Order of the Phoenix Meeting 15

"That's fine by us," Khaat said. "Although, you might find that Michael's slight alteration of Walburga might be worth keeping for awhile." She tried to stifle a laugh, but when Michael was around that was hard.

"Crazy old bat," Michael muttered. "Your coffee is fine, Lad, unless you've hung around Khaat too long, in which case, the only way coffee tastes good anymore is when you can cut it with scissors."

"So Brian sent word ahead, did he?" Khaat said, mildly suspicious. "He only told me he was going out. That and that I could not go with him."

Robert and Brian were heading up the stairs to go into Grimmauld when he saw Kate coming from the other direction. She hurried to meet them. "Did you get it?" she asked Brian.

"He certainly did," Robert smiled. Brian drew the small box out of his pocket and opened it and showed it to Kate.

"Oh, Brian! Its beautiful. She'll love it. Well done," she kissed his cheek. "Suppose she's here yet?"

"Yes. We're late," Robert said. They walked up the steps and into Grimmauld together, as Brian shoved the box nervously back in his pocket. They walked through to the kitchen.

"Sorry we're late," Robert said. "Couldn't be helped." Khaat frowned, having no clue what they were talking about. She looked at Brian who merely smiled at her.

"Hi," he said to them all. "Robert is a taskmaster sometimes. My apologies."

"Well, I have no excuse. I"m just late," Kate laughed. They all took their places at the table.

Jess chuckled as, of course, right on cue Robert and the rest of the Lupin crew arrived. Listening to their journey inside he decided that now was the time to kick things into motion.

"Why thank you, it is fine, isn't it," he quickly shot from the corner of his mouth, grinning all the while, even though he knew his coffee was sub-standard... he didn't even really like coffee, why would he invest lots of time in brewing the stuff. Either way, he'd somehow gained a stamp of approval, so he must be doing something right.

And on that note, in came the Minister, here in his own home. Yes, something was happening in his life which was working out quite well. "Good evening Robert, Katherine, Brian," he said, tipping his head at them individually as they each entered the kitchen, finally now was the time to start the meeting.

"And hello to everyone else," he said, loudly, with a definite purpose ringing through his voice, signifying that if conversations around the table hadn't already stopped, they should soon. "It's a pleasure to have you all here tonight, I'm glad you all made time to attend the meeting," he told them all looking around at the few faces who had made it, though a few more had told him that they were going to be coming late.

"First thing's first, as you can all see we have a pair of new faces here. I'd like you all to meet Jacob Foster, an old friend of mine who's come to join us in defeating the remainders of the Dark Lord's army," he said, pointing at Jacob so they'd all know who he was talking about. "And next to me here is Jack Dyllan, from Hogwarts, she's the current leader of the resistant group, Potter's Army. She Wilson and McCoy here, I am to understand, have been working to oust the Death Eater staff, and create equality in the school," he told them, pausing on this last note for a few moments.

Truth was, it was working... sort of, from what he'd heard, though part of it was to do with the staff cuts that had been taking place there. Still, Wilson had told him that a new teaching reform was almost through the process of being introduced, and hopefully that would finally alleviate the school of the negative forces that had worked their way into the school.

Matt shambled into the room, the meetings already started. He didn't even bother thinking about how he got here. Actually he had arrived with Khaat, he just needed a moment. His shaking had gotten out of hand for a second. He was entering the first few stages of recovery, they sucked horribly. He looked at Jess and nodded, he stood by the door. Not drawing so much attention to himself. He was afraid of how Jess would react to his suddenly showing up after all this time. He knew either way he wouldn't like the reaction. He smiled weakly, he was pale as normal but a little less. A little more like he was before, like a vampire should be. Thank God he wasn't sparkling!

He was still fairly skinny, but he covered that up with the large traveling cloak he was wearing. He took to himself to wear more robes now a days until he bulked up again. He did miss wearing his suits though, they always made him feel comfortable. He looked around, the meeting had started and he just caught Jess' information.

"Welcome, Jack and Jacob," Khaat said. "Good to have you." She pulled a tea tin out of her bag and went over and made a mug of tea for Matt. It was a blend he would be getting used to by now and helped him to reduce his symptoms a bit and helped him to feel better. She put the mug of the soothing tea with the mild cinnamon taste in front of Matt without saying a word. Matt was doing as well as she could expect, and she was not overly worried about him at present, but she did want him to not look or feel out of place here. He was, after all, among friends.

While she was making Matt's tea, Jess got up and excused himself for a moment, and asked Khaat to handle things until he returned. Khaat frowned just slightly. "Alright, well, lets start with some reports about the state of things. Jack, I'm interested in hearing what's going on with Potter's Army, and I"m interested in hearing from you, Wilson and McCoy about the state of things at Hogwarts overall. What can you all tell us?"

