February 6, 1980
Sirius Black looked over the room as his fellow Order of the Phoenix members mingled about before a meeting. Today's meeting was being hosted by Elphias Doge, an old friend of Albus Dumbledore and fellow Order member. Sirius did not think much of Doge. He was a kind man, a good man, but he was so easily led along by others. Particularly by Albus Dumbledore.
His own feelings toward Albus Dumbledore were tumultuous at best. He felt betrayed by Dumbledore. He felt betrayed that this great man whom he had idolized during his teenage years had kept such an important secret from them. James and Lily's unborn child was in danger. What if Voldemort did not wait for the child to be born? What if he sought out Lily as she left work and killed her? A pregnant Witch was a more vulnerable Witch.
Though part of him wanted to deny Narcissa's words, he couldn't. He had held Narcissa's hand as she had begged him to end the life of her own sister. Black's were cruel but they had a great devotion to family. Narcissa had not lied to him. Foolish Bellatrix was apparently a Death Eater and she had taken what little bit of the prophecy she had heard to her precious Dark Lord. The end result seemed to be that Voldemort would begin targeting children due to be born in July.
'Will Dumbledore mention the Prophecy tonight?' He wondered. He shot a glance toward James and Lily standing with Frank and Alice Longbottom. The two pairs were engaged in a deep and serious discussion. He could tell by the way that Frank held himself and the worry lines around Alice's mouth that they now knew about the Prophecy that could place their own unborn child in harm's way.
Sirius turned his gaze away continuing to scout the room. His gaze came to rest briefly upon Alastor Moody and he nodded politely to his Auror Mentor when the man gave him a hard stare. A moment later Moody excused himself from talking with Doge and came to stand beside Sirius.
"You've got a problem, lad." Alastor Moody stated firmly.
Sirius did not bother to deny it. Perhaps with someone else, but he had already learned that it was pointless to evade or deny things to Alastor Moody. The last thing he wanted to do was offend the man. Moody had inventive ways to make a man's life miserable.
"Yes." He said simply. "But I cannot talk about it now." He told Moody. "If you have the time to spare, I would like to discuss it with you after the meeting is ended."
Moody gave him a suspicious look but he gave a curt nod. "Alright lad." He agreed.
Sirius felt relief flood him at Moody's compliance. He was worried for Lily and worried for Alice. He was concerned because he did not know what Voldemort intended to do. Would Voldemort single out individual children, say the children of his enemies? That seemed the most reasonable but then Voldemort was a megalomaniac bent on world dominion. Such a man would not be considered reasonable by any standards. Would Voldemort single out children or would he indiscriminately kill all children born in the month of July?
The thought made him feel sick. The added knowledge that Dumbledore knew, that he knew and had not told anyone brought a rage that burned through him. If Dumbledore had truly kept this quiet, he was not sure he could ever trust the old man again. There was no excuse that Dumbledore could give him for playing with the lives of those who had chosen to trust him.
His blue eyes hardened upon the leader of the Order of the Phoenix, one Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore as the man swept into the room.
"Ah, I am glad that you are all here. I do apologize for being late." Albus Dumbledore began as he walked to the head of the long dining table and took his seat at the head.
Sirius watched him briefly greet Elphias Doge even as he made his own way to the table to take a seat across from James. Moody took the seat directly to Sirius' left. He glanced across the table at James and met his best friend's gaze. He gave James a small smile when he realized that James and he were thinking along the same lines. He and James had been close since their very first meeting. They were very much alike though he would admit that James was the more grounded of the two of them. Despite what other people believed Sirius was not completely oblivious to his own faults. He knew that he was often brash and often rushed into danger. It was something that his time in Auror training had made him face and learn how to curb.
"Now, shall we begin?" Albus asked the room at large. At the nods of and murmurs of consent he began the meeting. "Lily and Dorcas tell me that they have made great headway in the deciphering of old protection charms." He started and then looked toward Lily who was seated between her husband James Potter and her friend and fellow comrade in the Ministry of Magic's Inventive Charms department, Dorcas Meadowes.
"Most of the Death Eaters seem to be ancient Pure-bloods and as such they have had the upper hand due to growing up with knowledge of ancient spells that the rest of us do not know about or do not think about." Lily began.
"Outlawed magic." Mary MacDonald sneered.
Dorcas Meadowes shook her head. "That's just it. As Lily and I discovered, it is not actually outlawed magic. Or at least most of them are not using anything outlawed. It is all perfectly legal."
"Legal. How?" Caradoc Dearborn asked as he leaned forward toward Dorcas.
