The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix

Public thread
Date: The present
status: open

Isabella (Belle) Jane Callaghan walked down the street leading to 12 Grimmould Place. Her long brown hair was flowing gently behind her in the cool September breeze. She pulled her black cloak up tighter around her to shield herself from the ever strengthening winds. No one was out and about on the streets this early in the morning, the only signs of life other than Belle was a silver fox scampering across the lawn of someone's house. Belle raised an inquisitive brow at the fox. Narrowing her dark brown eyes to get a better look at it. Quite an unusual site to see in a crowded muggle inhabited area. Foxes were usually in the woods, or quite careful when getting around humans. She thought that maybe, possible it may have been an animagus form of another witch or wizard. She reached her right hand inside of her robes and wrapped her fingers around her wand tightly, just in case she had to use it in a hurry. She watched the fox closely as she walked and saw that it really wasn't paying too much mind to her. She shook the thought out of her mind and approached the doorstep of the building where the Order of the Phoenix headquarters resided. She opened the door and quietly slipped inside.

Belle walked into the main living quarters of the old and dismal house. It was quite dark in here as the sun had not fully risen and it's radiant light could not yet be seen fully through the windows. There was no one in site as her eyes scanned the room. "Everyone's most likely sleeping." She thought to herself. She then proceeded to the kitchen area and peaked her head in to see if there was anyone in there. There was not. The kitchen was just as empty as the room she was previously in. She then walked back into the main room and removed her cloak, her very shapely figure being revealed underneath it. She carefully hung her cloak over the back of a chair and sat down on a dark green sofa. Someone would be arriving soon no doubt. This place was never empty, or without quite a number of people very often.

Belle took this quiet time to think a few things over in her mind. Voldemort was now back and was quite strong again, his Death Eaters rejoining him like they had never strayed away and his numbers seemed to be multiplying. Much destruction was going on not only in the wizarding world but the muggle world as well. The Order and the Ministry would have to think of ways to stop this, and quickly at best. There had to be a way, a solution to stop all of the madness and destruction, but how? The evil members of the wizarding society were quite hard to catch. Very quick to cause destruction and then disapear, before getting caught in the act. They had managed to catch a few, one Lucius Malfoy for instance, but still, so many were roaming around out there, so many and in different places. Belle sighed at the thoughts running through her mind. They would eventually find a way to bring peace back into the wizarding world, but it was going to take a lot of time, patience and allies. If only the Order and the Ministry were on better terms. Hopefully, one day they would be. After all they both had the same goals, to rid their precious world of evil.

Belle shook her head and stood up. Others would be arriving soon and it was quite chilly in the house. She walked over to the chair her cloak was laid over and reached her hand inside the pocket of it and drew out her wand. She then walked over to the fireplace and pointed her wand at it. She spoke in a quiet voice, "inflamari" and watched the red sparks shoot out of her wand and enter the stone fireplace. Within moments the fire became quite large and was not only warming up the room quickly, it was also lightening up the room quite considerably.

Belle stood by the fire for several moments, taking in it's warmth and then slowly made her way back to the dark green sofa and sat down. Others would be arriving soon and she was looking forward to starting her day off with the other members of the Order, for they were her allies, ones she could trust, her closest friends. They all had the same goals, and together would unite to accomplish them.

James' day had been filled with a level of tedium and mediocrity that he thought would be hard to match in any of the seven layers of hell he found himself in after he passed through the Veil. Paperwork, reports on his recent Obliviation at the attack in Surrey, a memorandum requiring newer members of the Squadron to attend regular check-ups and to follow a prescribed training regimen to ensure "A safer, happier operation of our Department". He almost shuddered with the saccharine platitudes, the plastic words and phrases that never really meant anything to anyone who read them, despite what those in Internal thought.

But, it was over for now, in as much as his line of work was ever over. That was the thing with Death Eaters - they tended not to respect office hours, public holidays or weekends. In fact, he was beginning to suspect that they timed their attacks inside his sanctuary of free time just to spite him. As he walked through the nearly-empty corridors of the Ministry, passing the Auror office with a brief nod to a pair of blue-robed wizards who milled outside of the door, he wondered again on the routes and directions that his life had taken. Truth be told, he didn't enjoy his job at present as much as he probably should. He'd fallen into the Obliviator Squadron more through his contacts than for any particular urge to alter memory or erase misdeeds. No, he'd been content at the Department of Mysteries, had identified with his role as an Unspeakable. He'd enjoyed the long hours poring over dusty tomes, the sleepless nights that culminated in gratification as he finally managed to make a potion work, his time spent with intelligent, educated, insightful people. Oh yes, he missed the Department greatly.

However, James was not unintelligent (in fact, he rather prided himself on his capacity for learning and his knowledge). He realised that spending those days developing outlandish cures for untreatable diseases, for studying Time and Death and Love and Life may be fascinating, but they didn't serve the greater good as they used to. No, ever since that night at Hogwarts, he'd given his life to a purpose far greater than his own contentment, far more important than himself. He'd dedicated his very soul to a cause that he believed in more than the interaction of molecules and atoms. He could no longer cling to the relative safety of the library. He was a soldier, and he was expected to fight, so fight he would.

