Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
James could hear his heart beating rapidly and he glanced around in the direction of the other members wondering if they could hear it as well. It was so dark he couldn't see an inch in front of his face. He gripped his wand tighter if possible and took a shaky deep breath. He couldn't remember ever being this scared. Not when he kissed Lily for the first time, when he fell from his broom during a quidditch match, not even when he proposed to Lily. This was the real thing, it was life or death, and nothing mattered but the wits behind the wand. Moody was off to his right crouching behind a tree as they peered through the thick forest which overlooked the small village below, Frank, Michael and Brady Matthews were on his right behind the other trees, all surveying the village. The rest of the Order members were hiding out in the village. They had received a tip that there was to be an attack on the small village and they were there to do what they could to try and stop a bunch of evil and crazy lunatics who were out to kill them, what was the worst that could happen, right? He swallowed hard as he thought of Lily down in the village and what he would give to be any where but here and have her in his arms again. Tonight could be the last time he ever saw her.
Where were the death eaters? He went to peer around the tree and he felt something brush again him and he froze as he heard foot steps next to him. James held his breath as he stared and suddenly heard some more footsteps not too far off and he took the moment to silently slip around the tree as he heard someone turn around and walked away and suddenly a wand lit up and revealed two other hooded figures, one rather short and the other tall like the first.
"Where have you been?" The shortest hissed which was female. "Our lord gave you an Order." She said and paused. "Where are the othe-." She said but was cut off by a burst of blue fireworks coming from the village and they looked towards the village.
"What?" The tall one said angrily and confused.
"Nox." The short figure said and everything was plunged in to darkness. More fireworks came up as a signal that the members in the village were under attack and needed help.
James saw more sparks go up and suddenly they were blocked by a large hooded figure.
"Where are the others? I dear say it is obvious." Said another as it walked up and James saw even more sparks go up, they desperately needed help down in the village now.
"Expelliarmus. Stupefy." James shouted at the taller figure and Moody jumped out and took care of the other and they apparated down to the village.
There was nothing but screaming all around, curses flying everywhere, fires, and bodies all over the ground.
"Potter move." Moody said as he grabbed James and pulled him away from the path of a killing curse and James shuttered and looked at Moody who turned from him and started to duel two death eaters and James felt a curse whiz past his head and he turned around and saw a death eater before him. This was it.
Rebecca ducked from a spell and with a flick of her wand the bench near by flew in to the death eater, throwing him across the street where he laid unmoving.
BOOM!
An explosion shook the ground and Rebecca looked up at the clock tower above her which shifted and she grabbed a hold of Marlene and took off running with her as the clock tower crashed to the ground, capturing three death eaters.
"Thanks." Marlene said breathlessly as he looked at Rebecca and her eyes got wide and she pushed Rebecca down and deflected a spell and Rebecca confounded a Death eater behind Marlene as she dueled with the death eater and Rebecca looked towards the clock tower rubble.
"Gideon, MOVE!" bellowed Rebecca, at Gideon Prewett who was dueling with two Death Eaters while his brother Fabian was on top of the clock tower rubble fighting off two more.
One of the Death Eaters grabbed a hold of the back of Gideon's robes, Gideon spun around so the Death Eaters back was to Rebecca.
"Stupefy!" screamed Rebecca and a bolt of red light hit the Death Eater; he slumped to the ground unconscious as Gideon took care of the other.
Rebecca whipped the back of her hand over her forehead as she felt sweat dripping down. There was a pop and three more Death Eaters appeared in front of her.
"Holy Shit! How freaking many of you are there for Gods sake?" She yelled out of desperation. The Order were already outnumbered four to one. Rebecca saw Marlene and Lily dueling back to back surrounded by 4 death eaters and Rebecca took off towards them.
"That's right Walcott, run away." A voice yelled and she turned around recognizing the voice.
"Hello Rabastan." She said as she pulled out her wand at him. "I would love to sit and chat but I haven't got the time." She said and flicked her wand and sent a stunner his way and with another flick she threw a large piece of rubble his way, as he tried to avoid the stunner the large rubble knocked him in to the ground, hitting his head against a curb and she took off towards Lily and Marlene who were each trying to fight off a death eater.
"Stupefy." Rebecca said as she hit the death eater in the back dueling Lily.
"Thanks." Lily yelled before Rebecca felt her wand slip out of her fingers and she spun around as a green spell came at her and she dodged it and it hit the fountain behind her and it blew up, sending rubble and water every where. She spotted her wand and looked at the Death eater and it started to laugh as it sent spell after spell towards her and she barely managed to dodge them all and was thrown back when a blue spell hit her in the chest, throwing her through against a building. She groaned as she sat up and saw the death eater was no where in sight and her wand not 30 feet away. She ran the best she could towards it and reached out for it and saw a red spell coming towards her. She grabbed her wand and threw up a shield and the spell rebounded and hit a death eater dueling Fabian by the clock tower.
