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.”