(Note from the author: These are not my characters, my world, or my situations. They all belong to J. K. Rowling, and are protected by copyrights.)

Frank called a meeting later that month. He said it was very urgent and all members needed to attend. James and Lily had been eating dinner when the letter had come, in a code that none of them could read until they realized that they had to say the name of Headquarters for the words to straighten themselves out.
It warned them not to use Floo Powder, Portkeys, or any other sort of wizarding transportation to that exact address. So Lily prepared a Portkey to take them one block away from Moody's house, and then they would walk the remaining distance.
It was dark when they reached the outside of Headquarters. The trash bins were evilly staring them down, just waiting to be put off. Moody must have told them not to attack any members, so they silently let the couple pass them unharmed.
Inside the house, everyone was settled in their seats in the living room, chatting away. Marlene was telling Emmeliene about the wonderful day she had had in Dublin a few weeks ago, and Emmeliene was putting in a word about how she always wanted to go to Dublin, but never found the time.
Dorcas Meadows, the darker witch that counted how many Death Eaters she had killed, was silently sitting by herself, waiting for Dumbledore to arrive and tell them what exactly was going on. She looked ready to attack the first stranger in a black cloak that she saw, and her eyes sparkled as she saw Sirius Black enter from behind James and Lily.
"Hey, Prongs," Sirius said, patting him on the shoulder. James spun around, and smiled. Good, he was smiling again.
"Hey, Padfoot," he replied, and then looked out the window to the outside, "You bring the motorbike?"
"Yeah," Sirius beamed, "It's my pride and joy. What else would I come on?"
James laughed, and the three of them took their seats in the back. They didn't see Remus or Peter anywhere.
But sure enough, the two of them came running in, Remus removing a beaten scarf from around his face. His hair was getting longer, and it fell in his face as he tried to push it back. A small smile crawled onto his expression as he saw his three friends, and beckoned Peter over to them.
"How are you three?" he said, "Have a nice weekend?"
Sirius snorted, "Not so much. Can't find a damn job anywhere. Since when was being an adult so hard?"
"Since the beginning of time," Remus said wryly, "And it isn't any better for me, mind you."
"Do they actually ask about your problem?" Peter said, sitting down on the other side of him.
"The Ministry has me in their records. I have to tell them," he pocketed his scarf, "Otherwise I get fined or thrown in Azkaban or some other punishment."
"All right, everyone," Moody grumbled, stalking into the room, Frank behind him, "Shut up. It's not a family reunion. All eyes over here. Let's focus."
Slowly the talking diminished, and everyone looked to the two Aurors, walking to the front of the room. Dumbledore was no where to be seen.
"Where's Albus?" Elphias demanded.
"Occupied," Moody growled, and left it at that. He then turned on his heel to face the Order members, "We called you here tonight because we need to discuss certain things that our spies have told us."
"And what would that be?" Sturgis interjected.
"I would appreciate it if all of you stopped running your mouths and listened to us," Moody snarled, staring down Sturgis, "Now . . . where was I?"
"The Death Eaters have killed off most of our spies," Frank said, "We haven't been able to persuade any true Death Eaters to work for us, therefore we have no eyes or ears in the enemy lines. We know nothing. Except for one small detail that we acquired from an intercepted owl."
Moody took out a piece of beaten parchment, and cleared his throat, "We have returned. The offerings were a success. Korpse has agreed to begin an alliance. He is already making the trek."
"That was damn right irresponsible of them to go writing it out like that," Fabian snorted.
"Well, where their flaws are, our greatest triumphs lay," Moody grumbled, "We believe that this letter is speaking about an alliance between the giants of Europe and Voldemort."
An uproar ran through the room, and Dorcas stood, "Why didn't we get to them first?"
"The giants are coming to England?"
"Alastor, how could we have let this happen?"
"Are all of our spies dead?"
"Yes," Moody said, and the room went quiet. They all stared at him in shock, and then Moody continued, "Yes, they are all dead. We are outnumbered."
This put a blanket of doubt over the room, and quietly, each one of the Order members looked to each other nervously. But they showed no fear. No, the Order of the Phoenix did not know the meaning of that word.
"How are we supposed to stop these giants?"
"We don't," Moody said, "There's nothing that we can do about them. We still need to focus on our main target. Voldemort. If we kill the king, the pawns will also fall."
"Their armies are growing," Frank added, "But there is only one Voldemort. There will always be one Voldemort. We need to destroy him by all means possible. That is the one thing that we can count on."
"We need another spy in his regime," Alice said, her bubbly voice suddenly growing very serious, "Isn't there anyone that we can send . . ."
"It's too dangerous," Emmeliene said, "Can you imagine what would happen if they were caught?"
