Chapter 18: Explaining the Army

Moody let them have their fun for about a half an hour, and that was pushing it for him. He knew they needed to blow off some steam, so he let it pass. Now though, it was time to plan. He handed out the counteragent and got everyone sobered up.

"Now we need to figure out what to do about the horcruxes," he said, starting the real meeting. it was getting late, and he wanted to be home soon.

"The goblins have taken care of all but two," Bill repeated, making sure everyone was up to date. He didn't want anyone to fall behind. "Once they get rid of the next to last one, then we can all meet together and figure out what to do with Voldy," he added, repeating what his bosses had told him.

"You did say that," Sirius said with a nod. "You also said there was one at Hogwarts. Do they need our help with that?" he asked, knowing he could get in and out of the school without detection.

"If you know a way they can get in, I think they'd rather handle it. That way they know they've done a thorough job," the redhead said, holding out his hands in a 'what can I do' motion.

"I hear that," Harry said, knowing that he preferred to finish a job that he started instead of handing the responsibility to someone else. "I feel the same way," he voiced his thoughts.

"Between us, Remus and Sirius, I'm sure we can get them in," Fred said, still basking in the warmth of a job well done.

"No one knows the school like us and the Marauders," George added, he too was feeling accomplished.

"Yeah," Sirius and Remus said, sharing a knowing grin. Between the four of them, they could get an army of goblins in the school. That and the twins will be in the school, and Harry had the map. So, keeping the goblins secret wouldn't be hard.

"The Marauders?" questioned Tonks.

Harry, of course knew them. Sirius rarely shut up about them. Though he never really went into detail about their time in school. It was more like, 'Your father used to do that', or 'You act just like your mum'. Things on that nature. Harry wanted some real stories about what they did that made the twins all but idolize them. Besides the map that is. There had to be some legendary things that had happened to make a name for themselves. He wanted those stories.

"Me, Remus, James, and the traitor were a group of miscreants in school. I'll admit that there were times we got out of control, but we did limit ourselves to pranks, for the most part," Sirius said, knowing he was going to have to explain that statement to Harry sooner or later. He was hoping for later.

"They were wickedly smart too," Fred said, grinning at his heroes.

"The stuff they came up with…" George stated, trailing off on all they had found out about the Marauders.

"You'll have to tell me some stories, when we're not in a meeting," Harry said, glancing at his godfather's and Remus's slightly guilty faces.

"Anyway, I'll get back to my boss and you guys can collaborate on getting the next to the last horcrux," Bill said, getting up to leave. "It's been a real fun day, but I have a date," he said with a cheeky grin.

"Oh, Bill and Fleur getting together for some fun," the twins said, with as much teasing as they could put in their voices.

"Can it, you two," Bill said, without anger. He was more than used to his brothers and their joking ways. Charlie was much like that when he was younger too. Though, he didn't think the twins would grow out of it like Charlie did.

"Have fun on your date," Tonks said, waving him away. "We'll keep you informed," she added, glancing at Sirius, who nodded.

"There are very few secrets here," Sirius said, looking at Harry. "Only those that would compromise you two," he added, pointing a finger at Tonks and Kingsley.

"Bye, Bill," everyone said as the man left the kitchen to leave out the front door.

"We should go too," Kingsley said to Tonks. "We have to update Bones," he added as an explanation.

"Fine," the pink haired Auror said, getting up from her chair. "It was fun, we should do that again. Or the twins can sell me some of that tea," she said with a winning smile. It had been a fun day, and she certainly wouldn't mind downtime at home.

"We can do that. It's going in our adult section. Of age only," Fred said, nudging his brother, who nodded. It was up there with the mild love potion, which they were still debating on. There was an erectile dysfunction potion as well. It was meant as a gag gift, even if it did work. There were the dream pillows, that would put you in a steamy dream with the person of your dreams. They were coming up with many things for adults only.

"I think that's a marvelous idea. Cannabis is not illegal in the wizarding world," she added with a wink. "Let me know when you've marketed it," she said, moving to the fireplace.

"We know, and we will," they said together.

"We'll send you a catalog," Fred said, winking in her direction.

"You do that," she said, grabbing some floo powder and throwing it in the fireplace. Everyone watched them leave via the floo.

When they were gone, Moody turned around and said, "Now that the law is gone, tell me more about these doxies." He knew there was more than what had been said so far. He alone could think of ten things to do with them. He only hoped that this team had similar thoughts.

"What more do you want to know?" Harry asked, not sure how much to say even with a vow. Moody was an ex-Auror. He might still want to arrest Harry if he used them as a deadly force.

