Preservation: A Year of Order
The newest Hogwarts graduates spent the summer after seventh year in a state of limbo, waiting to see how their futures would progress. They waited for their NEWT results, and began submitting formal applications for the professions or training which they hoped to begin in the fall. For some, a return to their parents' homes, the houses where they had grown up, seemed to keep them with one foot stuck in childhood. Others, moving physically away from home, felt as though they were taking their first steps into "real" adulthood. James and Sirius, financed by Mr. and Mrs. Potter, fell into the latter category. They began to spread their wings a little and embrace their independence with a shared apartment in London, close to the Ministry of Magic where both boys hoped to be working by the end of the summer. Peter Pettigrew, who had once hoped to be included in such a housing venture, was left to spend the summer at his mother's house, inadvertently shut out once more by the boys who were supposed to be his friends. Lily and Remus too returned home to their respective parents, leaving with their families from Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters as they had at the end of each previous school year. For Severus, graduation meant a return to Spinner's End, to what had once been the Snape household, but now should more accurately be called the Prince house. He began the summer there alone, but was joined by Remus before long.
Severus had made the offer before they left Hogwarts, having heard from Remus that tensions with his father were rising, and knowing from personal experience the unpleasantness of sharing a roof with a hostile parent. The former Gryffindor had thought (or perhaps hoped) that the situation wouldn't be as bad as the heated letters from his father implied they could become, but found within days that he had been mistaken. He held out a little longer for his mother's sake, but by the time a week passed Remus determined that things would be much more pleasant for everyone if he moved out, and hesitantly broached the topic with Severus. Remus was well aware of how small the house at Spinner's End was, having visited often the summer before, and worried about getting in Severus's way and invading his space. Severus, after fondly berating his friend for thinking such a thing ("I wouldn't have offered if I didn't mean it, idiot, I'm not that nice"), helped Remus move his things into what had once been the master bedroom. They transported his things the muggle way, loaded in the back of the car Lily borrowed from her parents, to avoid any awkward questions from Mrs. Hanley next door. She was sweet, but a bit of a busybody, and Severus felt that trying to explain Remus arriving without any belongings would have been more trouble than just carrying the few bags and boxes by hand (especially with a featherweight charm cast on them; Severus wasn't above a little cheating). The older woman turned out to be delighted to see Remus moving in, and immediately invited all three young people over for tea when they finished hauling. Severus belatedly realized that Mrs. Hanley might become more convinced than ever that he and Remus were secretly a couple, but figured if she wasn't going to make it a problem (which seemed unlikely, judging by how pleased she seemed to be by the new addition) then it wasn't worth making a fuss.
Remus, determined to repay Severus's hospitality by at least helping out with expenses, since Severus refused to even talk about him paying rent, started looking for a job immediately after moving in. Lily, with no expenses while she was living at her parents' house, was holding out for the permanent offer she would hopefully receive once her NEWTs came in, but Severus had reclaimed his brewing job from the previous summer in the meantime. After a little effort, he managed to convince his boss at the little apothecary to give Remus a job too, working as a clerk and occasionally helping out at the counter. Remus hoped that Severus's recommendation might help him keep the boring but steady job even after Severus inevitably left for Healer training in the fall, though he wasn't confident he would even make it past the first full moon on the job. The prospect of full moons at Severus's house was stressful for more reasons than just job security. When Remus had first moved in, he and Severus had worked to create a safe and secure place for him to transform. They magically reinforced and soundproofed the small cellar, where Severus had once planned to set up a potions laboratory. Remus had offered to go back to his parents' for each full moon, not wanting to take away even more of his friend's limited space, but Severus had refused to let him banish himself from the house ("your house, Remus, as long as you want it to be"). Remus gave in. There was no point arguing with Severus when he got protective and sentimental like this; he could rival Lily for stubbornness when it came to doing what he thought was right for his friends. Remus promised himself, though, that he would figure out a way to expand the cellar enough to get Severus his laboratory space again, no matter how long it took.
With the safe room in place, the first full moon went better than either young man had dared to expect. Severus locked Remus into the fortified cellar before the moon rose, and returned to release him at sunrise after spending the night tossing and turning, barely getting any more sleep than the werewolf. He got the worst of Remus's self-inflicted injuries taken care of and got him settled back in bed, then rushed off to the apothecary, barely making it on time. The owner seemed to accept the story that Remus was sick, though Severus thought he seemed slightly more suspicious by the third day of Remus's supposed illness. The apothecary didn't say anything when Remus returned though, and the young men dared to hope that they had gotten away without any trouble. After Remus missed work for a second full moon in a row, though, it became clear that they had not escaped notice. The owner of the shop met Severus and Remus at the door when they arrived together on the day after the full moon, and in no uncertain terms informed them that they were both fired.
