With a shrill whistle, a slight jerk and a puff of steam, the train began to move; slowly at first, but gradually going faster.
It was the last time.
They watched in silence as the train gathered speed. Hogwarts began to slide away from view, its
towers and rooftops gleaming in the afternoon sun, giving way to the
familiar dark green landscape that stretched home. Normally they wouldn’t
have been so entranced by the image of their school; they had always
known that they would see it again in only a few months. But this time
it was different.
They would not be coming back.
Nature’s splendor shone through
the window as they sat immobile, their last vision of Hogwarts lingering.
Maybe some day they would come back, but they wouldn’t be there as
students going to class or to the common room with friends. Quidditch
matches, house points and Hogsmeade visits would no longer matter. Seven
years of Hogwarts had passed, and now they were going home as highly
accomplished wizards and witches.
Although filled with eight
people, including four of the most renowned pranksters in decades, the
compartment was silent. Minutes passed.
“Well,” said Sirius quietly,
breaking the silence, “we’re officially free now.”
Lily wiped her eyes, and James
put his arm around her. After a year, he still felt proud to be able
to do so without being slapped.
She was sitting beside the
window on the end of the first seat. The Marauders, Violet, Alice and
her boyfriend Frank were sharing the compartment. James ran his hand
through his dark hair out of habit, and grinned as he squeezed Lily
to his side. She had, “after years of being completely oblivious to
his charm”, become his girlfriend shortly after they began their seventh
year, saying that he was less of a “stuck-up idiot”.
Sirius grinned and pulled a
pack of Exploding Snap cards from his pocket, and Peter gave a slight
smile at the amount of rubbish that came with it. Remus opened a book,
though he probably only did it out of habit, because his grey eyes weren’t
following the words. His face bore three scars - on his cheek, over
an eyebrow, and close to his chin - evidence of the “furry little
secret”: his lycanthropy.
Alice said something to Frank
and he nodded, pulling a chess set from his bag. They had been a couple
for two years already and they were rarely apart. Sitting beside them,
Violet arranged her dark brown hair into a ponytail, and grinned at
Sirius as she looked at the cards in his hands.
“So,” said Alice as she
pulled Frank down to sit on the floor in front of her where she claimed
that it was easier to play chess, “What’re we all planning to do
now that we’ve left school?”
The grins on James and Sirius’
faces widened. “Oh, I think I’ll work in a bookshop - somewhere
quiet, you know,” said Sirius.
“What?” James exclaimed
in mock surprise. “But I was thinking of doing the same thing! Though
I might decide to work at Madam Puddifoot’s. You know I always
had a weakness for that place - ”
“Shut up,” said Alice as
they all laughed.
“Nah,” said James when
their laughter died down. “I’m joining the Order.”
There was silence before Sirius
nodded. “Me too. Here’s one Black that’s not going to be a Death
Eater,” he added in the low, resentful voice he always used when speaking
of the family that had disowned him.
“I’m joining too,” Lily
and Violet chimed in. Remus quickly agreed. Frank pointed out that since
he was planning to be an Auror, being part of the Order of the Phoenix
was natural. Peter just nodded nervously.
“Me too,” said Alice. “Dumbledore
called Frank and me to his office…it kind of surprised us.”
“I wondered what I’d done,”
Frank grinned. “And now I’m wondering what we’re going to do.”
“Kill Death Eaters, probably,”
said James.
Lily looked at him skeptically.
“Come on, James. Do you think a secret organization formed by Dumbledore
would dedicate itself to killing Death Eaters? I expect there’ll be
loads more to it. You know, spying and protecting people.”
“I wonder who else Dumbledore
recruited…probably a few Aurors,” Violet mused.
“And others like Fabian and
Gideon Prewett. Remember them?”
“Prewett?” enquired Remus,
“I think he - ”
“Yeah,” interrupted Sirius.
“He said that he’d recruited them too.”
“What if we die?” asked
Peter suddenly.
Violet interrupted the silence
that followed, “It’ll be worth it.”
“D’you think we’ll die?”
asked Alice, as naturally as if she had asked whether they would need
to buy new robes.
