Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

Michael had entered Grimmauld with the friends he'd brought with him, and they were all ahead of the others. He had no patience for Walburga tonight, and when she opened her mouth to speak, he flicked his wand at her and hexed her, forcing her to shut it. He went through to the kitchen and made a pot of Early Grey and a pot of coffee, and got out the firewhiskey. The others would be coming soon.

It was about time that those who believed in getting Grindlewald out of town started to gear up for what it was going to take to do it. He had sent word to the other order members and asked them to attend a meeting to start doing something more than just meeting. He hated meetings if nothing came of them. They were just useless noise if there was no follow through. This would make it or break it for him.

His friends took places at the table. No doubt it would surprise the Order to see Robert, Kate, Brian, and Khaat back at the Order table, and they had brought Angus with them, as a new Order member.

When the coffee and tea was ready, Kate served them their choices, and they sat and waited for the others.

Frank was becoming a little more loyal to the Order, ever since his first real battle. He had gone mainly because his father could not- his mother, while good, insisted that the family was too important for Neville to be risking his life. They helped out when and where they could but Frank always knew it had never been the level of commitment his father wanted. He could always sense the secret prompting from his father, telling him to take his place.

He had done it when he had turned seventeen, naturally, but he had not cared much for it. It was out of obligation- it had placated the desperation in his father's eyes to be helpful, and Frank had been fine. His father spoke of the great imprtance of the Order, but the difference was Neville had witnessed it firsthand. What had Frank gone through?

The battle changed everything.

So when he got the message about the meeting, he only had to look at his father, who immediately stood, looking more important and strong willed than ever. He turned to his wife and said, "Hannah... I'm going." She had opened her mouth to argue but she looked down at The Daily Prophet and had expelled a long, slow sigh before handing him the paper.

Frank stared at his father walked out frm the hosue, grabbing a jacket. What? What was this? His father taking action, a serious look furrowing his brow. He hurried after, staring in wonder and amazement. Neville reached and and gripped his son's arm, before turning on the spot. They arrived outside of Grimmault Place and strode up to it as Neville muttered the name in a small wonderous voice.

They walked inside and Neville held a finger to his lips. Slowly, almost painfully slowly, he picked his way through the hallway, obviously not confident in his own grace. He entered the kitchen though and his serious expression suddenly exploded one into pure joy. "It's been too long," he said, raising his arms. Frank knew there would probably be a lovely reunital that he had no part in, so he took a seat and watching his father.

Kingsley was always on time for meetings although it probably had something to do with the fact that he practically currently lived in Number 12 Grimmauld Place. Besides participating in the battle of Hogwarts, Kingsley had not left the house for any other reason, simply because there wasn't any other place which was as safe as this, and he had to plan with Jess Potter on the orders next move.

After waiting for a while, Kingsley hated being the first at a meeting you just sat there and wasted time, he proceeded downstairs to the meeting room. Jess wasn't there, but plenty of people had already taken their seats. "Neville Longbottom, its been a long time," he said with a smile as he saw a friend he hadn't seen for a while. He recognized his son as well, having taught him at Hogwarts, and nodded towards him. He saw Robert next, sitting with his friends and family in their places. "And its good to see that you are back Robert, Khaat," he added, nodding to each of them respectively before taking his place at the table.

"Neville!" Khaat was elated to see him again. She hadn't seen them since their days in Hogwarts. "I can't believe its you. Its been way too long. Its good to see you back around this table where you belong. Thanks for bringing him back, Frank." And she was always delighted to see Shacklebolt too. She had an enormous soft spot for the former headmaster and was completely devoted to him. Just seeing him made her smile.

"It's good to see you, Shacklebolt," she said. "It seems like its been too long since I saw you last too. Its good to be back."

