Attempted Defeat of the Stag:

Doe was reading through a statement collected from a wizard who witnessed a recent death eater attack when someone stopped by her cubicle.

" Doe Meadowes, right?" Augustus Rookwood said leaning in her doorframe.

" Yes?" she said leaning back in her chair and looking at him.

Augustus handed her a form, " This was the form you requested from the Department of Mysteries"

She nodded, " Right thank you".

She had completely forgotten that she had requested the form. It was about a prophecy that was written about Alecto.

Augustus looked at her in confusion, " You're working on a Death Eater by yourself?"

She raised an eyebrow, " Yes, why?"

Augustus shrugged, " Nothing, it's just.." he smiled slightly, " don't you think you're a little ill equipped to handle Death Eaters? I mean they are much more powerful than you are"

Doe blinked at him, " I've done it before"

Augustus let out a little laugh, " I wouldn't bank on it happening again"

Doe looked at him in confusion, " Okay" she said strangely.

Augustus waved slightly and disappeared around the corner. She shook her head and looked at the form.

The prophecy in question didn't have anything to do with Alecto. Only her mother. So as such it didn't pertain to their case and she couldn't see it.

Augustus Rookwood gave her the creeps. It was something about his demeanor. It was odd.

She shoved the form into the file with the rest of Alecto's paperwork. She was at a stalemate with her case. Moody hadn't let her go into the field to watch her since her incident with Rabastan, and as much as he would deny it, she wouldn't be able to catch a Death Eater from her desk.

She looked back to the timeline she had created for Alecto's suspected activity and sighed. There was nothing she could do from her desk.

Doe got up and walked down the hallway to Moody's office and knocked gingerly on the door.

" Come in Meadowes" he called from inside and the door opened by itself.

" How did you know it was me?" she asked.

" I know everything" Moody said, " sit down".

Doe sat down in one of the squashy chairs in front of Moody's desk. She picked at the sleeves of her sweater feeling exceptionally nervous. She didn't like to challenge Moody.

" Whats this about?" Moody asked.

Doe took a deep breath.

" I want to talk about tailing Alecto" she said firmly.

Moody shook his head before she could even finish my sentence with a resounding " No".

" You're on desk duty" he reminded her, " or do you not remember that you were tortured by Death Eaters"

" Moody I remember, but I can't do my job from my desk" she told him.

Moody shook his head, " You're already too much of a target"

" Come on" she said crossing her arms in irritation, " I go on missions for the Order, how is this any different?"

She was doing her best not to sound like a child, but it was hard. She felt like she was arguing for a curfew rather than the option to do her job.

" I'm not going to put one of my aurors in harm's way, do you want to take a killing curse to the chest?" Moody asked angrily.

" Moody" she begged, " this job is dangerous, you can't have me sit on the sidelines and not do it. We're in the middle of a war, I could get murdered on my way to Diagon Alley"

Moody made a face, like he was considering her argument.

" Fine" he said quietly.

" Really?" Doe asked happily.

" Conditionally" Moody said, " I don't want you ever going by yourself, you bring Black or you don't go at all"

Doe nodded, " I will, thank you"

Moody rolled his eyes, " Get out of my office, Meadowes"

He flicked his wand and the door opened.

Amazed with her good luck, She left the office at a bit of a skip.

Doe walked into Sirius' cubicle where he had his legs up on his desk, reading his Dolohov file with intense concentration.

" I am officially off desk duty!" she said happily, sitting on his desk.

Sirius looked up at her with his eyebrow raised, " Moody let you off the hook already?"

She nodded with a small smile, " But not without the help of my partner"

" He wants me to go with you?" Sirius asked his eyebrow raised.

" You don't have to sound so thrilled about it" she said sarcastically.

Sirius rolled his eyes, " I didn't mean it like that"

She pulled her legs underneath her, " So what do you say? Can I take the dog for a walk?"

