[HP] The Order of the Phoenix Family

Sirius welcomed the redheads cheerfully.He wasn't really happy, but if he had to be stuck in an old house, it was better to have some company than to be alone.

"Oh, thank you, Sirius...you are so kind..."

Molly pushed a large box to him, smiling awkwardly, subconsciously trying to keep all five children behind her.Sirius didn't blame her, although they had seen each other a few more times during the initial cleanup, to Molly not so long ago he was the most vicious Death Eater who ever lived.The Weasleys seemed like the best kind of nice folks, hopefully they had better luck than Molly's two poor brothers.

A group of people squeezed through the door, and the cage that Ron was carrying slammed against the door frame. The owl inside screamed at the same time as the portrait at the door, and then the children, they were terrified.

"—Trash! Thieves! Betrayers!—"

"Told you to be careful coming in, Ron—"

Sirius and Bill swooped in and pulled the curtain over Walburga Black's portrait with all their might, and it took them a while to succeed as Ron's owl kept screeching.With his back to them, Sirius used a few clips to clamp the curtains together, which was useless, better than nothing.The children were still making small gasps, and Sirius didn't need to look to know that they must be exchanging glances, guessing what kind of place they were going to live in.Apparently 12 Grimmauld Place had made a bad first impression on them, and he was sure it couldn't be any better inside than the foyer, which was at least close to the door.

Molly directed her husband and children quietly, and they filed in from behind Sirius, taking care not to make any movement.Sirius continued pulling at the curtains unnecessarily, to save himself from seeing their expressions.

"Nice job, mother," he murmured sarcastically, and Walburga must have been very proud of it, she ruled the house, died alone, full of resentment, and left no one there after her death joy.

His mother spat behind the curtain.

It took them some time to settle everyone in. The children lived in the few rooms that had just been cleaned up. Everyone had a reserved expression when facing the dirty, old, and rotten-smelling rooms. Molly put They teach well, they are little guests who don't whine - at least not to the host.

"Everyone has their own room!" Molly tried her best to cheer everyone up, "I didn't lie to you, there is a separate bathroom and toilet, and there is a study room at the west end of the corridor. Clean it up."

Sweep up, clear out a ton of dust and rat droppings, drive out the rats that are nesting in the books, destroy a dozen deadly traps, and they'll have another room they can use.

"I didn't expect—" said one of the twins.

"—will miss the gnome in the garden so much at this moment," said the second twin.

Molly smacked each of them on the head, and Sirius smiled and told her to relax. He didn't mind at all if someone joined him in insulting the poor house.Bill was helping Ginny move things, Mrs. Weasley was still telling the twins to be honest, Arthur went to the kitchen to prepare drinks for everyone, Ron was standing by the box alone, studying the wardrobe in his room, opened the The cabinet doors take a bit of skill.

"Well, put your thumb in first..." Sirius went in and showed him, "Twist it to the right, and it's done."

"Thanks, Sirius." Ron said gratefully, put down the box and started to take out the clothes, he looked a little embarrassed, probably because the box was messy.Ha, he must have never seen James' room.

"How are you getting on?" He held up the owl cage, where the piglets were bouncing around, and Ron tossed him a half-pack of owl food.

"Not bad," the boy replied, "much more useful than Scabbers—I mean Pedilou—who'd just sleep in my pocket."

"It's a good thing he didn't want to do anything else," Sirius replied.

He conjured a hook and hung the cage on it.The new wand is still not very easy to use, not as good as the one he confiscated by the Ministry of Magic, but it seems that he doesn't need any superb spellcasting skills in a short time.Sirius put away his wand, tore open the bag Ron had given him, and the piglet flew at the food like an arrow.

"The little pig is a bit noisy, but the delivery is very accurate - oh no, I forgot to tell you to crush the big pieces of food, it always gets stuck when eating."

Ron stepped across the box, expertly grabbed the little owl out and opened its beak, took out half of the owl food, and threw the bird back.The little pig turned over as if nothing had happened, and continued to feast.

"I thought it would grow up." Sirius said apologetically, and crushed the owl food as he said. "It seems that it is only this big when it is an adult, and it can't send any heavy things."

