Every night I dream the
same dream
Of getting older all
the time
I ask you now, what does
this mean?
Are these problems just
in my mind?
Things are easy when
you're a child
But now these pressures
have dropped on my head
The length I've gone
are just long miles
Would they be shorter
if I were dead
Every time I look in my
past
I always wish I was there
I wish my youth would
forever last
Why are these times so
unfair
That night,
Jaimie was awoken by an unknown source. At first she thought that it was
due to the fact that she had kicked her blanket off of herself, but then
noticed that a pale greenish light was flowing into her bedroom through
her window. She got up to check it out, but her door slammed open, and
she let out a shriek. A hunched figure stood in her door frame, cast in
shadow. However, when the green light hit his face, she relaxed-it was
only Remus.
"What's
going on?" He asked sleepily.
"I don't
know, I just woke up, this stupid green light woke me. Damn muggles." She
cursed, as Remus walked in.
"I know,
I was sleeping and then I heard a few screams, I thought the neighbors
were having a party, but I couldn't see, my window doesn't face them."
He walked over to the window and pulled back the curtains, and let out
a yell.
For in
the distance, where Jaimie supposed that the nearest house stood, was a
shining, neon green skull, a snake protruding from its mouth. The skull
revolved slowly in its spot some feet in the sky. And where ther roof of
the house should be was nothing.
"Oh my
. . ." Jaimie answered, taking a step back. It was the same thing that
she had seen in the picture of the Prewett's death, at every murder that
Voldemort had committed. It was the Dark Mark.
"Oh my
god, he's here! He's here in Nottingham! He's everywhere!" Jaimie cried,
shivering with fear. Remus hurriedly came to her, and gripped her shoulders.
"Calm
down." He said, "Calm down, don't worry, just sit down, and relax. Let's
wait until Mum or Dad come up and give us instructions."
With
great difficulty, Jaimie was forced to do as Remus bid. But then, another
figure, much smaller and skinnier than Remus appeared at the door. It was
Mimi, and she was clutching two tiny pieces of parchment.
"Master
Remus, Miss Jaimie, quick! Master Dumbledore and Master Lupin has ordered
Mimi to give you these papers, and for you to follow me! Hurry, put on
your jackets, and hurry." She was absolutely frantic, and waving the two
parchment about.
"Mimi,
what's happening?" Remus asked, his voice strangely calm.
"There
is dark things happening Master Remus. Mimi must gets you to the woods
now. Mimi is under strict orders, sir." She handed Remus the two papers,
and handed one to Jaimie, who, now regaining her composure, read them quickly.
"I don't
understand what this is about, Mimi. What are we supposed to do?" Remus
said, puzzled.
"You
is to memorize those, sir. And to follow me, but you is to burn those right
away, sir, right after you memorizes them. Please hurry sir, before the
dark wizards come!" Mimi ran out of the room, and came back instantly with
Remus' jacket.
Grabbing her own from the chair, Jaimie read the paper over again, in curvy
letters, was written. "The headquarters of the Order of the Pheonix may
be found in Lorence Shack, Nottingham."
Jaimie
looked at Remus in puzzlement, as Mimi had both grabbed their hands and
had pulled them forward. They went down the stairs and into the dark living
room; Aunt Charlene nor Uncle Alan in sight. She led them through the kitchen
and out the back door, and to the hedges that seperated the Lupin house
from the forest. Mimi went straight to a silver watering can, kicked it
aside, and walked straight through. Apparently, this part of the hedge
was a hidden passage, much like the barrier at platform nine and three-quarters.
They
were just entering the forest when Jaimie heard people's voices yelling
to each other from the direction of the house. Mimi hurried their pace
to a run, and Jaimie and Remus struggled to keep up, the figure of the
house-elf blending very well with the forest. Remus had lit his wand, but
Mimi had then told him to turn it off as they could easily be spotted in
the dark.
So after
running blind for some time, deeper and deeper into the forest, they stopped
in the middle of a clearing, a single stone well in front of them. They
could no longer hear voices, but the light of the Dark Mark could still
be seen faintly. Remus and Jaimie both looked at each other and then at
Mimi, who was looking at them with her big, brown dinner plate eyes.
