CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FORTY-FIVE

"I don't think he's told your mum," Jane added as she told James and Sirius about Mr. Potter's obvious suspicions. "Speaking of, what's wrong with her arm?"

James' eyes shot up at her, and he shrugged.

"They took her to St. Mungo's yesterday afternoon; they said she broke it. It's probably just sore."

"Did they say how she broke it?" Jane inquired.

"No," James said, frowning. "But they said she'd be fine."

"But it doesn't look like a bre–"

"They said she'd be fine!" James snapped, and Jane moved away from, brow furrowing at his sudden outburst.

"Chill, mate, she was just asking a question," Sirius said.

James sighed as he took his glasses off to rub his eyes.

"Sorry, it's just– I don't think they're telling me everything. But I'm sure she's fine; I mean, she's got to be, right? They'd tell me if it were something that serious."

"Janie? Are you even listening to me?"

Jane shook herself from her thoughts and looked up at Sirius from where she sat on the couch.

"I'm sorry; what?"

Sirius sighed as he pulled on his shoes.

"Are you ready to leave? We need to be there soon."

Jane nodded as she watched him. She couldn't make herself get up just yet. The Order meeting was today. Had it really been a whole week since they'd received the letter? It didn't feel like it. It still felt too soon. She was still worrying about Mrs. Potter and about forwarding her N.E.W.T. results to Pendle Hill and Essex. She just didn't feel ready for this.

"How are we getting there? Knight Bus? Your bike?" Jane asked. "Where's this place even at?"

"Underground."

Jane only batted her eyes in confusion. Surely, she'd misheard him.

"I thought you said it was a school," she said.

"It is," Sirius assured her. "A school of advanced study, something about cultural history and crap like that."

That explained why Jane had never heard of it. After her time at Hogwarts, she'd learned to block out anything with the word "history" in it.

"Well, how are we getting there?" she asked again because she didn't think the Knight Bus went underground, and she still didn't have her Apparation licence.

"The Underground," Sirius said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Jane opened her mouth to respond but decided against it, shaking her head and rising from her spot on the couch. The Wizarding World never stopped surprising her, and she vaguely wondered if she'd ever get used to it.

"Ready?" Sirius asked.

Jane only nodded, thinking that if she answered out loud, he'd be able to tell she was lying. In the physical sense, yes, she was ready; she'd been dressed for a while now. However, was she ready to walk into her first Order meeting and do whatever they asked of her? No, not really, but she'd do it anyway. She had to, didn't she? It was the right thing to do.

Sirius talked most of the way to the nearest Underground entrance as they walked down the sidewalks of London. Jane was amazed that she could walk out of her flat and be placed directly into the hustle and bustle of the city. Stockbridge had been so quiet, and the Potters lived practically on the outskirts of nowhere. It was something she had always dreamt of when she was younger, but now, she wasn't so sure. Maybe it had something to do with all the strangers she passed on the streets as they made their morning commute, unburdened by what was going on in the world. None of them knew of the war bubbling at the forefront of the wizarding world; they all thought they were safe. It was unsettling to Jane to see this many people so oblivious to the fact that they were all in danger. Death Eaters could attack the street they were on at any given moment, and none of them would be prepared or have any way of fighting back.

As they reached the Underground entrance, Sirius had to grab Jane's arm to stop her from walking past it. She had been too caught up in her thoughts to notice.

"Honestly, what's going on in that head of yours today?" he had asked her.

They walked down the stairs towards the barrier, only before they could get there, Sirius veered them in a different direction. Jane didn't even bother to ask where they were going, though she did want to know how Sirius knew where he was going. It wasn't like he had been to this place before, not to her knowledge at least. So, she had asked.

"I'm just that amazing," he teased arrogantly, and Jane rolled her eyes as he laughed and shook his head. "Nah, I just asked around Diagon Alley."

"Is that safe? I mean, it's not gonna tip any of the wrong people off, is it?" Jane asked, lowering her voice, and Sirius quirked a brow.

"To ask where the Marksville Institute is? No. They get new students asking that question all the time; it's nothing out of the ordinary," he said, thinking a bit before smiling. "Pretty soon, you'll be walking around Clitheroe asking the local witches and wizards how to get to Pendle Hill."