"I can't be having this sort of thing in my shop, you understand? If it got out that I'd hired a werewolf—" he lowered his voice and looked around furtively, making sure no one was in earshot. "Well, you know how things are nowadays. I can't risk it, not for either of you."
Severus, looking murderous, opened his mouth to give his former boss a piece of his mind, but Remus cut him off with a sharp elbow to the ribs. "We understand, no one wants any trouble. We'll just get out of your way now, sir."
He dragged Severus away from the shop, hoping to avoid the other boy saying something that would make it impossible for either of them to get another job anywhere in the Alley. Severus pulled out of his grasp when they were halfway down the street with a muttered "you should have let me hex the bastard," though he didn't try to turn back. Remus just sighed. If he went around cursing everyone who discriminated against him, he doubted he would end up with time for anything else. Still, he understood Severus's sentiment. His first job ever, and he had already been fired for being a werewolf. It was hardly an auspicious start to post-Hogwarts life or a promise of a fulfilling career to come. At least he knew that he would have other opportunities to make a difference, in an arena where his lycanthropy would not be held against him, and might even have the potential to be an asset in the fight against evil.
For barely a month after graduation, just a couple weeks after Remus left home and a month or so before his apothecary clerk's job went sour, Albus Dumbledore came recruiting. The Order of the Phoenix had been founded years before to fight the self-styled Lord Voldemort, but with the threat of outright war growing stronger every day the Headmaster felt a need to increase his own numbers as well. Letters arrived at Spinner's End, addressed in Dumbledore's own loopy handwriting to "R. Lupin" and "S. Prince," invitations to a private meeting to discuss "current events." Similar invitations were sent to the London apartment that James and Sirius shared, to Lily's parents' home, to Peter's mother's cottage, and the cozy house where Mary had grown up. All seven had heard rumors of Dumbledore's organization, his Order, though its membership was a far better kept secret than its existence. For six of the new graduates, it was a welcome call to arms for a cause they believed in, and they accepted eagerly, albeit with varying degrees of nervousness. Going to war is not a thing that can ever be done lightly, but they all believed in the cause of the Light and the need to oppose the Death Eaters.
But for Peter Pettigrew, the situation was far more complicated, and would have far more dire consequences. For while his friends had rebuffed all attempts to recruit them to the side of the Dark Lord while they were at school, Peter had been more easily swayed. Feeling ever more abandoned by his friends, left out and left alone while James and Sirius planned their glorious futures, promises of power and comradery and a chance to be part of something bigger than himself once more had been enough to tip him over the edge. Even as he sailed across the Hogwarts lake with James and Sirius, Peter Pettigrew had already promised himself to Voldemort's recruiters. His oath of fealty to Dark Lord and Death Eaters was sworn within the week, along with that of a not quite seventeen-year-old Regulus Black. When Dumbledore offered him a place in the Order mere weeks later, not knowing of the young man's secret allegiance, Peter jumped not at a chance to fight Voldemort, but at an opportunity to raise his own place among the Death Eaters by spying on the Headmaster and his people.
It was nearing the end of July when the recent Hogwarts graduates were reunited at their first official Order meeting, hosted one evening in a little cottage in Godric's Hollow. Lily, Severus, and Remus had discussed their invitations from and meetings with the Headmaster amongst themselves, and speculated endlessly about who else might also be involved. They were still unprepared for some of the people they were introduced (or reintroduced) to when they entered headquarters. That James and Sirius had been recruited was not terribly shocking — even Severus grudgingly admitted that they were talented wizards and would no doubt be an asset, though that didn't mean he had to like them. Peter seemed to always tag along wherever the other two went, so his inclusion was not much of a surprise either, though his usefulness was less certain. Other older members were also not unexpected. Frank and Alice Longbottom, who had been a couple years ahead of the new recruits at Hogwarts, had already begun to make a name for themselves among the Aurors, and everyone had heard of the great Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody. Fabian Prewett, with whom Sirius had had a romantic fling several years before, and his older brother Gideon, were more unexpected; neither had joined the Auror corps after school, and their apparent vigilante activities had so far remained out of the public spotlight. Most of the others at the meeting were strangers to the new members, though they were more than surprised to recognize the barman from the Hog's Head pub scowling in the corner of the room. Diana Arratay and Alazandra Langston were present as well, which, as Lily put it later, explained more than it didn't. Neither witch had ever given any indication to their students that they had worked for Dumbledore in anything but an academic capacity, and had tried to keep politics out of their classrooms as much as possible, but nor had they kept their views very secret.
