"Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions to be destroyed."

Friedrich Nietzsche

All the members of the Order of the Phoenix were in Albus Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts. Since their headquarters had been destroyed a few weeks earlier, they had not yet had a full meeting. This was partly due to the lack of a place to do it, but some members were also missing.

Unfortunately, some of them would never return, but two of them had joined them again. Helena Grace had left her room at St. Mungo's and Sirius Black had left his cell in Azkaban.

"Right. Is everyone here? Good. Two priority items on the agenda, finding a new HQ, we're not going to be able to continue the meetings in Albus' office and finding out who caused the explosion" began Mad-Eye

The looks became harsher at the mention of the explosion that had taken the lives of several of them.

"Does anyone know of a place where we could set up our HQ?"

"I know of one. I'd have to buy some furniture as the house is empty, but it might make a good HQ," Remus interjected.

"Where is it? Whose?" asked Moody.

"A few miles from Bristol. It's ours" continued Hermione.

"Why hasn't it got any furniture yet then?"

"We just bought it. I told you, it will make a perfect HQ.

"You bought a house just to make it the Order's HQ?"

"Not really, we had a lot of money to throw away, so we might as well treat ourselves at the same time."

"That's one problem solved. Albus and I will come and put the protective spells around this house. Second problem, the explosion. What the hell happened?"

"There weren't many of us there that night. There were Dorcas and Benjy, who were in the living room, Marlene and Emmeline who were in their room and Helena and I were outside. The house was protected, who could have walked in unnoticed and planted a bomb?"

"Were the spells in place properly?"

"Dumbledore and Moody did them, they were as safe as could be."

"I think you're breaking your head for nothing" intervened Hermione.

"What do you mean Grace?"

"The house is not visible to anyone outside the Order. Only one of us can enter."

"Are you accusing us?"

"Let me finish, Longbottom. As Sirius so aptly put it, there were very few of us in the house, but the investigating auror mentioned another person. A missing person."

"Peter."

"Right, Potter. Pettigrew would have been in the house at the time of the explosion. How do you explain the fact that no-one has found his body? He couldn't have disappeared under the rubble, a spell and we knew if anyone else was left. There was no-one there. Pettigrew wasn't at HQ at the time of the explosion.

"He could be at his parents' house."

"Don't be daft, Black. He would have come back to you."

Hermione took out her wand and created a smoke screen where she simulated the evening.

"Pettigrew entered the house, Dorcas and Benjy recognised him, no problem, he set up in the living room, went out quietly and activated the bomb a few meters away, he fled and ran to his master."

"Peter could never have betrayed us. The marauders in life and death…" said Sirius.

"It's true that the marauders have been very present for you lately" Hermione retorted, nastily.

"Helena!"

Remus' voice cracked and there was silence. The marauders looked at her with pain in their eyes, this episode did not make them proud of themselves, on the contrary. The rest of the assembly was embarrassed, Helena was not entirely wrong.

"If we follow your simulation Miss Grace, how do you explain that you or Mr Black did not see Mr Pettigrew leaving the house?"

"Oh, I know that, but it's not just about him and I wouldn't betray the others involved by telling you their secret."

"Anyway, Peter would never betray us" James assured.

"Face it, James," began Alice. "It's not that unlikely. All three of you are beautiful, charismatic, brave, intelligent, people-pleasing, even if you are in a relationship, that's a fact. This is not really the case with Peter. He has always followed. All your pranks, your plans, it was never Peter's idea. "

"You were much smart in class than he was. Wortmail needed another year to be able to help Moony, he would never have succeeded without Padfoot and Prongs, but Padfoot and Prongs did, without Wortmail's help. Another feeling of inferiority."

"But Peter is a Gryffindor, he couldn't have betrayed us!"

