Chapter 3: The Ducklings Meet the Order

"If they can do magic, maybe they can teach us how," Kutner mused excitedly. He had been bouncing on his heels for the past hour.

"They said we're Muggles because we can't do magic... indicating that we can't do magic," House replied tiredly. It was five minutes until the wizards were supposed to arrive, and Kutner was being way to happy for his own good.

Cameron and Wilson stood on either side of House, both casting him suspicious glances every few minutes. He knew for a fact that neither of them hundred percent bought his story. He didn't blame them. House wasn't known for his honesty. He couldn't wait for them to see what he and the team had seen... so he could totally rub it in their faces that he had been telling the truth.

Foreman and Thirteen sat at the differential table, both looking rather nervous. House was still replaying his team's reaction to Dumbledore's visit in his head for his own amusement. He was surprised that Taub hadn't peed his pants.

Lost in thought, he hardly noticed the large CRACK and the appearance of six strangers in his office.

Everyone else noticed, though.

Foreman jumped, falling backwards out of his chair. Thirteen choked on the coffee she had been drinking, spluttering all over the table. Kutner slammed himself back against the wall, clutching his heart and dropping his luggage. Wilson screamed "What the hell!" and hopped away from House. Cameron, in spite of herself, pressed closer to him.

"Oh my God," she said in a choked whisper. "You were telling the truth."

House smirked.

Six very, very odd people stood in front of him. As his companions regained their composure (the embarrassed flushes on most of their faces made him laugh inwardly) he examined the newcomers.

Directly in front of him stood the oddest of the bunch. A ragged man who looked to be about the same age as House was examining him with one huge blue eye that was attached by a metal socket to his face. His other eye was beady and small, and was sweeping over the room. His mouth seemed to be a large gash in his face, as if his features had been carved out of stone. He had only one leg, and a good sized portion of his nose was missing.

Apparently, being a wizard has it's occupational hazards, House thought, tilting his head and moving his eyes to the rest of the group. Standing on one side of the man was a tall, bald black man. He was dressed in deep purple robes with a fez of the same color on top of his head. One glimmering earring hung from his left ear.

On the other side of the grizzled man was the most normal looking of the bunch. Although haggard looking, a man he guessed to be roughly Wilson's age stood, looking quite relaxed. He had grayish-brown hair, and looked rather shabby. He smiled reassuringly at House.

Next he looked at the woman standing next to him, who had flaming bubblegum pink hair and a goofy smile on her face. He saw Kutner ogling the woman.

It's probably the first time he's seen a woman who isn't a coworker or his mother, he mused to himself. Next was a tall red-headed youth, looking to be maybe twenty two. His long ginger hair was tied back in a long ponytail, and he too had a solitary earring. He had a relaxed air of confidence about him.

Finally, a tall, sallow looking man stood far from the others. Sheets of black hair hung in his hook nosed face, and two deeply black eyes bored into him. He felt a strange creeping sensation up his spine. These bastards can't read minds, can they? he thought worriedly.

"Alastor Moody," the ragged one grumbled as he extended a hand. House considered it for a moment before taking it and offering him a brief shake.

"Greg House. Where's Dumbledore?" he asked, confused as to whether to make eye contact with Moody's normal eye, or his magical one, which was now swiveling quickly in it's socket.

"Couldn't come. Busy man, Dumbledore. But we're here on his orders," he explained.

"In case Professor Dumbledore didn't explain, we're members of a secret society called the Order of the Phoenix that fight dark forces in the wizarding world. We're here to pick you up and escort you to a safe house," the tall red head explained.

"Wait a minute," Wilson said, finding his voice and turning to House. "You didn't tell me this was going to be dangerous."

"It won't be," said the shabby man, stepping forward. "As long as everything goes as planned, none of you will be in any danger at all. We'll explain more once we arrive at Grimmauld Place. Remus Lupin, by the way," he said, following Moody's example and shaking House's hand. Stepping back, he motioned to the others.

"This is Nymphadora Tonks." Tonks smiled brightly at them, her hair now turning into a bright yellow. His hand moved to the red-head. "Bill Weasley." Then the black man. "Kingsley Shacklebolt." Finally all eyes were resting on the man clad completely in black. "And Severus Snape."

"Can we get on with this, Lupin? We are on a schedule," Snape said, his voice slick and patronizing.

"Yes, yes, quite right," Moody said roughly. "Each of you, pair up with one of us so we can get out of here as soon as possible."

Everyone in the room was still for a moment before someone moved. Foreman walked carefully towards Kingsley, who politely shook his hand. Kutner, after straightening his shirt, trotted over to Tonks, who went to wave a hand at him, but ended up knocking over House's TV.

