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The next morning at Breakfast, the Head Table was quite subdued, as it was lacking four fairly noisy members. "Minerva?" asked Dumbledore after they all had served themselves.
"Yes, Albus?" asked McGonagall turning to look at him.
"Where are Cadance, Charlie, Bill, and Cati?" he asked.
"How in heaven's name should I know?" asked McGonagall.
"What time did they get in last night?" asked Dumbledore.
"I left Tipsy's around midnight and they were still there," said McGonagall. "They were just getting into a rousing chorus of Bye Bye Miss American Pie while Sirius was wrapped up in bubble wrap and was running around, bumping into things."
"Did anything interesting happen there last night?" asked Dumbledore.
McGonagall paused for a second as she quickly thought back to the events of last night: from all the revelations to Sirius's bubble wrap dance. "No," she said simply shaking her head and taking a bite of toast.
Just then, Cati bounced in. Charlie, Cadance, and Bill walked in very tentatively after her. They looked tired. Cati, however, looked wide-awake. "Good morning!" she exclaimed happily.
Cadance winced. "Cati, use your indoor voice, please," she said heavily as they all took their seats. "My head is killing me."
"Hangover?" asked McGonagall.
"I don't remember anything after rescuing Sirius from that demon he accidentally bumped into," said Cadance rubbing her head.
"Well, after that, there was a game of pool that nobody won because we were trying to use shot glasses as cue balls," said Charlie. "Oh, by the way, Kala says we have to clean all the broken glass off of her pool table before she opens up tonight."
"Right, then, we all had a round of drinks on this demon who was celebrating the anniversary of the first time he was vanquished," said Bill. "And then we kind of just hung out and at some point we sang the Hogwarts School Song."
"Vaguely, I recall Ron and Harry having a rather dodgy game of darts," said Cadance scrunching up her face as if she was trying to remember.
"Dodgy? How so?" asked Dumbledore.
"There is no dartboard at Tipsy's Tavern," said Bill. "Let's just leave it at that."
Charlie, Cadance, and Bill were all barely touching their breakfasts. Cati, on the other hand, was shoveling in food like she hadn't eaten in months. McGonagall eyed her suspiciously. "Cati, how are you not as hung-over as the other three?" she asked.
"Oh, I don't get hung-over," said Cati. "I'm too perky!"
"I hate you," said Cadance narrowing her eyes at her. Cati blew her a kiss.
"Buck up, Cadance," said McGonagall. "Now that you all have that out of your system, you've got plenty of work to do."
"What work?" asked Cadance.
"You mean besides teaching classes today?" asked McGonagall.
"Ah, molding the minds of young witches and wizards and preparing them for the death, destruction, and travesty that's awaiting them once they leave the safety of these walls," said Cati.
"We have a meeting with the students who want to take that Auror class today before dinner," continued McGonagall ignoring her.
Cadance groaned. "It's Friday!" she exclaimed in argument.
"We also have an Order Meeting after dinner," added McGonagall. Cadance groaned again.
"Cadance Rose, you were the one who called the meeting, so don't groan about it," said Dumbledore pointedly.
"So who's up for Round Two at Kala's bar tonight after the meeting?" asked Cati excitedly. Cadance, Charlie, and Bill all exchanged a look.
"So was there a nice turn-out at the meeting?" asked Remus as they were gathered in the Order meeting room, waiting for the meeting to start. He was, of course, referring to McGonagall, Harry, Cadance, and Cati's meeting with the students who would be taking their Auror class in the evenings for the next few months and then taking it as a regular class next year.
"We've got our work cut out for us," said Cati.
"Was Molly there?" asked Hermione.
"Molly and James were both there," answered Cadance. "We only opened it up to 5th Years and above, much to Cati's displeasure."
"I'm just saying that we should start them younger!" argued Cati.
"How will Molly and James do, do you think?" asked Ron.
"Well, Molly's O.W.L scores from last year were as high as her mother's," said Cadance winking at Hermione. "She's book-smart, that's for sure, and she certainly has the skill. But we'll have to see how well she can apply what she knows to a real-life situation."
