Hermione chuckled, while Harry laughed more heartlessly.

"What's wrong?" Lupin asked in confusion.

"No, nothing," Harry laughed even more happily, "Of course the professor stands on our side, it's so normal--" "

You have a point," Lupin said seriously, "but he is too independent, sometimes the information is inconsistent... I was almost beaten to death by him."

"What happened?" Harry stopped laughing.

"I took a few days off some time ago to catch up with my friends," Lupin said gloomily: "You should know that I mean my kind..." Harry and Hermione nodded slightly, knowing that he was talking about werewolves.

"Originally Dumbledore wanted me to infiltrate the werewolf community, but my face has become somewhat famous and has been in the newspapers several times... so I simply operated semi-publicly, trying to persuade those relatively mild werewolf groups, promising to provide a stable supply of wolfsbane potion so that they would stand on our side, or at least remain neutral. As a result, one time I ran into Felix who came to visit a dark wizard - the relationship between werewolves and dark wizards is very complicated, and sometimes they get mixed up, probably because they are all on the margins of society, but werewolves are forced... Then there was a conflict, and a few impulsive werewolves rushed forward, and were struck back by black lightning the next second."

"It was too fast, we couldn't react at all." Lupin said with lingering fear, "But the mission was accomplished, and the group of werewolves moved away overnight."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other.

"Children, I'm not saying this to blame Felix - although his behavior is indeed a bit rough." Lupin finally said, "But you must recognize one thing: werewolves are dangerous. Although they are divided into brutal and moderate, they are all dangerous. The only difference is whether they actively attack people, so don't form the illusion that moderate people are good-tempered -"

"I don't think so, Remus, you have a better personality than most people I know." A young woman's voice appeared in the living room.

The witch had a pale, heart-shaped face, a pair of sparkling black eyes, and her spike-like short hair was a bright and dazzling violet. She also dressed in a Muggle style, with a weird shirt and patched jeans, just like the rebellious girls Harry occasionally saw.

Harry was somewhat familiar with this face. After looking at it carefully for a few seconds, he remembered that he had seen her in the third year.

"Hello, Tonks." Lupin introduced them calmly, "Tonks is an Auror of the Ministry of Magic, and was selected to stay in the Order of the Phoenix as a liaison between the two parties."

Harry and Hermione immediately understood.

Tonks came forward and looked at them with great interest. She held out her hand. "Hello, I've been looking for a chance to talk to you." She said familiarly.

Harry and Hermione hurriedly held out their hands. Tonks leaned closer and whispered to them, "I've joined the Order of the Phoenix."

"Congratulations--" Harry said stiffly. He really couldn't think of anything to say in this situation.

During this time, Kreacher had been silent. When Harry looked at him, he bowed respectfully, "Please allow Kreacher to make tea for the young master."

"Oh, er, okay." Harry said. Then Kreacher disappeared in front of him. He felt that Kreacher's attitude was a little strange.

"He treated us as air," Lupin said, "Because of my identity as a werewolf, he should actually treat Tonks better, but--" "

My mother was expelled from the Black family." Tonks shrugged and said, "I don't think he recognizes me either."

"Expelled? The tapestry?" Harry asked.

"Yes." Tonks made a gesture of shooting sparks.

Hermione looked at their conversation in confusion.

Harry explained in a low voice: "There is a tapestry on the wall of the second floor. It shows the family tree of the Black family, but not everyone is on it. Some members who seriously violate the family tradition will be erased from the tapestry. Sirius was like this before."

Hermione nodded to show that she understood.

"Well - welcome to your arrival." Lupin smiled and opened his arms, hugging Harry.

...

Harry and Hermione sat on the sofa and felt that everything around them was very novel.

"Are you the only ones here?" Hermione asked.

"Of course not, Sirius contributed this place as the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Usually everyone is very busy, and it's rare for us to get together. We all come here in our free time." Lupin explained, "Molly cleaned up a few rooms, and now it's barely habitable."

"I remember Sirius and Kreacher cleaned up the house before." Harry said that he had lived here for a few days, and the environment was considered bad at that time.

"Well, let me put it another way. It barely meets the needs of the new tenants," Lupin said with a smile. "Sirius is a bachelor, and Kreacher... I would say that although he is still responsible, he is old after all, and I strongly suspect that his aesthetic taste has been led astray..."

Lupin looked up at the time, "Sirius will be back soon. He said that he would try to get off work early today. I will go to cook."

"Do you need help?" Tonks asked.

"No," Lupin said, but Tonks followed him out. After a while, there was a "ping-pong" sound from the stairs below and Tonks' apology - "Oh! Sorry -"

As soon as the two left, Kreacher appeared. He brought a pot of tea, "This is Master Harry's -" He poured hot tea into the cup attentively, and then he glanced at Hermione with his big eyes without any action.

