Author's Notes:
So I started working now, so updates will be a little slower, but I promise that they will still exist! I've also become addicted to some webcomics recently. Oh the humour.
Thank you for the reviews! I always appreciate any comments!
It was thursday afternoon, and the marauders were practically squirming in their seats. How would they know where to go? What would this meeting entail? They all desperately wanted to know. James nudged Sirius gently in the arm, as they caught Professor Bean's threatening glare. The boys quickly returned to their potted plants; two red sprouts poked through the black soil.
James sighed. 'This class is taking forever. Surely it must be over by now.' Unfortunately, there were still forty minutes before the Gryffindors were able to leave the warm greenhouses into the crisp winter air. The Head Boy spotted the familiar red hair a few paces ahead of him, and jumped forward to land beside her. She was slightly startled, but then laughed at James' odd behaivour.
"Excited, Evans?"
"For what?" She gave him a knowing look and rolled her eyes before responding. "More nervous than anything."
James nodded. 'Dumbledore must have given a similar speech to Lily. So much time spent impressing on the idea of danger and death, I can't blame her for being nervous. I can't say I am nervous much, the idea of vengence on Death Eaters is something I would love to be a part of...'
"Yeah, I am a bit too."
"Shhh, they'll hear you." Melody's voice caught the attention of both Lily and James. A pink tinge spread across the black-haired girl's cheeks, realizing she had been the one to get noticed. She was standing with the remaining marauders, standing suscpiciously close together.
"We weren't talking about you!" Peter insisted.
"Well, there goes that." Remus shook his head. "No one would ever believe that, Wormatail. It's obvious now that we were."
"Nothing, bad though." Sirius tried to help.
James looked at Lily with questionable eyebrows, who was glaring at the group. 'For once she's not glaring at me. I'm the good guy in this situation. I wonder if last night I travelled into a parallel universe where Lily is chasing me. Wait, no! That would mean I would not want to date Lily. Or maybe, I am in the parallel universe and since I do want to date Lily, it means that she actually wants to date me in the real universe. So , how do I get back there?'
"Whatever your little scheme is, I'm not falling for it." She glared. "Melly, I can't believe you are plotting against me!"
"It's for your own good, really." Sirius defended.
"Speaking of my own good," James interupted, "I'm starving, let's go grab some dinner."
"We weren't talking about your own good Jamsies, but I accept your food suggestion. Tally ho!" Sirius bounded forward towards the castle doors.
"C'mon, Evans" James grabbed the girl by the hand and pulled her forward. She looked a little surprised but let James continue to pull her arm.
"I don't think they even realize how cute they look together." Melody sighed.
The group of teens quickly made their way out of the cold into the Great Hall where dinner was just being served. They sat down in their usual spots at Gryffindor table. A large man with a very bushy beard was dragging in large pine trees and placing them around the walls of the Great Hall. Some Professors were helping out by decorating the trees; using their wands, of course.
"It's looking really festive in here." Lily sighed happily. "And tomorrow we get to go home."
James nodded in agreement, but stared towards the ceiling, hoping for a sign in the form of an owl. His neck was getting sore, but he couldn't help but look. He didn't notice Professor McGonagall approach from behind.
"Mr. Potter, may I have a word with you about your Transfiguration Project." It wasn't a question.
James cringed, now was not a good time. "Well, you see Professor..."
"Now, Potter!" It was the tone of voice which meant she was not to be argued with.
Grudgingly, James rose to his feet and followed the elderly witch out of the Great Hall. She began discussing his choice of topic, and James just nodded in agreement, not truely listening to her words. Once in her office, she began rummaging through all her papers. 'Oh joy, now she can point out all the flaws word by word.'
"There was nothing wrong with your assignment. In fact, I gave you an A." She said suddenly, finally capturing the boy's attention. "Hold onto this." She said, handing him a quill.
He stared at it blankly and felt her eyes watching him intently. "Okay...?" He grabbed hold and instantly felt pulled towards it, as if a hook were pulling him. The world began to spin and the colours blurred into something undescribable. He fell to the floor with a thud.
A voice standing above him cackled, "Not the smoothest landing I've ever seen."
"A-a portkey?" He mumbled, picking himself up and looking around the room. It was a large room, like a gymnasium or something; however there were no doors or windows. Witches and wizards were standing around chatting amongst each other. Or so he assumed they were magical-folk, though most were wearing muggle clothing. He looked towards the person who had spoken to him.
"Benjy Fenwick." The man held out his hand for a shake. He had several years on James, probably in his mid-twenties. He had long curly black hair pulled back in a loose ponytail and a hint of a moustache.
"James Potter." He grinned.
"Ah, I'm sorry about your father." Benjy mumbled, "That is one of the problems of the Order."
"Wait, my dad was a member?"
"Your mum too. She's right over there."
James dashed towards the familiar face, "Mum?"
Noticing her son, Mrs. Potter rushed forward and pulled him into a hug. He tried to squirm away, slightly embarassed at the first impression that was being made. 'Now I'll be known as the Potter's kid or the Potter boy.' He was however, happy to see his parent. She was looking a a little more gaunt than usual, but James didn't mention anything.
"So, all this time "Important Ministry business" was actually...this?"
The grey-haired witch nodded sadly, "I'm sorry we couldn't tell you."
'It makes a little more sense now why my family is a target.' Wizards were appearing by the second now and the room was quite full. He spotted the familiar faces of his friends and waved them over. Mrs. Potter already knew all the marauders, but James introduced her to Melody and Lily.
