I'll Follow You Anywhere

Ch.31: Welcome to the Order

"I don't know how I feel about you Sirius. So don't be an idiot and just assume that I don't like you. I have my own feelings you know," she mentioned, perking up a hint of an attitude at that last part. "I don't know exactly how I feel about you. I just…need time to think about it. That's all." She nodded to herself at this and looked down to her shuffling feet. Hope filtered inside of me and I responded with an open 'okay'. She made a quick excuse to go find her family and flocked off toward the castle. I turned my back to Hogwarts though and looked straight on at the lake and all of its glowing lightning bugs. They glow swarmed onto my like how the hope filled up in my chest and I felt better about the whole situation.

She might like me. Hearing that made me definitely feel better and I nodded at this, letting a smile take over.

While I sat on the grass thinking about all of this, I felt a pair of hands rest on my shoulders and as I turned to look back, a pair of warm lips gently fell upon mine. I could feel the warmth flooding to my face as I blinked open my eyes and saw Lora standing there flashing her bright smile at me. I could stop a smile from spreading across my face as she let her hands rest still upon my shoulders.

"You coming?" she asked me. I nodded as I got up and followed her towards the castle.

Maybe I would be able to date the girl of my dreams after all.

-31-

"Come this way," McGonagall's voice called out, hurrying us down the empty, dark corridor to the headmaster's office. We were all a bit on edge seeing as she had pulled us out of our small celebration on the grounds with our parents. She had told us that Dumbledore had something important he wanted to talk to us about. The sense of dread still lingered over my high spirits, pushing them down some with the horrid mood it brought. I was sure that he was going to tell us that we couldn't graduate or that we had to do some kind of summer-school activity type thing since we've misbehaved so much during our years at Hogwarts. The only part that confused me though was the fact that he had wanted to see Peter, Lily and Remus too. I could understand James and I, maybe even Lora, but not Lily, Peter and Remus. The only sense I could make out of it was that they hung out with us so maybe that made them troublemakers by association?

The hallway was only illuminated by the white light that poured in from the tall windows, emanating from the moon. I could still hear the celebrations outside of these stone walls as parents rejoiced with their children, waiting for the moment that they could take them home. Though most of them were gone now. It was mainly just our small group that had stayed behind, to enjoy the presence of this stone school for just a few moments longer. I heard a few portraits calling out congratulations to us as we passed by them, still following our now ex-Transfiguration teacher.

I felt Lora tremble as she walked next to me in silence. I looked over to see that her face was glowing in the moons light. Her eyes shined as she looked curiously ahead in her pursuit following McGonagall. Her dark brown hair was resting gently on top of her pale skin, which seemed translucent in the lighting. Her hands shook slightly in the cold, still air that was present in the corridors. She bit down gently on her bottom lip and I could see that behind her stunning face, her mind was quickly trying to work out why we were going to see the headmaster. If I listened carefully I could hear her gently breathing in and out. Her sweet scent wrapped around me as I carefully set my hand on her mid-back to calm her down. For a split second I thought I saw a small smile, though the blush on her previously pale cheeks stayed in place a bit longer. I saw her peak at me out of the corner of her eyes before she looked back ahead, her breathing more relaxed now.

I heard James laugh in smug manner as I grinned at my small accomplishment, though it felt like a lot more to me.

"Here we are, now hurry up," McGonagall stressed in the seconds that it took for her to reach the headmasters door, whisper the password, and for the door to reveal the spiraling staircase that I had seen oh too many times before.

"Well this is unfamiliar," James joked under his breath as the seven of us treaded up the stone stairs, clutching to the flat wall for support. I could easily picture Lora, who was in front of me, falling back and knocking us over in a Domino effect.

Prong's comment only earned him a small chuckle from me and a dull glare from McGonagall as she grew impatient with our slow steps. Finally we stumbled into Dumbledore's round office. Large windows faced toward the empty Quidditch pitch, which brought a strange, unrecognizable feeling to me, seeing it so empty. The memories of playing out there, with the crowd cheering and filled to the brim with students flashed in my mind briefly before I returned my attention back to the room.

