The meeting got underway as soon as the teens all trooped upstairs. Andi and Ted, as usual, went with them. They felt that they would be better served to tend the children, as well as keep up their jobs. Not that they needed them, now that Sirius had brought them back into the family, but still.
Sirius watched them leave and as soon as the doors sealed, he sat at the head of the table wondering how he wound up with the leadership of this unnamed group. "Alright, everyone, settle down. First, I have something to say. I talked to Fudge and Umbitch, I did tell them to leave me and mine alone, as well as a few other things, but I don't think they took me seriously."
"What else did you do, besides threaten them? Which by the way, I'm going to ignore," Amelia asked, hoping that she did not have to arrest this man tonight.
"I served Fudge some papers," Black said with a shrug, then grimaced, "I warned him to keep Harry away from his vitriol. He didn't listen. He'll find out tomorrow that he is an idiot. There was an article that was supposed to be printed in tomorrow's addition of the Prophet?"
"How did you find out? I mean if the paper doesn't come out until tomorrow, how did you learn about it?" Tonks asked, grabbing some of the leftover dessert.
"Oh, well, I have an in there," the dogman said, smugly, "and they sent it to me. It looks like my warning made the man stupider that I thought he was. Waters will be serving him papers in first thing in the morning. Amelia, that means were making it criminal, so heads up on that."
Madam Bones, Head of the DMLE, looked like Yule had come early. "I don't know whether to kiss you or hex you."
"Why would you want to hex me?" the confused man asked, knowing he was handing her a criminal on a silver platter.
"Paperwork," was all the answer that was needed, making anyone who had ever done paperwork, cringe, while the others laughed.
"Sorry," Sirius chuckled. "Also, I will be taking up my seat on the Board. I sent my confirmation in earlier this week. I made sure to tell them that Malfoy should have never sat in my chair. I let them know that I will be there, and there will be a reckoning."
"What about the Wizengamot?" Kingsley asked, sipping some strong coffee. His working with the group and doing his job was taking more of his sleep time than he liked. But it was infinitely better that working with Dumbledore had been. His vision was clear on that now. No more rose-colored glasses for him. Albus was not the man he thought he was.
"The Wizengamot is not scheduled until after the kids go back to school. So, I will take that seat back then. I'm done. Who else has news," he asked, sipping some firewhiskey.
"We scouted Malfoy Manor," Kingsley said, pointing between him and Bill. "There's no new news there."
"Damn," was the comment from quite a few.
"Alright, Tonks, how's your shadowing going?" Sirius asked his baby cousin.
"Alright, I guess. It's different being a boy. Not that I'm changing completely but being even half-male throws my balance off even more. That and I can't fly as well as Harry, so I'm going to have to quit the Quidditch team," she added, looking at the twins.
"We'll make up some excuse that Harry had a magical accident this summer. We'll hash it out before we go back," Fred said, with George nodding along. George was already writing down some scenarios on a piece of parchment, with Fred leaning over and pointing at things to add or change. "If need be, we'll even take the blame and call it a joke product gone wrong."
"Let me see what you come up with before you implement anything," Moody said, leveling his good eye at the two teens.
"Sure," Fred said, nodding in his direction.
"No problem," George agreed, not looking up from his musing.
Remus looked up from what he could see of the parchment that the twins were writing on. "Tonks, I think we can also come up with a few things to help your balance. One, is take the same dance lessons that Harry is taking. Or two, we can create some shoes that will keep you standing. Or both," he said to the young woman with an encouraging smile.
"Both, I think," she answered, thoughtfully. Truth be told, her mum never made her take lessons. It was always thought that she was too clumsy.
"Good, good," Sirius said, looking around the room. "Does anyone have anything else?"
"Snape told me that Albus told him that Harry is a horcrux. I set him straight, but the fact is that he came to me with that information. So, while I still want you to watch him, Tonks, try and see if he's… I don't know, changed, or no longer Albus' sycophant," Moody said, pinning her with his magical eye.
