Despite all of that determination and realisation, they hadn't moved from Remus' living room. They couldn't. Dumbledore hadn't come yet. They hadn't got their next set of orders.

Orders. Now there was a term Sirius still understood and remembered very well.

But they hadn't received any further orders so here they sat, drinking far too much tea. At least it was good tea. Of course, it was because this was Remus after all. Sirius was just surprised that it wasn't hot chocolate that was being shoved down his throat. Remus was still very fond of the stuff.

"I can't believe that this has to happen," Remus said, shaking his head though fully accepting of everything Sirius had just dumped on him.

Sirius just shrugged, knowing that Remus didn't need a response. He was just processing everything. Bit je was right. Who would have thought that they were going to love through two wars like this? Because this is what this was going to be. Another war. Sirius could feel it. He didn't like the feeling, he hadn't the first time and he didn't like it now but that didn't make the feeling go away. And it wouldn't. Not if there was fighting to do, he remembered that well.

"There'll be new ones, you know. Younger ones. Just like we were."

The eldest Weasley children were joining. Bill had said so. That was two of the children from the last one. What a thought. He was sure that there would be more. People who watched their parents go through this the first time. People who maybe survived their parents much earlier than they thought they would. They would want to help, wouldn't they?

Remus cracked a smile. "We'll be the old ones."

Huh. That wasn't something he had thought about. Sirius remembered thinking that people like Moody were so experienced, so talented, when they probably didn't have any clue what they were doing as well. But they had been the backbone of the Order. Was it now their turn?

"Speak for yourself, Moony. I'll have you know that I'm perfectly young."

"Sure, you are, Padfoot. And that wasn't your knees I heard cracking as soon as you stood up."

"No." Sirius shook his head. "Definitely not. It was this furniture. It's old."

It had very much been his knee but there was no way he was going to ever admit to that. Because he wasn't old. He wasn't. He didn't feel it. Not really. Of course, he didn't count the after effects of being in Azkaban for twelve years. Being drained and starved and terrified for twelve years didn't make him old.

"Of course, Padfoot."

He didn't have to be so condescending. He could let him have this. A yay, if anyone was the old man here kt was Remus. He had acted like one since they were in third year, after all.

"They won't know what they're getting into." Sirius said, changing the subject back to the original one.

"Just like us."

They hadn't known at the ages of eighteen, nineteen what they were going to be thrust into. Even with him and James being Aurors they didn't truly know. Didn't know of the secrecy, the double crossing, the spies. The Order showed them that. Showed them what happened behind the scenes of a war. The First War. Because he supposed that's what it was now. The first one. Because they were definitely heading towards a second.

"We're going to have to teach them," Remus said with a sigh.

Sirius cracked a small smile at that. "Your forte."

That earned him a bittersweet smile. Remus really gad enjoyed teaching. Damn Snape and his inability to keep his mouth shut. And it looked like they were going to have to work with him too. The slimy git.

But there was no point in thinking of him now or at all really. No, not when there were far more important things to worry about.

How they were supposed to do this with no Ministry support. How they were supposed to get people to re-join. Figure out what they were going to do to ensure Voldemort didn't win. And don't forget about keeping Harry safe throughout all this. Somehow, Sirius felt like his godson was going to end up in the middle of all this and be didn't know how to stop that from happening.

It was a lot. And Sirius didn't even know of it was possible. It barely had been the last time. The War had definitely not been turning in their favour all those years ago. It had literally taken a miracle to stop it. And even that hadn't fixed everything.

How were they supposed to do all that again when they were starting out with even worse odds? Or maybe it was the same odds but they were just more realistic this time.

"So, what do we do now?" Sirius asked, feeling restless already.

It was all well and good doing all this talking but that's all it was. Talk. They had to be doing something. He had to be doing something. He wanted to be useful.

"I suppose we can't do anything except wait for Albus," Remus said.

Sirius sighed. Of course, he knew they would have to wait. It was he who had told Remus that in the first place. It was just that he wasn't very good at waiting. Never had been and probably never would. But wasn't there something else that they could be doing in the meantime.

He asked Remus this, who just shook his head.

"We don't even know who we are supposed to be getting," Remus told him. "People could have died in the interim. Could no longer be trustworthy. We just don't know. Albus us going to have to tell us."

Great. Fantastic. More waiting around. Sirius felt like he had done enough of that to last him a lifetime.

But that's what they were going to have to do and he couldn't do anything to change it.

So, they waited.