A/N: First, sorry for not updating sooner, I was on holiday and then I had AS results day which took a lot of my time up. Secondly, thank you all for the reviews, please keep the feedback coming!

Chapter 25
Or,
Of Merlin's Pants, Curfew and Gobstones.

Marlene realised that Dumbledore hadn't given her the password to enter his office. She frowned at the statue, surely Dumbledore would have told her the password, if he hadn't of been trying to catch her out.

Thinking about passwords, Marlene knew that it would be something people wouldn't guess- but everybody trying to enter a protected place would presume that anyway.

"Oh for the love of Merlin's pants…" She scowled, kicking the stone. She emitted a small squeak of fright when the statue started to move, and with wide eyes, Marlene made her way up the stone steps. Merlins pants? Dumbledore had secured his office with Merlin's pants- Marlene found this oddly amusing.

"I see you figured out my password, Miss McKinnon. And in a swift time, too. It's only a minute past eight." Professor Dumbledore greeted from his throne like chair, that blue twinkle still present in his eyes.

Marlene wondered briefly, as she walked over to his desk, if she was seeing things or if the twinkle was permanent. "Good evening, Professor." She said politely, "Do I sit, or?" She asked hesitantly; she wasn't entirely sure what the Headmaster wanted with her.

"That won't be necessary, Miss McKinnon. The meeting isn't going to be held in my office. It simply isn't big enough."

"Meeting?"

"Yes. Marlene, I've brought you here today to introduce you to a very secretive, yet important organisation. Upon hearing your views earlier today in the hospital wing, I immediately needed you on board. I'm not going to force you into joining, but what you hear and see today must not leave the room in which you see it- loyalty and trust are the two most important qualities."

Marlene nodded, her brows furrowing in confusion, "What organisation is this, Sir?"

"The Order of the Phoenix." He said, smiling- that twinkle in his eye even more present, "We're a group of people, mostly Aurors I admit that, but very recently I have acquired students to help me extend the cause."

"Which is taking down Voldemort?"

"Precisely. We're getting together to stop Voldemort and his followers from taking over the Wizarding World. But, before I take you to the meeting place, I must tell you this- if you join the Order, it will take up a lot of your time, you will be at a great risk-"

"A greater risk." Marlene interrupted.

Dumbledore smiled, "A greater risk, indeed. And, Miss McKinnon, you may not make it out alive."

"I can handle that. I want to bring them down; they don't deserve to carry the title of wizards and witches."

"Brilliant, now, if you'd follow me." Dumbledore stood up from his chair and left his office, leaving Marlene hurrying behind him. With his long strides, she practically had to jog beside him, but before she knew it, they were standing outside a brick wall on the 7th floor.

"Urm, the meeting is being held in such an open place?" She frowned.

Dumbledore chucked, "Oh no, of course not, but I'm glad you noted that. Well done."

Marlene smiled and out of nowhere, a brass door appeared in the brick wall. Dumbledore was still smiling when he entered the room, which was already full of people- people that Marlene assumed were already members of the Order of the Phoenix.

Looking at the scene before her, Marlene realised that this wasn't going to be a strict meeting; it was a serious meeting, but everybody seemed to be acting like a family. The members were chatting, most of them were admittedly a lot older (and scary) and Marlene knew they'd have a lot of power, but there were some younger people- students, not those Marlene recognised to be her friends, but she had seen them before.

"Oi, Prewett!" An old man Marlene knew to be Alastor Moody, barked from the corner. He was standing on guard as if Death Eaters were about to charge in and murder them all.

"Yes, Mad-Eye?" The twins halted their running and turned around to face the wizard, replying in unison which Marlene found oddly comic.

The man glared at the twins for their use of his nickname, "Stop chasing each other around. You're in the Order, set an impression. A good impression."

"A good impression for who?" One of the twins asked, his brows raised and his head cocked in curiosity.

"For me," Marlene found herself saying; nobody had seemed to acknowledge her presence, and she wasn't going to have that- she was there for a reason and she was going to be noticed.

"I'll try my best, shortarse." The twin replied, grinning over at her.

Marlene scowled at him, "Call me shortarse again and I'll hex yours."

His eyebrows shot up, "Bring it." He smirked, lazily pulling out his wand.

She raised her eyebrows in response, a smirk of her own found its way onto her face; she wanted to prove herself, but she knew if she got her wand out, she'd be hexed within seconds- she needed to do this wandlessly.

