Chapters 132-133 of Nobody Sees Me Wishing

"You have to teach me that!"

Looking up from the essay I was "working" on, I saw James striding over to me with a huge grin on his face, waving something in front of me.

I blinked, pushing aside the chess pieces I was procrastinating with, and tried to look at the object that was being shoved in my face. "Teach you how to play chess?" Lifting a piece in the air, I brandished it, showing each side. "This is a pawn."

"Shut up," James exclaimed, knocking me over. "What spell did you use to make this appear out of nowhere? It wasn't a summoning charm or anything, right?"

Taking the piece of parchment out of hand, I turned it over. "Why the hell would I send you a blank piece of parchment?"

James shrugged. "I dunno. I thought you forgot to add something. But, bloody hell, that was an amazing spell. It just twisted itself out of midair-"

Shaking my head, I kept checking the parchment for any sign of writing. "That wasn't me, Prongs. I didn't send you anything."

James's eyes widened and he snatched the parchment out of my hands. "You don't suppose it's from a Slytherin or anything, do you?"

I frowned. "It probably would have exploded if it was," I muttered darkly. As an afterthought, I added, "Besides, they're too busy with this Voldemort bullshit to care about lousy Gryffindors anymore."

I didn't expect James to respond, but he surprised me with, "Have you talked to your brother lately?"

I winced; it was the one thing I always refused to talk about, but every so often, James pressed for some information. "No," I gave him my usual clipped answer.

He paused, and then added, "He's still-"

"Yes," I interrupted him with a final tone, letting him know that I wasn't going to answer anymore questions. I hated hearing about him and my whole family. They weren't my family anyways - the Potters were.

James looked away and suddenly, his eyes lit up. I turned in the direction he was looking and saw Lily coming down from the dormitories, her eyes locked on us.

"Did you-" She was only able to say two words before James had forced the parchment in her hand. She faltered, looking down at the object. "What is this?"

"It came out of thin air!" James started explaining excitedly. "Just, you know, twisted its way into a piece of parchment. It doesn't say anything but-"

Rolling her eyes, Lily held out the parchment in front of her. "You're an idiot," she told him as she took out of her wand. "Specialis Revelio." Placing her wand in the middle of the parchment, I watched as lines began to form from the tip of her wand.

"Bloody hell," James muttered underneath his breath.

I leaned forward, catching a glimpse of the words that had appeared.

Congratulations Miss Evans. You used your intellect to successfully figure out this message.

Could you please inform the following students to meet in my office at 5:00 tonight?

Mr. Sirius Black

Mr. Frank Longbottom

Mr. Remus Lupin

Miss Marlene McKinnon

Miss Dorcas Meadowes

Mr. Peter Pettigrew

Mr. James Potter

Miss Alice Price

P.S. I rather enjoy a licorice whip.

Professor Dumbledore

"Maybe he found out that we were the ones behind the prank," James said after a short pause, taking back the parchment and prodding the page with his wand for more hidden messages.

Lily crossed her arms and pursed her lips. "I had no part in that. And Alice has never broken a rule in her life. It must be for something else."

I didn't know why, but I felt as if it was for something else. If Lily was invited and Dumbledore had praised her intellect, wouldn't it be for something positive?

With the anticipation expanding in my chest, I scrambled out of my seat and exclaimed, "C'mon, let's go find everyone." I knew that they would follow without taking a second glance back; there was a strange sense of urgency with Dumbledore's words and we all wanted to know what he was planning.

-x-

"An order?" I repeated slowly, trying to make sense of the headmaster's speech.

He was going to put together some sort of resistance group – and he wanted us to be in it? We were all still students of Hogwarts and we weren't trained for anything like this.

Dumbledore's gaze never left mine. "I thought that you would be particularly interested." He didn't elaborate and I knew that most of the people in the room were looking at each other in confusion.

Taking in a slow breath, I realized I didn't have anything to respond with.

What was I supposed to say?

Yes, I wanted to help because my brother and whole family were fighting for Voldemort or whatever his name was and I was kicked out of my family because I wouldn't agree to their crazy ideals about purebloods and muggles?

Dumbledore nodded, turning away from me. "Ponder over what I have told you today," he said to the group. "When you are ready to give an answer, find Professor McGonagall and-"

"I already have my answer," I interrupted him. When he gave me a skeptical look, I continued, "If it's that easy for Voldemort to gain followers, then I'm not going to wait to join this order. I want in."

