Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or any past events referred to in this fanfic … they belong to J. K. Rowling. But the storyline that follows is mine … all mine … :evil cackle:

Chapter One

The Secret Keeper

Harry Potter stood outside Number Twelve Grimauld Place. The old house stood stoically in the street, lording over the houses either side of it, which was precisely the problem. It shouldn't have been there at all. Harry had been able to see the old house since Dumbledore had passed on its secret to him two years ago, but to those walking past the house it should not have been there at all.

The spells Dumbledore and the other Order members had placed on the house should have had those walking past look straight from Number Ten to Number Fourteen, without giving any notice to Number Twelve, as if it wasn't there. Dumbledore had been the secret keeper of the Order's headquarters though, and with his death their best-kept secret was now out in the open, waiting to be put under wraps again.

'We're sorry to put this on you, Harry,' said Lupin, Harry's old werewolf Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, 'but since it's your house after all, we needed your permission for the spell to work.'

'That's ok,' mumbled Harry.

'So, just say the word and we can get on with it,' said Lupin.

'Yeah. Ok,' Harry said.

'Sorry, Harry, but you need to make it more specific.'

'Oh, right. Umm … ok. I, Harry Potter, owner of twelve Grimauld Place give the Order of the Phoenix permission to use the house as its headquarters, and … um … allow McGonagall …'

'Headmistress Minerva McGonagall, Harry,' Lupin interrupted.

'Oh … Headmistress Minerva McGonagall to act as secret keeper for the Order of the Phoenix's headquarters,' finished Harry.

'Excellent,' said Mrs. Weasley, Harry's best friend Ron's witch mother. 'Now we can get on with the spell and then we can all get inside out of the cold.'

Acting as Harry, Ron and Hermione's teacher still, Lupin began to explain how the Secret Keeper spell would work. 'Now, you all know that when we cast the charm over the house that only the Secret Keeper will be physically able to tell anyone where the Order's headquarters is, and the house will hide itself from anyone who doesn't hear its location from the Secret Keeper herself, who in this case will be our lovely headmistress here,' and he motioned to Professor McGonagall, 'and that is a hefty bit of magic, agreed?' he asked the three. They all nodded their assent.

'The actual incantation and process for the Secret Keeper charm, however,' Lupin went on, 'is decidedly simpler than the effects it will have on Number Twelve.'

'Please, Remus, it's cold out here and the children will catch a chill,' interrupted Mrs Weasley.

'It's important for Harry to understand, Molly,' said Professor McGonagall. 'I'm sure Lupin's almost done.'

'Quite,' said Lupin. 'In fact, I'm sure that they will get the gist if we just get on with it.' Lupin pulled out his wand and Professor McGonagall knelt down on the pavement, her hands placed palms together and raised out before her. 'Now, Harry, since it's your house I think we should have you in the place of the Secret Giver, and I will perform the actual magic. Just cover Professor McGonagall's hands with yours … no, you don't kneel down … and now just think of entrusting the secret of Number Twelve to Minerva.'

Harry did as he was told, and Lupin stood between the two with his wand outstretched over the pair's hands.

'Harry Potter,' said Lupin, 'do you entrust to this woman the secret of Number Twelve, Grimauld Place, headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, that none may know it's whereabouts or see its face lest she instruct them?'

'Yes,' said Harry, a little oddly as he was still trying to emit thoughts of entrusting. When he said the word he felt Professor McGonagall's hands grow warm between his own.

'And do you, Minerva McGonagall,' Lupin went on, 'accept the charge of keeping this secret, disallowing those who would do the Order harm from knowing the location of Number Twelve Grimauld Place, and the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix?'

'I do,' said McGonagall. As soon as she had said the words Harry felt the heat between their hands lessen and saw that the house was growing smaller and smaller until it had disappeared from sight, so that the street was as it had been the first night Harry had seen it, before Dumbledore had let him know the Order's location. Judging from the mixed look of bemusement and amusement on Ron's face he guessed that it was not only he who had seen the house shrink away to nothing.

'You can let go now, Harry,' said Lupin, and as he did Professor McGonagall stood up from her kneeling position on the pavement.

'Well,' she said, 'all gather round now,' and Lupin, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Mrs Weasley, Ginny Weasley and Tonks all came in close to where McGonagall stood, forming a circle with her. 'The location of the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is Number Twelve, Grimauld Place,' she whispered to them, and Harry saw the old house growing and pushing its neighbours out of the way as it reclaimed its original position on the street with another pop.

'Everyone inside,' said Mrs Weasley, and she ushered the children into the big house.

