“James, Lily, Albus is at the door.” James’s mother walks into the room to tell us.
It’s late; you wonder why he has come at this time. James gets up from the couch and pulls you up with him.
James was talking about maybe buying a flat together. He wants to be closer to you. You haven’t answered him yet; you were about to when his mother walked in. You walk to the front door with James to see what Dumbledore wants. He is standing at the door, waiting.
“I will let you talk alone.” Mrs. Potter leaves you there.
“Is there a place where we can sit down?” Dumbledore asks.
James leads Dumbledore back to where we were sitting before Mrs. Potter got us. You sit down next to James. He puts his arm around you. Dumbledore sits in a chair across from you.
“I’m sure that you are aware of the war that is going on right now.” You nod your head. James does too.
“I have a feeling that you want to do something about it.” He pauses. “Have you heard of the Order of the Phoenix?”
You look at James and he looks at you. “No, we haven’t heard of it,” you answer.
“I thought you wouldn’t. It is an organization that I have created that fights against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. I am asking you if you want to join. Keep in mind that it will be very dangerous; people have died already.”
You look back to James and you can tell that he is considering it. “I’ll do it,” he says after a minute.
You’ve always said that you wanted to do something to fight against Voldemort. Now you have that chance. But then why is it taking you so long to say yes? Is it because there is a chance that you might die? You want to live a long, happy life, and so did the other people who have already died in this war. They didn’t have the chance to fight, but you do.
“You don’t have to join if you don’t want to, Lily,” Dumbledore says.
“Yes,” you say. “I want to join.” You don’t look at James, you only look at Dumbledore. You are doing this for yourself, not for James.
“Are you sure about this? You don’t want to think about this between the two of you?” he pauses for a moment. “No one will think anything bad of you if you don’t want to join.”
“I know, Dumbledore, but we want to join,” James answers for the both of us.
“Very well, then. It is best of you don’t talk to anyone about it. I have asked Sirius and Remus and they have both agreed to join.”
“What about Peter?” James cuts in.
“I am going to ask him next.”
James nods.
“You of course may talk about it amongst yourselves, but talk about it wisely; be aware of who is around you.”
“I won’t tell anyone, sir,” you say.
“Neither will I.”
Dumbledore moves on quickly. “The next meeting is Wednesday at the Longbottoms’ house at seven o’clock.”
“Do you mean Auror Longbottom?” James asks.
You feel reassured that there are Aurors in the Order of the Phoenix. You are happy that there are people who know how to fight properly.
“Yes, Frank and Alice Longbottom.” Dumbledore stands up and both of you do too.
“Do you want anything to drink?” James asks Dumbledore.
“Thank you for the offer, but I must be off.” He walks to the front door like he has many times before. You follow and see him out.
James looks at you. You know that he is happy; he finally has something to do in this war.
You wonder if Dumbledore knew that you are at James’ house. Was he just asking you because you are here, or because he wants you? What use will you be to the Order of the Phoenix? You aren’t an amazing duelist. You can make a decent potion, but you know that there is a Death Eater who is better than you. So what use will you be to them? Or are you just going to be another person who dies?
Dumbledore said that people were dying. How many? One every month; one every day? When will you join those numbers? When will James?
“Have you ever heard of the Order of the Phoenix? Because I haven’t.”
“No, I haven’t.” You answer again even though you already said that. “Do you know where the Longbottoms’ live?”
“Yes; Dad used to talk about Frank before and he mentioned where he lives.”
You nod. James puts his arm around your shoulder and kisses your forehead. “Are you sure that you want to do this?”
“I’m just as sure of this as I am of living with you.”
“Really? You want to live with me?”
“Yes, I do. Why wouldn’t I?” you say. You turn to him and you give him a tight hug. You kiss where your head lands, which is still on the top of his shirt.
You turn away from him and walk to where you saw Mrs. Potter go last, which is in the direction of the kitchen. James follows. Luckily she is still there.
“What does Albus want?”
James thinks about what he will say. You know the answer, but you will let him say it. “He asked us if we wanted to fight.”
You watch as Mrs. Potter puts her hand on her mouth. She comes and gives both of you a hug. It’s not tight, but there is just as much love in it. “You must be careful,” she says. “You have to look out for one another.”
“We will, Mum.”
She sighs. “I know that you will keep yourselves safe.” She eyes both of you. James grins back at her.
She grabs her tea, leaving you in the kitchen with James. He gives you a hug, which you give back. You like being in his arms; it comforts you. He takes the advantage of being alone and kisses you. It’s an awkward kiss, and it makes you giggle.
“What?” he asks.
“That kiss was funny; you made a funny face.”
“Be quiet.” He pulls away from you and gives you a kiss on the cheek. He starts to place kisses along you neck gently.
“Mm, James, I should go. Mum’s probably wondering where I am.”
“I said be quiet.” So you will stop talking, he starts kissing your lips. You pull away.
“James, you know how it is. Mum likes me at home.”
He backs away from you. “I know, but I would like to spend some time with you, without our old Headmaster in the room.”
“I do too, but I should go.”
He sighs and he walks you to the door.
“Should I say goodbye to your mum?” you ask. You don’t want to be rude.
“No, she won’t mind. I’ll tell her that you said bye.”
“Thanks.”
He kisses you one last time before you Apparate away.
*
You get ready to Apparate to James’s house when there was a knock on the door. You open it and a woman is standing there. She looks familiar but you can’t place her face.
“Are you Lily?”
“Yes; who are you?”
“I am Alice Longbottom. Dumbledore sent me.” she says that quietly. “May I come in?”
You let her in, but with caution. “Why are you here?”
