The meeting went on for over an hour. Avery had expected it, of course, but it was...a lot to take it. Part way, about an hour after her "great" idea, she noticed it was mostly people relaxing, talking details, and catching up. So, needing a break, she slipped out one of the doors, stepping into the night.

Letting out a breath as the warm summer air hit her, Avery moved farther away from the building, looking over the horizon. The abandoned pub was on the edge of a small town, from what she could see. The countryside surrounded the town, most of the lights in the homes and businesses off, the people resting.

Taking a deep breath and wrapping her arms around herself, Avery looked up, watching the few clouds move slowly, blocking some constellations and revealing others. She closed her eyes slowly, basking in the silence, the peace surrounding her. Avery could slightly hear the mumbling words and sentences inside, but ignored them, focusing on the wind blowing past her, the whispers of the grass as they brushed against each other.

Her eyes snapped open as she heard a door close, and she looked back to see Remus moving towards her slowly. He paused when their gazes met. "You alright?"

Avery nodded and turned towards him, her arms still around herself. "Yeah, just...needed a breath."

"I know how you feel," he replied, moving to her side, his hands in his pockets.

They both looked up at the stars, staying silent for a moment before he spoke again. "I like to do this sometimes...just travel to the countryside and study the stars."

Avery hummed softly in agreement, before saying quietly,

"It's funny how we look up at the stars…

and we talk about how beautiful they really are,

even though they are already dead.

I guess this just means

that the beauty in everything…

is eternal."

Remus looked down at her, but Avery kept her gaze up. After a beat of silence, Remus asked, "Was that…"

"A poem," Avery responded, glancing at him now. "I...like to read. All kinds of books, really. But poetry is my soft spot."

He studied Avery for a moment before smiling. "Nothing wrong with reading. Or poetry."

She laughed quietly, her smile growing as her cheeks heated up. "Thanks."

After another minute of silence, Remus glanced away from the sky and back to Avery. "So...how different is it here from home?"

The question seemed forced, almost like Remus was trying to force a conversation that made sense. It didn't help that Avery wasn't sure where "home" was supposed to be. He didn't know that her home wasn't in America, or that she hadn't felt like she had a home in years.

"It's...definitely different," Avery replied, wanting to give him an answer that made sense, and wanting to be open to a degree. She wasn't sure how long she would be here, so making friends and growing accustomed to this new life would be smart. Maybe...Remus was the first step in that direction.

"Not bad different," she continued, looking over the town below. "Just…"

"New?" Remus supplied as she trailed off.

Avery laughed softly and nodded. "Basically."

He chuckled, sliding his hands in his pockets.

Avery tucked her hands into her pockets, cursing herself silently. She was standing with her favorite character ever in the Harry Potter series and had nothing to say. Why did she have to be in this situation?!

Suddenly, Remus turned to Avery. "I'm sorry."

Her eyebrows shot up in confusion. "Sorry for...what?"

"I'm...pretty awful at making conversation," he stated. "I…" He looked away and rubbed his neck before looking back to her. "I do want to get know you, I just…"

Avery cracked a smile and said, "Don't know how?"

He chuckled and nodded. "Yes."

"It's okay," Avery replied. "I'm not good at conversation either. I'd say...we shouldn't force anything. Just..say or ask what we're thinking."

She looked up slowly, surprised to see him smiling softly. "That's not a bad plan," he responded.

Avery fought back a blush again, smiling back. "I hoped so."

He chuckled before nodding back to the door. "Want to head back in? Get some food?"

"Not a bad plan," Avery said, smirking at Remus.

He laughed at the repetition of his early sentence, following her as she moved inside.

As they both walked back inside, Avery moved to the food, nodding to others along the way. Remus made to follow but was pulled to as top by Sirius. His friend glanced at Avery before back to Remus. "Everything alright?" he asked.

Remus nodded slowly. "Fine, Padfoot. I just...wanted to talk to her a little bit, start to get to know her more."

"And?" Sirius pushed, not letting Remus go.

Remus sighed. "And...she's interesting."

"Interesting as in…" Sirius wiggled his eyebrows, making Remus roll his eyes.

"No. Interesting as in someone new," Remus stated.

Sirius groaned. "You're no fun, Moony."

"I'm plenty of fun, just not the kind you're looking for," Remus replied, smirking. The statement made Sirius let out a bark of laughter, the two chuckling together.

