Thicker than Water (Marauders Era) PART II

17 June, 1996 - Time

By early May, Lavinia had decided that every tiny scrap of worry she'd felt for the past few months was completely and utterly justified. And it said something that neither Remus nor Sirius was arguing with her on this front.

In truth, not a whole lot had really happened in those weeks between Dumbledore's disappearance from Hogwarts and this moment, but Lavinia didn't particularly care. Because what had happened was enough. Dumbledore had reappeared for perhaps twenty minutes three days after Sirius had sent him a messenger patronus. He had completely ignored Lavinia's rather barbed comment about his tardiness, listened to Remus's information, thanked them for telling him and disappeared again, leaving them all with nothing even remotely resembling a plan for how to deal with this latest unsettling news.

Apparently this, like so much else, was not the line in the sand. And so, though they now knew that werewolves were being recruited left and right as more than willing members of the Dark Lord's growing army, they did nothing.

For some reason, this, more than any of the other incidents, had made Lavinia realize that it was really happening. This war was really upon them. She'd known it before, of course, but... But Dumbledore's quiet, unsurprised acceptance of this knowledge, though it had rankled Lavinia at first, had also made her realize that Dumbledore was biding his time. He knew they were too weak to take on the Ministry and the Death Eaters together. He knew they couldn't afford to take this war into the open yet. So he was waiting. And true, when the blow finally fell, it would be that much worse for their inaction, but perhaps, if they were lucky, when the blow fell, the Ministry would be on their side.

And, Lavinia had realized with an awful jolt as she watched the old man close the door behind him, Dumbledore thought that was their only chance. And Dumbledore was usually right.

That night, Lavinia hadn't bothered to return home. She had simply stayed at Grimmauld Place, following Sirius upstairs to his room, putting on one of his shirts in place of pajamas and curling up by his side, trying to beat back the blank fear that had replaced all the thoughts in her head because this couldn't be their only chance. The Ministry showed no sympathies whatsoever and no sign of changing that position and if that was their only hope... well then it seemed like no hope at all. And Lavinia hadn't at all wanted to be left alone with that realization.

Sirius, thankfully, hadn't questioned it. Perhaps, Lavinia thought, he too had realized what this meant. Or perhaps he had merely seen the look on her face and known better than to challenge it. It didn't much matter, she supposed, because Sirius had simply wrapped his arms around her and held her through a near sleepless night, his touch somehow both comfort and torture.

The month and a half that followed had been silent, and eerily so. Especially since between Arthur, Kingsley, Tonks and Moody, the Order knew perfectly well what was really happening in the silence. And it was bad.

More Death Eaters escaped Azkaban, though the papers didn't report it. The Dementors had, apparently abandoned their posts en masse, disappearing without hardly a trace and leaving the prison a mockery of its purpose. Monitored Giant camps had emptied seemingly overnight, their occupants trekking through the forests, their paths and destinations obscured by magic only wizards could perform. And since Remus had first learned of it, the werewolves had started planning. Training. Readying for battle.

Lavinia and everyone else in the Order knew what that meant. This was the edge of war. The enemy was gathering his armies. And they were standing still, praying for their only hope of salvation to wake up and realize what was happening. Even as the Ministry conveniently and meticulously hid each and every little incident that pointed to the truth of the situation.

So the Order did the only other thing they could: they braced themselves. Of course, in the absence of Dumbledore, this was slightly more difficult than it had been last time. But even so, people started adding protective enchantments to their homes, consulting with other Order members to make sure they had as many defensive spells as they could. They started going out only when necessary, taking every precaution they could without being obvious. Keeping their eyes peeled for faces that might have appeared on wanted posters both new and old.