The afternoon grew on and they chilled in the bar for hours, the Prewitt's joining them for some time and chatting to them. Gideon and Fabian Prewitt had been three years above them in school so Lily didn't really remember them but they had known the boys from Quidditch. Gideon had been captain before handing the title over to James, he was one of the youngest captain's ever as he received it in fourth year. Lily remembered thinking at school that James' one redeeming quality was his dedication to the sport which he took very seriously.
The afternoon dragged on and they made a move to leave, James said quietly before leaving as he shook both of their hands that he would see the twins later. Lily assumed that meant that they also were a part of the secret group that they were going to that evening. Lily felt nervous about the meeting, not just the unbreakable vow she would have to commit to but also the idea of being part of a secret resistance. Only a week before she'd had no idea a war was even brewing in the wizarding world, she'd been an alien apart from everything, and now she was right at the centre.
The group walked back through the streets of London, this time with Marlene accompanying them. The boys walked slightly ahead, Lily could hear James laughing at something Sirius was telling him and after the story ended James grabbed Sirius and tried to put him in headlock which Sirius resisted.
Seeing James play fight seemed strange as the James she had known from recent accounts was serious and not playful. She remembered him as a prankster at school unable to take anything seriously or ever have a sincere moment.
Lily walked alongside Marlene as the boys ran ahead continuing their playfight. Marlene watched affectionately and Lily had to stop herself doing the same.
"So Lily," Marlene said suddenly out of the blue. "I've been thinking about your situation and I think I can help."
"Help with what?" Lily asked confused.
"Your living situation." Marlene said. "I know you're kind of stuck because you can't go home, at least not until your house is fixed up and the coast is clear so I think you should come and stay with me. I have a spare room as my flatmate just moved out so you'll be doing me a favour. I'm not there that often so we won't be on top of each other." She finished and looked at Lily expectantly. Lily felt so surprised at the offer that she didn't say anything for a moment.
"That's so nice of you but I'm not sure, I don't want to put you out," Lily said, her usual insecurity wading in.
"I'm not the type to offer something if I didn't want to Lily. Come on," She said walking quicker to catch up with the boys. "You can come round after the meeting tonight and settle in." Lily chased after her and felt for the first time in a long time that something might actually be going right for her.
The clock struck 7.30pm and James was yelling for Sirius to get his act together as they needed to apparate to the meeting. The four of them gathered in the back garden and apparated, Lily side along with James as although she had her wand with her, she didn't feel confident enough to try apparating as it was such a long time since she'd last done it.
Lily closed her eyes and when she opened them she felt her feet gently touch the ground. The landing was considerably softer than the last time she'd apparated and she let out a sigh of relief she hadn't known she was holding.
"No scrapes this time," James said grinning down with her and she smiled back but quickly let go of his arm. She looked around them and it looked like they were in a small village somewhere in the countryside. Sirius and Marlene were already walking down the street towards a house in the distance lit by a lantern outside.
James and Lily followed them and walked down the pathway to the rickety old house. I had some quirky features to it including a very lopsided chimney which was blowing out purple smoke and the lantern Lily saw up close was actually some kind of large glowing magical insect buzzing around the glass case.
They walked down the path and Sirius and Marlene had waited for them and as they got to the door Sirius knocked on the door three times then paused, then knocked again twice. There was no immediate answer and then the door creaked open a tiny little bit.
"Password!" A husky voice called out.
"Peppermint toad." James said quietly and the door swung open a little bit more just enough to allow one person in at a time. The hallway was empty when they entered apart the man who had let them in. He was a sight to behold to say the least, his face was gnarled and scarred and his left eye was covered in an eye patch. Lily looked down and also saw his left leg was replaced by a wooden one.
"Evening Alastor." Sirius said, the man didn't offer a hand to shake though and just eyed them all. Lily tried not to stare but his one good eye seemed to be transfixed on her.
"You brought a newbie Potter?" He barked out, his voice harsh and unwelcoming making Lily shrink back a little.
"Yes Alastor. This is Lily Evan's, I believe my Mum briefed you on the situation." He said. Alastor nodded and rocked from his good leg to his wooden one. "Lily, this is Alastor Moody renowned auror." James said formally. Lily didn't reached to shake his hand and just nodded at him as politely as she could.
"Yes, yes, no time for formalities, come on." He said and then he led them into a side room off the hallway and ushered them inside. Sirius and Marlene didn't followed and Marlene gave Lily a little thumbs up as the door closed.
"You explained to her what this is for Potter?" Alastor said to James.
"She knows as much as I could tell her without breaking my vow." James said and Alastor nodded.
"You ready to take the vow girlie?" Alastor asked her. She had read about the vow at school, a binding vow that could never be broken. She wasn't entirely sure if she was ready but in her heart she knew she had to do this.
"Y-yes." She stuttered. She then coughed and cleared her throat. "Yes I am." She repeated more firmly.
James stood to the side and Moody held out his right hand, covered in scars Lily hesitated them grabbed his hand. Moody waved his wand over their enclosed hands and a swirl of magic encased them.
