⚯͛ Unfortunate - Remus Lupin ⚯͛

43.

"Maeve said she'd meet us down here," Remus lead the marauders, "It's apparently a good spot."

The group were making their way down a back-alley in Hogsmeade, ready to apparate to the Order of the Phoenix HQ. They weren't the only Hogwarts students going, but they had to ensure it didn't look suspicious so they split off in small groups. The marauders were going with Maeve.

Although James was still weirded out by the whole idea of Maeve Iverson actually being a good person and in a relationship with his best friend, he was really trying his best to get over it, he just didn't cope well with change. But he was getting there.

"Finally, here we are," Sirius said.

"Took your time," Maeve looked up from where she was sitting on a bench.

"We got lost, okay?" Remus admitted as he walked closer to her, "You told me that it was a dodgy back alley, you didn't specify which one."

"Not my fault you don't know your dodgy back alleys," She joked quietly, before going on her tip-toes to kiss him, "Hi."

"Hey," He grinned, "You ready to apparate then?"

"Yes," She pulled out the piece of parchment with the address on it from her pocket, before looking at James who was looking at her and Remus as if he was constipated, "What's up with him?"

"Oh, he's still getting used to all this, you too together," Sirius said, before flicking James on the forehead, making him realise what was going on, "He'll be okay."

"I'm harmless, Potter, I promise," She told him, "Let's go, lads."

She disapparated, shortly followed by Remus and then the rest of the boys.

They appeared in front of a modest cottage seemingly in the middle of the countryside. It was surrounded by fields, with an empty road in front of it. The cottage had a small front garden with lots of beautiful flowers, exploding with colours of red, pink, blue, purple. It was really quite scenic, and Maeve just wondered how Dumbledore was able to attain it for the Order HQ.

They walked towards the front door, looking unsurely at each other. Sirius tentatively lifted his hand and knocked on the door, retracting it sharply when the door swung open.

"Ah! Hello! Please, come in," Dumbledore called them in from what seemed like the living room.

They walked through, the house seeming a lot bigger on the inside than the outside. Entering the living room, they saw a few people already there, some they knew, some they didn't.

"Hi, Fawkes," Maeve approached the phoenix, holding out her arm.

Fawkes flew and landed on her arm, nuzzling into her as she stroked him.

"How have you been?" She asked the bird.

Fawkes looked up at her, quirking his head and making a click with his beak...it seemed as if he rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah, I feel you," Maeve nodded.

"Is she talking to a bird?" Sirius asked.

"Yes," Remus said, matter-of-factly, sitting down on a sofa.

Fawkes flew away from Maeve and onto Dumbledore's shoulder, so Maeve sat down beside Remus.

Lily Evans walked into the room, stepping back as she saw Maeve, as if she had to take a second to process everything.

"What's she doing here?" She asked.

"Please, Miss Evans, sit down and I can explain everything," Dumbledore said calmly, gesturing to a seat beside James who beamed.