Dandelions

~64~

Dumbledore had found no evidence of Peter being the rat, which put all the friends on edge. Marlene invited all the friends over to the cottage where Dorcas and her lived, to speak on it. "What if we plan something? Give the wrong evidence, see if he takes the bait?" Dorcas said as she played with the hem of her girlfriends shirt. James shot up from his chair and turned to the girl, "Meadows, that's a bloody good idea! Anyone got any ideas?" Harper racked her brain for ideas but nothing seemed to fit. Same for everyone else as the room filled with silence until Sirius spoke, "We all trust Dumbledore, yeah? Why not ask him about this." Nods of agreement surrounded so Marlene grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill to write to the older man. "How's the baby doing?" Harper whispered to Lily who's smile grew wide, "He's great. We've decided on a name. Harry. Harry James Potter." Internally, Harper cringed at the first name but she decided to not ruin it for her friend and went with 'aw!'

Remus sat in a chair, tapping his foot on the floor while daydreaming. Sirius noticed the odd behavior of the boy so he took the boy's arm and led him outside of the house for some privacy. "What's up with you, Moony? Alright?" Sirius asked, but the boy just stared off into space, seemingly uncomfortable. "Remus." He snapped out of his thoughts and turned to Sirius, "Huh? Sorry." Sirius began to become a bit more suspicious of the boy now but decided to go with Harper and trust him. "What's wrong mate? You're not yourself." Sirius said, pulling out a cigarette and staring at his motorcycle that glistened in the sunlight. Remus let out a sigh before sitting down and grabbing the cigarette out of Sirius hand. "I just don't want to believe it. All we talk about now is Wormtail- I mean Peter being the mole and we never just have a day to relax and enjoy life. Not with this war going on anyway." Sirius let out a nod before snatching the cigarette back and taking a drag. The two sat in an comfortable silence until James came outside. "Alright?" He asked taking a seat next to Remus.

Inside, Marlene, Dorcas, Lily, and Harper were all talking while Marlene sent the owl off. "Well Halloween is coming up, in what? A week and half?" Dorcas laughed before taking a sip of tea that was made by Lily. "Yeah. We should do something nice for it, who knows how many Halloween's we have left. We can invite a bunch of people." Harper chimed in with a smile. It was decided that the party would be at Harper's house and they'd invite Peter so he wouldn't be suspicious. Lily was flipping through the Daily Prophet and let out a gasp, "Harper! You've got to see this." The boys were just returning inside, but hurried up to see what all the girls were staring at. On the cover was a picture of Estelle Annette alongside her mother, and under it was the words 'Annette family murdered by death eaters months after Gabriel Annette was killed.' Harper sucked in her breath as she thought back to when Harper's father was killed and now her mother and her were with him. Though they had someone hard times, Harper never wanted the girl dead and it weirdly upset her she was.

The group waited for a reaction from the girl to see how to comfort her, but nothing. Harper just shrugged and walked over and sat on Sirius's lap like nothing had happened. "Are you okay?" James asked her, earning a kick in the shin from Lily as to not pry. Harper let out a small smile and said "Yeah, why wouldn't I be? Now we were talking about a Halloween party at our house this year." Sirius exchanged a look with Marlene as if he were asking 'What do I do?' and earned a shake of the head back, signaling to drop the topic. Halloween ideas were thrown around and they all decided on going as one another. Lily put each of their names on a paper and threw it into the black hat she was wearing. By the end of it, Harper was going to dress as Remus, Lily as James, Sirius as Marlene, James as Sirius, Dorcas as Lily, Marlene as Harper, Peter as Dorcas, and Remus as Peter. Remus promised to send Peter a letter telling him their idea of dressing up as one another. "Should be fun" Lily laughed, putting the cap back on her head.

Awkward silence filled the room once more as nobody really knew what to talk about. Nothing good was going on, it was all Voldemort, the Order, and killings. Saving them all, a patronus went sent out saying that everyone needed to meet at headquarters as soon as they could. "Well, see you there then." James sighed before helping Lily up and appareting them both. "Marls, I'm leaving my motorcycle here, I'll get it after the meeting." Sirius said before appareting with Harper on his arm. Once everyone got there, they gathered around the table with the other members. Alice and Frank were both talking about their son they'd also be having, which they said would be named Neville. Peter hurried in and sat down next to Marlene who slightly scowled at him. Harper noticed that there were a two people missing at the table but assumed they were just busy. "The Prewett twins were killed by the death eaters." A gruff voice came from the door as he walked in. Harper looked up and knew him as a man named Alastor Moody.

Not one person didn't feel sadness at the news of the boys deaths. Fabian and Gideon were the light of the Order, making everyone laugh and trying to keep everyone in high spirits even at the lowest times. "There's a mole in the group as we know. I suggest you step forward now before we find out who." Moody growled looking around, he noticed how the group of friends were side eyeing Peter who was looking at Moody. After being dismissed, Peter stuck by them and they told him about the party and costume ideas. "Sure, I'll go. Sounds fun." He squeaked, letting out a smile that made everyone want to beat him up. "See you later then mate." Remus smiled, waving goodbye and appareting home. Harper and Sirius went back to Marlene's so they could retrieve the bike but as he was about to take off, he yelled, "Ive got it! We tell him that he's our secret keeper and see if he gives us in." After Halloween, safe houses would be set and they all wouldn't be allowed to see each other for a bit of time. "That's brilliant! We'll write everyone when we get home then." Sirius revved the engine, and off they went.