There was no surprise in his eyes but I could have sworn I saw the hint of a smile. "Very well, Mr. Black."

"Me too!" James suddenly spoke up next to me. "I want in too." With a nudge of the shoulder, I looked over at see him grinning at me.

"This is no joking matter, Mr. Potter-" The headmaster exclaimed, staring at James with a blank expression. I couldn't tell if he was disappointed, angry, or what...

James shook his head furiously. "No, I want to take this bastard down!"

Dumbledore didn't flinch or even more at James's outburst. I expected one of his speeches about lemon drops (like the last time when we were caught yelling in the corridor), but instead, he just stared at James and then his eyes flickered over to the other students standing before him.

Turning slightly, I found everyone else nodding along to James's comment, and then I was nodding too.

"You all agree with Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore confirmed.

"We'll do anything," Lily added, momentarily surprising me.

This time, there was a definite smile on the wizard's face. Moving to the side, he gestured to a roll of parchment on his desk. "If you wish to be in the Order of Phoenix, sign here."

Without a word, every student in the room had lined up, anxiously awaiting their turn to put their signature on the parchment.

"Oh, and Mr. Black?" I glanced up from writing my name to see Dumbledore staring expectantly at me. "Even though this is a secret organization, you may want to clue in a certain Miss Bennett to the details of our meeting today."

Ivy.

With a quiet groan, I realized that she wasn't here. Of course she wouldn't be here. After school, she wanted to be an author and fighting a dark lord was far from that.

What was she going to think?

What was she thinking right now? We had missed dinner – she was probably worried sick.

I managed a stiff nod before turning around and making my way down the winding staircase with the rest of the group.

Nobody said a word. I could barely keep myself from bursting out into some joke – anything to lighten the mood – but I knew that it wasn't the time for that. Not when we had just joined the fight outside of Hogwarts.

For the first time, we all were part of something more important than essays and exams.

And it was that thought that kept us all quiet. In shock, or fear, or something else – I didn't know.

As we came to the portrait of the Fat Lady, Remus quickly said the password and we all followed him inside, ready to continue our day as if nothing had happened. We had other things to worry about for now – like the N.E.W.T.S. It would be easy to distract ourselves.

The only person in the common room was -

"Ivy," I said out loud, noticing her confused and worried expression. I didn't want her to be worried – not when she didn't know anything. "How was dinner?"

Stopping in front of her, I watched as she stared at me, as if trying to figure something out. And then her voice dropped to a whisper when she asked, "Where were you?"

The way she said it – it was as if she already knew something. Did Dumbledore warn her? Did she already guess?

"What do you know?" I asked in the same whispered voice.

Instead of an answer, she just stared at me, her eyebrows knit together as if she were in pain. I winced at the look on her face and then grabbed her hand.

Turning toward everyone else, I made a motion with my head to follow. We all took a seat next to the fireplace and I maintained a hold on Ivy's hand.

She was beginning to shake.

"Please, don't freak out," I pleaded with her, leaning closer to comfort her.

"Dumbledore told us that we can tell you," James added.

I let out a slow breath, thankful that I didn't have to tell her alone. I didn't even know where to start – what was I supposed to say to her? What would make her understand?

Looking over, I could see that she was taking in harsh breaths.

"Stop freaking out," I murmured.

She took a second to respond. "I didn't say anything."

Forcing myself to laugh, I exclaimed, "I can practically hear your thoughts. It's okay – just listen."

She relaxed her grip slightly on my hand and James leaned forward to explain. "The wizarding world – it's getting pretty bad out there. Dumbledore said that this man that calls himself the Dark Lord, Voldemort, is rising in power. You know how bad it's getting out there, Ivy. Bradley Masterson's parents were killed the other day by Voldemort's followers. They call themselves Death Eaters. Well, Dumbledore, he's asked us to join an order against Voldemort. We're gonna fight him."

"You're going to be in danger?"

The one sentence was choked out and I just wanted to take her in my arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay. Stroking her hand softly, I said, "Yes, but Dumbledore thinks we can do it. He believes in us."

Her eyes were scanning everyone's faces. "Why?"

"We all want to be aurors once we've graduated," Remus spoke up. "That's why we've been asked."

