Precipice

"Here," Amelia said as she laid down a set of small badges on the desk. The badges were only as big as a thumbprint. An image of a knight's helmet was engraved on it. Behind the helmet was a wand and a sword crossing each other. The brushed metallic surface of the badges gave it a nice finishing touch as well.

I was glad that her contact pulled through right on time. She said that she had received the delivery around the time the paper took off, but we only now got the chance to sneak out of the castle and test out our new stuff. Although, I was sure that she had done enough quality control on her own.

The professors who were a part of the Order were absent from the castle, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that Snape had informed Dumbledore about Voldemort's plan. We had capitalized that absence and snuck out through the secret passage that lead to Honeydukes.

I left behind some insect summons from the third path in our dorm and the passage entrance. They would act as lookouts when we needed to get back. At the same time, I left out a few in front of the Room of Requirement, just to spy on little Draco.

"How do these work?" asked Neville as he picked one of the badges.

"These are Auror grade communication badges, so they basically have all the features we have in our Auror badges. I'll explain when the others are here," she said, "The outfits look good on you two," she finished after looking us both up and down.

"Indeed, you lads are looking dapper. If only it were for Halloween and not for this blasted war," a voice said from the door.

I turned around to see the Tonks couple entering the room. Ted and Andromeda were recently recruited by Amelia and I couldn't be more grateful for that. I was familiar with Ted already as he was a part of the Chronicle, but I did not want to drag my employees onto the front line. It came as a surprise when he said that he was getting tired of being hunted down for his birth and this time, he wanted to hit back at the morons.

Because of the deal I made with Phineas, I had offered them my aid and they had access to our safehouses and resources to keep themselves safe. I did not do that with the intention of making them fight for me. But the two had already seen war before and they joined up regardless after talking with Amelia.

Hermione had made a document similar to the one we used last year for the DA. That would ensure that nobody blabs about the organization unless authorized. We had no way to prevent the action itself, but we had a damn good alternative. If anyone betrayed us willingly as Marietta did, they would be whisked away to a secure location for interrogation before they could finish talking. If they were under anti-transportation mechanics, their mouths would be sealed shut, then the elves would discreetly pick them up. All they would need to do was to start talking to trigger the enchantment. Apart from me, only Amelia and Hermione knew of this function. The others would have an idea since they were already aware of the DA sheet's curse, but these were all trustworthy folks so I was not worried. This measure was mainly for those that would join henceforth.

"Nymphadora just left a little while ago for an Order meeting," Andromeda said as her face scrunched up, "At this point, I think she's only there because of the Lupin boy. Apparently, Mad-Eye has stopped coming to the meetings after whatever happened at Snape's place. His parting words to her were to either focus more on her job or to find the vigilantes and join them."

"Why? We don't even call her that at the office," said Amelia.

"That's not what I heard. The others might have left her alone, but she has raged on me so much because of you using her full name."

"I'm her boss. I get to call her whatever I want," Amelia said with a smug smirk.

"You are taking revenge on her because of me aren't you?" Andromeda asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, I'm not the one who named her that. To be fair though, like mother, like daughter. All these young ones wouldn't know what kind of a menace you were in your youth," she snarked and turned towards Ted, "I completely blame you, Ted. You managed to corrupt a daughter of the house of Black, and unleashed her upon us ickle Hufflepuffs."

"You can't blame me for falling in love," he said wistfully as he took a seat.

"I can totally blame you for dragging her to the secret spots of our house though," she said with an indulgent smile. It surprised me that these three were close during their school. It did make sense though. Even though Andromeda was a couple of years older, she and Amelia would have known each other because they both came from prominent pureblood families. Ted would have been older than Amelia as well, but they were in the same house, and Hufflepuffs always had a good comradery going on in their house.

While they were talking, I brought out two small metal disks from my pocket and held my palm upright. I focused on the wind around the disks and created miniature gusts to lift the disks. I could feel the strain on my concentration as the weight of the disks increased. They were enchanted to be heavier, in order to help me with my exercises. I started rotating the disks above my palm as I shifted my focus towards the conversation. My wind manipulation was nowhere near combat ready yet, that's why I was doing these exercises. I needed to tap into it without a second thought and maintain the control without much focus on my part. I would keep this up throughout the meeting.

