Hey guys!

So here's your peace offering for me forgetting to update. I hope you like it.


Chapter Twenty-Seven

Peter and Sirius sat on a road side, on a dry patch of frosted pavement, opposite Ian Jacobs' house. They were on protection detail but so far, it had been incredibly boring. No one had attacked which was, in actuality, a good thing, and Ian Jacobs had done nothing but spend the day in his house with his family. It was to be expected really. He was a fifty-four year old man and partially retired, only working a few days during the week. He was always at home at the weekend. However that fact also meant that those who took the weekend shifts had the very difficult job of staying alert and not being bored to death whilst they were on duty. It hadn't been a problem for anyone so far though because everyone in the Order got on well and spoke to each other like old friends. So when he had been assigned this duty, Sirius hadn't thought much about it, believing it would be rather enjoyable. He had actually been looking forwards to a good old conversation with a few of the other members. But what he had forgotten was that Dumbledore had now released him, and his friends, from being accompanied by others on mission, instead giving them free reign to go out on assignments on their own. That meant that, instead of their being four of them, instead of joking with Marlene or being teased by her, instead of stealing Dorcas' sweets with Sturgis, hanging with Benjy or laughing with Gideon and Fabian, he was stuck with Peter, alone. And that was a situation he had never particularly liked. Today was no different.

They had been sat there for a good two hours, from the early eight o'clock switch over with Marlene and Benjy, (who he had begged to stay, grabbing Marlene's hand and kneeling down, pleading for them to not go to which she responded too by pushing him over, too tired to deal with him), to the now ten o'clock lull in the day. They had already exhausted what little they always talked about, finishing the next full moon, their old pranks and Sirius' many conquests when it came to girls in only an hour. For the next hour they had nothing else to say to each other. It wasn't unusual. They hadn't always been the best conversationalists when slung together, Peter being socially awkward anyway and only able to hold a decent discussion when there was more than one person talking to him, and Sirius dominating any sort of subject with talk of himself and joking insults of Peter. But before, when they'd been in similar situations at Hogwarts, there had always been something to distract them from the silence, whether that be food or the prospect that either James or Remus would appear at any moment and provide them with something to do. It wasn't like that this time. Now they had nothing. Nothing but four more hours of each other's company.

'Man I wish Prongs was here.' Sirius said, laying his head back. He was sat against a small brick wall watching the house opposite, (the one where Ian Jacobs resided with his family). His feet were set a little ways apart, his legs bent and his wrists resting on his knees. He had his wand in his right hand, holding it limply as he didn't expect to be using it. He sighed. 'Least he'd be fun.' he muttered, shooting Peter a bit of a look. But it was all in jest. At least for Sirius.

Peter bit in his lip and looked down to the pavement, flicking the loose stones that lay there. Sirius had been saying the same thing for the past half an hour; how he wished James was here, how he wished that James was on assignment with him instead of Peter, how he wished that Peter had brought him food as James would have done. He was getting a bit sick of it but it was the only conversation they were going to have. 'Sorry.' he muttered.

'Can't help it.' Sirius muttered, rolling his eyes and giving a laugh, 'Not your fault you're dull.'

Peter let out a slow, low sigh, a frustrated noise in the back of his throat.

'Jeez Pete relax.' Sirius said, 'Anyone would think you're bored or something. Oh. No. Wait. That's me.'

'Then do something.' Peter suggested.

'I'm doing it.' Sirius smirked, 'Annoying you is about as much entertainment as I get when we're together.'

'You're not exactly winning any awards for being good company either Padfoot-'

'Ooh, is Wormy finding his back bone?' Sirius jibed with a laugh at his friend's clear irritation.

Peter retreated back into himself. You could see it happen in his mind through his physicality. He was sat cross legged, leaning on the same wall Sirius was, though a few feet away. When he had been trying to stand up to Sirius, (metaphorically), he had straightened his back and had turned his head to look at him, his small round face reddening at the fact he was doing it, a mix of nervous excitement and terrible fear that he would be kicked down by Sirius' words. The later, of course, ended up happening and he turned his head away, slouching against the wall and looking back to the ground with his small watery blue eyes. He flicked another stone.

