Being Different Year 6
What Next?

February slowly drifted into March; Hogwarts wasn’t quite the same without Dumbledore, but life went on. People went to class and Quidditch practise earned house points and got given detentions. One of the good things that had actually come out of Dumbledore’s death was that Slughorn took this as his cue to stop throwing his little parties.

The day before they all were going home for the Easter holidays, Irwin insisted that Anne for once put away her textbooks. After Dumbledores funeral she had if possible, thrown herself even further into her work.

“Ok no work,” insisted Irwin as they finished their last lesson of the term.

“I want to get started on that History essay,” she sighed.

“Oh no you don’t,” he chuckled, “it’s your birthday present to me.”

Anne covered her mouth in shock.

“Oh Merlin its your birthday,” she muttered, “I completely forgot.”

“That’s alright you’ve been through a lot,” Irwin shrugged.

Anne shook her head as she fished around in her bag and passed him a wrapped parcel.

“Happy birthday Irwin,” Anne smiled.

“It’s that new Herbology book you wanted,” she told him as he unwrapped it, “sorry it’s not much.”

“I love you Annie,” Irwin beamed as he pulled her in for a long kiss.

“Now you ready to celebrate my birthday?” he grinned.

“Oh alright,” Anne gave in, she had three weeks to do her holiday homework.

They reached the Room of Requirement which had changed into the sitting room again, Anne and Irwin had spent many long afternoons and evenings in this version of the room now, sometimes they would just read, other times they would dance around the floor, occasionally they would just make out on the sofa.

There were several dishes on the dinner table that had appeared today. There was a small lasagne for two people, freshly baked garlic bread and a bowl of green salad to have on the side.

They sat down and Irwin dished out the food.

“This is delicious,” moaned Anne as she ate the lasagne, “you’ve been in touch with Kreacher again haven’t you?”

“Guilty as charged,” nodded Irwin.

Then came the pudding, fresh strawberries with vanilla ice cream.

“Strange question,” asked Anne as they finished the pudding, “why are we having my favourite meal on your birthday?”

“That is a good question,” said Irwin.

“Ok here goes,” he muttered, “we’ve been through a lot together the last six years, and you’ve had a rough few months.”

Anne nodded.

“I’ve got a feeling that you and Harry won’t be coming back to school next year,” he said giving her a knowing smile.

Anne blushed slightly, Harry and she knew that by the time that September came Voldemort would have probably taken over the Ministry and the school.

“Anyway, I love you very much Annie my beautiful goddess,” he said as he fished in the pocket of his robes.

“I don’t know how long it’s going to take you to defeat Tom, it might take you one year, it might take you fifty years.”

“Although of course, I’d rather it was a bit closer to one than fifty,” he laughed nervously.

“So,” said Irwin as he got up from his chair and knelt down next to her, “I’m willing to wait as long as you need me to but I can’t imagine a future when I’m not with you.”

Anne stared at Irwin she knew what he was going to ask.

“Anne Lily Potter, will you marry me?” he asked pulling a small box out of his pocket, it was a plain gold band.

Anne stared at him for a moment and Irwin looked straight back into his eyes, desperate for an answer.

“I can’t imagine my future without you either,” she muttered.

“Yes of course I’ll marry you!”

Irwin’s mouth fell open slightly as if he was surprised that she had actually said yes.

Irwin placed the ring on the correct finger of Anne’s left hand.

“Perfect fit,” he breathed.

Irwin pulled Anne in for a deep kiss and they eventually ended up making out on the sofa.

“We have to pack,” Anne pointed out when they broke apart for a moment.

“Oh bugger,” he muttered, “I wanted to stay here forever.”

“Come on,” she chuckled as they headed back to the Common Room.

When they got back to Ravenclaw Tower, Anne noticed that Anthony and Persephone were watching them nervously waiting to replace out what Anne’s reaction had been. Persephone was trying to scan Anne’s hand for a ring.

“She said yes?” asked Persephone.

“Well of course she said yes,” said Anthony those two are made for each other.

“Michael!” Anthony called, “we’ve got an announcement to make!”

“Musical Extravaganza hour doesn’t start for another fifteen minutes,” Michael pointed out.

“I think this is worth it,” muttered Irwin, Anne smiled nervously as she showed Michael and Terry the ring.

“Anthony,” said Michael “start moving the tables.”

“Hey hey my fellow Claws!” called Terry down the microphone.

“We’re starting a little bit early tonight,” said Michael as the other finished moving the furniture and Michael and Terry stood on their chairs.

“There is an announcement to be made,” said Terry.

“Anne and Irwin have just got engaged,” finished Michael.

