Chapter Five

The Order of the Phoenix

From that day on, Jane was alert. She was well aware of the emotions she felt for her colleague, Professor Snape, and she was determined not to let them burn. She tried to avoid him as much as possible in the corridors, did not look at him in the dining hall, and spoke to him only when the silence became too tense. For his part, he was restrained as usual, but it was easy to see that he was much more polite to Jane than to the other teachers.

Still, the feelings she hated so much spoke for themselves. During her second bath with the other teachers, Jane was so distracted that she barely got involved in the conversations, and she didn't even remember exactly what the others were talking about. She was also distracted when she led the students to London, so they all had to go back to the castle gates because they had confused the way to Hogsmeade because of her. Good thing the store she had arranged to use their fireplace with had long working hours on Saturday.

Trying to focus, she waited for all five students to walk through the door of "Dervish and Banges", the magic instruments shop, and only then entered herself. True, they didn't have to use exactly the Floo Network. Apparating would save time, but they had plenty anyway, and Jane was afraid that one of the students might get sick, so she chose to use this relatively convenient way of transportation.

'Come on, boys, you know how it works,' she said, pointing to the fireplace as she paid the saleswoman. 'You take some of the powder, throw it in, and then say "The Leaky Cauldron".'

One by one, the students headed for the bottom of the store, where the fireplace was. Making their way around the few clients, Jane and Lily, who were the last, soon joined them. Jerry was the first to step into the green flames, followed by Euphem and August, and finally, Seth Harding, whose last name Jane could not remember for long. As soon as the last boy disappeared into the fireplace, Lily approached Jane and asked quietly. 'Associate Professor Undead, are you sure you're all right?'

The teacher shuddered slightly, but quickly controlled herself and hurried to answer before exposing herself completely. 'Of course, I'm fine.'

'You don't seem to be quite yourself.'

'I feel tired,' Jane lied in response, adding in her mind, "Besides, I think I'm going mad." Then she looked at Lily from head to toe – this girl was very observant, much more than she had imagined. Maybe it was a good idea to teach her Legilimency or to find someone to teach her. Her program was not very light during this term and she would hardly have that time.

This new distraction continued until it was time for the two of them to travel to London, so when Lily stepped into the fireplace, she had to concentrate and hurried to catch up with the others.

Without many accidents, the six had made it to the inn, where no one seemed to notice them. There were several witches and wizards sitting at the tables, drinking their ale, talking, or playing cards, wrapped tightly in their robes. The weather was cold for mid-October, with increasing rain and piercing wind outside. Only a young wizard with a blond beard, dressed in light green clothes and drinking alone at a table by the fireplace, stared curiously at Jane and the kindergarten she brought with her. She smiled at him in turn and led the group to the door.

'Boys and girl,' she announced. 'I'm going to buy three umbrellas from the stall on the corner. Wait for me here, then we're leaving.'

Jane heard the blond man laugh in his seat, but, determined not to pay any more attention to him, hurried to the door and opened it. She was greeted by disgusting rain, which seemed as though someone was pouring by the buckets into the street. The Muggle woman who was selling at the stall on the corner was huddled in her bright yellow raincoat and trembled quietly. Running in her direction, Jane rummaged through her pockets for Muggle coins, finally finding them, handing them to the saleswoman, taking the first three umbrellas she saw, then running back. As soon as she got inside, she shook the water out of her hair and handed out the umbrellas to the students.

'Follow me quickly and be careful not to get lost. We will look at the windows on the way back because today the music store is open only until six o'clock.'

As they went outside, Jane and Lily unfolded the dark green umbrella that had left for them as they watched the boys having fun, japing around the puddles, spraying water around, and also opening their umbrellas with some delay. Whether it was the colour of the umbrella or something else, it suddenly seemed much darker outside than it had been a moment ago.

'I hope you don't mind walking with me?' Jane asked politely, looking very critically at the clouds above her head.

'Not at all,' Lily said, frowning. 'Those scamps will probably spray water at each other all the way. And some of them are almost two metres high. I will soak completely with such a pillar under the same umbrella.'