Avery glanced behind her as she heard laughter, smiling gently as she saw Remus and Sirius laughing. Turning back to the food, Avery grabbed a few items, finally feeling the hunger eat away at her stomach.

"Doesn't it all look good?"

Avery turned to see Lily, with her own plate of food, about two feet away. Avery nodded and smiled gently. "Yeah, it really does."

Lily moved closer at the reply, her smile growing. "Fabian and Gideon brought it all."

Avery nodded slowly, remembering those names. "Those are the twins...right?"

She nodded in response. "Exactly. But they didn't make the food, remember that. They cannot cook at all."

"Hey!"

The girls turned to see the twins behind them, offended looks on their faces. "We can cook," the twin on the right said.

Lily laughed. "Yeah right. Last time you cooked the oven was black for a month." She turned to Avery, smirking. "Their sister is trying to help, but it's not working."

"Sister?" Avery asked, more confused if it was possible. The twins looked similar to what she imaged Fred and George like, which seemed strange.

"Molly," the twins said in unison.

"She's married now," Fabian commented.

"With four kids too," Gideon added.

The realization hit Avery, and she gasped, "Molly Weasley."

The twins nodded, beaming. "Exactly!" Fabian said.

"Have you met them?" Gideon asked.

"Um...heard of them," Avery replied, now realizing why the twins did look so familiar. They were Fred and George's uncles...

"Well we need to talk mission," Lily said, smiling to the twins. They nodded and moved away, making Avery look to the redhead. "When you stepped out Kingsley gave us the information we need for the mission."

"Good, good," Avery muttered, nodding. She followed Lily to a few chairs, sitting beside each other as Lily told Avery all the details.

James glanced at Lily, watching his girlfriend talk with the new girl.

"Will you stop looking at them?" Sirius demanded, sighing at his friend.

"I'm just nervous" James cried, looking back to his friends.

"Avery really is fine," Remus stated, raising an eyebrow. "She's...normal, from what I could tell."

"Normal? Are we sure you weren't just flirting with her and she was lying?" Peter asked, making Sirius and James laugh as Remus rolled his eyes.

"We weren't flirting," Remus stated.

"Seems like it might have been flirting," Sirius responded.

James chuckled. "Alright, alright, let's focus. We don't know this girl and we're going on a mission with her."

Sirius sighed and nodded. "Right."

"We should map out the town soon," Peter commented. "Figure out a plan from there." The group was fairly lucky, it turned out the Muggle town they would be protecting was the town down the hill from the abandoned pub they were in now.

The other three nodded. "Sounds smart," James agreed. "Between our shifts is the problem…"

"What about at night?" Sirius responded. "We could go in animagi forms," he supplied, gesturing to himself, Peter and James.

"Smart," James replied, nodding.

"But what about Lily, Avery and myself?" Remus asked.

Sirius sighed. "Right."

Remus thought for a moment before commenting, "We could go during the day. Say we're...looking to move there?"

Peter nodded slowly. "That's an idea…"

"Ask Lily," James supplied. "She's probably got ideas."

Remus nodded and glanced at the two girls, who were now smiling and laughing. "Okay."

James put his hand on Remus's shoulder, squeezing it. "Sure you're alright with us separating?"

Remus chuckled in response. "James, I'm pretty sure I'm safer with Lily than you three."

Peter laughed at the comment, the other two smiling and chuckling. "Point taken," James replied.

The girls glanced at the boys as they laughed, Lily smiling. Avery glanced at the girl, and seeing the smile, asked, "How long have you…known them?"

"Known them? Oh...7 years now," Lily replied. "We were all in Gryffindor together, same year."

Avery knew this, of course, but let Lily speak.

"But...we never really got along," she continued, glancing at the group.

"Really?"

She laughed, smiling softly. "I know, seems strange. But back then...I don't know, it was...different circumstances."

"What changed?" Avery asked softly. This, she didn't know, and she was genuinely curious.

Lily sighed and looked at Avery. "Someone I thought was a friend...wasn't. And at that same time...those four showed me a kindness I hadn't really seen before. In them at least. That summer...Remus wrote to me, and we grew close. James wrote too, but less. I think he wanted to…"

Avery cracked a smile. "Give you time?"

Lily laughed and nodded. "Yeah. But over our sixth year...I started to like him."

"And that like grew?" Avery questioned.

