Chapter Text
James blearily rubbed at his eyes, waiting for Dumbledore to arrive. For some reason, the old codger only wanted him, so Lily was back in bed, sleeping as everyone should be at 2 bloody AM. James was indeed snuggled up in his lovely warm bed next to his lovely wife. Of course, until ten or so minutes ago, ol’ Dumble’s phoenix patronus had arrived with the message that James was urgently needed, and that he would be on his way to pick him up. James had immediately checked with all their friends, even Mum and Dad, but everyone was safe and had grumbled over being woken up so early. Wormtail was on a mission for Dumbledore, so he would be off the grid for another few days. Neither Padfoot nor Moony had responded, but he wasn’t worried. A few months ago they hadn’t responded immediately, and James made the mistake of apparating over to their flat to check on them. They were more than fine, but James had seen things even the strongest ‘obliviate’ couldn’t make him forget.
He hadn’t the foggiest clue what in Merlin’s name was going on, Death Eater activity is on an all time low after a successful counter attack a week ago. Dorcas had been incredible in that fight, taking down double the amount of Death Eaters than James had. The order had done recon for months beforehand, which ended up paying off in their success. No matter how powerful You-Know-Who is, no one would be able to regroup his forces so soon after such a big blow. The war was far from over, but the Order had done a lot of damage that night.
The sound of Dumbledore cracking into existence shook James from his thoughts. “Morning, Mr Potter.” He seems amused, and in good spirits for someone to be awake this early. “Yeah, yeah, let’s get going,” James grumbles in response, “Sooner I can get back to bed the better.”
Dumbledore chuckled, “Your friends are much better at being conscious in the early hours, I must say.” and with that, James’ ears perked up. “Which friends?”
His expression switched from the ‘merry old man’ persona he hid behind so often, back to the true face of Dumbledore James had gotten to know throughout the war. “Yes, well, back to business,” he clasped his hands together, “Remus and Sirius have already reached our destination by now. Some members of the Order came upon a strange occurrence during their rounds, an extremely strong magical signature, which no one is able to recognize, and two unconscious teenage boys found in the area.”
“Boys?” he asked, confused. “What’s this got to do with the order?”