"Hello, Shacklebolt. I'm glad you're here," Robert said. "Our situation does call for as many wise minds as we can get around this table." Their meeting at Robert's safehouse had gone well, and Shacklebotl was one of the very few Robert had taken into his confidence about what he was trying to do and why. Robert's thoughts were sometimes unorthodox, and it didn't always make people agree with him. But he was glad there had been a meeting of the minds. And the time had come for the Order to start to do some decision making. "Hello, Frank. And Neville. I don't know that I"ve seen you since the day you graduated. Its good to see you back here again.

"We asked for the Order to gather due to the seriousness of the political situation here in England. We need to talk about the seriousness of the brainwashing that has occured in the larger part of the wizarding public. It does impact not only how affective we will be as we try to eliminate Gellert Grindlewald, but it also very seriously will most likely increase the danger to each one of us--whether the Order decides to act collectively or not. Grindlewald, I'm betting, knows who we are and will be looking for each one of us. So then, the question becomes what can those of us who oppose him do to increase our numbers of supporters and to try to get this evil wizard out of power in all the areas he has penetrated into?"

Jack stood in the threshold of Number 12, staring down the hallway, listening to the faint noises of moving people and low voices. She stared with a blank expression, hiding the storm that was warring deep inside of her. She could feel the heavy beating of her heart against her chest, resounding through her entire body; feelings were dripping into the pit of her stomach, one at a time, echoing through her body as though it were an endless cavern...

How could she be apart of the Order? The Order that Albus fricking Dumbledore started to defend the world against bad things, terrible feelings. How could she, a total hypocrite to those ideals, think that she could somehow fit among these walls. She created a murderer. She had no right to be among those heroes who had always strived for good, who had never hurt a soul, who did not have blood on their head...

But what other ways could she make up for all of her crimes, all of her sins? She had to do something, she had to fix all that she had done. And she had been the leader of Potter's Army, it was expected she continued on. She doubted that any other leader's had ever had the internal struggle to knowing they were good as badly as she was going through it...

She slowly walked forward, slipping into the kitchen where everyone was meeting. She glanced about, seeing everyone greet someone who looked like, yep, Neville Longbottom, someone who had never questioned what was right. Her eyes met with Michael's and she nodded, walking over him and sat down at his right.

((We totally need someone to make a Neville.))

Without much more warning than a sudden whoosh of air flying through the room, complete with a small pop, the kitchen fireplace burst into life, a troupe of dancing green flames leaping merrily about before being replaced merely seconds after its appearance by the spinning form of a man.

"I had to walk nearly a mile down to Hogsmeade to find an unmonitored fireplace for that, you know," he muttered darkly, nodding to the people who had already arrived as he walked around the table to take his usual seat.

"Good evening," he said, completely unaware of the speech he had just interrupted. "As those of you who are in this room will have noticed, Robert and his family have chosen to rejoin our folds once more, much to my own personal relief," he told them all, gesturing in Robert's direction whilst he spoke. "I'll trust you to all understand that the issue that arose has now been settled, and no further discussion is necessary," he told them, a smile on his face, but a sense of finality ringing in his tone.

"Now, the first call of action is for us to take into account what sort of control that Grindelwald is controlling right now. Any weaknesses we can find now, early on in his regime, will be easier to take advantage of now than in the future, so if any of you know of anyone who you work with who may not be inclined to follow our new.. leader... try and steer them our way, before he can scare them into his own trap," he said sternly.

"The other thing we need to discuss... well, that can come later, first I want to know what you all already know, so I know where we all stand," he told them all, glancing at Robert before summoning a glass of water to the table for himself and taking a drink.

((I have both of his children- not literally, I wish XD- so I'll start bringing him out of his NPC box more often. He'll just drag Frank everywhere.))

Frank watched his father push his way towards the others, saying, "Kingsley! Great to see you! Oh, Khaat! Michael, Robert, the whole gang together again!" He hurried forward to kiss Khaat's cheek and clap the men on their backs. Frank had always been accepted, but never exactly belonged among the group- he was too young, too naive. He did not understand what they had all been through together. How was it he saw them more often than his father did, and yet they were more of a companion to Neville than they were to Frank? They had seen things that drew them together.

