.

Chapter 12

Status report

When Lisa entered Mad-Eye Moody's house, the first face she saw was James'.

"Am I on time?" she asked, checking the grandfather clock along the right wall.

"A bit early, actually," he replied and grinned. "But just in time for tea. Lily is making some in the kitchen."

Lisa gave him a smile and then headed down the hall, turning the handle of the second door on the right. She had already learned the layout of the house, which served as the main HQ for the Order of the Phoenix, though they had a few other safe houses – the Bones and McKinnon homes.

Opening the door, Lisa saw a fuming Lily Evans, waving her wand sharply and accidentally exploding a mug. Swearing under her breath, the redhead stooped down and repaired it, vanishing the hot liquid.

"You okay?" Lisa asked softly.

"I'm just peachy," Lily said crossly, not even turning around. She rose to her feet and went over to the sink, filling the mug anew.

"I can see that," Lisa said, closing the door behind her and taking another cup out of the cupboard. "Are Remus, Sirius and Peter here yet?"

"I couldn't care less about Black and his personal matters!" Lily snapped, placing the mug on a silver tray next to five others. "He can freeze his butt out there, it's his life after all!" Then she took the tray and stormed out.

Lisa stared after her in bewilderment. She filled her own mug and glanced out the window. Sirius was sitting on the front steps, smoking a cigarette moodily. He was what one would call a 'casual' smoker, only lighting up if he wanted to look cool or when he needed to let off some steam. Lisa guessed this was the latter case.

A few minutes later, she walked out with two steaming mugs in her hands and sat down on the stairs next to him.

"How's the brooding going?" she asked.

"Sod off, Fawley," he said, chucking his bud into the snow.

"Don't you want your tea first? It's your favorite. Black." She held it up to him, hoping the warm steam would tempt him.

Sirius have her a sideways glance, then huffed, grinned, and took the mug. "You and your puns," he mumbled into it.

Lisa snorted. "Says the guy who had Peter convinced for nearly half a year his middle name was Lee."

Sirius snickered into the cup. "He's just so trusting. It was too easy, I couldn't resist."

The two of them just stood side by side in silence for a while.

"Aren't you going to tear into me too?" he asked after a few minutes.

"That depends," she replied honestly. "What did you do?"

He gave her a puzzled look. "Didn't Evans tell you? Didn't Marlene?"

"Ah," Lisa said, finally understanding. "You mean the 'you and Marlene' thing. Yes, she told me. Lily was too cross to explain herself and opted to blow up a mug instead."

"She isn't my mother," Sirius grunted angrily. "I don't need her to tell me how to live my life."

Lisa sipped from her tea. "Is that what she did?"

"What I do with Marlene and why I do it is none of her business!" he snapped. "And I am not using anyone! McKinnon is not stupid, she knows what this is!"

"Are you sure about that?" Lisa asked quietly. Sirius turned to shoot her a look, but she continued facing forward. "She seemed very excited when she told us. Downright giddy."

He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. "I'm not using her," he repeated stubbornly.

"No one says you are."

"Evans says it!"

"She doesn't mean it. She's only trying to watch out for Marlene. What else did she tell you?"

"That I should sit her down and 'define the relationship'."

"And you don't want to?"

"We're both adults, for Merlin's sake!" Sirius exclaimed in exasperation. "She knows what this is."

"That's just the thing," Lisa replied. "I don't think she does."

Sirius lit another cigarette. Lisa leaned on his shoulder.

"I miss her too," she said. He remained silent, but they both knew she wasn't talking about Marlene anymore. "Every day I see something she would like, or hear a joke she would laugh at. I miss her cynical sense of humor, and her practical reasoning. I know I have Lily and all of you, but... it's just not the same."

"... No, it's not," he agreed quietly.

They remained like that, simply staring into space, until they heard laughter from inside and the thumping of many feet. A large group must have just arrived.

Lisa turned back and threw a look at the door. "The meeting is about to start," she said, getting up. He said nothing. Lisa walked up to the door but hesitated with a hand on the handle. "I think... I think she misses us too. I know Dorcas better than anyone, and I... haven't lost hope."

