Chapter 5: All Grown Up

Song: Bad Moon Rising

By: Creedence Clearwater Revival

-Sirius' POV-

Wow, Sirius thought to himself, living with all your friends sounds like a ton of fun…but, it's a hard job. The group of friends had only been living in Sirius' London flat for the past week and already there were troubles. Each couple had their own room, per request, and Sirius had given them all permission to do whatever they liked to the room as they'd be living there a while. He didn't think at the time that it would be this difficult to have five bedrooms redone at the same time, not to mention five bathrooms. Plus, Sirius remembered with a slight grimace, the girls were conspiring to redecorate the sitting room as well.

Lily had lain claim to the putting together of a library. It was filled with books to help become an Auror, a Healer or an Obliviator. The guys had decided to become Aurors; except for Remus, who had decided to study to become an Obliviator. The ladies had a more varied choice in career. Lily, Rose, and Alice were also studying to become Aurors, Holly was studying to be a Healer, and Rina was joining Remus as a future Obliviator. Lily had also added all their old schoolbooks, everyone's, which meant that the library currently held about ten copies of Hogwarts, A History; as well as every other book ever owned by any of the people currently inhabiting the large, but suddenly cramped, flat. She would only let Remus in, and that was after much pleading and an offer of unquestioning assistance.

His thoughts then went to the study that once held antiques. Sirius had sold the ones he and Regulus didn't want, and the ones they did were taken to their own rooms. The study had also been taken hostage by the four women who were planning weddings. To say the least, Sirius had never seen so many samples of taffeta in his life.

Much had happened since they left school one short week ago. The group of friends, minus Regulus as he was still too young, had been asked by Dumbledore himself to join the Order of the Phoenix. They were to be sworn in at the upcoming meeting, which was two days away. They had all accepted, of course, and were rather nervous. Sirius thought that this also had something to do with the high tension currently in place at the flat.

Sirius was currently playing a game of Wizard's Chess with James, and losing horribly. He was contemplating all of this in-between his moves. James just made a move with his last knight that made it possible for Sirius to take the knight out with his queen. Without considering the consequences, he never did, he moved his queen with a satisfied smirk at his friend. His face fell though, as James returned the look Sirius had just possessed and moved his bishop.

"Check mate, mate." James said this with another grin, probably at the fact that Sirius had gone into his trap so easily. "Sorry."

"No you're not!" Sirius exclaimed, now a bit miffed at himself for losing…again.

"You're right, just thought I'd be a good sportsman. Unlike one person currently in this room."

Sirius looked around; they were alone in the room. He came to the conclusion that James had just got him again. "Oh, bugger off. I haven't had any coffee yet." And it was true, it was now 9:30 in the morning and Sirius had remained deprived of coffee since awakening at 8:00. He was not one to function properly without his coffee fix. He got all crabby and his mind worked in a slow function that James had taken to exploiting for his own amusement. They had played chess every morning that week while waiting for Lily to wake up, she was the only one who could make decent coffee, and James had decided he might as well entertain himself with a distraught Sirius whilst waiting.

"Quit with the excuses. Besides, I told Lily of your dilemma and she's decided to give you, me, Regulus and Frank cooking lessons. I think she's tired of cooking. She wants us to 'learn a valuable skill, James Potter, so that you don't have to rely on someone else to cook all the time!' She was very much so looking forward to teaching us, especially you mate. She wants to see what you can do in the kitchen, other than snog Rose. So, that's what we get to do when she wakes up today."

"Oh, just great. Will the ladies be joining us with this lesson?"

"No, they've all agreed to talk to their mother's when they go home for a visit this weekend. It's just us. It wouldn't even be that many, but your mother never cooked a day in her life so she can't teach you." He said this last obviously trying to avoid a still sore subject. When his mother had heard her precious baby, Regulus that is, would be living with 'filth' and had tricked her into helping him move out…lets just say things got very ugly very quickly. "Plus, Frank's mum is out of town for a while so he's just going to stay and learn here. Peter's already learned to cook from his mum, and he's not living here so it's not a problem for him. I'm staying because Lily will have my hide if I don't stay. Moony has to stay because of the deal he made with her for his 'unquestioning help'. That one came back to bite him in the arse. You know, you'd think if she was going to teach us anything…it'd be something that would help with the war. But no, she's got to go and teach us how to cook."

