George was waving his wand around the outside of the shop, quietly speaking incantations as streams of light shot out of his wand, layering around the shop then fading completely from visibility. He whispered a few more and soon turned around to face Milena and Fred who were standing nearby, waiting for him.
"I think that should be enough," George said, putting his wand into his back pocket. "We better get going, don't wanna get kicked out before we've even started."
The three of them stood together and Milena took a deep breath. Thinking hard about their meeting spot, she apparated, feeling her stomach pulling in weird ways as her body felt like it was being squished, then her feet hit the ground and she found herself standing on a paved road, looking out onto a small beach. Apparating, while fun and convenient, always felt odd when it was to a new place. Just along the road, Fred landed and George was not too far behind him. The three joined up again and Fred began to lead the way even further down the road.
"Bill says it's this way," Fred said, pointing ahead of him.
They walked for a while up the never ending road, the small beach eventually leaving their view and being covered by towering trees tightly clustered together. As they continued to walk, Fred turned back to Milena.
"Have you thought about who you're going to talk to about this?" Fred said in a low voice.
"Talk to about what?" George cut in, looking over at the two of them.
Fred shot Milena a look as if to say "he doesn't know?" and Milena stared at him for a moment before looking to George who looked a little confused.
"Um... well... Fred and I have a... theory of sorts... about me?" Milena tried to explain, George only looking more confused.
"A theory? About you?" George repeated.
"Yes." Milena responded.
"Is this something you can tell me now or am I going to be left out of this?" George asked.
"We think Milena might be a seer." Fred said, Milena immediately shushing him, looking around.
"What? Really? Why?" George asked, moving closer to the two so he could speak a little quieter.
"My whole life I've always had feelings when something bad was going to happen and recently I started having... um... dreams... sort of, but they aren't exactly dreams... because they keep happening. That's how I knew it was your dad who was hurt last christmas before we were told... I just sort of... knew."
George's jaw had dropped at everything Milena said and he stared at her in awe for a moment before speaking.
"Jeez, Milly... Well if it's true, then Trelawny's got her work cut out for her." George joked.
"Back to my question," Fred cut in, "do you know who you wanna talk to about it?"
"Yeah I think so," Milena responded, "probably Lupin first, he was great as our professor and I do really trust his opinion... And I think he's less inclined to freak out about it than some people."
"Like mum?" Fred grinned.
"Exactly." Milena chuckled.
They continued walking further up the quiet road, all of their wands in hand and their heads constantly turning to check their surroundings. Soon, they came to an old and dilapidated cottage which Fred stopped at.
"This must be it," Fred said, walking up to the old, wooden, front door.
Fred held out his wand and tapped it on the door in a very specific pattern which reminded Milena of the brick wall between Diagon Alley and the rest of London. He tapped his wand one last time and then waited a moment. The door clicked open and he grabbed Milena's hand, entering the little cottage, George following behind them.
Inside the cottage was a much bigger room which seemed a lot cleaner and less damaged than the outside appeared. In the middle of the room was a large, round table with random, mismatched chairs all around it and in most of the seats were order members Milena had met before, all chatting while they waited for the meeting to start. Bill was sitting at the table, speaking to Lupin and laughing when Bill looked up at the three new members.
"Ah, you made it!" Bill said, standing from his seat. "Come on, join us at the table, newbies!"
Fred and George both took seats at the table and Milena walked up behind them, still standing.
"Actually, Lupin-" Milena started
"Please, Milena, you can call me Remus," Remus said to her with a kind smile.
"Right," Milena nodded, "Um, Remus, could I have a word with you?"
Remus dropped his eyebrows, but not out of anger, it seemed to be more out of a caring concern for her. He stood from the table and they moved off to a corner away from the large table.
"Is something wrong, Milena?" He asked in a hushed voice.
"Well... no... er... kinda..." Milena said, stumbling to figure out the best way to say this. "I have a concern. Not with the order, but something's been happening to me and it's been happening a lot more recently and Fred and I have a theory..."
"Okay? And what would that be? You're not seeing into you know whose mind too, are you?" Remus said, half-joking.
"Well... not exactly..." Milena muttered. Remus' smile dropped. "Fred and I think that I might... um... be a seer..."
Remus stared at her for a moment, processing her words and his eyes widened at the knowledge.
"What makes you and Fred think that?" Remus finally asked.
Milena explained everything she had told George earlier to Remus, trying her best to remember every detail from every time she thought her dream may have been more of a dream, finally leading up to what she had said the other day at the shop, but opting to leave out the one she had had about Fred on her last day at Hogwarts. Remus stood there, carefully listening to everything she told him, his brow furrowed again as he took it all in and thought over everything she said.
"Are you fully certain of this?" Remus asked.