"Do you Lily Evans promise to keep the Order of the Phoenix, its members and the plans of the order secret?" Alastor said. Lily felt a little dizzy with the magic swirling around but she held her head up and looked into Alastor's eyes.
"Yes." She said firmly.
Alastor waved his wand again and the magic swirling around their hands sped up and then disappeared and he let go of her hand. She felt a slight tingling but she wasn't sure if that was the magic or Moody's tight grip.
"Is it done?" Lily asked. Alastor rolled his eyes.
"Were you expecting a blood oath Miss Evans?" He asked sarcastically and she blushed and didn't answer.
"Alright Moody that'll do. We need to get into the meeting now come on." James said heading for the door, a look of relief on his face, Lily followed and Moody hobbled along behind them.
Lily walked into what she assumed would be a living room in the home and as the door closed behind her she was suddenly hit by a burst of sound she hadn't even sensed from outside. The living room was much larger that it appeared outside, an obvious enlargement charm Lily thought. The sound must have also been muffled as there was no way this room, filled with at least 50 people, wouldn't have been heard from the street. Lily looked around and most people were sat talking animatedly, she recognised a few people from school and even a few teachers.
James walked across the room towards Sirius and Marlene when she suddenly heard her name called across the room. She turned and saw someone rushing over to her, Lily blinked and suddenly realised who it was.
"Alice!" Lily said hugging her old friend. Alice hugged her back and then took a step back to look at her.
"Lily it's been so long! Where have you been? When did you get here? What are you doing here? I have so many question!" Alice exclaimed. Alice was a small witch with a pixie cut of dark brown hair but her ferocious personality made up for her size. Lily had been best friends with her at school and they had even started healer training together but when Lily had left to care for her mother they had drifted apart and it was one of Lily's great regrets.
"It's so good to see you Alice." Lily said smiling at her old friend. "There's so much to catch up on, I…" Lily began and then heard a call from the front as the meeting obviously was beginning.
"I'll catch you afterwards," Alice whispered squeezing Lily's hand before sneaking back to her seat next to Frank Longbottom. They'd begun dating when Lily had been training with Alice all those years ago so Lily was pleased to see they were still together.
Lily walked quickly over to sit next to James in an empty seat he'd saved for her. He smiled down at her then looked to the front when Lily saw Freya was standing, obviously about to lead the meeting.
"Good evening everyone," She spoke out. The last few people speaking in the back quietened and the entire room gave her their full attention.
"We thank you for your attendance, we're going to jump straight into it as it's not wise to prolong these gatherings. The information we've gathered in the last two weeks has been the most valuable since the beginning of the order. I know a lot of you have voiced frustration at the fact we have not led any raids yet," Alastor Moody cough conspicuously, "But I continue to stress that offensive maneuvers can only be justified once we have conclusive proof of what Lord Voldemort or the death eaters are planning." A few shudders went around the room as her uttering the name. Lily was shocked by the power the name had.
"However the details we received about a recent kidnapping of Rupert Hurtwell has confirmed our earlier theories that the dark lord is hunting relics. The sad news that reached us yesterday was that Hurtwell's body was found." Lily gasped quietly at the news and James reached for her hand and squeezed it to comfort her.
"Our next move is to try and be one step ahead of them in their search as we don't know if Hurtwell gave them any information. I'll be assigning search missions to various order members, I can't stress enough how careful everyone must be. We don't want anyone outside of this room to know we have any idea what the death eaters are searching for. The best way to catch them is to let them think they're going unnoticed.
The strength we hold now is that we are building numbers and tyey have no idea that the order exists. We need to continue growing and gain as much intel as we can before we strike." She said fiercely. Lily looked around the room and the faces staring at her all looked determined and ready for whatever was coming, Lily admired their bravery.
"For those who work in the ministry we need your reports in so please come and find me or James at the front and we'll take account of your information." She finished and Lily realised she meant James Potter. He let go of her hand which she hadn't noticed he was still holding. He stood and walked over to his mother and they talked to a small group who had gathered near the front.
Lily sat for a moment alone looking around the room and then Alice returned to sit in the seat James had left empty.
"Lily I'm so happy you're here. My biggest regret is that we ever lost touch." She said hugging her friend again.
"I don't blame you Alice, I think I pushed most people away for a long time. I'm just glad to be… back." Lily replied. They sat for a while catching up and discussing what had been going on in their lives. Lily explained about her mother and she received another big hug from Alice. Alice however had happier news and said she was married to Frank Longbottom as they had eloped two years earlier much to the dismay of his mother.
Lily hadn't felt this close to her old self in so long as as she laughed at Alice's reminiscing about them trying fire whisky for the first time on a fourth year Hogsmeade weekend Lily realised the room had cleared out.
"We have to stay in touch Lily! Have you got an owl?" She asked. Lily nodded and they swapped information and made plans to meet up the following week. She then scampered off to catch up with Frank who waved at Lily.
Lily then looked around and saw the meeting room was now pretty empty and only a handful of people were left. She saw James was still at the front of the room and she noticed the woman he was talking to, a talk slim woman with long blonde hair, had her hand on James' arm and was laughing loudly at something he had said. She looked away as though her internal feelings might show if she looked at him talking to another woman.