They put on The Beatles; All You Need Is Love.

Anne and Irwin danced around for an hour, but they had even bigger smiles plastered on their faces than usual.

“What I want to know,” said Lisa as they packed their bags for the next day, “is how you managed to get a ring?”

“It was my Mums engagement ring,” Irwin shrugged as he helped Anne pack some books away.

“You did ask Remus and Sirius right?” asked Anne stopping in the middle of folding away a pair of jeans.

“Oh yeah obviously,” Irwin nodded.

“Thank Merlin for that,” muttered Anthony.

The next day they all got the train back home to London. Anne didn’t usually bother going home for Christmas, she was usually too busy studying for the exams, this year for some reason Anne didn’t seem to care as much as she usually did, she knew the curriculum back to front for all her subjects. This year she wanted to go home to spend the few weeks with her family.

Sirius and Remus were waiting for them at the platform with Teddy.

“Hi sweetheart,” said Remus as he took her trunk

“Aren’t you getting big,” said Anne as she took Teddy out of his pram.

“Hey give me godson,” protested Harry.

“Oh alright,” said Anne as she passed Teddy to Harry.

Sirius and Remus carried the two trunks whilst Harry pushed Teddy’s pram back to the house.

“So, you and Irwin eh?” asked Sirius.

“You sound surprised,” muttered Remus, “I’ve seen this coming for years.”

“Yes, but not until they’re older,” said Sirius, “she’s not even of age.”

“Look Sirius,” said Anne firmly, “nothing is going to happen until we’ve finished dealing with Tom.”

“Oh alright,” said Sirius finally giving in to the fact that someday in the future they were going to have to give their little girl away.

“Hows Tonks?” asked Harry.

“She’s good, the Ministrys keeping her busy,” said Remus.

“The latest breakout from Azkaban hasn’t helped matters much,” growled Sirius.

“Who got out this time?” asked Harry.

“You guys aren’t really meant to know this, but the Lestrange brothers and Lucius Malfoy are free again.”

“What a surprise,” grimaced Harry.

“I thought the whole point of Azkaban was that you couldn’t escape,” said Anne, “yet the Lestrange brothers and Malfoy have escaped twice now.”

“Yes well if you see a swish of a curtain of bright blonde hair from around the corner let me know and we’ll all get our wands out,” said Sirius.

“This is no laughing matter Sirius,” whispered Remus, who was thankful that they had now made it back to the house.

The Easter holiday was unfortunately not as quiet as the Christmas holiday had been, only one day back from school and there was a mass meeting of everyone in or involved in the Order of the Phoenix.

There must have been at least sixty people there, every single member of the Order. There were several new members that needed signing on as well, Landon, Gwendoline, Rolf, and Irwin Scamander, Ron, and Charlie Weasley who had come in from Romania so he could help with the war effort and also Professor Flitwick.

They were having to have a full meeting because they needed to elect a new leader because Dumbledore had died. They hadn’t been able to have this meeting any earlier the Hogwarts staff had been so busy dealing with the school since Dumbledore’s death that a full meeting just hadn’t been possible.

Irwin was very pleased that they were having the meeting when they were because he’d only been of age two days, if they had had it much earlier, he wouldn’t have been able to join.

Anne and Harry were invited to join the meeting because even though they weren’t of age for a few more months, it was obvious that come July they would be joining the Order come July, not to mention the fact that the meeting was being held in their own house.

There had never been so many members at one meeting or so many new members at one time. Everyone was clambering over each other in the sitting room to try and introduce themselves to the new members and catch up with each other properly.

“Can we have some quiet please,” called Remus.

No change.

“I’ll sort it Remus,” growled Moody.

“Sonorus,” he called.

“Will everyone please shut up and take your seats,” he bellowed through his wand.

There was silence in the room, and everyone took their seats.

“We have a lot of things to discuss, you can all talk afterwards.”

There weren’t quite enough seats to go around, so Anne and Irwin leaned against the sofa that the Scamander’s were sat at.

Several people leaned against the wall instead of sitting down. There was a large number of redheads lined up along the back wall, Bill and Charlie were stood next to each other and had been catching up, Fred and George were wearing their dragon leather jackets and had their arms crossed and finally Ron and Ginny. Ginny was only there as she was the only Weasley underage, but she wouldn’t get a vote in the new leader.

Mrs. Weasley was holding Teddy, she loved babies and there hadn’t been one in the Weasley family in so long. Fleur was looking longingly at the baby, she couldn’t wait until she and Bill had their own.

Mrs Longbottom was sat next to Hestia Jones, and Abeforth Dumbledore. Neville had come too as he was also going to join come his birthday in a few months, this meeting was just too important for anyone to miss.

