Never could Aero ever imagine having to explain something as complex as death to a toddler. A toddler going through the stages of 'why?'. A child that was her goddaughter, her responsibility, her charge or ward or whatever someone wanted to call her. A toddler who now had to learn why her parents weren't coming back. Why they weren't going to tuck her in at night. Why they weren't going to be a breakfast. Why they weren't going to be there when she had nightmares or when she got sick. Why she'd never hear them say 'I love you' ever again.

It jilted her stomach. It froze her heart and stunted her mind. How something so horrible could happen to such good people. How it could happen to such a sweet, unknowing innocent little girl. She supposed it would be worse, when Selena got older, when she had to tell her that her parents were dead because of her own godmother, because Aero's parents did it. Like the guilt Aero felt now wasn't bad enough. It would only get worse...

But seeing Selena's green eyes well up with big fat tears, seeing her chin tremble under her bottom lip, see the red flush enter her skin.

"But where did they go?"

"Heaven."

"Why?"

"...Because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Why?"

"Because...because they didn't know. Because no one knew..."

Seeing those symptoms of despair creep into her little face was crushing. Even Charlie, who had remained relatively calm during the explanation, teared up. Aero felt her heart break with every fall of every tear. It was then, when she saw the heartbreak on her Goddaughter's face, a face she vowed to protect, that a new source of hatred for her parents sprung. Not just because they had killed her friends. No. But because they had once again tore apart the life of a young child who had nothing to do with this war. Who didn't deserve this pain and the following hole in their heart that would never leave them. It was like Neville all over again. And Aero practically shook with rage.

And as she lifted the wailing child into her arms, cradeling her protectively against her, she silently vowed revenge on her parents; on anyone who had any part in this, and on anyone who sided with the Death Eaters, who thought this was alright. The pain on Selena's face, the pain in her heart, could never be erased. Her goddaughter would always know this pain. And for that, no one would ever have mercy from Aero Black.

She didn't release Selena from her arms for the rest of the day. She held onto the constantly crying girl, while Charlie did everything he knew to try and offer her some comfort. Aero just bounced her on her hip, like when she was a baby, and made soothing noises. Selena rested her head tiredly on her godmother's shoulder and fisted her shirt, occassionally rubbing her tiny fists furiously against her eyes as she wailed.

She cried and shrieked and wailed all through the day. She probably didn't graspthe full thing, but she knew enough to know she'd never have her parents again. And that upset her. Multiple times, when she paused from her wailing to gain oxygen for teh next round she'd hiccup roughly and give a whimper for one of her parents, calling their names, until she recognized the silence and once again knew they weren't there and took up crying again, so loud and so long that her face turned violent shades of purple as she suffocated herself in her screams.

Aero just held her, crying herself, and walked around the room. She couldn't take her out, for she'd awake the portraits. She they stayed in her room. Aero bounced her on her him, holding her tightly, eyes blazing through her tears. While Selena mourned Aero craved blood. She'd never wanted her parents dead so much in her entire life. Even when she couldn't remember them and based her hate off their legendary crimes, even when she found her memories of their abuse, or even when she touched the memory of the Longbottom's torture...nothing compared to this. Because nothing compared to Selena's heartbreaking, pain-filled wails that echoed inside her mind.

Charlie sat on the floor, leaning back against the bed, his head in his hands, occassionally shaking with a sob. members of the Order peeked in to check on them. Sirius refused to enter, and Aero didn't blame him or Remus either. She understood this probably reminded them too much of Lily and James. Actually, it was a lot like that. They had been murdered in one night, leaving an orphaned child, because someone trusted had betrayed them. And Shane and Desarie had died together, even holding hands, no doubt when they realized they wouldn't survive. Selena was an orphan. And someone had betrayed them. Technically, they had betrayed Aero, who hadn't turned up...

