Chapter 17: What Was in That Tea?

There were many protestations at his order. They didn't want to lose the only safe place they had, but he held firm. "If you still think Dumbledore should be your leader, then leave. I won't say it again," Sirius said, still holding the floo powder out like a demand.

"Come now, my boy," the headmaster tried again. He really needed to stay here. If not just because Harry was here, he needed to know what this splinter group would do. He was sure they were going to take the fight to Voldemort, and that would be bad. Only Harry could fight Tom. Didn't they understand that?

"No, for the last time, get out," Sirius said, this time raising his voice. The power of the wards responded to his anger, and many people, who had been feeling relaxed were now all but running to the floo. He held the powder so that one by one they left.

Dumbledore, who was still feeling fine, he had drunk a lot of that delightful tea, came up to Sirius and gave him his patented 'I am disappointed in you' look. "Surely this could have been resolved peacefully," the old man said, taking some powder and holding it for the moment. Some ran out of his fingers on to the clean stone floor.

"You think Harry is just some pawn in your great game of chess that you are playing with Voldy. I won't have it," the dogman said, pointing to the fireplace with a majestic finger. "Your time as chess master is over. Leave Harry alone." He then turned his head to show the conversation was over.

"Come and speak to me when you have calmed down, my boy," Albus said, looking at those that had yet to get out of their chairs. "That goes for the rest of you as well," he added, thinking they would come back sooner or later. He then threw the powder and flooed to Hogsmeade.

"Finally," Tonks said, she too looking around to see who stayed. She was tired of not doing anything useful. They had talked of splintering off before, but she could see why Sirius did it now. Dumbledore was just playing games.

Besides Tonks: Remus, Moody, Kingsley, Bill, Fred, and George were all still seated. Not as many as they had hoped, but better than what they had dreaded. They had thought that the Weasley patriarch would stay, but he had followed his wife into the floo. Maybe they could talk to him later. Bill and the twins were hopeful the man would see reason.

"Now that Dumbledore and the Order are gone, vows must be taken. But first, come out, Harry," Sirius said, looking behind him and seeing Harry take off the invisibility cloak.

"That was fun," the Boy-Who-Lived said with a grin. He had had a blast taking Dumbledore down a peg or two. That man had micromanaged his life for the last time. He didn't know how it would go at Hogwarts, but with Sirius by his side, and the doxies in his bag, he was ready to face it.

"How did you know to ask those questions?" Moody asked, knowing that Sirius was being fed information. He didn't know how, he saw nothing. He had noted Harry whispering, his eye seeing through the cloak, but he never saw what the boy was talking to.

It had to be something the twins thought up. They were crafty buggers, who couldn't keep their nose out of Order business. Those Extendable Ears were masterpieces of spy equipment. Well, in the wizarding world. He had heard of the things that the muggles had come up with, and the twins were close to matching some of that stuff.

"Not until after the vows are taken," Sirius said, retaking his seat and waving Harry to sit next to him. "The twins already have vowed to keep mine and Harry's secrets. Moony, you need to take a vow this time. I'm afraid Marauder's promise is not enough. This is larger than what you already know," he added, looking at his last friend from his school years.

"Okay, Sirius, I can see you were right about Dumbledore. I have no issue taking a vow," the werewolf said, glancing at Tonks to see what she thought. She was quite cute when she wanted to be. There was something about her that made him think of things he had never even hoped to think of before. He was scared of hoping now. He had never been in a relationship, but this young lady was making him have those thoughts. If only he wasn't a werewolf.

"Will this interfere with our Auror's vows?" she asked, not sure if she or Kingsley could take the vows. She took her job very seriously, and the Order never made them swear an oath. She thought that was foolish, especially after what happened last time. She was really glad that Sirius was now a free man, but he should have never been arrested in the first place. All because of one man that was a traitor. If they had had oaths, that would never have happened.

