“Oh, OH, OH…” I sighed blissfully, eyes closed as I savored the taste of ripe strawberries. There was nothing more heavenly in the world, not even chocolate. I was more than pleased that upon our first meeting with the Order of the Phoenix, I found strawberries at the headquarters. Someone there was surely my hero, I just had to figure out whom.

Popping the rest of the delicious fruit in my mouth, I opened my eyes and looked around the room. We were at the Potter’s residence in Godric’s Hollow for the meeting and I couldn’t help loving the adorable little house they had. It was our first meeting - our initiation you could say.

My friend Anna Boothe and I work in the Department of Mysteries as Unspeakables. We really enjoy the work we do there, but I can’t speak much more of it. The Order of the Pheonix is a rather large group of miscellaneous brave and talented witches and wizards whose main goal is to bring down You-Know-Who. He is only the foulest, most loathsome wizard to grace Europe, and not only wizarding Europe, either; he takes joy in playing with and torturing the Muggles of the British community. All of this is why Dumbledore, great wizard that he is, formed the Order. We have to operate in secret, of course, or we risk alerting the Death Eaters of our whereabouts. Well, that’s not a pleasant thought. Can’t you just imagine, Death Eaters storming this house as we�”Oh, never mind, let’s push that from our heads.

The secretiveness seems to be a key reason as to why Anna and I were introduced into the group. What other use could two Unspeakables have to the Order?

It was James and Lily’s first summer in their little home and I could tell why they were simply glowing. The love, respect, and happiness between them were almost palpable in the air. It was no wonder this talented pair was held in such high esteem by everyone in the Order.

From our brief introduction by the Weasleys, the couple was kind, generous and funny. I had liked then instantly and hoped for the chance to become friends. The introductions had been full of laughter and exclamations; overall, a sense of friendship prevailed. There was very little awkwardness and it was as if I had been their friend for years. I can’t express what a relief it was to leave the fearful urgency of every day life and enter a place with this kind of atmosphere.

The kitchen was crowded as people helped themselves to the food laid out. It was a break in the meeting and I couldn’t help but be astonished by the almost festive air of the group. It wasn’t like we were having a secret meeting to bring down a terrible wizard. Instead, the occasion seemed more like a gathering of close friends.

I had sat myself down at the table with some cookies and a plate of strawberries. I hadn’t been expecting the chance to eat at the meeting and had eaten ahead of time. Nevertheless, I was savoring the strawberry taste, oblivious to the conversations going on around me. Several people were still being ushered into the kitchen through the backdoor and each one was greeted by several different people.

Suddenly, a loud round of exclamations burst out, drawing my attention to the blue door. I watched as a well dressed man helped an older, shabbier man through the door frame. It seemed the latter was injured somehow. The contrast between the pair was striking. The first was confident, muscular and extremely handsome. The other was older, with early grey hairs and a less well defined posture. I looked back and forth between the two, noting the easy smiles and the bantering. Obviously, they were rather good friends.

It seemed they were close to Lily and James too. James had run up to the pair and embraced both in a hug while Lily waited her time patiently and did the same. I smiled at the scene and glanced back at the younger of the strangers to find his eyes on me. Well, not so much my face but my long legs, the skin bared by the shorts I wore for the warm weather. Blushing, I crossed my legs to see his confident smile at my reaction. A bit miffed, I turned back to my strawberries, fully planning on ignoring the new pair.

My solitude and careful contemplation of the fruit before me was soon rudely interrupted by a pair of trouser-clad legs. This particular pair of legs appeared in the corner of my vision, straddling a chair and looking very interesting. I tried to fight it but eventually, curiosity got the best of me and I looked. Damn. It was the very same person who had made me blush and feel uncomfortable without a single word. I had even considered transfiguring the khaki shorts into trousers. It wasn’t like I was dressed inappropriately. Others were wearing shorts and nearly everyone was dressed casually. Why was it me that he had to stare at?