Sirius grinned widely, " Meadowes stop dogging me about it"

" You go for dogging, really?" she asked him, " you can do better than that"

Sirius smiled, " I'll think of something better on the way, come on"

Sirius and Doe told Moody that they were leaving and headed to the elevators.

" So where are we even going?" Sirius asked her.

" Alecto works in Knockturn Alley" she told him, " At Borgin & Burkes"

Sirius shuddered, " If she works in Knockturn Alley, she's almost definitely a Death Eater"

Doe laughed, " If only it were that easy" she told him.

They went to the atrium. Most of the ministry employees were in their offices, but a few employees were scattered around. There was a young man selling Daily Prophets, the headline read 'You-Know-Who Murders Again'.

Sirius and Doe walked into the middle of the atrium towards the fireplaces and apparated to the Leaky Cauldron.

The pub was nearly empty. Which didn't surprise her. People were avoiding the usual magical places at all costs.

They waved hello to Tom before ducking into the back and walking into Diagon Alley.

The entrance to Knockturn Alley stood to their left. Sirius and Doe both took out theur wands and walked down the alley.

" I really hate this place" Sirius said as they walked deeper in the alley.

They took a turn around the corner and Doe flinched involuntarily. In front of her was the empty storefront she had been dragged into and tortured in.

Sirius noticed her staring at it.

" Come on" he said putting his hand on her shoulder and leading her further into the alley.

She had tried to convince herself that it didn't bother her, but the more time that passed, the more she realized how much it had affected her.

" You know," Sirius said, " that was terrifying, finding you like that"

Doe pursed her lips as they walked forward, " It wasn't very fun for me either"

" Throw them both in Azkaban" Sirius said with a smile, " it'll make you feel better"

Doe laughed, " If only it were that simple"

They walked further. Borgin & Burkes was right around the corner.

" Should we go in?" Sirius asked.

Doe hesitated, " We're in our auror robes, that'll look a bit obvious"

Sirius smiled, " Then we take them off" he said shrugging off his robes, revealing the tshirt and jeans he wore underneath.

Doe pulled my robes over her head and wished she hadn't worn such a bright blue shirt.

" Do you have a plan?" Doe asked Sirius.

Sirius nodded and took out his wand and hiding their robes beneath a crate.

" Come on" he said taking her hand and leading her into the shop.

Borgin and Burke's was a dirty shop. It was dark and all of the shelves were cramped together, full of dark objects.

Doe stood closely to Sirius. She looked up at the counter and saw her. Alecto Carrow was leaning against the shop counter, her hair pulled back with a green ribbon.

She was young but she was a very harsh looking woman. She had the impression of someone who looked like they particularly enjoyed being surrounded by the dark arts.

" Can I help you with something?" Alecto asked eyeing her strangely.

Doe realized she may have been staring. Sirius walked over behind her and stretched his arm across her shoulders,

" No thanks, we're just looking" Sirius told her.

Doe looked at him strangely, but he just winked. He pulled her down the aisle.

" Looking for anything in particular?" Alecto called from the counter.

Sirius walked into the aisle and in front of the counter and started a conversation with her about a shriveled hand on display in the front. Meanwhile, Doe watched her.

Her mannerisms were so harsh. She reminded her a lot of Mulciber.

" I think your girlfriend over there needs you" Alecto said said to Sirius, eyeing her coldly.

Doe tried to fake a smile as best she could, so she wasn't suspicious.

" No actually I was wondering how much this was?" Doe asked gesturing to the thing closest to her.

It was a large ornate looking necklace. Something Doe never would have picked out normally.

" That?" Alecto asked raising her left arm to point at the necklace, " a thousand galleons"

When she lifted her arm, Doe saw a flash of the Dark Mark under her sleeve. She turned quickly so that she didn't notice she had seen it. Sirius seemed to catch on.

He walked over to her and they made eye contact.

" I don't really know if that would suit you sweetheart," he said coming over to her, " it's a bit gaudy"

Sirius and Doe looked at eachother and he eyed the door.

