To and Fro, Let us Go, Time to Start the Show...

[waffletastic]

There were cries of indignation and surprise as cascades of water flew up into the air, soaking the passersby on the street. There was another splash and more cries of protest as an unseen force sent another wave of cold rainwater splashing about. There was a cold wind about as well, which did not help with the general sour mood of the Muggles forced to stand outside, waiting for the bus to come and save them from the misery that was Charing Crossroad, London.

Jinx could barely stifle a giggle as she watched the Muggles trying to huddle together, away from the puddles of water that remained a permanent fixture thanks to indefatigable dreary weather. She tugged the invisibility cloak around her shoulders and leapt into a rather large puddle, sending sprays of mist into the windy London afternoon. One of the more snobbish Muggle women exclaimed to the men to do something, as her fur coat was being ruined, and then promptly smacked one man in the face and accused him of starting all the mischief. Jinx snickered and retreated into the shadows once again. She loved meddling with the minds of the unsuspecting.

Jinx then turned and gazed upwards at the outside of one of the most downtrodden and broken-down looking buildings she thought she had ever seen. The Leaky Cauldron. By all appearances, lonely and common, but infamous by nature. She thought it the right place to start if she were going to lure in more Order members. With a swoosh and a jingle she was inside, her cloak, which had been bequeathed her by her late mentor, already tucked away in her bag.

She politely inquired of the owner if they were currently serving any Bubbling Brokam's Tea, a concoction of butterbeer, newt's tongue, and sparkling fairy dust that she was so fond of. When he only gave her an odd stare, Jinx ordered a simple butterbeer instead and settled at a rickety table in the back of the pub. There she sipped her drink lightly and waited, and observed.

[sirius]

The Leaky Cauldron was a place that Sirius hadn't been in quite some time. Of course, it wasn't like too many Order members ventured in there, as most every witch or wizard that was in there was under Voldemort's regime. Some of them not be choice, but because if they didn't they knew they would die. Sirius could care less, however, as for their reasoning. Fear should not stop them - even he was scared sometimes, but that didn't stop him from standing up for what he believed in.

He had been doing some recon and spying out in the Muggle world, in his Animagus form. Most Muggles just assumed he was a stray dog wandering about - sometimes they left him bits of food, but sometimes, they called Animal Control on him. That was always entertaining. On this day, he had just dodged them, and from there, he bolted into the narrow alleyway behind the Leaky Cauldron, where the officers chased him, but when they arrived in the alley, all they saw was... a man.

"Excuse me, sir, but have you seen a dog by any change?" They asked, glancing about suspiciously.
"I haven't actually. Good day, gentlemen." And with that, Sirius walked passed them, a sly smirk on his face.

He headed into the Leaky Cauldron, pulling the hood that was part of his fur, full-length jacket over his head, just so no one would recognize him. It was a risky thing, going into a place like this, but it had been ten years... Most of the wizard society believed that he was dead already. That was good for him, though. He ordered himself a firewhiskey - what else? - and was about to settled himself at another table in the back of the pub... When he spotted a familiar face. Another Order member? Today must be his lucky day.

"Hello, Jinx," He said under his breath to her, sitting across the table from her, trying to keep his face hidden from all of the others, except for her. "I must say, I'm surprised to see you here. Though, I'm sure you can say the same for me." [/color]

[Torii Damien]

Torii, clad in her hooded traveling robes as usual, rolled her eyes good-naturedly as Jinx ordered some far-fetched drink. She, however, ordered an average firewhiskey, her beverage of choice. As the bartender, a grubby, stern-looking man tried to catch a glimpse of her face, she pulled her hood up farther and muttered, "Confundo." The man's curious look was instantly replaced by one of blank indifference.

"Would it kill you to order something actually found on Earth?" she teased in a quiet voice, following the other witch to a rather pitiful table in the back of the pub. Several sets of curious eyes followed the elusive Torii, most likely wondering why she had concealed her identity. Each was hit with separate Confundo charms. Torii sat down at the table ad took a swig of her whiskey. The drink sent a feeling of liquid warmth and strength streaming down her throat.

