No Diversions

1. The Offer

Dana Wilde leans against the back wall as Alastor Moody dismisses the Order meeting. The room is sparsely populated, a stark contrast to the usual overcrowded gatherings. She prefers it this way—fewer people, fewer distractions. Large crowds aren't her taste; they're loud, chaotic, and make it impossible to focus.

Less is always more, she thinks. Being alone is better. No social obligations means she can dedicate every waking hour to the Order of the Phoenix. Since the moment she graduated from Hogwarts, she had thrown herself into the fight. It's a Muggle born's duty to defend her people. Anyone who opted out is, in her mind, a coward, lacking the spine to stand up for what was right.

Work is all that matters to Dana. It was the only thing that had ever mattered. Her dedication quickly caught the attention of the Order's leaders, and she soon became one of their most trusted members. Even Alastor Moody, with his gruff demeanor and unnerving magical eye, had a soft spot for her. She respects him, though his constant vigilance sometimes sets her on edge.

As the others begin to file out, Sirius Black pauses, giving her an odd look. Remus Lupin follows close behind, his calm presence a sharp contrast to Sirius's brooding intensity.

"Alright, Wilde?" Sirius asks, his tone neutral.

"Alright," Dana replies, steadily. She and Sirius had never been close. They had crossed paths at Hogwarts, but he had been a year ahead and far too popular to pay her much attention. Now, they occasionally work together on assignments, but their friendship remains casual. Dana prefers it that way. He reminds her too much of someone she has no desire to think about.

Remus stops beside Sirius. His mouth curves kindly, revealing a set of sharp canines. "You look well, Dana." He compliments, causing a pink hue to tint her cheeks.

"Thank you. You look well too." Dana says shyly, offering a tiny smile of her own. Remus is so tall that she has to crane her head back a little to look at him properly, even though she herself isn't considered short. As for his words, she can't decide whether or not they're said for the sake of being polite or are genuine. While she isn't bad looking, she never dares fancy herself above average.

She likes to think he means them. Remus is someone she might've developed a bit of a crush on since joining the Order a few years back. He's always seeking her out, flirting, and offering a small bit of validation and attention that she hardly receives elsewhere. It's easy to like Remus, with his honey brown hair and kind eyes, his intelligence and wit. Yes, Remus isn't hard to like at all.

Before the moment can stretch into something more, Sirius interrupts, his voice dismissive but not unkind. "Go on, Moony. I'll catch up in a moment." He looks tense, like there's a sort of weight on his chest that he can't quite manage to get rid of. Dana chalks it up to the Potters being in hiding, to him missing his friends. Before recently, no one ever saw Sirius Black without James Potter next to him.

Remus hesitates and then nods. "I'll have to see you around, Dana." he bids.

"See you," she murmurs, her gaze following him as he disappears through the doorway. Now, it's just her and Sirius. An awkward silence settles between them, and Dana shifts uncomfortably. "What's up?"

"Wilde," Sirius gathers his thoughts, running a hand through his shoulder-length dark hair. "Mad-Eye is going to... offer you a proposition," he says slowly. "I want you to refuse it."

"Why?" Dana's eyebrows furrow. Turn down a job? A foreign concept of her. Never in all her history with the Order has she ever refused any offer they might've made. The most dangerous missions, deadly scenarios— anything she could do to help, she did. "What sort of offer?"

Sirius huffs, as if Dana were being difficult. "Moody will tell you soon enough." he says, and then his voice drops and he leans closer. "I know you're brave, Dana, but this one is out of your league. Trust me. Turn down the job. Let Mad-Eye pass it on to the next person."

"I'm not—" Dana tries, but before she can get another word in, Sirius is pulling back and walking through the doorway Remus had gone through a moment earlier. She stares at the empty room, offended and confused. Out of her league? No job was out of her league, and Sirius Black certainly didn't have any right to decide that. She's accomplished far more than he has in a shorter amount of time! Why did he think he needed to warn her? What could be so dangerous that even she couldn't handle?

As if on cue, Moody appears in the doorway. "Ah, Wilde," he says in his gruff, Irish accent. "Come with me,"

Dana straightens, masking her curiosity with a nonchalant nod. "Sure, Moody."

She follows him out of the room, through the foyer where a few members still linger, and down a narrow hallway. They stop in front of a door that she had never seen opened before. Moody produces a key from his pocket, unlocking the door and pushing it open with a creak.

"Take a seat," he instructed, gesturing her forward.

The room is small and sparsely furnished, with a round table and a few mismatched chairs. Dana chooses one and sits down, the chair's legs squeaking against the floor. Moody sits across from her, rubbing his real eye wearily.

"Dumbledore has requested you for a mission," he begins, his tone serious.

"What mission?" Dana asks, as if she had no clue there was something she was needed for at all. It's not unusual for her to be specifically picked out for certain jobs, she had skills, but to be requested by Dumbledore himself was another thing entirely. It never happened to her before.

"I can't tell you unless you accept."

That's... odd. Something's were too classified to tell to just anyone in the Order, especially with their new suspicion of a rat. But being asked to agree to a mission so secret that she couldn't even know what it was never happened to Dana before either. She's intrigued.

"Is it very dangerous?" Dana leans forward in her seat. A little thrill of adrenaline shoots through her at the mere idea. A job that only she can do, so dangerous that she can't even know what it is yet, well, how could she ever turn it down?

Mad-Eye's expression hardens. "Don't," he says. "Don't accept because you think it'll be fun. Now is not the time to go looking for an adrenaline rush."

"It is," Dana gasps, curiosity eating away at her. "It is very dangerous. Oh, Mad-Eye, can't you tell me what it is? You know you can trust me. When have I ever told something I wasn't supposed to?"

"It's not a question of loyalty," Moody sighs. "It's Dumbledores orders. This is what I'm allowed to tell you: yes, it's very dangerous, you cannot back out once you accept, you will have a partner, and the mission may take months. That's all."

A partner? Dana prefers working alone, but if the mission is as challenging as Moody implies, she can tolerate it. The thought of such a classified, high-stakes mission is too intriguing to pass up.

"I'll take it," she says without hesitation.

Moody's magical eye fixes on her, his expression unreadable. "I hope you know what you're getting into, Wilde."

"I do," Dana replies confidently, though a flicker of doubt gnaws at the back of her mind. Whatever this mission is, it has to be worth the risk.

A/N: 

look, i'm a straight shooter, so i'm gonna give it to you like it is: the first few chapters of this story are terrible. horrible. absolutely abominations of literature— okay, maybe that's going a little far, but they're not good. i wrote them long before the rest of the story, before it was really fleshed out. to tell you the truth, i've thought of editing them, i just don't have the time. and it seems really boring as well. so.

i promise once you make it through those few chapters that the story gets better. i'm saying this because i feel that readers aren't sticking around after reading them. sorry if this is long. i don't quite know how to do this.