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chapter two;
surprise at the order meeting

James joined the Order as soon as he left Hogwarts. His parents were a part of it, fighting for the good in the world and against the darkness of You-Know-Who, and it was only logical that he followed in their footsteps.

He'd realized he wouldn't stand on the sidelines of the war since Lily's parents had been attacked in their own home and left their daughters orphaned. He remembered the devasted look on her face, the anger she was trying to hide.

They'd all tried to help, but there wasn't anything they could do. Until Dumbledore offered them a place in the Order. James hadn't hesitated to accept, just like most of his friends—he needed to have a role in the war, he needed to do something, otherwise, he would regret it.

The Order of the Phoenix Headquarters was given by the Longbottom family for the war. Longbottom Hall was a big house, verging on a manor with sufficient space for every going-on of their operation.

At that moment James stood with his friends by the wall of the dining room as they all waited for Dumbledore to arrive. Most of the older members of the Order sat at the dining table—his parents (who were one of the last to join the meeting), Moody, and McGonagall amongst them. It was one of his first meetings for the order and James and his friends were all anxiously waiting to be assigned their first mission outside of "keeping an eye out".

No one knew why this particular meeting had been called so suddenly. Still, James had an inkling it had to do with the fact his parents were summoned to Hogwarts in the middle of Sunday breakfast—a day when the marauders all came to his house and spent the day. However, Sirius was the only one who was obliged to seeing as James was sure his mother would floo to Padfoot's apartment and drag him by the ear should he not show up.

He spotted Lily from across the hall, talking with Marlene and Alice, and he couldn't even muster a smile. He'd given himself till the end of Hogwarts to finally end up with her, he'd cleaned up his act, became Head Boy, and tried doing everything she said he wasn't and even that wasn't enough.

He was starting to wonder whether he even liked her—or if it was just the challenge of getting her to go on a date with him that thrilled him anymore.

He remembered a time when his heart would fly out of his chest every time she smiled at him, or even scowled at him, and to be fair even when she glared his heart raced.

And he remembered a time when she was just utter perfection and could do no wrong—he wasn't sure he felt the same anymore. Along the way, and after realizing who he wanted to be, Lily Evans stopped being Godlike and became more human.

He enjoyed her more now, being able to talk to her like they were friends and joke around, but he couldn't help but notice that despite her still being beautiful, he didn't dream about her auburn hair and green eyes, he didn't wait until the next Order Meeting to see her. They'd become friends and James was starting to realize there wasn't anything else there, honestly, both of them had realized that a long time ago—though maybe it was his resignation speaking. He didn't know.

"You look like someone kicked your Padfoot," Sirius said from his side with a snort and James scowled at him.

Remus glanced over at Lily, and said, "I thought you said you were over her."

"I am."

Sirius and Remus shared a look, and Peter piped in, "Are you sure?"

He huffed out a breath and nodded. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Are you?" Sirius asked.

"Yes."

"A hundred percent?"

James paused and then shrugged. "Eighty, I guess."

"Do you think another rejection will help you with that last twenty?" asked Sirius.

Remus let out a snort. "He's not going to ask her out."

"Why not? He didn't use to have any qualms about—"

"But they're friends," argued Moony. "He's not going to risk it."

"If they're friends she'll most likely say yes," said Peter, and Sirius nodded in agreement.

"Evans is probably lonely and desperate with her old age—"

"You're older than me, you prat!" said Evans as she and Marlene came to join them, leaving Alice with her boyfriend, Frank. "What are you boys gossiping about anyway?"

"They said you're lonely, didn't you hear?" asked Marlene with an amused smirk, as she walked up to Sirius and grabbed the lapels of his jacket, pulling him into a kiss that he was more than happy to reciprocate.

James rolled his eyes at his friends just as Lily let out an annoyed huff. "I'm not lonely."

"We know that," said Remus with an amused chuckle, making Lily's cheeks tinge pink. "Sirius was just talking out of his arse."

Sirius flipped Remus off, as he finally came up for air, tucking Marlene to his side. "Actually, I was wondering whether you'd agree to go out with Prongs."

James scowled at him. "I wasn't going to ask her out. We're friends."

