#❛ ━ ✧.*･ﾟ( benjy fenwick › ᴛʜᴇ ᴏʀᴅᴇʀ )

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ORDER MEETING ON APRIL 12TH.

DAY:  April 12th, 1982 TIME:  Shortly after midnight LOCATION:  Arabella’s safehouse PURPOSE:  Order meeting to discuss the kidnapping of Harry Potter 

ALBUS calls the attention of the people beginning to gather in Arabella’s living room. Some have apparated onto Wisteria Walk and entered through the front door; others have flooed in through the fireplace in the dining room. “Thank you all for coming,” he says. “As we wait for a few more people to arrive, please help yourself to tea and cookies that Miss Figg has so graciously provided us with. I also ask that you be sensitive considering the events that have recently transpired.”

LILY'S whole body was rigid as she paced in one corner of the living room, though her face was clearly distraught, she had yet to cry.(edited)

JAMES stands, leaning against the wall of very same corner  that Lily occupies. He’s finally stopped crying, but it seems he doesn’t have any words. The room is buzzing, everyone talking about their son, and he doesn’t know how to speak without his frustration seeping through.

ARABELLA sits on her couch, a cup of tea clasped between her hands and her kneazle sitting at her side. Her head is down. Failure sits deep inside her stomach.

MOLLY looks on at the parents who had so recently lost their own. She knows it could have so easily been her own child, that she was lucky that her entire family got out unharmed. She sits down in an unoccupied chair, setting Ron down on her lap. Her older kids were in another room, playing with each other.

REMUS glances at his friends, the emotions evidence in their faces and their body language. He’s never been good at emotions – how to deal with them in himself or others. But he pours a cup of tea and approaches James, silently offering it to him.

ALICE stands rigid in the back, looking at no one. Neville is perched on her hip with her arms wrapped tightly around him. She knows she’s lucky to have him here with her, but isn’t willing to loosen her grip on him. She’s determined to stay quiet - after her last outburst, she can’t trust her words.

SIRIUS came in through the floo with a puff of smoke, straight from St. Mungo’s and full of nervous energy. He flits around the room, grabbing a cookie and some tea before continuing on as if moving would make everything better. Finally, he makes his way over to James, Remus, and Lily, needing the comfort of their presence and hoping his would help as well.

FRANK  stands a small distance away from his wife and his son, who has not left her side since  the night before. His hands are in his pockets, his jaw is clenched, and he stares down at the pile of cookies on the table. Though he wants to provide comfort to James and Lily, he can’t bare to look them in the eyes.

GIDEON stands behind where Molly is sitting, opting to leave the seats for others who need them more. It’s the quietest he’s been before a meeting and he resists the urge to make a lighthearted comment as he grabs some cookies and takes his spot again.

EDGAR Upon hearing the news, Edgar and Greta apparate to Arabella’s safe house. They part shortly after entering, each busying themselves in their own ways. After short greetings, Edgar has taken to lingering in the corner and waiting.

GRETA arrives with her husband, attempting to send weak smiles to anyone she makes eye contact with. It’s too much to hope that she can provide some sort of comfort in the light of such news so she settles for murmuring greetings at anyone she walks past. She takes up a place next to Edgar, anxious for news.

BENJY all but barged in, having apparated from St. Mungo’s as soon as he heard the news.  Guilt at having been… otherwise occupied when it all went down had been gnawing at him, but he shoved it down as he made a beeline for Lily.

LILY shares the briefest of glances with Remus and Sirius though she is yet to be able to look at her husband, as that would be her undoing. Though she was glad the other two were there and able to comfort him. Her heart ached for the girls though she was glad they were safe and away from this heartache. She looked at Sirius suddenly, “You didn’t tell Marlene did you?” She asked, her voice hoarse from remaining silent for so long. When Benjy approached she tried for a small smile though she wasn’t sure if she entirely managed it, “Or you Benjy? Marlene, Mary…they need their rest.”

SIRIUS ran a hand over his face, trying to organize his racing thoughts into coherent sentences. “I was with her when I got the news,” he said, not quite answering the question. “I told her to get some rest and I’d fill her in after, but you know her.”

