Saturday 7th July 1979

Marauder Flat, 10:00

"Oh, by the way, did you hear the news?" Remus asked, sitting heavily at their kitchen table where they had all seemed to gather this morning.

What news?" Peter asked, carefully pouring out the milk for his cereal. "We'll need more milk."

"You better have left enough for tea or coffee," Sirius wanted him.

"There's nothing out of the ordinary in the Daily Prophet," James said, his eyes flickering briefly to Sirius. "Just a list of people the Lestranges killed in their last fight."

"Typical Bella," Sirius snorted, bot looking surprised by this announcement at all.

Which was fair enough. Bellatrix and her family were almost constantly in the newspapers now. There was a hunt out for them, dead or alive now. The Ministry had finally decided that they were just too dangerous and if they were killed in a fight then that was fine. Questioning them was lower on their priorities than just making sure that they didn't hurt people anymore.

But that wasn't what Remus had been referring to. And it wouldn't be in the newspaper. Not yet, anyway. And probably never.

"Dearborn's gone missing."

That made everyone stop what they were doing. James paused in his turning of a page, Peter's spoon fell into his cereal with a 'splash' - milk going everywhere and Sirius just snapped his head up to look at him.

"Gone underground, you mean?" James asked.

Remus shook his head. "Diggle told me. He dropped by when I was on my break, pretended to buy a book. No one can find or contact him."

"Maybe he's in danger and can't?" James asked hopefully.

Though hope was a little bit displaced in these times.

"We don't know. I'm sure Dumbledore will say during the next meeting but we're to keep an eye out for him or any word of him."

They all nodded. How could they not? He was an Order member. One of their own.

"He won't be the only one to have disappeared," Sirius said, snatching the paper off James. "The list has been updated and some of the people who strong argued against that pureblood bill are on it."

"All from leading Light families," James said quietly, probably thinking of his own.

His father had argued against it, after all. Remus remembered James bragging about it a week or so ago. For good reason, because it was a bill that was very prejudiced against people not of pureblood status. It would have restricted their ability to be promoted in the Ministry. A blatant Death Eater supported bill. It had been a narrow win for the Light side. There were still plenty of traditionalists out there that weren't Death Eaters but may as well be with how their viewpoints aligned.

"First what happened to Fenwick and now Dearborn?" James said plaintively. "And who knows who else. That list isn't always accurate."

"We don't know if anything's happened to Dearborn yet," Sirius reminded him, after a shudder.

Remus echoed him and he hadn't even been there for that fight, he had been further back in Knockturn Alley, gathering intel. He hadn't even been aware that there had been a fight going on, that's how far in he had been. Too far to see Benji Fenwick get literally blown apart. Into pieces. They hadn't even found all of him, that's how much he had blown up.

Imagine not even being able to have a full body to bury. That there would always be pieces missing in the grave. It just seemed awfully sad to Remus.

"But it probably has," Peter needlessly pointed out. "Things are happening to people all the time and none of them nice."

"Thank you, Peter," Remus said pointedly as James and Sirius' expressions shifted.

Peter went pink and ducked his head down, quickly shovelling the rest of his cereal into his mouth.

Wednesday 11th July 1979

Longbottom Manor, 07:00

"I mean, Kingsley is fine and I know he's your friend and all," Alice was saying as she dainty lifted a slice of toast from the centre plate - they needed a good breakfast to start their day, after all. "But Merlin does he keep moving. He really can't keep still."

"That sounds about right," Frank said fondly. "He always liked trying to figure things out in school, normally at the expense of doing his homework."

"Well, that translates to him needing to scour every inch of the area we were patrolling."

"I'm pretty sure that's a good thing, Alice."

His wife gave him a thoroughly unimpressed look. "We ended up on the roof, Frank. The roof. Of three buildings."

Frank actually snorted out his tea at that one. Disgusting.

"Your post, Master," Dainty, one of the House Elves, said, holding out a small bundle of letters for Frank and also cleaning the table with a snap of her fingers.

He took them absentmindedly, thanking her for them.

"Just be glad that he's actually doing his job," he continued. "He used to do all sorts of things at the same time for research purposes which never seemed to include his homework."

He used air quotes for 'research purposes' and Alice decoded that she would probably be better off not knowing. Kingsley already talked about all sorts of strange things related to defence she didn't need other things that she had no knowledge of. At least she could contribute somewhat to the defence information.

"I guess," she said. "At least he's interesting and not boring like Johnson. That man can drone."

He was also of the opinion that she was incompetent which she most definitely was not. She really did not like partnering with him. Thankfully, Kingsley was her assigned partner and on the off chance he wasn't available Frank was so she didn't have to deal with people like Johnson that often.

Frank didn't respond to her. Alice frowned, he usually had something to say about Johnson.

"Frank?"

Still no response. Then she realised that he was staring at the letter in his hand, eyes wide and his hands were actually shaking. What in Merlin's name...?