Aero frowned. Someone had betrayed her, to kill her. And then obviously someone tipped off Umbridge, knowing of the other betrayal, to spare her. But she couldn't wrap her mind around the little drama that was quickly becoming her life. Who would betray her? Obviously someone in the Order. But then who would know enough about it to tell Umbridge so that the woman would have exactly enough time to catch her and stop her from leaving?

Several people had come in to say that Dumbledore wanted to speak to her. She slammed the door in their faces. Tonks had come in and now lay under the blankets of the bed and had cried herself to sleep. Several Owls had come through the window and several letters lay on the floor. Katie, Oliver, Alicia, Harry, Ginny, Lee, Neville, Hermione, Ron, Angelina, Fred and George, Darius and Dean, several others from school and friends of Charlie and Tonks'. They had all written. Fred more than the others, though Harry and Neville were a close tie. Charlie received several from his siblings and from one particular person from Romania several times. Tonks had several from her mother and father.

"We can't trust anyone..." she muttered angrily.

"We should talk to Dumbledore..." Charlie said gruffly.

"Why? He couldn't detect a spy the first time around, he won't be able to find this one." Aero said with a bitter scoff.

"We have to trust Dumbledore..."

"Who says? Who says we have to trust him? He said he'd keep my parents away. Lie. He said we have to trust each other. Where in the hell did that get us?"

Charlie shrugged mournfully.

Truth was, neither one was up for talking to Dumbledore. Charlie was too exhausted, to emotionally numb. Aero was too angry. She would lose it if she had to sit there and see the pity in his eyes and listen to his 'all knowing' spiel. The man, obviously, was a horrible judge of character to allow two spies in. Not to mention, she heard the stories about him befriending Grindewald. Bad judge of character. Horrible. Never learned from his mistakes.

Tonks moaned sorrowfully in her sleep, the sound slightly muffled by the layers of covers. Selena's wail hit a high pitch and Aero cringed. Charlie gave a groan and hid his head in his hands again. Aero smelled chicken from the kitchens and her stomach heaved. She stopped pacing and closed her eyes, scrunching up her nose and felt the acid from her empty stomach come up. She pushed it back down with every bit of restraint she had left. She felt suddenly naseous. She got an awful case of vertigo and leaned against the wall as Selena continued to cling to her shirt and wail mournfully.

She breathed through her nose until it passed. She blinked as she regained her vision and sighed. She was now officially messing up her health. But instead of wanting food, all she wanted was a cigarette and booze. She wanted to lose herself in the bottom of the bottle, but she knew that with Selena around, right now she had to be sober...as painful as that was.

Aero slid down the wall, Selena adjusted her position and hiccupped, and then continued screaming. Aero closed her eyes and slammed her head against the wall.

A chill was in the air, the sky was clouded over and gray. A giant shaggy black dog looked on from under the tree with somber eyes. Remus stood beside him, arms crossed tightly over his chest, his best shabby coat on. Tonks stood beside the grave sight, a hand covering her eyes with hunched shoulders. Charlie stood beside his older brother whose arm rested tightly around his shoulders. Charlie's hand was connected to a stoic faced Aero by a small blonde girl dressed in a fine black dress with glitter and teary, confused eyes.

Mad-eye stood to the side with Kingsley, talking quietly with Ted Tonks. Andromeda placed a slim, ringed hand on her niece's shoulder before moving on to console her daughter. Dumbledore stood at the back of the group, hands linked in front of him. Charlie and Aero had so far ignored his presence. McGonagall was even there, standing stiffly beside the Headmaster as she stared at the gravesight of the two who had been her students not so long ago.

Hestia Jones was there, as well Ebony, who was holding the hand of her daughter, Xoe. A few friends from school, that hand been classmates with Desarie and Shane, as well as Charlie and Tonks, stood by, crying or speaking softly to one another. The old woman who used to babysit Selena when Desarie and Shane had business stood there, weeping silently. The people Aero and Bill had run into before leaving for Gringotts in the hall were there, several feet away from the tree that Sirius and Remus occupied. Aero now knew them to be three of the Cavanaugh siblings. She had no idea how many others of them there were, or if any more of them were in the Order. The owl on the blonde woman's shoulder hooted mournfully.

