Chapter 13: Good Training and Great News

The training had started the day after the Weasleys and Hermione left, and it was harsh. Between Sirius, Remus, and the twins, he and the doxies were put through their paces. They did scenario after scenario.

It was just Sirius and the twins today. Remus was doing something for the Order. They were hopeful, most of them, that he would move into the house. At least until the teens went back to school. Sirius wanted his friend around, and the twins had always gotten along with the man. Harry, well he was still aloof with the werewolf. Remus had yet to prove himself to the boy, and it was taking a lot on Harry's part just to be cordial to the man.

"Okay, Harry, I want you to stand there and let Fred stun you," Sirius said to him the day they started training. He was going to work on physical training first. Maybe when Harry was back at Hogwarts, he'd go over the stuff he needed to learn about his place in society. Not that it was a high-ranking place, but it was up there, and Harry needed to know the way to act. He didn't want his godson to be taken advantage of. And there were many that would. As much as he hated to admit it, the boy was naïve. And far too trusting.

"What? Why?" the confused teen asked, not sure what was going on. He thought he was going to learn to fight. He had to train with his doxies, so they were a cohesive team.

"I want to train your doxies what to do if you get kidnapped," his godfather said, grabbing the teen's shoulder and positioning him to where he wanted. "That and I want you to learn how to come up casting, if someone does stun you," he added, moving back, and waving to Fred.

"Fine," Harry said, and stood still to let Fred stun him from the back. "Wait," he said, before he could be knocked out, "We have to explain to the doxies that this is only a test. I don't want them to hurt anyone." He lifted the bag and called for the queen.

"What?" she asked in her usual manner.

"We're training, so I need the troops out here for a debriefing," Harry told her, not the least bit put off by her tone.

"Okay," was all she said as she went back into the bag. Moments later, a swarm of over a hundred doxies came flying out. Harry was sure they had multiplied. Not that he minded, the more the better. Hopefully, the new ones were as smart, if not smarter, than the older ones.

"Alright, doxy army, we need you to not hurt anyone in this room. We're going to work on what to do if Harry here gets kidnapped," Sirius said, looking at the armed doxies. They looked kinda cute with their bows and knives. He thought he'd have to talk to Harry about the benefits of armor.

"Do what he says. He's your general today," Harry said, letting them know that he was okay with the drill.

The doxies all nodded as one and turned to Sirius.

"Okay, first, which of you guys are in charge?" the dogman asked, peering at the formation.

Twenty raised their hands.

"You are now generals. You control what happens. If I say to do something, then you make those under you do what is needed," Sirius said, then went over what he had planned. When he was done the doxies flew back into the bag. "Ready, Harry?" his godfather asked, moving Harry back into position.

"Sure, now that I know what you're doing," the teen said and stood with his back to Fred.

Fred sent the stunner and Harry fell. Just like they planned, a few doxies crawled out, as covertly as they could, and looked around to see what was happening. Upon seeing Fred, who was approaching Harry, they made a battle cry and charged the twin. Using only prank arrows, they peppered him with his own jokes.

That didn't slow the older teen down, not even when his hand turned into a claw. He kept right on coming to the downed boy. When the doxies noticed this, they went back into the bag, making it look like they were hiding on Harry. They knew to hide there until they knew what was happening.

Fred dropped a portkey on Harry, which only went to the next room. When Harry stilled again, this time dozens of doxies came out and swarmed George, who was the only one in the room. They didn't bite for real, but they did scratch where they would have bitten him.

If this had been real, George and Fred would have been dead.

"That was good, now we have to go over what to do if there is more than one person," Sirius said, coming into the room and reviving Harry. "We need to find a way for the doxies to revive you," he said, thoughtfully.

"Will smelling salts work?" Harry asked, having heard about them in the muggle world.

"I don't know what those are," Sirius said, tilting his head to his godson.

"I don't either, I do know they are so strong smelling they wake people who have fainted," Harry said, looking to the twins. "Can you make something like that?" he asked, hoping they could. It would make things much easier.

"We can try," Fred said, looking to his brother, who was more versed in potions.

