Chapter 29: A Quick Decision
Mrs Potter recovered slowly. She spent most of the time in her bedroom. James was very concerned. Lily could tell by the pensive expression on his face. He laughed only on rare occasions those days.
The next week brought an unexpected visitor. Lily had just come back to the kitchen after bringing breakfast to Mrs Potter´s room. James interrupted his conversation with Black about enlarging the garden pond and offered her another cup of coffee when it knocked at the front door.
"Do we expect anyone?" asked Lily nervously.
"Not that I know of," said James.
"Perhaps your dad came back?"
"Why would he knock at his own door?" Black asked.
"Perhaps he forgot his key?"
"This is a wizarding household. There is no key."
"Stop it, you two. I´ll answer the door, Sirius, you stay with Lily." James left the kitchen.
"Dark wizards wouldn´t knock, would they?"
"Probably not," Black reassured the anxious girl.
James was back in a minute. "You won´t believe it," he whispered. "Albus Dumbledore is sitting in our living room and he wants to talk to us. Help me get him some tea."
Lily waved her wand and shoved a tray with cups into Black´s hands. James got a plate of biscuits and Lily herself carried the teapot.
-x-
Albus Dumbledore sat on the sofa, twiddling his thumbs and humming. He got up when Lily entered and shook her hand after she had set down the teapot.
"Ah, Master Black," surprise showed on Dumbledore´s face for a moment. He shook Black´s hand, too.
"As my presence comes to a surprise to you, Sir, I take it this conversation was not planned to include me." Black smiled. "I´ll take care of the pond, James." He turned to leave.
Dumbledore frowned. "Please stay, Master Black," he said. "Your presence might be useful."
They sat down and Lily poured tea. Dumbledore accepted his cup gratefully and took a sip. The three young people watched him with anticipation.
"I have been informed by my old friend Alastor that you two attacked two deatheaters. A light course of action which would have cost both your lives hadn´t Alastor arrived in time."
"We couldn´t let them kill that muggle!" Lily exclaimed.
Dumbledore smiled. "Of course you couldn´t, Miss Evans. But you will admit that you were ill prepared for this task."
"You´re saying we were stupid to intervene?" asked James.
"Oh no! Fighting evil is never stupid, Master Potter. In fact I´m looking for people who are ready to face evil where they meet it. People like you." He took another sip of tea and watched them over the rim of his glasses.
The youngsters looked at each other.
"Sir, what do you mean by ´you´re looking for people like us´?" Lily spoke aloud what all three were thinking.
Dumbledore placed his cup on the table carefully. "I have the honor of leading a group of witches and wizards who work hand in hand to fight Lord Voldemort and his followers. I invite you to join. We can prepare you for fighting the dark side. We can back you up when you need it. We usually don´t recruit teenagers but Alastor told me you did well out there and you could do with some backup. So, what do you say?"
Dumbldore looked from one face to the other.
"Fight the dark side with you, Sir?" Lily broke the silence. "I´d be glad to do that!"
James and Black agreed.
"Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix, my young friends!" beamed Dumbledore. "I´ll have you picked up for our next meeting which will be in about two weeks. You´ll hopefully find time to study these advanced duelling techniques till then."
He handed Lily a small booklet and got up.
"Needless to mention that our organization is secret. You will not mention it to one living soul."
"We won´t, Sir," the three promised.
The professor accepted their word with a nod and left.
-x-
"Let´s look at this!" James suggested and pointed at the booklet.
"Do so, I´ll clean away the cups," Lily agreed.
When she came back from the kitchen, the boys looked disappointed.
"Who can read this?" Black asked. He sounded annoyed.
Lily took the booklet from James and opened it. "I can. These are runes. I´ll have to translate them before we can get started."
"How long will it take?"
"Depends on how complicated the text is. Something from a day to a week."
"What can we do to help?" asked Black. He hated watching without being part of the action.
"Take over the cooking?" Lily suggested.
Black wasn´t thrilled but James agreed. "What have you planned for lunch?" he asked.
"Chicken soup. It will do good to your mum."
"I have no idea how to make chicken soup," confessed Black. "And in case James hasn´t hidden a hobby from me all these years, he hasn´t either."
Lily sighed. "I think I can translate and supervise you at the same time. I need the kitchen table."