"They shouldn't, but if you think they will, you can walk away from any information that is being revealed. I promise not to compromise your jobs," Sirius said, thinking on what they knew and if it would interfere with the law. He didn't think so, but better safe than sorry.

"You can word them differently," Moody suggested, thinking on how to do just that. "Something along the lines of 'I promise to keep these secrets, unless I feel they will cause harm to others', or something like that." He would take a more binding oath since he was no longer an Auror. He was ready and willing to kill the Death Eaters, the law be damned.

"Then there are things I will not be able to tell you," Harry said, knowing that his doxies could be, and probably will be, deadly. He had plans on using them in battle, or even just to save his life. He didn't know the legality behind that. As far as he knew, there wasn't a precedent over using pests as weapons.

"You plan on breaking the law?" Tonks wanted to know. She was all for fighting back, but to outright break the law, well she had an oath to uphold that.

"Not really, but accidents happen, and you would need plausible deniability," the teen hedged. He didn't want to spill the beans accidently.

"I can deal with that," Tonks said, looking to Kingsley, who was looking to Moody.

"Sounds good," the retired man said, knowing that the boy was being honest.

The people there took a vow to keep the secrets of Harry and Sirius, modified for the two Aurors. They would bow out when things got borderline illegal. They also were told to keep Amelia Bones in the know. They could tell her about the horcruxes and how many were left. They could update her on what this splinter group was doing and get her approval on somethings. Like being an unregistered Animagus.

Sirius had plans on teaching Harry and the twins. There hadn't really been time this summer with the trials and all. However, next summer, if time allowed, he would walk them through it. For now, he'd give them the book to start their meditations with.

"So, what did you put in the tea?" Bill asked, breaking everyone out of their thoughts, and after all the vows had been taken. "Don't tell me you didn't add anything, even I felt it. Heck, I can still feel it," he said taking another sip to see if he could deduce what it was. He could feel it mellow his mood, but he didn't think it was enough to spill his secrets. So, he took another sip.

"Cannabis," Fred said, looking around the room to see who knew what that was. They didn't. Well, Harry did, but he wasn't telling. The boy was trying his hardest not to break out in giggles. He and George had found out about it thanks to Lee. They had even gotten stoned a time or two at Lee's house. Lee's parents were very openminded.

"Yeah," George snickered, making everyone look at him funny, and snicker as well.

"What is cannabis?" Kingsley asked, thinking the word sounded familiar. It was something he had been warned about, but for the life of him he couldn't remember where, or why. It tickled his brain, but it was just out of reach. So, he too took a sip to see if he could taste what was in it.

"It's a plant that relaxes you enough to be open to questioning. Well, really it is a recreational drug for the muggles," Fred explained, noting his brother was still giggling, like he had drunk too much tea. Silly George, he knew better.

"We weakened it, so that no one got the full effect," George said, not giggling because of the weed, he was giggling because they pulled it off. He didn't think it would work as well as it had. Now, he was sampling the goods, and relaxing after that stressful meeting.

"You got Dumbledore stoned?" Bill asked, flabbergasted. He knew about cannabis. The goblins used it for meditation on the teenage goblins and older. Anyone who worked for Gringotts was introduced to the weed.

"Yup," Fred said, joining the crowd and taking a deep sip of the tea. Seemed a shame to waste it. He too had been tensed in the meeting. He was just glad it worked, and now it was time to unwind.

"My surprise is that you got Moody to agree," Tonks said, snickering in her hand. She too was drinking the tea, knowing it would relax her. She had never felt so mellow.

"It took a lot of convincing, but yeah he agreed," George said, looking at the mellow ex-Auror. The only reason Moody had agreed was because he knew that Albus trusted him and knew he would never drink something mind-altering.

"I'm all for letting people spill their secrets. Especially, ones that need to be shared," Moody said, taking the counteragent. He felt he had consumed enough of the beverage. It was funny to watch the old man get stoned, but he wasn't going to lower his inhibitions any further.

"It wasn't just cannabis," Fred said, bringing everyone's attention back to him.

