Chapter 2
"Lily, we're leaving in five", James Potter shouted from the hall. "Coming", Lily shouted back from the bedroom, where she had been changing her dress. A week had passed since they received Dumbledore's message. Friday the 14th was here. And the meeting was to commence in 10 minutes.
A week for her to process the information Dumbledore had passed on, Lily thought, yet she couldn't process a single thought about Mar- her friend without breaking down. Lily clearly saw the effect it was having on herself as well as her husband. Up till now, the war had been somewhat distant. Yes, they had lost many families, muggles and wizards but until now it hadn't felt this real.
The loss of McKinnons suddenly made it all the more real. And with accepting reality, fear had also started to consume her. Not only her though, all of them had been effected by the loss tremendously. Lily couldn't even imagine what Dorcas must be going through. She tried to imagine herself in that position. Losing James-no, losing James would kill her. She couldn't even begin to fathom what she would do without him. She immediately got rid of that thought. But her fear seemed to have expanded even more. Fantastic job, Lily! Just exactly what you needed right now. More fear.
She offed the lights in the room and walked down the stairs to the hall where James was waiting for her. She felt her heart expand when she saw him. Here is James Potter, Alive and Real. Waiting for me. She had read in many books, when people saw their partner their hearts immediately started beating faster. She will admit James Potter once made her heart race, like no one else had. But now when she saw him, she felt calm and grounded. He was her tether. Her anchor.
When James saw her, his face immediately broke into a grin. "You look amazing, love", and he made it sound so natural. Like she was utterly radiant and that was a well-established fact. She smiled at him, "You don't look half bad". "Hey" he said, with mock-offense, but they both were smiling.
Lily checked her watch, “We are going to be late to the meeting." "Shit. yeah" he exclaimed, "Apparate or Floo?" "Apparate", she said immediately. She had no fond memories of using the Floo.
She checked the house for the last time to check if they had offed all the lights and secured the wards again, just to be sure. Once she was sure everything was fine, She took Jamie's extended arm and together they apparated.
They arrived at the doorstep of the Prewett residence. James knocked twice, before they heard an answering voice. "What is my favourite chocolate?" Kingsley Shacklebolt asked through the door.
"Trick question" answered James, "You're allergic to chocolates" Lily added. The door opened and Kingsley nodded his head in lieu of welcome. "How are you doing?" he asked leading them in, "You know after-". He left it there and didn't elaborate. He didn't need to; Lily knew exactly what he meant. "It has been hard", James answered and he took Lily's hand, "But we're coping." "How have you been, Kingsley? Lily asked.
"As well as someone could" he said "in the middle of a war."
"Can't argue with that logic", said a voice from the entrance of the room. Sirius Black grinned tiredly at them from the door. Lily felt it had been ages since she saw Sirius while it hardly had been a week. "Padfoot!", James greeted warmly, going in for a hug. "Prongs, How have you been?" Sirius muttered into the hug. "Fine. How have you lot been?" James answered. After James, Lily pulled him in for a hug. "Ah, How has the missus been?" Sirius asked teasingly.
"Coping" Lily answered honestly , "How's Remus?" she asked. "Exhausted but fine, I suppose" Sirius replied, "He has been meeting Dumbledore frequently and is hardly at home. Says Dumbledore's asked him to do some Auror work." Lily saw that he was trying to make it sound casual but she could feel a small twinge of doubt in his voice. "Let's go in. Everyone's waiting for us" he said, back to his cheerful self.
Inside the room, the members of the Order were seated in groups. Elphias Doge was in deep conversation with Edgar Bones, who seemed to be just as interested. In the far end of the room sat the Weasleys, which was puzzling to Lily.
Arthur and Molly Weasley had recently conceived again, and withdrawn from the meetings to take care of the boys and keep them safe. Their appearance with their boys suggested that something serious was to be discussed. At the far right corner sitting alone was Remus Lupin. The moment he saw them, he waved them over with a tired but warm smile.
He got up to greet them, hugging James first then Lily. He inquired about their wellbeing and assured them that he was fine. Lily didn't believe him but all of them were still in denial, she supposed. They chatted for a while about their work life and how they were coping, and Lily could almost imagine herself sitting in the Gryffindor common room, chatting like they were now. Except then their biggest worries were Quidditch and NEWTs and now it was survival. Lily noticed that none of them addressed the elephant in the room. She secretly was happy. Maybe she could escape it for a while.
Just then, Dumbledore walked in with two of the unlikeliest people she would expect to see in an Order meeting. Few of the Order members stood up with their wands pointed at the newcomers. Clearly, no one expected Severus Snape and Regulus Black to accompany the Headmaster.