"Frank? What's in the letter?"

He was still reading it and he had gone very pale.

"Frank!"

With a huff, Alice got out of her chair and went behind him so she could she what had got a hold of his attention so firmly.

Oh. Um. Wow. She could feel all the blood rush out of her face so fast that she actually got dizzy.

Alice looked down at the letter in his hand, mouth ajar. Actually, ajar was the wrong word for it because it was more than that, it had to be hitting the floor because that's how amazed and confused she was.

There was no way that this could be real. There was just no way. It had to be a prank. This wasn't real.

It was a letter. From Voldemort. Voldemort. The Dark Lord. The man you wanted to obliterate everyone who didn't agree with him. That person. He wrote them a letter asking them to join him. Join him. Why would he even think of such a thing?

"He's joking, please tell me he's joking." she begged

"Does a Dark Lord even know how to joke?" Frank said shakily.

Probably not but that was the only logical explanation, wasn't it? Wasn't it? Alice didn't want to think that this was actually real. It meant that Voldemort had been paying attention to them and nothing good ever came of Voldemort paying attention to anyone on their Side. Look at what happened to Benji. To Dearborn.

"Well, the answer's no, obviously," Alice said.

"Yes," Frank said with a nod. "But how do we even tell him that? Do we tell him that?"

People didn't exactly say no to this man and live, after all. And they would both quite like to win.

"He knows we're Aurors," Alice told him. "He can't possibly think that we would join."

"He obviously does if he's sending us this letter!"

Frank shook it violently at her, crumpling it so that the seal fell off it. Alice didn't know what to do. If they should be doing anything. She watched Frank throw the letter away from him, waiting for some sort of direction. He would know what to do, wouldn't he?

But all he did was bury his face in his hands. What was she supposed to do?

"We need to tell him no," Frank finally said, looking up. "We need to be very clear."

Alice gulped but nodded.

Monday 16th July 1979

Private Room, The Leaky Cauldron, 20:30

"Ah, Severus," Dumbledore said genially as he held him back after a meeting.

"Sir."

Severus couldn't help but feel on edge as Dumbledore gestured for him to sit down. He would much rather be standing but that would be rude so he sat.

He wasn't sure what it was about seeing Dumbledore alone made him so nervous but he was.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I have requested this meeting."

Yes, of course he was. Who wouldn't? Of course, he didn't say this out loud.

"I'm afraid I have a little request to make of you," Dumbledore said with a regretful air. "In fact, it's not a little one at all. It is very large and you are in no way obligated to agree to it."

It looked like his nervousness was for good reason. Great. No one said something like that about something good. This was going to be bad.

"I was wondering how you felt about a bit of surveillance?"

"Spying?" Severus blurted out. "You want me to spy on someone?"

That someone being a Death Eater obviously, that went without saying. And it could be something je would be good at, he supposed. He was good at getting around undetected.

"Indeed."

"Who would I be spying on?"

Straight to the point. He didn't want any messing around.

"Ah," Dumbledore made a thoughtful face. "It is not a person but a group of people."

That brought Severus up short.

"Sorry?"

"And it is not surveillance in the usual sense of the word," Dumbledore continues as if he hadn't been interrupted. "This would require you to get quite a bit closer to the group that we need information on. So close that they see you, in fact. See you quite a lot."

Why did Dumbledore have to speak in riddles like that? Could he not just say what he meant? Was all this subterfuge really necessary? Then the penny dropped for him.

"You want me to infiltrate the Death Eaters?"

And it looked like he was right. This was bad. Very bad. Just not a good idea at all. How was he even supposed to do that?

"Yes."

Finally, a straight answer. Not that he needed one now. Severus just stared at him in disbelief.

"I believe that you would be the one who would be the most capable of this. Standing out the least," he continued as Severus said nothing.

He couldn't say anything. He didn't know what he was supposed to say! And what did he mean, "most capable"? Was that supposed to be a compliment? That he could pass for being one of them? He would stick out like a sore thumb! There's no way he wouldn't be made!

Dumbledore watched him as he stayed silent. Thinking. Panicking.

"I don't think I can do it," Severus finally admitted.

He couldn't. He broke away from people like that. He wasn't like that. Never wanted to be like that. They had taken advantage take when he was angry at the world and lonely. He wasn't that person anymore. Mostly. Could he risk himself like that? He didn't think so.

"Please give it some further thought," Dumbledore urged. "Before you give me your final answer."

"Yes, sir," he replied automatic even though he knew what his answer would still be. The same.

That seemed to satisfy Dumbledore as he nodded and stood up. Severus mirrored him.

"Thank you for letting me take up some of your time," Dumbledore said, extending a hand to him.

Severus shook it. "Not a problem, sir."

He wasn't sure if Dumbledore said anything else as he left because Severus was completely engulfed by his own thoughts.

