Disclaimer: I still don't own any of J. K. Rowling's delightful imagination.
When Sirius noticed James and Lily sneaking into the back of the Weasleys' dining room, he grabbed Remus's quill, leaned across Remus to dip the quill in Remus's ink well, and began scrawling something on the parchment on which Remus had been taking notes for James and Lily. Upon seeing this, James sighed and began picking his way around people and chairs. He knew from ample experience what it looked like when Sirius wanted to pass notes.
What took so long? Should I expect a nephew soon? Sirius had written under Remus's neat, bullet-pointed list of Dumbledore's announcements.
James took the quill, leaned over Sirius, and managed to dip it in Remus's inkwell by stretching. Using Remus's inkwell despite inconvenient seating arrangements was another area in which James had a lot of experience. I wish, he wrote. Lily fell on the ice while carrying Molly's baby. Lily took the fall hard to shield the baby and fractured her elbow and dislocated her shoulder. Thank Merlin for adrenaline.
You fixed everything?
James simply glared at Sirius for daring to ask such a stupid question.
Right. Well. Here are Moony's notes.
James looked over the list. Then he stretched across Sirius again, refilled the quill with ink, and crossed out Sirius's question about a nephew and his own response. Having thus censured the paper, James handed it to Lily, who had followed him to where the Marauders were sitting.
The items on this list were, of course, important, but most of them seemed minor. Dumbledore would hardly call a meeting of the Order to announce that Mad-Eye Moody had succeeded in arresting several rank-and-file Death Eaters, Henry McKinnon was watching Nott Manor, and Augusta Longbottom's house was being monitored by Death Eater surveillance. Lily looked up from the parchment, momentarily relieved and then anxious; clearly, Dumbledore had not yet gotten to the point. She and James hadn't missed much, but what horrible event had necessitated the meeting?
"That's it for updates," said Dumbledore, and Lily had to wonder if he'd waited for her to be ready to hear about the point of the meeting, but then she chided herself for exaggerating her own importance. Surely the timing was coincidental.
"I've called this meeting to tell you that the overseer of the Aurors has been placed under the Imperious Curse by an unknown Death Eater. We suspect Yaxley, but that is immaterial. What matters is that those of you who are Aurors will now have much more trouble than before catching Death Eaters. You will be tied up with paperwork and training sessions. New restrictions will be placed on which spells you can use. You may be monitored or incapacitated by Imperioused partners. If you manage to capture anyone, he or she may well be convicted, for I believe the Wizengamot is still reasonably free from Voldemort's influence.
"Those of you who are Aurors, keep your jobs if you can help it. We need at least some in the force whom we can trust. However, this weakening of the Aurors underscores our need for fighters without ties to the Ministry. Many of you have already left your jobs in order to fight, and your efforts have been hugely instrumental in minimizing Voldemort's impact on England thus far. If more of you can join the ranks of the full-time fighters, please do so. As I have said before, the Order has resources. In fact, the recent death of Phyllis Abbot has left us with a bequest of unprecedented size, and we are now able to support even more fighters than before, though you will all need to live modestly. That being said, do not let financial concerns keep you from joining our ranks.
"Finally, to those of you in training to be Aurors, I have two words for you: Get out. The training curriculum is being rewritten as we speak, and soon it will be utterly useless. Take what you know, use what you've learned, but get out of the Ministry. You will be valuable additions to our ranks of fighters.
"I'd like to have a bit of a discussion with the current Hogwarts seventh years, who may be confused about where they fall in all of this. The rest of you may go, pending questions." Dumbledore surveyed the room for a few moments before nodding and dismissing the Order.
There was general milling about, and, to Lily's surprise, James stood. She made to get up, too, but he murmured, "No. I'm going to talk to Mum," so she let him go. By the time most of the graduated members of the Order had Disapparated, James had returned.
"Now, some of you must be wondering—quite logically—whether you should quit school to join the full-time fighters," Dumbledore said to the amassed teenagers. "The answer is no."
"But why not?" Sirius blurted. "The more the better, I say, and I don't see why we should bother with homework and essays when You-Know-Who is running around—"
Dumbledore inclined his head in Sirius's direction. "Quite right, Mister Black, and I expected you to raise that argument. My answer is simple: like the Auror curriculum, your school curriculum is being rewritten, but in rather the opposite way. Several of your professors have been kind enough to take my recommendation and incorporate aspects of Auror training into your lessons. I would hate to say any part of your education has been a waste of time, but the months between now and your graduation will be a crash course designed to prepare you as much as possible for what lies ahead—they will be as much the opposite of a waste of time as possible, and you would do well to keep up with them. Of course, you are all of age and may drop out of my school as you please, and I will welcome any of you as a fighter for the Order at any time, including today. However, I urge you to stay at Hogwarts and graduate with your class.
"I know many of you had planned on being Aurors after graduation, for reasons both moral and"—Dumbledore's gaze lit on James—"personal. I am sorry to stand in the way of your ambitions, but I hope you see that fighting for the Order is a much better alternative at present. Should we get out of this mess alive, any and all of you would make excellent Aurors—or Healers, or Gringotts bankers, or whatever you want to be. I will do my best to ensure that you all get the chance to retake your N.E.W.T.S., should you so desire, though I trust that you understand the importance of studying certain subjects now. Use the next four months well—I trust I need not say more.
"Do you have any questions?"
"Are there any professors who didn't rework their curricula to fit Auror standards?" asked Marlene.
Dumbledore pursed his lips. "Dear Professor Slughorn avows neutrality."
"Anyone else?" Marlene pushed.
"You had all dropped History of Magic, so I was spared the task of broaching to subject with Professor Binns."
The seventh years laughed.
"Any other questions?"
It seemed there were none.
"Very well. It is currently five o'clock in the afternoon. The school gates will close at nine tonight. Good day." Dumbledore Disapparated silently.
Everyone looked at each other. It was quiet for a long while.
Finally, Marlene said, "I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind dinner and a drink at The Three Broomsticks."
Sirius grinned. "I'm in."
Alice looked at Frank. "Why not?"
Lily noticed both Mary and James looking at her. "Um, yeah, sure."
"Great!" Peter squeaked.
Remus looked around the room. "Well, all right, then."
The group stood as one, and, as the noise of still-clumsy Disapparition filled the room, Lily thought of The Seventh Years, the book that Remus had lent her recently. Its main characters were forever sneaking off, partying, and generally being social. Lily didn't think she could ever live like that, but perhaps, today, she could at least experience a bit of that teenaged spontaneity.
A/N: Feedback is lovely!