Smirking, Marlene concentrated extra hard and stared straight at the ginger-headed twin. Densaugeo, she thought, and immediately the teeth of the guy started to grow at an alarming rate. His twin burst into a fit of laughter at the sheer shock on his face.

The auror, 'Mad-Eye' Moody allowed himself a brief laugh, before taking off the charm. "Don't mess with that one, Fabian, she's a devil."

The twin- Fabian- grinned over at Marlene, "Not bad, midget."

She scowled again but said nothing; she instead, turned her attention to Dumbledore who was grinning at her.

"Good wandless magic. Everybody, this is Miss Marlene McKinnon- a six year, who after battling in the recent events in Hogsmeade, has shown potential."

"The way she just hexed Fabey, I'd say she has great potential." A middle-aged female auror said, smiling over at Marlene welcomingly.

"He's not a Death Eater though. I'd have been on my back in minutes if he had been." Marlene said with a shrug.

"Fabian could still get you on your back in minutes." The other half of Prewett- Gideon- said, smirking.

Marlene pretended to consider this statement, her eyes raking Fabian, "Nah, he couldn't." She said after a minute silence.

Fabian scowled slightly while Gideon grinned, slapping his brother over the head, "Gerroffme!"

"Boys, play nice, let's get down to business." A familiar voice said. Marlene turned around and, standing before her, was Mason. Her brother. She wasn't surprised, not really, come to think of it, he was always out and he would always rant about Voldemort and his followers.

"Hey, Mase." She said.

"Marley." He nodded with a smile and she scowled again.

"Nice to see you." He said, then turned to the group, who had stopped chatting and messing around- Mason had their full attention. "Now, after the recent event- the Hogsmeade attack- it has been brought to our attention that Voldemort is quickly finding followers. It would make sense for us to do the same, but it would also make sense for us to try and eliminate as many of them as possible."

"But," Dumbledore continued, "We have a priority of keeping ourselves safe. But I have news, important news for a mission. After the attack on Hogsmeade, when the students who fought were brought up to the castle for healing, one of them got away…"

He trailed off, eyes landing on Marlene, who knew exactly who he was talking about. Suddenly, she remembered the letter that she'd found- this was her test, her loyalty to the Order, her desire to help.

"Who?" Fabian- at least she thought it was Fabian- asked.

"Isabelle." Marlene said, shocked. It was all coming together, "Isabelle's gone to Voldemort."

"Brave girl, saying his name like that," Fabian teased.

"Fear of a name only increases fear for the thing itself." She replied, looking back to Dumbledore, "Professor, I have something that might be able to help."

He raised his eyebrows while some people scoffed at her.

"Isabelle left a letter, it's addressed to Sirius, so I presume it's an apology for what she did- but you never know." Marlene said ignoring the titters from other people.

"Do you have the letter on you?" Dumbledore asked. Marlene nodded and handed him the letter, he gave Mason an ordering look to resume the meeting, and Dumbledore left with the letter in hand.

The Gryffindor Common room was oddly quiet for a Friday night; Remus has his head buried in a book, tutoring a frantic Peter who was trying- and failing- to transfigure his cushion, James and Lily were curled up together on a loveseat, chatting about Isabelle and Sirius and wondering idly where Marlene was.

"Maybe she's looking for Isabelle." James suggested, kissing Lily's cheek softly, "Don't worry, she'll be fine."

"She was too pissed off with Isabelle." Lily replied with a small sigh, "I just hope she isn't out too late. It's nearly past curfew."

"It's dot on curfew, actually." A voice said from the portrait hole.

Remus' head snapped up, "And would you look at that?" He said with a smirk.

"Sirius Black in the common room for curfew, I think I might faint." Lily said, beaming over at him, "Sirius, love, how are you?"

"I've been better, Gingersnap, and aha! Great Prongs! Where is my greeting?"

James jumped up, causing Lily to fall off the loveseat with a shocked yelp, "Sorry, Lils, but PADFOOT!" He whooped, running over and tackling his friend to the ground.

Sirius winced, "Oh yeah, just tackle the guy who nearly died to the ground." He said dryly.

James grinned and soon they were joined by Remus and Peter, both of whom were grinning like idiots.

Remus ruffled Sirius' hair and Sirius slapped his hand away, "Pads, I've missed-"

"My devilish good looks?"

"No, I've missed-"

"My jaw dropping abs?"

"No, I've missed-"

"My witty charm?"

"No, you great twat, I've missed you!" Remus said, scowling down at Sirius who was grinning.