The weather didn't seem to affect the boys' mood, because they kept playing their wet game. Practically out of her skin, Jane turned in their direction and shouted. 'Guys, stop spraying because you will get sick and the director will scold me!'

The four of them stopped for a moment, but as soon as Jane turned her head, she heard someone, most likely Jerry or Euphem, throw a water bomb at one of the others and August's angry shout. 'Hey, boy, are you a troll? Didn't you understand when Undead told us to stop?'

'Let's go,' Jane suggested to Lily and shouted again. 'Seriously, boys, stop it or I won't take you anywhere anymore!'

'They're such children!', the girl commented.

For the two blocks to the store, the boys had managed to get almost soaking wet, despite the umbrellas. Whether it was the rain or their activities together in front of the "Leaky Cauldron", Jane didn't even want to know, but she suspected that they would have been much drier if she had just thrown them into a lake.

Despite the puddles of water they left behind, the salesman greeted them with joy that so many customers came to him at once, and when he learned that the young people were planning to start a band, he bombarded them with questions and gave them a bunch of advice for their future rehearsals. Meanwhile, Jane hurriedly dried their clothes with magic, not pampering them at all, so in the end, most of them felt as if they had taken a large paddywhack from their mothers. This made her feel better to some extent.

'This Associate Professor Undead doesn't spare you at all!', cried the salesman. 'She's a dangerous woman!'

'Ah, Mr. Marble, we deserved it.' Although he hadn't been so involved in spraying in the street, August decided to take responsibility. 'This water wasn't only from the rain, we were practically throwing it at each other.'

'Well, then you really deserve it.' Mr. Marble waved his index finger instructively. 'Come and have a cup of tea now, and I'll show you the instruments later.'

The tea was served in tall ceramic cups at a small table behind the counter by the salesman himself. After drinking what they could, Associate Professor Undead thanked him for the treat and shared her impressions of the new guitar.

'Fantastic sound, really, sir. The other day when I played in my room, the acoustics was excellent, even though the room is small and square.'

'I'm not surprised even a bit. After all, this is one of my best guitars. Come now, let me show you the instruments. I just received new bass guitars, an excellent batch.'

After the previous silence, the commotion around the instruments was deafening to Associate Professor Undead's sensitive hearing. It was good that the students quickly got on about the order in which they would be tested, and if not silence, at least there was some consistency in the noise. As the salesman wandered excitedly around them and kept blabbering on, she wondered if she was pleasing her students too much. Maybe she was, and in the end, at least those five would climb on her head, but she really liked them and hoped that one day she would teach them some discipline.

Eventually, instruments were found to everyone's taste, and after buying them, she and the students went outside, where, to Jane's relief, it had stopped raining. However, she noticed something strange – no one was acting childish anymore, on the contrary – the boys and Lily carefully held the cases with their new acquisitions, looking worriedly around – whether someone would spray them or water drop would fall on top of them. She smiled – perhaps their schooling wasn't a lost cause.

Due to the calmer behaviour of her companions, the teacher also allowed herself to relax and her previous distracted mood returned in full force. As they walked slowly along the road to the inn and gazed with interest at the windows, several times she looked intently at perfume and clothing stores and even began imagining what she would look like in one dress or another. This made her especially angry, and in order to stop doing nonsense, she was forced to slap herself hard on the cheek while the students weren't watching.

By the time they finally reached the "Leaky Cauldron", it was already getting dark. They celebrated the new purchases with more tea, and after eating some hot food, they went through the fireplace again and found themselves in Hogsmeade, from where it was not difficult to get back.

Over the next few days, the five Ravenclaws worked very hard on their new musical instruments. First, they had to tune them in, then they started practising, and by the end of the week, they could already play something together. However, they tried not to bother their teacher too much because they thought she had already done enough for them.

That's why, at that time, Associate Professor Undead was doing completely different things. She spent most of her time in the library, checking the theory and application of wordless spells – this question had interested her extremely after she had read in some book that wordless spells had appeared at a rather late stage in the development of magic, and she was now trying to understand why. That's how she was found one afternoon by Professor Snape, who was just entering the library, carrying a newspaper under his arm.

