"So they're alive? Are you sure?" Lucius Malfoy said in disbelief, staring at the inheritance test in his hand.

As soon as they had left the bank after finishing their business, and getting Henry a purge for all he was under, Victoria had gathered her friends together and told them about what she'd discovered from the inheritance test.

"Yes, it cannot be faked in any way. Fred and George's confirmed that as well, along with the fact that Fabian and Gideon are also alive."

"That's…" Sirius said in disbelief, not even able to finish his statement from shock. It couldn't be possible and yet here was the proof in front of his eyes. "But I saw James's body that night."

"From what the goblins said, there is a way to create a fake body using illusion magic, while the real one is still alive."

"But illusion magic is dark -almost black- magic. Who would use it for that?" Frank said, but as soon as the words had left his mouth the answer came to him.

"Dumbledore." They all said at the same time.

"Ugh, why is he always manipulating the world to fit his views, like come on!" Sirius said in exasperation, rolling his eyes.

"Because he thinks his world view is the correct one. The man is very obviously going senile." Lucius said with an exhausted sigh. He has had to deal with the man's manipulative ways in the Wizengamot for a long time now.

"But how do we find them? All of them being alive will not do anything if we don't know where they are." Alice said, attracting everyone's attention to the reason they were there in the first place.

"I have the house elves looking for them in the Potter and Prewett owned buildings as we speak. But I don't know where else they could be." Victoria said honestly, eyes looking at the ground in thought.

"Would he put them in Hogwarts?" Narcissa asked after a bit of thought, making everyone look at her in shock, as no one had thought of it.

"I wouldn't put it past him, he put Alice and I in St. Mung's after all." Frank said, looking at the others for any objections to his words.

"Sirius, where would the perfect place be for someone to have a dungeon of some sort in the castle? The marauders knew the castle best after all." Victoria said, looking at the only marauder in their group for help.

"I'd need the marauders map for that, but mine was burned when my apartment was attacked. Pettigrew had his confiscated in seventh year and I don't know where James's is, but Remus still has his as far as I know." Sirius said after a moment of thought, looking at the group gathered with a raised eyebrow at the obvious answer to their problem.

"Can we really trust Lupin though? From what I remember, he was in Dumbledore's pocket." Lucius said, reminding everyone of what they knew of Remus Lupin.

"He was, but it was because he owed the man for allowing him in Hogwarts even though he was a werewolf." Sirius explained to his friends, getting nods in return.

"There is no rule in the Hogwarts roster that forbids half creatures from studying at Hogwarts as long as they have human blood and can use wands. That's why half giants like Hagrid and half goblins like Filius Flitwick were allowed to attend." Arcturus Black said, entering the room and interrupting their conversation. "While Albus does not have any right to forbid half creatures from entering and studying at Hogwarts, he still does it. That is why they have stopped aiding magicals, and were so taken by the dark lord, he accepted them when Hogwarts did not."

"That…" Victoria was speechless from the amount of manipulation the man had done since he had defeated Grindelwald.

"That's why most purebloods are allowed to go to Hogwarts even though it's known that there are some families that have creature blood running through them." Arcturus explained, elaborating further on the point.

"I'll go visit Remus, I've been meaning to do so anyway, and I'll explain to him everything. Remus is smart, he'll get on our side when he finds out just how much manipulation has happened because of the old man." Sirius said, ending that discussion.

It seems that they still had a lot to do.

"It's been very long since we've all gathered like this." A raven haired, silver eyed man said, looking at the other three gathered in the dark room.

"Yes it has. What are we going to start with?" The man with shoulder length raven hair and dark brown eyes asked in his normal drawl-like voice.

"What has 'D' been up to until this point? I need the most boring of details. Also, what has he discovered about 'T'?" The only female in the room, a blonde with black streaks running through her hair and shining hazel –almost gold- eyes, said, indicating for the man to talk.

"He has me under an unbreakable vow to protect the boy, and has stuck me in an impossible to break contract to teach. He's too worried about your appearance and the Wizengamot's trust to worry about 'T', but he did say that he is still alive, he just doesn't have a body. His spirit is in Albania." He got nods in return at his report before they turned to the other raven in the room.

"What about you Hades? Any progress on your end?" The woman, Athena, asked Hades.

"Yes, I've managed to collect three of them. The ring, the locket and the diary. I'll need Grandfather's help for the cup and the diadem's location is still unknown."

"I also found out that my nephew was one, but he was cleansed so it was destroyed." Athena said, getting shocked looks from the two raven-heads.

"Yes, we also found out that a lot of people who were thought to be dead were alive." The third man, a blonde with shoulder length hair and blue eyes who went by Ares said, attracting their attention by that as well.

"Well damn." A man with intense blue eyes, long black hair and pointed canines, nicknamed Lycaon by the other four in the group gathered, exclaimed in surprise with a wolfish grin on his face.