Frank looked at her, and then
glanced at the chess pieces organizing themselves on the board. “Maybe.”
“I don’t care,” said
Remus quietly. “Violet’s right.”
Peter blushed with embarrassment.
It was obvious that he felt abashed for asking the question.
“I think I’ll find a job
in the Leaky Cauldron, or somewhere in Diagon Alley…” said Violet.
“Dad’s getting old now, and he’s going to need my help.”
Alice nodded and grinned as
she directed one of her knights forward. “I think I’m going to study
to become an Auror too, with Frank. My parents promised last summer
that they’d help me, as long as I become a good one.”
“Almost the same thing my
mum said,” Frank commented, smirking as his queen finished off one
of Alice’s pawns.
Lily looked thoughtful. “I’d
like to work in the Ministry, you know?” she said after a moment.
“What about you, Remus?”
He smiled dryly. “I’ll
find something. It’ll be hard, though, with my condition…”
“I’m not sure, either,”
Sirius added quickly. “I’ll see if there’s anything I’d be any
good at.” James nodded; he didn’t know either.
Silence followed, then Sirius
lightened the mood considerably by asking, “Anybody want to play some
Exploding Snap?”
The Marauders, Violet and Lily
responded immediately and began the first hand, while Frank and Alice
played chess on the floor. They were just starting their sixth round
of Exploding Snap when the trolley passed by, led by the plump lady
with graying hair. James and Sirius stopped the game and rushed out
before the rest of them, pulling out galleons.
“Two packages of Chocolate
Frogs, two Licorice Wands, one Cauldron Cake and some Bertie Bott’s
Every Flavour Beans…” recited Sirius. The lady smiled at him and
handed him the sweets, taking the money, as James hurriedly told her
what he wanted.
“Hey, Maddox!” Sirius shouted
at Violet as he returned to the compartment. Violet looked up in surprise
as he tossed her the Licorice Wands and a package of Chocolate Frogs.
She gaped at him and Sirius sent her the dazzling grin that had most
girls at Hogwarts swoon. He simultaneously opened the package of Bertie
Bott’s Every Flavour Beans and deposited a cluster into her hand.
“What?” He winked at her
and walked away, settling down to eat his own candy. Violet stared at
him for a moment, and then looked at the sickles she was clutching.
Only enough to pay for one package of Chocolate Frogs.
“Consider it an early birthday
present,” he said, as he began to eat a Cauldron Cake.
James surprised them all, but
rather pleased the woman who pushed the trolley when he fleetingly kissed
her on the cheek before coming back into the compartment. Lily bit back
laughter and quickly grabbed some of her own sweets, coming to sit down
beside Violet.
Their game continued, and some
people came to see them: Mary McConnor, who came to say goodbye to Lily,
because she said she was not sure if she would see her before she left
the platform; Kevin Drakon, who merely wanted to spend some time with
them and play a round of Exploding Snap; and Jonas Peakes, accompanied
by his girlfriend, who wanted to borrow Frank’s chess set.
As they left, Violet looked
up and spoke to Sirius. “Where’s Rosalind?”
He shrugged. “We broke up
a week ago.”
Everybody, except the other
three Marauders, looked up in surprise. “Oh,” said Frank. “You
lasted for a year and a half. That’s-”
“- the longest relationship
he’s ever had,” James finished for him. “Yeah, I know. I lost
thirty galleons thanks to that.”
“What?” exclaimed Sirius
in surprise.
Remus grinned. “He bet that
you’d last for less than three months. I bet more. And won.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“How come…?” began Lily,
rather hesitantly.
Sirius shrugged again. “I
know she’s interested in Diggory. Remember him?”
“Diggory?” exclaimed
Alice in surprise. “Amos Diggory?”
“Yeah, him. Apparently she
saw him at a Christmas party when she went home, and…he liked her.
Started sending her letters and all that, and she was answering. So
I told her that if she didn’t want me anymore, we could just break
up.”
“Just like that?”
