On the very same Saturday, Sally-Anne Perks had just finished dinner when she heard someone behind her speak her name.
She turned around and saw Harry Potter of all people. What could he want from her?
Sally swallowed. "Yes?"
"Do you happen to be the 'littlest sister' Miss Margaret Perks mentioned in her article?"
The girl nodded.
"In that case, would you be willing to arrange a meeting between her and me, possibly joined by Ron and Hermione?"
Sally-Anne blinked three times.
"Why?"
"Let's just say it's either your sister or Rita Skeeter. Out of those two your sister seems far more reliable."
"Have you anything planned for tomorrow?"
The next Order meeting was rather interesting, if Kingsley was honest.
Professor Dumbledore was trying to get those of them that went to the meeting with the students the day prior to tell him what plans they had made.
Needless to say, it did not exactly work.
"No way in hell. Logan may have forgiven you for your plans, but I sure as hell didn't," Sirius snapped at the headmaster.
"Sirius, you must be reasonable-" Dumbledore protested.
"He is," Remus argued, "Between Harry and you, Harry is the better choice by far. I mean, honestly, have we done anything, in either of the wars, except for reacting? Have we ever attacked one of their bases? Have we ever tried to prevent an attack instead of just waiting for them to show up and then fight them? Have we trained to improve our skills outside of our line of work? No? Well, seems like both Logan and Harry already showed better leading skills for a war."
"It pains me to say it, but the mutts are right," Severus sneered, causing some stares and the present Marauders to grin triumphantly. "We could use our forces and resources, as limited as they are, better. Especially now the the public is aware of the return of the Dark Lord."
"Yeah," Tonks agreed. "Why are you insisting on knowing what we discussed when we could, no should, be talking about, oh, I don't know, maybe recruiting more Aurors, some people from the other parts of the DMLE and perhaps a few Healers from St. Mungo's."
"Maybe ask for help other countries," Bill injected, "According to Fleur, the French for example would be willing to help. If only so that Voldemort won't attack them next."
Dumbledore looked like the thought never crossed his mind.
It most likely didn't, Kingsley figured.
The other Order members seemed to have reached the same conclusion, judging from the look on their faces.
Dumbledore tried to limit the damage. "Such things are not-"
"Pardon my French, Molly, but I call bullshit," Moody interrupted, "These things are indeed more important than you knowing Potter's plans."
"I happen to be of the same opinion, Alastor. Logan showed me that I cannot keep my children away from this war, so I will focus my energy on ending it as fast as possible, in the hope that this time around all of us survive", Molly announced, her husband nodding along to her words.
Kingsley himself couldn't help but agree.
Later that Sunday, Margaret Perks was waiting for her littlest sister in separate room in the Three Broomsticks, her writing utensils in a bag near her feet.
She had been confused by the hastily written note from Sally-Anne, requesting her to bring them to the meeting they had planned weeks prior (this was one of the rare times Margaret had time during the monthly Hogsmeade weekends).
It would be an understatement to say Margaret was surprised when her sister arrived with Harry Potter of all people, though that certainly explained the odd request.
She stood up d moved towards the strange pair.
"Sally, hello!" She hugged her sister and shook the boy's hand. "Mr. Potter, what a surprise! How can I help you?"
"Hello, Miss Perks, I'm here to offer you a job."
Margaret raised her eyebrow.
"What have I done to earn this?"
"Proving me that wizarding journalism can indeed be taken seriously. My previous experiences were limited to Rita Skeeter and, depending on your definition of journalism, Gilderoy Lockhart."
"If that is true I would not blame you for trying to avoid the press entirely."
Potter sighed.
"Truthfully, I would indeed prefer that, but being me I will have to face the press sooner or later. I am simply choosing the when, how and who by doing this."
"Does that mean you would offer me exclusive rights?" Margaret asked one she regained her breath.
"Not would offer, I am offering," Potter corrected. He stuck out his hand. "Do we have a deal?"
"I would be a fool to decline," she answered, taking and shaking his hand.
"Good. Before we will have any interviews, you will have to look over this contract."
He handed her a few pieces of parchment, with the Tonks & Tonks label in the upper right corner, indicating that the lawyers who made the contract were Ted and Andromeda Tonks.
Margaret had heard of them. They were looked down by the so-called pureblood elite sorely for the reason that Ted was a muggleborn, but they were actually rather good.
She skimmed through them quickly before signing.
Potter took it back and glanced at her signature, most likely checking she did indeed sign her name (which she did) and not something else.
"So, do you want me to leave or..." Sally trailed off.
"You can stay. It concerns you anyway," Harry replied.
"Now you've certainly got my attention."
"Natalie! Emma! Hurry up!" Dennis Creevey yelled up the stairs to the girls dorms. "We're gonna be late!"
"Coming!" Emma Dobbs answered, hurrying down the stairs, quickly followed by the third member of their trio, Nathalie McDonald.
"Oh my Gosh, I'm so excited!" Nathalie squeaked while they moved towards the of the exit Gryffindor common room. "Harry Potter and his friends are going to teach us. Harry Potter!"
