I do not own Harry Potter or anything Harry Potter related. Marley and other minor OC's are owned by yours truly
Marley's feet slammed onto the pavement as she apparated into a rundown muggle neighborhood. She had no less than half a second to look around before a loud pop informed her that Kingsley had arrived as well. He gestured for her to follow him and, as she walked across the street to where his silhouette was already standing, flats 11 and 13 were pushed to the side to reveal a new building. Number 12 Grimmauld place loomed over them, looking just as if it had not popped into existence.
"This way," Kingsley said, walking up the steps to the door (which was in desperate need of painting) of Number 12 and rung the doorbell before entering, not waiting for anyone to answer. Marley heard a rather blood-curdling screaming coming from inside and looked curiously at Kingsley, who merely chuckled, "Not to worry, that's just Mrs. Black's portrait,"
Relieved, she hurried into the house, letting the hood of her traveling cloak fall onto her shoulders, revealing medium-length auburn hair.
"Scum! Blood traitors! Half-breeds! You dare befoul the noble and most ancient house of Black!"
"Will you shut up?!" a voice yelled from the other room. Two people jogged out and grabbed hold of the curtains, obviously attempting to force them shut. The man looked rather worse for wear, with shabby robes and graying hair that did not befit his young(ish) face. The woman had short spiky hair that just so happened to be bright pink. She looked younger than the man, whether it was because her aura seemed eternally playful or it was because she was wearing a Weird Sisters T-Shirt and jeans.
As soon as the curtains had been forced shut, the woman turned to Kingsley and Marley, "Sorry 'bout that. You know, you could have just walked in. We already started the meeting,"
"How late am I?" He asked, removing his cloak and placing it on a coat rack. She mimicked him, the rack extending its hooks to catch hold of said cloak. The woman turned her head to look at Marley, "Wotcher. My name's Tonks," she held out her hand, Marley took hold of it and gave it a good shake, "Mine's Marley. Good to meet you."
The man who had helped shut the curtains came and stood next to Tonks, "So you're the new Order member?"
"Yes," she said, holding out her hand to him, "Marley Finch. You?" she realized that this wasn't the most formal and sophisticated way to introduce herself, but she wasn't formal and sophisticated so she didn't much care.
He shook her hand, "Remus Lupin. Come, I'll introduce you to the rest of the Order,"
They followed Remus and Tonks into the kitchen where a long table sat in the middle of the room with at most 10 people seated at it, the oddest of which a middle aged man with a gnarled wood staff and an electric blue eye spinning in it's socket. Everyone was chattering on about something she couldn't quite catch. Marley was almost certain that she had heard the word's 'Ministry' and 'idiotic'. She couldn't help but smirk.
"This is Marley Finch," Kingsley introduced, "She tracks black market transactions," Everyone seemed to look up at this. Marley was only feeling a little self conscious at this point. The man with the mismatched eyes was staring at her, scowling.
"She uses the trade to track possible Death Eaters who might have purchased dark or cursed objects," Kingsley explained, nodding approvingly in her direction, "I have consulted with Albus on the matter and he thinks it wise to have her in the Order, but he has agreed that we need to take a vote on it,"
"How do we know we can trust her?" growled the man with the odd eyes (unfortunately, she did not yet know his name, and was getting weary of referring to him as such)
"Miss Finch has agreed to allow us to question her with the help of Veritaserum and/or use Legilimency,"
"Can Miss Finch vouch for that?" Remus asked, his mouth twitched in a small smile
"Yes she can," Marley replied. Kingsley had told her in advance that this event would most likely take place and, considering the fact that she was dreadful at Occlumency, and that she had nothing to hide aside for the oh-so-fond memory of causing her cousin's trousers to explode at her sister's wedding, she had agreed to it.
"Alright then," Kingsley turned his attention to the other end of the table, "Severus, I believe you have the Veritaserum?"
A man dressed entirely in black, stood and walked—no, slid over to them, a tiny bottle full of clear liquid clutched in his pale fingers. She took it from him and pulled the cork out. From her peripheral vision, I could see everyone staring in her direction.
"Well, bottom's up," Marley drained the bottle, waiting for the brain fuzziness generally associated with Veritaserum to envelop her.
"What is your name?" Severus asked immediately, glaring straight into her eyes as he asked
"Marlene Ester Finch,"
"Where are you?"
"Number 12 Grimmauld place. Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix,"
"Are you a Death Eater?"
"No,"
"Are you aiding any of the Death Eaters or the Dark Lord himself?"
"No,"
"Are you really working undercover in the black market trade?"
"Yes,"
"Are you willing to risk your life for the cause?" Remus interjected
"I have been and I always will,"
Remus grinned, "Well, there you have it,"
"Is she capable?" a thin faced woman sitting next to the man apparently known as Severus asked
"If by capable you mean she can handle herself in a fight? Yes. I was planning on bringing this up after I introduced her, but right as we were about to apparate here, we were ambushed by a few Death Eaters," You could cut the tension in the air with a knife.
