About Time (Ted, Order, Invite Only)

Sirius had summoned Theodore to the Moody residence about an hour ago. The entire order was there, in that rather sunny day. For once, the rain had stopped, letting the sun enlighten all the snow. Today, was Ted's test. If he wanted to make it into the order, he'd have to pass it. And Alastor'd be watching closely.

A summons from Sirius.... Now or never... As Ted readied himself to meet up wih Sirius, he played over the likely test he was about to face. He had already set his mind on joining The Order, so it was no surprise that now he was being summonded to 'prove himself' as it were. Opting for black jeans, black v-neck tee with a dark blue open button up over top, black combat boots, and a black slicker-type coat, he clicked the ring of throwing knives on his belt loop, tucked the dagger his sister had given him after his Protector induction into his boot, and sheathed his wand in his inner coat pocket. Looking himself over, Ted gave a half-grin and nodded... He was ready...

Double checking the note from Sirius, he disapparated from home and arrived at Moody home with a pop. Knocking three times, Ted put his hands in his coat pockets and waited...

As the door opened, Ted stood tall and looked up into the eyes of none other than Alastor Moody himself. He didn't say a word and simply let the man look him over. When he was instructed to enter, Ted followed him in. Closing the door behind him, he took a quick look around as he undid the buttons of his coat letting his Protector training, which had become second nature, take over for a moment or two. His ears caught the sound of someone coming down the stairs and he quickly shifted his blue eyes to the staircase. Seeing Sirius, he smiled warmly at him. "Sirius. Dromeda is well. Busy girl, and as usual, slick as black ice on a winter day. She comes and goes like the wind," he answered him, running his thumbnail across his brow in a light scratching fashion. "And, Mira?" Ted asked. Rumor had it that things were starting to smooth over from the last time he saw the two of them.

---

Jericho sat in the living room, taking part in some idle chat while they waited for Theodore Tonks to arrive. Spinning his CANE lightly between his fingers, as he leaned on the opposite arm rest, his arm bent and first and second fingers pressed against his cheekbone. Recovery from his seven month coma was coming along smoothly, with the only remaining side-effect being a little unsteady getting around. Nothing his new accessory couldn't help with. When Moody returned from answering the door, he looked up and stopped his cane. "He here?" Jericho asked simply.

"That's fantasic news. The Auror Academy, huh? Funny, I just sent in my application to enroll there. Guess I'll be seeing more of her after graduation, if I'm accepted," Ted said with a grin. He remembered the blow-up the two of them had had at James and Lily's wedding, and was more than happy to hear that things were patched up between them. Mira and Sirius just kind of.....fit together. With a deep breath and a sigh, Ted looked toward where Moody headed before asking, "Anything I should know before being thrown to the wolves?" Looking back at Sirius, Ted had sort of a half narrowed look on his face. He had proven himself once, he would do so again.

"Be humble. That's all," Sirius advised him, as he began to move to the room. He motioned for Ted to follow him, as he took his seat next to Jericho.

Be humble... Ted budged a smile and tipped his head slightly in silent thanks. He could be humble. That was natural for him... Following Sirius as he lead the way to the room holding The Order members, Ted stopped as he crossed the threshhold of the room. Linking his hands behind his back, he waited for direction and instruction.

---

Jericho looked up as Sirius entered followed by young Mr. Tonks. Taking his seat next to him, Jericho nodded to Sirius and shifted in his seat so he was sitting more 'correct' than before and set his cane on the ground, keeping his hand rested on the crook, gently rocking it back and forth. He had heard about this young man: younger brother to Alchemy Tonks, high member in the group commonly known as Protectors, potential new student at the Auror Academy... Theordore Tonks showed promise, that was for damn sure.

Alastor clapped once, and the lights faded out of the room, and the windows were completely covered. One candle was lit in front of Alastor. The door behind Ted closed, and Alastor spoke, "Child, do you wish to be part of the Order of the Phoenix?", he asked Ted.

Ted's eyes adjusted as the lights dimmed at Moody's clap. The room was in darkness for only a moment before a single candle lit in front of the well known Auror. He heard the door behind him close, but kept his blue eyes on the man. At his question, Ted nodded, "Yes, Sir. I request to join The Order of the Phoneix."

"Do you see this room? All the darkness? And this, small, tiny little light? This," Alastor said, pointing at the weak light in the candle, "is what we fight for!" he exclaimed. "Are you willing to put your life at risk, to defend this chard of light, like all those in this room are?" he questioned him, his eyes shooting him a hard glance.