"Oops! Sorry!" she apologized, taking out her wand. "Reparo!" The TV magically fixed itself and flew back to it's original position. Wilson gaped. House smiled ruefully at him.

"Believe me now?" he whispered. Cameron cast House a sidelong glance and strode over to Bill, who smiled down at her. Wilson hesitantly stepped towards Lupin. Still seeming like the only one other than House who had been able to find his voice, Wilson shook Lupin's hand and introduced himself.

"Dr. James Wilson," he said cordially. Lupin nodded.

"It's a pleasure."

Finally only Thirteen and House remained without partners. House exchanged a look with Thirteen, then moved towards Snape, whose lip curled with contempt when his dark eyes met House's. Thirteen shook herself and went to stand next to Moody.

"Everyone ready?" Moody asked. Each of the Order Members nodded, and each of House's people nervously jerked their heads.

"Alright... GO!" he yelled. House shivered involuntarily as Snape hooked his arm through his own. However, that soon became the least of his problems.

He felt as though he was spinning faster than he ever had in his entire life. He also felt like he was being compressed. He had no sense of where he was, and he could not breathe. Just as he thought he was going to affixiate, he felt hard pavement beneath his feet. As soon as he realized he was on solid ground, his legs collapsed from under him. His vision bleary, he looked around to see that his friends were in similar states. Bill was helping Cameron off of the ground, and Lupin was extending his hand to Wilson. Foreman had managed to only fall to his knees, and was already back up. Kutner was flat against the ground, and Tonks was shaking him worriedly. Moody still had Thirteen in a death grip, so it looked as though she hadn't fallen.

House groaned, clutching his leg. He suddenly felt a hand grasp the fabric of his shirt and yank him up into a standing position. Snape was glowering at House. House stared daggers back, not removing his gaze as he leaned down to grab his cane. Finally, House looked away and began to take in their surroundings.

They were on a patch of unkempt grass in the middle of a small square. The surrounding houses were rather grimy and unwelcoming. Most of them were dotted with shattered windows, and the dull glimmer from the street lights showed that many of the house's had peeling paint and unsightly hunks of trash piled at the steps. That was, until he noticed Moody lift a lighter above his head. With a click, the light from the streetlights was... sucked up by the lighter. Kutner whistled, impressed.

"Lovely neighborhood," House muttered under his breath. He looked to Moody for further guidance.

"Quick," he huffed, handing a piece of paper to Thirteen. "Memorize it and pass it on to the rest of your lot." She shakily took the paper from him and stared at it. She then handed it to House, looking confused. He read the narrow handwriting on the piece of parchment.

The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.

Shrugging, House passed it to Cameron, then she read it and it continued down the line. Foreman was the last to read it, and when he handed it back to Moody, the grizzled wizard promptly placed the tip of his wand on it and it burst into flame, smoldered, and fell to the ground.

House considered the houses in front of them. One was number eleven, the other was number thirteen.

"Where's twelve?" Cameron asked, echoing his thoughts.

"Just think about what you read," Bill told her, smiling slightly. "All of you," he added, looking quickly around at the rest of them.

Just as it crossed his mind, a battered door suddenly appeared out of nowhere between eleven and thirteen, followed almost immediately by dirty windows and walls. Within seconds, it seemed as though a house had suddenly been inflated between the two houses.

House and the gang gaped at the sudden appearance of number twelve, but they had no time to consider it before each of their wizard companions were ushering them inside. Or in House's case, pushing them inside.

"Hurry, for Merlin's sake!" Snape hissed, shoving House forward. House shrugged off his hand.

"Get your hands off of me," he spat back as he limped away as fast as he could, heading towards the door. House carefully walked up the stone steps, ending up in the middle of the group, Moody, Thirteen, Lupin, and Wilson in front of him, with Bill, Cameron, Tonks, Kutner, Kingsley, and Foreman at his back. Snape hurried up behind him, looking disgruntled.

The front door had chipped black paint, and the only other noticeable feature was the silver door knocker in the form of a serpent.

Creepy, House thought to himself. There was no mail slot or key hole on the door.

Moody abruptly took out his wand and tapped the door once. Next came a series of clatters and a loud bang. The door inched open, and the odd group filed in.

House stepped into the nearly pitch dark hallway. The house smelled of dampness and dust. It felt as though he was in an abandoned building.

"What's the deal? This place is a dump!" House exclaimed as he stopped on the threshold.

"We're renovating," Moody growled as he tapped House on the head with his wand. Murmurs of annoyance confirmed that he had done this to the others as well. He felt as though Moody had trickled hot water down his neck. "Had to lift the Disillusionment Charm," he explained. "Remus, get us some light, would you?"

"On it," Lupin replied. House heard a hissing noise as several old fashioned oil lamps sputtered to life, just barely illuminating the hallway.