Jack was glad to see Matt and Michael, because she was terrible at formalities. They knew her pretty well and would be able to interpret her sputterings to the rest of the group if need be. She could not help but fell disappointed in her cousin. She had not seen him this long and here he was, not even at the Order meeting. What could she do though?

At Khaat's words Jack pulled herself closer to the table, looking down it. "Uhh," she eloquently began. "Well, honestly, I've been sort of kept in the dark all year. All I know is that there are Death Eaters out there and we have some at the school, but I can't give anyone any straight answers about anything, because I don't have any. It makes it really difficult."

She continued on. "What I've been doing is just pointing out useful spells and tips on how to use them. Boggarts, patronuses, shield charms. What I've done recently is set up the room to be full of different challenges to practice multiple spells per evening and then the next meeting setting up an obstacle course that required the use of all the spells they learned the meeting prior." She shrugged. "I guess it's working. People are learning, anyway. On another note, there are some bad things going on at the school though. The Dark Followers made threats to a few people and well..." She held up her hand to show the scars of the words "I will not act like a know-it-all brat." Thanks to Thaor. She shrugged and dropped her hand. "That's about all."

"Would you like me to heal that for you?" Khaat asked her gently. She knew that wound was painful. "I'd be happy to take care of that for you if you like. It sounds like you're doing a good job preparing them for defending themselves. If they're taking Defense Against the Dark Arts, I'm sure they are learning some of useful things too, but having a safe place to practice is essential. My thought is that if you need additional training or opportunities to spar with someone for practice, perhaps the Order members would be willing to meet the the Army members and practice with them to help them sharpen their skills. I don't know you feel about that, but I, for one, would be happy to do that. As I am sure most all my friends would be. If it sounds good to you, just let me know. We can set something up in a safe place."

Jack shook her head at Khaat's request. "Nah. I keep my battle scars so I don't forget. It's okay, it doesn't hurt that bad. Not anymore anyway." A lie, of course, but Jack never revealed she felt pain. Better to keep people wondering if she could even feel pain at all. The only problem was that eventually, people wanted to test this theory... Meaning bad things for Jack.

Jack shrugged at the rest of Khaat's words. "I don't know if that's what they need, exactly. We do fine amongst ourselves. I mean, I can ask them, of course. But I think the biggest, most important thing we need is information. What are we up against? What should we be protecting ourselves from? What should we be doing besides practicing spells? Is there underground work to be done in Hogwarts we can do? That's why I'm here. Before I go back to them with sparring buddies, I want to be able to tell them what's going on, let them know we aren't just wasting our time."

''The school is as safe as it can be... at the moment. Doyle manages to keep things in line, but yes, I cannot deny the increased activity of the Dark Followers... Generally, they don't pose much of a problem for McCoy and myself and vast number of our pupils, but the fact that they have support from some of the staff members and, especially, Elldir causes problems. We are currently the minority inside the castle... by we I count only those who have expressed their support for the Order, not those who are neutral at this moment, but are believed to be loyal to the School'', Wilson explained. He paused and cleaned his glasses. ''We can't, currently, intervene because they do keep a connection with the other Dark Army members and even if we could run away and go into hiding, that would be a stupid move - the school would remain unprotected. What we need to do is to eliminate Elldir... not necessarily kill, just... put aside. By doing that, we would have much liberty in applying all the ideas suggested here, on these meetings. And then, this may even be tougher... we need to get another of you into the castle as a professor... but as a spy. I presume we have some members that the Dark Army does not know about and are capable of tutoring some less important subject... that person needs to infiltrate the school as a Dark Army member... that way, we would have a head start. And that is all I have to... well, report... that would be the right verb I guess...'', he finished.

"Thank you, Jack, and thank you, Wilson. Your idea makes a great deal of sense, Wilson. The problem seems to be finding someone who is not known to be aligned with the Order. That lets a lot of people out." She scanned the faces of those at the table and they landed on Michael Tremaine. Her brain shifted into gear and she smiled at Michael.

"Me?" he frowned. "Have you lost your bloody mind? And what, pray tell, shall I teach them, Khaat? Do tell!"

"Well, they don't associate you with the Order."

"I dont like children," Michael said tersely. Then he looked at Jack. "Present company excepted. You're not really a child anyway. Not in the ways that really should matter."

"I think we should consider tossing you into the teaching ring," Khaat said. "Wilson? Jack? Either of you have thoughts?"

"I have thoughts!" Michael snapped.

"I know, and I'm ignoring them," Khaat said.

''The old guy? Well, generally... he would fit with the freaks that roam the halls, myself included and I seriously doubt he has no magical skills. One that old must know something. But, as far as I am concerned, and that counts for Doyle too, you could teach Knitting as long as you do your task well'', Wilson explained. ''Our dear Headmaster also dislikes children and he still teaches... I am not sure if the things he does are legal, but he still does them. I am sure you would get the same privileges. As far as I am concerned, he is old enough, DA enough and suspicious enough to fit into the scheme... I have no objections'', Wilson said, calmly.