'I hope I won't disturb you,' he said, and sat down at the next table.'

Jane glanced at him, and while pretending to look at a bookshelf, she asked, 'You wouldn't mind if I looked at your paper, would you?'

Snape handed it to her with a brief 'here you are,' then she opened it over her book and began flipping through it. In general, there was rarely anything interesting or useful in 'Daily Prophet' but she hadn't read the news in a long time, so she glanced at the headlines. However, her surprise was complete. Among the smaller headlines there was a disturbing news beginning began like this:

"There are still no revelations about the Greentree family's disappearance from their home in South Sussex the other day."

She couldn't read anymore because she suddenly felt sick. She remembered well another such message in the newspaper many years ago, which read:

"Mrs. Undead of Ravendale, Kent, was found dead at her home yesterday morning."

She felt like she was suffocating. She dropped her quill on the table and lost her balance for a moment. She grabbed her chair desperately and closed her eyes. When she finally regained her composure, she opened her eyes to continue her work, hoping no one had noticed. However, when she looked at Professor Snape, she saw his gaze fixed on her.

'Are you feeling unwell?', he asked in an unusually loud voice that sounded somewhat worried. 'You look as if you've seen a ghost.'

'I'm fine.' Her attempt to lie was very pathetic, indeed. In fact, there was no apparent reason not to tell the truth, but the slight suspicious note in her colleague's tone made her uneasy. She leaned back in her chair and put her hands on her lap, trying to stand still to hide her trembling.

Hearing their conversation, the librarian Madam Pins ran in a few seconds and asked what had happened.

'My colleague was about to lose consciousness,' Professor Snape said calmly. 'I intend to take her to the hospital wing.'

Madam Pins said something approving, and they managed to get Jane to her feet, who at the moment did not feel confident in her own strength.

'I think it's time for you to be examined,' Snape said as he led her out of the room, propping her up firmly. 'First, you faint, then your nose bleeds, and now you feel sick all of a sudden – I think it must be a curse, but Madam Pomfrey will say best.'

Jane looked back anxiously, but the librarian, Madam Pins, had moved away behind a thick shelf of books and probably didn't even hear them. They walked down the nearby corridor, Snape having to support Undead with almost all his strength to keep her from falling to the ground. Still, he wasn't that strong physically, so he was in danger of dropping her on the floor, even though she wasn't that heavy. As they turned several times into increasingly inner and gloomy corridors, the illusion of the hospital wing disappeared altogether. Filled with an unpleasant premonition, Associate Professor Undead finally reached into the pocket where she kept her wand and was not surprised a bit to find that there was nothing there. Trying to hide her trembling, she considered how to get away, which would not have been an easy task, even if it hadn't been for her weakness. At that moment, Snape slammed a door not very carefully and pushed her inside. He led her to a dusty chair, where she staggered in and waited to see what would happen. Her mind was clear, but she still couldn't trust her muscles, so she had to slow down whatever was happening if she wanted to leave the room.

The next moment, Snape had already closed the door and turned his gaze to her. Jane could feel him trying to carve her forehead with his gaze, and she tried to answer him with as questionable and incomprehensible an expression as possible. For a few seconds, the two fought in silence, but when he saw that no one would benefit from it, Snape was the first to lose patience and, without restraint, fired a stream of angry words, 'Tell me now, what task exactly you didn't complete for our dear Dark Lord?'

'I beg your pardon?!', was her only reaction. She had imagined whatnot, but it was just ridiculous. Everything hurt, including her head from staring at Snape, and now her only desire was to go back to her room and slam into bed.

She closed her eyes for a moment but managed to open them just in time to catch Snape's bored look. 'Please don't play the scared innocent girl,' he continued. 'It doesn't suit you. And don't think that you can fool me. I know this mark and this curse, and they can only belong to Him. Believe me, I know the habits of the One, who should not be named, much better than the breed here at school.'

