THE PHONE

Grimmauld Place July 1989

Lily wondered why no one had ever bothered to come up with some magical version of air condition. It was the end of July and the heat was unbearable enough as it was, but squeezed into the dining room at Grimmauld Place with nearly forty others was approaching torturous. The Order had grown so much lately that they couldn't even accommodate everyone at Grimmauld at the same time – they had to have meeting in batches. She thankfully belonged to 'group A' as it had unofficially become known as, which all high-profile members like McGonagall, Dumbledore, Moody and Remus also were part of. Their group would meet once every two weeks, and afterwards Moody held another meeting for the newer, less experienced and, as he had pointed out to Lily once, less trusted members at another location. She guessed it might be a slightly abridged version where the most sensitive information was left out.

Lily felt the a faint breeze coming from her left and wondered if indeed someone found a way to get fresh air into the room without compromising the security, but realised it was only Aurora who had decided to use today's edition of the Daily Prophet as a fan. The dark-skinned witch had been a member for a couple of years now and had recently been hired by Dumbledore to teach astronomy at Hogwarts.

"Lupin, Podmore, you said that you got some relevant information from last's night's stakeout in Little Hangleton," Moody, who often was the one to lead the meetings despite Dumbledore's presence, asked.

Remus nodded. "Well, we thought we might be lucky and catch the Lestrange brothers since they've often been sighted there recently, but we got something better than that. We managed to listen in on a conversation with You-Know-Who himself."

Excited whispers filled the room, and Lily sat up a bit straighter in her seat. Suddenly the sweltering heat, which had previously occupied her mind, was the least of her concerns.

"You are certain?" Moody asked and gave both the men a stern look.

Remus nodded. "Positive, it was him without a doubt. He was discussing possible assassination attempts with one of the Rosiers, we believe it was Thomas."

"I think he might be going insane, or well, more insane," Sturgis said. "He was telling Rosier that he was not concerned about the possibility of assassination attempts, as if he could not be killed even if we tried."

"That's probably just his ego talking," Aurora snorted and rolled her eyes. "He thinks that there is no one skilled enough to take him down."

"He didn't really put it like that," Remus objected carefully. "He literally said 'I'm going to live forever - they could all fire their strongest Killing Curses and they would not even touch me'"

The table was silent for a few long moments.

"Well, there is unicorn blood," Emmeline Vance pointed out. "Not to mention The Philosopher's Stone which has kept Nicholas Flamel alive for centuries."

"That's not quite the same thing, though," Lily objected.

Emmeline frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Nicholas Flamel has found a way to live forever, as in his body will never succumb to old age the way it normally would, but he could still die from a Killing Curse in the chest. Voldemort speaks of invincibility as if he cannot be killed; that even if we all lined up and fired Killing Curses at him, he would survive," Lily explained.

"Surely that's impossible, Albus," Arthur Weasley said sceptically and looked to the leader of the Order at the end of the table.

Lily realised then that Dumbledore had remained suspiciously silent throughout the discussion, seemingly lost deep in thought, but now the entire group was looking expectantly to him.

"There is to my knowledge no way of achieving such a thing," he answered calmly, and most of the room seemed relieved at that admission; Arthur let out a breath of relief and squeezed his wife's hand, Sturgis' face lit up in a smile, and Emmeline's shoulders dropped several inches. Moody, however, stared thoughtfully at Dumbledore with his regular eye, and as Lily met his gaze, she knew he had reacted to the Headmaster's word choices the same way she had. 'There is to my knowledge no way', was certainly not the same as 'there is no way', and as the meeting moved onto the next topic, Lily felt a knot forming in her stomach at the possible implications of a Voldemort that could not be killed. Remus and Sturgis relayed the rest of the short conversation they had managed to snap up, and then followed nearly half an hour of reports by Order members from various Ministry departments.

It was after Marion Abbott finished her report from the Department of Magical Transportation that Lily raised her hand. Moody gave her a curt nod and Lily took a deep breath.

"I met a muggle police officer a couple of days ago," she began.

"On purpose?" Moody asked.

Lily shook her head. "No, he approached me in a pub. I doubt he has a very important position, but he could give us some insight into how muggle authorities are reasoning about attacks carried out by wizards."

"I don't see why we'd need to know that. It's not as if the muggles are posing a threat to us," Elphias Doge said.

"This war is spilling into the muggle world more for every day, Elphias," Dumbledore said calmly. "It's the muggles who are paying the highest price for Voldemort's war, and even if they don't have magic, they do have other means of defending themselves, and if the attacks keep coming, they will start using them. I think Lily could be right about the importance of knowing what the muggle authorities are thinking,"

Several members nodded in agreement. Dumbledore's words weighed heavier than anyone else's, and Lily had no doubt that they'd be must more hesitant if he had not spoken up.

"This police officer, who is he?" Moody asked.

"His name is Mark McAuley, he lives in Bayswater and works for the Metropolitan Police," Lily replied.

"Isn't Bayswater a bit pricey for a London police officer?" Emmeline, who was raised by two squib parents and knew muggle London better than most of the Order, asked.

"Inheritance from his grandparents," Lily answered which seemed to satisfy the others.

"Look him up properly before you start playing secret agent, Evans. Make sure he's not some Death Eater in disguise," Moody advised gruffly.

