A/N: Reviews are showing up now, so thank you Zugrian for explaining that it happens and would wear off. And thank you to magitech for reviewing every single chapter so far and making several good points. About the apparating though, apparating under pressure is probably going to involve getting splinched, so most people try to avoid it. If you spot any other potential plot holes please tell me and I will try to address them with a suitable excuse ;)
Harry stormed into the kitchen of Number 12 Grimmauld Place where Sirius was drinking his morning coffee and angrily threw down the latest edition of the Daily Prophet. Death Eater Attack Thwarted!Screamed the headline, above a picture of Bellatrix Lestrange in handcuffs.
"Well?" snapped Harry.
Sirius raised an eyebrow.
"You went an Order mission didn't you?" scowled Harry.
"Yes I did. I am a member, after all." Sirius responded calmly, further infuriating his godson.
"If you can go, I can go."
Sirius sat up. "Absolutely not." Cutting across Harry's objection, he continued. "You are in no way ready to face Death Eaters. The strongest offensive spell you can cast is a stunner, you have almost no experience in a battlefield, and above all you are a teenager. Now I know I wasn't the most responsible person at your age-" Harry snorted at the understatement. "-but that doesn't mean I'm going to let you get yourself killed."
His godson sent him his best death glare, but after being subjected to McGonagall's intimidating glare Sirius was easily able to ignore it.
"I've been through twice as much as any of the Order! Who else has fought Voldemort as many times as me? Who else has killed a Basilisk? Who else hears their parents' murders when they see Dementors?" Harry began ranting about the various adventures he had been through.
"Feel better?" smirked Sirius once Harry had run out of steam. Harry glared at him.
"Look, I admit that you've been through a lot, and have a habit of winding up right in the middle of things, but that still doesn't mean you've got the skills to take on Death Eaters." When Harry made to object again Sirius put his foot down. "Enough! Look, the other night the Death Eaters were up against equal numbers, although they didn't know it. Remus is a decent duelist, and I'm no slouch, but Moody and Kingsley are – or were – Aurors, the best Aurors. You know as well as I do how good those two are, and even with both of them we still almost lost. Tell me, do you think you could beat Remus in a duel?"
"Professor Lupin?" asked Harry, shocked. "I don't want to fight him, I want to fight Death Eaters!"
"Answer the question. Do you think you could beat him in a duel?"
"Well...no but-"
"Then you admit that he's better than you?" pressed Sirius. Harry scowled, but nodded reluctantly.
"Remus is currently one of the weakest fighters in the Order. He's still a fighter, unlike Arabella or Mundungus, but he's not very good at properly taking the Death Eaters out." Sirius made to continue this thread, then sighed. Screw this. Trying to be tactful wasn't helping.
"Harry. You being involved in a fight would be more if a hindrance than a help. You aren't good enough to really help with the Death Eaters, and we'd constantly be worrying about keeping you from getting hurt. A distraction is the last thing we need, and that's what you would be." His harsh words (Well, he thought, harsher than what most would say. I imagine Mad-Eye wouldn't pull any punches.) got through to Harry, and he looked at Sirius with anger and a little hurt in his eyes. The last member of the fearsome Black family reached over and ruffled his godson's hair.
"I'm sorry, Harry, but it's true." The teen pulled away, slouching out of the room sullenly.
Just as he left, Mrs Weasley bustled in. Sirius perked up slightly as the goddess of home cooking entered the kitchen. Noticing the look, Molly sighed. "Sirius, you really should learn to cook your own food."
He tried his most charming smile. "But why should I do that, when I can have the most amazing meals, cooked by Molly Weasley herself?"
Molly rolled her eyes, the compliment drawing a slight smile to her face despite the obvious flattery. "Albus wants another Order meeting later today. Apparently Alastor won't wait even a day before making a new plan."
With a snort Sirius replied, "Molly, if Mad-Eye doesn't already have at least five plans and two back ups for each, he's been replaced with an imposter. Again."
Chuckling to himself, he drained his coffee and made his way up to Buckbeak, spending the hours before the meeting with his Hippogriff pal.
Moody surveyed the assembled Order members. "Alright, now everyone's here, what's our next move going to be?"
In a move that looked choreographed all eyes turned to Sirius, who raised his hands in exasperation. "Why do I have to do all the thinking?"
"Because the rest aren't very good at it." growled Moody.
Sirius paused at this. "Well, now that you mention it, I might have an idea."
"Point proven." Muttered Tonks. Sirius shot her a fake glare before returning to his explanation.
