December 4, 1981
“Are you coming to the meeting tonight?” Sirius asked Lily, who was sitting on the couch in their flat and had been ever since the funeral.
“Oh, um, I (hic) don't (hic) know…” Lily replied, hiccuping still, finishing the half-empty bottle of firewhiskey she had next to her.
Sirius finished putting on his robes and sighed, walking out of the room to the bedroom, where Remus was looking for his wand.
“Remus, what are we going to do about Lily?” Sirius asked, exasperated.
“I dunno. Im worried though,” Remus replied, clearly not fully invested in the conversation and to busy looking under the bed for his wand, “Have you seen my wand anywhere?”
“Yea, it's on the kitchen table.” Sirius answered, walking out of the room to Lily, who had a new bottle of firewhiskey next to her.
“Lily, erm- why don't you take it easy on the firewhiskey? You've been constantly drinking since the funeral and you haven't even gone outside in months…”
Lily took a swig and looked at Sirius pointedly
“Oh, and (hic) what do (hic) you want me (hic) to do (hic)?” Lily replied, her hiccups clearly not going away anytime soon.
“Well,” Sirius started, “Maybe you should come to the meeting tonight?”
Lily took another drink of the bottle and sighed
“Sirius… you (hic) know i (hic) can’t…” Lily hiccuped again and looked at the bottle in her hands, twirling it around.
“No.” Sirius demanded, “No, get up your coming tonight. Y’know I lost two people VERY important to me that night too, and you don't see me letting my sadness take over me. I’m trying to make sure there are no more James and Harrys. I’m trying to make sure there are no more Marlenes or Benjys. Okay Lily? So get off your ass right now.”
And Sirius walked out of the room.
Lily sighed, knowing Sirius was right and closed the bottle. She got up from the couch and walked into Sirius and Remus’ room
“Have any spare robes I can borrow?” Lily asked weakly, smiling softly at the couple.
———————
“Okay, this meeting has come to order!” Announced Alastor ‘Mad-Eye’ Moody from the front of the medium sized office in Mad Eyes house. There were a few people there, including Dumbledore, Arthur Weasley, who joined the order after James and Harry’s deaths, Professor Mcgonagall, A brown-haired girl who Lily didn't not recognize, Dorcas Meadows, Kingsley Shacklebott, whom Lily recognized from Hogwarts, And Frank Longbottom.
“So, does anyone have any news that needs to be shared first? Remus, Sirius?”
Moody looked at where Remus, Sirius and Lily were standing and widened his eyes.
“Er,” Remus started, “Well, the werewolves have pretty much all declared their undying love for Voldemort, so I will try and see what I can do next full moon but it doesn't seem likely that we’ll have more than a few on our side. Greybacks got most of them.”
Moody nodded and wrote something down on a piece of parchment he had in front of him.
“Okay. Okay Emmeline, what about you?”
Moody looked to the brown haired girl sitting opposite from Lily
“Well, we have been tracking down the Malfoys, like Lucius and Narcissa because we have word that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is staying in their manor, but it's unlikely due to the birth of their son, Draco.”
At the mention of Narcissa, Sirius looked at his feet, and grabbed Remus’ hand for support.
Lily knew he hated hearing about his cousins, he hated who they became.
“...But we hear word about Regulus Black having left the Death Eaters with something You-Know-Who most treasures, so they have been more focused on getting the boy back.”
Emmilne said this with a pointed look towards Sirius, who looked up at the mention of his brother's name.
“W-what about Reg?” Sirius asked
Emmiline looked at Moody, who nodded and took more notes on his piece of parchment.
“Well,” Emmiline explained, “Regulus apparently has decided that, come the death of his father a few years ago, he no longer wants to support the death eaters or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and has fled, and fled with something clearly valuable to You-Know-Who too.”
Sirius looked toward Moody, and Dumbledore, shocked. Lily grabbed his hand and shot a look at Dumbledore
“But, why is this the first time Sirius is hearing about this?” Lily asked angrily.
Dumbledore folded his hands together and looked at Lily over his half-moon spectacles
“Well, because young Mr. Black has neither denied nor confirmed his defiance against Lord Voldemort, there was no reason to inform Sirius about this rumor. But because Emmeline has confirmed it, there was no reason to hide it.”
Lily scoffed and leaned back in the wooden chair she was sitting in.
Moody cleared his throat, “Well, since that's all taken care of…” He trailed off and looked at Arthur Weasley.
