Evey sat on a golden chair in the last row, nearly a hundred meters away from the table where the body of Albus Dumbledore, covered in purple velvet, rested.

Walden was talking to a young woman, two rows forward. Evey had no idea who she was, but Walden seemed utterly engrossed in his hushed conversation with her, so Evey didn't walk over to enquire. Unlike her husband, she had no problem with him talking to a person of the opposite sex.

No matter how unusual it was for him to socialise without being forced into it.

Walden hadn't wanted to come to the funeral at all. He claimed that it was risky, knowing that Death Eaters – and Greyback – had been able to break into the castle once already.

Tony had voiced no argument. He was still in shock, and Evey couldn't blame him. He was seated to her left, hands in his lap, head turned toward the Black Lake, seemingly lost in thought. He hadn't spoken much since Jeanne had died.

Evey wasn't worried about Greyback abducting her here and now; he'd be insane to attempt anything, with Evey being surrounded by hundreds of acclaimed witches and wizards, not to mention a giant, two half-giants, merpeople, vampires, and a herd of centaurs. And even if she'd been anywhere else… Would he truly risk it? Were she Greyback, she'd keep a low profile for a while. He had to know that the Ancients would be on the warpath, after what he did to Jeanne.

Evey still had trouble coming to terms with it. She hadn't known Jeanne for very long, or any of the Ancients for that matter, and she didn't like her one bit, but it was disturbing to think – to know – that they could die. She'd accepted the fact of their immortality without much hesitation, but accepting that they could be killed was beyond her.

It was Evey's fault, of course. If she'd heeded Jeanne… If she'd done the right thing, if she wasn't such a bloody coward, even now… She could end this at any moment, if she decided to. She hadn't mentioned this to Walden or Tony, but she had given serious thought to putting an end to the carnage once and for all. It was Ted who had convinced her otherwise; he claimed that until they had a visual on Greyback, sacrificing her life was pointless. For all they knew, Greyback would regenerate, even if an Ancient bit Evey. She couldn't do something like this without proper guarantee that it wasn't in vain. Walden would never forgive her.

And yet she couldn't help but dwell on Jeanne's death, and poor Bill… Gods. His face would never be the same again.

It was all Evey's fault. It was her fault that Tony looked like a depressed Inferius. He'd never actually looked undead before, but now he was nothing like the man she'd come to know and love over the past two years. By allowing Greyback to live and kill Jeanne, she'd ruined him. She'd ruined her best friend's life.

Death. Unlife. Whatever.

Someone put a hand on her shoulder, startling her. Everyone was slowly migrating toward the Great Hall, she realised. The eulogy was over – nearly two dozen people had wished to honour the fallen Headmaster with a speech, including the famous half-vampire Elvis Presley, who'd composed a brand new song for the occasion, 'My Pal Al'. There was now a white tomb where Dumbledore's body had lain minutes ago.

Evey glanced behind her, though she knew who'd tapped her shoulder; her husband was the only person who had a hand made out of sycamore wood, as far as she was aware. She tried for a smile, but it was a feeble attempt. She'd never felt more disheartened in her entire life. "Hey." Then she noticed the same woman whom Walden had been talking to earlier, standing a few steps behind him. She was a lot prettier than Evey had assumed, just from seeing the back of her.

Not that it mattered. "Um, hi," Evey added hesitantly.

"Evey, this is Morgana Zhang," Walden introduced them. "Morgana, this is Evangeline."

Tony, who'd been staring bleakly at the lake, suddenly turned to look at the woman. His eyes widened in surprise. "Morgana?" he repeated.

She smiled shyly. "Antonin. Long time no see."

"How… I mean, why… Um, what are you doing here?" At that moment, Tony seemed to remember what everyone was doing here and cleared his throat in embarrassment.

Evey grinned at his discomfort. She was willing to bet that he would have blushed, if he could. Who was this woman? A former flame? She seemed a bit young for that; she couldn't be more than thirty. "So…" Evey said, "Morgana, how do you know these two weirdos?"

"It's a…long story." She eyed Walden sideways. "Does she know about…?"

"Oh yeah, she knows everything there is to know. Evey's my wife, actually." Uh. He was only telling her now?

Not that it mattered.

"That's great!" Morgana exclaimed. "I'm so happy for you." She gave Evey a genuine smile. "Well, your husband saved my life. He and Tony did."

"I wouldn't say that," Tony muttered.

