It's difficult to get everyone together. Alice supposes with missions and children that it's not easy to get all of the Order in the same place at the same time. She's not even sure who thought a picture was the best idea. She sends little Neville to Frank's mother's house while they take off work.

She barely has time to change into something that isn't her Auror uniform before Mad-Eye is barking off orders left and right; for Benjy to get his ass with the others, for Dorcas and Caradoc to stop snogging for five minutes. Alice stifles a snort at the last order. They are all standing there quietly after that, waiting for Mad-Eye to set the camera.

Instead, he starts cursing at it. Lily break the line and helps Mad-Eye. Frank's arm is wrapped around her shoulder while Marlene is standing to her left. Marlene squeezes Alice's hand as the camera flashes and then lets go.

Then they are all dismissed. Frank has to get back to the office; he has paperwork to finish and a lead to follow. Alice watches as Lily and James Disapparate, presumably to get Harry from wherever he is. Benjy, Caradoc, and Edgar have a recon mission to do. Tonight is Gideon, Fabian, and Emmeline's day off, so they are quick to disappear.

But the others stay. Alice haven't really seen them in a while. Her job and missions for the Order have really eaten up most of her time that isn't being spent with Neville.

Marlene comes back to her. "It's been forever since I've seen you. Wanna grab a Butterbeer and catch up?"

Alice taps her wrist. She has time. "Only two," she says. "Any more than that and I'll be late picking up Neville. Frank's mother is nice enough to babysit for us, but she hates when we're late."

"Is that where the little guy is?" Marlene asks. She takes Alice's hand in her own as she leads Alice through to the kitchen. She summons two glasses of Butterbeer, offering one to Alice.

Alice takes it with a grin. "Yeah, it's not safe bringing him here."

"Understandable. I miss the little guy, though," Marlene says. "Maybe we should get together soon so I can see him."

"Maybe if you had a kid of your own, you wouldn't need to steal mine to get rid of your baby fever," Alice teases good-naturally.

Marlene laughs. "You, Frank, Lily, and James are much braver than I," she concludes. "I wouldn't bring a child into this mess. Also, having a baby would require a ring on my finger and," she holds up her hand, "as you can see, there isn't one."

Alice echoes Marlene's laugh. "That seems to be the issue, doesn't it? Whatever happened with Sirius?"

Marlene frowns. It doesn't seem to fit on her face. "What do you think happened? He's not a one person type of person. We both knew that. We were just having some fun, blowing off steam, you know? Besides, he's in love with someone who isn't me."

"It'll come eventually," Alice assures her. She drains the rest of her Butterbeer. "Until then, you're welcome to come see Neville. You'll just have to message me to make sure the time works. You know how the Order randomly sends us out on missions, on top of Auror missions."

Marlene looks serious for the first time since Alice seen her today. "I get it. It's getting quite messy."

Alice takes Marlene's free hand in her own and squeezes reassuringly. "It always gets worse before it gets better. And it will get better."

Marlene taps her wrist. She glances up at Alice. "It looks like the recon team needs some back up. I'll message you about seeing Neville."

"Be safe!" Alice calls to Marlene.

The last thing she sees is Marlene smiling at her right before she Disapparates. News of Marlene's death comes two weeks later, and Alice hates that she wasn't there.