Hey everyone! Sorry it took so long, new chapter really soon, I promise! Please review! -Collin

CHAPTER 2

THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix were no longer at Grimmauld Place, which had been turned into an open historical site giving tours to Muggles twice a day; nor were they at the Burrow, too dangerous a location now that that address was well-known too. Instead, Rose found herself Apparating into Hogsmeade the night after the gala and trekking through the humid summer air to the Shrieking Shack, which was for once warm and glowing with the candlelight inside. Scorpius was close behind, and when they opened the doors they were met with a warm welcome; practically everyone in the Weasley-Potter clan was present, as well as Neville, Luna and the rest of the Longbottoms; a good representation of the Hogwarts resistance from the war, including Professor McGonagall and Devon Goyle; and sitting in a corner of the room, keeping mostly to themselves, Draco and Astoria Malfoy.

"Rose, brilliant," Uncle Harry said, breaking away from the group standing in the front, Aunt Ginny, Rose's parents and Neville and Luna. "We're just waiting on Hugo, then."

"Hugo's coming?" Rose exclaimed, surprised. Just as she did, a loud crack announced her brother as he popped back into existence in the middle of the staircase and took a rough landing on the hardwood steps.

"Hi everyone!" he said, breathless, as he rushed down to the ground floor, long hair everywhere and swimming in a uni jumper.

"Hugo! You could've Splinched! What've I told you about Apparating into crowded buildings?" Rose's mother chided, while hugging him anyway.

"Oh, come on, Mum, I knew no one was going to be on the 15th stair. The odds of that… anyway. Hi all!"

"How's Cambridge?" Scorpius asked, greeting him with some kind of masculine half-hug Rose didn't understand.

Hugo made a face. "It's fine. Can't wait to be done, I did the summer term so I could be out by Christmas- I'm signing up for the Scamander Reserve trip to Madagascar. They've got Diricawls there and a bunch of other creatures."

"Lysander's on that, I think, cool."

"Alright everyone, let's get started," Uncle Harry said, and the room fell quiet surprisingly quickly. The faces Rose could see all looked solemn, and she knew what the first issue to be addressed would be.

"It's not true," James blurted out, and Aunt Ginny flinched as all eyes turned to him. "I mean, we saw it. Al's gone. No one could've survived that bridge."

"Even if someone intentionally took him out of there?" Neville asked, clearly trying to be as gentle as possible. "I agree that a seventh year student couldn't have survived that, but someone like Podmore…?"

"Rose and Malfoy saw it," James said, turning to them, and suddenly the entire Order was looking at them.

She had hoped this wouldn't be the way this meeting went, but it didn't surprise her. With an uncomfortable look toward Scorpius, she said, "Yeah. James is right, I think."

"You don't look convinced, Rose," Devon said, frowning.

She sighed. "Well, there was a lot going on at the time, with everything with the-" Her mother's eyes widened and she realized a little too late what she was saying. "The war. With Godric's Hollow and Nott looking for the Hallows, there was a lot of powerful magic that wasn't exactly predictable so I just don't feel like we can say that we know exactly what happened."

"Al's dead, Rose," James said.

"James!" his mother exclaimed.

"No, Mum, seriously. This is some stupid tactic by some stupider Dark wizard who thinks they can get our attention by using Al to get to us."

"Well, it worked," Hugo muttered, decidedly more withdrawn now.

James, clearly upset, turned back toward Rose and said, "We all saw him die. I know that's awful, and I've spent a long time letting it ruin my life, but I'm done with that and for your own sake you should be too."

"Alright, mate, back off," Scorpius interjected, subtly stepping forward, and James tried to stand before Alice pulled him back down.

"Seriously, mate, stay out of this, just because you're going to sneak into this family doesn't mean you get to tell me how to handle this."

Rose felt herself freeze, and Alice, Scorpius, and finally James did too as he realized what he'd said. "What?" Hugo asked, staring at their mother, who had clearly put things together; her hands had flown up to cover her mouth, and she was peeking rather fearfully over at Rose's dad as he worked it out too.

"Hold on," he said, slowly standing, "you can't possibly mean-"

"Scorpius?" Rose asked, or more like pleaded, and looking wildly uncomfortable, her fiance cleared his throat.

"Er, yes, we're- we're engaged."

Scorpius's mother, in the resulting commotion, was the first to fly up toward their spot by the door and hug Rose fiercely, followed by her own mother, and a few other cousins, while she tried to see through the rest of the Order to her rather shell-shocked father sitting alone by the stairs. The next few minutes passed in a blur- "Have you worked out a date yet?" - "You're not going to make the groomsmen wear actual dress robes, are you, Scorpius?" - "Oh, you should definitely go to Syne's Magical Merriments for the cake, we used them for Teddy and me and-"-Rose managed to see Uncle Harry going over to Professor McGonagall, and returning with a newly Conjured glass of whisky that he handed to her father- "Congratulations, it's been years-" "The reception won't be Unplottable right, because I'm sure my dad would-"

"Can we get back to talking about the gala?" Rose finally exclaimed, surprising a very excited Emma Dursley right in front of her and quieting the room again. "I just- we can talk about this later, can't we?"

"Of course," Uncle Harry said, seeming just as keen to move on as she was. "Professor. Just in case this is related, I'm going to post some Aurors at Hogwarts once the term starts."

"I imagine that would put parents' minds at ease," McGonagall said, nodding. "Neville and I will keep a closer eye on the students as well. There are a few who I would think might attempt to circumvent your help, Potter."

"None so bad as us, though, right, Professor?" James asked, laughing. How quickly he bounced back from anger, Rose would never understand.