ALICE raises her head - an immediate mistake - to survey the room out of instinct. Guilt courses through her as her eyes land on a despondent Arabella, remembering her earlier anger; again as they land on Lily and James, who were living the nightmare she had escaped. She quickly turns her head back down where she can see only the floor.

ALBUS surveys the crowd, seeing the most have exchanged their greetings and the trickle of newcomers has stopped. “Thank you again for coming,” he begins. “I know it is late and the day has already been so trying. Some of us are not able to be here because of today’s earlier attack. Yet, Voldemort’s army does not rest. We know that it was a Death Eater responsible for the kidnapping of Harry Potter. We do not know their exact identity nor how they found this location. We also do not know where they’ve taken Harry but we have our suspicions regarding their motives.”

ALBUS motions to Lily. “If you will share what you learned today?”

LILY'S small sigh at Sirius’ response held more exhaustion then she could ever thing possible, and also resignation to the circumstances. She turned to the center of the room when Dumbledore began to speak, she walked over more or less operating on auto pilot until she had a moment to process all of this alone. “This past afternoon – before the attack at the festival, James learned of the identity of one of the Death Eaters. Amycus Carrow, our former classmate and Owner of The Coffin House. He was inebriated at the time, and we saw it as opportunity to apprehend one of them for the first time so that we might be able to get some valuable information from him.” She paused to take a breath though bile rose up burning her throat, she felt slightly sick at the thought of what that decision head now led them to. She didn’t meet the gaze of one person in the room so sure they were all thinking the same. 

 "I slipped him a sleeping drought and apparated the two of us to a safe location. The location is need to know at this time as we have no way of knowing how the information of this location leaked. So other locations may also be at compromise.“ She said a note of bitterness in her voice on that matter, her trust of most of the people in this room and those of them not present having splintered. 

 "Anyhow, I have recorded every word out of Carrow since he awoke on a cassette tape-” She paused to consider most of them didn’t know what that was but she decided it didn’t need explaining right this moment. “Shortly after  we learned of the attack, James went to St. Mungo’s, and we had no other opportunity to thoroughly question him. I arrived here around 11 pm to find Arabella overpowered, and Harry missing. Neville was thankfully unharmed. So it’s safe to assume it was a targeted effort on the part of those that took him. They knew which child they wanted.”

ALBUS nodded. “I do believe that covers what we know, unfortunately. At this point in time, we don’t know what the Death Eaters intend to do with Harry. We suspect they may use him as leverage in the return of Carrow. If you are contacted by anyone you know or suspect is a Death Eater, I ask that you reach out to me post haste.”

“Now,” ALBUS continued, “If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.”

GIDEON was getting anxious from all the silence. He knew everyone was tense, but he just felt antsy. “All due respect sir, but what are we doing about this?”

LILY too looked at Dumboldore desperate for that very answer.

MOLLY looked up at her brother from where he was standing behind her. She hadn’t wanted to ask the question, so she was glad someone did. She then turned her attention back to Dumbledore as she wrapped her arms around Ron and pulled him in close

JAMES glances at Gideon, a small shake of his head following. He was so good to have asked that question. James was on the edge of his seat, knowing that if he spoke, it would be of mayhem.

SIRIUS looked immediately to James when Gideon voiced the question they were all wondering. “We’ll figure this out and raise some hell, I promise,” he murmured, voice pitched low.

FRANK felt anger settling in his gut as he listened to Albus and Lily speak. It was foolish of them to apparate a Death Eater into their location, Order member or not. Safe or not. Not when there were procedures for dealing with them - ones he and his wife and other Aurors trained years to handle it. He knew that he had acted brash in his younger years, even had his moments now, but he had tried to act more responsible once he and Alice had Neville. It was hard to swallow the growing anger he felt for them putting his son, and theirs, at risk. He was silent for a moment, trying to control his emotions and get to the task at hand. “Is it your plan to return Carrow?”

ALBUS listened and watched as questions were posed. He smiled softly at Gideon. “Thank you, Prewett. That was a good question. Of course, I ask that all of you keep your eyes open and ears out as this develops. I will reach out to my contacts that are close to the Death Eaters for any knowledge they have. This is what we can do until we know more. But I swear to all of you, and especially to you – Lily and James – that I am doing everything in my power to find Harry. I ask that all of you do the same." 