"Right, well. Before we start thinking about the Death Eaters, we need to remember that Voldemort also has allies. We may have injured the werewolves, but with Greyback still alive -" he gave a disgruntled look at Aberforth. "- they are still a threat. Only now we don't know where to look for them. Short of somehow convincing a werewolf to be our new spy, we're pretty much stuck with them."
"What about the giants?" Arabella Figg asked anxiously.
Sirius grimaced. "Unfortunately, I don't see what we can do. We don't know where they're based or how many there are. Even if we did, all of us together probably couldn't take down one, let alone a group of them. The Dementors are similarly untouchable. Our best offense against them is the Patronus Charm, which is non-lethal and only works to delay them."
The mood worsened with every word, until the air was thick with despair.
"I 'eard You-Know-Who 'as vampires as well." Said Mundungus Fletcher.
Dumbledore frowned. "I do not believe so. The vampire community is very self-contained. They would not throw themselves behind a wizard making empty promises."
"The werewolves did." Pointed out Doge.
Dumbledore shook his head. "Vampires and werewolves are two entirely different groups. Vampires have their own structured community, and they do not permit outsiders even the smallest amount of access to it. They never associate themselves with one wizard or ideal. Individuals may do so, but not vampires as a whole. During the war against Grindelwald, the vampire's remained completely neutral. Or perhaps it is better to say that they ignored the conflict."
Lupin started. "How could they just ignore a war which ravaged Muggles and wizards alike across Europe?"
"Because they are neither" answered Dumbledore gravely. "Grindelwald tried twice to make contact with the vampires. His first messenger didn't return. The second time he sent a pair of wizards. A vampire delivered their wands, snapped in two, and left without a word. I should think the message is clear."
"What about hags?" squeaked Dedalus Diggle.
"What about them?" asked Moody. "They have no skills to speak of."
Sirius sighed. "Right, are we finished naming every Dark Creature we can think of?"
"Inferi." Suggested Hestia.
"No confirmed sightings, and a simple Incendio will scare them off." Replied Sirius sounding bored.
The others tried hard to think of another possible ally for Voldemort.
"Trolls?"
Sirius looked surprised, like that hadn't occurred to him. After a moment's thought he shook his head. "Why would Voldemort want trolls when he has giants?"
"So, what does he have?" growled Moody. "Death Eaters, werewolves, Dementors and giants. We might as well forget the Dementors, because we won't be doing anything to them. That leaves Death Eaters, werewolves and giants. We don't know where we can find the werewolves. The only way we can get at the Death Eaters is if they attack first. And we wouldn't know how to begin tackling a giant. Any bright ideas Sirius?"
The man in question sat in thought for a few minutes. When at last he spoke up it wasn't what the Order wanted to hear. "Unfortunately, I think the only option we have is to sit and wait. Hear me out." He added hastily as the Order began to argue. "Voldemort just lost Bellatrix in a raid. Normally he'd just break her out of Azkaban, but when he finds out that she lost her magic he is going to be furious. He'll start attacking a lot more often, so the Muggleborns are going to take a beating, but by the end of next week they'll all be at Hogwarts. So what is he going to do?"
Moody shook his head. "That depends on whether or not he knows about the Hellfire."
"Rookwood escaped." Pointed out Arthur Weasley. "You-Know-Who definitely knows."
"So there might be a prison break, or there might not be." Sirius said. "But that isn't the point. Look, if his past actions are anything to go by, Voldemort is going to want to make a statement. That means he'll pull out some of the stops. The question is: which ones? Will he send Dementors to Diagon Alley? Or giants to Hogsmeade? We don't know, and until we do we have no choice but to wait. Hopefully Voldemort will have to let Snape in on a big project like this. If he does, then he can tell us what Voldemort's plan is, and we can have a chance to prepare."
"I'm afraid that simply isn't feasible." Disagreed Dumbledore. "Such blatant forewarning will permanently ruin Severus's cover. We cannot afford to lose our only spy within his ranks."
"What use is a spy that you don't use? The whole point of having a spy is to gather information about the enemy's plans so that you know how to stop them. Not acting on the information defeats the point of getting it. Even if it does cost us a spy, getting the drop on Voldemort's big play is worth it."
"This is all a moot point, considering we don't know if Snape will even have that information." Observed Remus.
Moody nodded. "Alright, we'll wait and see." His eye narrowed. "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."
A/N: So there's Chapter 5. Kind of a filler chapter, and it feels a little rushed, but it sets up a few things, mainly the next confrontation. Which may not be quite what you expect. Although I have no idea what to expect either - I still don't have any kind of plan! As always, please review and tell me your thoughts. Suggestions for what Voldemort's big play should be would also be appreciated. I may not use them, but if I see a particularly good idea I just might use it.