"Don't forget Hermione Granger," Emma added as they passed the portrait of the fat lady, "Roger told me she's the smartest in their year."
"Yeah, but your stepbrother quite obviously has a crush on her, I don't think his opinion counts," Nathalie argued.
"Colin says the same," Dennis joined Emma's side, "He says she's almost as smart as, if not smarter than Bruce Banner!"
The girls stared at him with their heads tilted. "Who?"
"Some guy in one of his comic books. You know how he adores them."
This was why he loved Harry Potter so much. In Colin's eyes, he was comic superhero, only in real life, basically his dreams came true.
They continued their conversation until three minutes after they arrived in the Great Hall. In other words, when Harry Potter and his friends entered the room, thus effectively quieting the assembled first and second years.
Dennis' roommates Timothy McNeal and Sebastian Perris would later swear that they heard Harry Potter mutter that he 'felt like Snape or Professor McGonagall' (which was disturbingly true if Dennis was honest), while he walked past them to the opposite side of the hall.
"Welcome everyone!" Harry Potter addressed them. "To the first meeting of the yet to be named club! In these weekly meetings we will work on your skills in different areas, both magical and muggle. Anyone who has a problem with that is free to leave."
Dennis was pleased to see that no one moved, even if the expressions of some people (like a tenth or something) from all houses showed clear displeasure.
"Now, I think it would be appropriate to name this before doing anything else."
"I thought we were Dumbledore's Army!" Some girl Dennis did not know (but he could see her Hufflepuff tie) piped up.
"That's right… I'm sorry, I don't know your name," Hermione Granger replied.
"Rose Zeller"
"You are correct, Miss Zeller, only that Dumbledore's Army consists out of three mostly separate parts now, so we will need some way to differentiate between them."
Suddenly everyone was yelling ideas. Dennis did not understand a single word.
Then, something exploded and one of the Weasley twins (Dennis thought it was Fred) smirked.
The others on the stage (was it even one or some weird wizard thing, Dennis wondered) looked at him.
They seemed to glare, as Fred (?) shrugged before telling them that at least they would understand the proposals for names now.
Soon (depending on one's definition) there were the top three written on a board:
Junior Badasses (this would most likely not be allowed anyways), Group A (boring, like, why was that even in the top three?) and The Simbas (Dennis personal favorite, though it might be a problem that Simba was, well, a lion).
For some reason (maybe because they were first and second year, not quite caught up in the House Rivality), they actually chose The Simbas in the end (once everyone knew the basics of who he was).
"So, Simbas," Harry Potter smiled, "The first thing we will be doing is…"
"Harry?" a voice from his left called hesitatingly, "Can we talk?"
He had just left the Great Hall when he heard Cho.
"Er, yeah, sure," he scratched the back of his head.
"Maybe not here," Cho suggested.
"Might be a good idea," Harry agreed, "In the Room of Requirement?"
Cho nodded and the two of them silently climbed the stairs.
When they arrived at the Room, Harry let Cho decide how the room should look.
She choose an apartment decorated in Chinese tradition, as far as Harry could tell.
"So, what do you want to talk about," Harry asked after they had sat down (on the floor one might add). He most likely knew, but he didn't know what else to say.
"Why didn't you tell me you like Ginny?" Cho stuttered, her eyes slowly becoming wetter.
"Because I don't. At least not yet. Maybe never. I mean she's a nice girl and everything, but I don't like her that way. I like you," the words were out before Harry could stop them.
"You do?" Cho questioned, "I don't see how. I do barely anything but crying these days. Even Marietta complains about it. We've nothing in common, apart from Quidditch, as far as I know."
Harry blinked.
"Really? I'm sorry, but Marietta does not sound like a good best friend," at Chos insulted look he explained, "You and Cedric were a thing, right? So you've got a right to cry, at least in my opinion. I certainly would if y-, I mean someone I liked died."
Unfortunately Cho caught his slip up, if the look on her face had anything to do with it, so Harry continued before she could interrupt. "So what if we have little in common? We have Quidditch as starting might be some of the things you like which I just haven't tried yet, but will love if I try. Or vice versa."
Cho smiled.
"There just might be."
For the rest of the afternoon the two of them simply sat there and talked.
Cho seemed to be quite interested in some aspects of the muggle world which were previously unknown to her due to coming from a pureblood family, while Harry found himself excited with the idea of making brooms, Cho's dream job.
Remus was visiting the Tonks home for the first time in his life.
Not only this was the first time he'd meet Tonks parents, this was the first time he'd ever met the parents of someone outside of the Marauders (unless you counted the Wesleys, which Remus didn't).
So yeah, he was pretty nervous.
They knocked and Remus was quite sure the neighbors could hear his heartbeat.
Maybe they aren't home? Remus thought when nothing happened for a minute. Don't be silly. Of course they are. Otherwise they would have told Dora to come to another time.
Just then the was door opened by Mr. Tonks. He basically jumped up of the house to hug his daughter before greeting both of them and offering Remus his hand (which he of course accepted, he was not this big of a fool) and invited them inside directly thereafter.