"It's a lot more capable than it looks, probably not as good as Harry's Hedwig, but last week Mommy sent Piglet a big box of apple nectar for Aunt Muriel." Ron defended his owl, " It's better than Errol, who's too old to fly."

"It's fine if you like it." Sirius said, but he secretly suspected that Ron would like everything that was given to him, and there were too few things that belonged to Ron.He could see that the clothes Ron hung in the closet were basically worn by his brothers, except for a brand new dark blue dress robe, Ron hung it in the cleanest place, smoothed the robe carefully because it was worn Tucked into box pressed folds.

"It's beautiful," said Sirius. "Dancing with your girl in it, she'll be smitten with you."

Ron smiled, with red in his ears, "George and Fred bought it for me, I wonder where they got the money, they lost all their savings to Bagman... they said it was summer vacation and took over When some orders arrived, I couldn't believe it, my mother is very concerned about their small business."

"what business?"

"Oh, they want to open a joke shop." Ron shrugged, shaking off a nightgown that was obviously too small, "They've designed quite a few products, like fake wands that turn into screaming chickens , telescopic ears to eavesdrop on news, a new type of dung egg..."

Sounds like the sort of thing Sirius would like, maybe he can help the twins a little bit, at least save Molly if needed.

"What about you?" Sirius cleaned the dung and fur from the bottom of the owl's cage, "What do you want to do in the future?"

Ron didn't answer for a while, worried he was asking too deeply.The two of them were actually not familiar with each other, and it was entirely because of Harry and Peter that they knew each other, and he had broken each other's legs because of his lack of thoughtfulness.Sirius flicked the owl's cage with his index finger to induce the piglet to peck him, and then he was about to find a reason to leave.

"I don't know." At this time Ron said in a confused tone, Sirius turned his head and saw the red-haired boy tilting his head and gently kicking the half-empty box, which still contained some books and stationery, "I didn't think too much about it." But... I just want to be with my family and friends, have a job to support myself and..." He smiled nervously, "It's pretty boring, isn't it?"

Sirius blinked: Ron really seemed to expect him to say that, that a kid who wanted to be with his family and friends was no good, a kid so used to being denied or ignored.

"Do you know what my first life project was?" he asked, and Ron looked interested. "I got my motorcycle flying for the first time when I was 19, and I thought I'm going to put a blast button on it, and when I'm surrounded by Death Eaters all by myself, I'll hit it—bang!"

"My God!" Ron laughed in disbelief.

"So, if anyone here thinks he's worthless, I'll be the one to back him up." Sirius said lightly, picking up a stack of books from the box—obviously, they were also the fifth grade textbooks eliminated by the previous brothers. "Where do you want to put them?"

"I think it's perfectly fine to leave them alone," Ron muttered, "Not that I'll watch them before school starts."

"But Molly won't allow you to put things like that, will she?"

Eventually they decided to dump the books and stationery on the bottom shelf of the wardrobe, and Sirius dusted off the top of the wardrobe and put Ron's trunk on top, which should satisfy Mrs Weasley.

"Does that... happen often?" Ron asked hesitantly, "Surrounded by Death Eaters or something."

"Not so often, especially if you know how to obey orders." Sirius clapped his hands, "James and I learned a lot at that time, before we really understood that obeying orders is for the sake of us and our companions Survive. If the plan goes well, in most cases there is no need to confront the enemy head-on, and the real battle is often over very quickly, with a few lights in the dark. You will find that joining the Order of the Phoenix is ​​far from what you imagined So cool."

"My dad said it was scary," said Ron, presumably the fear had been suppressed for a long time, and Molly seemed like a mother who wouldn't talk about such things. The magic mark hangs over the house..."

"That's another thing. It's completely different from being surrounded by Death Eaters." Sirius explained. "When fighting the enemy, there is no time to be afraid. You are either doing everything you can to survive or thinking about nothing. No more. For the rest of the time, you have to learn to live with those - worrying about what they'll do next, who they're going to hit, and get on with your life. Many people give up because they can't stand it. Waiting is the best thing to do. Tough, Voldemort was good at intimidation."