And then the others were there. The ones Dumbledore retrieved from Hogwarts on account of a family disaster.

Fred was there, standing beside Aero with a hand through her free one, his face pained. Katie stood just behind her, her turquoise eyes shining with unshed tears at the loss of two Gryffindors. Alicia was with her, sniffling. George was on teh other side of Fred, shooting sad glances at Charlie. Harry and Ron and Hermione stood a little farther back with Ginny and Neville. Neville had insisted on being there when he found where they were going.

At the end, Charlie, Tonks and Aero stepped forward, placing flowers into the grave holes and Selena dropped a basket of petals in after them. Charlie lifted her into her arms and walked off to talk amongst the guests. Sirius, or rather Padfoot, was staring at the small group of Gryffindors, and Remus had a puzzled expression on his face. The Cavanaughs looked as though they wanted to come over but the brown haired brother stopped them.

And then two figures stood beside Molly and Arthur Weasley. Fleur past them to get to Bill. A man from Romania had his eyes set on a teary eyed Charlie as he walked over and clasped the red head on the shoulder and gave him a small smile. Bill's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. But Fred seemed forcused on the two figures with his parents.

Arthur reached out and hugged the woman first. She was small and slight, with a an elegant build to her. She wore a shawl over her hair and an old fashioned, yet expensive looking black gown. A delicated hand came out, with only slight wrinkles that showed she had aged well, and put it on Arthur's cheek. She had black hair streaked with gray curled up under her shawl. Her eyes were what caught Aero's attention. They were a grey-blue, much like some that she had seen in the portraits of her ancestors. She also had the elegant high cheekbones and defined features, much like Aero herself.

And the man had a deep red hair, long and tied at the end down his back, peppered with white and gray. His blue eyes crinkled when he smiled and his freckles showed up on his pale skin. His eyes were as blue as Fred and George's. His hair a little darker, more like Arthur than Molly's. He kissed the top of Molly's hand and she blushed.

"Who are they?" she asked.

"My grandparents..." Fred said, slightly surprised.

"That's Cedrella and Septimus?" Aero wondered.

"Yeah...I didn't think they'd come."

"Why are they here?"

"I guess...because this is another unity of the Blacks and Weasleys, what with you and Charlie. And Charlie just became a legal guardian and this is their...'surrogate great-granddaughter's' parent's funeral...it's become a family thing, I suppose." Fred murmured, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and tucking her into his side and resting his chin on top of her head.

"I guess she kinda is a Weasley now..." Aero said quietly.

"She's gonna be fine you know. She doesn't have her parents, and the situation isn't one I'd wish on anyone but...she's got the two most kick-assed Godparents ever. And you're got all these people here to help you both take care of her. She's just become an official Weasley. And we take care of our own." He told her and she could feel him grin before he kissed the top of her head.

"As long as she takes after her Weasley-Godfather, and not her Black-Godmother."

"Aw c'mon. Her Godmother is amazing. After all, how else would she be able to get such a handsome, charming, intelligent, brave boyfriend."

Aero scoffed.

"You know, you tend to exagerate..."

Fred pulled back to look at her, mockingly offended.

"Words can hurt you know." he told her.

She rolled her eyes.

"You're so sensetive. My big sensetive boyfriend."

"Ladies love the sensetive." he argued.

"Really?"

"What? Are you telling me that my sensetivity is not what captured you?" he asked, pouting.

"Nope. That wasn't it."

"What was it then?"

"Hmm...the fact that I knew you were the only one who could handle me...and I was the only one willing to put up with you."

"Put up, put up with me? What is that supposed to mean? Should I be offended?" He exclaimed.

Aero gave a short laugh and rested her forehead on his shoulder.

