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Chapter Seven: The Beginning of the Order
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Dumbledore waited for the potion to take effect, then said quietly, "Are you ready to begin?"
"No," Reed answered bluntly. "But let's just get this over with."
"Very well." He leaned forward on his desk, his expression hard but his eyes soft. "What happened after your mother's...demise?"
Reed's face adopted a blank, impassive look. The only true sign of her nervousness and discomfort was the tightness with which she gripped Lupin's fingers. "I went to live with my uncle. He and my mum were really close, and I think he was the only one who knew she was a witch - and a werewolf.
"That only lasted a little while - only until the full moon came. Then, I transformed for the first time.
"Even though his beloved sister had been one, my uncle couldn't bear the thought of sharing his house with a werewolf. I can't really blame him for that, either. So, he more or less threw me out, young as I was."
"What?!" Lupin exclaimed. "That's terrible!"
"It was a long time ago," Reed answered, turning to him and smiling very faintly at his concern.
"Please, continue," Dumbledore interjected calmly.
"Right. I got put into foster care, which just never worked. They were all Muggles, and I obviously couldn't tell them the whole story of what had happened to me. I hated having to keep all these secrets . . . especially when I received my letter of acceptance to Hogwarts. I wanted to go more than anything, but I couldn't tell anyone I was a witch, or they'd think me insane. And I didn't have the money to just run away and go myself. Plus, I didn't even know if they'd take me, being a werewolf and all.
"So I had to keep up this constant charade. According to the people in charge of the foster care, I had come from an abusive family and had suffered severe trauma. I never stayed with any one family for very long, because every full moon, I had to run away to someplace secluded where I could transform. I didn't dare risk anyone catching me, or accidentally hurting someone. The families got fed up with my running away without an explanation and turning up again a bit later rather quickly. So I'd be moved to another family . . . it was an endless cycle.
"I hated it, but I didn't really have much of a choice. I was too young to support myself, and there was nowhere else to go. So I forced myself to put up with it. Until, of course, everything became even more screwed."
Reed blinked away one single tear lingering on her long lashes. "Can we just skip this part?"
Dumbledore sighed, and the look on his face told her his answer before he had a chance to speak.
Reed blinked again, then let out a long breath, as if mustering her courage. "Fine. I'd just turned thirteen when they put me with the last family. I really liked them. The mum was so nice to me, and she was more like a mother than any of the others had been. Jackie, the sister, was wonderful. She didn't treat me like some sort of unwanted freak like the others did - we actually became friends. I thought that, maybe, things were actually turning out okay. I was starting to remember what it was like to be happy.
"'Course, that didn't last long. Besides Jackie, there was another kid in the family, an older brother. He was sixteen or seventeen, I think. Name was Brent. He pretty much kept to himself, so I didn't know him all that well.
"That changed one night when the rest of the family had gone out somewhere, to the movies, I believe. He didn't go, because he said he'd rather 'spend the night with his thoughts'. He did that a lot - I think the boy was antisocial. I stayed home, too, because I wasn't feeling too well. Brent said he'd 'entertain' me."
Reed rolled her eyes. "I was stupid. I was happy - I thought Brent and I were going to become friends. I thought he'd be like an older brother to me. Thought he wanted me to really be like his little sister.
"Well, he really only wanted one thing from me, which certainly wasn't for me to be his little sister. And he got it. I tried fighting him, but he was so much bigger than me . . . I couldn't stop him."
Tears began sluicing silently down her face, but she ignored them. "He hurt me so badly I couldn't move, and after he left, I just lay there on the rug weeping."
Lupin was staring over at her, eyes wide with horror. He seemed unable to articulate words, tears forming in his own gray eyes. Reed met his gaze for a moment, then let go of his hand and looked away, almost frightened by the concern she saw there.
Her voice dropped, sounding choked and hoarse. "Finally, I managed to get up, and went upstairs to my bedroom. I packed up the few things I had, and just left. I knew the parents would never believe me, and would just send me away again. I couldn't take it anymore. So I left."
She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Life was even harder after that. I more or less lived on the streets. I'd do whatever odd jobs I could find for money, but money was still awfully rare. I'd have to steal food sometimes - I didn't have any choice. I still yearned to go to Hogwarts, to become a witch. I knew it wasn't possible, but I made up my mind to do whatever I could. I made my way to Diagon Alley, and started reading books on magic. I finally managed to save up enough money to buy a wand, and eventually, I started becoming a somewhat decent witch.
