Prologue

A 17-year old boy with shaggy black hair and astonishing green eyes walked slowly up the stairs of an old house on Grimmauld Place, his feet dragging across each step, millions of things running through his mind, no idea what to begin with or where everything would end. He staggered into a familiar room, setting his bags down and stretching across the bed. There was no point trying to go to sleep, he knew, since too many things were keeping him awake at night. He heard a faint knock at the door, but he didn't get up to answer.

"Harry?" a voice asked. The door creaked open and the boy named Harry rolled his head over to see who it was. "Are you alright?" Remus Lupin inquired. "You seemed quieter than usual at dinner, and I thought I'd check."

"I'm fine," Harry looked back up at the ceiling. "I have a few questions on my mind, but I'm fine."

Remus sighed and moved to sit on the edge of Harry's bed. "You would. These past few months have put a lot of strain on you, and-"

"That's not what I meant," Harry interrupted. "I can deal with the strain. I had questions about how everyone ended up like this, how Sirius is gone and my parents and Dumbledore are dead while that stupid rat is still alive, how all of them even ended up in the Order in the first place." He paused. "Maybe I'm not seeing the big picture, but it seems odd that a bunch of kids out of school could join a group like this. Weren't you happy just being young?"

Remus thought for a while, letting the silence eat away the time. "We were happy, but we had just as much terror to worry about as you do. A trip out into Hogsmeade could mean getting attacked by Death Eaters, and a vacation somewhere could end up being your last. Voldemort was just as powerful then as he is now, Harry."

"You don't have the same worries I do. You don't have to worry about Voldemort sending someone to kill you in the middle of the night or kidnapping and torturing your best friends just to get at you," Harry snapped back.

Remus shook his head. "Voldemort used terror to get what he wanted. We all knew people who were killed simply because he was bored. It was a terrible time."

"Well how did you handle it?" Harry looked over at Remus. "If it was so terrible, how did everyone make it through the day?"

"You had to. There was no other choice. If you let the fear of Voldemort run your life, then he won without even trying. We enjoyed being together, and savored the good moments we had, however fleeting they may have been," Remus tried to explain. "During our seventh year, we barely even acknowledged Voldemort until one of our teachers was killed by him. Even after that, the only times we ever stopped to think about him was when we had a lot of time to think about life. We were too busy being teenagers, just having fun and not caring about anything else. It was more fun watching James get shot down by Lily then thinking about who might die next."

"Good old persistent Dad," Harry grinned. "I barely know anything about your life, other than that you guys were friends and then somehow Dad got my mom to fall for him and here I am."

Remus smiled too. "Those were the best times we ever had. The Marauders, Lily, Bryanna, and," he paused for a second, "and Ashleigh. It was the best it could ever be."

Harry shot him a questioning glance. "I've never heard of Bryanna or Ashleigh. Were they my mom's friends?"

Remus laughed at that. "Definitely not. Well, Ashleigh and Lily got along alright, but Lily hated Bryanna completely. I'd say the feeling was mutual on that. Lily's friends hated Bry and Ash."

"Why?" Harry asked. "Were they in Slytherin or something?"

"Ashleigh was a Ravenclaw, and Bryanna was a Gryffindor. Neither of them really fit in with the houses though, which is probably why they were best friends."

"So Ashleigh was stupid, and Bry was a coward or something?"

Remus laughed again. "Ashleigh wasn't stupid, she just spent more of her time gossiping than studying. Bry was… she had a lot of courage, but she just didn't get along with the other Gryffindor girls because she had an attitude people didn't tend to like."

"So if Ashleigh and Bryanna weren't Mom's friends, then who was?" Harry asked.

"Well, there was Dorcas Meadowes, who everyone just called Dory. She was a Beater on the Quidditch team, and she was really good too. Got some really great offers from some professional teams. Then there was Neville's mother, Alice Miller. She was always nice, basically the mother figure out of all of us. Marlene McKinnon, who was always drawing something. She was beautiful, but quiet. And last, but definitely not least, there was Emmeline Vance, who you knew," he paused, remembering that Emma had just been killed the past year. "Emma used to be completely wild and crazy. The only thing that could really describe her is the word 'rebel'. I remember that seventh year she dyed her hair pink just because."

Harry smiled. "And you and Sirius and Peter were my dad's friends. But I still don't get where the other two girls come in."

"Well, that's a very long story," Remus said. "If you really want to know the whole story, then we'll have to start at the beginning of our seventh year, on the first Hogsmeade trip…"