Dawn of the Phoenix: Cedric goes to Forks
Story and Characters owned by
Stephenie Meyer and JK Rowling
Story Adaptation by Erica K. Bailey
Chapter 13: The Order of the Phoenix
"Wake up silly." I heard a cheerful voice as I felt movement at the end of my bed. I opened my eyes to the beaming face of Alice as she sat, bouncing near my feet.
"What?" I clutched my sheets my chest. What was she doing here? A quick check told me I was decent. I had worn my pyjamas last night. "What are you doing here?"
"Nice to see you to." She sulked mockingly, but got up from the bed, "I'm just here for a bit. Dumbledore wants to run some scenarios past me – see if I can see what's coming." She explained as she walked around the room, "So I thought I'd come check on my favorite wizard." She turned and gave me her most winning smile which was, to be honest, pretty spectacular - or would be if I wasn't still irritated at her interruption.
"It's good to see you Alice." I acquiesced, "You just caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting you." In fact, to see her here, after all that I'd heard and seen yesterday was paradoxical. Alice seemed to come from an entirely different world. I realized, with a smile, she did. "How is everyone?"
"Oh they're fine. Edward's worried about you, though. He's been asking me every few minutes if I see anything in your future. I was a relief to come here where Dumbledore only asks me once a decision has been made."
I smiled. I could see it. Edward did seem to be over-protective. He would try not to be so obvious about it with me, but I could see him worrying about what would happen in the next few days. He certainly had cause to – the rest of the people here definitely seemed to think there was danger. I could feel it.
"Well, I'll get up now." I said. Alice smiled at me as she leaned against the cabinet waiting… "Ah, Alice, I would like you to leave so I can get ready."
"Oh, of course." She laughed, and walked out the door, where she must have bumped into Ron Weasley.
"Oh, hello – Alice right? Edward's sister… Bloody awful what happened, eh?"
"Um, yes" her voice turned suddenly morose, "very sad. You must be worried about your friend." She turned the conversation.
"Yeah." He replied, just as morose as Alice now sounded, "Harry just can't cut a break. But Moody and Dumbledore and the rest – they'll get him safely back here."
He sounded so confident… I realized I was included in the "the rest" and I hoped we would be successful. I quickly got up and dressed, impressed that I actually felt well rested and not jet-lagged as I had been when I arrived in Forks. Thank you Hermione! You've got to appreciate that girl's brilliance sometimes.
I opened the door and almost walked right into her. "Oh, Hermione. I was just thinking about you." I exclaimed.
"Oh, hi Cedric." I noticed her face flush red.
I realized what I had just said and uncomfortably realized she might have misunderstood. "I was just thinking how much I appreciated the potion you sent to Mrs. Weasley last night. I haven't slept better in a while. It's a relief to not feel so jet lagged."
"Oh" she smiled, "Well, it's just a simple potion." Ron came out to see us talking and for some reason paused at the top of the steps as if deciding something.
"So, when did you arrive?" I continued.
"Last night. Dumbledore made arrangements to have me picked up at Kings Cross. I just came from Viktor's." she blushed again and I noticed that Ron continued his awkward position paused at the top of the steps.
"Did you have a pleasant visit?" I asked, being polite.
"Oh, yes. It was nice." She replied. Nice, hmmm, what did that mean?
"See you down at breakfast?" I asked, "I need to see Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore's in the study. I was just talking with him. He's reestablishing the Port Key…I'll see you down stairs." She smiled and turned to leave. Ron waited and walked down the stairs with her.
"When did you become so chummy with Cedric Digory?" He hissed at her as they descended the stairs.
"We go to the same school, Ron. And maybe if you spent a little more time in the library last year you'd have gotten to know him and Viktor a bit better yourself" She replied huffily, her voice just as annoyed as his, and then sped up to walk ahead of him. He stopped and glowered after her and then noticing that I'd witnessed their exchange, he ducked his head and quickly descended the stairwell.
I found Dumbledore in the study just as Hermione suggested. "Good morning…" what did I call him? I would have said Professor, but now I was no longer at school.
He smiled at me, "You can call me Dumbledore – that seems to be common… or Albus if you prefer."
I decided Dumbledore. To call him by his first name seemed much to common for the wizard he was. "I bumped into Hermione. She said you reestablished the Port Key?"
"Yes, with things as they are, I decided it was safer for the Port Key to come here. However, we can't risk a security breach. So, I'm afraid, when you must travel, someone will have to come from here to get you."
"That'll be fine. I'm sure we can send an owl, now that we have one." I replied.
He nodded. "I heard you had some practice with Sirius last night." He continued.
"Yes. I feel much too unprepared for this Dumbledore. I don't want to let you or Harry or any of the rest down."
He smiled again, looking at me with that comforting look that never failed to settle my nerves, "Cedric you'll be fine. In all likelihood this will be a routine delivery. Moody sees Death Eaters at every corner – and good thing as it's better to be prepared. But I think Voldemort will not be quite ready to show himself yet. It's not his time."
"But Alice?"
"Ah yes, you saw she'd arrived. As I said, it's better to be prepared. Speaking of which, I hope you'll continue your practice today?"
"I plan to."
"Well, after breakfast… We'll meet for a few minutes and then you and Sirius can continue your preparations."
I nodded.
"I also need to tell you. We only spoke of it in passing, but the time has come Cedric to make you officially one of us."
"Of course." I replied. I sort of already thought I was. "What do I need to do?"
"Just agree – and be trustworthy. Of course, whatever service you provide is voluntary. We will never force you to do anything you aren't willing to do."
