A/N: Sirius's POV, this chapter is dedicated to reader/reviewer BritishBeauty x. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'm so happy that this is your favorite story on the site at the moment!

-C

I awoke to two of my least favorite sounds in the world: Aludra crying and Amy sicking up.

I sighed, rolling out of bed. I couldn't do Amy any good if Aludra wasn't calmed down and contented, so I told her I was going to get the baby, hoping that whatever Amy had was just a quick, twenty-four hour thing.

"Good morning, princess!" I said as happily as possible while still so tired, as Aludra reached for me. I hoisted her up in my arms, kissing her face. "Perhaps I ought to take you to Gran Potter today, princess, while I'm at the meeting so that Mummy doesn't get you sick."

"M'fine," Amy muttered. She was standing at the doorway to the nursery, looking anything but fine. "It's just a small bug."

"Amy," I sighed, putting Aludra down for a moment to touch my wife's forehead. "Well, you don't have a temperature, but you look terrible."

"Thanks," she retorted, but it didn't even sound much like a retort.

"I'm sending both of you to Mrs. Potter while I'm gone," I said firmly. "You shouldn't be taking care of Aludra in this condition."

"You have to go?" she whined as Aludra grabbed at my leg hair.

"Ouch!" I cried. "Damn, can't let her do that."

I scooped up my daughter, taking the leg hairs out of her hand before she went to stick it in her mouth, which she promptly did.

Amy normally would have laughed at that, but instead she gave me a weak smile.

"Love, you really do look like you need a rest," I said. "C'mon, I can ask her to come take care of both of you here. I really do have to go. You know that. James specifically requested me there. I can't just…. I mean, I know you're sick, but…."

"No, no, you're right," she sighed, and I felt terrible instantly. I didn't want to leave her like this. "You can call in Mrs. Potter if you'd like. I'm just…I don't want to get her sick."

That was something I hadn't thought of. It wasn't that Mrs. Potter was particularly frail, but she was certainly elderly, and the elderly caught illness much more easily than the general population, sort of like babies. I licked my lips. I really couldn't just leave her like this without anyone and send Aludra to Mrs. Potter….

"What if I get my cousin?" I asked. "Andromeda can look after you and the baby. Or Ted, if Andromeda has work. Would that be okay?"

"Sure," she muttered, frowning. She was going to have to sick again, I knew and I just nodded, carrying Aludra with me toward the fireplace as Amy rushed back to the toilet. Aludra reached for her mother, making a very confused and upset face.

"No, no," I sighed, kissing her little fingers on her saliva-free hand. "Mummy's sick, love. Let's go firecall Aunt Dromeda, shall we?"

I put Aludra on the floor with a doll and put up a shield between her and the fireplace before making the Floo call.

"Sirius?" Andromeda said with some interest. "Is everything all right?"

"Actually, no," I said, giving her an apologetic smile. "You're not busy, are you? It's just, Amy's sick and I have a meeting and I don't want to leave her and Aludra alone…"

"Say no more," Andromeda said. "Bring Aludra here and I'll go to Amy. Ted can watch Aludra and Nymphadora. Nymphadora will be pleased, no doubt, to meet her little cousin."

I grinned.

Dora was Andromeda's daughter, about five or six years old, and she was reportedly fascinated at having a cousin.

"Ted won't mind?"

"You must be joking," Andromeda snorted. "Ted's been asking for another one. No, he'll be pleased about a baby to play with, even if it's just for a couple of hours. I'll be over soon to pick up Aludra. Can you have her things ready?"

"Of course," I said, and brought my head back to the room the rest of me was in, lowering the shield and watching Aludra play for just a moment before heading into her room. I put together all her things, including a bottle in case she needed feeding. I couldn't have Amy feed her while sick, as much as Amy would hate it.

"Sirius!" Amy said weakly as she walked into the room. "Someone's at the door."

"It's Dromeda, love," I said, kissing her pale, sweaty cheek. "She's taking Aludra to hers for Ted and Dora to play with, and she's going to stay here with you. Just until I'm home, I promise."

Amy nodded, watching me hurry out to greet my cousin, who took the baby things and Aludra.

"Be right back," she said, Disapparating.

It was a bit disconcerting, actually, watching someone Disapparate with my daughter in their arms, even if she was my only sane relative.

Andromeda was back a moment later, pushing through past me to take a look at Amy.

"Oh, dear," she sighed. "You look like death."

I snorted as Amy raised her eyebrows, her pretty green eyes widening.

"Thanks for kicking me while I feel like shit," Amy muttered, wandering off toward the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Andromeda demanded. She turned to me. "Where is she going?"

"The kitchen, I expect," I said with a laugh. Those two were going to probably eat each other alive. And if Amy won, she'd vomit her back up again. "Water, Dromeda. She's getting water."

"Well!" Andromeda said, looking a bit…affronted. "How long has it been since she last vomited?"

