It was Potter who first heard the screams, breaking into a run. Lily followed him, producing loud noises to alert the other students to prepare for the attack. But it wasn't Death Eaters Lily found torturing anybody. It was Severus and his Slytherin friends. Or friend, she supposed would be more accurate, since most of them were unconscious on the ground besides Mulciber. The most sadistic Slytherin in their year.

Marlene was on the floor, in a protective stance over Sirius Black who seemed to be falling in and out of consciousness. It must have been his screams, Lily realised, that Potter had heard.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Protego!"

"Expulso!" Marlene managed to duck Mulciber's curse and Potter pulled Lily out of the way so it wouldn't hit her.

Meanwhile, Avery had regained consciousness and immediately focused on the girl who was half laying, half trying to sit up behind Snape and Mulciber. Avery stood up drawing his wand and twirling it as he made his way towards her, completely ignoring the duel between Marlene, Potter, Mulciber and Snape.

"Stupefy!" Potter managed to finally stun Mulciber and Severus turned, sneering at Potter.

Lily ignored them, moving closer to Avery instead.

"Leave her alone," Lily warned, her eyes narrowed in disgust.

Avery didn't reply, flicking a curse towards her which Lily easily dodged, casting her own stunning and full-body binding spells instead.

Avery managed to block the first but the second grazed his cheek and he fell down.

Lily rushed to the girl and helped her sit up.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked.

The girl weakly nodded.

A loud bang cut off Lily's next question.

"What is going on here?" A furious Wilkes asked, surrounded by a group of prefects.

Potter lowered his wand and ran his hand through his head. "I heard Sirius screaming," he said through gritted teeth, scowling at Snape.

"We thought there was a death eater attack," Wilkes said, turning towards the Slytherin boys, "What were you thinking fighting like that with the Gryffindors?"

Snape sneered at Wilkes, crossing his arms, "Those two," he pointed at Marlene and Sirius, "picked a fight with us. We were just defending ourselves."

"You were the ones torturing that poor girl!" Marlene exclaimed, "You didn't even care about the order from Wilkes and MacMillian."

Snape opened his mouth to protest again but Wilkes cut him off, pointedly looking at the girl next to Lily who looked dazed.

"McKinnon, please get Black into a compartment. I'll get some fifth years to do your patrols." Wilkes instructed. He turned to the prefects near them, "Please let Annelise and the older students that we're not under attack at the moment. Ask the driver if he's managed to get in contact with the Ministry or teachers. Oh, and let Annelise know that I'll be back shortly." He turned to look at Lily and the girl next to her, "Evans, perhaps you should take the witch into a compartment so she can recover tooc. Potter, if you'd accompany them and McKinnon, please." James frowned in Snape and the other Slytherins direction but nodded reluctantly, waiting until the prefects first left and Marlene had levitated the still unconscious Sirius into the air. He gestured for Lily to follow Marlene, the girl whose name they still didn't know leaning on Lily for support as she looked away from the Slytherins, tears falling down her face, before following them, still clutching his wand tightly.

Once, they'd all gone, Wilkes glared at the Slytherins. "How the lot of you are Slytherins is beyond me right now?" He said coldly, "Announcing your loyalties to the world and not caring about the consequences of your actions. I asked you to do one job and clearly, you couldn't even manage that."

"It's not our fault Black and McKinnon picked a fight with us," Avery groaned, "it was just bad luck they found us. We used silencing charms and everything."

Wilkes held up his hand, "Enough Avery. All of you are to stay in your compartment and not move. No more fights, no more torturing. Stay in your compartment and do not give me a reason to speak to you again. Understood?"

"What's your name?" Lily asked the girl while Marlene and Potter roused Sirius into consciousness, Marlene slowly casting a few healing spells. "I'm Lily Evans."

"I know," the girl said, wrapping the blanket Lily had conjured more tightly around herself, "I'm Mary. Mary MacDonald."

"Nice to meet you, Mary, do you need anything?" Lily asked kindly.

Mary shook her head and turned to look towards Marlene.