That week there had been some new political developments. First and foremost was the appointment of Cornelius Fudge as Minister of Magic when Dumbledore refused, again. Then there were numerous Death Eater attacks on well known people within the Light community. The Bones' had recently been attacked, barely escaping with their lives. They weren't the only ones though. There were more every day, and it got more depressing each day to read The Daily Prophet. There hadn't been any deaths recently, but there were some 'disappearances' of some well-known Dark wizards. It was suspected that they went to join their friends in the ranks of the Death Eaters, Voldemort's supporters.

Just then, Remus, Frank and Regulus entered the room to see Sirius in quiet contemplation while James read the newspaper that had just been delivered by owl.

"Mo---rning," Remus yawned loudly half-way through the word. "What's new today?"

"Anyone we know die?" This was asked by Regulus, it had become a morning routine for them. Regulus, Remus and Frank would all come down then Remus would ask about anything new and Regulus would get straight to the point of recent deaths that could affect them.

"None yet, maybe in the Evening Prophet though." James replied.

"What's this about cooking lessons?" Frank inquired. "Lily's upstairs getting ready. She said she'd be down in ten minutes and we'd all better be properly equipped to learn how to cook. She seemed rather excited, but agitated all the same when she said 'I suppose no-ones made breakfast yet'. What's the deal?"

"Oh, it's rather funny actually," James tried to make it sound interesting the best he could, but failed miserably. "She plans to teach us to cook, so she doesn't always have to." James thought it a hopeless cause to try and persuade the guys to enjoy it, so he gave up.

-Lily's POV-

"Oh. What about the-" Lily heard upon entering, she was ready for the worst now.

"They're taking lessons from their mother's. I'd suggest the same for you five, but there's something wrong with all of those scenarios. So, let's go to the kitchen boys." She took over the situation with such a forceful manner and a commanding tone that allowed for no questioning of her authority. They all immediately stood and followed her into the kitchen. "Now then," she began, summoning an apron for each of them. Sirius's was pink and frilly while everyone else's was a nice, muted, plain black.

"No way!-" But his protests were muffled by an amused Lily tying it around his waist for him. "This is unfair! I want a new one of whatever these are!"

"Shut up and let her go on Padfoot, it's not all that bad." Remus' noble attempt at a sincere consolation was no good though. In fact, all of the guys began laughing hysterically until Lily took pity on Sirius and transfigured his apron to match the others.

The lesson began, much to everyone's dismay. Lily got frustrated with the handing out of the first set of instructions. The five boys were all able to conjure decent tasting food within the first half-hour, thanks to Lily's instructions. They then moved on to muggle cooking, as Lily believed it to taste better than conjured food. Four hours later, having gone through two fire extinguishers, Lily was ready to call it quits when Sirius managed to make something. Albeit, it was scrambled eggs and they were a little soggy, but it was edible food! Lily was so ecstatic that her instructions had paid off. She immediately kicked out the other four, saying that they could make do with conjuring, and focused her attention wholly on Sirius.

She spent the next two hours teaching him everything she knew. She had him make supper and dessert, with only a little help from her. They had no more fires and Lily was further impressed by the fact that Sirius was so neat while cooking, unlike every other time that he did something. He cleaned up everything as he went, spotlessly, and he put everything away, in the right place! She was enthused beyond belief. When they girls returned home from shopping to a nicely cooked meal, they were all so shocked. At first they thought that the boys had weaseled their way out of it and had gotten Lily to cook, but when Lily told them proudly that Sirius had made the entire meal plus dessert…they were shocked beyond belief. They were all so thrilled by another muggle cook in the house! There really was no comparison between magical and muggle cooking, magical conjuring of food always left a strange taste in the food.

The women all commented upon how good the food was; they all enjoyed themselves immensely. Much to the men's chagrin, Lily said that Sirius was a wonderful cook and that they had had a wonderful time. Sirius agreed wholeheartedly, stating that 'I find it relaxing and enjoyable'. Sirius and Lily then divided up meals to be cooked. Sirius would make breakfast, as he usually got up first, and Lily would make dinner. They all usually went their separate ways for lunch, going out to eat as couples or visiting their families. They both left dinner that evening extremely satisfied with their new arrangement, especially Sirius though because Lily had taught him how to make really good coffee.

-James' POV-

Two days later, they were heading to their first meeting with the Order. Regulus had settled in to watch television; he was still enraptured by the muggle invention that Lily had insisted upon getting. They arrived at the location that they had been told by Dumbledore that morning by a quick floo-call. They knocked and waited for the door to be opened. Molly Weasley opened the door for them with a slightly nervous smile. She had long, curly, bright red hair and blue eyes. She was of average height, though she looked slightly shorter than she was because of the way she had changed after giving birth so many times.

