DISCLAIMER: See Ch. 1.

A/N: Not much else to say here... except Snape finally realizes the truth (yay!)...

CHAPTER 11: WELCOME TO THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

Cupiditas belli gerendi. The desire to wage war. –Caesar, de Bello Gallico (1.41.1)

Dumbledore's mind was working furiously now. After getting Harry (who was still unconscious) and his friends, and moving them to Grimmauld place, Dumbledore was once again digging through old tomes in the library at Hogwarts. How in Merlin's name did Harry do that? Even the occasional wizard who did wandless magic, according to Dumbledore's knowledge, had never done anything like that. Searching for as much he could find on Godric Gryffindor, he pulled the dusty old volumes off their shelves and, with a speed and level of devotion that would impress Hermione Granger, went through these old books, hoping for some scrap of knowledge that would help.

"Albus?"

He looked up. It was Snape.

"Yes, Severus?"

"It's the Order. It's a complete uproar. Everyone's debating how the boy could have done that. First, he overcharges all his spells, and then he uses some sort of wandless magic I've never seen before on Umbridge. How?"

"I'm trying to figure that out for myself, Severus. By the way," he added, "Did you read that letter that he had sent you?"

"Hmph," Snape said, pulling it out of his robes. "Let's see what sort of foolish thing he wrote to me. Little brat, probably just like his father..."

Dumbledore sighed. 'Here we go again,' he thought to himself. 'Potter versus Snape, round number I've-lost-count.' He looked up again after the Potions Master was done reading his letter. Snape's face was hovering somewhere between sickly green and chalk white. "Um, sir?" he said at last. "Maybe you should take a look at this," he finished, while holding it out.

The Headmaster took it and read it. He was somewhat surprised. "Harry has a point, Severus," he said at last, returning the letter to its owner. "I think that you've forgotten that he's not just James' son. He is also Lily's son, after all." Dumbledore put emphasis on the last name for a certain purpose, and it worked.

Snape looked down at the floor, livid and somewhat ashamed of himself. All his judgments about the boy had been shattered. Pampered? Obviously not. Glory hungry? Surprisingly, no. Raised well? Definitely didn't happen.

Snape was never one to neglect detail, yet within moments he realized that his assumptions about Harry were blaringly obvious over the years. He never talked about his home life, although there were those occasional pesky rumors about his Muggle relatives treating him badly; this seemed to be reinforced by the fact that he flinched when shouted at. He would always look painfully thin and tired at the start of each year, but would return to normal health within a few days. The Potions Master also noticed that he always signed up to stay during the Christmas and Easter holidays; he even overheard Albus and Minerva discussing how he never looked happy like the other students did before summer holiday, and would always ask if he could stay during the summer. What was more, didn't Snape even see for himself how the boy was mistreated by his relatives- namely that giant cousin of his- during all those Occlumency lessons? Relatively few things ever surprised Professor Snape, who was feared by most of the students and even some of the staff, and yet the parallel positions between him and his student struck him hard.

'It's a miracle that he doesn't have any deep emotional problems,' he thought. 'This whole time I've been acting like those Muggle relatives of his, to a certain degree.' What he dwelled upon most was the fact that he wasn't as much like his father as everyone thought. 'So that was why he was bothered by what he saw in the Pensieve; Harry (when did he become Harry?) suffered throughout parts of his childhood at the hands of his aunt, uncle, and cousin the same way that I did to James and my father...' He thought those last words in his mind rather venomously.

"You know, Severus," the Headmaster added as though detecting Snape's thoughts, "It seems to me that he wants to reconcile with you. It's a miracle that he hasn't let his grief over Sirius' death affect him too badly; I would think that he wants to work hard for the war ahead, and forging an alliance with you would be an important step. Yet another similarity I've noticed the other day was how, if things may have gone differently in your life and his, was that he would have made for a promising Slytherin, and you would have made for an interesting Gryffindor, with your resilience for everything from Dark wizards to disruptive students." Dumbledore gave that trademark grin, while Snape merely looked at him in response, unfazed by the humor. Something did come to the younger professor's mind just then.

"What do you mean, he would have made for a promising Slytherin?"

"Well, believe it or not, the Hat considered putting him in Slytherin, but he felt uncomfortable by its history."

'Harry Potter a Slytherin!?' Snape thought incredulously. 'That would have made for unexpected results.'

"In fact," Dumbledore continued, "He can be quite ambitious, cunning, resourceful and determined when the time is right. That's quite an unusual combination he has there, with the Gryffindor bravery and Slytherin cunning. He will undoubtedly be studying hard this summer for his Auror training that Minerva promised him; if you have no problem with it and you have the time, maybe you can assist in Potions?"