"If I get accepted," Jane added, causing Sirius to roll his eyes.

"Wait, here it is."

Jane looked up and saw a large metal door that was plastered with signs that said things like, "No entry unless authorised," "Danger High Voltage," and "These doors are alarmed!"

"Looks welcoming," Jane said.

Just as she said it, a girl pushed past her and Sirius in a hurry. She was carrying books and trying not to spill her coffee as she rushed towards the doors as though she were late for something. Jane watched as the girl pulled out a wand and tapped five times on the lock. The door opened almost immediately, and the girl rushed inside before it closed again.

"Must be late for class," Sirius said before adding that only crazy people would enrol in summer classes.

Sirius walked up to the door and tapped his wand on the lock five times. Jane peeked around him curiously as the door swung open. Sirius pulled her inside quickly before the door shut behind them. It seemed they were in another part of the Underground, except it looked a bit older. More outdated than the Muggle Underground.

Jane looked around in awe as Sirius told her how it mostly took people to different parts of the Marksville Institute, though one could get to the Ministry from here, if they knew where to get off.

"They built it around the late twenties, I think," he told her.

"Doesn't look like it's changed much since then," Jane noted aloud.

As they boarded the tram, Jane's curiosity about the Wizarding Underground weakened and her fears and doubts came creeping back. And she hated it. She hated the fact that she was a coward while all of her friends were being so brave.

She didn't get too much time to dwell on it though because Sirius was dragging her off the train at the second stop. She studied his face as he pulled her along. He was excited. He had that weird little gleam in his eye, the same glint he had when he was about to do something completely idiotic and reckless but exhilarating nonetheless. And it only made Jane feel worse about being so afraid.

Jane didn't have time to admire the fanciful corridors she was walking down. In between her crushing fear and Sirius' excitement, which she could practically feel as though it were oozing out of him and wrapping itself tightly around her neck, she could hardly breathe. She was honestly surprised that her legs were still working, but there they were, moving of their own accord as though she weren't afraid at all. It was one of her biggest lies to date.

They finally came to a stop in front of a door, and Jane noticed how out of place it looked. It was too ordinary, too bland a door to be placed in a corridor as beautifully adorned as the one they were in. It was as though someone had placed it there as an afterthought while decorating and designing the building. It would have looked dreadfully unimportant if it had not been for the large man standing in front of it as though he were guarding it.

"We're here for the lecture," Sirius told the man.

The man only shook his head.

"There is no lecture here today; you have the wrong room."

Jane looked up at Sirius, confused. Had they missed something? In retrospect, the letter had seemed so straight forward. However, Sirius, who had seemed prepared for something like this, as though he went to secret meetings all the time, pulled his coin from his pocket and held it up to the man so that he could inspect the inscription.

The man seemed unimpressed as he nodded towards Jane.

"And her?"

Jane quickly dug her hands around in her pockets before her fingers finally found the coin, pulling it out immediately as though she weren't hesitant about any of this. She held it up for the man to look at, and he finally nodded, taking out his wand and tapping the door in a weird pattern.

It was the first time that Jane's body froze up, like her physical body was finally getting the signals from her brain that she didn't actually want to be there. Sirius gave her a quizzical look.

"You all right?"

Jane nodded quickly before forcing herself to move into the room.

The room, like the door, seemed out of place in a building this grandiose. It, to Jane, had the feel and appearance of an oversized custodian's closet or a lounge that was never furnished properly.

It was all very underwhelming, though Jane didn't know what she had been expecting. Perhaps, she'd been expecting something like an army, but there were only about thirty people in this room, including her and Sirius, and they didn't exactly seem the fighting type. Hell, most of them were her age. When Dumbledore had asked them to join this group, Jane figured that they'd be making up only a small portion, but upon seeing that the Hogwarts recruits were a vast majority of the Order, Jane felt uneasy.

"Jane! Sirius! Over here!"

Despite the dread she was feeling, Jane smiled when she heard Marlene's voice. Upon turning to see all of her friends, the heaviness on her chest seemed to lift just a bit. They had pulled their fold-out chairs into a small circle in one of the corners of the room as everyone waited for the meeting to begin.

