Sorry guys! Things have been terribly busy. Spring Break last week. woohoo. Getting back to school is pretty disagreeable though.
I hope you hate Marlene a little less after this chapter...
ENJOY! :D
Lily Evans took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. She wasn't quite sure if she wanted her friend to come to the door or if she'd rather her calling on the house was unobserved. When she heard light footsteps, too soft to be Adam's, her pulse quickened.
"Oh, it's you." Marlene started to shut the door as quickly as she had opened it, but Lily stuck her foot in the doorway to prevent it from opening.
"Please, Marlene, just listen to me?" Lily pleaded, searching her friend's eyes for something familiar, but they were blank.
Marlene looked Lily in the eyes, and something in her face seemed to melt. For a second, she was the Marlene that Lily knew and loved again. But only for a second, for her face immediately returned to the unfeeling mask it had recently become. "You shouldn't be here. You aren't welcome here, Lily Evans."
"Marlene, please." Lily begged, her emerald orbs welling with tears. "Just talk with me."
"Who is it?" A male voice asked from upstairs, Adam's voice. "It sounds like Evans. Let her in, you know He wants to meet her."
"No, it's just one of those crazy religious people." Marlene called back.
"Send them away then."
Marlene leaned closer to Lily to whisper in her ear before shutting the door in her friend's face.
He's one of Them. I can't get out. Tell everyone I love them and I'm sorry.
Marlene's words would echo in Lily's head for the rest of her life. It was through broken sobs that she related the story of her encounter with Marlene to their friends that afternoon. James wrapped his arm around her and rubbed her back comfortingly. Dorcas, Emmeline, and Alice all started crying as Lily related the words that Marlene had whispered to her.
"There has to be something we can do." Sirius growled, quickly dabbing at his own eyes to be sure that nobody had spotted tears in his eyes.
"She sounded hopeless; almost like she wasn't even Marlene anymore." Lily choked. "Marlene is never hopeless."
"We'll go to Dumbledore, he'll know what to do." James stated firmly.
"I don't think Marlene would like that." Dorcas pointed out.
"Besides, we don't know where to find Dumbledore." Sirius added. "No, this is our battle. We need to plan and act quickly before Becker realizes we've been there and know."
"He'll come after her if she deserts." James said quietly. "Dad's told me horror stories about His followers that have tried to desert His service."
"I don't care about Moldy-Voldy!" Sirius bellowed, "I want the girl I love safely back here with me!"
"Padfoot-"
"Don't you 'Padfoot' me, Prongs! Or you Moony! If it was Lily, would you sit by and watch him control her? What if it was Emmeline stuck in the service of 'Lord Voldemort'? Would you even still be her then?"
James sighed and waved his hand in agreement, "What do you propose then?"
Sirius looked to Remus and Lily, "You two are the most likely to form something that won't get the lot of us killed in the process. Please?"
Lily nodded, standing up and crossing to James' desk to grab a quill, ink, and parchment. Remus bent his head close as he studied the map Lily was drawing of Adam's house. He nodded occasionally and asked a couple questions. The others left the room to get some food (Peter, Dorcas, Alice &Frank), joined in the plotting (Emmeline&James), or paced impatiently while occasionally stopping to punch something (Sirius). It was several hours later and had grown quite dark before Lily and Remus had come up with a basic plan. Then they took a break for dinner, a bathroom break, and a miniscule nap before sitting down to plan the finer points of the plot. Everything had to be absolutely perfect before they would let the others undertake the risky mission.
Sirius was the only other one awaked when Lily and Remus looked at each other, grinned, and nodded before shaking hands. He was instantly alert and drilling the pair on the plan before they even had a chance to blink.
"Get some sleep, Sirius. Everything is perfect." Lily rolled her eyes and waved her friend off to bed. "Nobody is going on this mission to rescue Marlene without plenty of rest and being told what to do and when to do it. Alright?"
Sirius grumbled, but headed off to the corner to sleep on a cot James had conjured up several hours ago. Nobody had wanted to be far from each other after the terrible news that they had received not too long ago, so all the seventh year Gryffindors were crashing on conjured cots in James' room. Lily rolled up the plans and stashed them in a box under James' bed before crawling into the bed beside him.
James stirred slightly as Lily nestled into his warm embrace. He wrapped his arms around her waist and murmured sleepily, "love you."
"Mmm, I love you too." Lily murmured back, already half asleep.
"Everything's planned out?"
"Mmhmm everything."
The next morning, their friends, who were eager to hear about their progress, woke Lily and Remus up at what the pair declared an ungodly hour. Remus rolled over and went back to sleep and Lily pointedly refused to talk about anything until she had drank enough coffee to feed an army. Then, she rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but James picked her up out of the bed and deposited her in the window seat, promptly opening the blinds to let in the bright sun. She buried her face in his chest and pointed wildly at the curtains, signaling peace if he would just shut them for goodness sakes.