"You
must recite what you memorized in you heads, sir, did you burn the papers?"
Mimi said, as she closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again, staring
in amazement at a point some ten feet in front of them.
With
nothing else to do, Jaimie recited the sentence she memorized in her head,
and when she had reached the part about Lorence Shack, a run down shack
appeared in the middle of the clearing, almost as if growing out of nowhere.
She stared at it in amazement, for she had never seen anything like it
happening andlooked at Remus, who had a blank, open eyed expression on
his face, and happily thought that she was not going crazy.
"Can
you see it, Master Remus, Miss Jaimie?"
They
both nodded in silence, and the tiny elf ran toward the wooden door of
the shack and opened it to reveal a simple room, a single crate in the
corner adorning it. There were two windows opposite each other in the shack,
but when Jaimie looked into them, she didn't see the dark trees outside,
but three shadowy figures, moving around inside, their features obscured.
Panicking,
Jaimie said, "There's someone outside!"
Remus
looked in the direction she was looking and said, "No, there aren't. That's
just a Foe Glass."
"What?
How do you know?" Jaimie asked.
"I just
do." Remus said, stting down on the crate.
Just
then, the floor of the shack started to rumble, and slowly descend. Alarmed,
Remus stood up and looked around in surprise. Mimi didn't look the least
bit perturbed, on the contrary she looked rather calm, quite as if she
were at home and waiting to be given orders. Slowly, as the distance between
the walls of the shack and themselves grew, another floor, this one retracting
from the side, covered the now gaping hole that would have been the floor.
Rather nervous at being stuck in the middle of the ground under a hidden
shack, Jaimie stood apprehensively, unable to wait for the time when the
elevator-like floor would stop.
As the
floor descended down, they saw the white of a wall. Lower and lower they
sank until the floor shook to a stop, and revealed to them a white room,
with a single staircase that led to an upper area, and and three doors
on each of the other walls. Mimi walked forward, and opened the door that
was in front of them. They entered a sort of relaxing area, the walls were
covered with bookshelves stacked with books; comfy armcharis and sofas
lay around a roaring fire, and who should be sitting on the two armchairs,
but Sirius Black and James Potter, looking very smug in their pajamas and
bath robes.
"Moony,
Jaimie! What a pleasant surprise!" James said, standing up, Sirius following
suit. His hair was sticking up in some places, and he looked just about
ready to fall asleep in his spot.
"Do you
know what's going on?" Remus asked, sitting down on the sofa. Jaimie proceeded
to take his lead, but Sirius led her away, and set her on his lap.
"Nah,
haven't got a clue. Only thing I knew was my dad was waking me up and slipped
me and Padfoot these parchments." He protruded from his robe pocket the
familiar piece of parchment, the same setence written in the same familiar
scrawl.
"Told
us to memorize it quick as anything, and then burn it. Then he led us to
the fireplace, and took us by Floo Powder to this place, but they didn't
follow. I think they apparated at the house." Sirius said sleepily, as
Jaimie snuggled closer to him, fitting easily against him and closed her
eyes.
"Hmm,
so you don't know why you guys are here?" Remus asked.
"Yep."
James replied.
"Well,
we know." Jaimie said, opening her eyes and sitting up, Sirius groaning
with pain as she did so.
"Sorry."
She stroked his head, and then continued, "I woke up, and Remus came into
my room and we saw the Dark Mark at the nearest house. We figured that
Voldemort must have been there and was coming our way. Dumbledore and my
uncle must've been thinking the same because they gave orders to Mimi to
take us here, and they gave us the exact same parchment." She showed them
the piece of paper and put it away again.
"Master
Lupin says to Mimi that you must burns it." Mimi appeared at the door,
holding a tray of tea.
She set
down the tray on a table in front of them, before walking out of the door.
The four of them took out the pieces of parchment, and looked at each other
in confusion. Jaimie, seeing that no one would very well start, was ready
to fling the piece of parchment into the fire, when a rough voice had ordered
her not to.
