It was March before Marya got the message. "The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix are at 12 Grimmauld Place. Please be there at 8 p.m. next Saturday night. A. D." After memorizing the message, she touched the paper with the tip of her wand, and with a murmured "Incendio" reduced it to ashes. It wouldn't do to have this fall into the wrong hands.

At quarter to eight Marya grabbed a handful of Floo Powder, and stepped into the fireplace. "Number 12 Grimmauld Place" she said clearly. She stepped out onto the hearth in the basement of the former Black residence with her heart beating in her throat.

One of the first to arrive, she was greeted by a formidable wizard who introduced himself as Kingsley Shacklebolt, and an equally formidable witch who gave her name as Emmeline Vance. Next to arrive was Alastor Moody, whom she had heard about, but had never met. As she sat down at the table, she wondered why she had ever thought that she might be in any shape or form an asset to the Order. These people were way out of her league. She was starting to feel that maybe she should just quietly Floo out again, when the Weasley family, Didalus Diggle, and Mundungus Fletcher arrived in a noisy gaggle. She breathed a sigh of relief – that bunch didn't look anywhere near as intimidating. If there was a place for them, maybe there would be one for her.

The ranks of the Order had swollen by quite a few members since the return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had become public knowledge, and the place was filling up. Shortly before the meeting was to start, her god-father arrived, with Severus Snape in tow. Dumbledore nodded at her encouragingly, but Snape pointedly looked in a different direction. She still hadn't figured out how to get used to being roundly ignored by him. Even though he seemed to barely be conscious of her existence, the same could not be said vice versa. She was only too aware of the fact that every time she caught sight of him, her heart gave an inexplicable little lurch.

Following them was another familiar face – Nymphadora Tonks, who had been a couple Years below her at Hogwarts. She had always liked her – indeed, it seemed very hard for people not to like Tonks. There was a very endearing quality about her. She wasn't sure if Tonks would recognize her, but the young Auror made a beeline towards her. "Hey, you were in school with me, weren't you? Are you new here? Glad to have you!" and sat down next to her, upsetting the glass of water in front of her in the process. Marya was certain that Tonks had no idea what a relief it was to have someone next to her that she actually knew. Tonks turned to the somewhat shabbily dressed wizard sitting on her right. "Remus, have you two met?"

So this was Remus Lupin – Marya had heard the name often at Hogwarts; most of the older students were still lamenting his loss as the Defense Against the Dark Arts master several years ago. She liked him immediately – he had a nice face. A kind face. Noticing her nervousness, he promptly involved her and Tonks in conversation and somehow managed to make Marya feel a whole lot more at ease. It was easy to see how he had won many students' hearts in the year he had been at Hogwarts.

Dumbledore called the meeting to order.

"Before we start, I would like to introduce you to Marya Morava. She teaches Runes at Hogwarts, and has other skills that might be...valuable. I am sure she will be a commendable addition to the Order. Marya, if you would please come over here?"

Marya rose, her face flaming again. Everyone was looking at her.

Dumbledore's face turned solemn as he spoke. "Please raise your right hand. Will you promise to serve in the Order of the Phoenix to the best of your ability, to bear true faith and allegiance to the Order and its cause, and to protect the secrets of the Order with your life, if necessary?" "I will," she answered with a bit of a quiver in her voice, fully aware of the seriousness of what she had just promised.

"Then may I introduce to you the newest member of the Order of the Phoenix." A round of applause greeted her as Dumbledore smilingly turned her around to face the room. She shyly sunk into a half-curtsey, and slunk back to her seat, glad to be out of the spotlight again.

Severus Snape had had a bit of a shock when he had come in and recognized the Runes mistress. A couple weeks ago the Headmaster had cornered him after a staff meeting.

"Severus, I would like my god-daughter to join the Order. I have noticed a certain...tension between you and her though, so I thought I would ask if there is anything I should know about, anything that would cause a problem were she to be there?"

He had decided long ago that it would be a cold day in hell before he let either Dumbledore or Marya know that he had become wise to their little scheme. The whole thing was just too humiliating.

The incident in her room had given him enough of an excuse to break off contact with her except for the unavoidable minimum, but there was no reason he could plausibly offer that would have excluded her from the Order. Gritting his teeth, he had given his assent.

So there she was – he hadn't known that tonight would be her induction meeting, or he would have purposely been late. After their last conversation, he had tried to steer clear of her as much as he could. On a couple more occasions she had tried to talk to him, but he had shot down every attempt. There was something forlorn about her face the last time it had happened that made him feel guilty, like he was torturing small animals for fun. He had to firmly remind himself that it obviously just another attempt to fulfill her 'mission' before the pesky feeling left. After that, it seemed that she had given up on talking to him – but not on doing her 'job', apparently. When he had asked Poppy Pomfrey why it had been such a long time since she had requested medical potion refills from him, she had cheerfully answered that dear Marya had offered to take over that chore, and not to trouble himself, she was doing a fine job, thank you very much.

And now her presence was going to plague his life here, too. Severus sighed to himself. Oh well, it couldn't be helped.

A/N Nistrale and Morrolan, I am glad you are enjoying the story. xkuroxshinobix and Crazy-Physco, thank you for reviewing.

Everyone , please keep telling me what you think, any obvious mistakes, etc