They thundered up the stairs, wands out, Arthur bidding the children to stay in the kitchen. "If you hear anything that sounds like trouble, Fred, George, you're responsible. Hide and stay hidden; fight if you have to." Sirius rounded the corner first, but Remus pushed him aside firmly before he could reach the peephole. "Stay hidden Sirius. Just in case." Sirius didn't give a damn if anyone found out where he was, he just wanted Remus to not be in the line of fire, but Arthur and Molly positioned themselves right in front of him as well. Remus opened the peephole and Sirius saw his eyebrows go straight up and the tension flow out of his face. "Good lord, it's Mad-Eye!" Arthur's shoulders slumped forward in relief, but Molly didn't let her guard down. "Goodness Remus, don't you remember what just happened? How do we know it's actually him?"
At that moment a silvery phoenix appeared in their midst. Albus's voice echoed around the room. "Alastor is coming your way to offer his services; I swore him in tonight and told him we meet next week, but he is quite eager." The phoenix chuckled and then faded. "Damn that man!" Remus exploded. "I expect Alastor literally walked out of the castle and apparated straight here before Albus had the time," said Arthur.
Remus opened the door and Mad-Eye swept over them all with his no-nonsense personality. "This place is filthy. Hello Remus, good to see you. Arthur, Molly, it's been a while. Oh yes, and Sirius, Albus has told me all about you." Sirius could see that Moody's eye was on him though, and wondered how long it would be until he was thoroughly vetted and had earned Moody's trust.
They descended into the kitchen, where they were met with five pale, upturned faces frozen in their seats. "It's alright you lot, it's Alastor. But it is nearly time for you all to head up to bed, isn't it?" said Arthur; he went to pour Mad-Eye some tea as the children let out sighs of relief and began to get up from the table.
Mad-Eye was upset that nothing much had been discussed in the way of Order business yet, but he was quite enthusiastic about guard duty and took as many shifts as Molly and Arthur would let him. Sirius wondered how long it would be until Moody went off on a passing bird or something while watching Harry and got nailed by the Ministry when a muggle saw. He immediately grasped upon the offer of a spare room to stay in; in fact he stayed that night and several other nights between then and the big meeting.
On the day of the meeting Molly and Sirius worked together to cook a huge meal while Arthur was at work and the children were at their chores. Sirius was trying to get in Molly's good graces so that she would talk to Albus for him about letting the children out on a heavily guarded outing to the park, upon which he would accompany them; so far it was working. Molly had been quite impressed that he wanted to plan such a large meal, and had also agreed with him that the children should get outside soon. Fred and George were no joke in confined spaces.
Albus arrived at six o'clock, bringing with him another old-yet-new member, Mundungus Fletcher. Sirius vaguely remembered Mundungus from the first Order. By six-thirty everyone was there and supper was cooking to be ready by eight. Albus sat down at the head of the table; Sirius was dismayed to find Snape on his right, but at least Remus had sat to his left. He felt the chances of ending up in mortal combat with Snape were far less with Remus nearby.
"Good evening, everyone!" Albus said happily, bringing the room to silence. "We are gathered today to conduct our first official meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. While we have met previously, our numbers were still limited. At those meetings we discussed security for Harry Potter and for the Department of Mysteries. We are now in a position where we can meet to discuss other points regarding our fight against Voldemort" – here a shudder went around the table that Albus ignored – "and begin to shape a large scale plan."
The next several minutes were spent on making sure everyone was acquainted and distributing copies of the guard duty schedule around the table; each one had been enchanted by Albus so that only a sworn member of the Order could read it. "Now," said Albus, "let us first discuss the Department of Mysteries. You all have a right to know what you are guarding. There is a prophecy, made regarding Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort, that is kept within the Hall of Prophecy. What I cannot tell you is the exact contents of that prophecy; however, you should know the information is extremely sensitive. If Voldemort should come into possession of that prophecy, it would be akin to handing him the world's most powerful weapon, fully loaded. He must not ever hear its contents." Albus paused for a second and made eye contact with each of them. His eyes were grey; not stormy, just flat, cold grey, and he looked older than Sirius had ever seen him. There was utter silence in the room.
