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It was Thursday afternoon and the trio were excitedly awaiting the minute the clock struck four. They had never been previously invited to join the order as they had been seen as being too young. They were all eighteen now meaning in the magical world they had been considered adults for more than a year. Nevertheless their guardians still often saw them as young and carefree meaning their induction had taken some time.
The warm breeze accumulated around them as they apperated discretely into the park opposite number twelve Grimmauld Place. Fred, George and Elle were all out of breath still finding it hard to get used to the experience of apperating. To many eyes it would seem that number twelve didn't exist as the houses passed from number eleven to number thirteen. However they knew this was not the case.
As they walked over George took a small piece of paper out of his pocket. In order to reveal the secret place from the outside, you needed to know the secret. These days the key was an invitation. All three of them had stepped foot into the building before however it was still necessary for them to use the invitation method like everyone else. Apperating inside of the house was an easier method but often resulted in giving people inside a near heart attack.
Elle watched as the buildings began to stretch as though being pulled by a powerful force. Windows slid out of the bricks and a door pushed forward bearing an impressive gold knocked.
The three hurried over quickly and Fred outstretched his hand to knock three times upon the door.
There was a doorbell however they had been instructed not to use it as the loud noise would regularly wake up the portrait of Mrs Black (the old owner of the house).
Since the death of Sirius Black, the house had been passed down to Harry who had gratefully allowed the order to continue to use it as headquarters.
The black door was wrenched open and behind it stood Mrs Weasley who was beaming at them gleefully despite it only being a few days since they'd seen her last.
"Come through, come through" she smiled "we're only waiting for Tonks now" Molly bustled through to the kitchen and Elle and the twins followed.
There was a large group around the table. Elle took a seat between the twins opposite her uncle who seemed more tired that ever.
Also around the table was Arthur Weasley, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Athena and Aurora Sinistra, Mad-eye Moody, Mundungus Fletcher, Kennedy Vulpes, Minerva McGonagall and to Elle's dismay... Severus Snape.
Molly stood waiting for the sound of the door as Tonks was yet to arrive. Elle kept her gaze away from Snape who still greatly intimidated her.
After finding out from Theo that he had previously been a death eater, she had felt even more uneasy around him.
The doorbell rang and along with it came the loud screeches of Mrs Black.
"I told her to ring the doorbell" Molly sighed loudly as she ran through the corridor.
"I'll go shut her up" Remus sighed as he got up from the table and disappeared out of the door.
Eventually they came back this time accompanied by Tonks who's hair was an electric orange and wavier than usual.
"Wotcha" she smiled to Elle and the twins "Athena said you'd be coming today"
"Yes well before we start" Remus began "we should probably explain some things to these three, I'm in no doubt that they'll have a lot of questions"
"Yes" Elle spoke up immediately,
"What do you want to know" Athena smiled kindly,
"Where's Theo" Remus gazed at her sympathetically,
"Elle at the moment there is nothing we can do about Theo"
"But you know where he is"
"Yes we know where he is" Remus continued "he's with some other death eaters at the moment who are keeping him heavily influenced under the imperious curse"
"The ministry have arrested Stan Shunpike, haven't they" Fred cut across Elle.
"Yes" Arthur began "Dumbledore believes that Stan is also under the imperious curse but the ministry want to make it look like they're making progress so they won't admit to anything"
"Whats going to happen to Theo?" Elle interjected,
"We don't know" Remus sighed "at the moment that is not our biggest priority... I'm sorry Elle" he added seeing the look of sadness on the girls face.
"What are the order doing at the moment?" George enquired,
"Trying to recruit" Mad-eye spoke up "because we know that's what you know who'll be doing"
"At the moment we've been looking into recruiting werewolves or at least seeing what they're up to" Remus states "I doubt we'll be able to recruit them after all they were on his side last time"
"Dumbledore still thinks making contact will be a good thing" Mad-eye continued as a look of resentment entered Remus' eyes.
"Are you the one going to talk to them?" asked Elle,
"Course I am" Remus grimaced "I'm perfect for the job after all"
"Where are the werewolves?"