"Don't be modest! You did. You-Know-Who and his partisans would have killed me, if you two hadn't helped me escape. At great peril to your own lives," Morgana added gravely. "You married a very brave man, Evangeline," she went on. "A good man."

"I wouldn't have married a nasty coward of a man," Evey said reasonably. Morgana chuckled when Walden coughed self-consciously.

"Anyway," Walden said, quickly changing the subject. "This is the wildest coincidence, but Morgana is actually filling in for me as Warden."

"No way!" Evey exclaimed. "Merlin, you're so lucky! I've been pestering him about becoming his apprentice for years."

Morgana laughed again. "Funny story, but I applied for an apprenticeship and it was denied without further explanation," she said with mock reproach. "If I'd known all I had to do was marry him…"

Evey snorted. "That took a great deal of pestering as well." Well, not the marriage part, in truth, but her husband understood what she meant. He had been quite reluctant to date her in the first place. Walden looked like he wished he could disappear under the ground. "Hey, maybe you could keep the job and take me in as a trainee," Evey told Morgana enthusiastically.

"I could definitely use an extra wand. But, um, I wouldn't want to steal Walden's job…"

"We could divide the area and work together," Walden offered, somewhat apprehensively.

"Colour me impressed," Evey marvelled. "Walden Macnair, Warden extraordinaire, is willing to share his territory and allow other people to handle his pets."

"I have to say, this day has taken a very different turn from what I expected," Morgana said.

"Tell me about it," Tony said. He couldn't seem to take his eyes off of her. Which meant, in all likelihood, that Morgana was more than merely pretty. Tony was extremely picky – and perhaps a bit shallow, too focused on physical appearance rather than personality – when it came to women.

For some reason, the realisation that Tony found Morgana to his taste made Evey strangely uneasy, though she concealed it expertly. He had every right to feel attracted to beautiful women, and gods knew he could use some distraction right now.

"Well, in any case, work will have to wait until we've dealt with our…currently unresolved issues," Walden said. It was one thing to leave the safety of the wards to attend Dumbledore's funeral, but going back to work was another matter entirely. Evey wasn't going to argue with that.

"What issues?" Morgana asked curiously.

The men exchanged uncomfortable glances. They had a tendency to communicate by expressive looks, but Evey was getting better at deciphering them. They may have saved Morgana's life when she was a teenager, but they didn't know her. They had no reason to trust her.

"Aw, come on," Evey said. "She's not likely to be a spy for Vol…I mean, You-Know-Who." Over her years as a witch, she'd learned to use Voldemort's sobriquet around strangers. She couldn't understand it, but it obviously distressed a lot of people to call him by his chosen name, and Evey didn't want to upset people needlessly. Merlin knew, she had enough trouble making friends as it was, especially at school. Though if Evey had been popular enough to start a trend, she would have called him Tom instead. How could anyone be afraid of a villain named Tom? Dumbledore should have thought of that.

It was too late now. His death would only increase the wizarding world's fear of the Dark Lord.

Morgana looked deadly serious. Evey hoped that she hadn't offended her by stating what she thought to be obvious. "I would rather die than serve that horrible snake," she said viciously. Her anger seemed directed at Voldemort rather than at Evey, thankfully. "In fact, I'm considering joining the Order of the Phoenix. Any idea who I should talk to about that?"

Evey looked around, trying to find a familiar face in the quiet crowd. She spotted Hagrid, but the Gamekeeper was sobbing heavily, his large head nestled on Madam Maxim's equally large shoulder. There was Kingsley, a few meters away. "That guy," she told Morgana, pointing at him. "I suppose he'll be our acting leader now that Dumbledore…" She trailed off, unwilling to finish that sentence.

Morgana nodded in understanding. "Thanks. I'll go talk to him now. It was great seeing you again, guys. Evey, it was a pleasure meeting you." They shook hands. "Until next time." She walked away, waving at them with a smile.

"Bye," Tony said, a minute too late. He looked entranced.

"I'm guessing you helped her escape 'at great peril to your life' because you have a massive crush on her?" Evey asked him with a crooked grin.

He frowned, then glanced at Evey, as though surprised to see her here. "What? Morgana? Phaw! No way! She's just a kid."

"She's older than me," Evey remarked. Morgana had been just a girl when Tony and Walden fomented her break-out from Voldemort's dungeons – which had prompted their ultimate punishment, the one that had changed their lives forever – but she was an adult now. A mature young woman who wasn't wearing an engagement ring or a wedding band, Evey had noticed.