“Ok well first thanks everyone for coming,” said Remus standing in the middle of the room so everyone could see him properly, “we have several new members today, and also a few prospective members who are thinking of joining when they come of age.

“Now I know you’re going to try ask why do we need school children in the Order, but we need to try and protect the kids at Hogwarts, Voldemort’s going to have his people on the inside so should we.”

“We already have staff in the Order,” said Abeforth indicating Hagrid, McGonagall, Snape and now Flitwick.

“Yes I know but we need more,” sighed Remus.

“If the dark lord takes over, he’s going to put the Carrows in charge,” said Snape.

Several people started muttering and Irwin gripped firmly onto Anne’s hand.

“But before we discuss any of this,” said Remus over the muttering, “we need a new leader.”

There was silence.

“We have two candidates that have put themselves forward,” said Remus reading off a sheet of parchment, “Alistair Moody and Kingsley Shacklebot.”

“Before we begin do we have any last-minute nominations?”

Sirius shot his hand in the air.

“I know I’ll probably get beaten by the Aurors but it’s worth a shot, half the people we’re trying to hunt down are my relatives.”

“I’m not sure if that’s something to brag about Sirius,” muttered Andromeda.

“I’ll put you on the list anyway,” chuckled Remus shaking his head.

Julian also put his hand in the air.

“I know I’m still a bit new here,” he muttered, “but I think Remus should be leader.”

“I’m sorry Julian, but I wouldn’t know the first thing about leading a group this big,” stammered Remus.

“You’re doing it right now Lupin,” drawled Snape.

There was a smattering of chuckles from throughout the room.

“Ok any more nominations?”

No more hands were raised.

“Right then everyone close your eyes and raise your wands, when I reach the name you wish to vote for light your wand tip.”

“Alistair Moody?”

Remus counted that about twenty wands had been lit.

“Kingsley Shacklebolt?”

Twenty wands again.

“Sirius Black?”

Twelve wands were lit in the air.

“And Remus Lupin?”

Eight wands were lit.

“I’m afraid,” he chuckled nervously, “we have a tie.”

“Both Kingsley and Mad Eye have twenty votes.”

“I’m alright with sharing duties if you are,” said Moody to Kingsley who was sat near him.

“You’ve got a deal.”

They shook hands and walked up to the middle of the room where there was a round of applause.

Remus sat back down next to Tonks with Lyall and Julian.

“So the first thing we need to discuss is school next year,” said Kingsley, “Severus.”

“Thank you, Kingsley,” said Snape, “there is more than a small threat that by September, the Dark Lord shall have taken over the school, we need to do our best to try and protect the children.”

“We feel the best thing to do,” said Moody, “is to resurrect Dumbledore’s Army.”

“Not just defence lessons though,” agreed Kingsley, “but a version of the Order within Hogwarts, trying to help the other students where they can and stop anyone innocent from getting hurt.”

“This may not sound very important,” said Moody, “but it is vital!”

Anne raised her hand nervously unsure of whether she was allowed to voice an opinion at these meetings as she wasn’t actually a member yet.

“Yes Anne?” asked Kingsley.

“What about the Muggle Borns?”

“What about them?” asked Moody.

“Well Tom hates them, we need to try and protect them,” she pointed out.

“What do you think we’re trying to do?” asked Moody getting slightly annoyed at her.

“More than that, if Tom takes over the school for example, they won’t be able to go back there.”

“It would be a massacre,” muttered Kingsley.

“We’ll have to put some thought into that,” admitted Moody before they moved onto the next section of the meeting.

The meeting went on for another hour or so, they had to discuss things like the recent escape of the Lestranges, Carrows and Lucius Malfoy, and how the deatheaters were infiltrating the Ministry.

The meeting ended with the seven new members of the Order of the Phoenix coming up to the front of the room and taking the vow of secrecy and promising to protect their fellow wizards.

Only once all that had been done, did the food appear, Kreacher and Dobby were both carrying heaving platters of sandwiches which they were taking around the room, there was also a table on the edge of the room with yet more sandwiches.

“I’ve got to say Anne,” said Rolf, “that ring is gorgeous on you.”

“Thanks Rolf,” muttered Anne hiding behind a sheet of hair which was loose today.

The Scamander’s all had to introduce themselves around the room as they were new members, all members old and new were interested in looking at Anne’s engagement ring.

“Hello Professor,” beamed Anne at Professor Flitwick, who had just joined the Order.

“Is it always this chaotic in this house?” asked Flitwick.

“Not always quite this chaotic,” admitted Anne looking around at the sixty people in the house, “but it’s never really quiet.”