When the initial introductions and welcoming words from Dumbledore were concluded, the real work began. In their first days in the Order of the Phoenix, the seven newcomers sat through hours of reports, most fairly routine and relatively boring once the initial novelty wore off. Though Dumbledore predicted escalation by the Death Eaters in the near future, things had not yet reached that point. There was unrest in the wizarding world, minor attacks, vandalism, violent protests in Diagon Alley, the occasional isolated murder, but it was not a full-fledged war. The Order focused primarily on preparations for the inevitable battles ahead, gathering information and planning for the future. There was not much that the teenagers could do for the Order or the war effort, not before they had a better sense of what was needed and their new comrades had a better idea of what they could do to help. Those summer nights were spent getting up to speed, learning about the Order and training for the kind of fighting they might expect to take part in. Sirius and James spent as much time as they could with Alice, Frank, and Mad-Eye, eager to learn not only about their roles in the Order but about life in the Auror corps as well. It was the three Aurors who took care of most of the combat training, though Alazandra, Diana, and the two Prewetts each played their parts as well. There were no Healers in the Order, though several members knew at least rudimentary first aid. Aberforth the barman (who was shockingly revealed as Albus Dumbledore's brother, though he rarely used his last name) was in charge of stocking healing potions, though he seemed glad to hand off the brewing responsibilities to Lily and Severus.
All seven newcomers spent much of their time with the other younger members of the Order. The Prewetts, the Longbottoms, Diana and Alazandra mingled with the seven, cultivating new relationships or rekindling old ones, even managing to dispel some of the difficulties between the former Gryffindor and Hufflepuff rivals. There would always be some tension between Sirius and Remus, and between Severus and Sirius, though James and Remus managed to mostly repair their friendship, and even Lily and James managed to work together when necessary. Lily, Mary, and Alice became fast friends, and it was not uncommon to see the three of them conspiring with Diana and Alazandra in a corner of the room. Sirius and Fabian quickly returned to their Hogwarts courtship, developing it from the casual dalliance it had been in school into a full-fledged romance. Frank became close with James and Sirius, taking the soon-to-be Auror trainees under his wing, and Alazandra helped Remus find another job in Diagon Alley (and another, and another still, as so many fizzled out after a month or two) through some of her streetfighting contacts. Severus and Diana continued their correspondence through mail, but both were pleased by the opportunity to collaborate in person once more, finally as equals rather than separated by the distance between professor and student. Peter alone cultivated few new relationships himself, simply coasting along in his friends' wakes as he so often did. When James and Sirius spent time with Frank, or with Gideon and Fabian, it was a given that Peter would be with them too, but he initiated few new contacts on his own, behavior which his friends attributed to shyness.
One of the first things Dumbledore began to teach his new recruits that summer, considered almost a rite of passage in joining the Order of the Phoenix, was the Patronus Charm. It had not been taught to them at Hogwarts, being generally considered of little use; after all, its only official purpose was fighting dementors, all of which were safely contained at Azkaban as guards. But the Headmaster had years before developed an alternative use for the spell, a slight modification that allowed it to be used as the swiftest and most secure form of messenger, and it was for this purpose that he taught it to all members of his Order. It took time to learn, and effort to cast, though it was significantly easier to think of pleasant memories to cast it without having to fight against the overwhelming presence of dementors. Their friends and comrades offered what advice they could, demonstrating with their own patronuses and waiting with ill-concealed curiosity to see what animal forms each one would take. By the end of the summer nearly all of their cohort had successfully cast the spell at least once, though with varying levels of consistency. James and Sirius were unsurprised to see their patronuses take the form of a stag and a big dog respectively, having heard that animagus forms and patronuses were generally correlated, though that didn't detract from their enjoyment of seeing the silvery animals each time. Remus had been resigned to the fact that his would probably take the form of a wolf, and it was likely his mixed feelings about this which initially gave him some difficulty in casting it. It was only on the night when Lily and Severus first successfully cast theirs corporeally, as Remus watched them race their pair of wolves around the room, that he managed to add his own to the pack. Mary's gazelle took longer to appear, though Dumbledore still seemed quite pleased with her progress. Peter never managed to master the spell.
