The New Marauder

Thirty eight

            ~*~*~*~ Swan Residence, Forks Washington ~*~*~*~

    "How did you do it?" Joanna asked, her voice low as she looked out the window into the backyard.
    Charlie, confused, turned to Anna but only received a shrug in return. "How did I do what?"
    "That," Joanna pointed to her twins, now sitting together in the oversized lawn chair, talking with one another. "I've been trying for months to get them to spend time together in the same room. And after one talk with Juniper, she's actually trying to get along with Jamie."
    Charlie shrugged, still uncertain. "I just talked to her the way I would talk to Orion when she was younger."
    "He's always been good with kids," Anna interjected, throwing her husband a proud smile.
    Joanna laughed, though there was a hint of sadness in her tone. "I might have to bring you home with me."
    Charlie popped open his beer and took a seat at the table. "I take it things with my brother didn't go over too well?"
    "That would be an understatement," Anna muttered, sitting down next to him.
    Joanna continued to watch her children through the window, shaking her head. "I honestly don't understand him sometimes. When they were younger, he adored both of them equally. But the moment Jamie started reading books beyond his age, it was like Sirius pulled away. And the more Jamie progressed, the more Sirius would rather spend time with June, taking her to see my brother and his son, or bringing them to our cottage even inviting them on trips I had planned out specifically for the two of them. I've tried for years to set up little things for them to do together, but nothing stuck. Eventually, Jamie just stopped including his father in his life."
    Charlie nodded, taking another sip of his beer. "Sometimes you just have to let things go, especially if holding onto them hurts. I love Anna with all my heart, but if Orion had a problem with her officially moving in and joining our family—not that we weren't already a small family before—we would talk about it and find a way forward." He grinned at his wife just as the phone rang in the hallway. "The point is, those conversations have to happen to start healing the wounds causing the rift. As humans, we need to let our guards down and have open, honest discussions about what we want out of life. No matter how much the truth hurts, you have to decide if your vision and his match up. And if he's the man you fell in love with, he'll see that and work on himself, just like I told him earlier."
    "You talked to him?" Joanna asked, turning her head sharply toward her brother-in-law noticing Anna disappearing through the doorway.
    "Mhm," Charlie hummed, taking another drink. "I told him that regardless of the news you get about Jamie, I think he needs help to be the father he wants to be. I also told him that you all should consider family therapy."
    "Therapy?"
    "Yup, it helped us a lot with Orion after we got her diagnosis. Then we started going as a family to learn how to better communicate with each other." Standing up to toss his can away, Charlie joined Joanna by the sink. "You guys had a rough start as a family, but now you have two terrific kids I've come to sorta kinda like," he grinned down at her. "There's going to be a rough road ahead to get where you want to be, and it'll take hard work from everyone involved to get there, if all else fails Anna and I will be here if you need us."
    "What about Orion?" Joanna asked, furrowing her brows.
    Charlie felt his heart drop instantly. "Ori... well, she hasn't really come around to the idea of expanding her family just yet. No offense, but I'm not going to push her into accepting you guys. If she wants to get to know you, I'll pass the message along, and we can meet up in London or maybe here. But for now..."
    "I understand," Joanna whispered, feeling a sharp pang of grief. "Thank you... for the talk," she said, clearing her throat and trying to hold back tears. "I get it now, how you managed that." She nodded toward her twins, who were now laughing together instead of fighting.
    "I'm glad I could help," Charlie said sheepishly, noticing his wife standing in the doorway. "What is it?" he asked, moving to her side, growing more worried with every passing second.
    "Jo, that was the hospital..." Anna began.
    "Jamie?" Joanna asked, moving around the counter toward Anna.
    Anna smiled softly and nodded. "Jamie is a very healthy girl."
    "Oh, thank Merlin," Joanna gasped, slumping into Charlie's abandoned seat.
    "That's awesome!" Charlie almost shouted, hugging the dazed woman. "I meant it when I said we're here for you guys."
    "We are," Anna agreed, taking hold of Joanna's hand. "Whatever you need, let us know."
    "Thank you both," Joanna said through the tears she could no longer hold back. "Really, thank you for letting us stay here and helping me with the kids."
    "Hey, it's no problem," Charlie reassured her with another brief hug but quickly pulled away when a flash of orange light shot through the kitchen.
    They scrambled to the back door, rushing outside to find the once-silver grill engulfed in flames. Instinctively, they jumped into action. Charlie raced toward the grill while his wife and sister-in-law searched for the twins. Burning his arm slightly as he turned off the propane, Charlie let out a sigh of relief when the flames finally died out.
    "They okay?" he asked, glancing over at the frightened kids.
    "Yeah, just a bit scared," Anna called back, absentmindedly pulling June into her arms holding onto her a bit tighter. "You?"
    Lifting his singed pinkish arm, Charlie let out a small laugh. "A little crispy, but it could've been worse." He joked still worried about the children.
    "So... pizza then?" Anna asked, laughing a bit to relieve some of the tension as she went to check on Charlie's arm.
   