Ron shuddered. He was afraid of Voldemort's name, something Sirius despised in his youth, but he knew the boy in front of him was far from lacking in courage.

"As it is now," said Ron, "he came back and hurt and tortured Harry and we don't know what he's going to do next..."

"The situation we are facing is far more optimistic than last time." Sirius comforted, "After more than ten years, the power of the mysterious man has basically been shattered, and it will take him a long time to recover."

"But since he can't die, doesn't he have infinite time?" Ron asked eagerly, "Harry knocked him down last time, but he came back to life."

The correct answer is probably that we will completely defeat him this time, but Sirius feels that Ron is not as easy to fool as he seems. After experiencing so many difficulties and dangers with Harry, Ron understands Voldemort's return better than other children mean something.And Ron must have been more worried about Harry's state than anyone else.

"Honestly, I don't know." Sirius replied, and the boy showed disappointment, "We can only do our best and work together. Even if it's just letting him disappear for a few more years, many innocent people can be saved, Some children will grow up safely because of it."

"but--"

"If you want an exact answer about defeating Voldemort, I'm sorry, I don't have one," Sirius said bluntly. "If I had, I wouldn't be here. The devil killed my best Friend, I'll have him pay in blood."

Ron slowly closed his mouth, nodded, and accepted the answer.He might have spooked the kid a bit, he did his best, but his social manners were still in the belly of the dementor.

"Okay, let's go downstairs." He changed his tone, "By the way, I remember you have an older brother who worked under Crouch before? How is Percy?"

Sirius immediately realized which pot he was not opening and which pot to lift: Ron became sullen and angry, almost not himself.

"He's gone," said the boy dryly. "He didn't trust Dumbledore, and he didn't want to move here with us, had a big fight with Daddy, and left."

"...Oh." Sirius said. When he noticed the depressed atmosphere among the redheads just now, he thought it was because the house was too bad. "Don't worry, he will understand."

"Who cares?" Ron slapped the cabinet door resentfully, "He's just like that, he's aloof, he thinks he's better than us..."

"My brother used to be a Death Eater, so I quite understand it." Sirius smiled at the surprised expression on the other side, "Family issues, it's a long story."

"Did he get it?" Ron asked.

"Maybe," Sirius replied, "but I guess You-Know-Who wasn't too happy about it, so he died—of course, I'm sure Percy would never have been a Death Eater."

He should have gone upstairs with Buckbeak, at least Buckbeak would kick him when he said the wrong thing instead of staring at him in horror.

"I seem to hear everyone going down." Sirius remedied, ready to escape the room, "Molly seems to have made hot chocolate, you guys can drink it before going to bed."

"Sirius?" Ron called to him.

"how?"

Ron took a deep breath, "Harry is my best friend, and I won't let anything happen to him."

Sirius stopped.He looked at the boy in front of him seriously, his eyes swept over his slender limbs, his fisted fingers nervously, and the determined expression on his freckled face.Ron had no plans for his future, but he had firmly enlisted his friends, determined to stick together no matter what awaited them.

"I know," he replied. "You've proven it. I can't imagine Harry having a better friend than you."

"I'll help him." Receiving the other party's approval, Ron smiled shyly, "Maybe there's not much I can do—"

"You can do more than you can imagine." Sirius walked towards Ron, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Just having you by your side gives Harry endless support - that's what friends are. Don't know if I told you, at the Screaming Shack, when you stood in front of Harry—"

"I made a mistake." Ron blushed again. "We thought you were...uh."

"I call that courage and friendship." Sirius patted him, "I know I can safely hand Harry over to you and Hermione, and that's why I can stay here with confidence."

Ron looked a little more relaxed when they left the room than when they entered.There are people who will make you find yourself braver than you thought, and inspire you to do things you never thought you could do, and Sirius knows that firsthand.The bond he once had was broken on Halloween 14 years ago, but on the night at the Shrieking Shack, he saw it in another form between the other two boys, as if for the first time in many years. Once felt.

Bittersweet, which seems to be the perfect word to describe his realization.

(End of the article)