Chapter 7. The Order of the Phoenix

1995

Leaving Hogwarts, Remus avoided thinking of consequences, but fate had different plans for Lupin; when life turned the scale to the side of friends, another half was destructing with magical speed.

After his resign from the school the magical world knew about Lupin's illness. New reform pursued by Dolores Umbridge turned Remus's life into disaster. He had problems with job before, but today he couldn't find it at all. Now, year after leaving the school, time spent at Hogwarts seemed to be happy, almost unreal to Remus. Everybody turned their backs on the werewolf when heard about Remus's 'furry problem'.

Cruelty raised on hate and fear of the werewolves continually gained in scope. Remus was able to find a job only in badly deserted places and little villages where people didn't read papers. Lupin wasn't shy to work on muggles too. He had no choice. Life turned into the days of surviving, ugly and very miserable.

Remus appeared here, on the edge of a little village, trying to find the job again. The attempt was unsuccessful, of course, and Remus was leaving the place, ashamed, confused and completely miserable.

The words the wizards shouted him, still sounded in Remus's head the next few days.

'Get out of here, freak!'

'Monster!'

'Buzz off, beast!'

He was going to apparate, pale as a ghost. Remus still saw their eyes, full of hate to him. The burn in Lupin's heart was gowning, turning into the fire. Pain was penetrating into the whole body; Remus felt thick but couldn't do anything. He tried to do his best to keep the wand in his shaking hands.

But he hated himself so much. He was able to deal with any insult, but listening to those ugly and cruel words was an unbearable torture. It felt like infection that was spreading through open wounds, hurting, destructing you.

In the end Remus, broken and tired, came back to his old cottage in Yorkshire. Sirius visited him sometimes, but today Remus was here alone. Today was the day of the tournament's final. Padfoot preferred to stay closer to the school, and Lupin had nothing against it. He worried about Harry too, but couldn't stay at Hogwarts because of his illness.

Remus was sitting in front of the fireplace, trying to concentrate and reading one line over and over again. It was dark, he didn't hear any news, and Lupin was moving restlessly, shagging from every rustle.

Lupin lost count and, tired of waiting, got up and started to measure the room by feet.

There was a strange noise heard, the door opened and a big dog appeared on the threshold.

Padfoot was out of breath.

'What happed?' Remus cried. It was something wrong, he saw it.

Sirius turned into human shape and said, hardly breathing:

'Voldemort is back'.

Remus started back as though got a slap. Different thoughts burst out creating a tangle. He should have said something, but Remus froze.

'The goblet turned out to be a Portkey. Wormtail managed to find his mater', explained Sirius, looking a bit surprised. 'It was him who helped the Dark Lord to reborn'.

Sirius's face he made a grimace of pain. Moony looked in Padfood's eyes. He grew older than Sirius had been looking after Azkaban. Harry's pain was his pain now. Black was suffering too.

'He came back, Remus', continued Black, and his voice was quiet, very difficult to listen. 'I came here from the school. We have some job to do. Dumbledore's order'.

Remus frowned, turning pale. He knew was it was going to mean. Sirius nodded.

'Yeas…' Black knew Remus perfectly and realized he had guessed everything already. 'We are summoning the second Order of the Phoenix'.

His words were too shocking to be the truth. The Order… Remus looked at friend again, hoping everything he had said was a weird joke, just as Sirius used to do. But his best friend remained serious and tired. Remus shook his head. It was impossible… And Wormtail, that traitor…

Lupin sighed, trying to calm down.

'What's about Harry? Is he safe?' he asked, frightened to hear bad news.

Sirius sat at one of the ragged chairs.

'He's in the hospital wig, but he'll be ok'.

Remus nodded. This answer was bringing a short relief.

'We need to find the old company', said Sirius in a low voice. 'We need to tell them all. Dumbledore promised to send the massage a bit later, tell about the place for the first meeting'.

It wasn't easy to find the former members of the Order. Not only because of the late time. Sirius was still counted to be the criminal, and his appearance on the threshold was a merely cheerful. Despite of that, Remus's words played its role, and nobody closed the door beside them. Everybody listened and seemed to believe in the guest's news. Moreover, Dumbledore's name played a big role in persuading, and all lost friends agreed to go to the meeting.

