Most of the Gryffindors were studying or talking in the Common Room, when suddenly Professor McGonagall climbed through the portrait hole. The room went quiet immediately. She looked sternly over the room and said, “Everything is okay students; go on with what you were doing! Mr. Lupin, could you please get Mr. Pane for me. He should be in your dormitory.”

A minute later...

“Sorry Professor, he is fast asleep, I cannot wake him up. Is it so urgent?”

“It’s okay, Mr. Lupin, you can stay here. Thank you. I will try to wake him up.”

“Mr. Pane!” Harry did not react at all, although she called him several times.

“Mr. Potter!”

Harry blinked. “Hmm? Go’ way, m’tired.”

“Mr. Pane!” McGonagall was getting angry. “You won’t be any more tired when you know how much trouble you are in Mr. Pane!”

Harry slowly opened his eyes and blinked at the angry teacher. “What’s wrong Professor? Am I not allowed to sleep?”

“No. You will accompany me for a while. First, we will go to the Hospital Wing, where you will apologize to Madam Pomfrey for running away and for skipping two meals. She told me that she had made it very clear that you were not supposed to miss meals, because you really need them. After that, you will let her check on you and release you properly. And finally, we will go to meet the Headmaster. He went to see you in the afternoon, because he wanted to talk to you, but as you were not where you were supposed to be, I am afraid you will have to answer his questions now, even if you are tired. Come on Mr. Pane.”

Madam Pomfrey was even angrier. She made him drink a nutrient Potion and told him, “You are not to skip meals. From now on, Professor McGonagall and I will watch you at every mealtime. If you miss a meal or do not eat properly, I will be expecting you here half an hour before curfew. As you missed two meals today, you will come here tomorrow evening for the second nutrient Potion. Do you understand me?”

“Yes Mam,” Harry said annoyed.

“And I will not have you releasing yourself from my wing. It is up to me to decide if you are well enough or not, and you were clearly NOT well enough when you decided to just go away. You still are a bit warm and you are much more tired than you should be at 7 o’clock in the evening. Therefore, you have to take it easy for a few days. I want you to refrain from playing Quidditch for a week and use the time to lie on your bed and rest.”

Harry was really angry now. “That is not reasonable, that’s just punishment, isn’t it?!”

Poppy was still angry. “No, Mr. Pane, it is not.”

McGonagall frowned at Harry. “You can deem yourself very lucky, Mr. Pane, if it was for me to decide the consequences of your actions today, I would have banned you from the coming Hogsmeade weekend as well! And now apologize to Madam Pomfrey and let’s go to the Headmaster,” she said sharply.

“I’m sorry Madam Pomfrey,” Harry said, sighing inwardly.

The matron glared at him. “Please don’t do it again.” Harry intensely watched a spot behind the window on the opposite of the room and preferred not to answer.

-----

They went up to the Headmaster’s Office in silence until Harry asked, “Do I have to apologize here as well?”

McGonagall glared at him. “I would think so. He went to see you, and you were not where you should have been. Don’t you think he was worried about you? Fortunately he knew that Severus would probably be with you, but still he was very upset, especially after what happened yesterday evening and this morning.”

‘Oops, they are really more bothersome than in the future,’ Harry thought, slightly annoyed, but happy at the same time, because it sounded as if they really cared about him and not only about his scar.

The gargoyle answered by ‘Phoenix feathers’. ‘Wow,’ Harry thought.

“I’m sorry, Headmaster, for not being where I was supposed to be when you were looking for me. Did you have any more questions about the Order?”

“No my dear boy. Please sit down. Lemon drop?”

“No thank you.”

“I only came looking for you to ask you to come here after you were released. Fawkes told me that he knows quite a few things about the Order of the Phoenix, and I thought we might hear what he has to say together.”

“Albus, do you mind us having a cup of tea, while we are talking to Fawkes?”

“Of course not. I’m sorry Minerva. Twinkle!”

“Yes Professor Dumbledore sir. What can Twinkle do for the Professors?”

“Could you please bring us tea and a few biscuits? Thank you Twinkle.” A minute later tea and biscuits arrived on a big silver plate in front of them, and McGonagall was pouring the tea into three cups. “Now let’s start. As you know, Harry, only I can understand Fawkes, so I have to repeat everything he says for you and Professor McGonagall.”

