A/N: Alright, here we are at the next chapter…in this one, we see some literary discussions, and finally the reason, the real meaning of the whole mystery this story has so far been…
Chapter XVII: The Order of Merlin
"Ron," Harry said the following morning, as he dodged boxes of belongings in Grimmauld's kitchen, "do you remember that book we found at Godric's Hollow way back when?"
"Yeah, I do," Ron answered after a minute's contemplation. "It's still hidden in my flat. Why?"
"Because I think we ought to bring it here, just in case. There's no telling what will happen if those Death Eaters lay their hands on it."
"Oi, you're right, Harry! I had completely forgotten about it!" Ron hit himself on the forehead. "Tell you what - I'll go for it today even, right after I'm done drinking this coffee…"
"Ron, you don't have to - "Harry tried to reason with him.
Two audible gulps later, and the redhead's eyes were shining from the invigoration coffee brought on an early morning. "I'll return in an hour," he told Harry quickly. "If anyone asks, I've gone on private business in the Ministry for our investigation. Luna would have a fit if she finds out where I'm going, so stick to the story!"
"What story, Ronald?" Luna airy voice suddenly interrupted the proceedings between the two best friends.
"Oh, love, you're awake," Ron smiled, and hurried over to his wife, "Good morning," he kissed her on the lips.
She returned his gesture in kind, but her mind was evidently set on something else. "And where are you off to so early?"
"Ministry," Ron's mind immediately reverted to the fabricated story. "I want to investigate what we know closer and on my own…I just need to concentrate."
"Oh, alright," Luna said, "and when will you be back?"
"An hour, at most," her husband replied easily. "I'll return before you know it."
With that, Ron disengaged himself from Luna, and turned to the door, looking at Harry pointedly, and nodding at him for the upkeep of their arrangement; and Harry confirmed it with a clandestine nod of his own.
Ron managed to apparate noiselessly in the flat he shared with Luna. Over the weeks they had spent at the Burrow, for safety, neglect had reigned in their own humble abode. A thick layer of dust covered the tables, couches and other furniture. The air was stale with disuse, and there was also a detectible smell of rotten food. Evidently, nobody had entered the flat, ever since Ron and Luna had left it unoccupied.
Cringing his nose, Ron tried to remember where he had hidden the book that was entrusted to him so long ago. In the meanwhile, the thought of opening a window crossed his mind, but he decided against it; remaining hidden was a better policy, despite the barely bearable stink…
Was it beneath the couch, charmed into the floor? Ron checked, but without avail - the book wasn't there. Perhaps he had hidden it in one of the bedrooms. Careful not to agitate the dust around him excessively, Ron directed his steps to the back of the flat, where the bedrooms were located. Once he arrived there, the sight was not terribly different: a layer of dust covered the beds and furniture, and the heavy curtains that covered the windows were also swimming in dust.
"Blimey, I can't imagine the cleanup," Ron muttered to himself, as he covered his mouth and coughed loudly immediately after.
Kneeling down, Ron looked under the bed, and performed a charm to reveal if the book was there. The cloud he kicked up while changing his position overwhelmed him entirely, and deciding he had had enough, engaged a Bubblehead charm for his own convenience.
Now breathing easy, and seeing better too for a change, he roved around his and Luna's bedroom, growing increasingly frustrated with each passing second. Half an hour had already elapsed in the fruitless search.
"Ronald!" a clear voice rang out suddenly, and startled our unfortunate searcher badly; Ron was looking under the kitchen sink, and rising up, he impacted the ledge of the counter above painfully.
His head ringing, he stood shakily on his feet, as the world spun around him.
"Who's there?" he called out, pointing his wand towards the entrance hallway and cringing from the pain.
"It's me, Ron," Luna's figure appeared in the dining room, and she seemed really peeved - a far cry from her typical serene appearance. "What are you doing here?"
"Me?" Ron scrambled to think of a legitimate reason, "Better question - why are you here?"
"Because of you," Luna said without hesitation. "I've been worried out of my mind!"