'Come on Pete!' Sirius groaned, 'That was meant to me a compliment! Learn to recognise them.'

Peter said nothing in return and the silence between them came back.

They watched Ian Jacobs through the window that was still decorated with tinsel from the recent holiday. He had a little girl in his arms, his granddaughter. She couldn't have been more than six years old with glossy chestnut hair and big brown eyes. She was beaming in her granddaddy's arms, laughing as he danced about with her until the woman who they could only assume was Jacobs' daughter took her off him, also laughing. The pair began to have a conversation, the little girl playing with her mum's hair. It was almost a picture perfect family; each generation there. It was something Peter looked upon with envy but said nothing about. He believed that, as it was him, if he expressed wanting a family Sirius would only initiate a string of insults, jokes and jeers, brushing the conversation away. He didn't want that. However, he knew that if it was James who said something like that, that he would one day like to be in a situation like that, to be married and have children and grandchildren, to have that picture perfect family, Sirius would still make the light hearted jokes but also take the conversation completely seriously. It was always one rule for James, and even Remus, and a completely different one for Peter. It had always been that way.

The silence got to Peter and he too found himself wishing that either James or Remus were there. If they were, they would make a good effort to coax Peter out of his shell, to get him talking about something or else just talk at him about something they knew he could put the odd word of agreement into. With Sirius it was different. He didn't know why but they just clashed. They always had at Hogwarts. But they were out of Hogwarts now. Peter didn't want to be like this. He didn't want to resent Sirius.

'What do you think Prongs and Moony are doing?' he asked, trying to broach some semblance of conversation with Sirius.

Sirius looked at his watch and scoffed. 'Well it's ten past ten.' he said, 'So they'll be on their way to the hotel. Then they'll get two unfortunate sods fired, and then spend around three hours listening to two middle-aged twats shagging.'

Peter flinched slightly, very unintentionally, at Sirius' words. He didn't know why he did but Sirius had a theory. One he wasn't afraid to voice and tease him about.

'Merlin Wormy I only said shagging.' Sirius laughed, 'Lighten up. You have got to get over your fear of sex. Oh. Wait.' he turned his head and smirked mockingly, 'You probably don't.'

'I'm not afraid of sex.' Peter muttered, flicking yet more stones around the pavement. He glanced up sparingly at the Jacobs house. Nothing had changed though he wished it would.

Sirius barked a laugh and shook his head. 'You know, I don't understand why we've kept you around so long sometimes Wormy. You're nothing like the rest of us.'

Peter curled his hand into a fist and dug his nails into the palm of his hand.

'I mean, in looks alone you're only about a two, if that, and I'm obviously an eleven.' Sirius went on offhandedly, bragging about himself as he twirled his wand between his fingers oh so delicately.

Peter's breathing started to become a bit heavier.

'You're nowhere near as funny as me. Or Prongs. And sarcasm belongs to Moony. And whenever we pulled pranks you were just a test subject-'

Peters face was turning pinker, the pupils of his little blue eyes dilating.

'-but Moony said that was mean. And Prongs insisted that you were good for something. What it is I don't know.' Sirius shrugged, 'All I ever saw you do is follow him round-'

'Like you don't!' Peter suddenly spat, turning to Sirius with a slightly wavering glare. He had had enough of this. 'At least I didn't pretend that's not what I was doing. You follow Prongs around too! You're nothing more than his lap dog.'

Sirius blinked at him. He had no idea how to reply to that. Peter had only once or twice in the past stood up to him and that was when James or Remus was there and had usually already called Sirius out on the way he was treating their smallest friend. He had never taken him on one to one. And that was because Sirius had genuinely thought he had never needed too. Because he thought he knew that any taunts or jibes he slung his way were all just jokes. He was joking. He was never serious when he had teased him. He may bug the hell out of him sometimes and he may just wish that he wasn't such a wet wipe but he was still his friend. To realise that maybe Peter didn't see things that way was a bit shocking to him. He turned his head.

'On the move.' he said suddenly to Peter.