"This way dears," she began, "I expect you're to be joining the Order, are you?"

"Yes, ma'am," James said in a polite tone. "We were contacted by Dumbledore. How long have you been a member?" He asked, trying to start a conversation to calm his own nerves.

"Call me Molly and let's just say that it's been a while now, before you lot were at Hogwarts. That's as far as I'll say. Now then, you just missed meeting my eldest son, Bill. It will be his first year in September. I have four other boys as well. Charlie, he's going to be ten soon. Percy, he's going to be eight in a few days time. How time does fly. And then there's Fred and George. They're going to be seven in a month. Two of the biggest troublemakers, they are. They do know how to cause a ruckus. Don't know what McGonagall will make of them when they get to Hogwarts. All right, here we are then. The meeting will start shortly." And with that she left to talk to, who could only be her husband, Arthur Weasley.

The group just stood there waiting for the meeting to begin. They didn't recognize many people aside from Arthur and Molly. Some they did though were Alastor Moody, an incredible Auror, McGonagall, Dawlish, another Auror, and the Bones', a couple who were both Healers at St. Mungo's. They didn't try to get acquainted with the other members just yet, though. Ten minutes later, Dumbledore walked in and called the meeting to order.

"I would like to begin this meeting of The Order of the Phoenix by inducting ten new members to our ranks. Would you please come forward, you know who you are." He then began to induct them all in. James was the first to go. "Do you, James Potter, agree to help The Order of the Phoenix to the best of your ability?"

"I do."

"Do you swear to keep the information discussed during meetings secret from all those not belonging to The Order of the Phoenix?"

"I do."

"Will you help and protect other members to the best of your ability?"

"I will."

"Will you consent to working on the side of the Light in the fight against Voldemort and his followers?"

"I will."

"And lastly, will you please repeat after me: I, James Potter, being sane and healthy, consent to the rules of The Order of the Phoenix. Should I disregard my commitments, I agree to allow myself to be exiled from The Order of the Phoenix and those who remain among The Order." James repeated the vow and was now an official member of The Order. Next up was Lily with the same vows. After her came Sirius, then Rose, Holly, Peter, Alice, Frank, Remus and Rina. After they were all sworn in, the meeting continued.

"Excellent, excellent. Now then, we shall begin. Have any of you got any new reports to give?" Moody stood up. "Yes, Alastor?"

"The Ministry is, as I'm sure you know, not handling the transition between ministers well. There have been people talking mutiny in the halls about how Fudge has no place in office. I know that at least five of them were talking about how Voldemort has got the right idea. I've been telling my people to be on the lookout for any who might turn traitor. They've been casually following the suspicious ones around. Haven't they, Dawlish?" Moody said all this with his usual gruff voice. He was somewhat short at about 5' 9", but very intimidating nonetheless. He had two piercing blue eyes that made you believe he could read your mind. His hair was thinning ever so slightly, and he wore the traditional Auror robes of black with the crossed wands stitched on the left side, signifying his status as an Auror.

"Oh, yes Moody. They take your suspicions seriously enough by now to know when you mean business. We've not found out too much though, young Shacklebolt is one of their targets though…for persuasion. They've cornered him a few times about joining He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," said Dawlish, a short man with pale brown eyes. He had a bald patch on the top of his head and thin brown hair with gray streaks in it on the sides of his head.

"Good," said Dumbledore, "keep watching them Alastor. I'd also like you to approach Kingsley Shacklebolt about joining us. I'm sure he'll be sensible about it. Just the usual recruiting information will suffice, I think. Is that all?"

"Sorry Albus, but it's not. As you've heard, Severus Snape's mother died a short while ago and, well, he's never been the model boy, but we've got information suggesting he's joined the ranks of Voldemort's followers. We have had reports of him going around with Lucius Malfoy. They say that he's been going missing for periods of time as well, usually just before a raid occurs and then he returns shortly after they've been reported. He was also seen brewing some unknown potions at his home in Spinner's End. We believe he is making some rather dangerous concoctions for Voldemort's use."

"Is that all Minerva?" Dumbledore asked this, seemingly unfazed by this new revelation.

"Yes, for now."

"Good, well keep up the good work. If you could, please set Lucius Malfoy to be followed as well as Severus. I'm sure his dealings are much more repugnant, if not more closely related to Voldemort himself. If there is nothing else, I believe Molly has made us a wonderful meal at this time."

When nobody said anything, they all left to eat. They went over to the Weasleys' to learn what they could about The Order's usual proceedings. "So do you make the food every time?" asked a sympathetic Lily.

