Grimmauld Place: The Orders Hideout

::Sitting in the empty kitchen of the Order's headquarters, number 12, Grimmauld Place, twenty year old Claire Johnson glanced at the tea kettle on the stove. She sighed; it was taking forever to boil. She was dressed in her usual dark jeans and had on a new purple sweater, its sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Claire sighed and opened the glasses cupboard and took out a large mug. She had been here for hours now, and had finished organizing the notes she took from their past few meetings.::

::Claire leaned against the counter, tucking a few strands of her raven black hair behind her ear. Where is everyone? They aren't supposed to leave for- well, for that- for a while...I wonder....::

::The shrill whistle of the kettle jerked her from her thoughts, and she quickly turned off the heat. Hmmm...I'm thinking peach today, she thought, and took out a teabag. Claire poured the boiling water into the mug and dropped her teabag in.::

::She cupped the hot mug in her hands and brought it to her lips, and wandered out of the kitchen, hoping someone would arrive soon.::

::Lynn walked inot hte Order headquarters. She noticed Claire wondering around but as for everyone else they seemed to be absent.::

"Hey Claire." ::she said smiling.::

*Mila entered the kitchen shivering as she closed the door behind her. She hung up her cloak and greeted Claire and Lynn with a smile. It was unusually empty tonight and she wondered if the others might have forgotten about the meeting.*

*She crosssed over to the kitchen counter and poured herslef a nice mug of freshly brewed coffee and mixed in sugar and milk with it. Taking her usual seat beside Lynn, she said. "We did have ameeting didn't we? Or are we just early?"

::Sara walked in and nodded to Mila, Lynn and Claire::

"hello, what's the meeting about today guys?" ::she asked, nervously aware that she was only 17 and still at school::

"Nope, it doesn't start for about half an hour. I'm glad you're all here now, it was getting pretty lonely being the only live one in here," Claire said, smiling warmly. "There's still some hot water in the kettle on the stove if you want any tea. Teabags in the tin to the right and under the glasses cabinet."

::Claire walked back into the kitchen and returned to her previous spot, leaning against the counter, mug being lifted every once and a while to her mouth.::

Remus walked into the kitchen. He hated it when the full moon was beaconing. It felt like everyone avoided him, yet living at grimmald place, he could not seem to get away from them, and he knew that this meeting was an important one.

Nodding to the other order members, Remus poured himself a strong coffe and perched on the side

::Lynn didn't get up.:: "I'm not really in the mood for tea."

::Jade held her hand on the door knob, looking at it with her eyes narrowed. She tried to concentrate at being sweet and friendly, which was completly out of character for her.::

"Smile and smile!" ::she told herself quietly and opened the door, seeing a few Order members here and there. She went over to Remus, avoiding Lynn's eyes.::

"Hello Remus..." ::she said with a voice she hoped was warm. She knew she was an excellent actress and could keep her act up.:: "How are you? Is the full moon near?" ::Jade asked, glancing at the others in the room::

"Jade! You made it we were getting worried we haven't seen you around lately." ::Lynn told her grinning.:: "Wow you look a little out of it, did you run into some death eaters on your way here?"::she asked in a worried tone.::

::Jade snapped her head quickly at Lynn and smiled warmly:: "Oh yes, I've been busy with re-searching! I've found this very interesting book of Charms, actually.."

::Lynn smiled back.:: "I'm glad, I myself haven't had much luck lately."

::Lynn turned to the new entry. She was a tad weiry about her.::

"Hello," ::she said.:: "Who are you?"

::Jade slowly went to sit in the corner where she could eye the girl without making it look too obvious. There was something about this girl that she didn't like...::

Dylan Apparated outside the house with a sharp crack, glancing around to check that no muggles had seen through the permanent disillusionment field that covered the Apparition point outside of Headquarters. It didn't happen often, but sometimes one of them would spy a person appearing out of thin air. Although, their actions immediately afterwards would usually give them away, and a quick Obliviate later it was all settled.

Removing his Auror robes as he walked up to the porch, he glanced disdainfully at the serpentine handles of the door. One would have thought, with all the resources that an organisation like the Order of the Phoenix had, they would find time to remove all this Slytherin rubbish from the House.