"I mean legal." She stated. "These practices were never outlawed by the Wizengamot. They are more or less ancient practices that fell out of practice, no doubt due to newer and more inventive ways of doing things."
"By deciphering these older charms, Dorcas and I hope that we can use some of what we have learned as a base to weave new charms in order to better protect ourselves and our homes against the Death Eaters." Lily said with enthusiasm.
"If only we could find a way to strike out at the Death Eaters. Hit them hard at their own homes." Caradoc muttered.
"The worst is not knowing just who are Death Eaters." Emmeline Vance murmured. "We have such a small confirmed list and we know that there are many more." She declared.
"That list, add my cousin Bellatrix Lestrange to it." Sirius spoke up looking down the table to where Emmeline was seated.
Sirius found himself the sudden focus of several members of the Order, not the least of which was Albus Dumbledore. "And are you sure that Bellatrix is really a Death Eater? Granted she was a nasty piece of work in school but that does not necessarily mean she is a Death Eater." Emmeline argued.
Sirius looked calmly at Emmeline and nodded his head. "Her own sister confessed it to me. She warned me that Bellatrix Lestrange was a marked Death Eater, one of five women to be so marked, and that Bellatrix was ambitious and utterly devoted to He Who Must Not Be Named." He informed the table at large.
"It's true." James spoke up. "I was with Sirius when Narcissa Malfoy revealed to us that her older sister was a Death Eater."
"You say Narcissa Malfoy gave you this information?" Dumbledore asked of them.
"Yes." James responded as he glanced at Albus and then back to Sirius. "She told us that Bellatrix had visited her and boasted of growing in He Who Must Not Be Named's favor. Bellatrix showed off the Dark Mark to Narcissa."
Sirius nodded. "She also told Narcissa that she was one of five women honored with the Dark Mark." He said with disgust. "Cissa says that Bellatrix sounded like an obsessed zealot. She frightened 'Cissa."
"Turning on family." Muttered Mary MacDonald. Her very tone was judging Narcissa poorly for warning him about Bellatrix.
Sirius felt himself tense. Once, many years ago he had rather fancied the pretty blond-haired Mary MacDonald. They had dated a few times years ago, but Sirius had quickly lost interest in her in large part due to how judgmental he found her to be. He had then become interested in the beautiful Marlene McKinnon, who would turn into the first love of his life.
'I have a thing for blonds.' He realized as he acknowledged his brief infatuation with Mary MacDonald, his love for Marlene McKinnon and his love for Olivia Greengrass. He gave himself a mental shake to keep his thoughts away from Olivia and the pain that thinking of her always opened up within him.
"Sirius is Narcissa's cousin." James reminded Mary, oddly enough defending Narcissa. "Telling a member of her own family, one who had been raised to one day be Head of the House of Black about Bellatrix cannot really be considered turning on family."
"I am glad she told you Sirius." Dorcas proclaimed. "Better that it be known by the Aurors."
"Aye. We have long suspected her husband and brother in law of being in league with that madman. Now that we know that Bellatrix is marked, we will have better luck in finding a way to get permission to search the Lestrange Household and their own persons." Alastor Moody stated.
A few of the other Auror's murmured their happy agreement to Moody's words. Sirius and James smiled at each other as they too nodded agreement with Moody's words.
"What about Narcissa Malfoy?" Mary MacDonald questioned. "Does she bear the Dark Mark?"
"She doesn't." Sirius declared in a tone that was defensive of his cousin.
"How do you know?" Mary challenged, her blue eyes glaring at him.
"Because I checked her over myself." James said with a scowl. "I performed spells to check to see if she is concealing anything and they came back negative. She's clean."
Sirius felt a great deal of relief that James was not revealing that Narcissa was pregnant. There were men and women seated at this table that viewed Narcissa as a threat to society simply because she was born to the Black family and because she was married to Lucius Malfoy. Sirius inwardly winced when he realized that until recently he had been in league with those people. He had been a leader in that band.
Mary subsided after that and the meeting continued with mentions of supposed Death Eaters, theories on Voldemort's movements, theories on Death Eater targets, and what was all around pointless chatter in Sirius' opinion. It was a lot of theories and no proof.
'We need a spy.' He thought with a frown. They needed inside information. But if they had a spy, would they be able to truly trust that the man or woman was actually on their side? How did you trust a Death Eater to do anything except torture and kill you?
The meeting ended with high hopes from most of the members despite the lack of actual decisions and planning. Sirius wondered why it was so easy to please some of them. Didn't they realize that they had wasted a whole lot of time talking about things that they had already known? What they knew is that they had a large lack of knowledge.
