AUTHOR's NOTE---I'm going to make this a long one, hope you enjoy.
***
Over the course of an hour, the other Order members arrived in groups of two's and three's. Mad-Eye Moody returned with Elphias Doge, Kingsley with Emmeline Vance.
Mundungus Fletcher was as gritty and filthy as ever, arriving with Lupin and Tonks. Hagrid came ten minutes after that, and Mr. Weasley was forced to enlarge the front door slightly so that Hagrid would be able to squeeze in. Unlike the others, Hagrid could not apparate and was forced to traverse through the fury of the blizzard outside.
Professors Snape and McGonagall arrived last, the former casting a frozen stare over at Harry, which was coldly returned. Half the guests seem to noticed this tradeoff and shifted uncomfortably.
The normal dining table was of course much too small, so Dumbledore waved his wand casually and an entire new segmented room appeared. He waved his wand twice more and an elegant table and chairs popped out of nowhere.
They were all seated and began eating. Harry thought the food was delicious; it was extremely hard to tell whether Dumbledore or Dobby had made it.
"Great food, Professor Dumbledore!" Ron complimented their headmaster. And in an undertone to Harry, he added: "I still need to get over the concept of having three teachers and our headmaster over for supper. Must be some sort of school record."
"I heard that, Weasley," Professor McGonagall told him crisply, helping herself to a cream tart. "You might as well get used to it, we'll be coming over here again in a week or so. I do trust you'll keep up with your homework."
Ron smiled lopsidedly.
Harry ate fillingly but not to excess. He noticed that Snape wasn't eating as much as the others, and by the pale light could see that his pale pallor was much whiter than the norm. Snape dug a flash out of his cloak and drank from it, politely refusing a goblet of Butterbeer that Dumbledore had just offered him.
"Look at Snape." Ron told him.
"I know." Harry said in a low voice. "Now both Moody and Snape are drinking out of hipflasks? What has Snape to be afraid of?"
"I dunno," Ron said thoughtfully, digging disinterestedly into a bowl of salad that his mother had forced upon him. "After all, he is a former Death Eater, right? Maybe he's afraid that someone's going to try and poison him."
"Maybe," Harry said. "No, wait a minute. He isn't as nearly as paranoid as Moody is. I saw him refuse Dumbledore's Butterbeer."
Ron made a non-commital noise and continued eating.
"I couldn't help but hear you two," Tonks told then, giving Harry quite a fright and making Ron nearly choke on a wedge of cheese. "Now, I know that you two hate Snape and distrust him and all, but give him a bit of credit, so far he's been an asset to the Order, and useful too."
"Yeah, well," Ron said moodily. "Same old miserable bat, he is."
***
Dumbledore cleared the table with a wave of his wand after he saw that everyone had finished.
"Now, as our meeting commences...I would ask our members aknowledge that Harry would like some information, and I trust that we will do our best to answer those enquiries."
Harry nodded his thanks. Dumbledore smiled faintly at him.
"Now, Harry...ask away."
Harry voiced the first question that he had been wanting to know for days.
"What's Voldemort doing?" He ignored the renewed blanches at the use of the Dark Lord's true name. "I mean, not just in general, but wat exactly is he doing?"
"His top priority is guarding the armour." Lupin said those simple words and Harry understood immediately. "If he manages to keep doing that, it will give him a significant advantage over us."
"What armour?" Ron asked. He and Harry looked at each other and Harry knew that Ron understood that this was what they had briefly discussed that afternoon.
"Harry will tell you when the time comes." Lupin said, peering at Harry's expression closely. Harry felt a wave of relief that he would not have to cause Hermione, Ron, and Ginny even more anxiety; they appeared to be the only ones not to know.
"What are his other priorities?" Harry changed the subject abruptly.
It was Kingsley Shacklebolt who spoke up this time. "He wants more followers. Of course, he's not going to try and take on the entire Ministry of Magic with about a dozen Death Eaters, he's going to want more. A lot more. Maybe some he'll torture, maybe some he'll put under his will with the Imperius Curse. Or if they resist even more, he'll kill them."
Hermione and Ginny shuddered involuntarily.
"He also wants to build up an army of Dark creatures," Emmeline Vance told him. "Not just the little ones, either. Dementors, of course. So far, he has the Dementors and the Giants only, but they are extremely powerful at the moment."
"I've been trainin' Grawp, Torgus, and Rawth a wee bit." Hagrid informed him. "Close combat's somethin' that Voldemort can't exactly teach all the giants at once. Grawpy and his pals can hold their own."
Ginny looked inquisitively at Harry, who mouthed the words, "Tell you later."
