Just to let you know I posted this chapter a while back but just realised I made a mistake with the timelines so I've posted it again and now everything is in the right place. Sorry about that :) Reviews are appreciated

30th November 1976

That poor girl thought Minerva for the hundredth time that evening. She had been sitting at her desk for over an hour however, she had no intention of moving. The memories of what had just happened kept playing in her head, over and over again and despite her attempts to rid herself of Lily Evan's horrified face she could not help but continue to think of the girl, probably at home now, grieving the loss of her father.

Letting her head fall into her hands, Minerva rubbed her eyes and sighed loudly. She was tired after all that had happened that day but Lily's face continued to haunt her mind, kicking away any thought of going to bed. The memory of having been called to the Gryffindor Tower early that morning to find Lily Evans crying in her dormitory sent shivers down her spine. Never had she ever seen Lily cry that openly and it broke her heart to think that such a young girl should have to deal with the death of a family member so early in her life.

A knock sounded suddenly at the door. Frowning, Minerva glanced at her watch. It was half-past nine, which meant it was either a teacher coming to talk or something bad had happened and it was a student coming to report it. Hoping very much it was the former, although the reason as to why any teacher would call on her at this late an hour was mysterious to her, Minerva called, 'Come in,' and waited to see who it was.

'Oh, Albus!' she said shocked, 'What's wrong?' she asked, noticing his grave expression.

'I'm afraid Mr Lupin's secret is out,' he said, shaking his head and closing the door behind himself.

It took a few minutes for Minerva to register what he had said. 'Out? What do you mean out? I took him to the Whomping Willow myself. We didn't cross anybody on our way there and I made sure he was safely down the tunnel before I left.' Minerva looked quizzically at Dumbledore, 'The night is not even over yet,' she said.

Dumbledore sighed, 'I am truly sorry to bother you this late in the evening, Minerva,' he said heavily, 'But I need you to send Mr and Mrs Potter as well as Mr and Mrs Black some letters as soon as you can. You see,' he started to explain, 'from what I gathered is that Sirius Black tried to 'lure' Severus Snape into the Whomping Willow while Lupin was in the Shrieking Shack in his transformed form.'

Minerva gasped, 'What on earth was he thinking!'

'He has apologised quite considerably to Mr Snape who luckily was not hurt and was in fact saved by Mr Potter.'

'P–what?' spluttered Minerva, 'Potter rescued Snape?' she repeated, disbelief clear in her voice.

Albus gave a weak smile, 'Surprising but true,' he said, 'They are all quite all right now, although Mr Black does seem quite–ah–ashamed by what he has done.'

'And so he should be! Didn't it occur to him how dangerous – and goodness did he even think as to how Lupin will feel when he finds out?' Minerva cried, sinking back down into her chair she did not remember getting up from, 'What is going to happen now? I mean it is clear now that both Potter and Black knew of Lupin's condition which means that Pettigrew knows as well. And if Snape knows too…' Minerva bit her bottom lip, nervously.

'He has given me his word that he will keep Mr Lupin's secret safe, the others probably having done so for a while now,' said Dumbledore.

There was a short silence before Minerva said, 'Well thank you for telling me, Albus. I'll write to both Mr Potter and Mr Black parents now. I expect you need to inform Horace of this seeing as Mr Snape is in his house?'

'Yes, I do. Again, I am very sorry to disturb you, my dear,' he apologetically.

'That's quite all right,' answered Minerva, 'but before you go, Albus,' she called as Dumbledore was just about to disappear behind her door and back out into the corridor, 'I saw Alastor Moody yesterday and he wants to bring forward the next Order meeting by a week.'

'I see. Thank you for telling me,' said Dumbledore gravely before leaving the room. The door snapped loudly shut behind him and, now a frustrated as well as tired, Minerva opened her desk drawer a pulled out a paper and her quill; Merlin knew what she was going to write this time. Hoping that these would be the last letters she would have to send to the Potters and the Blacks, she sighed and began to write