Things were so different now. Torii used to go to this particular pub with her mom on every trip to Diagon Alley, always a happy trip. But happiness was a rare sight in this day and age. Torii raised her mug back to her lips, ready to take another sip, when a voice interrupted.

Her peripheral vision caught the figure of a shabby-looking man. Sirius Black. He mentioned only Jinx's name, of course, seeing as Torii's appearance was hidden behind her thick cloak. This fact didn't bother her. The less attention she brought upon herself, the better of she was in the long run.

ooc; This sucks mack, but my parents are eviiiiiil and making me get off xP

[julia]

Another figure sat at a rather pathetic looking table, a bit off from where the Order members were having their little meeting. It was a young woman, seventeen or eighteen at the oldest, her bright attire covered by a black cloak, though she didn't particularly care if the hood hid her face from the prying eyes of the other patrons. A slender hand slipped out, wrapping around the Firewhiskey she was drinking. She took a sip, a few coughs escaping after she swallowed.

Julia had actually never been much of a fan of Firewhiskey, but when she had left Hogwarts for good and had been too afraid to go back to her brother and tell him that she wasn't going to be a Death Eater, well she needed something to keep that warmth and courage in her system. It didn't really help that she was paranoid about James or Evangeline lurking around every corner.

She reached into her pocket, pulling out the mirror that Neville had given her. She had driven herself ragged it seemed, having not slept a full night in quite some time. Julia let out a sigh, running her free hand through her hair. She really wanted a chance to get herself together before going to Neville, not wanting to look like she was just begging for a place to crash for the night or something of the sort. But really, how much longer was there until someone actually caught onto the fact that she wasn't going back to Hogwarts and started looking for her. Her brother cared, seeing as he saw her as a meal ticket.

Julia took another few drinks from the bottle in front of her before looking around the pub again her attention moved in the direction of the newcomers, just as everyone's had at some point. But Julia's gaze lingered, and she attempted to listen a bit to their conversation, still fiddling with the mirror in her hand.

[/size]

[waffletastic]

A flicker of a smile crossed Jinx's face as she regarded Torii. Her friendly smile was quickly replaced by a cool nonchalance in order not to draw too much attention from an already suspicious crowd. "Just because I don't particularly enjoy that...whatever it is, Jinx said, indicating Torii's mug of firewhiskey. Jinx really did have quite a distaste for the stuff. She did not much enjoy the sensation of her esophagus being on fire. "It tastes like it came out of the wrong end of a blast ended skrewt!" she said, wrinkling her nose. She was promptly hushed by Torii, who could barely contain her own sniffle of amusement.

Just then the two of them looked up as a shaggy silhouette loomed over them. It was Sirius.Hello, Jinx. I must say, I'm surprised to see you here. Though, I'm sure you can say the same for me.

Jinx tried to conceal her excitement as Sirius took the seat across from her and Torii. She leaned forward, biting her lip to suppress a grin. "Sirius! How good of you to join us," Jinx said, squeezing the man's hand. He had been away on recon for weeks now, without any word to Neville or anyone during the intervening time. "I was beginning to worry about--" Jinx stopped abruptly, her eyes narrowing sharply as she studied a table nearby. She thought she had seen a glint of light coming from over there...

[Cassieopia Thurgoode]

It was appalingly and utterly dark and damp, in the bizarre and lonesome deep alleyway that resided two blocks from the familiar, and well-known resting place of the now current (and oddly public) Order of the Phoenix’s classified meeting.

The hall was an incredibly dusty, and moody region. As trash bins littered the corners, odd bits of slimy black and dark mossy green grime, had gripped to the walls nonchalantly, as if it was only natural thing for such a small stretch of nothingness between two buildings to be absolutely full of unidentified and highly bacterial muck. A fat calico cat of Orange, Black, and white passed by, meowing desperately for attention from any passing and unfortunately non-existant stranger.