Sirius dove under the bed to fish out the box with the plans in it and practically chucked it at Lily. She glanced at him with concern, for it was obvious he had not gotten any sleep at all, and opened the box when he shook his head in reply. She pulled out the rolls of parchment and smoothed them out on the floor in front of her.
"I don't get it." Dorcas muttered, peering at the plans written in Remus' miniscule handwriting and Lily's neat loopy cursive.
Emmeline looked up at Lily from where she sat on the floor, "I think these are marvelous."
"Thanks Em." Lily replied, scooping the plans up from the ground and beginning to explain them to the others. She had just reached the most exciting point when the friends heard the clearing of a throat from the doorway. Lily was hugging one of the three people in the doorway before the others even had a chance to register who they were. Sirius hadn't even waited for Lily to let go before he flung his own arms around the person, causing her to look slightly stunned.
"Although that was an excellent plan, Ms. Evans, I do not think it will be necessary." None other than Albus Dumbledore was standing in James' doorway with Mrs. Potter and a slightly worse for the wear Marlene McKinnon.
James gave Marlene a quick squeeze before turning to Professor Dumbledore with curiosity, "Sir, if you don't mind me asking, what is going on?"
"I think that is a story for Ms. McKinnon to fill you in on." Dumbledore replied with a wink. "I will be downstairs taking that tea that Henrietta has kindly offered me when you feel the need to come and beg me to let you join as well."
"Join what sir?" Sirius asked, tearing his eyes away from Marlene for the first time.
Dumbledore just smiled and turned to Mrs. Potter, "Ah, I'm glad to see them so ready to believe their friend is still as good a person as she has always been."
Mrs. Potter smiled at her son and his friends before setting off down the hall, "How would you like that tea, Albus?"
"Marlene, I'm sorry!" Lily exclaimed. "I-I wish you could forgive me and we could be friends again."
"Lils, don't apologize. I'm the one that ought to be begging you to forgive me. I was a right old prick, and I hated every minute I was hurting you. I hope you'll understand why I had to do it after you hear the story."
Sirius took Marlene's hand and she smiled at him, saying in one look that she was sorry and she loved him more than anything. He squeezed her hand, and everyone settled down around the room to listen to Marlene's story:
"It was about a month and a half ago, that Professor Dumbledore showed up at my house. Sirius and I had just quarreled again, and somehow Dumbledore knew everything. He sat me down and told me about the Order of the Phoenix, a secret organization he was putting together to oppose Voldemort. He invited me to join, but he told me that I couldn't tell any of you, because it would put all of us in danger. You would be asked to join later, when you were needed.
"I was confused as to why I was the first one of us asked to join. I'm not the smartest, the quickest, or the best dueler, but Dumbledore said that I was perfect for the job they wanted me to do. I was supposed to be a spy, to keep watch over the suspected Death Eater activities, especially those of the recently graduated Hogwarts student, Adam Becker.
"I knew Adam was still obsessed with Lily, so I wondered why Dumbledore hadn't picked her. But I realized I didn't even have to ask that question because I already knew the answer. Lily would be in far too much trouble as a muggleborn among the ranks of Death Eaters. Plus, she and James were finally happy together, and Dumbledore wouldn't want to take away that happiness. Sirius and I were already having problems, but I knew he would take me back as soon as I asked.
"The first time I 'ran into' Adam, my heart was pounding. I was so nervous about making a mistake, but thankfully he just thought that his presence was flustering me. Dumbledore had planned the meeting perfectly; Adam asked me to have lunch with him and I was in.
"The thing is, I didn't only have to convince Adam I was crazy about him, I had to convince everyone else, my best friends, my boyfriend, even my own parents. It was hard to lie to you, and you were all suspicious at first, but after relentlessly defending him, you finally gave in. But the hardest part was when James locked me in the shed with Sirius. I had to lie through my teeth, and the only reason I could do it was because I knew that somehow I was doing the right thing. I was helping the Order find out what was going on in the ranks of Death Eaters.
"But then we fought, all of the girls against me. I saw the hurt in Lily's eyes, and it took everything I had to not break down and explain myself right then. I was actually relieved when James kicked me out of the house, because it would be easier to do my job without looking at Lily and Sirius and knowing that they were hurting because of my actions.
"I stayed with Dorcas for a while, but even that got to be too difficult. She confronted me about my sneaking out every night and that was my excuse to leave. I had to move in with Adam now, or it would grow suspicious. When I got there, it hit me for the first time that he was a Death Eater. That someone I had gone to school with was actually joining the ranks of this horrible bunch of killers. That very first night there, I witnessed a Death Eater initiation. They would not tell me the names of the initiates, but I was allowed to watch the ceremony. Voldemort himself branded the Dark Mark into their skin. All three of the initiates tried to hold in their screams as the Mark came to life for the first time, but it was impossible. Adam told me later that it was the most excruciating pain he had ever felt in his life, but that it would all be worth it in the end.