After being gently prodded in the back by Moody, House moved out of the threshold. They formed a line, the Order members in the front, and House and his companions in the back. House noticed the carpet was threadbare, and the wallpaper was peeling.

They moved along the hallway, which had age-blackened portraits every few feet. A dusty, cob-web covered chandelier hung over them, swinging lightly, though there was no draft in the house. He also noticed a serpent theme as they progressed. All the candelabras and the chandelier has snakes on them.

There were doors every few feet, but they did not stop until they reached the one at the far end of the hall. Moody knocked on it once.

"Molly? We've arrived." A plump red-headed woman opened the door.

"Oh! You must be the Mug- I mean, you must be Harry's doctors!" she exclaimed as she stepped aside and ushered them in. "Come in, come in. We'll have a spot of tea." House exchanged an inquisitive look with Cameron, who stood beside him. Wilson chuckled slightly under his breath from beside him.

"I forgot, you hate tea. England is perfect for you," he said sarcastically. House rolled his eyes.

"They're magic. They can conjure me up a scotch if I ask."

"You hope."

They stopped their conversation as they headed into what he now saw was a foyer. Another door stood at the other end of the room, but most of the space was occupied by a large, dark staircase.

"If you could keep your voices down, that'd be lovely," the woman named Molly said over her shoulder. "Don't want to wake anythi- anyone up," she stammered, smiling brightly at them. House gave her an appraising look as she opened a door that led into what appeared to be a kitchen. Before he followed the wizards inside, he heard Thirteen let out a muffled shriek. House turned to look at her. She had one hand pressed over her mouth, the other was pointing at something.

"What?" he asked, his eyes following her finger. His eyes widened as he saw several mounted heads on the wall. At first, his heart skipped a beat and he thought they were human, but upon closer inspection it was clear they were anything but. They were shriveled and had longs ears and noses.

"Please, get inside and we'll explain anything and answer any questions," Molly pleaded, glancing around nervously. House lightly touched Thirteen's shoulder.

"Come on," he said quietly. Her eyes were bugging out. Foreman wrapped his arm around her and guided her into the kitchen.

Once inside, Molly quietly closed the door and ushered for them to sit down at the long dining table. The kitchen was a cavernous room with rough stone walls. Most of the light was coming from a large cooking fire, and hazy smoke hung in the air like a smokers pub. Many chairs had been crammed into the rooms, and several people occupied them. A thin, balding red headed man occupied one. Next to him sat a gaunt looking man with wild shoulder length hair and a haunted look in his dark eyes. On his other side, occupying two chairs, was a man who was at least eight feet tall, with a humongous beard that covered up almost his entire face, and two beetle black eyes. Unlike Snape's, they held a kind spark in them. Finally, a short, dirty looking man with ragged ginger locks occupied another open seat. His eyes were flicking nervously about, and he looked as though he simply didn't want to be there.

"God, this night is turning out to be one big introduction. Arthur Weasley." Moody motioned to the balding man. "Sirius Black." The man with the haunted eyes smiled grimly. "Rubeus Hagrid." He pointed at the giant, who waved a hand the size of a trash can lid. "And Mundungus Fletcher. Speaking of, Dung, you can drag your thieving arse out of here. We don't need you for this." Mundungus rose quickly and skittered from the room.

"I'll drop by tomorrow, Alastor," he added as he slipped by House and exited the room.

"I'm counting the minutes," he replied edgily. "This is-"

"I can handle the introductions," House cut him off, stepping forward and planting his cane firmly on the ground. "I'm Dr. Gregory House. I'm a diagnostician at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. I have a double specialty in Infectious Disease and Nephrology. This," He pointed his cane at Cameron. "is Dr. Allison Cameron, head attending in the ER, and an immunologist." Now he pointed at Foreman and Thirteen, who were standing together. Foreman still had his arm around Thirteen. "The interracial couple is Dr. Remy Hadley and Dr. Eric Foreman, both members of my team. Dr. Foreman is a neurologist and Dr. Hadley is an internal medicine specialist." Moving down the line, he pointed to Kutner. "Dr. Lawrence Kutner, with a specialty in Sports Medicine, which seems slightly useless, but he's good for a laugh... and finally, the handsome man next to me is Dr. James Wilson, head of oncology," he finished, raising his eyebrows expectantly at the gathering of wizards. All of them were looking at them with a mixture of confusion, and in the case of Arthur Weasley, awe.

"You'll have to forgive us, we don't know much about Muggle medicine," Lupin told them apologetically as he took a seat. House shrugged.

"That's what we're here for. So... any questions we ask will be answered?" House asked. Lupin nodded.

"Within reason," he replied. House nodded.

"This is going to be a long night."