“All right Professor.” Harry was very curious about what Fawkes might have to say.

“Fawkes, can you tell me anything about the Order of the Phoenix?”

#Of course Albi, I can fill many parchments. If you put them one over another, they will be as high as your beard is long.#

Albus interpreted for Professor McGonagall and Harry, “Of course Albus, I can write many parchments, even books about it.” Harry stared at Fawkes. ‘How could it be? No. He was dreaming...’

“Harry? Are you all right?” McGonagall asked concerned.

“Yes of course,” Harry answered absentmindedly.

“All right Fawkes, could you then try to explain in a short and understandable way about the Order please?”

#I could. But should I really?#

“I would love to.”

Harry was still staring at Fawkes.

#The Order of the Phoenix was founded by your and Harry’s great, great, many times removed grandfather, you know, the big purple grumpy bearded one.#

“The Order of the Phoenix was founded by the great Merlin.”

#By now the Order has been re-founded as many times your dear Minnie is old#.

“By now the Order has been re-founded 56 times.”

Harry really had to try hard not to laugh. He managed to hide a laugh behind a big yawn.

#Every time a bad one comes and needs his wings clipped, the Order is re-founded.#

“Every time an evil person comes and starts a war, the Order is re-founded.”

Dumbledore remained pensive for a moment, before he asked, “but Fawkes, what about the time of Grindelwald? There was no Order!”

#Oh yes, there was. But every time the bad egg is removed, everyone’s head is filled with feathers and they forget about the Order, a method to save it from all the other meddling old coots.#

“Oh yes, there was. But every time the threat is gone, everyone is obliviated concerning the Order, a method to save it from any negative influences. That’s why I don’t remember anything about it. So how do we proceed in order to re-found the Order of the Phoenix this time?”

#You choose your chicks, choose your nest, fix a time, and I will play the nice birdie and do the work for you.#

“You choose the members, choose the meeting place, fix a time, and I will be there and do what is necessary. Fawkes, are they any limits in the number of members?”

#Only as many as there are rats in this castle please.#

“No.”

Harry again had to hide a laugh in a big yawn.

“All right, thank you Fawkes. It seems Mr. Pane is too tired tonight; it is nearly curfew anyway. I think we should continue this conversation tomorrow evening. In the meanwhile, I will try to speak to several of the people Mr. Pane mentioned to me this morning, and maybe we should try to hold our first Order meeting on Sunday evening after dinner. Will tomorrow evening be all right with you, Minerva, Harry?”

Harry smirked. “Of course Professor”

“Yes Albus. What time?”

“Directly after dinner”

“No Albus. Mr. Pane, until what time does your Quidditch training normally last?”

Harry glared at McGonagall. “Until about 9.”

“Sorry Albus, we cannot meet until after 9 o’clock. Harry has been suspended from Quidditch for a week and has to spend the practice time in bed.”

Dumbledore chuckled.

“Don’t laugh Albus. It is not funny!” he was being scolded immediately.

“All right. We will meet here at 9 o’clock tomorrow evening. Good night, Minerva, Harry.”

-----

The next day started bright and sunny. Harry was eating breakfast together with the Marauders, when Lily came and sat next to Harry.

“Good morning Harry. You went to bed very early yesterday. We missed you at our Potions lesson.”

“Yes Lily, I’m sorry. I should have attended Potions tutoring. McGonagall pulled me out of bed and into some sort of detention with Pomfrey, her and Dumbledore because of me running away from the Hospital Wing.”

“What!” Sirius laughed from the opposite of Harry.

“Oh, yes, I nearly forgot. Um... James?” Harry asked hesitantly.

“Yes Harry? What is it?”

“Um... I’m sorry, um... you see, Pomfreysuspendedmefromquidditchforthewholeweek”

“What??? Could you repeat that properly please?” Sirius nearly fell from his chair laughing.

Harry mumbled, “Pomfrey suspended me from Quidditch for the whole week”.

James was shocked. “All right, it doesn’t really matter, you are very good anyway, and you don’t need the practice as much as others, but WHY?”

