Anthology Works

Severus Snape was fifteen when he joined the Order of The Phoenix. It was during the Christmas break of his fifth year. He walked through the empty street of Diagon alley. Some of the stores had broken windows or broken signs. There were two stores with holes in the walls. The products littered the floor. The shelves were in disarray. 

Five days ago, on Christmas, a group of death eaters attacked a muggle-born owned candy store. The Order of the Phoenix arrived and the battle that followed was fought throughout the alley. It was one of the biggest altercations in two years. Now, Severus and the handful of wizards and witches on the street walked in quick strides with their heads hung low. 

His hands were shaking. But it was not from the cold. From the inside of his robes, he took out a beige colored letter. Lucious Malfoy had sent it to him, on the first day of the Christmas holiday. Apostle Alley, yellow door. That was the only direction. He carefully scanned the nameplates of the side alleys. His heartbeat was fast and heavy. 

Apostle Alley was the fifth alley he passed. The name plate was chipped and rusted. Had Severus not carefully observed the plate, he would have missed it. The alley itself was eerie. It was narrow. The stone walls were almost black from grime. There was a thin layer of crunched brown snow on the cobblestone. 

The path was uneven. The wobbly stones hurt his feet as he stepped on them. He held onto the walls for support. But only two steps further, he slipped. The grime on the wall was slippery and he did not have enough grip to catch himself. The fall was hard. Pain shot through his pelvis. 

He lay on the cold stones as the radiating pain slowly dimmed. From the corner of his eye, he saw Lucious’ letter on the cobblestones. It was brown and wet from the snow and dirt. He heaved a sigh. He remembered Mulciber words. “It’s a short walk, tops two minutes”. Those words relieved him. 

He pushed himself up. The cold of the walls seeped through his fingers. The rush of adrenaline gave him some warmth and clarity. He will be there soon. 

He walked for three minutes until the alley split into two alleys. The crossroad did not have names or direction boards. The alleys were dimly lit and Severus could not see anything after two metres. The lantern on the wall that separated the alley illuminated the night. In the light, Severus saw faint snowflakes falling down. 

His feet were numb and he could feel the cold seeping through his clothes. He would be in trouble if the snowfall became heavier. He looked at the ground. The snow on the left alley was crunched. There was a footprint, only one. But it was enough for him to choose that road. 

He quickened his step, but the layer of ice made his feet glide over the stones. He gripped the walls. The cold in his fingertips made it difficult. A shiver ran through his shoulder and spine. He quickly breathed in, but every breath made his throat dry. In the dim light, he can see the condensation floating in the air.

Severus stopped and looked back, Muliciber told him that the walk would be two minutes. Perhaps, Severus took the wrong turn or he was at the wrong alley all together. The dim lights made the alleyway look very eerie. It was starting to snow heavily. Severus urged his feet to turn and walk back. 

In the distance he saw the outline of a person walking towards him. Severus froze, the nervousness in his stomach spread to his chest and he became worried. He wanted to avoid strangers. It could be anyone, an Auror, a death eater, but worst of all it could be an order member. So he turned again and continued his walk in the hopes of finding a hiding spot. 

His breath was short and fast, his eyes scanned from left to right in search of signs of a yellow door. He nearly wanted to give up when he saw something other than a grimly old wall not far from him. Only a few steps away was a yellow door, tattered and bruised from the elements, and illuminated by a light above it. 

He reached it, but when he aimed for the door handle there was nothing there. It’s a door without a door handle and only a peeping hole in the middle. Severus looked back and saw the figure approaching. He knocked rapidly on the door. 

Then the door opened to reveal a scary man with one eyepatch and frayed red hair. The man looked at him. His expression was scrutinizing. “You’re late!” 

“Moody!” The man behind Severus called out. 

”Arthur, it’s here! It’s a bit of a last minute arrangement but everyone fits in it.” 

“That’s good, the amount of last minute applications were quite a lot.” 

