Early June 1981, Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix
Fabian and Gideon Apparated into the Headquarters that night for the meeting and were immediately tackled by a short-haired brunette woman.
"You berks!" Alice Longbottom fumed, squeezing their necks tighter. "Did you even know how worried I was?!"
"We're fine, Alice," Gideon wheezed, "But we won't be much longer if you don't let us breathe."
"Deal with it," she groused, tightening her hold in retaliation. "Consider it a payment for making everyone think you were dead for over 12 hours."
"Help us out, mate." Fabian shot a pleading look at Frank standing behind Alice.
Frank shrugged, amusement and relief present on his face. "Sorry, busy with the baby," he replied, lifting Neville in his arms who was happily chewing on his stuffed Hippogriff.
Fabian scowled and awkwardly patted Alice's back, praying to Merlin that someone would save them. Those prayers were immediately answered in the form of Lily Potter strolling into the sitting room with a babbling Harry in her arms.
"Alice, come on, let them go. I'm not really in the mood to be treating fainting twins in front of the fireplace" Lily chided teasingly, using one hand to tug her away. Thankfully, Alice finally relinquished her hold, discreetly wiping away her tears.
"Thanks, Lily. Knew you'd have our best interests at heart," Gideon quipped sarcastically as he straightened out his robes.
Lily laughed as she shifted Harry from one side to the other. "As much as I love being a healer boys, a girl needs her break."
"Good to see the Prewett twins are still alive!" James Potter called out cheerfully as he strode in, followed by Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. There was a round of manly hugs, everyone was relieved to finally see the twins alive and well in person.
Sirius clasped Fabian's shoulder, a teasing glint in his eyes. "We were worried Alice might've killed you once you arrived."
"Prat!" Alice hissed, smacking the underside of Sirius' head.
"You expected her to kill both of us? And you did nothing to stop it?" Fabian asked, arching his eyebrow.
Sirius raised his hands in surrender, smirking. "Have you ever tried to get in the way of Alice Longbottom? The last time I attempted that, I had insects crawling out of my ears for weeks."
"Oh, don't I know it," Gideon grumbled and he deftly avoided the swat coming his way. The fireplace roared green behind them and Moody hobbled out, his usual scowl in place.
"What happened to the two of you?" Remus inquired seriously. "All the messages you sent out this morning only mentioned you were injured during a fight against Death Eaters. How come you didn't manage to come back to Headquarters or reach out for help?"
"That's what I'd like to know too, laddies," Moody growled, his magical eye twitching between the twins. "Molly was panicking when she told us you didn't make it to the Burrow for dinner last night. Gave everyone quite a fright."
"So would I," Albus stated quietly, sweeping into the room. He smiled at Fabian and Gideon, his twinkling blue eyes conveying his relief. "But how about they tell us once the whole Order is here? We are only waiting for Marlene - "
"I'm here!" Marlene McKinnon stumbled out of the fireplace, brushing away the soot from her clothes. "Sorry, I'm late."
"Excellent! We are all here now so let us convene into the dining room and begin our meeting first," Albus declared as he made his way to the dining room.
Fabian and Gideon entered the room and were immediately bombarded with cries of relief paired with hearty clasps on the shoulders. Albus patiently waited for everyone to settle down before starting the meeting.
"Any updates so far about the Death Eaters movements?"
"They've been hitting the homes of Muggle-borns quite frequently as of late," Edgar Bones reported grimly. "Last week alone, there have been 8 Dark Marks sightings over these Muggle-borns houses with the occupants found dead."
"In light of this, I've been analysing all of their attacks so far and came out with a predictive model on where they might hit next," his wife, Eliza Bones, piped up, "With Marlene's help - " Marlene dipped her chin briefly " - we've implemented the system we proposed earlier to warn Muggle-borns which was using coded messages in advertisements via the Daily Prophet to alert the next possible attack. It's been effective so far as there have been no Death Mark sightings this week."
"Nicely done," Dumbledore said approvingly. "Please continue to formulate these messages. Onto the next item - "
"That must be why Dolohov was in Muggle London in the first place," Gideon murmured into Fabian's ear.