'What?' Peter said, breathing heavily after just speaking his mind to Sirius for probably the first time without assistance. If this was a way to change the subject to just disregard what Peter had said then it was lousy.

'On the move.' Sirius said through slightly gritted teeth, getting up and pulling Peter to standing too.

Ian Jacobs had come out of his house in a loose fitting white t-shirt and deep blue track-suit bottoms. He was going for a run despite it being the middle of January and there being a cold nip in the air. He fiddled with a small device for about thirty seconds before clipping it to his jogging bottoms and leisurely setting of in a trot. Hiding behind a couple of cars, Sirius and Peter watched him go. They left it a good minute, until the man reached about half way down the suburb road, to set off behind him. He couldn't know he was being followed; Dumbledore was very strict on that.

When they set off, Sirius pulled Peter by his arm, just below the shoulder, to get him jogging in place next to him. Peter wasn't the fittest of them, being quite small and actually quite dumpy, so running for him, any type of running, got him out of breath quickly. Soon he was wheezing. Sirius was fine though. They turned a corner.

'You know I'm only joking right?' Sirius said, sparing Peter a glance as he kept a watchful eye on Ian Jacobs who, despite his age, was apparently quite athletic. He was pulling ahead of them.

Peter glowered at Sirius, an expression that was not becoming or even at home on his face.

'Lighten up, Pete. I don't mean it.' Sirius went on, trying to show Peter that that was genuinely how he thought their friendship worked. Granted it wasn't a great way for a friendship to work, one person bagging on the other all the time and the other person just taking it, but that didn't mean Sirius saw him as someone who wasn't his friend. He still held him in the same regard as he did James, Remus and Lily. He would still die for him.

'Then…' Peter puffed, finding it hard to breath, glancing at Jacobs who was getting further and further away, 'W-why…do it?'

Sirius shrugged as they jogged. 'You've never complained about the way I treat you before.'

'I…didn't.' Peter stopped and put his hands to his knees bending over. He glanced up. He could still make out Jacobs in the distance. Sirius was just a little further forward than him, still jogging, not noticing Peter had stopped. He passed a little alleyway and suddenly, they weren't only three people on the suburb strip anymore.

'SIRIUS LOOK OUT!' Peter shouted, raising his voice to far past his normal volume to warn his friend that, flying out of the alleyway now on a Comet 260 was a cloaked death eater. Peter took out his wand and quickly threw a body bind curse at him, the death eater falling to the floor with a thud. Sirius turned around.

He looked up to Peter, wide eyed and both of them, instantly on each other's wave length, shared a short look before both darting forwards again, running like the wind trying to get to Ian Jacobs before anyone else could.

Four more death eaters appeared, all on brooms, taking the advantage. Sirius and Peter ran as fast as they could, dodging spells that were being thrown at them from every which way and direction. They defended themselves as the sprinted down the street, Ian Jacobs still in sight a short distance ahead of them. They deflected all manner of curses and spells, Sirius managing to throw out a stunning spell of his own at one of the death eaters flying behind them. His limp body toppled off of the broom and was dragged painfully along the icy gravel for a couple of seconds before detaching completely and rolling out into the middle of the road. The other death eaters however were unphased by the downing of yet another colleague and continued to bombard Peter and Sirius with all they had, chasing them down as they tried to outrun their flight.

They were nearing their goal: Ian Jacobs, the man that still seemed completely oblivious that there was a heated battle going on behind him. He was less than twenty yards away from them now, completely in reach. They were capable of grabbing him and apparating out of there. That was all they needed to do now; grab him and go. But before they got there, the death eater that Peter had previously put the full body bind on, apparated in front of Jacobs. His sudden appearance and the loud crack that accompanied it caused the old man to stumble backwards slightly in shock. Sirius and Peter were only able to see a wicked grin and a twirl of robes before both the death eater and their charge were gone. But the battle wasn't over. The remaining death eaters flew forwards and stopped directly in front of them, hovering on their brooms in a slightly squashed triangle.

Sirius and Peter skidded to a halt, wands at the ready. But before either side could fire a single spell at each other to commence a duel, Peter swished his wand in a big motion and pointed to the floor beneath the death eaters brooms.