Still, he thought, it made good camouflage. Not that it would matter if the Fidelius was broken, of course. With a final, wary glance outside, he pushed on the handle and entered. He couldn't see anyone at first, but the sound of murmured voices from the kitchen told him where the members were. With a gentle click, he closed the door behind him. It wasn't quiet enough though, apparently.

"MUDBLOODS! HALF-BREEDS!" The familiar shriek came from the giant portrait that imperiously overlooked the entrance hall. "CREATURES OF FILTH! BESPOILING THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS!" The curtains covering the vile woman's likeness flew open, and Dylan stalked over.

"YOU!" She screamed, pointing an accusing finger at him, "YOUR VERY PRESENCE BRINGS SHAME UPON THIS NOBLE BLOODLINE!"

"Shut up, you tiresome old hag." He replied coldly, yanking the curtains shut. "LUPIN!" he shouted, figuring he may as well forgo the pretence of stealth now. "COME HERE!"

Lauren thought hard of the number on the piece of paper before the large dusty door of grimmald place came in sight. Taking a deep breath, she knocked hard at the door

::Jade heard the familiar shrieking of the portrait and she stared intently at the ceiling. Someone had arrived, obviously.::

"LUPIN! COME HERE!" ::she heard someone call::

"I'll go check who it is.." ::she muttered and rushed across the room, closing the door behind her. She ran up the stairs quickly and arrived to the hall, well she stared right at a man. She muttered darkly and leaned against the wall beside her, smirking at him.::

"What are you shouting for?" ::she snarled and crossed her arms. Her eyes wandered to the screaming portrait of Mrs Black and she rolled her eyes. Jade walked over to Dylan and helped him pull the curtains close again. She put her finger to her lips, showing him to be quiet this time.::

::Not long enough, there was a knock on the door, making Mrs Black start shrieking again. Jade let out a yell of frustration and glared at the yelling woman in the portrait. She rushed to the door, pointing her wand at the many locks, charming them open with many clicks. She yanked the door open, looking annoyingly at the girl behind it.::

"Come on in!" ::she hissed and grabbed her by the collar of her robes and pulled the poor girl in. She then locked the door with the locks again, and turned around to face the girl.:: "Just be quiet, everyone's downstairs.." ::she said and rushed back to the shrieking portrait.::

"FILTHY HALFBREEDS! IN MY HOUSE!" ::Mrs Black screamed at the top of her lungs.::

"Oh shut up!" ::Jade growled and tried to pull the curtains back.::

::Not really paying attention to what was going on around her, Claire was lost in thought, dark eyes staring absently into space. What would her father and mother think, her, in the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, when she had been raised to praise the dark? So much had her life changed these past few years...so much.::

::Right before her seventh and last year at Hogwarts...that was when it had really begun, the changes. Naturally, that was when her parents asked about her decision, weather to join forces with them or...well, there had never really been an alternative offered. Claire's older siblings, Natalie and Toby, were already in legue with the Death Eaters, and Claire, being next in line, was of course, expected to join. But she had never been okay with what they did, and didn't want to spend her life fighting good. When she told her parents...well, they disowned her then and there. She still went to school that year, and just stayed for the holidays. A few months into the year, she joined the Order, taking a new name...a new identity, leaving her past behind. No, Miss Claire Johnson was not who she seemed. She was born Tatiana Marquez, and had changed her name when her parents kicked her out. But of course, no one here but McGonagall knew...At least, that's what Claire believed.::

::She hadn't seen her family since...and had realized recently that there was a good chance that she never would, unless in a battle. Now she was eighteen and out of Hogwarts for a full year. Claire owned a small place in London, but was rarely there, only to sleep really. She spent most of her time either at Grimmauld Place or at the Ministery, where she worked as an assistant secretary for the Head of the Auror office.::

"FILTHY HALFBREEDS! IN MY HOUSE!"

::Claire grimaced, jerked out of her thoughts; she had never quiet gotten used to the shrieking of Mrs. Black. Wanting to see who had arrived, she walked over to the door to the kitchen, still holding her cup of tea, and poked her head out, long dark hair flowing over her shoulder.::

"Hello, Dylan," she said, smiling. "Good to see you."

As she sat in her chair, she thought what this meeting could be about. Hopefully, it would be something around Lord Voldemort and maybe one of his followers. She was rather keen to curse Avery for destroying her life. Both of parents had died at his hands when she was thirteen and she wasn't quite ready forgive and forget. She wanted revenge and she was going to get, sooner or later.

