SuperPotterLock - The Order of the Phoenix

The Advance Guard

John found his mother in the kitchen, looking slightly unnerved, surrounded by people she didn't know, but making them all a cup of tea anyway.

'Ah, there you are,' said a familiar, friendly voice.

'Professor Lupin,' John smiled.

Lupin looked more worn out and tired than he had ever done while still teaching at Hogwarts, but he smiled warmly at John and Sherlock.

'All right there, Watson?' another voice growled.

'I've been worse, thanks, Professor.'

'Dunno much about "Professor",' said Mad-Eye Moody. 'Didn't get 'round to much teaching, did I?'

John looked around at the others in the room, all pretending not to be watching him with interest.

'Right, introductions, I suppose,' said Lupin. 'John, Sherlock, this is Alastor Moody.'

John nodded. It was slightly odd being introduced to someone he had already met.

'He's in charge of your protection.'

John glanced at him, and images of him protecting other Seers flashed through him. 'Good,' he said. 'I heard from Crouch that you protected a lot of Seers.'

'Yeah, mostly from him,' Moody frowned.

Then Lupin gestured towards a woman. She looked the youngest of everyone in the room, but John had trouble looking at her. Her appearance shifted rapidly, flashing bright colours. He put a hand to his hand and breathed deeply, forcing her image to slow until her outline settled. She had short, spiky, turquoise hair, and was looking at him curiously. 'Don't call her Nymphadora,' he mumbled, before Lupin opened his mouth.

'Wow!' the woman said enthusiastically.

John shook his head, trying to get rid of the heavy feeling in his head. 'Sorry, what?' he said.

'Tonks. You can call me Tonks.'

'Nice to...' John trailed off and sat down at the table, light-headed.

'What's wrong?' Sherlock asked.

'All this magic,' he mumbled. 'It's making me feel funny.'

'You spent too much time away from it.'

'Or not enough,' John grumbled.

Mrs Watson placed a cup of tea down in front of him, and kissed the top of his head. 'It could be worse,' she said bracingly. 'If - if I understand it, it would have been worse if you'd gone straight back to Hogwarts, right?'

John smiled. 'Yeah, I suppose.'

Lupin sat down next to him. 'I see your power is stronger now,' he said.

John snorted. He'd barely come into his power at all the last time he'd seen Lupin. 'Unfortunately.' John took a sip of his tea, and another man came through the front door.

'Are we almost ready to go?' he asked, in a deep, slow voice. Something about him caught John's attention.

'Kingsley Shacklebolt,' he said, offering his hand.

John shook it, and suddenly saw him standing in front of a lot of people. He couldn't hear what was being said, but there were flashes from several cameras, then everything compressed into a Patronus in the shape of a lynx before fading. John drank some more of his tea, hands shaking.

'We're just waiting for the signal,' Lupin told Shacklebolt.

'Tea, Mr Shacklebolt?' Mrs Watson asked.