A/N: Well, thank you very much to my reviewers. All one of you.
::glares at everyone:: This is going up anyway, but if I don't get at
least five new reviews you won't get the third chapter within the week. Is it so
much to ask? On a nicer note, thanks muchly to my lovely reviewer,
CassandrAIarwen, for one of my nicest ever reviews.
This would have been up earlier but I've been banned from the net. Living
with your parents is hell.
Part 2: A New Beginning
The small room at the back of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was full almost
to bursting with nine young men and women: on a chest of drawers the twins
Apollo and Artemis Westhaven lounged back-to-back, Apollo's golden and
white blonde spikes falling into his dark blue eyes as he chatted to Remus
Lupin, while Artemis' waist-length, straight, ebony tresses swished with
her head as she argued a point with Minerva McGonagall, who was sat next to
Remus. Minerva looked much younger without her hair in its usual tight bun,
though the bags under her eyes spoke of many sleepless nights. Monique
James, the tiny, elfin-looking woman who had been Lily Potter's closest
friend, swung her legs under the desk she was sitting on, her blue eyes
flashing against her pale skin and her short, curly, chocolate hair
springing in all directions as she discussed animatedly the latest bands and
music with Erin Seanderson, a distant cousin of the Westhaven twins and a
close relative of Minerva's. Erin was a tall, Irish young woman with
steady grey eyes and wavy, light blonde hair, whose muggle father was
brother to Minerva's mother. Milo Bones, an extremely tall, lanky man with
a long, earnest face, light brown hair and outsize round glasses that kept
falling off his long nose, kept starting nervously at every bang from the
shop floor overhead, while Mundungus Fletcher's small, dark eyes peered
out belligerently from a round, bulldog-like face. The two were both
ex-Hufflepuffs, while Erin, Artemis and Apollo were old Ravenclaws and the
rest came from Gryffindor, since Peter Pettigrew had always been the only
Slytherin of their group. Sirius, meanwhile, was lounging against the wall
in his old pose, watching Monique with dreamy chocolate eyes, though she did
not see him.
All heads snapped towards the door at the sound of someone coming, and as
a dumpy woman with flyaway light brown hair entered, accompanied by a stocky
teenage boy with freckles and flaming red hair, they all leapt from their
seats.
"Arabella!" grinned Monique, hugging her old friend, as the rest
followed suit, chattering and laughing like the teenagers they once been.
"Have a custard cream?" enquired the boy at the door helpfully, as
they broke apart. Monique eyed them doubtfully, her notorious appetite doing
battle with a sturdy will for self-preservation.
"What do they do?" she enquired, fixing the boy, who was taller than
she was, with a blue-eyed stare that none (aside from Peter Pettigrew) had
ever managed to lie to. "And how many has Sirius bought?" True to form,
the boy wriggled uncomfortably under her steady glare and then grinned,
assuming the sort of soulful expression that was clearly intended to be both
ingratiating and innocent. It was neither.
"Um, they're Canary Creams, miss, and, er, Mr. Black bought
fifteen." Sirius clapped a hand to his forehead in mock despair as they
turned as one to look at him.
"I told you not to tell them, George Weasley! And I had such a
nice vision of Monique as a blue canary too!" He looked so woe-begone that
they had to laugh.
"Thanks, George, but no thanks," Artemis told him firmly, batting her
long eyelashes at him in a way that made him blush and withdraw. Erin
giggled.
"Still the same old flirt," she told her friend firmly.
"Speaking of which, who's the latest beau?" asked Minerva. Artemis
had the grace to blush.
"Leo Carlyle," she told them. Arabella whistled in surprise.
"So you're the mystery brunette Witch Weekly snapped him
with!" she exclaimed. "I thought she looked familiar! I must say,
you've done this time, 'Temis. Dating the lead singer of the Wyrd
Sisters!"
"Not for much longer, if he carries on being this possessive," said
Artemis darkly. "We nearly had a row in the street the other day, and
I'd only given this Muggle kid directions!" Monique snorted sceptically.
"Seriously, he wasn't even cute," Artemis continued. "And believe
me, I always check."
The men of the group rolled their eyes as one.
"Girls…"
"So guys, isn't there kind of the little matter of the world we're
supposed to be saving?" said Apollo with a trace of exasperation.
"Didn't our mother ever tell you it's rude to interrupt?" returned
Artemis scathingly. "This is important, and anyway, you sound like Treggie."
They all chuckled at the memory of their old Defence Against the Dark Arts
teacher, a stern old martinet with a reputation not dissimilar to
Minerva's amongst the students of Hogwarts. What looked to become a
promising argument between Artemis and her twin was interrupted by the sound
of Sirius coughing loudly and pointedly.
"Um… excuse me? I really hate to break in on an argument, but
there's something I've been trying to do…" He was interrupted by an
exclamation from Erin.
"Hey, I've got our new name!" she grinned. "Well, we're being
led by Dumbledore, whose famous pet is Fawkes the phoenix, and I guess this
is kind of like a rebirth for us, too. So how about The Order of The
Phoenix?"
"You know, I kinda like that," said Minerva, nodding agreement.
"What about you guys?"
Murmurs of assent rumbled around the room.
"I-I've g-got an i-idea t-too," said Milo- he had never managed to
defeat his stutter, which came back whenever he was excited, especially
happy or afraid. "H-how about w-we ask H-Harry P-Potter and his t-two
b-best friends t-to j-join us, to k-kind of m-make up the n-numbers
again."
"Yeah, Hermione and Ron will fit in just fine," concurred Remus.
"And of course, Harry walks, talks, looks and acts just like James. I
don't know which of you have seen him outside photographs, but he's the
absolute spitting image of James- but with Lily's green eyes. Or how about
Ron's twin brothers, those redheaded twins, Fred and George? They're
rather brilliant, those two. The ultimate pranksters."
"But will they take it seriously?" asked Minerva. "I've known
those two since they were first years, and I've never once heard them have
a serious conversation."
"We'll ask them," said Monique, going to the door. She was about to
call up when the most enormous explosion was heard upstairs, accompanied by
multiple terrified screams. Fred appeared at the top of the steps.
"Death Eaters in the street outside!" he yelled, his voice panicky.
"And the Minister for Magic's out there. You can't get out without
being seen, Sirius!"
"Never mind that," Minerva said brusquely, pulling out her wand and
mounting the stairs three at a time. "We can take care of it. Just get
anyone who's hurt in here- and for pity's sake be careful!"
There was a pop and Sirius became an enormous black dog in front of their
eyes, following Minerva up into the shop and into the street, dashing out
into the unknown and strident daylight with the others.
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