It was not long after their initiation into the Order of the Phoenix that NEWT scores arrived for the seven recent graduates of Hogwarts, Ministry owls bringing news of their prospects for the future. To the relief of all, there were no surprises in the results, and no changes necessary in the plans that were already being laid for those beginning their jobs or training at the end of the summer. When the fall arrived, as the Hogwarts school year began without them for the first time in seven years, Severus and Lily began their training as Healers, and James and Sirius as Aurors. Peter had taken an entry-level clerk's position in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and did his best to pretend he was as happy with it as his friends were with their more exciting and prestigious paths. Mary had been hired as a journalist for the Daily Prophet, despite James's worries about her safety as a muggleborn writing potentially controversial articles. As she pointed out, touched but slightly exasperated by his concerns, being a member of a secret vigilante group wasn't exactly safe either, and neither was being an Auror. And, more soberingly, no muggleborn could ever be entirely safe while the Death Eaters were around, no matter what job she chose. For Remus, there were hardly any jobs to choose from; he continued to cycle through an assortment of jobs that Alazandra helped him find in Diagon or Knockturn Alley. Some were intended to be temporary — fill in for a clerk on vacation, work as security for a single streetfighting tournament. Others simply fired him after the first or second full moon on the job, whenever they felt they had enough evidence of lycanthropy to not want him around. Of the few bosses who were willing to hire werewolves, Remus quickly found that most were only hoping to take advantage of a labor pool that would be unlikely to complain about their unlivable wages and bad treatment.
As autumn turned to winter, the youngest Order members spent most of their time acclimating to their new jobs and their new stage of life, as well as their responsibilities to the war effort, settling into a routine. For most of them, the effects of the war were obvious both at work and at home. Auror training was being expedited in the face of increasing attacks throughout the wizarding world, hurrying new recruits through their courses and testing in an attempt to get them out on the streets faster. James and Sirius were among the many new Aurors who were being sent out on patrols with senior wizards while still in the early stages of their training; some of the others did not survive the experience. Not much was printed about it in the Daily Prophet, but Mary revealed that the paper was being swamped with letters accusing the Ministry of either trying to raise an army to use against its citizens, or killing off the best young fighters by rushing them through training and getting them cut down on patrols. At St. Mungo's, Lily and Severus spent much of their training shadowing more experienced Healers as they went about their rounds, rarely allowed to take any action but expected to learn by watching. Unlike with the Trainee Aurors, though, no one dared risk rushing Healers through their training too quickly. An untrained Auror could easily get herself killed, but an untrained Healer could kill his patients. But the evidence of the impending war was there too, in the whispers of the senior Healers, the injuries of the patients, and the expressions of family visiting their people. Barely a week after their arrival, Severus and Lily helped the staff set up an overflow ward for curse damage; there were already enough victims of dark magic trickling in each day that the Healers predicted they might need to expand onto another floor before long.
It was an odd stage to be at, old enough to be well aware of what was going on in the world, on the brink of being able to do something useful, but young and inexperienced enough not to be able to help as much as you wished. All of the new graduates felt the frustration to varying degrees, working hard at whatever they could do in an attempt to alleviate the feelings of uselessness. Peter was growing nervous. The less valuable the information he was able to pass on to the Death Eaters, the more inconsequential he would become, but he had access to little of real note. None of them did; they were the newcomers, the trainees. It was people like Alice and Frank, the Prewett boys, or Alazandra and Diana who were the real rising stars of the Order, and there were plenty of older members who had been fighting for years already. James and Sirius grumbled when Dumbledore was out of earshot, wanting to help the Order, to go out and fight, but forced instead to stay back until the Headmaster felt they were ready. Lily and Severus threw themselves into their training, soaking up new healing spells and methods. Severus was content to focus more of his efforts in the research laboratories of St. Mungo's, spending only as much time with patients as required. Lily, on the other hand, spent as much time with real patients as she could, often convincing her supervisors to let her do more than might have been strictly allowed. Remus helped Dumbledore however he could, desperate for something that could make him feel more useful than wandering through Diagon Alley looking for work. He brought back whatever news he could, whispers of fear and discontent from the broken, desperate wizards who frequented Knockturn Alley, and fought to avoid becoming one of them.