"Oh, heavens no, dear. We take turns in doing the cooking. Last week Minerva made a lovely batch of mince pies and some treacle tart."

"Ooh! Treacle tart's my favorite!" James exclaimed excitedly. "So, who's next o the list?"

"Well, whoever made the meal chooses the next to cook. Minerva was waiting to get herself some of my bread pudding. She requested it especially. We try to choose someone who hasn't gone in a while, and since we now have ten new members…" she trailed off.

"We'd love to Molly," Lily volunteered. "I've only just taught Sirius how to cook properly, so we can make the refreshments for next week. I'm sure Sirius won't mind in the least."

"I won't mind what?" Sirius, who had wandered off, asked in a tone that suggested he wasn't looking forward to whatever it was he had been volunteered for.

"I've just told Molly that you and I will make the food for next time, Sirius. Then we get to choose who makes the meal after that."

"Oh, well then, no problem, is there? We'll just make everyone's favorites." Lily and Sirius went off into a discussion about what they would make and James asked some more about The Order. The others had wandered off as well; they were getting acquainted with more of the members.

"How do we know when a meeting is? Surely Dumbledore won't tell us every time. And for that matter, is there a place where all the meetings happen?"

"We use patronuses' to deliver messages, and we have a steady place. We just had to clear out for a few days as suspicions were growing about our whereabouts. Dumbledore's trying to locate a new place, until then we just use different places each time." Arthur, a man of middle height, said. He had blue eyes and bright red hair.

"How do you deliver a message with a patronus?"

"Oh dear," Molly began. "You'll have to know. Gather your friends back in the meeting room. I'll get Alastor and he can show you the details."

Five minutes later, the group of friends was gathered in front of Moody in the meeting room. "Alright, the wand movement is the same as a regular patronus. That's what you're basically creating. I assume you all know the charm for a patronus and can all create one?" everyone nodded. "Good. To keep the patronus from going off to defend you and to tell it you're sending a message you need to add on to the spell. You say it quickly and consecutively. The spell is -Expecto Patronum Epistula Vindico-. You say the spell, then think of your message, and then tell it who to go to. It will come back to you when you're done. Now then, split up into pairs. One person leave the room and send a message to the person here. When it comes, you'll receive one back telling you they got it and whatever else they want to say. Keep them to the point. No-one but the one it's sent to will hear the message. After sending it, wait one minute before trying another if you haven't got a response. Go."

All the couples paired up, and Peter and Holly worked together. All the Girls left, leaving the boys to await their messages. James' came first, in the form of Lily's swan. It flew over to him and he suddenly heard 'I love you James'. He immediately sent his stag back, with success the first time, which said 'I love you to, my Lily-Flower. Good job.' He saw Sirius with a grin on his face after he heard the message from Rose's cat and send back a huge dog with his message. Frank received Alice's frog and sent back his eagle. Remus accepted Rina's wolf with a grin at her patronus and sent back his own wolf, slightly larger with a longer nose and longer arms and legs. Peter listened to Holly's cougar, but couldn't manage to conjure his own rat patronus. Another cougar came and still Peter hadn't managed. James sent him a message to tell him to concentrate and calm down. Peter took a deep breath and gave another attempt. He managed to conjure his and send it to Holly, who sent back a message. Peter looked disheartened for a moment then sent another. A cougar came back and Peter perked up a bit.

"What was the problem Peter?" Sirius asked, having also seen this.

"Oh, I just forgot to send a message the first time out. I was so excited in conjuring it properly that I forgot its message and just told it to go to Holly."

After properly producing and using their patronuses, Moody let them go and eat some food before Molly put it all away. They were starving after their 'lesson'. After eating they went home and Holly began teaching the spell to Regulus, with Dumbledore's permission, and he got it much quicker than Peter had, though not as fast as the others. Nonetheless, he was proud of his panther finding Holly and her sending a congratulatory cougar back to him.

-Rose's POV-

Two weeks later, they were still up in arms about the redecoration of the flat. The bedrooms and bathrooms had been completed by each couple relatively easily. James and Lily had painted their bedroom kelley green and their bathroom was a shade of off-white. The floors remained a mahogany hardwood. Sirius and Rose had also opted for an off-white bathroom, but their bedroom was maroon in honor of their Gryffindor spirit…still in strong existence. The floors in their room had been covered in a plush crème carpet. Remus and Rina had painted their bedroom a pale yellow and their bathroom a crème color that was very close to the carpet in their bedroom. Frank and Alice had a pale blue bedroom and a crème bathroom, a little darker than that of Remus and Rina's. They had a honey colored hardwood floor in their room. Regulus and Holly had a deep green bathroom and a cerulean blue bedroom. They also had light hardwood floors.