"About five minutes," Amy hissed, coming back into the room with a glass of water. "My uncle was a Healer, Dromeda. I know how to take care of myself."

I was growing increasingly pleased that I wouldn't have to be around for the showdown, and the two women barely noticed as I said my goodbyes, grabbed my cloak, and Disapparated. I could have taken the bike, but I didn't want to waste any time getting home to my wife.

I knew what the meeting was about before it had even been called to order. Lily and James were sitting there, side by side, pale as could be.

"Again?" I asked. "What happened?"

James shook his head, indicating that he would only tell it once. I nodded. It was his story, and I had to respect the decision.

"Amy's ill," I muttered. "Dromeda's looking after her, but I'm leaving as soon as we're done here."

"Do you need me to come by and help out?" Lily asked, looking up at me with concern in her eyes.

Bless Lily and her endless selflessness.

"We'll be okay, Lily," I said with a smile. "It's just a stomach bug. She'll be right as rain in the morning, and she really only needs to be cared for while I'm here. It's more to keep her from being stubborn. You know how she gets."

Lily nodded.

Amy could certainly take care of herself, as she had told my cousin, but she also had the occasional habit of doing things she knew she shouldn't simply because she didn't want to believe she shouldn't do them. It was sheer stubborn pride, but no one could best me in pride and stubbornness but my Amy.

Dumbledore cleared his throat and called the meeting to order. I sat there, looking around the table. Frank and Alice also looked a bit disconcerted. Voldemort had attempted to recruit them as well, which made a lot of sense, actually. A pureblood couple. I didn't know for certain, but I assumed Alice was fertile. It was only a matter of time, I knew, before someone would approach me, whether Voldemort himself or one of his followers. I knew what I wanted to say, but if they somehow got ahold of Amy….

I tuned out Dumbledore for a moment, wondering just how much they would do to her in order to win my loyalties. It seemed unlikely that Voldemort would hand her over to Bellatrix if he knew anything about me at all. No Death Eater who knew me would believe that I would join anyone who put my wife at Bellatrix's mercy. But someone a little less vicious, perhaps. Malfoy, Avery, Rosier…

Malfoy seemed most likely, as he was technically family as well. I wondered if thoughts of his own wife would make him have a bit of pity. He was a schemer, though. He wouldn't defy Voldemort, but he would try to make a side deal if I knew him at all. What would it be? Guardianship over my daughter if Amy and I were gone in exchange for lighter torture of Amy, or even keeping an eye on her, protecting her from other Death Eaters?

In a sense, if I would ever be mad enough to contemplate such deals, it wouldn't be a bad deal. The Malfoys having guardianship over Aludra meant Bellatrix didn't. But it didn't mean Bellatrix wouldn't have access to her.

It had always seemed like such an easy decision, Voldemort or good, evil or good….

But suddenly it was more complex than I realized. I knew where I stood, I knew what I stood for, but if he did ever somehow get access to my family, I was terrified to think of how things might change. I wanted to tell myself that I wouldn't change sides, that I would find a way to save them with the help of the Order….

But I thought of Caradoc and his girl and I wondered what the cost would be if I tried to do that.

"Tell us what happened, James," Dumbledore said, and James began to relate his tale.

"It wasn't Voldemort himself this time," James said. It was strange, seeing him so pale. I knew he was worried, but he hadn't even looked this bad when his father had died. "He sent a messenger. Bellatrix and her husband actually."

I gave a perhaps insensitive bit of short laughter. Eyes turned to me in surprise.

"Sorry," I said. "It's just I wouldn't have thought anyone would be stupid to send Bellatrix as some kind of diplomatic messenger. Not unless they wanted the mission to fail."

"I think it was meant to point out how we would suffer if we didn't turn," Lily said softly. "But we didn't turn. I thought she was going to lose it then and there, but her husband reminded her of whatever their orders were and they left. I don't know how many times he'll try before he just kills us."

"That wouldn't be very sporting," Caradoc said darkly. "Just turning on the spot and trying to kill you after trying to recruit you."

"Whoever said Voldemort fights fair?" Moody growled. "Constant vigilance is what's going to keep these two alive, Dearborn, as with all of us!"

It was very hard not to laugh even a little at that. The number of times Moody had told us to be constantly vigilant was getting a bit absurd, but then, he was right. I knew it. We all knew it. It was why none of us could laugh about it, even behind his back, as we had when we'd first joined the Order. We'd seen too many deaths, watched too much destruction. How easily it could have been me instead of someone else, so many times.

There were relatively few notes the rest of the meeting, and it seemed that once they told their tale, Lily and James seemed a bit more relaxed. There was less discussion of it as there had been the time before. The fact of the matter was, if they were approached again, it would either go the same way or someone would try to kill them, and we didn't know and they had to be prepared for anything.