Dumbledore raised his hands and smiled warmly at the people in the room. "A very Good evening to one and all, Thank you for being present here today", he said warmly. He offered no further explanation, as he took his seat in the middle of the room. "Dumbledore, what are they doing here?" Gideon Prewett braved. "Ah, they'll be present here today for the meeting" Dumbledore answered, as though it was perfectly normal inviting rumored Death Eaters to the Order meetings.
When Dumbledore saw a few of the order members still standing, he immediately asked them to be seated saying that he would vouch for the two members present. Suddenly it struck Lily who was here. Regulus Black. She immediately looked over at Sirius and saw that James and Remus had beat her to it. They were muttering something softly to him, but Lily couldn't make it out. Sirius looked white and was staring at his brother who was seated across the room. Regulus Black may have had a reputation back at school, but he was still Sirius's brother.
It was one of the things Lily and Sirius had first bonded over. After receiving a disappointing and hurtful letter from her sister Petunia, Lily had been sitting in front of the common room fire. She could have gone back to the dorms, she was sure the girls would comfort her, but bless their souls, no matter how hard they tried they never understood. So Sirius had found her, when he was returning from a late night detention, sitting in the common room, staring at the fire and silently crying.
He sat down next to her and never said anything, just let her cry it out. She had needed that desperately and he had perfectly understood it. After a while, when she had stopped crying, he started talking and she finally understood him. At least to some extent. No matter how much one tried to not let things from the past affect them, they couldn’t turn a blind eye to it.
Sirius was still staring at his brother but some colour had returned to his face. Lily supposed she would feel the same way if Petunia suddenly showed up. Though the thought of Petunia in a room full of wizards, including her sister, was certainly amusing yet mortifying.
When they were young, Petunia had found magic fascinating. Like something only privileged people could witness. When she realized that she was not going to Hogwarts, that fascination quickly turned into loathing. Somewhere along the way, Petunia had also come to the conclusion that those who possessed magic were freaks. Abnormal. To say that, that put a strain on their relationship would be an understatement.
Elphias Doge, seeing as no one was volunteering to ask something about the situation, spoke up. He asked, “Not that it isn’t a pleasure to meet you all, but I must ask you, Dumbledore, Why the sudden haste?”
“Ah, first I would like to thank you all for assembling on short notice,”, Dumbledore answered “And yes Elphias, I’m afraid this cannot wait. I recently procured a few ah- information through sources which shall remain anonymous.”
“Information?” Arthur Weasley asked skeptically.
“Indeed, Mr. Weasley,” Dumbledore replied “It seems that this information is vital for surviving this war.”
“Surviving this war. You mean winning? Like actually ending it?” Molly Weasley asked, enthusiastically.
“How, sir?” asked Kingsley.
“I believe this information will help us overcome the threat of war, Mrs. Weasley,” Dumbledore answered. “As for your question, Kingsley. I think it constutes of us reading a few books.”
“Books?” Lily muttered in disbelief. A book was going to help then end a war which was being fought for around 9 years. It seemed the people around her shared the same views. The concept that a book, a book, was going to stop this nightmare was borderline absurd.
“Is it like Voldemort’s journal?” Sirius asked, eyebrows scrunched. “Like does it constitute his plans for, let’s say, taking over the world?”
Had you asked Lily at any other time in her life, whether she would have entertained the idea of Voldemort having diary, she would have completely lost it. The fact that she was seriously considering that Voldemort maintained a diary, and that none of them were laughing, was equal parts horrifying and surprisingly amusing.
“No, Mr. Black” Dumbledore smiled “It is not his journal. Here is where is gets tricky though,” he said “These books are apparently from the future.”
The entire room was silent. Lily half expected the old headmaster to yell Sike, I got you all. But one look at his face proved that he was not joking. Lily had a sudden urge to laugh.
When no one interrupted, Dumbledore continued, “This book is supposed to be covered by the children of few of the members present here.”
“Children” Lily said quietly, “You said earlier that this book could help us end the war?” Dumbledore nodded.
Lily continued, “This book is supposed to be through the perspective of children. These children, whoever they are, fought in a war? What the hell were we doing?” Lily said, her voice raising an octave through each sentence.
Molly Weasley had turned very pale. Lily at first did not understand, but then the pieces fell together. Molly had 5 children. There was a possibility that her children were a part of this book. That her toddler sons had lived through a nightmare, she never wanted them to witness. Lily could understand the woman’s despair.
“We will never know until we read, Mrs. Potter” Dumbledore remarked, not unkindly.
Lily took a deep breath. She felt unnerved but there was a possibility that they could end the war, that Molly Weasley’s children could grow up without the threat of war looming over their heads.
“Well, what are we waiting for then?”