"How about this? Hermione, Ginny, and Ron, you leave the room. Go do your homework, or something. That way if Harry or the twins feel you need to know, they can tell you," Sirius suggested rocking back on his heels. He wanted to chastise Hermione, but it wasn't his place. Still, she was working hard on curbing her pushy ways, so he had to give her credit.
"Fine," she huffed and left the room. If it was important, then Harry would tell her. Or at least tell her that he couldn't tell her. Either way, she would do her best to help in anyway she could.
"Do I have too?" whinged Ron as he stood undecided. He knew that Harry would tell him… hopefully. So why did he have to leave? He glanced at his best mate, who shrugged and nodded his head. Ron's shoulders slumped and he knew that this was an argument he would not win.
"I think it's for the best," Andi said, taking his and Ginny's arm and leading them away. Ginny protesting quite loudly, while Ron dragged his heels. "You two are minors, so it is not up to Sirius to go against your mum. The twins, however, are adults. They can decide for themselves," they heard her say before the door closed.
"Don't worry, Harrykins," Fred said, grinning like a loon,
"Fred and I know how," George said with a matching grin,
"To protect our minds," they said together.
"We learned from the best," Fred stated, digging in his pocket.
"Yeah, the Marauders were very insistent about that," George said, snatching the book that his brother produced.
"Said it was the only way they got away with their pranks," Fred added with a wink.
"Like we said, the best," George agreed.
"This little gem will teach you all you need to know," Fred added, taking the book back.
"We'd have given it to you sooner, but you're not really a prankster," George said, winking to his friend.
"What book is that?" Sirius asked, squinting his eyes to see the title of the book. He had his suspicions, but he wanted to hear them say it. Harry had told him last year that the twins had given his godson the Marauder's map, so he knew they had heard of his little group, but how did they find that book?
"This," Fred said, holding up a small green book.
"Found it after we got the map to work," George said, with a mischievous smile.
"Merlin, I haven't seen this since sixth year," Sirius said, summoning the book to his hands. "We wrote this and tucked it away in the library," he mused, thumbing through the pages. "It was spelled so that only future pranksters could find it and learn how to hide," he added, looking for something in particular.
"You wrote this?!" Fred and George asked, standing and stepping forward.
"Yeah, me, Remus, James and the traitor," the dogman said distractedly, finding what he was looking for. "Here, Harry, read up on this. It'll tell you how to keep people out of your mind. This was one of Moony's contributions. Basically, he tells how to set your mind up like a werewolf's, making it dangerous for anyone to take a peek," he explained, grinning evilly.
"It works too," Fred said, still looking at Padfoot.
"First time Snape tried after we got it, he was in the Hospital Wing for the rest of the day," George said, he too was still looking at one of their idols.
"Not even Dumbledore can break this method," Sirius agreed, still looking like he ate the canary.
Harry, who had been bouncing his head back and forth between the three, took the book and skimmed the page. It didn't look hard, but he could tell it might take a bit of meditation. Something he was very good at. Being locked in a cupboard for his childhood had taught him how to go into his mind for peace and calmness. But he was out of practice, because Hogwarts had him running for his life every year, no time to relax, but judging from what he was reading, it should take a week.
Thinking about that, he might want to practice meditating every night. It might make Hogwarts easier. All those life-threatening situations might be easier to handle if he could think clearly. Now that he thought about it, it was strange that he never did that at school. Something he was going to have to look into that later.
"Thanks," he said to all three. "I am going to share this with the others. Maybe then we can tell them more," he said, still reading. "That is if what you have to tell it us that classified, that is."
"Right, lets discuss that," Sirius said, then rubbed his chin. "What to tell you first?" he muttered mostly to himself. "Harry, there's really no nice way to put this, but there's some dark magic in your scar. I talked to Bill and he said he can remove it," he added quickly, making calming motions at his godson's horrified face.
"That's a relief," Harry sighed, slipping down his chair a bit. "Does this mean I won't be seeing Tom in my dreams?" he asked hopefully. He hated those visions.
"Well, I can't say you won't have nightmares, but any connection you have to the Dark Idiot should disappear," his godfather stated, making Harry slip down his chair further, like the world had been lifted off his shoulders. "Still, practice this Occlumency and that'll stop anyway."
"Right, okay. Anything else?" he asked, sitting up again.
"Well, there's one thing, but I warn you, this is only conjecture, but there might be a prophecy," Sirius said, watching the teen for his reaction. "Now, I don't place much faith in prophecies, but it seems that Tom and Albus are banking on what it says to see who wins the war."
"Well, that's just fucking dandy," Harry snarled, gripping the book tight, and looking at the carpet like it had wronged him. It did make sense though, why Dumbledore and Riddle were so fixated on him. He didn't have to like for it to be true.
"Language," Fred said lightly, trying to lift the mood, finally looking away from who he was sure was Padfoot.