"Wondering."

Lily was about to say something when the doors to the dining room opened. All six of them turned to it, expecting Dumbledore to walk in—he didn't.

Instead a girl he'd never seen before walked in. And even though she didn't look very tall from where she stood she entered the room with such a sense of authority it was as if she was looking down at everyone.

Her dark hair the color of charcoal fell down her back in soft waves, her skin was tanned and her eyes dark. He couldn't deny she was stunning, dressed in a short denim skirt paired with leather boots that got to her knees, and a small muggle band top, a leather jacket draped on her arm.

"I have the same shirt," muttered Sirius from beside him as she walked through the room, ignoring the stares, towards where his parents were sitting.

"It's in my house, actually," replied Marlene.

"Oh. Well, good, it looks much better on you."

James didn't listen to the rest of what they were saying as he watched confused when the girl smiled at his parents, genuinely, and spoke to them in rushed murmurs. His mother nodded at the girl, waving her off, and patted her hand, as his father let out a laugh. "What the fuck is happening?" he whispered to his friends, all of whom shrugged.

Just then the door to the dining room opened again and in walked Dumbledore. He nodded at the girl, and she sat down next to James' mother as the Headmaster went to stand at the head of the table.

He welcomed everyone to the meeting before finally addressing the hippogriff in the room—or rather the witch. "Ladies and Gentlemen, you were called here to welcome the newest member of the Order, Miss Amaya Santoro, who reached out to me this morning with valuable information that could very well lead to the end of the war."

Silence ensued as they processed the words, James watched Amaya Santoro sit there unperturbed, leaning back on her chair, tapping her fingers on the table as if she wanted to be anywhere else but at the meeting.

Her eyes lifted from the table as if she felt him watch her. He didn't look away, only raised an eyebrow in question. The corner of her lips tugged up and she glanced away when Moody started speaking—though James argued it sounded more like barking.

"The end of the war?" echoed Moody, his voice gruff as he eyed Amaya warily; she merely stared at him, unimpressed. "She's a kid, what does she know about ending wars?"

James and the Marauders snorted in amusement as Amaya discreetly flipped Moody the bird when she scratched the bridge of her nose before Dumbledore spoke.

"Miss Santoro's father was an acquaintance of mine and he gathered information we needed to kill Voldemort. She brought it to me just this morning."

"And how can we trust who she says she is?" Moody kept asking.

"Do you doubt me, Alastor?"

"No. I doubt her," said Moody jutting a finger towards Amaya, narrowing his eyes at her. "She's a stranger. What could she possibly know?"

"Enough," she answered simply.

"Miss Santoro's father... stumbled upon a piece of information that can help end Voldemort—" there was a unanimous flinch amongst the room, James was even sure he heard someone shriek, and yet Amaya remained impassive, "—she is in possession of that information, a journal full of cryptic messages, and I've put her in charge of this mission, the details of which will not be disclosed unless necessary."

"What?" barked Moody and Dumbledore raised a hand before he could keep up the suspicious speech.

"Besides that fact, Miss Santoro is on our side of the war and is a great asset for us. She is proficient in wandless magic, and that makes her—"

"Useful, it makes me useful," Amaya spoke up, lifting her eyes from the table to look around the room and for the first time James noticed the lilt in her accent, which, for some reason, made his blood rush hot. "I can heal wounds naturally and faster than a healer with a wand; I can also tear down impossible wards. I might not be able to use a wand but I can accomplish things no wand can. So yes, I'm useful."

There was a pause in the room, and James shared a glance with his friends—what did she mean she couldn't use a wand?

"How can we trust you, Miss Santoro?" McGonagall spoke up, her voice void of suspicion just guarded trust.

"I'll take a vow. On my magic, that I will fight against Voldemort." She wasn't even done speaking and her skin glowed a shimmery gold before it waned off. She glanced at Moody with a pointed glance. "There. Happy?"

"Did you see that?" Lily whispered in awe from beside him. "That was amazing."

"Moody doesn't look happy, though," added Remus in a murmur.