"Thank you," she said, "You healed me, didn't you?"

Marlene turned, flustered and waved it away, blushing, "It was nothing. I'm just glad I was there to help you."

"Marlene, he's twitching," James said, running a hand through his hair. "The last time I saw him like this, he'd...he'd been under the cruciatous. Can't you just," He waved his hand, clearly not knowing what to say next.

"What?" Lily gasped. "Black's been under the...that unforgivable?"

"He put Sirius under the cruciatous," Marlene told James, eyes wide in panic and fear, "James, what do we do? I don't want to cast anything in case it does more harm than good."

"Thanks for letting us know," Remus said tiredly, "Do you know where they are?"

"No, sorry," Annelise MacMillan replied, yawning.

Remus and Peter had just entered the dining compartment for their hourly update to find out that there had been a fight between Sirius and James and the Slytherins sometime between Peter and Remus's last update. Even with only one day until the full moon, Remus simply couldn't get a break and of course, he should have expected something like this to happen.

It had been five hours since the train had stopped and with each hour that passed, Remus was getting more and more nervous about how dark it was getting.

"Annelise," a first year nervously said.

Annelise smiled at her kindly, "Do you need something?"

"I'm…we're hungry." The student shifted nervously, clearing nervous about being surrounded by all of these older students.

As if it had been waiting for its cue, Peter's stomach growled in hunger. Peter blushed red in embarrassment.

"Sorry 'bout that," he muttered.

Annelise nodded, yawning again. "Thank you for letting me. Why don't you sit down, and I'll find something for everyone?"

The girl hurried away and whispered to her friends and Annelise rubbed her temples.

"I'll be back, don't patrol just yet," she told them, before hurrying away herself and talking to Wilkes urgently, who nodded every now and then solemnly.

Remus looked out of the window and winced at the darkening sky. He was lucky, he knew that. It wasn't as if tonight was the full moon. But Remus could feel Moony lurking restlessly underneath his skin and knowing how worried his parents would be about Remus's self-control only made him feel more anxious.

If only he could find his friends, his pack, maybe both he and Moony would feel better. Peter must have sensed his nervousness because he nudged him.

"It's going to be okay Moony."

Remus gave a small smile, so miniscule that it looked more like his lips had briefly twitched.

"I hope so, Wormtail, I really do."

"Well, we can't just leave him like that!" James said.

"I'm not a healer!" Marlene yelled, tears streaking down her face, "I hate seeing him in pain just as much you do but I'd never forgive myself if I tried to help and made it worse! There's a reason that spell is an unforgivable you know!"

Potter ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his eyes, clearly trying to stop himself from crying.

"You're right, sorry."

Marlene sniffed and clutched Sirius's hand.

"There must be a seventh year who does healing on the train," Lily said quietly.

Potter and Marlene turned to face her so suddenly, she was surprised that they hadn't hurt themselves.

"Any chance they've learnt about the cruciatous?"

Marlene wiped away her tears with her free hand, putting her wand down for the first time since they'd entered the compartment. "I don't know. I don't know."

"It's worth a try," Lily said firmly, gently extracting a sleeping Mary from her and standing up, "I'll go find MacMillan for you."

She moved to exit but Potter to her shock grabbed her wrist, stopping her.

She turned, frowning at him and he flushed as he dropped her wrist as if it had burned him but looked at seriously.

"I don't want you going on your own…"

"I am more than capable to look after myself!" Lily protested angrily. "How dare you-"

Potter cut her off, "I know you can look after yourself Evans…but if he attacks or if Sni- somebody attacks you like they attacked MacDonald or Padfoot, I couldn't…" he trailed off, angrily running a hand through his hand. "It's not like I want to leave Sirius right now either but…"

He glanced at Marlene who was still clutching Sirius's hand and pointedly avoiding looking at him. With a pained last look at Sirius, he said, "I'll come with you."

Lily wanted to argue with him about how unnecessary that was, but Marlene shot her a pleading look and Lily relented reluctantly.