They
all looked around for the owner of the voice, and found that a very appalling
head of a man lay in the fireplace, unperterbed by the flames that were
licking his face.
"Don't
throw it into the fire. It'll be easy for people to just get them through
floo powder, and restore them back to life." The head was truly ghastly.
Not one inch of his face was scar free, he looked as if he had gone through
the mill one too many times. A chunk was missing from his large nose, and
his eyes, were mismatched. His left eye was a dark brown and was normal,
but his right eye was large and round, and electric blue, and it swung
around and around in its socket, so that when he looked at Jaimie, his
left eye was focused on her, whereas his right eye was more often than
not just a plain white orb, his hair hanging in greasy strands around his
face.
Jaimie
jumped back from him in alarm, right onto Sirius' foot, the action seemed
to wake him up and he stood up abruptly, stopping Jaimie from moving any
further. The three boys stared in apprehension at he man in the fireplace,
they're eyes wide with shock, uncertain whether to hex him, or to welcome
him. The man didn't seem to need to wait for an answer because in a moment,
his head disappeared, and then, the flames turned green, and he appeared
in front of them, body and all.
"So you
must be with the Potters and the Lupins. You all probably want an explanation
about why your here, but you can't have them yet. Just know that you are
safe while you are here. Follow me," He led them away out of the room and
into the white hall where Jaimie and Remus first saw. The man led them
up the stairs and into a the upper floor. They emerged in a long hallway,
which ended with a window at the very end, though they couldn't see where
it opened up to. There were five doors on each side, he opened a door to
his left and revealed a rather plain blue room, with two twin beds seperated
by a bedside table, on which stood a lamp. There was a bathroom off of
one door, a dresser and single chair in the corner, but that was all that
was in the room.
The man
motioned to James and Remus and said, "You two will sleep in this room,
don't talk, go right to sleep. If I here one voice coming from this room,
I will place a curse on you so that you won't be able to talk for twenty
four hours. If I see that you're not sleeping, then I will seperate you.
And trust me, Mr. Potter," James, who stood behind him, had suddenly come
to attention, as he had been laughing behind the man's back, "I know if
you are not asleep."
Jaimie
had a strange feeling that the electric blue, swiveling eye could see through
things. Consciously, she folded her arms over her chest, and rubbed her
arm. Sirius, always seeming to be in tune with her feelings, put his arm
around her, and pulled her to his side. The man ushered James and Remus
in, closing the door in their faces as they waved good night to Sirius
and Jaimie who were left in the hallway with the very imposing man.
He turned
around and opened the door across from the one James and Remus were staying
in, and revealed another room similar to the one before it, though this
room was beige. Taking Jaimie by the arm, and tearing her away from Sirius
he forced her inside, and said, "Miss Dijon this will be your room for
tonight," He slammed the door in her face, as Sirius started to say, his
voice now muffled by the door, "You let James and Remus stay together!
Why can't I stay with her?"
"Because,"
came the man's reply, "You are male, she is female. Do you actually think
that I don't know what you are capable of?"
"What
is that supposed to mean?" Sirius' voice said, much lower than before.
Jaimie
couldn't hear the man's response, or if he even did answer Sirius, for
no more voices came from the hallway. So, at a loss at what to do, she
flung herself onto the bed nearest the doorway and lay there, unable to
sleep from anxiety. What was going on? Why was Voldemort here? Had he come
to finish her off? These thoughts flew through her mind as she lay on that
bed. Her mind was racing a mile a minute, first from the events that were
going on outside, and then to Snape and Damion and the train ride today,
or was it yesterday? She didn't know. She thought about how Snape had put
the Cruciatus Curse on her, the mind boggling pain that had flowed through
her veins etched vividly in her mind, and wondered if Snape was out there,
killing off the next door neighbors, and wondered if Damion, the man that
she used to care about, was one of them, too.