“Well, I didn’t say it
like that,” said Sirius knowingly as he opened his Chocolate
Frogs package. “I put it differently, of course. But yeah, we broke
up. We’re still friends, though, I guess.”
The rest of the journey passed
too quickly. They ate sweets and continued their game of Exploding Snap,
and once they grew tired of it they had a long conversation about which
of the first years could be a good prankster, while Remus and Lily discussed
a book they had both recently read. The girls were surprised to know
that the Marauders had left their magical map behind, but James shrugged
and said, “We hid it somewhere where it’s either bound to be found
by Filch, or somebody who deserves to have it. Either way, somebody’s
going to get his hands on it, and then the map will serve its purpose.”
It was nighttime when the Hogwarts
Express finally pulled into Platform 9 and ¾. They lingered a bit before
getting their trunks and disembarking from the train, spurred on by
the sight of their families standing there waiting. James hurried over
to his parents, with Sirius behind him; he was to stay with the Potters
before he got enough money to buy a place for himself. As Mr. and Mrs.
Potter embraced their son, Sirius looked around. Close by, following
a group of Slytherins, was Regulus.
Sirius had the impression that
his dark-haired younger brother looked around at the same time as he
did, and for a moment their eyes met. To his surprise, Regulus did not
smirk at him as he always used to. Instead, he looked at Sirius as he
had once done when he was a very small boy; he gazed at his older brother
with something akin to familiarity, maybe even with a spark of respect,
then quickly looked down before hurrying off, following the other Slytherins
in the direction that probably led to Mr. and Mrs. Black.
With a sinking heart, Sirius
looked away. He had recognized the leader of the group: Yaxley, probably
already a Death Eater, or an aspiring one. Sirius hurriedly turned to
greet the Potters, hoping that the Blacks would not come towards them.
He had no wish to meet them, though it was most likely that Walburga
did not think of him at all anymore.
Towards their right, Lily was
hugging her parents. To nobody’s surprise, Petunia had not come to
meet her, but she still felt sad and maybe even resentful towards her
sister. As her mother began to speak to her, Lily listened, but was
distracted by somebody passing behind Mrs. Evans.
Dark, greasy-haired Severus
Snape stalked by. His robes were almost as black as his mood, it seemed.
His eyes were lowered as if he wanted to burn the ground with his very
gaze. Then he turned his attention towards Lily.
At that moment, she was aware
of James coming to stand beside her and beginning to speak to her, before
he noticed Severus. There was no mistaking the look of loathing towards
James, or the resentment towards Lily, but as he moved away from them,
maybe not even Lily perceived the strange longing that was masked by
the resentment.
She watched him go, and her
mother spoke. “Darling, isn’t that your friend? What was his name…?”
Lily’s heart constricted,
but she managed to speak in spite of it, doing her best to keep her
tone controlled. “No, mum. He isn’t my friend anymore. Let’s go.”
James turned to look at her,
but she avoided eye contact. She still hurt, knowing that he quite unmistakably
intended to become a Death Eater. A shiver ran down her spine…would
she need to work against him? Maybe even kill him?
She dismissed the idea from
her mind and, after kissing James briefly, followed her parents through
the Platform barrier and into the Muggle world.
Violet Apparated outside the fence and looked around
furtively, hoping that Dumbledore had been right.
He had been, as usual. The street was completely devoid of
Muggles, which was rather surprising, as the house directly in front of her did
not give the impression of being created and inhabited by wizards.
It was a small house with whitewashed walls, a red roof, and
many curtained windows. A path led to a wooden front door, and around the
building was a garden with a few rosebushes surrounded by a waist-high hedge
and a white fence. Violet absorbed the sight as she ran her fingers through her
brown hair and wondered if she had understood the address correctly.
Suddenly, she heard a sharp pop and spun around to find
Alice Addison standing there, bushing her robes vigorously with her hands.
“Hey,” she said, grinning at Violet.
“What happened to you?” Violet replied bemusedly, watching
her.
“Oh, nothing. I just happened to fall down and didn’t bother
to clean the dirt off before Disapparating,” she said sheepishly, and walked to
her friend’s side. “Interesting place,” she remarked as she gazed at the house
in front of them.