"Fine," she said curtly, "let's go."

The Daily Prophet: Saturday 19th December

OUR CHILDREN WERE STRANDED FOR OVER FIFTEEN HOURS!

THE MONSTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS REMAIN UNCAPTURED!

By Barnabas Cuffe

It has been confirmed that amongst the Death Eaters who attacked the Ministry yesterday, there was a group of rogue, rabid werewolves.

Cygnus Black, who sits upon the Hogwarts Board of Directors says, "It is only luck that those bitten today did not survive. Though a terrible loss to the magical community, their families can now grieve rather than see them turn into monsters."

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, told us. "We must not blame werewolves who society shuns for turning to He Who Must Not Be Named [Headmaster Dumbledore used his name] for promising them rights. We should take this event as the tragedy it is for all the lives lost and strive to improve relations between us so that werewolves don't feel pressured to join the ranks of death eaters."

Among asking Mr (Cygnus) Black, what he thought of the respected Headmaster's remarks, he said, "Dumbledore can choose to see them [the werewolves] as the victims all he wants so long as he doesn't lie to the fortunate witches and wizards who haven't encountered these rabid beasts. As anybody who's seen their loved ones turning into the monstrous werewolf knows, they are anything but a victim. Such an attack proves the need, now more than ever, to control werewolves."

For the full story, turn to page 6.

For tips on keeping you and your family safe, turn to page 10.

Sunday 20th December 1976

James yawned as he sat down at the table.

"G'morning," James smiled sleepily.

"Good morning James," his mother greeted as she hovered a plate full of toast and eggs in front of him, she paused to kiss the top of his head.

"Mum!" James protested half-heartedly.

"Eat up now," his mother instructed, "your father and brother will be home soon."

She glanced at the floo before sitting down herself.

"Is Siri alright?" James asked, her eggs halfway to his mouth.

"Yes, the healers said that he should be alright provided he doesn't do any magic and rests."

The floo chimed and Sirius stepped through with Charlus Potter.

James grinned at Sirius who looked far more awake than him though tired as he sat down opposite him with Charlus clutching his arm until Sirius was tugging it gently. Charlus sat down next to him, grabbing the newspaper and opening it.

Like she'd done with James, Dorea directed a plate in front of Sirius with her wand before dropping a kiss of the top of Sirius' head too.

"Love you too, Mum," Sirius simply said.

Dorea beamed at him as she directed yet another plate onto the table in front of her husband, "See, James. Sirius doesn't mind. Be more like your brother."

James laughed, "That's the first and only time you'll say that to me, Mum. We all know Sirius is a bad influence."

Sirius threw a piece of toast towards James who ducked just in time.

"Boys," Charlus scolded, looking up from his newspaper, frowning as he ate his toast with one hand.

"Sorry Dad," muttered James and Sirius.

"What's wrong?" Dorea asked, sitting down herself with a cup of tea which she stirred in a spoonful of sugar and passed it to Sirius.

Charlus wordlessly passed the copy of the Daily Prophet to her so that she could read the latest article herself.

James and Sirius exchanged glances, wondering what had the Potters so worried.

"What happened?" James asked once he'd finished his mouthful.

"You know about the werewolf attack on Friday?" Charlus asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Just that there was an attack on the Ministry and that's why we were stuck on the train," James replied.

Dorea sighed, "Yes, all of that is true. On Friday morning, just after the train departed, the Death Eaters invaded and attacked the ministry. Greyback was there with a small group of werewolves and well, the ministry was in complete lockdown."

"Is that why the train stopped?" Sirius asked.

"They don't know yet. Officially, it's under investigation," said Dorea, "Sirius dear, drink that tea. And maybe after brunch, you should take a nap. Charlus did you-"

"Yes, I have his wand," Charlus interrupted.

The floo chimed again and Dorea moved towards it. It was Dumbledore, to her surprise.

"Albus," Dorea greeted politely, "I do hope everything is alright."

"Why is Dumbledore flooing this early?" James whispered to his father.

Charlus put a finger over his lips before turning.