She glanced at Claire and noticed she was deep in thought also, most probably along the lines of what she was thinking.

"MUDBLOODS! HALFBREEDS!" like Claire she jumped too, dropping her coffe and watching it spread all over the wooden table. She put a hand to her chest, drawing in deep breaths. That was something she had not expected, but she watched Claire walk out the room to see who had disturbed the portrait of Mrs. Black*

Someone really needs to give her a piece of their mind one day she thought, as she flicked her wand at the pieces of glass and watched them fix back into a mug.

Setting the cup on the table, she looked up to see who had arrived. It was only Dylan. She smiled and waved as the others did. "Hey Dylan," she greeted. She noticed Jade too. "Hey Jade, when did you get here?"

Tillie pushed the door open just as Mrs. Black started insulting everybody in the house. Rolling her eyes as she heard the familiar screams, she closed the door and took her coat off.

"Nice warm welcome," she said cheerfully, shrugging it off and heading to the kitchen.

She looked around and smiled.

"Hey everybody," she said, grinning.

She went to the nearest cupboard and took out a mix of hot chocolate she kept in there, opening the box to see there was almost none left. Sighing and putting her hands on her hips, she looks around accusingly.

"Okay, who stole my hot chocolate?" she asked.

::Sara prepared a cup of tea for herself, then sunk into a corner.::

::At only seventeen she didn't really expect to be noticed by the older more important adults, nor did she expect any important undercover exciting auror type missions, but she really wanted some!::

::She contented herself with attending the meetings of both the Order and the DA and with nodding politely to the older Order members as they walked in::

"Hi Tills!" Mila gretted warmly to her friend as she re entered the kitchen. "I never saw any hot choclate over there!!" she said, grinning. "Make another one!"

~Mila combed a hand through her hair and sighed a fresh cup of tea in her hands. Hopefully, it would calm her down a bit, She was way too stressed for a 18 year old. Sneaking her way out the kitchen she sat herself in the living room.~

I have got to stop stressing! she thought as she sat down a soft armchair. She stared into the crackling fire, in deep thought.

::Jenn let out an aggravated sigh as she walked toward the Order of Phoenix headquarters. Today was another unsuccessful day at work. No matter how much filing papers and coffee fetching she did in the Department of Mysteries, they still would not let her near the revolving doors. Especially that Rockwood! She thought with a glare as she recalled the trouble she had that day with getting his coffee exactly right.::

I feel as though I'm not even doing anything to help the Order. She thought with a sinking feeling as she rapped the snake head doorknocker three times.::

"For goodness sake," Dylan muttered, herding the group of people who had gathered in the hallway towards the kitchen. "What is this, a Puddlemere game? Get out of the hallway!" He barked, shutting the kitchen door behind him. He tossed his robes over the back of a high seated chair next to the counter, before drawing a glass of water through his wand.

"Sanders, Johnson." He nodded in greeting. "Need to talk to ya." He pulled them off to one side, passing through the doors of the kitchen that led to the Dining Room, muttering "Potter" as he passed the girl. He shut the doors and locked them with a quick colloportus, before leaning against the grand table.

"We've got intelligence that some goons will be calling on Joseph Thimblewood tonight. Not an attack, just a standard intimidation maneuvre. Luckily, Thimblewood's got more balls than brains, and he let us know about it. I want you two to stake it out, observe, see if we can't get some positive identification. Myself and Hubble will be standing ready to intervene if it gets messy, if she gets here in time. I'd liked to have had Lupin in on it, but I haven't a clue where he is."

::Claire nodded, and grabbed a pen and small notebook out of her bag and wrote down what Dylan had told her and Mila.::

"When should we leave?" Claire asked, dark eyes looking back at him, pen at the ready. "If we need to go before the meeting ends, my notes from the previous meetings are on the kitchen counter by the door if you need them. And that new girl, Sara something, she could do the notes for this one if we need to leave early. She's always so willing to help."

::Well...Here it is. Second importantish mission for Claire, and with Mila. Don't know her that well, but what builds a friendship more than staking out an enemy?::

With a frown, Dylan waved his hand, the page that Claire was writing on immediately bursting into flame and shrivelling before her. She glared at him, but he matched it with a cold, penetrating gaze that betrayed no emotions on his part.