"I told you where I was going, didn't I?" Ron interjected.
"No, Ron, you lied to me!" Luna snapped. "And it's that which I least appreciate. Not to mention you're putting yourself in danger!"
The redhead had already understood his covert operation had been compromised. Why hadn't Harry restrained Luna, he thought angrily, after all, he was risking his neck for the greater good.
"Love, look," he tried to be complacent, "you don't have anything to worry about…I'm the Head Auror, and there's a reason for that."
"Ron, I won't care if you were the Minister of Magic, but what matters to me is that you tell me the truth and that you're safe," Luna told him in fiery tones.
"Luna, you have enough on your plate, without worrying about me," Ron reasoned with her grimly, "you have our children to raise, because I'm away from them so often, participate in the Order, and now keep Grimmauld Place in order. I just didn't have the will to add myself to your worries."
Apparently, honestly was the best policy - Luna's expression softened, and Ron sighed audibly in relief.
"Ron, don't you know that my life would be pointless without you in it?" Luna asked him simply.
Her question made Ron stop wracking his head for an excuse, and he decided to be frank with his wife.
"Luna, I'm sorry," he apologized, at last taking the first step in the right direction. "I was…" his words died on his lips.
"Apology accepted," Luna replied with a small smile, "now, what were you doing here?"
"Looking for that book Harry gave us to keep…the one Dumbledore gave Lily all those years ago."
"And you couldn't find it?" she inquired.
"No," Ron sighed. "I looked everywhere."
"Including the top of the cupboard in our bedroom?" Luna quizzed him further.
"Where?"
"The top of the cupboards. That's where you put it," she explained.
"Really?" Ron was still clueless. "I'll be right back."
He retreated quickly back into the bedroom he had all, but turned upside down. And surely, when he performed the revealing charms on top of the cupboard, the prized book was sitting there, invisible and unharmed. Ron summoned it, and returned with it under his arm to the entrance hall.
"How did you remember it was there?" he asked Luna incredulously. "I looked everywhere, but there."
"Love, you have the worst memory of anyone I know," Luna said, kissing him on the cheek. "Come on, now, you need to take a shower to rid all this grime from you…"
Fortuna was on the side of Ron and Luna, as they apparated away. In the instant of time before the world dissolving into nothingness, Ron caught a glimpse of black-hooded figures invade the apartment, but only a second later did he realize what had happened.
A second was entirely necessary for them to arrive back in Grimmauld Place. Ron was still clutching the book in his arm, and a disbelieving expression was etched on his face.
"Hey, Harry," he approached his best friend, and grabbed him on the shoulder. "Now, let me ask you something."
"Ah…yes?" Harry inquired; putting down the handkerchief he had been drying his hands with.
"What do you think the chances are, that, by complete coincidence, Death Eaters come in the instant that you leave?" Ron articulated slowly.
"Rather slim, if I have to say so," Harry answered. "You would usually have to fight your way out."
"That's true, Harry," Ron answered, "but it's purely damn luck we weren't injured, let alone killed. Three Death Eaters really came in, just as Luna and I were apparating away."
"You must be joking!" a voice exclaimed from the doorway - Mrs. Weasley had walked in.
"Such as this," Ron said in an undertone to Harry, before turning to his mother. "Don't worry, Mum, it's all a part of an Auror's job."
"Ron, dear, I worry about you," Mrs. Weasley replied. "No matter if you're Head Auror, you are still my son."
"I know that, Mum," Ron attempted to reason with her, "but right now, none of us is safe. Death and harm are constant companions for now."
Mrs. Weasley only looked apprehensively at her son, and departed, muttering under her breath, towards the living room.
"I don't think your mum is taking this war too well," Harry observed mournfully after she had departed.
"Mate, I know, and I don't want to be fighting this anymore than you or her does," the redhead replied impatiently. "But the circumstances force us to, and now we have to proceed, if you don't mind."
