Chapter Eleven
Alice stared at the ceiling, knowing that she should be trying to sleep yet still unable to do so. It wasn't really that late yet, and in spite of--or perhaps because of--all that had happened that day, her mind was racing too fast for her body to stop and rest. She felt anxious and confused and happy and guilty and frightened all at the same time.
Beside her, Frank slept soundly. How he had managed to make it through the day in his condition still baffled her. Once again she was amazed at his strength, and yet at the same time, she had now seen his vulnerabilities and found him all the more attractive for them.
Glancing at his peaceful face, she stopped herself from reaching out to smooth his furrowed brow. He needed his rest for whatever they would face the following day. Instead, she gently kissed his lips and sat up, running a hand through her hair to try and calm it into some semblance of order before padding softly toward the door.
"Where are you going?" he asked, still half asleep.
"I'm thirsty," she whispered, not wanting to disturb him. "Do you need another draught?"
He mumbled something that sounded like, "Come back to sleep," but Alice just smiled to herself and left. She was surprised to see a light on in the main room, where Fabian had settled into the chintz chair with a book and a mug of tea. What was he doing awake in the middle of the night?
He glanced up when he heard her and grinned. "Another night owl, then?" he said.
"I am tonight," she replied, shrugging ruefully.
"Is Frank all right?" he asked, sounding concerned, and she was grateful for his thoughtfulness.
"He's sound asleep. I just needed something to drink."
"There's plenty of tea," he said as she continued into the kitchen. "Moody won't allow us anything much stronger."
"I can imagine," she laughed, helping herself to a chipped mug from a cabinet. She filled it with water, quickly warmed it with her wand, and found some tea. Holding the mug with two hands, she carried it back to the living room to let it steep and curled up on the couch across from Fabian. "Why are you awake?"
He shrugged. "Figured someone should stay up with everything that's going on. Gideon said he'd be back early so I could catch a few hours of sleep."
"Have you heard from Moody or Dumbledore?" she asked, and he nodded.
"I had a message from Moody about an hour ago. He said they're really busy. Everyone's out--it's worse than we thought."
She frowned as she sipped at her drink. "How can it get worse than dragons and giants and werewolves?" she asked, and he set down his book with a sarcastic tip of his head.
"Well, the dragon has been wrangled, but there were several injuries. There are more giants than expected, the WCU has had so many werewolf reports that they can't handle it alone anymore, and apparently a large company of hags and banshees have descended upon York."
Alice shook her head as she took a sip of tea. She wanted to be out there helping, yet she knew there was more to come. "Have we heard whether the concert has been canceled? Was Dumbledore able to convince the Minister?"
"Our Minister, yes," said Fabian. "In spite of his outward appearance, he holds Dumbledore in extremely high regard and will do just about whatever he says. But the Muggle prime minister was adamant. The concert must go on. Opening night, important guests, national morale, blah blah blah."
"Good Godric," Alice said, aghast. "That's mad."
Fabian shrugged. "I'm sure the man doesn't really understand what he's up against. He said he'd increase Muggle security. You know, with those weapons they carry--guns."
"As if that will hold back a Death Eater," she said with a roll of her eyes.
"That will be our job," Fabian returned cheerfully. "Which is why we've got our feet up for now--so we'll be ready to save the world later."
Alice was silent for a while as she contemplated Fabian's words. "Is that what you do in the Order? Save the world when the Ministry can't?"
He studied her before replying, much like Frank might have done. It suddenly reminded her of being at school, and of the small crush she'd had on Fabian when they had played Quidditch together…until it had become fairly obvious she was nothing more than a friendly third year, more of a younger sister than a potential date. And of course, there had been the time she'd walked in on him kissing one of the Hufflepuff Beaters in the Quidditch changing room, after which all her hopes had evaporated in shock and almost a bit of relief.
"It's not that the Ministry can't," he said, sitting up straighter and sounding very serious. "Frank was right earlier: the Ministry can handle it. But this war is getting bigger and bigger, and they need our help." He glanced slyly at the ceiling. "Secret help. We can operate in the shadows a bit more easily than you can, see."
"How?" she asked, genuinely curious. He leaned forward with a grin, obviously warming up to the conversation.
"We've got people everywhere, watching and listening and even spying. We hear things before you do, little things. We have a good idea of who they are and where they are, and we're constantly trying to stop them before you're even called in."
"So you're saying that the Order is trying to make my job easier?" she asked skeptically. She had been working like mad for the past month; if that was his idea of easier, she wondered what sort of caseload the department would be dealing with if the Order wasn't out there trying to fight back on its own.
"I'm sure it doesn't seem like it," he laughed. "You work your arse off, I know. That's why it's brilliant we've got two good Aurors on our side now."