"Write your notes after the mission." he said calmly. "I'm telling you this because I trust you two, but it doesn't go for everyone." His eyes flickered to the locked doors for a moment. With practiced ease, he skirted the surface thoughts of the two women with the lightest touch of Legillimency, looking for any strong emotions to back up his claims. Dylan O'Flaherty, it had to be said, didn't trust anyone fully. But there were some he was less suspicious of. He'd looked into the background of the Johnson girl, as her Arbiter for entry into the Order. As far as he was concerned, she could be a reliable asset, one he planned to train up and exploit to its potential.

"You'll meet me in the Drawing Room here at six o'clock." He said, his voice lowering. "This is strictly silent, if anyone asks where you're going, you're to tell them nothing about the mission. When you arrive, we'll Apparate you to the point. I trust you're both competent with disillusionment charms?"

"That is one cranky Auror," said Tillie as she watched Dylan.

Shrugging, she made herself a cup of hot chocolate with what was left in the box and sipped it slowly, sitting down at the table.

::Jade glared at the door that lead to the dining room. Obviously, she wasn't trusthworthy. With great amount of willpower, she changed her bitter expression to a cheerful one, and sat down beside Lynn.::

"I wonder what's going on in there..." ::she said carelessly, but gave Lynn a meaningful look.::

Tillie smiled at Jade.

"Oh, we talk, we have fun, we joke around, we worry, we fight with each other, we bite our head off... we do a lot of cool stuff."

"One moment," Dylan said gruffly, before he lifted the locking and silencing charms on the doors, before cracking one open. He didn't miss the steely glare that Potter was throwing at the door, but in all honesty, he didn't care. Let her sulk like a three year old if she wanted, she'd done nothing to earn his trust so far and she wouldn't until she proved herself to him.

"Tillie." He said, catching the trainee's attention. "In here." He motioned towards the door with his head. "What are the rest of you doing?" He asked, surveying the others in the kitchen. "This isn't a common room, put yourselves to use. Find out how to get rid of that bleedin' portrait or something."

Tillie raised an eyebrow and entered the room.

"I'm innocent," she said, raising her two hands in the air.

He simply glared at her, before shutting the doors with a flick of his wand, sealing and silencing them in the process.

"Am I right in thinking you've covered Observation in your training, so far? I've got a use for you if you have."

Tillie rolled her eyes at the glare and nodded, taking a chocolate bar out of her pocket and unwrapping it, popping a piece in her mouth.

"Yup, I have. Chocolate?"

"I don't eat anything I've not prepared myself." His eyes narrowed. "And you'd do well to listen to Auror Moody too."

He sat back down on the edge of the table. "Alright, here's the deal. We've received a tip off about some Death Eaters paying a visit to an informant's house tonight. Doesn't look like there'll be claret, but I'm assigning these two," He jerked his thumb in the direction of the two younger women "to earn some wings by running a little surveillance." He fixed the both of them with a glance beforehand. "I'll be there, and I'll try and get Hubble too, but I'd like you to accompany them, just in case. Think of it as a pop quiz on your Observation module."

Tillie rolled her eyes and took another bite of her chocolate.

"Cheer up Dylan, we already have one Moody and that's more than enough."

Then she wrapped what was left of her chocolate, stuffed it in her pocket and folded her arms, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Pop quiz? You're playing the professor now? Anyway, sure, I'll go with them," she said, shrugging.

His scowl now seemed permanently affixed to his face.

"Cocky gets you killed, newbie." He shot at her. "Be here at six."

As he began to stalk out of the room, he lifted the charms and called over his shoulder.

"And don't forget your wand."

"I knew I had forgotten something," she said, rolling her eyes. "Sure, I'm qualified enough to be an Auror but not to remember to have my wand with me..."

Then she shrugged and turned to the other girls, smiling.

"Don't mind him, he's just a bit cranky," she said, grinning.

Then she looked at Dylan.

"Okay a lot."

