Trade your heroes for ghosts

Sometimes, leaders of The Order would expect him to lie, at least by omission if not outright. Terry could see their point. It wasn't as though Michael was quiet about his disdain for The Order of the Phoenix, or Dumbledore's role in the war. Terry thought that what the Order leaders didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

"If you don't do it, she'll get some idiot idealogue to try," Michael had said. "At least you know what you're doing."

That had surprised him. Michael had opinions about Potter's Army. Even stronger opinions than the ones about The Order.

"And Alice? D' you fancy explaining to Neville who taught his daughter The Unforgivables?"

Michael had given him a look. He was very good at that. It was one of the sexiest things about him, in Terry's opinion.

"You're under orders, Tez. Can't argue with orders."

Terry could argue with more or less anything, but he had less inclination to argue with Caelani Bittel's orders. Which is how he'd ended up in the Room of Requirement.

He had got in through the passageway behind Ariana's portrait, the only reminder of what the Hog's Head had once been. He hadn't been sure that would even work, but now, as a consequence, the Room of Requirement looked much the same as it had when Dumbledore's Army had lived in here. Both nostalgic and depressing.

Entering the Potter's Army was something Stephen never planned on doing but the fact that he ended up being introduced to this world was but a good surprise. He barely knew that many people but it was somehow nice that these trusted him enough to tell him about their hiding place and initiative (trusted him, yes, because only few weeks ago he had no idea of it's existence).

He started coming to meetings and such. He was pretty much in a newbie phase and as nothing big has happened ever since he had joined he had been simply using the Room of Requirement to practice as much as the others have. He wasn't that much of a black sheep when it came to magic, only his family for what it seemed. But no matter how good one could be, they could always be better.

The room had provided him with some kind of crash test dummy on which he was practising the disarming spell and once in a while some other spells that came to his mind whether from hearing about them in a class or from reading about them in a book and being curious about the effect. It usually had a good description but nothing matched a visual experience.

He was so focused on what he was doing that he hadn't noticed someone he would not know from anywhere entering the room.

How had Alva heard about Potter's Army again? Oh, Ace. That was it. Ace and her need for revenge. If you asked AJ, she would swear to you that revenge was sometimes the only thing that could or would keep Ace going. But who could blame her, after what had happened to her family. Now, Ace hadn't outright told her about Potter's Army, as that was strictly against the rules. Alva had been walking along the corridor when she seen Ace slip into a room that she had never seen before. Curious, Alva followed and discovered Potter's Army. She had to join. Alva had friends and family that she wanted and needed to protect to.

That day, she found herself itching to practice her hand at some potions, and thus she ended up in the Room of Requirement. Then again, when didn't she want to practice potions? The one that she wanted to practice the most was the Draught of Living Death. And thus the room provided her with the ingredients that she needed, as well as a cauldron and such. She walked in and Stephen, a fellow Gryffindor who she had talked to a few times before, was already there. She decided to leave him alone as he seemed absorbed in his work. She smiled a little. He seemed to be improving since his time here at PA.

She walked to the other side of the room before hearing the door open again. She turned back to look over her shoulder, expecting to see Ace or the like, and instead found herself looking at a man that she had never seen before. "E-excuse me? Who are you?" she asked.

What had Neville told Alice about going to school with Potter? And what was Alice telling her friends? Terry had somehow expected Potter's Army to be more... organised. This was Ace, after all. According to Jenna, everyone in the school thought she was Hermione-come-again.

Then again, Hermione had never really been that great with critical thinking.

"I'm Terry Boot," he replied to the stuttering Gryffindor. "I'm a member of the Order of the Phoenix."

He hadn't prepared anything. Well, nothing except the vague idea that Caelani wanted him to teach them things they were definitely not learning in class, even with Ashcroft as their teacher.

"Where's everyone else? Ace and Christian and," he hadn't caught her name at the meeting, "the red head?"

He didn't know how many more kids there were. Hopefully not many, and hopefully not his. Terry had a more flexible attitude toward learning than the official ministry line. But that was because he understood nuance. He also understood how easily knowledge could get out of control. And he didn't want to be responsible for teaching restricted curses to half of Hogwarts.

The crash test dummy jumped dangerously from the stand; pieces of wood flew in every direction being scattered all over the place. The enchantment made its presence and brought the dummy together in half than a second leaving it with no sign that it has ever been damaged.

