Marlene was not going to miss this event. She had turned around before she got to Dorcas' birthday party and then had to listen to pieces of stories of what a good time everyone had had. The music was good, lots of dancing and the food was apparently exceptional. The members of the Order of the Phoenix who had attended seemed more buoyant afterwards and happier somehow. Just a little. It had been a very obvious welcome and pleasant distraction from their responsibilities and she wondered to herself at first, then out loud to her husband, if she hadn't made a mistake in not going. Either way, she would be there with bells on!
Dedalus Diggle and Elphias Doge made the arrangements together and Dumbledore approved. The invitation was made entirely through word of mouth and cypher, it came as a great surprise then that everyone could make it. Emmeline was impressed. All the junk information, misremembered, transcribed in illegible script, flat out miscommunicated or communicated correctly but too early or late, this was the one bit of information that made it to every member of the Order accurately and on-time. If they could do it for a party, then they were slacking or tired. A war is not a party, though. They were more than tired, they were losing.
Elphias Doge took a pork pie looking something from the top of his dresser and dusted it by slapping it against his thigh several times. He considered how it was possible that the war was getting worse. He remembered Grindewald. People had been really bold then. Proclamations were made in the streets and posters were hung in shop windows. People spoke very openly about their allegiance but this felt different. He was getting old but didn't think he was that old. Something had changed in the between time which had been rather short. It was as if Grindewald's defeat had created a vacuum and the generation afterwards had rushed in noisily but invisibly to fill the void he'd created. He set the hat on his head and surveyed himself in the mirror. This war was going more and more underground everyday. It seemed like there were more stories of disappearances and people, both muggle and wizards, dying in ever stranger and ridiculous ways. The paper couldn't continue to blame it on gas leaks so they turned these deaths into electrical fires, heat strokes, dehydration they weren't even trying anymore but it was summer, a good a time as any to manufacture these particular events. That is how he marked the seasons now, he thought to himself, the drastic uptick in how the muggle media was changing the types of deaths to fit the weather. He shook his head to himself at the thought but nodded at his outfit. This party, this get together is necessary. Dumbledore liked the idea. Elphias liked it too. He hadn't liked the direction his thoughts had been tipping towards. That he knew how the last conflict ended by Dumbledore dueling Grindewald but there were too many people now. Dumbledore couldn't fight everyone, everywhere, many of the people they were fighting were in hiding. He sighed again but on the inhale brought himself to his full height. He would be in a room of people who were working to make sure this would never happen again. A war of this magnitude not parties, he corrected himself.
It hurt more in memory to remember the table seating, the good food and company and the laughter. This would be the last time so many members of the Order of the Phoenix would be together like this. They had spent most of the day pretending the war didn't exist. They intended to have a short meeting but they had gone off on a tangent very early in the day and no one really wanted to discuss a war at a party anyway. What kind of get together would that even be?
The house was warm and full and members came and went as they pleased. Alastor still didn't know who had taken the picture or whose camera it was, maybe there were more somewhere. Honestly, he couldn't even remember them crowding into the room to take the picture at all but he remembered the day. The photograph had briefly lived on the kitchen wall with other clippings and scraps until Dorcas died and then he took the picture down for himself. It lived in a contraption like a wallet only circular and metal, that he kept in his coat by his heart. There was another picture from that day that he found at Emmeline's that he took and swapped the group picture out with the one he liked better. Actually, Emmeline had a lot of pictures, a lot, a lot. She even had a similar version of the group picture. He had lost the group photo until he found it again many years later. He had tried looking for it once he moved but his home was spare. That photo would have been found as it had not place to hide. He preferred it that way. It was different being in London. There were memories out in the open air but he could get away from those. He kept only what he needed at home and everything he really needed on himself. Everything he kept already had memories attached to them and all of those memories weighed him down. He didn't need all of those memories jeering at him in his own home.