"That's the risk that we take every day," Frank said, looking at his wife, "Alice is right. We need to send two new spies into their ranks."
"I'll go," Benjy Fenwick said, standing up.
"And I will, too," Edgar Bones said, his thinning hair looking grayer, "I will be honored to give my services to you full time."
"Fine," Moody said, as if it was every day that two men gave their lives to go spy on Voldemort, "We have two volunteers. Good. We'll talk to you in private after this meeting."
"The other thing that we needed to address is the growing Muggle killings," Frank said, "Two months ago, we found that they're still using Dolohov's old place to torture their victims. They took Lupin there, and did the same sorts of things to him as they did to June's boy."
Remus shifted in his seat as eyes turned to look at him curiously.
"Dolohov is known as an excellent wizard," Moody said, his eyes darkening, "He has a way with werewolves and other sorts such as that. Very persuasive to the little demons inside. He's been known to even pursuade them to kill themselves. And their hosts."
"And you survived?" Kingsley sounded from one of the front rows.
"Yes," Remus said quietly, looking down at his hands.
Elphias looked at him for a second, and then back to Moody, "This was the night that Black went stomping out the door, I'm guessing?"
"Yes," Moody said, "And because of Mr. Black 'stomping' out the door, we were able to save Lupin, James, and Miss Evans."
"Suddenly you're singing their praises, Alastor?" Elphias sounded, "I remember when we left you with them, you wanted to kick half of them out of the Order. And now all of a sudden werewolves and Black spawn are as good as us?"
Sirius's eyes narrowed, and Remus looked dangerously to Elphias.
"I believe that you have forgotten why the Order was created, Doge," Moody snarled, his swiveling eye coming to rest on the old wizard's face, "Everyone was created equal. Every human being is given the same chances in life. It seems that you are having the same thoughts as Voldemort and his followers."
"We all have reasons for not being wanted," Frank said, coming from behind Moody, "Even you, Elphias."
"Blood traitors, squibs, werewolves, half bloods, Muggle-borns," Moody growled, "We're all here. Did you forget that as well?"
"Now, Alastor, don't be daft," he snorted, "Of course I didn't forget that."
"They signed the same contract as you did, Elphias," Frank said, "And therefore they will be treated the same."
Sirius's gaze had gone from Elphias to Moody, who now had his eye on him. They exchanged a glance, and then turned away from each other. Remus was very stiff in his chair as Frank looked to him as well, and then back to the Order.
"Now," he said, "We will keep in touch. Look out for any word on Dolohov and what Voldemort's planning. We have the name of another Death Eater. Igor Karkaroff. He was also there that night."
"Any word on Ludo Bagman, yet?" Edgar asked.
"No, not yet," Alice piped up, "We're still watching him closely."
They then ended the meeting, and Moody tiredly took his eye out of his socket, and polished it on his cloak. He rubbed his socket, and then made his way to the exit of the room. Sirius stood, and walked to him.
"Hey, Moody," he said, coming up to him. Moody turned to stare at him, in surprise.
"Yes, Mr. Black?" he said, "I'm very busy, so if you don't mind . . ."

"Thanks," he said extending his hand. Moody looked at it, gave a wry smile, and took it.
Then in a quick departure, he mounted the spiraling staircase and walked out of sight.
Sirius furrowed his brow as he turned to look back at James and Lily, who were talking quietly to Marlene about when the wedding would be. Marlene seemed very happy for someone who was out to revenge her father.
It sort of unnerved him.
"I knew that you would make a fine Auror," he whipped around to face the black haired witch with the monotone voice.
Dorcas Meadows had no sort of expression on her face at all as she extended her hand to Sirius, and said, "A fine Auror, indeed. I'll trust anyone that Alastor does."
"Well, thanks," Sirius said, taking Dorcas's hand.
"My pleasure," she said coldly, and then swept out of the room like an overgrown bat.
"You heading out?" James asked, pulling Lily away from Marlene.
"Yeah," Sirius said, still watching the spot that Dorcas had been standing, "Yeah, I'm going. Don't want to stay here longer than I have to."
James nodded in agreement, and then turned for the entrance hall.
"Hey James?" Sirius started, and James turned around, "So you're okay, right?"
He nodded again, and then squeezed Lily's shoulders, "I'm fine."
Sirius returned the nod, and then shoved his hands in his pockets. He didn't really want to leave yet, contrary to what he had told them. He felt familiar with this place. The flat that he had purchased after being booted out of the Muggle one was too secure. It was far away from any sort of regular life, and it put a bad taste in his mouth. He couldn't stand living by himself without any of his friends there.
He felt wanted here. He wanted to stay here.