And here is another chapter, there are only two more chapters left of this story so I hope you all enjoy! This chapter does take place with most of the point of views of the adults and the next one will have one as well with the final chapter taking the point of view of the children.

Disclaimer-Nothing is mine just this little plot.

Please Read and Review and let me know what you think.

And They Lived

Chapter 13-Defiance.

James and Lily rush to their son's side. Remus must deal with Hermione and Ron who realise they got it wrong. Sirius is in a state, and Snape meanwhile feels like he needs a pay increase. Mostly point of view of the adults.

Chapters Covered-The Man with Two Faces-Part One.

Remus had only a second to realise that James and Lily had gone forwards and Sirius had stayed with his daughter until he got to the anti-chamber and he saw Hermione Granger looking bewildered and Ron Weasley sitting up blood coming out of a wound on his head and looking like he'd been bashed around. Looking around the chessboard at the pieces that were strewn about he realised that that was what had probably happened and he thought to himself it was a miracle that these children had come out of this alive.

Hermione stared at him with wide eyes and Remus forced himself to calm down. His heart had been doing laps ever since he and Marlene had gotten Sirius's warning and he reminded himself that there were two eleven year old kids here not Death Eaters and that they were scared out of their minds.

"Hermione" he said kneeling down on the stone of the board. "Are you alright?"

Hermione nodded swallowing.

"Ron got hit in the head" she said finally. Remus turned to Ron. He had a concussion without a shadow of a doubt and he was shivering but there was nothing Remus really wanted to do until he got to Madame Pomfrey. The simple fact of the matter was he didn't know enough about healing to try and do something. Most of the stuff he could do involved limbs and that was only because of his…well…

"Ron can you walk?" he asked. Ron nodded gritting his teeth in a way that reminded Remus so much of his uncles that he had to look away. Hermione was already on her feet but she moved towards the door where he imagined James and Lily had thrown themselves through.

"Hermione this way please" he said helping Ron to his feet. Hermione turned to look at him her wand in her hand. She looked exhausted and tired and close to tears but resolute nonetheless. Remus had to admire that if nothing else.

"They don't need you in the way" he said answering her unasked question. "At this point Hermione you'd only be in the way. That's a battle between wizards who have been fighting for longer than you've been alive, if you go in there now you'll get yourself and someone else killed probably"

He spoke bravely to her, treating her like an adult and he knew she understood. She stuck her wand in her pocket and followed him.

Just as they were back in the room with the now still keys there were another pair of footsteps. Remus passed a still weak Ron to Hermione and raised his wand. It was Snape.

"Oh it's you" he said lowering it. Snape took in Ron and Hermione and then sighed.

"Black just took his brat up, looks like she fainted. Potters times three?"

"Fighting" Remus said shortly "With Dumbledore"

Snape nodded.

"Wait" Hermione cried stopping both of them. She was pointing at Snape and she was almost feral. "You're the one whose supposed to be stealing the stone! We came here to stop you. What are you doing here? Harry's fighting you!"

Remus made a mental note to get her a calming draught as soon as they were in the hospital wing.

Snape stared at her and then at Remus who shrugged because it wasn't really the kids fault they thought it was Severus was it?"

"It wasn't me Miss Granger" he said finally. "It was Professor Quirrell. Professor Dumbledore has suspected him for a time and tonight only proved his point"

Hermione burst into tears. Looking rather alarmed Snape hurried off.

"Thought him playing the harp was a bit odd" Ron muttered dazed.

Remus made a mental note to find out what the hell that was about but his attention was driven towards Hermione who was sobbing so hard she was almost vibrating.

"Hermione" he said gently pulling the girl's hands away from her face.

"Oh Mr Lupin we got it so wrong didn't we? We all thought it was Snape and now Harry is going to die and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is going to come back and it's going to be all our fault"

Remus sighed. There was nothing he could do to stop her tears so with her crying and Ron half asleep on his arm he conjured up a ladder and had they both climb in and then walked them to the hospital wing. Poppy immediately fussed over Ron which left Remus to get Hermione a calming potion. She took two gulps and instantly stopped crying. Good now they could have something resembling a conversation. He saw Sirius step out from a curtained bed and walk down the hallway but there was nothing he could do about that.

"Hermione" he said passing her the potion. "I want you to tell me everything from the beginning"

And so she did.

Actually he had to admit he was stunned they had manged to do so much in such a short time. Better not tell Moody. He'd have them in summer school for junior members of Order of the Phoenix before anyone knew what was happening.

"Ok" he said once she'd stopped. "Firstly Hermione none of this is your fault. Should you have come to someone yes but with Harry and Calla's inherited bravado I'm not surprised by this. Also you are not responsible for Voldemort coming back"

Hermione looked at him and Remus nodded. "Say the name dear" he said finally. "Nothing makes him more powerful dead or alive than people not saying his name I promise you. If he comes back then it was not your fault but he wont, not tonight I don't think. You did amazing tonight and everyone is alive. That's a major achievement. You battled magic nobody should have tonight and you should be proud of it"

Hermione nodded once. Remus could have made her swear that she understood but until she got proof that all of her friends were alive. Remus could understand that so he didn't even try.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked hugging her knees to her chest. Remus nodded because what the hell did they have to lose at this point in time?