Slowly,
and subconsciously she fell into an uneasy sleep, and dreamt of the day
that had changed her life forever. Her family's bodies haunting her sleep,
their dead and lifeless faces looming closer and closer to her, becoming
real; the high, cold, pitiless laughter that she presumed was Voldemort
growing to a deafening roar. He was going to kill her too! He was going
to kill Lily and Sirius and James and Peter and Remus, all of them, and
laugh in her face.
Jaimie's
eyes snapped open, and she let out a high pitched scream, and momentarily
heard the sound of pounding footsteps outside her door and an unknown voice
saying, "We'll be right there Jaimie!" Though she didn't quite understand
what these words meant. She was sweating, and her pillow was ripped to
shreds, the feathers which downed it flying around her. The door swung
open, a group of people stood crowding around the open door, their wands
ready.
Jaimie
stared in apprehension at the large group of people at the doorway. She
forgot for a moment where she was and half-expected to be inside her own
home, and instead of the large group, her parents walking briskly in, comforting
her. She shook these images out of her mind and tried to focus on the people
that were there. She didn't recognize any of them, save the heavily scarred
man, who scanned the room briefly, his wand held ready to attack, his face
even more distorted by the look of concentration, before putting his wand
away and was proceeding to say something before he was knocked aside as
Aunt Charlene came bustling inside, closely followed by a round faced woman,
and Mrs. Potter.
They
all three filed to the side of Jaimie's bed, Mrs. Potter grabbing the pillow
from the other bed, as Jaimie's pillow was now completely useless. She
placed it under Jaimie's head, against her anguished protests, and forced
the bewildered girl upon it. Most of the group left toward the staircase,
save Remus, James and Sirius who stood faithfully at the doorway; unsure
whether to step inside. The three women kneeled at Jaimie's bedside, asking
her strange and rather embarassing questions.
"What's
your birthday, dear?" The round-faced woman asked.
"No,
Alice, if he was possessing her, then he would probably know that already.
No you've got to ask her questions like how much she weighs. She doesn't
even know how much she weighs." Aunt Charlene said knowingly.
"Yes,
but isn't that something teenaged girls are supposed to know?" Mrs. Potter
asked, slightly curious.
"Not
Jaimie." Aunt Charlene said. "And if she did, I doubt she knows anymore.
She's so thin, hasn't been eating right, the poor girl."
"Well,
we should do a couple of spells to see if-"
"That
is enough, Charlene, Alice, Kate. I don't believe that she is being posessed
or is working for Lord Voldemort." Dumbledore stood in the hallway, looking
at the scene from his partially hidden position. Sirius, Remus and James
jumped when they heard him, and quickly went inside the room to the
opposite bed to sit down. Dumbledore walked in, and smiled benignly at
Jaimie, which made her feel much better.
"Now
we didn't say that we thought she worked for Voldemort. We're just saying
that maybe one of those confounded Death Eaters or maybe You-Know-Who himself
was possessing her or-"
"She
has had nothing more than a dream. Nothing harmful. So I believe that you
are much more needed downstairs than up here. She has the company of her
three closest friends to confide in. I'm sure she'll be fine."
Jaimie
gave Dumbledore a smile of complete gratitude as Aunt Charlene said in
a defeated voice, "You know best, Albus."
Presently
they left the room, Dumbledore following closely, and gave Jaimie a wink.
Sirius, who had been waiting impatiently to talk to Jaimie immediately
came forward and said, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah,
I-I'm fine. Dumbledore pretty much explained it." She didn't know why she
was lying. She just knew that she didn't want anyone fussing over her having
dreams about her dead family or seeing her friends being killed. Aunt Charlene
already thought she was being possessed by Voldemort, and she really didn't
want her to worry further.
She leaned
forward from her reclined position and threw the pillow that was supporting
her back to the other bed. Remus ducked to get out of its line of fire
and gave an indignant cry.
"Sorry
Remy," Jaimie said apologetically as she stood up.
She rubbed
her eyes and looked for a window so as to avoid the suspicious stares from
the three of them. Upon discovering that there were no windows, she instead
asked, "What time is it?"
"I don't
know, you woke us up." James said, with an accompanying yawn.
"Sorry."
Jaimie said sheepishly.