“Dumbledore isn’t happy. Many aren’t even in their seventh year.” 

“We’ll train them before we do field work won’t we?” 

”Ofcourse!” Moody pulled Severus into the building and pushed him into a very old bar. “Without training they’ll be dead within a week. They’re no use death” 

The bar’s seating was rearranged into a makeshift auditorium. The chairs were different sizes, bar stools, armchairs, couches and various other types were used to accompany the large group of teenagers. Severus recognized them from Hogwarts. There were some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, but most were Gryffindors. 

In the crowd, he saw all the faces he wanted to forget during this holiday. James and Sirius were talking and laughing with each other. Peter was happily laughing along. Remus was quietly waiting for the event to start. In front of them, sat Marlene Mckinnon with two other Gryffindor girls. Mary Macdonald was reading her book. 

Then Severus' eyes landed on Lily Evans, and she was staring at him with visible shock.  “Severus!” she shouted.

When she stood up, everyone in the crowd looked up and then towards the direction she was looking at. Under their gaze Severus wanted to flee. 

“Severus here! There is a seat next to me.” Lily points out.  Yesterday, when he said goodbye, he felt guilty. Lily had seen it on his face. He lied and told her that it was the upcoming Christmas celebration that was bothering him.

“Go on!” Moody pushed him forward. Severus walked towards the empty seat. Many have gone back to their conversations. But many Hogwarts students were staring at him in surprise. Most of them were in his year. “What are you doing here?” Marlene asked as he passed by. 

“Probably for the same reason you are here” Lily snapped. Lily had never talked to Marlene that way. It surprised both Severus and Marlene. 

Lily gripped Severus’ hand. “You’re here! I didn’t think you would know about this but you’re here. I’m so happy to see you here!” Lily was practically radiating. 

“Who told you about this?” James asked. Lily glanced behind and rolled her eyes. That made Severus happy. 

“Alright! Everyone pay attention" Moody said as he stepped in front of the crowd. 

“I am aware that your presence tonight puts you in danger. Rest assured there are many strong people here. You are protected.”  

He looks around the room “as many of you know, there have been 2 mysterious disappearances of muggle born wizards in the past month. Attacks on families from muggle borns have increased. Attacks all over the British Wizarding world have increased. All of you are here to fight against the death eaters that have terrorized us for nearly a decade.” 

“My name is Alistair Moody” he then looked back at the man behind him “this is my partner Bartemius Crouch”. 

Moody turned to two people on the other side of the stage. Severus had seen them before, they were a few years older than him. He’d seen them walking in the corridors of Hogwarts. “Frank Longbottom and Alice Longbottom, they’ll be guiding you through the recruitment process. If you have any questions, I advise you to go to them.” 

Moody then pointed towards Arthur and another red haired woman standing on the side of the room. The woman was holding a young toddler in her arms. “That is Arthur and Molly Weasley. If you have any trouble at home, or with the ministry, they will help you.” 

“Thank you Moody, I’ll take it from here” Bartemius said. He was dressed in a grey trench coat. He was young and had a moustache that was thick and well trimmed.  ”Good evening, my name is Bartemius Crouch. We’re very happy to welcome you. We were not expecting this much attention to this meeting today. As you may know, the organisation is depending on its secrecy. We have taken some measurements to protect it. All of you have been screened before this meeting.” 

There was a mumbling in the crowd. Severus wondered if he was also screened. He didn’t know about this meeting. No one had told him. 

“I can assure you that none of us wish you any ill. We are aware of our importance and therefore are very protective over our organisation. We are the ones that are directly fighting You-know-who”.

There was more mumbling in the crowd, Severus grew anxious in his seat. There is only one organisation that is actively fighting the dark lord.

“We are the order of the phoenix.” 

The people in the crowd broke out into conversations. “I knew it!” Lily said beside him. “I know it was something that was fighting you-know-who, but I didn’t know it was the actual order.” There was excitement in her voice. She squeezed his hand harder. Severus only felt dread. 