It had been a recurring fear for Remus throughout his young life, that he would be cast aside by anyone who might have loved him, simply for the crime of being a werewolf, and one which his different friends had always tried to alleviate in their various ways. Remus had thought he had overcome that fear by the time he graduated Hogwarts, after seven years of friendship and support, but his constantly failing attempts to secure a job had shaken him. He worried that Severus would throw him out of Spinner's End if he wasn't able to contribute to the expenses of the house, or that Lily would come to her senses and go searching for a man who was more worthy of her love. Both of them made it clear numerous times that these concerns were entirely unfounded, but the feelings would still resurface on occasion. It was in October that Severus, slightly fed up with Remus's latest "why would Lily even like me" angst (which, in his defense, had been prompted by several older werewolves at his newest workplace telling tales of all the women who had left them over the years), suggested that he just ask her to marry him.
"You love her, she loves you. She knows it, I know it, even you know it when you aren't too busy being a self-pitying idiot to remember. Just get married, and then I don't have to hear either of you moping about why you aren't engaged yet." Advice delivered, Severus calmly went back to eating his dinner, while Remus gaped at him with his fork frozen halfway to his mouth.
"I just listed about ten reasons why Lily should get as far from me as possible — most of which apply to you too, by the way! — and your response is 'just get married already?!'"
Severus shrugged. "Sounds about right. There is a war on, after all, no time like the present. Safety in numbers and all that."
Remus spluttered a bit longer, faced with what had to be the least romantic suggestion of marriage that he had ever heard. But, as a slightly smug Severus later pointed out, that didn't make it a bad idea, and within the week he was watching Remus get down on one knee. There was no fancy diamond — what eighteen-year-olds could afford such a thing? — but to Lily the simple placeholder twisted by hand from silver wire was the most perfect ring she could have ever dreamed of. A romantic would have said that love was in the air for the Order of the Phoenix when both the McKinnon wedding and James and Mary's engagement also took place within the month, but a realist might have blamed it on the winds of war.
By the time Christmas rolled around, there seemed to be something of a lull in attacks, though the Order stayed on alert through the holidays, concerned that it might simply be the calm before an even worse storm. Severus, Lily, and Remus celebrated with Mr. and Mrs. Evans, the excitement over Lily and Remus's engagement warring with the concerns of current events. To everyone's relief, Petunia was spending her first holidays as a newlywed with Vernon's family, eliminating any need to censor discussions of magic for her benefit or comfort. Severus had worried a little about what Lily's parents might think about him joining them now that Remus's engagement to Lily made it even more officially clear that he would never be marrying their daughter. Thankfully the older couple seemed to take a similar view to Mrs. Hanley on Spinner's End, namely that they didn't really care who was or wasn't romantically involved with whom, as long as everyone was happy. Lily, who had gotten that message several years before when she started dating Remus, tried and failed to resist the urge to say "I told you so" when Severus expressed his relief.
As the old year gave way to the new, cases of Dragon Pox began to appear throughout the wizarding world. Some assumed the disease was simply flaring up, as it did from time to time, while others ascribed more nefarious aims, noting that cases seemed to be sporadic and targeted rather than epidemic. Among those to fall ill were the parents of James Potter, who died one after another, not long after being rushed to St. Mungo's. The Healer in charge of their case said it was natural; tragic, of course, but not unexpected in people their age. James was less certain. There had been rumors that the Death Eaters were spreading Dragon Pox intentionally, as a form of biological warfare against those who disagreed with them, and James had only a week before turned down another attempt to recruit him into Lord Voldemort's ranks. Lily and Severus were both on shift at the hospital the night the Potters were brought in, Lily working on the infectious disease ward under the strict supervision of a senior Healer and Severus brewing in the laboratory. A distraught James went to Lily, begging for her help in proving whether or not his parents had been murdered, but it was Severus who was ultimately able to provide the answer with the help of a modified tracing spell. The spell, designed for tracking the spread of infectious diseases, could not prove whether an outbreak was natural or maliciously manufactured, but it did show that the Dragon Pox had passed between six or seven people before reaching the elder Potters. As Severus bluntly put it, if it was an assassination attempt it was the stupidest one he'd ever heard of, relying entirely on luck to reach its targets. Lily said it a little more gently when she relayed the news to James, but the meaning was the same. The death of the Potters was a tragedy of nature rather than malice; knowing that did less to ease their son's grief than he had expected.