This alleyway was known to reside in the slums in a peaceful manner. For some uncharted reason, this one little lonesome roadway that was attatched to our beaten down Alley passage, was barely tread upon. It was possibly because of a fire that had broken out two years before, but who honestly knew? In the curious world of muggles, the reasons were always strange. And the woman who recently apperated into such an alleyway, had no idea of the current news and situations that the muggled society was into. At the moment, she was too much plastered into her half-mothered fallen world, and was desperate to patch it up.

Miss. Cassieopia Thurgoode had quite suddenly arose from nothingness in the quiet darkness of the black alleyway. The squeezing sensation of her apparition left her slightly breathless. Her blonde hair was whisking about her swirled, and dark tinted teal and black robes. It most certiantly was not the first time she apparated, of course. But throughout the years, Cassie still hadn’t got through the slippery sensation of it. She thought nothing of this apparition, but unconsciously her breath quickened. Her pale and slender fingers withheld her wand of Hippocampus bone, and she slightly dropped her arm to the side, studying her surroundings. She slowly peered up, left, and right.
It was luck she decided, that she apperated in such a time where no one had seen her so effortlessly appear from thin air. Usually, when a witch does such a thing she always gets herself into unfortunate occasions.

The air was in a state of unbelieveable dampness. The hard rain had turn into a splattering drizzle, which made the grime of Cassieopia’s Apparition site reek like a young male Troll in heat. It was a wet and moldy smell that also resembled the stench of week-old vomit.
Cassieopia Groaned, and quickly tucked her wand away into her long robes. With that hand, she held her breath and almost stuffed her nostrils and mouth with her long sleeves in order to block the odor. And thus, she commenced whisping her way into a high powered fast-walk through the disgusting apparition site.

Once turning the corner, her quick and jaunted walk leveled into a normal pace and she immediately detatched her sleeve from her nose and lips to conceal that she had actually arrived from one place to the next, and suddenly appeared in a lewd near-by alley out of nowhere, by the easy flick of her wand.
This casual walk had looked as if she had no responsibilities in the least. And it most definitely did not signify that this light haired and skinned woman was in a hurry to join in a rather important meeting about the fate of The Order, which was the only stand against the Dark Lord and the fall of society as we knew it. No, no.
But still in this relaxed position, she had made her feet move unbelieveably fast, turning corners, and traversing her way through the few streets that wedged between her, and the Leaky Cauldron.

Muggles hadn’t the least bit noticed that her dress and attire was slightly off, as she whisked through the streets of this broken and pathetic edge of downtown London. It was mostly homeless who had dismally roamed the streets, too drunk to notice such an avid platinum blonde in dark robes dart by. Much too drunk.

“Angel!” She heard a man that seemed on the brink of passing out motion towards her, as he giggled and writhed on the floor, with a bottle of a muggle whiskey in one had, and a palmful of his once white t-shirt in the other.

Cassie was almost there, now. She could see the wooden and splendored walls of her well seeked-for pub. A few more quick steps, and she had passed by the bar window in a huff. The muggles whom weren’t a bit homeless huddled together in warmth whilst waiting for their friendly, neighborhood muggle busman to pull up with a warm vehicle and dry, empty seats.
With ease, Cassieopia had made her way through the door.

She had no idea what the meeting was for, but she had only received a silent word from an anonymus member to diligently make her way to the Leaky Cauldron with as much stealth as possible. This was a meeting she had suspected was going to be at least slightly interesting one, considering the hidden members remained out in the open. Quietly, she prayed blatent members wouldn’t be recognized. It would be an awful thing to display a wizard’s duel in front of a massive group of near-by muggles. But would a Dark witch or wizard honestly stoop to revealing actions such as those? They wouldn’t be that dull.

Cassieopia had dropped to a low voice, and unsuspiciously placed herself beside her collegues, but it included a thick area of space between them. It would be wise to look like a gentle passerby.
“Hello lot,” She whispered after retrieving an order of water.

And she silently wondered about the greetings she was about to recieve.