“You should cover those up.” His voice was deep, gravelly and overall rather attractive. I bet he had a lovely singing voice.

Chasing away visions of him singing bar tunes and romance songs from my mind, I felt confusion wash over me. Cover what up? My confusion must have shown when he chuckled and pointed at my legs. Without thinking, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“Why?”

Now it was his turn to be shocked as he affected a look of surprise and seriousness. “Because my dear, those legs are rather affecting my attempt to stay serious for this very important meeting.”

“Sirius, you can’t be serious.” Another voice joined in, much lighter and smoother but still very masculine. I looked up to see his friend leaning on a cane and eyeing the dark haired man with amusement. My eyes fell to the leg he didn’t seem to want to lean on. What happened to him?

“As Sirius as the name on my birth certificate.”

He grinned widely at his friend and they both laughed. I looked back and forth between the two before it clicked. The one before me was named Sirius. I giggled and smiled at the pair. Sirius and the other man exchanged a delighted glance. I suppose most didn’t usually get that joke. I happen to love word problems and riddles quite a lot. Sirius turned to me and smiled again.

“You seem curious about Remus’s leg. Yes well, that is because his furry little problem was rather… disobedient,” �“ Remus snorted in the background with laughter and I glanced at him curiously before looking back at Sirius. “…this month.”

“What? Does he have a badly behaving dog?” I looked at Remus again, confusion clouding my thoughts. What was Sirius talking about?

“Yes, yes I do. He’s right here as a matter of fact.” With that, the newly introduced Remus waved his arm at Sirius who ‘barked’ at us playfully. We laughed before he continued. “However, that’s not what he was referring to. Most people tend to think I have a ill mannered rabbit when James or Sirius refers to my ‘furry little problem’.”

“A rabbit? Why’s that?”

Remus shrugged and Sirius butted in, seeming as if he was rather miffed to be left out of the conversation.

“We should probably properly introduce ourselves. I’m Sirius Black and this is my dear friend Remus Lupin.”

“Your mother must have loved mythology and Latin.” I remarked lightly to Remus with a smile.

“Oh, she definitely did.” His cryptic, cynical tone seemed to allude to more but I knew better than to ask outright. We had only just met after all.

“I’m-” I began to introduce myself when Anna walked by and I snagged her wrist, dragging her to my side. Used to my strength and spontaneity, she merely went with it, indulging me with a smile. Flashing a grin at our companions, I began again. “I’m Natalie Carmen and this is my dear friend Anna Boothe.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet someone who seems to have such a quick mind as yours, as well as any friend of yours.”

Remus’s smile was rather wolf like but very friendly. I returned the smile happily. Sirius seemed to be sizing Anna up before sticking out his hand to her. She seized his hand with hers and shook it vigorously. “Pleasure to meet both of you.” She offered them both a quick smile before sliding a chair up next to mine, flipping it around to straddle it, and leaned into me.

“Nat, you’ll never guess what just happened to me.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sirius smirk and wink at Remus. Anna, of course, had no idea they were paying attention to her.

“What?”

She looked over her right shoulder hesitantly before saying, “That bloke in there was hitting on me. He was a right foot shorter than me! And at least twenty years older!”

Glancing back over her shoulder, she spotted him, and threw her thumb viciously in his direction. He was, indeed, at least a foot shorter, and probably twenty-five years her senior. Before I could stop myself, a large snort erupted from my nose. Slapping my hand over my face, I began laughing hysterically, bent double.

“Good taste, that man.” I heard Remus say from my reclined position.

“Oh, bugger off,” she snapped, glaring at the pair.

Sitting up, I said, “Anna, you don’t even know them! This is Remus and Sirius. They’ve decided to burst into my solitude and make my acquaintance. Isn’t that right, boys?”

The pair nodded, both of them chuckling. Before anything more could be said, Dumbledore appeared in our midst and clapped his hands together cheerfully.

“Ah, good to see you four have met already. It is very crucial that you four get along well, you know. You will be spending more than two months together in the backwoods of northern Wales.”