"Do you think Vol…Voldemort is dead?"

"No" he said finally. "I don't think there was anything human in him to die. I think eventually he'll come back but you don't have to worry about it. Not tonight, not tomorrow. When he comes back we can fight him again and we can win but he's not coming back tonight"

Hermione nodded and Remus could tell that she believed him.

"Also" she said finishing her draught. "Can I ask something else, it's err…it's been bugging me"

"Go on"

"Who is Wormtail?"

Off all the questions she could have asked that was not the one he was expecting and he felt a pull in his gut as he thought of Peter.

"What err…What did Harry tell you?"

"That he was your friend, that he helped you build the map. And that as far as he and Calla knew he had died in the war"

Well, Peter their friend had died in the war hadn't he? Someone else had been born out of that.

"That's true" he said finally. "He was our friend and he died in the war. And…and don't go asking about him please? It would make James and Sirius...angry"

Hermione stared at him with those wide eyes for a second and then nodded.

"You should get some sleep" he said finally. "Professor Dumbledore will probably have a lot to say when you and Ron wake up." Hermione kicked off her shoes and Remus stood up to give her some privacy when she said something else.

"I know what you are by the way."

Remus turned.

Hermione shrugged grinning. "Calla writes to you after every full moon. Harry's not that good at keeping a secret either and your name is Lupin and your nickname was Moony on the map. Wasn't that hard to figure out. Are you alright?"

"Yes" Remus said recovering. "Yes I am. Go to sleep now. Someone will be here when you wake up"

He pulled the curtain to allow her to change into the pyjama's Poppy had brought and allowed himself a quick smile. He never thought that he would met a witch that was smarter than Lily Evans but he thought that perhaps he had just met Lily's match.

Lily looked around the anti-chamber. James had gone with Harry and while Lily's heart and every bone in her body ached to be with her baby boy she couldn't help but look around the room at that damn mirror and the stone under her feet that had once been her child's Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and she found that she couldn't breathe. She forced herself to walk leaving Dumbledore with that damn stone that had fallen out of her baby's pocket.

"Are you alright?" said a voice behind her. She turned to see Sev looking at her his head tilted to the side. Lily couldn't speak but Sev had always had the same quality James had—the ability to understand her without her needing to say anything. Sev shot her another look and then fell into step beside her.

"I am seriously thinking about asking for a pay rise" he muttered. "I should have done my time in Azkaban rather than go through this, teaching dunderheads."

Lily let out a watery giggle.

Hermione took one look at Harry alive drained her sleeping potion and was gone in minutes. Ron was already asleep. Calla had not yet woken up and Sirius had not yet returned. Remus sighed feeling his bones ache and settled down at least until Molly and Arthur could arrive.

James who had been with his son his face white with Lily turned to him and Remus who had understood James better than James understood himself knew what he was asking for. He shrugged. He didn't know what the hell was going on with Sirius either. Marlene pulled her head around the curtain and stood up her face white and pale and her hands trembling.

"Remus" she said her voice completely steady. "Can I ask you to keep an eye on Cal. I need to go find…" she trailed off but Remus was already nodding. If there was one person who was going to calm down Sirius right now it was Marlene.

She was gone in a flash of dark hair.

Remus sighed and tried not to smile when he saw the map tucked into the desk draw beside Calla's bed.

Severus found Dumbledore in his office looking at that bit of red rock that had cost nearly four children their lives. The thing had to be destroyed even he could see that. Flamel had, had a good run but it was over and everyone knew it. With the Dark Lord out there nowhere would be safe.

"I know" Dumbledore said as he came in "You were right. Keeping the stone here was dangerous"

Severus took a moment to savour the I told you so he'd been sitting on for a year.

"You should go downstairs" he said finally. "Potter's inches away from yelling at someone and Black's fucked off into the grounds again. The school will wake up soon but you might want to deal with the two pissed off father's downstairs before they do"

Dumbledore sighed again looking at the stone.

"All of that for immortal life like this" he said finally. "He had Quirrell drinking unicorn blood you know?"

Severus did not know that and shuddered at the thought.

"Tom" Dumbledore said to the stone almost sadly. "How did you come to this?"

There was a pause that Snape filed down to Dumbledore being a mysterious old coot and resisted the urge to stomp his foot.

"Potter and Black?" he said finally. "And even I think you owe those brats the truth. Before you put them in detention for the rest of their education or throw them out"

But this was Dumbledore so he shouldn't get his hopes up for either one of those things.

Dumbledore nodded and he was gone before Severus remembered that he was going to ask for a pay rise. He took one more look at the stone and sighed again. All of this he thought, for one bit of rock.

Four brats and their defiance against the Dark Lord.

How had it come to this?

And he followed the old man out of the office to go and watch his worst enemy yell at the man who had saved him from a lifetime in Azkaban.

And there you go, I hope you all enjoy and I will endeavour to update sooner rather than later.

I am hoping to get one more update and then the final chapter will be posted a bit nearer to Christmas.

Next Chapter-The penultimate chapter to this story. Marlene and Sirius have a talk and then the Black-McKinnon Family come to an understanding. James and Lily talk to Harry about the actions that he took and try to answer the questions that he has been waiting to ask for a long time.