They had just sat down for lunch when Lucius arrived. He was completely distraught when he stepped out from the fireplace. His clothes were a mess, his hair hung down in disarray and he was even paler than normal. Andromeda, Mercuria, and Sirius rose and stormed at him. Andromeda asked, "What happened?". Sirius thrust a glass into Lucius' hand, which he emptied in one go. "Draco was attacked this morning. It's true. They're back. He was in the garden, practising. At some point he cast a Stunning Spell and suddenly they were there. Out of nowhere. He was able to drive them away with his Patronus. Then he fled back into the house. I went straight there. Fortunately, nothing serious happened. I asked him to keep the incident to himself. But now we know. Our worst fears have come true. The Dementors are back, and they attack everyone who uses the Stunning Spell".

Lucius dropped exhausted into an armchair and poured himself another drink. Sirius, Andromeda, and Mercuria stood around him, confused. Suddenly they heard a high-pitched scream from the garden, followed by the children's terrified crying. Sirius whirled around, pulled out his wand and sprinted to the terrace door. When an icy chill hit him, he knew that his personal nightmare had reappeared. For a split second, he recoiled as hopelessness swept through him. Then he took in the situation on the grass with a glance. Lizzy and the children were crouched together in the middle of the lawn. Lizzy kept emitting high-pitched yells while the boys huddled together, frozen in horror. Five Dementors were circling ever tighter around the small group. They were already blocking out the view of their victims and Lizzy's shrieks died away. Sirius shouted, "Expecto Patronum" and pointed his wand at the attackers as he propped his hand on the balustrade and vaulted over. The giant silvery dog burst from the tip of his wand and shot towards the Dementors. They backed away from the figure of bright light, which was followed by a lynx and a sheep on its heels. The Dementors abandoned their victims, rose into the air, and disappeared.

Everybody ran towards the small group. Sirius picked up Lizzy's wand from the grass. With both arms he yanked Alphard and Phineas up and sprinted back to the terrace. Lucius grabbed Procyon and Teddy while Mercuria lifted Asterion and stormed towards the house with him. Andromeda slapped Lizzy, who again was screaming hysterically. The girl began to cry. Andromeda clutched her arm and pulled her into the house. As they stumbled in from the terrace, Sirius slammed the door behind them and cast a Protecting Spell. Mercuria sat on the sofa. She held sobbing Alphard and Phineas in her arms, while Procyon and Asterion huddled close to her. Andromeda comforted snivelling Teddy and pressed him close to her chest. Lucius poured whisky and passed out the glasses. Sirius grabbed Lizzy by the shoulder and shook her. "Lizzy, what were you doing before the Dementors attacked?". The girl cried helplessly. "Tell me. Nobody will blame you. What were you doing? We need to know". Still sobbing she whispered, "I used a Stunning Spell. There was a fox. I was trying to drive it away. And then suddenly ...". She was crying hard.

Sirius ran his fingers through his hair. Suddenly he shouted at Lucius, "It's your fault, you stupid idiot. Your fault and that of all those pompous true-blood fanatics. You're the ones who supported him in his hunger for power. Because you felt so gloriously superior. Yes, you were flattered that other were afraid of you. You all basked so beautifully in his light". By now he was shrieking at the top of his lungs. His face was contorted, and his eyes glowed with anger. Lucius faced him, growing paler with every word. Sirius continued, "Now look at what you get out of it. He's attacking your child, he's attacking my children. No one is safe anymore. And we are now left to pick up the pieces of your pride. Do you at least have any idea how we're going to do that?". Lucius shook his head. "Then bring that damned time-turner here. Only in the past can this problem be solved". "No way. What are you going to do? Kill Voldemort? You can't and you know it. For as long as Potter was a Horcrux, Voldemort was immortal". Sirius shouted, "We need to find the casket". Lucius shook his head, "We can't. At least not with the help of the time-turner". Sirius pulled out his wand. "You go get that bloody time-turner now before I forget myself". Lucius also drew his wand and for a moment it looked like they were going to attack each other. Long suppressed hatred, anger and jealousy were suddenly flushed to the surface.