Dumbledore’s words were met with silence, thick and impenetrable. Two months? Together? With two people I hardly knew? I glanced up at Anna and saw the same shock on her face. The laughter that had been bubbling from my lips had immediately ceased. Remus and Sirius seemed just as stunned. So this was our super secret and important use to the Order?

Dumbledore, to his credit, seemed to ignore our silence and grinned at us. “Yes, yes, I shall inform you of the particulars later.” He continued to smile at us, eyes bouncing expectantly over each of us before he cleared his throat, “Well, Remus, how’s that leg of yours doing? That’s a nasty rabbit you’ve got.” His look was curious, a knowing glance that hinted to there being much more than a ‘misbehaved rabbit’.

Sirius let out a bark of laughter as Remus replied, “It’s repairing quickly, thanks Albus.” A blanket of silence once more envelope our small corner. I noticed Sirius begin to tap his finger rhythmically on the side if his chair and Albus looked on with his large blue eyes.

Abruptly, he turned and engaged himself in a conversation with an elderly witch, stroking his still auburn hair.

The set look of shock never left Anna’s face, and she continually stared at the air over my right shoulder. In turn, I decided it was in my best interest to attack the remaining strawberries while they were still good. I hated it when someone decided to eat them when I wasn’t looking. When I was finished with my gluttonous endeavor I looked up to see the dumbfounded faces of my new acquaintances. Deciding it was probably best to stray from the news Dumbledore had just brought us I asked, “So, what is it you boys do?”

“Scrub floors at the pub,” Remus answered. Sirius slapped his friend on the back and let out a bark of laughter.

“Yes, yes, dear Remus scrubs the floors that I walk upon.”

“Oh, come off it, Sirius.” He shook his head, lips twitching as he tried vainly to repress a smile.

I giggled at the joke. This pair was rather amusing. Once again, we lapsed into a silence as my snickers died down. The rest of the meeting continued in this manner. A few dabbles of small conversation from here and there throughout the three rooms being used reached my ears. At one point Sirius muttered something about a squat passing witch under his breath that had the three of us laughing with tears in our eyes. The rest of the meeting, however, was much less eventful.

When it was time to gather again, the four of us settled into the living room for the information in the Order. A few people spoke of Death Eater spots and dark activity, and at the end Dumbledore walked up to us and individually handed the four of us a small parchment.

“These parchments will incinerate in no less than fifteen minutes, so commit them to you memories and put them in a place that will not burn down this lovely residence.”

I opened mine immediately. Upon my parchment, I found the neat writing that I associated with my former teacher. Glancing over, I saw that Anna’s piece had what looked to be the same missive. My eyes looked down again and I finally read it. I took the time to commit it to memory before I set it aside on a china plate.

It was a long while before the conversation between us four was picked up again. It started out lightly, a few polite sentences here and there…but then, Sirius muttered something under his breath to which had Remus and me laughing so hard, we were almost in tears. The rest of the meeting was fairly less eventful. We settled into the living room for the low down on all the going ons of the Order.

“Mission Wolfsbane
Persons: Natalie Carmen, Sirius Black, Anna Booth, and Remus Lupin.

When: Be ready to leave as soon as possible, no more than a week.

Where: backwoods of Northern Wales (we’ll give further instructions there verbally).

Why: We’ve uncovered a hint that the werewolves are possibly going to Voldemort’s side, joining the ranks at the promise of endless amounts of victims for the werewolves’ blood lust.

What: We’d like to discover if this is true and if it is, how to best go about destroying the colony of werewolves. One member of the group will be the infiltrate and the rest will document the experience and take note of all that they can from the outside. The Werewolves do live by a town so you won’t be completely isolated. Natalie and Anna may find the location advantageous to their Ministry work. They have been excused from traditional work for an unspecified amount of time. They will take advantage of the field time to work on a previously shelved experiment. Perhaps they’ll find something useful. Be warned, the mission will take time. Try not to use the same owl when you wish to contact someone. Updates are not needed weekly but rather, whenever something of importance comes up. Use your heads wisely and try not to do anything rash or hotheaded (Sirius…). Tell no one outside of those listed above. Good luck.”