McGonagall looked at him sternly, but she seemed amused- deep down. "No, Mr. Potter, I'd wager not."

"That's all well and good, but we should be doing something now," Teddy Lupin said.

"I agree. There hasn't been much extremist activity since the war, but this could spark more incidents," Rose's mother said.

"A speech might do something, right?" Rose's father asked. "Show of force, eh, Harry?"

"If I could interject." The quiet, dignified and rather commanding voice of Draco Malfoy carried over the rest of the room for the first time that night. "Responding publicly beyond the Minister's condemnation last night would likely only make everything worse."

"Might upset your friends, then, Malfoy?" Rose's dad quipped. Rose turned to Scorpius and winced. Her father had regressed right back into school days at the news of their engagement, just like she'd feared.

Draco looked annoyed, but was keeping his wits about him. "Ron, I know you understand that I've stayed in my social circle and informed on the pureblood crowd's uneasy return to normalcy for years now, at great personal risk, to help the Order, don't you?"

"Sure," he huffed.

"Good, then. In my opinion," he continued, to the larger group but mostly to Rose's mother and the Potters, "the purists won't agree with something like attacking the Ministry gala at first. But if it's compared to a real atrocity like the '94 World Cup or the Millennium Bridge, then they'll start to sympathize. Our side has to play this close to the chest."

"Sounds like doing nothing to me," James muttered.

"For now, yes, I think we should."

"We," Rose heard her cousin scoff with disbelief, but he didn't argue any more.

"I think Draco's right," Rose's mother said, further infuriating her father, though he stayed quiet. "We should investigate, and protect Wizarding areas, but otherwise let's wait. As for Albus…" She glanced at Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny as she said quietly, "Maybe best to let that lie, too, for now."

"Are we done here, then?" Rose started at the voice; she hadn't even known Lucy was here, but there she was, sitting in one of the dining room chairs, looking ready to go into labor at any moment.

"Actually, Lucy, you might be the one of us who can do something," Uncle Harry said. "I bet the Union saying something wouldn't be anything your lot wouldn't expect, right, Draco?"

"I suppose not," he sighed.

"Brilliant. So someone can get what we think about it out there, and maybe people will come to you if they see or hear anything. And do you know anyone in the prime minister's office?"

"Yeah, Fabian's-"

"Great. That, too, the Muggles already know but let them know the Order's looking at it. Alright, everyone?" Murmurs of assent and Uncle Harry nodded. "Okay. Thanks for coming."

Rose was hoping they'd be able to slip out, but no- her parents were there already, with her mother seeming to be watching her father incredibly closely. "Well, congratulations, both of you," her mother said, smiling a little too widely. "Of course, you're very young, but so were we, right, Ron?"

"What? Oh, er, yeah. Congrats."

"You're not mad?" she asked, feeling just as awkward as when they'd found out about the whole thing when she was sixteen.

"No, darling, of course not," her mother said, a little too emphatically. "I'm only sorry we found out this way."

"Oh, yeah," she said, looking guiltily over at Scorpius, "we just- it's really new, just a week or two."

"If it makes you feel better, Hermione, they hadn't told us either." And Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy were suddenly right at her father's side, and he visibly winced at the sound of Draco's voice. Leaning over to clasp Rose's shoulder, Draco said, "Congratulations."

"Thanks," she said, still hearing her voice squeak the way it always did when she spoke to him.

"We'll have to have you two over to the Manor for- oh, there's so much to do! And of course, she'll have to-" Astoria glanced at Draco, who'd somehow gone a shade paler than usual.

"What?" she asked, starting to feel even more uneasy.

"Well, it's rather a- coming out party, I suppose."

"Excuse me," her father said, rather shortly, and disappeared into the house. Rose winced again.

"Are you sure Rose has to do all that, Mum? I mean, it's not like I'm-"

"Well, love, it's just that your father is still, I mean you heard, we're still attending all the functions as a matter of, you know, staying in, as it were. If you were engaged and we didn't go through all the usual-"

"Fine," he muttered, and his mother smiled graciously at a very confused Rose.

"We'll have you two up for supper on Friday next week and Rose, you can pick out some of the family gems and we'll talk then. Oh, the emeralds would look so lovely with your hair!"

"That- sounds great, Mrs. Malfoy, thank you."

"Astoria, please," she said, for the first time since they were very small. The Malfoys glided away and Rose's mother looked at her, clearly amused.

"What?" she said, self-conscious.

"Nothing," she said. "It's a little funny to me that my only daughter will be going to pureblood balls. Time is an odd thing sometimes."

"Mum," Rose groaned, as soon as she was sure she was joking.

"You can come to the Burrow for dinner, too," she said, still giggling. "We don't have any emeralds, of course, but-"

"Mum!"

"See you later, sweetheart. I have to find your idiot father."

Just as her mother left, and Rose and Scorpius were about to, she felt another hand on her arm, and turned around fully expecting to tell them to shove off, but it was Lucy, and she looked much more serious than before.

"What is it?" Rose asked, alarmed.

"Don't say anything too loud and don't look freaked out," Lucy said. "But there's something going on, it's been going on actually, I was going to wait until you were working for us but obviously it can't wait now."

"Why didn't you say something in the meeting?" Rose asked, trying to keep her face neutral.

"Sorry," Lucy said. "Don't trust the Order. It's something in America, and I'm sure this is related. We'll talk. Come to Wizard's Row, next week. Let's make it Friday, after your pureblood dinner." Lucy grinned and clapped Rose on the shoulder, leaving her even more confused. "Congratulations!"