Fabian nodded curtly, coming to the same conclusion as well. Death Eaters were not shy per se in attacking Muggles or Muggle-borns but they preferred to do it in private settings like houses. It gives them a sense of power and control as well as the seclusion for them to carry out the horrible things they wished to do. They were not one to venture so deep into Muggle London, an area they so despised. Dolohov and his fellow Death Eaters must have been feeling rather restless if the Order was able to intervene in any possible attacks.
The meeting proceeded smoothly, mostly reports on what known Death Eaters are up to in the Ministry, Daily Prophet and other sectors of the Wizarding World.
"Keep an eye out on Karkaroff, Moody. He seems to be a little antsy as of late," Albus instructed the Head Auror who grunted in reply.
"And lastly, the Prewett twins," Albus' eyes landed on them. "I believe everyone is rather curious about what happened to both of you."
Everyone turned to the twins expectantly, waiting for them to speak. Fabian cleared his throat and began to tell the story for the umpteenth time.
"Gideon and I were up in Muggle London when we saw some Death Eaters cornering two Muggles in an alleyway."
"Let me guess," Alice remarked, "You two decided to dash right in to save the Muggles by yourselves, not even thinking to alert any of the Order before you did."
"You know us so well, Alice," Gideon grinned and Alice snorted, unimpressed. "We did consider sending out a message but it would have taken too long and the Death Eaters were about to attack them. We couldn't wait."
Frank regarded his words solemnly before asking, "How many Death Eaters were there? Do you know who they were?"
"There were 5 of them. It was Antonin Dolohov and some of his buddies," Gideon replied, sending gasps and murmurings all around.
"5 Death Eaters? And you managed to take all of them down? But then, how come you didn't come back to Headquarters?" Lily questioned, brows knitted.
Gideon grinned. "Patience woman, let the man finish telling the story."
Lily rolled her eyes but allowed Fabian to continue. "We distracted the Death Eaters long enough to get the Muggles out of there but we were getting pinned down pretty bad. We would have been goners if one of the Muggles didn't come back to save us."
"Wait, say that again. One of the Muggles came back to save you?" Emmeline Vance repeated, dumbstruck. She wasn't the only one. All of the members were stunned. Although, Albus looked more thoughtful than shocked, his fingers pressed together in front of him as he silently listened to Fabian.
"Yup," Gideon popped his lips gleefully. "Apparently, she armed herself with a wooden board of some sort and started whacking the Death Eaters from behind. Even when the board was blasted from her hands, she used her fists and feet to take them down.'
"Damn," Frank muttered, very much impressed.
"So, if you were saved, why didn't you contact anyone afterwards?" James pressed.
"Gideon and I were badly injured, both of us barely conscious. The Muggle, she and her sister, the other one that was with her in the alley, took us back into their house to tend to our wounds using the potions we had. We were knocked out after that and could only send out a message to Molly the next morning."
Alice leaned back, letting out a low whistle. "Merlin and Morgana, you're telling me this Muggle woman took down 5 Death Eaters by herself and healed you as well? Damn, I wish I could meet her."
"You can actually. She's at the Burrow right now, with the rest of her family," Gideon quipped.
"What why?" Peter squeaked, fidgeting in his seat.
"Let's just say the Death Eaters didn't take too kindly to a Muggle kicking their arses," Fabian stated grimly. "They used a blood tracking ritual to lead them to their house. We managed to get out of there just in the nick of time."
"And you brought them to the Burrow?" Edgar frowned thoughtfully. "What about the Statute of Secrecy?"
"I'm pretty sure the Death Eaters were the ones who broke the Statue of Secrecy first," Gideon replied wryly. "Besides, we didn't have much time and we weren't going to leave them there."
Sirius smirked as he eyed Arthur. "Might not be the best move bringing them to the Burrow considering Arthur's questions would be harder to handle than the Death Eaters."
Arthur turned a deep shade of red as chuckles erupted in the room. It was a well-known fact that he was a lover of all things Muggle related.
"I'm not that bad," Arthur said defensively, but he sounded a little unsure. "Am I?"
Lily reached out to pat his hand comfortingly. "'Course not. Sirius is just teasing. It's one of the best things about you."
"So, when is Molly planning to have another get-together?" Alice asked eagerly, "Because I can't wait to meet her."
"I think Molly was thinking sometime next week," Arthur scrunched his face in thought.
