Chapter Seven

The Order of the Phoenix Again

The following day, Jane invited Lily for tea after school. She wanted to talk to her about Legilimency, besides, she was curious how the holiday had ended. The two met in the Great Hall after dinner and walked upstairs to Jane's room. They passed by several professors on the stairs, including Professor Flitwick, who greeted them politely.

'Lily may return a bit late to her room tonight, we have something to discuss. But I promise to walk her there.'

'Very well, Jane,' the Professor replied, visibly pleased, then wished them a good evening and continued down the stairs.

Associate Professor Undead looked at him, wondering in amazement that the Professor far too easily allowed her to manage his home and his students. Then, for the first time, she thought Professor Flitwick might have been training her to be his successor, and the idea didn't please her. After all, he wasn't that old and could teach for at least a few more years.

'You know, Associate Professor Undead,' Lily said. 'There is word around school that Professor Flitwick is going to retire soon. It will be a pity for him not to teach us anymore.'

Jane nearly jumped. It was just not normal for a girl who didn't know Legilimency to guess her thoughts. But after a few seconds, she calmed down. Professor Flitwick had passed them on the stairs, and the girl had said something about him. No special skills were required for that.

'Interesting,' Jane muttered at last. 'If so, who will replace him?'

'If they don't send us another log from the Ministry again, I think there's a good chance it'll be you. If you want it, of course.'

'I'm not sure I'll be able to handle Charms,' Jane said thoughtfully. 'I haven't studied for it, and it probably won't be me.'

'Too bad for us,' Lily said.

They both chose to abandon this depressing subject and said nothing more until they climbed to the fifth floor.

After entering the room and sitting in the chairs, Jane set about making tea or rather conjuring it. Lily sat in the chair with Murray the cat on her lap, watching the rain drumming on the outside of the window.

'What did you want to talk about, Associate Professor Undead?' the girl asked, distractedly stroking the little animal's head.

'I don't know if you remember, but we have to finish the conversation we started during the Quidditch game.'

'Oh, yes. But what do we have to finish? I'm sure I don't have Legilimency abilities. I checked it in the library the other day and it turned out to be a very rare skill. It is less common than Animagi and Metamorphmagi combined. And I don't know many Metamorphmagi. It is practically impossible.'

Jane just shook her head as she handed the cup to her interlocutor. '"There are no impossible things, only not very probable ones" this is a favourite thought of mine, which my Arithmancy teacher liked to repeat back then.'

'Even so, it doesn't look very probable to me.'

'Yes, if you believe what is written in the books. However, as far as these things are concerned, very often the information does not reach them at all.'

'How so? I'm almost certain that all Animagi must register in the Ministry of Magic. Like Professor McGonagall.'

'Yes, they must. However, in the class a year above mine there were three unregistered Animagi, a Metamorphmagus and a Legilimens who was a native talent.'

'Wow,' Lily couldn't say anything else for a moment. 'How did you find out? Did they catch them?'

'Some of them,' Jane said shortly. 'But they never made them register. And then we wonder where all this decline in the wizarding world comes from.'

They drank their tea in silence for a while. The only sound was the soft fall of water drops on the window sill. Finally, Lily was the first to break the silence, 'And what makes you think I have such abilities?'

'That's a good question,' Jane smiled, poking the coals in the fireplace aimlessly. Then she went to check the door defences, looked out the window, and only then spoke in a low voice that was almost a whisper, 'You see, I've been this way myself, only they noticed me earlier and explained everything to me.'

Lily opened her mouth in surprise.

'I never thought you were a Legilimens. So you can read my thoughts? And everyone else's?'

'As long as I make a conscious effort. But not everyone's. Professional Aurors, for example, learn how to cover their minds from the likes of me. I'm not going to tell you nonsense like how I've never peeked into a student's mind. I do it all the time. But for small things – to check whether he wrote his homework, whether he intends to be naughty during recess. At least I, from all people, have been taught from an early age that the privacy of others should be respected. As long as they are not dangerous to me or society. Which, of course, has to be established somehow. I hope you're not disappointed in me,' Jane said, at last, watching her student's expression.

'No, I'm just a little shocked. And are there others like you at school?'

'There are,' Jane said quietly, 'two teachers. These are the ones I know about.'

'Let me guess, one is Professor Snape. I have the feeling that he always knows who is cooking what. Especially Potter, the poor bloke never manages to hide from him.'

'Too bad for Potter,' Jane said with a laugh. 'But we're talking about you right now. There are a few simple exercises that would show me whether you have a gift or not. If you want, we can try them now.'