He stepped over to her and tugged roughly at the sleeve of her robe. Jane didn't even try to resist. To the great surprise of her colleague, however, there wasn't the telltale sign with which he himself was marked. He was startled but quickly regained his resolve. He remembered that the Dark Lord did not mark all his subordinates. Sometimes he even used to leave a few unmarked spies, who managed to sneak in where the others just couldn't.

Jane rose hesitantly from her chair, staggered, then sat back down. She couldn't move, but she managed to say in a low, scraping voice. 'Could you tell me what you're accusing me of? That I serve Voldemort or that I betrayed him? And can you tell me whose side you are on?'

'I think I'd better ask the questions,' Snape said threateningly, casually twirling Jane's dark red mahogany wand through his long fingers. This definitely revived her, and in a second her blood boiled. She rose abruptly and, grasping the back of the chair with one hand, went on the offensive.

'In that case, I can tell you my position,' she said in a louder voice than she had intended. 'I have nothing to do with this whole story. I'm a free person and I don't serve anyone. I came to school to teach, not to prosecute or spy on someone. And if you are haunted by an unclean conscience, that's your problem.' The last phrase was more about Undead's suspicion that he might have something to do with Voldemort than any specific evidence, but it seemed to have hit something.

'Be careful with the tone,' Snape gritted his teeth.

Jane saw the classroom darkening before her eyes for a moment and looked down, but then raised her head again and continued to speak in the same spirit.

'You better be careful,' she said. 'And avoid thinking that Susan Undead's daughter could betray her mother's memory.'

This was probably one of her last trump cards. Hardly any people remembered Susan Undead and her tragic death, but nothing stopped Jane from reminding her colleague what it was all about. To her surprise, however, Snape looked like he had been hit in the face with a wet rag, even without the explanation, and even stuttered, 'S-Susan Anded – that Susan is your mother?'

Leaving the wonder of where and what he knew for the future when she would have time and peace to think about it, Jane decided to take advantage of the moment of confusion. Better physically, she casually reached into the inside pocket of her robe and pulled out the thin black wand she kept for such occasions.

'Please give me back the other wand,' she said defiantly, pointing the black wand at him. 'I feel attached to it.' She paused and added a slight menacing note in her voice. 'Unless you want us to duel...'

'It's obvious how new you are, Undead.' His laughter was dry and short. Snape has clearly come to himself. 'If you think you can beat me in a duel. Especially in this state.'

'I'm fine.' She finally released the back of her chair and took two steps forward. Then she looked him in the eye. She was exhausted, but she felt her strength returning quickly. Maybe in a few minutes, she would be able to duel. Or at least look like she was. However, her colleague seemed impressed. Not by her pathetic attempt to stay on her feet, she realized, but from something else. 'Well, shall we start?'

The two studied each other. No one wanted a real duel. They had duelled for fun, they had already seen who could do what. And there were other ways to compare their strength, but now wasn't the time.

'It's not worth the effort,' he said at last, tossing her the wand. 'But I'm going to make sure Professor Dumbledore finds out everything about you. We'll keep an eye on you.'

'Tell him to keep an eye on you,' Jane said in a slightly trembling voice, though she was boiling with anger. Was she – an Undead – "not worth the effort"? Who exactly was he thinking he was, allowing himself to talk like that?! "Quiet, Jane, calm," she repeated to herself, "you won't gain anything from hasty actions right now. Just shut up, calm down, and do nothing. You will have other opportunities."

The two looked at each other for a few more seconds. Only one metre and sixty centimetres tall, Jane had to raise her head almost straight up to withstand her opponent's gaze, but she couldn't afford to blink or take a step back. She was still furious, so she clenched her fists behind her back, but her anger also passed at breakneck speed, probably due to physical exhaustion. Finally, Snape gave up on further confrontation and headed back to the door without saying anything. As her colleague left the room, she slumped back in her chair, two tears streaming down her cheeks. She cried with anger and rage, mostly because her sympathies fell on unsuitable soil again. She got up slowly and headed for her room. She would tell Professor Dumbledore her version of the story. She had to inform him of Snape's suspicious behaviour. What exactly was he thinking, that he could command her?! Or did he think he could turn the whole school around his finger?! Undead was determined not to give up without a fight, and if Severus Snape stood in her way again, this time she would oppose him properly.