It was true. Moody's lip was curled up as he looked at her, and he started grumbling, yet before he could speak, Kingsley Shacklebot spoke, "And we can't know of your mission?"

She shook her head. "The information I have is highly dangerous and should it fall into the wrong hands and get back to Voldemort it would have drastic consequences not to mention we would lose our advantage. For now, it is my job to decipher my father's rambles, however, should I need any help, or make any progress Dumbledore made me promise to ask for help and keep him informed of any new information."

She looked around the room before she spoke again, and James saw her eyes lingering on Peter for a moment too long, her eyes narrowing in the slightest.

"I know it's frustrating not to know, and that I showed up out of nowhere, but for safety reasons, I really can't disclose anything. Other than it's my mission to see this war through."

Kingsley didn't seem satisfied with the answer but he nodded. James understood, he was dying with curiosity, wanting to learn what this key to the end was, and yet he respected where she was coming from even if he didn't like it.

She spoke with such confidence he couldn't help but listen intently and refrain from doubting her; she had taken a vow on her magic, after all, wandlessly at that, and she'd promised to kill Voldemort—if that wasn't enough to trust that she was on the right side of the war, he didn't know what was.

Yet, as he understood it, her loyalties didn't exactly lie with the Order; by the way she spoke, he was sure they lied with her and her only. Unless she started trusting the members of the Order there was no way she'd tell them what the key she had was.

The meeting went on, talks of attacks and missions being updated, and just like every time, Dumbledore forgo to assign any missions to the younger members, simply telling them to keep an eye out, and train—"be sure to be ready if an attack happens". The only one of them with something substantial to add was Lily (and now Amaya Santoro), who was a part of the brewers for the Order.

And yes, James and Sirius would soon start their Auror training program, but it still felt like they were doing nothing.

During the meeting his eyes met Santoro's a few times, her eyes were dark from where he stood, and every time they met his, her lips would twitch ever so slightly and she would look away.

He also saw her eyes fall on Remus for a few seconds and for some reason, James started to panic she'd figured out his secret, and then he thought that was stupid she hadn't even met him. Her eyes also fell on Sirius and Marlene, and when she rolled her eyes he was sure Padfoot had winked at her—especially after Marlene huffed out a laugh and murmured, she's way out of your league, darling, to which he answered, you are my league, Marls. She looked at Lily and smiled, and he was sure Lily had smiled first. And then he saw her looking at Peter again, her eyes had narrowed slightly, her brows furrowing but she looked away before he could make out what was going in her mind.

She observed almost everyone in the Order as if she was taking mental notes about people, trying to figure out their roles, trying to discover whether she should trust them or not. Now and then she'd whisper something to his parents and they would answer like they'd known her for years—which wasn't unusual for them, but at the same time was seeing as they'd met not an hour ago.

When the meeting was done, Lily grabbed Marlene's wrist and demanded they go up to Santoro and introduce themselves, bidding goodbye to the boys. And so they did, and James watched as they seemed to have become friends in an instant, all smiley and whispering.

James couldn't glance away from her, for some reason, as he saw her smiling and laughing, forgone the stand-offish persona.

"James?"

He blinked away from her and turned to see his parents approaching them. "Is everything okay? You disappeared at breakfast."

"Your son lacks in hosting skills," Sirius quipped, "It was dreadful without you."

His father smiled. "You're here, son, so I take it his skills aren't deadly."

"For the most part," said Remus, seriously, "He tried to show us a card trick and almost set fire to the tabletop."

Peter nodded, longer than necessary as if finding something to add on to the travesty of a story they made up. "Sirius nearly called St. Mungo's after he got burned."

His mother merely patted Sirius on the shoulder. "You're a strong boy, you'll live. And we'll work on Jamie's hosting skills." She then glanced over at where Santoro was and turned to him with a smile. "Dumbledore requested something of us. He asked us to take Miss Santoro in until she gets settled in the country."

"What?" all four boys said simultaneously, and from the corner of his eye James saw Remus force Sirius's jaw shut.

His father's lips twitched. "She arrived in England just this morning. She has no place to go."

"Oh," James mumbled, his eyes straying away to the girl in question, who was shaking her head at something Marlene said before smiling and speaking again.

