THE MEETING

The alarm clock rang the following morning at eight, and Lily woke up with a start, her hand instinctively reaching for the wand on the nightstand. She could tell that the adrenaline pumping through her body was concealing the heavy tiredness it was actually feeling, and once she was certain that there was no greater danger in the room than the angry noise from the alarm clock, she put her wand down and turned the irritating thing off. She did not even want to know how few hours of sleep she had gotten that night and decided on a quick shower and a cup of coffee to fully wake up before going about her day.

Lily spent the majority of the morning re-setting the enchantments on the phoenix locket she had found on Mulligan. It was time-consuming and took the better part of five hours, after which Lily heated up a frozen pizza in the microwave and ate it while going through her potion notes. In the hours she had left in the afternoon before she had to leave for London, she cleaned out the cupboard where she kept potions ingredients and took a quick inventory. She was running low on bicorn horn and lacewing flies again and made a mental reminder to inform Sturgis during the meeting to get her some more as soon as possible. A little after six o'clock Lily put on a jacket, scarf and gloves and walked the short distance to the park. The heavy wards she had placed on her flat would not allow her to apparate in or out of it, and the same went from Grimmauld Place. Instead she focused on a secluded corner of St James' Park in London when she got to her usual apparition spot, and with a soft pop she was gone.

Seeing the heart of London nearly deserted on a Friday evening was something Lily would never get used to. Streets that should be bustling with life and filled with happy muggles making their way to the pub or a show were all but abandoned, with just the odd straggler hurrying home in the darkness. The West End, where Lily's parents had once taken her and Petunia to see Mary Poppins when they were children, was eerily quiet with old posters advertising productions of Starlight Express, Cats and Evita still taped to the facades of the buildings. All of them were over a decade old. Once Voldemort's unofficial reign of terror had begun spreading across Britain in the years following James' and Harry's deaths, public entertainment had been one of the first things to suffer. After a Death Eater attack on the Globe with hundreds of muggle casualties, one theatre production after the other had closed down until the city that had once been home to the largest number of stage shows in the world no longer hosted as much as an amateur's production of Hamlet.

London had changed. Britain had changed. In some ways the whole world had changed. The muggles had tried to rationalise it for years; they had blamed the massacre in the underground on an explosion and the carnage in the British Museum on terrorists, but the witnesses had eventually piled up, and once the Statue of Secrecy had been officially broken, it was as if the public had just waited for a signal to panic. Someone high up in the government had leaked the truth about magic complete with moving pictures of a Death Eater attack in the Underground that had played on repeat on every news show in the world. The American President had made a famous address to the nation the same week where he firmly denied the existence of any witches and wizards on U.S soil, and had started something of a trend amongst world leaders where they one by one stated that in their country there were no such things as witches or wizards. Magical communities abroad had to tread carefully, and many that had previously enjoyed a good relationship with their muggle countrymen isolated themselves to stay safe.

There was little that the Order could do to stop the never-ending attacks. Their numbers were lower than ever and their resources dwindling at an alarming rate. They had all put whatever money they had into the Order, but even the Potter, Bones and Black fortunes could not sustain them forever. Potions ingredients were expensive on the black market and risky purchasing in Diagon Alley even under a Polyjuice disguise. Aurors and Death Eaters (they were all but interchangeable these days) patrolled the Alley around the clock and could bring anyone in for a random questioning at any time. Unknown faces like the ones the Order used when going undercover ran an even higher risk and they had lost too many members that way. Wands were an even worse matter since all the new ones sold in Diagon Alley had traces that did no longer disappear when the owner turned seventeen. It had cost them an entire safe house of Order members to learn that when it was introduced.

As Lily crossed the streets she barely had to look out for cars since there was next to no traffic, just the odd cab and an occasional red double-decker. Two others were already waiting at the bus stop when she got there; a middle-aged woman wearing a worn fur coat and a young man in trainers and sweatpants with headphones over his ears connected to a Walkman in his hand. They both suspiciously ran Lily up and down with their eyes as she joined them. She understood them. Most people avoided the streets of muggle London at hour, and those who didn't were mostly the ones normal people wanted to avoid.