The exercises consisted mainly of guessing things – Jane was thinking of something and Lily had to guess it, then she was hiding an object somewhere and the girl had to find out what it was just by looking into the teacher's eyes. They tried everything several times, but the result didn't match the expectations of the teacher at all. From all this, it was clear that Lily had no gift for Legilimency, and this contradicted both the observations and the teacher's intuition.

'That's not good, Lily,' Jane finally surrendered and sat down in the chair by the fireplace, rubbing her eyes. 'Either I don't remember how these things work, or I can't relax enough for you to see anything.'

'Well, I didn't have much hope in the whole business anyway,' Lily commented. 'It seems too fantastic for an ordinary country girl like me to possess such a gift.'

'Come on now. Neither am I from the city nor are some of the best wizards I know. And I don't think it matters, anyway. You know what I'll tell you – let's try again, this time I'll just watch and you'll guess someone else's thoughts. I think it would be relatively safe to bring Euphem the next time. He will hardly understand why we are making him do all this, and then the incident will quickly fly out of his blond head.'

'Associate Professor Undead, why should everything be kept so secret?' Lily asked after a while. 'Honestly, I don't understand what the problem is, even if everyone learns about it. In the end, sooner or later they will.'

Jane set her cup on the desk and began walking around the room, seemingly distracted. 'At first glance,' she said after a moment, 'it doesn't make much sense, and it's not worth the effort to hide such a skill. But only at first glance, I assure you. Even the most ordinary-looking wizard would be startled to know that a Legilimens is standing in front of him. Friends begin to shy away from you and everyone shuts themselves in, even if you do just as much as pass in front of them. But that isn't the real problem. There are cases when the mastery of such a skill gives you, as the Muggles would say, the right to only one shot – until the opponent doesn't know about it and doesn't expect an attack. Therefore, I personally think that it is good for a person who has such abilities to conceal them most carefully until the moment when he really needs them.'

After this monologue, there was a long silence in the room. Murray could be heard yawning and stretching her paws to the floor, and a few seconds later she was pounded on all fours. With her back to Lily, Jane stared at the flames of the fireplace, coloured spots floating before her eyes.

'Associate Professor Undead,' Lily whispered at last, 'what are you afraid of?'

The teacher slowly turned in the direction of her voice and stared at the bright red flames that still played before her eyes.

'Me?' she finally replied. 'The usual, I suppose. I'm afraid of the dark. And from everything that can jump out of it. Especially outside the castle gates.'

The last words were rather muttered, but Lily heard and understood very well. Her favourite teacher hadn't come to Hogwarts by chance or out of an unusually strong desire to teach. She was a fugitive, hiding from something, or rather from someone, and teaching was more of a hobby.

Similar thoughts swirled in the head of the older teacher. The moment was especially irksome for her, as he was a cheerful person by nature and didn't like to think about her problems. And yet she had to find a solution.

The two talked a little more, but reluctantly. Then Jane saw that it was too late and went to walk the girl to Ravenclaw Tower. The eagle seemed to have fallen asleep, as his question was not very intelligent, and they both entered without difficulty. There wasn't a living soul in the Common Room. It hadn't changed much since Jane's school years, but the teacher examined it carefully before heading to the boys' bedrooms.

'You never told me who the second one was,' Lily said while they were still in the middle of the room.

'I wouldn't have told you about the first one, too, if you hadn't figured it out yourself,' Jane said. 'And I think that's best. You'd better not talk about it with the others. I don't think it affects them, at least for now.'

'I won't,' Lily promised, though she wasn't particularly happy about it.

'And come to rehearse a little these days. Just because you couldn't play on Halloween doesn't mean you can't qualify for the Yuletide Concert.'

'I'll try to get the others together. Good night, Associate Professor Undead.'

'Good night, Lily.'

Lily opened the door to the inner staircase, and Jane waited in the Common Room until her footsteps faded away, then walked slowly to the exit. Although it was late, she didn't feel like sleeping. She had some things to think about, and she didn't want to return to her room.

After walking for many minutes in the dimly lit corridor, her legs finally started to ache and she decided to go somewhere she could sit. There were plenty of empty classrooms around, but somehow she wasn't attracted to the thought of dusty desks and the smell of herbs. Luckily for her, only two floors below was the classroom she had loved since her first year at Hogwarts, the Charms classroom.

She went to the front row of desks, where she usually sat as a student, so as not to miss any of the Professor's words, sat in the middle of the row, took off her shoes and crossed her legs in the seat. It was time to think.

