Chapter 1
~~Barty~~
Barty stood before the Dark Lord in the Lestrange Manor, his shoulders back and his head held high. Pandora stood to his right with her hands clasped, looking on with concern.
"You have become reckless." Voldemort said, stepping closer to Barty. His wand was in his hand, and Barty knew that it could be pointed at him at any moment. The Manor was empty, making it all too easy for Voldemort to kill him without anyone knowing.
Not that anyone would try to stop him if they did know. The death eaters weren’t exactly that kind of group.
"I'm sorry, My Lord." He said. He wasn’t sorry, of course. But he kept that to himself. He knew Voldemort was quickly losing trust in him, but he couldn’t die just yet. He had a few things to take care of first.
Evan, his love, was dead. Killed by Auror Alastor Moody almost two years ago, and Barty needed to avenge him. The only problem was that to do that properly, he would have to kill both Moody and Dumbledore. Usually, he wouldn’t hesitate. No one would actually miss either of them. But Dorcas was working with the Order, kind of, getting revenge for Marlene, and he hadn't spoken to her in months, only read her letters, and they couldn’t really write vital information in a letter that their leaders would most likely read. He didn’t want to fight her, but if she was blindly following Dumbledore, he would. Though he didn’t really think she was.
He didn't blame her for joining the order- or whatever she was doing, her letters didn’t say much- but he wished there was a third option. One that didn't fight for Voldemort or Dumbledore, one that didn't kill people who were forced into something they didn't want to do. One that truly just wanted to stop the war.
But there wasn’t. You had to fight for one or the other, and to Barty, Voldemort seemed like the best choice. But on the other hand, Regulus, his best friend, was in hiding from Voldemort. Barty needed to make sure he could walk free, and the only way to do that was to kill the Dark Lord himself.
"You have become untrustworthy." Barty was brought back to the present by Voldemort’s voice.
He could see Pandora out of the corner of his eye. She was worrying her lip with her teeth and wringing her fingers.
"How can I prove myself?" He didn't want to prove himself. He didn't care what Voldemort thought about him, he just wanted all of this to be over.
Voldemort looked him in the eyes. "Avada Kedavra!"
The green light rushed towards him and he had no time to react. A blur of blonde flew in front of him and his eyes widened as Pandora’s lifeless body fell to the ground with a thud. He let out a blood curdling scream as he stared into her glassy, unblinking eyes. Her face was frozen in a look of determination. He whipped out his wand and turned to Voldemort, anger blurring his thoughts. "Avada Kedavra!" He screamed.
He heard the tell-tale sound of Voldemort disapparating. His spell hit the wall and went through it, filling the room with dust.
Barty fell to his knees beside his friend’s stiff body, tears streaming down his face. He pulled her close to his chest and apparated away, in case Voldemort sent someone else to finish the job. He appeared on the lawn in front of the Pettigrew home, the base of the Order of the Phoenix. Just one of the many pieces of information he had found out and kept to himself.
He held Pandora gently in his arms and stepped up to the door. He shoved himself against it, unable to knock.
A few seconds later, it cracked open to reveal Dorcas, her wand out in front of her, ready for an attack. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened as she took in the scene before her.
"What happened?" She whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. She opened the door wider and stood back to let Barty enter. He stepped in and she looked at him for an explanation.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I had nowhere else to go."
~~Dorcas~~
“Why can't we just leave?" Dorcas asked, looking pleadingly at Minerva Mcgonagall.
"We have nowhere to go." She replied. Dorcas knew she was right, but she didn't like it. They were in the same building as Auror Alastor 'Mad-eye' Moody, Evan’s murderer, and Dumbledore, who could have saved Evan and Marlene, and prevented Regulus and Lily from having to go into hiding.
Although, she supposed they did have to keep up appearances. They couldn't have the Order members losing trust in them now, because technically, they were on the same side. For Now. But Dorcas was really only in it for Marlene.
But she wished Barty and Pandora were here. She knew why they were with The Dark Lord- the Order killed Evan. And they would do anything to go against Dumbledore. Which, again, she understood. And really, so would she. This whole thing was being done behind his back after all.
She was dragged out of her thoughts by Minerva putting a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go," she said. "The meeting is about to start."
Dorcas nodded and they went out of the room, silently going downstairs to the Pettigrew's kitchen. They pushed open the door and of course, the only two there were Mad-Eye and Dumbledore.
She clenched her fists and put on a fake smile. They had to think she was following them blindly, or the whole thing could blow up in their face.
"Dorcas, Minerva." Dumbledore greeted them. Mad-Eye looked them up and down and glared. Merlin, Dorcas hated him with a passion.
Her and Minerva took a seat on the opposite side of the table and mumbled pleasantries as the rest of the Order members filed in and took their seats.
Sirius sat to her right with Remus beside him. James sat on Minerva's left with Peter beside him. That was their group accounted for.
The rest of the seats at the table gradually filled with people she hardly knew. She had seen Alice Fortescue and Frank Longbottom a couple of times, they weren’t so bad. And of course, Andromeda Black. Or Tonks, now. And then there was Severus Snape. Dorcas hated him almost as much as she hated Dumbledore and Moody.
She sat back in her chair and glanced over at Sirius. He was glaring at Dumbledore, and if only looks could kill, they would have one less problem to worry about.
"Sirius!" She hissed, nudging him. He turned his glare on her.
"What?" He asked, barely controlling his anger.
"Look,” She whispered. “I hate him just as much as you, but we can't let him know." Her eyes flicked over to the headmaster. He was talking to someone on his left. She looked back at Sirius.
"He could have helped them." Sirius said through his teeth.
Remus looked over from his seat beside Sirius. He took his boyfriend’s hand and intertwined their fingers. Sirius closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"I know." Dorcas replied. "That's why we're doing this."
The meetings were always just the same things over and over again. 'No sign of the Dark Lord' 'No new Death Eaters identified' 'No idea where they meet'. It was just getting boring at this stage.
When everyone was done comparing notes on how useless their situation was, Dorcas, Sirius, Remus, James, Peter and Minerva escaped up to Dorcas' room to talk about the real reason they were here. They listened until they were sure everyone was gone. Once the last person had left and the house was quiet, they began.
"So, any developments?" Minerva started. James opened his mouth to answer but before he could say anything, they heard a thump on the door.
They froze and glanced around at each other. "I'll go," Dorcas whispered. They nodded.
She pulled her wand out and crept down the stairs. She reached the door and cracked it open, her wand held up defensively before her. Then her eyes widened in shock and her jaw dropped. Barty was standing at the door, tears streaming down his face, Pandora's lifeless body in his arms.
"What happened?" She whispered, staring at her closest friend's stiff body. She stepped back and pulled the door wider to let Barty through.
"I'm sorry," he said, looking at her through his tears. "I had nowhere else to go.