But life had to move on, and the war would not stop for losses suffered. James moved back to the Potter estate where he had grown up, taking his fiance with him. The two of them did their best to move forward together, trying to look towards the future, their future, instead of suffocating in the grief of the past. Fabian Prewett took the opportunity to move in with Sirius, filling the new vacancy in the two Marauders' apartment; a reminder that love can bring joy as well as sorrow. While James and Mary chose to push off their planned wedding until the summer, out of respect for James's parents and to give the groom time to mourn, other couples had no such restrictions.
Only months after the Dragon Pox outbreak of January 1979, Remus and Lily tied the knot, worried about the worsening war and fearing to wait too long lest something happen to one or both of them. Unsurprisingly, Remus picked Severus as his best man, though Lily initially argued that he should really have been her best man to save her from the obligation of asking Petunia to be her matron of honor. She gave in for the sake of family peace, and resisted the urge to choose an ugly dress for her sister as payback for the frilly monstrosity that Petunia had forced on her the previous year. Instead she found a pretty blue for Petunia to wear, along with Mary and Alice as her bridesmaids. The wedding was a small affair, held in a muggle style, though attended by more than a few wizard friends and family of the bride and groom, mostly members of the Order of the Phoenix. Despite all of their concerns, the ceremony went off without a hitch, there were no unwelcome interruptions by Death Eaters, and even the occasionally troublesome family members (namely Petunia, Vernon, and Mr. Lupin) behaved themselves. Remus, terrified of making a fool of himself while dancing and ruining Lily's day, had enlisted Severus's help practicing in the weeks leading up to the wedding, to great success. Both mothers cried a little during the ceremony, and again during the first dance, and even Severus teared up a little from the joy of seeing his two best friends together. A few worries had certainly crossed his mind about how the wedding might change things between them all, just as he had worried when Lily and Remus first started dating, but no fears that they might leave him entirely. After all, both Remus and Lily would be living with Severus in the house on Spinner's End. Remus had already been living there for the better part of a year, and Lily planned to move in after the wedding. She had been growing increasingly concerned about Death Eaters finding her at her parents' house, and hoped that moving away from the elder Evanses might help contribute to their safety. Since the young couple certainly had no money for a house of their own, even if they had really wanted one, it seemed like the obvious solution.
Not long after the Evans-Lupin wedding, things suddenly became much more complicated for the little family. Remus had been spending more and more time in the seedier parts of wizarding society, both from his own attempts to find and keep a job and as a way of keeping an ear to the streets for Dumbledore and the Order, and his lycanthropy was becoming an open secret in certain circles. With anti-werewolf sentiment being what it was in mainstream wizarding society, more than a few lycanthropes had begun to gravitate towards Voldemort's side, in hopes that his prejudices leaned in a different direction. Perhaps it had been only a matter of time, then, before Death Eaters came to try to recruit Remus, whom they knew to be both a werewolf and a skilled, Hogwarts-educated wizard. This wasn't the first time that someone had tried to sound him out, but it was the first serious offer Remus had received since graduating from Hogwarts, and it offered the Order of the Phoenix their first possible opportunity to plant a spy within Voldemort's organization. Remus had immediately gone to Dumbledore with the message he had received, an invitation to meet and discuss his allegiance, after first discussing the matter with Lily and Severus. The Headmaster was immediately in favor of Remus accepting the offer and attempting to infiltrate the Death Eaters. The young man's bride and best friend, unsurprisingly, needed a lot more convincing. Eventually, with varying degrees of reluctance and shouting, they all came to a tentative agreement that if Remus was willing, it was worth trying to get an informant on the inside. Remus, still a reckless Gryffindor at heart despite his relative calmness and reason when compared to the chaos of certain of his Housemates, jumped at the chance to aid the war effort.
On the designated night, he was met in Knockturn Alley by two cloaked and hooded figures who took him by portkey to a manor house that he didn't recognize (though Remus would have been the first to admit that he was familiar with very few pureblood estates). He followed his guides down a back corridor, trying to unobtrusively look for any identifying features of the house — a family portrait, or a coat of arms like some of the older families still used — though he was not surprised when he found nothing. Voldemort and his followers were many things, but they were not often stupid, and only so much trust would be given to a new recruit who had not yet sworn loyalty to the cause. He tried to hide his nervousness, but there was nothing quite like being surrounded by enemies to make a person feel alone. Remus carefully kept his hand away from his pocket, not wanting his companions to think he was reaching for his wand, and wary of drawing unwanted attention to the emergency portkey stored there. Lily had insisted that Dumbledore give him one when she agreed to the mission, an old button from Remus's robes that wouldn't look obviously amiss if anyone spotted it. It was set to drop him in the alley behind the Hog's Head if he spoke the activation word; none of them had dared to admit to themselves that if things went too badly wrong Remus might not have a chance to use it. At least they'd left him his wand; he hadn't been certain they would. He knew he wouldn't have much of a chance against multiple opponents, but he felt better knowing he had it.
