The Order
'Thanks to Remus and Severus, the centaurs have agreed earlier today to keep us informed about suspicious movements in their territories, and granted us right of passage if we need to intervene against any Death Eaters on their lands' Dumbledore seemed tired, not unlike most of us. It was Sunday evening, and we were all gathered around the kitchen at number 12, Grimmauld Place. 'And, as we have already discussed at our last encounter, the Vangardes have agreed, after a week-long persuasion carried out by Severus during the Easter holidays, to join our forces to ward off this new threat.'
Murmurs spread around the room. The truth was, nobody really trusted the Vangardes - the French magical law enforcement forces - and their guards, called protecteurs, since nobody really knew them. Well, nobody other than Dumbledore, apparently. And he seemed to be very confident about this.
'I know that, historically, the French magical guard has not been very friendly towards our Ministry' Dumbledore carried on 'but they have also felt the disturbances of the last war, and they know better now to help prevent the enemy from rising to power again instead of just protecting their own national borders. They also have, since the start of this year, a new leader, who I happen to know for almost 20 years.' More murmurs, this time with a tone of surprise. The identity of the French guard leader was always highly concealed, specially from outsiders. 'And they will be arriving here on the next Saturday to negotiate the terms of our cooperation.'
The pursuit of alliances had been going on for a while now. Since Dumbledore defeated Voldemort in the battle of the Ministry of Magic, rumors of former Death Eaters reuniting had been increasingly confirmed by several sources. What is more, there had been significant threats of attacks on the Ministry headquarters in the course of the last few days. Me and the other Aurors had the most exhausting week ever, and I still had to deal with the extra patrolling schedule as a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Don't get me wrong, I really had my heart in it. But it had been undeniably draining lately. We could really do good with some French back up.
My eyes wandered back to her. Jane Mullin had just been introduced by Dumbledore as a new member of the Order, although he said that, initially, she would pick no patrol shifts and would collaborate instead by writing to her contacts in Eastern Europe, leaders and rulers to who she had work for, trying to establish more alliances against the Dark forces. She was two years younger than me at Hogwarts, but of course I remembered her. I mean, everybody remembered her.
'Theo?'
I almost had a heart attack when she entered the room holding hands with Snape. Ok, actually, I reckon everybody here nearly died of shock, but they did it because they had been pretty sure Snape had a bezoar stone where he should have a heart. My reason, however, was different. I got out of breath when I saw her because I had forgotten how disturbingly Jane looks like her cousin. Except for her eyes… Jane's were a chocolate colour instead of looking like those honey pools I could remember so well… For heaven's sake, mate, get over it.
'Theo?'
But they had that same breathtaking laugh. And the same knack to flee away. Nobody had heard from any of them since they graduated. But now Jane was here, in front of me, sitting on Snape's lap and rubbing her nose against his, leaving the entire room dumbstruck by that sight. Yet seeing her with Snape didn't impress me as much as seeing he and Lupin behaving so cordially towards one another. What was up with them? Jane clearly did something right for that bloke.
'Theodore?!'
Maybe Jane kept in touch with her cousin, maybe she knows where she is… Stop, Theo, give it a break. What difference would it make to know where she is now? Well, at least I'd know she's fine… maybe I'd hear she's married now, and I would move on… Yeah, keep lying to yourself, lad.
'Theodore Adams!' Tonks shouted, and I came back to reality, startled. Everybody was looking at me and sniggering, except for Snape, who didn't seem very pleased. I reckon I must have been unknowingly staring at Jane all this time. Dumbledore cleared his throat. 'Theo, can I count on you to be here next Saturday for the meeting with the Vangardes leader?'
'Sure' I murmured, lowering my eyes.
'Great. So, Kingsley, as the patrolling schedule manager, Theo, as the head of tactics, and' he turned to his right 'Jane, I will need you at this meeting too.'
'Of course' she replied. Snape frowned, but said nothing.
...
Once the discussion was over, everybody stood up and started biding each other good night.
'Stay for dinner, Theo?' Molly asked.
'That would be great, thank you.' I shook half a dozen hands and was on my way to sit back at the long wooden table when Jane appeared in front of me.
'Theodore! Wow, you look…' she glanced around to make sure nobody was listening 'really great! I mean, you were always handsome, but I didn't remember all of this' she made a gesture as do indicate my upper body. I laughed.
'I see you haven't changed much, Jane'.
During dinner she filled me in on her previous jobs and her last year back at Hogwarts, and I told her about my years of Auror preparation and how our routine had been tough lately at the Ministry. Around us, Snape, Lupin, Tonks, Molly and Arthur seemed to be very absorbed in discussing the Order's new French alliance and the perturbing fame of their protecteurs, besides wondering how their leader must be like. All Snape's negotiation had been carried through with the Vangardes' spokeswizard.
'And have you heard from Jade?' I asked Jane, despite of myself.
'To be honest, I was just about to ask you the same' she gave me a glooming smile 'I know she's fine, though. I write to my aunt every once in a while, she tells me Jade has a really good job, but one that keeps her very busy. And that she is as beautiful as ever' she added, her eyes twinkling at me.
'That's a very smug thing to say since you looked almost like twins' I smirked, trying to conceal the jolt in my stomach from finally hearing some news about Jade.
'Jade Marteau? Your cousin?' Snape joined in.
'Cousin? I though you guys were twins' Tonks raised her eyebrows.
'Our mothers were' Jane smiled 'and we look a lot like them'.
'Except for your eyes' I let it slip before I could stop myself. Everybody looked at me. Jane gave me another one of those sad smiles, as if she felt sorry for me, before answering 'yeah… she has her father's eyes.'
'Wasn't him French?' Lupin asked.
'That's right, that's why she moved there after graduating' Jane replied.
'Wine, Jane?' Arthur offered.
Suddenly everybody went quiet and Jane blushed.
'Ah, no, thank you, Arthur'.
'Refusing some good wine? Now I see this is not exactly the same Jane I knew' I mocked, and everybody sniggered nervously before Jane, still very red, answered.
'Well, half of the table knows it already, so… the thing is, I think I'm pregnant'.
I spilled half the pumpkin juice I had in my mouth, making the others roar with laughter while Molly and Arthur congratulated Jane and Snape effusively.
'Wow, Jane… that's great!' I managed to say.
'Thank you, but we're really not sure yet, I can't be more than two weeks.'
'And how long have you guys been together?'
Jane, Tonks and Lupin chuckled, and Snape answered 'Two weeks'.
I almost spilled another gulp of juice, making them guffaw even harder.
'I heard it involved lunar potion fumes' Tonks added, out of breath.
By the end of dinner, my stomach was aching from laughter.
…
That night, when I rested my head on my pillow, I didn't even try not to think about her. I always tried to avoid it, because the truth was that I felt ashamed. First, because it was very stupid to keep thinking about someone ten years later. I hadn't seen her since her Apparition test. Second, because the Jade in my head was a seventeen-year-old, and I felt ridiculous remembering this girl now that I was a thirty-year-old man, and that I had started to find one and another white strands in my usually golden hair.
But part of me knew she was nowadays as much as a woman as Jane was.
And that part of me had a lot of trouble sleeping.