As Moody spoke, Ted set his teeth, clenching his teeth. He wanted nothing more then to fight the darkness to save the light, however small it was. Alchemy was his light, and she was threatened by the surrounding darkness. Even if saving his sister was hopeless, he was going to do all his power to fight for her. Dromeda was his light, too, and this war threatened her, as well. He would gladly lay down his life for her. When Ted was asked if he would risk his life to save the light, however small, a hardness crept into his face as he held his head high. "I am..." was all he said in answer, but in those two words, the utter sincerity he felt at speaking them sounded loud and clear.

Alastor quickly put the small light out, and clapped once more, "Good, because while we fight for that light, we hope one day," all light filled the room once more, "We no longer need to fight for this one," he said, as Sirius winked at Ted.

The room plunged into darkness once more and then light filled the space as Moody spoke. Ted's eyes lightened at the idea of fighting for one in hope that, one day, they won't need to. Glancing at Sirius for a moment he caught his wink and a small twitch of a smile played with the corner of his mouth in return before his focus was back on Moody. He wanted to reitterate what he said about joining them, but didn't think it necessary at the present time. They knew why he was here, why voice it again?

---

Jericho watched the boy closely and grinned at hearing both his answers. He saw in his face that he had something to fight for and that was enough drive to believe that he meant what he said compeltely and without any glimmer of doubt. At least, for him... Leaning over to Sirius, he whispered as light filled the room again, "Man of few words, that one."

"You can call it that. I think it's quite a virtue," Sirius whispered to Jericho, before Alastor got up from his seat. "Well then boy, we shouldn't wait any longer. Outside we go," Alastor said, motioning for Jericho and Sirius to follow them while the others apparated away. They had their respective tasks, and all of them trusted Alastor's judgment in whether or not Ted should be allowed in.

Ted relaxed only slightly when Moody got up from his seat, followed by the one to his right and Sirius, and requested he follow them outside. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Ted followed after Sirius. He could feel his training beginning to run in his mind, preparing him for the tasks ahead, just like Luna and Alchemy had taught him. Hopefully this would do her proud.

---

Jericho looked up as Moody stood and, when asked to join him, leaned on his cane to aid his standing. Following behind him, Jericho nodded to Theodore as they walked by. He had great faith that he would do just fine in the coming tests.

Outside of the house laid a strange tree. It was deformed, and one of its branches had the form of a finger. Alastor and Sirus each placed a hand on it, and waited for Jericho and Ted to catch up and so the same.

Stepping outside, Jericho walked with Moody and Sirius up to the tree and mirrored them, placing his hand on it. Looking over his shoulder, he spotted Theodore who seemed to be taking in his surroundings, paying particular attention to the tree the three men were touching. Whistling to him and motioning with his head for him to join them. Ted's attention snapped to the man with the cane he didn't know and, seeing him calling him over, he did as asked. Glancing at Sirius for a moment and then at the tree, Ted raised his hand and placed it against the wood.

"Five, four....one," As Alastor finished talking, the portkey activated, taking the four men away. They arrived at the  abandoned building, filled with wizards that owed Alastor favors. They were Ted's obstacles. His first test, "Well son, this is your first test. Get downstairs safe and sound, after you have taken down all of them. All of the wizards here must be taken down for you to pass this test. It's hard, and it might take you a while, but in the end, we expect you to pull it off," and with that, Alastor apparated him, Sirius and Jericho to the bottom of the building.

Ted closed his eyes as the portkey activated and took the four of them to their new destination. Upon landing and looking around, Ted found that they were in an abandoned building. Taking a few steps towards the window that allowed bright sunshine to fill the room they were in, he found that they were at least four stories up. Well son, this is your first test…. Ted’s blue eyes shot to Moody as he told Ted what was expected of him. Ted nodded his understanding and then the other three vanished with a pop. “Take down the wizards to reach the others downstairs… Well, best get to it…” Ted said quietly to himself. Taking off his slicker, Ted moved to the door leading out of the room he was in. Leaning against the doorframe, he crackled his neck and knuckles. Drawing his wand and double checking his ring of blades, which he tucked into his back pocket to avoid the slightest noise from them, he took a deep breath and opened the door…