He watched Dumbledore as he said goodbye to Doge. Dumbledore was swift to make his exit, never bothering to attempt to speak with James or with Frank. He glared at Dumbledore's retreating back.
'If anything happens to James, Lily, and their child because of your lack of action, I will never forgive you.' Sirius silently vowed as he watched Albus Dumbledore turn in the fireplace and call out his destination. For a moment their eyes met and Sirius smirked when he noticed Dumbledore's bewildered expression. Albus had clearly caught on that Sirius was not happy with him but he did not yet know why. He was sure he would hear from Dumbledore at some point to be questioned about the matter.
"Ready for that talk, Laddie?" Moody asked of him.
Sirius glanced over at the man he admired and he nodded. "Yeah, come on." He said leading the way over to James and Lily. Sirius gave Lily a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. "You take care of yourself." He ordered her.
Lily smiled at his concern. "I should say the same about you." She pointed out.
"I will watch out." He told her and then he glanced over at James. "I will watch his back too." He whispered to Lily.
She squeezed his hand in thanks and gave him a kiss on the cheek then pulled away to greet Moody. Sirius gave James a quick hug then pulled away. "I am going to fill in Moody." He informed James.
James looked surprised for a moment but then swiftly nodded his agreement. "Probably for the best." He said. It was clear to Sirius that James was also feeling betrayed and a bit demoralized by Dumbledore's lack of action.
"I'll see you at work in the morning." Sirius told him.
James nodded and then he walked the few paces toward where Lily stood now talking with Dorcas. Sirius knew from personal experience that Lily and Dorcas could talk for hours about charms research if they were left alone to do so.
"Ready?" Sirius asked of Moody.
The older, hardened Auror nodded his head curtly. Sirius smiled and then led the way to the fireplace. "My place then." He told Moody and then he threw floo powder into the fireplace and called out his destination. A few moments later he was stepping into his lounge. He made his way to the kitchen and took out two whiskey glasses and then he reached into a cupboard to pull out a bottle of Ogden's Finest Firewhiskey. He popped the cork on the bottle as Alastor came through the floo network and stomped over to one of Sirius' arm chairs.
Sirius poured the whiskey into the two glasses and then he entered the lounge and offered Alastor Moody his glass. The man eyed it for a moment before taking it. "What you have to tell me is bad enough for Ogden's Finest is it?" He asked of Sirius.
Sirius could not help but smile despite how truly dire he felt the situation was. He nodded even as he sat himself down in the opposite matching chair. "You could say that." Sirius began before taking a sip of his drink.
"Well then out with it lad." Moody proclaimed. As of yet he had not taken a single sip from his drink but he kept a firm hold of the glass.
"Right." Sirius sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "It started with James really." He began to explain. "He received a letter from his Aunt Cassiopeia Black requesting an interview with herself and with our mutual cousin, Narcissa Malfoy." He said softly. "James was skeptical about granting the interview. He had not been close to Cassiopeia for many years and had rarely spoken with her since his mother died a few years back. Yet, Cassiopeia was writing more for Narcissa than for herself and James began to wonder just what Narcissa could be wanting. He showed me the letter at that point, wanting my opinion." He revealed.
"And you thought that a meeting should take place." Moody stated.
Sirius nodded. "James was worried that maybe Narcissa was in a bad situation and in need of help." He admitted. "I know what you think about the Black's and you are accurate in most of that thinking." Sirius said firmly, his tone turning hard. "But 'Cissa has never been a bad sort. She was always lady like and gentle as a child and as a teenager. She is not the sort to like torture and bloodshed. The Malfoy's are rumored to be a cold-hearted sort. James was worried that Narcissa might be abused by Lucius."
Moody sat forward slightly then. His eyes alight with interest. It was well known that Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody despised the Malfoy Family. He had since he had been a young Auror.
"I knew that James would never forgive himself if he did not agree to meet with 'Cissa, so I told him that he should but that he should not be alone and that he should choose the time and the place so that he could better control the situation." Sirius continued his explanation. "He chose St. Dunstan's Church. It is imbued with old magic from the generations of Potter's that have been patrons of that Church. I made sure that we had friends staked out around the town and within the Church itself just in case it was some sort of trap to draw James out, but it really was a sincere request to just talk on 'Cissa's part. She arrived alone with no companion besides Aunt Cassie."
Sirius took another swift sip of his drink then continued. "Cissa revealed that Bellatrix was a Death Eater. She said that Bella had come to her and shown off her Dark Mark and then had bragged about earning a higher place in Voldemort's ranks by spying on Albus."