[/size]

[sirius]

It did confuse Sirius a bit as to why this 'secret' meeting was so... public. He supposed it had something to do with reverse psychology - hiding in plain sight sort of thing - but he was never really one to contemplate those kind of things. He might be witty and clever, but those are completely different from actual knowledge.

It almost took him a second before he realized who the other person at the table was - he knew it must be an Order member, but he was confused as to who it was... Who else drank fire whiskey besides him? Then, as he peered down a bit to see who it was under there, he smirked. Of course, it was Torii. How didn't he get that before? He was friends with her, sure, after all, she was an Animagus as well.

He turned his attention back to Jinx when he felt her grip on his hand, and returned it with a small chuckle. "No need to worry about me, Jinx, I do think I can handle myself." He said, giving her a small, clever wink. He enjoyed her presence, she was rather... entertaining. He thought of her somewhat as a daughter - it was remarkable that someone so young as her was such a talented witch.

He turned his attention around the pub a bit though - he noticed a girl not too far off from them who seemed to be staring at their lot, which made him turn his head lower to keep his face hidden by his hood, just in case - and then, his gaze fell on the entrance to the pub. There was a woman coming in, and a very attractive one at that. While Sirius had lost a bit of his devilishly good looks and charm due to Azkaban and the like - he still knew a good looking woman when he saw one.

And, she was making her way over to their table! Wait, was that a good thing, or a bad thing? He wasn't really sure, he had never seen her before... Perhaps she was a new recruit thoguh. And it seemed that way, as she came to sit at their table. He raised his brow a moment, eyeing her over a bit. She ordered a water? Huh. He was tempted to offer her some fire whiskey, but resisted, and simply took a long drink of it himself, enjoying the burning sensation in the back of his throat. Only real men (and women, like Torii) drank fire whiskey.

"Who, might I ask," He started, bringing up his gaze to focus on the new comer, "Are you?" He suspected that the others were curious as well, though they might already know her... Someone had to have recruited her. He was just jealous that it hadn't been him. [/color]

[Torii Damien]

As Jinx gestured toward Torii's drink, she swirled it around before taking a large gulp, downing the majority of the mug. She was once again filled with that searing warmth. It was then that she noticed the witch at another rickety table casting several furtive glances at the little group. Immediately on the defensive, a low growl rumbled in Torii's throat and her hand slowly reached for her wand. She was always cautious in public ever since her epidemic with a group of vampires days previous.

A small smile curved across her face as Sirius figured out who she was. She was surprised it took him so long, what with all the common factors they shared. Oh well. Like the the other two, Torii's head turned at the approach of yet another person. She was probably the only one who recognized this new witch. She'd seen many a picture of her in The Daily Prophet. Life in Azkaban had not been kind to this woman, once-beautiful features marred.

"Cassieopia Thurgoode." The words tumbled from her mouth before she could stop them, slightly louder and more surprised than she intended. She eyed the water in the witch's hand with a dumbfounded expression. Of all the crazy concoctions the pub offered, she wanted water? Azkaban must have twisted the the woman's mind as well as her appearance.

While she waited for the others to get acquainted with the newcomer, Torii kept her silver gaze focused on the witch that seemed to be so intrigued by their little gathering. Her lips drew back in a sneer as she analyzed the witch. She was young, looked to just be of age, possibly out of Hogwarts. But anyone that still went to that school's mind was twisted. Torii's fingers brushed the tip of her wand, and she wondered for a moment if she she wipe the girl's memories.

[waffletastic]

Jinx watched the witch at the other table carefully, narrowing her brilliant blue eyes, studying her every move. The girl seemed to be fairly young, perhaps the age of a student, with light blonde-brown hair and doe-like eyes, and as Jinx watched closely, she saw that the object in her hands was a mirror. To what use, she wondered, would this young woman put such an object? Unconsciously she brushed her fingers along the hem of her dress's waistband, where she kept her wand.

Then, Jinx's gaze flickered abruptly over to the newcomer at Sirius's words. "And who, may I ask, are you?"