Mercuria jumped up, grabbed Sirius' arm, and pushed it down. She shouted, "You stop this right now. Both of you. Our enemy is Voldemort. If we fight each other, he's already won. Put away your wands. Now". She stomped angrily. Sirius and Lucius exchanged another hateful look. Then they pocketed their wands. Andromeda filled two glasses and thrust them into their hands. Mercuria continued. "You are both right. The solution lies in the past. But it's no use just to travel back without a plan. There are almost two years during which Tom might have hidden the casket. Do you want to go back and follow Voldemort's every move for such a long period? That's just ridiculous. We must consider the alternatives. Now, pull yourselves together, damn you. It's no use arguing about who did what and when. These Dementors threaten all of us. Lucius, we might have found out, where this casket comes from". She showed him the article on Tom's visit to Rosier. Lucius looked at it and said, "Yes, I happen to know this casket. It used to be on a table in Rosier's study. And it appeared in a portrait of his grandfather. I remember that Jacques visited us, while Voldemort stayed in our house and he carried something, which he left behind. You see the 'R' on the lid of the casket in the photograph? Now we know where Tom got it from".

Mercuria turned to Lizzy. "Are you ok? Then please take the children to the kitchen. You are safe inside the house". Lizzy nodded and drove the boys out of the room. They sat down and each had a drink. Lucius said, "The real casket was definitely in Rosier's house by the time this article was published, some two years before Tom attacked Harry Potter and disappeared. From Bella's photograph we know that Rosier gave the casket to him some time afterwards. He might have seen it during his visit and later have asked for it. At that time, Tom arranged many things. He gave me his diary, he used Kreacher to hide the locker horcrux in the cave and he asked Bellatrix to store the Hufflepuff horcrux in her vault. It's a fair assumption that he also hid the casket then. And we have no idea where". Sirius said, "We have been looking for it in all the places we could think of. But there are just far too many possibilities. To find Merope's grave will take weeks. And we aren't even sure whether this would help at all. Besides we don't know where Tom has been all this time. He might as well have gone abroad, though I personally doubt it". Lucius nodded. "Even if we used my time-turner, it wouldn't help much. As Mercuria said the period in question is far too long. We simply cannot follow him for days or weeks and remain unnoticed. And even if we did, our chances to observe him while he is hiding the casket are next to zero".

Regulus asked, "If we cannot find it, is there another solution?" Andromeda said, "Perhaps we can neutralise it". Everybody stared at her. "What do you mean by that?". Andromeda looked at Mercuria. "We don't know, where it is. But if we found a way to shift it someplace else after Voldemort put the parchment inside and hid it, perhaps we can undo the pact and the Dementors will disappear". Regulus asked, "And how exactly do you want to shift it someplace else, if we cannot find it?".

Mercuria showed a sudden understanding. ""I wonder what would happen if the casket turned up in a painting that was done after Tom had hidden it". Puzzled, Sirius asked, "What do you have in mind?". "Suppose I would eliminate the casket from Rosier's portrait and paint it into the portrait of Uncle Phineas here. This was done in 1980 and thus after Tom made his pact with the Dementors and hid the piece. Would that in any way effect the real casket? Or to be more precise, would the real casket end up with Uncle Phineas? Then it will eventually be passed down to you. I could also add a lock to make sure that no one opens the casket and removes its content just by chance. What do you think?". The wizards contemplated this. Suddenly they were interrupted by Uncle Phineas' high falsetto voice, who said from his portrait, "I think that's an excellent idea. Years ago, I read a book on Wizarding Paintings. Among the many characteristics that distinguish them from Muggle works of art there is one that might be helpful here. In Wizarding Paintings, only real things are depicted. This means, for example, when someone paints a tree with its roots reaching into the sky and its crown growing into the ground, that tree will come to existence, once the painting is finished. I think, Mercuria's idea is very sound". Andromeda asked, "But isn't it sufficient to remove the casket from Rosier's portrait? At that point it should cease to exist". Sirius shook his head. "We wouldn't be sure. whether it worked or not. True, the casket would no longer be in Rosier's painting. But we could not be sure if the real casket was destroyed as a result". The others nodded in appreciation. Mercuria suggested excitedly, "Then let's travel to the Rosiers and I'll remove the piece from the painting. Get ready". She stood up. Lucius said testily, "Sit back down. I'm afraid it's not that simple. After Tom attacked Harry Potter and disappeared, many Death Eaters were sued. Jacques Rosier put up quite a fight during which his house caught fire. The portrait of his ancestor was burnt and doesn't exist anymore".