And so, they dissolved into discussions about what they would need to do next.

At the same time as they were meeting, a reunion between two estranged friends was also occurring.

Sirius entered a bar in muggle London the day after he found out his honorary brother was alive wearing a black suit. He went unnoticed by everyone as he made his way towards the counter and sat down. As soon as the bartender had turned to ask for his order, he froze immediately as soon as he saw who was sitting in front of him.

"Hello Remus." Sirius said simply, smiling quietly at one of his oldest friends.

"Sirius." Remus Lupin, a sandy haired, blue eyed man who was the bartender, whispered, shocked at seeing the man in front of him. He had thought that Sirius would never talk to him again as Remus had abandoned him in his most trying moments.

"I believe we need to talk." Sirius said, getting an agreeing nod in return.

"My shift ends in an hour, we can talk then."

As the two sat down at a secluded table in the bar an hour later, they didn't know where to start with their conversation.

"I…" They both said at the same time, before laughing nervously.

Sirius gestured for Remus to start and so he took a deep breath and spoke quietly "I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you. I tried to visit you, to understand why you would do what they said you did, but right before I could a law was issued that werewolves had to register and weren't allowed to visit inmates in Azkaban, so I just had to believe what was told as there was no one refuting it. I also tried to see Harry, or take custody, but every time I asked Dumbledore about his location, he'd say that he was in a safe place with people that care about him and that's it. When I was planning to go and ask for custody through the Children's welfare office, another law was issued that werewolves couldn't have children, adopted or otherwise. By then the laws against creatures were getting worse and I couldn't hold a job so I had to leave the magical world."

"That's… Remus I'm so sorry you had to go through all that." Sirius said sadly, upset about what his friend had to go through because of the light.

"It wasn't all bad. I found out that Dumbledore was backing all the laws, so I started questioning what the light really stood for. I was found by Greyback at that point and he explained everything to me, so I've been staying with his pack while I worked in this bar in the muggle world."

'What did Greyback tell you?" Sirius asked, curious to hear what the infamous werewolf had to say about the dark to Remus.

"He told me that I was turned because I would've died from an illness when I was young, and that my mother was the one to approach him and asked him to turn me." That earned him a shocked look from his best friend that had him smiling a little. "Yeah, I was shocked as you are. He also told me that he offered to take me into his pack and raise me but my father refused and tried to kill him so he had to leave. He had tried approaching me a few times after that but was always blocked. He tried before my first year at Hogwarts but was stopped by Dumbledore and my father, then he tried again after I graduated but couldn't since the war was getting worse and I was on Dumbledore's side while he was on You-Know-Who's side. When the war ended, he tracked me down again and that's when he found me in the muggle world looking for a job. He explained what the Dark Side was truly about and about how Dumbledore was the one who stopped half creatures like werewolves to go to Hogwarts. I realized how much Dumbledore was using my loyalty for his own agenda."

"I'm glad I don't need to explain all of this to you then, since you already know that Dumbledore is the one in the wrong. There is something else I need to tell you though." That gained Remus's full attention, which prompted Sirius to tell him everything that had happened since he got out of prison.

"So James, Aurelia and the Prewett twins are alive?" Remus asked in shock. His question was confirmed by Sirius's nod.

"What's to say that there aren't others who died in the war that are actually alive and just kidnapped?"

"That didn't even cross my mind, but it's possible I suppose." Sirius said with his eyes wide, he truly hadn't thought of that at all.

"So what can I do to help?" Remus asked in determination, looking at his friend expectantly.

"Well you can start coming to Black manor when we have meetings. It usually includes Vickie, Frank, Alice, Lucius, Narcissa and I. Also, we suspect that those who were kidnapped are in Azkaban, so we need the marauders' map."

"That's easy enough. It's in my apartment, we can go get it after we're done here."

With that they dissolved into easy conversation, catching each other up with their lives and mending their friendship along the way.

As soon as Sirius had returned to the Manor after his successful reunion with Remus, he found himself face to face with Amelia Bones.

"To what do I owe this pleasure Madame Bones?"

"Well, Heir Black, if you must know, I used to be very close to a person who lives here, we were even on the brink of possibly starting a relationship when he was sent to prison."

"Is that so?" Sirius said teasingly, grinning mischievously as he got closer to the woman who has had his heart since the moment he had become friends with her. He would not say it was love at first sight, as he did not believe in it, but he had been enraptured with her since she'd given him the chance to get to know her and he hadn't dated anyone else since.

"Yes." Amelia replied as he got close enough to kiss her, but restrained himself so that she'd have the choice whether to close the gap or not. It only took her a second to tilt her head a little closer so that their lips met in a soft kiss. They broke apart a few minutes later and leaned their foreheads against each other.

"I've missed you Amy."

"I've missed you too Siri."