"Not my fault if Walden's a cradle-snatcher," Tony said. Evey could tell that he was holding back a smile. Her heart swelled to see him acting almost like his old self.

"Just a friendly reminder that we're at a funeral," Walden grumbled.

Evey shrugged. "Dumbledore would have been the first person to tell you to move on and laugh rather than cry at his passing."

"Yeah, fair enough," Walden admitted. He cocked his head, eyeing his brother, who was watching Morgana as she discussed animatedly with Kingsley. "She's all grown up, huh?" he said slyly. So he'd noticed that she was pretty, then. Uh.

"I do not have a crush on her!" Tony repeated. His sudden grin belied his words, and he quickly ruffled his hair to try to hide it. "Ahem. Anyway. What do we do now?"

"Kingsley has planned an Order meeting tomorrow evening," Evey reminded him. Kingsley and the few remaining senior members of the Order had held a closed meeting soon after Dumbledore's demise, but Walden, Tony and Evey had not been invited. She assumed that it had been mostly about trying to figure out how the Death Eaters had penetrated inside the castle unbeknownst to everyone.

Tomorrow's meeting would take place at the Burrow. It was not considered entirely safe, but safety no longer existed, it seemed, except at Macnair manor, at least for the time being. Unfortunately, they couldn't afford to invite the entire Order within the wards; not after Snape's unexpected betrayal. "In the meantime…" Evey went on, "I don't know. We could flirt with Morgana to pass the time. And by 'we' I mean you."

Tony groaned. "V, leave off," he said plaintively. "Even if she wanted to date me, and that's a big 'if', what would be the point?"

"The point is to date her, you twit."

"And then what?"

Evey chortled. "Do you need me to spell it out it for you? You haven't forgotten how these things work, have you? It hasn't been that long."

Tony shook his head. "It's all about sex to you, you pervert."

"It's not!" she scoffed indignantly. "I thought that was all it was about to you, though. I'm confused, Tony. What exactly is the problem here? You like her, and I'm fairly certain that she likes you."

"So what, I have sex with her and then I dump her like yesterday's socks? I don't want to do that anymore," he said wistfully.

Walden was staring at him. "Well, colour me impressed." Evey poked him in the ribs. "What? He's never dated anyone long enough to actually call it dating."

"People change, alright?" Tony said. "Plus, it's Morgana. She's been through enough shit in her life – her baby brother was murdered by Travers, then she was taken hostage so that Voldemort would have leverage over her parents. She deserves better than the very little I have to offer."

"Gods, I hate it when men say that," Evey complained. Walden had told her practically the same thing when they'd started dating. "Who are you to say that? Are you implying that she's stupid and can't decide what she wants for herself? I'm not asking you to marry her. Just bloody talk to her. She's a big girl, she can make up her own mind."

Walden was shaking with silent laughter. "You should seriously ask Morgana out, mate. If you don't, Evey will do it for you, and you do not want that, I can assure you."

Evey rolled her eyes. "This isn't elementary school. I won't ask her out for you. But grow a pair, dammit. You've been so gloomy and sad, Tony. For your own sake, for all of our sakes, just do it. Please." She glanced away. "There. She's done with Kingsley. Go now."

Tony didn't move, looking at Morgana with a torn expression. Evey pushed him, and he stumbled forward inelegantly. So much for Ancient grace and balance. Morgana caught sight of the scene and joined them again. "Mr Shacklebolt tells me that I'm not the first person to approach him today. He said he'd consider my application, but it looks like he has a lot on his plate, and no wonder."

Evey smiled at her encouragingly. "I'm sure he'll let you know as soon as possible. We certainly need to bolster our ranks." She turned to Walden. "There are other vampires here, aren't there?" The question was ridiculously rhetorical. If not for the vampires, the funeral would have been held in daylight. "We should go talk to them. You know, forge some undead alliances." Walden nodded hastily and, after patting Tony heavily on the back, Evey joined him in search of potential allies.

Tony shuffled uncomfortably as Morgana took another step closer to him.

She was…cute. Not exactly pretty, not in a conventional way, but cute enough, with deep brown eyes and a bold nose. "So…" she said. "You're alive after all."

Tony blinked. Right. He was still supposed to be dead – well, he was, but… Kingsley had decided that it was okay for Tony to be here for the funeral, because he looked so young as to be almost unrecognisable. So far, he'd been correct on that account. Morgana had recognised him right away, but it made sense: Tony looked exactly as he did when she'd last seen him, fifteen or so years ago. "Yeah, don't believe everything you read in the Daily Prophet," he told her with a smile that appeared more confident than Tony felt.