'We'll stay out here,' said Tonks, grabbing Lupin around the waist as he made to move inside with the others, 'so we can tell Arthur where the house is when he gets home from work.'

'Well, Tonks,' said Lupin with the sound of someone wary of contradicting his girlfriend, 'that's not really going to work, since Minerva is the Secret Keeper and the only one who can reveal the location of …'

'Well then,' pushed in Tonks, 'we'll wait out here and come and get McGonagall when anyone who needs to know comes along,' she said with a sly little wink and a squeeze of his hips in her arms. Mrs Weasley hurried the children inside all the faster.

- - - - - - -

'How have you been?' asked Hermione as soon as she, Ron, Harry and Ginny were deposited inside the boys' room by Mrs Weasley.

'As good as to be expected,' replied Harry, who was even now still trying to process the events of the weeks before.

'What happened to you after the funeral, mate?' asked Ron. 'We waited for you at the Hogwart's Express, but you never showed.'

'Yeah, we were worried about you,' put in Ginny, Ron's little sister and Harry's ex-girlfriend.

'Hagrid said you'd been taken by some of the Order,' said Hermione.

'Yeah,' answered Harry. 'Tonks, Mad-Eye, Lupin and Kingsley Shacklebolt all took me to the Dursley's. We went by broom with my invisibility cloak again. Except it was security times ten! Tonks said it took three times as long to get to the Dursley's as it should have because Mad-Eye kept making us double back and go off in odd directions.'

'Why did you go back there in the first place but, Harry?' asked Ginny.

'Dumbledore had done something to the house … or to me … I don't know,' Harry said, his voice getting chokey. It still did that sometimes when he spoke about Dumbledore. 'He told me that so long as I kept going back to the Dursley's that I'd have an ancient magic protecting me 'till I came of age, so we thought I should get the most out of that that I could. But now I'm here.'

'Well we're glad you are, Harry dear,' said Mrs Weasley, who had just re-entered the room. 'I'm sorry about moving you all about like this but you're all wanted downstairs again,' and she motioned for them to follow her back out the door and down to the kitchen.

When they got there they found McGonagall sitting at the table with Mad-Eye Moody and Arthur Weasley, Lupin and a disgruntled looking Tonks. McGonagall motioned for them to take a seat and the four sat down. Harry noted that the ranks of the Order were looking pretty thin these days.

'As you all know,' McGonagall began, 'the Order and the magical population in general – and even the muggle world – are in the worst states any of these has been in for centuries. The number of the Order of the Phoenix has depleted steadily since Voldemort's return and, a bit optimistically perhaps, we had not been focusing as much on recruiting new members as we did last time.

'Most importantly, however, now with Dumbledore gone,' and at this Harry noticed that his new headmistress seemed to be suffering from the same problem he had found himself suffering from, 'we are all – the entire wizarding world – in the most danger we have ever been in.

'Dumbledore always felt that the strongest weapon any of us had at his or her disposal was love … but he felt that a close second was information. We need to remain strong and stand as a united force against Voldemort, and none of us can see how we can do that if those around us are not joined with us.' She took a moment to compose herself, seeming to still be wrestling with a decision that didn't quite sit right with her, but seemed the only option.

'What Professor McGonagall is saying,' said Lupin, 'is that most of us think that it's time for you four to join the ranks of the Order.'

The young wizards and witches looked shocked, and Harry distinctly heard a whimper come from behind him where Mrs Weasley was standing.

'No!' she said. 'They're too young! And look a-at what happened to Dumble…Dumbledore!' she cried. 'Even he coul…couldn't protect himself.'

'Molly!' said Lupin. 'Molly! Get a hold on yourself. Not in front of the children.'

'But that's just it!' she shouted. 'They're still children.'

'No!' said McGonagall in the sternest voice Harry had ever heard her use. Even Mrs Weasley's whimpers quietened. 'They are not children any more. Even forgetting whether they are of age or not all four have been getting in and out of more trouble over the last six years than the entire Order since it's been reformed. It would surely be more dangerous now to not let them work with us than to try – try and fail, I might add – to keep them bundled in cotton wool and inevitably have them go off half informed, risking their lives.'

'I think she's right, Molly. I truly do,' interjected Mr Weasley before his wife could respond. It was one of the first times that Harry had heard Mr Weasley disagree with and stand up to his wife. Judging by the settling effect it had on her Harry was sure that the honest, concerned tone Mr Weasley had taken with her had worked much better than Lupin's shouting or McGonagall's sternness could have.

Mrs Weasley burst into another fit of tears (something Ron had mentioned earlier was a common occurrence of late) and left the room weeping. 'I should …' said Mr Weasley, pointing to the door, and he left the room to comfort his wife.