Harry was looking at the floor. “Punishment for running away from the Hospital Wing.” Sirius and James roared with laughter.

“No Harry, I don’t think it’s only punishment. They are really worried about you. McGonagall called me before breakfast and asked me to keep a close eye on you and to stay in the dormitory with you during Quidditch practice,” Remus contradicted sternly.

Harry jumped up from his seat. “Thanks a lot Remus, but I’m not an infant, I don’t need a babysitter.”

-----

“So, are you ready for Transfiguration? I heard we’ll be transfiguring rabbits again. Why does she like them so much? Why not cats?” Lily efficiently tried to change the topic.

Harry looked at her in horror. “Transfiguring rabbits again? I thought that was over!”

“No, Severus told me, the Slytherins had to transfigure rabbits again, and then change the pink rabbits into green ones. Are you all right Harry?” Harry’s face had gone white. “Do you have problems with rabbits?”

Harry groaned. “Yes, I don’t know why, but I think I’m allergic to rabbits.”

“Are you sure?” James asked suspiciously.

“No, but after the stunt I did yesterday I don’t want to attract any attention today, so let’s go.”

20 minutes later Harry was sitting in the transfiguration classroom between Remus and Lily, looking at a brown button with his wand still in his pocket. He tried to imagine, ‘just one cute pink rabbit...’, and suddenly just one small rabbit was sitting in front of him.

“Nice wandless transfiguration,” Remus whispered from his right side.

“Oh please be quiet about it or I’ll kill you,” Harry whispered back. Now Harry imagined the rabbit to be green, and the small animal changed its colour.

“Very well done Ms. Evans and Mr. Pane as well,” Professor McGonagall commended. For the rest of the lesson Harry did all transfigurations wandlessly and didn’t encounter any more problems. He was very relieved when they left the classroom.

-----

After lunch, Severus came over to the Gryffindor table to wait for Harry. Together they went down to the dungeons.

“Harry, did Lily tell you what we talked about yesterday evening? We decided to go to Hogsmeade together.”

“You and Lily? Wow, that’s great. When is the next Hogsmeade weekend?” Harry asked, while he thought, ‘Oh no! Lily has to get together with James, doesn’t she?!’

“Me and Lily? No, YOU and me and Lily of course, and the next Hogsmeade weekend was announced at dinner yesterday and will be tomorrow. You will come with us, won’t you?”

“Yes I will, provided that McGonagall won’t punish me for anything today. Yesterday evening she threatened to suspend me from the next Hogsmeade visit because of my stunt yesterday.”

Severus chuckled. “You really would have earned it, but she didn’t, right?”

“No, but I’m suspended from Quidditch for a week,” Harry mumbled.

-----

After dinner, Harry spent two hours with Remus in the dormitory. When Harry took parchment and a quill out of his school bag, Remus said, “Harry, you know as well as I do that you have to lie down and rest. But if you don’t mind, I would like to talk to you.” Harry put everything away and looked curious at his friend.

“What about …?”

“About your problems with rabbits and wandless magic.”

Harry sighed. “All right; I have a problem. I cannot transfigure a button into just one rabbit. Once I got about fifty rabbits, the next time three. I don’t know why. The only thing I know is that I don’t want to attract attention on me. At my old school I was the focus of attention very often, and I really hated it. Today I didn’t really try, I didn’t even take my wand out, because I was afraid of the consequences, it was just by chance that I succeeded.”

“I don’t think it was by chance. When was your 16th birthday?”

“On July 31st.”

“And you were raised by Muggles?”

“Yes.”

“Then maybe you don’t know the following: When a wizard reaches the age of 16, his magic reaches a new level of development. Your magic seems to have become very strong when you became 16, and you are still not able to control it properly. When you use your wand and use the same amount of magic as you did before, the spell will get too strong, because your magic is very strong now. I think you should talk to McGonagall about it and ask her for a few extra lessons in order to get your huge amount of magic under control; otherwise it could become very dangerous for you and for others.”

Harry was shocked. “Thank you Remus” he stammered, “I didn’t know that. I have a meeting at 9 o’clock with McGonagall and Dumbledore, and then I will talk to them. But please do me a favour and don’t tell anybody about it, nor about the wandless magic.” So, there was hope the professors would be able to help him? He sighed relieved.

