Dec. 16: Anywhere You Go: Alice

[Frank Longbottom]

▶︎ I can't really help it if my tongue's all tied in knots -
Jumping off a bridge, it's just the farthest that I've ever been....

Anywhere you go, I'll follow you down.

"So, er - that - that all happened, didn't it? Dumbledore, the - the Order of the Phoenix? Secret resistance? He wants us?" Rightly stunned - although, to his mother's eye, he was sure, he'd been too caught off guard to ask enough important questions - Frank lowered himself into a chair as the door to the prefect's lounge locked behind them. He covered his mouth as a laugh escaped him in bewilderment, in thrill, and he looked up at Alice. Had the past hour really been theirs? He hadn't given a second thought to their headmaster's invitation for tea ahead of the holiday train, it seemed like the proper time for a mid-year check-in, even though they'd already both spoken with their Head of House after exams. The last thing that the Head Boy had expected was...well, everything he'd learned as his tea slowly cooled. From what Dumbledore was really up to on the days he was absent from the castle, to the active role they could take in the organization after graduation, it was an earth-shaking, honorable, incredible, terrifying, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

He had his heart set on the Auror program and Alice's designs on it had never been a secret. If they took Dumbledore up on this, what would it mean for those dreams? Their families couldn't know about the Order, would they be able to keep such a monumental part of their lives quiet? What would they even claim to be doing? He had worked for years to get his parents on board with him applying for the Auror program, with strict promises that they would not interfere and use their influence to keep him out. Their concerns were valid, Frank wouldn't dispute that - what parent would willingly send their child into the fire? Mother, surprisingly, had understood first. The need to fight for what was right had not so much been instilled but drilled in by her, after all - and he couldn't do something else, not now, not when he could help end this war. There would be time and opportunity, later, for a different career, if he so chose. Something quiet, where he could spend a day in his garden as the shadows moved from one end to the other, where he and Alice...

Little ahead of yourself there, Longbottom.

Or was he? They planned on going into the Auror program together, hoping to fight side-by-side. And now this offer from Dumbledore, to join the Order together? Was it so unthinkable to dream of a softer life for them too, after all of this?

His heart drummed as he met the bright eye of the witch he loved, hand dropping and smile wide. "There's got to be a catch," Frank asserted, although he was unable to stop his smile from spreading. The offer - the offer was too good. Wasn't it? Or were they really lucky enough to have this opportunity dropped on their laps?

[Alice Longbottom]

There weren’t many things at the school that caught Alice off guard these days, not with two years as a prefect and now Head Girl under her belt. But she hadn’t seen this coming, the conversation that Dumbledore wanted to have with them. She’d assumed he wanted to check in with them to see how their year was going, and he had done that, but he’d also asked so much more of them. There had been rumors in the world outside of this school of secrets and people helping out with the ongoing war, but Alice had never expected that it was being led by Dumbledore. And that he would want them to join it. “He wants us. Secret resistance and he wants us,” Alice said as she looked at Frank, just as bewildered as he was. Never in a million years would Alice have thought they would be hand-picked like this. Was it because they were going into the Auror program? Could they do more for the world in the Order?

Becoming an auror was all she had ever wanted to do. It was what she had set her sights on, it was why she’d worked so hard in defense against the dark arts. A class that would serve her well in either the job option. She had already worked on her application, and now just needed her N.E.W.T. scores before she applied. Amelia was in her first year of training, and her dear friend a clear choice for the program. Had Dumbledore tried to recruit any of the Bones family as well? Aurors and healers seemed like an obvious choice recruit. Alice sunk down in a chair across from Frank, sure her face matched his in disbelief at the conversation they’d had over rapidly cooling tea.

Alice wanted to make a difference in their world, she wanted it to be a better place for those who weren’t pureblood, because why did blood status even matter? She was no better of a witch because of her bloodline, and some of the best witches and wizards that she knew were muggle-born. Could she do that as an auror? Or was this the better choice, working with Dumbledore and others? The Ministry couldn’t be that corrupt that being an auror was the wrong choice. “I just…there has to be a catch, I agree. Do we do both? Do we do one or the other? This seems like an impossible decision right now.” Surely Dumbledore would give them time to decide, given that he approached them now instead of at the end of the year. “I feel like I should have asked more questions.”

[Frank Longbottom]

He was relieved as Alice shared his sentiments, just as stunned as he was, but affirming all the same that Frank hadn't dreamt the meeting.

The allure of the Order was strong.

They'd be in the know and in the field far faster than the Auror department would allow them. However forthcoming Dumbledore had been about some things, he remained his typical cryptic self with others - but had hinted heavily enough that his would not be the only familiar face on the team. The opportunity to continue learning from the great wizard, not only through their studies and his leadership, but the myths that surrounded him? The Albus Dumbledore, the wizard who they had to thank for Grindelwald's demise - he wanted to work alongside them through the war of their age?

What would his father think of his fellow Wizengamot member making such an offer to his only child?

You won't do anyone any good if you're in the ground.

There was a period of training within the Order, but he could hardly believe it rivaled the Auror program. The program had been in place since the eighteenth century, just shy of the founding of the Ministry itself. It had evolved through the years as the needs of the community evolved, and Frank had no doubt that it was the superior program - for their training, at least. He needed something, he couldn't simply trade textbooks for battle plans, dueling club for active duty. The Ministry was cracking, as much as the highest offices were content to deny the fact. Was he a fool to think the cracks skipped Level Two, especially with the new authorizations issued to the department to condone the use of Unforgivables by Aurors on suspected Death Eaters?

Even facing death himself, could he have it within him to summon such curses?

And how could you live with yourself if you did?

At least one thing was certain - Alice was in this with him, whatever "this" became. He couldn't keep himself from smiling as she grouped them together in her musings, and the lad was still admittedly coming out of shock. "Same here, love," Frank chuckled, "was hard enough to take it all in, not to mention find the right questions. Going to be full of them by nightfall. We'll write them down, and ask when we're back. If his answers satisfy, though...this could be a real option for us, Alice." He clasped his hands between his knees and took a steadying breath, trying to get his head on straight as he looked to her. "It's the training element that's giving me the most pause, I suppose. As incredible as it would be to work for Dumbledore, and as much as he's there, he's here, and who knows who's running the day-to-day? The Auror program already has the best trainers in Britain, and before we're out there, well - I'm having trouble imagining that without getting ready, by them."