"On Albus?" Moody said with actual surprise. "How?" He asked with a frown.
"She followed him to the Hogs Head in Hogsmeade and she listened in on his meeting with Sybil Trelawney. Apparently Trelawney actually had a visionary moment and told a Prophecy to Albus. Bellatrix was thrown out of the pub before she could hear the whole of it but she took back to her Lord what she had heard." He spat out the word lord with venom.
"What did this prophecy say?" Moody asked him.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…" Sirius repeated the chilling words. "There was more but Bellatrix did not hear the rest.
"Well at least we can take comfort in the fact that You Know Who does not have the whole of the Prophecy." Moody declared before taking his first true drink from his glass.
"Not that that matters by much." Sirius informed Moody. "You Know Who now knows that a child shall be born in July that will be his doom. There is no way he will let that slide. He is too deranged to allow even the thought of a threat to his power to stand."
"What has Albus said of this?" Moody asked of him.
"That's just it." Sirius said with a shake of his head. "He hasn't. He has not breathed a word of it to James, Lily, Frank, nor Alice. They are expecting and Albus knows that they are due to deliver in the prophesied month." Sirius frowned as he stared at Alastor. "It was both James and my hope that Dumbledore would either declare it to the Order tonight or at the least make some appointment with James and Frank for a private conversation later. But you saw him. He did nothing."
Moody frowned and took another sip from his glass. "Albus will be thinking on the matter of the prophecy and whether or not to believe in it or not." He murmured.
"Yeah, but he must know that they were overheard." Sirius persisted. "I know that Aberforth would have told Albus that Bellatrix Lestrange was thrown out of the pub after she was caught spying upon him."
Moody frowned at that. Yes, Sirius was right. Aberforth Dumbledore, the owner and proprietor of the Hogs Head Pub in Hogsmeade, would have told his older brother about Bellatrix Lestrange eavesdropping upon his interview with Sybil Trelawney. Albus' silence on the matter of the prophecy was quite damaging to the trust that James Potter, Lily Potter, Frank Longbottom, Alice Longbottom, and Sirius Black had placed in him. "You are right lad. This is a problem." He said as he tipped back his drink and drank the rest of it down in one swallow.
Sirius nodded his agreement. "I think that Dumbledore means well, but he is playing a dangerous game with the lives of my loved ones and I will not tolerate it." Sirius declared angrily before he strode back to the kitchen and snatched up the bottle of Ogden's Finest. He brought the bottle back and then poured Moody another glass before he poured himself another one as well.
"Agreed." Moody said gruffly. "We'll have to beard the lion in his own den."
Sirius nodded his head and felt a bit of the tension leave him. "Yes." He agreed. He knew that they would have to confront Dumbledore. "More importantly though we need a Death Eater that will talk." He muttered darkly. "We need a spy in their ranks or at least to capture a senior Death Eater and somehow break them, make them talk." He told Moody.
Moody nodded his agreement. "Do you have any ideas of possible Death Eaters?"
Sirius nodded. "Of course I do, but no way to prove that they are Death Eaters." He grumbled. "Cissa did not mention her husband and James and I chose not to ask her since she had come to us of her own free will to give us the information she did."
Moody smirked. "I always thought that Abraxas Malfoy was a worthless blackguard. I am sure his son is a chip off the old block."
"Maybe, but the Malfoy's are well respected." Sirius reminded him in a tone that showed his disgust about that fact. "If it were easy to stroll into Malfoy Manor and have a look around at the family and their possessions then you would have done it already."
Moody nodded. "True." He admitted gruffly. "I'll see what I can do about getting the powers that be to grant a search of the Malfoy's." He promised.
Sirius nodded his head in acknowledgement. "I do wonder about Severus Snape." He informed Moody. "He was a nasty piece of work when I went to school with him. I asked 'Cissa if she knew if he was marked and she admitted that she had no idea. He is supposed to be some great talented Potion's Master too."
Moody nodded. "Who wouldn't want a great Potion's Master on their side?" He asked rhetorically. "So you think that he is a Death Eater?"
Sirius nodded his head in the affirmative. "I think it is a very great possibility." He told Moody. "He hung out with a lot of Slytherin's that we now know are Death Eaters. They surely tried to recruit him."
Moody smirked. "Then we shall have to check into Severus Snape, the new Lord Prince." Moody said and raised his glass in a toast.
Sirius smiled in comradery with his mentor and he raised his own glass and clicked it together in a toast with the aging Auror.
