September 20th, 1995

The drawing room of 12 Grimmauld Place is filling up as new and old members of the Order find their seats. Sirius is seated at the head of the table, Remus on his left, Regulus on his right. I am currently seated between Regulus and Emmeline.

I'm half listening to the story that Emmeline is telling me about her older brother, Eric. I'm more focused on watching the people that come into the room. There are some familiar faces, and some new ones.

I genuinely have no idea how many people will be here. The Order was a decent size during the first war, but there were so many casualties that few people from the original Order remain.

The seats are starting to fill up so I'm assuming that Dumbledore should be here soon to start the meeting.

"Meredith-," Emme said softly.

"Sorry-, what'd you say?" I asked, meeting her eyes.

Emmeline smiled, "I asked what house Elio got sorted into."

"Oh, right. Elio got sorted into Slytherin," I said with a smile.

"I figured he would, either that or Ravenclaw," Emmeline commented.

Regulus leaned in and joined in the conversation. "I'm out five galleons because I thought he was going to be Ravenclaw," He admitted.

"And I'm five galleons richer," I said, patting my husband on the cheek.

Someone else walked into the drawing room, causing me to flick my gaze to the doorway. Jack looked around the room, his eyes falling on Regulus, Emmeline, and I.

"Sorry, am I late?" Jack asked.

Regulus sat up straighter. "Yes," He said.

I stepped on his foot underneath the table, making him welp. Sirius watched the whole thing, looking very amused.

"No, Dumbledore's not here yet," Emmeline answered. "Take a seat."

Jack nodded, taking a seat on the other side of Emmeline.

Tonks, who was sitting directly across from me, next to Remus, leaned in. "Wait, isn't that your ex boyfriend?" She whispered.

"Yes, that's Jack," I whispered back.

She looked extremely entertained. "So that explains why Regulus's sudden attitude."

"I'm not a fan, never have, never will be," Regulus muttered.

I leaned closer to Regulus to whisper in his ear. "Joue bien, mon chéri," I whispered. "At the end of the night, I'll be going home with you, not him."

Regulus inhaled sharply, placing his hand on my thigh under the table. "You make a good point, love." His pinky brushed against the hem of my dress. "Have I told you how much I love it when you talk French to me?"

I grabbed his hand and set it back on the table. "Tell me later, we've got a meeting to attend to," I whispered.

The drawing room doors were closed as two final people entered the drawing room. Dumbledore took his seat at the opposite head of the table, and Severus took a seat beside him.

I could practically hear Sirius roll his eyes at Severus, a clear look of distaste on his face.

I guess some grudges never go away, especially if they're grudges held by the Black brothers.

"We'll get started now," Dumbledore announced. "Welcome everyone to the first official meeting of the Order of the Phoenix."

I glanced over at Remus who looked like he might be sick. To his side, Sirius had an almost proud look on his face. Being called back to fight in a second war is something that I never wanted to do, but now I have other people to think about.

There were a lot of introductions, and I was able to place some names to places. Molly and Arthur Weasley's oldest son, Bill, was present, along with some newer members who I've already met.

After all of the introductions were out of the way, the talk of strategizing began.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, we need to show them that we're back," Sirius said.

There were various complaints to his statement, just like there was a month ago.

"We can't do that until we know what we're dealing with," Kingsley Shacklebolt retorted. "We have no idea how many followers he has this time."

Sirius glanced over at Emmeline.

"Well, Vance, do you have any estimates?" He asked.

During the first war, and the past few months, Emmeline has been trying to get an estimate of how many Death Eaters, followers, and supporters Voldemort has.

Emmeline cleared her throat. "His inner circle is the same as last time. The Carrow's, Dolohov, Rockwood, Avery, the Lestrange's, Crabbe, Malfoy, Goyle, Mulciber, and Nott."

Regulus's posture goes rigid, his entire body tense at the mention of his "family". I held his hand underneath the table.

"What about Greyback?" Severus asked.

"Him too, and all of his followers," Moody answered.

Remus shifted in his seat, and Sirius gave him a reassuring look.

Within the twelve years that Sirius was in Azkaban, I got pretty close with Remus. He had no one. So we became pretty close friends. That's how I found out that he's a werewolf, and that during the first war Dumbledore sent him undercover with Greyback's pack.

"Voldemort is also trying to get support from a lot of younger people. Those whose parents are already in his ranks," Severus Snaped added.

Dumbledore frowned, "That's what I feared. That is why we need to be finding out as much information as possible for the time being. We'll have some people go undercover, and try to find out some secrets."

The whole room was quiet, waiting for Dumbledore to speak again.

"Missus Black," Dumbledore said, his gaze falling on me, "If I remember correctly, you were quite successful with undercover work all those years ago."

I sat up straighter, trying to ignore everyone's eyes on me.

"Yes, I was," I answered.

"Good, I'd like to send you on an undercover mission," He continued. "You'll have backup in case anything goes astray."

Regulus interrupted, "I'll do it."

"Reg-"

"I figured you would, Mister Black," Dumbledore said. "Miss Tonks, would you care to accompany them?"

She glanced over at me and I nodded.

"Of course, I would," Tonks answered, winking at me.

"I'll be in touch shortly then," Dumbledore said.

- - - - -

"We shouldn't be doing missions together," I told Regulus.

We were both standing in the kitchen, and I was watching as Regulus made dinner for us. He was making some French dish that I can't remember the name of.

He didn't even glance up. "Why not? We're a great team," He said.

"Yes, but what if something goes badly?" I asked.

"Then we'll handle it, Tonks will be there too."

I rolled my eyes, leaning back against the counter. "That's not what I'm saying," I said. "If something goes bad, and we can't control it and something happens, then both of us are dead."

"Then let's just not do something that will get us killed," Regulus replied, glancing up at me.

"You are impossible," I muttered, crossing my arms.

He turned off the stove and walked over to stand in front of me. He cupped my jaw with his hand, his thumb brushing across my cheek.

"I know what you're saying, angel," Regulus said, "But we work better together, and we'll have it under control."

I could feel my irritation dissipate as Regulus spoke.

"Fine," I muttered, "But if anything goes south I'm blaming it on you."

Regulus smirked, "Okay, but nothing will, so don't waste any sleep over it."

"Fine, I won't."

Regulus kissed me on the forehead. "You're hot when you're irritated with me," He muttered.