Dumbledore quietly woke up in his room at the old castle, reaching out his senses. As he did, he could sense something inexplicably wrong. There was a certain sense of discontent...sorrow, in the castle, some feeling that he could not understand. And there was something different...wrong about his office.
Quickly jumping out of bed, he stealthily made his way through the door, sighing in relief as he saw his office. It was just the Order.
The older members were long gone, all having died out years ago. These were the new members, freshly recruited from the next available generation. However, they too had grown old, older before their time. And not quite as fully dedicated to the cause as he would have liked.
"Good morning to all of you," a calming smile on his face as he spoke.
"Dumbledore," Harry said, slightly inclining his head towards the man.
"What brings you to my office so early in the morning and with such grim faces as well?"
"We've made an important decision. Last night, we contacted Draco Malfoy. We agreed to a truce and cease-fire."
A pause.
"Do you realize what you have done! You've disgraced the Order, the light side, you're parents' memories-"
Harry cut him off abruptly. "We have disgraced no one. All we have done is stop a war, a war that has been going on for far too long. Look around you. Everything's changed. Everyone's changed. Changed or dead. We're tired. Tired of fighting, tired of always looking over our shoulders, tired of watching the people we love die. We've grown up too much too fast. We didn't have a childhood and our children don't have a childhood. We don't want our children's children to grow up the same way. We don't want to fight anymore."
"But what about the cause? Surely you didn't forget the cause in your zeal to end the war."
"What cause? The one you've been spouting off to us for years? The one Voldemort's army finally yielded to years ago? You truly don't understand, do you? There - is - no - cause. Yes, at first this was a noble war. A war to protect the rights and lives of all Muggleborns. A war to end all wars. But it has since then fallen. Now it's just a petty schoolyard fight between two old men who are each trying to best the other. This war is not a war worth fighting, worth dying for. We quit. We all quit. Goodbye Dumbledore, for we will no longer be the pawns you use in this futile chess game of ancient men."