Hermione poured herself a cup of tea with some embarrassment and drank it in small sips.

"If Master Harry has any instructions, just call Kreacher. Kreacher is always at your service." The house elf disappeared with a "bang".

Harry explained in a low voice, "Kreacher has served the Black family for generations, and has been greatly influenced by the pure-blood mentality. Sirius spent a lot of effort to stop him from swearing, but I guess he was only half successful. Kreacher now completely ignores non-pure-blood wizards."

"I can understand." Hermione held the teacup and looked at the direction where Kreacher disappeared with great interest.

"Come on, I'll take you around the house. I've been here a few times before, but it's really strange that I didn't find any place suitable for practicing magic... We are on the second floor now. The first floor is the entrance hall and dining room. There are several bedrooms on the third floor, but a lot of junk was piled up in there during the previous cleaning. I don't know what's going on now... At the end of the corridor is the study..."

Harry and Hermione looked into the study and saw the professor sitting in a chair, muttering to himself: "Animagus?" He raised his head, looked at Harry and Hermione and asked, "Is Sirius back?"

"Not yet." Harry said honestly.

"Professor," Hermione asked, "where can we practice magic?"

"There are two places. On the fifth floor, there are two bedrooms that once belonged to Sirius and Regulus, and a spacious activity room that was locked up before. Practicing general magic is not a problem. The basement is where the kitchen is located, but if you go down from another hidden entrance and walk down a long staircase, you will find a huge space, which can barely be considered the second basement. I guess it may be the Black family's spell laboratory, which was later abandoned, but the walls there are made of extremely solid stone, and there are various magical protections..."

After Felix explained, he asked, "By the way, do you know about the awarding of honors?"

"Awarding honors?" Harry and Hermione said in unison.

Felix smiled, "Ms. Bones said in person that you have a chance to win the Order of Merlin, second class. This is not a lie."

Harry had completely forgotten about it.

Until he returned to the living room, Harry's head was still dizzy. He was about to get the Order of Merlin?

...

When it was almost eight o'clock, there was some noise downstairs.

Harry pricked up his ears. He heard familiar footsteps. It was Sirius!

"Harry!" Sirius appeared at the door of the living room and smiled at Harry. "Mundungus finally did something reliable." He sat down opposite Harry and almost sat on Mundungus. "Ouch--"

"Is it time for dinner?" Mundungus said sleepily.

"Not yet." Sirius said. He sat down in another position, and Crookshanks jumped on him and let Sirius scratch his chin.

Mundungus muttered something that no one could hear, covered his head with tattered clothes and continued to sleep.

"What have you been busy with recently?" Harry asked.

"There are many things that can be done," Sirius leaned back on the sofa tiredly, "We are now in the preparation stage, and both sides are very cautious. In fact... there has never been a head-on confrontation - if you don't count a few cases of Dementors injuring people. We believe that Voldemort is secretly recruiting troops, winning over teams, or planning some conspiracy... In short, he will not be idle. On our side, we are doing the same thing, but we are on the side that is building a solid defense line," he glanced at Harry, "One side has no fixed place to live, and the other side has a big family and a big business, that's the situation."

"The wizarding world has been peaceful for many years, and most people are not vigilant. There are many loopholes to exploit. You should have heard about Azkaban... Amelia has been working as a wallpaper hanger during this time." "

And there is also the Floo Network." Mundungus muttered in his sleep.

Sirius grinned.

"That's right. Who would have thought that the humble Floo Network Administration would become so important during the war? Amelia ordered the Floo Management Team to clean up the old and illegal lines, and monitor the anomalies in them--" "

What about this place?" Harry asked. He remembered that Mundungus had told them before that the Black family had mastered some of the technology to build the Floo Network.

"Don't worry about it for now," Sirius said cunningly with his teeth bared, "This place has been cast under the Fidelius Charm, and the Ministry of Magic can't find it. At most, they will find that there are uncontrolled nodes, but they can't locate them at all."

...

During dinner, everyone exchanged information while eating.

"Fudge has been sent to lobby various European countries to remind people to be vigilant about the activities of Death Eaters in the local area... It can be regarded as making the best use of people." Sirius shrugged and said.

Harry was very surprised.

"Molly told me that she will move in in two days, and she will bring a few children with her." Lupin also revealed a piece of information.

Harry and Hermione were very excited to hear the news.

"I'm going to be away for a few days," said Felix, "and will be back in time for the investiture."

"Where?" asked Lupin sharply.

"To visit Mr. Scamander. I miss the little creatures he keeps in the basement."