" You're right" Doe agreed, " let's look somewhere else"

Sirius put his hand on her back and led her out of the store.

They walked further down the street to where they had stashed theur auror robes and put them back on.

" Did you see the mark?" Doe asked him buttoning her robes.

Sirius nodded, " I saw it, she's definitely a Death Eater"

They both walked back down the alley, towards Diagon Alley.

" It was so strange, talking to her like that" Doe told him, " I mean I know so much about her"

Sirius nodded, " It was weird"

" Quick thinking by the way" Doe said to him, " you did really well in there"

They emerged from the dark alley and into the brightly lit one.

Sirius grinned, " Charming women is my specialty"

Doe rolled her eyes at him.

They walked back towards the Leaky Cauldron and were about to go in when a patronus appeared in front of them.

The silvery phoenix stood in front of them and rang out clearly in Dumbledore's voice.

" Come to St. Mungos now, there has been an incident"

The patronus disappeared and Sirius and Doe turned to each other.

" An incident?" Doe asked desperately, " what kind of incident".

Sirius looked worried, " Come on let's disapparate"

They both disapparated into the street outside of the St. Mungos storefront. A few muggles stared at them strangely but then kept walking, convincing themselves that they hadn't seen anything.

They entered it quickly.

A few members of the Order were huddled around in the waiting room.

" What's going on?" Sirius asked Deadleus Diggle.

Deadleus looked extremely uncomfortable, " It's James and Lily, they've been attacked"

Sirius and Doe both began to become irrational.

" Lily and James?" Doe asked quickly, " where are they?"

Deadelus shrugged and said he didn't know. Doe walked over to the woman at the front desk.

" Excuse me," she said frantically, " where are Lily and James Potter?"

The woman looked up at her expectantly.

" Fourth Floor" she said quickly.

Sirius and Doe practically ran into the watched Sirius press the fourth floor button so hard it looked like he was going to break it.

She took his arm. Sirius looked like he was shaking with fear.

" They're going to be fine, Sirius" she told him, looking him directly in the eye.

Sirius looked straightforward and nodded.

She knew exactly how he was feeling. Her chest was rising falling in fear. Lily and James had to be okay. They had to be alright.

The doors to the elevator opened and Sirius and Doe walked out onto the fourth floor quickly.

The fourth floor was so large that we would never be able to find them on their own. She spotted Remus standing outside one of the rooms with Peter.

" Sirius" she said pulling him towards them.

They walked over to them quickly.

" Remus, what's going on? Are they okay?" Doe asked him frantically.

" Lily and James, they went to lunch and they were attacked" Remus said quickly, " Dumbledore's with them now"

" Are they okay?" Sirius asked again.

" They're alive" Remus said quickly, " I don't know much else"

Doe felt her insides seem to fall apart.

Remus wrapped his arm around her. Sirius took to pacing.

" When can we see them?" he asked anxiously.

" I don't know" Peter said quietly.

" How did this even happen?" Doe asked, " who attacked them?"

Remus looked very pale, " Dumbledore hasn't told us anything"

They all sat around in silence for a minutes. Soon the door opened and Dumbledore strode out.

" Dumbledore," Sirius said, " what happened?"

Dumbledore took a deep breath, " Both Lily and James are fine. You can go see them now"

They all got up at once and entered the hospital room.

Lily and James were both lying in their own individual beds. They looked exhausted and shaken up. Both were sporting cuts across their face.

" Are you okay?" Doe asked coming over to the edge of Lily's bed.

Sirius had rushed to James side. Both Peter and Remus stood in between their two beds.

" We're okay" James said nodding his head.

" Honestly" Lily said her hand on her stomach, " we're fine"

" And the baby?" Peter asked.

Lily nodded, " He's fine too"

" What the bloody hell happened?" Sirius asked them both.

James sighed and Lily's eyes welled up with tears.

" We were attacked" Lily said, wiping away her tears.

" By who?" Remus asked.

James sighed and took a deep breath, " Voldemort"

The four of them all gasped and the room got very quiet.