“Harry, I give you my word; I won’t tell anyone.”

“Okay, then I will use the remaining 90 minutes to work on my Animagus transformation if you don’t mind. I want to be able to finally have a phoenix head over my phoenix body.” He smirked.

Remus frowned. “I don’t mind, but the teachers would. But don’t worry, I won’t tell.”

After an hour of intensive practice, Harry finally succeeded and saw himself in the mirror as a beautiful white phoenix with pretty, green wings on both sides. He flew over to Remus and back to his bed.

“Wow Harry, that’s brilliant. You can’t imagine how I envy you.”

Harry beamed. He changed back and forth several times, until he could do it very quickly. He was just sitting on the windowsill in his phoenix form, watching the Quidditch practice outside, when suddenly the dormitory’s door opened and McGonagall entered.

“Mr. Pane, I came to accompany you to the Headmaster’s Office,” she said, and then her view fell onto Harry’s empty bed.

“Oh, Harry has just gone to the toilet,” Remus lied quickly.

She looked at him piercingly. “Then I will wait for him.”

Harry could only think ‘have to be at the toilet, go over to the toilet’, and in a flash of ice, the phoenix disappeared.

McGonagall looked over to the window. “What was that?”

“What?” Remus asked innocently.

“I don’t know, like a white flash,” she said and thought, ‘Am I imagining things? Maybe I’m going to be sick. Thank god it’s the weekend.’ Then she advised Remus, “Please tell Mr. Potter... no, Mr. Pane of course, to come to the Headmaster’s Office, when he returns. Thank you,” and left the room.

Harry arrived at the washroom without problems, quickly changed back to his human form and went out. On the stairs, he bumped into the professor.

“Sorry Professor, I just had to go to the toilet.”

“No problem. Go and put your robes on, then we will be on our way.” On their way to the Headmaster’s Office, they went by the Hospital Wing to get Harry’s nutrient Potion. Harry was so annoyed and angry that he thought about just flashing away but still didn’t want his secret to be discovered.

Once again, they learned from Fawkes about the Order of the Phoenix. Fawkes seemed to sense that Harry was able to understand him and was trying his best to make Harry laugh. ‘Maybe he can sense the phoenix in me,’ Harry thought and gave Fawkes a threatening glare.

After about an hour of lecture from Fawkes Dumbledore said, “That will do it for tonight. I have invited 10 people whom I know very well for Sunday evening. Harry, I’m very sorry, I would like to have you here as well, but as you know, I cannot admit students under age, and friends like the Potters would be very astonished if you were here and their son not.”

“I can understand that, and I don’t have a problem with it Professor.”

McGonagall smiled at Harry, “As you are our advisor in this matter, together with Fawkes, you can be sure that we will inform you about the happenings at the meeting as soon as possible. In fact, this should be on Monday, same time as today I suppose. I will come and get you again.”

‘And I will have a way to observe your meeting anyway,’ Harry thought and smirked.

-----

At 3 o’clock that night, Harry got up silently, changed into his phoenix form and flashed into Dumbledore’s office, where he sat next to Fawkes on his perch. Fawkes nearly fell off, so shocked about the sudden appearance of another phoenix. Harry talked to him for a while.

#Fawkes, can you hear me?#

#Hello Icicle. Yes of course I can. Who are you and what are you doing here?#

#Please Fawkes, can you promise me not to tell Albus?#

#I promise#

#I’m Harry.#

#I thought so. Good, very good. I have not seen an ice phoenix animagus since the big purple grumpy bearded one, except from Albus, but he is a fire phoenix! Congratulations!#

#Thank you. What I wanted to ask is, can I come on Sunday evening to watch the Order meeting?#

#Yes you can, I will introduce you as my friend Icicle, and you may come to all Order meetings. Just flash here as you did tonight.#

#So you are Fireflight or what?#

#Correct#

#Okay, I will flash back now, thanks Fireflight. Good night.#

#’night Icicle.#

Harry flashed back directly into his bed, but as soon as he changed back into his human form, he had a brilliant idea…