"Yes, thankfully. May I step through Dorea?"

Dorea stepped back and let Dumbledore step through.

"Hello James, Sirius. I do hope you're feeling better now, my boy."

"It was a cruciatous, Albus," Dorea reminded him, "It's a miracle he's out of the hospital, forget about him feeling better."

"Yes, I wanted to speak you about your letter amongst other things," Dumbledore said, his eyes flickered to James and Sirius who were interestedly listening.

"Perhaps we should speak elsewhere," Dumbledore suggested.

Charlus stood, abandoning his half-eaten breakfast.

"My study then. Mipsy," Mipsy apparated in, "please keep an eye on my sons. We should be back shortly."

Mipsy nodded and Charlus gestured Dumbledore to follow him, Dorea lingered to give a warning look to James and Sirius. "Finish your breakfast and then Sirius needs to take a nap. And James, do I need to cast monitoring spells on you?"

"No!" James protested, "I know, no eavesdropping on your meeting. No ordering Mipsy to eavesdrop for me. I'll just write to Moo- Remus and Peter. I'll rest too even though I'm fine like I told you when we got off the train."

"Good," Dorea replied, "make sure your friends are alright." She moved to leave but added, "And owl that girl that got hurt for me too. If she's a muggleborn, she might not have met a healer and she should."

"Marlene healed her though," James said.

"Marlene's not a healer, James. Now, rest both of you." With that, Dorea Potter left the two teenagers and house elf to their own devices.

"With recent events, I was rather hoping you would change your minds about joining the Order," Dumbledore told Charlus regretfully.

"No," Charlus replied as Dorea slipped into the study, "We shall continue fighting this dark lord legally."

Dumbledore sighed, "I expected as much, Charlus. Though, what the Ministry will be able to do…" He trailed off, leaving an awkward silence which neither Potter attempted to fill.

"As for your letter, I would advise you to reconsider. Mr Mulciber is a student. Having him expelled will only ruin his life and encourage him to follow Voldemort."

Dorea stiffened at the name, "Please do not use his name in our house," she said coldly.

Dumbledore shook his head sadly, "Alas but fear of a name-"

Dorea cut him off, "speak to me about fear of a name after you witness your cousin, her husband and your other cousin's husband all get murdered because of it. Just because I have self-preservation does not mean that I am scared. Nor does reckless bravery gain one anything but death."

Dumbledore smiled, "Ah yes, Slytherin philosophy. Very well, if you insist, I shall endeavour to not use the name."

Dorea breathed in and out to calm down before thanking him, though if her tone was still frosty, she thought nobody could blame her.

The rest of the conversation was discussing Mulciber's punishment and though neither party was fully satisfied, they were able to arrive to a compromise.

Iris Evans wasn't an idiot. She knew when her daughter wasn't telling her something. And Iris knew that Lily was hiding something big.

For one, when the Hogwarts Express hadn't arrived when they'd expected it to, there hadn't been many parents at the platform. In hindsight, Iris should've realised then and there that something was wrong.

After the train had been half an hour late, Iris had approached another family to find that like herself, they had a magical daughter despite having no magic themselves.

When the train was an hour late, it was confirmed that everybody on the platform was magical. From then onwards, a few parents had popped in and out of the station every so often but none of them had been there long enough to ask them what was going on.

And then when the train had finally pulled up, Iris had been too relieved to see her daughter to worry about exactly why some of the parents looked so sad or why a boy was being led away in a floating stretcher closely followed by a boy who Iris would swear was James Potter though she'd only glanced at him for a second.

And Lily had just mentioned how the train had broken down and claimed she was exhausted and didn't want to talk about what had happened. Not to mention, she'd been far quieter than usual…

"Mum," Iris jumped as Petunia's voice jolted her out of her thoughts.

"Petunia, you scared me!"

Petunia hovered in the doorway. Iris gestured her to enter the room and sit next to her. Petunia slowly sat on the edge of the sofa and straightened her skirt.

"Is everything okay?" Iris asked gently.

