The Battle

Advice

Ron had pulled you back upstairs, slamming the door behind you both.

"That old lunatic. I swear, he's got no grip of reality" Ron roared. You'd never seen him this angry. Infact, you'd never seen anyone this angry.

"So its all true?" you asked quietly, sitting down on the edge of his bed. He sighed and joined you, nodding slightly.

"I think so. The attack the other day was a warning." he put his arm round you, pulling you close so your head rested on your shoulder. "I'm so sorry that tossers gotten you involved. I wanted to keep you as far away from all this as possible. I was furious at Harry for bringing you that day. I would have rather died than put you in any danger."

You felt tears building behind your eyes.

"How long has this been going on for?" you asked, trying to blink them away, but failing.

"Since just before Christmas. There's been some weird stuff going on at the Ministry, dads been keeping Dumbledore informed. They arent taking it seriously, after all, whats the chances of this really happening again?" he asked rhetorically. "This is the first time The Order has met about it though."

"What is The Order?"

"The Order of the Phoenix. Havent you heard of it?" you shook your head. "I envy you" Ron laughed quietly. "Dumbledore formed it back when Voldemort first came to power. It was him, Sirius, Lupin, a few Professors from Hogwarts, Harry's parents, some others. Then, when Voldemort came back, we fought with them."

You were having a hard time taking in everything you were hearing. While you were sat at home, safe with your parents, your peers were fighting against the Dark Lord. You dont really know what you thought had happened, but never did you consider that children your own age were involved in the battle. It seemed unreal.

"And what do you think, is it a spawn of Voldemort?" you said, trying to laugh.

Ron shrugged, "I really dont know, but whoever it is, she's pissed and shes not stopping anytime soon."

You both spoke for another while, Ron telling you everything you needed to know, despite his protests. As angry as Ron was at the others, he couldnt control his hunger so he stomped back downstairs in the hunt for some food, leaving you alone.

After a few minutes, there was a small knock on the door.

"Can we come in?"

"Sure" you smiled, even though you really wanted to be alone. Harry and Tonks walked in, sitting down on the floor. You felt weird looking down at them, so you got off the bed and joined them too.

"I'm sorry, y/n. I feel like I'm partly responsible for all this." Harry started.

"Partly?! Try fully!" Tonks interrupted him "if you hadnt pissed off Voldemort when you were a baby, none of this would have happened!" you all laughed. Harry shook his head, shoving Tonks to the side.

"I meant, if I hadnt brought you to help Ron..." he trailed off.

"Please dont, Harry. If you hadnt done that, Ron would have died. And I...that wasnt an option." you reassured him. "I just cant believe its happening again. And I cant believe how involved Ron was the first time."

"The joys of being Harry's best friend." Tonks laughed again.

"Anyway!" Harry rolled his eyes, "thats all I came to say. I'm going to go catch up with Sirius" he nodded, standing up and waving bye to you both.

There was a moment of awkward silence, why wasnt she leaving too?

"Listen, I wanted to..." Tonks sighed, "I know this is weird, the whole situation is..." she made a funny face, causing you to laugh again. "But...fighting in The Order is...well its actually really great. And you have a choice. You really really do. But its great. And fighting alongside the man you love...well thats even better." she smiled to herself as she twirled her wedding ring round her finger. "Maybe just think about it...if youre as good at healing as they say you are, you'd be a big help to us all." And with that, she got up and left, closing the door softly behind you, leaving you to your own thoughts.

You didnt move from the floor, your eyes focused on the same spot on the wall. As hard as you tried, you just couldnt make sense of it all. How could this all be happening. There was nothing in the Daily Prophet about it, you read it every day. Surely they would know? Then you remembered how little they had reported Voldemort's return, until it had been too late.

What had Dumbledore meant when he said you were already involved? How could you be involved in something you had no clue about. And how involved were you? Were you really being followed? A chill ran down your spine. And if you were, were your parents? You quickly pushed that thought out of your head. They were safe in which ever corner of the world they were currently visiting. You thought about how mad Ron was, but how keen everyone else seemed to be for you to join up. What would that even look like? You thought back to the battle you witnessed the other day, trying to imagine yourself in the middle of it. You just couldnt. You barely remembered any defensive spells from school, you never had to use them. Your life was simple. Risk free. You went to work, you helped people, you came home. You were essentially a muggle, if it wasnt for the people you treated at work. But you'd never been truly happy, always wanting more. Then Ron came along. He made you happy. And this was his life. If you really wanted to be part of it, you had to know about this stuff. You had to be involved.

You pulled yourself from your thoughts, got up and headed back downstairs. More people had arrived since you went upstairs, the house was full. You recognised the new arrivals. They were all people you knew from school. Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan, and Dean Thomas. You saw some of your old Professors. Hagrid smiled at you warmly from across the room. Ron's siblings had joined the crowd. Everyone was laughing and joking around, catching up with each other after all these years. It was as if it was a birthday party, not some weird 'beginning of a war' meeting. Your eyes fell on Ron, he looked calmer. He was deep in conversation with his brother, Percy, who you hadnt met yet. You went over, quickly introducing yourself.

"Nice to meet you y/n. I am sorry I missed you at Christmas. I was busy at work, I guess you can see why now though." he shook your hand.

"Can we talk?" Ron whispered into your ear, you nodded and he pulled you into the corner of the room. "This is alot, y/n. I know it is, and I am so sorry. I never wanted you to be put into this situation. I wanted to keep you as far away from this as I could. Its too dangerous." he rambled on, giving you reason after reason to not join. You half listened to him, while looking around the room at all the other witches and wizards. Did he not think you were as good as them? Or as brave? Or as clever? You felt yourself get mad. Ron was still going on and on.

"Ron, I want to fight!" you yelled. The room fell silent, and everyone's eyes were on you.