Chapter II - The Order
The knock on the door came in the middle of the night. The woman waited on the steps a few minutes before the door swung open. In the darkness of the doorway stood a large dog, who glanced around briefly outside before turning his gaze on the woman. She smiled and the dog turned away to walk farther into the long hallway, so she stepped inside with her bags and closed the door behind her.
"You're looking scruffier than I remember," she said as soon as the door was shut. The dog turned back toward her and gave her an amused look before transforming before her eyes. In a matter of seconds, a man stood in the dog's place. His black hair was still long, but his face looked worn.
"You got my letter, then, Rosemary," he said.
Rosemary nodded as he pulled out his wand to levitate her bags in her grasp. She sighed and let go of them, hugging him briefly. "Yes. Sorry, I would have done it myself but I didn't want to risk any Muggles seeing."
He hugged her back before motioning down the hall with his wand, bags following. "You can stay here if you like. There's a room ready on the third floor."
"Thank you." She pulled out her wand and took the bags from him, heading to the third floor. "I can find it."
The next morning, Sirius and Rosemary met in the dining room for breakfast. They sat across from each other at the table, and she glanced around the room. The smell of frying bacon, eggs, and french toast wafted in from somewhere nearby. "So... you said we were getting together again? What's going on?"
Sirius nodded. "Voldemort's back."
"And Dumbledore's calling everyone back together."
The pair turned to see another man walk into the dining room. He carried platefuls of food, setting them down on the table. Sirius nodded back at her, but her gaze remained on the second man.
"Sirius didn't say... Remus-" She smiled slightly. "It's nice to see you again."
Remus smiled back and sat next to Sirius, who had started to eat. "It's nice to see you, too. But there are things we need to discuss."
"It'll be a little while, Remus," Sirius said. "Eat and we can talk."
Rosemary and Remus both took a plate and followed suit. "A week ago, a Death Eater impersonated Alastor Moody and nearly got Harry killed in the Triwizard Tournament," Sirius started. "The cup was a portkey to a graveyard, and now he's back. Dumbledore's calling the Order back together."
Rosemary paused, her forkful of eggs still in midair. "How's Harry?"
"Alive," Sirius said. "He's been writing. Dumbledore's ordered us not to tell him anything." A slightly regretful look passed over his face. "He's a smart boy, he'll keep his nose clean."
"I've been reading the Daily Prophet," she said, finishing the bite of egg. "I take it they're still under the Ministry's control?"
"Might as well be."
"Has... Dumbledore said anything about what we know? I mean, besides Voldemort being back."
It was Remus' turn to speak up. "We know more than we did before, but not much at this point. We've got an eye on Voldemort, at least."
"An eye?"
Sirius snorted, glancing resentfully away. "Snape. He's playing Death Eater again, and reporting to us. He's supposed to be back soon, the git."
"We've also got more in the Order now. Aurors, a lot of them... and Tonks and Shacklebolt work in the Ministry, so we can keep an eye out there as well. But there's a problem."
"There's always a problem," Sirius muttered derisively.
Remus continued. "There are some we believe to still be Death Eaters inside the Ministry of Magic."
"So... What does that mean for us?"
Sirius leaned forward on his elbows briefly. "Us personally? Not much. Dumbledore has me staying here, gathering Order members again. Once that's over I suppose I'll be told to stay put. Remus is out, usually, trying to get in with the werewolf community. We're hoping they'll join us this time. And you-"
"Dumbledore hasn't told us yet," Remus said. "We expect you'll be filling in however you can, probably with planning."
She nodded, glancing briefly at Sirius' hand. "Hopefully this'll all go better than last time."
A week went by and people started to come and go in the middle of the night, but there was still no sign of Dumbledore. Half a week later, he arrived for the first meeting. A week after that the Weasleys arrived, then Hermione Granger, and under Mrs. Weasleys's wishes the next meeting was conducted under the protection of several spells she hoped would keep Hermione and four of her children from overhearing.
The meetings themselves were the same. Updates from inside the Ministry, updates on suspected Death Eaters, and updates on several other things, one of which was the return of Severus Snape. Everyone except Sirius seemed excited; Snape's report would mean information on confirmed Death Eaters and maybe even Voldemort himself. It was information no one could afford to miss.