"Can I go to Emily's house for a few days?" Petunia asked.

Iris frowned. "Lily just came back, don't you want to spend time with your sister?"

"No," Petunia replied curtly, "I'd rather not."

"Petunia…I know you have your…differences with Lily but can't you at least try to get along with you sister?"

"She's a freak," Petunia muttered.

"Petunia! I won't tolerate you calling your sister that word." Iris scolded, standing up. "I know you…we didn't always understand why Lily was…different but now we know and calling magic 'freakishness' because you can't accept that you don't have it won't solve anything."

"Fine. I'm going to Emily's. I'll be back for Christmas since you'll force me to spend it with the fre- Lily."

"Petunia!"

But her daughter cut Iris off, "If you want me to be civil to Lily then the more distance between us the better." With that Petunia stormed out.

Iris rubbed her forehead and then sighed as she went to find her younger daughter. She found Lily in the garden, weeding.

"Lily," she called.

Lily turned and seeing her waiting for her, stood up, pulling off her gloves.

"Yeah."

"Why was the train so late on Friday?"

Her daughter avoided her eyes as she replied, "It broke down."

"Then why do I have the feeling that there's more to it than that. I saw that boy on the stretcher. It was James Potter standing next to him, wasn't it?"

Lily nodded slowly. "They…some of the Slytherins picked a fight with Black and Marlene and he got hurt."

Iris sat down on the grass and patted the ground next to her. "And the train broke down because of this fight?"

Lily hesitated, pulling on her gardening gloves on again before nodding once more. Then she turned and went back to her gardening.

Iris watched her and resisted the urge to scream. Why wouldn't her daughters tell her what was wrong? Petunia with her problems with magic turning into her problems with Lily and Lily with whatever had happened on that train. Iris wasn't naïve enough to believe that Lily told her everything about the magical world. But the older Lily got, the more Iris felt like Lily kept to herself. Iris could only hope that she wouldn't lose her daughter completely to a world she didn't understand or truly belong to.

Perhaps, it was time for her and Robert to discuss those marriage contracts again. Marlene's letter and now Lily behaving oddly. Surely there had to be a connection between the two…

Narcissa,

I would be pleased if you could have tea with me next week. I recently read an article and realised we made a mistake in our Astronomy homework.

Owl me at your earliest convenience.

Yours & etc,

Emilia.

Monday 21st December

Narcissa stepped out of the floo and found Emilia waiting for her, alone.

"Where are your parents?" She asked, letting Emilia hug her.

"Out. What are you going to do then?"

"I don't know," Narcissa replied, "do you think he's seen the articles?"

Emilia nodded sympathetically. "The Daily Prophet's been publishing your father's opinion on werewolves for days and you told me Lupin was a werewolf supporter. Does he know about your father's…"

"Hatred of werewolves? No. I hadn't mentioned it to him before but he…he probably knows now."

"Your father's views were already well known in…certain circles shall we say but by now, I reckon everyone in the country knows." Emilia remarked.

"Not helping," Narcissa sighed. "I suppose I should have expected this. Father had to take advantage of how there's no Head of House Black officially for a few years somehow."

Emilia patted Narcissa's hand comfortingly and glanced at her friend before staring at her fingernails. "Cissa…"

"Yes."

"Have you heard from your sister?"

"Bella?" Narcissa frowned, "No. Do you think she was involved in this attack?"

Emilia laughed darkly. Bellatrix Lestrange's loyalties had been common knowledge for years, even before many had admitted that there was an ongoing war. "No I meant Andromeda?"

"No. I've not heard from her since she eloped," Narcissa replied stiffly. "Why?"

Emilia hesitated. She had a feeling…no, she knew…anybody who had eyes and knew Narcissa as well as she did could surely see that out of her two older sisters, it was Andromeda's footsteps she was going to follow. But Narcissa, as observant and cunning as she was, was amazing at deluding herself about her feelings. Did she even realise she was in love? If only Slughorn had done that lesson on Amortentia already. Well, at least she had it on good authority that he did have the lesson planned thanks to her plotting.