"Now," said Albus, and Sirius saw that suddenly his eyes were blue again, "the good news is that Voldemort knows the prophecy exists, but not its exact location; in fact, neither do we. The contents of the Department of Mysteries are kept quite secret. But by guarding the entrance to the Department of Mysteries, we can either deter Voldemort's attempts, or at least alert Ministry officials of an intruder's presence before it is too late. Mr. Weasley," he said, turning to Bill, "would you please take on the task of drawing up detailed maps of the floor the Department is on? Possibly the floors above and below as well. I would like us all to study these areas so we can quickly and efficiently access and navigate them." Bill nodded and scribbled a note on the paper in front of him. "If you see someone attempting to access the Department of Mysteries, try to stop them; use a stunning spell or a body bind curse. You will always be hidden under an Invisibility Cloak; try to remain hidden the entire time. Once the threat is immobilized, send me a patronus and I will alert Ministry officials without raising suspicion surrounding the Order. If someone achieves entrance to the Department before you can stop them, send a patronus as quickly as humanly possible. Follow the threat if you can; if someone does get inside, we want to know if they attain the prophecy or not."
Here Nymphadora interjected by raising her hand. Snape snickered. Sirius cast him a look of hatred. "Professor Dumbledore, sir?" Albus twinkled at her. "Just Albus is perfect Nymphadora." "Right sir, right Albus, sorry. If they get inside, shouldn't we still immobilize them?" "Good question Nymphadora," said Albus calmly. "But I would rather keep the Order and its members out of trouble and below the Ministry's radar. I have methods I can use to alert officials in a seemingly innocent manner; if a suspicious person entered the Department and was then jinxed, officials will quickly begin searching for another individual. They may trap you even under a cloak, which is what I want to avoid. We shall have to rely on Ministry security if someone manages to enter the Department."
Nymphadora nodded thoughtfully and Albus moved on. "As for Harry Potter, this is more straightforward; if you see anyone suspicious coming or going, alert me immediately. Suspicious is defined as any witch or wizard. If you see anyone approaching Mr. Potter directly, do not hesitate; incapacitate them, secure Mr. Potter within his relatives' house, and alert me immediately. In this case, Mr. Potter's life is far more valuable than our cover." Albus's eyes were grey again as he looked around the table.
They briefly discussed Harry's coming to Grimmauld Place in three weeks' time, but no specific plans were made, purposefully to ensure that nothing could make its way to a Death Eater. Albus also touched on Kingsley's "hunt" for Sirius, which had been going poorly. Sirius saw Nymphadora trying not to laugh openly during that discussion. He went over recruitment and how members of the Order should go about opening the topic of conversation with people they thought may be interested in the cause; he also talked about Grimmauld Place and the work that was being done. "I am grateful to both Sirius and Remus for working so hard on the house," he said. "Any member of the Order is welcome to utilize this residence for as long as they need to while they are a part of this group."
Then he asked Snape to brew Remus the Wolfsbane potion again; Sirius could tell that Albus had waited for this moment, when surrounded by do-gooders Snape would be unable to refuse. Snape's mouth twisted oddly for a moment and then he schooled his features with a fine-tuned precision. "Of course Headmaster," he said smoothly. "Excellent!" Albus said, clapping his hands. "That brings us to our final, and maybe most important, topic of the night. Severus, can you please explain to everyone what your role is within the Order, and then give your report?" Snape nodded; his eyes glittered strangely and then he stood and walked to the foot of the table where no one was sitting. He faced Dumbledore, his robes and the cloak he had declined to take off upon entering swirling around him. Sirius thought he looked a fool.
