Brooklyn and the Boy Who Lived

Year Five Begins

Brooklyn stood out on a hot sunny day in Privet Drive, where he remained in a hidden spot in a grove of trees near Number Four. He had been assigned by Dumbledore a week ago to keep watch over Harry.

Ever since he had moved into Sirius Black's house, Brooklyn had met a lot of new people in the Order of the Phoenix he had never met before, but it had people he did know that included a nice reunion with Lupin and the real Mad Eye Moody. Brooklyn himself preferred the real Moody over the false one.

One of those new people he met was the cheerful Tonks, who had the interesting ability to change her appearance, including the color of her hair. She had turned it red to match Brooklyn's skin one time that had shocked him, but her cheerful attitude won him over, and they became friends.

But if there was one person he didn't like in the Order besides Snape, was Mundungus Fletcher, a shifty, smelly guy that always snuck in stolen items, making Mrs. Weasley yell at him that woke up the screaming portrait of Sirius Black's deranged mother.

He had disturbed her once by tripping over a troll leg umbrella stand, and she started screaming at him, while Brooklyn tried apologizing over and over. Sirius rescued him by closing the curtains on her.

This house of Black, wasn't in the finest condition while the gargoyle explored it inside and out with Sirius. He showed Brooklyn the Black family tree and gave him his brother's old bedroom to sleep in, Regulus Black. The bed itself wasn't too bad. Brooklyn could do without the intimidating Slytherin serpent colors though, but it was the best thing they could work with.

And then, there was the house elf, Kreacher. He seemed to hate Brooklyn the minute they laid eyes on one another, and he muttered constantly under his breath, about Mudbloods, werewolves, and monstrosities staining his mistress's house.

On the third week, Brooklyn had the unfortunate luck of being assigned with Mundungus Fletcher by Dumbledore to be at Privet Drive to watch his little brother.

"Why do you even keep this guy around, Professor? I really don't trust him, and I don't trust him to watch Harry right. I bet he'll scram the second there's danger around," the gargoyle had complained to the headmaster the day he had to leave. Dumbledore simply folded his hands together and gave him a small smile.

"He is the best person for spying, Brooklyn. Nobody would suspect anybody like him. I know you don't like Mundungus, but please try to tolerate each other and not have your covers blown. Only show yourself when danger is around. Mrs. Figg will help since she'll also be watching Harry," he answered, making Brooklyn kick the ground in irritation before answering, "Fine, but why keep my little brother in the dark? He was one of the only ones besides me to see Voldemort return, and yet, only I'm allowed to know about most of what's going on?"

Dumbledore's face looked grave. "He is still underage, and not qualified to join the Order like you, Brooklyn, since you're the Guardian of Hogwarts, we need you in our league more than ever now that Demona is with our biggest enemy, and you know her inside and out. But Harry is too young to handle all this yet, so please, I wish of you to say as little as possible if you can, to keep him safe."

Brooklyn looked down, now knowing that Dumbledore was right. Harry was 15, which made him still a hatchling in the headmaster's eyes. But this still felt wrong. He knew there would have to come a day to tell Harry everything, if he was the only one to defeat Voldemort. He had said the same thing to Ron and Hermione, who both looked upset at not sending Harry much news except saying Happy Birthday and sending presents.

Earlier, Brooklyn had been given the reveal that Mrs. Figg was a Squib, a non-magic human born into a wizarding family, and she knew Dumbledore, which was why she hadn't seemed so disturbed by his appearance those two years ago.