The Forgotten Olympian |BOOK 1| PJO X HP | Alexandra Marine

Chapter 105 - Percy - A Fight With Words

The atmosphere in the room changed so quickly, as though each one of them had just seen their worst nightmares ever. Where seconds before it had been sleepily relaxed, it was now alert, even tense. A frisson had gone around the table at the mention of Voldemort's name. Remus, who had been about to take a sip of wine, lowered his goblet slowly, looking wary.

"I did!" said Harry indignantly. "I asked Ron and Hermione but they said we're not allowed in the Order, so--"

"And they're quite right," said Molly. "You're too young."

She was sitting bolt upright in her chair, her fists clenched an its arms, every trace of drowsiness gone.

"Since when did someone have to be in the Order of the Phoenix to ask questions?" asked Sirius. "Harry's been trapped in that Muggle house for a month. He's got the right to know what's been happen--"

"Hang on!" interrupted George loudly.

"How come Harry gets his questions answered?" said Fred angrily.

"We've been trying to get stuff out of you for a month and you haven't told us a single stinking thing!" said George.

"'You're too young, you're not in the Order,'" said Fred, in a high-pitched voice that sounded uncannily like his mother's. "Harry's not even of age!"

"I have entrusted nephews and niece with answers to any questions they want answered. It's not my fault you haven't been told what the Order's doing," said Sirius calmly, "that's your parents' decision. "Harry, on the other hand--"

"It's not down to you to decide what's good for Harry!" said Molly. The expression on her normally kind face looked dangerous. "You haven't forgotten what Dumbledore said, I suppose?"

"Which bit?" Sirius asked politely, but with the air of a man readying himself for a fight.

"The bit about not telling Harry more than he needs to know," said Molly, placing a heavy emphasis on the last three words.

Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George's heads swivelled from Sirius to Molly as though they were following a tennis rally. Ginny was kneeling amid a pile of abandoned Butterbeer corks, watching the conversation with her mouth slightly open. Lupin's eyes were fixed on Sirius.

"I don't intend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly," said Sirius. "But as he was the one who saw Voldemort come back," (again, there was a collective shudder around the table at the name), "he has more right than most to--"

"He's not a member of the Order of the Phoenix!" said Molly. "He's only fifteen and--"

"--and he's dealt with as much as most in the Order," said Sirius, "and more than some--"

"No one's denying what he's done!" said Molly, her voice rising, her fists trembling on the arms of her chair. "But he's still--"

"He's not a child!" said Sirius impatiently.

"He's not an adult either!" said Molly, the colour rising in her cheeks. "He's not James, Sirius!"

Annabeth tugged my arm. I turned to her and saw that her face looked as though she was in horror. She pointed to Alex. 

A shiver of dread passed through my spine.

Alex was staring down at the table, almost as though she was in a trance. I turned to Jason, sitting opposite her. He was looking at his wife in a state of worry, his hands desperate to wake her up.

"I'm perfectly clear who he is, thanks, Molly," said Sirius coldly.

"I'm not sure you are!" said Molly. "Sometimes, the way you talk about him, it's as though you think you've got your best friend back!"

"What's wrong with that?" said Harry.

"What's wrong, Harry, is that you are not your father, however much you might look like him!" said Molly, her eyes still boring into Sirius. "You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!"

"Meaning I'm an irresponsible godfather?" demanded Sirius, his voice rising.

"Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and--"

"We'll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this, if you please!" said Sirius loudly.

"Arthur!" said Molly rounding on her husband. "Arthur, back me up!"

Arthur did not speak at once. He took off his glasses and cleaned them slowly on his robes, not looking at his wife. Only when he had replaced them carefully on his nose did he reply.

"Dumbledore knows the position has changed, Molly. He accepts that Harry will have to be filled in, to a certain extent, now that he is staying at headquarters--"

"Yes, but there's a difference between that and inviting him to ask whatever he likes!"

No one was paying attention to the fact that Alex was almost on the verge of fainting. I wanted to get up and pick Alex out of her chair and get away.

"Personally," said Remus quietly, looking away from Sirius at last, as Molly turned quickly to him, hopeful that finally she was about to get an ally, "I think it better that Harry gets the facts--not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture--from us, rather than a garbled version from ...others."

"Well," said Molly, breathing deeply and looking around the table for support that did not come, "well....I can see I'm going to be overruled. I'll just say this: Dumbledore must have had his reasons for not wanting Harry to know too much, and speaking as someone who has Harry's best interests at heart--"

"He's not your son," said Sirius quietly.

"He's as good as," said Molly fiercely. "Who else has he got?"

"He's got me!"

"Yes," said Molly, her lip curling, "the thing is, it's been rather difficult for you to look after him while you've been locked up in Azkaban, hasn't it?"

In an instant, Alex got up from her chair, looking at me and Annabeth before turning to Molly with blue eyes a shade darker than the ocean itself. "How dare you."

"Alexandra-?" Molly began, but Alex shot her a glare so fearful that the woman shut up. 

Alex turned to Sirius. "This conversation is not a discussion, not a negotiation. It is just a fight with words." 

"And we do not partake in such conversations. And we do not let them happen either. Final warning," she finished.

That was our cue. Annabeth, Nico, Will and I got up from our chairs. "Good night."

We ran upstairs, looking forward to hear the news from Alex.

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