From beside me, I could feel Anna’s shock. I was rather confused as to what Anna and I could contribute to this mission. Why wouldn’t they just use members who have already been here for a while? I knew Molly Weasley couldn’t because she was pregnant again with another child. I wasn’t even sure why they couldn’t just use the male members. There were probably plenty of guys who were willing to prove their worth in the Order.

I sighed and looked at Remus and Sirius. Sirius looked a bit upset and I couldn’t help flashing a grin. He returned it with one of his own before nudging Remus who was still staring at the parchment. His facial expression led me to believe he was experiencing a bit of discomfort for his complexion was an ashy shade of green. Remus looked up and sent me an absent minded smile before looking at Dumbledore imploringly. The elder wizard resolutely refused to meet any of our looks, those blue eyes twinkling with mischief and knowing. What was the old man up to now?

We walked briskly up the sidewalk that was shaded on each side by thick, towering bushes. Natalie was lagging behind me a bit as I almost broke into a run.

“Tell me again why we set our wards so they were so far away from our flat?”

“More time for warning,” she shouted from far behind me. “Why in the name of Merlin are you walking so fast, Anna? It’s not like we’ve got anything to do.”

“It’s two o’clock in the morning, I want some pudding, and my feet hurt. Would you just hurry up,” I answered, not bothering to hide my tone of exasperation.

I continued walking quickly, not actually knowing why I was moving at this pace-- pudding had never driven me in this way. The mission we had just been assigned was burned in my mind, possibly causing my feet to throw themselves so chaotically in front of each other.

‘Be ready to leave in no more than a week’

‘Destroy the colony of werewolves…’

‘They have been excused from work for an indefinite time.’

These words echoed in my head as we neared our small flat. The building was quaint, located on the corner of a quiet street. Winding ivy grew up the sides of it, pouring over itself as it lengthened with time. We lived on the third level, in number 18.

“You smell of strawberries, Nat.” I grasped the wrought iron railing and turned to look at her before I began the rickety endeavor up the equally rickety stairs.

“Regrettable. Would you hurry up now?” She replied, prodding me in the back with her finger.

“I’m not the one that’s been dawdling behind all day, am I? I’ll take my time, I think.” Stopping mid step, I spread my legs wide and gripped the railing with each hand, effectively creating a barrier between Natalie and our living quarters.

Her first attempt to get by me was a teasing prod with her wand, right in my side where she knew it tickled me the worst. Unfortunately, I buckled slightly, falling into her graces, and she took the moment of weakness as an opportunity to break through my boundaries.

“Ah-ha! Not so fast, missy!” I threw my arm out, blocking her attempt and spun around, throwing my head back in laughter. At this point, she pushed passed me and ran up the remaining stairs, her laughter bouncing off the walls behind her.

When I reached our door, it was hanging open awaiting my delayed arrival. I stepped across the threshold and breathed in the familiar scent of musky parchment that had the sweet overcoat of vanilla.

“We’ve got to get this place cleaned up,” I said as I shrugged my cloak off. Looking around, the room was a relative disaster: the clean laundry sat lumped in a pile on the dining table, last night’s dinner was still remaining on the plain, ceramic plates that Mum had bought me when I first moved out, and our main project at work had been scattered over the remainder of the living area, using any surface as a place for work.

Natalie was bent over, head buried in the fridge, and I could hear her pushing our frugal amount of food negligently around the shelves. “We don’t have any strawberries.” Her head popped back up and stared at me with needy eyes.

“You’re daft.”

--

“Rise and shine, people! Today looks like a sunny d�””

Smack.