"No," agreed his brother, "we had to add some valerian root too. Cannabis and valerian together relax you more without the euphoria that one gets from just cannabis," he explained, leaning back in his chair just chilling.

"We didn't want everyone baked to the gills," Fred said, smiling like it was a great prank. Which it was.

"It was a good plan," Kingsley said, relaxing back in his chair and grinning like a fool.

"How did you mask the taste?" was Tonks's question. She knew the effects of Marijuana since she had partaken as a teen, but it stank and tasted repugnant. She knew you could bake it in brownies, but to make a tasteful tea? That was different.

"That wasn't easy, let me tell you," Fred said, still grinning like a fool.

"It took a lot of additives," George said, giggling a bit. He grabbed a cookie and started eating it, like he hadn't eaten in a while.

"So, we're now high?" Bill asked, not feeling high, but he really liked the look of those biscuits. He grabbed a few and started munching.

"Slightly buzzed, I think the phrase is," Fred corrected, though he too wanted some cookies.

"I'm glad I didn't drink any," Harry said, taking some ham and cheese finger sandwiches.

"We wouldn't have let you," George said, his face serious.

"Yeah, you're too young," Fred agreed.

"I concur," Sirius said, knowing that Harry wouldn't like what they were saying, but mind-altering drink and drugs weren't something you gave to kids.

"Well, that's done, what next?" Harry asked, amused that the whole table was half-baked.

"Now we plan," Moody said, sitting up a bit taller.

"Wait," Sirius said, getting a fresh cup of unlaced tea. He pointed Harry to the safe pot. "I want to know more about Lucy," he said, turning to the giggling pink headed Auror.

"Like I said, he sang like a bird. However, his wand is missing," Tonks said, eating a few of the cucumber sandwiches. They were divine.

"Hold on," Harry said, leaving the kitchen without telling why. He ran upstairs to get the wand and ran back down to hand it to Tonks. "Here," he said, taking his seat next to his godfather. "That's Malfoy's wand." He was right pleased that he now had a way to get it to Bones.

"Why do you have Malfoy's wand?" Tonks and Kingsley wanted to know. It wasn't often a wand fell into their laps. Mostly the wand was broken, or it was hidden so they could not find it. If this wand was Lucius's, then they could pin more crimes on that man.

"It was laying around the Ministry," he said with a great deal of cheek. It was true after all. The man had dropped it when he got sick. Madam Bones didn't know the cane had the wand, so she ignored it.

"What about his cane?" George asked, wondering if Harry was going to keep it. He knew he and his brother would, just for the bragging rights.

"Oh, I thought I'd show it off a bit," Harry answered, thinking of Draco's reaction to him having it.

That caused everyone, bar Moody, to chuckle or giggle.

Harry didn't care what was in the tea, seeing them relaxed like this was a good sight.

"You never did answer my question," Alastor said, looking to the mostly sober Sirius. "How did you know what questions to ask?" he inquired again, taking a sip from his flask.

"Harry," was all the dogman said, looking to his godson.

Harry lifted the bag and set it on the table. "Queenie," he called opening the flap. They still couldn't see the bag but had figured out what it was by the boy's movements.

"What?" she said as usual.

"I want you to meet some more people," Harry said, waving around the table.

"Is that a talking doxy?" Tonks asked, then giggled at the very thought.

"Yes," the teen said, trying not to laugh at her. "She and her family are my secret weapon. To answer Moody's question, she was invisible and feeding Sirius the questions I wanted answered," he said, gesturing that the queen could return to the bag.

"How did you find a talking doxy?" Kingsley wanted to know. He too had never heard of such a thing.

"I found her and her family, here in this house. The dark objects made her sentient," Harry explained, then went further into his meeting of the doxies, and what he had done with them so far.

The whole table broke out in giggles.

"You really need to lay off that tea," Sirius said with a chuckle.

"We're fine," they all said, then promptly broke out in giggles again.

"Okay, but only this once," the dogman said, just glad that everyone was having fun.