Lily nodded, stealing a glance at James. "Yeah. Over time, at least. Now...I couldn't imagine life without him."

Avery smiled softly, feeling her heart grow soft at the story. "Well...seems like he feels the same."

Lily blushed and laughed. "I hope so." The two girls laughed together, smiling.

"By the way, thanks for...volunteering," Avery muttered.

"It's no problem," she replied. Seeing Avery's expression, Lily tilted her head and studied Avery for a moment. "...are you…"

"Not use to that?" Avery finished. Lily nodded and Avery took a deep breath. "...yeah, kind of."

Lily reached out and put her hand over Avery's. "Well, you're not alone anymore. We're all in this together. All of us."

Avery nodded and smiled, squeezing Lily's hand. "Right."

About half a hour later, the four boys had moved to the girls, revealing their plan. Well, everything but the Animagus part. Avery didn't know that,but James knew Lily would see that detail without him saying anything.

"So, you three want us three to go on our own?" Lily asked, staring at James. "In the day? While you three go at night?"

James shifted, clearly uncomfortable with the stare and nervous from it as well. "Yes?"

Lily pursed her lips, staying silent before looking at Avery. "It's not a bad idea," Avery stated.

Lily sighed and nodded. "I thought the same thing."

James relaxed instantly, making his three friends laugh. Lily glanced at James then, asking, "You three will be alright though?"

James nodded, smiling. "We'll be fine. You know us."

"I think that's why she's asking," Avery commented softly, making Sirius burst into laughter.

Remus covered his mouth, clearly trying not to laugh, as Peter laughed as well, turning away from the group.

"She's kinda got you pegged, Prongs," Sirius said, patting his friend's back.

"Shut up," James replied, blushing but smiling as he glanced at Avery. "You sure you can keep up with these two?"

Avery smirked, shrugging. "Wouldn't be okay with it if I couldn't in the first place."

James nodded slowly, a mixture of impressed and unsure. Which Avery expected of course, they had just met her and didn't know much. He was allowed to be wary of her, in Avery's mind. They all were, and if they weren't...they wouldn't be who she expected them to be.

Glancing around, Remus noticed that people were leaving, whether through apparation or floo. Looking at his friends, he commented, "We should head out."

The group nodded, Avery and Lily standing. Lily asked, glancing at Avery, "Can we reach you by owl?"

Avery nodded. "You should be able to."

"And Dumbledore's told you the code?" Remus asked.

Avery paused, before responding, "No, but I'll get it from him."

The group nodded, just as Dumbledore made his way over. "Are you all ready?"

"As ready as we can be," James responded.

The others noticed how Dumbledore met Avery's eyes for a moment, the girl nodding. He then looked to the rest of the group. "We must go, but I'll give Avery the code, so you can all discuss the mission.

Lily nodded and turned to Avery. "We'll talk later then."

Avery nodded in return, smiling. "Sounds good. It was wonderful to meet you all."

Remus smiled softly, nodding back. "It was great to meet you too."

Avery fought a blush, slipping around them to Dumbledore. She took his arm and they apparated out, the five watching the space they had been in.

"...Was there..." Sirius started, glancing at his friends.

James nodded slowly. "A glance between them…"

"We all have secrets though," Peter replied.

Remus nodded in agreement. "We can't judge her right off the batt. It's not like she knows everything about us."

The others nodded, James slipping his arm around Lily's waist. "We can think over that later. Right now, we all need sleep."

Everyone nodded before apparating to their own home, all five of them curious about the girl they had met that day. James, Sirius, and Peter were all on edge still, unsure about the new addition to the group.

Remus and Lily though had a good feeling about her. They wanted to learn more of her, of course, but...there was something that they felt was good about her. And to be honest with themselves, they were both happy they were with her rather than anyone else. Maybe when they toured and mapped the town of Dovershaw they would learn more of this new girl.

A/N: Sorry for the late update! things have been crazy busy lately. But hopefully, I'll be updating more as things slow down.

What did you think of this chapter? How is Avery going to be working with some of her favorite characters? And What about the Maraduers- are their reactions called for? Let me know what you think and what you're looking forward to!

Now...for notes on reviews!

Djtiger901- "I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR MORE OF THESE! THIS IS AMAZING!" Thank you! I noticed myself that there weren't many stories like this, so that's why I'm writing it. ;) And I'm so glad you're loving it! More is coming, and I have a lot planned. ;)