They entered a room, dark and full of shadows, and Remus fought to keep his face still as a snarky comment about the wonderful ambiance flitted through his mind; it was something he imagined Severus would have said. A figure sat in an ornate chair before the fireplace, almost a throne, backlit by the dancing flames. Remus's guides pushed him forward towards Lord Voldemort, and he knelt as he had been instructed, head bent and waiting to be addressed.
"So. Remus Lupin, come to join us." The voice was cold, higher than Remus had expected. "Grown tired of being Dumbledore's lapdog, hmm?"
"I — I just want to be useful — to have a place," Remus's voice steadied as he went on, and he took the risk of looking up at Voldemort. "I want to be part of something bigger. Dumbledore would never let someone like me have any power."
Brown eyes met red, and Voldemort appeared pleased with what he saw.
"Power." Voldemort seemed to savor the word. "Even the weakest men may hunger for power, but only some are deserving. What would you sacrifice for power, little wolf?"
Remus swallowed hard, but didn't dare tear his eyes away from the figure before him, red eyes boring into his soul. "Anything." The word came out softer than he had intended, more hesitant, but there was nothing he could do about it now, only hope that Voldemort assumed nerves rather than treachery.
"Anything," Voldemort repeated softly, firmly. His lips twisted with a shadow of a smile. "But words can be empty of meaning without actions to demonstrate their conviction, without proof of devotion. You have taken a wife, a mudblood held dear by the old fool Dumbledore. Kill her, and prove your loyalty."
For a moment Remus was frozen, unable to process. Kill his wife. Kill Lily. He wanted him to — "NO!" The word burst out before Remus could stop it, spoken from his heart without any input from rational thought. It was followed immediately by the portkey activation word as he jammed his hand into his pocket to grab for the button. Remus felt a tugging sensation in his gut, and saw a look of shock and anger on Voldemort's face for just a moment before the portkey whisked him away.
He landed in a heap in a Hogsmeade back alley, and was immediately grabbed by the arm and dragged through the back door of the Hog's Head as he struggled to regain his feet. Aberforth, having seemingly assured himself that Remus was neither dead nor injured, simply an idiot (or so Remus gathered from his muttering), bundled him off into one of the pub's upstairs rooms with instructions to stay put and keep his mouth shut until the Headmaster showed up. He tried to protest, arguing that he needed to contact Lily and Severus, but a look from Aberforth shut him up.
"You've caused enough trouble tonight, and I don't give a damn whether the mighty Albus Dumbledore thought this was a good idea or not, it's my pub that'd get burned down if someone sees you leaving." The old barman seemed to be running out of anger, at least towards Remus, and his gruff voice seemed a little gentler when he continued. "It's a fool who defies the Dark Lord to his face, boy. A brave fool, but a fool nonetheless. I'll get word to your people."
Albus Dumbledore, when he arrived at the Hog's Head hours later, seemed more impressed with Remus's "heroics" than his brother had been, but Remus detected a hint of disappointed resignation that he had been unable to complete the deception. After what felt like an eternity, the Headmaster appeared satisfied with the completeness of his report (not that Remus had seen much of any value), and an exhausted Remus set off for home. The house at Spinner's End had never been connected to the floo network, and it was dangerous to apparate into the middle of a muggle street (or into a wizard home whose occupants were no doubt on high alert after Aberforth's no doubt cryptic message). Remus apparated instead to a secluded, sheltered spot on the banks of the river, and walked the rest of the way to the house, dressed in muggle clothes with his robes bundled in his arms in case a neighbor chose that moment to peer outside. He found Lily and Severus waiting up for him despite the hour — so late that it could justifiably be called early morning — curled up together on the battered couch with worry etched across their faces. Their relief at his return was palpable, and they allowed themselves a moment of joyful reunion. The fear and the worry would return later, the planning for how to keep themselves safe now that Remus would surely have an even bigger target on his back, but for a few minutes, all that mattered was that their Remus had returned safely, and they were all still alive.