The dispute, however, was on what to do with the other rooms; the sitting room, the library, the study, and a room that had no title but was empty nevertheless. The library, having been earlier claimed by Lily and her assistant Remus, was going to be painted a color very close to that of parchment. The boys were not even going to touch the study, where the girls had been planning their weddings; it wasn't even an option for anything to be moved in there. The boys wanted a room to have fun in though, while the girls thought that there was plenty of room to have fun in the rest of the flat. The boys eventually won the nameless room as theirs, so long as the girls got to decorate the sitting room. The boys agreed wearily, even though they got what they had originally set out for. They painted the walls to look like a forest, with a magical brand of paint that would make the picture look real and move when you said the incantation on the back of the can. They put their map and the invisibility cloak in there under protective spells that would also preserve them. The map was going to go back to Hogwarts with Regulus in September. They didn't do much else to the room, as they would use it when Remus transformed on the full moons because they couldn't let him run outside anymore. They tried to secure ingredients for the Wolfsbane potion, Lily was going to brew it, but they still couldn't run around outside. As a finishing touch, they put a sign on the door that said 'The Marauders, EST. 1971'.

The girls decorated the sitting room in one day. It was Gryffindor red with gold trim. To make Regulus feel at home, even though he was pretty much a Gryffindor now, they made the kitchen green and put in black appliances. The sitting room had red furniture with gold pillows. It had a fireplace and squishy armchairs and a couch that could seat 6. They made it look as much like their old common room as they could, except for the addition of a fairly large television. They were finally finishing up when the boys came down from doing their room.

Rose had snuck up to see what they were up to about half an hour ago, and was surprised to see Remus and Sirius painting the scene on the walls with great skill. Now they were down, all the girls looked up and grinned. They then looked around at their handy-work proudly. Once the guys had finished complimenting their good taste, they went to examine the kitchen. Regulus burst out laughing, and when his hysterical laughter subsided, he thanked them for their generousness in the decoration of a room that appealed to his Slytherin self. After that, they went upstairs to check out the room that had been redone by the guys. It's even better when it's done, Rose thought. They sure worked hard on this. We all deserve a night off.

"Hey, since we've all worked so hard, why don't we go out to eat? We can clean up quick and then head to the pizza place down the street." Everyone nodded their heads vigorously and left to get ready. A half-hour later, they were walking down the block to Margot's. It was this great restaurant that made the best pizza. When they got there they ordered three large pizzas. They all liked different things, so they compromised on a cheese pizza, a pepperoni pizza, and a pizza with everything on it. They began eating and talking. After a bit though, they were asked to leave because they were too loud. They had their food boxed and they began to leave, all the while though, Sirius and James began singing loudly and off-key. They picked a song that was meant to be funny to everyone in their group; Hungry Like The Wolf by Duran Duran. They walked as slowly as they could, with their arms on each other's shoulders. They looked ridiculous, and sounded worse, but they made their friends burst out laughing. They went back to their flat where they spent the remainder of their evening singing more songs and eating their pizza and drinking some butterbeer. They eventually went to bed, after some hangover prevention potions, and had a good nights sleep.

-GENERAL POV-

It was now August 31st and everyone was in a skirmish to get ready for tomorrow. Regulus was returning to Hogwarts and he was having a good-bye snog session with Holly in one of the armchairs in the sitting room. Everyone else was starting their training tomorrow. The Ministry had developed advanced training course for Aurors and Obliviators, as had St. Mungo's for Healers, as all these positions were in desperate need of filling. That was one of the reasons that Remus had gotten into the training program in the first place, they were so desperate that they decided to overlook the little fact that Remus was a werewolf. In accordance with this, the head of the Obliviator staff made sure Remus was top priority to receive Wolfsbane each month…free of charge…so long as he kept up with good work and good behavior.

Their training was going to be very difficult, or so they heard, especially now that training was to be completed in the span of ten months as opposed to the prior 2 years. They were prepared though, all of them. They patiently awaited the arrival of tomorrow when they would bid Regulus farewell, and report to their new jobs as Aurors, Obliviators and Healers in training…

A/N: Hope you liked it. The song is kind of old, but it fits with the theme of upcoming war. I think it does anyway. So, the next chapter will be based around the training of everyone. I'll get it done ASAP. Reviews and suggestions are appreciated!