Katie came up then, looking mildly alarmed and more than a little irritated.

"That dog and the those two guys, the blonde and brunette by the woman with the owl? They all keep staring at me!" she cried.

Aero arched and eyebrow and shared a look with Fred.

"A dog is staring at you?" Aero clarified.

"Yes."

"You don't happen to have any dog treats on you, do you?" Fred asked her.

"No! Why would I-?"

"Then maybe he's just waiting so he can hump your leg?" Fred suggested.

Aero snorted and hid her face in Fred's side. She could tell Fred with grinning.

"Weasley!" Katie cried.

"What? I'm not the one waiting to jump you." He said.

"You're infuriating, you know that? I don't know how Aero puts up with you." Katie said, throwing her hands up.

"Every day he works a bit of my sanity away." Aero informed her.

"Oi! I resent that accussation." Fred protested.

Aero leaned up and kissed his cheek and that seemed to mollify him.

"I can't believe we have to go back to school after this." George groaned, coming up to their little group with Alicia.

"We won't for long, Georgie." Fred assurred him.

"What are you two planning?" Katie asked, narrowing her eyes.

"And do we want to know?" Alicia added, eyeing them warily.

The twins grinned, clearly excited by whatever they were planning.

"It's not put into motion just yet, ladies, don't fret." Fred said.

"We have to wait for the perfect moment." George explained.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure your mother won't approve." Aero sighed.

"Yeah...but you'd like it." Fred said, grinning down at her.

"Does it have to do with Umbridge?" she asked.

"Absolutely." they chorused.

"Then I'll love it."

"Where is she?" Sirius asked.

"No idea." Remus replied, flipping to the next page of the news paper.

"What do you mean, you have no idea?" Sirius exclaimed.

"I'm not her babysitter, Sirius." Remus reminded him.

"I know that! But what if she left, or went for a walk outside, and someone attacked her? What if Bellatrix found her?" Sirius demanded.

Remus sighed and put the news paper neatly down on the kitchen table. Sirius continued to get edgier every day it seemed, especially since he had been awoken that night, thinking they were going to tell him Aero was dead. He had grown increasingly concious of her every movement. He demanded he be told if she ever left the house, for whatever reason. He constantly wanted to know where she was, what she was doing. Remus knew he was just worried. After losing so much, going through so much, Remus knew losing one more person would completely destroy his friend, hence the convict's frantic actions. Aero had just been put into an ever-present danger. Until Bellatrix and Rodolphus LeStrange were either dead or behind bars, she was a moving target. And knowing such a thing simply unsettled Sirius.

"She hasn't left the house. She agreed to tell you if she did." Remus said.

Aero had infact agreed to it, though she had done so with heavy sarcasm and annoyance and clearly to try and ease her cousin's mind.

"But what if she forgot? Or well, this is Aero! She's too much like me for her own good! I would've rebelled against such a thing!"

Remus opened his mouth to reply when a shudder ran through the kitchen, the hanging pots and pans clinking together and the glass that held Sirius' drink trmbled. Remus glanced up sharply, his eyes alert and searching for signs of another security breach. Sirius had jumped out of his chair, wand at the ready. A slight, almost imperceptable trembling went through the floor underneath their feet a moment later.

"What the hell was that?" Sirius muttered.

"We should check it out." Remus said lowly.

They both glanced at each other before moving out of the kitchen. Doing a Home Revealing charm, Remus declared wards were put around the basement of the house. Sirus frowned.

"We didn't put up any wards down there." he informed his friend.

"Well, someone did now."

With a silent agreement they both headed down the stairs, wands in front of them, and were surprised the door was unlocked, despite the wards.

"What the hell?"

Remus blinked.

"Found her." he said.

Indeed, Aero had not left the house. She was currently on the ground in the stone basement, which had obviously been somewhat cleaned and emptied out, the belongings cluttered around in boxes on the sides of the walls. Aero was on her knees, resting on her forearms, swetting with her hair covering her face.

