Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 87: Secret Meeting
"Very interesting," Harry said as he looked around the quaint village. "It is nice to see that wizards and witches have built places like these, where they don't need to hide from Muggles all the time. Don't you think?"
"I wonder how many of these communities Arthur destroyed over the years," Morgan said.
Neither of them knew exactly when the Argent Flame had been created. What they did know was that their sole purpose in existing was to exterminate anything with magic.
The only reason they hadn't been very active in Britain was Morgan. The Argent Flame had been very wary of stepping on her toes after their first confrontations. Instead, they had chosen to expand their influence to other parts of the world.
"I don't know…" Harry could only say. He could not help but wonder if he was responsible for this hatred of magic that grew in the old King of Camelot.
He was aware that Arthur had never been too fond of magic, but not to the point of hating it. After all, he still relied on his magical sword for his fights, as well as Merlin's spells and potions on a regular basis.
'This hatred must have been exacerbated by whatever had been corrupting him,' Harry thought.
"I believe this is the place." Morgan suddenly stopped in front of a tavern.
"The Hog's Head Inn. Yes, this is the name mentioned in the letter," Harry said.
Since this was his first visit to Hogsmeade, he had no idea how popular this tavern was, but it still felt like a strange place to have a secret meeting.
"Let's go then. I could use a drink." Morgan pushed the doors open and walked inside, while Harry followed right behind.
"Mmm… are we too early?" Harry wondered when he saw the interior of the establishment. It was completely empty.
A large old man was standing behind a wooden counter. "What can I get you?" he asked them.
"It's better this way. I like quiet places." Morgan quickly made her way to the bar and asked for a firewhisky.
The old man began to prepare it while giving Harry a few long glances. "How old are you?"
"Technically, I suppose that sixteen," Harry responded.
The barman furrowed his brows. "I'm afraid you have to be eighteen to drink here." He placed a glass in front of Morgan. "Here you go, Miss."
"I didn't come here to drink." Harry looked around. "I'm supposed to meet with Mister Dumbledore. He told me to come to this establishment for—"
"Are you… Mister Potter, by any chance?" The barman lowered the tone of his voice to a whisper, although no one was there to hear him.
"That would be my name, yes," Harry responded.
"Oh, right. I heard you have silver hair now. And that you no longer use glasses. You are very different from what I imagined."
"I have been told that before. Mister…?"
"Aberforth. I'm the owner of the bar." He walked from behind the counter. "Follow me. They are waiting for you."
Harry walked after the man, but after taking a few steps, he noticed that Morgan was not coming along. "Are you not interested?" he asked her.
She simply lifted her whisky glass to him. "I'm more interested in this. You go ahead, I'll wait here. You can tell me how it went afterwards."
Harry shrugged. "As you wish." He knew it was pointless trying to convince her otherwise.
Aberforth guided him through a couple of thick wooden doors located at the end of the bar, and then pulled his wand to unlock the last set of doors.
After a loud clanking noise, the door unlocked, and Aberforth opened it up. "Go ahead, Mister Potter. I need to go back to attend my bar."
"Don't let her drink too much. She tends to get silly." And by that, he meant dangerous, but he didn't want to worry this poor old man too much.
Harry walked into the room, which was much more spacious than he had been led to believe.
Inside it, there was a long dining table, and six people were already sitting.
Harry recognized half of them. Albus Dumbledore was at the head of the table. Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape were at his sides.
Then, there were three more individuals that he didn't recall seeing before.
A short bald man who looked at him with nervous eyes.
A man in his thirties wearing an old Muggle suit. He had a clean mustache and well-cared-for hair. Harry picked up a lot of mixed emotions in that man, and he was looking at him like he already knew him for some reason.
The last member was a young woman with some very eye-catching pink hair. She wore the same combat robes he had seen on members of the Auror Department.
"Mister Potter. I'm glad that you decided to accept my invitation," Dumbledore greeted him with a smile.
"You invited him?!" Mr. Snape didn't seem too happy to find this out.
McGonagall looked a bit conflicted. For one, she considered Harry too young to be involved in these serious matters. But on the other hand, she had seen what he could do. In the end, she had no objections to offer.
"Please, take a seat, Mister Potter," Dumbledore ignored Snape's complaints. "I will introduce you to the members you still don't know."
The Headmaster went one by one.
Mundungus Fletcher was the name of the short bald man. Apparently, he was some shady individual whose job was mainly to pick up rumors from places like Knockturn Alley.
The pink-haired woman was an Auror agent, the partner of Alastor Moody, who was also a member of the Order, but tonight was busy with another mission.
And the man who kept staring at him was named Remus Lupin.
On a closer examination, Harry picked up on something he had missed before. There was something in this man named Lupin that he had become familiar with very recently.
"You brought a werewolf to this meeting?" Harry asked, shocking everyone present.
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