"I can do that," she said slowly.
"Great," the leader of this band of vigilantes, "who has time to teach Harry what he needs to know? Andi has etiquette," he added. "Ted is going over laws and such."
"I do," said Bill, Remus, Shacklebolt, Alastor and strangely Amelia.
"Amelia?" Moody questioned.
"I can come in the evenings and teach him some Auror tricks. Not that you can't, Alastor, just that I want to help," she said, shrugging her shoulders. It would take a bit of her time, but she wanted to stay in the loop.
"Alright, I think we've covered everything. Kings, you and Bill, keep a lookout on the Manor. Report any illegal doings to Amelia. Remus, you and Moody keep in contact with the underbelly, not Fletcher, see if you can get any news on what's going on there. I don't want to be surprised if Riddle gets up and army of… 'dark' creatures," Sirius said, handing out assignments.
"What will you be doing, Black?" Moody asked.
"Amelia and I are going to keep an eye on the Ministry," he answered. "We have a lot of people to keep an eye on. The place is crawling with Death Eaters. Makes me what to test the field and see if I can… never mind," he said when he spotted Amelia glaring at him. Then he got a wicked idea. He looked at the twins, who uncannily looked up, he nodded and winked.
They smiled.
"We're going to get some pranks together with Tonks here. We might come up with some stuff that will be helpful in a fight," Fred said, folding the parchment he and his brother had been working on. They played it off like they hadn't just made a deal with the devil. That's alright, they liked this devil.
"Yeah, with her input we could do some major damage," agreed George.
"We'll put our heads together tomorrow," Tonks said, nodding her agreement.
"Let us know what you come up with at the next meeting. I know you guys want to open a shop, and I'll help fund it. If you get good grades, and help Harry, or Tonks in this case, at school," Sirius offered, thinking on how smart these two kids were. They had to be geniuses, to do what they do. Not even the Marauders had come up with some of the stuff they did. Though, the Marauders were more charms and transfiguration, while the twins were more potions and, if he had to guess, alchemy.
"Truly," Fred said, excitedly.
"That would be wicked," George agreed.
"I'll even pitch in," Alastor said, shocking everyone. "What, I have gold, and I'm not betting on seeing the end of this war. I have no family, and these kids are doing good. Why not?" he huffed.
"Right, that's it for tonight, we'll meet again in a few days. If something comes up, just message one me or Alastor and we'll call another one. Not that most of you aren't staying here anyway, but Amelia and Kingsley need to be informed," Sirius said, standing and putting his glass in the sink.
Hphphp
Time went on, and many things just kinda stood still. While the teens and Tonks went out to see movies, after they all made sure that the summer homework was done and checked. It was a good time for them, but not such for the adults. The Weasleys were getting better about being in the nonmagical world. They were seeing more and more why their dad was fascinated with them. Though, they could also tell that their father was completely clueless.
From what they were learning, their dad never really got out into this world. It was more like he was learning by reading through a fishbowl or something. The man didn't even get what they were telling him about during their daily chats. It was kinda depressing. But they vowed to get the poor man some educational literature. Maybe that would open his eyes.
While the movies they watched were sometimes violent, Hermione and Harry assured them that, no, muggles don't have spaceships that can blow up the earth. That was a fun talk. Ron didn't sleep for days; he was so worried. It took Harry taking him to the library, where they got on the computer and Ron could read just how far every country was at in the space race. So while he still fretted, it wasn't as bad.
Susan came along with her friend Hanna. They didn't want to be in the manor when Amelia wasn't around. These two girls were more versed on the nonmagical world than the Weasleys. Though, they too had a lot to learn. Still, it was fun to have more people. That and the adults were teaching them too get away if there was trouble.
They never left the house without at least one adult with them. Be it one of the elder Tonkses, Tonks or Sirius. Amelia didn't go that often. She had too much work to do.