It's really unfortunate, however, that no one took any pictures of the table. What a spread it was! Edgar had prepared a lot of the appetizers. One was a salad with seasonal greens mix and a tangy bright dressing he had made from scratch. Another were small quiches with different ingredients: one with good smoked ham and another with roasted asparagus and mushrooms and the last was trays of roasted veg drizzled with good olive oil and herbs. Emmeline had focused on preparing drinks. Marlene had been determined to attend the party but to go into a public place like that with members of the Order? No. She would visit Tangenti Alley next time, she thought. She politely declined the invitation to accompany Dorcas and Lupin to Tangenti Alley but had given them money to buy whatever they needed.
Dorcas washed the dishes and was the taste tester for the experiments Lupin had worked on with Phillipa to make. They decided on a casserole made with savory, marshmallow garlic, red onions, small potatoes, sage and crushed peppercorns. Dumbledore brought candied citrus. Tart lemon and bitter grapefruit cut into supremes and coated in molten sugar left to cool to a glassy, crunchy finish. Sirius brought exquisite table settings made in Japan. The plates wreathed with what appeared to be a small, slumbering baby dragons, snoring puffs of calligraphed smoke swirls around the edge of the plates. There were cauldron cakes ordered from Honeyduke's and Hagrid had prepared one studded with fresh berries that had gone over well and a bubbling hissing dish that hadn't. Kingsley had been invited but had been unable to stay called to the Ministry in the later part of the afternoon but sent several spiced whole fish and a fragrant, saffron rice the color and taste of sunshine in the summer.
Dedalus Diggle brought candles and sparklers, cinnamon buns and a homemade black tea and lavender blend of his own ideation. The Longbottoms brought bunting to decorate the ceiling with. Elphias brought armfuls of the most perfect flowers you ever encountered. The crows' roses were in bloom. Bright, almost acid green stems held up the proud blooms of black, velvety petals which were put in vases and used to decorate the side tables. He had bounded in wearing a boa of lightly fragranced, braided stems of brightly colored flowers that were used for the center of the table. Cardadoc brought rarebit appetizers and wine. Under Elphias' direction, Gideon had set the table with Dorcas, Lupin and Peter making them all howl with laughter. Fabien prepared mid afternoon tea service using tea Dedalus brought and a ginger, lemongrass and orange peel tea made by Benjy along with small sandwiches and more chocolate confections found in Diagon Alley shops, and helped Edgar and Marlene heat food and get food ready in the evening. Heidi was getting into confectionery and Dorcas brought chocolate covered honeycomb candy since she felt bad for not actually cooking and brought chocolate covered honeycomb candy. Alastor brought in an appetizer of cool summer soup of sweet corn, carrots and chicken stock. Aberforth brought shepherd's pie. All in attendance agreed that it was the best shepherd's pie any of them had ever had.
Dedalus Diggle, Frank Longbottom and Benjy Fenwick had spent a great deal of time huddled together conspiratorially muttering about something very serious but Benjy was temporarily pulled away to making a trifle on Cardoc's insistence. It was a multi tiered light and airy dessert, so light it kept drifting off the plates of whoever got a scoop and, if Hagrid was anything to go by, went straight to the heads of people who had too much. He eventually lay supine on the floor, snoring, woke up to listen to a speech and who went promptly back to sleep after. Alice Longbottom after the picture was taken spent the remainder of the afternoon arm in arm snuggled against Aberforth who had made her and only her laugh after making a bleating noise when the picture was taken. He smelled very strongly of a toxic, almost flammable liqueur which Alice found strangely soothing as it reminded her slightly of the disinfectant used when her son was born almost a year before.
The dining table had been magicked in length and width to accommodate all the food and the people surrounding it. Some people took plates and milled around continuing their conversations and some got up for more refreshments or something sweet. The deserts had been set on a precariously thin legged table a little aways from the main event. Food and flowers covered the table. The Potters had come in a little late but they'd brought candles in jars filled with water. When the sun started to set, they were lit and glowed a soft gold underwater. They were set around lighting the room and everyone was called to sit at the table. There were enough candles that everyone could be made visible in the slight wave of the candles. Dumbledore had said a little something. It had been such a calm beautiful way to spend the day. It was the food talking, it was the candlelight talking and sitting next to people who dedicated their lives to seeing the war end as soon as possible. The day had been filled with the hope of the future some of them would not live to witness.
