Chapter-6: Being Helpful
November 1975
Marlene P.O.V
Sitting in the 'room of requirement' on a Friday was not on my to-do list. My Fridays were always dedicated to procrastination, time wasting and fun. Mainly fun. Hence, sitting in this fancy and cool room was not on my to-do list. It wasn't that I didn't know about the room of requirement, but since I had already explored it years ago with Sirius, I was bored. Bored was definitely off the list.
"When can we get out of here, Lily?" Julie asked, fidgeting with her jacket sleeves. She was completely hyperactive, unable to stay still for too long but she could concentrate if it was something that interested her. Sitting in a room did not interest anyone, except Lily, and possibly Alice. And I was definitely eager to get out of there. Unfortunately, Lily had promised the marauders that we would be here.
Speaking of, the marauders seemed to have had their biggest fight ever. It would've been amusing if it didn't affect everyone else as well. They had fought over a week ago, after which Remus had invited us to this meeting, without the permission of the other boys, which didn't actually help with their fight. So, naturally, everyone who noticed that they were fighting hoped that there would be no halloween prank this year. But the boys, just to be contrary, had destroyed everyone's hope when they set up the halloween prank, which was super amusing.
They essentially dressed everyone as characters, like Muggles do when they celebrate the holiday. There was a theme as well – Slytherins were dressed as transformative and haunting characters (banshees, hags, werewolves, vampires, Frankenstein.), Ravenclaws were the lunatics, mad scientists and researchers (Mad Hatter, the Red Queen, some muggle scientists.), Hufflepuffs were the muggle princes and princesses that Lily had introduced everyone to (Cinderella, Ariel, Charming, a bunch of others whose names I didn't remember.), and Gryffindors were dressed as brave characters, at least I think so (Aslan, Pevensie siblings, Prince Caspian, a couple of hobbits, some elves and dwarves.). The best part of the entire prank was when Narcissa realised she had been turned into a banshee and she screamed, loudly! She was so loud, that she actually destroyed some of the windows, and Regulus (hilariously dressed as some two faced creature) had to stop her from screaming again!
The entire prank however didn't seem to calm the marauders from their massive fight. By now, even the Slytherins were giving them weird looks. And that was troubling, simply because the marauders were known as the designated protectors of Gryffindor. At this moment though, the marauders were nothing more than four kids in detention, and they would be for the rest of the term.
"Why're we waiting here, Lils? Answer us honestly." Tina said, looking at Lily seriously. She was often very serious, as compared to the rest of our year. "You have been pretty distant lately, and we want to know why."
I almost rolled my eyes and told her to speak for herself, when Lily sighed and tugged at the ends of her hair. She only did that when she was extremely worried or nervous, not even during exams. The only time I'd seen her do that was when her parents got into a car accident last year and her mother was in a coma. (Her mother was still alive, thankfully!) Obviously, Alice also noticed and pulled Lily into a hug.
"You can tell us, you know? It'll be alright!" Alice whispered, rubbing soothing circles on Lily's back. She was a natural worrier, but wonderful at taking care of us. And with Juliette and me in the same group, it was necessary to have someone to take care of us. Julie and I got into spectacular fights, with each other and together against somebody else, it didn't actually matter. At the end of it, Lily would shake her head in disapproval, Tina would roll her eyes and Alice would heal us (after giving us a wonderful lecture).
It took a couple of minutes, but Lily finally got herself under control. (None of us minded waiting, because if Lily was worried then we and everyone should be worried). She had always been a badass, this awesome red-head with a temper that never stood for any bullying. Which is the main reason Julie and I decided to befriend her. And now seemed to be no different than 4 years ago, when she was separated from her best friend (Severus Snape, and good riddance!), or 3 years ago, when she had the big fight with Potter and Pettigrew (it was horrible), or 2 years ago, when Petunia practically cursed her (and wow, was her sister bad! Even my brother, Nash, wouldn't go to such lengths!). Either ways, when she looked up, she was dead serious and completely set on whatever she had decided.
"Alright! I'll tell you all everything." She took a deep breath and let it out. "But I need you to swear that none of this will ever get out. You cannot, absolutely cannot tell anyone!"