"How strong?" George asked, many formulas going on in his head.

"Like a concentration of ammonia and bitters," Harry said, thinking of the strongest household smells. He knew from all his cleaning that ammonia was very strong, even diluted. Bitters might not be the right combination, but it was all he could think of because smelling them hurt his nose.

"I'll do what I can," George said, patting Harry on the back. He already had a few in mind. He would just have to make them small enough for the doxies, yet strong enough to wake Harry.

"Okay, let's get back to work," Sirius said, glad that they might find a way to wake Harry, should the worst happen.

They did lots of drills around that scenario. Harry wasn't sure why, he'd only been kidnapped once, but he let it go and just went with it. He was getting stronger, and his doxies were getting faster. So, it was all going swimmingly.

George was able to invent the smelling salts, Weasley style. It was something that the doxies could carry around their neck. It did smell of ammonia and bitters. And when a person was revived from it, they came up swinging. It was like a strong-smelling pepper-up.

Harry learned that if he smelled that, then he needed to start hexing the moment he was coherent. For now, he used stinging hexes, which only left small welts. He didn't fear being kidnapped now.

Harry wanted to talk to the queen. He called her out.

"What?" she said, hands on hips.

"Do you have any better armor for the troops?" he asked, having wanted to discuss this with her for a while.

"For what reason?" she asked, not seeing the point of overdressing the soldiers.

"Protection," Harry said slowly.

"We're the size of your hands. No amount of armor is going to keep us from being squished," she said with a chuckle in her voice.

"Oh, I guess I didn't think of that," the teen said, seeing her point.

"Thanks for the thought, and I will see what we can come up with to prevent being squished," she said, going back in the bag.

"Well, I tried," the teen said and went to bed.

Hphphp

Harry did write the other boys from his dorm, and the rest of the Quidditch team. He had sent them all a note wondering how their summer was going and if they missed such-and-such, depending on who he was talking to. He had yet to receive a reply, but he had only sent them out a few nights ago.

It had been a week since the Weasleys, bar the twins, had left. Hermione was not answering any of his post. Ron said she was still mad that he got to go into the main library, and she didn't. While that saddened him a bit, it wasn't his problem. She would either get over it, or not. He wasn't going to apologize for something out of his control.

There had been one meeting of the Order, but it was boring to Harry. Sirius did bring up everyone taking a vow, and that caused a ruckus, which ended up making Dumbledore look bad. He had been in control of the Order during the last war, and they had had a spy. Many of the newer members were ready, willing, and able to take a vow. However, Dumbledore shot it down.

Harry wasn't sure what the man's problem was, but he was opening the Order up for spies, from either the government, or Voldy. That was not a good thing, and Harry only hoped that the headmaster got smart before people got killed.

Sirius also brought up the fact that it was stupid to be watching the prophecy. Many hadn't known that that was what they were protecting. Since Divination was such a woolly subject, a great many were put out over that. Harry agreed, his death had been predicted these last few years, and here he was.

Obviously, a lot of the Order members agreed with him and Sirius on both points. There was talk of a splinter group that would be more proactive. They would all take vows and then they would actively seek out Death Eaters and find out what Voldy's plans were. Right now, it was just talk, but many were getting disillusioned with Dumbledore.

Harry's doxies spied on everyone that came to Grimmuald Place. They made sure to tell the queen everything. She would then summarize it for Harry. So far, there wasn't much they didn't already know. Unless you wanted to know people's love lives, which Harry did not.

They, he and the twins, would be going back to Hogwarts soon, but they had not received their booklist yet. Harry was getting worried that it would come on the last day of summer, and Diagon Alley would be packed. He hated going through crowds. They all stopped and stared at him. They might not this time since he didn't have the scar anymore.

Or that might just make them stare harder. It was hard to predict what the public would do. After all, he was an attention seeking crazy person with delusions of grandeur. If they believed that tripe, then they weren't worth his time. He had more important things to worry about.