Before Jane could even sit down, Mary was already halfway into an apology about how sorry she was that she and Marlene had missed Jane and Sirius' dinner party the previous week. Jane only shook her head.

"It's all right," Jane assured her. "How's Henry?"

"Oh, he's fine," Mary said. "He coughed up the Bundimun while we were waiting to have him looked at."

"Yeah, along with a fur-ball the size of my fist. And in my lap," Marlene added bitterly. "I would've much rather been at the party."

"You didn't miss much," Jane said, laughing a bit. "Though, you did miss watching Remus and Lennox Sterling trying to flirt with each other."

Marlene groaned.

"I always miss the good stuff!" she complained. "Tell me everything!"

At that moment, a hand clamped down on Jane's shoulder.

"And what exactly are you telling her?"

Jane craned her head back to smile up at Remus innocently.

"Just about how charming you are," she said.

Remus only nodded before bringing his hand up to flick Jane on the nose. She pulled away, scrunching her nose up and rubbing it.

"Try keeping your mouth closed, yeah?"

Jane stuck her tongue out at him, and he did the same, mocking her. Jane rolled her eyes, but she shot Marlene and Mary a look, letting them know that she would definitely tell them all about it later.

"So what exactly happened with you after the party," Jane asked Remus.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you and Lennox left together, so…"

"So?" Remus said, eyebrows raised in amusement.

"So, are you going out with her again or–?"

Remus chuckled.

"That is for me to know and for you to find out. If I decide to tell you," he said, causing a small pout to form on Jane's face.

"They are," came Lily's voice.

"You told her but not me?" Jane asked in a faux-offended tone.

Remus grumbled something about how he thought Lily would've kept her mouth shut.

Jane listened to Lily spill all of the details of Remus' love life to her with Remus grumbling in the background as Peter slid closer to them to listen as well. Pretty soon, they were all listening in, and Remus finally just gave up and told them everything.

"You kiss her yet?" Alice asked nosily.

"Am I allowed no secrecy?" Remus complained; Alice only shrugged in response.

Jane listened to her friends bicker and laugh amongst themselves, and for a moment, she felt like she was back at school. And while it lasted, it was a nice feeling. It wasn't until she started to look around the room that she started to remember where they were and what they were there for.

She recognised a lot of the people from school. She saw the Trinus twins talking with Hestia Jones and Emmeline Vance not too far from where she and her friends were sitting. Dorcas Meadowes, Caradoc Dearborn, and Kevin Fawley were talking to an older man that Jane didn't know. She saw Amelia Bones sitting with an older guy that, due to the uncanny resemblance in their faces, Jane assumed was someone from Amelia's immediate family.

Jane recognised Dumbledore and the Hogwarts groundskeeper, Hagrid, but everyone else was a stranger to her. At least that was until the Prewett twins came waltzing through the door as though they owned the place, causing Jane to smile.

Jane hadn't seen the Prewett twins since her third year at school, and other than the weird thing growing on Gideon's upper lip that Jane could only assume was his attempt at a mustache, they hadn't seemed to change much. What jane was really focused on was the giant leather satchel that Fabian was carrying, which he took straight to Dumbledore as soon as he spotted him.

Jane watched as Fabian sat the satchel on the old, wooden table in the middle of the room and began pulling out various bottles and things that Jane didn't recognise before he finally seemed to find what he was looking for. He handed Dumbledore a bottle filled with some kind of murky liquid, and Dumbledore inspected it closely through his half-moon glasses as he nodded along to whatever Fabian was telling him.

Part of Jane wanted to get a closer look at the bottle, and she wanted to hear what they were talking about, but her mind was pulled away from this train of thought as another person walked through the door. It was a lady, possibly in her late twenties or early thirties. She had a large scar stretching from her left temple down to her neck, possibly further, but anything further than that was covered by the lady's shirt. The cold look in her eyes made her intimidating and somewhat unapproachable, but Jane couldn't stop the nagging sensation that she knew exactly who this mystery woman was, as though she had seen her somewhere before.

"James, do you know who that woman is?" she asked over her shoulder, thinking that maybe the lady had been around for one of the Potters' many social events.