'So … so what now?' asked a recovering Hermione.

'Now you join the Order.'

'Is it painful?' asked Ron, obviously expecting some kind of weird initiation.

'Why on Earth would it be painful, Weasley?' asked Professor McGonagall.

'I … I don't know.'

'Well no, it's not,' said Lupin, and he extracted a piece of aged parchment from a writing desk in the corner of the room. It had obviously been put close to hand recently because Harry had never noticed it in the small desk before.

'Any of you wanting to join the order will simply have to put their name down on this parchment,' said McGonagall. 'But be warned, you are entering into a magical contract when you make your mark. While perhaps not as vindictive as some other contracts,' and at this she shot Hermione a sharp look, and Harry could guess straight away the incident she was referring to, 'there are consequences to any magic you enter into fraudulently or dishonestly.'

Harry moved towards the parchment that Lupin had lain out on the table and looked at it. At the top of the parchment were the words Order of the Phoenix in large, loopy letters, and underneath a simple list of names. He scanned down the list and when he came to his parents' names, one after the other, his stomach jumped just as it always did when he saw anything to do with them – even when he was expecting to see it.

Lupin sat a quill and pot of ink next to the parchment. Harry took the quill and signed his name under Nymphadora Tonks.

- - - - - - -

Dumbledore was dead. NO! Not just dead! Murdered! By his hands. Or at his hands. He didn't know. Couldn't decide. But it was his fault.

Draco sat in the dark on the edge of the bed, short bursts of thought running through his head. Bright and startling pictures flashed in front of his eyes of that awful evening when he had betrayed the old wizard … gotten the better of the best wizard there ever was. Did that make him the best now, to have beaten Dumbledore? If it did he didn't want the title. But it hadn't actually been him that had cast the curse. That had been Snape; he could have it. He could have the title, and the sleepless nights and the pit in his stomach and the stabbing, excruciating pangs of guilt … of regret.

Draco heard the front door open and close and voices in the hallway, but he paid little attention to the noises. His closed door muffled sounds that came from the rest of the house and his thoughts muffled his other senses. It had been an hour after sundown before he had even realised he had been sitting in the dark, and then the terrible feelings that weighed on him had stopped him from bothering to make the struggle to the light switch.

The blonde haired boy had never felt this lame, this powerless. He doubted whether any Malfoy had. Or perhaps each of them had at some point; trapped - just as he had felt - into following their father … following the Malfoy name into the twisted world where he now lived. But Draco no longer felt trapped … in fact he felt very little at all bar emptiness, and powerlessness to change what he had done.

A tiny chink of light had crept in under the door and it fell across the moth eaten carpet of the old, run down house he had been hiding in for the weeks since his escape from Hogwarts. There wasn't a single magical artefact anywhere that he could see – not that he had explored the rooms particularly carefully – so Draco guessed that the people the house had belonged to were Muggles. The owners were no-where to be seen however: probably killed the last time Voldemort had been in power. Those Draco was now living with were happy enough to use a muggle house to erase their tracks, but they would never stoop to living with muggles.

The house was a safe house now, used by those trying to avoid the ministry and another group – the Order of the Phoenix. Sounded like something Dumbledore would have come up with. He had heard it mentioned before. He didn't know where. He thought he might have used the title himself – may even have talked to Dumbledore about the group on that night – but he still couldn't bring himself to think hard on anything at all, particularly the events of Dumbledore's last night, lest a torrent of awful, terrible thoughts should spring through the door he opened into his mind.

The people he was living with walked around the house as though they didn't notice how run down it had become. They lived in a world of delusion and couldn't see what their efforts had gotten them. How little they had worked so hard for. How lost they were.

A tiny light had been sitting ever so still in Draco's mind though. Sitting patiently to be noticed. He guessed it must have always been there, but having once been one with those people outside he had never noticed it before; clouded in mists of delusion and false promises and greed and stupidity, the tiny chink of what he thought might be hope had been overlooked. But it was sitting patiently, waiting to be noticed, ready to be acted upon. Draco knew that if he followed the path he had started on – the path his parents had put him on – that he had no hope. And so he had found himself examining the little light days ago, had found himself unconsciously prodding it while his mind tried to block out the world, and the vestiges of a plan had been forming itself even before Draco had recognised it. A very simple plan, but a plan all the same.

Black had done it. Snape had fooled everyone into thinking he had done it. This was a war, and Draco Malfoy would soon defect.

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Hey :D

Hope you enjoyed :) lots more to come, but pleeeeease review, so I know if there's something I should do to make the story better

A big Thank-You to Silver Black Rose, who's my beta. Hugs!

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Thayle N