It was almost silent on Spinner's End; the faint sound of laughter could be heard coming from just down the street, no doubt the muggles were celebrating Halloween.

Isabella used to love Halloween, but now it was marked as the anniversary of her friends' deaths, and there was nothing to love in that.

"Widget is doing well so far, my Mistress?" Widget's voice floated through the air, making Isabella blink and look around herself. She was standing in the sitting room in front of a bookcase, a small photo-album held in her hand.

"What?" she asked, leaving the book back on its shelf and turning around, looking down at Widget's big eyes; she was teaching the tiny elf how to knit, but it seemed that her thoughts had taken her far away, if only for a moment.

"Is my Mistress alright?" Widget asked timidly, taking a step back. Her mistress looked funny, and Widget was worried.

Isabella quickly smiled, nodding her head and walking over to the armchair that was in the corner of the room.

"Now, let's see how you've progressed?" she asked kindly, looking down at Widget and extending a hand.

Hesitantly, Widget dropped the short scarf she had been knitting onto her mistress' hand, scared that she had done something wrong. She could tell that there was something wrong with Isabella, for she looked sad and her smile didn't reach her eyes.

"Hmm…" Isabella hummed, looking down at the pink scarf with a clinical eye. It was knitted loosely, but it was soft and warm and would be flaccid when wrapped around the neck. It was the type of scarf Talia would wear, because she never liked rough fabric or constricting clothes; just like her father.

"Who are you making this for?" Isabella couldn't help but ask.

"Miss Natalia," Widget said with a huge smile, causing Isabella to smile as well.

"I can assure you," she grinned, handing Widget the scarf back, "Talia will wear it proudly. You can give it to her during Christmas! We can also bake some—"

A bright light filled the room just then, startling both Isabella and her little elf. Widget got in front of her mistress protectively, her large eyes trained on the form that was slowly emerging from the bright burst of light.

"Severus…" Isabella whispered, catching sight of the silver doe that now stood in the middle of the sitting room.

"Black has infiltrated Hogwarts. Talia has gone missing…"

Isabella was out of her seat in the blink of an eye, only one thing running through her head, and that was getting the fireplace ready for travel.

"Widget, stay here," she said, "I'll be at Hogwarts, if anything happens, inform me immediately…"

Talia had her back pressed against the wall of the hidden passageway she'd let Sirius and Remus into. She sat on the floor with her legs crossed, focusing on the buckle of her shoe, as she tried not to show how nervous she was. There were only a few hours left until the full moon reached its highest peak in the sky. It left her only a few hours to get away from Remus and Sirius, for she wasn't sure what would come first, a panic attack or a seizure or maybe she'd go crazy and attack one of them. She could only hope that she got none tonight.

The corridor was narrow, leaving her a limited amount of space to move around without bumping into Remus or Sirius. Sirius sat on the wall across from her, in a position similar to hers. Remus on the other hand, was leaning against the wall on Talia's side, a few feet away from her, with his arms crossed and his eyes sweeping the dark passageway curiously and nervously. Very much like Talia, he too was worried about the time, and would check his pocket watch every few minutes.

Oh, if only they knew…

Remus wasn't sure how long it had been, maybe 30 minutes to an hour, but Sirius had somehow effectively fallen asleep, slumped on the floor with his arms underneath his head; he was snoring lightly, twitching occasionally. Talia had sneezed, the sound echoing so loudly in the passageway that it had made Remus jump, but not Sirius; he was most definitely passed out. Tonight had been too much excitement for him, and despite the not-so-late hour of the night, it was a sure fact that if given the chance, he'd sleep for days.

Battling a fight against sleep of her own (which was actually welcomed despite everything, because she was usually an insomniac on nights like these), Talia blinked profusely in order to keep the sleep from claiming her eyes. She was also feeling sore from sitting in the same position for an indefinite amount of time. She wanted to stand up and stretch her legs, but she also wanted to leave the passageway and slink away to the dungeons. They would be cold right now, and Talia wasn't a fan of the cold, but the common room was there, and wherever the common room was, it was home for her. She contemplated jumping up and taking off running, leaving Remus behind to deal with Sirius, he could get off easier than her if he was caught, being a professor and all. The thought left Talia's mind as quick as it came, though. She couldn't just leave them. She was in this for the long haul.

"If my mum finds out about this, she's gonna kill me," Talia mumbled, making Remus look down at her with a brow raised. Talia merely shrugged.

"So, Uncle Sirius, eh?" Remus asked casually, now that he had her attention.

Talia nodded. "I guess he felt the need to appoint himself as my uncle; since apparently he and my mum used to be friends… he also said that you used to be friends with my mum—the best of, actually."