"Suppose," Jane began, "that I don't join the Order. Then what? I will remain, as I'm now, a paranoid eremite. Although there'll be no need to run and I'll be able to walk around the castle in peace. Possibly even go to London, during the day and with someone else. One fine day the Death Eaters will find me and then I'm finished. Nooo, that's not a way to live. Even if I'm very careful, in the end, the Order could lose and I'll find myself in starting position. Unpleasant, Janie, very unpleasant."

"On the other hand, I don't like this Order at all. I have a feeling they're doing nothing. Kappi take them, it's probably full of traitors. Severus Snape, if he participates, of course, will hardly be the only one, although he may be the most important. Wouldn't it be dangerous for me to even appear there? Maybe it's better to take care of my hide while I still have it…"

Unfortunately, both streams of thought seemed somehow insufficient to Jane. Both the blind throwing into the fight and the stupid hiding were extreme options she didn't like. If she had wanted to run away, she would have left long ago, say, for Rio de Janeiro, where she could change her name and live relatively quietly. She didn't want anything for herself, but she had a debt she still hadn't paid. She had vowed to avenge her mother, and it was time to find the best way to do so. Although she didn't like the Order, it offered her relative protection and the opportunity to wait for the right time.

The young woman sighed. With or without much desire, it was time for her to commit to an organization. Slowly she got up, put on her shoes, and stretched. Professor Dumbledore must have been awake, so she decided to go and find him. She headed for the stairs and began descending. On the way she met the Gray Lady, who was walking with a ghostly copy of her memoirs in her hand and Jane nodded friendly, then out of nowhere came the Caretaker, Mr Filch, who examined her from top to bottom, realized she wasn't a student and disappointedly turned his back on her. It was a long way to go to the headmaster's office, but Jane was in no hurry. When she finally reached it, she held out her wand to the top of the fountain and knocked three times. She was glad that now, as a teacher, she knew this signal to inform the principal, otherwise, she would have to hang out here until he decided to go out on some occasion. After a while, a tiny gap opened in the wall, which began to widen rapidly until it looked like a door hole, and then the headmaster came out, wearing a dressing gown and a nightgown.

'Well, Jane, I hope that at least it's important,' he said, yawning. 'I had such a pleasant dream.'

'I'm sorry, headmaster,' Jane said guiltily. 'I thought you might not be asleep yet. You know, I decided to join the Order of the Phoenix.'

It had only been a few days since Jane had made her decision when Professor Dumbledore took her to her first meeting of the Order. The headquarters were in a shabby old house, protected by the Fidelius spell. She didn't have time to look at it properly, but it was obvious that it had once belonged to a noble wizarding family. Inside, she had to hand over her magic wand for storage, apparently, they still didn't trust her completely, and then immediately she had to take an oath, which fortunately was purely formal and didn't bind her in any way.

These ways were new and strange to her, but Jane didn't complain. She knew she would have to follow their rules while she was in the Order, and she was hardly surprised by them. She was more interested in the crowd of people filling the room. Who were they? Why had they come to the Order? Questions she couldn't answer yet. Theoretically, she could use her special skills, but she had to be really mad to do it. She couldn't risk bumping into an Occlumens and revealing herself right away. Although, on the other hand, Professor Snape was here, and he knew.

"Don't worry, Janie. Just listen and be careful. Many things can be learnt from a simple observation." And she began looking around. First, she saw an elderly wizard, whom someone inadvertently called "Mr Dumbledore." Apparently, this was the headmaster's brother, whom she had only heard of so far. In one corner sat a red-haired family of at least five members — they had come with their children — they must have been the Weasleys. Professor Snape sat at the other end of the room with an impenetrable expression. Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall were more or less clear, but in the distance, in the middle of a group of people stood out a purple haircut that was familiar to Jane. Since the actual meeting had not yet begun, she allowed herself to get up and go to take a closer look. And she wasn't mistaken – it was the well-known Nymphadora Tonks, who had sometimes come to the "Black Witches" concerts in the past, led by two older friends.

'Hey, Dora!' Jane said quietly. She immediately regretted the choice of address, as the other woman frowned when she heard her name. Jane also cursed herself for deciding to use a name at all. People here avoided addressing each other by name, except for extremely urgent official matters.

'Jane, is that you?" The woman finally recognized her and shouted a little louder than she should have. 'I thought you were no longer alive.'

'Then you're writing me off way too quickly,' Jane smiled back.

'Are the boys here too?'

'No, only me'. She suppressed the discomfort in her stomach. 'The boys are in Europe, at least as far as I know. So you've finished school? What are you doing for a living?' Jane didn't like asking questions in that manner but she hadn't heard from her acquaintance for so long that she couldn't help herself.

'I graduated five years ago,' Dora said proudly. 'I'm an Auror now. What about you?'

