20
The Date and The Snip:
Moody had decided that the best way for Sirius and Doe to become more accomplished aurors was to have us patrol for the Order as much as possible. So now in addition to increasing work days, and Order meetings, Doe was patrolling every other night. She was exhausted. It had gotten to the point where she almost never saw Remus.
They were always catching each other on their way in or out, or few a few minutes at a time during lunch or dinner.
They finally decided that they needed to take a night off and spend it together. So on Friday night, neither of them signed up to patrol and decided to stay in at her place. James and Lily were both patrolling the Abbotts tonight, so she had spent the entire day trying to desperately to cook Shepherd's pie. Lily had left her explicit instructions and even with magic it took hours.
When Remus got there later that night, he stopped when he smelled the cooking in the kitchen.
" Did you cook?" he asked in surprise.
" Don't sound so surprised" She told him, " I'm not incapable"
Remus grinned, " I was simply shocked is all, you continually surprise me"
She had told him a few days ago about the incident with Snape and ever since he had been very protective, making sure that no harm came towards her.
She served the food and they sat down at the table, eating and drinking Pumpkin juice.
" You know Bathilda Bagshot is writing a new book" she told him, " all about Wand Making, it supposed to be about Gregorovich and Ollivander"
" I'm sure it's going to be fantastic" Remus said, " knowing her she will completely explore the history of it. It'll be fascinating"
" I heard she was going to do one on the sacred twenty eight, but in light of the war with Voldemort she decided to change it" she said.
" I'm surprised she was even going to do one on that at all" Remus said obviously confused, " All of that sacred twenty eight mania is ridiculous"
" Well most of them are Voldemort's supporters, look at the names Malfoy, Lestrange, Yaxley" Doe said.
Remus shook his head, " I don't understand how blood status is an issue, I do not agree with it but at least the divide between Wizards and muggles has standing, one can perform magic and on can't, but what does blood status matter, who cares how much wizard someone is?"
" The ignorant" she told him.
Remus sighed, " How You-Know-Who actually gained support, I will never understand"
" Rabastan Lestrange is a death eater" she told him quietly.
Remus eyes looked up from his plate, " How do you know?"
She told him about what had happened at the ministry the other day, and she had never seen Remus look quite as angry.
" I despise him" Remus said coldly, " he is one of the worst, I wouldn't be surprised if he is in Voldemort's inner circle"
" He's vile" Doe agreed, " and if he is one then so is Roldpolhous which means so is Bellatrix and Narcissa"
" Merlin, I would love to be the one to through Bellatrix in Azkaban" Doe said stabbing a piece of shepherd's pie rather brutally with her fork.
They finished dinner discussing the other possible support Voldemort could be receiving, suggesting that maybe he would seek help from other creatures like trolls and giants.
Doe brought the plates to the kitchen and put them in the sink. With one wave of her wand, the brushes began scrubbing them themselves.
" Doe," Remus said coming into the kitchen. She was leaning against the counter watching the pots drench themselves with soap.
Doe looked up at him and he reached out holding her face. She closed her eyes and let him pull her face towards his.
Her hands found their way up to his neck. The counter was pushing against the small of her back.
She took his hand, breaking apart only long enough to drag him back to the empty bedroom.
" Doe, wake up." A strange voice said, shaking her awake.
She woke up instantly. It hadn't been the voice she was expecting. Her eyes opened and found Sirius on the side of her head.
She pulled the blankets up over her shirt, " Sirius what's wrong?" she asked quickly.
Next to me Remus stirred and sat up barely awake, " Doe, wuzz goin on?" he asked through a yawn.
" Oh, I didn't know you were here, Moony" Sirius said with a smile.
Remus realized Sirius was in the room and pulled the blankets over himself, waking up instantly.
" What are you doing here?" Doe asked Sirius.
" I was patrolling, Moody sent me to get you. He said it was important."
Doe looked over at the clock and sighed. It was one in the morning.
" Alright I'll be right there" she told Sirius. Sirius left the room and closed the door behind him. She got up quickly and got dressed. Throwing her auror robes on over her clothes.