As they continued their banter, I observed my new garb once again. The paper, our faction, it was all about making a statement. The new robes were a pristine white with a metallic sheen, and with magic, we didn't have to worry about dirt and stains. To call it a robe would be incorrect, it was more of a trench coat with a hood.

The material itself was Ukrainian Ironbelly hide. Although the dragon itself had a metallic grey hide, these ones were cured, tanned, and then dyed in such a way that the color was enhanced. Even without the enchantments on the thing, the hide itself made the robes impervious to several spell trees. It was a sturdy material, providing a layer of physical protection as well. Once the hood was up, it would shield our necks and the back of our heads, so that was a good thing.

The clothing underneath the robe was of a similar color, with stitched padding on different places. The padding was once again from the same hide. This was to ensure that mobility was not compromised while retaining the protection over joints and other delicate parts. The gloves and boots were made of the same material as well.

One thing that stood out was the metallic dark grey collar. The piece of metal was peppered throughout with several runes engraved on the surface. Under normal circumstances, the metal would glitter, as it wont to do, but conspicuousness was necessary and we had to mask it behind a layer of color. It cost me a pretty penny, to source a rare batch of mithril, and to get it enchanted as per these specifications.

The entire ensemble had enchantments that boosted their inherent properties and made us hard to take down.

All of these commissions were done on the down-low, so as to not give away our identities. We sourced the materials through anonymous channels, and then Amelia provided the material to her personal artificer, who was absolutely loyal to the Bones family, and was in hiding himself. Sadly, there were none of those nifty contracts that many a fanfiction liked to explore. I learned that apart from the unbreakable vow, the only other magically enforced vow was the one enacted by the Goblet of Fire. Even then vows were tricky subjects since there were several loopholes if one wanted to look for it. Therefore, we had to make do with Hermione's pseudo-contracts.

Our best bets were always recruiting people who had a mixed heritage, which would make them Death Eater targets anyway. Moreover, not everyone was inclined towards combat, and they wanted to help in their own unique ways.

A couple of minutes later, the girls walked in, dressed in their new uniforms as well. Unlike the rest of them, the last one to walk in had her helmet on. Going by the process of elimination, and general body size, it was Luna. I couldn't help but snort at that.

The helmet itself was the same color as the metallic collar. There was a black visor, in a T-shape flowing down till the bottom of the helmet. The borders of the visor were painted the same shade of white as the clothes. I took heavy inspiration from the kind of helmets the Mandaloreans from Star Wars preferred.

The thing itself was very thin, so it did not hamper our mobility. The main purpose was to protect our identities. The backs of our heads were protected by the hoods anyway. Despite how thin the thing was, being made of mithril came with massive defensive perks.

Amelia's artificer had almost creamed his pants when we handed him the rare and precious metal. He had forged the helmet as per specifications and layered it with enchantments and engraved runes on the inside so that it took an alternate shape. No extra material was being created, the existing amount just got transfigured temporarily and got locked into the alternate form of a collar.

Mithril itself was pretty resistant to magic once it was properly forged, so he had to imbue the enchantments on it before he quenched the metal. That way, the specific enchantments got locked into the metal and couldn't be tampered with. The magic involved still boggled me, but I was no crafter.

Unlike the others, the borders on my helmet were tinted red. Some would call me stupid for standing out like that, but it needed to be done. I had the six paths to further boost my capabilities in combat. I could take on the random Death Eaters that targeted me. The more I drew in their attention, the more the rest of our group had room to maneuver. My priority was to ensure that everyone else walked out of it alive. At the level I was currently at, I only had to worry about Tom himself, or Bellatrix ganging up on me with others of her skill level, which was a bleak possibility.

"Luna, we don't need the helmets now," I said. Hermione scoffed at that, indicating that she had already tried talking the girl out of it.

"But it is so much fun," she responded in a sing-song voice.

"I know it is," I agreed.

She presumably blew a raspberry, going by the voice coming from her helmet. She then tapped her wand to the lowest portion of the helmet, and the metal started to melt from the top until it formed the engraved collar on her coat.

Amelia stood up as everyone else took their seats.

"I couldn't see through your helm using my monocle, so we know that they work as intended," she said as she winked at Luna.

