Four Little Words

"And I know this may be
The very last time we see each other cry
Whatever happens, know that
I'll be standing at the edge of the Earth."
-Edge of the Earth, Blessed Union of Souls

Chapter Twenty-Eight

If anybody at the meeting had any doubts that Snape was on their side, it was cemented when, in the following week, no more information came out. Dumbledore had informed the rest of the Order of the information, but no one else knew that there even was a spy, let alone who it was. Even though, there was a feeling of edginess permeating through the entire office, especially with those who knew the specifics.

Everyone's eyes looked up when someone walked through the doors at the front of the offices. They were waiting for that person, that owl, which was going to come flying through the door and announce that the big battle had begun, and the long days of waiting would finally end.

But nothing came for a week.

"I'll bet he did it to psyche us out," Sirius mentioned to Moody one day in front of the coffee machine.

Moody eyed him and gave a slight nod of his head. "I'd believe it."

"What is Dumbledore thinking, trusting that greasy git," James whispered. "It's not as if he wouldn't plan to save both Regulus and Lily to gain our trust so he could spy on us."

Moody grumbled. "Dumbledore told me that he told him to go."

"What?!" James turned around. "What do you mean?"

"He told me that he sent him to go stop Sirius from doing anything too terrible and that he also sent him to fetch Lily from the bar."

Both Sirius and James stared at him.

"WHY?!" They demanded at once.

"Dumbledore says that he had a feeling his character would not allow him to harm anyone if given the choice. He added what better people to try it on than those who he hated the most?" Moody finished.

"He's lost his mind," James shook his head. "How dare he put Lily's life on the line for-!"

"Apparently, Dumbledore trusts him more than he lets on," Moody shook his head. "Because he wouldn't have even thought of it had he not had probable cause."

"Calm down, Prongs," Sirius patted James on the back. He was seething as well, but James was turning purple. "And breathe."

"Yes, please do Potter, I wouldn't want to file a report on how you suffocated from sheer anger," Moody rolled his eyes and walked away with his coffee.

James plopped down on a nearby chair and sighed, staring at the ceiling. "I wish something would happen..."

"Do you?" Sirius asked.

James reconsidered. "Never mind."

"I understand what you're saying though," Sirius nodded, plopping down next to him. "The waiting is what kills me."

"Try waiting at the safe house sometime," Lily laughed dryly as she joined them. She'd heard James throwing a tantrum outside of the breakroom, and was momentarily come over by a strong feeling of happiness in her chest. After it had passed, she decided to come in and chat with them. "And do you two ever work?"

"Not anymore," James replied, cheekily. "What's that about the safe house?"

"Well, you see," Lily began, the happy feeling returning when he flirted with her like that. She didn't realize that she was simply looking at James and ignoring Sirius. "It's worse than not knowing when a battle is going to start, because you know one is going on. And you know that your friends are going to be hurt. And you don't know if you can save them or not. And then there's the...erm..." Lily trailed off. She was about to say "and then there's the horrible fear that you are going to show up dead," but she didn't think that James would appreciate that one. "It's not a barrel of monkeys, in any case."

"But you're safe," Sirius reached forwards and pinched Lily's cheeks. "Which is why you're there. So we can pwotect you!" He patronizingly tapped her nose.

Lily glared at him. "I'll be sure not to help you the next time you come by writhing in pain."

"Ouch," James sniggered.

"I wouldn't be too comfortable, Potter," Lily reached forward and poked him in the chest. James winced, mockingly, and clutched at his chest.

"Oh, come now, you know if James came by with a paper cut you'd heal it in a heartbeat," Sirius rolled his eyes. "I'd bet you'd even kiss it better."

Both Lily and James began blushing. Lily muttered something and left the table quickly, not looking at James. Once she was out of the room, James reached over and punched Sirius hard in the shoulder.

"Thanks mate," James grumbled.

Sirius raised his eyebrow at him. "You were flirting, mate."

"We're finished, remember," James said unconvincingly and without looking at Sirius.

"Oh me, oh my!" Sirius was beside himself with glee. "Dost mine eyes deceive me? Are you two falling back in love?"

"No," James said, trying to keep the blush from rising on his face. "No, we're not."

"Yeees you aaaaaaaare..." Sirius poked James in the shoulder. "Lily was flirting and you were flirting baaack!"

"Am not!" James whined, kicking Sirius from under the table.

"Are toooo!"

"Am NOT!"

"Boys," Moody interrupted, looking grave. "Get your coats."

This time, the entire Order was in Dumbledore's office. Or what was left of the Order.

"We must be brief," Dumbledore began. "We have information that the Dark Lord is planning on attacking Hogsmeade tonight with the express purpose of trying to take Hogwarts."

A gasp ran through the room.

"I have much doubt that he will make it that far," Dumbledore assured them. "There are more enchantments on this castle than even I know of. What concerns me is that Lord Voldemort, I am sure, knows of these enchantments as well."

Dumbledore looked out his window at the blinking lights of the town below. "He should know better than anyone else that there is no way this castle can fall from outside invaders, so why is he planning on taking the castle?"

"Are you sure he knows?" Emmeline Vance spoke up.

"I am positive," Dumbledore nodded. "Nevertheless, we must protect those who are in Hogsmeade. I have sent some of the professors to the town to gather the occupants and take them to Hogwarts. The children have not been alerted, of course, but are being told that there is a cloud of Garroting Gas permeating throughout the main halls of the castle and they are not to leave their dormitories."

Sirius sat up looking to James. He had just remembered all of the passages out of the castle, and how they were probably unguarded.