“You-know-who and his death eaters have started targeting civilians. They first started out attacking powerful wizards with polarising opinions on the relationship between muggles and wizards. Afterwards, they targeted groups and meetings that talked about the relationship between muggles and wizards. Now I’m afraid the everyday wizards are not safe from his death eaters.” 

Bartemius looks into the crowd “There are two things that you-know-who wants. First, is the wide acceptance of dark magic. For you know who and his followers, dark magic is just another facet of magic. One that is innately ours, and instead of limiting its usage, one must harness and master it.” Severus nodded along to his words, his face slightly brightened with excitement. 

“Dark magic is an art form. I will not deny that it did a lot of good in the history of wizardry.” Severus smiled. “But… for every good thing it did, there were four to five dark wizards that abused it and hurt people with it.” 

Severus' smile fell and he scowled. He twitched in his seat, feeling very uneasy. “Are you alright?” Lily asked. “Yes”, he answered and brushed his hair with his left hand. There was a shine on his hand from the grease in his hair. As he stared at it, his shoulders fell and he suddenly felt very tired. 

“The second thing that you-know-who wants is the protection of blood purity. Muggleborn wizards and witches should not be taught magic, and the purity of the sacred twenty eight should be protected.” 

Bartemius let out a sighs “This is something that I don’t understand about dark wizards. They defend themselves by arguing that it is just knowledge that they seek, yet many of you-know-who’s sympathisers turn a blind eye towards the many deaths and violent attacks.” 

Severus looked at Bartemius with defiance. He wanted to leave, but the front door was on the other side of the room and Lily was clutching his hand with a tight grip. So he looked elsewhere, anywhere but the stage as Bartemius explained the dangers of dark magic. 

Marlene and the two girls were looking at Bartemius with a seriousness that Severus had never seen before. He looked behind. James had a stern expression, something he only showed on the quidditch pitch. Sirius mirrored that expression. His eyebrows came together in a small frown. He looked almost like his little brother, Regulus, but with sharper features. Severus had promised Regulus that he’d be at the meeting with Lucious. He’d promised everyone that he’d be there. Sirius's eyes shifted and he looked at Severus. Severus immediately turned, surprised and ashamed that he’d been caught staring. 

“Thank you Barty” Alice Longbottom stepped forward and kindly smiled towards the audience, many of whom she’d seen during her prefect days. “You will be fighting against dark wizards during your days as an order member.” 

The crowd, especially the younger Hogwarts students, looked at each other in fear. “Everyone please” Alice tried to calm the students. “We will not let you fight alone, and most of you will not start as an active member of the order.” 

Alice gave the audience a moment to calm down before she proceeded. “First you will be in training with a group of Aurors handpicked by Alistair Moody and Barty Crouch. We ask the seventh years to become full time apprentices under the mentorship of Alistair and Barty after your graduation from Hogwarts.” 

She then looked at the direction of Severus and the Gryffindor’s surrounding him. “To the fifth and sixth years. We want to ask you to plan your studies with the order in mind. We might ask you to take up a job in strategic places. Such as the ministry.”  

Alice points towards the bar “my colleagues and I want you to sign up. If you don’t want to join the order. There is no shame in it. However, we will have to obliviate you. It is of the utmost importance that this meeting stays a secret.” 

Severus wanted to leave, but Lily pulled him up. “Let’s go! I wished I could be a full time apprentice, but whatever they planned for us will do” she said frantically as she dragged Severus to the bar. 

There was a line in front of the sign up. Severus' heart pounded as his turn to sign approached. Lily’s previous excitement was gone. Now she was standing with an eerily quiet focus. When her turn came, unlike the previous men, she did not hesitate. Her name was written,on the parchment, in quick and confident strikes. Then she turned around and gave the quill to Severus. 

“We can do this,” she said. “Together, like always”.