As usually, the headmaster was right, and Albus's massage came very soon. When Remus and Padfoot came back to the cottage, they found the piece of parchment waiting for them on the table. Remus read it aloud.

The meeting will be held in the Burrow, the house of Arthur Weasley, not far from Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon England.

Apparated to the address, Lupin and Black found themselves standing on the high hill not far from the house. Bill Weasley, Arthur and Molly's son, was standing by, ready to meet the guests. His long hair was playing with icy cold wild but didn't trouble the guy at all. He showed the side to the Burrow.

'Come here, to that house. Mum's waiting for you. Dad's in the Ministry now, he'll apparate closer to the beginning of the council'.

Old friends nodded and walked to the right building. Molly was waiting for the guests in a tiny hall. She was a bit nervous about the luck of the space. Molly was dashing around the room when Black and Lupin came in. She froze when recognized them both.

Well, may be, Lupin wasn't dangerous for her. Molly heard of Remus's illness but carried it off very well. Or she was too destructed, perhaps, and even the werewolf wasn't a problem at all. But Sirius…

Molly gave him a suspicious glance. He smiled, noticing that. There was a wild glitter in Molly's eyes that didn't mean anything good. She wasn't pleased to see a serial killer on the threshold, but nodded, greeting.

'I was wondering how to seat the guests round the table…' she started, and Remus heard unaware tones in the woman's voice.

She was speaking to Remus only, of course. Sirius laughed, and that laugh sounded like dog's bark.

'What if we locate the table outside the house?' Lupin said, noticing the backdoor's view. 'We could protect the space with different kind of spells. Nobody will be able to hear us'.

Molly sighed, relieved, and nodded. Still feeling displeasure to Sirius, she volunteered to help Remus to prepare the place for the meeting. Black laughed quietly and left the Burrow, joining long-haired Bill.

The wizards started to apparate to the Burrow very soon. Mostly, it was people Remus and Sirius had found today. The last to come was Albus Dumbledore, who apparated here with Arthur Weasley. The others gathered outside at the long old table, waiting for Albus's arrival. Remus, Sirius, Emmeline Vance, Elphias Doge…

Alastor Moody had been absent. He was the person Dumbledore trusted completely. Moody must have been at the school right now…

Albus waited for the Weasley family to take their places at the table too. Standing in the middle, he surveyed them all.

'First of all, I'd like to thank Arthur and Molly for such a generous reception', he started. 'They kindly agreed the hold the first meeting here'.

Elphias Doge, pale as a shit, couldn't wait any longer.

'Is that right, Albus?' his voice sounded broken. 'What Remus and Sirius told us? You – know…'

Dumbledore interrupted him.

'That's the truth, Elphias. Voldemort is back.'

He sounded so confident, that nobody dared to doubt about that. Dumbledore said everything what had happened that evening, including Harry's survival in the battle with Voldemort. The guests were listening quietly, not interrupting. The information seemed to be monstrous and unreal.

Sirius was listening with half an ear; he has known all the details already. Molly started to cry again, she considered Harry as her son and worried about the boy too. Arthur grown pale, Bill was frowning.

Then Dumbledore said about Sirius's innocence in the Potters murder. The headmaster noticed Molly's fear in the hospital wig; he couldn't notice wizards' dirty looks, and decided to solve the problem as soon as possible. Sirius kept silent, pretending it was nothing special about Albus's words, but Remus noticed the friend to look relieved. The truth was uncovered now.

'Voldemort revived', continued Dumbledore, 'and now we're gathering together. Our primary aim today is to get united against the common enemy who became stronger and more dangerous than ever before.'

'I don't insist on your participation in the Order's life', he said loudly, making the guests listen more carefully. 'I'm asking for your help.'

Everybody looked at Dumbledore with clear admiration.

'If you have a desire to help, if you're ready to risk your life for the better future', Albus let his eyes linger on the Weasley family, who had under-aged kids. 'You've got some work to do. If you think it doesn't worth your time, you can live us right now.'

Albus sustained a pause to let the guests leave the place if they wanted to. Everybody kept sitting at the table.

There was some glitter in the Headmaster's eyes.

'Good', he said without hiding his joy. 'Then, I suppose, we can officially speak about the Order's recreation. You're not the only participants, of course. Some of your colleagues risk their lives fulfilling the Order's tasks'.