"When I was about sixteen, I met two girls in the Leaky Cauldron - cousins. Aurora and Maya . . . they had a story similar to mine. Maya's mom, who was basically the only immediate family she had, had died, so she moved in with Aurora and her family, who were all Muggles. But, it turned out that Aurora and Maya were both witches, and when they got their letters to Hogwarts, Aurora's family was not happy, and forbade them both to go.
"They still wanted to, however, and kept begging her parents. Finally, they'd had enough, and said that if Aurora and Maya begged anymore, they'd be sent away. I think the parents were scared that they were getting involved in something evil or unnatural or some such.
"Anyway, Aurora and Maya didn't let up - and her parents were true to their word. They made plans to send them off to some sort of Home for Children. Aurora and Maya decided that wasn't going to happen - so then ran away, and didn't go back. They had more or less the same lifestyle I did after that point, as well as teaching themselves magic."
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows, but refrained from speaking.
"We became friends, and things started getting a bit easier after that. I wasn't so completely alone, I had friends to talk to, people who could understand what I'd been through.
"Then we went and managed to land ourselves in a huge mess of trouble, about a year ago."
The gray eyed man sitting by her tilted his head a bit to the side, worn features filled with worry. "What kind of trouble?"
"Well, there were a bunch of men in the Leaky Cauldron one day, and one of them kept repeatedly hitting on Maya. She wasn't interested, but tried to be polite . . . till we found out they were a bunch of Death Eaters. Aurora and I caught the Dark Mark on his arm while he was talking to her."
The headmaster's eyes widened. "Did you join them?"
Reed shook her head. "No. Well, not really. Let me finish and I'll explain everything."
Despite the shadow of worry filling his eyes, Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and nodded, letting her speak.
"Maya was always the more . . . adventurous one of us. Call her stupid, call her courageous, but she was gutsy. She decided that since this guy had such an interest in her, maybe she could get some information out of him, which we could take to the Ministry of Magic. Aurora and I were kind of scared at the idea, at first, but we eventually decided she was right. We had a definite chance to get some valuable information, which could possibly save lives . .. and it wasn't like we had families to miss us if something happened.
"So we developed a plan. Maya would hint to the guy that she had an interest in the Dark Arts, and he'd take her with him to the rest of the Death Eaters. She would send messages to Aurora - any information at all that she could get her hands on - who would follow along with them, but always stay out of sight. My job was to sneak into Hogwarts and stay there. Aurora would pass on Maya's messages to me, via owl, and if Voldemort planned to attack, I'd take all the information to you. If not, I was to stay quiet and hidden, because we all assumed you'd never believe this." She wasn't quite sure if the wide eyes she saw were because of her story, or the fact she had just called the Dark Lord by name.
"You mean to tell me that there has been a sort of . . . espionage system . . . going on against Voldemort all this time that I wasn't aware of?" Dumbledore asked, almost incredulously.
Reed nodded, lowering her eyes. "Yes. We wanted to help, and we didn't know how else to do it."
"Young lady," Dumbledore said, a smile beginning to play across his lips, "you are some of the bravest girls I have ever heard tell of. Not many people would have had the guts to do what you've done."
She shrugged. "What did we have to lose?"
"What about your lives?" Lupin asked her softly. "Voldemort would certainly not let you live if he'd discovered your plans. Maya and Aurora are still in danger, and even you as well. You could have died."
Reed fixed her large brown eyes onto his and quietly repeated her question. "What did we have to lose?"
At that moment, Lupin looked as though he was about to get up from his seat and gather her into his arms, but Dumbledore's next words stopped him.
"We have a lot of work that needs doing. Reed, are you and your friends up to continuing your 'system'?"
She nodded. "If we're needed, of course."
"You are needed. It's difficult to plant someone in with the Death Eaters so well."
"I know." Reed raised her eyes to meet his, catching her full lower lip between her teeth. "The one thing I'm scared of, though . . ."
"Yes?" Dumbledore inquired kindly.
"If they do find out what we've been doing . . . is there any way we can pull Maya out?"
"There's a chance. There's no way to give you a definite answer on that," he said grimly.
"But there's a chance?"
"Yes."
"Then that's all I need to know. It's not like we didn't realize we could all die going into this, but still . . . if I lose anyone else . . . ."
Lupin reached over and squeezed her hand. "You won't," he murmured.
Reed gave him a tiny smile. "You can't stop it from happening. But thank you."
Dumbledore eyed them, then continued. "I think that this is finally the break we need to start."
"Start what?" Lupin asked, taking his gaze from Reed to look curiously at the other man.
"The Order of the Phoenix."