A pained expression passed Remus' face, one that he could not hide from Talia. Her brows furrowed and she looked at him closely, tilting her head to the side. He was hiding something; she could almost smell it. He wasn't looking at her anymore, and had moved a few steps away from her. He hand ran though his hair, and he let out a deep breath. Talia had seen that "look" on older boys...

What are you hiding, Professor Lupin, Talia thought cryptically, and then it hit her, "Oh Merlin!"

Remus looked back at Talia, noticing the look of horror on her face. His pulse quickened and he held his breath, fearing that Talia had finally connected the dots… but then she began laughing, and it threw him off.

"What?" he asked, feeling like a child. He could feel his palms begin to sweat, and his chest tightening. The suspense was killing him, but he wasn't prepared for what Talia said next.

"You and my mum, huh," Talia chuckled, making Remus' face pale, "Sirius kept hinting about you two, and it's just… weird to think that you and my mum could have been romantically involved."

Remus felt like dying. "What makes you think that we were… together, in our school days?"

Talia was beaming, sleep suddenly forgotten. "You just confirmed it!"

"I did no such thing."

"Yeah you did!"

"Did not."

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did–"

"For Godric's sake," Sirius' frustrated sleepy voice floated into the argument. "You're his pup! Now shut up!" He promptly fell back asleep after that.

The silence that followed was solid.

Talia looked at Sirius' sleeping form, not knowing what to make of his sudden outburst. He had been asleep, and her argument with Professor Lupin had waked him up, so he was probably talking nonsense in his delirious sate, but what did he mean by, "You're his pup?" She and her professor had been talking about his relationship with her mother, not—

Talia had an epiphany.

She looked up at Remus with new eyes, and noticed several things at once. His blue eyes had amber specks, which made them look almost golden (just like hers), his skin was pale, and he looked sick just like the month before, just like her. His hands were slightly shaking, and that smell of chocolates that floated from him, plus the fact that he was missing classes on days that Talia found herself feeling ill; all that combined with his involvement with her mother, it could only mean one thing.

"You're the werewolf that my mum…," she couldn't finish her sentence. Images of Remus swirled in her head, and she found herself scanning through her memories and being able to pick out things in him that she herself did. The way he sometimes smirked and looked cocky when amused, the way he crinkled his nose, the damn smell of chocolates that always floated off him…

It can't be, it just can't… and then she remembered the one day where he had grilled her about her mother, asking random questions, like what her favorite food was, where did she like to go on vacations, her hobbies, her skills. Those kinds of questions weren't very innocent, were they? She had thought that he was just curious, but now she realized that there was a reason behind his interrogation, because that was what it had been at the time without her knowing, an interrogation.

"Fucking shit," she mumbled, rising from her seat on the ground.

Remus stepped towards her, a sorry expression on his face, but Talia was beyond caring. She took in a deep breath, and took a step back while Remus took a step forwards. He held an outstretched hand towards her, but she didn't want him to touch her, she didn't want to have anything to do with him until she had her thoughts cleared, and then she realized that it was the night of the full moon, and he would be turning into the beast that she did not.

"We need to leave," she said calmly, putting all her thoughts behind her. "Did you take your potion?"

Remus was startled by her calm stance, and the fact that she was acknowledging his ailment without a look of disgust or a crinkle of her nose.

"Did you take your potion?" Talia said more forcefully, "we don't have all night for this!"

"Yes," Remus croaked, and then asked quietly, "did you take yours?"

Talia nodded, and Remus' biggest fear was confirmed; Talia turned.

"Talia—"

"Don't," she hissed, raising up a hand to stop him, "this is… it's a lot to take in, alright? I feel like shit and finding all this out, on this night of all the damn nights that… let's just go."

"We'll talk about this later," Remus finally managed to gather his wits.

Talia nodded. She had questions, and she'd be damned if they just left things as they were.

"We'll…" Talia found herself feeling faint; all these unsaid revelations, about her professor being her father, it had hit her hard. She wasn't surprised that she had been affected, somehow. She hoped that she wouldn't fall over and faint, but by the way her hands began to shake, she knew that something much worse was about to happen.

"Fuck," she mumbled stiffly, before her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she fell backwards.

Remus looked on, taking a step back, waiting for her to turn into a beast, but she didn't. She kept shaking on the ground, her limbs flailing about herself. Her hand came up and slashed across her face, leaving an ugly pink line across the underside of her jaw; pink foam began to spill from her mouth.

She'd bitten her tongue, and was choking.

"SIRIUS!" Remus yelled, startling the poor bloke out of his land of dreams.

"What's going on?" Sirius asked; sleep leaving him upon seeing Talia's shaking form on the ground, and Remus looking over her.

"She's having a seizure!"