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Harry tried to control his temper. He breathed deeply, and put his hands over Ginny's that were on his face, and removed them. "Of course I want you. I love you. But this isn't what I'm talking about." "I'm not worried about us. Okay, I'm worried about you. And all of my other friends." He sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall. It seemed if it happened to Luna, it could happen to anyone else just as easily. "I know we'll be safe here, but there's no way we can be confined to this house twenty-four hours a day." |
Dumbledore stood up as Tara arrived, giving Fred and George a warning look which clearly stated that they should refrain from goading Severus. He walked over to Tara's side and placed a calming hand lightly upon her shoulder. "So good of you to join us, Tara," he said, glancing around. "Let's see... Yes, I believe everyone is here; we can start early." Dumbledore walked Tara over to the head of the table, conjured her some water and winked before going back to his seat beside Fred Weasley. He placed his elbows on the table, made a steeple with his folded fingers, and rested his bottom lip upon them, looking at Tara from over the top of his half-moon glasses. Snape was shocked to see Professor Sinistra apparate into the room. She was looking lovelly this evening... He shook his head at that thought and watched as she spoke with Dumbledore. Snape leaned back further into the shadow. |
Ginny sat next to Harry on the floor, but she didn't touch him this time. He kept removing himself from her, and the small rejections were hurting too much. Not to mention that he had just classified her in with all his "other friends." Apparently she had misinterpreted his intentions towards her. "We might not be able to stay here, Harry, but I'm not helpless. I can take care of myself. Now that I know, I can stay safe. Don't worry about me. I'm sure I, like your other friends, can take care of myself." Her voice was a bit colder than she intended, but he had cut her deeply. "I think I"m going to go lie down." Ginny rose. |
Tara took a seat next to Dumbledore and studied her hands. She didn't want to look at the others too much, in fear that they would think she was studying them for some nefarious purpose. She waited for Dumbledore to get things under way, knowing he had told her there was business to attend to before she needed to speak. Tara upbraided herself for arriving so early and needing to sit through information that was none of her business. Her ever-curious mind would make it her business and then she'd be drawn in. |
Harry felt like smacking himself on the forhead. Literally, she had taken his words the wrong way. He got up right after her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Ginny, please listen. I don't consider you an 'other friend.' I meant that my friends, well, not that you aren't a friend, you're more... I'm worried for them too," He was sort of stumbling on his words, not making too much sense to himself. "If that makes sense. Which it probably doesn't, I'm aware of, but it made sense to me. I know you can take care of yourself, but I just don't know what I would do you if you or... or one of my friends had anything happen because of me. Please don't take me the wrong way, Ginny. I'm sorry..." |
"It wouldn't be because of you," Ginny let Harry catch her and hold her. "It would be because of Voldemort. He's a fully grown and completely evil wizard, Harry. He can take the blame for what he does." Ginny let out a sigh of frustration, feeling like they were talking themselves in circles. Grabbing Harry by the hand, Ginny pulled him back so that they were standing by the bed she assumed was Harry's. Perching on the edge of it, she looked up at him with huge eyes. "Will you just hold me? I know I told you no kissing, but under the circumstances, I think I'd like it very much." |
Dumbledore stood up. "Yes, now, before we get started, I'd like to welcome Fred and George Weasley to the Order of the Phoenix," he said, noting the disgusted look on Severus' face. He removed a seemingly blank sheet of parchment from within the folds of his robes and slid it across the table to George. Then, he extracted a an extra sharp quill and handed it to George. "You just have to person your finger with the quill, sign your name, and you will be an official member," he said, smiling at the twins. |
Deciding to give up on his arguments, feeling tired, Harry sat down on the edge of the bed with Ginny. He was a little surprised at her words, expecting more on how he wouldn't have to worry about his friends, etcetera. "W-well..."He sort of stuttered, "If you want to... and feel... comfortable with it?" |
Elizabeth yawned, bored silly and exhausted. Looking sideways at Guin, who was being quiet like everyone else, Elizabeth stood, left the room and wandered along the hallway, looking for a bathroom. |
George bit his lip and poked the quill into his finger. Blood welled up and he quickly signed his name to the paper before passing both to Fred. The twins shared a glance full of meaning, and George turned to look at his mother. Her face was unreadable, but he knew it was just to cover her fright. Whatever he did, he would make sure that nothing happened to anyone in his family. His mother wouldn't know a moment of worry over the Weasley boys. His father looked proud, although there were some sad lines around his eyes. He turned back to watch Fred. |
Ginny shrugged and turned her body, laying back on Harry's pillows. She propped her feet in his lap and nudged his outer thigh with one shoe. "If you don't want to, I'll understand. I won't be happy about it, but I'll understand. We can talk instead. You want to talk about the weather? Or perhaps we can continue our discussion about the Cannons from before?" |
Fred took the pen from George, and looked down at it apprehensively. "Isn't there a better way of....."But Fred trailed off, closed his eyes, and pricked his finger. He wrote his name just below George's and turned to study all that were present. A small round of applause started, and Fred and George bowed. Then, with a nod from Dumbldore, they went around the room to shake hands with all of their family.. When he reached his mother he pulled her into another tight hug, and wiped a stray tear from her face. He gave her kiss on the forehead, and moved around the room to all the Order members, George following closely behind. Finally reaching Professor Sinistra, Fred double did a double take, and gave George a look. "It is most splendid to see you here Professor,"Fred said taking her hand and giving it a kiss. "I'm looking forward to hearing you speak tonight." Fred said. |
