Chapter 1: The Secret Star Society
"I have to go tonight," announced a young woman with long, flowing red hair, and silver-blue eyes, "Because, if I don't, they will be killed for sure!" A few people in the crowded room shot each other frightened looks.
"What does the Order say about this, Rose?" asked a tall man who stood in the front of the room. He had black hair and was wearing robes of a deep maroon colour.
"The Order hasn't said anything about it, Timothy," Rose told the wizard still standing in the front, her voice sounding more urgent. She shifted her weight, threw her right hand into the pocket of her royal green robes, and clasped her wand as he sat down. She left her hand there as though she was poised and ready for an attack, "But they have told me that Voldemort--" she broke off noticing the whole group of about thirty people wince at the same time, "Get used to it!" she hissed before going on, "They have told me that he will be making his way to their house soon, surely to kill them and the boy; which is exactly why I have to go there tonight! To save them!"
"Rose!" called an old, frazzled looking witch in the back standing up out of the shadows of the dimly-lit room, "You are clearly over-reacting!" she continued.
"How are you to know if I am over-reacting or not?" Rose asked the witch angrily. The whole room threw her looks that showed their surprise in her losing her temper. "How are you to know what this man—this thing—can do? How are you to know how he works? I've known him my whole life! I know how his mind works! He killed my brother for God's sake!" she bellowed, feeling a large lump of anger blocking her throat. The older witch sat back down, looking clearly taken aback, and more frazzled than ever.
"He killed my brother," she repeated more quietly, "his own father. Why? Because he was a muggle!" she hissed as she tried to clear her throat of the large lump that had been blocking it, but it still stayed there. She looked down at her feet trying to regain herself, before she looked up again and told the room in an even more urgent tone than before, pulling her hand, still clasped tightly around her wand out of her pocket slowly, and letting it lay limp at her side.
"I'm going tonight. And not a one of you can stop me." The people in the room shifted in their seats nervously. "I don't care if I die trying, but I have to save them. I have to! I can't let them die, and I'm surprised that all of you are willing to as well!" Some people looked as though they were going to say something, but she raised her hand to stop them.
"This meeting of the Secret Star Society is now finished--the floor is closed," she said weakly. She rolled up her left sleeve, showing a small, jet-black star tattoo on her wrist. She brought her wand slowly to her arm, and tapped the star twice. Everyone in the room followed suit; showing a small black star on their wrists, and tapping them twice with their wands, muttering "Phantom's end," and then filing out of the room silently. Rose sank into one of the many lounge chairs that had been packed into the room, rubbing her tattoo lightly. The heavy clank of the large oak door shutting and latching echoed in the room. She sat silently for a while, trying to calm and ready herself for the night that lay ahead of her, when, suddenly, and man's voice filled the room.
"Are you sure you're willing to put yours and your family's life in danger for these people, Roselynn?" Rose started, and looked around at an old man with a long silver beard, and beautiful blue eyes peering at her over his half-moon spectacles.
"Yes, Albus, I'm more than ready and willing, sir," she told him, her voice quivering ever so slightly. "Why haven't you warned them yet? Being both in the Order, and the SSS, I thought for sure that you'd have warned them by now..."
"I'd hoped that you'd understand that if I tried to warn them, they would be put into more danger," he said wisely, "And that you going over there would not only put them into danger, but would put your family and the SSS in grave danger as well."
"But, Dumbledore, I can't--"
"Stand around and watch them die, I know," he interrupted her, "I have to say that you've never been one to just 'stand around and watch' as anyone else got into trouble, Rose, you've always wanted to put yourself at risk of getting into trouble to make sure that no one else did as well." Rose smiled weakly as she began to examine her shoes.
"Dumbledore?" she asked suddenly. He looked up, and smiled sweetly at her. "Thank you for everything that you've done for me, my family, and the society," she told him, "And if I die tonight, I want everyone to know that I died for Lily, and James Potter, and their son, Harry." she said with tears forming in her eyes.
The screaming and crying of a baby filled the air. A father was rushing around the house, trying to pack as many things as he could into trunks and suitcases. He was a tall and slender mad who had wavy light-brown hair.
"Rose! What in the bloody hell are you doing to her?" he bellowed to his wife as the baby's crying kept growing louder still.
"You know I have to do it, Philip! What if the worst happens? I need her to restart it!"
"Restart what? Darling, I think you may be going a bit mad! Just calm down! "I will not calm down!" she bellowed back, "I am not going mad! I'd need her to restart the society!" she told him as she came out of the back room where the baby's cries were coming from. "Dear," she began, "I need you, as soon as I leave, to take her to Penelope Moss,she knows what's going on. Then, I need you to take yours, and--er--my things to the Burrow. The Weasley's know as well, and they have a place for you—and me..." she broke off, hesitantly listening to the baby's screaming in the back bedroom, "to stay..." she finished in deep thought. She then looked down to her right hand which was clasped around something silver. She looked into her husband's eyes and held out her hand for him to take the contents of it while the baby continued to scream.
"Give these to her when she's older... if I don't come back," she added hastily.
"You're going to come back," Philip whispered, "You have to..."
"If I don't, you're to stay at the Weasley's for a week, then contact Dumbledore; he'll tell you what to do." Philip's eyes began to fill with tears as he nodded.
"And, her?" he asked, bracing himself for the answer.
"Leave herwith Penny, and sendher an owl tellingher that she's staying--"
"Forever?" Philip interrupted.
"Yes, forever, dear... I don't want you two to have to pay later for what I have to do now," she told him.
"I love you, Rose," Philip said, one glistening tear rolling down his cheek.
"I love you, too, Philip," she told him as the clock on the wall chimed, telling her that she had to go. She looked into her husband's loving gaze one last time as she kissed him on the cheek, and walked towards the door. She paused before she closed it, listening to her daughter's cries, and rubbing her tattoo lightly one last time before she left their lives forever. The baby screamed louder still as her mother closed the door, waking her daughter up eight years later, with her screaming echoing in her ears and her small, jet-black star tattoo stinging ever so slightly.