" Do you have to go?" Remus asked, still half asleep.
" Go back to sleep, I'll be back soon" Doe said leaning down and kissing him.
She left the room quickly and found Sirius waiting for her.
" What's going on?" Doe asked Sirius as she left the apartment.
Sirius shrugged, " I was in Hogsmeade and Moody showed up and told me to come get you".
They apparated instantly and landed roughly on the roof of the Hogs Head.
" Moody?" Doe called out and an invisibility cloak slipped off of his head.
" Come here, Meadowes" he said quickly. In his hands he held moving photographs. In each one where different arms all printed with the dark mark.
" Are these what you saw on Snape's arm?" Moody asked quickly.
Doe nodded, " Yeah thats it exactly, why?"
Moody pursed his lips, " Dumbledore tried talking to the minister tonight about whether the mark alone was enough to detain someone, but the minister said we can't without proof"
" Maybe just slip a little veritaserum over his drink" Sirius said bitterly.
" Were not resorting to illegal tactics, Black" Moody snapped.
" Isn't the Order illegal?" Sirius asked him.
Moody flashed Sirius a very angry look and then turned back to Doe, " I've got to go back and discuss this with the minister, I need you to patrol with Black"
Doe nodded and Moody handed her the invisibility cloak, disapparating.
She was exhausted. Sirius and Doe sat down watching the Abbott house. She let her head drop on his shoulder, trying desperately not to fall asleep.
" Sorry I had to bother you and Moony, I tried to talk Moody out of it" Sirius said.
She shook her head, " Don't worry about it, we were just sleeping"
She could sense Sirius about to make a joke,
" If you value your sanity, you will keep your mouth closed" she warned him.
He chuckled, " You're such a joy"
Doe laughed, " Sorry, Im tired".
They sat in silence for a few minutes and then she turned to him.
" Sirius, are you happy?"
Sirius looked at her like she had three heads, " Did you hit your head or something, Meadowes?"
" Are you?" Doe asked again.
" Of course I am, aren't you?" Sirius asked.
She nodded, " I am, it's just I don't like this war".
" No one likes war, Doe. But it's a necessary evil" he said looking forward at the Abbotts house.
She sighed, knowing he was right.
Doe had been showing up to work about an hour early every day this week. She had so much patrolling to do at night that she needed the extra time to get as much as she could done at the office. They still hadn't found any connections to the Pureblood and Muggle-born deaths.
Doe was staring at two cases when someone walked by her. Someone she didn't recognize immediately.
" What did you do?" she asked Sirius in disbelief.
Sirius grinned, " Do you like it?"
Sirius' normally shoulder length wavy black hair had all been cut off. It was now short. She stared at him in disbelief.
" Who am I looking at?" she asked, running her hands over his short hair.
Ever since they were six years old, Sirius hair had always been to his shoulders. She stared at him.
Sirius laughed, " It's just hair, Beautiful"
" But it's your hair," She said blinking at him. She couldn't get used to it.
" You look like a different person" She told him.
He smiled, " Still a gorgeous person"
" I see you're still just as modest as ever" She said rolling her eyes at him.
He smiled, " I thought it was time to try it short"
She frowned, " Does that mean Padfoot is less shaggy now?" she asked.
Sirius grinned, " You loved him mangy, didnt you?"
She nodded, " I never had a dog".
Sirius laughed, kicking his legs up onto her desk, " I can always tell the dog people"
" So what spurred this decision to chop of your hair?" she asked him, handing him the report on the murder of Amelia Bones mom.
" Well you know that girl from the lively portkey, the bartender?" Sirius asked.
Doe nodded. Sirius and her frequently slept together, a detail Sirius had shared quite often.
" Well she was over last night and did it for me" he said.
Moody walked by and stopped at their desks, " What's with your hair, Black?" he asked quickly.
Sirius shrugged.
" You know, last out, patrolling all night, and first ones in in the morning, I'm impressed" Moody pointed out, but even the obvious compliment sounded like a criticism in his rough voice.
" Who really needs sleep?" Doe asked him.