“Looks kind of cute,” said Violet with a grin. “Are you sure
this is the address?”
Alice nodded and opened the gate, allowing them both to pass
through. As they walked along the dirt path, she asked, “So, how’s everything?”
“Fine,” Violet shrugged. “I’m helping dad now, cleaning the
rooms in the Leaky Cauldron. I think he’ll be able to retire soon and get a
place somewhere else. Living in the rooms there has its advantages, but it’s a
bit noisy and I know he’s not entirely comfortable there…” she trailed off as
they passed the rosebushes and reached the front porch. “How about you?”
Alice knocked three times on the door before saying, “Oh,
pretty well, in fact. I’ve just begun my Auror studies…though it’s really,
really, really hard and they’ve already dumped a whole lot of homework on us.
Frank’s okay; he was always a good student at Hogwarts, but I’m still
struggling with it all.” She laughed, but stopped suddenly when a wheezy voice
spoke from the other side of the doorway.
“Who is it?”
Although Violet had been expecting it, Alice looked a bit
surprised; nobody had even moved the door.
“Violet Maddox, recently graduated from Hogwarts,” Violet
told the person on the other side of the door. “I used to be in Gryffindor, and
Dumbledore informed me of this meeting in his office. With me is Alice Addison,
who also recently graduated from Hogwarts and was in Gryffindor.”
“Password?” the voice asked. The word reminded them so much
of the Fat Lady’s portrait that led to the Gryffindor common room that Alice
began to giggle.
Violet shushed her, but smiled widely as she said,
“Phoenix.”
The door nudged opened and a man looked out. He was short
with graying hair, wearing deep blue robes and a strange hat with what looked
like a stuffed ferret on the brim. He appeared to be in his fifties. The man
smiled nervously as he stepped away from the entrance to allow the two young
witches to enter and, with a bow, introduced himself as Elphias Doge and
instructed them to continue through the house until they reached a red door.
Violet looked around. The house was dark, the only light
source a few candles on the walls, enabling only a dim view of the dusty
sitting room. A strange glass instrument was spinning on a small table beside
the door: a Sneakoscope.
Following Doge’s instructions, they walked through the
sitting room, searching for a red door. Beyond was a corridor with bare white
walls and many doors. None of them were red. Violet felt that their footsteps,
echoing in the silence, were making too much noise. She felt as though she and
Alice were trudging through a narrow underground tunnel, heading deeper and
deeper towards the heart of the Earth. She laughed inwardly at her own
imagination.
Finally they reached the end of the corridor, and saw before
them a door that had been painted a vivid red. She wondered why anybody would
paint a door such a bright colour.
Beside it were a couple of candles standing on high stool, illuminating the
doorway.
Violet hesitated. Alice glanced at her and then at the door,
and finally turned the handle.
There was almost an explosion of colour. The room was vast, with around
twenty chairs organized in an oval shape, and lit by two enormous chandeliers
that hung from the roof. It seemed that the room had been magically expanded to
allow enough people to fit.
On one of the chairs sat none other than Albus Dumbledore,
speaking to a wizard who looked extremely excited to be there, though also
rather nervous. Two men with light brown hair and identical grins sat close by,
wearing dark robes that didn’t quite succeed in hiding their muscular figures.
Upon seeing the girls enter the room, they quickly stood and advanced towards
them.
“Hi Alice, Violet,” Fabian Prewett greeted them, flashing a
grin.
“Long time no see,” joked his twin, Gideon, as Alice and
Violet shook hands with both of them.
“Nice to see you both,” said Alice, returning their smile,
and Violet nodded.
“Ah, Miss Addison and Miss Maddox!” a voice cried, and the
twins moved to the side to make way for Albus Dumbledore, who was smiling
brightly, his blue eyes twinkling behind his half-moon spectacles. Behind him
stood the wizard he was speaking to before, his excitement slightly subdued but
still visible on his round face.
“Good afternoon, sir,” said Violet, and Alice also greeted
him.
