Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 255: Plans for the Future Part 1
Two days later, Dumbledore noticed the portkey that James had given him becoming active.
"It's time…" He wondered what James had planned this time. The boy liked to keep secrets a bit too much for his taste.
After activating the coin, he felt a strong pull, and the next instant, he was in front of a large castle.
"This is…" He was not familiar with this property, but then he spotted a symbol engraved over the main gates.
"This is the Potter's Castle." A female voice was heard behind him.
"Hmm?" Dumbledore turned around and was pleased to see an old friend. "Amelia. Did they invite you as well?"
Amelia Bones gave him a soft nod. "Albus, what is this about? When Lord Black handed me the portkey, he gave no explanation. And I definitely did not expect to appear in such a place."
"Lord Black?" Dumbledore was surprised to hear this, as he had no idea that Pollux Black was also involved.
"I suppose there is no point in waiting outside. We will find out soon enough."
Just as Dumbledore finished speaking, the door opened up and they were greeted by a house elf.
"Welcome, Sir and Madam. Master Potter is waiting for you at the small hall. I will guide you there."
Dumbledore and Amelia exchanged a glance before walking inside the castle.
"It's the first time I've visited this place," Dumbledore commented, despite having been fairly close to the Potters as of recently.
"Me as well," Amelia added. "Fleamont Potter is not exactly fond of inviting guests to his castle. I believe the previous Lord Potter used to host many parties here, but that was before my era."
The house elf guided them through several long corridors until they reached a small door at the end, which she promptly opened for them.
Neither Dumbledore nor Amelia made a comment on it, but they found it strange to be guided to such an isolated room.
Normally, when a Lord invited important guests to their houses, they would be taken to the main hall of the manor as a sign of respect, as well as a way to show their wealth.
Now this was feeling more like a secret meeting that Lord Potter didn't want others to know about.
The first person they found was none other than Pollux Black, who was sitting in front of a small round table and sipping some tea.
"Looks like we are all here." Lord Black gave them a gesture to approach.
As they did, they also found Lord Potter sitting on the other side of the table, as well as his son, James, who was standing a bit further apart.
Amelia looked around, stopping for a moment on James, whose presence in this meeting she found particularly out of place.
"May I know why we were called with such short notice? You are aware that I am a very busy person."
Pollux noticed that her stare was on him and smiled. "This was not my idea, Amelia."
She flinched. "But then…" Her eyes went to Fleamont Potter. "I see, so… Lord Potter."
"No, it's not me either." Fleamont pointed at the boy behind him.
"Dipsy, that will be all," James said. "Close the door… we won't have any more guests."
"Yes, Master Harry." The small elf gave him a short bow and proceeded to close the door behind her.
"Mmm…" Dumbledore mumbled something under his breath before walking up to the table and sitting down between the other two Lords.
'James has invited the members of the group I had put together.' The Headmaster noticed.
He never got around to giving it a proper name. James had called it The Order of the Phoenix. However, since the Dark Lord's defeat, this group had lost its meaning, so he wondered about the reason behind all of this.
Amelia looked a bit confused at the strange situation. In this room, there were four of the most powerful individuals in Magical Britain, but she somehow felt that young James Potter was the one in charge.
"Madam Bones," James called.
"Y-Yes?" Amelia felt those amber eyes focus on her, and it made her nervous. As a veteran auror, she had gotten really good at measuring a wizard's level of danger with a quick glance. But when she looked at James, she was unable to size him up, and this put her on edge.
"There is no need to be anxious, Madam Bones. Please… take a seat." He made a gesture toward the last available chair at the table.
"I wanted you all together to speak a bit about the future of this country."
"The future?" Madam Bones sat down before asking.
She thought it was a bit ridiculous that the youngest person here would bring up something like this to them. However, when she looked at the other men at the table, they all had serious expressions on their faces.
"Perhaps we should first bring Madam Bones up to date with the Dark Lord situation," James suggested.
"The Dark Lord?" She repeated. "He knows about this?" she asked the others.
The existence of a new Dark Lord was still being kept mostly in secret.
The population of Magical Britain knew that something was going on after the attack on Diagon Alley, but no culprits had been revealed so far.
Outside their secret meetings, Madam Bones had only spoken about this with a few trusted individuals inside the Ministry of Magic.
"Amelia…" Dumbledore cleared his throat. "The Dark Lord has been defeated."
"What?!" she exclaimed.
"As well as all of his followers, which included trolls, giants, werewolves, and dementors," Pollux added.
"Dementors?! Is that why they are all missing? What happened to them?" The Ministry had been in an uproar for the past few days, and a large part of it was the disappearance of Azkaban's guards.
"I was getting to that," Dumbledore said. "James here… is the cause of all of this."