"How do you know we're on your side?" Alice asked. She still wasn't completely sure she was, after all. When Moody had ordered them there, was that as Order members or Aurors? He had welcomed them into the Order, but did she want to join? Frank had as much as said so, and deep down she suspected she would as well, but it was a strange, nervous welcome, to be sure.
"You're here," Fabian said simply. "Moody may have sent you as an Auror, but he wouldn't have done so if he didn't want you and trust you. We need you," he finished. "I think what's happening now proves it. You're on the inside and can get us even more information now."
Alice nodded slowly, knowing he was right. The tea was settling her racing thoughts, but she had one last question. "How did he make his Patronus talk? He said Gideon would show us when we got here, but we didn't have a chance."
Setting down his own mug, Fabian grinned as he picked up his wand and stood. "Then I'll show you, and you can show Longbottom when he's not puking his guts out." When Alice gave him a reproachful look, he laughed. "I know, concussion and all that. What's going on with you two, anyway? That hand-holding was way more than just partners in the office."
Alice felt herself blushing. "I don't know," she admitted, because she really didn't. "It just happened today."
"I doubt that." Fabian snorted. He motioned her to stand next to him. "Whatever's going on between you two has been there for a while, I'd reckon."
Alice shook her head in amazement. "We haven't seen one another since you left Hogwarts. How in the world would you know anything like that?"
"I can tell." He shrugged. "It's a gift. Now, do you want to know the spell or not?"
With a nod, Alice pulled out her wand and took her first official plunge into the Order of the Phoenix.
* * *
Several hours later, Alice was awakened by a soft nudge on her shoulder, followed by a gentle hand running a finger along her cheek and calling her name. Her well-trained Auror instincts had her shooting up before she'd even rubbed the sleep from her eyes, right hand reaching for her wand. Frank pulled back to avoid getting clocked in the head, wide-eyed at her reaction.
"Wow, do you always wake up like that?" he asked with a nervous laugh.
"When I'm not expecting someone to wake me up, yes," she said, glancing around in confusion. It came back to her quickly: she was in the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, where she must have fallen asleep on the sofa sometime during the night. She remembered coming out for tea, talking with Fabian, and learning the fascinating spell that would now allow her Patronus to talk. She did not, however, remember falling asleep at some point during the night, or someone tucking a blanket over her when she did.
"It's all right," Frank said softly, obviously noticing her confusion. "We're still at Order headquarters and it's half past eight. Moody just sent another talking ferret to let us know the meeting starts in an hour, so I thought I'd wake you."
"Brilliant," she said, unable to hold back a yawn as she stretched. "Just enough time to clean up before starting all over."
Frank frowned. "Are you all right?" he asked. "I had no idea you were out here, otherwise I would have switched places with you…" He trailed off, and she could tell he felt bad about it.
"I'm fine," she said, although she felt stiff and tired. "I couldn't sleep, so I came out for some tea and ended up crashing here." When he didn't respond, she put her hand on his still scratched cheek, now covered with stubble. "It wasn't you, and you needed a good night's sleep anyway. How do you feel?"
He shrugged. "Better than yesterday, although I could use one of those draughts Lily left."
"Then take one, they're in the kitchen. Smells like someone is cooking in there, too." Alice found she was once again starving.
Frank grinned. "Gideon is cooking us breakfast. After telling him more about yesterday, he felt sorry for us and decided we needed a good meal to keep us going."
"Even better!" she laughed as she stood. "Go ahead and get started then while I make myself presentable."
"You look beautiful," he murmured, smiling as he tucked a stray curl behind her ear. Then he cleared his throat. "But I'll wait if you want to freshen up."
She moved to kiss him on the cheek, but he turned his face toward hers and caught her lips instead. Smiling against him, she couldn't help but feel a flood of happiness at whatever had blossomed between them during the last twenty-four hours. She idly wondered if it was simply the stress of the situation, but then she had been feeling something for several weeks, so maybe he had as well. Maybe it was real.
Frank opened his mouth to speak, and she shook her head at him before he could even begin. "Don't you dare apologize. I'm tired of hearing you mutter those two words over and over."
He gave her a dry look. "I wasn't going to apologize. I think we're a bit beyond that now, don't you?"
Unsure what to say, she took his hand and led him back down the hall toward the room where he had slept. She shut the door behind them to find him already sitting on the edge of the bed, watching her.
"Do we need to talk?" he asked, looking more nervous than he sounded.
"I'm not sure what there is to talk about," she replied. For some reason, she stayed by the door, maybe because if she were to get any closer to him she'd end up snogging him again, just like at the office the day before. And it wasn't the time or place, although she couldn't help thinking about it…
"This," he said, gesturing between them. "Us. Work. The Order." He sighed and shook his head. "So much has happened in the last twenty-four hours I don’t even know where to start."