"I am willing – so how to I become a member of the Order of the Phoenix?"
"You just did. Welcome… Now let's get some breakfast. Whatever Mrs. Weasley is cooking smells wonderful." He rose from his seat and I followed him down to the basement where we'd met just the other day.
Ron and Hermione were already seated at the table, working their way through eggs, sausage, toast and half a fried tomato each. I sat across from them as Dumbledore joined a few others in the Order at the far end of the table.
"Good morning, dear." Mrs. Weasley said cheerfully as she handed me a plate with similar fare, though a much larger helping. Ron eyed my plate as she set it down, "Can I get you some tea or juice?"
"Tea would be fine, Ma.. ah… Molly." I said. Ron glanced at me at the mention of his mothers' first name. I suppose it would be awkward were I in his position.
"Hi Ron." I said politely.
"Cedric" he replied back, much less politely.
"Hermione was telling me about her vacation earlier. So what did you do?"
"Not much." He grumbled, throwing a glare at Hermione. "Not all of us can go visit our friends in Europe."
Hermione cringed at his rudeness. I wondered what his problem was. I hadn't ever noticed him to be particularly moody as school, but then again, we hadn't interacted much. I wondered if this was his normal demeanor or if he was just grumpy in the morning. Well, never mind, I'd focus on Hermione. She seemed much more cheerful.
"So how long were you in Europe?" I asked.
"Well, after I left-" she paused, likely realizing that her visit to Forks would require some explanation that she wouldn't be prepared to give. "…er, Hogwarts, I mostly stayed with my parents. They'd wanted to go on a trip for most of the summer but Viktor." She gave a pre-emptive cringe in anticipation of Ron's scowl, which soon followed, "had already asked me to visit, so we worked it out."
"That's good. And so nice to cut your vacation short to come back to help your friend Harry."
"Oh yes, well, I was planning to return soon anyway." She smiled. I knew that she had planned to return to Forks a week before the wedding. I suppose that plan was now off the table.
"It's good to see you again, regardless of the circumstances." I said and realized it really was. She was quite pleasant and interesting to be around when she wasn't beating me at written driver's tests.
Ron continued to scowl during the entire conversation, but Hermione and I ignored him as we chatted on.
"Ron, what are you doing having breakfast again." Either Fred or George guffawed from the bottom of the stairs. Both of them were standing there with Alice.
Ron turned bright red, "I was hungry." I looked at his plate and noticed that he hadn't made much progress with his meal. He'd been chasing the food around his plate as he scowled his way through our conversation.
Why would he come down for a second breakfast, when he was clearly not that hungry? And why had he eyed my plate with its larger helping when he couldn't seem to finish his smaller one. And why was he down here at all when he was clearly not in the mood for our company… I decided Ron Weasley must simply be an unpleasant person. He got up then, slammed his unfinished plate on the counter near his mother and stomped up the stairs.
"What's wrong with him?" I commented.
"No idea." Hermione shrugged as she finished her plate and took it over to Mrs. Weasley. "Do you need any help?"
"No, dear – go on upstairs. Fred and George, you too!" she followed them to the foot of the stairs and watched them disappear. "Come in Alice." she smiled.
"Alice, thank you for coming." Dumbledore smiled, "This is Alice. She has a very unique ability to predict the future."
"The gift of prophesy?" Kingsley scoffed.
"More like the ability to know the decisions others have made," Alice explained, "My ability is limited to the out come of decisions that have been made. If the decision changes, so does my vision of the outcome."
"Demonstrate." Dedulus requested, somewhat more open the Kingsley.
"In 2 minutes there will be a crash upstairs. The Weasley boys are trying to listen in on our conversation. Ron will be trying to hear better and trip over Fred and then go crashing into the cabinet in their shared room. And then Fred, in his haste to get up will step on Crookshanks tail. Hermoine will holler at all of them as she cradles the cat in her arms… shall I go on?"
They stared at her dumbfounded when they heard a crash from up stairs. This was followed by a few male voices, the howl of a cat and then Hermoine's higher pitched voice scolding them all.
"Do you want me to check?" Mrs. Weasley, er, Molly asked the rest.
"No, I am convinced," Kingsley replied. "That was remarkable."
"Like I said, my vision is limited to decisions that have been made. It will change when the decision changes. Oh, and I can't see house elves."
"What – why not house elves?" Elphias asked in his wheezy voice.
"We aren't entirely sure. My father thinks it's because of the genetic differences. I can see my kind and other similar kinds of creatures." I noticed she artfully avoided saying what her kind was. "And I have no problem seeing animals like dogs and cats… but I can't see those with different genetic codes – specifically those with a different number of chromosomes, like werewolves."
"Thank you for your candor" Kingsley said, casting a glance at Dumbledore, who nodded.
"So, since we are now satisfied with the extent of your abilities." Dumbledore looked around the room, "Alice, we want to know what you see if we decide to retrieve Harry tomorrow evening. That is the earliest we can depart as Tonks will need to have the letter delivered to get the Dursley's out of the house."
Alice went into her now familiar trance. He eyes were unfocused as she stared ahead blankly. "I see a successful trip. You arrive to pick up Harry and bring him safely to 12 Grimmauld Drive, though you must be taking the long way because the trip takes a considerable length of time."
"Moody, you will be reasonable, won't you?" Dedulus said.
"You can't be too safe." He grumbled back. "So you don't see any attacks by Death Eaters?"
"None, though, like I said, if they change their mind, then the vision will change."
"Well, I'm not taking any chances anyway – but it's decided then – tomorrow night."
Everyone nodded and began to depart.
"Come with me." Sirius said, "Let's practice."