Like many other times before, Jane hadn't been deceived in her intuition. She was convinced that there would be other clashes with Snape, and although she was unsure of their outcome, she thought it was important not to give up. A few days had passed since the accident at the library, and the two had not exchanged more than five words. They met every day, whether in the corridors or at the High table, but the only remarks they said to each other were about trifles such as wishing a "good day" and passing serving utensils or plates for dinner. There were usually too many witnesses at each of their meetings, so neither of them wanted to start a scene, but the way they looked at each other clearly suggested that sparks were flying between them.

One fine evening after dinner, just as Jane was returning from a walk in the park, she came across Snape, who seemed to have emerged from the ground, in the Entrance Hall.

'Professor Snape,' were the first words that came to her mind, then she stopped and looked around in panic.

'Associate Professor Undead,' was the chilly answer. For a while they stood as if nailed to their places, looking at each other. It wasn't easy to judge each other, there were so many secrets that they both obviously hid, and Legilimency didn't help anyone. Finally, Snape decided to act and took a step to the side, looking at his colleague from under his eyebrows. 'I hope you are in good health.'

The sarcasm was clear in his words, which made Jane alert and discreetly checking her wands. 'I'm fine, thank you,' she said in her most contemptuous tone and waited.

'That's nice,' Snape paused dramatically and began walking around her like a real vulture, 'because we never managed to clarify some things last time.'

'Not in my opinion. What do we have to clarify more?' Undead spun around because she didn't want to lose sight of him. 'You're a spy, and I'm just trying to do my job.'

'You have no evidence.'

They looked into each other's eyes for a moment, then Snape hastily reached for the sleeve of his robe, but it was too late. Undead waved her wand, the sleeve rolled back, and the Dark Mark appeared treacherously in the dim light of the torches.

'I think it's time to talk to the headmaster, so would you please get out of my way,' she said shortly, and, after walking around her colleague, headed for the stairs leading to the upper floors. The last thing she saw as she walked away was the lonely figure of Professor Snape, clasping one hand with the other as hard as he could.

A little later, Jane was sitting directly on the steps in front of the principal's office, leaning helplessly against the wall. The conversation with the headmaster had not gone as she had expected at all. He didn't seem to pay attention to her words and acted as if she were still his student and told him that the snotty classmate in the last row had forgotten his homework again.

She had repeated, until foam came out of her mouth, about Snape and the Dark Mark, his suspicious demeanour and his accusations, but the only thing she got from the headmaster was, 'Look, Jane, Severus has always been paranoid about certain things. As you may have noticed, he was indeed a Death Eater before, but that has nothing to do with him now. I know you wouldn't betray us, but you have to give Severus a little time to accept you, and in the end, I think he'll really start to trust you.'

Jane, of course, immediately expressed her disagreement, as well as her sincere doubt that Snape could ever trust her for anything other than handing him the salt in the dining hall. He wouldn't even trust her for that, she thought, because it might have been poisoned. She wouldn't trust him either. And when she remembered that she had taken food and potions from him before, she felt she could faint. From him, the Potions Master. She wondered how he hadn't poisoned her yet. But hadn't he indeed? Maybe she should stop by the hospital wing. This weakness of hers was hardly accidental. She was probably not poisoned, she finally told herself, but still.

However, her arguments did not affect the headmaster at all. He advised her to go to the hospital wing to make sure she had no health problems, but he mentioned once again that he had full confidence in Professor Snape. Tired of repeating the same thing over and over, Jane finally thanked him for his time and left.

However, she could not go too far, so she sat on the steps of the first staircase she saw and closed her eyes. There were so many things to think about and so little desire to do it on her part that in the end she just sat there doing nothing. That's how Professor Sinistra found her, just when was going to class.

'Jane, are you sick?' The teacher ran straight to her and touched her shoulder anxiously.

'I'm fine, Aurora,' Jane moaned, which didn't reassure the other woman at all, 'I'm just exhausted.'

