Breaking Black (A Sirius Black Love Story)

Chapter 89

January 3, 1979

James and Lily made the front page of the Daily Prophet.

The article was handed around the Order of the Phoenix during the meeting the next day. James boasted about it proudly while the more sensible elder witches and wizards spoke about it in hushed tones, like the article was no better than an obituary.

Of course, we didn't meet at our house anymore. Instead, Aberforth Dumbledore offered the Hog's Head Inn for the evening. Amazingly, the place was deserted except for the whole Order. Aberforth kept the pub open while we met, but no one entered from the dark Hogsmeade street. It seemed nobody dared go out in public after dark in the middle of the war.

When Sirius got his hands on the article, I read it over his shoulder. There was a great picture of James and Lily in front of St. Mungo's, the street full of black smoke. They waved enthusiastically at the cameras despite their burned and disgruntled appearances. Scabior and Selwyn, wearing their Death Eater robes, were in a full body-bind on the ground between them.

I skimmed the article, reading things like "young and talented James and Lily Potter save thousands" and "promising Aurors in training who may be what the public needs." The author described them as superheroes, which only seemed to make James' already oversized ego bigger and Sirius' jealousy larger. Sirius didn't pass the article around after it came to him. He crumpled the paper up and threw it in the trash before Remus could see it.

Dumbledore suddenly stood at the front of the pub. This movement made everyone go silent and James stopped loudly talking about which Death Eaters he wanted to go after next. Our old headmaster had a way of silencing the room with just a simple movement.

"This will be the last meeting we all have together," Dumbledore began. Some people looked concerned and exchanged nervous glances. "As some have guessed, I believe there is indeed a spy among us."

The room felt colder. We all looked from person to person, knowing one of them was a spy, a traitor, and working for Voldemort. I was disgusted, wondering what kind of weak coward would do such a thing.

"We could bring out Veritaserum and find them," Mad-Eye suddenly offered. Protests broke out from a few people. Remus was one of the people who muttered something under his breath. Mad-Eye trained his magical eye on him, a scowl on his face. "If they're innocent, they should have no problem taking the potion."

There was a momentary staring contest between Moody and Remus. Remus had to be innocent. Sirius raised an eyebrow and lowered his gaze at Remus. I knew Sirius would be all about using the truth potion to find the spy.

"Alastor," Dumbledore stated. "The potion will not be necessary. I believe trust is one of the things we should have with each other, even if we know there is one untrustworthy person here. Voldemort would want us to be pitted against each other. The spy knows who he or she is. We can only hope they will see the error of their ways and return to us. However, from now on, until the end of this war, all Order tasks and meetings will be done on an individual basis. How you wish to spread the information of your tasks will be up to you."

"But I suggest keeping them all a secret!" Mad-Eye piped in. "CONST-"

"-ANT VIGILANGE!" many people from the Order finished his sentence for him. This got some laughs from a few people, but many others looked terrified. I knew it was because a spy walked among us. I gripped Sirius' hand tightly until I thought his hand was going to go numb.

"There is one more thing," Dumbledore added. "The decree the Ministry made about the use of the Unforgivable Curses that I mentioned last night."

There was a collective inhale.