Chapter Seven: The Beginning of the Order
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Dumbledore waited for the potion to take effect, then said quietly, "Are you ready to begin?"
"No," Reed answered bluntly. "But let's just get this over with."
"Very well." He leaned forward on his desk, his expression hard but his eyes soft. "What happened after your mother's...demise?"
Reed's face adopted a blank, impassive look. The only true sign of her nervousness and discomfort was the tightness with which she gripped Lupin's fingers. "I went to live with my uncle. He and my mum were really close, and I think he was the only one who knew she was a witch - and a werewolf.
"That only lasted a little while - only until the full moon came. Then, I transformed for the first time.
"Even though his beloved sister had been one, my uncle couldn't bear the thought of sharing his house with a werewolf. I can't really blame him for that, either. So, he more or less threw me out, young as I was."
"What?!" Lupin exclaimed. "That's terrible!"
"It was a long time ago," Reed answered, turning to him and smiling very faintly at his concern.
"Please, continue," Dumbledore interjected calmly.
"Right. I got put into foster care, which just never worked. They were all Muggles, and I obviously couldn't tell them the whole story of what had happened to me. I hated having to keep all these secrets . . . especially when I received my letter of acceptance to Hogwarts. I wanted to go more than anything, but I couldn't tell anyone I was a witch, or they'd think me insane. And I didn't have the money to just run away and go myself. Plus, I didn't even know if they'd take me, being a werewolf and all.
"So I had to keep up this constant charade. According to the people in charge of the foster care, I had come from an abusive family and had suffered severe trauma. I never stayed with any one family for very long, because every full moon, I had to run away to someplace secluded where I could transform. I didn't dare risk anyone catching me, or accidentally hurting someone. The families got fed up with my running away without an explanation and turning up again a bit later rather quickly. So I'd be moved to another family . . . it was an endless cycle.
"I hated it, but I didn't really have much of a choice. I was too young to support myself, and there was nowhere else to go. So I forced myself to put up with it. Until, of course, everything became even more screwed."
Reed blinked away one single tear lingering on her long lashes. "Can we just skip this part?"
Dumbledore sighed, and the look on his face told her his answer before he had a chance to speak.
Reed blinked again, then let out a long breath, as if mustering her courage. "Fine. I'd just turned thirteen when they put me with the last family. I really liked them. The mum was so nice to me, and she was more like a mother than any of the others had been. Jackie, the sister, was wonderful. She didn't treat me like some sort of unwanted freak like the others did - we actually became friends. I thought that, maybe, things were actually turning out okay. I was starting to remember what it was like to be happy.
"'Course, that didn't last long. Besides Jackie, there was another kid in the family, an older brother. He was sixteen or seventeen, I think. Name was Brent. He pretty much kept to himself, so I didn't know him all that well.
"That changed one night when the rest of the family had gone out somewhere, to the movies, I believe. He didn't go, because he said he'd rather 'spend the night with his thoughts'. He did that a lot - I think the boy was antisocial. I stayed home, too, because I wasn't feeling too well. Brent said he'd 'entertain' me."
Reed rolled her eyes. "I was stupid. I was happy - I thought Brent and I were going to become friends. I thought he'd be like an older brother to me. Thought he wanted me to really be like his little sister.
"Well, he really only wanted one thing from me, which certainly wasn't for me to be his little sister. And he got it. I tried fighting him, but he was so much bigger than me . . . I couldn't stop him."
Tears began sluicing silently down her face, but she ignored them. "He hurt me so badly I couldn't move, and after he left, I just lay there on the rug weeping."
Lupin was staring over at her, eyes wide with horror. He seemed unable to articulate words, tears forming in his own gray eyes. Reed met his gaze for a moment, then let go of his hand and looked away, almost frightened by the concern she saw there.
Her voice dropped, sounding choked and hoarse. "Finally, I managed to get up, and went upstairs to my bedroom. I packed up the few things I had, and just left. I knew the parents would never believe me, and would just send me away again. I couldn't take it anymore. So I left."
She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Life was even harder after that. I more or less lived on the streets. I'd do whatever odd jobs I could find for money, but money was still awfully rare. I'd have to steal food sometimes - I didn't have any choice. I still yearned to go to Hogwarts, to become a witch. I knew it wasn't possible, but I made up my mind to do whatever I could. I made my way to Diagon Alley, and started reading books on magic. I finally managed to save up enough money to buy a wand, and eventually, I started becoming a somewhat decent witch.