"And I've missed you, Rem. But, we're not the emotional type, so shut up and get off me so the people in the common room don't think we're having an orgy."

Peter blushed, Remus cringed and James nearly threw up, "Okaaaaaaaaaaay." They all said in unison, simultaneously jumping up and hauling Sirius to his feet. Sirius laughed at all three of them and sauntered over to Lily.

He perched himself on her lap, "Alright, Gingersnap, where's McKinnon?"

"No 'nice to see you, Lily?'" She replied, raising an eyebrow, "Is that all you care about, Marlene?"

"It's not like he cares about her," Remus interjected- he and Peter had abandoned all attempts of homework and were now taking part in a game of Gobstones, "He just wants to stick his tongue down her throat."

"Who said romance was dead, eh?" Sirius said cheerfully, hopping off Lily's lap with a wince disguised as a smirk, "Alright, where you hiding her?"

"She's out, Padfoot." James said, squashing himself in beside Lily, "Haven't seen her since she left for the Owlery."

"I'll go find her, then…" Sirius was a little disappointed that Marlene wasn't there. It wasn't like Remus said, he'd strangely missed her and just wanted to make sure she was okay- and yeah, he wouldn't mind making out with her, but he really just wanted to talk.

"Why don't you just wait here, Sirius?" Lily suggested, knowing Marlene, she was off hunting Isabelle after reading the letter. The letter. Lily sighed and looked away upon realising she'd trusted Marlene with the letter; you could trust Marlene, you could trust her with your life, but she really could be nosey sometimes.

"Eh, I wouldn't want to disturb Gingersnap and the Great Prongs, and Moony and Wormy look pretty comfy-"

Sirius was cut off by Remus throwing the half transformed cushion off Sirius' face, "Hey! That's sharp!"

"Well done, Wormtail." Remus said to Peter with a sly grin. Sirius flipped the pair of them off, then strutted dramatically from the common room, grinning and blowing kisses at a few girls giggling in the corner.

The Order meeting was still in full swing. Half past 11 and Mason was giving brilliant duelling tips to everybody, and Fabian, was giving some "lifesaving" advice.

"Don't just walk into danger, don't talk to strangers." He was saying, glancing around the room with a serious (and kinda sexy) expression.

"I'll just sit at home with a cuppa then." Marlene muttered; Mason smirked in her direction and Fabian's gaze fell on her.

"What was that, McKinnon?" He asked her in the politest manner possible.

"Fabe." Gideon warned.

Marlene frowned slightly at Gideon, and then looked over to Mason who nodded in encouragement; she returned her eyes to Fabian, "Being a member of the Order is basically walking around with a neon flashing sign reading 'danger." She said, slowly building confidence as she carried on, "Talking to strangers is part of the job, it's what we have to do. I get what you meant, I'm not slating you here as much as it sounds like I am, I just think you need to think about the way you word things-"

Fabian cut her off, "How would you have worded this, then?"

"I would have said- no, I am saying that running into danger is exactly what we're all here for." When Fabian showed signs of justifying his point, Marlene cut him off, "No, Fabian, just listen. I'm not saying you're wrong, you're right. We can't just walk into danger without assessing the situation. It sounds stupid, I know, but fighting in Hogsmeade made me realise something- war is coming. In fact, it's here. What's the first instinct when you're fighting a Death Eater?" She asked them all- she had everybody's attention, even Moody's.

"Kill the bastard and don't let them procreate?" Fabian suggested.

Marlene and Gideon both shook their heads and said together, "Protect your loved ones."

"And that's running into danger," Gideon concluded, smiling over at Marlene.

She returned the smile, "The second things is killing the bastard, but let's face it, you're in a battle with a Death Eater and you see one about to attack Gideon, you're going to try and save him, right?"

"Nah, I hate him really." Fabian said with a smirk.

"Always making me feel loved, Fabey."

"Anytime, Giddy."

Mason cleared his throat and smiled proudly, "Well, I think that's enough for tonight. I have a few training exercises and I'll be sorting you into pairs once we've acquired a reasonable amount of new members."

"Brilliant, Mason! Catch ya' next time!" Fabian grinned and waved goodbye to everybody, nodding at Marlene and waltzing his way from the Room of Requirement in a flash.

"He's in a hurry." Marlene said as Gideon approached her.

"Probably has a hot date."

She laughed softly and gave Mason a brief hug before he left, "See you next time, Sis. I do, presume, you're coming next time?"