Sirius was silent and still, the smoke of the cigarette rising lazily from his hand. Lisa left him to think things over in peace and entered the house.

oOo

"So, how are things back at Hogwarts?" Lisa asked, setting her half-empty cup of tea on the table and sitting down next to Benjy Fenwick. He and Emma Vance had flooed from Hogwarts to attend tonight's Order meeting. Most of the members were already at Moody's house, waiting for the host and a few others to show up so they could begin.

"Yes, do tell," Marlene chimed in from beside her, sipping from her own cup. "I miss school gossip."

Lisa rolled her eyes but couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her. Leave it to Marlene to be surrounded by a raging war and still care about who is going out with whom.

"Well, as far as school gossip goes, there's this fourth year that's annoying everyone," Benjy said.

Marlene perked up. "Ooh, what did they do?"

"Carved his name into the Quidditch pitch," Emma Vance answered from Benjy's other side.

"Sounds like something James and Sirius would do," Lisa snorted, and Sirius joined her, having just come into the room and taken a seat on Marlene's other side.

"Prongs! Why didn't we ever think of that?"

"Because if anyone had so much as pointed their wand at the pitch while I was at Hogwarts, I would've strung them upside down over the lake and left them to the mercy of the Giant Squid," James replied. "Who is the little punk?"

"Gilderoy Lockhart, he's a Ravenclaw. The lad is bonkers," Benjy said. "He's been pulling stunts like that for a while, but all he ever accomplishes is to get himself in detention."

Sirius smirked. "Looks like someone is trying to fill the void we left."

"Trying and failing. It's like watching a Storm Trooper try to be Darth Vader," Benjy quipped. James, Lily and Sirius laughed, but the others just exchanged confused looks.

"Storm Trooper? What is that supposed to be?" Lisa asked.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute! Are you telling me you haven't seen Star Wars yet!?" Benjy exclaimed under the amused looks of Lisa and Marlene.

"Ben, I haven't been to a muggle cinema since I was fourteen," Lisa said.

"You're missing out. Rocky was the most awesome thing to happen to the world since the invention of contraceptives," Sirius joined in. Benjy chuckled, but Marlene hit his shoulder.

"Rocky? You're so predictable, Padfoot," James quipped from two chairs over. "Knowing Fawley, she and Moony would probably rather sit through some pretentious arthouse movie like Annie Hall. And Star Wars is the best thing to come out of muggle cinema."

"The best? How about Halloween, Saturday Night Fever, The Goodbye Girl, Dawn of the Dead, Erasehead?" Benjy listed with a smirk.

"What can I say? I'm a man of simple tastes." James grinned.

"You're always satisfied with the best?" Lisa quipped, but everyone just stared at her blankly. She forgot sometimes that Remus was the only one that caught her literary references.

"Exactly!" Sirius recovered. "Just like Rocky. Even though everyone told him he couldn't do it, he didn't stop until he was the best."

"I liked Grease," Emma joined in.

"My favorite recently has been Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," Lily chipped in too.

"That's because you're a total Beetles geek," James quipped at her.

"I'm a fan, not a geek!" Lily protested.

"You're a total geek. Who else would know how Ringo got his name?"

"A lot of fans know that! It was because of the rings he wore, he even said it in this hilarious interview—"

James snickered. "Face it, Lil. Your nerd is showing."

Lily gasped indignantly hit James with a severe Tickling charm. He doubled over in laughter, wheezing out, "You'll pay for this, Evans!"

Lily shot up and ran past the table, giggling like mad, almost knocking down Lisa's cup of tea. She reached forward to steady it, when James went by in hot pursuit and bumped her in the back.

"Honestly, you two!" Lisa tried to scold them, but a smile was playing on her lips. "You're supposed to be a married couple soon! Act like adults!"

"Never!" James exclaimed, catching up to his fiancée and staring to tickle her mercilessly. Lily shrieked and laughed, squirming under his fingers. Ben let out a loud laugh, joined by Emma, Peter, Marlene and Fabian. Edgar Bones was smirking as well, barely following what Elphias Dodge was going on about, and Caradoc and Gideon tied to stifle their chuckling from the armchairs they had conjured. There were never enough chairs in the Order HQ.

"Did I just step though a wormhole? I could've sworn you lot were legal adults that left Hogwarts half a year ago," came a jovial voice from the door, and Frank Longbottom and his wife Alice walked in, wearing broad grins.