"Prongs?" Sirius snapped him out of it.

"Why are we the ones to do it?"

His mother narrowed her eyes at him. "I thought we were past selfishness."

He scowled when his friends snickered. "That's not what I meant."

"We have the space," said his dad with a shrug. "And she needs a family," he added, rather strangely, glancing back at Amaya who was now standing alone after saying goodbye to the girls, looking around the room at the people still standing around, and twirling her fingers softly in the air, and even from here James could see the small lights following her motions.

His mother nodded, "That poor girl," she said with a sigh, "She's been through a lot."

"Like what?" asked Peter.

Mum only shook her head. "We weren't told any details. And the ones we were told aren't our secret to share."

James smiled at his parents' loyalty. He knew no matter how much he pestered them they'd never give up Amaya Santoro's secret, but if they knew it and they still chose to welcome her into their home, then James trusted their judgment.

By the way his mother talked though, James was brought back to a time when Sirius was still living with his parents, to the early days when he arrived at Potter Manor to stay, and something in him went out to Amaya. If she needed a family, they would be the best they could be.

Besides, even if he only met her today, James could tell—hell, the whole Order could—that she was impressive. She was a wandless witch, and a powerful one at that if the way she acted meant anything. And she'd come from her country, where no threats were being made by Death Eaters yet, to help them fight a war that wasn't her responsibility.

If that didn't make her an amazing witch, then the way she gave Moody the bird did.

Mum brightened up when Amaya spotted them and smiled at his parents. "Amaya, darling, we want you to meet our kids!" Mum said waving her over.

Amaya did walk over to them, arms crossed in front of herself. Mum settled a hand on her shoulder and smiled down at her, and James saw as a flicker of surprise passed through Santoro at the contact, before her lips tugged into a small smile.

"They're all yours?" Santoro asked, as she skimmed all four of them and Sirius laughed.

"Well, James, here, is our son," said his dad, "The others are as good as, perhaps better—"

"Thanks," huffed James as the other three snickered. He looked down at her, and from this distance, he could spot the scattering of freckles on her cheeks. "I hear you're staying with us?"

"Only if you don't mind," she said, "I can manage—"

"Did she try this with you too?" James asked his parents amused.

Dad nodded. "It seems she's fond of living under a bridge."

"Bridges are quite nice," James agreed, "If it wasn't for the trolls."

"I'm smart enough to deal with a troll, thank you very much. Besides, I'm serious, I—"

"No, I'm Sirius," interrupted Padfoot with a laugh as all of them groaned in annoyance.

Santoro stared at him blankly. "Excuse me?"

"Sirius Black," Pads introduced himself with a smile, though James noticed it wasn't his usual flirty one.

She narrowed her eyes at him, before looking him up and down, her eyes roaming over his leather jacket to the black cowboy boots he was wearing. Her face became amused and she asked, "Disowned or runaway?"

"Both?" Sirius said with a shrug, his smile big. "How about you, Santoro?"

"Neither?"

Sirius hummed in response and James stood there confused by the bonding moment.

"I'm Remus Lupin," said Remus, before pointing at Peter, who was smiling shyly, "That's Peter Pettigrew."

James could've sworn she was trying not to laugh, but then she just smiled politely. "Nice to meet you."

"Where are you from?" asked Peter, though he sounded so nervous it was more of a squeak.

"The Santoros are a pureblood family from Spain," said Sirius, reminding James that he knew that too, and made sense seeing as she recognized Sirius' family name too.

He saw Amaya spare Peter a glance before she shrugged. "Not exactly, but I guess that's how you'd see us."

"What do you mean?" asked Dad.

"My mother is a muggle," she explained. "A lot of people in my family are Muggles."

"How are you purebloods then?" asked Peter.

"We're technically not. But our family is old, and there's a direct line of wizards, so..." She shrugged, not looking at Peter directly.

"Either way, it doesn't matter," said James. He met her eyes and smiled. "Ready to go home?"

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author's note:

Merry Christmas !
And also, I hope you like this chapter ! The story won't be slow burn but it won't be fast burn either (especially emotionally); so I hope you stick around for it!
ly <3