Her thoughts whirred around and she question whether she was going crazy, her stomach growling in jealousy for a man she used to hate at high school and had only recently got to know again seemed ridiculous. She looked around the room and spotted Marlene and Sirius so she joined them to distract herself.
"Hey," She said as she walked over.
"Hey Lily," Marlene greeted her. "You must remember Remus and Peter from school right?" Next to them stood Remus, still looking very frail and tired but considerably better than earlier, and then Peter Pettigrew who looked much like he did at school, small and chubby with a constant look of fear on his face.
"Yes, hey guys. Long time." She said smiling. Remus returned her smiled but she thought she almost saw a glimmer of disdain in Peter's eyes before he cracked a smile back.
"You ready to go?" Marlene asked Lily. Lily looked back over to James and he was still talking to the blonde woman.
"Yeah, sure. I guess I should go say bye to James," Lily said. Marlene followed her gaze and groaned.
"He's talking to bubble brain." She said back to Sirius who also groaned in response. Lily took it that they didn't like her much but she knew she had to be polite and go say bye to James after everything he ad done for her so she walked over and stood next to them politely for them to notice her.
The woman was laughing hysterically again at something James had just said, who knew he was so funny? She continued to giggle and ignore Lily standing there but James noticed her and smiled.
"Hey Lily, this is Rosa." He said introducing them. The woman turned, her hand still on James' arm and her smile dropped as she took in Lily from top to toe but she said nothing.
"Nice to meet you." Lily said politely ignoring the other woman blanking her, Rosa just gave her the most insincere smile back. "Marlene has offered me her guest room to stay in for a while so I'm going to head off with her now." James nodded and she thought he almost looked disappointed.
"Bye then," Rosa said snarkily dismissing Lily quickly and turning back to James. James' attention was still on Lily though. Lily felt a little bubble of anger rise in her as she let this woman's tone wash over her.
"Are you sure you'll be okay?" James asked concerned.
"I'll be fine. I just wanted to say thanks for everything you've done for me." She said smiling. Rosa rolled her eyes and something came over Lily so she added, "I'll come and pick up my clothes from your bedroom tomorrow if that's okay." She saw James' eyes widen at Lily's audacity then she waved, smiled and wingled her fingers in a wave as she turned and walked away back towards Marlene. She had spotted Rosa's jaw drop and she felt a sick satisfaction and tried not to let it show on her face.
As they left Marlene and Sirius were bickering about sleeping arrangements.
"I'm going back to mine Black and you can't come. I want to have a girls night with Lily and you aren't invited." She said firmly, but as she finished Sirius wrapped his arms around her from behind and whispered something in her ear. Lily could tell it was filthy as Marlene's eye bugged out, but she pulled his arms off her and pushed him back towards Remus and Peter.
"No, get away you dirty dog. I'll see you tomorrow… maybe." Marlene said waving at Sirius seductively before pulling Lily away and out of the front door. Lily waved at him also and he stood in the doorway pouting like a little child which made Lily laugh.
The girls strolled down the dark street and away from the house.
"It's good to have you here Lily," Marlene said out of the blue. Lily looked at her to see her meaning and Marlene looked thoughtful as they walked.
"What makes you say that?" Lily asked.
"My family and James' family were close growing up and when Henry died, that's James' Dad," Marlene explained, "James lost that spark he'd always had. He was obnoxious when he was younger sure but he's always been kind at heart. I noticed he's been a bit more like his old self the last week or so, I can only assume it's because the famous Lily Evans has reappeared."
"Famous?" Lily asked confused.
"I just remember James mentioning you once or twice in the school holidays when we were younger." Marlene said grinning. Lily didn't say anything as she wasn't completely sure what Marlene was insinuating, James had been a nightmare to her at school. He had teased her mercilessly but he had also constantly asked her out but she had thought that was all part of his torture.
They apparated back to London and Marlene took Lily to her place. It was a second floor apartment in an old block. The apartment itself was beautiful with high windows spacious rooms. Marlene showed Lily her bedroom and it was a pretty space and Lily felt at home very quickly.
"I spoke to the boys earlier and they said they would take you to your house tomorrow." Marlene said and Lily felt nervous at the thought of seeing her house in disarray.
"Sirius said it was still standing but the inside was pretty damaged. He put a charm on it to hide the damage from your neighbours so there's no rush if you don't want to go." Marlene said.
"No, I want to." Lily said. She knew she needed to gather some of her belongings and there was no point putting it off. Marlene fetched her some pyjamas and they sat in the lounge and talked for a while before going to bed. Lily found out Marlene had been at Hogwarts too and was two years older and a Ravenclaw. She made a joke about Sirius liking older women and Lily smiled knowing that their relationship was deeper than that. Marlene also shared some more details about the order and its origin, explaining that Albus Dumbledore was the true head of the order but he was rarely around as he was running the school and working with the ministry.
Lily felt like she had known Marlene for such a long time, she shared details about herself and her life which she hadn't spoken to anyone about. She told her about her healer training and Marlene encouraged her to think about restarting her training. Lily promised her she would think about it and then departed and went to bed as Marlene had work in the morning.
