To Our friends at the Order:
Twenty of your number have been taken from you. We hope you noticed, and we hope you see that we are serious.
The twenty were just a prologue. The sole point of this message is to assure you that we are indeed the ones behind your losses, and to drive home our sincerity.
We also would like to remind you that you have given us the gift of two hostages. Hannah Abbot and Hermione Granger will remain whole and unharmed as long as the Order behaves itself. The moment you make a move against us, all promises are over.
We have spent six years denied a place in the world we had a right to. Now we make a place for ourselves. We hope you understand our situation, and yours.
Most sincerely,
The King's Rebels.
Sam had never seen Lupin so angry.
He was in his room now, lying still on his couch staring up at the ceiling. He'd left the door to his office open, which was almost as worrying as the staring into space. But just five minutes before… It was a good thing that it was so late. Not all their members would be able to focus after seeing their leader like that. And by 'focus' she meant 'ever come back to the Order, ever'. Sam was shaken, and she was usually unshakeable.
The clock chimed 1:30, the sound echoing in the house. As she never had before, Sam felt the smallness of it. Such a tiny building, and it seemed surrounded on all sides by a rising tide of danger and darkness. A tide they hadn't even seen coming in. Shit.
"Sam." His voice was so quiet, she would never have heard it if she wasn't lurking outside his door. She stuck her head around the doorframe cautiously. Calm and blank were almost as terrifying as raging and shouting.
"Yes?"
"It's…" He stopped, closing his eyes for a moment and collecting himself. "It's 1:30, and it's Saturday. I'd like you to give me the report on Harry Potter, if you don't mind."
She stared at him. Then, understanding, she went to her office quickly and picked up the (wholly forgotten, in all the hubbub) report from Kingsley Shacklebolt. Returning to Lupin's office, she settled herself in the chair behind his desk, so she could sit near him as she read.
"Well… Kingsley says they've canvassed most of the Northeast coast, and will be moving south once they're done looking in New York. There's some evidence of his being there briefly a few years ago—near urban legend, now. Something about fighting an alligator under—underground. But Kinglsey s-says that they should look into every—every clue. It's m-more than they've had so far. S-still, he's not very ho-hopeful." She broke off. There was more, but she couldn't read any further.
She looked up at Lupin. Sometime during her reading of the report, Lupin had stopped staring at the ceiling and started watching her. Ashamed, Sam took a ragged breath and wiped at her face. Uncharacteristic weakness, this.
But Lupin's face had lost its paralyzed look, and his eyes seemed more alive. He pushed himself up to a sitting position and turned to face her.
"Thank you, Sam. I know that wasn't easy, but thank you."
"I didn't do anything." She said, sounding angry, though he knew better than to think that she was. "I don't know what good that did, except to make me even more upset at—"
"It did me good," Lupin cut in gently. "Just to be reminded of why I'm doing this."
Sam nodded. Lupin got to his feet and pulled her up from her chair, holding her hands in his.
"Sam," He said, firmness and resolve in his voice. "This won't be allowed. I will protect Hermione and Hannah all that I can, but I can't chose them over what we've fought so hard to rebuild." She looked him squarely in the face, understanding. It was the worst choice any leader could be faced with.
"It's what we have to do." She said, squeezing his hands in reassurance. "There isn't another choice. They're strong, and they're smart. We knew that this could happen when we chose them. They can look after themselves."
Lupin bowed his head. Sam couldn't pretend that this show of weakness wasn't uncomfortable for her, but she knew that he needed all the moments of human frailty he could get. Soon it would be time to act, and then he could no longer show anything but resolve.
"If that's what you've decided, we need to move fast. Have you already got a plan? I can send word to the right people within minutes. All I need is just to—Ooph!"
He'd cut her off, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. She stiffened in surprise, then carefully put her arms around him. Her mother had always said, when they'd first arrived at her stepfather's home in London, that the most frustrating thing about the British was how contained they all were. Sam hadn't really understood, and hadn't really cared to ask her mother more. But having worked in the Order, she thought she got what her mother was saying. They were all so busy saving the world, they couldn't spare the time for basic human contact. Lupin especially was so busy being the head of this organization, that Sam thought he didn't let himself be a regular person. A hug once in a while is very healthy.
"I know it's naïve," he said calmly into her shoulder. "But I really thought we were done with all this. I really thought we'd moved on to a better world."
Sam just held him. Eventually, he was able to straighten up on his own. He smiled gently at her, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry for frightening you, Sam."
"We all have our moments." She said, smiling back at him. "And this is one hell of a moment to have to deal with."
Lupin nodded. "Send word out. I want to move soon, when it'll still unbalance them. And don't tell anyone about this, Sam. I want them to think that we're going to cooperate."
"Does 'anyone' include people here?"
"Especially people here." Lupin said. "I think you can guess why."
Sam nodded firmly, her face stormy, before withdrawing to her office to send out the right messages.
Lupin left his office as well, going into the portrait room. Reminder and memorial. The mural tonight was of Dumbledore's death. He tried to read into the symbolism of that, but couldn't bend his brain to it. He looked up at all the pictures, the green sheen of the frozen faces reflecting the light from the room's only lamp. He stayed there for the rest of the sleepless night. Reminder and memorial.
A/N: I think Sam may be my favorite of all the OCs I've made for this story. Things are heating up, yes? Well, they're on their way there. Please review and tell me what you think!