"How about bringing the Muggles here instead?" Albus suggested. "I would like to meet all of them as well."
"Are you sure that is wise, Albus? They may have saved the Prewetts but we hardly know them. It would do good to be cautious," Moody advised.
"They risked their own lives to save Fabian and Gideon. I have a feeling we can trust them," Albus insisted. "Would you bring them around at the end of next week's meeting, Arthur? I'll pass you the address to permit entry for them."
"Sure, Albus. I'll get Molly to bring them around with the kids near to the end of the meeting," Arthur agreed easily but Fabian stared at Albus suspiciously. There was something about Albus' expression that made him pause. Almost like the old wizard knew something they didn't.
"We will adjourn the meeting for today. See you all next week." Albus concluded the meeting and many of the members made their way to the fireplace while others walked through the front door to go to the Apparition point, beyond the wards.
"Maybe I should just pop by the Burrow to meet them," Alice pondered out loud. "I'm much too curious to wait until next week."
"No such luck, love. We have a busy week coming up, remember? The raids in the Little Norton," Frank reminded patiently.
"Bugger," Alice cursed with a sigh.
"Bugger!" Neville echoed excitedly, waving his little fists in the air. Alice and Frank's eyes widened in shock.
"Oh, he's definitely your child, Alice," Gideon snickered before ducking underneath the table to avoid the incoming hex hurled his way.
༻⸻⸻⸻⸻༺
Early June 1981, The Burrow
Bryn woke up with a start, staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling. It took her a moment to remember that she was in the Burrow, not in her bedroom. She sat up in her sleeping bag as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake up Mia and her mother sleeping soundly on the bed. After all of them bathed, they were immediately knocked out once their heads hit the pillows. It was a tight fit with Chris on the floor. She was glad Chris would be sleeping in the sitting room. She lost count on how many times his elbow knocked into her face during their nap. She stretched, absentmindedly noting the sun had already set, enveloping the room in darkness.
Bryn looked at the empty space next to her and frowned to find the sleeping bag was empty. Chris must have woken up earlier than her. She crept out the room and down the stairs, combing her hair with her fingers as she went. She could hear the children's laughter from the living room with small sounds of explosions in between and the delicious smell of chicken in the air. Her stomach grumbled, reminding her that she has not eaten a single meal since morning.
"Good to see you awake, Bryn? How are you feeling?" Molly greeted cheerfully as Bryn walked into the kitchen. Chris was there at the table too, giving her a nod as he was busy chewing.
"Better," Bryn replied, "Although I am feeling rather hungry."
"Of course! Let me fix you up a plate."
Bryn sat next to Chris and watched interestedly as Molly bustled around her kitchen, waving her wand with precise movements at the kitchen utensils. The stove flickered to life, heating up a large pot while knives began slicing loaves of bread and chicken.
"How long have you been awake?" she asked Chris.
Chirs swallowed his soup before replying, "Not long before you. My pager was going crazy."
"Who was trying to contact you?"
"The guys at the station. They don't have a phone here so I had to go down to the village nearby to call them from a phone booth. It seems like someone reported our house burning but they couldn't find us inside the house or anywhere."
Bryn winced. Guess they don't really have a house to return to. "What did you say?"
"I told them someone is after us and we have to go into hiding for a while," he said matter-of-factly, "I also said I won't be able to contact them again for the time being."
"And they believed you?"
Chris shrugged as he finished the last of his chicken. "I wasn't really lying, was I? I doubt they are going to be able to track us down to check. Alex promised he would get in touch with Mum's hospital to tell them she won't be coming in for the time being. As for you and Mia - "
" - Mia just graduated university and I finished my 2-year foundational programme so we are good," Bryn finished. "Guess the both of us are taking a gap year," she added with a sigh.
A plate of chicken slathered with gravy and slices of buttered bread dropped in front of Bryn with a gentle thud. Molly tapped the pot with her wand and it hovered towards the table, tipping over. An empty bowl slid underneath just in time to catch the hot stream of onion soup.
"This looks heavenly, Molly," Bryn complimented, her mouth-watering from the delicious smell wafted from her dinner.
"Thank you," Molly beamed, "Eat up. And if you ever need seconds, just ask for more."
