CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

EMANCI-WHAT?

Snape stepped out of the Weasley's fireplace and hurriedly headed towards the meeting room. He however, stopped short when he found the Weasley children standing at the end of the staircase, all talking in hushed tones.

They all stopped talking upon seeing him. Ignoring them, he opened the door to the room where the meeting is taking place but stopped short when he saw three men, two of which he recognized as the Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. His eyes widen in surprise as he took in the younger man standing next to the duo. Before he even saw the famous scar, he knew it was Harry Potter.

He felt a slight pain in his chest and forced himself not to rub at it as he gazed at the boy's vivid green eyes that looked and reminded him so much of Lily, Harry Potter's mother.

"Ha, Severus…glad to see you could make it" Dumbledore said as the surprise of hearing the boy was emancipated finally wore off. He was glad for the distraction Snape's entrance gave because it bought him time to regain his bearings and take back control of the situation.

"Oh, so you're the professor Snape. I've heard a lot about you" Harry said to the man with a smirk.

Snape ignored the boy and went to take a seat. He wondered why everyone was staring at the boy with a look of shock in their eyes. Just as he was about to ask, Tonks walks in.

"Whotcha Harry" she said with a smile before turning to a surprised Dumbledore. They were all quite surprise by the familiarity between her and Harry. "So, what did I miss?"

"Hi Tonks" Harry answered, with a smile. Since they had revealed his true identity to her, they had gotten considerably closer. "You haven't missed much, just catching the headmaster and the members of the Order up to speed, that I am emancipated and so should be allowed to sit in on the meeting"

"The boy is emancipated?" Snape asked the headmaster, brows raised in surprise.

"It seems to be so" the headmaster replied as he continued to watch the boy. He needed to do some damage control really quick and take back control of the direction of the meeting. He steepled the tips of his fingers together as he leaned forward.

Raising his hand to signal silence, he said "Harry, thank you for bringing that to our attention. As you are emancipated, you do have every right to sit at the table so if you and your guardians will please take a seat, we can get started"

Meanwhile, outside the meeting room…

The Weasley children and Hermione have got their ears glued to the door, trying to listen in on the conversation going on but to no avail.

Neville who just walked in, chuckled in amusement as he took in the scene.

"You lot do realise that there is probably a Muffliato charm on the door" he said wryly as he leaned against the stair banister.

"We are trying to listen in with our new invention, the Extendable ears. It lets you eavesdrop on a conversation as if you're in the room" Fred replied, holding up a long, flesh-coloured piece of string which extended to under the door.

"Is it working?" Neville asked, his interest now piqued.

"No, for some reason, it is not working" George answered, looking perplexed.

"They might have cast an Imperturbable Charm in the room" Hermione stated as she gave up on trying to eavesdrop and pulled away from the door.

The others followed her lead and pulled away from the door too but this now meant that their attention was directed and focused on Neville.

He began to fidget as he noticed them staring at him.

"What? Why are you all staring at me like that?" he asked with a scowl.

"How come you are friends with Harry Potter and you never said a word about it?" Ron asked, sounding almost angry.

"Ron, please…" Hermione began, sensing that if they pushed too hard at Neville especially with the tone Ron seemed to be taking, any semblance of a truce they had with him would come to an end.

"No, Hermione" Ron answered, slashing his hand in the air. "We have been his friends, best friends since our first year at Hogwarts and all of a sudden, he makes friends with Harry Potter and decides that we are no longer good enough for him"

"Ron…" Hermione began again but was cut off, when Neville got up in Ron's face.

"No, I did not stop being friends with you two because of Harry. I stopped being friends with you because I realised how terrible you both were as friends to me. Being friends with Harry, made me realise that I deserved better than the way I had been treated when we were friends"

He glanced briefly at Hermione before turning back to smirk at Ron.

"Admit it, you're not mad that I stopped being friends with you because of Harry. No, you're angry at the fact that we met Harry at the same time but he chose to be friends with me and not you"

Ron visibly flinched at this, confirming Neville's suspicions. With that, he stepped away from him and turned to face Hermione and the other children.

"Look guys, I didn't come here to fight. Ron literally invited me over since there was an Order's meeting and Harry was invited. But I am not in the mood to deal with unnecessary drama so I'm going to go sit at the table in the dining room" he began to walk away but stopped when Hermione spoke up.

"Nev, please don't leave" she turned to Ron and poked him at the side. "Ron didn't mean to yell at you like that"

"Yeah, we all know he has been dying to meet Harry Potter since we were taught tales of the Boy-Who-Lived" Ginny looked around at the other children in the room and shrugged. "I mean, we all are"

"Look mate, I'm sorry I yelled at you" Ron began, his ears turning pink from everyone directing their attention to him when he spoke up. Gathering his resolve, he looked at Nev straight in the eye and said "I was jealous, just like you said but I shouldn't have taken it out on you. Blimey, you don't owe Hermione or me any explanations"

"Yeah, Ron's right Nev" Hermione said stepping forward. "And I am glad Harry Potter was a good friend to you, when we couldn't be and if you continue to give us the opportunity to be your friend again, I promise we will do better to be better friends to you just like you have always been to us"