Chapter 2 Decisions

The oppressive and uncomfortable silence was broken almost instantly by the most outspoken member of the Order who seemed to have regained his swagger in a remarkably short amount of time. In a barking voice Sirius Black stood up, hit the table and said,

"What the hell, I say we go for it."

Several members shifted uncomfortably, though no one looked particularly surprised that Sirius was the first one to make up his mind.

"Sirius," Remus began hesitatingly, "I think we should think this through a bit, before we decide…"

"What's to decide Moony?" Sirius cut in. "We've got a fifty-fifty chance that this potential defeater of old Voldy is an evil demon from the underworld, but we also have a fifty-fifty chance that he's another Merlin reborn. Why not go for it and hope for the best? We don't have anything more to lose than we're already losing now."

Lily stood up at this her face flushed red to match her hair, her green eyes flashing. Standing with her shoulders squared she answered in an annoyed hiss: "Yes Sirius WE don't have anything to loose but the person we summon certainly does. How can you be so selfish?"

"Nothing wrong with wanting to live is there? And besides this isn't about us or him, it's about doing what it takes to make sure that the world survives. The whole world is at risk, if we lose you can bet the muggles won't survive and neither will the muggle born witches and wizards. And if one person can change the tide of the war I think messing up that one person's life is an acceptable price to have to pay. It's better for one person to have to suffer then for a whole world to fall into darkness."

"And if that wizard was you Mr. Black would you feel the same way? Dumbledore asked.

"Yes." Sirius responded without hesitating in an almost defiant manner. "And I hope that you would all say the same."

Alastor Moody ever the paranoid one gruffed in, "Yes well, we chose to fight. We have personal reasons that motivate us to fight. We know what we risk and we choose to fight regardless. We know what side of the war we are on…But this person…" Moody growled, "We don't know what side he is on. We have no way of knowing if he is going to help us, or hurt us. It is reckless and foolhardy to chance something like this. What if he is an even more powerful Dark Lord? I think we have more than enough to keep track of right now don't you?"

Lily nodded furiously, happy to have found someone else who seemed to support her. With a half-smile she decided to add her two cents "Yes, if this wizard is more powerful than You Know…Voldemort, and more evil we are not only looking at the end of the muggle world, as will happen if He wins, but the potential end of the entire world. This person will have no reason to care if anyone, be they wizard or muggle, lives. He could very well be an insane killer who disregards all life. And," here she seemed to glare at everyone as she went back to her original objection, "if on the very slim chance he is another Dumbledore type person do you really think it is fair to him to yank him out of his world and tell him to solve all of our problems? Why should he? He doesn't know us. He has no reason to get personally involved unless we force him to. No! I think we should leave it alone. This is wrong and I wish I had never translated that spell in the first place."

At this proclamation several of the other Order members started mumbling, but Sirius, ever one to push on with his ideas once he'd made up his mind continued on regardless to the death glare Lily was giving him.

"Come on you guys. WE ARE LOSING! If we do nothing we are dooming our world. Think about what Dumbledore just said two minutes ago. Everything we've done up till now was for nothing. All those Death Eaters we brought in are out there again, and there may be someone in here right now ticking down the minutes till they can go inform old snake face of the latest news. Every day more of us are being picked off. He's killing our friends and our families like they were flubberworms. If something doesn't change in this war there's not going to be much point in continuing to fight. Not to mention that there won't be any people left who are willing to do it."

"So what Sirius? Are you willing to just disregard everything and jump into this unknowing? Think about what it would mean if we do this. If this turns out badly, and let's be honest it probably will, if something goes wrong it won't be because of Voldemort that this world is destroyed, it will be because of us. We will have brought about our own destruction by bringing the one who destroys it here." Lily yelled back as her hands clenched into fists.

"Dumbledore found that spell for something Lily! This could change everything. Don't you want your baby to live?"

"Don't you dare….you …you…"

Grabbing his wife's fist from the air as she fought to punch his best friend in the face, James cut in loudly, as he put his arms around Lily in a locked grip, "I think my wife is right. This is certainly not a decent thing to do to anybody. It is, as Dumbledore said, selfish and as Moody said dangerous. Bringing an unknown being into our world could very well lead to a catastrophe worse than anything we can imagine. We don't know what we'll get, and it's always best to plan for the worst."

At this Lily turned a full smile towards James. Unaffected by this James continued: "But I also think Sirius is right. There is no way for us to win this war if things continue on the way they're headed. We need something that will help turn the tide. I think," here James paused and took a deep breathe, "that we should do the spell, and trust that fate and whatever power in Hogwarts that gave us this book will help bring us someone who will fight for the light."

At this statement Lily turned a betrayed face on James and tore herself out of his arms. Too shocked and angry to speak she walked to the other side of the room and sat next to her best friend Alice Longbottom. By this time nearly everyone in the order was on their feet debating the different sides of the argument. After several minutes Dumbledore fired off several purple firecrackers and brought an end to the heated debate.

"I did not expect us to come to a unanimous decision tonight or indeed at any time in the future" Dumbledore began. "This spell is far too uncertain and full of unknowns for any of us to enter into it lightly. However I do believe that a decision must be made tonight. Because of the potential threat of a spy I was unsure whether to have this issue made known to everyone at all. But as I mentioned before I feel this decision is too big for one man to make alone, and as members of the Order, who are currently risking your lives and the lives of your families to help defeat Voldemort, I feel that all of you have the right to vote. The fact remains that Voldemort will probably learn of the topic of this meeting all too soon, and before he can take any action to discover the spell or the book I want to have acted on our decision. Whether we perform the spell tonight, or burn the book we will let the majority vote be our action. Therefore I would ask all of you to now take a moment to consider all sides of the argument, so that we can vote."