Moody smiled slightly, " Dumbledore appreciates it"
" He better" Sirius said darkly.
The rest of the day passed by quickly. They had an Order meeting immediately following work and Doe left the ministry with Remus later that night. Sirius had left early to stop by his apartment.
Remus and Doe apparated and walked to the Diggle Manor. The meetings were getting so frequent sje came here almost as much as her own apartment.
" With the amount of time when spend here talking about You-Know-Who, I feel like I know him" Remus said as they walked up to the door.
" Imagine spending your days pouring over Death Eater's victims" she told him.
" You deserve a medal" Remus said reaching out to open the door.
Moody wrenched it open before he could,
" Yeah, Yeah.. I'll get her a trophy tomorrow, get inside you two" he said.
Doe chuckled, she was used to Moody's dry humor.
THey followed Moody inside. Almost the entire Order was seated around the table. The meeting hadn't started yet but several side conversations were blossoming up and down the long table.
"... I know but really Dearborn, Inferi? That seems a bit much, even for him" Arthur Weasley said with a shake of his head.
" No I am being completely serious" Fabian said to Gideon, " She really did it"
Remus and Doe sat down in the empty seats between Marlene and Lily. James wasn't here yet, he was planning on arriving with Sirius.
" Hey you two" Lily said smiling brightly.
" Hey Lily," Doe said to her.
" These meetings are getting longer it seems like, huh?" Lily said with a sigh, " we all haven't done anything fun since"
" I know, we've just been so busy" Doe said sadly, " Moody doesn't give me a free moment"
" You signed up for this Meadowes" Moody said from across the table. It was like he had supersonic hearing.
" Not complaining, just explaining Moody" Doe called back to him.
Moody gave her a quick look before turning back to discuss something with Slughorn.
" Well we should try to do something with all of us," Remus said, " maybe the lively portkey or something"
Lily nodded, " Yes that's what I was thinking"
Remus turned back to her and played absentmindedly with a piece of hair that had fallen loose from her ponytail.
The door opened and James and Sirius strode in. They were the last to arrive. It was strange to look at Sirius with his hair like that.
" …..that was legendary Padfoot, monuments should be erected in your honor" James said with a large smile.
Sirius grinned, " It's a skill, Prongs" he said and they both sat down on at the table in the last two remaining seats.
Dumbledore cleared his throat and everyone turned to him, gathering their attention to him.
He smiled, " So our forces have informed me that there is suspicion that Voldemort's supporters have infiltrated the ministry in positions of power, in an effort to give Voldemort inside information on the Ministry. As of now, the existence of the Order of the Phoenix is not known, but when it is, as it is bound to be, I assume you will be approached by supporters of Voldemort or even Voldemort himself, it is important to remember that they are the enemy, and to avoid the suspected Death Eaters"
The fact that Dumbledore was even mentioning it, meant that it was a big enough issue that he felt the need to tell them. A new kind of fear bubbled up inside of her. She would rather die than join Voldemort, and that may be the choice that some of them were faced with.
The rest of the meeting was spent discussing Dumbledore's recent conversation with the Minister who refused to search the employees of the Ministry for the Dark Mark under the guise that the Mark was not sufficient evidence of treachery.
When the conversation had finally reached a decision, Order Members were not to search out the Dark Mark on the arms of suspects, it could only be used as a form of identifying possible suspects.
Moody's gaze wandered over to Doe and winked.
She knew it was her rash actions that had sparked the discussion.
" Well seeing as that matter is solved," Dumbledore said significantly more cheerfully, " the final thing I would like to this meeting is gather for a photo"
" A Photo?" Marlene asked.
" Oh no, I look awful" Emmeline Vance commented quickly.
Everyone gathered in a tight group for the Photo, the younger members placed up front. Doe was standing in between Lily and Remus. Her hand placed firmly in Remus' hand. She kept looking over to where Sirius was, unable to get over the new haircut, and pleased that theu would have evidence of the bad idea for years to come.
Dumbledore raised his wand and the flash went off, capturing this moment forever in a photograph.
A picture that 16 years from now, Moody would show to Harry Potter.