Author's Note: I'm sure I'm not the only one reviving years-old stories...but I'm going to at least try to get out a bit during this quarantine.
I arrived at the location before the camp did, apparating to a landmark given to me by Leticia and then transforming myself into a fox with my pouch around my neck as per usual. Orienting myself per the crooked stone stele and the sound of a nearby river, I wandered until I found the proposed campsite above a valley but below the tree-line of the mountain I was climbing. I did not envy the witches, wizards, and perhaps sympathetic muggles, that would be making the climb on two feet instead of four.
Before I had much time to let depression sink in, a distant bang announced the arrival of the first witch or wizard - one of the scouts. I waited patiently in the largest clearing so I would be easy to spot. More and more bangs, in sets of two or three, sounded. I tried to count, but at some point I lost track. Not that it mattered, since anyone side-along apparating would throw off my count.
My patience frayed rather quickly as I listened to the poor people climb up the mountain. I did want to help them, but I absolutely could not be seen as Genre. Not here, where I couldn't know in advance who would see me and how much they could put together.
To my great surprise, the first scout that cleared the trees to where I waited was familiar. So familiar, in fact, that my first reaction was to open my mouth and greet her. Instead, a squeaky sounding yip came out of my mouth. Right, I chastised myself. Foxes don't speak.
The witch eyed me suspiciously. Where once she had been kind of cute and round, now she looked lean and hard. Her hair had been chopped short, nothing more than fuzz atop her head now. Honestly, if it hadn't been for the Gryffindor scarf around her neck, I never would have recognized Penelope to begin with.
"Problem?" a voice muttered, entering the clearing behind her. More and more people began filling in the gaps of the trees.
"I don't know," Penelope told the man who stepped up to stand beside her now. Another familiar face, though like Penelope he didn't know it: John Abbott.
I dropped my jaw in a fox-grin and tried to thump my tail in the dirt to express good will (even if he was a jerk about using me to get at Lily over a year ago).
"Someone mentioned a fox, back when," John said to Penelope, though he kept his wand in his hand. "I think he's on our side."
He? Well, that was insulting. Sort of.
"What do you want?" Penelope demanded.
I struggled to drag my pouch over my ears, listening to the clamor of voices. No one stepped forward to help me. When I finally had the pouch on the ground in front of me, I dug at it to spread the drawstrings. Penelope would have stepped forward then, but I flattened my ears at her. I didn't want her to reach in and find my wand. There was a chance, though slight, that she would recognize it.
I dug out one foe glass, and then another and another. When three mirrors gleamed in the dirt in front of me, I scooped my pouch up into my mouth and took two steps back to plant my arse firmly back on the ground. Once again, I thumped my tail, trying to show them that they could approach my offering now. John Abbott stooped down, peering at them with sharp blue eyes.
"Mirrors?" Penelope murmured.
John picked one up, turning it over in his hands. I waited for the realization to strike him; he was a Ravenclaw after all, and they tended to collect all sorts of random scraps of information. Surely he would understand.
"Foe glass?" John asked me, his voice tightening in barely concealed excitement.
I nodded my head as best I could. Then, I cast my eyes around hopefully. The other refugees were waiting for the okay to set up camp. When Penelope raised an open hand in the air, they began bustling around efficiently. All around me, tents went up and campfires were started.
"Are you staying?" Penelope asked tightly. She didn't want me here, I realized, foe glass or no. How odd that a girl who had been so flighty and rude to me once was now so protective of a group of refugees. I shook my head from side to side. Nowhere did I see my grandmother. I would not be staying.
With one last wag of my tail, I started trotting away.
"Thank you," John called after me.
As far as diversions go, delivering the foe glass to the refugee camp was a good one. For that amount of time I wasn't worrying about Remus's decision to infiltrate a camp of dangerous werewolves. Especially since one of those werewolves was the one who had attacked him as a child.
The second camp held familiar faces as well, though none so familiar as Penelope and John. I hoped, desperately hoped, that I would see my grandmother there. She wasn't. I would have to continue searching camp after camp (as I learned their locations) until I found her.