'Me?' Jane wondered for a moment whether to lie but quickly decided against it. 'I'm currently teaching at Hogwarts, DADA. I'm also helping some kids found a group.'

'Just like the old times, huh? I still remember you running after the boys in their hotel rooms to collect their clothes from the floor and send them to wash themselves.'

The two women laughed quietly, and all the neighbours turned to them curiously. Apparently, the meeting was about to begin, because Dora suggested to Jane, 'Do you want to come with me and sit over there?'

Jane followed the direction her friend was pointing at but saw only the unpleasant physiognomy of Severus Snape.

'You want us to sit next to Professor Snape?', she asked in disbelief.

'Of course not. To his right, Snape has turned his back on him. His name is Lupin.'

'Let's sit there, then,' Jane agreed quickly and added, 'He looks nice. Especially against this background.'

Without hurrying, the two witches moved to where Lupin was sitting. Jane asked him if the seats were vacant, and after his answer, Dora sat down next to him. Soon Professor Dumbledore came into the room, and everyone hurried to sit around the table.

'Honestly, I'm glad I'm not sitting next to Professor Snape,' Jane whispered. 'I sit next to him at the Hogwarts High Table every day.'

'Bad luck,' Dora Tonks said, pulling a sheet of parchment and a pen from her small purse. Apparently, she'd been chosen to record the meeting because she started writing with the first word of Professor Dumbledore. Jane was a bit disappointed because she had expected she would be able to exchange a word or two with her old friend during the meeting. It wasn't that fatal, though, so she decided to fill her time with something else instead. She turned slightly toward Dora, and, under the illusion that she was examining her inkwell, tried to look as closely as possible at the Lupin in question. He was older than Dora, even older than she was, but that wasn't much of a problem. He had a slightly tormented look, his hair was already grey, but he seemed to be in good spirits. And just as she studied him, he tried to sneak a peek at Dora. Apparently, something was going on here, Jane thought with interest.

The meeting was boring in general, although important issues were discussed, such as the possibility of the Death Eaters taking over Hogsmeade. Unfortunately for Jane, no one expressed an opinion that was at least somewhat logical and contained new information, unknown to her. Already annoyed, she began looking at the faces of the wizards sitting around the table, hoping to find someone familiar. Indeed, there were at least a few people she had seen before, but they either didn't look in her direction or, more likely, didn't remember her. Finally, she stared around the room when she caught sight of an unusual man who was also looking at her. He had tousled black hair, a beard and a smiling expression on his face as if something amused him greatly. They stared into each other's eyes for a while, then the man waved and grinned. Jane waved cautiously at him, too, and smiled.

However, almost immediately, her attention was drawn to the voice of Professor Dumbledore, who had begun speaking passionately about something related to the Ministry of Magic, so she hurried to focus on his speech and quickly forgot about the stranger.

The event ended shortly after midnight. True, there were more interesting opinions on the second topic, but in general, for Jane, the meeting was a waste of time. Well, at least she could stay up until late, so she didn't fall asleep like some other elderly or just tired wizards.

Everyone was in a hurry to leave, including Dora Tonks, who apologized for having to start work early tomorrow, but left her address and asked Jane to write to her. When Jane finally decided to leave, only she and two other wizards remained in the house – Professor Dumbledore and the black-haired man who had waved to her during the first discussion. The headmaster had just said goodbye and headed for the exit, and she was trying to catch up when the stranger's voice came from behind her.

'Hey, Jane!', he shouted to her great surprise. She and Professor Dumbledore immediately turned back.

'How do you know my name?' she asked surprisedly.

'It's really you!' He looked sincerely happy. 'I thought I was hallucinating.'

Associate Professor Undead remained silent for a few seconds, trying to remember exactly where she had seen this man. During this time, the headmaster took a few steps toward him and said calmly, 'I hope what you're up to is reasonable, Sirius.'

'Just a few glasses of whiskey, Professor. Of course, if the lady agrees. As you know, she and I are old acquaintances.'

'Do as you wish, Sirius. And you, Jane,' the headmaster turned to her, 'don't worry about this hothead. He may seem scary at times, but he's actually quite harmless.'

Before Jane could answer anything, the headmaster handed her her wand, said goodbye, left the antechamber, and after a bit closed the front door. For a moment she hesitated whether to apologize and leave. But the fact that the Sirius in question knew her, was enough to make her curious and stay.

'So your name is Sirius,' Jane said, looking at him. 'I'm sorry, but I don't remember you.'

'This doesn't disappoint me much. But I remember you quite well. You're Jane Undead, aren't you? I was a big fan of your band at one time.'