-x-
Lily sat at the table with her dictionary, the booklet and parchment. The boys worked beside the sink. Black had lost the toss who was to cut up the chicken. He was fighting a desperate battle against the dead bird and his own uneasiness, while James was happily chopping vegetables.
"Do we really need to cut the legs off?" Black asked meekly.
"Yes. Now stop complaining. One clean cut there" – Lily flicked her wand and marks where to cut appeared on the chicken – "and it´s done."
Black obeyed. Lily worked on her translation while the boys tried to follow her instructions.
"What do you mean by ´stir like acne salve´?" asked Black.
Lily sighed. Cooking had been easier with Severus.
-x-
The boys were proud when they presented a bowl of soup to Lily. It smelled very good. The girl took a spoonful.
"Not bad," she praised their work. "Maybe you should add a little salt. But that´s a matter of opinion."
James brought some soup to his mother. When he returned to the kitchen, the teenagers ate.
In the afternoon the boys worked in the garden. James tried out his plans concerning the pond and Black assisted. Lily stayed inside and continued her translation.
-x-
It took her five days to translate the whole booklet. The text contained descriptions of defensive moves and various shield spells. The most interesting was a spell called the patronus charm. It was supposed to create a moving shield which – according to the booklet – took the corporeal form of an animal and was characteristic for the witch or wizard who conjured it.
In the margin was a handwritten note that his spell was very difficult but very important. It didn´t explain why that was.
-x-
"Let´s try the important spell first," suggested James. "It says it is difficult. We´ll need time to master it."
"What do we have to do?" asked Black in anticipation.
Lily explained. "You choose a strong happy memory and concentrate on it. The incantation is ´Expecto patronum´. There´s no special wand movement required."
"This soulds easy. Where´s the problem?"
"The choice of the memeory. The text says it has to be pure and good. Happy and strong."
They sat in silence for a while trying to figure out which of their memories would be best for a patronus.
"I´ll try," James said at last. He got up, concentrated and spoke the spell. A silver cloud left the tip of his wand. "Well," he said, "not exactly an animal but I guess not bad for a first attempt."
"What memory did you chose, pal?" Black asked.
James blushed. "Our first kiss. The first real one, not that mistletoe thing."
"If it worked for you, it should work for Evans as well. Go ahead!" Black looked at Lily expectantly.
Lily concentrated on the memory. It was happy. Confidently she spoke her spell but nothing happened.
James looked hurt. "It seems this moment wasn´t equally happy for both of us."
"It wasn´t," Lily reminded him. "I had this row with my brother then and I wasn´t happy most of the time." She kissed James.
"I´ll go and look whether mum needs anything." James headed for the door.
"Don´t be angry with me, James!" Lily called after him.
-x-
"You told him Snivellus was your brother?" Black stared at Lily in disbelief. "And he believed you?"
"Severus is my brother as a matter of fact. Now look at you. So much spying for years and years and you never found out."
"You kissed your brother?" Black was shocked.
"My foster-brother. You´re stupid, you know? So, what memory will you use? Do you have one which is not full of malice?"
"Hear who´s talking. Do you have one which is not full of secrecy and lies?"
-x-
"Are you angry with me?" Lily asked James anxiously when he returned.
"No, of course not. I was silly, forgive me." He kissed her. "I had completely forgotten how unhappy you were about that row. And how bad you must feel as it was never made up."
"There´s nothing to be done. Severus won´t talk to me. You can´t make up things without talking."
"Did you think of another memory?"
Lily shook her head. "I need some time to think about it."
"What about you, Padfoot?"
"I have one." Black got up on his feet and cast the spell. A silvery stag circled the living room twice before it dissolved.
"Wow! Good work, Padfoot!" James cried. "Though why a stag?"
"Perhaps because it´s the animagus form of my best friend?"
James grinned. "I feel honored."
-x-
Lily lay awake in her bed and tried to think of a memory for her patronus. So her first kiss with James wasn´t good enough. Perhaps the moment on the beach would do. When she found out James was the stag which had saved her. But when she thought about it, fear touched her soul and she remembered the dark wizard. No, this memory wouldn´t do.
Perhaps she had to go back in time. Her life had been too troubled the past few months. The difference with Severus had been hard for her. It lay like a shadow on every memory. But how far back was she to go?
