▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐓𝐰𝐨 ━︎━︎ 𝐎𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐱 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎"𝐒𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐕𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 here all summer?" Ron asked, his face twisting into one of discomfort. Hermione's eyes widened as she slapped his arm. Ron rubbed the place she had hit him and looked at her. "What? It was a genuine question."

     "Yes, I've been here all summer." Juniper confirmed, petting her dog's head that was laying in her lap. "It's my father's old manor. It was the only place he could go that was safe. I quite enjoyed spending time with him."

     Hermione huffed. "Ignore him." She glared at Ron again before looking at Juniper. "He's upset about Harry and he's taking it out on you."

     "I wasn't taking anything out on her!" Ron scoffed. "It was a genuine question!"

     Juniper chuckled softly. "I can tell."

     Their conversation went quiet when the door opened. They all turned their heads and watched as Harry stepped in. Hermione launched herself forwards, pulling him into a hug. "Harry!" She pulled away and Juniper and Ron stood up, walking over to them.

     "Are you alright?" Juniper asked, pulling him into a hug next. She pulled away, eyes scanning over him for any injury.

     Hermione continued. "We overheard them talking about the Dementor attack. You must tell us everything."

     "Let the man breathe, Hermione." Ron commented.

     Hermione kept going. "And this hearing at the Ministry. It's just outrageous. I've looked it up. They simply can't expel you. It's completely unfair."

     "Yeah." Harry breathed, walking over to the bed where Shadow was. "There's a lot of that going around at the moment." He paused, looking at the dog. "Is that-is that a dog?"

     "Yeah." Juniper nodded. "My dog."

     Harry hummed, petting the dog. "So what is this place?"

     "It's headquarters." Ron answered.

     "Of the Order of the Phoenix." Hermione finished. "It's a secret society. Dumbledore formed it back when they first fought You-Know-Who. Juniper's known about this for weeks, she's been staying here over the summer."

     "You couldn't have put any of this in a letter, I suppose?" Harry asked. "I've gone all summer without a scrap of news."

     "We wanted to write, Mate." Ron told him. "Really, we did. Only. . ."

     "Only what?"

     "Only Dumbledore made us swear not to tell you anything." Hermione answered.

     Harry frowned. "Dumbledore said that? But why would he wanna keep me in the dark? Maybe I could help. Afterall I'm the one who saw Voldemort return. I'm the one who fought him, I'm the one who saw Cedric Diggory get killed."

     Suddenly, Fred and George popped up behind him. "Harry," Fred greeted.

     "Thought we heard your dulcet tones," said George.

     "Don't bottle it up, though, mate." Fred continued. "Let it out."

     "Anyway, if you're all done shouting." George said.

     "Do you wanna hear something a little more interesting?" Finished Fred.

     They walked out of the room. Fred and George had an ear that was attached to a string, slowly lowering it down to the lower levels so they could hear what was happening in the meeting. Juniper listened and could hear her dad talking. "If anyone has a right to know, it's Harry. If it wasn't for Harry we wouldn't even know Voldemort was back. He's not a child, Molly."

     "But he's not an adult either!" Molly Weasley argued. "He's not James, Sirius."

     "Well, he's not your son." Sirius shot back.

     "He's as good as. Who else has he got?"

     "Hey, Ginny." Harry said, looking at the youngest Weasley as she joined them.

     "He's got me, and he's got Ana."

     "How touchingly paternal, Black." Snape's voice was heard and Juniper rolled her eyes. "Perhaps Potter will grow up to be a felon just like his godfather, your daughter seems to be trying to get there."

     "Don't talk about my daughter like that." Sirius warned, voice dangerously low. "Now, you stay out of this Snivellus."

      "Juniper has nothing to do with this." Anastasia backed him up.

     "Snape's part of the Order?" Harry asked.

     "Git," Ron huffed.

     They tuned back into the conversation and Sirius was saying, "I know better."

     "So why don't you tell him?" Snape asked.

     Suddenly, Crookshanks started to attack the ear. The cat ignored Hermione's calls as he ripped the ear off the string. Ron looked at Hermione. "Hermione I hate your cat."

     "Bad, Crookshanks!" Hermione hissed.

     Juniper's eyes widened. "Oh shit." They all looked at her. "Where's Shadow? He hates cats." The sound of a bark could be heard and they all looked down just in time to watch Crookshanks run by with Shadow chasing after him. "Crap!" Juniper quickly ran away from the group, running down the flights of stairs before going in the direction the two animals had run.

     When she heard Shadow barking she ran in that direction, finding him in the living room and barking at Crookshanks, trying to jump up and attack the cat. Juniper quickly grabbed the dog by the collar, whacking him on the nose. "Bad dog!" She dragged the dog towards the stairs. "My room. Now!" Shadow stared at her. "Shadow. Go." Shadow huffed and turned, running up the stairs. Juniper followed after him and made sure he went in her room before closing the door, keeping him trapped in there.

     Juniper ran a hand through her hair and huffed. Harry, Ron and Hermione walked over to her. "Sorry about him. He doesn't like other animals. He's only just gotten used to Astra."

     "It's alright." Hermione assured her. "Come on, dinner's ready."

     The group walked down the stairs, Molly greeting them. "Well, we'll be eating down in the kitchen." Fred and George appeared behind her and the woman let out a scream and jumped. "Oh! Just because you're allowed to use magic now does not mean you have to whip your wands out for everything!" The two twins laughed and ran away. Ron and Ginny walked past their mother as she turned to Harry. "You hungry, Harry?"

     Arthur walked up, wrapping an arm around his wife. "You sure you're alright, Harry? Gave us quite a turn."

     "Harry Potter." Sirius came up behind the couple and the two separated and let Harry see Sirius.