'Expluso!' he yelled.

It provoked and explosion instantaneously. The grey slabs of stone cracked and jutted upwards, bits of debris scattering everywhere and dust rising up from the demolition site. The strength of it sent the death eaters skywards and knocked both Sirius and Peter back by the sheer force of the explosion. They landed on the floor, on their backs, both in agony. Peter looked to have broken his wrist and Sirius to have dislocated his shoulder. But they didn't let that bother them too much at the minute. They sat up and stared at the damage done to the calm neighbourhood, both breathing deeply. They turned their heads to look at each other. The tables had turned. Sirius was in a slight state of shock and mild fright, (though he would never admit it) and Peter was the one who looked like he meant business.

'We need to tell Dumbledore.' he said.


Members of the Order buzzed. They weren't all there yet, the urgent message only being sent out a couple of minutes ago, but most had arrived within seconds of receiving Dumbledore's memo. They were all gathering at Moody's house. So far, Dorcas Meadowes had arrived with Arabella Figg in tow. Gideon and Fabian had arrived next and Marlene and Benjy had come in only moments afterwards. Aberforth Dumbledore had arrive early on with Professor Dumbledore, as had Elphias Doge, and Moody had dragged Mundungus out from wherever he had been hiding. They were now waiting on Alice Prewett, Frank Longbottom, Lily Evans and Sturgis Podmore to make an appearance. The other Order members would not be in attendance. James Potter and Remus Lupin would not be there, (for they were still on detail protecting Dianna Marsket), and McGonagall and Hagrid had been left at Hogwarts to take care of the school which had now been back in session for a couple of weeks or more. Of course, as they had been the ones to let Ian Jacobs go, Sirius and Peter were already there. And they were getting a rollicking from Moody. Well, Sirius was.

'You should have been paying more attention boy!' Alastor Moody growled at him. He was staring him down as Sirius sat depressively on the couch in Moody's living room. 'Constant vigilance!' he somewhat yelled. He had said nothing to Peter who was sat next to Sirius. He seemed to be putting all the blame on him and it was probably because he had a bit of a grudge against him. He did draw on his table after all.

'They came out of nowhere.' Peter said, saying what Sirius wouldn't.

'You should have been watching everywhere!' Moody said, sparing Peter a look but still glowering at Sirius, looming over him as if he was nothing more than a little mouse. That was usually Peter's position.

'Alastor there is no use dwelling on it now.' Dumbledore said softly, holding up a halting hand to Moody. 'We have to deal with the consequences.' He motioned for Moody to walk away which, after another sharp look at Sirius, he did. Dumbledore nodded his head at both boys looking as if he was about to speak, but followed Moody instead, saying nothing to them.

Sirius felt awful. He knew, deep down, that it was not all his fault. It was just a consequence of circumstance and it was something he couldn't help. But he still felt horrible about it. If he hadn't have been teasing Peter; if he hadn't have just had the shock realisation that, although he thought his jokes were all in good fun, Peter didn't see it that way; and if he hadn't been trying to dodge his conscience by trying to prove to Peter that he didn't mean anything he said to him, then maybe he would have been more alert to the fact that there were death eaters just waiting to attack. He should have been watching more carefully and he shouldn't have let Ian Jacobs get that far away from them on his jog. He should have been able to take down more than one death eater. He shouldn't have had to rely on Peter to warn him in the first place and he shouldn't have had to rely on him to get them out of there at the end. He should have done something.

He glanced to Peter. 'That was…' he swallowed, 'That was a good spell out there Pete. And thanks. For warning me.'

Peter said nothing in return but instead looked a bit disbelievingly at his fingernails.

'And you know I'm only joking right?' Sirius said, 'When I bag on you…I don't really mean it.'

Peter just nodded his head solemnly and stood up. He walked away to go talk to Dumbledore and Moody, to be the one to inform them of exactly what had happened in the knowledge that, without Sirius there, Moody would be more open to listening to their side of the story. Sirius stayed sat where he was but he wasn't alone for long.