“This is a good friend of mine, Dedalus Diggle. Dedalus,
this is Miss Violet Maddox and Miss Alice Addison. They graduated from Hogwarts
a week ago. Exceptional students, both of them,” said Dumbledore. Alice flushed
slightly at the last part, but shook hands with Dedalus after Violet.
“Pleased to meet you,” Dedalus cried excitedly. “It’s good
to see some young folks in the Order.”
Gideon raised his eyebrows, stifling a grin.
“Ah, but Dedalus, let us not forget Fabian and Gideon. They
are still young,” said Dumbledore with an amused smile.
“Thank you, Professor,” Gideon laughed, and Dedalus
chuckled, looking rather abashed.
Dumbledore peered behind the girls, “Perhaps we ought to
move back towards the chairs. Our troupe is fast growing.”
They quickly obliged, looking over at the group of wizards
and witches who had just entered. Dumbledore introduced them: Caradoc Dearborn,
Emmeline Vance and Benjy Fenwick. Shuffling behind them, meek and awkward, was
Peter. He went to sit down behind Violet, smiling at her and Alice and handing
them some chocolate frogs he produced from his pocket. A few minutes later he
was followed by the gigantic figure of Rubeus Hagrid, who squeezed through the
doorway and beamed at all of them as he made way for Dorcas Meadowes.
Five minutes later Frank Longbottom finally appeared,
talking to a wizard who moved stiffly because of his wooden leg. His face was
covered with scars, which gave him the appearance of a wooden face carved
blunderingly. The wizard growled, “…it’s harder than it sounds, Longbottom,
you’ve got to be good at it. We’ll talk later.” He moved forward and went to
sit near Dumbledore.
Frank looked very excited as he greeted his Violet and his
girlfriend, sitting down beside her. “Hey, Alice,” he said in a low voice so
that nobody would hear, “that’s Alastor Moody!”
“What?” Alice exclaimed, but quickly lowered her
voice when Frank hurriedly shushed her. “Moody? The top-notch Auror? Really?”
She glanced at Moody quickly, clearly as excited as Frank.
“Yeah…”
They began to speak animatedly, and Violet looked away,
checking her watch. It was almost time for the meeting to begin. Where on Earth
were the others?
A minute later Lily appeared, looking worried, but relieved
when she saw that the meeting hadn’t begun yet. However, the worry returned to
her emerald eyes when she scanned the room and noticed that James, Remus and
Sirius were missing.
“Where - ?” she began, flopping down beside Violet after
greeting everyone, and tying her hair in a ponytail, placing her bag beside her
chair.
“We don’t know.”
Lily bit her lip and began to fiddle with her bracelet
nervously. Violet was beginning to get worried too.
“Of all the days to be late, it had to be this one!”
she moaned, glancing around to see how many people had already arrived.
Violet glanced at Dumbledore. He didn’t seem to be worried
or showing any signs of impatience for the meeting to begin at all.
Suddenly Violet’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of
hurried footsteps echoing loudly from the hallway. The three missing Marauders
had finally arrived, appearing slightly flustered. Elphias Doge was behind
them, looking rather tired.
James hurried to sit beside Lily, ignoring her furious
glares, and Sirius and Remus sat on either side of Peter.
“What happened to you? Of all the days you could come
late - !”
“Long story,” Sirius replied. Noticing Lily still scowling,
James sighed as he adjusted his glasses and said, “We unfortunately ran into a
couple of people who - ”
But at that moment Dumbledore stood up and cleared his
throat, and the entire room fell silent.
“Now that we are all here,” he began, and Lily glared
pointedly at James, “I wish to begin the meeting with a few words.
“I have called you here to join the Order of the Phoenix, an
organization that will fight ceaselessly against Voldemort and his Death
Eaters.” Almost everybody shuddered at the name of the Dark Lord. Violet
couldn’t help but remember a time only a few years ago, when most people
wouldn’t have even recognized the name.
Dumbledore smiled wearily. “As I always say, fear of the
name only increases fear of the thing itself. And if we plan to fight
effectively, we cannot be too fearful, or the strength of our fighting will be
affected.