Jinx peered inquisitively up at the tallish, blonde woman, and the light of recognition settled on her features. Jinx recognized her face, though now it was gaunt and sallow, with sunken, carefully guarded eyes. Thus, Jinx was not in the least surprised when the mysterious woman's identity was revealed by Torii, "Cassieopia Thurgoode."

However, Jinx did start at the harsh sound of the words. QUickly, she glanced around, trying to see if anyone had taken notice of the slip. Was that man in the front of the pub looking at them? DId that woman have her wand raised? No, perhaps she was just being paranoid. She was beginning to think that it had been unwise to call a meeting of the Order in such a public and popular place. But there was nothing to do about it now. Jinx reached over and pulled Cassieopia into a chair so as to divert any untoward notice. She put a finger to her lips and kept her head down, eyes glancing askance every few seconds.

To her overwhelming anxiety, she realized that two men at one of the booths toward the front had stood and were conferring quietly with one another. Then, the two wizards sauntered towards the back exit that led to Diagon Alley. There was an intense moment of silence as the Order members froze under the curious glances the men cast at Jinx, Sirius, and the others, but did not stop or confront them. Jinx kept her eyes averted and sipped her drink, determined not to make eye contact. Once the men had disappeared, she turned to the others.

"Perhaps it is time to choose a different meeting place..."

[julia]

Julia continued to casually watch the group, trying to not look too suspicious or dark. Her appearance didn't help too much, what with the not sleeping and the bags under her eyes. But surely she didn't look as intimidating as the majority of the people inside of The Leaky Cauldron. Of course looks could be deceiving, and if the group in the corner turned out to be what she thought it was, they wouldn't trust anyone just based on how they looked, which hopefully meant they wouldn't distrust someone just based on how they looked. She took a few more sips of her drink, moving her eyes away from the group for a moment.

Finally draining the last bit of Firewhiskey, Julia let her eyes drift back to the table. Someone else had joined them, and it looked like a few were making subtle movements towards waistbands and the like, a nice place to keep a wand. Julia's hand moved to her own waistband, her eyes remaining on the group, and drew her wand out to place on the table. She hoped it would send the right message to the defensive people at the table, but not look like anything other than a young witch who was sick of her wand digging into her waist.

She sat back in her chair, a rather passive position, and ran a hand through her hair. A few of the pub's patrons shot her a look, which she shot right back. Even a few of her brother's friends were there, but she doubted they'd recognize her. Her current state was a far cry from the girl they'd always seen around the estate.

[Cassieopia Thurgoode]

“As she says…”
Cassie had motioned slightly towards the Order of the Phoenix member whom had just uttered her name only a second before, with a slight bowing movement of her platinum blonde head. The woman who had spoken her name—Torii, was a peculiar sort to her.

“Although, I do prefer Cassie.”

She concealed a greeting in one of her inconspicuous smiles. This man whom was gallantly towering before her, was a man who she of course had a complete knowledge of. His presence was comfortably forbearing for Cassieopia, a trait that she had never expected in a man of his experiences. Azkaban, the Death of his Alleged Godson, and the Uprising of the Dark Lord hadn’t seemed to have touched him a bit. It made his character oddly personable, she silently noted. Was this the notorious Animagus whom among only a few in history, broke out of her Jailed Hell? Not one pitiful, or murderous cellmate in Azkaban could ever possibly mistake his appearance.
It was the infamous Sirius Black.
Wasn’t it?
Of course it was. It was clear by the dim tattoo that was peeking out of his attire that had to signify his cell symbol.
Sirius Black. In the flesh. Free, and madly defending himself against the seemingly unending darkness of the Dark Lord Voldemort. He must have a terrible amount of backbone.

Slowly moving her eyes away from the man, Cassie had took a sip of her clear, and utterly plain water. She didn’t properly ask for Sirius’s name, because she had already knew of it. Hopefully he wouldn’t be cross with such a thing, it just didn’t feel like the obvious proper time or place to get better acquainted. And she was sure that three words of the man’s title would immediately produce an uproar with the astounding number of dark and fattened individuals who had obviously resided in the Leaky Cauldron at this moment in time.
Yes, the introduction of Sirius would cause an uproar. It was better to leave matters at that.

