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chapter twelve;
repercussions and danger
Sunday came around sooner than he realized. His parents also had work to do for the Order, Dad was working at the Wizengamot, eyes on the inside of the ministry, and Mum had been attending neverending events, all to get high-class ladies to drink enough to tell her what she needed to know about their afflictions with Voldemort.
Of course, that wasn't the extent of their missions, but the more dangerous ones they kept to themselves, not wanting James to worry—he did though.
He was starting to worry a lot. As of lately, the Order's missions had been going off rails. It seemed everyone was coming to the same conclusion—someone inside the Order was tipping the other side off.
To the point some of their agents were getting out of their missions by the nick of a hair, and Amaya had been dragged out of bed that week to heal the wounded hit by dark magic curses—one of the Prewett twins, whilst the two of them were out for a non-ministry approved mission, had taken quite the hit with a nasty curse that had slashed across his back and was quickly spreading; if Amaya wasn't bloody fantastic he'd be dead. James also heard of other agents getting splinched due to Anti-apparition charms.
So, naturally, he was worried. This was why he was thankful when Lily and Marlene had declared they would wait for them to come back to the flat, and if they didn't come back by the agreed-upon hour for the mission—Marlene had confirmed with Moody that they were allowed to do so—they'd go to the Black Cat with backup.
And he wasn't exactly thankful for his own safety, but rather his friends and that also meant Amaya wouldn't be alone that night, holed up in the library until her body made her pass out from exhaustion because the girls had invited her along.
"Do you reckon we're gonna need backup?" asked Peter as the four of them sat, for the third time that week, at the same dusty booth at the pub.
All of them discreetly kept their eyes on the forbidden table, that as of the moment sat Rookwood, the scruffy fella, and two others, one of which they recognized as someone in the Mulciber family by the way his jaw sat crooked on his face, and they were just as shady looking as them—and yes, perhaps the job had made James paranoid and too quick to judge the men at the forbidden table, but he'd rather that than be caught by surprise if something happened.
"I don't think it'll be an issue," said Sirius, sipping on his glass of Ogden's whiskey. "We're not engaging."
Remus snorted. "Never thought I'd see the day in which you were the calm one."
Shrugging, Sirius said, "Not calm. Just practical. It'd do us no good to attack anyone. But be sure, if someone in my family strolls through that door I won't be held accountable for my actions."
"Noted," said James.
Peter excused himself to go to the bathroom at some point during the night. At this point, James and the others tensed up because a few minutes after he was gone, one of the men with Rookwood went to the loo too. Peter came back, quite pale, but assured them the man just went to take a leak and nothing happened, though the lad seemed to be trembling in his boots. Sirius passed him his glass and Peter downed the whole thing.
Then Rookwood took his leave, with the shifty fella along. The other two, the nameless one and Mulciber, remained for a couple more drinks and Mulciber met James' eyes once. He could've sworn he smirked at him, like a villain in a story. James turned to the others. "I think we better go."
"There's still half an hour before we have to," said Sirius looking at his watch.
"Pads, let's go," James said firmly, and the other three got the memo.
The four of them stood up from the table, paid for their drinks, wished the barmaid a good night, and left the pub, and all the whilst James' hand was shoved in his jacket pocket where he'd hidden his wand. They walked down the street, and James could feel them following after them.
As soon as they turned into a dark alleyway to apparate, the four of them turned, wands pointed at the two men that walked in after them, this time with their masks on their faces, wands pointed at them, and walking as if they'd just trapped them. But they were four on two, they had the advantage.
"Now, now," the tallest of them said, and James could hear his wry smile under the mask. He was quite certain it was Mulciber. "No need for wands, fellas. We're just here to talk."
"Oh, in that case," Sirius said sarcastically. "We were just heading home. Peter here lost his voice you see, and he's our spokesperson. We'll have to take a raincheck—"
"We want to make an offer," the second one of them barked, clearly not amused by Sirius.
James and Remus exchanged a look and James turned to the two Death Eaters with a tight smile. "That's very nice, but we'll have to refuse. Our parents told us not to talk to strangers."
"We're not strangers," said Mulciber, his wand shifting to point straight at Sirius. "We're friends of your family. Your brother just recently claimed a spot on the list in fact."
James felt his stomach sink as Sirius' shoulders squared, and his face paled. The other man let out a chuckle. "Why not reunite the family? The Dark Lord praises talent, you know."
