Chapter Twenty-Five
“Alright everybody, thank you for coming,” I said to the crowd of students.
Hermione and Ron were beside me, although they were sitting at a table working. Hermione was frantically pouring over documents from the previous iteration of the Order of the Phoenix for last minute war research while Ron was helping her. Harry was busy giving an official statement to the Aurors, talking with Sirius’ Mind Healer and potentially giving Rita an interview.
“As you no doubt know by now, yesterday Voldermort kidnapped Harry at the end of the Third Task to use in a resurrection ritual. Harry is fine, he’s just not here because he’s busy dealing with stuff. The Aurors were able to arrest several Death Eaters, whose names have not been officially released, although Voldemort got away. Now that Voldemort is returned, we expect this to be the official start of a second war.”
“The Order of the Phoenix is a group led by Dumbledore working in tandem with the DMLE to help defeat Voldemort. They are currently recruiting any graduating seventh years or already graduated students who would like to join. The Order of the Phoenix also has an internship option that is strictly non-combat for those that are, or rather will be in the fall, fifth, six or seventh years. If you are fifteen or sixteen, you will need parental permission unless you have run away and are staying at one of the safehouses. Any graduating seventh years or interns interested in joining, please see Hermione after this meeting. We also have informational pamphlets about the Order on the table over there if you would like to collect more information or get a pamphlet to give to your family.”
“Some of you might be aware that I have been assisting students from Death Eater families who feel like they might be in danger and/or be forced to join the Death Eaters by providing them with a safe place to stay over the summer. Quite frankly, I’m sure at least someone has heard and reported this to a Death Eater parent by now and I already have a target on my back from being friends with Harry, so I’m just making a public announcement to save time.”
“Essentially I have a bunch of safe locations for anybody who wants to run away from their families. You are not required to do anything in exchange for this other than basic household chores. I know some of you may be uncomfortable about the lack of quid pro quo, but think of this as me removing as many potential opponents from the board by offering shelter and also, everyone knows I have a giant soft spot for kids. So if you want to run away from your families, come and see me after the meeting. Those of you who have already talked to me, I’ll send you an owl with instructions for the day the train leaves. Also standard disclaimer, the act of encouraging and supporting minors to run away from their families is something that I, also a minor, am doing on my own and is in no way, shape or form being endorsed or supported by Dumbledore, Hogwarts or any other adults.”
“After Christmas, I made an announcement about opportunities for muggleborns to move to Europa with their families in addition to any muggle borns who want to stay at one of my safehouses. Your families are welcome to come live in one of the safehouses if they want, however it is not as urgent as it will be if Voldemort takes over the Ministry and we also have limited resources, something we’re working on. Also, we don’t want to uproot entire families if it’s not necessary. If you want to stay in a safehouse over the summer or if you want to move to Europa, please see Ron after the meeting.”
“Now, for anything such as joining the Order, staying in a safehouse or moving abroad, we will require you to take Honestuserum so that we know you are sincere. You are able to refrain from answering, but you cannot lie. This is just to make sure that nobody is working for Voldemort and attempting to spy on the Order, figure out where the Order’s Headquarters are, where my safehouses are located or anything else.”
“Now, my friends and I have made a habit of saying Voldemort’s name instead of You-Know-Who for the past several years and lots of you have done similarly. It does take away the fear on a psychological level by saying his name. However, there is a good reason people started saying You-Know-Who in the first place. He put a taboo on his name. That means if anyone says it, a bunch of Death Eaters show up to murder you. Personally, I think that’s stupid after he went to all that effort to change his name, but whatever. It’s also quite plausible that Voldemort will put a taboo on ‘Tom Riddle’ now that everyone knows his birth name. So, you probably shouldn’t say Voldemort or Tom Riddle.”
“At Hogwarts, we have the best wards and Voldemort won’t even know you said his name, much less be able to send people in. But it’s good to get in the habit of not saying it for when you are on break. However, this doesn’t mean start calling him You-Know-Who, because that’s stupid. There are a bunch of fun alternatives such as Moldywarts, Voldy, Noseless, Snakeface and many others. I encourage you to create your own. Voldy can’t put a taboo on every insulting name, taboos are really complicated and hard, that’s why you’ve never heard of them. They get the point across, but aren’t his name or You-Know-Who. But if you want to refer to him as You-Know-Who, especially in public, because you are afraid of retaliation or something, do whatever is most comfortable.”
“As we mentioned at the start of the year, we will be changing the Hogwarts Army’s structure starting this fall. The Junior Hogwarts Army will be essentially like this year has been, for years one through four as well as any upper years who want more of a fun extracurricular vibe than a training for a war vibe. The other group will be years five to seven, structured a little more like the Renegade Army from our prank war back in 1994 and organized into teams with different leaders. It will be very much training to fight in a war. Basically an Order feeder program, I would definitely recommend it for anybody who wants to join the Order or the DMLE after school. That said, it’s not required so if you just want to learn to fight a lot better and not join the Order or the DMLE, that’s okay too.”
