moony and wood | r. lupin

phoenix

"Quit it, you're gonna scare her,"

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

July 1978

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

"I believe that we are all gathered, yes?" Albus Dumbledore did a quick scan of the room, nodding to Elphias Doge. "Elphias, my friend, would you mind terribly doing a headcount? Should be twenty-five total."

Elphias nodded quickly, raising his finger to do a quiet count.

Dumbledore glanced at the crowd around him.

The witches and wizards gathered were some of the best he knew of– which he knew he needed. The battle against the Dark Lord would be extremely difficult to win. If they wanted to stand any chance, they needed the best and the brightest wizards.

To one corner stood a group of eight– anxiously waiting and chatting to themselves. James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Lily Evans, Evelyn Wood, Marlene McKinnon, and Dorcas Meadowes had all graduated from the school they were standing in not even an entire month prior. James and Sirius were muttering to each other about the room they were sitting in– in their seven years at Hogwarts, they never once had made it into the staffroom in their numerous mischievous pranks.

Which reminded Dumbledore– the original plan was to meet at the Hog's Head– but Alastor Moody had noted how much of a public space Hogsmeade is– and Dumbledore concluded that the safest location to gather such a precious group of people would be none other than Hogwarts itself.

"I count twenty-five, Albus." Elphias told him. "Should be good to go."

"Thank you," Dumbledore gave a curt nod. "Good afternoon, all," Dumbledore waved his arm, gesturing for quiet. "As you are all aware, it is my duty to introduce you to this organization in the fight against the dark rebellion,"

Lily hit her boyfriend in the arm, who had snickered at the word 'duty.'

Evie gripped Remus' hand tighter. She felt sick to her stomach with nerves. Joining a secret order to fight against evil does that.

"So without further ado," Dumbledore continued. "I welcome you all to the Order of the Phoenix."

- 

An hour later, Dumbledore had laid out the general outline of how things were going to work. The entire thing had set Evie into a mild panic. She doubted she was a good enough witch to be fighting with all these aurors and powerful adults– she felt like a child compared to them. Still, Remus squeezed her hand. He knew she was a nervous wreck– she'd said so at least twelve times on the way to the school.

Evie had a sudden thought, and she glanced around the bustling room until she spotted the person she was looking for. "I'll be right back," she gave Remus' hand another squeeze before releasing, moving to where her sister stood, chatting with two order members.

"Gwen," she gently pulled at her sister's sleeve.

The girl turned around, faltering her conversation with the two men she conversed with, who seemingly looked like twins. "Evie," Gwen said. "This is Fabian and Gideon Prewett. They were at Hogwarts when I went to school– between Jace and I,"

"Pleased to meet you." One of the two, Fabian, smiled.

"Gruesome times were getting into, huh?" Gideon said.

"Gideon," Gwen gave him a look. "Quit it, you're gonna scare her."

"I'm not scared," Evie frowned.

"Right, Gwen, she seems well put together. Gryffindor, you are?" Fabian asked.

Evie gave him a nod, causing him to smile. "Good, that. Us too."

"If she's Gryffindor, she's brave." Gideon told Gwen.

The two brothers turned at the sound of Hagrid's voice, while Gwen rolled her eyes with a smile. "You holding up okay?"

Evie gulped. "I-I think so."

"Don't worry, sister." she gave her shoulder a squeeze. "You've got all of us, we've got your back. They're all good people, y'know."

Evie nodded, trying to convince herself to listen to Gwen's words. "Right."

"You've got them–" Gwen pointed to Evie's group of friends who she had been standing with. "And you've got me. Got that?"

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right."

"Excuse me, everyone!" Elphias Doge motioned for quiet. "Gather 'round over here– we'll take a group picture."

Evie dashed over towards Remus, grabbing his arm. He gave her a warm smile.

Gwen had been right, Evie knew. As long as she had the others, she would be okay.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