"And rumors that he's sent the Lestranges to go and try to find a Nundu or a Chimera." Mr. Weasley added.
Harry was very put out by the idea of a dreaded Chimera on Lord Voldemort's side, but he had no idea what a 'Nundu' was.
"What's a Nundu?" Harry had the idea that it was every bit as bad as a Chimera, if not worse.
"It's a huge, huge, cat." Tonks said. "Kind of like those ones in the Muggle world...Lepers or Lopers I think they call them - "
"Leopards?"
"That's the one," Tonks nodded grimly. "But a Nundu's much, much, bigger. And it can kill entire villages at once with its venom breath."
Harry swallowed.
Dumbledore coughed. "Any other questions, Harry?"
hey awesome, everyday i come home from skool and see if u posted
on ur last post, theres 4 teachers at the table; snape, mcgonagall, tonks and hagrid
also, i find it interesting, and i aint critisising, but the nundu, thats kinda weird, humungus cat that has venom breath and can kill a whole village😖
anyways post asap, dieing every second u dont post
AUTHOR'S NOTE-----Sorry I couldn't post on the weekend. Brainstormed some great ideas though. The thing is, these ideas apply to near the end of the story, which I'm hoping to get done before the REAL book six actually comes out.
Harry had one more question. After that, he felt that it was enough.
"How big are Voldemort's standing forces?"
The members did some rapid mental calculations.
"Well, you've gort' the Dementors and probably 'bout a score an' half of giants, I reckon." Mundungus offered. To his credit, he had his pipe between his lips, but unlit.
"About a score and a.....yeah, Mundungus was righ'." Hagrid said, eyes squinted, trying to remember.
"There are about five hundred Dementors in Azkaban." Lupin told Harry.
Dumbledore cleared his throat quietly; this simple action quieted everyone, who turned to look at Dumbledore. When Dumbledore sopke, his words were for Harry alone.
"Now, his Death Eaters about one year ago totalled around a dozen and a half, I think. He has been skilfully watching the general public and selecting whom he thinks will serve him best. And right now, his Death Eaters total four dozen. Some joined willingly when he approached them, mainly because they had heard his reputation and wanted a share of his power."
Harry did some quick mental calculations in his head. He casted a quick look at the Order, and tried to remember the number of Aurors he had seen at the Ministry of Magic.
Dumbledore seemed to know exactly what he was thinking.
"Yes, his Death Eaters outnumber our Auror forces. Which is why I want you all - (Harry knew that Dumbledore was talking about the DA) - to be as highly trained as possible."
Mrs. Weasley looked shocked. "Now, see here, Dumbledore...we can't go and use Hogwarts students as some kind of trained army - "
Dumbledore's gaze fell squarely on her. He was not angry, but when Dumbledore simply stared at you, anyone would fall silent.
"I am not implying that they become our trained soldiers, Molly," he told her quietly. "But I do want them to be as capable as possible to be able to defend themselves, when the need arises."
She nodded, agreeing.
Dumbledore looked at Harry again. Somewhere in those bright blue eyes, Harry caught a slight hint.
"No more questions." he told everyone.
"Well, now that Harry's need of knowledge has been satiated, I suggest we get on with the meeting," Dumbledore said, smiling. "Now, does anyone have an issue to raise?"
"Yeah, I got one." Hagrid said. "There's been a Lethifold attack at Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore, sorry I didn't inform you earlier, but it just occured to me several days ago. Lethifolds aren't exactly common in these parts, righ'? And I couldn't help but think tha' it was put in the forest or somethin'. I've been finding all these Dark creatures in the forest lately, when I'm lookin' after my Thestrals....more than what there usually is. Do you think that this migh' have somethin' to do with You-Know-Who?"
"It might well be, Hagrid." Dumbledore said thoughtfully, stroking his beard. "Your opinions, everyone?" He pointed at Ron, who gulped.
"Me, professor?" Ron's face went the shade of an overripe tomato.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "As a member of the Order, you are entitled to your own opinion."
"Oh...right..." Ron cleared his throat, blushing. "Well, If there are more than usual, I reckon that You-Know-Who might have captured as many as he could, bent them under his will, and planned to release them later for a major offensive."
He said all this very fast, as if hoping that none had heard it.
Ron seemed to think this was a very stupid assumption, but everyone else was actually thinking about it, Tonks and Lupin having a whispered debate.
"I agree with Ron." Moody said, scratching his scarred face. "They couldn't have gotten into the forest by themselves, now, could they? It only makes sense that some force or other moved them there."
Everyone else muttered. Ron was greatly heartened, and sat down.