"That was just about the most boring lecture I've ever heard in my entire life. And that's counting old Professor Binns's classes," Stell said, stifling a yawn.
"We warned you, didn't we?" Sirius laughed, cocking one eyebrow.
Stell nodded, "I was optimistic enough to hope that you'd exaggerated."
The Order members had finally concluded the meeting. Many of them had immediately departed, but those who remained were beginning to bring out decks of cards and bottles of butter beer. James said a hurried goodbye before following Lily out into the crisp night air. Stell, Remus, and Sirius remained, sitting as close as they could to the fire without singeing their robes.
"It wasn't exactly entertaining," Remus said thoughtfully.
"No kidding," Sirius muttered.
"But, if you listened closely there were interesting points. You know, important bits that could be useful." The others stared at him.
"Maybe you fell asleep and were dreaming about some other meeting," Stell suggested. Sirius laughed, but Remus shook his head.
"No, I'm serious. If you haven't noticed, they don't exactly divulge everything to us less experienced members."
"You've got that right," Sirius said.
"Well, they sort of… slipped, I suppose, though maybe they knew we wouldn't be paying attention, and they talked about a few of their ideas that they wouldn't normally share with us," Remus said.
"Like what?" Stell asked eagerly.
"I don't know… It wasn't plans or anything, nothing solid, just… ideas. The whole mood of it was dark."
"More so than usual?" Sirius asked.
"Well… yes," Remus said, "I don't think things are going very well. The Dark Lord is strong. Stronger than us, and people are dying. More and more people, more of us, more of the Order."
"So… Do they think… he's going to win?" Stell asked hesitantly.
"Can he win? I mean, it's not really a win or lose situation, is it? It's more of him being in power or the rest of us being in power and at this point, it's he who is in power. I think it's more that things are going very poorly for our side. Deaths and defeats have been happening that they haven't told everyone about. To put it bluntly, we're all going to be killed eventually… And, frankly, I don't think there's anything the Order can do about it," Remus said, rather darkly.
Stell and Sirius glanced at one another once, Stell looked nervously at Remus and then around the room at the remaining members of the Order. Suddenly the grandfather clock in the hall chimed loudly, piercing through the semi-quiet of the darkened meeting room. Abruptly Remus got to his feet. "I'd better be going. It's getting late. I'll see you later."
With that he strode from the room, pulling on his cloak and sweeping out into the now bitter air.
"He isn't usually so…" Stell looked questioningly at Sirius as they heard the door slam behind Remus.
"Grim," Sirius finished, "No, he's not. He's been a bit odd lately. Maybe it's just full moon or something… Besides, he's stressed about the Ministry. Because of all the werewolves working with Voldemort, they've been passing new anti-werewolf laws daily. Poor Moony can't find a job anywhere and even some in the Order won't trust him anymore."
Stell nodded sympathetically, "That's got to be tough. I suppose we shouldn't hold him too responsible for being so depressing."
"Yeah, that'd probably be best. I've got a set of exploding snap cards here, want to play?" Sirius asked.
"Sure," Stell said, settling down at the nearest table. Sirius smiled lightly, unconcernedly setting the cards and reaching for a platter of homemade cauldron cakes, but inside he was worried. Times were hard for Remus, and it didn't seem like he was coping well. Sirius considered mentioning this to James, but he was so busy and the few moments he had to spare, he deserved to spend happily with Lily, not worrying about his friends. They were adults now, after all. Remus could take care of himself.
Still, Sirius would look out and keep watching, just to make sure his old friend was alright. The marauders always looked out for one another. As friends during dangerous times, they owed that much to each other.
A/N: The promised September updates! A little later than expected, but better late than never, right? Kind of like reviews. I don't care what chapter you're on, or how long it's been since I updated, review it anyway! It only takes a second! Seriously anything would be appreciated at this point, even a simple 'Hi, I'm reading. (Good/Bad) job. Update (Now/Never),'! No reviews since the begining of the summer and not a single review on the past five chapters! Then again, if you haven't got anything good to say, that might be a reason for not reviewing... So maybe it's more a reflection on the writer than the reader... Anyway, the point of all that was review, now! See the little box that says 'submit review'? Click it!
No, I'm kidding, sorry for the whole rant. But it was pretty satisfying, lol. The message is still the same though, reviews would be really appreciated! Thanks for reading!