“I’m going to take you to the Order. You need to know the password to get in, and you need to know where to Apparate. There are some places where you won’t be able to enter.”
“Okay, then. Am I going to side-along Apparate?”
“Yes, that would probable be best.”
“Wait,” you say, “what about James?”
“Someone else from the Order is getting him.” She reaches out for your arm and you give it to her. You don’t bother saying bye to your mum, as she is sleeping. She isn’t feeling well.
You leave your house and seconds later you are in an empty street. You see the Longbottoms’ house are both of you walk to it. It’s dark out so you can’t see very well, but from what you can tell the house looks beautiful. She leads you up to the doorstep and points her wand at the door. It opens and you walk in.
You are nervous; you don’t know what to expect.
The inside of the house is just as beautiful as the outside. The house itself isn’t big, but it’s like someone put an enlargement charm on it. There are a few people walking around, but most are in a room, sitting at a table. Alice leads you to that the table and you see that James is sitting there next to Peter and Sirius. You take it that Remus is on his way. You sit down next to Peter.
There are many people who you have never seen before. Some people look like they’ve been through too much in their lifetime and some people don’t look much older than you. More people come in and McGonagall is one of them. Sirius’s mouth opens for a second but then he shuts it again. Remus comes in next and sits in one of the last empty chairs in the back of the small room. Peter and Sirius start talking about something but you aren’t paying attention.
Dumbledore stands up and all of the people who are talking stop and pay attention. “There are new people who have decided to join us: James, Sirius, Peter, Lily, Stacy, and Remus.” He points to each of you respectively. “They are all exceptionally talented for their age and they will make a great asset to the Order. Will everyone introduce themselves?”
You listen quietly as people introduce themselves. There are only about fifteen of them, including the Marauders and yourself. You have only heard of a few members before: Alice and Frank Longbottom, Minerva, and Dumbledore. Everyone else is new to you.
“There are Death Eater activities in London. I do not know what they are planning to do, so we have to tread lightly. There was also a mysterious death in a Muggle home; the Muggle police don’t know what caused it.”
“You think that it was the Death Eaters? Did the Muggle know about the Wizarding world; did he have a Muggle-born in the family?” a man named Edward asks.
“Not that I know of, but yes, I do believe that it was Death Eaters that caused this. But, there wasn’t a Dark Mark.”
“If there wasn’t a Dark Mark, then it wasn’t the Death Eaters.” Sirius says.
“And how do you know that?” Edward asks. You get the feeling that not many people like him.
“The Death Eaters would never kill anyone without putting their Mark up. They take pride in their kills; they would show it if they killed someone.”
Edward doesn’t look happy. “And how do you know this?”
“Have you read the papers?” Frank asked before Sirius could answer. “Every time they kill, they leave the Dark Mark. They wouldn’t stop doing that now.”
“Then who killed the Muggle?”
“Maybe it was a Death Eater, but he wasn’t working on Voldemort’s orders.” Alice says. “What if he acted on his own will?”
“Is the Ministry investigating this incident?” Minerva asks. You feel weird thinking of her as anything other than Professor McGonagall.
Frank answers her. “I don’t know yet; maybe tomorrow there will be something. No one has asked me to go check the house.”
“They haven’t asked me either.” Alice says.
“When you go to the Ministry tomorrow ask if you can go to the house.” Dumbledore says.
You have a feeling that he is going to say something else but you interrupt anyways. “Wouldn’t someone from the Ministry already have gone to the house by now?”
“I can go; Moody will let me.”
You nod. You wonder what you are going to do about the Death Eaters in London. What does the Order do if there is a Death Eater attack?
It finally hits you that you will be fighting Death Eaters “ men who know how to fight “ and you won’t know what to do. You’ve joked around before, but that was with your friends; you knew that they would never seriously hurt you. You were just messing around, having some fun. Your life is now on the line.
“What about the Death Eaters in London?” Stacy asks. “What are we going to do about them?”
“We are going to wait until we know more. I don’t know where in London they are and it would be unwise to do anything before we know anything. But for now you know what you need to be doing. I must go to the Ministry and meet with the Minister.” He gets up and leaves. He is probably already late.
You wonder why James didn’t say anything. Maybe he didn’t want to. Maybe he didn’t have anything to say. Maybe he’s just as scared as you are.
Other people get up and so do you. You walk out of the room, following James. You wonder what you are supposed to do now. You see someone leaving and you wonder if that’s what you are supposed to do. You wouldn’t be able to get back though; no one has told you the password.
Remus comes up to you and James. “The password is resistance, in case no one has told you. McGonagall told me to make sure I told you, just to be sure.”
“Thank you, Remus,” you say. “Is that really the password?”
“That’s what I said when I hear it.”
“I wonder what Dumbledore has to do at the Ministry,” Peter asks.
“Something important,” James answers.
“So do you think we can leave now?” Remus asks.
“I don’t see why not.” Sirius answers. He says goodbye to you and the Marauders and he walks out the door.
“I’m going too,”
“Me too,” Peter and Remus walk out at the same time.
“Are you ready to go?” James asks you.
“Yes, I think so.”
You walk to the door with James behind you. He kisses your hand before he Apparates away. You follow right after him. When you are at your house again he is standing there at the door. You walk up and stand in front of him. He puts his hand on your cheek.
“When will I see you again?” I ask.
“Soon,” he says. He bends down to kiss you and you kiss him back. He pulls you towards him. He pulls away again. “I don’t really want to go…”
“I don’t want you to either.” You say that but you know he has to.
He kisses you on the forehead and on the cheek before he leaves. You open your door and go up to your room. You get ready for bed, thinking about the war that you have just entered.