"Anyway, let's get started. I got these made as per your specifications," she said as she pointed towards the badges on the desk, "All the enchantments on these things are the same as the ones we have at the office. I also spent some time this week making sure that the network is secure, and that nobody else can listen in. Now everyone except Harry pick one from the table."

I quirked my eyebrow at that, and she fished out a badge from her pocket and threw it at me. I caught it and looked at the thing. Everything was the same as the other badges, except for the fact that this one's engravings were red in color.

"Place your wand on your badge and inject some magic into it."

We all did as she instructed, and the badges subsequently glowed for a moment.

"That's it, your badges are now bound to your magical signature. Nobody else can use your respective badges. There are enchantments for obfuscation, apart from several masking and security features. When you speak into your badge, the people around you won't hear what you said. Standard protection against eavesdropping spells and all that. Also, you don't have to worry about losing them, there is a simple mechanism that acts as a reverse portkey. The entire list of features and how to set them up are there in this pamphlet," she said as she duplicated a pamphlet and floated them towards everyone.

She really did pull through with the professional-grade equipment. I nodded to her in thanks as I stashed the pamphlet into my pocket. The metallic collar was made to specification and had a slot for the small badge. I placed the badge on the slot and it was secured by dual sticking charms, one on the badge, and the other on the collar. When the collar reverted to its helmet state, our badges would be placed near our ears.

I wondered how I could hear the announcement from Tonks' badge on my birthday, but then I realized that some of the wards in Grimmauld neutralized the obfuscation charms to the owner. We needed to be careful and not rely too much on the inbuilt protections when using the things.

"If you are wondering why your badge is different Harry, that's because I have given you the badge that generally the one in command uses."

I looked up at her and wondered why she would do that? Personally, I was grateful for the confidence shown in me, but she had been in this field of work for a long time, she had experience leading an office and practically speaking, she shouldn't have just handed that over to me.

Catching the confusion on my face, she smiled and said, "Without you, most of us wouldn't be here. Time and time again, you have proved that you can fight that maniac. I would trust nobody else to lead us against him. Also, I have my work cut for me with the mess the Ministry is. Dumbledore and Riddle gave the prophecy power, and we will help you finish it. A part of me feels ashamed for failing my duty as the head of my department, but I will not be an obstinate witch and feel insecure about following a younger person to battle. I wish things could be different, but it is what it is."

I looked around and saw that almost everyone from the older generation nodded in agreement. The younger ones were already ready to follow me into a fight, they proved that last year with the DA and the battle at the Ministry.

A prophecy mattered so much to this lot. They were willing to let a sixteen year old lead a resistance against the darkest wizard this nation has seen in a while. It had so much weight that Voldemort and Dumbledore both had hedged their bets on gaining control over the prophecy. If this was the state of even sensible witches and wizards, Hermione truly had a tall task when she takes up the mantle as Minister.

"Now about the raid itself, you lot will come of age in the coming months. For some, it will take almost a year. So, I got someone to tamper the trace on all of you," she said nonchalantly. We just mumbled our thanks because we already knew that this was going to happen. Also, they knew that my trace got wrecked already because of my second brush with the killing curse.

"So, now we just have to take inventory of our equipment, and make sure that we have all the contingencies in place," I said.

"Everything is going as per plan on my end. I will go with the Abbotts and set things up tonight," said Augusta.

"Thanks gran. I can't wait to see it in action," stated Neville with a goofy grin.

"Of course, I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't do my bit to ensure our victory."

She then placed a large canteen on the desk and pushed it towards Andromeda.

"Polyjuice, as requested," she said.

The Polyjuice was our answer for establishing alibis. Barty Crouch Jr managed to traipse around the castle for the better part of a year completely unnoticed. We were planning for something similar in case anyone got injured. While they would be recuperating, someone else would be here in their place to keep up the illusion that we did not get involved in the fight. As for the duration of the fight itself, a small localized illusion would suffice. We should be technically asleep at that point, and all the heavy hitters in the castle would most likely be involved in the raid as well. That part of the plan would be decided after we get intel from the Order meeting that was taking place at this instance.

"So, everyone is clear about their roles right?" I asked. We had certain objectives and various contingencies based on how things would proceed, so it was important for everyone to know what they were supposed to do.

