Against All Odds- All is Fair In Love & War
A Harry Potter FanFiction
Part 1: Carry On
Chapter Two: Please Leave
Samantha flicked her hand carelessly in the air side to side. A wooden spoon sprang to life stirring a bubbling pot she was supposed to be watching over while Marlene Mckinnon stepped out with the others. It had been several months since Remus' warning and now the others too were in the loop of who's been tracking her.
A rumble sounded off the walls as the fireplace sprang to life. Their version of a doorbell.
"Marlene, what are you making anyway?" She sniffed the bubbling pot warily none too eager to have more poison resistance formulas being slipped into her food.
Admittedly she was more than a bit startled when Marlene joined their ranks being that they had gone to school together, only one year her senior. In fact most of the recruits lately were disturbingly getting younger.
"Sam! You need to listen," Remus barged in. He grasped her arm gently. "I wanted to warn you first. They'll be here any second."
"Is someone hurt?" She wasn't sure how much gore she could handle in a week. But his tightening hand pulled her back when she leaned away.
Hector stood paused at the entrance of the kitchen with a stony expression before continuing down the hall. His eyes locking with hers for just a moment that sent a chill between her shoulders.
"Samantha, stop don't-" Remus started but the fireplace roared back to life flickering green flames.
He unclasped his hand from her arm as if it had suddenly burned him to touch her.
She eyed him curiously ignoring the dark figure that emerged from the flames, "Remus what's -"
"Sammy?" The dark figure called out from the flames.
She turned to see an imposing man with dark tousled locks of hair and eager grey eyes. This young man wore a ridicules brown suit that was left half open at the collar showing bits of a tattoo. She blinked trying to process what she was seeing, she turned to Remus but he had already retreated from the scene.
When her eyes settled back on the intruder he looked a bit nervous fiddling with his hands before settling on shoving them in his pockets.
"Sirius …," she whispered.
The nervousness eases off his face as his mouth softened revealing a sly lopsided smile, an echo from his youth. "It's been a long time, but I finally found you. You're really good at hide n' seek but let's not play it again, okay?"
She cracked a smile overwhelmed leaving a strange pit of nothing in her gut. It seemed so strange to see him this way, in her mind he was still a teenage trouble maker.
He stepped forward as the flames behind him sprang to life again and a disheveled black head followed by long red strands of hair.
A grown up James and Lily emerged with clasped hands. The glint of wedding rings caught her attention. Their eyes lit up seeing her. With it all being too much to take in she clasped her hands over her mouth caught between the joy of seeing them again and the boiling anger of what it meant for them to be there. She held her breath hoping to hold back the impending sobs.
Lily rushed toward her with open arms followed closely by James as they enveloped her in an embrace. Sirius stood half satisfied, half put out. Again as if on cue flames jumped into the air one by one bringing Peter, Marlene, then lastly Dumbledore himself.
Peter stumbled forward swiping back his pale hair smiling broadly rushing to join the trio of forced hugs.
"Look at you! I could hardly believe it that we finally found you," Lily practically squealed. "And what the bloody hell were you thinking of taking off without a word? A simple note saying, 'I'm alive', wouldn't have killed you!"
At that point it became debatable whether Lily was reaching in for another hug or to finally strangle Samantha for years worth dread and uncertainty. Probably both.
But James being quick on his feet hugged his wife from behind placing his chin on her shoulder. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised what you and Remus have been up too this whole time, But at least we're all together again. We're all in this together. No point in going at it alone"
James reached over and patted Samantha's hair playfully. Perhaps as a distraction from the glares Sirius was giving Remus, who stood watching from a far corner of the room.
Then just like that reality came crashing back down. They were in more danger of dying than ever before. How could this happen under her nose?
"What's all that racket, something's burning!" Benjy Finwick strolled in half dressed from the spare room barefoot. He peered at the group carefully through hooded eyes before flicking his wand to turn off the stove. His thin frame hunched over as if the mere act of standing provided too much effort. He was rather old for his age.
"Benjy," Dumbledore intervened. "This is Lily and James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. You may have seen the about Hogwarts before you graduated. They'll be assisting us from now on."
"Yay, congratulations," Benjy remarked unenthusiastically as he made his way in the kitchen and plopped himself down at the dining room table. He poked at the matching pastel green table cloth, that too, offended him.
"Wait, wait you can't just let them join!" Samantha protested coming to her senses waving her hands in the air in a last ditch effort. "What we do is dangerous, they'll be risking everything even when they're not on the job."
"Then what the hell have I been doing out there?" Benjy grumbled from the table.
"They chose this Samantha," Dumbledore explained slowly trying to defuse the tension building.
"Remus, back me up!"
"Yes, Remus go on why we should die and not them." Benjy sighed.
"Shut-up!"
Remus grabbed onto her shoulders as Benjy made a rude gesture to her while Dumbledore wasn't looking. "I tried."
He let go as her glare intensified and took a seat next to Benjy.
Sirius came up from behind her, "I'm not leaving Sammy and neither are the others. We're not going to leave you behind."