"And James?" asked Harry.
Cadance chuckled a little. "He certainly has the skill. He's far too clever for his own good," she said.
"Too clever for his own good?" asked Harry.
"Yes, well, he's exactly like you, Harry," said Cadance. "Except you had that whole 'Boy-Who-Lived' thing hanging over your head so you kind of just accepted the fact that trouble would find you and you waited around for it, instead of going out to find it yourself. James is constantly looking for an adventure."
"What kinds of adventures?" asked Ginny with concern.
"Oh, nothing dangerous," said Cadance, trying to reassure Ginny. "It's more like he's trying to see how far he can go. He's constantly sneaking off and wandering the castle after curfew. It's stuff like that. He's clever enough to get around Filch and most of the other teachers without getting caught. Unfortunately, James's problem is that he knows he's clever, but he thinks he's cleverer than he actually is because he hasn't gotten caught. What he doesn't know is that just because he hasn't been caught, that doesn't mean that we don't know exactly what he's doing."
"Is that going to get him in trouble?" asked Ginny.
"Most definitely," said Cadance. "But it'll turn out fine. Cati and I thought we were far cleverer than we actually were, but Uncle Albus actually knew everything we were doing. We turned out half-way decent."
"You never finished your 6th Year," pointed out McGonagall. "You ran away."
"We came back for our 7th!" argued Cati. "Honestly, Minerva, give it a rest! You're not going to get that paper from us!"
"Alright, but here's the real question," said Remus. "How many of the people who turned up for the meeting actually want to be Aurors when they leave Hogwarts?"
"It's difficult to say," said Cati. "Many of them, it seems, just want to take the class to help prepare themselves in case they're ever attacked; almost as if it's just a second Defense Against the Dark Arts class."
"Well, technically that's what it is," said Cadance. "It's basically throws together all the different skills you need from your different classes in order to become an Auror."
"Right, which reminds me," said Cati, looking to her uncle. "Uncle Severus, how much do you love me?"
Snape sneered at her. "That's a dangerous question, Catalin; are you sure you want to ask it? What is it that you want?"
"Well, naturally, if we're combining all the different skills, we're going to need to show these students what kinds of potions that Aurors need," said Cati. "And as you are well aware, our potion skills leave much to be desired."
"If you can't make the potions that you need as Aurors, how the hell did you get accepted into the Auror Training program?" asked Jen inquisitively.
"Well, we passed the Potions portion of our N.E.W.T.s," answered Cati. "But, also, we can do this." She punctuated her last sentence by pulling her arm back and throwing a fireball at the wall.
"You're the Potion's Master's niece," commented Harry. "Surely you couldn't have been that bad!"
"Oh, but they were," said Snape, his lip curling. "Far worse than you were, Potter."
"Yes, we actually blew up the dungeons three times in our 7th Year," said Cati.
"That third time wasn't an accident," muttered Cadance under her breath, winking at Harry. Hermione clicked her tongue with disapproval.
"Out of curiosity, how much trouble does one get into for blowing up the dungeons?" asked Harry.
"Oh so much," said Cadance. "That was the year that we broke Sirius's record for the most number of detentions in one year; a record that to this day remains unbroken, much to George's dismay."
"Fred and I were so close to breaking their record," said George, shaking his head. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Well, you didn't cause nearly so much trouble as we did," said Cati. "We were the best."
"Oh, please, you were amateurs!" exclaimed Sirius.
"How would you know? You were in Azkaban," said Cadance.
"There's no way you two would be any match for me, Remus, and James," said Sirius cockily.
"That's probably true, Cadance," said Harry. "I mean they did invent the Marauder's Map, without which neither you and Cati nor Fred and George would have had nearly as easy a time being mischievous… Why are you waving your arms like that?"
He hadn't noticed until he finished his sentence that Cadance, Cati, Sirius, Remus, and George had begun making wild motions with their hands at his mention of the Marauder's Map, trying to get him to stop. "The Marauder's what now?" asked McGonagall, her interest roused. She peered at them menacingly.