We went over the plan once again to make sure that everyone was comfortable with it. Of course, no plan survived first contact, but we had certain objectives to accomplish, and those were the ones that we placed importance on. The plans to reach the objectives were just guidelines that had to be flexible enough to be changed on the fly. As long as the outcome was favorable, it would be a successful operation.

As the meeting drew to a close, Hermione could no longer contain her curiosity.

"Where did you two learn to heal?" she asked the Tonks couple. It was a valid question, since in canon, Andromeda could heal Hagrid. Giant blood was notoriously resistant to magic, yet she managed it regardless.

"It is quite simple lass. When you are a muggle-born who eloped with a daughter of the house of Black, you learn to patch yourself up," Ted said, his eyes far off, most likely revisiting some unpleasant memories.

"During the peak of the war, we were prime targets for them. Ted, because he managed to woo me. They went after me because I was a stain on their pureblood image. We learned healing out of necessity. The fools were never a match for us, but we did not get out of the numerous fights unscathed," Andromeda said with a scowl.

"Did nobody help you?" asked a curious Susan.

"We were young, most of my friends were too steeped into their dogma that they would not help me out of principle. Amelia helped us whenever she could, but their family had their own issues and losses to deal with. It was not a good time for our country in general. I don't want my daughter to go through something like that, that's why I am here."

"They killed my parents and burnt down the house, so I had no family to fall back on. Most of these so-called light families were wary of us. Apparently I was under an imperious and Dromeda was trying to infiltrate their side of the war," Ted snorted derisively.

"Since most of my family was siding with the maniac, I didn't even have a proper rebuttal towards those bogus claims," scowled Andromeda.

"What about Dumbledore? He would have loved how you put aside your family's values and sided with Ted," I asked.

"Oh, he loved our story alright. But the issue was that he wanted me to try and reconnect with my family. To get information and whatnot. The man was sure that they would forgive me in due time. Man's head was in the clouds. My family would have literally killed me if I went to reconnect. Heck, Bella was actively hunting me to do just that," said Andromeda, the annoyed expression never leaving her face.

"But in the end, he did help us. When Dromeda got pregnant with Dora, we knew that the time to fight was at an end and that we needed to run. He stopped badgering us about reconnecting with the Blacks and gave us a safehouse, so we are grateful to him for that at least. That is why we had no problem with Dora joining up the Order. But well, they are not handling this war well at all. At least it is to our advantage now," said Ted with an indulgent smile.

Dora entered the room right at that moment and immediately went towards the liquor cabinet. Which resulted in a stinging hex hitting her, courtesy of Andromeda.

"Speak of the devil," murmured Neville.

"Mum! I've had a long day," she said as she plucked a bottle of firewhisky and plopped down next to Ted, "Watch it, twerp. I'm no devil. No matter how much my name sounds like one," she snarked as she opened the bottle and poured into a goblet.

Neville had a baffled look on his face. Which was understandable, because he was way bigger than her at this point.

"How tall are you again?" I asked.

"Just because you two brutes shot up over the summer doesn't mean that you are not twerps," she said and took a sip out of her goblet.

She was disheveled and had bags under her eyes. I knew that Andromeda and Ted had a talk with her about how unhealthy it was to continue on the path she was on. Pining after Remus and wasting her energy and emotional stability was not worth it at all. It would have been fine if he showed some interest in her, but he was in a deep depression himself. I did not know how they got together in canon, but the way things were in front of me, the circumstances would need to be extraordinary.

"If you didn't notice, the Order meeting ended, you would need to be careful when you go back to Hogwarts," she said.

"Oh you don't have to worry, our elven friends will guide us," said Luna, not once looking up from the pamphlet regarding the badges.

"Winky, please continue keeping an eye on the map," I said and my faithful friend squeaked her agreement. My summons would inform me as well, but it was always better to have contingencies. Moreover, nobody visited the dorms or the common rooms for that matter. The rounds were more often than not restricted to the corridors unless there was some sort of ruckus in the common rooms.

"What did they say in the meeting?" asked a resolute Hannah.

The next few minutes were spent discussing the Order's plans and our maneuvers against any possible annoyances. I did not need Tonks to spy on the Order meeting. Kreacher was at Grimmauld, doing just that. But we couldn't dissuade her from completely cutting ties from the Order. She was on the fence ever since Mad-Eye told her to wash her hands off the Order. The tipping point was when her parents joined up. Tonks decided that she had enough of losing and wanted to join up as well. If only she would get over Remus, she would be here full-time instead of splitting her focus between her job, the Order, and our little group. She did prioritize us over the Order due to the simple fact that her parents were here. That was enough for me.