     Harry smiled and ran towards him. "Sirius." The two hugged as Anastasia walked up to her husband.

     Sirius pulled away and held a hand out towards Anastasia. "I don't know if you've met. This is my wife, Anastasia."

     "June's mom." Harry acknowledge and Anastasia smiled and nodded.

     Anastasia gave the boy a hug. "It's good to see you again, Harry." She pulled away. "I hope Juni hasn't given you too much trouble."

     Juniper scoffed and rolled her eyes. Harry looked back at her and chuckled before looking back at Anastasia. "She's a troublemaker that one."

     Sirius smirked, wrapping his arms around Juniper. "She gets it from me."

     Juniper elbowed him in that side. "Sod off! I am a good kid!"

     Remus, who had joined them, chuckled. "If you say so, Juno."

     "You cause ruckus on your own, I can't imagine what you do with the others." Sirius continued, ruffling her hair.

     Juniper slapped his hand away and started jumping, trying to mess up his own hair. Sirius caught her mid air and swung her around causing her to let out a squeal of surprise. He threw her over his shoulder and Juniper laughed as she tried to wiggle out of his arms. "Dad! Let me down!" She almost fell and Sirius easily caught her and she moved to where she was on his back.

     "Alright, spider monkey." Sirius laughed, making his way into the kitchen. Harry and Hermione exchanged smiles with each other. Juniper looked so happy, she'd always shared laughs with them and made jokes, but they'd never seen her this happy before, and both of them could only wish that her happiness would continue.

Sirius walked into the kitchen, dropping Juniper down on her chair. He gave her a kiss on the top of the head as he sat beside her at the head of the table, Anastasia on his other side. Food was passed around along with drinks and Juniper kept trying to reach for her father's wine to which he kept slapping her hand away. When she finally snatched it, she took a sip of it and immediately made a disgusted face, earning amused laugh from both of her parents.

     After most of them were done eating, Arthur began talking about the hearing coming up. Harry was sat beside of Juniper and was watching her as she kept trying to steal some of her mother's food from across the table. "This is very, very peculiar." Arthur said, looking at Harry. "It seems that your hearing at the Ministry is to be before the entire Wizengamot."

     "I don't understand, what has the Ministry of Magic got against me?" Harry asked.

     "Show him." Moody ordered from his spot where he was standing. "He'll find out soon enough."

     Kingsley Shaklebolt pulled out the Daily Prophet, handing it to Harry. "He's been attacking Dumbledore as well," Sirius told him. "Fudge is using all his power including his influence at the Daily Prophet to smear anyone who claims the Dark Lord has returned."

     "Why?" Harry asked with a frown.

     Remus, who was sitting between Anastasia and Arthur, answered. "The Minister thinks Dumbledore is after his job."

     "But that's insane." Harry exclaimed. "No one in their right mind could believe that Dumbledore―︎"

     "Exactly the point." Remus interrupted him. "Fudge isn't in his right mind."

     "Has he ever been?" Juniper muttered.

     Remus continued, "It's been twisted and warped by fear. Now fear makes people do terrible things, Harry. The last time Voldemort gained power he almost destroyed everything we hold most dear. Now he's returned, and I'm afraid the Minister will do almost anything to avoid facing that terrifying truth."

     "We think Voldemort wants to build up his army again." Sirius claimed. "Fourteen year ago, he had huge numbers at his command. And not just witches and wizards but all manner of dark creatures. He's been recruiting heavily and we've been attempting to do the same. But gathering followers isn't the only thing he's interested in." Alastor cleared his throat and Sirius glanced at him. "We believe Voldemort may be after something."

     "Sirius," Alastor warned.

     Sirius continued anyways. "Something he didn't have last time."

     Harry looked at him. "You mean like a weapon?"

     Before Sirius could answer, Molly slammed down the knife in her hand. "No. That's enough." She walked over to Harry. "He's just a boy." Molly grabbed the Daily Prophet, quickly folding it up. "You say much more you might as well induct him into the Order straight away."

     "Good. I want to join." Harry quickly said. "If Voldemort's raising an army, then I want to fight."

Sirius clapped his hands together and leaned back in his seat. Sirius sent Harry a quick wink and Juniper started messing with her hands. Not long after, they were all sent up to bed. Juniper stayed downstairs, sitting in the living room and staring into the lit fireplace. Sirius stopped in the doorway, surprised to see Juniper up at such a late hour. He walked into the room, taking a seat beside her.

     Juniper said nothing for a moment, letting the silence consume them before she broke it. "How come you want Harry to fight, but not me?"

     Sirius looked at her. "Juni, I do want you to fight, but if I ever put those ideas into your head your mother would kill me." He paused. "You are my only daughter. And if this fight is anything like the last one. . . I could not with the right mind allow you to be put in danger like that. I just got you back, I can't lose you again."

     Juniper turned to look at him. "I can protect myself. I know enough spells, defensive and offensive. Even the ones I'm not supposed to know yet I've mastered."

     Sirius gave her a small smile. "You sound just like your mother."

     Juniper sighed, leaning her back into the couch. "Well, I am my mother's daughter."

     Sirius nodded. "That you are, but you act like me."

     A small smiled curled on her lips. "Like father, like daughter."

     Sirius pulled her into his side. "I just want you safe."

     "Let's be honest, I haven't been safe since I've been born. That's not going to change anytime soon." Juniper sat up and looked at him. "Tomorrow at Harry's hearing. You'll make sure he's safe, won't you?"

     "Arthur will be with him, but I had planned on sneaking in and visiting him right after."

     Juniper nodded. "Will you be back to tell me bye before I leave?"

     He gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I wouldn't miss it."