My radio went crashing to the floor as a result of my effort in silencing the obnoxiously cheery voice that had broken me from my very brief slumber. I let out a slow groan and began dragging my fingers blindly over the floor in search of my lost alarm that would no doubt resound in any second.

“In other news, the Minister of Magic has declared official war on the small wizarding town of Gorning. Why? We don’t really know. Now, back to the main man, Mr.�””

“Ah- ha. I bounb id,” I attempted to say through a half closed mouth that was smashed against my bed sheets. Replacing my radio to its rightful spot, I let out a small sigh and closed my eyes before grumbling, “Just three minutes then I’ll be up and showering…”

--

“Anna!” I drowsily pulled myself awake. Only three minutes. Please be only three minutes. “Why didn’t you wake us up? We’re late for work!”

I peeled my eyes open to see Natalie hopping passed my bedroom on one foot while attempting to eat toast and put on a sock at the same time. As I swung my legs over the edge of my bed, I heard a telltale crash come from the direction she had just hopped precariously towards.

“You okay, Nat?” I asked as I performed a quick refreshing charm on my hair in an attempt to make it look acceptable. Sticking up on the left, as always. I heard a low groan and threw my robes on.

“All right, let’s go.” I walked out the door, and into the kitchen, grabbing my bag and a piece of toast before waiting expectantly at the fire.

“How do you always do that so quickly?” I heard Natalie mutter from the floor in the kitchen.

“Let’s just go. No need to be bitter over my superior refreshing spells.”

“I am not bitter. You just will never tell me your style, so I can’t do it as precisely as you can.”

I smiled. “Precisely. Are you coming? Or are you going to continue to bask in your misery over failed refreshing spells.” I paused to allow her a sound of disapproval, which came on cue, then continued, “I don’t think we can technically be late to work when we’ve been excused for an indefinite period of time, so no need to have a hippogriff.”

“I don’t like you much right now, but I will acquiesce and join you in your futile escapades to our wonderful Department of Mysteries, but only because I love my desk dearly,” Natalie retaliated, pulling her sock on completely before standing up.

“You’re a nutter.”

“Get in the fire.”

“You first.”

“Together!”

Gabbing my hand and a pinch of powder, she threw it into the grate, and instant green flames erupted. Pulling me in after her, she stated, “Department of Mysteries, Ministry of Magic, London!”

We were instantly swept away, and after many uncomfortable bumps and knocks, we arrived in our personal Floo.

We stepped out of the fire that was located between our two desks, the only two desks in the room. They faced each other so it was easier for us to speak face to face when we were working. Our walls were of dark, paneled mahogany. The floor was as well, but it was covered with an Iranian rug that had been a gift from our head of Department, McMullan, for completing our first task, which involved vampires, hence the Iranian bit. The lighting in our office was always slightly dim due to the lack of overhead lights, but we had personal lamps at our desks that proved quite useful.

A cool sensation moved over my body; it was the detection device used to make sure it really was Natalie and I entering through the Floo. I still hadn’t gotten used to it. Letting out a shiver as I moved quickly over to my desk, brushing the soot off myself in the process, I threw my bag down atop the organized chaos. To me, it was all in order, but to any other onlooker, it was a complete disaster. Quills were everywhere, papers were scattered about the top, and even a cold, half-full cup of tea sat on the corner from last week.

“Anna, we really should clean this up. A simple scouring charm would do the trick, you know.”

“No! Because then I’ll lose track of where everything is,” I stated as I shuffled through the papers in search of a certain piece that I just knew was there. “Aha! I found it!”

I leaned my hips against my desk as I began to look over the report that Natalie had written a few weeks back for the project that we had just recently been assigned. As I looked over it, certain words jumped out at me: small, metallic piece; werewolf hair; shift time…

“What are you looking at, Anna?” Natalie asked me from across the room. She had sat down at her equally as disorganized desk, and was looking at nothing in particular, so she decided to badger me instead.

Without looking up, I replied, “This report you gave me the other week on time shifting that McMullan assigned us. For some reason, it just popped into my head.”