Whether or not that was somehow a comfort for them I couldn't say, but there was no comfort for me. I was still waiting to see how Voldemort would try to get to me.

I hurried home, but my state of mind from that day echoed on for more than a week.

There was increased paranoia in the Order. Lily and James came for breakfast the following morning and we were discussing it while Amy vomited some more, sitting far away from the food when she was well enough to join us. Lily bounced a delighted but perplexed Aludra on her knee.

Aludra hadn't been able to figure out what was wrong with her mother and found the whole thing rather distressing.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" Lily asked. "I can take Aludra for a while…"

"I told you, it's fine," Amy groaned. "I was a bit…overeager in trying to prove Andromeda wrong and now I'm suffering for it. Really, I shouldn't have eaten that fish, but she was just so…infuriating!"

"I'll tell her you said so, dear, she'll be so pleased," I teased.

I half expected something like this to happen, but I had hoped that Amy would value getting better more than her pride. Apparently I was wrong.

"Well, I was feeling much better by then," Amy whined. "I thought I was up to it."

"Obviously, you weren't," James told her cheekily.

Aludra cooed, grabbing a bit of Lily's hair and putting it in her mouth.

"Oh, that must not taste very good," Lily said, working the hair out of the baby's mouth.

"She only does that with your hair, you know," Amy said thoughtfully, sitting back in her chair as I poured her some water. "It must be something to do with the color."

"Or the length," James pointed out. "Lily's got the longest hair of anyone Aludra knows."

"It's probably the color," I said with a laugh, "or simply just luck."

Lily scowled at me.

"Well, Sirius, I'm just so lucky. I feel so honored. Now come keep your daughter from eating my hair, would you?"

We all laughed, but I hurried over and retrieved Aludra from Lily.

"Hey, you silly girl," I said, grinning at my daughter. "Why do you want to do that, huh? Why do you want to eat Lily's hair? It's not tasty. No, no, no, not like Mummy's milk, right?"

Aludra cooed in what I preferred to think of as agreement.

James raised an eyebrow.

"Please tell me you haven't…"

Amy actually spat water onto the table when she realized the implications of the conclusions James had drawn from my statement in an attempt to commiserate with my daughter.

I laughed.

"No, I've not tasted her breast milk, Prongs," I said, bouncing Aludra slightly as she laughed. "But I do have the ability to empathize about things I have no experienced. I know you were skeptical, but I'm not a terrible human being."

Lily laughed, but Amy was blushing. The worst bit about the blush, though, was realizing that she was sick enough that the blush made her look just a little paler than she typically was.

"Amy, maybe you should go and lay down if you won't go to hospital," I said, pressing my free hand to her forehead. Still no fever. "I know you're fine, but you don't look fine, and it's worrying me."

She pouted, but she did as I asked when I looked down at her. She must have seen the fear and concern in my eyes.

"Wake me before they go," she muttered.

No doubt she would actually sleep. She looked exhausted enough to sleep all day.

When the door closed behind her I turned back to Lily and James.

"Did she look bad to you?" I asked.

"Yes," James said. "But if she says she's fine, Pads, I'm sure she's fine. Remember, she does have Healers in her family. She's got some sense of these things."

I also wanted to point out that Amy could be absolutely stupid when it came to her pride, but I just swallowed and nodded.

"I think Frank and Alice have been approached too," Lily said softly, looking down at her tea. "Nobody says anything, though. Everyone's keep secrets, even inside the Order."

"There've been some fishy things," James said, shrugging. "Things where one or two would be coincidence, but with as many as there have been I'm beginning to believe Moody's paranoid murmurings. We have to be constantly vigilant, even among our own."

"You don't think there's a spy?" I asked, frowning.

A spy would know everything, would know all our weaknesses and vulnerabilities. A spy, if it were the wrong spy, might even know how to get into my house. They might know how to get to Amy and Aludra.

I would have to change the wards and be more selective about houseguests.

"I'm not going that far, not yet," James said quickly. "But you have to admit, it's all very suspect."

"I suppose you're right," Lily said sadly. "But still, I can't think of a single person we've put our trust in at the Order who would betray us. I mean, really, can either of you?"

We both shook our heads. I tried, truly, to single out someone whose behavior had been off, whose motivations could be shifted with the right leverage. But no one came to mind. Perhaps I was forgetting someone, but as I ran through my memory of the table at the last meeting, no one stuck out as a potential spy.

"Until Dumbledore says anything," James said with a nod, stirring is tea absently with his spoon, "I'm going to assume there is no spy. But I'm going to be vigilant anyway. I'll trust everyone, but there's only the six of us that I'll trust absolutely, and that includes Amy, of course. She may not be in the Order, but I would count on her if we needed her."

"Right," I said softly, my stomach turning at the thought of Amy being needed in the war.

I hoped, as I hoped there was no spy, that it would not come to that.