Chapter 10 : Meeting

Skylar POV

I was woken up by a high pitched voice gently prodding me. A house-elf. The house-elf motioned for me to follow her. When we were in the empty common-room, the house-elf bowed. "Deedee is sorry madam, but Professor Dumbledore requests you to join him in his office for a meeting.", she said in her high-pitched voice. "Of course, just give me a minute." I said. Dang, I had almost missed the meeting! How could I do that? Too much excitement from today, I guess.

In five minutes, I was back in the common-room, fully dressed. The house-elf was still waiting for me.

A few minutes later, I was standing outside Dumbledore's office. I knocked. "Enter" he said.

The office looked exactly like it had five years ago on my first day at Hogwarts, except for the inhabitants. Professor McGonagall, my uncle, and a few more members of the Order of the Phoenix were all standing there.

"Good evening, Skylar. I'm sorry that this meeting had to be at such a late time.", Dumbledore said in his serene, calm voice. "Oh, that's ok, Professor.", I said. "Aren't you going to greet your uncle?", Mad-Eye growled. I smiled at him. "Of course. But I saw you just yesterday morning." He grinned, a lopsided grin that I rarely saw on his face. To be honest, I guess he'd rarely seen me smile too, these last few years.

"Anyway," he said, "On to business." "We are very grateful for your help when we interrogate Death Eaters. But now, we must ask of you another favour, if you are willing.", Dumbledore said. "Of course." I said. "You know how much I want to bring the Death Eaters down." I said, my voice hardening at the end. Dumbledore smiled sympathetically. "Yes, I know. You see, we need to recruit new members into the Order of the Phoenix. We need strong, talented and loyal wizards. The fact is, there are a few of your classmates who we think will make good Order members- once they come of age, of course." I nodded. "So, we'd like your opinion on them.", my uncle said. "Okay." I took a deep breath. "Who are they?"

It was McGonagall who answered. "We believe that James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Lily Evans would make good members of the Order." she said. My jaw dropped. "Well, what is your opinion on them girl?", Uncle Moody asked me. I hesitated before answering. "I hardly know them..." "Well, in that case, it's much simpler. You just have to read their thoughts.", my uncle said. "Well, I already have read their thoughts... not on purpose, of course." "How recent was this?", Dumbledore asked. "I saw Lily's thoughts today, Sirius' thoughts yesterday, Remus' thoughts in first year and James' thoughts when we were young." "I see. However, do you have any idea of their thoughts towards Death Eaters?", Dumbledore asked. "Not much. I only know that they dislike the Death Eaters, but that's it.", I replied. "Well, that won't do." Mad-Eye growled. "We need you to talk to them about the Death Eaters, and opposing them, and then see their thoughts on it." "That may be a bit difficult. I need to be closer to them to be able to talk to them about this.", I said. "I understand that, Skylar. Take your time. But please, do try to find out as soon as you can.", Dumbledore said. "Of course, Professor. I'll do my best." "That's all we ask of you.", Dumbledore said, smiling serenely.

"And one more thing, Skylar.", Dumbledore said. "Yes?", I asked. "We do not know when our next meeting will be. So we have decided on a way to inform you of the meetings instead of having you woken up like this." He held out a piece of parchment. It looked completely ordinary. "This is not an ordinary piece of parchment. If you have any information, or anything you wish to tell us, just write on it and I will know of it. Also, you will find the timings of the next meeting written on it once we decide. No one else will be able to see what is written on it. And you cannot lose this, it will reappear under your pillow if you misplace it.", Dumbledore said.

Wow, this would be very useful. I thanked Dumbledore and he said that the meeting was over and I could leave now.

Once I was back in my dormitory, I started thinking. When I'd said that I wanted to be in the front lines, this was not what I'd meant! I'd wanted a more dangerous mission. Instead, my mission was to 'extract' information from possible Order members, who happened to be people I knew. This was dangerous, but only emotionally. It already felt as if Sirius, James and Remus were my friends. But I was not so sure about Lily. Actually, I was sure. Sure that she hated my guts. Not to mention that I didn't like her much, either. Judging by what had happened today, I felt that it would be very difficult for me to get close enough to her. Why Lily of all people? Sure, I understood that she was only jealous now, but still...

Another thing was that it felt like a betrayal, like I was using them to get information. Now that I had a chance at making friends again, I didn't want to blow it. At the same time, I was loyal to the Order as well. I decided that I would stay friends with them even after my mission, but would they want me? After so many friendless years, I had no idea about how friends would be and should be.

After worrying about all these for a long time, I finally fell asleep.