"Yeah, mind your speech," George added jokingly, clapping a hand on Harry's shoulder.
"Sod off," the dark-haired teen replied, but he did smile. Fred and George had bigger potty mouths than he ever will. Comes from being repressed all their childhood.
"Fret not, Harry. Doesn't Trelawney predict your death every day?" Fred said, standing up and moving closer to Harry so they could boost his spirits.
"And look, you're still here," George added, waving his hand up and down to indicate that Harry was alive.
"Yeah, she does. However, my third year she gave a prophecy that Scabbers/Wormtail/Peter would disappear and go find Tom. That came true just like she said. So, I must believe that there are real prophecies," Harry said, putting his head in his hands.
"While that is true, I have a bit of a theory," Sirius said, scooting off the desk and crouching down in front of the distraught teen.
"What?" Harry asked, picking his head up and looking at his godfather.
"You see, prophecies are tricky things," the older man said, peering into his godson's eyes. They really did look like Lily's. "The more you try to thwart them, the more Fate decides that they need to come to pass."
"That doesn't make me feel better, Padfoot," Harry said, glaring that the man who was failing to make him feel better.
"No, see, what I'm trying to say is if you leave them alone, prophecies, they just sit there," he said, once more trying to calm Harry.
"That doesn't make sense, we didn't try and stop that last one, and Peter still got away," Harry said, wrinkling his brow as if trying to piece it together.
"Yeah, but we actually did try and keep him from running off. I'm sure that on a subconscious level you knew it was about the rat. So therefore, you tried to stop it," Sirius tried to explain.
"Maybe," came the doubtful reply.
"Look, there are thousands upon thousands of prophecies in the DoM that have never come to pass. They are all just sitting there in the room that the Unspeakables set up. They keep them around to study them, but only the person who heard the prophecy, or who it's about, can pick up the globe," the older man tried again. "So, in this case, only you or Riddle can hear the prophecy, if it is about you. Though, I'm sure Albus is the one who heard it, but he would not need to hear it again."
"So only me or Tom can get it?" the wary teen asked, wondering if he should go and take the damn thing.
"Yeah. Which is one of the reasons I told Dumbledore that guarding it was futile. I mean only you, Tom, and probably Albus, can get it. And I can tell you now that besides a very few members, no one in the Order can stand up to Tom," Sirius said, with a sniff. "Me being one of them," he added hauntingly.
The three teens snorted.
"How do you know this?" Fred asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"Oh, well, my great grandfather, Sirius the second, was an Unspeakable. He broke his vows with some pretty dark magic, and he wrote all about what they get up to down there. Well, during his time anyway," Sirius explained, his eyes glazed a bit in remembrance of reading that diary.
"What do they do down there?" Fred and George asked, leaning around Harry to peer at Sirius.
"Loads of stuff," Sirius answered, then waved it off. "I'll get you the diary if you want. I'll have to copy it; the original is cursed. Anyway, Harry, what I'm trying to say is, don't let this rule your life. Acknowledge it and move on."
"Yeah, okay, I'll try," Harry said, sitting up straighter and putting the forgotten book in his back pocket. It was small enough to just barely fit. "Do I need to return this book?" he asked the other three.
"Nah," the twins said, "we have it memorized."
"I helped write it, I already know what it says," Sirius said with a shrug. "However, when you've got it memorized, I'd like it if you put it back in the library. It's written for future pranksters. If you're worried about giving up something that belongs to you dad, I have a few things that I can give you," he offered, thinking of the communication mirrors.
"Thanks, guys," Harry said, grinning at all of them. "I'll think about putting it in the library. If we can make a permanent copy, that'd be great."
"Sound like a plan. Let me brush up on my Runes and Transfiguration," his godfather replied. "Anyway, I'm going to do some training and you guys, along with the other kids, are more than welcome to join me," the older man said, clapping Harry's shoulder and standing up.
"I'm in," all three of them said, then chuckled at each other.
"You can decide what you tell people," Sirius said, sitting back on the desk. "But I hope you understand that most of this can't get out. So, choose carefully what you tell anyone, friends or not."
"I think, and I hope the twins agree, that we should only say that there's a bit of a curse in my scar, and that Bill's going to remove it. I would feel better if the prophecy theory didn't get out," Harry stated, looking to his two friends. "When I'm done with this book, I'll teach them. It's better that they can protect their minds, regardless."
"Sounds like a good plan. Why don't you stay here, read that book? If you need help, come find me," Sirius said, getting off the desk and moving towards the door.
The twins quickly got up and followed him. He just knew they were going to pester him for tips, stories and such.
"Practice starts at seven. After dinner, so don't eat overly much," he said to Harry, who waved that he heard, and then left, hoping to dodge the twins until Moony got back, then he could foist them off on him.
On the other hand, maybe he should let them follow him to the den. He needed to take his mind off what the others were doing.