Someone sat on the couch next to him. He was looking down at the floor but, by the boots she was wearing, he knew it was Marlene. His relationship with her, with anyone in the Order who he wasn't living with, was strictly banter filled. He didn't want to talk to any of them when he was in such a glum mood. Least of all her. She'd probably think him stupid.

'Don't worry 'bout Moody okay?' she said, looking sideways at him.

Sirius didn't look up. He didn't say anything either.

'He doesn't blame you.' she went on.

Sirius scoffed. 'Sounded that way.' he said with a slightly tense jaw. He could feel the tension throughout his body.

'Nah that's just Moody.' Marlene said, waving Sirius' words away, 'He thinks it's his job to install complete and total awareness into us all. Constant vigilance. And he thinks he's failed when it comes to you new lot.' Marlene shrugged. 'He blames himself not you.'

Sirius was silent. He stayed looking at the floor, leaning on his knees with his elbows, just wishing that James wasn't on assignment right now. He was the one he usually unloaded all of this kind of stuff on. It probably wasn't fair for Sirius to always do that, to only share his problems with James and expect him to find a solution for him, but that was the way it had always been. James was always far stronger than Sirius was. He was the strongest out of them all. But, for Sirius, he did have a close second.

'Sirius!' Lily said, practically flying to his side and crouching down next to him, worry on her face. She got Sirius to look at her just by being there. 'What happened? Are you okay?'

Sirius nodded. 'I let them get Ian Jacobs.' he muttered to her, glancing her in the eye with a glum expression.

'What?' Lily asked, she stood up.

Marlene stood up at the same time, giving Lily a small smile which she returned as she took the seat she had vacated. Sirius looked up as Marlene walked away, watching her go until she was out of earshot to turn to Lily. He spoke in a quiet voice.

'It's all my fault.' he said, 'I was joking with Pete but apparently he doesn't see it as joking so I was trying to tell him that's all it is and to lighten up but then Jacobs went running. For an old dude he's fast. We were following him but…I dunno they came out of nowhere. We tried to catch up to him but there were four of them and two of us and one apparated in front of him and just…grabbed him.'

'That's not your fault Sirius.' Lily said comfortingly, placing a small hand on his shoulder. He flinched. 'What's wrong?' Lily asked concernedly.

'I think it's dislocated.' Sirius said through the pain. Neither he nor Peter had gotten themselves seen too about their injuries that were caused by Peters spell. They had instead gone straight to Dumbledore and then straight to Moody's. That was all that had happened since death eaters had captured Ian Jacobs.

'What?' Lily said with a bit of a sighing gasp. She shook her head and took out her wand. With a quick flick and a resting tap on Sirius' shoulder, she healed the dislocation with just a few muttered words. She put her wand to the side of her on the couch and took Sirius' arm in her hands, moving it around and carefully studying his face to see if he was still in any pain. She spoke as she did. 'You couldn't have done anything about it Sirius.' she said softly.

'Couldn't I?' Sirius asked sarcastically.

'Does it hurt anymore?' she queried.

'No.' Sirius replied.

Lily let go of his arm and continued. 'Someone apparated right in front of him.' Lily said, 'There's no way you could have seen that coming. You couldn't have stopped it. Just be happy you got out of there.'

Sirius hummed in sullen agreement.

'How did you dislocate your shoulder?' she asked, tucking her wand back into the inside of her jacket pocket.

Sirius sighed. 'Jacobs had just been taken and…we were faced with three death eaters.'

'One of them did it?' Lily wondered anxiously, her eyes wide. If a death eater had been the cause of an injury, her primary healing spells that she had learnt in healer training wouldn't be enough to heal him fully. It could be cursed or infected or have hidden long term effects she knew nothing about. She bit her lip and glanced quickly at Sirius' shoulder with a nervous look. She hoped it was ok.

'No.' Sirius stated, relieving Lily's worries though he did not know it. He carried on. 'They were on brooms and they flew in front of us and, I thought we were gonna duel or something. Die trying.'

Lily shot him a warning look, hating when any of the boys spoke like that, as if their life was meant to be given in this war and not saved. It ate at her. The same way it ate at her when Dumbledore referred to the Order members as 'assets'. Didn't anyone understand that their life was precious? It shouldn't be spoken about in such a blasé fashion. It needed to be protected.