"Stop it, you sound like your brother. He thought that because he was a Slytherin, he had to be a Death Eater. I can't seem to change his mind. Anyway, it's not important. You have to stop with the clichés. Gryffindor are not the good guys and Slytherin are not the bad guys. The world is not all black and white. And little information, loyalty is a Hufflepuff characteristic, not a Gryffindor one."

"But..."

"Pettigrew is a coward, it's not even that surprising. He's just a tr-"

Hermione stopped abruptly, she was still moving but no sound was coming out. She turned sharply and glared at Remus, but he shrugged.

"Well, we'll investigate Pettigrew. Grace, Lucas, I'll come in two days to set up some protection spells. Black, Potter, Lupin, stay here, the others, out!"

Everyone obeyed in front of Moody's serious look, there was no way to argue with him. The only ones who could have protested were far too shocked to do so, their best friend, whom they had known for over eight years, their lifelong supporter, was apparently a Death Eater and had just betrayed them, causing the death of two of them.

Some of them left the room through the chimney, others, like the Time Chosen, went down the stairs to Hogsmeade.

"What on earth possessed you to cast a spell on me in front of everyone? Do you realise how humiliating that is?"

"I didn't do anything" the wizard protested.

"It was me" a voice behind them suddenly said.

"Minerva! But why?"

"Helena, you could be saying things you're not supposed to say, know. Your hatred of Pettigrew is perfectly justified to me, but they cannot and must not know that. In your anger, you might inadvertently reveal things about the future. You can't keep a straight face all the time and get carried away in a meeting. It doesn't make sense."

"But he betrayed them and-"

"That's the point. You weren't there, Hermione" the teacher continued, using her real name, "if anyone should be complaining or angry, it's Remi. You may be attached to Harry more than anything, but it's Remi, who lost his best friends that night because of him."

"Right" she replied, offended, before striding off.

"Someone had to tell her" she continued, looking at Remus.

"I know, but she's not going to talk to you for a few days, you've upset her."

"Oh, I won't see her for a while, Albus will be going to Order meetings but he can't leave the school unattended, I should stay. How's the mission going? Have you destroyed any more?"

"Not yet, the last few weeks we've been concentrating on the trial and the new HQ, so... For the one in Little Hangleton, we won't be able to go alone, the dark magic emanating from the ring will be so powerful that we'll want to see the dead again. And there are a lot of them. We have to go with someone who has never lost anyone close to us, which is quite complicated."

"Why didn't you tell me this before? I'll go with you."

"Really, there's no one who..."

"My parents and brothers are still alive and I've never been very close to any of my other family members. But it'll have to wait until the holidays. Albus isn't around much and I don't see how I can explain my absence."

"We'll have to find a time slot, though. The more time goes by, the more you run the risk of..."

"Someone dies, I know. I will find a solution and send you my owl."

Remus joined Hermione in Bristol, outside their new house. She was sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest and staring out to sea. She became aware of a presence behind her, she didn't have to turn around to know Remus was there. She could recognize his walk with her eyes closed. At least one thing was certain, if someone took her appearance on polyjuice potion, she would immediately identify the intruder by his walk.

"I'm sorry I'm taking up so much of your time fighting. Minerva's right, it's not my place. It makes me so angry, and I feel like I'm smothering you with my feelings, my frustrations, my anger."

"I'm happy to have this house" he says simply.

"Did you hear what I said?"

"You described yourself as incredibly selfish, you're wrong, I gave you a window to change the subject but you don't seem interested, so it's okay, we'll talk."

"It eats me up to know he's going to be okay, again. I hate him so much, and I realise that I shouldn't, at least not as much. He betrayed you, not me."

"It's true that sometimes you take up a lot of space in front of others, but I don't blame you, it's in your nature. One of us has to keep our feet on the ground and not get carried away at the slightest annoyance. But just because I don't show it doesn't mean I'm not angry, doesn't mean I don't want revenge from deep inside."

