A harsh summer wind swept through the North West London street in the pitch-dark night. Taking with it the unwanted plastic wrapping papers that had been thoughtlessly thrown away to the street, along with the last filter part of the cigarettes that had been inhaled and then chuffed on to the street.
It had been an unusual cold start to the summer (and that's saying something with the British standard) with most of the days the grey clouds covering the sky into the middle of June.
The wind found its way to one of the brick buildings window; hitting the glass like needles and bouncing off to the ground. Inside a twenty five year old woman by the name of Ava Barnes with brown hair, freckled face and deep blue eyes sat on the teal couch in the safety of her living room. Taking a sip of the now almost luke warm tea as she read a book. On her lap lay a Siamese cat peacefully purring when Ava occasionally put down the book to pet the animal. The room was impeccable neat, from the crowded alphabetical ordered bookshelf ( with titles such as Advanced Defence Against Dark Arts, Potions A-Z for Auror Training and Everyday Cleaning Spells to Make Your Life Easier ) against the grey walls to the shiny wooden floor and the folded blanket on the blue velvet couch and spotless glass coffee table. In front of the couch was an television and around the room where photographs, there was also a door next to the couch leading to the bedroom. There was a small hallway with an oak wardrobe and on the opposite side to was an ajar door where you could peek into the kitchen with white tiles floor and grey walls and modern equipments there was also a small table by the window.
Divulged in writings of the pages, Ava did not seem to notice the banging on her door ( or perhaps it was drowned by the harsh sound of the wind outside). As the echoes of the knocks became more and more intense, she began to steer her gaze towards the door. Her heart leaped a bit in panic, she didn't usually get visitors and it was very curious why someone would be knocking at her door at this time of the day. Putting aside the book and the cup on the sofa table and grabbing her wand, the fast movement making the cat jump out from her lap.
"So sorry Darcy." she murmured, her eyes now completely focused on the door and approaching it with her hand in the air tightly gripped around her wand.
When she opened the door, she was taken even further aback. A thin elder man with a couple of feet long white shimmering hair and competing beard greeted Ava with an inviting smile. The light blue eyes covered by a pair of half-moon spectacles that rested on the crooked nose and he was clad in a purple velvet robe. It was no other than Ava's old headmaster at Hogwarts School of Magic and Wizardy, Dumbledore. She had seen him briefly sometimes at the Ministry after graduating some years ago but they hadn't exchanged much more than "Hello".
"Dumbledore." she said surprised.
"I do hope I'm not intruding."'
"Not at all, come in." she said as they shook hands.
"Thank you Ava." He said calmly and stepped inside.
"Do you want anything to drink, or a snack? I got uhm, fruit and some biscuits" she asked
"Ah no, thank you I'm good." Dumbledore declined and she directed him to the couch where she had been sitting.
"Now, I'm sure you're very curious to what I may be doing here." he said, reading her still surprised expression
"A bit yeah." said Ava, taking a seat next to him.
"Well, I won't be very long. You know, it just dawned upon me now that I never have fully congratulated you for passing your auror test."
"Thank you." said Ava, now even more taken a back. It's been years since she passed the test now. Surely that couldn't be why Dumbledore was here? Her question would soon be answered.
"I'm sorry to say, I'm going to have to be rather quick. I take it that you heard the rumours about Lord Voldemort?" He said in a serious manner eyeing her closely. Ava flinched a bit at the mention of the full name. Her eyes grew bigger and her mouth opened a bit as she seemed to drift into her thoughts.
"Is it true? Is he really back?" she whispered despite it only being them two in the room and he nodded. Ever since Cedric Diggory's death few weeks earlier, when Harry Potter had come back with his body from the Triwizard Tornament and recalled how Voldemort had killed him that evening. The Ministry however, had dismissed this as lies. Ava had believed Dumbledore's and Harry Potter's words, but as more people had become doubtful she had for a few seconds questioned it but came to the conclusion that they must have been speaking the truth. They had no reason to lie. But hearing the words, out loud from Dumbledore himself had made it so much realer and it was almost like her body had been turned in to ice.
"He is, which brings me to why I'm here." At this point, Ava breaths suddenly felt slower and heavier.
"Last time I started a group called The Order of the Phoenix, all with the aim to stop Voldemort and the past month I have been re-instating it And, I think you would be a very liable and trustworthy person in this group with your position at the Ministry and your skills. Because no doubt Voldemort will eventually try to have fully control of I like last time."
The words seemed to float in the air like a cloud getting larger and larger. It wasn't because of doubt, because catching dark wizards and creating a safer World was something that lit an fire in Ava but it was the realization of the reality that made it take some time for the words to sink. Dumbledore didn't seem to mind and was looking at her with an light smile.
She hadn't been very old when Voldemort had been brought to power before, but old enough to remember the panic, the fright and the terror that had been around. Her father had been killed by one of Voldemort's Death Eaters, and she wanted nothing more but to avenge the person who murdered him. She didn't know much about his murder - it wasn't something her mother liked to talk about. All Ava knew was that her dad worked at the Department of Mysteries as an Unspeakable and one day he hadn't come back from work.
She remembered the details so vividly; her mother pacing back and forth in the living room getting more frantic by the hour. Ava had put her younger sister Cassie to bed, when she heard someone knocking on the door. By the loud footsteps she knew it was a man, and she heard her mother whimper loudly from the ground floor. As she walked down to the ground floor, she found her mom in tears by the kitchen table. The man seemed to have disappeared. Ava had never seen a person so destroyed. She held her mum tightly, and she would never forget her mum's broken voice whimper 'D-dad won't be back home'. After that her mum had never been the same. She didn't like discussing his murder, and had taken years afterwards until she revealed they had found his body in the department, being put through the cruciatus curse before eventually being killed. Nobody knew who had done it.
"You can think about it of course and get back to me." he said calmly.
"I want to join." she said determinedly
"I want to stress to you that there may come times when you're put in great danger and you'll be a threat to Voldemort and the Death Eaters because of this' His eyes now seemed x-ray her face with is blue eyes."
"I don't care, if You-Know-Who is growing stronger I want to fight." At this Dumbledore smiled at her.
"Well then, welcome to the Order." He got up from the couch.
"The headquarters is at 12 Grimmauld Place, London. I'm the Secret Keeper. There is a meeting tomorrow at 5 pm and we very much appreciate if you can make it." Ava nodded. "I can."
As Dumbledore walked to the door he turned around "See you tomorrow then Ava."
And as her old headmaster disappeard from her sights, leaving Ava alone to sit on the couch an sulk it all in. The rain still shooting down on the glass window, and the street below as empty and deserted as before, but everything had changed.