The thought had already occurred to Lily, and she nodded in agreement to Moody's suggestion.

After that the meeting quickly finished. Arthur and Molly rushed away to get home to their large brood of children; the elder boys were watching their younger siblings while the parents were away, and both the adult Weasleys were understandably anxious to get back before the twins tore the entire house down. Dumbledore, McGonagall and Flitwick apparated back to Hogwarts whilst Aurora stayed the night to get some quality time with Emmeline who lived at Grimmauld Place along with a couple of other Order members. At first it had been a matter of convenience, and to an extent, economy, but after Dedalus Diggle had been brutally murdered in his own flat by Death Eaters less than a year earlier, it had become clear that all Order members had to increase the security precautions on their homes, and for some of them it was better to move to headquarters. Lily had placed every protective charm she knew on her flat in Clapton and even dragged Flitwick there on the Overground to check that she hadn't missed anything.

Lily was busy putting on her coat and scarf in the hallway when she heard a voice addressing her from up the stairs.

"You know there's an empty guest room on the second floor if you'd like to stay the night, Lily," Aurora said warmly, her fingers interlaced with Emmeline's. The other witch was a couple of steps further up the stairs but still held onto Aurora's hand and gently caressed it as she waited for her to finish talking to Lily.

"Thanks, but I must get back to my potions," Lily declined politely. Aurora often made those kinds of offers, and at first Lily had assumed it to be a matter of politeness, but since Lily usually declined and Aurora kept asking, she wondered if the other witch might be offering her a branch of friendship.

"Our door is always open for you if you change your mind. Have a safe journey home," Aurora said softly before following Emmeline up the stairs.

Lily looked thoughtfully at them as they disappeared to the first floor. Maybe they weren't interested in friendship - maybe they were just trying to coax her into a threesome.

Lily's detective skills managed to dig up that Mark McAuley was born in Glasgow but had moved to London in his teens when his parents died in a car crash and an uncle became his guardian. He was 38 years old and there were school records of him all the way from primary to when he graduated from the police academy. There was nothing to suggest any involvement in the Wizarding World at all, which meant that she could go ahead and call the number on the crumbled note in her coat pocket.

She was surprised to feel a flutter of nerves in her stomach at the thought of seeing him again. She had not felt that since James, and even if she had occasionally entertained the idea of pursuing a new relationship, she had never found anyone who made her feel like she truly wanted to before.

"I'm glad you decided to see me again," Mark said as Lily took a seat next to him at the bar. It was more crowded tonight, it being Friday and all, but he had managed to grab two stools by the wall. He was looking every bit as good as she remembered and had even done her the curtesy of rolling up his shirt sleeves, revealing two strong underarms that were both clearly lacking a Dark Mark.

Lily offered him a smile that she hoped was a bit flirtatious.

"Well, you did offer to buy me a beer at the best pub in Shoreditch, so how could I possibly refuse?

The diary occupied most of Lily's thoughts the days following her meeting with Malfoy in Godric's Hollow. She had been back to Weavers Field the following day and there had been no sign of the locket, so she assumed that Malfoy had found it and understood who had left it there. He was, after all, not entirely stupid. She had sent a short message instructing him to wait while she conferred with the others. The next Order meeting was planned for Wednesday, and even if Lily had a strong feeling about the diary it did not qualify as an emergency, which was the only time they ever held extra meetings.

When Wednesday came along, she waited the entire day for the Polyjuice and Veritaserum to reach their final stage, and late in the afternoon and soon before Lily had to leave, they did. To her relief both the Polyjuice and the Veritaserum came out perfect and could be poured into flasks and vials that Lily put in her satchel to bring with her to the meeting. She realised she had a little time left before she had to leave for Grimmauld and grabbed a handful of Fluxweed to start up another batch of Polyjuice on the stove when she heard the shrill ringing of the phone in the living room. She immediately froze.

That phone had not rung for years. She had used it to call Mark when she still lived in Clapton, and he had of course called her as well. After moving, the phone number had changed and she had used it a couple of times years ago for her 'detective work' as Moody called it when she researched different things in the muggle world but had then decided that it was too much of a risk. She could not recall why she hadn't thrown it out, or why she hadn't even unplugged it.

The phone rang for what felt like hours, and Lily remained frozen in place by the counter with the Fluxweed still untouched on the cutting board. Her mind was spinning. No one had the phone number to this flat; in fact, Lily did not even know the number herself.

Eventually it stopped and Lily let out a breath she had not even realised she had been holding. With shaky hands she cut the Fluxweed and added it to the cauldron. The first steps of Polyjuice, which she had made countless times before, took longer for Lily than they had in years, and by the time she left the flat she was running late for the meeting.

Due to a delayed bus from London Bridge to Islington, Lily was nearly twenty minutes late by the time she finally made it to the lovely little park that was located just outside Grimmauld Place. Despite everything going on, the park was still well-maintained and felt like something of an oasis in the otherwise grey and dacying city. She could see Grimmauld Place number 11 and 13 between the long-hanging branches of the trees when she felt the ground shaking. They did not have earthquakes in Britain, Lily had time to think.

With an ear-deafening blow the entire building in front of her went up in flames.

AN: Sorry to give you a chapter that both consists mainly of a flashback and ends with a bit of a cliff-hanger.