Lily offered the woman a polite smile. "Do you know the time?" she asked, and the woman gave her a long look before replying.

"Half six," she muttered and then demonstratively turned her back to Lily.

She might be late for the meeting – Moody had told her to be there at seven – but she could not bring herself to care. After everything that had gone down in the last couple of years, she would neither gain nor lose anyone's approval depending on whether she was on time for Order meetings. To her surprise the red bus turned the corner and rolled into the bus stop the minute it was supposed to. The London buses were notoriously unreliable, and there was no telling if they would be on time, if they'd be late or if they'd come at all. The Death Eaters did not target the buses the way they had the tube when that was still operating, but there had been half a dozen attacks on buses over the years as well. Lily climbed the stairs to the second floor as the bus began to move and took a seat in the back row, giving her a good view of the other passengers.

The bus ride to Islington was uneventful, and when Lily got off next to the Union Chapel the streets she walked to headquarters were completely abandoned. She always used different bus stops when going there, but the one she had chosen today was the closest to Grimmauld Place number 12, which had served as headquarters for the Order for well over a decade now. Sirius had offered it up once it became clear that it wasn't sustainable holding meetings in the Weasleys' kitchen or Amelia's dining room anymore, and upon his death he had passed it onto Remus. Most of the others lived there permanently, but Lily was always grateful to flee back to her own place after a meeting, no matter how ratty her flat was. There were several complicated protective wards to get through before Lily made it into the old townhouse, and as she put her cloak in the closet next to the front door, she realised that she was just on time.

She slipped into the dining room where the impressive old chandeliers hanging from the ceiling were lit and the heavy, black velvet curtains usually framing the windows were instead covering them. At the peak of the war, just before Dumbledore's death, the Order had counted over a hundred active members. Once regular wizards and witches realised just how far Voldemort was willing to go to create his ideal world, people had flooded to the Order. Just as quickly as they'd come, they'd disappeared after Dumbeldore's death, and with every year the Order had shrunk exponentially.

Now they were down to a dozen. Remus Lupin was seated at the far end of the table, deeply engrossed in a hushed discussion with Emmeline Vance and Amelia Bones. Sturgis Podmore at the opposite end of the table sat next to the three youngsters of the group; Cedric Diggory, Roger Davies and Angelina Johnson. The three of them had been close friends at Hogwarts and made some sort of pact to join the Order once they came of age and had now been members for over a year. Many of the others enjoyed having the three young ones onboard, but Lily's heart ached every time she remembered that they were only a few years older than Harry would've been. They also had a goodness and hopefulness around them that Lily herself had lost many years ago and replaced with cynicism and bitterness. Seeing the three young Order members laughing at Sturgis' bad jokes triggered something within her that made her want to lash out and scream at them that there was a war going on that they were losing. She did not give in to the urge, and instead took a seat next to Aurora Sinistra; a former Ravenclaw who had been a couple of years ahead of Lily in school and who was known for being an excellent astronomer. Once the war came along the young witch had abandoned her astronomy studies to join the Order. Aurora came from a family of successful academics, and both her parents had done extensive research on magical blood. Voldemort had personally killed her father, and her mother and brother had been missing for years.

"Just in time, Lily, as always," Aurora said frostily. There had been a time when they had been nearly friends, but just like everyone else in the Order, Aurora nowadays seemed to consider Lily a necessary evil. The dark-haired witch's full lips had become a thin line as she addressed Lily, and her brown eyes were cold.

"Just in time," Lily repeated.

The familiar sound of a wooden leg approaching made Lily look to the doorway. Alastor Moody entered the dining room and promptly took a seat next to Remus who immediately finished his conversation with the two witches beside him.

As usual, Moody wasted no time on pleasantries. "We do not have much time, so I'll cut to the chase. You-Know-Who has intensified his efforts in the muggle world, most notably with the attack last Friday. The muggle police have counted 65 fatalities in Oxford and nine missing. Another fifteen are being treated at muggle hospitals for injuries, most of them severe or life-threatening, and it is also likely that any survivors will suffer mentally from extensive use of the Cruciatus curse."