Sirius brushed it off, paying no more than a couple seconds attention to Lily's look. He didn't ever let himself be caught out by those looks and just ignored them. The only person who those looks had an effect on was James. Sirius had no idea why but if Lily ever gave James that look, to reprimand him silently for talking about throwing his life away so carelessly, he would bend over backwards to make it up to her. He would retreat in his step and take back what he had said, proclaiming insistently that he would never leave her. That was love, Sirius supposed. But he didn't know. He had never been in love.

Sirius carried on. 'So yeah, we were gonna duel or die in battle,' he said, specifically using words and phrasing that he knew would annoy Lily. (He may be feeling sour but he still liked to annoy his friends). 'But before anything happened, Pete threw this weird arse spell on the ground and it blew them of their brooms and sent us backwards. We landed on the floor. I dislocated by shoulder and Pete,' (he motioned carelessly at where Peter stood) 'he hurt it wrist. Broke it or fractured it or something.'

Lily's lips disappeared and she turned her head to look at Peter momentarily. He didn't look to be in any immediate pain so there was no way his wrist was broken. It could possibly be a minor fracture but she thought that it was much more likely to just be a sprain. She resolved to look at it afterwards, after she had finished speaking to Sirius. She turned back to him. 'That must have been a powerful spell.' she said.

Sirius nodded. 'Who knew right?' he said with a scoffing laugh. He should have been proud of his friend for that spell. He had told him that it was good and impressive but still, he was secretly seething that Peter had been the one to cast it. One; it had hurt him. Two; never in a million years would he think he was capable of magic like that. And now, whilst Sirius sat clouded in guilt and blame, Peter was explaining the situation to Dumbledore and Moody like a calm politician. He had taken the spotlight for his fifteen minutes.

Sirius pouted moodily and looked over to Peter, Dumbledore and Moody. 'Moody blames me.' he grumbled, 'All cause I drew on his table.'

Lily gave a small breathless laugh. 'Well next time bring some parchment with you.' she said.

'Wasn't me.' Sirius defended, now moving his glare over to Marlene. 'It's her fault. She made me do it.'

Lily smiled and rolled her eyes at Sirius, shaking her head at him.

'What?' he asked.

'Nothing.' Lily replied, shaking her head again. 'So what went on with you and Peter?' she asked.

'Really?' Sirius questioned with raised eyebrows, 'Ian Jacobs is captured by death eaters. Someone here is gonna have a death mission trying to get him back and you're asking me about Pete?'

Lily thought for a second. 'Yes.' she said eventually with a small smile, 'I'm curious.'

'That's a problem with you, you know that?' Sirius said unintentionally harshly. He rolled his eyes and turning away from Lily, scanning the room. Sturgis Podmore had arrived now and was now vying for some sweets from Dorcas Meadowes who was shaking her head fondly at him. They were still waiting for Alice and Frank. But they had never been to Moody's house before so perhaps their lateness was due to not knowing the location they were supposed to get to.

'I've been told.' Lily shrugged nonchalantly as though it wasn't a problem. She'd always had a curious nature. It fed her love for learning. 'So what happened?' she asked again.

Sirius sighed and leant back on the couch. He didn't know what to say. His mouth opened but no words came out. He closed his mouth and looked to Lily, grimacing slightly and giving her an 'I don't know' look.

'You said you were joking with him but he doesn't see it as joking?' Lily prompted, her head tilted to the side inquisitively.

'Yeah.' Sirius said, nodding his head slowly, 'Dunno why he's only just saying this now though. We've been friends for years. I've never treated him any differently than I have Prongs or Moony.'

'Well…' Lily said, biting her lip.

'What?' Sirius asked, 'Have I?'

'Well yeah.' Lily stated, nodding her head at the proclamation, 'You're always putting him down. And he's not the most confident of you all anyway.'

'But it's not like I don't put Remus or James down at all.' Sirius said, his jaw tight again. He didn't like this conversation. It was just a joke. He just joked with Peter. Why couldn't people see that? Why was this suddenly an issue? He didn't get it.