"Thanks mate!" Fabian yelled to her. "I owe ya one!"
"Twas nothing!" She yelled back before taking out two more Death Eaters and a third who was about to hit Lily with a stunner.
Frank and Alice were dueling 3 death eaters back to back and Rebecca's heart stopped as she looked over as Remus was thrown back in to a tree and ducked just as a killing spell hit the tree where his head had been seconds before and was blown in half.
"God no." She whispered to herself as she ran towards him.
"Becky no!" He shouted as he held out his hand towards her and she turned as a green spell came towards her. She twisted herself as the spell came towards her and singed her robes. She looked up ready to take on the death eater but suddenly it disappeared, along with the others and they were taking the unconscious ones with them as well.
"Blast!" muttered Moody who had appeared next to Rebecca. "Next time we are going to have to put up an anti-disapparation field before-hand."
"Brilliant... next time" muttered Marlene, "Won't that affect us too though Alastor?"
"Deal with it." He growled.
Rebecca glanced towards the clock tower and felt her heart stop as she looked at a pair of dead eyes looking at her. Her legs went weak and she collapsed to the ground, her hands shaking and tears built up in her eyes.
"Becky." She heard Remus yell as he ran over to her and knelt down next to her.
"Becky you're hurt." He said and a sob escaped her lips.
"He's dead." She gasped and Remus looked up and felt his heart stop as he looked at Michael lying dead in the street.
"We were outnumbered! We're lucky we only lost three!" Caradoc yelled as he paced around the Orders Headquarters.
Yes, they had lost three earlier that night. Nathan Garrison, crushed under the Clock Tower. Haley Bell, cowardly Avada Kedavraed in the back. And Michael, whose neck, had been broken with bare hands.
They were the beginning of what would become a long list of names, just names, forgotten people who had given their lives to Dumbledore and his cause, who would never be recognized for the heroic people they had been. No one would remember them... except maybe their families, who he would soon need to inform of their deaths.
Dumbledore twiddled his thumbs for lack of a better use for them, and sighed, listening to them argue over the table.
"What did you expect?" replied Edgar calmly, "it's not all fluffy bunnies and idle threats, Caradoc."
"We should have retreated." Said Benjy as he buried his face in his hands.
"And let them kill all those innocent people?" Emmeline Vance said with a glare.
"If they hadn't buggered off when they did, we would all probably be dead now." James said. "And all those innocent people would be too. And the next lot of innocent people that we wouldn't be there to protect, and the next."
"Exactly," said Peter, "We can go gallivanting off to get ourselves killed for the sake of a good cause, we need to be alive to make this work!"
"That's all well and good." Remus muttered. "But this isn't getting us anywhere. We're in this together, we all knew what we were getting ourselves into, and you." he looked at the older members. "Have been through this before. Why are we arguing?"
The group was divided between the newer members and the older.
Dumbledore was still staring at his hands. How could he have made such a huge error in judgment? These people sitting around him, they trusted him with their lives, the lives of their families... These people who he got to do his dirty work; they would jump at the drop of a pin for him.
"I am truly sorry," he started, everyone immediately shut up, "that we have lost such courageous people and there will be more casualties to come I fear. But we must stay strong. We cannot divide over this, if we do not stand together as one, Voldemort will break us." Dumbledore said before everyone departed.
Remus looked across the room and saw Rebecca sitting on the couch staring in to the fire with a blank expression on her face. He walked over to her and sat down next to her but she made no motion that she noticed him.
"He's gone." She croaked weakly, her voice cracking. "He was my friend and he is gone." She said as she looked at him. He stared at her as she tried to hold back tears and she clasped her hands together in her lap as they shook.
"Becky." Remus said and scooted towards her and slowly put an arm around her and she buried her face in to his chest.
"How is your head?" He asked.
"Its fine, Lily fixed it for me." She said in to his chest.
"Come on lets get you home." He said and she nodded as he helped her up.
He walked her inside her apartment and shut the door behind him and she leaned against the back of the couch and looked at him painfully.
"Are you alright?" She asked weakly as he walked over to her.
"Yeah, are you?" He asked as he stood in front of her.
"I'll be fine." She said as she looked at the floor and he took her hands in his and she looked up at him. "Would-." She said as her voice cracked and took a deep breath. "Would you stay with me tonight? I don't want to be alone tonight."
"Yeah sure." He said and she stood up and wrapped her arms around him.
"I don't know what I would have done if it had been you Remus." She whispered shakily as she buried her face in his chest.
"Don't think about that, I'm still here and you're still here." He said as he rubbed her back. "Come on lets get you to bed." He said and picked her up.
"I can walk you know?" She mumbled in to his chest.