Dead silence met this speech. And then, in hushed whispers couples and families began talking to each other. Lily stood and returned to her place next to James and gave him a despairing look. "You can't possibly be thinking of voting to bring this being here can you? Think of the baby. What is going to happen if we do this?"

With a pleading look James met the angry eyes of his wife. "I am thinking about the baby. I'm thinking of all the things I want to show her. I'm thinking of the world I want to raise her in. Lily if we don't end this war soon, I don't think I want to bring a baby into the world at all. I saw dozens of dead kids today Lily. Some of them had been burned to death, some had been lifted up into the air and then dropped onto the cement, and some were just staring at me with large scared eyes. I don't want to raise our baby in a world where horrors are happening around every corner, and where I don't feel safe letting my child play in our own backyard. Yes this spell's a risk, but I think it's a risk we're going to have to take if we're to have any chance at all of living to raise our child in a world not overrun by war."

Looking deeply into James' eyes Lily took a strained breathe and then squeezed her eyes as tight as she could. "But what kind of people will we be if we do this James? It can't be right to be so selfish that we become willing to sacrifice others to save ourselves."

James paused and slowly answered, "I know I am not the best of men Lily. I know I don't deserve you. But there is nothing I would not sacrifice to keep you and the baby safe…nothing. Maybe that makes me a terrible person but it doesn't change the fact. I have to take this chance… We have to take a chance. If that makes me a terrible person then at least I know that I did it for those I love and not for myself. Love isn't rational, it isn't fair, and sometimes I guess it isn't even morally right. But it is the strongest thing there is and I have to believe that if we trust in it things will work out."

Lily didn't answer. Part of her was thinking that James was right, but another part still felt as though this was all wrong." In a trembling voice she whispered so only James could hear "Something inside me is saying that if we do this I'm going to wish we had never heard of this spell. I have the strangest feeling that something about this person is going to cause me to be more afraid than I have ever been before. Why do I feel this way James?"

"Look at me Lily" James whispered. "We have to believe that something good can happen. If we stop believing, then there's no point in continuing to fight. I'm not giving up now. This spell is going to work. Somehow or other things are going to turn out all right. And little Calla is going to grow up in a world worth living in."

Shaking her head as she wiped tears on his shoulder Lily responded "The baby's not a Calla, James. He's a Harry."

Before James could argue back Dumbledore stood and regained the attention and silence of the Order. "It is time to make a decision. We know the different sides of the argument and I trust that we can respect each other enough to agree that this is a very controversial theme. Therefore I ask that no matter what the outcome of this vote we remain united after the decision has been made…"

Seeing the confidant and unanimous nods of the members Dumbledore pressed on…

Now without further ado, all those in favor of performing the spell and bringing the one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord into our world please raise your hand."

About half of the order raised their hands including James, Sirius, Remus, Alice and Frank Longbottom, the Prewitt brothers and Dumbledore himself. After counting the hands Dumbledore nodded and wrote the number on a slip of paper. "All those opposed" he asked. Again about half the hands went up including Peter Pettigrew, Minerva McGonagall, and Moody. Counting the hands Dumbledore once again wrote down the number and then sighed. "It seems we are at an impasse. Both sides are equal. However there are an odd number of members here so someone has not voted. At this Dumbledore's eyes scanned the group and came to rest on Lily. "Mrs. Potter, ironically the final vote is yours."

With an anguished look Lily looked beseechingly at Dumbledore. "Albus, you can't possibly ask me to decide. You yourself said this was too big of a decision for even you to make. I refuse to be responsible for this one way or the other."

"Lily," Dumbledore responded gently, "This decision is not yours alone. Whichever way you decide you will have half the Order backing you, indeed despite your decision you will have the entire Order backing you. That is what separates us from the Ministry and Voldemort. We support each other even when we disagree, because we all fight towards the same goal and because we respect our differences in opinions. We have all made our decision Lily, and now it is time for you to make yours."

All eyes fixed on Lily. Sirius was nodding vigorously making hurry up motions with his hands. Moody, having finally come to an end of his patience, shot a silent stunning spell at him from behind. The room was so tense no one saw him fall to the ground except Lily who only slightly smirked before closing her eyes to avoid having to see anyone's reaction as she spoke.

"Albus, before I make my decision I want at least one unanimous vote from the Order. I want a unanimous decision that if this being is brought to our world everyone here will do everything in their power to help him. If we do bring him here we owe him that much. I won't vote officially until at least this is agreed upon."

Crossing her arms in front of her chest just over the bump on her stomach Lily waited while Dumbledore asked and received the unanimous confirmation from the Order (including Sirius whom Moody grudgingly removed his curse from so that he could vote." At last all the members agreed. Lily bit her lip before responding:

"Even though I know I am going to regret this decision, and even though I go against every screaming instinct in me, I have decided to side with James on this. I still think we are making a mistake. But I have to agree that I don't see any other options left to us, I just hope time and the wizard we summon will forgive the mistake I feel we're making."

A hush fell upon the Order. The decision had been made. With a swift nod and without further dialog Dumbledore brought out his wand and preformed the spell that only he and Lily knew the name of: Convocarum Heroi. A bright light flashed and everyone in the room instinctively covered their eyes. The entire shack that was the secret meeting place of the Order seemed to tremble from the magic as the spell ripped a hole in time and space. A sound louder and more terrible than thunder was heard and then all was still. The spell was cast and there was no going back.

Questions for reviewers

This Chapter was changed to better show the two side of the issue regarding the spell. Do you think both sides were well argued?

Which side do you agree with and why?