As he reached the Floo Network in the main foyer, he shook his head slightly. It did not do to dwell on such things in enemy territory. And as much as he hated to admit it, this was the badlands of old, the intersection between two sides. Voldemort's spies were everywhere, and if there was one thing that he had learned from life, it was never to overestimate your own abilities. His Occlumentic shields may be strong, his tuition from the best Legilimens and Occlumens in the world, but he was not under any illusion that they were invulnerable to assault. If his thoughts strayed even slightly, if even a face escaped his mental confines, it could spell disaster for the Order. So he pushed his ruminations down, deep within his soul in that dark place that few could retrieve them from, filed and ordered for future perusal. With a brief casting of the glittering powder, he called out the nearest exchange to Headquarters and disappeared in a puff of green smoke, reappearing seconds later in the abandoned house, pushing through the fake boards on the doorframe after casting a Disillusionment charm on himself. The streets were sparsely populated at this time, but it still helped to be circumspect with your appearance in Muggle public - after all, he was sure that the viridian robes of the Obliviators were something of a fashion faux pas in 1996 Muggle London.

He made his way through the short network of winding streets until he reached his destination. Number 12 Grimmauld Place, formerly of the Black family, home to dark deeds and even darker souls. He repressed a shudder as he made his way to the door, glancing this way and that as he did so. He'd never liked this place, no matter how many times the Weasley woman had tried to clean it, you could never remove the stink of it. Magic had a way of staining that which it touched, and the intent with which it was used even more so. James thought that the entire house seemed as if it were drenched in evil. How ironic, therefore, that it be used as a bastion of the Light, as a staging area for the forces of good, of righteousness. How such paradigm shifts occured in nature puzzled James, even bringing the slightest curve of a smile to the corner of his mouth. His hand closed firmly around the door handle, lingering for a second as the wardmagic employed by Dumbledore recognised him, permitting him entrance and warning whoever was inside that he was breaching the line. He made his way into the entrance hall, taking care not to make any loud noises and sudden movements, lest he incur the wrath of Mrs. Black's portait.

His eyes were drawn to the flickering light emanating from the living room. He made his way over as he began removing his robe, placing it quietly over the coat hanger and rolling up his sleeves before entering it. He glanced around, his vision focusing on the woman currently sitting on the green sofa.

"Callaghan." He whispered in greeting with a nod as he closed the door with a gentle click. "How are you?"

Isabella continued sitting on the green sofa, her mind beginning to wander back to the day before. She had gotten rather a peculiar message while she sat at her desk at the Ministry of Magic in the accidental magic reversal squad department. It had been quite a busy week to begin with, quite busier in fact since He Who Must Not Be Named had returned, though the Ministry denied his return for just over a year. Belle knew the truth, she had learned of the dark wizard's return from Albus Dumbledore and these mentioning’s of his return were backed up by those who she trusted within the Order. Not that she didn't take Dumbledore's word as fact, it was just hearing this news by more than one trusted ally that made the realization of it all sink in. The letter she received while sitting at her office desk arrived just like any other. Most filled with the names, locations and a detailed description of the accidental magic that was placed on some unfortunate witch or wizard. She had seen some pretty bizarre side effects from spells gone wrong, but in the last year, and especially this last week, the bizarre had turned mostly into grave and dark happenings. This one letter however thoroughly abashed her. It contained the name of a wizard she knew well and she immediately focused her full attention to it. Apparently this wizard was experiencing extreme pain throughout his leg region, having uncontrolled muscle spasms and was beginning to come in and out of consciousness. Many had tried to remove the apparent curse that was causing this but no one seemed to be able to cure him. He was now at Saint Mungo's and even the most experienced healers were not able to cure him. She doubted she could do much for him after so many had tried to help, but she was called upon by them, sought after personally to assist in the hopeful findings of the cause and to aid in the recovery. Her quite advanced charms talents had come in handy before and she hoped with everything she had that she would be able to help.

After reading the notice Belle immediately left for Saint Mungo's via the floo network. She arrived there moments later and went to the room number that was inscribed in the letter. She slowly walked into the room and saw him lying on the bed, his legs failing around uncontrollably and the look of sheer agony on his face. She walked up to him, standing along his right side and whispered "Amos, can you tell me what happened?" Her voice was a soft whisper and she tried to keep it as comforting as possible. He looked up at her and opened his mouth, he was obviously trying to talk to her but no sounds came out that resembled any kind of words, it was more the sound of whimpering at first and then those sounds were replaced with outcries of agony as he began twitching on the bed even worse than he was previously. She spoke with one of the healers in the room and they had informed her that they had tried every spell reversal charm on his they could think of. They were all under the impression that it was a severely conjured version of the jelly legs jinx with something else possibly thrown in. "It looks like cruciatus, though as severe as his reactions are, they are not as severe as a full blown crucio." Belle told this to the healer and she saw the healer nod in agreement. The healer had explained to her that they had already tried the counter curse for the cruciatus curse and that it did nothing. Belle faced the man again and studied his movements and actions for several moments. She was certain that a crucio was definitely used, but that there had to have been something else casted upon him at the same time. She cleared her thoughts and sat down in a chair next to him on the bed. She knew if she didn't think of something to help him soon he would most likely enter the realms of madness and suffer a fate mirroring the ones that the Longbottom's were now living.