"Humor me." He said and kissed her cheek as he carried her up the stairs and walked in to her room and set her down.
"Uh I have a pair of Andy's old pajamas, would you like to use them?" She asked as she held up a pair of pajama pants and a faded black t-shirt.
"Yeah sure." He said and she threw them to him as she got out her pajamas and disappeared in to the bathroom. He heard the shower start and he sighed and looked around wondering if this was the greatest of ideas. Rebecca needed him right now and he needed her. Michael had shared the dorm with him, James, Sirius and Peter for 7years, he could hardly believe that he was gone, so young. He looked to the bathroom wondering what he would have done if it had been Rebecca instead. He shook his head to himself and changed in to the pajamas and looked around wondering if he would be staying with her or perhaps downstairs. He sat down on the bed and looked at the nightstand where she had placed a picture of her and Andrew who looked to be at the beach. It was a muggle photograph, she had her arms around him as she kissed his cheek and Remus glanced towards the bathroom again as he heard the water turn off and looked at the second photograph which was a picture of her and Remus down by the lake with each other, he could remember Jenny taking the photograph, it had been right after NEWTs. The last picture was a large group picture with James, Remus, Peter, Sirius, Jenny, Tessa, Lily, Rebecca, Andrew and Michael.
Soon the door opened up and Rebecca stepped out and threw her towel and clothes in to the hamper and crawled in to the bed and looked at him.
"Thanks for staying Remus." She said as she took his hand and he looked away from the photographs and looked at her. "Will you hold me?" She asked and he took a deep breath and nodded as he slid under the covers and she scooted close to him until her back was against his chest. He lightly laid a hand on her waist and she took his hand and wrapped it around her and kissed his hand. "Good night Remus." She whispered.
His chest felt heavy as he breathed in and out slowly and he opened his eyes and saw Rebecca's sleeping face in front of him. She had managed to lay a large portion of herself over him, her arms wrapped around him and her legs tangled up in his. The blankets had been pushed all the way down to the bottom of the bed and his feet were cold. He softly brushed the hair out of her face and felt her stir and she slowly opened her eyes and smiled at him.
"Morning Remus." She said groggily and yawned.
"Morning Becky." He said and she sat up and looked at him and gasped and started to laugh and he looked down at himself.
"Pitching a tent much?" She said and he turned form her embarrassed and she pecked the back of his neck.
"I'll go make breakfast, and let you…take care of that." She said with a small chuckle and got out of bed and headed to the door and she turned and looked at him humorously. "Shower is all yours." She said with a smile and stepped out of the room and headed downstairs to the kitchen and fired up breakfast.
She turned around when she heard Remus coming down the stairs and he looked around embarrassed.
"Uh that- I mean- completely-." He stuttered as she started to laugh and walked up to him and pecked him on the lips.
"No need to be embarrassed, completely normal. Breakfast is almost ready, take a seat." She said and set pancakes, sausage, hash browns and eggs on the table.
"This is what a real breakfast tastes like, none of that goopy oatmeal stuff or anything." She said as she sat down and poured herself a glass of orange juice and he looked at the food and looked up at her and she sighed and picked up her fork.
"Rmus lighten up, it's not like I've never seen morning wood before." She said with a chuckle and stabbed one of the sausages.
"Yeah that makes me feel better." He said sarcastically and poured syrup over his pancakes.
"Do you have work today?" She asked and nibbled on the sausage.
"No."
"Do you want to go to the beach today? I don't know about you but I would certainly love to get my mind off of last night." She said quietly and they both stopped eating and she sighed. "Sorry I don't think that's anything either of us want to think about right now."
"No, the beach sounds lovely." He said and she nodded and continued to eat.
"Oh I missed the beach." Rebecca said as she stepped on to the sand and kicked off her shoes as she looked at him with a grin and he smiled as they walked out on to the beach and she threw out the towel and sat down and he set the cooler next to them.
"I'm going to go in to the water, do you want to come?" She asked and he shook his head and she shrugged and slipped her dress off and he stared up at her in her yellow bikini and she smiled down at him and walked out to the water, letting her hair down from its bun and smiling back at him as she entered the water.
Remus laid his head back as he pushed the sunglasses down over his face, thankful that Rebecca had convinced him to get a pair, and closed his eyes as he listened to the sound of the waves. He wanted to think of anything other than what had happened the previous night but he could hardly clear his mind from the thought of seeing Michael dead the way he had.
"Hello handsome." He heard Rebecca say and he opened his eyes and lifted his head and pushed up his glasses as he stared at her dripping water and she knelt down and crawled on top of him.
"Becky you're getting me wet." He said and she chuckled as she pushed him back down and pushed his glasses off his face and set them aside as she sat up.
"I d-didn't know you had a tattoo." He said and she looked just below her breast.
