About a week after leaving Hogwarts, the Marauders and Lily received the note that Dumbledore had promised them and Apparated out to a manor house in rural Cornwall, Remus popping over to Peter's home beforehand to bring him since Peter was still scared to Apparate long distances by himself. The manor was Victorian in style, ornate and tall-windowed and surrounded by neatly-trimmed gardens and low black fencing topped with fleurs-de-lis. Larkspur Manor, Dumbledore had called it. It looked more like an old family estate than the headquarters for a top-secret organization, but James could sense the magical wards that surrounded it.
Tentatively the five of them teased open the gates and stepped onto the property, taking a winding path through the gardens until they reached the stretch of lawn in front of the manor that was covered in larkspurs of every color, stretching up in tangles towards the evening sky.
Peter moved to touch one of the flowers, but Lily quickly reached out a hand to stop him. "They're poisonous, Peter," she warned.
Peter jumped back quickly, shuddering a bit. "Why would they plant poisonous flowers here?"
"Their final ward against Death Eaters, I suspect," Sirius said. "I have it on good authority that Death Eaters can't resist playing with pretty flowers." Lily rolled her eyes at him.
As they approached the manor's great mahogany door, it flew open to reveal Marlene McKinnon grinning down at them. "Marlene!" Lily said, blinking. "You—are you…?"
"I was just inducted yesterday," Marlene explained. Her grin widened. "You lot didn't think you were the only ones from our year joining the Order, did you?"
"Er…I suppose we did," Remus admitted.
Marlene tsked at them. "Well, come on. I'm meant to bring you up to the council room."
The five of them followed Marlene inside and up a pair of creaky staircases into a long, carpeted corridor. Hearing familiar voices coming from behind a cracked-open door, James stopped and poked his head inside to find Frank Longbottom and Alice Wren conversing with a dark-skinned young woman wearing dreadlocks down to her waist. "Oi, Longbottom!" James called.
"Potter!" Frank and Alice turned to face him, beaming. "We were expecting you! How was your last year at Hogwarts?"
"Well, it did end with a pair of murders." James pointed out. He felt Lily go tense behind him. "We were all going to join the Order anyway, but that really sort of cemented it."
"I can imagine." Frank's smile melted away. "I didn't know Fiona, but Mary was…she was brilliant. I can't believe anyone at that school would dare to do what they did to her."
"I can," Sirius muttered darkly, peeking in over James's shoulder.
Alice Wren softly cleared her throat, breaking through the heaviness. "Well," she said, "in spite of how terrible everything has become, Frank and I do have some good news to share."
"Oh?" James asked. "And what might that be?"
Alice stepped towards him with her hand out, showing off a silver-banded diamond ring glimmering around her finger. "We're getting married in the winter. Figured it's now or never, right?"
"That's amazing, Alice!" Lily exclaimed. She shoved James. "We always knew you'd end up together."
"Yeah, mate." James had absolutely no idea what to do in this situation, so he leaned forward to give Alice a high-five. "Congratulations." His eyes flitted over her shoulder to the dark-skinned woman beside Frank. "Wait, is that Dory Millrose?"
"Dorcas Meadowes," the woman corrected him. "I graduated a few years before you."
"You played Quidditch," James said, slowly remembering. "You…you played for Slytherin."
Dorcas crossed her arms. "Not all Slytherins are Death Eaters, you know. Some of us intend to come out on the right side of history."
"Er…yeah, of course, I know. I didn't mean—"
Marlene snorted, pulling James back into the hall. "You'll have time to put your foot in it later," she said. "Dumbledore's expecting you."
With Frank and Alice and Dorcas coming to trail behind, Marlene led James and his friends into another room towards the end of the hall, a circular space with stained-glass windows and a dais against its back wall—it reminded James strangely of a church. Dumbledore stood behind the dais with a plain black book laid out on the podium before him.
Marlene directed Lily and the Marauders to fan out single-file in front of Dumbledore; they stood waiting in silence while more Order members trickled into the room to observe their induction. James didn't recognize most of them, but he did find Benjy Fenwick and the redheaded Prewett brothers, as well as a one-eyed man he knew must be the famous Auror Mad-Eye Moody. Altogether, there couldn't have been more than thirty of them gathered.
"James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Lily," Dumbledore began once they all were settled. "Welcome to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix."
"Thank you, sir," Remus said quietly, dipping his head.
"The fact that all of you have chosen to answer my summons seems to indicate that you still wish to be inducted into the Order, understanding in full the risks and dangers that await you should you make such a choice."
"We do," James said firmly. The others nodded to either side of him.
"Then, certain in your decision, you should now repeat after me." Dumbledore lifted his chin. "'I pledge my allegiance to the Order of the Phoenix and all who serve the light and good. I pledge to dedicate myself to the defeat of Dark magic and its champions—and if I must die in service to the Order or in fulfillment of this pledge, I will give my life willingly so that others may live to fight again.'"
The five of them echoed each line as Dumbledore spoke it, the weight of the words falling heavily on James's shoulders. But this was exactly what he had wanted—how could he choose to do anything else while Voldemort was still around, threatening the lives of nearly everyone he loved?
Once they had finished, the room went deathly quiet. Slowly Dumbledore reached for the nameless black book in front of him and held it up. "This is the Order's official registry," he explained, opening it and flipping to a blank page. "Every member, past or present, has signed this the day they were inducted, and the five of you now have the honor of joining them." He held the registry out to James. "It is not protected by any spells or enchantments from prying eyes, so you may sign with a false name if you wish."
James took the book between his hands, staring at the empty page while Marlene stepped forward to offer him a quill and ink. So many people from Hogwarts already knew him as Prongs; it certainly wasn't any sort of secretive false name he could use. But why did he need to use a false name at all? He didn't care if anyone knew he'd joined the Order; the Marauders had all but announced it with their phoenix firework stunt before graduation. So he signed James Fleamont Potter at the top of the page, gave a tiny nod, and handed the registry over to Lily. She signed with her real name as well, as did the other Marauders after her. None of them had anything to hide.
When Remus handed the book back to Dumbledore, still open to allow the ink to dry, James braced himself for something else to happen—something sacred or magical to finalize their induction. But all Dumbledore said was, "I'll contact you soon with your first assignment," and then he and the rest of the Order members began to disperse, Frank coming over to give James a congratulatory squeeze of the shoulder before leaving hand-in-hand with Alice.
This was it. Nothing felt like it had changed, and yet James and the others were now official sworn members of the Order of the Phoenix. They'd all just pledged their lives away, and they still didn't really know what they were doing. James supposed they were about to find out.
Lily reached out a hand to him; he took it, squeezing her fingers as he studied her face. She looked as nervous and uncertain as James felt, but she also looked incredibly, fiercely brave. James loved her more than ever.
"Everything's about to change," she murmured, her lips barely moving as she spoke.
"As long as we're together," James replied, "we're going to be all right." He glanced over to his three best friends—his brothers, his family—before turning back to Lily. "I'm sure of it."