"Malfoy, Draco not the other, had advised me to become like him when he saved me. As cold as stone, keeping a constant mask, I did it, I trained hard, it wasn't easy, but I got there. And then you came along, I couldn't pretend with you, but on the outside I was always stone cold, it was never a problem, until we came here. As time goes on, I can't control myself and I hate it. I can't be cool in any circumstances, I can't control my outbursts, I can't control my body, and it's killing me."

Remus didn't answer his friend right away, he knew that losing control of himself could be disturbing, he had learned that the hard way when he had become a werewolf. He had never been able to keep the impassive mask, but unlike Hermione, it was getting better since they were in the past.

"I'm glad we're buying this house."

"It's not really my money."

"It's not really mine either. It's Harry's. And Harry would tell you it's his parents' and Sirius'. No one knows this, but we must be the richest wizards in England. We can buy a nice house, which will also be used by the Order, so we might as well enjoy it. Especially as this was your favourite."

"It's beautiful, I've always found stone houses very beautiful and this view is breathtaking."

"Yeah... I've had my fill of the sea for the rest of my life."

"You mean you're not going to go swimming once?"

"We're back in England, Rem. It won't be the same temperature as the Coral Sea. I'll see. It'll be weird to have our own room. Since we joined the Order we've been sleeping in the same room."

"At least I won't hear you snoring anymore."

"I don't snore!" Hermione snorted with a small smile.

"Seriously, it's almost like a hotel."

"A small hotel."

"We could keep the top floor to ourselves."

"We don't need four rooms."

"We could use a room to spread out our research, put up maps, places they might be. Make a potion lab too. Even if it's at home, I doubt that making so-called 'black' potions in front of others is a good idea."

"What if someone comes across this room?"

"Hermione you know more spells than most of us. I'm sure you'll find a way for only us to get through."

"What about the second room?"

"I'd like a place where we can store our memories. I could never see Dora, every day, smiling at me in a photo in my room, but in a room next door... I could go there when I feel I need to."

"A room with pictures of everyone? I don't know if I could."

"You don't have to go. But I'd love to. I don't have many photos, I've lost most of them."

"I don't know if I could do it right away, but if it's good for you, I can't refuse, it's our house. It's my house as much as yours, so, are we going to build that room? Imagine, we won't have to carry all our stuff around in a little bag. We'll have a real home."

Remus nodded furtively. A real home. It hadn't happened in years, it seemed almost unreal after all those years of wandering around. Their lives had been a hodgepodge of supernatural events, each more aberrant than the last, but there was something comforting about knowing that there would be a place waiting for them when they returned from their mission, exhausted.

They agreed to go and furnish their house, which was always a strange word to say, and prepare it to become the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. They brought in furniture from a shop on the crossroads and installed it with the help of magic. Then they placed defensive spells all around their grounds, Hermione doing the dark magic spells and Remus the so-called 'white' ones. They knew that there shouldn't be too many darl spells as they were easier to spot. It would be a shame if the Death Eaters would spot their HQ because there was too much dark magic!

They went to sleep around two in the morning, proud of their new home and what they had done to make it more pleasant.

The next morning Remus woke up as he did every day at about seven o'clock, but did not immediately realise that someone had entered his room. Hermione had made sure that they were the only ones to go up to this floor. If anyone else wanted to go upstairs, they would have had to work at it for several years before they could do it.

Fully awake now, Remus got up and saw that it was Hermione herself who was slumped in her chair, sleeping peacefully. Knowing that she was having a hard time sleeping as he was, he went out to get ready, but the old floor and its horrible creaking sound were not enough. Hermione woke up with a start and drew her wand only to find that it was Remus.

"Rem'! You scared me."

"You scared me, I thought the spells had failed and someone had entered my room."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't fall asleep, and in those moments, as always, I saw my sixth year again. When I finally fell asleep, I started dreaming about the DA, then the battle of the Mysteries and Sirius' death... I couldn't go back to sleep, the silence was too heavy, and before, the sound of your breathing was lulling me so I tried to come here. I know I shouldn't have, but I really didn't know what else to do."

