Shooting Star

Chapter Twenty-Three

We woke up to the Potters' house elf telling us Professor Dumbledore was there. Lily and I scrambled to get up and get dressed and hurried down to the living room. The boys and James' parents were already waiting. Sirius wrapped his arm around me protectively, but there was nothing I needed to be protected from, and I wished he wouldn't. James draped his arm loosely around Lily's shoulders. I brushed Sirius' arm off me me, uncomfortable.
"Good morning." Professor Dumbledore said with a slight smile, looking a little bit sadly at Lily. Something was wrong.
I cast a look at James, but he wouldn't look at me. I looked at Remus, and he have a slight nod. What was going on?
Something must have happened to Lily's parents. Oh God.
"I have an offer for you all." He said.
We all just stared at him. My heart was racing. Oh, God. Her parents....
Dumbledore continued. "There's a sort of... Counter group to Voldemort called the Order of Phoenix. We'd like to ask you to join it." He folded his hands.
"Peter's a Death Eater." Remus said quietly.
"Yes, Mr. Lupin, he is, and any of you may very well be put in a position where it's you or him." Dumbledore agreed. "That's a price we all must pay."
"Was it terrible?" Lily spoke up.
"Was what terrible, Miss Evans?"
"I think she's referring to you and Gellert Grindlewald." I said. Lily gave me a "Can you be any more blunt?" look.
"Yes, it was terrible." He nodded.
"All right." James nodded.
"It's dangerous." Mrs. Potter said desperately, looking like she wanted to cry. She gave us all pleading looks, torn between wanting us to say no and stay safe and wanting us to say yes and be brave.
But we were all Gryffindor for a reason, I guess.
"All right." Remus nodded.
"Okay." I said quietly.
"Eliza--" Sirius began, but I gave him a look, and he stopped.
"Okay." Lily agreed.
Sirius nodded curtly.
Regulus is a Death Eater.
Sure, we were signing up to kill our friend, but he was signing up for that and his brother.
I slipped my hand into Sirius'. Mrs. Potter was crying.
"It will be exceedingly dangerous." Dumbledore said. "Are you sure?"
We all nodded.
"And Miss Evans?" Dumbledore continued.
"Yes, Professor?" She asked.
"May we speak in private?"
"I won't mind it being said in front of everybody else, I'm sure." She said.
"I think you should come with me. Miss Taylor can accompany you."
Lily cast me a panicked look. I took her hand and pulled her after Dumbledore, wanting to cry. I couldn't cry before he told her, though. He led us into the kitchen. Lily kept a firm grip on my hand.
"I'm afraid I have some bad news." He said quietly.
"What is it?" She tightened her grip more, hurting my hand.
"I'm afraid your parents were killed last night." He said.
"My parents what?" She said flatly.
"Yes. Their home was invaded by Death Eaters, and they--"
"No." Lily said. "No, that's not true."
"Lily, love." I said quietly. "They're dead."
She covered her mouth with her hand, choking back a cry. I put my arm around her, rubbing her arm. "I'm so sorry." I whispered as she turned her face into my shoulder, crying audibly. I hugged her tightly, crying too.
She was taking this a lot better than I had expected.
"Her sister is handling the arrangements, as I understand." He was speaking to me now. He sat an envelope on the table. "Petunia Dursley--"
"Dursley?" Lily jerked up. "She's married?"
"Yes, about a month ago. I assumed you knew. I'm sorry." Dumbledore told her.
Lily cast me a heartbreaking look and burst back into tears, leaning back into my shoulder. I hugged her, crying harder too.
Dumbledore gave me an apologetic glance. "I'm truly sorry. Uh, Petunia sent this to Hogwarts for her. She can open it when she gets the chance. I'll be off now."
Lily stopped crying shortly and sat up, wiping her eyes. "Will you read it first? If she's a bitch I don't want to read it." She said quietly.
I took the letter and opened it.
Mum and Dad were killed because of you. The funeral is in two days at ten in the morning, but you probably shouldn't come, seeing as you're the reason they're dead.
I hesitated. "Um..."
"Great. Okay. What'd she say?"
"She said that their funeral is Saturday at ten." I said, folding it up and putting it back in the envelope.
"And did she tell me not to come?"
I hesitated again. "Uh..."
"Great. What do I do, Eliza?" She asked pleadingly.
"Do whatever you want to do. If you want to go, we'll all go with you." I reached out and smoothed her hair down. "It's gonna be okay, Lily."
"Thank you." She hugged me tightly. "I love you."
"You too." I hugged her back.
"Would it be bad to say that I'm glad you've gone through this?" She asked, pulling away. "I don't think I could be calm right now if you hadn't."
"I think you would have been. You're strong." I smiled tightly.
She laughed a little bit. "I'm glad you think so."
"Is there anything I can do?"
She shook her head. "No, thank you. You know I'll let you know if there is."
"Yeah, you better."
She smiled and pushed open the door. There was a chorus of "Ow!"s
"Geez, Evans!" Sirius said. "Be a little gentler next time."
"Oh, shut it, Black. You all shouldn't have been eavesdropping." She said, not sounding angry.
"We were just wanting to make sure you were okay." James said.
"Mrs. Potter said we couldn't go in until you guys came out." Remus explained.
"Yeah, thanks a lot. I'm hungry." Sirius said.
She hugged Sirius first, because he was being normal, and normal was what she wanted. "Shove off, Black." She said, her voice cracking.
He hugged her tightly. "Don't be bossy. It's not becoming."
She laughed. "I love you, Sirius. Thank you."
"Hey, anytime, babe. Love you too." He started to let her go, but she held fast, so he hugged her again. "I'm sorry." He whispered as she let him go.
She gave him a soft smile as she hugged Remus. James was looking impatient. Sirius put his arm around me and dropped his head down to whisper in my ear. "Are you okay?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Are you?"
He nodded, but he was lying.