Extremely flattered, Jane didn't know what to say. It was rare for anyone to remember her band anymore, let alone her.

'And now, if you want to take advantage of my invitation and have a drink, you can follow me upstairs. I keep my booze there, as well as my music.'

'Listen, Sirius,' Jane spoke, at last, looking around at the strange interior, 'will you tell me your surname? I think it's only fair since you know mine anyway.'

'I suppose I can tell you,' he said after a moment's thought. 'It's no secret, anyway. My surname is Black, you must have heard it.'

'Well, that explains a lot.' Jane did remember hearing about the famous House of Black, as well as its specific representative, Sirius, who was one of the Animagi she'd recently told Lily about. She wondered who the others were? 'You have a nice house.'

'Ah, an old shack.' Sirius waved a hand. 'It's good enough to hide your head from the rain. My hands itch, if not to tear it all down, at least to repair it. It probably hasn't seen a repairman for at least a hundred years.'

'A repairman? Sirius, I'm sorry to tell you, but you speak like a Muggle.'

'Still? Well, some things don't change. I once learnt to talk like that to annoy my mother and father. Obviously, I still can't get rid of this. When we go upstairs, you'll understand me better.'

Jane paused as she began gasping from climbing the steep stairs. Strangely, this had never happened to her on the stairs at Hogwarts, but she rarely talked to anyone there while climbing.

'Well, we're here,' the host announced as they climbed to the second floor. 'Follow me. Be careful with the cobwebs, I haven't removed them yet. You see, no one but me comes up here.'

Jane followed in silence, tucking slightly in the hem of her robe. The floor and part of the space along the walls were indeed covered with cobwebs, as well as other debris, which she tried to ignore. After a short walk down a wide corridor, the two found themselves in front of a door that seemed to have been opened soon.

'Welcome.' Sirius opened the door and invited her inside. Jane looked around curiously – the room, unlike the rest of the house, was decorated in golden red, with Gryffindor flags and many posters on the walls.

'It's not much, but I try to keep it in order,' he said apologetically. 'Come, have a seat.'

'I like it.' Jane smiled as she settled onto the bed, covered with a red blanket. 'Although I would have chosen other colours.'

'I know. Ravenclaw, right?'

She nodded.

'And speaking of differences, as far as I can remember, you didn't like whiskey. Large amounts of gin and possibly tonic, if there's any left.'

'I don't drink that much anymore, except as on occasions. And how do you remember so much about me? I have already forgotten most of these things.'

'Well, it turned out that my head has an almost infinite capacity to store memories that aren't very useful in my daily life. For example, I remember sneaking into Hogwarts on Halloween with my friends because we've heard that the school already had its own rock band. I learnt that after school you started a new band, the "Black Witches", but I couldn't keep up with it because I was, hmmm, hindered. Although I must say that when I finally heard your recordings, I was quite impressed.'

As he spoke, Sirius had managed to pull out a bottle and two glasses and place them on the table. Then he pulled an old gramophone from a cupboard and, putting a record in it, asked his guest, 'I hope you don't mind listening to the "Weird Sisters". Or to your band. Some fairies managed to bite holes in my other records so I have almost nothing left.'

'The "Weird Sisters" is fine,' Jane said, examining the bottle, left on the table. The booze looked fine, too. After a while, familiar music sounded from the gramophone, and Jane shook her hair out of habit. Sirius sat down in the chair opposite her and poured into the two glasses.

'What are we going to drink to?' Jane asked enthusiastically.

'Do we have to drink to something specific?'

'It's accepted so in the civilized countries.'

'Well, let's drink to school then. I guess you won't mind.'

They drank to school, then to other things, and in the meantime, they talked. Jane admitted that she was teaching DADA at Hogwarts and Sirius vaguely suggested that he was looking for a job. Then they drank more, talked, danced, and had as much fun as they saw fit. At one point, Sirius disappeared somewhere, probably for more gin, and the already intoxicated Jane lay down on the bed she was sitting on. She felt at ease in this house, since Professor Dumbledore trusted Black, and there must have been a lot of alarms and security systems inside. Besides, no one knew she was staying here.

At that moment, a small ugly creature came running in and asked her who she was and which wizarding family did she come from, and since she was smashed, Jane didn't hold her tongue. First, she cursed at it, then told it that she was from the Undead family and she planned to turn it into a mushroom, after which the annoying creature ran away screaming, not clear if it was because of her origin or rather because of the threat. When the host finally returned with a new bottle of gin, he found his guest asleep on his own bed, sighed, threw a blanket over her, and holding the bottle under his arm, descended the stairs without much coordination.