#january15th

Location: A pub in Muggle London Time: Around ten at night, 15th of January Status: Closed, for @starbrightblack

Alastor Moody had given them the date and address to the Order’s Estate, and Atlas had confirmed that this was indeed a genuine offer they could trust. And yet there had been no Alastor when Lu had made it to the Estate, and no matter how many people they had spoken to, no one had been able to tell him where this Alastor was right now. It had taken a few days before Lu had realised that perhaps this had been Alastor’s plan all along. To introduce Lu to a couple of members of the Order first, have them decide if they trusted Lu enough to make them part of their group. If that was the case, it was quite a clever plan that Lu respected. Respected and was willing to play along.

So for the past week, Lu had pondered more ways to super casually run into the few Order members they had met at the Estate that day, or introduce themselves to the ones they had only caught sight of from afar. Perhaps it took one of them to get this going, to suggest it during one of their meetings. Perhaps one of them was Alastor, just waiting to be found. Who even knew. What Lu however did know was that the guy sitting in one of the pub-booths wasn’t Alastor Moody.

He was, however, part of the Order. Lu had briefly seen his face when passing past a room in the Estate. Not exactly a face you easily forgot. They’d been eyeing him for quite a while now, enough for one of the men he was with to notice and lean in to explain: ‘That’s Sirius Black.’

“Black?” 

‘Orion and Walburga’s other son.’ Lu’s company smirked when he saw their expression. ‘Not a surprise you haven’t heard of him. Let’s just say it’s not a surprise to see him in a Muggle pub.’

That was explanation enough to answer the question, yes, but not enough to satisfy the curiosity. Lu let their company be drawn back into the business talk at hand before motioning for the bar tender, ordering a second of what this Sirius Black was drinking to be brought to his table. Then they waited, gaze unwavering, attentive, curious, as the gift was delivered. The bartender’s finger was pointed at them, then their eyes met Sirius’, and with a sharp smile, Lu raised their own glass for a silent toast.

It took perhaps half an hour before Lu’s company was ready to leave. With a sweet excuse no one hesitated to believe, they told the men to go ahead, and then stayed in their seat by the bar. When the men were gone for good, they turned back to Sirius and waited. Waited in a way that was neither passive nor patient, neither humble nor begging. Waited in a way that made it obvious they were on the offensive. They wanted in. They wanted the Order, they wanted to know what kind of a Black would enjoy Muggle bars (other than to discuss Wizarding business that no other Wizards were supposed to overhear), and they wanted someone to finish their drink with.

Location: Potter Estate Time: Afternoon, 15th of January Status: Closed, for @mary-mxdonxld

It had happened again.

Between his fight with Amelia, Fabian having disappeared and Ryland’s return, Edgar had almost lost track of time. It was only when he passed Marlene McKinnon at the Estate, that he remembered that apart from tracking any new Muggle deaths in the news, he was also supposed to be tracking the moon.

During the Order Meeting where it was announced that Ryland would move out of the Potter Estate soon, his gaze kept flickering from McKinnon to Lupin to Lily and back, closely observing them and all those who would’ve worked at the McKinnon farm during the last full moon. Searching for something. He didn’t quite know what. Exhaustion. Injuries. Illness...

It would’ve been easy to catch Caradoc after the meeting, tell him about his observations, carefully lay out his theories. But Caradoc had not granted him a proper glance in almost two weeks, and besides, perhaps it was best to hear a new, unbiased opinion about all this. When the meeting was over, he closed the Minutes quickly, grabbed his coat and caught Mary MacDonald out in the corridor outside of the meetings room.

The two of them had always shared similar opinions, radical notions that were different only by the reasoning behind them, by how they expressed them. And for all Edgar knew, she knew as little about what was happening on the Farm at night as he did. She was neither Lupin’s best friend nor Lily’s lover. She stood on her own two feet, had no reason to protect anyone, and that was exactly what Edgar needed now.

With a nod he approached her, his eyes following his hand as it patted down his vest pocket for his cigarettes. “There’s something that keeps happening that no one’s addressing and we might have to properly look into it,” he said, almost in a casual mumble as though not to attract attention. A brief glance around, at the people chatting as they put on their coats or made their way downstairs for an after-meeting tea. He gave her another nod and led her to an empty room. Opening the window, he made sure no one was standing under it, then turned back to her.