Mrs. Tonks was already waiting for them on the couch. Compared to her husband, she was rather distanced from Tonks, as she did not hug her daughter or even stand up.
"Hello, Nymphadora. You must be Remus Lupin."
Oh great, the displeasure in her voice was not even hidden (Remus may not have noticed it, but Dora later told him her father had glared at her mother).
Remus nodded.
"Well, we don't know much about you. Actually, now that I think about it, apart from your friendship to Sirius, you being a werewolf and the fact you taught at Hogwarts a few years ago and are now doing it again, I don't think I know anything about you," Mr. Tonks corrected himself, "I must admit that I'm quite uncomfortable with that. I'd like to know more about the man that stole my daughter's heart," he prompted.
"Well, Mr. Tonks-" Remus started to speak, but he was interrupted.
"Oh, none of this 'Mr. Tonks' nonsense, please, call me Ted."
"Okay then, Ted," Remus continued awkwardly, "What would you like to know?"
"Whatever you're willing to share."
And so Remus started to talk. It was only reluctantly at first, with constant prompting from Ted, Dora and, occasionally, Mrs. Tonks needed, he talked.
He told them how his father, Lyall had met his mother, Hope, in a forest near Cardiff in 1959, saving her from a boggart. Mrs. Tonks questioned whether or not he meant the Lyall Lupin, a world-renowned authority on Non-Human Spirituous Apparitions and Member of the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures until 1981, when he seemed to vanish. When Remus affirmed she further inquired about his mother. Remus informed them that she used to be working for an insurance office and was indeed muggle. She, or more precisely her death, was also the main reason for his father's retreat from society.
Remus told them how his father had insulted Fenrir Greyback in early 1965 (even if he kept the details for himself) and how the werewolf had bitten him as some sort of revenge.
He told them how they had taken him to various healers, and when none of them could help him, opted for moving from village to village every time the muggles noticed his strange behaviour. He told them how they had not allowed him to play with other children and how lonely he felt (Dora gave him a reassuring squeeze when his tale reached that point, he gave her a grateful smile in return).
Remus told them how he had met Sirius, James and Peter and how refreshing it had been. How they had roped him into pranking. How they had discovered he was a werewolf and waited for a month before telling him, but when they did tell him their greatest concern was how to make it less painful for him. How their had gone through all the hard work to become animagi for him. How they never cared to learn his medical facts, but the things that made him him besides being a werewolf. How surprised (and glad) he had been when he had been made prefect. How horrified he had been when he could see the thestrals the summer after their fifth year and how Peter and James had stayed with him while Sirius went to get Firewhiskey. How they had named him Moony and done all in their power to distract him from that. How he had refused to talk with Sirius for over a month after that horrific prank. How weird the lesson when they learned their patronus had been, when it turned out his was a wolf, the other Marauders were their animagi and Lily's was a doe. How he could still not put it into words how good he had felt when after Lily and James had gotten together and they had told her the truth, her first words had been "So what? You're telling me this as if it would make a difference" and how he had seen James fall in love with her all over at these words and Sirius and Peter grinning approvingly at her, as if they would have forced James to leave her if she had dared to say something negative. How no one would hire him and he had been living sorely on James wealth and how he had hated it.
He told them how everything had turned (he was not ashamed to say that he had already been crying when he had gotten to that part). How his mother died. How Peter betrayed them, blaming Sirius. How he was still kicking himself for believing the story. How he and the professors had literally the only people at the Potter's burial, as their other friends were dead, insane, imprisoned or in hiding. How he had refused to move back in with his father. How he had gone from job to job, from apartment to apartment, never finding friends, never being as happy as he had been before. How he had made the mistake to go into Les Miserables, or as he privately called it "All my friends are dead - The Musical" (he even had to leave during Empty chairs at empty tables).
Remus told them how infuriated he had been when he had discovered that Sirius had escaped. How it had not taken him long to conclude that Dumbledore's offer/pleading for him to teach defense would include him being used to get more information on Sirius. How he had still accepted, but only under the promise of the Wolfbane. How confused he had been when Harry had not recognized his name and how he still had not figured out what had happened to the presets and cards he had never stopped sending the boy, even if he had to go hungry for quite some days to be able to afford it. How devastated he had been during Sirius escapades over the year. How had figured everything out that evening, when he had seen Peter's name. How he hadn't even been surprised to find out that his secret was out the next morning.
His fear, his depression and the rare moments of happiness. How he had really loved Dor for month, but was still refusing to believe he was worth her.
By the end of his tale, the whole of the Tonks family had tears in their eyes and Dora hugged him.
Ted was the first to find his voice again. "Remus, you must promise me one thing."
Remus was full well expecting something like the infamous 'shovel talk', but he was surprised.
"Please go to a mind healer. Don't get me wrong, I don't think you're insane or something, but it cannot be healthy to deal with all of this alone and I doubt Dora would be as much help as you need."
This was something Remus found himself willing to try.
Guest: You are so right, it is.
Infrequent updates due to school, but reviews will get me to write quicker.
~Marvelgeek42