 He turned his eyes then to Frank. "If that is what it comes to, yes. Harry’s return is more important than whatever information we have yet extracted from Carrow.”

JAMES could feel the fury building in his stomach as Dumbledore spoke and he couldn’t help but push himself off the wall to speak, unable to keep his fire down any longer. “With all due respect sir, that’s not enough,” he said, hand clenching and unclenching into a fist by his side. “I know I can’t just… sit by and wait for my son to be returned to me. I bloody won’t.” Now that his outburst had gained the attention of the whole room he had to think on his feet. What could they do? 

 "A task force,“ he said, thinking out-loud. "I’d like to assemble a task force to look for–” He couldn’t even say his son’s name at this point and instead sucked in a deep breath of air, desperation in his eyes.  He finally looked to Lily, hoping to get her support on this one. “Please.”

ALICE was watching the room intensely, trying to gauge everyone’s reactions. The questions asked, Dumbledore’s response, and finally James’s declaration. Her eyes flicked to their son in her arms and, finally, to her husband. Her gaze moved on just as quickly. If it came down to it, she would join that task force in a heart beat. “He’s right, sir. Every single minute counts.” They learned that the hard way on the job. “We can’t wait for information to come to us - we have to find it. Maybe Carrow…” she trailed off. Maybe he was their best bargaining chip, or maybe he knew something they needed.

LILY’S brows pulled together in a furrow at the answer that she could feel none of them were satisfied by least of all her and James. She reach out and took her James hand and squeezed it lightly for herself, or for him she didn’t know. “Maybe Carrow knows who among them is usually responsible for this sort of thing, or perhaps who among us is compromised.” She said firmly, finishing Alice’s thought, in clear agreement. Right now she had no problem going to every extreme to get her baby back.

ALBUS sighed. “And what do you wish to do with your task force? Where will you look? How will you find information? Do you intend to storm every pureblood manor in search of him?” he asked. “I understand the need to do as much as possible. As we have Carrow, there is no reason not to interrogate him for possible leads. But recklessness is not the answer. Looking in the wrong place could get yourselves hurt, could get Harry hurt even if he isn’t there, and could also get you in trouble with the Ministry.”

MOLLY could feel the anger boiling in her. She couldn’t help but to put herself in Lily and James’ position. “This is a child we’re talking about.” She looked at Dumbledore, not wanting to look at James or Lily in fear of dissolving into angry, panicked tears.

GRETA had stayed quiet for a while, taking all the information in. Eventually she spoke up, trying to keep her voice level but she knew it was more pleading than anything. “Surely we can find some sort of compromise? We can’t just do nothing.”

SIRIUS felt restless, the need to do anything causing his expression to twist into something dark and dangerous, an expression he usually wore before he did something reckless. “Storming every pureblood manor isn’t a half bad idea. Between us we know where all of them are, anyways.”

JAMES couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at Sirius’ words. Of course, it came out sounding more like a wheeze, his throat sore from crying, but he appreciated that Sirius was always on his side; always ready to tear down the walls. “I think it’s fairly obvious we’re not just going to sit here,” he said, meeting Dumbledore’s eyes, strong even though he felt like he was breaking. “Greta’s right. We have to find some kind of compromise.”

Even when she could’ve look at him, FRANK knew that he and his wife were on the same page. They needed to act quickly, but wisely. Another mistake, like kidnapping someone without a true plan, would only cause more harm. “Carrow needs to be interrogated.” The word properly didn’t follow, but it was what he meant. Frank knew that James and Lily were doing what they could - and might’ve gotten useful information. But they needed wizards trained in which questions to ask. He looked at Alice, at their son in her arms, and quickly glanced at James and Lily before Greta spoke. “We need to follow any leads we have.” His attention changed to Sirius, where he folded his arms across his chest. “Members are already injured. We have to have a plan.”

“I have no intention to do nothing and I am not asking any of you to either,” ALBUS said. “But we must be careful in handling this lest we hurt Harry unintentionally.”

“Do you have a plan, Albus?” FRANK asked, needing to know how in the dark they were about Harry’s disappearance.

ALBUS nodded. “We interrogate Carrow. We ask the contacts we have. And we keep ourselves alert in case they reach out to negotiate an exchange. If you have other suggestions, please enlighten us. But accosting suspected Death Eaters or storming their homes will only hurt us and him.”