'If you want, we can talk,' Sinistra said. 'I may not be good at giving advice, but at least I can listen, and you'll be really relieved.'

'You better help me get to my room. Or at least come with me. I don't want to be alone right now.'

It was a sign of weakness, Jane realized, but she didn't care at the moment. She just wanted to forget about Voldemort, Dumbledore and Snape, in fact, everything behind the door of her room.

Once the war was officially declared, neither Undead nor Snape wanted to give up the confrontation. Every three days, they spotted each other seemingly by accident and exchanged well-measured insults, but never spells, because they both knew that if they duelled openly, they could lose their jobs.

Jane did go to the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey examined her in great detail and announced that she found no traces of poison in her. True, Jane's fabricated explanation that she had eaten something suspicious in Knockturn Alley was not worth a damn Knut, but it was better than the truth.

Things couldn't go on like this, so neither of the two teachers was surprised to hear from the principal that they needed to talk in his office. What they had not foreseen, however, was that the two would be there at the same time.

Jane arrived a little late, and her surprise at seeing Professor Snape, who was already standing in front of the principal's desk like a punished student, was unadulterated. She approached the two wizards cautiously, chose the free space under one of the portraits in the office as far away from Snape as possible, and stood in the same position as him, looking expectantly at the headmaster.

'Well, Jane, Severus,' Dumbledore began sternly, 'I think you know why I called you here.'

'Yes, Headmaster,' they said, almost in sync, then frowned.

'You both don't seem to have taken my words seriously, which saddens me, but it's a sure sign that I need to take fast measures.'

After a short pause, during which the two culprits looked everywhere but at each other and their superior, he continued in an edifying tone, 'You were heard exchanging remarks yesterday in the fourth-floor foyer and a few days ago in the Entrance Hall. Such unprofessional attitude on your part is unacceptable for teachers in our school, you break the discipline of students and spoil the team.

At this point, Jane was about to say something, but the principal motioned for her to remain silent.

'We haven't had anything like this since I can remember, and that means since I crossed the threshold of Hogwarts for the first time as a very young pupil. Your attitude is out of bounds and if you don't change it, I will be forced to take measures.'

Professor Dumbledore looked at them extremely sternly, making each of them feel again like a small child who had done the greatest mischief possible and was now waiting for his parents to come and punish him.

'At least I think you understand the situation. That's something.' Dumbledore smiled as if to himself, then adjusted his glasses and looked at them sternly again. 'From now on, I want you to be kind to each other, no matter in front of an audience or in private, otherwise I will be forced to fire the culprit for the resumption of your hostile relationship. And if I can't figure out who he is, then you'll both leave. Am I being clear?'

'Yes, Headmaster," Snape replied, and Jane added with some delay, 'Of course.'

'Well, then. I hope we have come to an agreement. You are free to go.'

Snape and Undead were just trying to figure out who would go through the door first, when to the surprise of both of them, the headmaster added, 'Actually, only you are free, Severus. I just remembered that I had something else to discuss with Jane.'

Snape just raised his eyebrows and headed for the exit, while Undead returned to her place beneath the portraits and folded her arms as she watched him leave the office.

'You can sit down now,' the principal's voice came from behind her. Jane pulled one of the chairs that stood near the wall and gently sat down. She couldn't imagine what Professor Dumbledore had to say to her, and she was burning with curiosity to learn, unless, of course, it was another reproach for her behaviour that even Snape shouldn't hear.

'You see, I hope, why I did that to you and Severus.' Jane nodded. 'As much as I didn't like it, you have to agree that you both went too far.'

'I'm really sorry, Headmaster.' Although not for everything, she felt regret that she had disappointed the professor under whose care she had spent much of her life.

'Let's hope you're both sorry,' he said sternly. 'But I didn't leave you here to make you tell me how sorry you are.' At that moment, a sincere smile played on his lips, hidden behind a thick silver beard. 'Actually, I wanted to tell you that I'm impressed with the way you stood up to Severus. No one here, neither teacher nor student, had hitherto been able to oppose him in this way, almost as an equal.'

'Did he tell you himself?', Jane asked intrigued, completely forgetting about the scolding a moment ago.