"Last year Andy and I decided we wanted to get tattoos." She said as she ran her fingers over the writing. "It's from a Beatles song." She said and sighed. "Nothing's going to change my world." She said and leaned down so her face was inches from his.
"Do you like it?" She whispered as she felt his hands settle on her waist and she smiled and kissed him. He pushed them over to he was on top and she laughed as he planted kisses all over her face and she looked up at him with a smile and he sighed as he looked at her.
"You are so beautiful." He said as he brushed a stray piece of hair out of her face and traced her face with his fingers lightly, brushing his thumb over her lips and she kissed his hand lightly as they looked at each other. She smiled and put a hand behind his head and pulled him in to a kiss.
Later that night he walked her to her apartment after spending the whole day on the beach and exploring the pier and she sighed and turned to him with a smile as she ran her fingers over his cheeks.
"You got a little sunburned." She said with a smile and he shrugged and stepped up to her and lightly took her by her waist and pressed her in to the door, cupping her face and kissing her. She reached behind her and opened the door and they stumbled in together and he kicked the door close with his foot as she dropped her bag to the floor and he backed her up.
"Whoa!" She yelped and they both tripped back, tumbling over the back of the couch and on to the floor and she started to laugh as she sat up and looked at him.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
"Yeah." He said as he rubbed the back of his head and sat up.
"That was a little clumsy." She said looked around in the dark. "I can't see a single thing, let me get the light." She said and got up and felt her way around until she reached the wall and flipped the light switch. She laughed and walked over to him as he pulled himself up and looked around and she walked over and flipped over the back of the couch and curled up on the couch and he sat down next to her. She threw her legs over his lap and laid her head back as she closed her eyes and he laid his hand on her knee lightly and rubbed small circles and she chuckled as her legs twitched.
"That tickles." She said as she lifted her head and smiled at him.
"That tickles? You are ticklish in your knees?" He asked humorously and she frowned and pulled her legs back and curled them up to her chest.
"Don't make fun." She said and sat up and moved towards him and leaned her head on his shoulder and moved one of her legs back over one of his legs. "I happen to know that you are ticklish right…here." She said and poked his side and he twitched and she laughed and turned her head and lightly kissed the side of his neck and ran her hand across his chest and around the other side of his neck and he looked at her. He turned to her and ran his hand around her waist and shifted himself towards her and she laid down as he followed and kissed her until he was on top of her, straddling one of her legs. She could feel his heart beating rapidly as she ran her hands slowly down his chest and around his beck, slipping her hands under the back of his shirt and he shuttered, pulling his lips slightly.
"Your hands are cold." He mumbled and she chuckled and captured his lips once more. She hooked a leg around his waist and he hesitantly ran his hand up her leg, moving his lips down her jaw and down her neck.
A knock at the door interrupted them and Remus pulled back from her, his breath shaky and uneven and she groaned and let out a sigh. He got off of her and she sat up and looked at the door and another knock came.
"I might have to murder who ever that is." She muttered as she fixed her dress and walked to the door.
"This better be important." She said as she opened the door and saw Randall and he turned around and looked at her.
"Hey Rebecca." He said and she leaned against the door frame.
"What can I do for you?" She asked and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Are you busy?"
"Well I was a few seconds ago. What can I do for you?"
"Oh I'm sorry, we were going to go out to the club tonight and I was going to see if you wanted to come."
"Thanks, maybe another time." She said and looked back at Remus sitting on the couch.
"Oh alright then, I'll see you later, sorry to bother you." He said and took a step back and walked down the hall and she sighed and closed the door and looked back at Remus.
"Where were we?" She asked with a smile and he got up.
"I think I should be getting home." He said and straightened out his clothes and she frowned.
"You don't have to leave."
"I really should, I told my parents I would be home tonight." He said and she leaned against the wall and he walked up to her.
"I had a great time at the beach today." He said and she smiled.
"Yeah me too." She said and wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.
"I'll see you later." He said once he pulled away and opened up the door and she gave him a small wave as he walked down the hall and she turned back in to the apartment and frowned to herself at Randall's timing.
Alright, just for you guys I got this up. I'm sitting here in the middle of the lobby at my hotel in Denali National Park, Alaska...if you have never been to Denali, or even Alaska, you should, it is the most beautiful place i have ever been to, like something out of a fairytale and if you do come to Alaska, a cruise is the BEST way to go, i am pretty sure i gained a pant size from the amazing food buffets and 24 hour dessert buffet lol...anyways enough about that i just wanted to get this up for all your hits and reviews which were GREATLY appreciated, also i got a few new ideas so thank you for that, i almost got a thousand hits since the last chapter so kudos to you guys. The next chapter will be up when i get back on Saturday so keep an eye out for that. See you all and have a great week and keep up that reading and reviewing.