"What happened to you, then?" she asked curiously. "You look so…"

"Handsome?" Morgana laughed. "You want to know the secret to eternal youth and beauty?" Tony went on conspiratorially. "I drink a lot of blood."

Her eyes widened slightly. "You're a vampire?" Tony nodded. "Wow, that's…" She hesitated. "I don't know, I've always had mixed feelings about vampires. They're so…eerie, so mysterious. Do you like it?"

"What, the blood, or being a vampire?"

"Um…both, I guess," Morgana said with a chuckle.

"No to both," he replied truthfully. "Nobody asked my opinion. But I've adjusted. It's been over two years, so…" He shrugged, hopefully in what would appear as a detached manner.

"Two years?" Morgana frowned. "Then how come you look so young? You're supposed to be…what…thirty-eight, thirty-nine?"

Uh. She was more inquisitive than anyone in the Order. Or maybe she was just smarter. In this instance, it was a bother. Tony didn't have a believable lie at the ready. "I…um, it's a…secondary effect. De-aging happens to one vampire in a thousand."

Morgana gave him a flat look, but didn't call him out on his bullshit. She must have guessed that he had his reasons to lie, and that they likely pertained to the Order. "Ok, well, lucky you. Some people would kill for this."

"Yeah." The awkward silence stretched…and stretched some more. Merlin, this was a disaster. When had he become so terrible at flirting? He was even worse than Walden! Maybe he should have asked Evey to be his wing…woman? "So…um…" Come on, think of something witty. A question about her life. A comment on the weather. Anything. "How did you become the new Warden?"

Her face lit up at that. "I simply showed up at the Ministry. You should have seen them! They were desperate. It was troll mating season last year, and it was complete chaos out there in the Cairngorms… When I realised that, I came to enquire about the Warden – I didn't know it was Walden, by the way. They told me that he'd abandoned his post, and I have a degree in magizoology, so I offered to take on the job. And that was that. Walden never gave sign of life, so the Ministry officially hired me after a few months. It's difficult to do it all alone, though. I wonder how Walden managed without dying out of sheer exhaustion."

"Well, he never had any sort of social life," Tony explained. "And he didn't have a wife, back then."

"Aw, they're so adorable together!" Morgana said. "Such a cute couple."

Yeah. Right. "Uh-huh. Say, um… Well, unfortunately, Walden won't allow visitors at the manor these days for, um, safety reasons…" Just go for it. Grow a pair, as Evey put it. "But I can go outside, if I want to." He hadn't wanted to, until then. Being around Walden and Evey – such a cute couple, bleh – had been difficult, but his first priority was to protect Evey. Now, however, Tony had a feeling that Evey was right about Greyback: the Wolf was unlikely to resurface anytime soon. Hopefully they would be able to enjoy a few somewhat less stressful months in the immediate future.

In any case, Ted and Alice were both staying at the manor at the moment. Evey was hardly without protection.

"So, um," Tony went on, fumbling with his words as though the English language was unfamiliar to him, "would you, maybe, um, like to-"

"I'd love to have a cup of coffee with you some time," Morgana interrupted him.

Tony blushed inwardly. He was so bad at flirting, girls now had to ask him out. "Great. Er, problem is, we don't have any owl at home at the moment…" There were many owls in the woods, but none were trained to deliver post.

"Then let me give you my phone number," Morgana said matter-of-factly. She took a piece of paper out of her purse, then rummaged to find a pen. Tony produced one from his pocket. "Thanks." She wrote down the number in a large, elegant handwriting. "Here you go. I won't pick up if I'm…I don't know, arm-wrestling with a troll or something, but leave a message and I'll call you back as soon as I can," she assured him with a dazzling smile.

She wasn't particularly pretty, but when she smiled like that, it didn't matter. "Lovely," Tony said dreamily.

"I have to go," Morgana informed him. "Work. You know how it is. But I'll see you soon!"

Tony tried to come up with a proper reply to this very simple sentence, but before his brain could provide one, Morgana was already walking away.

"I'm proud of you," Evey said a few moments later. "You still got it." She nudged him playfully in the ribs.