"Harry," said Cadance a little too calmly as she closed her eyes and pressed her fingertips to her temples. "Are you insane? On what planet do you think it would be wise to alert everyone to the existence of a map that would enable the users unthinkable mischief-making powers?"
"How was I supposed to know they didn't know!" exclaimed Harry. "Last night they pretty much proved that they know everything! I assumed that they knew about the map, too!"
"Explain yourselves," said McGonagall dangerously.
"Well, it's a map that shows all of Hogwarts and all of its secret passageways and also there are little labeled dots that show where everyone is," answered Hermione, who knew answering McGonagall plainly would be the best course of action in a situation like this.
"It's not illegal!" argued Cati, before McGonagall could even say anything.
"It's an aid to the irresponsible," sneered Snape.
"You knew about it?" asked McGonagall.
"Not until it passed into the hands of Potter, Weasley, and Granger-now-Weasley," said Snape.
"We got it from Fred and George!" exclaimed Ron, so McGonagall would turn her focus from them.
"Well, we found it in Filch's office under her advice," said George pointing at Cadance.
"They made it!" exclaimed Cadance pointing at Sirius and Remus.
"Hey, she stole it from my house after I got chucked into Azkaban! I didn't give it to her," said Sirius defensively.
"Yeah, but he did give it to James!" exclaimed Cadance.
"He WHAT!" exclaimed Harry, Ginny, and McGonagall at the same time.
"How did you know!" exclaimed Sirius.
"I confiscated it from him after he fell in the lake in January!" shouted Cadance without thinking.
"He fell in the lake!" exclaimed Ginny and Harry.
"You confiscated it!" exclaimed Sirius, as if that was the big issue. "You deprived him…"
"Shutup, Sirius," said Harry before turning back to Cadance. "He fell in the lake?"
"About two months ago, James was looking at the map and he saw Melinda and a demon fighting out on the lake so he ran out there to help her and he fell through but I fished him out all right and brought him to the Hospital Wing and I took the map from him, because really I thought my uses for it would be more productive," said Cadance. "And this is what I'm talking about when I said he's always looking for an adventure, but no harm done!" Harry and Ginny clearly looked as if they didn't think there was no harm done.
"Let me see this map," said McGonagall. Cadance sighed and reached into her pockets and pulled out the map.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," said Cadance, tapping it. McGonagall reached out and took it as lines began to appear all over it, revealing the Hogwarts grounds.
Just then, the door opened and Melinda, Wyatt, and Chris walked in, ready for the meeting. "Hey, the Marauder's Map!" exclaimed Melinda happily.
McGonagall looked at Cadance pointedly. "That wasn't me!" argued Cadance.
"Sit down," ordered McGonagall at the three newcomers, as she looked back down to inspect the map. "We're just waiting on Albus, Merlin, and the Founders and then we'll begin." She looked back up. "Honestly, didn't any of you stop to think what something like this could do in the hands of the wrong person?"
"Yeah, that's what Molly said when James showed it to us," said Melinda.
"Molly, too?" asked McGonagall exasperatedly. "Have you corrupted Vivien as well since she's started Hogwarts?"
"Aw gee, Minerva, Vivien's corrupted anyway; she was raised by Cati and Bill!" exclaimed Cadance. This time it was Cati and Bill's turn to scowl at her.
"Who's corrupted now?" asked Dumbledore's voice as he, Merlin, Godric, Rowena, and Helga walked in.
"Did you know about the Marauder's Map?" asked McGonagall accusingly.
"The Marauder's Map?" asked Dumbledore, his gaze fell on it. "Er, no."
"You're lying," said McGonagall with a scowl.
"Perhaps we should start the meeting," said Cadance, stepping in. She knew that McGonagall couldn't kill her, or anyone, over this Marauder's Map issue with her uncle there.
"Yes, but before we start, would anyone else like to spring anything on me?" asked McGonagall, resuming her dangerous tone of voice. "Any secret children perhaps? Love affairs? Horrible hidden crimes?"
Melinda and Chris exchanged a look. Chris shrugged, and then said, "Melinda and I are dating."