The evening wore on and no one really wanted to go home. Really the place wasn't big enough to have everyone sleep there on a regular basis but Dedalus had proposed everyone stay all the same. Some took him up on his offer. Someone had draped Hagrid in a slightly too small blanket so it was assumed he would be staying. Alice used his belly as a footrest on his drunken suggestion and continued to speak with Aberforth who really should have been the one laying down in a stupor if smell was anything to go by. Emmeline was maybe the first person to say she would not being staying and thanks for the offer and left soon after. Everyone was in too high spirits to be offended or attribute any more meaning to what she said but someone in the Order should have known or asked. Gideon took him up on the offer as did several more people who stayed into the morning talking and grazing on the remainder of food left out.
At one point there were several people at the table. Half of them playing fire in numbers, a card game. Alastor wasn't playing but was leaned back in his seat next to Dorcas. His arm draped over the back of her chair. He was enjoying the unfamiliar normalcy of not having to fight for something. This is what people do in their time off, on the weekends, he thought. This is what I'm fighting for, another thought crowded in, unprompted. He was, in that moment, content as he could be. Peter, Sirius and Lily were playing as a team and were winning and din't want to break their streak but James, Marlene and Gideon were catching up. Lupin, Dorcas and Fabien were losing but you wouldn't have been able to tell from how hard they were laughing and enjoying themselves. Fabien asked if he could get a refreshment, as a joke. Some water to put out the fire etc and Dorcas made a move to stand up but, and it happened so quickly, she was stopped by Alastor's hand over hers. Gentle and warm but firm. She looked at him and he looked back. Dorcas looked away but didn't move her hand her yet. He wasn't very suspicious but he had felt something. Fabien and then Gideon made to get up but Marlene was already standing She was so glad she attended, she was having so much fun that she was now properly kicking herself for having not attended Dorcas' party. Gideon muttered something about needing a break anyway. Alastor removed his hand as Dorcas pulled away from him.
"I've got it!" Marlene called half way to the table shaking herself out a little, raising her eyebrows at Edgar in playful exaggeration but he didn't notice.
Neither Dorcas nor Alastor said anything about it. He pulled his hand away from hers faster than he might have liked to but slowly enough to make it seem as if the only reason he'd done it was so he would get up instead. Dorcas knew Alastor wasn't drunk. She couldn't imagine he'd ever let himself lose any sense of himself in drink or tiredness or ever at all. She understood what it might mean but he'd been so fast that maybe she misunderstood. Alastor knew why he'd done it. He'd made a quick calculation and decided using the reckless necessary math of someone who now watched or heard of several people die unnecessary deaths all the time, even outside of his work where he'd already had to do that often enough. It was a triage of sorts. He wasn't suspicious but, in this way, for her, apparently he could be.
Edgar who was not at the table but had been making himself a small plate had noticed what Alastor had done, the way they'd looked at each other but said nothing. He counted the people at the table and turned smiling, a little sadly, she thought, at Marlene. He offered her a piece of the chocolate covered honeycomb that she had taken. Edgar wasn't superstitious but, just in case. There were no counter spells for this, only to send someone away with a little sweetness.
Two weeks later, when they'd received the news, Alastor had been stunned silent. His face had blanched as if he'd seen a ghost, as if he'd just become a ghost. Dorcas clamped her hands over her mouth. She wanted to scream so hard she'd die too. All Emmeline could do was exhale except she'd already been exhaling and it made her body sag into the sofa. Alastor looked across at Edgar and his breathing changed. He stood up to go to the kitchen and was followed by Edgar.
"I-", began Alastor.
"Don't." Edgar cut him off. "If it were so easy we would just sit groups of thirteen at a table everywhere and that would be it."
Edgar smiled a thin tired smile.
"Alastor, you didn't do anything wrong. It's just an old superstition." Edgar felt the uneasy truth of that statement. He would not be able to comfort Alastor when the memory of this moment came back to haunt him again. The next time Alastor played the moment in his mind, he could no longer recognize the voice he had given Edgar or his own.
"Marlene was only a coincidence but, Dorcas? You might have had something to do with that one."