After what seemed like hours of studying, though only mere minutes had passed, Belle decided she would try a few counter-jinxes of her own and see where that got her. She slid her wand out of her pocket and pointed it at his legs and said in a clear voice "crucia" the anti-jinx for the cruciatus curse. His legs did stop twitching momentarily but within seconds they started again, mimicking the previous effects. She tried several more curse lifting charms but each time was unsuccessful. "I am going to have to create something, put a number of these anti-jinx incantations together and see if that works, there is no question in my mind this has something to do with crucio but what could make it not as strong as a full blown and what else was he hit with to make the spell irreversible?" She wasn't expecting the healer to answer this question. It was more a question for herself than anyone. She thought deep and hard for several moments and then regained her wand position at him from where it was previously. "I am starting to think this may be cruciatus or another severe spell that somehow is under some kind of disillusionment charm. I have an idea." She took a deep breath and began speaking loudly and clearly. "Evanesco crucia deletrius dissocio finio." She repeated this chain of spells and spell breakers several times and each time she recited the chain the affects on Amos' unknown curse began to lesson and lesson until finally he lay there upon the bed, still and with the look of ease on his face. Belle quickly rested her wand by letting her wand arm drop to her right side. She approached Amos and sat down on the end of his bed. "I don't want you to talk right now, what you need is rest. I am going to send someone over from the department of magical law enforcement a bit later and I want you to give them a full recount of what happened to you, that is if you remember. Rest for now and if you need anything have someone here contact me at once." She smiled warmly at him and then stood up from the bed and within minutes she was gone, back at her office at the Ministry once more. She wrote a detailed report for what she had experienced and what she had done to attempt to reverse the magic that was placed on one of her friends and she sat there thinking, still unsure of exactly what the full hit was he received. All she knew is that someone attempted to do an unforgivable curse on Amos and that meant one thing, Death Eaters. Why they would go after him she had no clue. He had lost his son not too recently and was certainly not someone of top priority in the Ministry or the Order. She would need to wait until she read the statement he would give later that day to get any clues on what brought this attack on.

Belle's mind returned back to the present as she heard the door open behind her. In walked a handsome man whom she immediately recognized as one James Tanglefoot, a fellow member of the Order and someone she trusted completely. She watched him as he removed his cape and hung it up on the rack by the door, something she should have done instead of draping it over a chair. "Callaghan." She heard him whisper as he closed the door and saw his nod to her. "Tanglefoot." She whispered back, a slight smile forming on her red lips. "How are you?" "I am doing well." She said in a quiet voice. Her deep brown eyes focusing on his, showing warmness. "And you James?" Her smile lingered at him for several moments and then she slowly stood up from the sofa. "Can I get you anything? Coffee, something to eat?" She walked over closer to him "you are the first to arrive here after me, I expect the others will be showing up soon to discuss any new findings."

Rhia groggily opened her eyes and her first thought was, 'Where am I?' Suddenly, she remembered: Rhia's parents and her two older siblings were members of the Order of the Phoenix... meaning that when they decided to stay over at Order Headquarters for a while, Rhia and her younger sister and brother came along for the ride. Slowly getting up and pulling away the covers of her bed, Rhia yawned a huge yawn and stretched her arms out. From the window near her bed, Rhia saw that the crescent moon was high in the sky and the dark night didn't show any signs of a sunrise yet. Rhia glanced at the watch that lay on its side on a small table next to her bed. Rhia yawned once more and blinked slowly as she realized that it wouldn't be light out for another four hours.

Rhia sleepily thought, 'I'm thirsty... I'm going to go get some hot chocolate, Rhiannon.' Rhia's 'protection' goddess who was like a mother/sister to her sent Rhia a mental picture of a nod and Rhiannon sleeping. Getting the message, Rhia decided not to disturb Rhiannon anymore. There was a long story behind her goddess... To cut a long story short, Rhia had been tortured by Death Eaters when she was thirteen, and as a result of that ordeal, Rhiannon had been assigned to her from someone/something high above to kind of be Rhia's 'guardian angel'. Rhia got up from her bed and slowly walked out the door of her bedroom and grabbed the railing of the staircase. Rhia carefully walked downstairs and squinted in the darkness. "Lumos," she muttered and her wand which she carried everywhere lit up, shedding light on her surroundings. As her eyes adjusted to the light, Rhia walked into the kitchen to mix herself a cup of hot chocolate.