Lily Evans and the Marauder's Secrets

In the Hog's Head

No one says anything for a long moment.

"How long do we have?" I whisper.

Emmeline shrugs helplessly. "I don't know. All I know for sure is that Evan made it sound like he's coming with his full force. Something about today being the perfect time while Professor Dumbledore was distracted..."

James swears. "Brooks was right," he says angrily. "It was all a diversion to get the Order and Dumbledore away from the school."

Now it's Emmeline's turn to look confused. "What are you talking about?"

James and I quickly catch everyone up on our morning when we had not, in fact, been in Hogsmeade with everyone else but instead with Professor Dumbledore on what we'd thought was supposed to be a rescue mission but had actually been an ambush.

The circle of faces grows stony while we talk as the full gravity of the situation sinks in. Even if we could get out of here, there might not be anyone waiting to help us, depending on how bad the situation at the university got after we left.

"The Ministry?" Alice suggests tentatively, but I shake my head aggressively.

"The Death Eaters have already gotten to them. That's been the whole point this year, getting enough people at the Ministry under the Imperius Curse to not care about the attacks and see how far they could push things before the Ministry intervened. We can't count on them at all, especially since it was mostly Ministry employees who attacked us with the Order. The whole situation is completely out of their control."

"So it's just us, then," James says. I meet his eyes. We protect each other.

"Let's get everyone caught up and come up with a plan."

***

This turns out to be easier said than done. Everyone's still riding the high of winning the battle and starting to spread across the square, and no amount of shouting can hold everyone's attention. Not to mention I feel horribly exposed standing out here in the open, right where the Death Eaters had left us. Right where they'd attacked the first time. We need somewhere to hide out and plan before they come back, somewhere they wouldn't expect us to be...

I turn to James.

"What was that pub Professor Dumbledore had us leave from earlier?"

His eyes light with understanding. "The Hog's Head."

"Yes."

We tell as many people as we can to meet us there immediately and spread the word, then head there ourselves.

The door is locked up tight, and no amount of Alohomora does anything to break it open. I pound the door. "Let us in!" I shout. "We're students, we were here earlier, we're with Dumble-"

The door swings open and the same man from earlier has his wand pointed threateningly at me. When he sees James and me, it drops slightly. "Are you mad?" he hisses. "Hurry, get inside."

"Thank you," I say, and I push in. The pub is as dingy as it had been hours earlier, proving my theory right that sweeping was a hopeless task, but now it's deserted except for us.

"'Um..." the barkeeper scowls as a crowd of people follow me in. James, and Alice and Frank and Marlene, of course, but also Sirius, Remus, Peter, Angela, and a handful of others we'd managed to catch on our way over.

"They're with us," I assure him. "And, um, there'll be more coming."

The barkeeper's scowl deepens. "This is what I get, I suppose, for mixing with Albus and his visions of grandeur." He looks around at the already full room. "And I suppose you all think you're part of Albus's plans? Going to save the world from Voldemort alongside him?"