"You're late," James remarked as Peter finally stepped through the door.

"No I'm not." Peter frowned at him, pulling a watch from his pocket. "I only got off work thirty minutes ago, and I tried to get here as fast as I could but getting here from there..."

"He's just giving you a hard time," Remus interrupted from where he'd been sulking on the sofa. He scowled at James, "Now will someone tell me what's going on? I get an owl telling me we're having a secret emergency meeting at your place, and when I show up, you and Lily are acting funny, Sirius is glowering in the corner, and the only thing anyone will tell me is that we have to wait for Pete and that I can't say anything to anyone else, even people in the Order. Pete's here. What's the big secret?"

Sirius saw James's eyes dart towards him and he knew that this was his cue. He still didn't see why Remus and Peter had to be involved in this. Hell, he still didn't see why he couldn't just take Catherine and run off to some exotic country like - Sirius struggled to think of an exotic country but the only place that came to mind was 'Canada.' That probably didn't count. But when he came up with a country that was actually exotic, they could run away there and James and Lily could join them later and they could all live happily and peacefully far, far, far away from Regulus and Bellatrix and the rest of his insane family. Crossing his arms, he slunk lower in his chair. "My family is trying to kill my girlfriend."

"What?" Peter nearly fell over.

Remus didn't react at all. He steepled his fingers and looked at Lily. "Is he being serious or is this his latest joke gone wrong?"

"You know, Moony, I've had a shitty day." Sirius stood. "My Death Eater brother stops me in the middle of Muggle London to tell me that my psychopathic cousin is stalking my girlfriend. After this lovely little chat with you, I have to go tell that girlfriend that I'm a wizard and - if she doesn't dump me on the spot or run screaming into the night - that my magical deranged relatives are planning to kill her. The last thing I need right now is you throwing all that damn Snape stuff back in my face."

Remus's eyes widened, "I didn't mean..."

"Okay, that's enough." James interrupted. "Sirius, sit down. Remus, you've been trying to provoke a fight for the last hour. Whether you meant that or not, it's not hard to see why he might think you did."

Ignoring James's order, Sirius pointed violently in the direction of Remus, "Now do you see why I wanted you and me to handle this?"

"If you don't want me here..." Remus started.

"Enough!" James bellowed. "Remus, you're staying. Sirius, sit down and stop making a bloody fool of yourself. Peter..." he glanced over at the only sane man in the room, "Help?"

"Um...well, can I ask a question?" Peter fidgeted with his jacket, glancing around the room. When no one told him 'no,' he cleared his throat, "Um, this might be stupid, but, uh, if I was going to kill a girl, I wouldn't go tell her boyfriend. Uh...are they really that stupid?"

"Of course not," Remus replied from the couch. "They're probably setting Sirius up to do something stupid and get himself killed."

Am I the only one who didn't see that? Sirius slunk back to his chair, crossed his arms yet again, and glared at the coffee table.

"That's why we're having this little meeting," Lily said calmly. "To figure out what they're expecting Sirius to do and then use that against them. If we're all ready to do that, then perhaps we should sit down and I can start the process." Ignoring everyone as if they were naturally going to do exactly as she asked, Lily turned towards him. "Sirius, what do you want to do?"

"Whatever I say, you're going to tell me not to do it," he muttered. He expected Lily to sigh or pout or act as moody as Remus had been acting. Instead, she just kept looking at him earnestly. When he realized he wouldn't get a reaction, he made a face. "I want to barge into her dorm, toss her over my shoulder, and apparate the two of us far, far away from here."

James gave Lily an 'I Told You So' look as he steered Peter towards an empty chair. "Okay, so that's one thing we won't be doing. What would be your second choice?"

"Go pick her up from school and take her back to my place where I can at least be sure she'd be behind every magical protection I could think up," Sirius answered. "And if that isn't allowed, then I at least would want to stay with her at her place. Where are you going with this?"

Lily leaned back in her seat and looked towards the ceiling thoughtfully. "We have several goals we have to accomplish. We have to make sure Catherine is safe. We have to figure out what trap Regulus and Bellatrix have set and avoid it. And if we're lucky, we can find a way to use their trap against them."

"I don't want Catherine alone at that school at night," Sirius announced. "So if we don't come up with a plan in the next thirty minutes, I'm apparating over there and going with my plan."

Lily held up a hand to silence him and turned to the other three members of the group. "Alright. You don't think the school is safe, so we would need to move Catherine without magic. What about one of us going over to the college and picking her up?"

"Um...won't Bellatrix be looking for one of us?" Peter asked. "She'll know what's up the moment me or Moony or Prongs appears at Catherine's door."

"Invisibility cloak?" James suggested.

"What part of 'no magic' do you think 'invisibility cloak' fits into, dear?" Lily asked.

"Polyjuice potion?" James tried again.

"It takes a month to brew," Lily replied.

"What if you call Catherine and ask her to meet you in a very public place?" Peter suggested. "Someplace Bellatrix wouldn't try to hurt you."

"That place doesn't exist," Sirius told him. "Look, we're running out of time and, so far, my plan is the only one I like."

"I have an idea," Remus said thoughtfully, "But you're going to hate it."

"I hated all the other plans. How can this one be any worse?" Sirius asked.

Remus visibly braced himself. "Break up with her. Look, I know what you're going to say, but hear me out. What are the Blacks really afraid of? It's that, at some point, you'll have a child with a Muggle girl. Catherine means nothing to them if there's no risk that you two will...you know. If you really care about her, you'll end things."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," James said. "He's not going to break up with the girl if he loves her. We'll find another way."

"We're running out of time," Sirius growled again. It came out more as a whine than he'd ever intended.

"If we're done exhausting things that won't work, then we're back at the plan of: one of us goes and gets her," Lily said. "And by 'one of us,' I mean me. Before you protest, it makes the most sense. She knows me, because we've double dated with you two before. I know how the Muggle world works and I can blend in better than any of you. The Blacks don't really know who I am, and if I dress like a college student, they'll never pick me out on campus. And if you're really worried, James can tag along under the invisibility cloak," at this, Lily looked at James, giving him a look that clearly said 'Are you happy now?' before continuing, "So there will be two of us there if Bellatrix does identify me. Meanwhile, you three can set up a safehouse and Sirius can lay low and not get himself killed. Once we get Catherine safely away from someplace where Death Eaters could grab her, Sirius tells her the truth and she decides how involved in all this she wants to be - because in case you haven't realized it yet, most of your plans don't take her thoughts into consideration."

When no one spoke, Sirius turned to James. "What do you think?"

"I don't particularly like it, but I can't come up with a better idea that doesn't involve magic." He replied. "If it was me, I think I'd take Lily's suggestion."

Sirius rubbed at his temples, trying to think. It certainly wasn't what he'd do...which was probably the point. He still wasn't convinced storming the family homestead looking for a fight was a bad idea. Lily's plan was anything but flashy, and he certainly wouldn't get the satisfaction of hurting anyone with it. At the same time, it was a Muggle plan, which meant his family was less likely to think of it. "So let's say we do go through with this," he said finally. "Where do we find a safehouse?"