"Of course." She replied.

"Excellent. See you next time, Gid."

"See you, McKinnon." Gideon replied with a wave, and then he said to Marlene, "So, other McKinnon, may I escort you to Gryffindor Tower?"

"I guess you may, Prewett." She grinned and took his arm that he offered her, and the pair of them left the Room of Requirement.

After a few minutes silence, Gideon looked down at her, "Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did." She replied cheekily, trying to stop a smirk from forming on her face.

He rolled his eyes and let out a slight chuckle, "Okay, you got me there, but I mean, like, a serious question?"

"You're not going to ask me to marry you, are you?" She said, halting their slow walk, "Because, you're lovely and attractive and everything, but I think we're moving a bit too fast."

This time, Gideon laughed properly, shaking his head, "No, I'm not going to propose to you." He paused then added with a wink, "Yet."

Laughing, Marlene resume their walk, "Alright, I'll be waiting, Romeo. So, what did you want to ask me?"

"Is it true that you actually saw him? Voldemort?"

She nodded, "Yeah. Utter dick in reality, just as in the news."

"What was it like?"

"Awful." She said after a moments consideration, "It was James, Lily, Remus and I all standing against this barricade of Death Eaters with Voldemort standing at the front; I thought I'd die right there because he literally has no soul, no compassion or empathy or anything. He would have killed us in a flash if he could of."

Gideon looked amazed but sad at the same time, "But you're all brilliant witches and wizards, you stopped him."

She smiled, "I know, and we're going to stop him again. For good."

"I'll be right beside you, Other McKinnon,"

She laughed and shook her head, "It's Marlene."

"McKinnon to me, Other McKinnon." He grinned and took a step back, mocking a bow and tipping his imaginary hat, "Alas, we must depart, Other McKinnon."

"Nice chatting to you, Other Prewett." She grinned, "Are you sure you don't need escorting to Ravenclaw?"

"No, I'm sure I'll manage." He grinned and as she turned to walk away, he shouted, "Wait, how d'you know I'm in Ravenclaw?"

"I spent quite a lot of time in your crib." She winked, "See you next time, Other Prewett."

"I'll be counting down the days, Other McKinnon."

With another laugh from both parties, they departed; Gideon skipped his way down the corridor and Marlene watched him until he was out of sight. Smiling to herself, she made the final walk down to the Fat Lady by herself, thinking about the Order meeting.

"McKinnon." Sirius' gruff voice filled the empty corridor, "I have been looking everywhere for you."

"Clearly not everywhere." She remarked, her face breaking into a grin, "Nice to see you back, Black."

"Wow, I'm shocked you're not tearing my clothes off yet." He teased, wiggling his eyebrows, "What was it you said in your letter?" He asked her, pulling it out of his pocket- Marlene was really surprised he'd even kept it- "Ah yes, 'I want you back here and better'. Or were they just empty words?"

She laughed and shook her head, "If you read that correctly, I told you not to take it suggestively, either."

He merely raised an eyebrow in response.

Marlene shook her head and yawned, just as an owl swooped down and landed on her shoulder. Emitting a small yelp of surprise, she frowned and pulled the letter from the owls leg.

Other McKinnon,

Don't worry, this isn't a marriage proposal, I just so happened to bump into Dumbledore on my journey to 'my crib' (I literally bumped into him) and he asked me, if I ever corresponded with you before the next get together, to tell you that he'd like to discuss a letter with you in person.

Goodnight,
Gideon.

"Who's that from?" Sirius asked, his brows pulled together in confusion.

"A secret admirer." She retorted with a small wink, then, without another word, she disappeared into the Common Room and up the dormitory stairs, leaving a very confusion and admittedly upset, Sirius Black behind her.

"And here I was, thinking she actually cared.." He mumbled to himself, following Marlene into the common room and up the stairs. Despite the great temptation, Sirius forced himself to walk into the boys dorm, slouching onto his bed with a great sigh.

If he was being honest with himself, which he tried to always be, he thought Marlene would have been a bit happier about his arrival back to Hogwarts. He didn't know why he thought this, maybe because he assumed by her recent attention- and her letter, which he had, surprisingly, kept- or maybe he just hoped that he was actually wanted by a girl like Marlene.

Shaking these obviously stupid and ridiculous thoughts from his head, he turned and fell into a struggled sleep.

A/N:Me again, so could you PLEASE leave me a review? Did you like my chapter? Why? What do you thinks coming up? What would you like to see?