Selene || Remus Lupin

Ch. 38 - The Order of the Phoenix

Selene and Remus took their original seats, careful to not sit too near one another. It was only when they had situated themselves, Sirius staring at them suspiciously, that he said, "Okay, Harry... what do you want to know?"

Harry took a deep breath. "Where's Voldemort? What's he doing? I've been trying to watch Muggle news, and there hasn't been anything that looks like him yet, no funny deaths or anything –"

"That's because there haven't been any suspicious deaths yet," Sirius said, "Not as far as we know, anyway... and we know quite a lot."

"More than he thinks we do anyway," Remus said.

"How come he's stopped killing people?" Harry asked.

"Because for once, he's in the clear," Selene said. "No one – except for us – suspects that he's returned. To draw attention to himself now would be dangerous for him. He didn't exactly return with the sort of bravado that he had expected to. He messed it up."

"Or rather, you messed it up for him," Remus said with a dry smile.

"How?" Harry asked.

"You weren't supposed to survive!" Sirius said. "Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But you survived to bear witness."

"And the very last person he wanted alerted to his return the moment he got back was Dumbledore," Remus said. "And you made sure Dumbledore knew at once."

"How has that helped?" Harry asked.

"Are you kidding?" Bill Weasley said incredulously from the other end of the table. "Dumbledore was the only one You-Know-Who was ever scared of!"

"Thanks to you, Dumbledore was able to recall the Order of the Phoenix about an hour after Voldemort returned," Sirius said.

"So what's the Order been doing?" Harry asked, looking around.

"Working as hard as we can to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans," Sirius said.

"How d'you know what his plans are?" Harry asked curiously.

"Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea," Remus said, "and Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate."

"So what does Dumbledore reckon he's planning?"

"Well, firstly, he wants build up his army again," Sirius said. "In the old days, he had huge numbers at his command; witches and wizards he'd bullied or bewitched into following him, his faithful Death Eaters, a great variety of Dark creatures. You heard him planning to recruit the giants; well, they'll be just one group he's after. He's certainly not going to try and take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters."

"So you're trying to stop him getting more followers?" Harry asked.

"We're doing our best," Remus said.

"How?"

"Well, the main thing is to try and convince as many people as possible that You-Know-Who really has returned, to put them on their guard," Bill said. "It's proving tricky, though."

"Why?"

"Because of the Ministry's attitudes," Tonks said. "You saw Cornelius Fudge after You-Know-Who came back, Harry. Well, he hasn't shifted his position at all. He's absolutely refusing to believe it's happened."

"But why?" Harry said desperately. "why's he being so stupid? If Dumbledore –"

"Ah, well, you've put your finger on the problem," Arthur said with a tense smile. "Dumbledore."