Even as Ron tried to hide it, the immense pressure he was under to solve the case and apprehend the perpetrators behind the numerous murders that had already happened, was already causing him to burst unpredictably on occasion.
"Ron, calm down, please," Luna came to his side. "Anger does not solve anything."
He closed his eyes for several seconds, and breathed deeply. "You're right, love. Can you please call my sister, Draco and Hermione to join us here?"
"Yes, certainly," she said, and hurried off to gather the specified people.
The familiar air of tension was beginning to assert itself once again, when matters came to discussing developments and progress around their fight. Harry and Ron waited in silence, sharing the occasional uneasy glance; after a few minutes, Luna came back with the other three in tow.
"What's going on, Weasley," Draco spoke up at once, "that you needed you needed your wife to drag me away from - "
"Shush, will you," Ginny admonished him severely, flushing brilliantly and glaring at her loved one.
"Oh, don't tell me," Ron began in annoyance, but checked himself, and cleared his throat before he continued. "We need relative privacy, and I think this is one of the better times it can be afforded."
"Alright, so what do you have to tell us?" Ginny asked her brother.
"A connection between the murders, that comes from the book we uncovered from Godric's Hollow a long time ago, and another one we found quite by accident only last night," Ron explained mysteriously. In any case, attention was peaked, and his eyes wandered over each focused expression.
"What kind of connection?" Luna offered in the conspicuous silence.
"I think Hermione can explain it better than I can," Ron admitted, gesturing towards the brunette to take the word.
"Well," Hermione began, acknowledging Ron and standing up. "Last night, Ron came to me with an idea, and I spent the better part of the night working on it," she said, "and uncovered something very interesting."
Harry was looking from one to the other, lost and excited at the same time.
"In short," Hermione explained, "The Order of Merlin."
"What does the award have to do with anything we are working on?" Draco asked loudly.
"No, listen to me," Hermione hushed him, "the Order of Merlin isn't only an award…it is a millennia-old organization."
"I had never heard of it until last night," Ron admitted. "And neither had Hermione," he added with a small, knowing smile.
"It's true," she conceded the point, "but what we found was more important. The Order of Merlin is responsible for protecting the traditions associated with wand making, and the power required for it that resides within the Department of Mysteries."
"What is that power?" Luna asked, perplexed. Harry only sat, quiet, and listening raptly to Hermione's findings.
"Love, believe it or not," Hermione said softly, "The power, which is powerful, mysterious, and can never be understood in simple terms. I believe it's that power, which our opponents seek to acquire and control."
"Yes, but how are the murders associated?" Harry asked her impatiently.
"Simply by the fact that Olliviander, Gregorovitch and the Weasleys' neignbour were all members," Hermione answered.
"Members of this order?" Harry exclaimed. "Why didn't they say anything?"
Hermione looked at him with a slight annoyance. "Use your head, Harry. Its purpose is to be secret - why would they reveal themselves."
"Because whoever killed them knew they were members," Harry told her. "Does it not strike you as obvious?"
"Of course," Hermione said, "but the only problem is that it's only a theory we have to work from, and absolutely no evidence."
"Then what do you think about the attacks on Muggles, and those on us?" Ron challenged her.
"Somehow, they know what we're doing and tail our every move," Hermione replied quietly. "That would explain the attack on me at Godric's Hollow, Harry's duel with Dolohov, those Death Eaters at the Burrow Ron told me of last night, and now, the close brush Ron and Luna had in their flat."
"Those are strong words, Hermione," Harry observed calmly. "Do you suspect anyone?"
"We can talk about that later," Hermione put an end to that discussion forcefully, looking meaningfully around the table.
"If you say so," Draco said once more, "what about Merlin's Order? Can you tell us more about it?"
"Oh yes," came Hermione's response. "There was a whole chapter I found on it."
"An entire chapter?" Ron sounded amazed. "I thought there might just be a quick mention about it."
"Well, not really," Hermione delved in her research, "the book Dumbledore gave Lily made a reference to The Wandmaker, which is the very book Ron brought to me."