"When I was about sixteen, I met two girls in the Leaky Cauldron - cousins. Aurora and Maya . . . they had a story similar to mine. Maya's mom, who was basically the only immediate family she had, had died, so she moved in with Aurora and her family, who were all Muggles. But, it turned out that Aurora and Maya were both witches, and when they got their letters to Hogwarts, Aurora's family was not happy, and forbade them both to go.
"They still wanted to, however, and kept begging her parents. Finally, they'd had enough, and said that if Aurora and Maya begged anymore, they'd be sent away. I think the parents were scared that they were getting involved in something evil or unnatural or some such.
"Anyway, Aurora and Maya didn't let up - and her parents were true to their word. They made plans to send them off to some sort of Home for Children. Aurora and Maya decided that wasn't going to happen - so then ran away, and didn't go back. They had more or less the same lifestyle I did after that point, as well as teaching themselves magic."
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows, but refrained from speaking.
"We became friends, and things started getting a bit easier after that. I wasn't so completely alone, I had friends to talk to, people who could understand what I'd been through.
"Then we went and managed to land ourselves in a huge mess of trouble, about a year ago."
The gray eyed man sitting by her tilted his head a bit to the side, worn features filled with worry. "What kind of trouble?"
"Well, there were a bunch of men in the Leaky Cauldron one day, and one of them kept repeatedly hitting on Maya. She wasn't interested, but tried to be polite . . . till we found out they were a bunch of Death Eaters. Aurora and I caught the Dark Mark on his arm while he was talking to her."
The headmaster's eyes widened. "Did you join them?"
Reed shook her head. "No. Well, not really. Let me finish and I'll explain everything."
Despite the shadow of worry filling his eyes, Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and nodded, letting her speak.
"Maya was always the more . . . adventurous one of us. Call her stupid, call her courageous, but she was gutsy. She decided that since this guy had such an interest in her, maybe she could get some information out of him, which we could take to the Ministry of Magic. Aurora and I were kind of scared at the idea, at first, but we eventually decided she was right. We had a definite chance to get some valuable information, which could possibly save lives . .. and it wasn't like we had families to miss us if something happened.
"So we developed a plan. Maya would hint to the guy that she had an interest in the Dark Arts, and he'd take her with him to the rest of the Death Eaters. She would send messages to Aurora - any information at all that she could get her hands on - who would follow along with them, but always stay out of sight. My job was to sneak into Hogwarts and stay there. Aurora would pass on Maya's messages to me, via owl, and if Voldemort planned to attack, I'd take all the information to you. If not, I was to stay quiet and hidden, because we all assumed you'd never believe this." She wasn't quite sure if the wide eyes she saw were because of her story, or the fact she had just called the Dark Lord by name.
"You mean to tell me that there has been a sort of . . . espionage system . . . going on against Voldemort all this time that I wasn't aware of?" Dumbledore asked, almost incredulously.
Reed nodded, lowering her eyes. "Yes. We wanted to help, and we didn't know how else to do it."
"Young lady," Dumbledore said, a smile beginning to play across his lips, "you are some of the bravest girls I have ever heard tell of. Not many people would have had the guts to do what you've done."
She shrugged. "What did we have to lose?"
"What about your lives?" Lupin asked her softly. "Voldemort would certainly not let you live if he'd discovered your plans. Maya and Aurora are still in danger, and even you as well. You could have died."
Reed fixed her large brown eyes onto his and quietly repeated her question. "What did we have to lose?"
At that moment, Lupin looked as though he was about to get up from his seat and gather her into his arms, but Dumbledore's next words stopped him.
"We have a lot of work that needs doing. Reed, are you and your friends up to continuing your 'system'?"
She nodded. "If we're needed, of course."
"You are needed. It's difficult to plant someone in with the Death Eaters so well."
"I know." Reed raised her eyes to meet his, catching her full lower lip between her teeth. "The one thing I'm scared of, though . . ."
"Yes?" Dumbledore inquired kindly.
"If they do find out what we've been doing . . . is there any way we can pull Maya out?"
"There's a chance. There's no way to give you a definite answer on that," he said grimly.
"But there's a chance?"
"Yes."
"Then that's all I need to know. It's not like we didn't realize we could all die going into this, but still . . . if I lose anyone else . . . ."
Lupin reached over and squeezed her hand. "You won't," he murmured.
Reed gave him a tiny smile. "You can't stop it from happening. But thank you."
Dumbledore eyed them, then continued. "I think that this is finally the break we need to start."
"Start what?" Lupin asked, taking his gaze from Reed to look curiously at the other man.
"The Order of the Phoenix."