"It's okay, I'd rather know than wake up not knowing what happened during the night. Next time, make yourself a bed, it'll be much nicer than this chair."

"Will you let me come back?"

"Hermione, you sleep three-four hours a night at most. I'm not going to deprive you of what little sleep you have. If you can sleep more peacefully, it's not me who's going to stop you. Now go and get dressed, we've got to get Moody to apparate and he can't stand being late and an angry Moody... I'd rather not."

Remus had Moody apparated about ten minutes later and the auror approached, only to be violently kicked off the pitch. He returned and was not fooled a second time, he analysed with his wand all the spells that had been put in place.

"You could have waited for me, it was my job to do what was necessary to protect the HQ" he grumbled.

"But it's our house, and it's up to us to decide which spells we prefer for protection."

"Muggle repulsion, concealment spell, silence spell, expulsion spell."

He stopped abruptly as he realised what the others were.

"You've put on dark magic spells! This is not the headquarters of the Death Eaters, is it?"

"These spells are very useful. The first one will expel far away anyone who bears the mark of darkness and it is associated with a spell that allows you to read the person's heart. If they have honourable intentions, they can pass, but if they enter to harm us, their trip to Siberia should change their mind."

"Well, all that's missing is the Fidelius Charm. Albus should be here soon."

"We're hoping for a double charm. It'll give us more security."

"Which one of you wants to do it."

"As long as I'm alive, I'll never be a secret keeper" Remus said in a cold voice.

"We want you to be the second keeper."

"You know that Albus and I are probably the two people to be killed in this war."

"If you die, we will reconsider, but for now we want you to die. Before you go, give us your blood, so that you don't get expelled every time you come."

He returned an hour later, accompanied by Dumbledore. Hermione had to use all her control to stop herself from laughing at Dumbledore being expelled. Remus explained what they had done. Dumbledore looked surprised for a few seconds, he probably didn't expect the house to be so well protected when he and Moody had done nothing. They then performed the ritual to make the house invisible under the Charm.

The four of them returned to Dumbledore's office, where the other members of the Order were waiting. They ushered them out and Hermione couldn't help but smile as she saw them all being kicked out.

"Dumbledore has gone mad!"

"Do you really think it was Dumbledore who put a spell like that on Sirius?"

The wizard stood up and saw Helena smiling. His blood ran cold and he was about to show his displeasure when he was kicked out again.

"Why did they get in and I didn't?" he asked as he saw his friends pass through the gate a second time without any problems.

"You had bad intentions, so the magic felt it."

Sirius joined James and Remus, grumbling at Hermione. Dumbledore and Moody revealed the house to them and they entered. Remus led them around the house as they looked on curiously.

"On the ground floor, there is the drawing room, the dining room, the kitchen and an office for dealing with the Order's business. The first floor is a large fighting room. Even though we train more often outside, we thought it would be nice to have a room to train in. The second and third floors are just rooms. This house is an old hotel so each room has its own bathroom. For those who won't be sleeping here, there is a toilet and a sink next to the office" he explained.

"Wasn't the house four floors high?"

"You are strictly forbidden, all of you, to enter the fourth floor. This is our house, so it's only right that we have our own space. Don't even try to get in there unless you want to lose a limb" Hermione said coldly.

"There's the garden and the sea next door, you can go there without any problem."

"One last thing, we need your blood so that you don't get expelled every time you transplant."

Everyone gave their blood willingly, the expulsion was not very pleasant. The older members left while those who would stay to sleep went to choose their rooms.

This house was a rebirth, both for the Order of the Phoenix and for the chosen ones of Time. They all hoped it would go well, that there would be no new traitors, no new deaths, but deep down they knew they were fooling themselves. A war without deaths was a utopia. Hermione and Remus just hoped that they could save as many as possible and destroy Voldemort forever. Because the deaths could not be avoided. This was war, not a fairy tale.