James studied the woman closely before shrugging and shaking his head.

"No clue. Why?"

Jane shrugged.

"I just got this feeling like I know her," she said quietly.

Before James could respond, Dumbledore was clearing his throat loudly to get everyone's attention. Jane reluctantly pulled her attention back to the center of the room as her stomach twisted itself into knots.

"If you would all, please, gather 'round," he said, motioning towards the wooden table.

Jane followed silently behind her friends as they all stood from their chairs and pulled them towards the table. Jane squeezed herself tightly in the spot between Sirius and Remus. She placed her hands on the table but quickly opted to bury them in her lap once she realised that they were shaking. Remus noticed this and nudged her with his shoulder.

"You all right?"

Jane nodded.

"Nervous?" he asked.

Jane let out a small laugh.

"You could say that."

Remus nodded a bit as though he knew exactly what she meant. He grabbed one of her hands and gave it a light, comforting squeeze before letting it fall back into her lap.

"It's gonna be okay," he assured her.

Jane wasn't sure why, but hearing one of her friends tell her this seemed to make everything more bearable, even though she'd been trying to tell herself the same things for a week now. She smiled at Remus before turning her attention back to Dumbledore at the head of the table.

Sirius had watched the whole transaction from the corner of his eye, and though he knew it was stupid and unfounded, he couldn't help but feel a slight pang of jealousy. Where the jealousy was coming from, he had no clue. Was it because Remus had noticed her discomfort before himself? Was it because Remus had been the one to ease her troubled thoughts instead of him? Was it that Remus' hand had seemed, to Sirius, to linger for just a bit too long?

Sirius quickly shook the latter thought from his head. This was Remus he was thinking of. They'd all been friends for over seven years now, and besides, Remus had never shown any interest in Jane that reached beyond "just friends," not that Sirius knew of at least. Not to mention the fact that Remus was, whether he admitted it or not, head over heels for Lennox Sterling. Sirius hadn't even known where his ridiculous thoughts had come from, and he laughed a bit, causing Jane to turn to him with a questioning glance.

He only shook his head as though to tell her whatever he was laughing at wasn't important, which only seemed to make her quizzical expression deepen. Sirius only grabbed one of her hands and put it in his lap as he quietly told her to, "pay attention."

Jane rolled her eyes, but she turned her focus back to Dumbledore as she felt Sirius' fingers lace in between her own.

Dumbledore started the proceedings with welcoming them all. From there, it was a brief lecture on why they were all there, which Jane found redundant. As Dumbledore talked, she let her eyes drift around the table. When she reached the woman with the scar, Jane was a bit startled to realise that the woman was staring at her with an unreadable expression. The woman's gaze made Jane just a bit uneasy, so she turned away quickly, deciding that keeping her eyes on Dumbledore was the best thing she could do.

He was now talking about the Ministry of Magic.

"While I believe they have the best of intentions, I fear that Death Eaters have already infiltrated their ranks. And that is why, I think, in order to bring down Voldemort–" half of the room, including Jane, flinched at the name, "–we have to have a task force completely separate from the Ministry.

"I know that a select few of you have jobs within the Ministry, or will soon be interning there."

Jane's thoughts immediately went to Alice, Frank and Lily. Alice and Frank were supposed to start Auror training the following month, and Lily had just been talking about the letter she'd received from the Misuse of Magic office saying that her internship had been approved and would start in a couple of weeks.

"I would ask, that while you are there, for you to keep your eyes open and your ears sharp. Any suspicious coworkers or conversations should be reported back to the Order immediately," Dumbledore continued.

"How would we do that?" Caradoc Dearborn asked. "We don't exactly have a hotline we can call, do we?"

Jane had to suppress a laugh at the confused faces of most of the witches and wizards in the room. Half of them didn't know what a telephone was, let alone a hotline. She, as a Muggle-born herself, knew how hard it was to keep Muggle references out of everyday conversation so as not to confuse people; sometimes it just slipped out.

"Yes, well, that's what we've been working on," Gideon finally said, shooting Caradoc a curious look, not quite understanding what any use a "line" would be to them or why it had to be hot.

Fabian held up the small bottle he'd been showing to Dumbledore earlier.

