Convergence of Chance

"Defensive magic is more important than offensive in our position," she argued gently. "We're the Order of the Phoenix. We're not meant to be an army. We're meant to be keepers of peace. I wouldn't want Ms du Hunt harmed, naturally. Besides, I imagine a skilled dueller such as Katrina-Carlotta would be more experience in offensive and not so much in defensive. She would be more easily surprised by someone defending rather than attacking. Not tell me. Why someone else, and not you?" She really wanted him to face the question.

"Peace Keepers", those two words really stuck in his mind. All this time he had been told that Order members were soldiers marching off to war. Stuck in a never ending struggle with the Death Eaters and the Ministry. Twenty years of service and nobody had ever once told him that they were in fact peace keepers. They had certainly never acted like peace keepers in his mind. But there was something in Jack's face that told him she was determined to make it so. He let his mask fall for a brief moment and a look of realization and pain sprawled out all over his face. She was right.

The inner struggle came to an end as Matthew had to face the question. The pro's had outweighed the con's inside his mind. There weren't many people as well equipped for the project as he was. He didn't know a single Order member who could act as well as he could or could cast a protego as well as he could. The only reason he was refusing was because he was afraid of screwing up and failing. Would he be able to stand the humiliation from not succeeding? There was no logical reason in his mind that he would fail.

"You're right..." he said quietly. He moved his head to face the ground next to her. He paused to think a bit more. "I'll do it." he told her and he moved his eyes toward her.

Jack was confident in her abilities to lead, because she had done it before. She knew it was not about her doing anything more than taking an active stance in all of their plans, placing herself as a foot soldier, and assisting people in making the realizations they were too scared or too blind to make before she stepped up to clear the air for them. Jack was very practiced in these ways.

And he saw what she saw finally. She kept a smile off her face, though she felt a bit victorious, and she nodded. "Alright. Thank you. Start whenever you like. As soon as you have information, please contact me personally. Shall I leave you to your ice cream now?"