Tony turned to her, and Morgana vanished from his mind. How could anyone be considered pretty, compared to Evey? Merlin, what was he doing? What was he trying to prove? That he wasn't madly in love with her? That dating even the nicest girl in the world could change that? He was heading straight to disaster, but at least it would allay whatever hypothetical suspicion Evey or Walden may have.

It would certainly hurt Morgana in the long run, though. Tony would have to come up with a good reason to break up with her before it got too serious.

In the meantime, though, Evey had a point: he could certainly use the distraction.

The Order meeting was held in the Burrow's living room. The few core members who were still alive were present – Remus and Tonks (who were sharing a chair), Moody, Kingsley and the Weasleys considered old enough to be a part of it, including the future Mrs Weasley, Fleur, who was radiant as always in a yellow sundress.

Evey, Tony and Walden were seated on the couch, Evey between them as usual. Walden had his flesh arm around his wife's back, and Tony was absent-mindedly fidgeting with one of the cushions.

"Let's not mince words," Kingsley said eventually, after nearly everyone had had a chance to taste the biscuits displayed on the coffee table. "It's bad. Dumbledore gone… Harry refusing to discuss their 'plan'… He's only a child. We should-"

"A child who's accomplished more in his sixteen years of existence than most adults do in their entire lives," Evey noted. She hated the 'you're only a child' argument. She was barely more than one herself, but so what? Harry and his friends had proved to be more than capable and resourceful in the past. They'd faced Voldemort and his minions several times and had always survived. "Besides, if Dumbledore told him to keep quiet about this, don't you think he had a good reason?"

"Dumbledore is dead," Moody said bluntly.

"That doesn't mean that his good reason has evaporated," Evey retorted. "I think we should trust Harry. And Ron, and Hermione. They're hardly helpless, you know. And if they need our help, they will ask for it. They're too smart to be stubbornly prideful."

"And what are we supposed to do in the meantime?" Tonks wondered. "Dumbledore didn't leave instructions, not for us, beyond the fact that we have to get Harry out of his aunt's house just before his birthday. The only plan of action we had was to find as many allies as possible. But what do we do with them?"

"We carefully maintain good relationships with them," Walden said quietly. "There will come a time when we need them. Don't doubt it."

"What about you people?" Moody demanded, addressing Tony. "Any success in talking them into-"

"No," Tony interrupted him, "because I didn't ask them. And after what happened, I think they have bigger fish to fry than Voldemort."

"What happened?" Kingsley repeated with a frown. "What are you referring to?"

Oh, right. They didn't know about Jeanne – they believed that Tony had saved Bill all on his own, and Evey, Walden and Tony had kept Jeanne's involvement a secret precisely because they feared that the Order would assume that the Ancients were now on their side. Jeanne was only there to protect Tony. She didn't care about Bill, or anyone else. In the confusion that had followed the battle, no one had noticed her, and her body had vanished barely seconds after Tony had run off.

Tony hesitated. "Greyback…"

"Greyback killed one of the Ancients," Evey explained curtly. She didn't say when or why. "So naturally…they're pretty pissed off about it. We think that he may be in hiding for the time being. Which is why I was allowed to attend the funeral and this meeting, so far away from home." Walden gave her a sidelong glance, scowling. "So yeah," Evey went on, ignoring him, "we can forget about the Ancients. Preferably forever."

"What about the other Wolves?" Bill said. It twisted Evey's heart to see him like this. She was rather fond of Walden's various scars, but this was entirely different. "Were they involved in any way?"

"Not at all," Evey said quickly. "I'm not even sure if they're aware of the situation." Only Ted knew, as far as she could tell. The Bloodmother was supposed to have a word with Malkoran, the Wolves' Alpha, but they hadn't heard from her yet. Evey assumed that the Mother would summon or at least contact Alice – who was staying with them at the manor – if anything important came up.

"On the bright side," Walden cut in, eager to change the subject, "we've managed to gather a few more allies after the funeral. Two vampires, the Aberdeen werewolf pack, and I've also talked with the centaurs and merpeople, and they promised to help however they can at Hogwarts. The centaurs will let us know if they observe suspicious activities in the Forbidden Forest."

"Who's going to be Headmaster, now that Dumbledore is dead?" Tony asked. "One of you?" Moody seemed like a good option – Remus was a competent professor, but he was a werewolf, and parents would never accept him as Headmaster. Or it could be Professor McGonagall, Evey supposed. She'd stood in for Dumbledore in the past.

"The Minister will appoint someone," Kingsley replied. "I have not yet been able to find out if they have anyone in mind, but Minerva McGonagall is the most obvious choice. She has the necessary qualifications and she knows the job."