                ~*~*~*~ Hogwarts ~*~*~*~
   
    "Where are we going again?" Fred complains loudly, breathing heavily behind me.
    He's not wrong for wanting to know where we're headed. We've been walking forever and hiking for what feels like even longer. I know they were upset about the map and Cedric staying over, but this just seems like cruel punishment. And to make it worse, Gemma has a picnic basket full of food dangling on her arm as she walks ahead with Charlie, both of them ignoring us. We didn't even get a chance to eat before they dragged us out of the dorm, claiming it was to "burn off our energy." Pfft—more like they wanted to babysit us.
    "Ori, you ask them," George pants out weakly.
    "Uh-uh." I shoot back, lifting my t-shirt to wipe the sweat from my face, briefly considering stripping it off due to the sweat covering my back. "I'm not risking not getting to eat."
    "Yeah." Cedric agrees, apparently on more than just the topic, as he pulls his shirt over his head, letting out a long sigh as the barely-there breeze hits us.
    "Oh, we're doing that, are we?" Fred grins, pulling his shirt off as well.
    Looking at George, I give him a shrug before yanking my sweat-soaked shirt off. "Cheese and crackers, that's so much better," I groan, glad to be rid of the restricting fabric. Don't get me wrong I love The Flash but I love him even more when he's not sticking to me like a second skin.
    Noticing how quiet it's gotten, I look around to see the others eyeing George, waiting for him to join us.
    "What?" he asks in disbelief. When Fred gestures to his shirt, George lets out a huff and pulls it off. "If I get burnt to a crisp because of you three, I'm going to kill you."
    "You won't get burnt," Fred shoots back dismissively.
    "Oh, and you're the expert on the sun, are you?" George sasses, waving his arms around. "We're gingers, Fred—we're born allergic to the sun."
    "Well, maybe we'll get lucky and not burn," Fred fires back while Cedric and I laugh. "What are we even doing out here? You know we had plans today," he shouts, clearly as frustrated as we are.
    "Calm down, Freddie," I sigh as we finally break through the trees into what looks like an abandoned Quidditch pitch that's been left alone for ages.
    We trail behind them through the overgrown grass, dotted with pink and yellow wildflowers, until we reach the opposite side, where a small, rickety shack stands. The old, weathered wood holding it up looks so fragile that a bunny could sneeze next to it and the whole thing would blow away, never to be seen again.
    Charlie turns to us with his arms spread out, grinning. "Welcome to the club—where are your clothes?" he asks, dropping his arms.
    "Uh, we got hot," I mutter, eyeing the picnic basket Gemma placed on the ground next to a bright red and white checkered blanket. "Why are we out here?"
    "Because this place is special to us," Gemma says, gesturing between herself and Charlie. "And we thought it would be nice to share it with you guys, seeing as it was passed down to us. All I ask is that Cedric doesn't spill the beans, because this has become a safe space for Gryffindors over the past hundreds of years," she finishes pointedly.
    "Oh, no, I won't," Cedric assures her, holding his hand up. "I promise."
    "Good." She smiles.
    "Now, come here—we have to officially start to initiate you," Charlie speaks up, ushering us into the shed.
    Climbing warily into the small space, my eyes widen. While the outside looks like it's barely holding up, the inside seems to have been built not too long ago and is completely sturdy. In fact, it looks like a totally different building. My eyes dance over the tall wooden walls covered in Gryffindor banners and pictures of so many people who have visited over the years. The same comfy-looking beanbag chairs from the tower are scattered everywhere, mostly in front of an old, wide stone fireplace. There are bookshelves and desks with mismatched chairs too, filled with trinkets from different houses. Overall, it looks like a small replica of the Gryffindor common room but with a lot more history—well, like it's filled with stolen goods, but in an awesome way. Walking in further, I notice the back wall, which, at first glance, appears empty, but is actually filled with hundreds of scribbled signatures from what looks like every Gryffindor who has ever come here.