"I told you he got some last night," said Sirius to Remus.
Cadance shrieked and threw her hands over her ears and Charlie allowed his head to fall forward and slam off the table. Everyone else shook their heads in disbelief.
"I bet you wouldn't mind a little trip to Tipsy's now, eh Cadance?" asked Cati, nudging Cadance's side.
Months ticked by. The weather became warmer. With the warm weather came a sort of lull in the Death Eater attacks, which was quite a relief for our beloved characters. However, as March was coming to a close, Harry sprung something on them all at an Order meeting that would most certainly liven things up.
"Alright, listen up," he said as the meeting commenced, before Cadance could start. She cocked an eyebrow at him, and he nodded an acknowledgement at her. "I think it's about time we go through some extra training."
"More training?" asked Jen, wrinkling her nose.
"Like Auror Camp!" exclaimed Cati in horror, hopping up, eyes wide. "No! At Auror Camp…" She was cut off as Cadance jumped up and clamped a hand over Cati's mouth.
"Is that never talking about it again!" she hissed at her, forcing her back into her chair.
"Uh… no, not like Auror Camp," said Harry, slightly distracted by the outburst. "But it will be just for the Aurors, as I concede I have no control over the rest of you. Tomorrow morning at 8:00 sharp, meet me outside at the front doors. Make sure you're dressed appropriately."
"Appropriately for what?" questioned Hermione.
"To train," Harry said smugly. "Oh, and wear sneakers, please."
At 8:00 the next morning, Harry was waiting patiently for all the Aurors in the Order of the Phoenix. Ginny, Jen, Ron, and Hermione were all sitting on the stairs. Remus and Sirius were standing behind them. They were waiting patiently for the rest to show up. Harry scowled. "I said 8:00 sharp," he said.
"Maybe they forgot," suggested Ginny stifling a yawn.
"Here come Melinda, Wyatt, and Chris," said Ron, nodding behind Harry. He turned to see them coming up from Hogsmeade.
"Who are we still missing then?" asked Jen as the three young Aurors, joined the group, giving Harry apologetic looks.
"Just Cadance and Cati," answered Harry.
"What about Moody, Arabella, and McGonagall?" asked Melinda.
"They're doing something else for me," answered Harry. Sirius was about to ask why they didn't have to be out here, when the front doors opened and Cati and Cadance came out. "You're late."
"We were looking for sneakers," said Cati, lifting her foot as proof. "I haven't worn anything besides Auror-issued boots in forever!"
"Let's just get started," said Harry.
"Wait," said Cadance. "We're missing…"
"Arabella, Minerva, and Alastor are working on plans for the next few lessons in the Auror class. We're going to move into more difficult things," interrupted Harry.
"Wait, so they don't have to do this?" asked Cati.
"No, well, they're a bit too… er… aged for what we're about to do," said Harry. "Technically they are retired."
"What?" asked Sirius.
"Well, we're going to start with running…"
"Whoa! Wait a second!" exclaimed Cadance. "I DID NOT sign on for this!"
"This is like muggle training!" exclaimed Cati. "This is worse than Auror Camp!"
"Actually, I think this is probably a very good…" began Hermione, but one look from Cadance and Cati shut her up.
"Look, it's all well and good if you can fire spells at Death Eaters, but there's often a physical aspect to Death Eater battles that we should work on!" argued Harry.
"We do fine," said Cadance exasperatedly.
"Fine won't cut it," said Harry bluntly. "We need to work on speed and agility and reflexes; stuff like that."
"Why do McGonagall, Moody, and Arabella get to skip then?" asked Cadance.
"I told you, they're not as spry as they used to be," began Harry.
Cadance snorted. "Minerva McGonagall is in better shape than I am."
"And that's why you need to be here and she doesn't," said Harry.
"I did not see that backfiring like that," said Cadance
"Besides," added Harry. "When we're working on some other things they're going to be joining us. Now let's go. We're going to jog around the castle a few times…" Collectively, they groaned and then started to jog around the castle.