Smoke billowed from several boxes just behind her, scorch marks covered the stone walls and a large but shallow crack was in the middle of the floor. Standing a ways away from her was Mad-eye, wand raised at the two men, attention currently only half on Aero who glared up at him as she struggled to catch her breath.

"Don't you know how to knock?" Mad-eye growled.

"Well considering it's my house..." Sirius replied.

"Well this happens to be a training area, which is currently in use." Mad-eye said.

"We felt tremors from the kitchen. What exactly are you training for?" Remus inquired.

Mad-eye made a sound of annoyance.

"Just because she's no longer an Auror doesn't mean I'm gonna allow her to get rusty. She needs to keep in practice. If she can't be on Auror assignments, dealing with Death Eaters personally anymore, then I'll train her for Order missions, considering she's no longer in school anymore..."

"You shook the house more than an Earthquake! What the hell kind of training is this?" Sirius shouted.

"A more intense version than the one I started her out with when they wanted her on the force. What a joke that was. They didn't want her for an Auror, though her skills were definately up to par, they wanted her to keep an eye on all her traitor friends, like Dumbledore. But that didn't mean I was about to let them send her out into the field with her limited skills. No. So I took her on then, put her through their flimsy time slot of training time, got her some more experience. And I'll do it now. But Black, this ain't playtime. Get the hell up off the ground! Death Eaters aren't gonna wait for you to catch your breath and get your barings!" Mad-eye shouted, pointing his wand suddenly and Aero barely had time to register a flinch before she was sent sprawling onto the ground again.

She hacked a few good coughs, shoved a fist at her chest, and dived towards a spot on the floor beside her, missing a jet of red light and while she stumbled to her feet flicked her hand up and shot a beam of purple at Mad-eye who stepped to the side quickly and shook his wand at her again and she bent backwards, almost making a bridge with her body to avoid his spell and simultaneously cast one of her own.

She was covered in grime, sweat and blood and parts of her black clothes were ripped. Mad-eye was breathing a little heavily, had a nice gash across the front of him and was limping worse than usual, but otherwise both seemed unfazed by everything. Aero flitted lightly away, side-stepping to dodge a curse and sent a counter one back. She made a sweeping gesture as Mad-eye shielded himself easily enough and sent another one that caught Mad-eye above his peg-leg. She was obvisouly going for his weak spots.

His leg stumbled, momentarily off balance and she shot again, stepping forward, her eyes flashing almost angrily, and shouted a curse and Mad-eye just barely blocked it, growling out his own string of hexes and Aero danced around them. The whole thing seemed almost like a dance to her. Her feet moved gracefully across the cracked and uneven surface without missing a beat, her body bent and stretched as necessary to avoid and duck the curses and her arm moved fluidly, whipping around her to send her own back. Mad-eye still had the upper hand, being as skilled and experienced as he was, but Aero seemed almost natural as she took him on.

"It's practically a Black genetic." Sirius said, noticing Remus's gaze.

"You always were gifted in DA. Regulus too, from what I heard." Remus said.

Sirius unintentionally moved his hand into his pocket, his fingers playing with the ring there. Aero had picked it up from Gringotts, where it had apparently been in her parent's vault. Bellatrix must've found it at some point and Aero picked it up, giving it to him, as she said it was the last token of his little brother.

"It's a dark gift. But...it does help when you fight in a war like this." Sirius admitted gruffly.

"I wonder what it'll look like with Aero and you, compared to this." Remus mused.

"I'm more concerned with what it'll look like between her and Bellatrix." Sirius said.

Remus frowned. He didn't want Aero fighting a skilled, and no doubt delusional, Death eater like Bellatrix anymore than Sirius did. But Bellatrix, from what he had learned from the previous war, was a woman who was hell-bent on getting what she wanted. Whether it was Voldemort's acknowledgement or power for herself. And this time...what she wanted was her daughter's cold corpse at her feet.