Him? Try to get an in with the Death Eaters?

Saturday 21st July 1979

Tonks Home, 14:00

Tonks was packing a bag. Yes, another one. That would make three so far. She had been determined not to bring so much that she needed to bring her school trunk but that was looking less and less likely as she sorted things out.

"You know your father and I won't mind if you stay home," Andromeda said, neatly dodging the robes Tonks threw across the room.

"I want to move out though," Tonks told her tiredly, she was repeating the same old things, after all. "It just makes sense. I'll be coming and going at all hours and it will be easier to be in London to respond to any callouts."

That was the plan, anyway. And she kind of wanted to stretch her wings a bit. Nothing against her parents but she wanted a bit of independence.

Granted, she was long in with Marlene- kt turned out that James and Lily wanted a quick wedding so she and Lily weren't going to be able to share their flat - so she wasn't going to be completely by herself. But still. It was just going to be her and Marlene. No parents around to tell them what to do or what not to do.

"I suppose," Andromeda said reluctantly.

Tonks was received, she thought she was going to have an argument on her hands like when she said she wanted to be an Auror. That hadn't been fun. She waved her wand at her stack of clothes and swore when, instead of zooming neatly into her bag, decided to unfold themselves and flop onto the floor. Seriously?

"Language, Nymphadora," Andromeda scolded but she gave a flick of her own wand (a far sharper flick) and the clothes flew up in the air, folded themselves neatly and then packed themselves in the bag. "There you go."

There was a satisfied look on her face. Andromeda did like things to be neat and tidy.

"How do you even do that?" Tonks complained. "I did the same thing!"

"Yes, but I have a want for things to be tidy," her mother told her.

"I want things to be tidy too!"

A pointed look around her room was all she got in response. It wasn't that messy.

"That's just because I'm packing."

"Nymphadora, your desk drawers are stuffed with Merlin knows what. I don't even know what the top of your desk looks like and there are an innumerable number of dead socks under your bed. I didn't even know you owned that many socks! You aren't packing any of that?"

"Well...no."

Okay. Maybe she was a bit messy. She couldn't help it. As soon as she tidied, she needed something and then everything basically ended up in a mess again.

Andromeda sighed and looked around. "I am going to miss it," she admitted.

"Aw, mum."

That made Tonks tear up a little though she stubbornly blinked them away. No tears. No. None.

"You'll be back for Sunday dinners," Andromeda said, firmly brushing all feelings aside.

Or was this her way of showing her feelings? Her mother was a complicated woman.

"Of course, I will," Tonks agreed easily.

There was no way she was going to pass up on home cooked food if she could. No way. She wasn't stupid.

"Your father also has a first aid kit made up for you."

Of course, he did.

"It's specifically for injuries you tend to get," he interrupted, poking his head around the door.

Tonks threw a pair of socks at him.

Wednesday 25th July 1979

Hogwarts, 21:00

"We shouldn't be running scared I've this," Dorcas said heatedly.

Elphias Doge had just finished giving a report on what he thought was the best way going forward. Which was to pull back and regroup.

James instinctively agreed with her because he didn't like the feeling that they were running away any more than she did. But... well, a lot had happened. A lot of deaths. A lot of injuries. A lot of people being scared. He didn't think that it would ever get this bad but here they were. Fenwick, dead. Dearborn, still missing, Death Eater reports of him being dead but no one knew whether to believe them. They didn't have any spies close enough to verify that information.

Who was it going to be next? Him? Marlene? Remus? Diggle? James looked around at everyone in the meeting and couldn't help but wonder if there were faces that this would be the last time, he was seeing them. A morbid thought but unfortunately one that was likely to pass.

Lily squeezed his hand, bringing him out of his thoughts. She gave him a smile and he felt his spirits rise a little. She always managed to do this.

"It is not necessarily being scared, Miss Meadowes," Dumbledore answered her. "It is just that we need to take some time to regroup."

"Time that we don't have."

"We can't rush things and make stupid mistakes either," James snapped.

He didn't even regret it. He had seen enough mistakes being made because people didn't think things through with the Aurors. Too many people were too willing to go it headlong with their wands in the air. Even he knew that was a bad idea and James knew he was impulsive. Impulsive but not stupid. And a healthy will to live.

"We can't take forever about things either," she snapped back.

What a change this was from the Dorcas from school. A giggling, gossiping schoolgirl to a hard-hearted, stubborn fighter. James could hardly believe it. It was such a strange transformation. But that what being forced to grow up rapidly did to you. Just look at Alice! She was now one of the best Aurors, everyone said so, but you definitely wouldn't have believed that from school. She had been all about being the perfect, traditional wife. All prim and proper. But now? Wow.

Either way, as much as he admired the change in Dorcas, he was still disagreeing with her and glaring at her. She just didn't understand.

"There is a balance," Dumbledore broke in, silencing the two of them before they could argue any further.