She was struggling to breath again and all I could do was pull her next to me and promise that everything was going to be okay. We still had the rest of the year and we were going to make the most of it.

-x-

Sitting back in a chair, I watched as Ivy sighed loudly, leaning her head against the back of the armchair. She had been studying for the past two hours, never stopping. As soon as she got back from dinner, she had curled herself up on that chair and hadn't moved an inch.

All I wanted was to spend some quality time with her before we had to leave Hogwarts. And by the look on her face, she needed a break.

Slowly, I made my way over to her, stopping in front of the chair with a charming grin.

She looked up, blinking a couple times. "Why-" she began, but I knew what she was going to say.

"Okay, if you're going to say 'why aren't you studying?', you need to check who you're talking to," I said with a smile.

She raised an eyebrow. "But it's the night before. Don't you study at all?"

I shrugged, rocking back and forth on my toes, waiting for her to cave in and say that she wanted to take a break. "Nah. Besides, I'd rather spend it having you destress."

"Destress?" She looked positively adorable all confused. "What are you planning?" Before I could answer, her eyes lit up and she added, "Oh, of course. You have this whole elaborate scheme planned, right? You're going to ride up on a white horse and apparate us over to Paris for a romantic late night dinner. Am I right?"

I chuckled at her fantasies. "Exactly," I agreed with her. "We'd better get a move on before it gets too late though." Holding out my hand, I hoped she would take it.

She paused, looking at me with a curious expression."What do you really have planned?"

She took my hand and I flashed her a grin as we started to make our way out of the portrait hole. "Basically," I began to explain, "-what you just said, just replace riding on a white horse to walking and Paris with the kitchens."

She frowned playfully and I had to hide my smile. "No white horse? I'm leaving then; I just have so much more studying to do."

Rolling my eyes at her joke, I tightened my grip on her hand and exclaimed, "This is the last time I'll ever be able to sneak down to the kitchens and I want to go with you. So, please, just take a small, tiny break?"

With a slow sigh, she nodded and I grinned at her. She laughed as I added a skip to my step and jogged alongside of me.

We were both out of breath by the time we got to the portrait of the fruit and I quickly tickled the pear to get inside the kitchens. After we had ordered our hot chocolates, we sat down at the table, staring at each other without any words.

I stalled, staring over my hot chocolate at her. Something was bothering her; I could tell by the way the silence immediately turned awkward. Watching her every move, I waited for her to say something. I just wanted to know what was on her mind.

"Sirius?" Ivy finally said softly.

I immediately locked eyes with her and waited for her next words, almost forgetting to breathe.

"Do-do you know what you'll be doing?" she asked. I raised an eyebrow at her, not sure what she was asking. "In...the Order?"

It had been a week since the meeting and we hadn't mentioned the Order or even tried talking about it. I didn't know what to say to her. Setting down my hot chocolate, I rapped my knuckles against the table and said, "I don't want you to worry..."

"Just tell me," she pleaded and I could hear the pain in her voice. "I need to know what it means."

Heaving a huge sigh, I tried to find a way to explain. How was I supposed to tell her that I was going to go on dangerous missions? How was I supposed to say that there was a chance that I could be hurt – or even murdered. I didn't even know how to say it to make her feel better. "You know that you mean a lot to me, Ivy..." I struggled to find the right words, but suddenly, Ivy cut me off.

"But?"

I blinked at her question, wondering how she could possibly think that I would want to end everything just because I found the Order? She was something special – something different – and I needed her with me to keep me sane.

She was looking down at the table and her hands were visibly shaking. Reaching out, I grabbed her hand and interlaced our fingers together. "But nothing," I exclaimed softly. "I'm not going to let anything get in between us. The Order is something I want to be a part of – to show I'm serious about this fight. With my brother joining his side...I want to show where my loyalties stand. Don't worry. I'm not letting you get away."

Her lip was trembling as she nodded and I pressed my lips against hers, hoping that somehow, that would reassure her – at least for awhile.

It's a bit shorter than the last couple chapters, but it was a faster update this time!

Thanks for all of the reviews and everything. I appreciate everything that you send me.

I hope I'll back back either this week or weekend with another chapter. We'll see how fast I can get out another chapter of this story. It's almost getting to the end too!

Thanks again!