'Partly.' He took a wand from his sleeve and enchanted a jug of tea. 'Will you keep me company? There are also biscuits.'

'I could have one, thank you for the tea.' Jane watched as if hypnotized this strange turn of the evening, crowned with the appearance of a gold tray covered with gingerbread biscuits.

'Although I'm missing some parts of the story. Can I have a look?'

Hardly a wizard as good as him needed her permission to peek through her mind, but that was the polite way to do it. For a witch like her, who knew how to protect her mind, penetrating it from the outside could be especially unpleasant if she was caught unprepared. So Jane leaned back and let the headmaster see what he wanted.

'Just as I thought,' Professor Dumbledore nodded and began pouring the tea. 'Although you are not in your best shape, you are a born talent.'

'A talent? For what?' Nobody has called her that way in the near past.

'Oh, so many things. For now – to bug Severus, but in the future – who knows?!'

"Come on, Headmaster, get to the real issue. I'm big enough now to handle it." For a while, the two of them turned their attention to biscuits and tea but soon became tired of the activity, so the principal chose to continue his speech.

'I know that teaching fills your time quite well, for now. But I was thinking of something else in which you could be just as useful. You should be aware of the fact that your late mother was once particularly active in an organization called the "Order of the Phoenix". Given the circumstances, I and a few prominent wizards thought it would be good if we revived it. And we think we would really benefit from your eventual participation.'

The teacher listened with her mouth open. "Thousands of devils and kappas take it," she murmured to herself. That was really the last thing she expected to hear. She hated this organization and almost everyone who had been involved in it. After all, it was the reason her mother died after being in so much danger – because of them and because of their ridiculous resistance, which ultimately had nothing to do with Voldemort's defeat.

'I'd like to think seriously about it,' she said at last.

'You have as much time as you want. We don't force anyone. When you make a decision, you know where to find me.'

Jane said goodbye and hurried out of the office. She wasn't angry with the headmaster – he was an idealist, he thought big, and he usually didn't care how many lives it took to achieve his goals. But the Order, the damn Order, was something that she still had matters to clear with. Still, Jane thought, she had to refuse outright. This evasion was not in her favour. Professor Dumbledore would think she was weak and could not stand a simple opinion. As she passed the fountain in front of the principal's office, she seemed to see it for the first time, so she paused to examine it properly. True, it was ugly, but she didn't consider herself a beauty, so she probably had no right to judge what was pretty. And yet the gargoyle in front of the invisible entrance looked as if it was guarding it. An inanimate stone thing seemed braver and more determined than an Undead witch.

"Undead are not brave," she whispered to herself, "we are smart and cunning. What do you need the "Order of the Phoenix" for, anyway?" And yet she knew that something was pulling her there, something that made her compare herself to those more capable than her and prove herself. "You've only been running for years, you look like a cowardly crup!", the voice kept digging into her head. "I like myself alive, thank you," she replied mentally, "there's no way this organization will come out useful this time, there just isn't." But what chance did she have here at Hogwarts? Alone and under the scope of anyone who would like to remove her.

"A difficult choice, Jane, indeed. Fortunately, at least you have time to think." Well, apparently she would take the opportunity to at least consider participating in the Order. Fortunately, she didn't have to decide right away. Shaking her head, the teacher left her heavy thoughts in the corridor and crept through the door of her room, from where a pitiful meowing could be already heard.

Inside, the picture was shocking, to say the least. Or, as Muggles would say, it was like if a bomb fell. Books were rolling around the room, the sheets were strewn around the bed, and Murray was hungry. Unfortunately for Jane, she couldn't attribute any of that to the cat, as she had gotten herself into this mess, which was getting worse as the school year progressed. At first, the house-elves came to clean often, but since one of them barely escaped suffocation from a hand-knitted glove, they avoided coming around for anything other than lighting the fireplace. Jane sighed and went to feed the cat. She had to clean up here, but it wouldn't be tonight. Then she slumped wearily in bed and fell asleep, not even noticing the thread that was quietly tangling itself around the legs of the antique bed.