Peering through the door, Ted found himself facing a hallway. All looked still enough, but one could never be too sure. Slipping from the room, he slinked along the wall, keeping his ears open for any kind of sound that would alert him to coming wizards. As he neared an open doorway that was at the top of the landing of stairs leading down, Ted picked up on voices coming from inside that room. He paused outside the doorway and listened. “You really think this kid can pass this test? I really don’t care who his sister is… Have a little faith. If Moody put us up to this test, then he sees something in this kid. Young, too… Maybe you’re right…” Two. There were at least two in that room. Thinking about how best to get by them as they weren’t alerted to his presence, Ted thought of the silencing charm that he learned at the start of last year. Perfect… Whispering the spell, Ted cast it over the doorway. With the spell complete, he easily walked by the room without a second thought. That spell silenced any sound that might enter the room and would keep anyone from seeing Ted go by. Should one of the two wizards attempt to exit the room with the spell still in place, they would simply find a reason to stay in the room.

On his way down the first flight of stairs, Ted stopped in his tracks and ducked when the banister and wall in front of him suddenly exploded from a spell shot at him to his right. “Damn…” he muttered under his breath as he cast the disarming spell at the one responsible for this explosion. Quickly hopping over the banister, Ted landed and quickly took in the scene before him: three wizards, two of them armed. “Well, well. So this is the one we are to be watching for…” As several spells of varying colors were shot at Ted, he put up a shield that blocked them as they headed towards him. Pushing the shield forward with him as he moved, he soon stood close enough to both cast the stunning spell at one, which connected sending the man flying, and a solid left hook to the jaw of the other. Stumbling back, Ted made quick work of the third wizard that was attempting to find the second wizard’s wand. Another stunning spell and Ted was left with just the third wizard. “Lucky punch, kid…” Ted’s blue eyes locked on the man who lunged at him, connecting with Ted’s torso and knocking him back into the wall. Putting his thumb under the man’s jaw, Ted used the pressure point there to get the man to release him. When the man let go with a cry of pain, Ted landed a right hook to the opposite side of his face. The wizard spun and wobbled before landing on the floor knocked cold. Taking a quick check of the room, Ted found no one else and exited.

Continuing down the hall, Ted noticed a room on either side. Carefully, Teddy-boy… he thought to himself. Just as he was halfway to the open doorways, two wizards rounded the corner and seeing him, immediately drew their wands. Ducking to the side, Ted evaded their stunning and disarming spells and cast his own. Knocking one back into the wall hard enough to knock him out, the other merely stumbled back as his wand was ripped from his hand. Thinking quickly, Ted unlooped two of his knives and sent them flying towards the man. The curses that followed told Ted he had hit his mark. Both knives sunk into the shoulders on the shirt the man was wearing and pinned him to the wall. Before Ted could silence him, the man alerted the other wizards in the rooms of Ted’s presence. Out poured three from one room and two from the other.

Ted cast an array of stunning spells that took down three of the wizards before moving towards the remaining two. As one threw a punch, Ted ducked and didn’t see the blade that the other pulled. A slash from that wizard and Ted felt the pain of the blade connect with his upper arm, cutting both his shirt and flesh but not deep enough to cause too much worry. Head locking the one that threw a punch at him, Ted used the man’s body to hoist himself up and kick the armed man’s hand, sending the blade flying. His other foot connected underneath the man’s jaw, knocking him back so that Ted could cast a spell at him effectively. With a small flourish of his wand, the Incarcerous spell flew to the man and tied him up. Still holding onto the other man, Ted whispered to him, “How many are there?” The man gasped under Ted’s tight grip and shook his head, not willing to answer.  Ted rolled his eyes and unlooped a third blade, holding it to his throat he asked again, “I suggest you tell me, how many are there?” The man didn’t move when the cold metal touched his throat and sighed when he saw that this boy meant business. “18… There are 18 of us…” the man rasps to Ted. “Thank you…” Ted whispered before hitting the man on the back of the head with the heel of the small blade, knocking him cold as he hit the floor.