He looked at Sirius, finishing the phrase. Padfoot remembered his handshake with Snape and wrinkled his nose.

'Alastor Moody has recently been rescued from shameful captivity in his own trunk. As I think, Alastor will join us when he feels better. But it makes difficult to find the Aurors…'

Last time Aurors participated in the Order's life very actively. Many of them were found by Moody himself. He was too important for the Order, and Remus felt sorry that the famous Auror was absent.

'I'll do this', said Arthur Weasley.

Everybody turned to him, examining the wizard carefully. Remus looked at Ron's father. The Weasley family played the biggest part in Harry's life. They didn't participate in the first war, though… But the Pruett twins, who died in the battle with Death eaters, were Molly's brothers. Everybody remembered their bravery.

'Kingsley is on the road now, but I'll talk to him tomorrow', continued Arthur. 'I believe I can persuade him to join us. He can help to find somebody else too.'

'Great idea, thank you, Arthur,' the Headmaster answered with a kind smile. That gratitude was priceless and made people feel uncomfortable, just like they owned something to Dumbledore. Albus has known that, and used this feeling as prove of loyalty to his interests.

Sirius sighed. He couldn't wait to start to do something. He was bored.

'What should we do?' he asked, tired of waiting.

'First thing we need to do is to trust each other', Albus answered calmly, directing the words to Padfoot. Sirius merely rolled up his eyes.

'Trust is our best friend.'

'It's all because of Snape', Sirius whispered to Lupin. 'Dumbledore made us shake our hands. I should have checked if he infected me with anything after that handshake…'

Lupin nearly laughed. But he couldn't agree with his best friend now. They weren't schoolboys anymore. Lupin wanted to say Sirius stop worry about it so much and forget old offence…

… and didn't say anything, of course.

'Secondly, we need to invite new wizards to the Order. We have talked about it already, but you should remember that Voldemort is going to do the same. We need to find as many people as we can and persuade them in our truth. But we should be careful too. Fudge suspects everybody and will do everything to keep his reputation safe.'

Remus felt pity for Arthur and Molly. They took such a great risk. They had something to loose. The real family, normal family, something he will never have…

'Third, we need to find the place which we can use as the headquarters. The number of the participants is expected to grown, so we should decide where we can gather next time.'

Everyone was troubled. Of course, the Borrow didn't fit as the headquarters. To meet at public place was dangerous too. No, they definitely, needed home. The Order needed home, for protection, for shelter, for keeping their common secrets.

Remus had nothing to offer. He thought about parents' house, but gave up the idea immediately.

'I think I can help', Sirius brightened up. Everybody focused on him. He smiled. He always liked attention.

'I had my own house in the past, before I was sent to Azkaban. Although, lots of things happened after that…'

Remus remembered that house. Sirius moved there soon after he had got the fortune. Lupin used to live there for some time too. It was so many years ago.

'At the same time I found out about my mother's death, what's mean my family house must be empty now. Why shouldn't we use it, then?'

Dumbledore screwed up his eyes.

'Have you visited that place yet? Can it be dangerous?'

Sirius laughed.

'Depends what you consider to be dangerous. My family had quite specific opinion about all of that, as you know. So, if you are afraid of couple baits left by my crazy mother, we can have problems.'

Everybody laughed, and even Albus couldn't hide smile.

'What about the building as a whole? Was it damaged after years of desolation?'

Sirius shrugged his shoulders.

'I was going to visit it very soon. I suppose, the house should survive. My father protected it by all the spells he had ever known.'

'It sounds very encouraging', said Dumbledore. His voice sounded with warmth. 'Can we see it?'

'We can see it right now!'

Albus smiled. Despite all the troubles and bad temper, he liked Sirius for his bravery, loyalty and enthusiasm. That's why the Headmaster invited him and the rest of the Marauders to work in the first Order.

'Well, it's really good news after such a difficult day. But, as I think, we can start examining the house tomorrow'.

Dumbledore rose to his feet. The others followed him.

'It's very late. I think we all deserve a little rest. I'll send you Patronus to inform about the next meeting. Other connections could be unsafe. Molly, Arthur, thank you for your hospitality.'

The council was going to its end.

Remus was lost in thought. He suddenly realized one simple and horrible fact, something very important, something scary, something that had changed everything in one moment.

The war was getting closer.