"Professor," Sirius said, slowly. "There are many passages out-"

"They are all guarded," Dumbledore assured him.

"There may be some you don't know about," Sirius protested. Dumbledore turned his eyes to him and James, and then to Remus.

"Then I trust those who know of these passages will guard them," he said, eyes twinkling.

Sirius looked at James and his best friend leaned over to whisper in his ear, "You take the humped crone and I'll take the mirror."

"Moony can take the willow," James nodded.

"I do not ask you to protect the castle," Dumbledore said, quietly. "If the battle gets too much, return to the safe house, and wait. The Death Eaters will find that they cannot enter through the gates with the intent of harming anyone. So your mission is not to protect the castle-"

"But to get as many as you can," Moody interrupted.

After walking the length of the passage, James settled himself to wait in the sugary heaven that was Honeydukes. Sirius had taken the mirror route and ended up in the window of the Three Broomsticks. James could see his face peeking out of the windows every few minutes. Remus was waiting along with Emmeline in the Shrieking Shack. The rest of the Aurors were stationed all along the main street of Hogsmeade.

Lily had headed straight to the safe house without being asked. She had given James the tiniest of looks as she had passed, and he did the same to her. Something about this battle seemed wrong, and he wasn't sure who was going to make it out alive. He was glad that Lily was staying behind, because he knew she would be safe.

He leaned against the wall and looked at his watch. Only ten minutes had passed since he arrived here, but it felt like an hour. He reached over and dug in a jar of Every-Flavor Beans, popping one in his mouth. He coughed and spat it out on the ground. It was laundry detergent-flavored. Eyes streaming, he ran to the back of the store where they made the candy and searched around until he found a water faucet to stick his head under.

He finally got the taste out of his mouth (he was spitting out bubbles for a few minutes, though), and returned to his spot by the window, wiping his mouth.

He waited a few seconds before checking his watch.

Twelve minutes now since he'd arrived.

With a whining sigh, he put his head against the cool glass and stared at the empty street.

Sirius saw James looking out of Honeydukes and snorted. He wasn't being obvious, oh no. His face was just plastered against the window.

He looked down at his wand and played with it. He was sitting in the Three Broomsticks and an entire bar full of intoxicating drinks were just waiting for him to inebriate himself with. With one more glance out the window, he trotted over to the dark bar and took a look at what he wanted to drink.

Once he got to the bar, he whistled. The Three Broomsticks was more stocked than Sirius had thought. He eyed all of the drinks and realized that even as an avid drinker, he wouldn't try his luck at these drinks. He supposed they were for the much stronger patrons, as in ones that could handle having a bit of poison in their drinks.

After a quick scan over his choices, Sirius decided on a simple bottle of butterbeer. He leaned against the bar and sipped it quietly, keeping his ears open for the sound of popping or yelling. Still nothing.

He looked down at his watch and noticed with annoyance that it had only been fifteen minutes since he'd arrived at the end of the tunnel.

Downing the rest of his bottle in one gulp, Sirius threw the bottle in the trashcan and returned to the window, sitting a bit away from it, hiding in shadow, and waiting for the battle to begin.

"What are you doing, Remus?" Emmeline whispered, gently.

"Taking a look around," Remus said, running his hand over the smashed couch. He'd never taken the time to actually look at the house that he spent so many months in, but that was because he'd never been in it when he was coherent.

It was covered in a thick layer of dust, that was disturbed when he and Emmeline opened the door to the Shrieking Shack. The furniture was completely destroyed, but Remus could see that it all wasn't shreaded, some of it was just broken in half.

Probably James and Sirius playing around.

Somehow, this battle felt like it was the one. If it wasn't the one, then it was a damn big one, for reasons Remus couldn't explain. Something didn't feel right about Voldemort attacking Hogwarts. As Dumbledore had said, it was more worrisome that Voldemort knew about the protection around the castle.

It was ironic, then, that Remus was to wait out this time before the battle in his old place of transformation. The moon that was shining in the window was nearly full, and he would be undergoing his transformation next week.

Emmeline came over and put her hand on his shoulder, comfortingly. Remus smiled and returned to the window.

If he lived that long.

Pop!

Pop!

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!!!!!

***

Lily could not remember being so fidgety in her life. She couldn't sit still for the life of her. Her leg kept shaking and her heart was pounding in her chest so hard that it made her lightheaded. She chewed on her thumb and looked out the window to the rocky cliff outside the safe house.

Then she paced to the front of the house and eyed the darkness in front of the house. She pressed her head to the cool window and paced to the back of the house again to look at the rocky back. She'd always assumed that the house was farther away from the edge of the cliff, but tonight the half-moon was larger than normal and shedding a lot of light onto the back. It was about twenty feet from the back door of the house to the edge.

She began banging her head against the window. As much as she hated waiting more, she hoped that it was a false alarm and soon she would hear them all coming back, all of them angry and all of them alive.

Her heart was fluttering even more and she couldn't stop tapping her heel on the ground. She jumped up and down to try to get the stress out of her system, but it wasn't working. With every second that passed, she became more stressed, more worried.

She knew she should go get her wand that was lying on top of the couch, but she didn't want to go pick it up. She didn't want to do anything, she just wanted it to be over.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was no use getting stressed over this. If she was half-crazy when they arrived in need of help, she wouldn't know what to do, and then she wouldn't be able to help anyone.

Pop!

There was the first-

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!!!!!!

She opened her eyes, happily. It was a false alarm.

She turned around slowly and her heart stopped beating.

Voldemort and eight Death Eaters stood in the middle of the secret safe house.