The moment she found out that she was a witch? Understanding why things happened had indeed been happy. But then the girl remembered her sister´s reaction. Lily sighed. This was really difficult.
Her time with Severus? No. As Black had said. Too much secrecy. And the memory of their difference.
Beauxbatons? Yes, that year had been happy. But were theses memories strong enough to protect her from evil?
Lily had nearly fallen asleep when a thought crossed her mind. She remembered little white flowers. A pleasant scent. An embrace. The day Severus had cast his first spell outside school. He had waited for months to do it. And he´d saved it for her. The very thought filled her heart with warmth. Lily searched for traces of bitterness. But most astonishingly the row didn´t affect this memory. The girl could only guess why. Was it because it was isolated? This moment had no after-effects. It was just one very happy minute in her life.
Lily got up silently and took her wand. She concentrated on the little flowers and their scent. "Expecto patronum!" Her voice was barely a whisper. A silver bat left the tip of her wand and circled the room before it dissolved to silvery vapor.
A bat? Why on earth was her patronus a bat? Lily crawled back under her blanket. She had even more to think about than before.
-x-
They resumed work the next morning after breakfast. Black proudly showed his stag patronus again. James retried and this time his patronus took the form of a small four-legged animal for some seconds.
"Now it´s your turn, dear," he smiled at Lily. "Could you come up with a memory?"
"I think so," the girl smiled back feebly. But I can´t tell you which. She muttered her spell and sure enough her tiny bat patronus emerged from her wand and circled her head looking out for dangers to protect her from.
"A bat?" James looked disappointed. Seemingly he had hoped his girlfriend´s patronus would be a stag, too. "What memory did you choose?"
"A childhood memory." Lily replied evasively.
"It´s a bit small, your bat. Don´t you think so?" Black interjected. "I wonder whether the size of your patronus matters."
"I don´t think so," James replied. "Lily´s bat may be small but its form seemed more stable to me than your stag´s."
"Let´s work on the other spells and the moves for a while," Lily suggested. "The professor won´t be happy with us if we work on only one task. Even if he said it was important."
The boys agreed and they spent the rest of the day practicing on the back lawn. They interrupted work only to cook and eat.
-x-
It was nearly three weeks after professor Dumbledore´s visit and Lily was beginning to doubt that she had actually spoken to him when Alastor Moody and a young couple showed up. The man was tall and slim with reddish brown hair. The woman roundfaced with dark brown hair and a friendly smile.
"These are the Longbottoms," Mr Moody introduced the couple. Both nodded friendly. "We have a meeting today. We´ll take you side by side."
They went down the road together for apparating from the garden was impolite and would have alarmed Mrs Potter. Mrs Longbottom went by Lily´s side and chatted cheerfully all the way.
"I was so glad you joined!" she confessed. "There are mostly men in the Order and the few women are way older than I am. I feel sort of isolated sometimes. I hope we´ll be friends."
Lily smiled. It was easy to think of friendly Mrs Longbottom as a friend.
"I hope so, too, Mrs Longbottom," she said.
"I´m Alice," the woman said and smiled her unchanging smile.
Lily was about to introduce herself with her first name when Mr Moody signalled them they had walked far enough to apparate. Alice offered Lily her arm and the next moment they were standing on a hill surrounded by fields and hedges.
Mr Moody led the way down the path towards a small cottage which looked rather like a pigsty than a house.
"I´m Lily," the girl finished the introductions. Alice smiled.
-x-
They were the last to arrive. Lily knew only two of the people assembled in the small kitchen. There was Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper. And professor Dumbledore.
The professor welcomed the new members warmly and introduced them to the group. Two of the unknown wizards were introduced as the Prewitt brothers, Fabian and Gideon. Their hair was flaming red and both had warm hazel eyes.
"Don´t you think they´re a bit young, Albus?" asked Gideon.
"They qualified as members through their attitude," Dumbledore answered. "Alastor tells me they acted as true members of the order. We can train them up to make up for their lack of experience. We all started young, didn´t we?"
Mr Moody – Alastor for members of the order – reported several incidents similar to the one near the lake. He was not the only auror present. Frank and Alice Longbottom were aurors, too. They had been investigating in the forest after the lake incident.
Lily had not been aware how many attacks there were. Seemingly only a small percentage was reported in the newspapers. The girl got the feeling that the world was on war and she hadn´t realized it.