"You know," said Cati as they started their fourth lap. "Saturdays are supposed to be my one day that I get to sleep in and relax. This is not relaxing."
"We're at war, Catalin," said Harry. "We don't get to relax."
"When are we going to stop?" asked Jen, panting. "We've must have run for at least a mile!"
"Closer to two miles actually," said Harry. "Or at least it will be when we finish this lap. After this lap, we're going to full-out run one lap and then we'll be done until tomorrow."
"Run!" exclaimed Cadance.
"Yes, run," said Harry. "And you're wasting your breath screaming at me; you should save it or you'll get winded in the next lap." They ran in silence until the reached the front doors again. Everyone groaned as Harry urged them into a sprint for the last lap around the castle.
After the torturous half-mile lap around the castle, everyone except Harry collapsed in a heap on the front stairs. "Very good," said Harry after pausing to catch his breath. Nearly everyone glared daggers at him; clearly they did not think this was 'very good'.
"I don't think I can stand," said Cati. "I honestly think I'm going to lie here and die."
"Stop being melodramatic," ordered Harry. "Today was just a little warm-up for tomorrow!"
"Tomorrow?" asked Jen with horror.
"Yes, tomorrow we're going to run some more," said Harry. "And then we're going to work on our reflexes after our run."
"We have to do something after we run?" asked Sirius incredulously.
"I am not doing this again," said Ron staring at Harry like he was mad. "Sorry, mate."
"Yes, you will," said Harry. He was prepared for this. "Don't you want to do everything you can to prepare yourselves to stop Voldemort and his Death Eaters?"
Everyone began grumbling. "I can't believe you played the Voldemort card," groaned Remus. "That was low."
"Harry, in your professional opinion, if we killed you for making us run like this, would Voldemort spare us and then perhaps give us our own little island to live out the rest of our lives in peace once he takes over?" asked Cati.
"What about the rest of the Wizarding World?" asked Ginny
"Harry's not making them run," argued. Cati.
"I agree, let them fend for themselves," said Sirius.
"Every man for himself then, eh?" commented Remus. "Great bunch of Aurors we have here."
"So we'll see you here tomorrow at 8:00 again," said Harry as though he hadn't been interrupted. "And if you're not on time, you get an extra lap." He reached down and helped Ginny to her feet, and they started walking down to Hogsmeade to Apparate back to Godric's Hollow. Ron, Hermione, Sirius, and Lupin said their goodbyes and then followed.
Suddenly, Cadance groaned. "What?" asked Melinda, as Chris helped her to her feet.
"I've got guard duty tonight at Godric's Hollow starting at 2 AM," said Cadance. "I'll be up all night standing guard and then I have to run."
Just before noon the next day, Charlie went into his and Cadance's bedroom to find Cadance asleep on the bed. She was had one shoe off, and appeared to have fallen asleep in the process of taking off the other shoe. Charlie chuckled silently to himself, and then sat down on the edge of the bed. "Cadance," he said softly. She stirred a little. He bent down and kissed her forehead and her eyes fluttered open.
"Wazzamatta?" she asked sleepily.
"Nothing," he said. "It's almost lunch time and I haven't seen you since last night. Where have you been all morning?"
"I'm sorry, dear," she said as Charlie laid down next to her. "I was on duty last night and then I had training this morning with Harry and the others and then I came back here to catch up on the sleep I missed last night."
"How was training?" asked Charlie.
"We had to run and then Harry let Mad-Eye fire spells at us—while we were wand-less, mind you—and told us to dodge them instead of blocking them," answered Cadance, cuddling up close to him. "And the worst part is we have to do it again Wednesday evening."
Charlie chuckled. "So what do you want to do about lunch?" he asked.
"Mmmm, can we just stay here forever?" she asked closing her eyes.
"Yeah, that sounds like a plan," said Charlie. "We'll just lie here. Everyone else can deal with the Death Eaters and someone else can take over our classes. We'll hit a snag when it comes to meals and having to go to the bathroom and stuff like that, but I'm sure we'll get through it. Of course, that's assuming that Cati allows us to lay here forever." Cadance groaned. Cati, of course, probably wouldn't allow them to lie there for the next fifteen minutes, let alone the rest of forever. "Lunch then?"