"I seriously doubt that," said James with his jaw clenched as he stepped in front of Sirius who remained rooted in his spot like he was in shock. "You lot are with him. I'd gather his standards for talent are as low as he is—"
"How dare you—"
"Calm down, friend," Mulciber said as the second man began barking. "He's just a boy. Trying to rile us up. No matter, the offer still stands."
"And if we refuse?" said Remus, his shoulders squared.
"Oh. There's really no refusing, just ask Regulus Black—"
Before Mulciber could even finish uttering Regulus' name, he'd been blasted back by a nonverbal stunning spell Sirius had sent his way as he dodged out of James' back. Then everything went to chaos.
Fortunately, they had the advantage. Sirius and Remus joined together, throwing jinxes and hexes at Mulciber who was quickly up and fighting again and James focused on the second fellow, using Peter as his backup, the boy who was clever but not as adept with a wand.
Only as soon as James had been able to knock the second man out, break his wand, tie him up with a spell, and hit him with a couple more stunning spells to make sure he'd stay down 'till the Aurors arrived, Sirius had forgotten his wand and had taken the upper hand against Mulciber.
The man was shoved against a wall, his wand broken on the floor, his mask somewhere near, and Sirius kept punching him, whilst Mulciber merely grinned with every blow.
"Sirius, mate, leave him for the Aurors—" Remus tried to say. Sirius punched Mulciber in the stomach.
"Tell me you're lying, you scumbag," he shouted.
"I'm not. Little Reggie is a part of us—"
Mulciber grunted as Sirius decked him in the nose, whining in pain. "You fucker—"
"Pads." James forcibly threw Sirius off Mulciber before he killed him, though the bastard deserved it, Sirius didn't deserve that weight on his shoulders. "I'm sorry, it's true. I—"
"You knew?" Sirius staggered back, glaring at James, as Remus stunned Mulciber unconscious and tied him up.
James ran a hand through his jaw. "I did."
"What the fuck, Potter?!"
"I'm sorry, I—"
"Since when?"
"Pads," Moony tried to intervene but shut up when Sirius glared at him too.
"Did you know too?" He turned to Peter, who looked more scared than surprised. "Did you? Did everyone bloody know my brother—Regulus joined him?"
"They didn't know," James said. "Lily told me—"
"How the bloody hell did Lily know?!"
"Snape—"
"She talked to Snape?" asked Moony.
"He found her. He told her. And she told me."
"When?" Sirius said with a clenched jaw, glaring at James. And he just stood tall, because although he felt guilty, he knew he would've told Sirius, he just wanted to know if there was a chance for them. Before Sirius could react like he was now before he could start hating his brother when he might not know the full story.
"The Order Meeting," said James. "The one when Moody told us we might get a mission—"
James staggered back when Sirius' fist landed square on his jaw, and his head whipped to the side. He moved his jaw as he straightened again, ready for Sirius to throw another fist. Knowing he wouldn't fight back.
"What a bloody good friend you are, Potter," he said with a sneer and brushed Remus off when the other put his hand on his shoulder.
"Mate, I was trying to help—"
"You should've told me."
"I know."
Sirius seethed but he didn't say anything else. He turned to Peter who remained next to unconscious Mulciber, looking between them. "Will you get home fine?" Peter nodded. And Sirius disappeared with a pop.
"Fuck!" James groaned. "Let's go, Moons. See you later, Pete."
"I'll call the Aurors," Peter said and James and Remus disapparated to the flat.
He'd been ready to take some more of Sirius' shouting, even getting decked in the face again, but as soon as Remus and James landed on the hall, by the front door, which for some reason was ajar, they found Sirius still in the same place. The three of them shared a worried look before they glanced back at the open door. And despite Sirius still glaring at him, James ignored him, urging the others to raise their wands and be quiet.
They did, walking carefully through the silence of the flat, and James' heart started racing when he saw burn marks on the walls. It was too silent. They froze in the doorway to the living room. His heart dropped at the sight of the two bodies on the floor.
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author's note:
Ok. So. Just a warning: the story is going to get kinda angsty from this point on. i don't know if you got the drift but the "two bodies" are dead. so...
Yeah.
I'm not saying it'll be a depressive roller coaster cause it won't, it's just not going to be too happy for the next few chapters, but it will get better and happy again, and hopefully soon James and Amaya get together and yeah.
Also, thank you for reading, and liking and commenting, I really appreciate it ;)