Andromeda asked, "But why have the Dementors returned? Wasn't the casket destroyed when the painting burnt down?". Sirius said dryly, "Obviously not. And to be honest, it would be an outright disaster if everything that figures in a painting disappeared from real life the moment the painting is destroyed. I suppose that it works differently. Perhaps if Mercuria painted the casket into Uncle Phineas' portrait now, this would create a new reality and the piece would show up here. And if it did, we could try to invalidate Tom's pact with the Dementors". Andromeda shook her head. "But there is one problem. We don't know what the casket looks like. Both photos only show part of it. To make our plan work, we cannot rely on guesswork. It must be identical to the original". James said, "Then we have only one choice. It must be done before Rosier's portrait was destroyed". They all shook their head. Lucius said, "No, this is out of question. We cannot use the time-turner for such a complicated venture. To succeed, the three of us must travel back in time for weeks, if not months. You know that this is impossible. No, sure as hell we simply can't do it this way".

There was a long silence during which everybody racked his brains. Suddenly Remus said, "There is perhaps another possibility. Its outcome is insecure, but at least we can calculate most of the side-effects". Everybody hung on his lips. "It is important that the casket is painted into a portrait, which dates from a time after Tom hid the real one. Only then he would not notice that the casket has been shifted someplace else and try to restore its contents. Uncle Phineas' portrait fits perfectly because it was done during 1980. Now consider this: Sirius and Mercuria met for the first time, when five years ago Sirius returned to live in Grimmauld Place after his escape from Azkaban. Suppose they've met before. Would this substantially change the timeline? I don't think so. Even if those two knew each other when they were younger, from the moment Lily and James die and Sirius is taken to prison, the sequence of events will be the same as it has been without interference. These are the crucial incidents, which mustn't be affected. Sirius will disappear for fourteen years, and Mercuria will live her life as she has done during that time. Only when Sirius returns to live in Grimmauld Place and sees the magazine with her photo on the front cover they will reunite".

They vividly discussed Remus' proposal. Mercuria said, "Ok, it seems feasible to me. But how and when do we meet, and above all, how do we know, what to do?". Sirius said, "The only chance that the two of us meet is during the week when Lily and James visited your family at Cokeworth after we graduated from Hogwarts. Once you ran away to the continent, you never returned here until the early Nineties. Keep in mind that only James knew where you lived and he didn't tell anyone, not even me. Therefore, I cannot imagine, how we will get to know each other in 1980. No, if we want to try this option, it must happen in 1978". Mercuria interfered, "But this will be far too early. Tom hasn't hidden the casket yet. And Uncle Phineas painting doesn't exist either". Lucius interrupted, "How about this: You meet in the summer when you all graduated. You stay in touch. Two years later, you spend Christmas with the Potters. The Rosier's house was empty then until the new year because Jacques and his family stayed with us. You eliminate the casket from Rosier's portrait and put it into Uncle Phineas' painting here".

Regulus asked, "This might work out. But we must find a solution to the most important question yet: How will Mercuria and Sirius know what to do?". Sirius raised his voice, "With the time-turner…." Everyone cried out loud and all spoke excitedly at the same time, so that nothing could be understood for a while. Lucius refused, "I will not allow to use the piece for this". When they calmed down, Sirius explained, "I just wanted to say what if I write a letter to my younger self and explain, what to do. Lucius and I can travel back in time, go to the owlery, and send the letter to young Padfoot at Hogwarts. We don't even need to leave the house to do so and will be back in an instant". They thought long and hard about the proposal. Finally, Lucius said, "Ok, this is possible. So, you want to go back in time to the year when you graduated from Hogwarts?". "Yes, we must start out two weeks before the end of the school year".

James said, "We left out another important question. Do you think that the two of you will get along, when you are aged 18 and 16? You became a couple when you were older, because then you were a perfect match. But perhaps this is only thanks to the experiences you have made up to then. When you were young, both of you were difficult to say the least". Sirius looked at his wife. "Frankly, today I cannot imagine to be with another woman. But at 18? I really don't know. Besides, I have no idea, how I will react to an anonymous letter". Regulus said, "Still presently this is the best option we have. We should give it a try, don't you think? If it doesn't work out, there is nothing else, we can do about it".

Everybody agreed. Sirius summoned a writing pad and a pen for Mercuria, who started to write what dictated to her. He looked at Lucius, "Is there a way to enter the Rosier's house without setting off its Protection Charms?". Malfoy told him. When Mercuria had finished the letter, Sirius rolled up the parchment and gave Lucius an encouraging look, who gazed at him doubtfully. They walked up to the attic, where the owls lived. Here they approached each other, linked their arms and Lucius operated the time-turner. Their travel ended in the same room from which they had started out. "Now how can we be sure that we have ended up at the right time?". Lucius smiled. "Don't you worry, Black. The time-turner works perfectly. We are in 1978 now. Let's find a bird and return". They approached a tawny owl which was sleeping in a corner and Sirius tied the letter to its leg. The animal soared out of the window and headed north. They followed it with their eyes, until it was out of sight. "Ok, then. Let's keep our fingers crossed, that this will be successful".