18…. That makes 6 to go… Ted thought as he moved past the small pile of wizards and patted the one stuck to the wall thanks to his blades. The man growled, but shook his head, letting Ted go. Rounding the corner that connected the next room to the hall, Ted paused and pressed against the wall. Peering in, he didn’t see or hear anyone, but that meant nothing. “Lumos Maxima” Ted cast quietly. Light filled the room, and revealed no one. “Must have been those two from before…” he mused, extinguishing the light and moving through the room and down the next flight of stairs. Putting a hand to his upper arm where his wound was, Ted winced and looked at his fingers which were now red from his blood. Nothing you can do about it right now, Ted…

Reaching the next landing, Ted Looked around, and, once again, saw no one. The hairs on the back of Ted’s neck began to stand on end as walked silently though the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a mirror and paused to simply listen. Just as he suspected, when he stopped moving, he spotted movement in he mirror. He was about to move to attack the one he saw when a set of strong hands grabbed him from behind. Slamming him into the wall, Ted saw a couple of stars sparkle in his vision. The one who had him grinned as he watched Ted give his head a shake to settle things again and pulled back his head and brought it forward, connecting with Ted’s face. The stars that had cleared suddenly reappeared as Ted felt his nose pop and the all too familiar feeling of blood running from it. As the wizard smiled and moved his head back to do the same thing, Ted moved in just enough time that the man headbutted the wall instead of Ted’s face. Releasing him, Ted slid down the wall and sat on the floor. The one he happened to see in the mirror appeared out of the shadows and raised his wand to be level with Ted. Casting a spell that sent red sparks to him, Ted quickly put up a shield that not only blocked the spell from hitting him, but rebounded it back onto his attacker. All was still after that.

Breathing a little heavy, Ted wiped under his nose with the back of his hand. Looking down, he saw the red streak of blood on his hand. Knew that was coming… he thought and got to his feet. Moving from the room, he crossed into another where he stopped. There on the sofa was another wizard, but he wasn’t moving. Listening, Ted heard the familiar sounds of deep slumber coming from the man. Without bothering to wake him, Ted silently moved from the room and down the last flight of stairs. Without warning, Ted was hit with a spell that slammed him into the arms of yet another brute wizard. “Come to play with the big boys, huh?” a second wizard said to him while a third laughed behind him. “Just doing my duty,” Ted retorted as he moved his arms enough to link them behind his captor’s head. Tightening his grip, Ted lifted himself and wrapped linked his legs around the second wizard, who rushed towards them, neck as well. As the second wizard fell, Ted and his captor fell, too, smashing into the ground.

The first wizard let Ted go and coughed heavily as he was now able to breathe again, which allowed Ted to Incarcerous, effectively restraining the man. Letting go of the second man, Ted got to all fours to get up when the third ran in and gave him a solid kick to the ribs. Ted winced heavily, but didn’t cry out. As the man prepared for a second blow, Ted rolled onto his back and captured his foot, hand over hand, and spun him, causing him to fall on top of the second wizard. Pushing himself back, and away from the wizards, Ted cast a stunning spell for each of them, needed or not. When all was still, Ted did a mental count of those he’d come across. If his numbers were correct, this lot made 18. Resting his head against the wall, Ted gave a small cough that made his ribs cry in pain. Lifting his shirt, he did a quick check of his ribs. “Good. Nothing broken…” he said to himself as he winced with each prodding touch of his fingers over where he was kicked. “Guess these little battle wounds aren’t so bad,” he mused checking the cut on his arm and wiping his nose once again. The bleeding had slowed from each, which was a plus.

Slowly getting to his feet, Ted made his way to the front door of the building and out into the fading light of the sun having completed his first test…

Alastor grinned, as Sirius chuckled loudly once Ted came out, "Hey kid, did'ya kill any of them?" he asked, holding back another loud chuckle.

Ted nodded and grinned a lopsided smile as he stepped from the landing and made his way to the group of three. "Nah.... Didn't get the pleasure. However, a few tried to do me in," he said with a chuckle that caused him to hug his chest, resting his hand over the tender ribs. Wiping his nose with his thumb, he checked and saw that, at least, that had stopped bleeding.

---

Jericho looked up as her heard Sirius chuckle and call out to Theodore, who had appeared from the building. He glanced at Moody with a grin to match his best friend. So, the boy had done it. Looking back at the lad, Jericho nodded his approval, but waited to hear his answer to Sirius' question. The answer made his grin widen. "Excellent..." he muttered, looking to Moody for his verdict, "18 to 1 and he comes out on top.... Not bad, Moody."

Sirius grinned, and turned back to Alastor,"MOODY, You're owing me 100 galleons, I told you he wasn't gonna do it," he chuckled and laughed maliciously at the thought Moody would have to pay him up. "Nice work Ted," Sirius said.

Alastor growled at Sirius, and shook his head. 100 galleons...fuck's sake, he thought, before looking at Ted. Hearing Jericho's and Sirius' opinions, he had to think no longer. "You're in," he said.