Just as they joined the others on the table in the middle of the room, Mad-Eye Moody burst unexpectedly through the door and shot a hex at the ceiling. The chandelier fell down on top of everyone, and the Order members scattered. Lisa's wand was in her hand before she could even think about it, casting shield charms against Moody's continued onslaught of curses. Peter, Marlene, Fabian, Benjy and Emma were still on the ground, trying to process what was happening, as were Caradoc, Edgar and Elphias, but the Longbottoms, Sirius, James, Lily and Gideon soon had Moody against a wall.

"Good," Mad-Eye said, eyeing the six wands pointed at his chest with his normal eye, while his magical one fixed on each member that had panicked. "I see at least half of you can function under pressure."

"This was a drill?!" Lisa exclaimed, helping Benjy up. "Mad-Eye, you've completely lost it! You could've killed someone with that!"

The Auror's eye fixed on her. "If a falling piece of furniture can kill you, you're better off reading by the fire at home."

Frank and Alice retracted their wands, as did Gideon and Lily. But James and Sirius didn't move.

"... Did we miss something?" came a voice from the door, and Sturgis Podmore walked in with Remus, returning from their patrol. The werewolf's eyes darted to the people on the floor, the remnants of the chandelier and then to his friends. Lisa gave him a small nod to reassure him everyone was all right before he and Sturgis took a few steps forward to help old Elphias back to his feet.

"James?" Lily called after her fiancé refused to lower his wand.

"How do we know he's not an impostor?" Sirius said.

Frank rolled his eyes. "He does this kind of rubbish all the time. There was hardly a week during my training when I didn't have to duck the second I turned my back to him."

"And if a Death Eater were to impersonate him, he would've bothered to learn a thing like that. He was probably counting on you knowing that. A little convenient he sprung this attack the minute you walked in, isn't it?" James said calmly. Everyone's eyes shifted to Moody.

A smirk stretched onto the wizard's scarred face. "Good work, boy. And how would you know if it was me or not if, as you say, I have done my job as a Death Eater and learned details about myself?"

"What did you tell us the night we were initiated into the Order?" Remus asked.

Both of Moody's eyes shifted to him. "And what if I said I have forgotten?"

"Then we'll force-feed you Veritaserum, which we all know you keep in your bathroom. Shall I go get it?"

Moody stared Remus down for a few long moments.

"You've all been accepted into the Order of the Phoenix. Most of you will end up dead before you turn twenty, congratulations," he said finally.

James and Sirius lowered their wands. The tension dissipated, and Gideon and Fabian repaired the chandelier while Lily looked over everyone for injuries. When Moody's den was back to normal, everyone took a seat around the table again.

"Are we waiting for anyone else?" Edgar asked, dusting off his shoulders.

"Dung," Sturgis replied, then turned to Remus. "He was supposed to be here before us, wasn't he?"

"I think so. Though he could've gotten held up by that mysterious 'contact' of his."

"Look, I know I'm new to this, but are we sure we can trust Mundungus?" Fabian chimed in.

"Dumbledore trusts him," Edgar said shortly, and that ended any further discussion on the subject.

"Right. Diggle said he couldn't make it and Figg was sent on some errand for Dumbledore. We'll start without them then," Moody said gruffly, waving his wand towards the desk, from where a parchment and quill flew out, ready to take protocol. "Podmore, progress on the Lestranges?"

"None," Sturgis sighed. "No matter what we do, we can't get a hold of anything solid. We tailed Bellatrix for five hours today, but we have nothing to show for it."

"We entered into Borgin and Burk's right after her, but the clerk denied selling her anything, even though she came out with a package," Remus added. "And the spells around the Lestrange Manor are so thick we can't even approach it. I agree that there must be something going on in there, but without that warrant your squad of Aurors can't do anything."

Moody nodded grimly. The Lestranges were all near-confirmed Death Eaters, but without solid proof the Ministry's hands were tied. "Vance, Fenwick. How is the Hogwarts fight?"

"Not good," Benjy spoke up. "They must be getting more outside contact than ever, because the curses they use on muggle-borns become more and more savage every time we catch them. We're losing people to their side by the day; Crouch has taken to threatening family members of the Defenders. And we know he can deliver." Benjy's face fell. "Mandy Cartwright's parents were both killed last week because she stopped the torture of a second year. She backed out of the Defenders; we had to erase her memory."

Lily gasped and covered her mouth with one hand. Things were getting really bad in Hogwarts.