~Mila had absorbed what Dylan had told her, Claire and Tillie. It was best if she threw out a cover story in case anyone suspected her. She wasn't sure why Dylan didn't want anyone else to know, but it didn't matter. As long as she was doing something productive.~

~She gave Tillie and Claire a half smile and stood up.~

"I'll see you guys at six o'clock." she said and walked out the dining doors and into the kitchen. She didn't make eye contact with anyone else in the room as she prepared herself a small plate of food. Being the newbie in the Order of Pheonix wasn't exactly great, but if she could do this mission~

~It was sure to boost herself higher in ranking. Mila smirked to herself and ate her slice of bagle and cream cheese.~

::Claire, still slightly angry about her notes being destroyed by Dylan, nodded at Mila.::

"Yep, six o'clock. A bit cranky?" she asked, raising an thin black eyebrow as she turned towards Tillie. "Hate to see you on a bad day then, boss," Claire said jokingly to Dylan. She sighed and put what remained of her notebook and pen into her good sized purse, which was then slung over her shoulder.::

::Finally, a chance to prove myself...He knows what happened before I joined...He must, he knows mostly everything about us....But if he's trusting me enough with this, that's good enough for me. Hopefully after tonight there'll be no question of where my loyalties lie, I'm in the Order, and I'm staying, Claire thought, and meant every word.::

His eyes softened, but only slightly as he turned back to them.

"If I'm harsh with you, it's because I want you to be prepared." He said in his normal, gruff tone, but fixed them with a look that showed him for what he was. A man looking after his troops. "I'll see you tonight." Without another word, he strode into the hallway and out of the door, Disapparating with a crack.

::Claire waved after him, seeing the truth in his words.::

"Well, I guess I'm out too," Claire said, giving Tillie an apologetic smile. "My place is a mess, haven't been there awake for more than an hour this week. I'll be back a bit before six," she said, before turning and exiting the dining room. Claire popped into the kitchen to grab her coat and say goodbye to those inside, before making her way outside, and once she had stepped out into the biting wind of the Muggle street, set out on a brisk walk to a safe place to Apparate from.::

~Mila stood up from the table, giving a brsik goodbye to those around her and grabbed her cloak. She followed Claire out. She had forgotten she had to get home. Looking around, the wind sending her chills, she disapparated.~

Tillie gave a little smile as everybody around her left. She headed to the kitchen once more, where everybody still was, and looked around to see if there was something to do.

::Lynn watched as everyone moved around she was tired and wasn't really up to doing much. She yawned laying her head down on the table.::

Aiden sauntered into the kitchen and plopped down into a chair, touching a finger gently to the gash in his arm. "Ruddy werewolves...." (Yes, he was completely aware that he was a werewolf.)His technicolored eyes flashed over to Lynn ans he mumbled a "hello" before going back to tending to his wounds. He had no idea what was going on in the rest of the house, nor did he care at the moment. He was tired and hungry. Life below wasn't so easy with Moony....Maybe I should take a week off to recover... He sighed heavily and shook his head, running a hand through his sandy hair.

"Hi Aiden," said Tillie cheerfully, tossing a box of bandages to him. "Do you want some coffee? Or better yet..." she added before taking out what she had left of the chocolate bar she had began eating earlier. "Chocolate?"

::Claire, deciding that her home was as clean as she could make it with the night's mission on her mind, Apparated back to Grimmauld Place. She had changed her clothes and now wore a long black cloak, dark pants and shirt, and shoes comfortable to run and walk long distances in. Claire's dark hair had been pulled into a long low ponytail; she felt ready for the mission. She swung the door open just enough for herself to squeeze through, stopping the door before it creaked. She carefully stepped on parts of the boards that didn't squeak, and finally made it into the kitchen.::

"Hey Tillie, miss me?" Claire said, smiling, walking inside. "You ready for-" she said before catching sight of Aiden, and cringing. "Those look pretty deep, Aiden. Need any help? Or more chocolate?" she asked, seeing Tillie holding up a bar.::

"Sorry Claire, you didn't leave long enough for me to miss you," said Tillie teasingly.

Then she took a look at her watch as she forced the chocolate bar into Aiden's hand.

"Shoot, I'd better go get changed," she mumbled, rushing out of the room. "Be back later!" she shouted before getting out of the house and disapparating.

::Alice apparated into grimmauld place with a loud POP

"Hello, whats the informationn on things happening here then?"

She took a seat at the table and waved her wand. A cup, some milk, anda teapot appeared. Alice Smiled and poured herself a cup of tea::