"Nah,
its alright. But I suppose that we should go down and get something to
eat now that were up. I'm starved." Remus said. He looked a bit pale, and
dark rings were beginning to emerge under his eyes.
"Is it
the big night tonight?" James asked, upon observing Remus' visage.
"No,
I've still got two days ." Remus said, a bit strained. He rumpled his already
bed-head and followed James out of the beige room.
"Are
you alright?" Sirius asked, once the two boys had left.
Jaimie
looked at Sirius, he was looked as if he was about to transform, his face
a bit pale, and little ringlets were forming under his eyes, his hair not
as sleek as it always was. He looked very tired, he probably hadn't gotten
much sleep that night.
"Yeah,
I'm fine. But how about you? You look dreadful." Jaimie said, taking his
hand.
"This
is what happens when I don't get enough sleep." Sirius said, sighing.
"Oh,
well I suppose you could always take a nap in the afternoon."
"And
waste a perfectly good day? I don't think so!" Sirius said, regaining that
manic glint.
"Well,
if you say so . . ."
They
walked down to the entrance room. The white of the paint causing Jaimie
and the others squinting and trying to get used to the light. They stopped
in the middle of the room, looking at the three doors in uncertainty, as
the contents of two of the rooms were undiscovered to them. Jaimie supposed
that there was a kitchen, seeing as this headquarters or burrow or whatever
it was had an office and bedrooms. She wasn't right in guessing for Mimi
had just come out of the door at the bottom of the staircase and said,
"Master Remus, Mister James, Mister Sirius, Miss Jaimie, you is expected
in the kitchen. Come, come breakfast is served."
Mimi
had then disappeared behind the swinging door, and the four of them followed
Mimi, the door narrowly missing Jaimie's nose as it rebounded after Remus.
They emerged inside a burgundy colored dining room, a large oval table
in the middle, nine mis-matched chairs placed in no certain order around
it. Most of the seats were filled by the people that Jaimie recognized
from upstairs.
Upon
their arrival, the once buzzing conversation slowly died and the heavily
scarred man said gruffly, "Oh, so you haven't been attacked, then?"
Jaimie
looked puzzled at the other three, unsure to whom he referred to. After
a confused minute, she said, "Um, no, sir. I was just having a bad dream,
is all. Sir." Jaimie stood awkwardly by the door, the heavily scarred man
standing up from his seat, his unsettling eye swiveling all ways again.
"Moody,
come on now, she's just a kid, don't be so tough on her." Said a man with
a goatee. He stretched out his hand to her and said, "I'm Sturgis Podmore.
Pleased to meet you Jaimie Dijon, your the daughter of Charles and Belle
Dijon? Fine people, couldn't have met better folks anywhere," Jaimie swelled
with pride, and released Sturgis' hand, which then jumped to Remus', "Well,
you must be Remus, your parents talk about you very much."
"Hope
they're good things." Remus said.
The others
at the table laughed.
Sturgis
then turned to James, "You must be James Potter. I've heard that your quite
the Quidditch Player. I've played for Ravenclaw as Beater in my day, what
position do you play?"
"I play
Chaser for the Gryffindor team." James said, swelling with pride at having
been congratulated at the thing he knew best.
Sturgis
looked at Sirius last. "You must be Sirius Black. Your quite the trouble
maker, I've heard. Nice to meet you."
Sirius
shook Sturgis' hand politely, his jaw clenched. After a very awkward moment,
broken by the arrival of the round-faced woman known as Alice and Mimi
who held in their hands platters of food. So taking a few seats, Sirius
and Jaimie sitting between the Potters and the Lupins; Sirius and Jaimie
subconsciously linking hands. Mrs. Potter and Aunt Charlene taking note
with extreme enthusiasm.
"Hello
dear, how are you feeling? Do you feel better?" Said Mrs. Potter, leaning
over Sirius to address Jaimie.
"Hello,
Mrs. Potter, I feel fine, thank you for asking." Jaimie said, turning her
head to look at the lady.
James
could be seen stopping his conversation with Remus to his nosy mother.