'Yeah but, not to be mean about Peter but, they can handle it.' Lily said, 'Nothing seems to touch Remus. And James. He gives as good as he gets. Peter doesn't answer back. He just sits there and takes it and, at some point, it's obviously crossed a line for him. And I think James and Remus must have realised that but…I don't think you have.'

Sirius swallowed hard.

'I'm not saying you don't see him as a friend or that you're intentionally bullying him or something but…' Lily tried to find the right words. 'He's not as…strong, as you lot are. I think he just needs to feel included at some point. To feel like he's not just someone who you've all taken pity on and let hang around with you for the past seven years.' she paused to see if there was any recognition in Sirius' face. 'I think you just need to cut him some slack.'

Sirius' face was hard as stone but he could see her point. Peter definitely wasn't the strongest. He was nothing like James or Remus when it came to giving each other a hard time. Those two would give Sirius a hard time right on back, insulting him and jeering him like the best of them. But it was always kept it light and it was known that it was just a joke. Perhaps Peter didn't see it like that. He had never fought back. He had taken it all lying down. And Sirius had never thought about it like that before. He nodded at Lily to show that he understood what she was saying. He should probably be a bit nicer to Peter from now on. Besides, he wasn't completely useless. He had proved that today. The spell he had cast that blew up the pavement was strong and forceful. It was actually surprising. Maybe Sirius needed to stop underestimating the boy and his abilities.

Alice and Frank arrived imminently, apologising profusely about being late. Dumbledore waved away their apology and called the meeting to Order. There was a murmuring and a bit of a kafuffle as members made their way into Moody's dining room. On the way there, Lily stopped Peter and asked him if he was okay, checking on his wrist which was indeed, just sprained. She couldn't do anything about that so let him go sit down next to Elphias Doge who had already sat down at the circle table that Moody had. Everyone else gathered around it, some standing up, some sitting down. Moody and Dumbledore stood at one rounded edge of it, the topic of the meeting too pressing for them to take seats. But others still did just that. Dorcas and Mrs. Figg sat in their usual seats, as did Gideon and Fabian Prewett who sat next to them. Mundungus was forced into a seat in front of Moody and Sturgis then took the seat next to him. Marlene occupied the seat after that. Everyone else stood up. Sirius, Peter, Alice, Frank and Benjy were all gathered loosely at the back of the room. They were stood a small distance away from Aberforth Dumbledore who stood quietly in the corner, watching the proceedings as if he was the ghost of Christmas past.

'Ian Jacobs has been captured.' Dumbledore stated, beginning the meeting with the fact of why they had all had to gather there so urgently. Some of the members, the ones who hadn't gotten there early or spent time talking to those who had, didn't know this and expressed their shock.

'How'd that happen?' Sturgis asked, gone out.

'It does not matter.' Dumbledore said before Moody could say anything.

Sirius looked down uncomfortably where he stood. Lily touched his arm in comfort, a way of telling him not to worry. He very clearly blamed himself. But Peter didn't seem to have that affliction. He stared straight ahead from where he was sitting. He looked as though he had done nothing wrong.

'What we must focus on now is how to get him back.' Dumbledore said.

'And how do you suggest we do that Albus?' Aberforth Dumbledore said with a hard tone.

Lily, Sirius, Peter, Alice and Frank, all who had never actually heard Dumbledore's brother speak before, turned to the man in surprise. Whilst Dumbledore's voice was calm and reasoning, Aberforth's voice was unforgiving and unmistakably empty. They seemed as though they were on opposite ends of the spectrum.

'We know where he'll be but how do you suggest any of us get over that border?' he asked, 'The last time that was tried, the Dearborn's paid the price for your foolishness.'

'Aberforth.' Dumbledore said calmly, looking to his brother to silence him.

'Perhaps you should think of a way to get over that obstacle before sending two more of your 'assets' to their deaths.' Aberforth said bluntly.