"It took us many sleepless nights and multiple mishaps, but we finally worked out the kinks," he said proudly.

"Enough with the dramatics, boy. Get on with it," grumbled an old wizard who was sitting at Dumbledore's right side.

"You're no fun, Moody," Fabian said before Gideon continued for him.

"This potion will allow us to stay in constant communication with each other. We will be able to communicate with each other verbally through this, at least until the effects wear off."

"I was unaware of this potion's existence," said a sceptical man, whom Jane would have mistaken for Dumbledore himself had she not taken a closer look at him.

"That's because we invented it," Fabian said. "It's insanely complicated, and only we know how to make it. But don't worry; it's been thoroughly tested for everyone's safety."

"There were a few minor hiccups," Gideon admitted, holding up his hand to show the still-healing burns, and Jane wondered just how exactly did this potion work? And why had it burned his hand?

"But everything's worked out now. As I said, the final product's completely safe," Fabian said hastily, smacking Gideon's hand down.

This started a flurry of questions from around the table: How's it made? What's in it? How's it work?

"Any questions that you have can be answered by this," Gideon said, pulling out a huge, leather-bound book that had to be thicker than any book Jane had ever seen; he threw it on the table and it landed with a loud thud near where Jane was sitting.

"What's that?" Alice asked.

"Our notes and instructions on the potion," Fabian said as though it were obvious.

Immediately, the questions ceased. Though, Jane pulled the book towards her and opened it. Upon seeing the list of ingredients, which was almost an entire page long, she looked up at the Prewett twins.

"How long exactly have you been working on this?" she asked.

"Well, it started out as a small project while we were back at Hogwarts. We had planned on selling it to students who–"

"Shut up, Fabian," Gideon said, eyeing Dumbledore, who was giving them a disapproving look.

"It's not like we did," Fabian muttered.

"Let's just say that it took a while," Gideon said. "We just never thought that we'd be finishing it for such an important cause."

Jane listened as they talked about how it worked. A lot of it she didn't understand; it seemed rather complicated. However, upon reading a ways down the list of ingredients, Jane decided that if she were going to actually drink it, it was better to leave some things unknown. Once she read that Floo Powder was an important ingredient, she had a feeling that she didn't want to know what else they had put in it.

In simple terms, the potion, which all had to come from the same brewing cycle in order for it to connect the drinkers, would act, ironically enough, similar to that of a Muggle telephone. Only this would work without dialling numbers or annoying cords or loud ringing noises to tell you when someone was calling.

Jane watched as the Prewetts demonstrated their new potion. They each took only a small dose of the potion, perhaps a tablespoon at most; from the look on their faces as they downed it, Jane could already tell that it tasted dreadful. Then, a rather curious thing happened to them, and Jane suddenly understood where the burn marks on Gideon's hand had come from. She and the rest watched in awe as something like a molten liquid, right under the boys' skin made its way down their left arms and stopped in the centre of their palms before slowly fading from view.

Without another word, Gideon left the room. After that, they waited patiently.

Only a few minutes later, they watched as the small orangish-red light slowly reappeared under the skin of Fabian's left hand, like a fire was waiting to burst through the skin there. Fabian held up his hand so that everyone could get a good look.

"Can you hear me?"

Gideon's voice sounded clearly from the centre of Fabian's hand, the light growing and dimming with the changing of his tone. Fabian turned his palm back towards himself, a victorious smile plaster on his face.

"Loud and clear, brother."

After the little display, the chatter and questions from around the table flared back up again.

"Now, you can mute it if you'd like with a simple spell because obviously, you don't need voices suddenly coming from your hand while you're in the middle of something important. However, the light and slight warming sensation will still be there," Fabian said, speaking loudly over everybody as Gideon calmly walked back into the room.

"And there is something else, but if it happens, there's no need to be alarmed," Gideon added.

"Like what?" Sirius asked.

"Well, call it a minor side effect, or what have you, but if too many people are speaking all at once, there is the possibility of your hand catching fire," Fabian tried to state calmly, which only fed the commotion around the table, and Jane squeezed Sirius' hand tightly.

"Silence," came Dumbledore's voice.

He hadn't shouted at them, but it was a clear command that they all obeyed without question.