“We’ll figure out the timing over the summer. Everyone, meet here at the normal time the first Saturday after next year starts, September 2nd, we’ll have more information. Also, any upper years who want to be instructors for the junior Order or are interested in being team leaders, owl me a resume and cover letter by the end of July. Any questions about the changes in the HA we will deal with at the start of next year.”
“To recap, if you want to join the Order of the Phoenix, either as a graduating seventh year or as an intern, please see Hermione. If you are a muggleborn who wants to stay in a safehouse this summer or go to Europa, please see Ron. If you are from a Death Eater family and want to run away to stay in a safehouse, please see me. Informational pamphlets are on that table where Dobby is standing,” I instructed.
I let out a sigh and drank deeply from my water bottle as everyone got up and began approaching. I took a deep breath and cheerfully greeted Hailey and Helen Rowle.
By the time everyone left, we had doubled the Order’s members, triple if we were counting everyone who wanted to intern over the summer. It was a little alarming that there were less than twenty veteran Order members.
The Leaving Feast was somber and miserable. Students were terrified of Voldemort’s return, equally anxious to leave the safety of Hogwarts and eager to be with their families. Dumbledore’s speech was the most depressing I had ever heard, yet he urged us all to have hope and support our fellow students.
In past years, students had taken the carriages to Hogsmeade and the train station on their own, with prefects helping any first years that needed assistance. This year, we were carefully organized by year and house. The Head Boy and Girl marked everyone off on sheets of paper. Students were systematically loaded into the carriages by year, starting with the first years.
At the station, Professors once again marked everyone off as they boarded the train. We hurried to the back of the train, where Ginny, Maggie and Luna had claimed one of the open seating cars.
“Alright, who wants to be in charge of checking people off as they enter?” I asked as I pulled out the many portkeys that Gringotts had helpfully provided.
Students staying in one of the safehouses over the summer would come to the end car, as I had instructed them via messages delivered by Dobby and portkey in groups to the already prepared safehouses.
Two of the students who had graduated last year, Tessa Selwyn and Gemma Farley, had agreed to be “in charge” of the safehouse, deal with chores, mediate any disputes, figure out cooking schedules, etc. They were already at the safehouses, along with a handful of other former students.
“I’ll do it,” Luna said, grabbing the clipboard and going to the small area outside the door connecting the train car to the next one.
Students trickled in one by one and were directed to sit on one side of the train car or the other based on whether they were going to the Lake Safehouse or the Mountain Safehouse. The Highland Safehouse, which could hold fifteen people, was going to be used for muggleborns who would be coming with their muggle families.
It was an interesting mix of purebloods from Death Eater families and muggleborns. Hermione was organizing people into groups of five or six and sending them off via Portkey.
“Miss Zoe? You told me to find you because my sister is on the platform,” Miller Selwyn, a firstie said.
Tessa and Miller Selwyn had a younger sister, Amanda Selwyn, who they was going to be a first year starting in the fall. Since she wasn’t already at Hogwarts, her getting to the safehouse was a bit of a problem.
“Yes. You told your sister to come to the platform with your parents ostensibly to pick you up and bring a bag of stuff?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Miller nodded.
“I’m going to give you a portkey. When you get to the platform, you’ll find your sister. Then grab her hand, say you want to introduce her to your friend and rush off through the crowd. Hopefully, your mom will just wait for you to come back. Once your a decent bit away from your mom, both grab on to the portkey and say Electricity, that’s the activation word. Got it?” I asked, handing him a short length of rope.
“What’s electricity?” Miller asked. Hermione had had fun making up the activation phrases.
“Ask one of the muggleborn kids over the summer,” I said absently.
“Alright, first group to Lake Safehouse, everyone grab on,” Hermione said. The first group left with a crack.
After them, the second group to the Lake Safehouse and the third group to the Mountain Safehouse left, leaving the train car nearly empty.
As more and more students came into the train car, we sent them off via Portkey to the safehouses.
At the platform, Molly and Arthur were waiting for us along with Dora and Moody. I watched as little Selwyn got his even littler sister, ducked their mom and portkeyed away safely.
“Do you have all of your things?” she asked us as she distractedly gave us all hugs.
“Yeah,” Ron said.
“Good, we’re going to be doing side-along apparition. Fred and George, you’re with me. Ginny, you’re with Arthur. Harry and Ron, you’re with Moody. Zo and Hermione, you’re with Nymphadora. Everybody hold on tight,” she instructed.
With a crack, we disappeared.