The group was at an impasse on getting the horcruxes. While they knew there were two at Malfoy Manor, including Riddle, the wards were just too risky to break until they got the other horcrux. As it was, the adults were making battle plans to storm the manor, for when the twins found the one at Hogwarts.
Dobby helped immensely when Harry pointed out that he used to be their elf. Sirius and Moody sat the elf down and drew up the blueprints of the place. Dobby knew were every hidden nook and cranny was, and he had no problem selling his old master out.
It was planned that when the look-a-like boys did find it, they would call Kreacher and he would retrieve it for them. Then when the adults had it in hand, they would then raid Malfoy Manor. Even Amelia was on board with that. She couldn't join, but she was going to look the other way. She warned Kinsley and Tonks not to get caught. She could not help them if they were indicated in any way.
They agreed, though, Tonks pointed out that she was going to be at Hogwarts. Probably, that all depended on how soon Umbridge messed up. The wagers were ten to one that it would be the first week. If that happened, then Tonks could leave. Which she would have to do anyway, because she would be the arresting officer.
Andi and Ted would stay at Grimmuald Place and destroy the horcruxes they had. As soon as they got a Patronus message to do so. There was a fresh stock of Basilisk venom, which Dobby had got from the Chamber. There was enough to do that job, and plans were made to see what could be salvaged from the rest of the corpse. But that was for later.
The biggest debate right now was whether or not to bring Harry. Since he wouldn't be in school, and they were going to do their best to train him. It was an open suggestion that he should be there to fulfill the prophecy that no one really believed it.
There were ideas, on how he could use his invisibility cloak to stay in the background and kill the snake, which they were 85% sure was the last horcrux. If he did, then anyone could kill the Dork Idiot. Since they didn't know the wording of the prophecy, they figured it was close the heck enough.
"I want to help," Harry said for what seemed like the millionth time.
"I know you do, and you will. But we've got to train you up a bit. Right now, Riddle is laying low, and Dumbledore it being useless, so we will use this time to get in some fighting lessons. None of the dueling shite, real fighting. Moody and Moony are going to start those when the others have gone off to Hogwarts," Sirius repeated for the millionth time. Yes, they had this conversation before. It wasn't that they were being obstinate, just that Harry wanted to get it over with now, while Sirius wanted to be cautious. His days of running headlong into battle were over.
"I know, you've said that, but I just feel like I'm wasting my time doing nothing," the teen complained, being stubborn as usual. "Those tricks you guys have been teaching us are only for getting away. I need to be able to fight. I know I said I wanted to wait for the rest to leave, but can't we start now?"
"Yes, we can," Sirius said, giving in, yet smirking. "Tonks!" he called up the stairs.
"What's up, cousin?" the metamorphous asked as she descended the steps.
"Can you change into Harry? I know you've been following him around for weeks now, but I want him to see what he'll look like when he learns to fight," the dogman said, folding his arms that smirk still playing on his lips.
"What? Sirius, you're not making sense," Tonks said, seeing the man was up to something.
"No, no, go ahead, I just what him to see how far he has to go," Sirius stated, waving his hand for her to get on with it.
"In the basement?" she asked, turning that direction.
"Yeah, that'll work," was the agreed answer.
The two men followed Tonks down the stairs, to a much-improved basement. Gone were the implements of torture and cells. In their place was a workout room, and a sparring room.
"How do you want to do this?" the metamorphmagus asked, changing into Harry. They had been working on her balance for weeks, and it showed. She no longer stubbled when she changed. And her dancing was coming along great. She should have done this years ago.
"Just a bit of a spar for now. Nothing over fifth year stuff. Also, make him dance," Sirius said, his grin never faltered, if anything it got bigger.
"Do you have any idea how weird it is to stare at yourself, knowing it's not you?" Harry said as he crossed to room to stand opposite of his double.
"Ask the twins," Sirius said, barking with laughter.
"Prat," Harry said, lifting his wand.
"Ready?" the not-Harry said, lifting her/his wand was well.
"Bring it," the Boy-Who-Lived said, getting into a fighting stance.
And she/he did.