“Oh, huh….”

At that precise moment there was an ear- piercing alarm that sounded from outside of the main entrance to our office. It lasted precisely two seconds before it was cut off and there was a sheepish knock at the door.

“Well, that was interesting. I guess we have some unexpected visitors?” I mused as I pushed myself off my desk and walked over to the door. Natalie didn’t bother moving. When I reached the door, I tapped it with my wand, and after a series of clicks, I pulled it open.

On the other side were standing two very befuddling looking men that were searching their surroundings instead of looking at me, so I cleared my throat. “Remus? Sirius? What are you doing here?”

Both of their head snapped in my direction, the latter rubbing his neck as an after-effect.

Completely ignoring my question, Sirius replied, “So this is where you work, then? Rather confusing, innit? Took us near a half hour just to find your office once we actually got down here.”

“We Floo. We don’t use the main entrance.”

“Oh, feisty little thing, isn’t she?” Sirius prodded Remus in the ribs before pushing passed me and into our office. Remus grinned apologetically in my direction before nodding his head politely and following his friend. I stared after them. Honestly, what were they doing here, and how did they get in?

As if reading my mind, Natalie asked, “What are two great prats like yourselves doing here?”

“Hey now, there is no need to call Remus and his pet rabbit prats, Natalie.” Sirius shot Remus a look before continuing, “Dumbledore sent us here with a note. It’s how we were even allowed down here in the first place.”

With that, he began searching his pockets and finally finding the folded piece of parchment, he let out a noise of triumph and slapped it down on Natalie’s desk. We were all gathered around it now, looking down at the rumpled piece of parchment.

Remus looked at each of us, catching my eye and moving on. “He said it had something to do with preparation for the mission and that it would be �“ how’d he say it? �“ beneficial to your studies. Something along those lines.” He flicked it with his hand, apparently anticipating the opening of this parchment. “C’mon! Open it, then.”

Natalie and I just stared at it. My eyes bounced between her and the parchment a few times before my own anticipation was interrupted by�”

“Just open it, won’t you! Remus and I have been itching to see what’s in there all day, but we haven’t looked and now we can, so just get on with it!”

“Oh, all right.” I snatched up the parchment and unfolded it, and instantly a voice boomed around us.

If you have recently researched the travel of time, it would be wise for you to make a recount of your studies because it will be very helpful in your upcoming expedition.

The voice withered away with the parchment as flames shot up in my hands, causing me to shriek in pain and drop the letter. We all sat in silence as the loud voice rang in our ears, the lenient command pulling at my strings.

“Nat! We have, that’s what we were just looking�””

“Shut up, Anna. Discretion was never your strong point. You know we cannot speak of this in front of them. Have you lost your mind?” Natalie hissed at me, immediately getting to her feet.

I clapped my hand over my mouth and looked between Remus and Sirius before looking to Natalie and straightening myself. “Right, well they’ll know more or less what is going on when we get to the northern most part of Whales or wherever the hell we’re going, will they not?”

“We are in the Ministry right now, Anna. At least save it for outside of the secure walls of the Department,” Natalie surrendered to me.

Silence fell after her last statement, and I noticed that Remus and Sirius seemed to be communicating in that way that they had been earlier: swift hand movements and head jerks.

Sirius disturbed the heavy silence and said, “Time travel, eh?”

“I said OUTSIDE THE DEPARTMENT WALLS!” Natalie’s voice steadily rose as the color in her face did as well. A small laugh escaped me at the uncharacteristic behavior of my friend over such matters as our work. She had never been like this, and considering how the day had started, one might believe that she would have been chipper for the rest of it. Apparently not.

“Remus, looks like we’re going to be surrounded by a bunch of feisty women for this mission of ours. Do you think you can handle it?”

Remus shot his friend a look through narrowed eyes, “Oh, my dear, delusional friend, I can handle it. The question is: can you handle two delusional women and a rampant pet rabbit?”