Lucius operated the time-turner again and they returned to their starting time. He turned and suddenly stumbled over a loose plank and fell to the floor. The time-turner was flung from his hand and shattered on the floor. Both Lucius and Sirius looked at the shards in horror. They took out their wands and together shouted nervously, "Reparo". But the piece was beyond repair. "This is a heavy drawback", Sirius finally said. "We might need a time-turner again. What now?". Lucius frowned. "I have an employee, who might be able to create one. Theodore Nott. I will set him to work immediately. We better don't tell anyone that we have lost the piece". Sirius agreed. He turned and started to walk back to the living room when Lucius stopped him. "There is one more thing, which I didn't want to mention in front of the others". Sirius squinted at him. "I visited Draco after he was attacked. When I left, he accompanied me to the garden gate. As soon as he stepped out of the house, they were there again". Sirius looked amazed. "What?". "Listen Black. This isn't about a single attack that can be fended off with a Patronus. Once the Dementors target someone, they stay on his heels until they have hunted him down. Remember Fin saying that the young woman had conjured up a Patronus? She might have succeeded to drive away her attackers with it once. But it didn't work the next time". Lucius grabbed Sirius by the shoulders, looked him in the face and pleaded with him urgently, "Black, we must succeed. We simply must not fail". Sirius nodded.

The others sat in the living room and vividly discussed the matter when they entered. Sirius said, "Ok. We sent the letter. Now we can only wait and see what happens". He noticed that Mercuria was highly agitated. He sat beside her, wrapped his arms around her shoulder and asked, "What is it, love. Tell me". She was concerned. "Sirius, do you think that what we did was right? I mean, is it worth the risk? When I proposed to manipulate the portraits, I was carried away by enthusiasm. But now that I think of it, I am not so sure anymore. If this goes wrong, we might lose our past, our present and our future". He made her look at him. "Then let's discuss what might happen. First, my younger self receives that letter, thinks that it's a joke and doesn't do anything about it. In that case nothing will change in the future, except that we are still left with the Dementors. Second, I react to the letter, we meet, we like each other, and everything goes according to plan. Then the casket will be in the house and hopefully the problem is solved". "But what if we don't get along? Then the plan with the casket will fail and you will die at the battle of the Ministry. I don't think that we will become a couple later if we bicker with each other as youth. I would turn you down when you approached me in my studio". Sirius kissed her hair. "Listen, I told you that when I was young, I showcased my preference for Muggle girls mainly to offend my parents. That is not the whole truth. Look, witch's clothing is simple and conservative. Both for girls and for adult women. Some women are pretty, and some are beautiful too. But even when they dress up, they are neither erotic nor sexy. Possibly this is because there are few fashion outlets in the Wizarding World. Mainly Twilfitt and Tatting's and Madam Malkin's. Well, of course, when everyone shops in the same places, they all kind of look the same. Meanwhile, times are changing. Witches have started to buy part of their clothes in Muggle shops and now at least some don't look so uncomely anymore. But at the end of the Seventies, beginning of the Eighties, they still did". James interfered, "But you didn't get your clothes there, didn't you?" Sirius laughed. "No, I didn't. I was one of the very few who bought my clothes in the Muggle world. I have always had a liking for motorbikes and black leather pants were not available in our world. Therefore, when I came of age, I preferred to get my clothes in Muggle shops. Anyway, when I was thirteen or fourteen, I chanced to see one of those Muggle fashion magazines. It was summer, and the girl on the cover was clad in a bikini. I was just completely fascinated. I had never seen anything like it. I picked up the magazine. There was an article about swim wear with more pictures. I cherished the magazine like a treasure. And I dreamed about those girls. Wet dreams, you know. At least once I wanted to meet one of them. Not just in pictures or dreams, but in flesh and blood. It took a long time, but when I finally met one, it was even better than I thought it would be. She was drop-dead exciting. The Muggle I met was you and I was fascinated from the moment I first saw you. And I am sure that I will be mesmerised by your younger self as well". Sirius kissed her gently on her lips. The others smiled at them. Andromeda said, "All we can do now is to sit and wait".