I went home and holed up in my room, trying not to let my bleaker emotions overwhelm me.
We made it to one more Order meeting before Remus had to leave. The meeting was, in fact, to fill Remus in. This time, Pavi was sent to retrieve the boys instead of Lily and me. Jack arrived to escort the two of us instead.
"When will we learn the location so we can apparate ourselves?" Lily asked. "Not to rush you, or anything, it just seems like it could be a hassle to always have to track us down."
"Track you down?" Jack asked with an infectious grin. "You were right where Pavi said you'd be!"
I grinned sheepishly at Lily. For some reason, it hadn't occurred to me to ask Pavi why he wanted to know what my plans were for the night. Some spy I was shaping up to be.
"Och, now," Jack said, laughing at my expression. "Lasses, be fair. If you go on your own I'll be escorting grumpy wizards instead of pretty lasses."
"Would it help if we were grumpy?" I asked with the most deadpan expression I could manage. Lily ruined it with a giggle. Right, fair enough, I could be pretty good at angst but I wasn't sure how many times I'd honestly achieved grumpiness.
Jack took our hands into the crooks of his arms and spun. We ended up in the same room as before, with the odd chandelier and carved relief on the door.
"Off we go," Jack said with a wink to Pavi who was waiting with his arms crossed. The four boys were quivering like eager puppies, obviously chomping at the bit to get past the door. I saluted my errant boyfriend, stifling my own giggle as Jack whisked Lily and I through the door and into the main meeting hall.
There were even more people here than last time. I saw McGonagall's emerald robes, though they were clear across the room. And Aloys found his way to us, clapping Jack warmly on the shoulder. Tofty was back, chattering away with a young witch who had more scars and tattoos than I could count. I also recognized Kingsley, the young auror who had guarded Dumbledore's office more than once. Two wizards I searched for were not there: Funke and Dumbledore. Funke must still be being watched, and Dumbledore was probably busy with running the entire universe or something. I did see a familiar wrinkled form and had to stop myself from throwing myself at the old man to hug him.
"McArthur!" I said. "Hi! I wanted to say-"
"Slow down," he said with such a sour expression I nearly laughed. His drawn features looked so like a thestral's face when he glowered like that. "Better," he said when I was silent. He looked over my companions, nodding regally at Lily. He did not look very impressed by Jack, nor did he acknowledge Aloys before turning back to me.
"See me after the meeting. I have something for you."
With that, he toddled off into the crowd. I would have followed to say thank you - really, that was all I wanted to tell him. He saved all those wands for me. Hadn't I cried in gratitude over that? But Aloys hand on my elbow stopped me from following the crotchety old fellow.
"You know many people," Aloys said in a tone that gave nothing away.
"What?" I said in surprise, twisting my face to look at him. "No, I know him from work."
"She does," Lily said over me. "It's part of her bumbling charm." I elbowed Lily who elbowed me right back, but Aloys raised eyebrow stopped us from any more childish displays of affection.
The meeting started. Last time, we'd been kept in the back room for this part of the meeting, so we were both keenly interested. One by one, wizards and witches around the room stood or stepped forward to make their report. A list of names was repeated solemnly around the room. Names of those who had been lost since the last meeting only two weeks ago. How had so many people died or gone missing without me hearing about any of them?
"What of everyone on the run?" Aloys asked at some point. "Our contact has lost touch with three of the camps."
Ice dripped down my spine. Which three camps?
"Our contact's partner was captured," a dowdy woman with a feathered hat told the room. "Leticia thought it prudent to lose contact lest they try to get information from her."
"When?" I demanded.
Faces turned to me. Lily stepped up to stand beside me, her hand wrapping around me. I clenched it tightly. Across the room, I noticed the door cracking open. Pavi was getting ready to lead the boys in, now that the more secret information had been discussed, such as the location of moles and who was reporting information.
"When?" the woman asked. "Well, more than a week ago, I suppose. I went to their shop and it was empty. I had to track Leticia down at a friend's house."
"Were you followed back?" someone demanded in an urgent voice.