"We need someone to practice with our youngest members before we can assign them to tasks," Dumbledore pointed out when the meeting neared its end.
The Longbottoms and the Prewitts volunteered.
"Did you master the patronus charm?" the professor addressed the teenagers directly for the first time.
"To some extent, Sir," said Lily. "We´re not sure how well we did for neither of us has ever seen a patronus before."
"Show me!" Dumbledore ordered.
Black showed his patronus first. Dumbledore nodded. "Not bad, Master Black. You need to concentrate a little harder to make your patronus more stable. Try the spell nonverbally. It usually helps." Black followed the advice and really, his patronus became more distinct and it took longer to dissolve.
James was next. The professor watched his rather feeble patronus with interest. "You may want to consider another memory, Master Potter. Either that or you need to concentrate harder." James promised to think of another memory and practice.
Lily was the last to show her patronus. She murmured her spell and her tiny bat patronus emerged. It circled her head like always.
Alastor Moody had his wand out in an instant. As soon as he pointed it at Lily the patronus attacked him to distract him from Lily.
"Alastor, put that wand down!" cried the professor. The other wizards gasped. Lily had no idea what the agitation was about.
Dumbledore smiled reassuringly at the girl. "I take it you have no idea why Alastor was so upset by your patronus," he said when the bat had finally vanished into thin air.
"No, Sir."
"Well, bats are considered to be dark creatures by many. But we must be aware," he addressed Alastor now, "that they are also very useful, especially for potion brewing. Miss Evans is an excellent brewer, so a bat patronus, however unusual it may be, is no surprise in her case. It shows how dearly connected she is with potions work and anything connected with it."
Alastor Moody eyed Lily suspiciously but was content with the professor´s explanation.
-x-
"We are using patronuses," the professor explained, "as messengers. A patronus can´t be intercepted or copied. So it is a very safe way to communicate." He waved his wand and a silvery bird left it. It flew to Lily and for a moment she heard the professor´s voice inside her head. "That´s how it works," it said.
"You´ll continue practicing with your patronuses so that we can teach you how to send messages soon," Dumbledore ordered.
-x-
It was barely noon when the meeting was over. The Longbottoms and Prewitts stayed behind to practice with the new members like they had promised to. Alice got the task of preparing a meal while the men took the teenagers outside.
"Let´s see what you can do and what you need to learn first," said Fabian. "We´ll attack you and you defend yourselves. You can use any spell you can think of but unforgivables, of course. Don´t be afraid to hurt us, we can do some healing and you need to be ready to hurt your enemy when you face the dark side."
They started on the count of three. Lily dodged spells and hid behind shields. She tried to figure out a pattern in the men´s moves. James and Black meanwhile attacked them with various spells. Soon it became clear to Lily why they couldn´t win the battle. The three men were acting as a group but the teenagers acted as individuals. The three men divided into two defenders and one attacker, changing roles from time to time.
Lily had never learnt to act as a member of a group in combat. Severus had prepared her for one on one fights but not for team work as they had never had anybody to team up with. So she watched her opponents closely and tried to learn from their moves.
"James," she cried when she thought she had got an idea how to move, "hide behind my shield and concentrate on attack from there. I´ll protect you." It worked. For the first time in more than a quarter hour James managed to hit an opponent. Frank howled with surprise and pain but attacked the youngsters more fiercly without caring about his injury.
James and Black were quick learners. They started to work as a team and soon the teenagers were able to stand their ground while minutes before the men had driven them back without much effort.
After another quarter hour Alice called for a pause as she had lunch ready. The six combatants wiped the sweat from their foreheads and went to join her in the kitchen where Alice served a delicious dish of lentils.
"You´re doing not bad," admitted Gideon between two spoonfuls.
"The boys are not bad," agreed Fabian, "but the girl is dangerous. She's analysing the opponent. You can´t fool her easily."
Frank nodded but said nothing. Alice was treating his wrist with a healing charm and he seemed to enjoy it a lot.
"Stop talking about fighting at my table," said Alice when she had finished Frank´s healing and taken a plate of lentils herself. "We may be at war but there have to be times to relax."
"Forgive us," said Fabian. "we´re just happy that our new members need less training than we feared."
"How´s your sister doing?" Alice changed topic.