Cadance sighed. "Lunch," she conceded. They got up and walked out of their Common Room and towards the Great Hall. Charlie put his arm around Cadance's waist as they walked. They entered the Great Hall, where Cati and Bill were already seated.
"I was beginning to wonder where you got to," said Cati.
Cadance mumbled something unintelligible. Just then, Jen came in, with Abigail (now 9-years-old) holding her hand and both Joseph and Fred (both four-and-a-half-years-old) hanging off of her back. "Jen's got the circus today," commented Cati as Jen made her way up to them.
"I need a favor," said Jen once she reached the Head Table.
"Well, hello to you, too!" said Bill.
"Hello," said Jen. "I need a favor."
"What is it?" asked Cadance.
"Ron, Hermione, and I all have to work this afternoon. So do Harry and Ginny so we can't leave the kids with them. And George is doing inventory in the shop and the last time he watched them at the shop there were several small explosions. Usually Molly is willing to babysit, but she's visiting her aunt in London…"
"Jen, do you need a babysitter?" interrupted Cadance, seeing where the conversation was heading.
"Yes," said Jen
"Alright, I'll keep an eye on them," said Cadance. "Did they eat yet?"
"Not yet," answered Jen, releasing Abby's hand, and stooping down so Joseph and Fred could climb off of her back.
"Bye, Mommy," said Abby kissing her mother's cheek before running around to the other side of the Head Table and sitting down in the vacant chair next to Charlie. Fred kissed his mother's cheek as well before Jen left and he and Joseph climbed under the table, emerging on the other side between Cati and Cadance. They both scooted their chairs over a little and Cati conjured up two chairs in between them. They ate a quick lunch and then Cadance brought them with her to her classroom so she could work on the next week's lessons.
The back room of Cadance's classroom had once been her office, however when she had been promoted to Deputy Headmistress she had moved to McGonagall's old office which was located more conveniently for students who needed her in the center of the castle. Cadance now used the office attached to her classroom as a sort of storage room. Abby, Fred, and Joseph were playing together out in the classroom while Cadance was poking around in the back, looking for things for lessons.
"Aunt Cadance, could you come out here for a second?" called Abby's voice. Cadance poked her head out of the door.
"Anything wrong?" she asked.
"Yes," said Abby with a bit of a pout. "We're trying to play Hogwarts and Fred can't get his robes to billow like Professor Snape's."
Cadance quickly turned the laugh that was escaping her throat into a cough when she saw that Abby was incredibly serious. After she had regained her composure, she looked down at them from behind her half-moon spectacles, which she now had to wear increasingly more often, not just when she was reading. "You're playing what exactly?" asked Cadance, checking to make sure she had heard right.
"Hogwarts," answered Abby. "And we're in Potions right now. Fred's being Professor Snape!"
"He is, is he?" asked Cadance.
Fred nodded then put on a scowl, in demonstration. "Fifty points from Gryffindor!" he exclaimed throwing his hands in the air.
"Oh, Freddy, Professor Snape would never throw his hands in the air like that," corrected Cadance. "Perhaps you should be in a different class."
"Will you play then?" asked Abby. "You can teach us Defense Against the Dark Arts! Then we could be in real school, not just pretend school."
"Uhh, Abby, I don't know if your mom would appreciate that very much," answered Cadance truthfully. "How about if I let you play with the stuff in the back room?"
"Okay" exclaimed Abby, running past Cadance and into the back room with Joseph at her heels. Freddy followed taking large, slow strides, apparently still trying to make his robes billow. Cadance chuckled, picked him up, and carried him into the back room.
"What's all this stuff?" asked Joseph, standing on his tiptoes to look in a large box.
"All sorts of things," answered Cadance. She tipped the box over so Joseph could look inside. It appeared to be full of old clothes and strange-looking robes. "These are disguises."
"Disguises?" asked Abby picking up a large hat and putting it on her head.
"Oh yes," answered Cadance. "That was my specialty when I was a rookie Auror."