"Dumbledore still won't expel those kids?" Fabian growled through gritted teeth, his hands balling into fists.

"You never know who's in it for real and who's been blackmailed or pressured," Emma joined in. "And since Dorcas... This year we have no people in Slytherin at all. No one can stand up to them anymore, those who were on our side backed out. And I can't blame them. It's hard to oppose them when you sleep in the same dorm."

Everyone exchanged dark looks, but they all knew she was right.

"Prewett," Moody broke the silence. "What have you learned of the international affairs?"

"Voldemort is still sticking to Britain," Fabian said. "Building up his power, I'd reckon. I don't know how many people he's got in the Department, but the import laws are becoming ridiculous. Acrumantula eggs, Basilisk venom, Erumpent horns, Unicorn blood and Werewolf claws are all legal tradable goods now. It's obvious to everyone it's His doing, but no one knows what to do about it."

"Did you just say 'Werewolf claws'?" Sirius repeated in disgust.

"I did," Fabian confirmed darkly. "No idea where they get them from, but I overheard how a wizard was almost busted for selling them in Knockturn Alley. The official that brought him in wasn't aware of the new amendment in the laws."

The whole table's eyes turned to Remus, who was adamantly staring at some fixed point in front of him, a clear crease of distaste between his eyebrows. Sirius, James and Lisa exchanged a look. How exactly had that wizard gotten a hold of werewolf claws?

"Dodge. The goblin family?" Moody continued, undisturbed by the horrible implications of the last news.

"Safe, for the moment," the white-haired wizard said. "Not happy about having to hide, but they know what will happen to them if they don't. Always so confrontational when I go to visit..."

"Dumbledore is sure that it's imperative they remain hidden. Do remind them that we're the only thing standing between them and the end of a Death Eater's wand," Moody growled.

"Will someone finally shed some light on this goblin issue?" Gideon called. "We've been hearing about them and that they need to be protected, but none of us know why."

"Dumbledore thinks it'd be best that as few people as possible are in the know," Moody explained. "All you need to know is that they have information the Dark Lord wants. And he wants it badly. Should any of you be captured, your minds will undoubtedly be searched for it, and we do not want him to learn it. Now, if there are no more questions, I propose we move to patrol schedules."

The meeting continued for quite some time, with different members being assigned tasks for the next couple of days. Remus and Sturgis were to continue their tailing of the Lestranges. James, Peter, Lily and Dedalus Diggle were to investigate an old house that was possibly used as one of many makeshift prisons, and Lisa and Marlene got guard duty at for some family of blood-traitors that was supposedly being targeted. Sirius was on Malfoy tail with Gideon.

"Well, that's it for tonight, then," Moody said, rolling up the protocol. "I'll let you know when the next meeting is taking place."

The Order members stood up and slowly advanced to the coat rack amid the sound of screeching chairs and chatter.

"Potter! Black!" Moody called as the Marauders were putting on their coats. "Nice work under pressure. Have you two ever considered becoming Aurors? We can use wizards like you on the force."

James and Sirius exchanged glances.

"Moony was the one that figured you out. All we did was suspect you," James said.

"That is true. Lupin's a bright kid, but he'll never be accepted into the Auror program... for obvious reasons."

All three of them turned their heads in the werewolf's direction, but he was too busy buttoning his coat pretending not to hear.

"Bah, who wants to be an Auror anyway? It's a job for chumps," Sirius announced, rather loudly. Remus' fingers froze on the fourth button. "We're not too keen on being the Ministry's lap dogs. Are we, Prongs?"

"Of course not," James jumped in immediately. "No offense Mad-Eye, but I don't really fancy twiddling my thumbs because 'the law's hands are tied'. I'm a Marauder; I never play by the rules."

Sirius barked a laugh and patted him on the back. "Good one, James. Sorry, but we've spent too much of our lives rebelling against authority. We can't go joining it now, can we?"

Lisa chuckled and gave the boys a genuine smile. Remus was staring unseeingly into space, so she stepped closer and finished buttoning up his coat.

"Let's go, mate," James said to him, patting him on the back and putting on his own jacket. "Lily's making bangers and mash tonight. You two are in, right?"

"You know it," Lisa replied as Remus finally came to his senses and turned around to face his friends.

"Bangers and mash sounds lovely."