"Do you regret anything?" When he frowned, she amended her question; she knew how he felt about John Dawlish, after all. "I mean, anything about us?"
He studied her with that thoughtful look he had before he answered. "I don't regret anything," he said softly. "But I would if I thought I'd done something wrong. I don't want to hurt you."
"You didn't do anything wrong," she replied. "And you won't hurt me."
"Do you…well, do you think it's a mistake?" he asked, and he sounded miserable asking it. "To take this any further? We are partners, after all…we work together and our jobs are important."
Alice sighed. She had wondered the same thing, yes. They were partners, and they had already been called out by Moody once. She was certain there were regulations about personal relationships between partners, and logically she knew she should probably follow the rules in order to keep her job and be able to do it well. And yet, she had never been one to follow the rules, not completely. Frank knew that: he had docked her points at Hogwarts more than once for it as a prefect.
This was different though: this was real life, not school. This was her career, and her career involved the safety of others. Yet this was also her life, and her life involved more than work. She had been attracted to Frank for weeks, constantly thinking about what it would be like to have more than a working relationship with him. Now that he had taken that first step and kissed her, why would she reconsider now? That's what would hurt more: not ever knowing what it could be like with him.
"It might be," she finally admitted, and his face fell in disappointment. "According to department regulations, anyway." His eyes flashed open again. "And I know it's hard for you to ignore the rules." Now a small smile passed his face. "But I can. For this."
He held out a hand, and she stepped forward. "For what?" he asked, pulling her closer. "For us?"
She gazed down at him and nodded. "For you, yes."
He reached up and framed her face in his hands, and she shivered under his touch. "Then there's really not much to talk about, is there?"
"Not really," she replied, leaning toward him. "Although you've always been a bit of a talker."
"Then I'll stop talking," he murmured, his lips against hers, and he kissed her once more. She sighed with relief, that he wasn't giving up, that it wasn't just a result of her injury the day before or the incredible tension in Robertson's office: it was real. He felt it too. He kissed her gently, tenderly, his hands wrapping around her waist to pull her closer.
She let herself fall forward, so that they crashed to the bed together, but it was the wrong idea: he let out a small groan, and too late she remembered his head as she rolled away from him, apologizing profusely.
"Now who's apologizing?" he said with a small laugh, a hand to his head. "No, it's just that I do need that draught, so maybe I'd better go."
She kissed his forehead before they sat up. "Right. You head to the kitchen, and I'll clean up and join you shortly."
"Right. Thanks." He stood, still rubbing his forehead. "I'll see you out there."
He turned to leave, but she called after him. "Frank? Do you think…well, do you think we need to keep it secret?"
He smiled. "Maybe just keep it subtle?" he suggested.
"I think a few people have already figured it out," she said. "Like Moody, for one."
He shrugged as he opened the door. "We'll deal with it when we need to," he said. "If we keep it professional and do our job, even Moody won't have anything to complain about, right?"
She nodded. "Right. Professional."
He gave her a sly grin before he left. "It won't be easy, but it'll be worth it."
"It better!" she called after him, then laughed to herself.
Taking out her wand, Alice wandered into the accompanying bathroom and undressed. After she had performed a simple cleaning spell on her clothing and robes, she jumped into the shower to wash herself. She felt ten times better when she stepped out and pulled on clean clothes. With a few more flicks of her wand, her hair was dry and combed, and a few dabs of makeup hid the remaining scratches on her face and added some color. She was suddenly ravenous.
Frank was sitting at the table with Gideon, picking at his food. Whether he was not actually hungry or just waiting for her, she wasn't sure, but he glanced up and smiled broadly when she entered.
"Help yourself," said Gideon, gesturing at a large plate of bacon, eggs, sausage, and toast. "I've made plenty."
"It looks wonderful," said Alice, piling her plate high with food, since she had no idea what the day would bring. "Where did you learn to cook?"
Gideon made a face. "My sister, believe it or not. She's brilliant in the kitchen, even if she does half of it with magic."
"Is she in the Order?" asked Alice, and Gideon shook his head.
"No, she has five kids at home to worry about, including newborn twins. A war seems trivial compared to that, from what I've seen."
Alice laughed. "That's probably true. Plus they need their mum."
Frank filled her glass with juice before he started slowly on his own food. Now that she had a proper chance to look at him, he still seemed a bit peaky.
"Did you take a draught yet?" she asked. He nodded.
"Yes, just a bit ago. I'll be fine."
"Have we heard anything else?" she asked, and they both shook their heads. "I wonder what last night was like."
"It sounded bad, judging by Moody's message," offered Gideon. "I think you two were right, that Voldemort's trying to weaken us for tonight."