Silver cutlery sailed across the room and Bryn caught them in mid-air, ready to dig into her feast.
"Is that onion soup?" Mia mumbled sleepily as she stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing away the sleep from her eyes. Diana was behind her, covering a yawn behind her hand.
"Yes, come and grab a seat!"
Soon, sounds of munching and sipping filled the air as Bryn, Mia and Diana ate the food rather ravenously.
"This soup is incredible, Molly," Diana praised, scouring with her spoon the bowl for the final remains of the scrumptious soup.
"Thank you but it is mostly my mother's old recipes that I just tweaked a bit," Molly replied modestly, flicking her wand once she saw everyone was done.
Dirty plates, bowls and cutlery soared towards the sink and just like an assembly line, a soapy sponge began scrubbing the dishes before it was rinsed and dried by a floating dish towel.
"Tea, anyone?"
There were choruses of agreements and Molly promptly whipped up four mugs of tea, refilling Chris' empty cup as well. Bryn breathed in the smell of the Earl Grey and took a sip, sighing contently.
"It's good that all of you are awake actually," Molly began, taking a seat at the table. She seemed rather tense, her expression serious. "I've been meaning to talk to you about something."
"What have Fabian and Gideon told you so far? About the Wizarding World?" Molly asked.
"Well, they've told us about Death Eaters and their reasons for attacking us," Bryn said, "That's about it actually."
"I see." Molly nodded, a thoughtful look coming across her face. "I've talked with my husband and brothers and we've decided that it would be best for all of you to know what is going on in the Wizarding World right now."
"What's happening with the Wizarding World right now?" Mia repeated, a line appearing between her brows. "What do you mean?"
Molly sighed, placing the mug down on the table as she studied them seriously. "We are currently in the middle of a war right now."
Everyone was reduced to stunned silence, staring at Molly in disbelief. The air in the kitchen became tense, a sharp contrast to the sounds of the children bantering happily away in the next room.
"War?" Bryn croaked, her eyes round as saucers. "War between who?"
"The Light and The Dark," Molly replied solemnly. "The Death Eaters that attacked you are under the command of a very powerful, very evil man. His name is V-Voldemort."
Bryn frowned. Voldemort? What kind of name is Voldemort?
Molly shuddered when she uttered his name, her face pinched tight. "Sorry, we don't usually say his name. Most people just refer to him as You-Know-Who."
"Is he really that scary to the point you can't even say his name?" Chris asked, brows furrowed and lips pressed tightly together.
Molly nodded stiffly. "He's one of the most powerful wizards ever known as just as fearsome. Half of the things he's done…vile doesn't even cover it. Many people have lost their lives just defying him," she grimaced, her hand closed into tight fists.
"You-Know-Who strongly believes in the superiority of pure-bloods - family lines that only consist entirely of witches and wizards - and that magic should only belong to them. He views Muggles along with witches and wizards born from Muggle families as lesser and wants to control them."
"Bloody bastard," Mia cursed, her eyes blazing with fury. "He sounds like a real Hitler."
Molly cocked her head in confusion. "Who?"
"He's an evil dictator in Germany. He incited wars and caused many deaths," Bryn explained.
"Ah." Molly nodded somberly. "Muggles would have their own wars too as well."
"So, who's 'the Light'? The one who's fighting against Volde – sorry, You-Know-Who, " Chris apologised hastily when Molly gave a violent wince.
Molly bit her lip, wondering how much she should tell them about the Order but Gideon, who just strolled in, saved her the trouble. "The Order of the Pheonix," Gideon answered as he plopped next to Mia. "It's a secret organization that is working to stop the You-Know-Who and his band of Death Eaters from taking over."
"Uhh, if it's a secret organization, how do you know about it?" Mia asked, her eyebrows raised.
"Because we are part of it," Fabian replied simply, entering the kitchen with Arthur next him. He unclasped his cloak, revealing blue robes which brought out the blue of his eyes. Bryn caught herself staring a beat too long at Fabian and quickly averted her eyes, taking a sip of her tea. It seemed like she wasn't fast enough as Mia directed a smirk her way.