"I know they are venomous, and that more than a few bites can be deadly," the one-eyed man said, his magical eye trained on the bag. "Don't worry, I won't rat you out," he added at the boy's wary face.

"They are my private army. When I said they were sentient, I meant just that. They have an entire military structure," the boy said, opening the bag and calling out the troops.

They all flew out with bows and arrows, along with their daggers. Their hats were on their heads, but not activated. They flew into formation with the generals in front. They were at an approximation of parade rest. Which was hovering with feet apart, one set of arms crossed in the front, the other set in the back. The queen was not there, she stayed at her nest.

"What did you make the daggers with?" Moody asked, peering closely at the doxies. They looked like they were made of silver, so he wondered if they were goblin made. Merlin knows there was enough of that type laying around this house.

"The silverware here in the house," Fred answered, not sure why he was asking.

"Sirius gave us permission," George added, not wanting the man to think they stole them.

"That's goblin made. You can add a poison to them," the older man said, glad he was correct.

"I know where a dead basilisk is," Harry said, shocking everyone there, except the twins, who were growling.

"Where? And how?" Alastor asked with a great deal of confusion. Basilisk were illegal and there hadn't been one in over two hundred years. Where would the boy have found one?

"I killed it in my second year. It's under the school," Harry said, with a smug tone. He was proud that he had stood up to the basilisk and saved Ginny. It had been terrifying at the time but looking back he had been brave.

They still looked confused, so he told a quick summation of his second year, much to everyone shock. This time including the twins, who never knew the whole story. They now knew that the entire Weasley family was indebted to the boy. They would do whatever it took to repay that debt.

Remus had known the cleaned-up version that was told to the staff. He wondered if Dumbledore was doing that on purpose. He had to have known that Harry would tell the truth. Now that he was hearing the gritty details, he too was growling. To think that a twelve-year-old boy fought and won against a humongous basilisk. That wasn't right, he should have never been there in the first place.

"Can you get to it?" Moody asked, leaning forward a bit. If the boy could, it would be a huge boon to this new group. They could all have poisonous daggers. Well, not Tonks and Kingsley, but the rest could. It would be one of those things that the two Aurors wouldn't know about. Maybe not Bill either, it depended on whether the other man would tell the goblins. Vow be damned. He hoped not, Bill was quite a fighter and a good man to have on their side.

"Yeah," Harry said, a good deal wary. He wasn't sure why the man was asking. He hoped it wasn't something nefarious.

"The venom might have evaporated by now, but you can still use the powder to coat the blades. Or there could be a stasis charm where its at. If so, you can sell the damn thing, but keep the venom for your army and this new group," the older man said in a gruff voice. "Sirius, do you have any sharp goblin made daggers here?" he asked the other adult in the room.

"Yes," the dogman said, liking where this was going.

"We could arm ourselves, and no one would know," Moody said, rubbing his eye in weariness.

"Dumbledore knows about the basilisk. Hell, I think the entire school knows something about it," Harry pointed out. He knew that the Weasley's knew. But there were others that had questioned him about the snake. So, someone spilled the beans.

"Yeah, but he'll never prove it. Can he get into the chamber?" Alastor asked, not sure what the protections of the chamber were.

"Not that I know of," the teen said, looking to the twins, who shrugged. "I'm pretty sure that you have to be a parselmouth to open it," he added, not sure if there was a way around that. If there was, he would think the Chamber of Secrets would have been found ages ago.

"We'll check it out when we have the goblins in the school," Sirius said, stretching and yawning.

"Harry, talk to Bill about selling it, if it's still viable," Fred said, knowing his brother would get a better deal with the greedy goblins.

"Yeah, he'll do right by you," George said, echoing his brother's thoughts.

"These are all good ideas," Sirius said, liking what was being discussed. He, for one, would carry a poisoned dagger. However, they would have to come up with a way for it not to be blamed on Harry. The boy was right, too many people knew about the basilisk, and if people started dropping dead from the venom, fingers might point the boy's way. Maybe if Harry sold the venom, then more than one person would have some. That way there wouldn't be any evidence of Harry's involvement. He'd talk to Moody when the kids went upstairs.

"Going a bit deadly, aren't we? I mean, by arming ourselves with venomous daggers," Fred asked like he wasn't sure that he wanted to go down that road.

"I can tell the doxies to only use the daggers if I'm attacked," Harry said, hoping to relieve his friend's anxiety. He didn't want anyone to do things that made them uncomfortable. He wasn't sure himself if he was ready to take a life. However, if it were life or death, he was choosing life.

"You two don't have to have daggers," Sirius said, thinking along the same lines as Harry.

