The Potion Princess

Dumbledore's Offer

This was not Audra's choice of compartments.  These were not her friends.  This is not how she wanted to spend her second to last train ride home, but sometimes, you have to do things you don't want to do.  There's a conversation swirling around her, one that involved a lot of comments about mudbloods and blood traitors and name dropping, but she's not listening.  Instead, she's watching the rain roll down the window pane, hearing the echo of the conversation that happened only a few days ago.

She'd never had a chance to talk to Dumbledore before, but if she had stopped to wonder what the conversation would have been like, Audra certainly wouldn't have imagined something like this.  She wouldn't have thought she would have been taken out of bed in the middle of the night by Snape and led to the Gargoyle protected staircase, and when the door swung open, she'd be facing not only the Headmaster, but also Proffesor Moody (the real one), Professor McGonagall, Mr. Weasley, Proffessor McGonagall, Bill, Hagrid, and the stangers that were soon introduced as Tonks and Kingsley.

"Minerva tells me you wish to fight,"  The Headmaster said.  His eyes, which normally sparkled with a wonderful kind of light, were serious, but still kind.  "And that you can do Occlumency.  Are you aware of what you could do with that skill?"

"Yes,"  She breathes out, because she had known, but she also knows that if  it came down to it, she would do whatever he asked of her.  "Yes, I know."

"Hello?"  A hand waved in front of her face, claw like nails painted an acid green.  Emmeline.  "You with us?"

"Yeah,"  Audra smiled a smile she did not feel, and knew it looked convincing.  "Just a bit tired."

"We were just saying how surprised we were that you came to sit with us instead of the weasels."  Draco said. She might have been angry, but could not manage it, not when he was sitting cross legged like a child and drawing patterns in the fog on the window.  "Finally come to your senses?"

It's good natured teasing, and he says it with a fondess in his voice, like its only right that cousins should sit beside each other on the train ride home.  Like they'd never done anything different.  She's suddenly sorry that they never have before, and wonders if she had stuck around more, he might have turned out different.  "Something like that."

"It's too dangerous!"  Mr. Weasley exploded, the tips of his ears burning red.  She doesn't think he's ever spoken in front of these people like that, but now he's placed himself between her and the rest of the room, like he could possibly shield her from the thing that was just asked of her.  "A spy?  Like Snape?  She's a child!"

"It's too dangerous!"  Hagrid roared.  Audra had spent enough time in his classes to grow fond of him, and knowing that she must argue against him hurts.

"I think its going to get dangerous for everyone, Hagrid."  She said, stepping around Arthur to stand in the center of the room again.

"The question isn't how dangerous this is going to be."  Professor Moody growled, magical eye spinning like it could see straight through her and into her soul.  "It's wether or not she can do what's being asked of her."

"If she's half the witch her aunt was, and from what I've heard of her, there's no doubt in my mind that she is, she'll be able to handle it."  Professor Lupin spoke up from his corner of the room, and in his face she saw someone else who had been forced to fight too much, much too young.  "Welcome to the Order, Audra."

She gets tired of sitting there faster than she expected, and now she's up wandering the corridors.  Audra knows she has a part to play, but its easy enough to fake motion sickness and the need for a bit of space.  They accept the excuse easily enough and let her slip out of the compartment.