"Dear," the woman tutted, "they lived in a muggle town. I have lived as a muggle since I was of age. They didn't think me of any interest. In fact, Leticia and I spent the entire time looking at pictures of my cats so her 'guests' thought we discussed nothing more interesting than where each of my babies came from."
That, I thought with something akin to worship, was what I wanted to be able to do. To get right under someone's nose and walk away with the information they were seeking.
"I've been in contact with two groups since Leticia and Gabby were found out," I announced. "If anyone knows anything to help me find the others, I'll start keeping my eye on them."
The boys filed into the room behind Pavi now, looking around with great interest.
"And what of the Death Eater meetings you were going to spy on?" Tofty asked. "Can you do that also?"
"She can," Lily said firmly. "We'll come up with a schedule to make sure everything is managed."
Tofty's lips twitched in a quick smile. Of course Lily would come up with a schedule for me. She'd probably even color code it.
"Plus," I added, "I'll have help." I pointed to Peter across the room. He started, but then a slight grin spread across his face.
"Probably a good time," Pavi said loudly, "to say 'meet the new recruits.' These are the kids Dumbledore told us about. For his special task."
Remus was pale and nervous looking, but he caught my eye and grinned, and suddenly his face was so fierce and mischievous that I almost felt bad for the werewolves. They wouldn't know what hit them.
The Marauders were scrutinized just as thoroughly as Lily and I had been a couple weeks prior. Aloys pulled me aside and passed me a note written in code. I smiled up into his face, remembering back to when I'd first started making deliveries and I'd had to translate the messages for him. He had come such a long way. Actually, I had too, come to think of it.
After a long (loud) and drawn-out discussion over what Remus would do, and how we would know it was working (we wouldn't, really), the conversation turned to other matters.
I glanced at the message before shoving it into my pocket. He had the location and time for the Death Eater recruitment meeting in France, taking place in two night's time. Well, they'd have two extra guests they didn't know about. Seeing McArthur approach me, my friends made themselves scarce. I saw Lily go and start a conversation with the muggle woman with all the cats.
"Genre," McArthur croaked at me. He moved his cane to his other hand and started rustling through all his pockets. Finally, he pulled something out. I gasped, unable to stop myself.
"The wand," I said in awe, taking the proferred gift with trembling fingers. "How did you get it?"
The moonstone shimmered faintly in the light. Heat spread through my fingers from the wand. It recognized me.
"Found the fool carrying it," McArthur cackled. "He stopped by Ollivander's shop in Diagon Alley. Couldn't figure out why the wand wasn't working for him."
"What happened?" I asked, clutching the wand to my bosom. The faint pulse of interest it was sending through my fingers felt comfortable and familiar, the way it had felt when Octavius critiqued my woodwork and showed me how to fix it.
"I happened," the little old man said so fiercely I nearly winced. "That fool won't be holding another wand anytime soon. Not unless he learns to grow hands back."
I gasped again. Oh, Merlin. McArthur was so much more terrifying than I had realized.
While Pavi and Jack had introduced Lily and I around at our first meeting, now that people were seeing us for a second time they seemed much more inclined to speak with us. Twice, people pressed scraps of paper into my hands. When I spared a moment to glance at them, they were locations. People were giving me the locations to make sure the camps were safe.
It was a long night, mostly because Lily and I wanted to wait for the boys, but they were entrenched in a knot of Order members talking about strategies that surely would have gone right over my head. Maybe I was getting braver as I aged, but battles were never going to be my forte. Peter did wander over, after a while, having been squeezed from the circle at some point.
"Peter," I said with a weary smile, slumped at a table while I watched Lily and Jack argue halfway across the room about whether we should be trusted with the location of this meeting house. "Good news, we've got our first job."
My NEWT grades came in that week. I didn't bother to open them, though Lily did. She looked pleased on my behalf, but per my request didn't tell me exactly what I got. I don't know why I so stringently didn't want to know - maybe it was just the misplaced feeling that I'd already lost so many of my lifelines from Hogwarts. The NEWT scores were just another painful reminder that now we all had to stand on our own.
Peter and I met that Tuesday at the wand shop.