Where there were no windows, pictures of former headmasters cluttered along the walls. Most were either absent or snoozing away gently in their frames. Though some had been abruptly awoken when we made our somewhat loud entrance. These few were obviously a bit annoyed and went back to their deep sleep. One picture stood out in particular to me though. To the untrained eyes of this office, he would have appeared to be gently sleeping in his armchair, though I had seen him enough to know that he was so obviously faking it while he eavesdropped on the conversation that was about to be held. I had seen Phineas Black, my great-great grandfather, do it several times. Often though he stayed back at Grimmauld Place, listening to whatever was happening there. He liked to be kept in the loop you know, whether he was dead or alive. I scoffed at him and could have sworn that I saw him cut a glare at me before quickly resuming his faux-sleeping.

"Thank you for coming," a voice spoke up, startling me from my trance. I swiftly turned my head to look at Dumbledore and I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised at what I saw. All of the joy and sparkle that had been in his eyes previously were gone now. This was not the headmaster I knew, and immediately I knew that this was about much more than just misbehaving.

"I hope none of you mind that I had to remove you for a moment from your celebration but time is of the essence these days," he continued, not waiting for us to reply to his greeting. "I'll try to make this quick; the wizarding world, as you know, is in serious danger. I am sure that you have all heard of the attacks that Voldemort-" Peter winced at his name and I could feel Lora shiver next to me. I rubbed her back gently with my thumb while Dumbledore continued, ignoring the reactions."-has been spreading. The number of people left dead is growing with every passing day. And I've been putting together a…project to try and stop that. I am recruiting the best wizards and witches to join me in the fight against Voldemort, and that is where the six of you come in. I want you to join the Order of the Phoenix and help defeat Voldemort." As he looked at our shocked expressions, he adding quickly, "Of course normally I would give you all time to think about this but like I said, time is of the essence."

Many thoughts flashed through my mind in the seconds after he declared this. Most of which I do not remember. I did think about the wizarding world though; I knew that it was in trouble. Many people had begun losing their loved ones and that shattered my heart. I remembered back to a time where I was being told that one day I would be able to assist You-Know-Who. This brought hot anger to a boiling point in my chest and I had to breath slowly to calm myself down. Then my mind flipped to Lora. If Lora and I ever did get together, I would want the world to be a safe place for her. And what if we started a family together one day? I wouldn't want them to be afraid of the world around of them. As I thought about all of this, a voice interrupted my thinking.

"Ill join," James declared, brave in his decision. I heard Lily let out a small gasp and watched as James let his hand touch hers gently. They let a silent conversation pass through their eyes and Lily nodded curtly to herself.

"Me too," she spoke up, her voice not wavering as she said so. She clutched onto her beau's hand tightly as he smiled down to her.

"I'm in," I said, a strange sense of excitement growing inside of me. This was what I'd wanted for so long. To be able to undo the wrong doing that my parents and ancestors before me had taken such a large part in. I wanted to prove that I wasn't like them; that I could help people. I saw Lora look up to me, her eyes brimming with tears. Admiration shone brightly through that though as she nodded her head. "I'd like to join," she said as she turned her direction back to Dumbledore. In seconds Remus agreed along with us, shortly followed by Peter confirming that he was in. Joy returned to our old headmaster's eyes as he nodded happily and thanked us.

"Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix. I'll be in touch with you shortly," he said as we turned to leave. "Oh, and one more thing," he said, catching our attention. "Congradulations are graduation today. Hogwarts will be a different place without the six of you. It will be refreshing not to roam the corridors worried about whether or not a dung bomb would land on my head," he said jokingly, looking straight at me and James. We laughed and bid our brief farewells as we headed back down the stairwell. McGonagall did not come with us though.

While walking back down the corridor, for the last time, I lingered behind with Lora at my side. The other four were a few yards ahead of us but this was how I wanted it.

"You were brave in there," I told her as I looked down once more at her. She smiled to herself and whispered a quiet, "you too." Silence took over between us after that but it was okay, just having her there with me was enough to mend my fragile heart. I could feel the warmth from her hand, which remained next to mine as we walked down the empty hall. Before I knew it we were outside once more, walking towards our parents. We all finally exchanged good-byes and began to go our separate ways.

As Lor reached up to give me a hug, she whispered in my ear, "You'll have to send me a letter to tell me when." Confusion was spread plainly across my face as I let her out of my arms, reluctantly.

"When what?" I asked her, puzzled at what she had said.

"For our date of course," she said, a bright smile dominating over her gentle face. I opened my mouth to say something when I realized that I had nothing to say. Instead I just let a big, goofy smile take over and I nodded. As she turned to follow her dad, she gave me a quick wink, sending my heart crazy.