"The Order is founded and created by Albus Dumbledore. Many considered him to be the greatest wizard of all time and the only one who You-Know-Who fears," Arthur described, pressing a small kiss on Molly's brow. "We are working to prevent You-Know-Who from taking over by interfering with the activities of him and his Death Eaters. Fabian, Gideon and I are part of it. In fact, we've just come back from a meeting. Molly is as well but she's been busy taking care of the kids these days."
"But, why are you telling us all about this? About the Order?" Bryn inquired.
"Because we trust you," Arthur said matter-of-factly with a smile. "And after what you did for Fabian and Gideon as well as what you've gone through, the least we can do is inform you of the current situation since you are tangled up in this."
"Thank you, for trusting us and not leaving us in the dark," Chris said gratefully before he turned to the twins apologetically. "And I'm sorry for being suspicious of you back in my house."
Gideon dismissed his apologies with an understanding grin. "Stop, you don't need to apologise for anything. You were just looking out for your family and it didn't help that you found out we were wizards. We understand."
"Yeah," Fabian nodded sincerely. "I would have probably done the same in your shoes. I hope at least we've gained your trust now."
"You have." Chris reached out to shake the twins' hands firmly. A smirk grew on his face as his eyes flickered between Bryn and Fabian. "Although, I do hope there won't be any more late-night sleepovers. Agreed?"
Bryn's cheeks instantly burned with embarrassment at being called out. He knew. How did he know?
Fabian was equally red, his face rivalling the colour of his own hair. Gideon and Mia burst out laughing, almost falling off their seats in the process, while Diana simply smiled over the rim of the cup. Poor Arthur looked terribly confused but Molly narrowed her eyes at Bryn and Fabian suspiciously.
"Y-yeah, sure mate," Fabian smiled sheepishly, rubbing the tip of his nose awkwardly.
Bryn fought the urge to smack Chris' teasing grin right off his face but she settled with a good elbow jerk in the ribs for now when he sat back down in his chair. To his credit, he didn't flinch, much less budge from the sharp blow. He just continued to drink his tea while Bryn died from mortification.
"Anyway," Fabian cleared his throat, pointedly avoiding Molly's attempts to catch his eye. "Would you all be okay to come to an Order meeting this time next week? They all want to meet you."
"Meet us?" Bryn knitted her brows in confusion. "Why would they be interested in meeting us?"
"To be specific, they're interested in meeting you," Gideon clarified, his eyes still gleaming with mirth. "They want to meet the amazing Muggle who saved our lives."
The flush that barely receded from her face returned at his words. "Really, I didn't do anything special," Bryn muttered.
"Nonsense," Gideon declared, ruffling her hair. He grinned at the face of her embarrassed scowl. "Only someone crazy and brave enough would come back to face their attackers wielding wands with a larger wooden stick."
She narrowed her eyes dangerously at the smirking redhead. "Are you mocking me?"
"Never," Gideon winked, toasting his cup in the air. "But they are really excited to meet you and are you really not curious to visit other witches and wizards in the headquarters of a secret magical organization hell-bent on thwarting an evil sorcerer?"
Bryn huffed, "Well when you put it that way…"
"See? Don't worry, the Order is practically harmless when we are not trying to overthrow the evilest wizard in all of Britain. The invitation extends to your family as well and there are even some Muggle-borns so you definitely have someone to talk to."
Bryn considered their offer, still a little unsure. "Well. it's not like we have anything to do anyway," Diana said, shrugging when Bryn caught her eye, "It would be interesting to meet other magical people."
"Yeah, it would bring some fun to our dull lives," Mia joked with a wink.
Bryn stared at Chris who had yet to speak. "It's up to you, Bryn. After all, you're the one they want to meet the most. We're just there along for the ride," he teased.
She rolled her eyes but she couldn't deny her curiosity. When would she ever have the chance to meet another band of magical people? And like her mother said, it's not like they can go anywhere at this point and it would be nice to meet new people while they are here. "Alright, we'll go."
"Excellent!" Arthur exclaimed. "Molly will bring you to the Headquarters with children around the time the meeting would end."
"And don't worry until then, Mia," Gideon said cheerfully, bumping his shoulder with hers. "You're living in the Burrow now, and nothing ever gets boring in the Burrow."
2 chapters in one month? I am on a roll! I've been feeling inspired lately so I hope you're enjoying how this story so far. Leave likes and comments! See you in the next chapter!