"Of course, sir," Snape said in a neutral voice; deep down, he was actually looking forward to it; training someone with a mix of Harry's characteristics would be an interesting experience.

Dumbledore was just picking up a promising-looking book for his research when Fawkes appeared before them in a flash of flames. "Ah," he smiled, "Is Harry recovering?"

Fawkes whistled joyfully. "Good," said the bird's owner, while getting up and putting the book in his robes. 'I hope Madam Pince doesn't go after me for not checking it out,' he mused. "Let's go, Severus." They both grasped Fawkes' tail, and they went to 12, Grimmauld Place.

~*~*~*~

"How did Harry do that? It's not even in any of the books I read on wandless magic-"

"Hermione, please give it a rest with the books already!"

"Forget the fireball thing, did you see the look in his eyes while he was fighting everyone off? It's like he had not a fear in the world."

"Not only that, but he was overdoing all the spells. I mean, look at that monstrous snake he summoned. The 10-footer that Malfoy summoned in the Dueling Club a few years ago was a dwarf compared to Harry's!"

"Did you see Montague fly? Without a broomstick, I mean."

"Very funny, Cho. I wonder what would have happened if he used a Bat Bogey Hex? I have to teach him one of those sometime."

"Even then, there's something strange about that fireball thing he used. I jumped out of the way in time, yet it was so hot, I felt like at least part of me should have caught fire, but I didn't. It's like the fire refused to hurt me."

"Good thing too, because it was Umbridge who he was aiming for and hit, not you."

"Hear hear. Ironically, he didn't get hit once, apart from when that toad sent him flying into the barrier."

"Hey, I think he's coming around."

There were voices coming from all around Harry, but he was so groggy that it took him a few moments to put it all together. He could tell that he was lying on his back. The mattress was too soft to be the hospital wing at Hogwarts; something told him that he was at Grimmauld Place.

He slowly opened his eyes. Of course it was blurry; he didn't have his glasses on.

"Harry?" It was Cho. "Here, your glasses are on the bedside table."

"Thanks," Harry said weakly as he sat upright. He groaned a little, rubbing his forehead.

Hermione's voice drifted this time. "It's not your scar, is it?"

"No, I'm just a little dizzy, that's all," he said quietly. He put his glasses on. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna, and Cho were all standing there. They were looking at him, for the most part with looks of worry or disbelief on their faces. Neville broke the silence by saying, "So, Harry, exactly how did you do all that?"

Harry got out of bed. He was hot, because he was under the blanket that whole time and still in his day clothes. Someone must have moved him here. "Do all what?"

"Come off it!" Ron exclaimed. "I've never seen you fight like that before!"

"You fought as though Dumbledore himself taught you!" Ginny piped up. "And then there was that look on your face-" she broke off and shuddered.

Harry went through his memories. Now it was coming back to him. "I remember Malfoy strangling Cho-" he broke off, trying to choose his words carefully. "And then I was fighting like I'd never done before. It seemed to come as naturally as walking or breathing. It's hard to explain."

There was silence. Finally, Luna calmly asked the question that had been on everyone's mind. "And about the fire you shot at Umbridge?"

'Fire? Oh yeah,' Harry thought. "I saw and heard what Umbridge was about to do to Cho, and I..." he swallowed and went on. "To be honest, I have absolutely no idea how I did that."

More silence. Harry gazed out the window. Thankfully, he was spared from anymore questioning when Lupin peeked in. "Ah, Harry," he said, "Glad to see you've finally woken up. We got all your stuff from the Dursley's. You'll be staying here until further notice. I'm sure you don't want people to mob you after what happened."

"Good point," Harry admitted. Then it hit him. "Uh-oh."

"What is it?"

"The Improper Use of Magic Office. I'm surprised they're not bombarding me with owls even as we speak."

Lupin grinned. "Don't worry," he assured his former pupil. "They understand the situation fine, and they're glad Umbridge was defeated, even if you beat the Aurors to it. Of course, they're also wondering about your newfound dueling skills and, um, unusual magic. It's all over the Daily Prophet."

Harry pulled a face at the name of the newspaper. "It's alright, Harry," Lupin said after catching this. "They're not going on like they did last year. So, how did you do that?"

"I have no idea. I saw Umbridge preparing to use the Cruciatus Curse on Cho and... I'm sorry, but it's hard to explain."