In the following days, Severus and the Lupins kept their guard up, putting new measures in place to protect themselves and their home. Remus had to become even more careful about his job hunting, as it quickly became clear that Voldemort and his Death Eaters were not at all happy with his actions. The trio called on Diana Arratay to help them put up better wards on the house at Spinner's End, worried that someone might track Remus there or come hunting for all of them. The cursebreaker was more than happy to assist; her professional work involved dismantling more defenses than she put up, but her expertise and passion extended to casting them as well. Lily and Remus tried to warn their families as well, unsure how far Voldemort's interest and animosity might extend, with mixed results. Remus's father bluntly told him that they could take care of themselves without their werewolf criminal son putting them in any more danger by trying to help, and very nearly slammed the door in his face. Mr. and Mrs. Evans were more open to assistance, though they did not entirely understand or appreciate the danger. There were limits to the magical defenses that could be used on a muggle house without raising any red flags at the Ministry of Magic, but Lily did what she thought she could get away with, mostly an alarm spell to warn of any attacks on the Evans house. Lily tried to speak to Petunia too, with less success. Petunia and Vernon seemed convinced that if they simply ignored that magic existed it would go away and leave them in peace, and no amount of arguing could persuade them otherwise.
Lily, Remus, and Severus were not the only Order members growing increasingly aware of their own personal danger. As the political and social hostility grew stronger in the wizarding world, Mary's articles in the Daily Prophet grew more heated as well, and she was gaining notice. The paper, for the time being, seemed content to quietly back her up. She was called before her editor several times a week with polite suggestions to tone things down and cut back on the divisive, warmongering pieces, but they didn't seem ready to fire her, which was a small victory. On the other hand, while the staff offered sympathy for the death threats and curses mailed to her by angry readers, they did little to actually help with the situation, and it fell to Mary and James alone to try to keep the hate mail in check. For most of the other Order members, they had either already been on the enemies list of the Death Eaters for so long that nothing new could phase them, or they were still managing to slip under the radar for a little while longer, though no one could predict how long that relative safety could last.
As spring worked its way towards summer, things continued routinely for most, albeit with some differences like increased tensions and additional safety checks. Peter had made little upward progress in his professional life over the course of the year, and several of the older Order members were far from impressed with his continuing inability to cast a patronus charm, but he had gained credibility as a reliable (though hardly exciting) source of information among the Death Eaters. Lily and Severus, in addition to the rest of their healing training, finally obtained permission to work with Damocles Belby, a potions researcher at St. Mungo's, on possible cures for lycanthropy or mitigators for its symptoms. Belby had been idly toying with various decoctions of the wolfsbane plant for years, but seemed reinvigorated by the new ideas that Severus and Lily brought to the project (after all, they too had been planning for this potion for years already). James and Sirius were approaching the end of their first year of Auror training, where they were gaining reputations as wizards to be reckoned with. Much of James and Mary's attention was focused on preparations for their upcoming wedding in June, the earliest they had felt appropriate to hold it after the death of Mr. and Mrs. Potter. Sirius would be James's best man, of course, a dashing figure at the reception with Fabian on his arm. Peter claimed vehemently to have had no interest in being a member of the wedding party anyway, though inwardly he seethed that James had apparently not thought to ask him. Remus and Lily attended the wedding, where Lily was acting as one of the bridesmaids, but Severus declined the invitation that James offered him. The tension between the two young men had mellowed in the time they had been working together, but Severus didn't feel that it was quite at the "dance at Potter's wedding" level yet, if indeed it ever would be.
The end of the Hogwarts school year came and went, with little notice taken by the seven young men and women. It had been only a year since they themselves had graduated from its hallowed halls, though it felt like an eternity. So much had changed, paths set or abandoned, friendships made or broken, so many plots set in motion and pieces placed in the greatest, most deadly game of all. Seven young people looked back at a year of trials and triumphs, or ahead at a future that promised moments both bitter and sweet, but none had any real notion how much could change, how much would change, within just one more year.
Author's Note: And we're back! Sorry for the delay, and thank you for sticking with me and this story. Please leave a comment to let me know if you're enjoying it! Hopefully now that things are back on track I'll be able to return to consistent weekly updates for our final few chapters, though I can't make any promises. And as always, huge thank you to Rory for being the best beta reader, plot hole fixer, and ideas gremlin that I could ever ask for :)