"Continue," he said, turning his attention back to the Prewett twins.

"Thank you, headmaster," Fabian said.

"While we haven't been able to figure out how to stop the side effect from happening, we have managed to make it virtually painless and nonharmful so that this," Gideon raised his scarred hand, "doesn't happen."

"However, since it's still a bit startling for your hand to burst into flames, we ask, in order to minimize the chance of that happening, for any communication to be kept at a minimum. It's not a toy; it is only to be used for Order business," Fabian said seriously.

"How long does it last?" asked the man that Amelia Bones had been talking to earlier.

"One dose lasts about two weeks. The dose isn't very large, and no, it doesn't last longer if you take a bigger dose, so please drink no more than needed. This stuff takes at least two months to make; we're already working on the second batch."

"And it's very expensive to make," Gideon continued. "So please, do not waste what we give you and follow the instructions that we've added with everyone's ration."

"How'd you manage to make such a small dose last so long?" Lily asked curiously; she'd always had a knack for potions.

Jane pushed the Prewetts' notebook back to them when Gideon motioned for it, and she watched as they leafed through the various pages of their notes, trying to find something, while simultaneously trying to explain to Lily the complexities of the potion's longevity.

Jane didn't even try to comprehend what they were saying. All she knew was that the Prewett twins had to have been smarter than she had ever imagined they were to have come up with a potion this complicated on their own. She imagined, seeing as how Floo Powder was a main ingredient, that the way that it worked wasn't too far off from the magic behind the Floo network itself. However, how they managed to bottle that magic up for use in a potion equivalent, Jane would never know. She couldn't fathom ever doing something that complicated.

"I have a question," Frank spoke up. "When you say the side effect is virtually painless, what exactly does that mean?"

"You might get a bit of a stinging sensation, but nothing more than that," Fabian said.

"That and some soot-like residue left on your hand," Gideon said. "But that's better than getting your hand burnt off, wouldn't you say, mate?"

"Touché," Frank said, leaning back into his chair.

"Any more questions?" Fabian asked. "If not, you can all come get your rations now, he said as he started pulling more small bottles of the potion out of his leather satchel and placing them on the table.

As they were being passed around the table, Gideon piped back up.

"You should get about six doses out of one bottle. Like I said, it's a very small dose; take a dose every two weeks."

"Also, we wouldn't say no to monetary donations or donations in the form of the ingredients on that list," Fabian added.

"Yeah, we're breaking the bank to make this stuff, so fork it over, people," Gideon said, pulling an old hat out of Fabian's satchel and sending it floating around the table.

Jane dug around in her bag for some money before dropping it into the hat once it came her way. Once the hat made its way back to the Prewetts, Fabian looked inside and seemed happy with the amount they'd collected. He flashed them all a grin.

"Your contributions are greatly appreciated."

After that, Jane listened as most of the older folks bickered over finding a safehouse for the Order so that they could hold regular meetings, but no one seemed to be able to agree on anything. Jane fiddled with the bottle of potion in her hands. If they could get six doses out of one bottle, then one bottle should last them for twelve weeks or around three months.

This all seemed very surreal to her. From secret meetings to complicated potions to the people she knew being used as spies to gather intel from inside the Ministry, Jane didn't quite know how to handle it all. However, for the time being, no one was being asked to walk into battle; everyone was safe, and she was thankful for that.

It wasn't a very long meeting, and when it was time to leave, Jane and Sirius stuck around to talk to their friends for a bit before they all went their separate ways. Jane hardly spoke all the way to the Underground and when they boarded the tram, Sirius elbowed her gently as though to pry her out of her thoughts.

"You've been too quiet all day," he told her. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head, but sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to let that pass as an answer.

"I've just been slightly terrified all day; I still kind of am."

Jane surprised herself with how easily she told him the truth. Maybe she just couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Oh."

Jane shot him a questioning look.

"'Oh'?" she asked. "That's all you have to say to finding out how much of a coward I am?"

Sirius let out a small laugh and shook his head.

"You're not a coward, Janie. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here."

Sirius wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into him.

"Being scared doesn't make you a coward," he assured her. "Being scared and doing the right thing anyway, that makes you brave, Janie."