The words struck deep leaving her speechless. A wave of crimson rage formed with in. She was supposed to be the one leaving them behind. The nerve.
Marlene cleared her throat drawing attention to herself and the two people behind her who busied themselves with hanging their coats on the dull brass hooks. Clearly they had heard the outburst.
Dorcas Meadows, a proud middle aged woman, stepped forward purposely as her brown curls seemed to drift behind her. Mad-Eye followed close behind, his wild eye keeping a steady lock on Samantha.
Dorcas gave Samantha a hard look, "What is this I hear about 'can't just join'? We need every reliable member we can get darling so stop questioning their judgment on the matter."
And just like that her heels clipped away toward the kitchen before hurrying back, "Marlene, sweetheart, what are you making?"
Of course she preferred Marlene, most people in the Order did. Samantha shot Sirius a dirty look as he mouthed 'sorry'. Years out of school and as soon as he shows up its as if nothing had changed.
Mad-Eye patted Samantha lightly on the shoulder with his magical eye now on Remus. "Nothing wrong with worrying about friends. Why don't you start serving so we can get the proper introductions done with?"
Grateful for the exit she marched toward the kitchen and began pulling out bowls for the mystery (possibly slightly poisoned) stew that Marlene had cooked up. Remus walked in quietly flicking his wand, the lemons bouncing to the air twisting themselves into a large pitcher. He stood beside her taking out cups from the cupboard next to her.
Unable to contain herself she spoke, "What about Peter?"
"He's improved since you last saw him."
"That's not what I meant, do you honestly think he can mentally handle this line of work? This is Peter we're talking about. He practically used James and Sirius as shields in school."
He sighed staring at the ceiling, "They're kind of a package deal."
She started at him disturbed. As if feeling her stare he turned toward her.
"I did try to stop this."
She picked up a bowl filling it, "I know … Oh, Peter what are we going to do with you?"
"There isn't much we can shelter him from anymore."
No, there wasn't much we could shelter anyone from anymore.
Dinner was spent listening to Marlene go over the most recent kidnapping. An Unspeakable who went by the name of Old Ben, a former employee of the Brain Room, was taken rather violently in the Muggle London Underground. She went over rumors and interviews from the few family members he had. The only clue was his side research on mutations of the body due to spells and potions. Not much to go on.
Samantha zoned out, this wasn't the type of thing she dealt with in the Order anyway. Regardless Marlene, Dorcas, and Mad-Eye were the big heroes in this group. People like her were the ones that were charged with the dirty work, those like her and Remus, the infiltrators.
While the new members of the Order leaned in to listen to Dumbledore's every word explaining what they had been doing these past few years, she took her mark. She edged away once she wasn't on Sirius' constant radar. She was convinced that he had it in his head that she would disappear mid-dinner. His paranoia was justified. She really did need to leave. Dirty work, you know.
She stopped at the mudroom looking back to find Remus staring back at her with a frown on his face. Its been clear on his face since the day he found out what she did, he didn't approve of what she was willing to do. But in all fairness she didn't like his work either, so neither said a word, as usual. Just another day on the job.
With the click of the door behind her she took a deep breath trying to take in as much of the sea air as she could before vanishing with a whispered pop.
$$$$$$ Meanwhile $$$$$$
By the time Sirius figured out that Samantha had indeed gone AWOL once again on his watch, it was too late. Remus have him a half hearted assurance that she would be okay. That she knew what she was doing. But the look behind his friend's guarded expression made his skin grow cold.
He couldn't let it go, but before he could stop him the werewolf was gone along with 'Mad-Eye' Moody in a burst of flames through the fireplace. Dumbledore had vanished somewhere too. No one it seemed could stay put long enough for him to get answers.
Not willing to deal with Dorcas' school like properness he left his friends to handle the details. He huffed at how easily they had taken Samantha and Remus' departure so easily.
He turned to Marlene, who was escorting hoovering dishes back to the kitchen. She gave him a sad smile before cocking her head toward the kitchen.
"Why won't they say were they gone all of a sudden?" Sirius growled.
"You're going to need to get used to it. They do it all the time and sometimes their clothes …" She shook her head with a distant look about her.
"Their clothes, what?" He squinted at her as his heart thumped in panic.
Her eyes widened, "They need to adjust to the situation they find themselves in. And it isn't always pretty." The words came out fast.
"I want to be put on the next mission she goes on."
"She usually works solo. The only other people she goes with now are Mad-Eye and Benjy"
"Where the hell's Remus in all this and what do you mean by now?"
"Sirius, I can see you're still hung up on her but she isn't the same anymore. She's gone through a lot and driven herself deep into this. All of us have separate lives away from this but to her ... the Order is her life."
He snorted, "So all this time, Remus hasn't done anything … has he?"
"They're not back together if that's what you mean. Wait, there's something else I need to warn you about." She bit her bottom lip shifting looking uncertain.
But Sirius stopped listening. Samantha had returned looking disappointed as she whispered something to Dorcas. There was no emotion on her face just gave a curt nod before returning to the discussion around her.
Ignoring James' suspicious looks he followed their runaway down an unlit hallway.