"That's it for today then," said Hermione as she finished penning her encrypted notes in her cursed journal.

"Yes, better return and get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a hectic day for sure, we need our wits about," supplied Amelia.

"Say, Harry, what are we supposed to call ourselves? It sure isn't Dumbledore's Army anymore. We can't go around running without a calling card. The press would then pick some asinine name that might undermine us. Even though the Chronicle is popular, the Prophet is still a staple in many households," stated Susan before we could pack up and leave.

"We named ourselves Dumbledore's Army because that is what Umbridge and Fudge feared…" I trailed off, thinking about it.

"Something in a similar vein then? Something to provoke the Death Eaters with?" mused Hermione.

She wasn't wrong. Most of what we were doing were digs after digs at Riddle and his aggrandized myth. I looked at my badge once more. The reason I was going with a Knight theme with the insignia and the costume was because it was a subtle way to honor my family name from my other life. I was named Ray Knight after all. Even though I forgot all about that life, I was still somewhat attached to the motif.

Why not take it all the way? The outfits somewhat resembled Darth Revan's, just in opposing colors. Nobody would catch the reference since the games were not out yet. Even if they were, only a few first gens would understand the significance. No, another important reason for sticking to a Knight motif was because Riddle's wankers thought themselves to be some sort of knights. The Death Eaters initially called themselves the Knights of Walpurgis. This would be another way of thumbing our noses at them. We will show them who the better knights were.

"Knights of the Old Republic," I said seriously. A part of me was trying hard not to laugh at the absurdity of it, but by now, I had cultivated a reputation of making jokes that only made sense to me.

Everyone was silent for a minute, mulling over the name in their heads.

"I take it that this is a dig at their own ethos?" asked Augusta. I just nodded in response, seeing that someone got it immediately. But of course, it would make sense that the older folk would understand the underlying message. They were the ones present when it all started going to shit after all.

"What do you mean gran?" asked Neville.

"They used to call themselves the Knights of Walpurgis. The name did not stick, and instead became the current name we are familiar with," she responded.

"I like the concept of fighting for a republic. But why is the republic old? We are not in support of the former regime. Or do you mean something else?" asked Hermione, her eyebrows furrowed in concertation.

"Nah, it just rolls off the tongue better. Plus, it adds a layer of mystique to the whole thing. Would keep them all guessing on the unimportant details as well. All of them have grand names, Order of the Phoenix, Death Eaters. Only makes sense that we don't use a pedestrian name," I said.

"I have to agree. Names have power, in our world, the people's collective perspective over a name has some sort of an effect. Even without the taboo, the immense fear Riddle's alias commanded had an alternative effect. You could feel chills when you spoke his name. If we can stand as bulwarks against his forces, our mere name would have a galvanizing effect. Just have to make the masses believe it," said Andromeda as she looked pointedly at Ted.

The lady just put more pressure on her husband. I smirked at Ted, and he shook his head in amusement. The man already knew that his next article had to be another bombshell, after his opening salvo on Riddle. We couldn't expect anything less from 'J. Jonah Jameson' after all.

"I like it. For some reason, the name resonates with power," piped in Luna.

"I suppose we are all okay with it?" asked Ted.

As everyone agreed with the name, it was a done deal now. No going back. I smirked, knowing full well that I would get some pointed questions if someone came across the games when they got released in the future. But I could say that I planted the seed or something. Or I could leave it as it is and say it was a coincidence. It was not as if there weren't any legitimate divination events that happened to people without the inner eye. It was a very rare occurrence, but there are records of such things happening. Mages having an incredible sixth sense often got premonitions or gut feelings that proved to be true later on.

"Knights of the Old Republic it is," said Tonks as she raised her goblet of firewhisky. I raised my glass of butterbeer in cheers.

##################

A.N: This chapter fought me a lot. There were so many decisions to make. I almost added in another character, but had to cut them out at the last moment because it did not mesh well.

Thanks to Bakkughan and OrangePanther for suggesting KotOR as the name of their faction. I was having a hard time coming up with a name. But this one made a lot of sense apart from being a Star Wars reference.

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