"Just wondering," Emilia finally said. "Maybe you should talk to your cousin. Sirius, I mean, not Regulus. He might be able to send a message to her for you."

"She's the one who left," Narcissa protested, "she should be the one to contact me."

"Aren't you the one who was upset about going home this summer because it was the first time you were going back since your sister eloped?"

Narcissa sniffed, lifting her chin in a haughty manner which didn't affect Emilia at all since she'd seen her best friend do this exact thing hundreds of times before.

Emilia grinned, nudging Narcissa, "Admit it!" She said in a sing song voice.

"Emilia!" Narcissa protested, moving further away from Emilia. "Fine, yes. I wasn't looking forward to going home this summer and I still don't like being home without her. I don't think Mother does either. This is the second Christmas we're spending with Grandfather, and she hates Granny."

"Then send her an owl!" Emilia insisted, "she must miss you too. How do you know she's not tried to send you an owl but it's just not arrived? Not to mention, Andromeda isn't a fool. She does know what would happen if you were caught writing to her or her to you."

"I know," Narcissa replied softly, "I know. I…I'll think about it. And what about your marriage contract?"

"Don't even mention that. Greengrass Senior, Cygnus's father, died in the Ministry attack so my father doesn't know if Cygnus will still sign the contract over Yule."

"Do you want to marry him?" Narcissa asked.

Narcissa wasn't surprised when Emilia looked at her weirdly. Growing up in a family like the Burkes or Blacks, a witch knew that she wouldn't get much say if any choice at all in who they would marry. Some families like the Potters or the Weasley had always been more liberal and hell, even the branch of the Black family that Sirius descended from was quite liberal. After all, Dorea Black had chosen to marry Charlus Potter rather than her brother choosing him for her. But still, there remained some families who though didn't… force their children to marry, they did ensure that they encouraged courtships with certain potential partners.

Even Augusta Longbottom had rather strongly encouraged her son to court Alice Fortescue. It was only good luck that the two genuinely cared and loved each other. Some were lucky like that. Others, like Bellatrix, weren't so lucky.

Narcissa and Emilia had never discussed this. One simply didn't discuss matters like that…or at least they didn't until now.

"I'd rather marry Greengrass than someone like Rosier, no offence Cissa."

Narcissa nodded, "None taken. I understand. Marrying a Neutral will give you…well, I hardly need to say it aloud. I understand."

"Have your parents said anything to you about…?" Emilia trailed off and Narcissa shook her head in relief.

"Thankfully not yet. Though I…I can't imagine it will last long. He won't want Sirius to approve the marriage as Head of House Black after all."

Emilia wanted to ask if Narcissa would marry whoever they chose. She really did but looking at Narcissa's pensive face, she thought she'd leave her friend to make that painful choice between love and family when the time came. If Narcissa hadn't even realised she was in love. If she was in love that was and as much as Emilia hated to admit it, until she got the amortentia in front of Narcissa, there was a small, tiny, chance that she might be wrong.

Tuesday 22nd December

"Now, your father and I need to tell you some important information about the war." Dorea Potter told her sons.

"First of all, His name has a taboo on it. It was used at Bill Weasley's birthday party, causing the Death Eaters to bypass the wards and attack. Don't use the name."

"But surely if everyone used the name then we'd be safe. They can't attack everyone at once?" James asked.

Charlus nodded. "That is true. But that's dependant on everyone using the name. How do you know that they will? What if you're the only one to use the name at a certain time? Nobody wants to risk the safety of their family."

"Not to mention, there are still so many who will want to avoid the war," Dorea said, "The war with Grindelwald was recent after all. Nor will everyone want to fight. The Weasleys won't after what happened. Nor will Andromeda with the life of her daughter to consider."

"In short, don't use the name. Not even in Hogwarts despite the heavy wards. We don't know to what extent the taboo allows wards to be bypassed. The Unspeakables are supposedly testing this now."

