Selenophile // Marauders

|113| First Mission

23rd of July, 1978

The past weeks were as strange as they could ever be.

Riley didn't see Penny around at all, and she couldn't be more delighted. She wasn't planning on speaking to her anyways after what Ethan did. She also didn't see Ethan around, which was another thing she liked.

The strange part was that Riley had no idea where Penny was. It was the twins' birthday on the twentieth, but there was no celebration or talk. Their house looked empty. Although it didn't bother her.

After that night, Riley had stayed at the Potter Manor for two nights. Almost the whole group was there. Lily was also staying there for a long time, her and James were closer than ever, and they could not be happier.

For Riley, things weren't as happy. She was still traumatized by that night, furthermore, she was still having nightmares about the day her mother died. She often woke up in the middle of the night — if she slept properly — sweating and in fear.

She didn't want to go around the neighborhood, not even for a walk.

Surely, everybody had been helpful. Remus kept checking in on her, Lily kept apologizing for her sister for hanging up on the call. James was the most furious out of all, along with Sirius. They were willing to beat Ethan up.

Lily and Marlene checked on Riley many times, which made Riley feel a bit safer. They really helped, they talked to Riley a lot to make her feel better after that night. Dorcas had given a lengthy speech to the rest of the group to ensure that they didn't make Riley feel uncomfortable.

Mary tried to get Riley to report Ethan. Of course, Riley wanted to report him, but she didn't know what to do exactly. She partly was afraid that people wouldn't believe her. But Mary was very encouraging.

Peter was quiet.

On the fourteenth, she met up with Lena. Riley thought it was ridiculous to just meet up about things Lena had clearly outlined before. She wasn't in the mood for talking to the always cheerful girl in the middle of all the stuff happening.

She didn't laugh much, never cracked up a joke. She wasn't her old self, and she never would be.

She couldn't bring herself to visit Madelyn Spade's grave. She also couldn't bring herself to open that locked door and examine the stuff inside. It was too much, too emotionally tiring.

Besides all these, her arms still ached sometimes. Remus had tried his best, along with Lily and Euphemia Potter.

She got ready for the order meeting, then apparated away from the neighborhood to reach the headquarters. She entered the cabin which expanded into a much larger room. The same people were there. But instead, they were all eying her nervously.

They knew about what had happened to her mother, but Riley didn't want the attention on her. So she ignored them all and sat down quietly next to Marlene.

"You all right?" she whispered to Riley. Riley nodded.

Alastor Moody sat down at the long table and sighed as loud as he could.

"Right," he began. "Let's not waste any time. Dumbledore will not be here, he had other work. Longbottom!" he called. Frank looked at Moody quickly. "Be at Hogsmeade today at seven o'clock sharp, there will be an attack. Thatcher informed us."

The rest of the discussion was a blur, just like the last time. Riley couldn't focus on any of the things being said, she just wanted to sleep.

"Spade!" called Moody suddenly. Riley looked at him with her eyes wide open. "Go to Diagon Alley, now. Take Black and Evans with you. You'll need to guard the area, aurors will also be there. Constant vigilance, everybody! Keep an eye out!"

Riley looked at Lily, then at Sirius. They looked as nervous as she was.

"What are you three waiting for?!" said Moody sharply. "Move!"

They all stood up from the chairs, making their way out of the cabin and into the forest as they disappeared to go to Diagon Alley.

***

They reached Diagon Alley. It was as crowded as Riley remembered it despite the war.

"What do we do?" asked Sirius.

"No idea," said Lily. "He said 'guard the area,' so split up? Then attack if there's something which triggers us?"

"We can't just split up, what if we attack and lose? We need back up," said Riley. "Stay close, we'll see if something happens."

The three of them tried to be seen as normal as they could, they tried not to catch anyone's attention. Riley looked over at Sirius who was clutching his wand hastily. Lily kept looking at one direction, then to another.

Riley looked over at Ollivander's. The shop's doors were being opened by a man with a black, expensive-looking, coat. He was wearing a hat which was black too. He looked around suspiciously, then walked to Gringotts with confident steps.

Lily had also noticed the man, looking at him and then at Sirius and Riley. They both nodded, and started to follow him.

The man entered Gringotts, but didn't move towards the front. He just stared at the ceiling with the massive chandelier which reflected rays of light all around the huge room.

He then took out his wand and looked around one more time.

Riley quickly held her wand slightly higher, then noticed Sirius and Lily do the same thing. The man raised an eyebrow at the ceiling.

Then, the fight began.

"Diffindo!" the man yelled as he pointed his want at the chandelier, causing it to collapse into her floor and shatter into tiny pieces. Everyone started to leave, but the man attacked more.

Riley covered her face as the chandelier fell down.

"Stupefy!" yelled Sirius, but the man blocked the spell with the effortless flick of his wand.

"Expelliarmus!" said Lily, but the man avoided it too.

"Crucio!" yelled the man and pointed his wand at Lily.

"Protego!" said Lily, the spell was blocked.

"Levicorpus!" shouted Riley. But that didn't work either.

"CONFRINGO!" screamed Sirius, causing many more objects to explode, but not the man.

"Petrificus totalus!" shouted Riley at last, then hid herself back again to avoid getting hit by the spells the man fired each second.

Luckily, the spell hit the mysterious man, causing him to paralyze and fall to the ground.

The sounds stopped, the only thing left to hear was the people screaming outside Gringotts. Riley hesitated to move first, but then heard someone walk.

"Is he completely petrified?" asked Sirius. "We have to give him to the aurors."

"Expecto patronum," said Lily more calmly, casting a silvery doe to inform the aurors about the attack.