"How did you make the queen invisible?" Moody wanted to know. He wasn't getting into a morals debate. He had had enough of that with Dumbledore. The twins can keep their hands clean, as long as they did participate in the group's endeavors.

Harry nodded to the doxies and as one they touched the feather on their hats and disappeared.

"That is good stuff right there," Alastor said, slapping his hand to his knee.

"The twins invented it," Harry said, making Moody look at the boys with a sliver of admiration.

"You boys should sell those," the one-eyed man said, looking at them with both eyes.

"We plan on it. After we sort a few problems," the twins said, going over their inventory in their heads. They might take Harry's suggestion and peddle their defense line to the DMLE. If Moody put in a good word, then they'd be set.

"I have so many plans," Harry confessed, bringing the attention back to him. He opened his mouth to voice a few, but Sirius interrupted him.

"Which we can go over another time. It's late, and we're all tired," Sirius said, feeling like he could sleep a week. "I have a few things to do, but you boys go. You have school tomorrow."

They all said goodnight and went to bed. It would be a busy day tomorrow. Places to be, goblins/people to talk to. Sirius and Moody made some plans, then they too went to bed.

Hphphp

The next morning the twins and Harry were on the Hogwarts' Express. They found a compartment in the middle of the train. They were waiting for Ron and Hermione to show up. Harry didn't know how the meeting would go, but he wasn't going to back down. Sirius was in charge of the library, not him.

"So, what did you think of your first Order meeting?" Fred asked, stretching out on the seat with his brother next to him.

"I thought it better after everyone left," Harry said honestly. Then he changed the subject to something he wanted to say before they weren't alone. "Sirius gave me a mirror to keep in contact with him. He said Bill floo called him this morning. They are going to talk to the goblins today. That's why he didn't stick around."

"I had wondered," George said, leaning back in the seat and closing his eyes. He and Fred had been up late last night, working on prank and defensive items. Their business was going well, and they wanted to get as much done when they had the time. Which wasn't going to happen at the school.

"Yeah, he said he's hoping to get it set up for some time this week," Harry said, taking in their weariness. He reckoned they must have worked through the night.

"We hope so too. We can get the horcrux and the basilisk done at the same time. I just hope we can do it under Dumbledore's nose," Fred said, scratching the back of his head. While they had gotten away with much, bringing goblins in, well that was big. He then waved the thought away; he was too tired to think right now.

"Me too," was all Harry said, and silence fell for now. It was a comfortable silence; nobody felt the need to break it.

"Harry," Hermione called as she entered the compartment, "there you are." She plopped herself next to him and looked at him expectantly.

"Why do you keep saying that? You've known where I was since the middle of summer," Harry asked, not sure why she kept treating him like he had been lost.

"I'm just happy to see you again, that's all," she murmured, bending her head a bit with a slight flush on her face. "I wanted to say, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. It was Sirius who made the rules," she said in a rushed voice. Dumbledore had talked to her and convinced her that she was in the wrong, and that Harry was not at fault. She believed him. Though she didn't have much respect for Sirius. However, the headmaster had told her there were spells that she couldn't learn. Like Ollivander had his spells for his wands, she would never learn those. When he put it like that, she understood.

"I'll forgive you that, but don't bad talk Sirius," Harry said, his voice soft. He really didn't want to hate her, but all bets were off if she badmouthed Sirius.

"Deal," she said, holding her hand out. She could keep her opinions to herself if it meant that much to Harry.

"Deal," he said, grabbing her hand and shaking it.

"Glad that's done," Ron said as he sidled in. He thought there'd be lots of yelling and was glad they made up.

"Have any of you seen Neville?" Harry asked, getting blank looks from Ron and Hermione. "He said he'd join us," he explained, looking between his two friends. The twins were asleep and softly snoring.

"I'm here," Neville said as he joined them. There was just enough room for him to sit next to the sleeping brothers.

"I'm glad you could join us," Harry said with a brilliant smile. He knew the other two would drop by to say hello too. Maybe the girls too. It was nice to have more people to talk too. There was only so many times he could discuss homework and Quidditch.

"But…" Ron said, only to stop at a sharp look from Hermione. She had just made up with Harry, she wasn't going to wreck it now.

"I'm glad you're here too," she said, looking a bit confused.

"So, who do you think is going to be our DADA teacher?" Neville asked to break the tension. He knew these two would act like that, but he wasn't going to back down. Harry had held out his hand in friendship in his letter, he was going to grab it and hang on. He was tired of being pushed aside.

"Snape," Harry said, flooring the other three.

"Snape?" they yelled in unison, making the twins snort awake.