"If tonight is the real endgame," murmured Frank.
"If it is, we'll be prepared," shrugged Gideon. "It's the best we can do. At least we know ahead of time. Too often we're caught in the middle of it--or we're just too late."
They ate in silence, each wrapped in their own thoughts of what was going on in the world outside. A few other Order members drifted in, including James Potter and Sirius Black. They sat at the table and tucked into the food, looking exhausted. Frank exchanged a glance with Alice, but it was Gideon who spoke.
"How's Remus?" he asked softly.
James shrugged. "Rough night, but he might be around later." Sirius was silent as he ate.
"Is Lily coming by?" asked Alice, hoping she might see the young Order member again. There were so few women in either the Auror department or the Order that she had felt a quick kinship with Lily the previous night.
"She was called into St. Mungo's today," said James. "And from she said, it sounds like it will be a busy day."
"What have you heard?" asked Frank, setting down his fork and frowning. "What's happened?"
James shook his head. "I don't know, but she said there were a lot of injuries. So whatever went down last night has flooded St. Mungo's."
Frank looked conflicted, and Alice knew what he was going to say before he even said it. "We should go--" he started, but James shook his head.
"You should wait for Moody. He'll let us know what's going on and what he needs us for."
"We could help--" Frank tried again, but James gave him a surprisingly piercing look.
"And then we'd be short two Aurors tonight." He paused to let it sink in. "I know it's bollocks to sit around, but we need to wait on Moody and Dumbledore."
And so they waited, though it was not long before the rest of the Order arrived, followed quickly by Dumbledore and Moody. Alice thought the old Auror looked exhausted. He sipped from the flask he always kept with him, and she wondered if he was sipping a Pepperup Potion as she could have sworn a bit of steam escaped his ears. It was either that or Firewhiskey; Alice suspected Moody probably could have used a bit of both from the look on his face.
"We were correct in our suspicions," Dumbledore began without preamble once everyone had settled. "Voldemort has delivered a hard hit to the Ministry overnight and seriously weakened any response to tonight's attack. Alastor."
"We had giants in Bath and Bristol," Moody said, stepping forward. "I sent over a dozen witches and wizards to handle it. Ten took out the dragon up north. Four corralled a group of hags and banshees in York. Six were sent to Hogsmeade to stop a rampaging troll. And the rest of both departments were out chasing werewolves. There were two fatalities and a dozen injuries and the rest of our people are barely standing. I don't need to tell you it was rough."
Next to her, Frank blew out a long, frustrated breath, while around them others stared in shock at the scope of the attack. She desperately wanted to know who was injured, who had been killed, yet now wasn't the time to ask, for Moody continued with barely a pause.
"It's up to us tonight. My people are rounding up the last of the troublemakers, nursing their injuries, and getting their heads on straight after just about the worst night of their careers. We need to be ready and waiting when Voldemort shows up with his Death Eaters and stop them before they have a chance to hit even a single Muggle."
Moody rarely sounded this angry, but Alice could tell the old Auror was furious at being blindsided by such a crippling, widespread attack. She couldn't blame him: it was a heavy blow, and it could only get worse.
"What's the plan, then?" asked Gideon, leaning forward. "What do you want us to do?"
"I want you to pay attention," said Moody, "because we are going to take down these bastards before they even know what hit them."
Alice listened carefully as Moody detailed the plan for that night. There was little discussion, only some minor input from the more senior members of the Order that Moody either accepted or growled away. Dumbledore stood quiet behind him, thoughtfully watching the room, which was silent and grim by the time Moody had finished. In the end, they were to be in place by six that evening, which still left most of the day unassigned. James Potter raised his hand and asked what they should do in the meantime.
"Just be ready," snapped Moody, obviously getting ready to leave. Alice did not envy him his job at the moment. He was fighting on a double battle, leading two groups against an almost overwhelming enemy. "If I need one of you for any mopping up, I'm calling, and I expect you to answer." He glared at each and every one of them. "And I expect you to fight like hell."
Alice exchanged a glance with Frank, who looked as mentally and physically exhausted as she felt. And it wasn't over yet. In fact, she had a sinking feeling that it was only the beginning of another very long day--one they could only hope to survive this time.
* * *
Love and Order by Gmariam
Chapter Endnotes: Thank you to Karaleydargen for her wonderful help, especially with wrapping it up.
I'd say it's fairly obvious what's next, and in all honestly, it's intimidating the heck out of me to write it. Or maybe it's Moody. Either way, chapter twelve will probably be a while longer than normal, so please feel free in the meantime to visit my author's page and read one of my other stories, or find one by one of my favorite authors since they are all fantastic writers.
Thank you for reading--reviews are love. :)