Right now, they were waiting for word from Amelia Bones. She said she'd be sending news of Sirius's need for a trial. There had been a Wizengamot meeting to discuss it, and Fudge's 'retirement'. As it was, they were going to let him walk away, but Umbridge was going down. Fudge was just stupid and an easy target. He was a simple man and easy to bribe.

Umbridge was pure evil, and Amelia was glad they caught her before she made it to Hogwarts. She was arrested for her attempt on Harry's life via dementors. They questioned her thoroughly, and she had plans for the future that were out of Hitler's handbook. Not that many magicals knew who Hitler was, but muggleborns were more than happy to explain it to them.

"What do you think she's going to say?" Harry asked, fretting, and worrying the sleeve of his shirt. They had been waiting the better part of the morning for this letter. Harry hardly ate his breakfast; he was that nervous.

"Hopefully that I'm a free man," Sirius answered, slapping gently at Harry's fidgeting fingers. "Relax, either everything changes, or everything stays the same. Your fussing isn't going to change the outcome," he said, putting an encouraging hand on the boy's shoulder.

"I can't help it. The outcome affects me too," Harry said, getting up and pacing. He truly was very worried about this. "If you're free, I can stay here."

"I know, but you're going to give yourself a heart attack if you keep it up," his godfather teased him. "Besides, you can stay here whether I'm free or not," he added encouragingly.

"I'm too young for a heart attack," Harry said, not slowing down in his pacing.

"Harrykins," Fred said, standing in front of the worried teen, "Sirius is right, you're going to make yourself sick." He put his hands on the boy's shoulder and steered him to a chair.

"Yeah," George said, staying in his seat, "stop worrying."

"I can't help it, okay?" Harry said, getting frustrated that they were harping on him.

As if to answer his silent prayer, an owl swooped in. It was a Ministry owl; it had their symbol on a breast plate.

"Sirius," Harry started, only for an arm to reach around him and take the letter. The hand that detached the letter was shaking. For all his bravado, the man was just as worried.

"It's from Bones," the fugitive said, reading the post. His eyes moved back and forth on the page, and they grew wider and wider with each word.

"Well," the three teens said, more than ready to hear the news.

"I'm free. No trial needed. She said there would be a press release tonight. She's going to tell them about the evidence that showed that Pettigrew was alive, so all charges against me are dropped. With apology and compensation. There's a postscript from Fudge, saying it wasn't his fault, but the fault of the last minister. Coward," the now free man spat. He put the letter down and grinned at the teens. "I'm free," he crowed, raising his arms in a victory pose.

"He's free," they all said, grabbing the nearest person and dancing around the room. This went on for ten minutes. Finally, they settled down, though the smiles were bright as ever.

"I told her that a trial would be better," Harry said when they calmed down. He was sitting next to his godfather, who was in a state of shock.

"She said that under the law she can't try me. It would set a precedent," Sirius explained, hoping Harry understood.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense. Well, at least they are going to tell the press," the teen conceded.

"There is that. Now I can take you shopping for your school supplies," his godfather said, grinning like a fool.

"Wait, Fudge is still in office?" Harry asked, shocked at that bit of news.

"No, he's been asked to step down. He probably didn't want me to sue him personally. I might just, we'll see. Bones is the provisional minister," Sirius said, rereading that part of the missive. "She's not happy about that, judging from her language. I think she's blaming you, Harry."

"Of course, she is," Harry said with a sigh. He really hoped the woman wasn't truly upset. The last thing he needed was for one more government official to hate him. Fudge had been bad enough. Though, Madam Bones had stood up for him to show his memories.

"If it makes you feel better, that Umbitch woman is going to get the Kiss," Sirius said, making the teens look at him in a 'why would it' manner. "She's the one who set the dementors on Harry," he explained, that got them to cheer a bit.

"Good, I didn't like that woman," Harry said, remembering the creepy woman in pink.

"I need to tell Remus," Sirius said, going to the fireplace and kneeling down. He threw the floo powder in and called Remus's address. There was exciting talk and some whooping coming from the fireplace.

While the two friends got caught up on the news, Harry went to his room. The twins went back to working on the top-secret project. They promised they'd have it ready by school.