Because Every Phoenix Needs a Flame

Chapter 5: The Order

In the following weeks, the number of duels had increased, but the number of dark wizards in their cells or Azkaban remained short. They always had an ally in high places, leaving the Wizengamot with a ticket instead of a jail sentence. The only good that happened lately was Matteo Romero growing a pair and asking his crush on a date, after much insistence on Alice's part.

She was sitting in Moody's office, after another trial and it had been just another sham, 100 galleons from the Rosier vaults were nothing. Evan probably spent more than that on his visit to the brothel.

"I caught him, Moody! I was the one who stupefied him that night in Birmingham. It was my own wand. And he just walks free!" Alice asked. Her leg was trembling. It couldn't just be like that. It could not. They couldn't just get free to hurt more innocent people because they had money and status.

"Give me your cup, Blishwick," Alastor said as he summoned something from his robes and Alice pushed the empty cup of tea across the desk. He poured something from his flask before handing it back. "Now sip, a deep sip, just feel the burn."

Alice did just that, finishing her cup of tea, now spiked with firewhiskey. It burned, but she needed the feeling on the back of her throat. It centred her back in that office, in how unfair their fair world was. "What can I do, Moody? What can I do that will really make a difference?"

Moody raised his wand at the door, locking it and casting a silencing charm. "Have you heard about the Order of the Phoenix, Alice?"

"It's a secret organisation, to fight You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters," Alice said. She had heard about it before, how they took a more active place in battling the Followers of the Dark Lord. "I didn't know you were part of it."

"That's what makes it a secret organisation... the identity of their members is kept a secret," Moody smirked. "I believe you would be an excellent addition to the Order."

"Oh... I'm honoured, Moody, really. I know I'm my own person, but... I couldn't stand by and watch my husband getting more and more worried. He would stand by my decision, but I couldn't put him through that." She explained, putting her cup down.

"Bring him along. He can be a little too emotional, react a little too fast before thinking, but I was not expecting something different from a Gryffindor like him." Moody said.

"I will talk with him. I don't guess you have a pamphlet, do you?" She teased.

"No, Alice, no pamphlets. Would you like a list of members to be printed in that pamphlet as well? Laminated? With details and dates of meetings?" He asked, rolling his eyes.

Maybe the whiskey was stronger than she had thought because Alice found herself laughing. "Well, that would ruin the secret, wouldn't it? And then who would fight evil?"

"Alice, we're not going to let them win," Moody said, as he lifted the silencing charm around the room.

"Is that a promise?" She couldn't stop herself from asking. Everything was so uncertain, she needed that assurance.

"Of course. We might suffer more losses on the way, but in the end, Light will find a way." Moody said, taking one more sip of his flask and then putting it in his drawer.

"I think I've lost enough for a lifetime." Alice declared as she left the room.

Alice sat at her desk, finishing all the paperwork she had left behind to attend Rosier's trial. She was feeling a little calmer but the Slytherin still couldn't believe it.

The new group of trainees was whispering in the corner, looking at her from time to time. Alice groaned. "Do I have something in my face or is there something I can help you all with?"