Ahh, thanks for all the reviews so far! I know my chapters are awfully short, but I somewhat do that on purpose to not have things get drawn out to the point where they're dull. And yeah, to answer a reviewer, Dumbledore doesn't really seem to have Snape's best interests at heart. He's one of those grey characters, so I'm trying to convey that the best I can over to here, which would include him using Snape. Though, when Severus was in school, not much could be done either, sadly. Thank you all so much for the reviews, I appreciate all of them, as constructive criticism helps me learn for future chapters. And we're off!
Voices were kept low, as more wizards continued to file into the cramped, unkempt space. Floorboards were missing, dust covered the broken furniture, and long, elaborate spidewebs coated the interior from head to toe.
"Charming place." Moody grumbled to himself, gazing around the cramped room, attempting to spot Dumbledore to no avail. He had yet to turn up for the meeting. "I suppose he's running low on places for us to stay?"
A man with long, curly hair merely rolled his eyes. "Oh shut it, I'm quite fond of this place. Lots of fun back in the day, right Remus?" He jabbed watching Moody stalk off, a soft grin splaying across his mouth as he waited for a reaction.
"Hilarious as always, Sirius." Lupin replied in a dry tone, shaking his head at how his friends still managed to poke fun with him for all these years. "I'm sure the three of you just had the times of your life, sneaking out under that cloak every month..."
He smiled nonetheless, raking a hand through his hair, which was softly flaked with grey. His appearance was as shabby as ever, his skin paled and sickly looking. Dark circles lay beneath his eyes, which indicated that a full moon was surely near by now. His eyes darted to an all too familiar face that made his way through the crowd, his black hair as wild, glasses slightly askew.
"Lily isn't coming?" Remus questioned, watching as James corrected his crooked specs, then shaking his head. "She wanted to come, believe me. Put up a fuss, actually...but I promised we could take turns staying home with the baby." A warm smile tugged at his mouth at the mentioning of baby Harry.
"She'll manage." Sirius insisted, brushing the matter off. "Perhaps I'll come pay you two a visit this week; that broom she bought you for Christmas is quite nice." He raised an eyebrow, his smile broadening, before everyone had quiet.
The chatter had stopped, and everything had gone still, the only sound was a pair of footsteps from none other than Dumbledore himself. His eyes briefly scanned the crowd, which had seemed so much larger in such a small space. "I apologize for the lack of room," he began, his hand brushing against the wall, his fingers lightly sifting over the accumulation of dust.
He still stood in the doorway, looking casual as ever as he smiled amongst the crowd. "However, we have matters to discuss. I trust those who I spoke with last time have reports for me?" He finally filed into the room, finding the little group of aurors who spoke lowly, their faces serious.
However, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, who had been quiet as usual, were not paying attention to Dumbledore and the aurors. Their eyes were fixated on the figure that lingered in the shadows of the doorway.
"What's that git here for?" Sirius whispered loudly, his eyes flickering to the other three, Peter looking confused as ever, Remus merely shrugging, and James was still harshly staring at the figure. "Surely, he wouldn't trust Snivelly. We all know he's a Death Eater." James had added in a low voice.
Remus attempted to be the word of reason. "Dumbledore clearly had a purpose in bringing him here. And he did mention that he was going to be attempting to recruit one of You-Know-Who's followers a few weeks ago. You'd know that if you three...oh...I don't know...paid attention?"
James shot Remus a nasty sort of look, no longer wanting to joke around. Was Dumbledore mad? Did he actually trust Severus to bring him here to The Order? "He's out of his mind."
Dumbledore quickly wrapped up his chat with the aurors, once again stepping in the front of the room. "As some of you may have noticed, I brought company along. Our newest member, actually. Severus Snape."
There was a very awkward silence, a few hands unenthusiastically giving a light clap. "No way." Sirius and James remarked in unison, briefly glancing at one another with a mixture of horror and disgust. He was really bringing him in as a member? They weren't going to knock some answers out of the slimeball?