Stephen, on the other hand, wasn't as easy to regenerate. With his breath out of control, furiously trembling from head to toe stared at the event happening in front of him. All of the sudden he had forgotten where he was, what he was doing, and that poor faceless wooden figure was no longer faceless. And the face he had given it without even thinking twice was one that brought him to completely smash the poor thing. He did not even remember when he had abandoned the disarming spell for something quite a lot more devastating. Many would call him a monster to even consider doing that to the owner of the face he had given the dummy... How could he even think of doing that to his own father? But the fact was that if there was a monster, they were pointing in the wrong direction.

As his breathing eased and he finally downed in himself, he noticed voices in the background. He turned just in time to see Alva directing herself to an older man Stephen had never seen around. A clear hesitation restrained him to the whereabouts of his feet before he decided against it. His wand was still in hand as he walked towards them; the intention was not to attempt an intimidation or anything but Stephen was still a little bit too deep in his previews thoughts to worry about putting it away.

Having heard the introduction the man has made of himself Stephen wondered why would a member of the Order of the Phoenix be around. He knew of the - maybe he could call it a - partnership between Potter's Army and the Order but he hadn't been around that much to see any of the members in the Room of Requirement before, or to know if they came here.

"What's going on?" he asked curious if something had happened on the outside world that hadn't crossed the barriers of Hogwarts just yet.

Terry hadn't expected to be questioned. He forgot how different his education had been from normal people's. The last part, at least. Nobody in Dumbledore's Army would have questioned a member of The Order. Sure, a select group might have got together later and decided whether they trusted this person really was who they said they were, and what they were going to do if they weren't. But they had all been acutely aware of how outmatched they were. An Order member helping them would have been a relief.

He had to remind himself that none of these kids had felt the cruciatus curse. The fact that Bittel wanted him to teach it to them made him wonder how much longer they could say that for.

"Nobody knows," Terry shrugged in reply to the boy's question. He had never been a believer in lying to children - or no more than he lied to anyone else - and it was as true an answer as any. Nobody did know what was going on so long as Caelani Bittel was the one calling the shots.

"I've just been asked to teach you some things that aren't on the Hogwarts curriculum."

"Don't you have a way of contacting your friends?" he asked. "A coin or something?"

"Okay..." Stephen has to say at the emptiness of the 'nobody knows'. Someone should know anything... But he left it there gathering the man was in there for more than a small chitchat. Stephen was always ready to learn knew things, new spells, new charms, just bring it on.

As this was a member of the Order of the Phoenix he would know better than he did so there was no point in hiding. "Actually, yes, there is" he nodded. "But I am rather new here so I don't know if I should do it myself. Mostly I just answer, that is, for meetings up here." There hasn't been anything more than that and getting here first time he was told to do that, never to use it to call them.

It was obvious that the boy didn't trust him at all. Terry didn't mind that just now. Ace would turn up soon and Ace knew who he was. But Ace could do with a lesson in deception herself.

"I think you should call them up here," Terry said.

"I'll just clear up this, shall I?"

He walked to the other end of the room, to the duelling automaton, so the kid could have some privacy. Those coins were fiddly enough without someone watching over your shoulder the whole time.

For a few moments, Clair didn't know what the burning sensation on his arse was. Had someone hit him with a stinging hex? He wouldn't be surprised. Then, he remembered those stupid coins. The ones Longbottom and her friends used. Not that he'd ever expected her to use it to contact him. To say Clair wasn't Ace's favourite person was an understatement.

Still, he fished the galleon out and read the message. Ah, not from Ace after all. He wondered what she'd make of someone else using their initiative. Clair got the impression that Ace was one of those people who was all about encouraging people to use their initiative, so long as they didn't actually ever do it.

He took the stairs two at a time until he got to the seventh floor and shouldered his way inside, before stopping dead. The door swung to behind him.

Clair kind of recognised the bloke in front of him, in the way that you do when you know someone's face, but you're not entirely sure why.

"What's happening?" he asked, not sure who he should be addressing the question to.

Terry glanced over his shoulder as he pushed the duelling mannequin back into a closet.  He'd been expecting to see Ace and her friends, or more specifically, to hear Ace start ranting about how she didn't need anyone's help.  But this boy hadn't come to the Order meeting.  

Either Alice had recruited a lot of new members since the holidays, or a lot of Potter's Army hadn't turned up to that meeting.  Terry assumed it was the latter.  Caelani might like people to do as she said, when she said it, but when Jenna was in school they hadn't let her traipse off to London whenever she felt like it and Terry doubted they were the only parents with that rule.

"I'm Terry," he introduced himself to the newcomer as he finished what he was doing.  "Right now, we're waiting for your friends."