"I managed to stun two of them the transfigure another," Marley added, "I must say that Darius Copping looked rather adorable as a chipmunk,"
This caused one or two people to chuckle. Kingsley seemed to grin at the memory.
"We knocked all of them unconscious," she explained, "well, unless you count Darius. That wasn't much of a feat though. The way they dueled, you could tell that they were bordering on mediocre,"
"I intend to give you the details after we sort everything out with Marley, but for now; who agrees that Marley should become an Order member?"
Half of the people at the table raised their hands; the other half nodded or grunted their approval. She felt a sense of accomplishment wash over her, "Thank you," was all she said
"Kingsley," Tonks spoke up, "Don't you think it'd be a good idea to give some introductions? Y'know, so she knows who she's working with?"
The auror nodded, "Of course. Marley, from left to right; Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Dedalus Diggle, Alastor Moody, Molly and Aurther Weasley, Sirius Black—"
"Ah, Sirius," Marley grinned, "I met your mum,"
Sirius snickered.
"… Hestia Jones, Minerva Mcgonagall, and Severus Snape. Needless to say there are other members of the Order but everyone sitting at this table you'll see most often,"
Marley nodded. Some faces she recognized. She knew Sirius's face from the Daily Prophet (Kingsley had also explained to her before hand that Sirius was an Order member and advised her not to hex him into oblivion), she had been taught by Mcgonagall, and she vaguely recognized Severus and Remus from when she had gone to school with them. Of course, she was two years below them so she didn't exactly know them well.
"Excellent," Sirius clapped his hands together, "Now, what's this about an ambush?"
She and Kinglsey drew up chairs for themselves (quite literally, too) before explaining.
"Well, I was getting my things ready for when Kingsley came to fetch me," Marley began, "When my door was blasted open. Needless to say about five Death Eaters barged in, demanding that I come out and fight,"
"Why'd they come after you?" Mcgonagall asked, accepting one of the mugs of tea that Mrs. Weasley had sent floating around the table
"Well, they had obviously figured out that I was the one who had ratted out Augustus Kert to the Ministry after he had bought a load of cursed bracelets that'd cut off your wrists if you put it on, and they tracked me back to my house,"
Dedalus turned to Moody "Alastor, wasn't he one of the Death Eater's that—"
"Escaped in the Mass breakout of Azkaban? Yeah,"
"Anyways, they had just cast the Cruciatus at me (thank God I dodged it) when Kingsley popped in just it time to give me a hand,"
"Interesting," Sirius rubbed his chin, "did you recognize any of the other Death Eaters?"
"The only ones I recognized were Darius and Jugson. The others, well, I wasn't sure,"
"And you're positive they didn't track you back here?" Snape asked, his tea remaining untouched
"C'mon Severus! You sound like Alastor!" Tonks groaned. This earned her another of Moody's signature scowls, "There's no way they could have tracked them back here—not unless they were clinging to Kingsley's or Marley's sleeve,"
Snape sneered at her, yet remained silent.
"Well then," Mr. Weasley stood, faking a stretch and a yawn, "If that's all, I would like to head to bed. It's probably nearly one in the morning and I still have to get to work tomorrow,"
Tonks nodded, "Agreed. Meeting adjourned folks," Everyone seemed to leave rather slowly, chatting courteously amongst themselves. Kingsley tapped her shoulder, "Since it's too dangerous to go back to your house, you'll be staying the night here. Sirius can find you a room, can't you Sirius?"
Marley turned to see Sirius, smiling cheerfully at her, "Not a problem, Kingsley," he motioned for her to follow him. She obliged, pursuing him up a flight of stairs into a dark, dank, and altogether creepy hallway. He stopped at a door almost at the end of the hallway, "This'll be your room. Unfortunately, this room is right next to Snivellus's,"
"…"
"Severus…"
"Ah,"
"Be careful Miss Finch, you wouldn't want to get flees," an almost silky voice sounded from behind Sirius, who turned, his hand shoved in his pocket, where Marley was almost sure his fist had tightened around his wand, "what do you want Snivellus?"
"I? I merely wished to get some sleep and to wish Miss Finch good luck on further missions," Snape seemed to have a permanent sneer etched onto his face, his ink-black eyes boring into Marley.
"Well, isn't that kind of you," Every word that came out of Sirius's mouth seemed sickeningly sweet. Their dislike for each other was too obvious, "She'll have to be careful and make sure you don't poke your overly large nose into her business,"
"Well then," Snape looked a bit amused, "You'll have to tell her tomorrow. It seems she couldn't stand your insufferable chatter any more than the rest of us," And, sure enough, Marley had slipped into her room while the two men had been arguing. Sirius frowned, flashed a rather offensive hand gesture in Snape's direction, and headed back downstairs.
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