Dysfunctional

37 - Christmas in Rosedale

Saturday, December 21

"With Remus back, he can take over for Sirius and teach the lads."

"And ladies," added Angelina and Moody's blue eye looked at her curiously. "Another Nymphadora, eh?"

"No, the first Angelina, hopefully," said Angelina and everyone snickered. Tonks reached across the table to high-five Angelina.

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" snapped Moody and everyone winced.

"Ow, Mad-Eye!" exclaimed Tonks, who was sitting next to Moody, as she rubbed her ears.

"There's a time and place for laughter and this is not it!" growled Moody.

"Don't be such a killjoy, Mad-Eye," said Charlie, grinning. "We could all use a laugh, now and then."

"There have been five attacks just this week! If you think sitting around here joking is what the Order is about, Weasley-"

"Whoa there!" said Charlie, hands up in defence as his eyes widened.

"Easy, Mad-Eye," said Remus, calmly. "We are all taking this as seriously as Voldemort himself."

Almost everyone around the table shuddered but Tonks, put a hand to her heart. "For a moment there, I thought you were going to drop a 'Sirius' pun."

Sirius smirked realizing that having Remus back had definitely improved Tonks' moods.

Remus was staring at Tonks, who blinked and turned sheepish when she realized nobody was laughing. "Merlin's pants! You're serious!"

"I will stop myself from making the very obvious pun now and say that, yes, we are," said Sirius, with a straight face.

"Continue, Mad-Eye," said Remus, but Sirius would swear that he saw the corner of Remus' lips were twitching.

"As I was saying-" He looked askance at Tonks, before continuing. "-Remus will take over for Sirius, for the time being."

Bill added, "You have better teaching experience, Remus, and this also allows you to rest for a while, after these long four months."

Remus nodded his gratitude and Moody spoke again. "This also calls for a change in our tailing routine. No matter the disguises we assume, it would be foolish of us if the same people always kept watch in a location on a day-to-day basis. If the Death Eaters are watching us, which I doubt, this could easily give away our identities. From now onwards, Sirius, you will be watching Lestrange."

Sirius grimaced. "Brilliant."

Moody spoke brusquely, "We've learnt that any plans that the Death Eaters make, goes through her. So, our best bet to finding out whom or where they intend to attack, is by keeping tabs on Lestrange and who can know her better than you."

"You also get to choose a partner," said Kingsley, as he set a sheaf of parchment on the table before him. "You will be working in shifts with them."

"I'll take Hestia," said Sirius after a moment of consideration. Hestia looked surprised and Sirius asked her, "You're not too scared of her, are you?"