“Well, inside the Ministry has been absolute chaos, everyone there either works for You-Know-Who or is too scared to admit they are against him. So far I've seen Bellatrix and Lucius walking around hexing anyone who dares get in their way. But I have heard Bellatrix boasting about how she has been You-Know-Who's right hand man this entire time. Even her husband, Rudolpolous, has been bragging about his wife, so I would keep updated on them.”
Moody nodded and scribbled something on that same piece of parchment, his quill scratching filling the quiet room.
Sirius nodded along, still overwhelmed by the news about Regulus.
Arthur checked his watch “Well, sorry but I’ve got to go now, Mollys with the boys right now and Fred and George have not been making things better. Just last week I caught them trying to trick Ron into an Unbreakable Promise about God knows what.”
Arthur grabbed his coat, waved goodbye to everyone and left the room. Lily sighed as he mentioned his children, wishing she could have known Harry when he was the age of the Weasleys troublesome twins, teasing their younger brother who was Harrys age.
Moody finished writing whatever he was writing and looked towards Frank Longbottom.
“Well Moody,” explained Frank, “I’ve been tracking the Carrows for a while, and let's just say that they have found a new hobby of finding random Muggles on the street and torturing them. Sad, sad business and I hopefully can catch them in the next few weeks before torturing comes to killing.”
Moody wrote more things down, and pointed to Dorcas
“Okay, so I've been watching snivellus, sorry, Snape, and trying to record everything I find about him but he’s very good at not making a trail, so all I know is that he tried to leave the Death Eaters, but once he learned, erm,” Dorcas stopped talking and looked at Lily, sadly
“No, go on.” Lily answered softy, to which Dorcas explained
“Well, ever since Snape learned that Lily was alive, he went back to the Death Eaters for forgiveness and, well, You-Know-Who hasn't been exactly forgiving towards him, so it's clear that he's been struggling. I saw him just last week with Barty Crouch’s kid and that Rosier boy. They were just walking in Knockturn alley until they noticed me, to which they immediately fled. I lost track of them after that.”
Moody grunted and Lily spoke up
“Er, Moody? Dumbledore?” Lily asked timidly, looking down the long table at the two men.
Dumbledore nodded, and looked at her intrigued,
“Well, I’m just wondering if anyone has any news on the rat?”
Sirius and Remus both looked at each other, then up to Dumbledore, who looked at Moody.
“Well,” Moody spoke, “Yes, Alice Longbottom had tracked him down and learned that he indeed was the spy and her and Kingsley,” He looked at to Kinglsley, who nodded, “attempted to kill him, but he transformed and fled, and is now working very close to Voldemort. May even be his right hand man beside the Lestranges.”
Lilly nodded along and clenched her fists, making her palms bleed.
“Of course that dumb sonuvabitch is his right hand man.” Lily snarled, clenching her fists harder.
“Er,” Coughed Kingsley, startling Lily and looking at Moody, “I have news that Voldemort might have Dolohov try and find the young Black boy, and possibly kill him. So I think we should be on the lookout for both men and maybe try and get Regulus to stay here? Or somewhere out of Voldemort's reach?”
Moody nodded, “Yes, Longbottom, Shacklebott, I want you two on the lookout for Dolohov and/or the Black boy. Make sure he is not killed. I don't care about Dolohov, do what you please.”
Frank and Kingsley nodded and got up from the table and left.
“Meadows,” Moody called, to which Dorcas stood up, “I want you to keep trying to pin Snape, and if you get his location or his place in Voldemort's ranks, come inform me or Dumbledore and try and keep tabs on him at all times.”
Dorcas nodded and left the room.
“Emmilene,” Spoke Moody, “keep tabs on Regulus AND the carrows, please. And tell Arthur to keep track of the Malfoys and Lestranges in the Ministry, maybe get him to get some help too?”
Emmiline nodded and left the room
“Lupin, I want you to keep doing what I assigned you last time, and continue to update me about Greyback.”
Remus nodded and stood up
“Black, just try and keep tabs on Barty Crouch’s kid and that Rosier kid. I hear they are always working on something together so don't let anything they do go unreported.”
Sirius nodded and let Remus help him up
“And Potter,” Moody sighed, “just stay out of trouble and inform me on anything suspicious you see.”
Lily rolled her eyes and stood up, allowing herself to be led out of the room by Remus and Sirius.
------------------
“God, Moody really needs to give me an assignment,” Lily complained as soon as they were back in the flat.
Remus and Sirius looked at each other
“Go to bed, Lily.” Remus sighed, leading her into their spare bedroom
“Okay, but please let me help one of you guys on a mission or something. I need to kill that stupid piece of vermin Pettigrew, and then Voldemort himself.”
Remus nodded along tiredly, and helped Lily into bed before going down the hall and into his bedroom with Sirius.