"Molly? Fine. Her baby is due in two weeks."
"That´s good. Hug her for me when you see her."
"Is it her first baby?" Lily asked.
"Heavens no!" Gideon replied. "It´s her third."
"She makes a great mum," Alice pointed out. "She always seemed motherly to me back at school although she was younger than me."
"Younger than you! And her third baby!" Lily exclaimed.
"Yes, why not?" asked Alice.
The Prewitts got up. "Let´s go outside, guys," said Fabian. "They are talking about women and baby stuff." All five males left for the garden.
"Men!" Alice complained. "They have no problems with making babies but they are less enthusiastic when it comes to caring for them."
Lily blushed crimson.
"Oops!" Alice smiled apologetically. "I thought you and James were... I didn´t want to embarrass you. Sorry."
"He´s my boyfriend," said Lily. "But for anything else we´re too young, I guess."
"Are you? Frank and I got married at the age of nineteen. What would we have waited for? We knew we would stay together. Molly and Arthur were only eighteen." Alice shrugged. "We´d better go outside, too. You have to resume your training session."
-x-
The afternoon was hard work. The Prewitts showed them new moves and spells and had them practice again and again.
When they finally apparated home – not without making an appointment for more training the next week and being given homework – Lily was exhausted. Nevertheless she went to the kitchen to prepare dinner for Mrs Potter had only had sandwiches for lunch.
After the meal the girl went to her bedroom. She needed to relax and get some sleep. She was about to change into her nightdress when it knocked at the door.
She rebuttoned her robes before she asked her visitor in. It was James.
"Can I talk to you?" he asked. Lily got the impression that he was a bit nervous.
"You talked to me all day, didn´t you?"
"I mean in private."
"Of course you can." Lily sat on her bed and waited for James to start the conversation.
Unlike his usual self-confident manner James seemed to have difficulties to decide how to begin. "I talked to Frank today and I have been thinking about this for some time before. I could protect you all the time. And it would cheer mum up a bit." He looked at Lily expectantly.
"James, I have no idea what you´re talking about!"
James blushed and sank on his knee. He rummaged in his pocket and produced a small box. "Lily," he said, "will you marry me?"
Lily was taken aback. Marry? At the age of eighteen?
"James," she said, "I don´t mean to hurt you, but I never thought of getting married that early."
"Think about the advantages," James insisted. "It drives me mad that I can´t protect you in case we´re attacked at night. Someone could kill you and I wouldn´t notice in my room."
"Don´t be ridiculous." Lily was getting angry. "Protect me at night! You´re after my skirt, that´s all."
James got up. "I´m not! And if I was, so what! We´re two adults. There´s nothing wrong with me wanting more than just kiss."
"We are too young to get married. I want a job. I´m not even trained for a proper job. I can´t become a housewife and mother two months after I finished school!"
James laughed. "Is that your concern? I´m talking about getting married. Not about getting babies by Christmas. My parents were married nearly fifty years before I was born. Although I´d prefer to have kids a little bit earlier. And I have no problem with you getting trained for whichever job you like. I love you. I want you to be happy. And I want to marry you. And I´ll admit that I´m after your skirt. But that´s not the reason I want to marry you."
Lily thought about her conversation with Alice. What would they wait for if they already knew they would stay together?
"No babies in the next few years?" she asked.
"No babies before you want them."
"In this case, I´d love to marry you, James."
James beamed at her and pulled her into a passionate hug. They kissed. After some minutes Lily freed herself from her now fiancé´s arms. "We are not yet married!" she scolded. "Get out of my room, you monster!" She hit James´s fingers and laughed.
"May I tell my parents?" asked James before he left.
"No, WE´ll tell them tomorrow, OK?"
"Good night, my wife to be." James smiled happily.
"Good night!" Lily shoved him towards the door.
"Hey, you forgot something important!" James laughed and shook the little box.
Lily took and opened it. It held a golden ring with a bright green stone. "This is beautiful, James!" she exclaimed.
"I´m glad you like it," James said. "I won´t go before you wear it on your finger."
Lily offered him her left hand and James slipped the ring on her finger. "Perfect!" he whispered.
"It is," Lily agreed.
"Not the ring, silly. You!"
Lily blushed. "Go now!" she insisted. When the door closed on the boy, she smiled happily. So now she was a bride.
