DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the content referenced/quoted. Warning for swearing.

...

The Order

If Sirius Black was a violent man, he thinks he might have killed Remus Lupin years ago. Perhaps after the Snivellus incident when he first blanked Em. Or maybe when she gave him back that copy of 'Emma', and Sirius had to watch him moon over it in dreadful silence every night for months on end.

His friend was an idiot, that much was certain. If he had a gal like Em who was so very clearly in love with him, he'd have married her before his mother could scream: "Sirius Orion Black!"

Not that he is the marrying kind, and nor is he in love with his best friend like Remus very clearly is. Em is a great gal, one of his bestest most trusted friends - but she had always been Remus' girl, even if Remus is too dumb to admit it.

Nearly eight years those two had been dancing around each other. It makes him want to lob his pint at Remus' head.

The desolate fool is lying across the bar counter, his forehead against the cool wood and his eyes shut.

"I'm an idiot," he says.

A colossal one, Sirius thinks quietly.

Aloud, he says, "How so?"

"I ran away from her," he moans. "I ran away from her before work had even started."

"Well, yes, Moony, that was quite idiotic." Sirius takes a sip from his pint.

"It was your fault."

He blinks, places his pint back on the bar, "My fault? How is your idiocy my fault?"

"She knows we're up to something," Moony says simply. "Your letter set off all her questions."

"Well I did say to you and James that we should just tell her what was happening."

"Yes, because telling the girl I love who has spent most of her life chasing after us that we're signing up to fight against a crazed dark wizard and his batshit followers is such a great idea."

Sirius sips from his pint, considering Remus' words, and then says, "So you're finally admitting you love her?"

Remus stiffens, eyes opening to stare at Sirius in horror, "I didn't say that."

"Yes, you did."

"I didn't."

"You quite clearly said 'the girl I love'," Sirius states, "and unless there's another five foot nothing Scottish muggle you've been mooning over for the last decade, I'm going to assume you're finally admitting you're in love with Em."

Remus squeezes his eyes shut and bangs his head off the bar.

The barman looks up from the other end of the counter with a concerned face, but Sirius quickly waves him off, mouthing 'girl problems'.

If he were any other bloke, Sirius reckons he would think Remus' inner-struggle over Em was ridiculous. But he's not any other bloke, and he knows exactly what Remus has been through over the last few years. Werewolf status aside, the fact that Em is a muggle in the middle of a war with a dark wizard who wants to enslave all muggles doesn't really help matters.

"Look, Moony," Sirius starts, "The L-word aside, you care for Em, right?"

Remus moans, which he takes as a form of agreement.

"You want to keep her safe, right?"

Another moan.

"Then you should be ok with telling her what's going on," he says. "Be honest with her, because Merlin knows, the girl is going to start chasing you all over the country if you don't. Which will just get her into even more trouble."

Remus opens one sorrowful eye to stare at his friend.

"It's hard."

"Why?"

Remus scrunches up his face, before mumbling his reply into the bar.

Sirius cocks a hand to his ear, "I'm sorry I missed that."

Remus mumbles again, as a grin tugs at Sirius' face.

"Nah didn't quite catch that, mate."

"She smells good!"

There's a bout of silence before Sirius' barking laughter erupts. A few nearby patrons look up at the sound. Remus scowls at him.

"She's so distracting, it's hard to get my words right."

Sirius claps him on the back with a joyful hoot.

"You've got it bad, mate."

"Fuck off."

Just as he's about to burst into more laughter, the pub door opens and a sodding wet Em steps into the room. Sirius stands up to wave at her. She grins and starts to push her way through the crowd towards them.

"Don't look now, but your girl is here."

"What?" Remus mutters.

"Em just arrived."

Remus flies up, his hand running through his mussed hair, the other surreptitiously rubbing his face clean - just in case.

She slows as she spots Remus. Her eyes become shuttered, although Sirius can tell there's a storm brewing in that head of hers.

"Withers!" He cries as she crosses the last few feet. He swings her up and into his arms until her feet are dangling inches from the ground.

"Black! Let go of me, you big brute!"

"But I've missed you so much, Withers!" He squeezes her tightly to him. His voice takes on a joking tone, but they both know he's speaking the truth.

She hmphs in his ear, before a sharp tiny elbow digs into his side. He squeals and lets her drop to her feet. Em stumbles, but Remus is quick to catch her elbow before she falls. They share a look before she nods in thanks, removing herself from Remus' personal space. Sirius watches this amused.

"Well Withers, what can I get you? The first drink is on me."

She hops up into the bar stool on his other side, avoiding looking at Remus.

"What I'd like is to know what the hell you lot have been up to sneaking around behind my back."

Sirius nudges Remus, "You were right, Moony, can't keep anything hidden from this one."

"Sirius, I'm about this close to punching you. You told me to be here, and now you have some explaining to do," she eyes both of the boys with a quiet stare. "Or are you going to hide things from me too?"

Remus winces at her tone and averts his eyes back to his pint. The barman sweeps over at that point and quickly places her order, before turning back to Sirius.

A moment later, the tall pint sits before her. She takes a sip and raises her eyebrow, "Well?"

"Look, Withers, it's not like we wanted to hide things from you, it's just…"

"That you decided to hide things from me anyway."

"Em, don't be like that."

"Like what, Sirius?" She asks. "Hurt that my friends are hiding things from me? You're almost as bad as my mother, you know."

"That's not true."

"It is," she says. "You know how much I hate it when she and Cass try to hide things from me. I'm not a little girl anymore, Sirius."

"We know that, Em-"

"We're joining the Order of the Phoenix," Remus says suddenly.

Sirius and Em turn to look at him.

She blinks, "I'm sorry? You're joining the order of what?"

"The Order of the Phoenix," he repeats quietly, "It's a group of wizards fighting back against You Know Who."

"Fighting…" she repeats, "And you, the boys, Cass…?"

"All of us."

"I see."

Silence falls between them.

"So this is why you wanted to meet in a muggle pub?"

"Yes," Sirius says. "We thought we'd left you in the dark for long enough. Really it was only James left who was opposed to you knowing, but Lily knocked some sense into him."

A small smile crosses her face at those words. Silence follows again, only broken by the chatter of punters and the low dim of scratchy jukebox. If this wasn't such a serious meeting, Sirius would appreciate the swooping of Gerry Rafferty's sax in the background. He is normally a rock man, but no one can deny the talent in Baker Street.

"So," Em says, "What happens now?"

"Well," Sirius says, "When Cass gets back from Scotland, we'll probably start attending some meetings. They'll be missions, I suppose."

"There'll be someone by to strengthen the wards on Danders' shop too. Just in case," Remus explains.

"James and I might be away a lot-"

"And you?"

Remus looks up into Em's eyes, "Me?"

She nods tightly.

"I've spoken to the professor about a few things I can help with," he says. "I might need to take some leave from the shop for a bit."

"Ok," she says. "We should be fine, Danders is due back soon anyway and we're not super busy right now."

Remus nods, "Thank you."

Em bites her lip, hands wrapped tight around her pint. Sirius watches her carefully.

"You'll be safe, right?" She blurts out after a minute. She stares up at them, "I mean, I know this will be dangerous, but you'll be as safe as you can be?"

Remus winces, but Sirius pretends not to notice. Out of all of the Order, their missions could fare out the worst. He won't tell Em that, they'd all agreed not to tell Em that.

So instead, they both nod and promise to be safe. Em hunches over her pint, her eyes already drifting somewhere faraway.