"No, no... I'm all for it... I just want to make sure you're okay with it..." Harry said. He realized that she wouldn't have mentioned it if she wasn't okay with it. So, he scooted himself up the bed until he was where Ginny was and propped himself up sideways on his elbow, their faces only inches apart. He took the hand he wasn't using to hold himself up and pulled her to him until their lips were upon each others'. |
Dumbledore nodded at the twins and took the parchment, now blank once again, and placed it back with the folds of his robes, along with the quill. He smiled at Fred's flirting with Tara but, was more amused by the look on Severus' face. |
Ron exited from the room and went walking along the vestibule. On his way to the first floor he saw Elizabeth, having a clueless expression on his face. He smiled at her and approached her. "You're looking for the lavatory? Just go straight from here. As you reached the end of the hallway, look to your left. That's it." |
Ginny wrapped on arm under Harry's propped body and twined it in his hair, loving the texture of his unruly curls. Her other hand strayed to his face, where she lovingly stroked his cheek with her thumb. Harry held her close, and she forgot for a moment why she hadn't let him kiss her the evening before when it was such bliss. She thought she'd be willing to do just about anything to keep him here with her like this, and she remembered quickly. It didn't matter though... she needed him right now. |
George stepped up behind his brother, grasping the professor's hand when Fred let go. He kissed it as well. "Now, Professor, we're ready to hang on your every word." He gestured to the seat next to him. "Please, Mr. Weasley, I really think..." Tara blushed, but she was amused by their attentions regardless. "Now, now, Professor. We're all adults now, and we're on the same side. You can call me George. And Fred," he nodded at his twin. Tara agreed hesitantly. "Alright. And you may call me Tara. I'm not your professor anymore." She slid into the chair he had pulled out for her. |
Snape was livid. He it took all his self control not to step up and pull the Weasley twins off of Tara. They were making her blush... Snape shook his head and gnashed his teeth. What was he thinking? What did he care that the twins lavished affections upon an older woman? Grumbling to himself in the corner, he saw Dumbledore look at him and became even more angry. If he wasn't so intent on keeping a low profile, he would have gotten up and aasked for the meeting to start already. |
After a few minutes, Dumbledore figured he better get the meeting underway before Severus lost control and started hexing the twins. He stood and clapped. "Welcome, welcome, now, we must get the meeting underway so, if you two will take your seats?" The twins sat down and the Dumbledore gestured for Tara. "Professor SInistra, if you'd like to present your findings for us," he said, sittign down in his own chair, ready to listen to the report. |
Tara nodded and smiled a tiny smile at Dumbledore before rising to her feet. She withdrew her charts from the satchel on the floor and regrew them to their original size. Attempting to make her voice loud enough to be heard, Tara looked at everyone seated around the table with earnest eyes. "Albus has asked me to come and share with you a bit of my research. Many of you don't realize this, but I've been working closely with Firenze for the past few months, trying to prepare a timeline of events to come. Of course, as is always true with such things, the indicators we've found are unclear and vague, but Firenze has been teaching me to understand them, as well as using his own methods, and we feel that some events are becoming quite obvious." Tara drew a breath, realizing she was rambling and looked to Dumbledore to see if she was doing alright. |
Harry was feeling rather awkward and uncomfortable with his position, so he removed his lips from Ginny's and said, "Sorry, I... just... the position was weird, you know, I wasn't quite confortable, my arm was..." He waited for her reaction, hoping she didn't think he was being insulting. |
Dumbledore smiled and nodded at Tara, encouraging her to go on. Snape found himself leaning foward a bit in his chair as he listened to what the atronomy professor had to say. He quickly leaned back into the shadows and thought about the charts he had seen in her quarters. So, this was the research she was doing... |
Ginny shut him up with a quick kiss on his mouth, before she pulled back from him, studying how he lay. With a wicked grin, she pulled Harry's arm out from under him, and he hit the bed hard. He grunted in pain, and Ginny leaned over him to kiss him, half laying on his body. "You goose," she finally answered, rolling away. "Did that hurt?" She kissed his shoulder where it had hit the bed. "Better?" |
"Anyway," Tara continued, her voice a bit stronger, "the alignment of Mars and Saturn indicate a rising conflict between two magically superior foes, with several constellation gatherings showing us that the..." Tara broke off mid-sentence, spotting Snape suddenly lean into the light. She blinked at him and surprise, as well as some other emotion, shone clearly on her face before she masked it and tried to recall what she had been talking about. Surely Dumbledore would know his conspirators intimately, so Snape's presence here must mean that he was not all he appeared to be. There was a lightening of her spirit that Tara dared not try to explain as she realized that Snape did not belong to the Dark, doomed to die at the hands of the Light. "Yes... well, hmm... Showing that, um... showing that the side that initiates the conflict will have a clear advantage. It does not show clear victory, but such things are never so." Her words were rushed, and she turned a brilliant shade of red, embarrassed at her lack of professionalism. |
Snape was rather confused as to why Tara was suddenly so flustered. She had seemed such a stable woman. He wasn't pondering this more than a moment when she caught her eyes, fixed upon him. She had seen him. Did she realize which side he was on? As he studied her, he notice her expression change, ever so slightly, as she continued her presentation, stuttering. |
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