"What's a specialty?" asked Joseph, crawling into the box to get to stuff in the back.
"Oh, it's sort of something I was really good at," answered Cadance. "I would put on these clothes to change my appearance and people wouldn't know who I was."
"Why would you want to do that?" asked Abby.
"Oh, there are many reasons for an Auror to wear a disguise," answered Cadance. "Especially if he or she has to go to the same place several times to get information or anything like that. Also, disguises give you the element of surprise."
"Do you wear them anymore?" asked Fred.
Cadance grinned. "As tempting as it is to fool the students, no," she answered. "No, I don't have much use for disguises anymore. I'm certainly not trying to disguise myself from my students, and disguises are not all that helpful when Death Eaters are shooting spells at you left and right."
"Did Aunt Cati do it, too?" asked Abby. Cadance nodded.
"Uncle Remus says you and Aunt Cati used to get into a lot of trouble," said Freddy.
Cadance cocked an eyebrow at him. "What exactly has Remus told you?" she asked.
"He said that you used to be real bad at school, and that's why Professor McGonagall uses your middle names, like when Mommy uses my middle name when I am bad," answered Joseph.
"And he said you used to be real bad at work, and the Aurors would have fired you except that you were worth more than the trouble you caused," piped up Abby.
"I'm going to have to have a little talk with Remus then," said Cadance. "He was no angel in school, you know."
"He wasn't?" asked Fred.
"Oh no," answered Cadance. "He and your Uncle Sirius and your Uncle Harry's dad used to sneak out of bed at night and terrorize the castle." Abby, Fred, and Joseph all gasped.
"Uncle Sirius, too?" asked Abby incredulously.
"Oh yes," said Cadance with a grin. "Especially Uncle Sirius."
"But they all say you and Aunt Cati were bad," said Fred.
"Who does?" asked Cadance.
"Everyone," answered Fred. "My mommy and daddy and Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny and Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione and Aunt Arabella and Uncle Sirius and Aunt Wendy and Uncle Remus and Aunt Kala and Uncle Bill and Uncle Charlie and…"
"What?" exclaimed Cadance. "When do you all talk about me and Cati?"
"Last week when everyone was at my house except you and Aunt Cati were busy supervising the Aurors at Hogwarts!" answered Abby.
Cadance tried to think back to last week. She and Cati had been taking their shift standing guard at Hogwarts one night, and everyone had gone to Godric's Hollow for a late dinner, which she and Cati had to miss. "How did that conversation come up?" asked Cadance.
"They were talking about how James got detention last week for putting a Filibuster firework in someone's cauldron and I asked mommy if she ever did anything like that at school," answered Abby.
"And she said no, did she?" asked Cadance. Abby nodded. Cadance sighed. She should have seen that coming. Of course she and Cati, as the only ones not there to defend themselves, would be the one who would have the beans spilled on them.
"Well, I think it's about time you all learned the truth," answered Cadance. "Yes, I admit it. Cati and I were troublemakers. However, we were not the only ones. Your parents did plenty themselves."
"My mommy?" asked Joseph.
"Oh yes," said Cadance grinning evilly. "In her first year, Hermione actually lit Professor Snape on fire. In her second year, she stole Potions ingredients from his private stores and then illegally brewed a potion in the girls bathroom!"
"She did?" asked Joseph, with wide eyes.
"And your daddy and Uncle Harry helped!" said Cadance.
"My daddy was in the girls bathroom!" exclaimed Joseph.
Cadance nodded. "And they all helped Hagrid hide a dragon and then they helped him get rid of it. And don't even get me started on Uncle George…"
Just after dinner that evening, Jen came to pick the children back up. Cadance, who hadn't gotten much work done with Abby, Fred, and Joseph there, went back to her classroom. She started cleaning up the storage room, which she and the kids had made a royal mess of. She was just putting a bunch of bouncy balls into a cauldron and stashing it on a shelf with a basket full of toy people and a stuffed dragon when she heard the door to her classroom open and the familiar bouncing footsteps of Cati echoing inside.