"My role in the Order of the Phoenix is to serve as a spy. To the Dark Lord, I am a member of his inner circle." Nymphadora's eyes resembled dinner plates; from a quick glance around the table, Sirius could tell that most people had not known this about Snape. "As the Headmaster has assured you all, no doubt many times," his eyes flickered to Sirius and Sirius attempted to send pure hatred his way. "I am loyal to the Order of the Phoenix and shall be until my final breath. But my job is to tell the Dark Lord otherwise, and bring information back that will help the Order's cause. In addition, I can give false information to the Dark Lord himself, to the Order's benefit. Where things get tricky is once the information is proved false." Snape tugged up his right sleeve to show a line of angry red scars that ran up the outer part of his arm. "Cursed," he said. "These were given to all Death Eaters after Potter's escape from the Triwizard Tournament and his 'return to life' celebration. Mine were larger and more prolonged in healing than others, for reasons I do not care to explain; I only show you these so that you understand that each mistake made is paid for directly in my own blood. If the mistake is large enough, it may be my life, and although none of you would mourn me, you would certainly mourn the loss of an information source." Minerva made an odd movement as if to speak at the other end of the table next to Albus, but stopped herself. Albus smiled softly at Severus. "Ah my dear boy, in that you are very very wrong." Snape sneered derisively. "Now please give us your report."
"The Dark Lord is fixated upon obtaining the prophecy from the Department of Mysteries. He does not yet know the Order is guarding the entrance to the Department, which I believe works in our favor. Any spies he sends in shall not be worried that we are there. He is working now on a plan to send people down to that level of the Ministry to explore the area and see what obstacles lie in his way; I know Lucius has been at the top of that list, as well as Nott and McNair. Once he has the prophecy, he feels he will be well on the way to understanding why he has not been able to kill Potter. His long term plans include building his following enough that he will be able to successfully execute a Ministry coup, and also recruiting his previous followers to his side; as we speak he is preparing to send an envoy to the giants." Here Albus interrupted Snape. "Ah yes, Rubeus Hagrid and Olympe Maxime have both agreed to travel to the giants and attempt to bargain with them before Voldemort can; they will leave next week." Snape nodded. "This is good. I will speak with Hagrid and Maxime before they leave and tell them all I can that may help them."
Albus asked if anyone had questions; people mostly just wanted to know about the Death Eaters and what kind of following the Dark Lord had. Snape answered the best he could, Sirius had to hand it to him. "Another plan that is still in very early stages is the Dark Lord's scheme to break some of his most loyal followers out of Azkaban. The Headmaster and I have discussed this; as that time comes closer, we will of course do all we can, but if the Minister continues to turn a blind eye there is a very real chance the Dark Lord will succeed. If he does, his plans will become much clearer and more defined with so many loyal subjects ready to carry out his bidding. As of now he is extremely reluctant to reveal his existence to the magical community, and therefore is hesitant to make any large moves. If he can take out Potter discreetly, that will be a major achievement that he can mask his involvement in; otherwise, at least right now, his movements are quite limited."
The room was quiet and thoughtful. Sirius could see that many of them were scared, but he understood why Albus had asked Snape for such a specific report. The papers were full of stories about how Harry and Albus were insane and Voldemort was long dead. These people believed Albus, yes, but sitting here and hearing about specific plans, specific names and dates, cursed wounds and arrangements to send envoys to the giants, really drove home the fact that Lord Voldemort had returned, and that he was burning to make a move.
Snape had clearly finished speaking. He inclined his head towards Albus and said "I have nothing further; the next meeting is one week from today, unless I am called before then. I shall see you at Hogwarts." With that he swept from the room.
"I feel I should clarify that Severus meant the next Death Eater meeting," said Albus to the room. "Once Severus makes his report to me next week, I shall schedule the next meeting of the Order of the Phoenix and notify you all. Until then, feel free to stop here for meals and a place to stay; if I have specific tasks that need doing, I will contact you. Kingsley, see me after for details regarding Sirius's manhunt; Nymphadora, I would like to talk to you about recruitment. The rest of you are free to go, but Sirius and Molly have made a delightful meal that I really think we should all partake in."
Several people filed out, but most stayed for dinner; Remus went upstairs to call the kids down. Sirius stayed at the table until Molly called him to come help with the food, breaking his reverie. It was really beginning again, the second war. And he was helpless to aid in any way.