    "This place is cool," I breathe out, taking it all in.
    "Cool?" George scoffs.
    "You mean bloody brilliant," Fred says excitedly.
    Gemma and Charlie walk past us, heading straight for the back wall. "As you can probably guess, not every Gryffindor knows of this place—only a few do, because not every Gryffindor is deemed worthy in Godric's eyes."
    "You're saying..."
    "Godric asked us to bring you guys up here," Charlie nods. "Cedric, you're welcomed here because as of this morning, he has named you an Honorary Lion. Meaning you—and only you—have his permission to be here, or in the tower."
    "So, as you can see behind us, the many who have been initiated into the clubhouse. The thing is, while few are invited, even fewer get to sign the wall," Gemma says, pointing to her and Charlie's names. "To sign the wall and become an official member of the Clubhouse you must pass the test many before you have faced. The rules of initiation are simple: the witch or wizard who wants to join the Clubhouse must succeed in a mission to join the elites."
    "The mission, if you choose to accept it, is to collect an item from one of the other houses and bring it back here without being caught. The item can't be something just lying around—it has to have meaning," Charlie grins widely at our shocked faces. "Cedric, since you are not a Gryffindor, you cannot take from the tower nor from your own house, and the same goes for the three of you."
    "So, strictly from Ravenclaw or Slytherin to keep things fair," Gemma nods in agreement. "Another rule is that the initiates have one month to complete the mission. If they fail to bring an item back within the allotted time, or get caught in the process, the invitation is revoked, and you'll all be just normal Gryffindors."
    Looking around at all the shiny little trinkets, I see that they're mostly from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, with barely anything from Slytherin. Must be hard to get into their lair. Well, now I know which house I'm aiming for.
    "Wait a minute—you two—"
    "Stole stuff? Actually took things from other houses?!" Fred finishes for George, both of them looking beyond shocked—possibly betrayed a bit.
    "What, did you really think we were completely innocent back in our day?" Charlie shoots back with a sly grin, while Gemma nods, wearing a smirk.
    "Anyway, now that you know the rules... Do you four accept the mission?" Gemma asks teasingly.
    "Yes," the twins say at once, with no hesitation.
    "Absolutely," I agree, feeling bubbles of excitement roll around in my stomach.
    "Cedric?" Charlie asks carefully. "We won't pressure you, but just know you're being given an opportunity no other non-Gryffindor has ever been given."
    "Well," Cedric mumbles nervously, looking around without meeting anyone's eyes.
    "C'mon, Ceddie," I urge, taking his hand. "We won't let you get caught."
    "Yeah, Ced, imagine how fun it'll be sneaking into the dungeons," Fred continues, patting him on the back, making the decision for all of us that we're indeed going for Slytherin.
    George comes over and stands next to his twin, mischief in his eyes. "Think about how horrible Snape has been to us. Wouldn't it be awesome to get one over on him—and he wouldn't even know it was us?"
    Cedric's gray eyes cloud over in thought for a moment before clearing up. Giving us a wry grin, he nods his head. "I'm in," he says confidently, making us cheer in excitement.