He slapped his forehead, as Remus turned, and looked at his mother who
was looking with the same amount of curiosity. They both groaned and watched
the upcoming interrogation.
"Oh,
no problem, are you and Sirius, together?" She looked at their interlocked
hands, and they promptly let go, Jaimie placing them in her lap and Sirius'
supporting his chin.
"No we're
just friends, Mrs. Potter." Sirius said, smiling convincingly.
"Oh,
well, I just thought that you'd make a lovely couple." Mrs. Potter plowed
on, James now turning red.
"Oh yes,
you would be perfect together, better than that Malfoy boy, wha'ts his
name-Saxon, is it?" Aunt Charlene said, more to Mrs. Potter than to anyone
else.
"What
Malfoy boy?" Said the heavily scarred man, named Moody.
Jaimie's
eyes widened in disbelief. Had everyone been listening to their conversation?
"Oh its
nothing Alastor. Just a teenage relationship, that's all."
"You
don't know what the Malfoys are capable of, Charlene."
"Oh Alastor,
he's just a boy."
"Yes,
but all boys have a nasty tendency to grow into men. You can't stop them
from changing, and you certainly can't tell them where to go. They
may be teenagers now, Charlene, but what about a couple years from now,
when Voldemort has come for them? You think that he'll consider them as
teenagers?"
Aunt
Charlene bit her lip and opted not to retaliate, Uncle Alan chose this
time to speak, "Ok now, I don't think we should get into fights. Not when
times are as dangerous as they are now, and especially not with Jaimie's
nor anyone's love life. Let's just eat this meal in peace, please?"
He gave
everyone a you-should-know-better expressiong, before he sat back down,
and gave Jaimie a smile. Remus, who sat next to him, was shaking his head
in embarrassment, though Uncle Alan didn't see this. Once Uncle Alan had
turned away, Jaimie dropped her cheery grin and buried her face in her
hands, and felt like melting into the seat, before placing her hands on
her lap once more, Sirius' hands going under the table, and grasping it,
absently stroking her hand softly with his thumb.
The rest
of the meal went smoothly enough. Aunt Charlene avoided Moody's gaze the
entire time, and who could blame her? He was very demanding, and hardly
entertaining. However, Jaimie stole a glance at the man when she though
he wasn't looking. Though his normal, black eye was focused on his food,
his hand clasping his hip flask, his blue eye didn't waver from its positin
on the table where Sirius and Jaimie's hands were conjoined. And with the
suspicion that the strange eye could see through solid objects, she promptly
let go of Sirius' hand, and placed it on the table, so as not to have anymore
questionings about her relationship with him.
So when
the meal was done, a new question arose if not in the others, but in Jaimie.
What exactly was the reason they were here? She laid down her spoon and
fork, and looked around at the others, who still had not finished their
food. Though when her eyes came to Remus, she was surprised to see that
he was looking patiently at the others, and nodded when Jaimie looked at
him. He cleared his throat and said in a clear voice, "Um, excuse me, Mister-Mister
Moody."
Moody
looked up at Remus with a look of surprise. His eyes, both of them, boring
straight into Remus'. Jaimie heard the sound of the chair creaking as Remus
shifted uncomfortably in his seat, before Moody said, "What is it, Mr.
Lupin."
Remus
glanced at his father, briefly, before looking back at Moody, "Well sir,
I-"
"We were
wondering-" Jaimie interjected.
"If you
don't mind-" James added.
"If you
could tell us what we're doing here." Sirius finished.
The other
adults looked at the kids in incredulity. First at being asked so plainspoken
at what was going on, and then at the way they were asked it. It was rather
comical. All the adults began talking at once, the words they spoke hardly
discernable. But then, an unfamiliar man, who hadn't introduced himself
to them yet stood up. He seemed highly familiar, and yet she didn't know
who he was. Nonetheless, he stood up and ordered the room into silence,
to which they obliged.
The man
cleared his throat and said, "You haven't met me yet, I don't think, but
I'm sure you've seen me before. I am Frank Longbottom, you've met my wife,
Alice, and I was at the end of term feast. I noticed that you had seen
me leave, and didn't make quite the quiet entry and exit as I had hoped.