“Therefore, I wish to say this: by joining the Order, you
will be continuously placing yourselves in mortal peril. Now, due to the
missions you will be assigned, and later, when we begin to be recognized by the
Death Eaters as members of the Order. I wish you all to be aware of this, for
though it is much easier to step back and allow others to do our job, it is
important that we take matters into
our own hands. We must choose between what is right and what is easy. I beg you
all to think carefully, for soon there will be no stepping back.” He fell
silent and looked around, focusing his gaze on each person in the room in turn,
but nobody moved or expressed their desire to leave.
“Very well,” he continued after a few seconds. “Then we will
begin. As you all know or have guessed, Voldemort’s ultimate goal is to take
command of the entire country (both magical and non-magical), and later,
presumably, the world. Unfortunately, he seems to be succeeding. Or first
priority must be to ensure that the Ministry of Magic is safe from Death
Eaters. We have received intelligence that he has many spies in various
departments. Our mission, therefore, is to ensure that nobody is placed under
the Imperius curse, particularly the Heads of Department and Minister Bagnold
both at work and at home. Also, we will need to lay our hands on as much
information about Voldemort’s plans as we can. For that, we will need “ for
want of a more refined word - spies. Moreover, our mission will be to sabotage
all the Death Eaters’ attacks on both magical and non-magical people.”
Dumbledore paused for a moment, glanced around the room, and then continued,
“We must work hard to achieve all this.” There were nods throughout the
room.
“Merely as a reminder, our objective is not to kill
Death Eaters,” he turned his eyes onto James, and the latter wondered how he
could possibly know of the conversation on the train, “although I have heard
that Aurors have already been given the right to do so. Our goal is to disarm
them and send them directly to interrogation and prison. We will be careful to
identify those under the Imperius curse and those fully conscious of their
acts, for we do not wish to send any innocent people to Azkaban. Already,
Bartimeus Crouch, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, has begun
to do just that, and we should ensure that we do not make such a mistake.
“So, in my opinion there are two people in particular who we
must protect: the Minister and Crouch, both of whom who could be very dangerous
if placed under the Imperius curse. For that job, we will need one or two
members of the Order who work or study at the Ministry per person, and three to
be stationed at each of their homes. Is there anybody who would like to
volunteer?”
Alastor Moody spoke first. “I can protect Crouch at work,”
he growled. “I reckon I can do it alone.” Dumbledore nodded.
“I can protect the Minister,” Caradoc Dearborn offered.
Frank suddenly spoke up, “I can help. I’m studying at the
Ministry.”
“Good,” said Dumbledore, and smiled once more. “For their
homes…?”
James turned in his seat to look at Sirius. “Padfoot…” he
whispered.
Sirius nodded and turned to face Dumbledore. “We can do it, James
and I. We can protect Bagnold.”
Dumbledore nodded again, but said thoughtfully, “Perhaps
there ought to be three. At night there is a higher likelihood of attack, and
it would be best if there were more of you. Alice, would you mind being the
third?”
“Sure,” said Alice without hesitation. Her usual playful
expression had been replaced by one of firm determination. Frank squeezed her
hand.
The rest of the meeting passed surprisingly quickly.
Arrangements were made for protecting the key people of the Ministry. Also,
certain people were assigned other jobs, such as signing up for a job somewhere
where they would gather information about possible Death Eaters. Lily was told
to find a job somewhere in Diagon Alley, and Violet to continue at the Leaky Cauldron.
“It is still one of the most popular places in England, and
I am sure you will be able to pick up information there,” Dumbledore had told
her.
Sirius, Remus and Peter were also encouraged to work
somewhere where they would be able to gather information, especially if a
possible Death Eater or somebody they felt would be useful to Voldemort worked
there with them. People who worked at the Ministry would be revising the
records of people recently imprisoned for crimes related to Voldemort, attempting
to sort the innocent from the guilty and free them. There were few trials at
the Ministry of Magic lately because there was simply not enough time to hold
one for each person.
