AN: Thanks to everybody who reviewed my story, and my 'lil sis's story, yay!
They were in a place Harry didn't recognize. It was a large room with a high vaulted ceiling. Though the torches on the wall bathed everything in flickering light, the room still gave off the feeling of perpetual darkness and gloom. A number of people were sitting in a circle on a few wooden benches. A few pieces of parchment covered in diagrams and notes were tacked onto the stone walls. Harry noticed a large illustration of the Darkmark, labeled in tiny handwriting.
"This is the Headquarters of the first Order of the Phoenix, isn't it?" said Harry, looking around in awe.
"It is indeed," replied Lupin, also glancing around the room.
Harry recognized most of the crowd from the photo Moody had showed him. They looked slightly nervous, but most of them were chattering energetically. He spotted his parents sitting next to each other, talking to Sirius.
"What is it? Come on, spill it!" demanded Sirius. "You said you had an announcement."
"Hold your Hippogriffs," replied James, smiling mischievously. He waved towards Remus as he entered the room.
"Hello, Moony," said Sirius cheerfully.
"How's the job hunting going?" asked Lily politely.
"Eh...I can't even start applying until I finish the Ministry paperwork," sighed Remus. "It's taking days, honestly." Harry noticed his robes looked distinctly shabby for the first time since he had left school. His friends gave him sympathetic looks, which seemed to make him slightly uncomfortable. The subject shifted as Peter Pettigrew ambled into the room, looking uneasy.
"Oy! Wormtail!" yelled James. "Over here!"
"Hello, everyone," squeaked Peter, calming down slightly at the sight of his friends.
"Now you have to tell," said Sirius insistently, leaning forward on his chair. Harry was getting edgy as well. He couldn't help it, he was rather curious by nature.
"We're—" began James.
"—engaged!" blurted out Lily, thrusting her hand forward. There was a large, glimmering white stone on her finger. James looked slightly disappointed that she had stolen his thunder. Sirius let out a low whistle.
"Prongs, mate, that's quite a sizeable chunk of moon quartz," he said, staring at Lily's outstretched hand.
"It's gorgeous," sighed Lily, twisting the ring on her finger and admiring its pale, shimmering surface.
"Oh!" cried a woman sitting on the bench next to James. "Lily! You didn't!"
She seized Lily's hand and pulled it towards her face, carefully examining the ring. "You did!" she shrieked, wrapping Lily and James in a huge hug. "Congratulations!"
"Thank you, Alice," said Lily happily. The man next to Alice stood up and extended his hand towards James.
"Congratulations, James, Lily," said the man, smiling. James grasped the man's hand and shook it heartily.
"Thanks, Frank," said James. The Longbottoms looked so happy and alive. Harry suddenly felt distinctly ill as he looked at the happy faces in the Order of the Phoenix Headquarters.
"'Moon Quartz'?" asked Harry, attempting to distract himself from the dark thoughts that had begun to encircle his mind.
"The wizarding equivalent of a diamond, I believe," explained Lupin. "James did come from a rather rich family. Until this night, I didn't know you could buy Moon Quartz that big. I think you actually have to go to the moon to mine for it, so it's fairly expensive."
Soon most of the room was cavorting around Lily and James, both to congratulate them and to stare at Lily's engagement ring. Harry noticed a few of them looked slightly jealous. A silence fell over them as Dumbledore entered the room through a small door that suddenly appeared in the corner.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," chuckled Dumbledore as he eyed the crowd around Lily and James. The crowd of people grinned apologetically and shuffled back to their seats. Once silence had fallen, Dumbledore began to speak.
"Welcome to the first official meeting of the Order of the Phoenix," said Dumbledore in a calm, almost regal voice. "We are all here tonight to stand and unite against a threat, the threat of the annihilation of our entire world. All of you have been asked here tonight because you are the most capable witches and wizards of our age, and we are going to need all of our knowledge and prowess to fight against Lord Voldemort and his followers."
Everyone in the room was staring at Dumbledore, completely absorbed in his every word. Harry was surprised that no one flinched at the sound of Voldemort's name. Were they all fearless, or was it too early to tell? Dumbledore continued to speak, moving slowly about the room, and explain the diagrams and notes on the walls.
&&&
CRACK!
The wooden wall of a house behind Harry splintered and burst into flames. Harry jumped. It was night, Harry had no idea where they were, but it looked like the center of a small city. He and Lupin were standing next to Sirius, who was crouching behind a fallen tree. He let out a stream of expletives as a jet of blue light shot over his head. There was a crowd of Death Eaters in black hoods no more than 40 yards away. The scene was chaotic, noisy, dangerous, and completely alien, and yet somehow—familiar to Harry. A wave of fury passed over him as he looked at the Death Eaters. He wondered if Malfoy was among them—or Snape for that matter. He scowled at the thought.
"GET THE GEM!" Sirius roared at a number of other wizards and witches who were crouching behind large objects not far away from him. The few people closest to him nodded, nervous but resolute. Harry was shocked to recognize his own parents among them. "Moony, Longbottom, Prewett, help me cover them!" he added.
Three seconds later, younger Lupin, Frank Longbottom, and Fabian Prewett had flung themselves out from behind their hiding places and were firing curses towards the Death Eaters. James and Lily, raced out into the middle of the whole chaotic mess towards a small bundle of rags from the middle of the road. Still crouching low, Lily scooped up the pile, (which seemed to be glowing slightly), as James fired curses over her head.
"What is that?" yelled Harry in a voice that was probably louder than necessary. "What's going on?" His chest was tight with excitement; he could barely find the voice to blurt out all of his questions.
"This is one of the Order's missions," said Lupin, still patiently answering Harry's questions, even after so many frustrating hours stuck inside his friend's memories.
"This is what you do on missions?" said Harry incredulously. "I was under the impression that you stared at maps all day," he added sarcastically.
"Late July," continued Lupin. "One year out of school. We got ambushed trying to remove the 'Eye of Agomotto'from a small town outside of Bath. The giant chief Ongst demanded it as a gift. Voldemort went after the stone, and we intercepted it."
"How on Earth do you remember all that?" asked Harry.
"I've been reading over all of the records from the first Order of the Phoenix," explained Lupin. "It's been rather quiet in the house lately...Sirius never liked sorting through old records. It drove him mad, really. He was a man of action, I suppose." Lupin trailed off miserably.
AN: Sorry about the LLLONG pause, I was away at band camp!