Chapter 6: A Letter from Dumbledore

Lily sat in the living room reading a book when Karen, Sirius, and James came in the door soaking wet. "What happened?!" Lily asked standing up.

"Sirius started it!" James and Karen yelled at the same time.

"Hey!" he shouted indignantly. "That's not fair!"

"Well you were the one who tried to push me in!" Karen said.

"That was your own fault," Sirius said.

"I don't even want to know," Lily said sitting back down.

"Hey," Remus said entering the room. He looked at Sirius, James, and Karen then turned around and started looking through the books that Lily had laid out on the couch.

"You're not the least bit curious about why they're wet?" she asked.

"When you share a dorm with Sirius and James for seven years, you learn it's better not to ask," Remus said. Lily just rolled her eyes.

Just then an owl flew in and landed on the table in front of Lily and Remus. Lily snatched the letter from off of its leg. Karen preformed a drying spell on herself and walked over to look over Lily's shoulder.

"Who's it from?" she asked.

"That's a school owl," Sirius said.

"How do you know that?" Karen asked.

"Because we you're hiding from Filch, the best place to hide is in the Owlery," Sirius explained.

Lily slowly pulled the seal off of it and read slowly.

Dear Ms. Evans,

I hope you are doing well. You must be very excited about being out of school. I know Professor Slughorn will miss you dearly. Now down to business, I hope June 8 is alright will you. I would like to see you, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, Ms. Moore, and Mr. Lupin at 5:00 PM on the 8th.

P.S. I like Pumpkin Pasties.

"Finally something to do for the Order!" Karen said as she finished reading.

"Oh this is so exciting!" Lily said.

"I know this is amazing!" Karen said.

"Shh! I'm a slow reader," Sirius said. Karen and Lily rolled their eyes.

"I wonder what he wants," Remus said. "I'm going to go look through my seventh year school books again, just to make sure I remember everything."

"Ah, Moony, don't you want to have some fun?" Sirius asked.

"Reading is fun," Remus replied.

Sirius snorted. "Right. So James what do you think about this?"

There was no answer.

"James?" Sirius asked looking around the room. He was no where in sight. "Where'd he go?"

"I'll be right back," Lily said getting up and going outside. She walked into the Potter's garden. There was a stone path leading through the garden. It had the most beautiful flowers. There lilies, daisies, and carnations on one side of the path. On the other side there were Amaryllis, anemones, and asters. Mrs. Potter always had a thing for flowers, Lily remembered. Every time she was over at the Potter's house there would always be a flower centerpiece on the dinner table. She followed the path until it forked into to separate paths. She took the one with the daisies. Ahead she saw James sitting on a stone bench flicking his wand at a flower petal watching it turn into different things.

"James?" Lily asked approaching slowly.

"Hmm." James didn't look up.

"What's wrong James?" Lily asked sitting down next to him and rubbing his back.

"I just wonder sometimes if they would be proud of me," James said. "My parents that is. I wonder if I'm doing the right thing. I just don't know what they would think of me being in the Order. I wish I could talk to them and ask them what to do. When Dumbledore sent that letter, I remembered when they got a letter from the Order and I read it. I put it back and made it look just like it hadn't been opened. I know they didn't want me to read it but I did anyway. I wonder what they would think of me if they knew what I did at Hogwarts. They wouldn't think I was so great then."

"James listen to me," Lily said turning his face to her. "Your parent wouldn't care they would still love you. Yes ,you did some bad things but you were just a kid then. Besides I'm sure they knew about everything you did in the school. Your farther was an Auror, after all."

James smiled and said, "How do you always know just what to say? You're amazing, you know that? I...I love you, Lils."

That was the first time James had told her he loved her, at least out loud. Lily knew he did but it still came as a shock to her when he said it. "I love you too, Jamesie," Lily replied. She leaned into his chest and he slid his arm around her. After he kissed the top of her head he rested his chin on her head.

Lily, James, Karen, Remus, and Sirius walked up to Dumbledore's office. "Pumpkin Pasties," Lily mumbled. The gargoyle moved and revealed the spiral staircase. When they reached the top, Karen knocked on the door. A sharp "Come in" followed. They looked at each other before entering. That was not Dumbledore's voice.

As they entered, they were met with the sharp eyes of Professor McGonagall. "Hello," she said not looking up from her paper work. "Headmaster Dumbledore is not in at the moment. He was called away on urgent business. He told me to inform you on what you were supposed to be doing."

"Nice to see you too, Minnie," Sirius said plopping down in a chair.

"Mr. Black, I will ask you, once, nicely not to call me that," McGonagall said glaring from behind her spectacles.

"What did Professor Dumbledore what to talk to us about?" Lily spoke up.

"He would like you to scout out this area," McGonagall said curtly, pushing a map toward them. "The Realm Forest. We have reason to believe that Death Eaters are forming there. Oh and under no circumstances are you to attack if you do find anything. Is that understood Mr. Black, Mr. Potter?"

"Yes, Professor," they both said at the same time.

"Good. You may go," McGonagall said. As they were about to leave they heard an "Oh and good luck."

"Thanks Professor," Lily said quietly.

The forest was dark, damp, and cold. It had an eerie feeling about it like something would jump out any moment. The trees were tall and standing stick straight. The ground was hard and had dead leaves scattered all around. A stitch that smelled of dead animal was coming from all around. Lily and the others were watching a camp they had found not five minutes ago. "It's a Death Eater camp alright," James said. "Everyone is wearing black and you can tell by the way they act."

"Ok, let's get out of here," Lily said. "I have a bad feeling about this place."

"Yeah let's go," Karen said gripping her wand tightly.

"Go where? I don't think you're going anywhere!" came a cackling voice.