ALICE knew that Dumbledore was right. Acting recklessly may ruin any chance that remained for successfully retrieving Harry. They needed to be carefully, to bide their time, but that felt utterly impossible. A child was missing, two parents missing their heart. Alice could only imagine the feelings they felt, since she hadn’t fully experienced them herself and yet the strength of them made her lose control. “We have to be careful. If they catch onto us, they have a huge bargaining piece.” She referred to Harry without his name. “Do you have tasks for each of us? We could use the auror department’s resources.” Again, she referred to Frank without his name.

The meeting was slowly devolving into chaos and LILY felt herself growing tenser at James’ side. The cogs in her mind spun as she systematically tried to compartmentalize her emotions and the information they had available to find the right course of actions. This was what she knew how to do, the only way she could remain in control of herself if she separated herself from her worries and focused that emotion into action. 

 "First thing tomorrow morning, I will prepare the most effective truth serum known to be fed to Carrow. Alice and Frank will you please oversee the questioning. It was out mistake not to involve you before making the decision in haste. James and Sirius can lead an investigative task force overseen by Alastor, his contacts will prove invaluable. You cannot storm every home because Dumboldore is right that would be counter productive and could lead to detrimental consequences.“ She said with a pointed look at Sirius. "What you can do is follow any contacts of Alastor’s that might have any information on Death Eater business. Narrow down all known common associates of Carrow as it’s very much likely that those close to him are as involved as he is. Anyone willing and able to join James and Sirius please do." 

 "Furthermore, this home is forfeit, and until proper arrangements can be made I would request one of you whom are able to allow Arabella to stay with you.”

EDGAR raises his head, eyes landing on the figure lost among the scuffle of voices. Until now, he’s been an observer, offering nods or grunts of agreement, but largely giving the floor to those most heavily involved. Still, he is eager to help however he can, especially given the uncertainty that has clouded the room. He clears his throat casting a glance at his wife for confirmation. “Arabella is welcome to stay with Greta and I, we’ve an extra room.”

JAMES would’ve looked at his wife in awe, but he was too busy focusing on the rising wave of tears that had followed her plan. Always like Lily, to be the one to set the sure path. He squeezed her hand tightly, and unable to stop himself, kissed her cheek softly. They may not be able to look in each other’s eyes, but that didn’t mean James wasn’t there. He’d always be there.

ALICE tensed briefly. Where would they leave Neville while they conducted the interrogation? Who would be able to keep him safe anymore? Still, she relented those fears to confirm, “of course. We’ll be able to extract as much information as possible.   We… we won’t let you down, Lily. James.” She nodded towards both of them. Her words were for both her and her husband, yet she still hadn’t spoken to him directly since they all appeared.

GRETA nodded as her husband looked to her. “Of course. And if we can do anything else let us know.” She wanted to help so desperately, her heart aching for Lily and James, but perhaps the matter was better left to those who were far more qualified to deal with it than she was. A small smile was sent Lily’s way along with another nod of agreement, fully behind the logistics that had been laid out.

REMUS had sat back, lips shut as he struggled to keep up with the conflict. He didn’t have solid ideas. But as Lily laid out a plan that stood out above the rest, he nodded. “I’ll help, however.” He thought about contacting the werewolves he knew, although considering how little they’d given him so far he feared it wouldn’t be much.

ARABELLA looked up from her lap, watery eyes turned towards Greta and Edgar. Her kneazle shoved its head into the side of her arm. “Thank you,” she whispered. Any louder and her voice would’ve cracked.

ALBUS smiled although it didn’t reach his eyes. “Thank you, Lily. It seems we’re an agreement then. Unless anyone has more to input, then I think we can call this meeting adjourned.”

MOLLY looked down the sleeping boy in her arms, wanting to do anything in her power to help everyone involved. “The Burrow is always open,” she said as she, for the first time since the meeting started, looked around at everyone in the meeting. “If anyone needs anything, don’t be afraid to ask.”

With the rush of adrenaline that came with putting up that brave front having passed, LILY sunk into James side a bit hoping it wasn’t entirely visible how completely broken she felt in that moment, because no matter the plan no matter how solid it all felt, despite their most outstanding efforts she would still be returning home empty handed, her child lost to the mercy of monsters.