"This may come as a shock, to some. However, I expect you all to give our new member the same amount of respect as you do to each other." Dumbledore's gaze swept over the crowd once more, but for some reason, seemed to linger over James and his friends a bit longer than everyone else. "That's likely." Peter finally mumbled, following James and Sirius's example.
Dumbledore outstretched a hand, briefly gesturing for Snape to further emerge from his shadowy dwelling. Begrudgingly, he shifted out from the doorway to stand beside Dumbledore, a ringed hand clasping his shoulder. "Severus is a Death Eater. However, this is only to our advantage. The downfall of Lord Voldemort will be within our fingertips with his aide." A slight shiver went up the spines of a few members at the name that the headmaster had always so freely mentioned.
Severus had pointedly attempted to ignore the angry stares of the Marauders, who still were looking unpleased in Dumbledore's decision to invite along someone who had been none other than a punching bag in school. However, the ancient wizard wasn't one to particularly argue with. His black eyes continued to scan the crowd, to both his relief and dismay, he had not seen who he had been looking for.
The Order's meeting continued to wear on, and a steady stream of witches and wizards proceeded to leave. It was best that they do so gradually, to avoid detection. Peter was first to leave, then Remus. Sirius had stayed with James, who had still seemed worked up over Dumbledore's choice in Double-Agent.
"Lily's waiting for you." Sirius reminded lightly, his eyes briefly following Snape, who was still skulking behind Dumbledore. "I meant it when I said I'd be visiting sometime." He grinned, giving his friend a wink before disapparating.
James lingered, watching the remaining aurors speak quietly to one another, and then Severus and Dumbledore once again. He'd have to find a way to keep Lily from attending the next meeting...he highly doubted she was over being called such a foul, disgusting name. His jaw clenched before finally, he left.
James was quiet, opening and closing the door. Harry was usually taking his afternoon nap at this time; and he had quickly learned that a screaming baby was no fun task to hush up. He found his wife easily, spotting her flaming red hair from over the couch.
Approaching, James leaned over, snaking his arms around her stomach, watching their son sleep in her arms. She responded by pushing her face against his shoulder. "How'd it go?" She murmured to him after pulling away, her green eyes flickering up to his handsome face.
"Fine. I guess." James shrugged, cautiously clambering over the back of the sofa to sit beside her instead. Lily looked unconvinced. "You should have let me go, if you get so bored." She gave a slight eyeroll, reaching up to sift a hand through his messy black hair.
James smiled briefly, though internally he was struggling to decide if he should tell her about their newest member. Snape had been her closest friend at one point in time. That was, until he started playing around with dark magic, and those nasty Slytherin boys. Though, James had never been fond of him much at all.
"Something must have gone wrong." Lily guessed, stating it moreso than asking. Her eyes were still searching her husband's visage, looking for answers. "Were you found?" God, she hated when he attempted to hide things from him. He was an awful liar. Well, to her, anyway; she had a knack of seeing right through him.
James blatantly shook his head. "No, nothing like that. The Order is fine. Well, for now, anyway. Dumbledore's lost his marbles though, with the bloke he gave the double-agent job to. You know-"
"Where someone working under You-Know-Who gives us inside information." Lily finished easily, her green eyes slightly relieved, though still curious. Was it truly that awful, who Dumbledore had chosen? Surely, James knew that the Headmaster wasn't an idiot. He would never allow someone who couldn't be trusted into The Order.
Lily sighed, briefly closing her eyes and resting her head on the back of the couch. "So you're not telling me, I take it?" She peeked at him lazily through a half-closed eyelid as he shook his head.
"I couldn't have married a bigger hot head. You know that?" Lily gave an eyeroll, gingerly passing the napping baby Harry over to his father, before leaning her head on James's shoulder. "I suppose I'll be finding out when it's my turn to go, then." She insisted tiredly. Usually, she would not have been so easily defeated by any means.
However, with James acting so strangely, on top of her exhaustion from tending to Harry for hours straight, she couldn't be bothered to do so. Lily's eyes closed, a soft smile tugging at her lips. Until next meeting, it was.