The meeting ended two hours later. Dumbledore sat down once
more and Emmeline Vance summoned some tea and biscuits for everybody. People
began to talk amongst themselves, turning their chairs to face people behind
and around them. The tea was good, though slightly bitter, as were the
biscuits. Violet overheard Alastor Moody arguing with Elphias Doge.
“Take off the hat,” he growled. “It’s like something out of
a nightmare.”
Doge took off his unusual hat and examined it closely.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s a dead, stuffed animal. It’s stupid.”
“I don’t think so, Alastor. I like it.”
“It’s stupid, I tell you! How can you expect anybody to take
you seriously when you’re wearing a stuffed animal on your head?”
“It was my grandfather’s!”
“No wonder it looks rotten. Your grandfather had terrible
fashion sense, Doge.”
Elphias looked affronted.
They carried on that way, and Violet chuckled. She carried
her cup of tea over to her group of friends, who were laughing at a joke James
had just told. Lily was hovering behind him.
“So, how’s everything?” Alice asked Fabian and Gideon. She
seemed quite fond of that phrase.
Fabian shrugged. “Fine, I guess. My sister Molly married a
year ago and she already has a kid.”
“Really?” Lily exclaimed in surprise. “Who did she marry?”
“Arthur Weasley,” answered Gideon. “Remember him? They were
together for years.”
“The kid’s called Bill…and he’s got red hair exactly
like his dad,” added Fabian.
“Just like all the Weasleys.”
James laughed and finished the biscuit in his hand. Lily
came to sit beside him and joined her arm with his. He smiled at her and
offered her another biscuit from the plate on his lap.
“As for us,” continued Fabian, “we’re working at Gringotts.”
“The goblins like us,” Gideon grinned.
“Yeah, we have fan-goblins following us around all the time.
They have buttons that say: ‘Go, Prewetts!’ and ‘I’m Mrs. Prewett!’,” his
brother added sarcastically. Gideon pulled a face.
“No goblin women for me…” he grimaced, and they laughed.
“Speaking of Gringotts,” said Fabian suddenly in a much more
serious tone, and he reached into his robes, pulling out a battered looking
golden pocket watch. Remus eyed it, smirking.
“Nice clock.”
Fabian chuckled. “I don’t really take care of these things-”
“- He finds it hard enough to take care of himself!”
finished Gideon, and his twin slapped him on the shoulder, though he laughed
along with the others.
“As I was saying,
speaking of Gringotts, it’s time we left, Gid.”
“You’re right,” Gideon sighed regretfully.
“It’s a pity we can’t delight you with our presence
anymore…but as hard as it is to believe, we have work to do.”
“If he treats his watch in that way, I worry about my
Gringotts vault,” teased James.
They laughed. Fabian stuck his tongue out childishly and
shook hands with everybody alongside his brother. Then they walked away. Alice got
up as well and pulled Frank along with her, intent on going to speak to Moody,
who seemed to have given up on convincing Elphias Doge that his hat was stupid.
Lily began to talk to James about something that evidently caught his interest,
because he shifted in his seat to talk to her. Remus got up to serve himself
more tea, and Peter followed him.
Violet sighed and looked around. “Unfortunately I have to go
too,” she said.
Sirius looked up from his tea. “Got work to do?”
She grinned mischievously. “Not really…”
“What, then?” he asked curiously.
“Well, I’m not expected at the Leaky Cauldron until three -
that’s in an hour - and Florean Fortescue’s ice cream shop closes at five,
which is before I finish my job. And I happen to have a craving for chocolate
ice cream at this moment. Anyway, it looks like that Fenwick person and the
other man have already left, like the Prewetts.”
Sirius grinned, and she was reminded of the time he had
charmed the blackboard in the History of Magic classroom to make faces every
time their teacher’s back was turned. He put down his tea on the empty chair
beside him and said casually, “Do you mind if I join you?”
As long as you don’t tell anybody where we’re going.”
“Why?”
“They might feel offended. Few people truly appreciate
Fortescue’s chocolate ice cream.” Violet’s eyes lit up hungrily. She was known
to have a fixation for sweet things; Honeydukes had been a paradise to her. It
was a miracle that she remained slim.
“It’s a deal.”