She had took another sip of her transparent liquid. And from the glare that Cassie had speechlessly received from Torii, it was evident she had wondered about her common drink. Cassieopia silently snorted to herself, as she looked at her water glass.
Was it really such a catastrophe that she wasn’t drinking alcohol at the moment? After all, She was an Order Member. Surely they would understand that when they were on duty, it isn’t that wise to drink Alcohol. She didn’t want to stagger foggy-headed and sloppily tumble out of the pub, screaming to the heavens that she was, ‘The ONE and onLY CASSIEopia THUR…GOODE! Come and get me…’
And she would say this punctuating every word,
‘Dark! Lord! Voldemort! I am …ORDER…Person! HEAR ME ROAR!’
And then she would topple over in a slump and throw up in a nearby potted tree.

Hasn’t that happened before? Yes. Except she screamed other words that she couldn’t remember. And if she racked her brain hard enough and squeezed the events of that night into the front of her brain, Cassie could indeed remember that she was in Hogsmeade at the time, and only drank two shots of Fire Whiskey.
It didn’t take much to get her devilishly drunk.

Her amusing reverie was startled by the eccentric Jinx, pulling hastily at her sleeve, and motioning for her to sit down. With her brow fuzzled, Cassieopia sat at her request, as the brunette and sweet girl whispered to her the words that Cassie was just about to leek out her own.

“Yes. I suppose you are right, Samantha.”
Cassie quickly darted her eyeballs left and right to get a good look around, and silently observed the citizens whom gave off an air of nonchalance and yet had a touch of shadow.

“Did everyone hear her, and are there any objections?”
She stated under her breath, as her eyes glanced down upon her water. If an outsider who had no idea what what happening at the bar walked in and caught the image of Cassieopia sitting there, they would have puzzily thought that she was speaking silently to her drink in smooth, calming words.

[sirius]

"Cassieopia Thurgoode," Torii had said - and Sirius was quite surprised. This was the woman that he had seen in the newspapers, the one who had escaped from Azkaban?! She certainly didn't look like a former prisoner, at least, not to him. She was way too... clean to be one. He had shaped up a bit himself since his stint in Azkaban, but he was still a bit scruffly. She looked quite nice. Hmm.

He couldn't help but stare at her for a moment, and quickly realized that she was doing the same. Ah, perhaps she recognized him as well. Of course, he did his best to keep his tattoos hidden, but they had a way of poking out every now and the, and he could see her eyeing an obvious one from Azkaban. He fixed his shirt a bit to cover it, just in case others besides her and the Order might see, and flashed her a small smile.

With that being done, and Jinx bringing up a very good point, he nodded a bit. "I would have to agree," He started, trying to speak in a hushed tone, "Even though the clever idea of 'hiding in plain sight does have it's advantages, I suppose... It certainly isn't what You-Know-Who would be expecting." He was careful not to speak Voldemort's name - there was still a Taboo on it, and those who said it could be tracked, because those who folllowed the Dark Lord called him just that - 'My Lord'. And supposedly, those who defied him (or simply didn't fear him) called him by his real name, and were tracked. So it wouldn't be a good idea to say his name - even if Sirius didn't fear him in the slightest bit.

"But I do think there's a few people in here that don't really look friendly..." He continued on, gesturing with a small nod of his head to the witch that still hadn't taken her eyes off of their table. She looked young, a bit too young, but perhaps she had just graduated from Hogwarts... Normally, that would have been a good thing - but not anymore. Perhaps she was a spy, sent by the Dark Lord... Sirius couldn't help but be a bit paranoid, you couldn't tell friend from foe these days.

That thought made his gaze drift back to Cassieopia. According to the newspapers, this woman had been put into Azkaban because of 'illicit activities involving the Dark Lord and Dementors'. That didn't sound like a good thing - but, he was definately not one to judge. He had been thrown into the wizarding jail for much of the same thing. He would just have to wait and see though... She didn't really look evil. [/color]