But, that is of no importance. I assume that Albus has plenty of trust
in you, seeing as you have gone this far. And although we will not divulge
all that we have found, I think it proper to tell you at least who we are,
since you are coming of age and that it will be getting harder and harder
to keep you all safe. We are the Order of the Pheonix." He said, pausing
for effect.
"Yes,
we know who you all are." Jaimie said, unamused.
"Yes,
the Prophet glorifies you all to a degree." Remus added, leaning back on
his chair.
A bit
perturbed, but certainly not diverted, the man continued. "Yes, and well,
you probably know that we fight against Voldemort. You are in the headquarters
of the Order, and if you so choose to betray us all, which I highly doubt,
and tell any other its location, you will find that you couldn't possibly.
It us protected by the Fidelius Charm, and I will not elaborate further,
for I am sure that you all know the Fidelius Charm. If you find that
you are in trouble, you are to immediately come here, but only under the
pretense that you are alone."
"Alright,
but that doesn't explain what you lot actually do." James commented.
"We fight
Voldemort and the Death Eaters, and we also try to save the lives of his
victims. Is that clear enough for you?" Moody said, grumpily.
"Yes,
and I have one more question." Jaimie said, testing for their approval,
when Moody neither objected nor said anything she continued, "I was wondering
if you knew if my parents were killed because they were in the Order, and
whether they fought for their lives. Because, if they did, then that would
mean that they had fought a reason to die, and weren't just picked to be
a victim."
Uncle
Alan looked at Frank to handle this one. He agreed so Uncle Alan turned
to Jaimie, grasped her shoulders tightly and said, "Yes, Jaimie, your father
was in the Order when You-know-who killed them, and yes, they all fought
bravely for their lives."
"They
died to protect you and those they loved, and I suppose that you can say,
that while their deaths weren't fair, they were doing something right.
And, even though that they are dead today, what they did well never go
forgotten. And I want you to know, that I am forever thankful to be here,
and that I will always be there to help you Jaimie. No matter what. I owe
it to them-"
"We owe
it to them." Uncle Alan added.
They
both grasped Jaimie into a hug, Aunt Charlene forgetting her dignity and
crying on Jaimie's shoulder, Aunt Charlene pulled Remus in, who reluctantly
followed suit, though he did not cry. The other Order members took this
as a cue to leave, quietly thanking Mimi for the dinner. Jaimie found it
quite awkward to be the nucleus of the many armed Lupin hug. She found
it even more disconcerting to see Aunt Charlene cry. She had always seemed
graceful and well-kept and balanced, and to see Aunt Charlene cry like
this rocked the boat that Jaimie was in much more.
Later
that day, when they had gone back to the Lupin residence to find it in
shambles and were cleaning up the mess; Jaimie realized that it was all
Voldemort's fault. He had caused the security of lives to come crashing
down. He was the reason why so many were left homeless, familyless, even
lifeless. He caused Aunt Charlene's tears, hardened the heart of Alastor
Moody, and lost her the only family that she had known. She thought about
her uncle's words; how her parents had died for a cause, had died bravely.
She wondered if she ever met Voldemort if she would rise to the occasion.
Yes,
she thought. She remembered the images of her best friends dead,
of Sirius dead, and of the cold laughter that was Voldemort. His laughter
echoed in her mind, reverberating through the corners of her brain. Jaimie
clenched and unclenched her fist. She looked out of the window, as a solitary
bird flew through the pink and purple sky. Suddenly Moody's words came
floating to her, "You can't stop them from changing, and you certainly
can't tell them where to go. They may be teenagers now, but what about
a couple of years from now . . . "
The
sun goes down, the world still turns, and though they were still kids,
they sure wouldn't be forever, and it was only a matter of time til they
were all affected by Voldemort.
A/N: Oh my god I've got a week 'til school starts! What am I gonna do?! I'm so sorry to tell you this, but since school will be starting in a few days, the updates will come less and less, probably every weekend or so, I'm so sorry! But please bear with me! Thanks again to everyone who reviewed, you guys rock!