"Did you discover how the Death Eaters were able to get inside?" Evey asked.

Kingsley shook his head. "Not yet, unfortunately."

That didn't bode well. If the Death Eaters had free access to the castle whenever they wanted… "Do you think it's safe to keep the school open next year?"

Remus intervened. "I don't think that the students will be at risk. The Death Eaters were clearly after Dumbledore. Voldemort has no reason to commit mass murder at Hogwarts. His next attack will likely take place at the Ministry – he'll try to take over and replace Scrimgeour with a partisan or an Imperius-controlled puppet."

"Scrimgeour is under constant surveillance. I guard him myself as often as possible," Kingsley explained, "but my primary task is to keep an eye on the Muggle Prime Minister."

"So…all in all, the situation is not as bad as we could have expected," Evey summed up.

"It's far from ideal, but it could be worse," Remus agreed.

"And Dumbledore's death apparently prompted many people to join the Order," Walden said.

Kingsley, Remus and Moody exchanged a look and Tonks cleared her throat. "Well…yes," she began hesitantly. "But we haven't actually recruited them. We need to do a thorough background check, magically test them for curses and hexes like the Imperius..."

"In other words, we need to make certain that we're not inviting more treacherous Snapes into our core group," Moody said. "And speaking of…"

"We are not testing anyone present, Alastor," Tonks said firmly. "Dumbledore trusted them…us…"

"He trusted Snape, too," Moody pointed out. "Snape has been a double agent for too long. In my opinion, his loyalty was always questionable. He never should have had access to sensitive intelligence." He turned his magical eye on Walden, while the other fixed Tony. "As for these two…"

"Not this again," Evey growled. "It's easy to point fingers, but are you even the real Alastor Moody? Do we have tangible proof of that? You've been replaced before, and no one batted an eye."

"Enough!" Tonks exclaimed. "This is exactly what Voldemort wants – to sow mistrust and dissension among us, so we'll spend more time fighting each other than trying to stop him."

"Dora is right," Remus said. "We must assume that everyone in this room is reliable. The new potential recruits will all be investigated before being officially welcomed in the Order. That is what we agreed upon, Alastor," he went on when the former Auror tried to protest.

"So what do we do now?" Tony asked, echoing Tonks's earlier question.

Kingsley shrugged. "We cannot retaliate, which means that we have to wait for Voldemort to make his next move. I suggest that we keep doing what we were doing before."

"We cannot retaliate?" a new voice said. Evey turned toward its owner, Fleur Delacour. Her French accent was somewhat lighter than it used to be, but it still reminded Evey of Jeanne. Given Tony's stricken expression, he had the same thought. "My husband-to-be was disfigured by that…that…"

"Monster?" Evey supplied.

"Oui, exactement! That monster attacked him, and now he is out there, free. We must find him and kill-" She took a deep breath, and Bill put an arm on her shoulder. "And arrest him."

Fleur had not been present during the meeting where they'd revealed Greyback's true nature, but Evey assumed that Bill had told her all about it; if not before, he must have done it after being wounded by the Wolf. "Greyback can't be arrested so easily," Walden said. "And like we said, he's in hiding. Believe me, we want him found as much as you do," – if not more, his tone implied – "but right now I think we should focus on Voldemort. And I agree with you. We may not be able to retaliate, but we should take some initiatives instead of meekly awaiting the next blow."

"And what do you propose?" Kingsley asked, one greying eyebrow raised inquisitively.

That obviously caught Walden off-guard. "Um…well…"

"We've already recruited plenty of allies," Tony said. "Maybe we should explore other possibilities. We'll look into that and discuss them at the next meeting, alright? Since we have a lot of time to spare and nothing better to do." He didn't sound bitter, merely resigned.

They had already considered a few things, but they hadn't had time to do proper research. In truth, Evey had more or less expected Kingsley to have specific tasks for them, so they hadn't bothered. But Kingsley seemed just as lost as the rest of them, though he concealed it a tad better. They might have to take matters into their own hands if they wanted anything done.

"Very well," their acting leader conceded. "I think that the next meeting will be entirely dedicated to planning Harry's extraction out of his aunt's house, a task which, as previously established, will not involve the three of you, but we'll debrief…say, a week after William and Fleur's wedding. We'll hear your suggestions then."

"Sounds good to me," Evey said.

"In the meantime," Kingsley said gravely, "everyone please stay safe."