"How's it going?" I asked him, eying Pavi who was wiping my work table clean with one eye on Peter. Pavi never cleaned my area, so I couldn't imagine what had him in a tizzy. Peter was easily the least threatening person I'd ever met. No, I realized rather suddenly, Peter had terrified me that last night at Hogwarts. But everyone was entitled to a meltdown once in a while.
"Fine," Peter answered. His watery gaze flickered to Pavi. Obviously he was as bothered by the tattooed behemoth as Pavi was by him.
Sensing that the tension would not be eased by an introduction, especially since they knew each other already, I simply held out my hand to Peter and asked, "Ready?"
He took my hand limply. I spun us and apparated. One good thing was coming from all of my extracurriculars (could I still call them that, I wondered, now that I was out of school?) was that I was becoming an expert apparater. I didn't even get the wave of butterflies anymore, or that little bit of anxiety that I would splinch or end up in the wrong place.
It was lucky that Aloys was so good at describing places; Peter and I ended up exactly beside the split pine and holly bush. I had only expected to make it in the general region of the forest.
"Stash your wand," I told Peter, burying my pouch beneath the holly bush.
"Can't you just wear the pouch around your neck?" he asked, watching my hands rearrange pine needles.
"In a city, maybe," I answered, "but out here? If someone sees a fox with a pouch around their neck they're going to know it's not a real fox."
"Oh."
"Our priority is to memorize names, if they're used, and faces for any of the incomers," I instructed Peter. "We need to be able to describe them later. Also, if anyone looks extra nervous or excited or upset, we should pay attention to that, also. If we have to split up, I'll meet you at James's place, alright?"
He nodded. His eyes were weirdly glittery now, excited. Maybe that's what I'd looked like the first time I went on a mission.
I wondered vaguely which of us was more uncomfortable right now. At Hogwarts we'd moved past this awkwardness, but everything seemed to have changed since we'd last crept around together.
"Right," I cleared my throat, "let's get ready. Can you climb on my back once we've changed? I'll get us there and then we split up."
"Okay," Peter agreed.
Faster than I could blink, a gray rat peered up at me from the ground.
"Show-off," I muttered, and then began my own transfiguration. Honestly, he was about twice as fast as me at changing from human to animal.
I shook my fur out, and then stretched languidly. Peter scrambled up my fur, his little hand-like paws pulling at me until he was settled between my shoulder blades. Straightening up, I took off at a steady trot. Ars-en-Re was a small island from what Aloys had explained to me, and mostly wild. Because it was made of so many small villages, it was easy to control access and settlements; it was one of the few places in France that was nearly all magic.
An early-rising owl hooted at us from the trees. Peter pressed closer to me, but I just showed my teeth at the owl. Foxes may be small, I told it with my snarl, but we're not easy prey. The owl flapped heavily away from us.
By the time Peter and I reached the forest edge, it was dark outside. A small prick of light flickered ahead. Someone had lit the tip of their wand up to light their way. How considerate of them, I thought with a smile that sent my tongue hanging out the side of my mouth. I tracked easily through the woods, silent and fast as I followed the stranger to the meeting place. Aloys had told us approximately where he thought it would be, but it didn't hurt to have a guide.
We arrived at the clearing before most of the other wizards and witches, thanks to our unwitting guide. Peter slipped from my fur, splitting off to a tree to the left. I crept to the right, making sure I was nowhere near a human-sized path. I would hate for one of them to stumble on me from behind.
Somehow in the past months, I'd forgotten how horrible the other meeting was. I'd forgotten the hate-filled speech and rhetoric. Even if I couldn't understand everything that was being said, the tone was enough to give it away. I'd even forgotten the sounds of stifled screams as marks were burned into people's arms. After tonight, I would never forget it again.
Still, I didn't let the pain and horror of the night deter me. I had a job to do.
Peter crept back to me at some point during the night, sniffing the air cautiously to be sure it was me before creeping back to my black forepaw and gripping the fur. I lowered myself so he could clamber back up on my back. As the witches and wizards started apparating away, I took Peter and I back to our wands at the split pine and the holly bush.