Chapter 6
The Order of the Phoenix met a couple of days later, and Alastor Moody was elected as leader. He had the mind they needed, not of a sage counsellor, but of a cunning strategist. He began speaking once they were all seated, sparing no time for pleasantries. "First of all," he said gruffly, "we're going to start being proactive, not just reactive. Dumbledore would have us sit here waiting, being cautious, which is all well and good, but caution will only take us so far. Black – speak with Gringotts. You're the head of your family, have Bellatrix and Narcissa's marriages invalidated, and disown them. That will put a sizeable dent in Voldemort's finances. Maybe we'll get lucky and there'll be something important they put in their vaults under his orders. Those of us in the Auror force – we're going to put pressure on the Minister for the necessary countering power we need. I'll speak with Crouch personally, he's been itching for someone to take his side on this."
Alice Longbottom frowned. "What power are you talking about, Alastor?" Moody's regular eye softened from its usual hard stare, but only for a moment. "I'm talking about the authorisation to use lethal force. We're fighting a war, we're losing wands faster than we can train replacements, and we currently aren't permitted to react in a way that lets us turn the tide. On an official (he spat the word out, almost as if it had a bad taste) assault, we still have to announce 'Aurors!' before starting to cast. That's holding us back."
Discussion of plans and strategies continued late into the night, but eventually, the meeting ended. "I have a suggestion," Lily said as people began to get up to leave. "We change the name of our group. 'The Order of the Phoenix' was Dumbledore's name. Since we're no longer with him, we need a new one. I was thinking – 'The Avengers of the Cradle'." "Yeah, that's a good name, Lil." All eyes turned to look at the speaker, one who for the entire meeting had been mostly silent, speaking only when directly spoken to – Mundungus Fletcher. "This ain't a Muggle war we're fightin'. A Muggle war 'as casualties, course it does, but a bomb don't get to pick 'oo it blows up. Us an' the Death Eaters can pick out the ones 'oo get hurt. Dumbledore made it so they picked out babies. I know you all fink I'm a cowardly scumbag, an' yer right, I am. Why should I stick me neck out into a scrap when there's blokes 'oo can do it better right in front o' me? But even a cowardly scumbag like me 'as to draw a line somewhere, an' kids gettin' offed is mine."