"Anyway, Harry," Lupin went on, "There's an Order meeting going on downstairs. Come on." They all followed the werewolf down to the kitchen, and thankfully, none of them woke up Mrs. Black's horrendous portrait.

The Order was assembled in the kitchen, while Mrs. Weasley was setting out some ingredients for lunch. 'Lunch?' Harry thought. He turned to Lupin. "How long was I out?"

"You were out for nearly a day," Lupin answered, "and I think it may have had something to do with using powers like that."

Tonks came along, her spiky pink hair sticking up in all directions. "Hey Harry!" The other Order members noticed him, and they applauded or congratulated him on such an excellent battle with Umbridge. Meanwhile, he noticed some people he didn't see the last time he was in Grimmauld Place.

Mrs. Longbottom was walking over towards Neville, with an appreciative smile on her elderly face. Amelia Bones, who Harry recognized from his hearing the previous summer, glanced up at him over a sheaf of parchment, and nodded. Her niece, Susan, was standing next to her, and waved at Harry. Luna went over to a man with a new issue of the Quibbler; this could only be Mr. Lovegood. He had blue eyes just like Luna's, which were also just as wide, and his brown hair was rather messy. Cho was greeting her parents; she inherited her mother's beautiful face, and seemed to have her father's slender form.

"Oh Harry," Mrs. Weasley said, coming over and sweeping him into a bone-crushing hug, "Thank you so very much! That was incredible! I hope they jail that awful woman!"

"Please, Molly, Harry was just doing what was right, and he needs to breathe." Mr. Weasley came along and Harry mumbled, "Glad to help."

"Hello, everybody." Dumbledore walked in. "I am glad to introduce a few more people to our ranks. Fleur Delacour-" she smiled, "Viktor Krum-" he nodded, "Elizabeth Longbottom-" she nodded, "Amelia Bones- " she merely shrugged, "Amos and Cecilia Diggory-" they smiled sadly (Harry knew they were here because of their late son, Cedric), "Han and Yulin Chang-" Cho's father bowed slightly, while her mother gave a tiny smile, "and Julius Lovegood." He grinned. (1)

"First matter at hand," Dumbledore continued, "We were able to dig up Sirius' will. It will be read tomorrow. The memorial will take place the day after. Fred and George have graciously donated some of their prophets to hire an artist to make a sculpture of Sirius in his dog form. It should look very nice with the black marble he's using."

Sirius again... Grief was going after Harry again. However, he merely nodded.

"Well," Dumbledore concluded, "More adult business to work on. All unofficial Order members, please leave now." Harry and his friends left for their rooms.

"Potter?" It was Snape. "We need to talk."

With a dull feeling of curiosity, the Potions Master and his least favorite pupil made their way to a corner. 'He looks so much like his father,' he thought. 'Stop it. Focus on the eyes, Lily's eyes.' "Potter," he started, and Harry noticed there was sort of a pained look on his face "I know this is unlike me to be doing such a thing, but I apologize for having so many misconceptions about you. Also, while I may not have gotten along with your father, your mother actually had sympathy for me and tried to help me when he wasn't looking. I helped her after Hogwarts, although I'm not sure I should tell you just yet."

Harry was somewhat shocked. Trying his best to absorb this information, he nodded. "Thank you for understanding. Also, I figured out that you're a spy for Vol- I mean, the Dark Lord. Maybe you can mislead him about the prophecy."

"What prophecy?"

Harry was shocked yet again. He didn't know what it was that he was trying to keep from Harry last year? "Ask Dumbledore. He'll tell you."

Just then, the Headmaster's voice drifted upstairs. "Severus, where are you? We're ready to start."

"I think I will. Oh, and this conversation never happened," finished Snape, giving one of those penetrating stares. (2)

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Right," he said before returning to his room.

(End of Chapter 11.)

A/N: Fudge isn't part of the Order in the redux. He still can't be trusted THAT much.

(1) As you can all probably tell, I took the liberty with making up their names.

(2) The ongoing rivalry between Harry and Snape will be an act.

Also, in regards to Snape, almost everyone's general opinion of him keeps changing from book to book. In Book 1, we think he's out to get the Stone up until the very end, where we learn that it was really Quirrel the whole time. In Book 2, he just plays the part of the least favorite schoolteacher, although his failure to get Harry and Ron expelled in the beginning helps fuel that fire. In Book 3, he tries doing something very unethical, like getting handing an innocent Sirius over to the Ministry and its dementors. In Book 4, we find out that he really was a Death Eater at one point, and we find his loyalty questionable. That feeling still lingers in Book 5, but then we find an interesting glimpse into his childhood in the Pensieve...

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