"Maybe not fully certain, but I think it makes sense..." Milena said. "I just wanted to talk to you about this before I suddenly decided to tell everyone in the order because I mean, who can you really trust these days?"
"Well, first of all, I'm honoured that you trust me with this information. Second of all, that was a smart thing to do, however, I think this is something that should be brought up with some members who I think will be better experienced. I suggest we talk to Minerva and Dumbledore about this," Remus explained, "because if you really are a seer, that could be incredibly useful for us, but also incredibly useful for the death eaters which will make you a target."
"Yeah, that seems to be what Fred thinks too." Milena said.
"For now, keep this between us and after the meeting, I'll see if we can get Minerva or Dumbledore aside to speak with them." Remus ordered. Milena nodded in agreement. "Now, let's go join the table, the meeting's about to start."
Milena followed him back to the table and he sat back down next to Bill where they quickly continued a conversation again and Milena sat down in the open seat next to Fred. Fred leaned over to Milena as she sat down.
"What did he say?" Fred whispered.
"He thinks we oughta keep this quiet and talk to McGonagall or Dumbledore after the meeting, preferably both of them." Milena whispered back.
Fred leaned back to his seat as the meeting started and Dumbledore walked into the room, standing at the last empty seat of the table, but not sitting down.
"First of all, I would like to welcome our three newest members to the Order, Mr. Fred Weasley, Mr. George Weasley, and Ms. Milena Carter who I know were all quite eager to join the cause." He said before moving on to recaps of what had happened since their last meeting.
The meeting went on for about another hour or so. Most of the Order members sat quietly, just listening to the meeting and some would share their reports of death eaters and what they had been doing recently, some shared words they had heard around, and others just reported what had happened at their posts. Eventually, after discussing where everyone was to be when students went back to Hogwarts, the meeting came to an end and people began to file out of the cottage, apparating once they were a little bit away from the cottage. Remus caught the attention of McGonagall and managed to hold her back, but Dumbledore seemed to leave so quickly, he didn't even have a moment to say a word. He waved over Milena and her and the twins met him on the other side of the room.
"What would you like, Remus?" McGonagall asked as Milena stood next to him.
"Milena here has shared with me something that I felt would be best handled by you and Dumbledore." Remus explained, motioning to Milena.
"Yes, Ms. Carter?" McGonagall said, turning her head to her.
Milena explained to McGonagall everything she had told Remus and George now, finding that repeating all of this was starting to get a little repetitive. When she finally finished, she was surprised to see that McGonagall's expression did not change. Instead, she raised her chin a little.
"I see," she said, "I thought that might be the case."
Milena was caught off guard by this, simply just saying "huh?" to her.
"That night when Arthur was attacked and you knew he was the one attacked before you were told. My first thought was that you had some connection to a death eater, but I just couldn't see that, then again, I never would have assumed Peter..." She trailed off, avoiding eye contact with Remus. "Nevertheless, I thought about how you might have known and the only conclusion I could come to was that you might have a gift you weren't aware of. I see now my suspicions may have been correct."
"So, what should I do?" Milena asked.
"First of all, who have you told?" McGonagall asked back.
"Um... basically just the people standing here now." Milena said, motioning to Remus and the twins who were standing around her.
"Good, do not tell anyone else for now. Having the gift of sight could be incredibly useful to you know who, so we can't risk anyone else finding out about this for now." McGonagall explained. "I will speak with Dumbledore about this privately, but for now, do what you can to make sure no one else finds out and I'll tell you when I have word for you."
Milena nervously gulped at this information. Everyone was taking this much more seriously than she had expected and now three people were saying she could become a target of Voldemort's. She nodded at McGonagall to show she understood and took a deep breath again.
"Now, is that all?" McGonagall asked. Milena nodded. "Alright, well then have a goodnight Ms. Carter and get home safely. Goodnight Remus, goodnight boys, oh and Fred..." Fred looked up at McGonagall, "take care of her."
"Always do, Minnie." Fred smiled. McGonagall gave him a disapproving look at being called Minnie as she tried to hide her smile.
McGonagall left the group, using floo powder in the nearby fireplaces and shouting "Hogwarts Headmaster's Office!" before disappearing into green flames.
"Well, you three had better be off too," Remus said, "don't want you getting home at sunrise."
Remus ushered the three out of the cottage after checking that the coast was clear and they all said their goodbyes before the three of them apparated back to Diagon Alley. The sun had already set and the lanterns lining the street were lit, apart from a few that had been broken during scuffles. The dark street was quiet aside from a few owls hooting in the night sky.
George began to wave his wand around the shop again, the shields he had placed all being sent back into his wand as if he was collecting them. Then he unlocked the door which they all entered before he set up the protective charms once more and locked the door.