I wasn't too sure about the swearing part of it, but most of me was curious. And while curiosity had always killed the cat, I wasn't just anybody. I wouldn't betray Lily or anyone here if my life depended on it. I caught Julie's eyes, and we grinned in sync, a similar grin that sent shivers down people's spine (at least that's what we've been told), and we nodded.
Similarly, Alice and Christina agreed to take this oath. (They were much less sceptical about the oath as well, but you know, each to their own and all). As suspected, Lily had us take an oath that would prevent us from informing anybody, in any way. And one that prevented us from betraying each other. Finally, she smiled sadly and removed a letter from her pocket. The letter was annotated almost completely, with detailed explanations in Lily's handwriting all across it. She had obviously had the time to do all this before she came to us. She's always been super prepared for everything before she even thought about the fact that i'guess what? I have friends who can help me!'/i She's always been independent. Obviously, Julie had also come to the same conclusion as me if the fond grin on her face was anything to go by. (Some people said we were like twins - exactly the same mentally).
Lily passed the letter to Alice, who was conveniently the closest to her. "Go ahead and read it. It'll answer most of your questions."
Lord Voldemort P.O.V
Lord Voldemort was worried. Usually, Lord Voldemort wouldn't feel an emotion as useless and helpless as 'worry', but this wasn't usual. It had been weeks since Lord Voldemort's friendly visit to the Russian village, (which had coincidentally not survived the encounter), and still Lord Voldemort had no word from Lord Voldemort's followers. After all, who else would send a message this ingenious? Now, the question is, who precisely got this message, and who has the information that Lord Voldemort needs?
Obviously, the best person to send this message to, would be someone at Hogwarts, simply because of the number of magical accidents that occurred at Hogwarts. It would be easy to disguise the fact that someone was actually getting knowledge of the future somehow, by blaming spell damage and no one would ever suspect a random owl! But which of Lord Voldemort's followers, at Hogwarts would Lord Voldemort have sent the information to? Perhaps Lord Voldemort should ask the inner circle about their children and the brats' social circles?
May 11, 1998
Ginny P. O. V
"What precisely do you think you're doing?" Charlie asked Bill, as Bill moved towards the exit once more. I closed my eyes, waiting for the snapped response that would no doubt come from Bill. Not even mum tried to ask him that question anymore.
But it never came. Charlie had always been the closest to Bill, in the sense that Bill told Charlie about his own life rather than only listening to Charlie's (Bill knew everything about us, while we only knew the basics about him. He would kill for us, with no hesitation and it was proved at the Battle of Hogwarts.) When Bill turned around to actually explain his thoughts to Charlie, that's when I understood how deep their connection was. He wouldn't and hadn't done this for our mother but he was willing to do this for his brother (the only sibling who would question him).
"I'm doing what needs to be done, Char. This world isn't going to right itself miraculously. And I'm going to continue fighting, simply because it's ridiculous that everyone abandoned hope when a child, at the most a barely turned adult, died trying to do something fully grown and trained wizards and witches haven't been able to accomplish. So, I'm going to go out there to fight and save whoever I can save, protect those I can protect, because I remember the first war and the tentative peace. And I know how death eaters work better than anyone else here." Bill pauses for a second, and everyone else stated at him in shock.
I haven't seen him this calm or sure even once in the past few months, or years. He was suddenly the older brother that we all looked up to, the brother who took care of us when we didn't or couldn't go to our parents. He was the one person we trusted despite anything. And for a moment there, he wasn't the ruthless killer that he had been the past year.
Charlie opened his mouth, to protest no doubt (but what will mum do when she finds out he is gone as well? Her two eldest sons of with the dangerous jobs all over again! She'd go half mad with worry and grief, not to mention Ron and me.), but his protest was cut off by Bill. "You're going to stay here with the family and help Hermione and Luna as well, do you understand, little brother?"
Charlie couldn't refuse that, none of us could have refused such an order from Bill. And in the few seconds after that Bill had given me a small, sad smile and winked at Percy, and he was gone. The entrance to the bunker closed with the resounding thud.
The Marauders will definitely make an appearance in the next chapter.