"Underground, so I might be gone for quite some time"
"Anymore questions or shall we get started?" Barked Moody.
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The meeting was a lot more boring than Elle had expected. When the idea of the order of the Phoenix was brought up Elle thought that the meetings would be interesting and important.
However that wasn't the case. They mainly focused on the wrong doings of the ministry as well as further talk of the werewolf plan.
Elle found herself not saying anything during the meeting. She felt more like a child than ever as she listened to everyone speak.
One piece of interesting information that she learnt was that Snape was still pretending to be a death eater, in fact most of their information of the other side came from him including the location of Elle's brother.
The twins didn't say much either which made Elle feel slightly better. The meeting also highlighted how real the situation of Voldemort's return actually was.
Of course Elle had believed it since Harry came back from the last task of the triwizard tournament clutching the dead body of Cedric Diggory. However now it seemed more real than ever.
Halfway through the meeting Snape declared he had other places to be and left shortly after that leaving less tension around the table.
Molly began making some dinner while the meeting was still going which sent delicious fumes spiralling through the air. Elle realised how hungry she was.
She'd been invited to stay for dinner along with the twins who had obviously accepted considering that Molly's cooking was well renowned as being the best.
As the meeting wore on Elle started feeling more and more bored. Kingsley had started talking about the muggle prime minister now and who he had reacted to the strange goings on.
The events themselves actually were quite interesting but not in a good way. A bridge in London had collapsed, there had been a hurricane in the north (suspected to be giant involvement). There had also been a few untimely deaths including Amelia Bones who had previously worked at the ministry. Elle knew her daughter attended Hogwarts.
The dementors had been confirmed to be working under Voldemort's control rather than the ministry and the faint mist spreading over London suggested they were at large.
This was a general unpleasant idea considering how frightening these creatures could be especially when working for the wrong side.
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The order members cleared off after the two hour meeting was finished, although Elle now knew more about the happenings of the world it definitely hadn't been what she'd expected.
Pretty much everyone left after the meeting was done except for Elle, the twins, Remus and Kennedy.
Elle hadn't really noticed Kennedy throughout the meeting. She wondered if she was still living at Grimmauld place despite Sirius' absence.
When Elle turned to look at her she noticed that her eyes (that usual bore a wicked glint) were empty and lost looking.
She suspected this had something to do with Sirius, after all they had been good friends. The twins had speculated a while back that Kennedy and Sirius were actually in a relationship but considering how reserved Kennedy was, no one could be sure.
The girl looked ill if anything, there were dark bags under her eyes and her skin was paler than usual. Her hair was messed up and her lips chapped and faded.
Kennedy didn't speak throughout dinner but ate happily with the rest.
Molly had made a delicious steak pie which smelt and tasted amazing. Fred and George spent most of dinner talking about the products in their shop.
Mr Weasley seemed very interested while Mrs Weasley still seemed mildly reserved to some ideas. Especially those surrounding Lord Voldemort.
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At the end of the meal the trio insisted that they had to get home despite Molly's attempts to keep them. It seemed that ever since they weren't at Hogwarts she wanted to keep a closer eye on them.
Elle wasn't surprised considering what was happening. She had a right to be worried.
"I'll probably not be seeing you for a little while" Lupin smiled warily,
"Good luck" Elle replied as she hugged her uncle "and be careful"
"I will" he laughed lightly "Don't worry about me"
The group made their way back into the shelter of the park before apperating into the shop.
"Well that was dull" Fred sighed "anyone want any fire whiskey, I need some after that"
George and Elle laughed before following him up the stairs.
"You know every time I hear Snape's voice I want to make some sort of comment" George yawned as they settled around the kitchen table with glasses of fire whiskey.
"Yeah I know and then there's this voice at the back of my head saying... you don't need another detention" Fred laughed,
"Can't give us detention anymore" George grinned "cheers to that"
Everyone clinked their glasses together to celebrate the lack of detentions,
"You alright Elle?" George added in a softer tone "you know... about Theo"
Elle frowned sadly "I just wish there was something we could do... anything, it seems unfair just leaving him"
"I know it does" sympathised Fred "but I guess we have to listen to the order, they know what they're doing"
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