Everyone around the table remained silent as they took the news in, and Lily could see Angelina bite her lip and Cedric frown uncomfortably. It probably took a while to get used to hearing the depressing report week after week, but the newcomers did not have the luxury of having time to ease into the reality of being members of the Order.

"No reliable witnesses then?" Amelia Bones eventually asked.

"No," Moody confirmed. "The muggle police and press are pointing the finger at the magical world, and since this is the third attack of its kind in less than two months, panic amongst the public is to be expected."

Lily noticed more than one pointed look in her direction from the others around the table, but no one made any comment.

"Unless anyone has something to add on that matter I will move on to the next. Evans, judging by the corpse that appeared on my porch last night I assume your meeting in Scotland went as expected," Moody said brusquely.

Remus' head snapped in her direction.

"It did," Lily confirmed.

"He did not have potential to become a recurring source?" Remus asked as he always did. Poor Remus still seemed uncomfortable with the prospect of killing Death Eaters even if she knew he did so himself on occasion in battle. She supposed it was different in his eyes to lure someone away to a remote Scottish beach and shoot them point blank in the forehead with no way of defending themselves, and perhaps it was, but to Lily it didn't matter anymore. Mulligan had murdered children; she would not waste any of her conscience on him.

"No," Lily replied confidently. "His occlumency shields were paper thin and his motives questionable at best. He would've been discovered within a week even if he had fully change loyalties."

Both Moody and Amelia nodded approvingly. Remus looked down on his folded hands.

"However, he did offer a piece of information that could be relevant," Lily revealed. "He said that they have increased security on the seventh floor at Hogwarts since Wednesday last week."

The entire table seemed to connect the dots immediately; Amelia looked to Moody, Emmeline gasped in surprise and Aurora swore under her breath. Even the three youngsters seemed to understand the implications as Angelina urgently whispered something in Cedric's ear.

"Swansea," Moody muttered. "I was just getting to that. Amy Benson was found murdered in the caring facility she was living in last Wednesday; the day after Remus and Amelia went to see her."

Several members were shocked at that revelation, including Lily. She could feel the cogs in her head starting to turn as she processed the new information. Remus and Amelia had been to see her on Tuesday, and she had been found dead the following Wednesday, no way-

"No way that is a coincidence," Roger commented fiercely.

"No way indeed, Davies," Moody agreed.

"That means someone knew we were there," Amelia concluded. "Do you think we were followed there? Could Grimmauld be compromised?"

"No, if they knew about Grimmauld they would've done something," Moody said confidently. "It's more likely that they waited for you there. Did you take all the extended safety precautions when you left?"

"Half a dozen apparition jumps all over England, spread out over the course of six hours," Remus confirmed.

"Good."

"Did Amy Benson say anything of value?" asked Emmeline.

"Not much, she spoke of a 'lake in a cave', and a 'boat floating over the dead'," Amelia replied with a sigh. "We couldn't make much sense of it, I'm afraid. I asked the staff if she's become less coherent with age, but they told me she's been this way ever since she came to the home in the sixties."

"We know Riddle brought Benson and another child to a cave during an outing with the orphanage once, but we don't know where that cave was, do we?" Aurora said and both Remus and Emmeline nodded.

"Dover? Hastings?" Roger suggested.

"There's caves all along the bloody English coast," Moody muttered frustratedly. "There's no way of knowing which one a London orphanage that's been closed for decades brought their wards to half a century ago."

"Bishop died over twenty years ago, and the old matron of the orphanage is dead as well. I've not been able to find any records of other staff members," Lily said even if it was old information. Digging for information in the muggle world had been a recurring assignment for her ever since she joined the Order, and she had tried to chase down old records from Wool's Orphanage for months before admitting defeat. They only knew about Dennis Bishop and Amy Benson thanks to Dumbledore who had mentioned it when they had begun the search for horcruxes years ago. It had always been considered too much of a long shot to follow up on, but they were running out of ideas.