"But Dumbledore's at Hogwarts!" Sirius exclaimed. "He'll be able to keep Volde-", seeing Dorea's stern look, Sirius quicky corrected himself, "I mean Him away."

Dorea looked at Charlus. "We hope so. But…please don't use the name. Your father and I would feel far better if you didn't."

James and Sirius looked at each other and shrugged. "Alright," they agreed.

"Now, Cedrella told us that Arthur managed to identify one of the Death Eaters from that attack."

"He did?" Sirius said, leaning forward. "Someone besides Bellatrix?"

"Lucius Malfoy," Dorea said.

"Malfoy?" James repeated in surprise. "But he always seemed to be…"

"Not a murdering lunatic?" Sirius prompted.

"Well yeah," James agreed.

"I'm afraid that the death of his sister and father have affected Lucius Malfoy in ways that nobody would have anticipated," Dorea sighed. "Regardless of who he was, he is now a Death Eater and you have been warned. Despite Arthur's identification, Malfoy's unlikely to be arrested or even question since there is a blood feud between the two."

Sirius muttered something under his breath and James made a choking sound somewhere between a snort and cough. Dorea decided that she didn't need, didn't want to know.

"As for the current political situation, there are three factions at play. His factions with the death eaters of course, then you have Dumbledore who has his resistance though this isn't approved by the DMLE and operating under the radar for now. Officially, Dumbledore and his supporters are opposing Crouch and the stricter policies he wants to implement."

"How do you know about Dumbledore's resistance then? Are you a part of it?" James asked.

"No but he did invite us," Dorea replied.

"Why aren't you a part of it?" Sirius asked. "Surely if anyone's going to end this war, it'll be Dumbledore."

"Perhaps," Dorea conceded, "but the Ministry's job is to keep us safe. By focusing on the Ministry and Wizagonmot, we are ensuring that He doesn't use his death eaters to implement laws favourable to him."

James and Sirius frowned, looking at each other. Dorea sighed.

"When you're young," she said, "It seems like your job to take direct action and improve the world. But we have a Ministry and the Wizagonmot for a reason. Their purpose is to handle these threats and there's never been an unofficial resistance like Dumbledore's before. People involved in that effort aren't involved in the Ministry, leaving it vulnerable."

"You two don't need to worry about this war," Charlus said, "He might be gaining power now but there hasn't been a dark lord who has actually gained power in Britain in many years. Grindelward came closer than expected but we won then, and we'll win again now. Focus on enjoying these last years of school."

"Your father's right. We will handle the war. Be careful and aware of what's happening but focus on your NEWTs." Dorea agreed.

"What's the third faction then?" Sirius asked.

"The third faction is the Neutrals. That's who we're supporting. They're supporting the Ministry and trying to ensure that the DMLE have the resources they need to fight this war. Something that's becoming very difficult."

Later, when James and Sirius were alone, James asked.

"Do you think they're right? About Dumbledore's resistance causing more problems?"

Sirius shrugged, "Dumbledore must have created it for a reason."

James nodded, frowning, "But why aren't they supporting him then?"

Sirius shrugged again. "Well Aunt Dorea was a Black and my family's never liked Dumbledore so maybe that's why."

"Maybe," James said, "Mum's always seemed to have handled the Wizagonmot side of things more than Dad until recently. Still, I wish they'd join Dumbledore rather than support the Neutrals and do nothing."

"Maybe they will if the war gets worse." Sirius replied, frowning himself. "Though I don't know why they're supporting the Neutrals. Crouch is a Neutral and he's a prat."

"So you say but you never explain why."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Just be grateful you don't know why."

"Padfoot!"

Sirius threw a pillow towards James and soon all thoughts about prats and the war were forgotten in favour of a pillow fight which was shortly followed by an indoor snowball fight. Needless to say, Dorea and Mipsy were not pleased when they saw the aftermath

A/N: Hello! Like always, if there are any errors then please let me know! I'm still not entirely pleased with this chapter but I would never post this otherwise and this is already very delayed! I hope you enjoyed it and I'd love to hear what you thought of it!