Lily's mouth dropped open a little bit as she looked at Aberforth. She had heard it; the distaste and disgust at the word 'asset'. She was glad to know it wasn't just her. But there was something else in Aberforth's tone of voice. There seemed to be an underlying issue that she just couldn't put her finger on. From that, she knew that, although they both obviously didn't like the word, there was a difference between them. She knew Dumbledore did, ultimately, have the best interests at heart for each Order member. Aberforth clearly did not share this view.

'Shut your mouth Aberforth.' Moody snapped, banging the end of his cane of the floor, 'We haven't even gotten past the basic facts yet.'

Aberforth raised his head and looked down on Moody who did not stir. He just stared at him.

'What's your plan Albus?' Elphias asked, the never failing sidekick.

Dumbledore took a breath and nodded serenely at Elphias, thanking him in not so many words for bringing the meeting back around. It was just enough to break the tension in the air.

'I have devised a spell which I believe will be able to lower the protection Voldemort has placed around his hide out for a minimum of two minutes.' Dumbledore said, 'I have been working tirelessly on it since the unfortunate deaths of our colleagues and friends Dadalus and Caradoc Dearborn.'

He glanced a little testily at him brother whose expression did not change. He was definitely not impressed at his brother's dedication to try and ensure that the Dearborn's fate did not await anybody else. It was almost as if he didn't believe that that was the reason or intention behind Dumbledore's spell.

Dumbledore looked back to the table and carried on with the meeting. 'However, two minutes is all I can guarantee those who take on this mission.' Dumbledore said, his voice laden with warning, 'If it fails to work, if two minutes runs out, I beg you to get yourselves to safety.'

'What about Jacobs?' Gideon voiced.

Dumbledore looked down and paused for a second. 'I do not doubt that he will be in danger and that is unfortunate.'

Sirius fidgeted uncomfortably again.

'However, I also believe that it is not Voldemort's intention to kill him.' Dumbledore continued. 'If this attempt to rescue him is unsuccessful, we shall continue to try until we have also brought him home. However, if this first attempt does fail, then I must reiterate that you must get yourselves to safety. We cannot progress without the minutes of your mission.'

He was speaking to the group as a whole. He had yet to assign this mission yet, or at least, he had yet to assign it out loud. He knew who he wanted to go; who he felt had to go. This was a mission which had an inevitable outcome; it demanded that the pair who undertook it to face Voldemort. So it only seemed fitting that the people who accepted this mission carried with them the one thing that Dumbledore knew Voldemort could not and would not, ever, understand.

'I'll go.' Moody said gruffly, stepping forwards. Mundungus' face turned white, knowing that, as Moody was his usual partner, that his life had just been volunteered as well.

'No way.' he said, shaking his head and craning his neck to look round to Moody.

'Don't be such a coward Mundungus.' Moody growled.

But Mundungus' plea of not wanting to go had opened the floor to everyone. Dorcas Meadowes and Sturgis volunteered, as did Gideon and Fabian and Marlene and Benjy. Practically everyone, bar Mundungus and Arabella Figg, let it be known that they were available to go. But Dumbledore calmly held up his hand to stop the offers and turned his head to one specific person.

'Miss Evans.' he said softly.

Everyone looked to Lily and she stood up straighter, no longer resting in her hip as she had been. She had one arm folded across her stomach, gripping the elbow in the other arm. She gripped it slightly tighter, glancing quickly at the people staring at her, something she had never altogether been comfortable with. But now it wasn't that big an issue. Her eyes landed back on Dumbledore.

'Yes, Sir.' she said strongly.

'Are you and Mr Potter willing to undertake this assignment?' he asked calmly.

Lily nodded her head, agreeing for both herself and James.

'They're just children!' Moody said in slight outrage, 'Surely this calls for an experienced hand Albus? It's ridiculous to have-'

'I believe that Miss Evans and Mr Potter are the right choice for this particular task and all it entails, Alastor.' Dumbledore said quietly, though everybody heard him. He stopped all objections in their tracks, not revealing why he had chosen them but not concealing that he did, in fact, have one. He looked to Lily again. 'You are to leave at first light.' he said.


And sorry about the cliff hanger but I'm a mean person

The next update, (and I will update!), will be on the 24th of September so that it gives me a bit of time to move back to uni!

Thanks for reading!

Galindaba