The room was silent for a while again before Cedric asked the question that seemed to hang like a dark cloud over the room.

"Does this mean that he knows what we're looking for?" he said, and several of the older members shifted uncomfortably in their seats and shared uncertain looks with each other.

"We can safely say that he knows we're looking for something," Remus eventually replied. "If he was certain we're looking for parts of his soul that he has scattered across the U.K I doubt he would leave them where they've been for decades, but with each of these close calls it grows increasingly more likely that he will connect the dots."

"Why wouldn't he move them if he has even the slightest suspicion that we're after them?" Wondered Angelina.

"Because of his ego," Lily replied. "He probably thinks that a bunch of Mudbloods and blood traitors could never find out his biggest, most well-guarded secret. If he was as smart as he thinks he is he would of course assume the worst and move them. Not to mention that he would never have chosen such unique items in the first place, items that even have a damn theme. The smart thing would've been to pick seven nice rocks from the beach and after horcruxing them throw them into different oceans in different corners of the earth. Then we would've had our work cut out for us."

"Well, thank you Evans for that 'horcruxing for dummies' guide, we'll keep that in mind if we're ever in need of it," Moody said dryly. "Well, that's it for today, people. Our next meeting is on Wednesday next week, nine o'clock,"

Once the meeting was over, Lily lingered behind in the dining room as the others left.

"Anything to add, Evans?" Moody asked brusquely as he noticed her walking up to him. He had never called her by her married name even if she had tried to correct him countless times in her early days as an Order member.

Lily bit her lip and took a deep breath before she laid out her suggestion. "I would like to suggest a mission to Hogwarts. Mulligan's information-."

"No," Moody cut her off before she had even finished her proposal.

"But he said that they've increased the watch at Hogwarts, I really think one of them might be there-," she tried but Moody just shook his head impatiently.

"ItWe searched through that school high and low years ago, Evans. Dumbledore led the search, and unless you think he missed something at the school he lived and worked at for decades, we're not going to find anything there."

"Did you look in the Room of Requirement?" A voice called from behind them and both Lily and Moody turned around with a speed only people who have lived constantly on edge for decades possess with their wands ready to strike. Cedric Diggory stood in the doorway with his arms crossed and leaning casually against the wall.

"Eavesdropping on private conversations, Diggory?" Moody growled and tucked his wand back into its holster.

"Sorry, I should've knocked," Cedric apologised sheepishly.

"The room you talked about," Lily said impatiently. "What is it? I've never heard of it."

"It's in the first corridor to the left on the seventh floor," Cedric explained.

Lily turned to Moody. "That's the corridor they're guarding! Mulligan said the first corridor to the left on the seventh floor." She then turned back to Cedric. "Tell me more about the room, how come we haven't searched it before?"

The young man took a few tentative steps into the dining room. "Well, you have to walk back and forth in the corridor three times thinking about what you need, and then a door will appear, and it will lead to a room providing you with what you need. It can become basically anything," he explained.

"Anything?" Lily echoed.

Cedric nodded. "Well, mostly anything. Angelina once tried to conjure a room full of fudge, and that didn't work, would be against one of the exceptions to Gamp's law I guess, but I bet it could create an awesome hiding place."

Lily and Moody shared a look.

"Go wait outside Diggory, I'll deal with you later," Moody ordered the younger wizard and Cedric obeyed.

Once they were alone Lily wasted no time. "It's a good lead," she said eagerly.

"It's still madness to break into Hogwarts, Evans. The place is practically a fortress," Moody protested.

Lily knew then that she had won him over since he was complaining about how to execute the mission – not about the mission itself. "Give me until the next meeting to come up with a plan. This is the first solid lead we've had in years, Alastor."

Moody gave her a long look before letting out a long, tired sigh. "Fine, you've got one week, Evans, but I'm not putting the last Order members' lives on the line for anything less than a solid plan," he warned, and Lily smirked.

AN: When I wrote this chapter, I totally imagined the American President as Bill Clinton denying the existence of witches and wizards the same way he denied sleeping with Monica Lewinsky.