"Care to enlighten us?" Luna proffered her question forth.
"Certainly," Hermione was enthused. "Accio The Wandmaker!"
The flurry of pages being blown around somewhere on the upper floor resulted in the desired tome flying in Hermione's hand several seconds later.
"Alright," she said, and yawned, "Let's…let's begin, shall we?"
And opening to the correct page, she started reading:
"Its existence has been kept secret for a very long time, and it is imperative that it continues to be so; the Order of Merlin, cleverly concealed as a legend and a mere trophy in contemporary times, is very much quite operational still. Among its prominent members today are Monseurs Olliviander, Gregorovitch and Dumbledore. Until recently, important work by Tom Riddle, Gellert Grindewald and Pharsias Snape, has also resulted in their induction to the Order."
"Snape and Voldemort were in it too!" Harry was shocked to hear. Hermione looked at him, and then directed her gaze downward again.
"The Order of Merlin has existed for a millennia, ever since the witch hunts of the ninth century ended, and wizardkind was able to establish its clandestine and secure existence, away from Muggle eyes. Merlin himself, on the eve of the tenth century, established the Order, inducting the important wandmakers of the day, so as to assure the preservation and propagation of our knowledge to future generations."
Hermione took a deep breath, and she seemed a little pale, but regardless, continued reciting the narrative.
"In the years following, the Order of Merlin accepted especially talented members of the magical community, and educated them secretly of the ways and means of the wand craft. The power to make such knowledge and practice possible is quite simply, love. The reader may look on that claim skeptically, but it is in fact, true. Free of malice and ill intent, love provides a feasible conduct for magical energy and will. The dilemma rests in with the fact that, if utilized to its fullest extent, love is a force, which can be used on both sides of the specter - good and evil. Dark wizards, however, have a much smaller capacity to understand love, as goodwill is essential in understanding the real potential of that power. In theory, if a Dark wizard shows real affinity and affection towards another, unaffected by evil, the application of love for murderous, dangerous and destructive engagements is quite possible. Even so, a confrontation between two sides, fuelled by the same force, will ultimately determine a winner in the manner, which pertains to the party with a stronger sense of love."
Hermione's voice had grown fainter as she read, and a dreamy expression has overtaken her countenance; she swayed on her chair, and shaking her head, as if to clear it, squinted to focus better on the content in front of her.
"Love, are you feeling alright?" Harry asked in concern; he had walked around the table and behind her chair, to support her should the need arise.
"Yes, yes," she whispered, "let me read…"
And so she continued, with more effort than before:
"There are, however, threats to those who seek to use love as a channel. Members of the Order are forewarned of the dangers that arise from the application of love in their trade. In a confrontation, such as when they are attempting to attest the capabilities of a newly produced wand, exhaustion of one's magic reserves is possible, and thus must be approached carefully, as the trials require much time and effort on the wandmaker's part. This is one of the main reasons, for which only exceptionally powerful individuals are selected to engage in the trade. The other reason lies in the inherent willpower, which one must have when he is strong. It is imperative that…that…"
Hermione suddenly stopped, made to raise her head, and collapsed, unconscious. Harry only managed to catch her, before she hit the table. Her lapse caused a commotion, as people jumped off their chairs and crowded themselves around her. Harry placed the book on the table and raised Hermione in his hands right after.
"Quick, take her to her bed, she needs rest," Ginny urged Harry.
"Someone call Madam Pomfrey," Luna voiced her concern too. "She needs to be checked!"
"I'll do it!" Ron offered, but he had not made a step forward, when just as suddenly, he also fell unconscious with a crash on the floor.
The commotion rose in pitch, as calls were made to attend to the fallen. Not loosing his composure, Harry carried Hermione and levitated Ron to the upper floor bedrooms. Below, someone had already sent for Madam Pomfrey, in the hope she arrived quickly enough…
A/N: Chapter 17 is done…reviews appreciated as always, and the next one will see what's wrong with our heroes…
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