"Cate?" she called, as she started to reorganize the sloppily stashed potion ingredients on another shelf.
Cati came walking into the back room. "What are you doing?" she asked leaning on the doorframe casually.
"Cleaning up," said Cadance. "I let the kids play in here today."
"You let the kids play with shrunken heads?" asked Cati gesturing lazily to the box full of them lying open on the floor.
"Yes. Do you think Jen will have a problem with that?" asked Cadance picking it up and sticking it on a shelf next to a lava lamp. Suddenly, they both heard the classroom door open rather noisily and then slam shut again.
"CADANCE!" exclaimed Jen's voice really loudly.
"I'd say so," said Cati as she and Cadance poked their heads into the classroom to see what was going on. Jen was standing there, fuming, with Hermione and Ginny on either side.
Jen narrowed her eyes at Cadance. "You," she said through gritted teeth.
"Alright, I'm sorry. The next time I'll put the shrunken heads on a higher shelf!"
"Shrunken heads?" asked Ginny, confused.
"You told our children about EVERY bad thing we EVER did at school!" exclaimed Jen furiously.
Cadance narrowed her eyes and stood in a way that mirrored her sister. "You told your children about every bad thing me and Cati did in school AND out!" exclaimed Cadance.
"They did?" asked Cati.
"Yes!" exclaimed Cadance.
"Remus started it, Cadance!" argued Jen.
"And now we're even!"
"Do you know what my son asked me today?" asked Jen in a threatening tone. "He asked me what potions ingredients to mix together to make the dungeons blow up! You told him I blew up the dungeons!"
"You did blow up the dungeons!" asserted Cadance.
"But did you have to tell my 4-and-a-half year old son that!" asked Jen exasperatedly.
"Oh, relax, it's not like I told him he was an accident," said Cadance. Jen took a step forward, but Ginny grabbed her arm to pull her back.
"Joseph asked me if he's allowed to light Ron on fire the next time he tells him he doesn't get any desert," said Hermione, not quite as angrily as Jen. "And then he asked me if Professor Snape sneers so much because I lit him on fire!"
"Well, it wasn't exactly a cause for him to stop sneering…"
"Cadance, this is very serious!" admonished Ginny.
"And what are you doing here, Ginny?" said Cadance. "It's not like I told James anything."
"Cadance Rose DiGen…" began Jen before Cadance cut her off, by whipping her wand out so quickly nobody saw it until it was pointed directly at Jen.
"Don't do dare finish that middle name, Jen," she said, leering at her. "You know I hate it."
Just then, the door opened again. Harry was standing there, panting. "What the hell's the wrong with you?" asked Cadance pocketing her wand.
"Ran," he panted, clutching his side. "Ran fast."
"Yeah, it sucks to have to run, doesn't it? Maybe you'll reconsider making us run on Wednesday now, won't you?" asked Cadance.
"Harry, I already told you; you can't stop me from kicking Cadance's ass, so back off," said Jen angrily, looking at Harry.
"No… that's…. not it," he said, still panting.
"Well, what is it then?" asked Jen.
He paused for a second and once his breath caught up with him, he looked at all of them. "I know what Voldemort's been up to."
"What?" asked Ginny, nervousness edging into her voice.
"He's launched an assault on Azkaban. That's why they've been lying low. They've been lying in wait for this," said Harry. Cati, Ginny, Hermione, and Jen were stunned into silence.
"We've got to get there," said Cadance, snapping her fingers. A traveling cloak appeared in her hands and she swung it on in one quick motion as she walked towards the door. "Come on, we've got to hurry. We've got to alert the Order."
"It's too late," said Harry. Cadance stopped. "It's already over. It was over so fast the Ministry had no idea it even happened until it was over."
"How many of ours are dead?" asked Cati.
"Every single Auror in there," said Harry. "All fifty of them. Every cell was opened. Hundreds of Death Eaters have poured out and rejoined Voldemort. And that's not all. The Dementors have returned to the island. We no longer have control of the jail or its enchantments. It seems Voldemort and Slytherin have taken it as their new lair. They're using our own magic against us."