"A day or two later, in the middle of a meeting of Death Eaters planning a raid on some poor muggleborn's house, the doorbell rang. I went to answer the door, and my heart stopped when I saw Lily standing there. I knew that He wanted to meet her; Voldemort himself had expressed an interest in the talented muggleborn witch. So, hoping that she would go to Dumbledore, who would explain everything, I whispered that Adam was a Death Eater.
"Thankfully, the Order planned their own raid that night, for the middle of a huge Death Eater meeting that Adam would be hosting. The Aurors and Order members poured into the house and the Death Eaters were taken completely by surprise. One of the first ones in stunned me so that it wouldn't look like I was on their side. Everything had to be believable. They didn't actually catch anyone, but they know who to look for now.
Sirius looked concerned, "So what makes Dumbledore think they aren't going to come after you now? I know for a fact that Voldemort doesn't like deserters."
"The Order put my family in a safe house, just in case." Marlene replied. "I'm going to stay here for the rest of the summer. It'll look like I'm being held here against my will after being kicked out earlier in the summer."
"Sorry about that, by the way." James muttered. "How was I supposed to know you were just acting like a complete prat instead of actually becoming one?"
"I, for one, am relieved to know that our Marlene never changed." Dorcas grinned widely, giving her friend a fond wink, "I thought something fishy was going on when she suddenly spazzed after I'd known her my whole life."
Marlene laughed, "I'm glad you had faith in me Dorcas."
Suddenly, a thought occurred to Sirius, "Erm, Marlene?"
"Yeah?" Marlene suddenly sounded apprehensive.
"You had to pretend you were dating Becker."
"I don't want to talk about that part right now, Sirius." Marlene closed her eyes and turned her face away.
Lily's face fell, because she knew exactly what Marlene had gone through to help the Order. It was something she had gone through as well, only she didn't have the comfort of knowing it was somehow helping. Suddenly, Lily was standing up and saying, "What I want to know is why Dumbledore hasn't asked us to join the Order yet!"
The other friends all popped to their feet as well, throwing in their bits and pieces on the subject and then they were heading downstairs to demand that Dumbledore let them into the Order that very minute. Lily fell into step with Marlene, who was trailing at the back by herself as Sirius was leading the way downstairs.
"Thanks, Lil." Marlene wiped her eyes quickly, before anyone else could see that she was crying.
Lily just smiled and winked, "All I did was state my opinion on the subject."
Marlene smiled back, "When I'm ready to talk?"
"And not a second sooner." Lily nodded in reply, before leaving Marlene with Mrs. Potter and joining the others clustered around Dumbledore who were currently demanding passage into the Order of the Phoenix.
"I'll take all of you into the Order, of course." Dumbledore was saying.
"When?" Sirius asked.
"Saturday night is our next meeting. I'll come fetch you for the meeting myself. Be here ready to go by six-thirty." Dumbledore peered over his half-moon spectacles. "Any more questions?"
Everyone shook their heads, but Remus suddenly spoke up, "Why did you make Prongs Head Boy?"
"Honestly?" Dumbledore laughed, "I didn't think that Ms. Evans would see that they were perfect for each other until he was in a position of authority that he would live up to."
Lily blushed and James wrapped his arm around her waist, "Now that she has, you can give the position to Moony."
"I am afraid not, Mr. Potter." Dumbledore smiled again, "Sadly, you are stuck as Head Boy, in part because it would put Mr. Lupin in danger if someone on the wrong side of things figured out why their Head Boy kept disappearing during the month."
James paled slightly, "I hadn't thought about Moony being in danger because of his furry little problem."
"There are those on both sides who would wish him harm if they knew." Dumbledore glanced at his wrist, "Oh dear, is that the time? I must be off. I shall see you on Saturday, six thirty sharp. And thanks again for the tea, Henrietta."
"Anytime Albus," Mrs. Potter closed the kitchen door behind Dumbledore and turned to her flock of teenagers. "Now, I think that all this excitement has made you lot hungry for a big brunch and then a quiet afternoon of movies."
The Gryffindors agreed and sat down at the table where Mrs. Potter had laid out a huge brunch, not one of them ever letting Marlene out of their sight.
Ah! I just finished the last chapter (two chapters and an epilogue left!) and I hope it's good, but it made me cry to write it. This story has been part of my life for so long... and so have all of you. I thank each and every one of you, from the loyal reviewers, to those that added it to a C2 or favorite, to those that placed it on alert or check regularly for an update, to those that silently and loyally read each chapter. If it weren't for you, I literaly wouldn't keep doing this. I love you all!
Love From,
MotherCrumpet