Vengeance| Harry Potter

three. a secret meeting

-CHAPTER THREE-
~a secret meeting~

THERE WERE A LOT more people involved in the Order of the Phoenix than Viola had anticipated.

After their top secret meeting was finished, and the three of them were told they were allowed to finally come down, the kitchen was crowded with tons of people. Their chatter was lively and vigorous, the aftermath of what she assumed was a grave meeting involving any details of Voldemort's current whereabouts.

More chairs were cramped messily around the long table than earlier, but most of them were unoccupied as people congregated in small groups, chatting with their friends, or helping Mrs. Weasley with the dinner.

Viola wasn't able to recognise a lot of the wizards and witches there, but there were a couple of familiar faces, she realised, as she scanned the crowd— Mrs. Weasley, of course, along with her husband and Bill. Fred, George and Ginny were there, too, at one end of the table, talking animatedly to a young witch with bubblegum pink hair. It was with a shock that she even managed to locate Professor Lupin in the throng— not that he was her professor anymore, after an unfair occurrence in third year. He looked as tattered as he did then, still tired and in old robes, but smiling as he talked to two other wizards Viola didn't know the names of. Sirius Black was also seated at the table, deep in conversation with a dark skinned man who looked vaguely familiar. The last face she recognised was Mad-Eye Moody— hopefully the real one, not housing someone else's person under his battered appearance this time.

Viola walked to the table with Ron and Hermione, snatching up three seats near Fred, George, Ginny, and the pink-haired witch. They looked up at the sound of chair legs scraping stone floor.

"Ah look, it's Triwizard Champion number one!" said Fred.

"An honour to make your acquaintance," added George, attempting a small bow as best as he could while seated.

"I do enjoy paying visits to the unfortunate," she said, smiling back at them. "Although I'm sorry to say I won't be giving out any autographs today."

"Smart," said Ginny. "That way they're more rare so you can sell them and get more money."

"Exactly. You've got a good mind, Ginny, wanna be my manager?"

"If she's your manager," said Fred, "then we need twenty percent of any profits. Older brother interest."

"I agree with that one," said Ron.

"Not you, you nosey git. You can go for champion number two. We've already claimed number one. Oh— by the way, Viola, this is Tonks," he said, gesturing to the woman with pink hair, who was watching the interaction amuseldy. "Tonks, this is Viola."