He spotted a younger girl enter, one of the more troubled students, in his opinion, that he had dealt with at Hogwarts. He did not say anything to her because Jess entered and the meeting began. Neville walked over and sat next to his son, leaning forward, obviously thrilled to be back in the thick of things. Frank was just barely aware he was even here.

"Wait," Neville said, "Is this all we have? The Lupins gang, the Longbottom men, Kingsley, Jess, and- she's not a Weasley, is she?"

Frank shook his head. "No, Pop, she lead Potter's Army last year."

Neville glanced over at her. "Oh- the hair, sorry. And a new grad? What happened? Where is everyone?"

Jess screwed up his face and held up his fingers slowly counting them off as Neville spoke before finally nodding. "Nope, not at all," he said, his mouth set in a thin line. "I've not got a clue where the rest are, but this is ridiculous, I believe. Still, their loss," he muttered darkly, choosing not to meet anyone's eyes for fear that they may combust from the look he was giving.

"Anyway," he said, attempting to smile but ending up giving a slight grimace instead as he pulled himself out of his thoughts, "I think it fitting for me to set something out to those of us who've decided to arrive," he told them. "As you all know," he said, "I've taken up the position of Charms Professor at Hogwarts, a position which you should all know I've been vying for for quite some time," he said with a slight chuckle.

"Obviously though, it has its downsides, particularly with the current administration in place. As such, I've clearly got some issues with spare time and availability, as you heard whilst I arrived," he said to them, deciding to be upfront and lay his cards down flat on the table.

"So, I've decided to make use of an asset which we have at our disposal already and appoint someone to try and fill in the gaps I may be leaving open in the near future," he told them all, "And who better to try and plug the holes up than a man who has more knowledge about the Ministry than... most of us," he said with a wink to Kingsley.

"Robert here has already gladly accepted to take on some extra roles in the Order, so whilst I still maintain command, he'll be spearheading out plans regarding the Ministry," he explained, looking at Robert now. "I'll be coming in from time to time, but for now he answers only to me, and whilst hierarchies generally don't come into play inside this house, I'd like you all to respect that," shrugged Jess.

"Any problems or questions? I daresay that Robert has a lot more time on his hands now," snickered Jess.

"Well, I do have more time, officially," Robert said. "Unofficially, though, I have never stopped working for the greater good of our world. I put a number of things into place when I still had access to the ministry to do so. Things that I do beleive will aid us. I've met with Jess and Kingsley to brief them on what I have been working on. I somewhat expected us to get into this situation when we first learned that Grindlewald had been brought back. It does seem to be the pattern for dark arts followers who believe they need horcruxes. I decided to try to prepare as best I knew how. I do continue to do whatever preparations I can. We do have some obstacles in front of us that will put our lives in most likely a more dangerous position just by being Order members than they have ever been before. We need to know that going in. But if we do nothing, it may be more than the wizarding world that is at stake here."

Sophia was beyond late for the meeting which was something that she didn't like was being late for the order meeting for she missed out on alot of things. As she appeared in the alleyway behind Number 12 Grimmauld Place so rushed into the house quickly but quietly as she could. "Hello everyone, Jess I do apologize for being late."said Sophia softly as she took her normal place. As she looked around she wondered where everyone was at for the place looked so empty to her. "Maybe there just running late."Sophia thought to herself hoping she didn't intrude on anything but she think she did.

That was one of the main reason Sophia HATED being late for she hated intruding when someone was speaking about important matters. Sophia really didn't know anyone here but Jess, Khaat, Robert, Michael and Shacklebolt the rest of them she seen but didn't really know all that well. Well she knew five out of the eight so she guessed it wasn't really all that bad. Remaining to herself she listened to what Jess and Robert had to say on the issue of Grindlewald.