"Oh, the famous Lily Evans." She mused, winking at James.
"Mum, please." He groaned.
Professor McGonagall wandered over to the group with a hint of a smile on her face. Dumbledore walked along beside her, smiling happily at the sight of newly recruited students.
"Couldn't you have given me a warning, Professor?" James whined rubbing his backside.
"I had a point to make."
"To no longer trust my Professors?" He joked.
"Precisely." She nodded, amused at James' confused face. "You see James, and the rest of you lot, in this world you don't know if you can trust anyone. You shouldn't trust anyone and always assume the worst of someone when you meet them. It is very likely that there are people in this room working against us, and very likely that it could be someone close to you." She paused to let the words sink in, "You do trust your friends, and that could very well be a fatal flaw. It is why, at these meetings, we do not reveal everything that goes happens."
"Now, don't go turning your backs on each other though," Dumbledore added with a smile, "Friends are very important in dark times. Now, I think I will get this meeting started. Oh, before I do, I just wanted to mention that nothing is expected from you until you graduate. You will come to meetings, but on an observational basis only. Please take a seat everyone."
The Headmaster gestured towards a large table which hadn't been there previously. Once sitting, the room felt a lot emptier, and it seemed that there were fewer wizards then when everyone was mingling amongst each other.
"I'd like to start our meeting, as usual, for a moment of silence for those that we've lost." Dumbledore bowed his head, and everyone followed suit. A minute or two later, he continued on, "I'd like to point out some new members of the Oder of the Pheonix: James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black," The crowd broke out into whispers at hearing the name Black.
"Great, they'll never trust me." Sirius whispered into James' ear.
"They wouldn't anyways. Remember what McGonagall said."
"Peter Pettigrew, Lily Evans, and Melody Abbott." Dumbledore finished. "I hope that at some point you would introduce yourself and possibly give them a word of advice. Now, Elphais if you'll start..."
An old wizard with a silly looking hat on top of his matted silver hair began to speak about his recent 'discoveries' in a wheezy voice. It wasn't glamorous work by any means. As the night went on, and various wizards spoke about what they discovered, who they discovered, James began to realize that it would be a long process before any action was taken. They deliberated on the most minor details, things that most people would not concern themselves with. Finally, the meeting came to an end.
James yawned and stretched loudly. 'I wonder how we get back now?' Various wizards began to apparate away. A young boy and girl, hardly older than James approached the group of teens. James recognized their faces instantly.
"Alice, Frank." He said in greeting. "How's life after school?"
They were a year older than the group, having graduated the previous year. Both were in Gryffindor, thus already knew everyone's name. Frank was slightly taller than James and had shaggy brown hair. Alice, on the other hand, was much shorter with a very round face, made especially noticeable by the fact that her blonde hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail. She smiled from ear to ear.
"We're getting married!"
"Congrats!" Lily said instantly, "Though I can't say I'm surprised."
"I'm going to be a Mrs. Longbottom." She giggled, poking Frank in the ribs, "Unfortunate that your last name wasn't Nicebottom instead."
"Better than being a Black." Sirius grumbled uncharacteristically.
"Aw, cheer up mate." Frank said shrugging, "Can't help who your parents are."
"So, uh, how do we get back to Hogwarts?" Lily was looking around the drastically empty room. Even Mrs. Potter had vanished without so much as a good-bye.
"That's why we came over. Since we were the newbies last year, we'll help you out this year, then you can help out the new students next year." Alice gestured the group over and pointed at a thin line on the wall. "Incendio."
A small jet of flame shot out of her wand. Instantly a whole square of the wall seemed to burst into flame. Slowly it formed into a more familiar shape; a fireplace. Frank pulled out a small silver flask from an inner pocket and handed it to Remus, who was standing closest.
"Floo powder. Bring some with you next time." He grinned.
--------------
They collapsed themselves on the common room couches. It was past midnight, so fortunately no one else was awake. Sirius yawned loudly and curled up into a ball on the marron couch.
"I don't want to move. So sleepy."
"Oh you've stayed up later than this, I'm sure Sirius." Lily smirked.
"Yes but anticipation of something makes me sleepy by the end of the day. For example, tomorrow is last day before holidays. Because I am not returning home, but to Prongsies house, I will also be tired by the end of the day."
"Oh yeah, Melly, I meant to ask." James started, "Did you want to come to my family's Christmas party also?"
"I can't. It'd be a little hard to explain to my Aunt and Uncle why I would be crawling into or out of their fireplace. In fact, I'm not even sure they have a fireplace. I haven't been there since..." Her thought trailed off sadly. It would be the first time ever, that she did not go home to her parents for the holidays.
"That's too bad." Lily said softly.
"Yeah, it would have been fun with the six of us!" Sirius grinned.
"Seven." Remus corrected.
"No, there is six of us. Four boys, two girls." He pointed at everyone in the room. "How delightfully dirty. You girls get your pick of two boys for the taking!"
"No thanks." Both Lily and Melody answered.
"It would have made seven, Padfoot. Remember that Chloe's coming."
"Damn that girl!"
"What?"
"She's not right for you mate."
"Sirius, I've hated a heck of a lot of girls you've been with, but I haven't ever said anything. So frankly, it's none of your damned business." James stood up, "Going to bed."
"Wow, he was really mad." Melly whispered in Lily's ear.
"That must mean he must like her quite a bit then." The red-head said gloomily.
