A.N: Okay, this WOULD have been up within a month of the last chapter, I SWEAR. Really. But then I ran across this little stumbling block called Order of the Phoenix. And character backgroundy tidbits that make stuff I wrote earlier not fit with canon. (Excuse me for thinking Sirius should have had a HAPPY family life, JK...)

So, I went back to rewrite here and there and make it fit. And, inevitably, I looked at the first chapters of this story, written in 2001, and, as I usually do, said "Oh my God, that writing is horribly adolescent and needs to be redone!"

SO...Remembrance shall now, in addition to inching its way toward completion, be undergoing the Massive Re-Write of Doom, which my stories quite often never make it out of alive. But, since it IS summer, and I am still bursting with the Post-New-Book-Reading HP Fandom Madness.things should run along quite smoothly.

Hang in there, gang. There's a massively fluffy lovers' reunion scene at the end of the tunnel, and I just know I can get us there...(I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...)

Chapter Eleven

About twenty minutes later, the Marauders, Lily, and Alexandra pulled up outside Ally's house in James's parents' car. (The drive would have taken longer than that, if Sirius hadn't been driving so far over the speed limit that, even under the circumstances, Remus and Lily yelled at him to slow down.) A group of Aurors was already there, interrogating the one Death Eater that Nick had been able to subdue before the rest got away with Celina. Nick looked up, surprised, as the teenagers entered.

"Ally!...What are you all doing here?"

"You think I was going to stay at James's after hearing about what happened?"

"If I'd known you were going to come all the way out here-"

"Nick, we want to help."

"Let me handle this, Nick." A grizzled-looking Auror who they all recognized at once-Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody-stepped forward, looking Ally over with his mismatched, unsettling eyes. "Alexandra, is it?" His usual gruff tone was surprisingly gentle as he addressed her. "I know how you must be feeling right now, but the best thing you can do to help is just let us handle it and not get in the way."

"But we want to help-" James started to object. Knowing he was about to say something about the Order of the Phoenix-Moody and Nick were both part of it-Lily stomped on his foot as discreetly as she could and then pulled him aside.

"These other Aurors might not know about the Order!" she hissed at him. "And neither does Peter, remember?"

"There's not much more to be done, girl..." Moody was saying to Alexandra. He gestured to a flask on the table, where the Death Eater was sitting, bound with magical ropes. "We gave him some Veritaserum, so we know where they're taking the little girl. All that's left to do is go get her, and that's too dangerous for any of you to be involved in."

She nodded soberly. "All right...just...find her soon."

"We will, don't worry." He patted her arm and started to walk past her, then leaned in and whispered quickly. "Stay here in case Nick needs some help handling him. That'll still be good practice for you all, but not too dangerous."

As Moody and the other Aurors left, Sirius heard something behind him- something that sounded very much like an evil chuckle. Turning, he faced the captive Death Eater and was met with a stony, impassive expression...but not before he saw a sinister grin flitting across the man's face.

"Um...Lily?" he asked. "You're the best of us at Potions-what are this git's odds of resisting the Veritaserum and lying to us?"

Lily turned towards the Death Eater as well, frowning slightly. "Slim, but not unheard of...wizards have resisted Veritaserum before..."

"Is there any way we could find out for sure?"

"Well, we could give him another dose, but-"

"An overdose of Veritaserum can be very dangerous." Nick finished. "What makes you think he might be lying, Sirius?"

"Just now, when the Aurors left, our friend here was chuckling...I'd like to know what's so funny."

Nick looked at the Death Eater carefully for a moment, thinking. "I think I'd like to know that, myself..." Reaching for the bottle of Veritaserum on the table, he uncorked it and stepped toward their captive.

"Did you lie to Moody about where you and your companions were taking Celina?" he asked after forcing another dose down his throat.

"Yes."

"Where are they really taking her?"

The Death Eater gave them directions to an abandoned house on the outskirts of a village to the north, which Remus scribbled down.

"What about the directions you gave Moody?" he asked as he wrote. "Is there anything where they're headed?"

A sinister smile crossed the Death Eater's face again. "Yes."

Nick's brows furrowed, and a note of foreboding crept into his voice. "What?"

The Death Eater told them.

"Bloody Hell!" Sirius exclaimed. "We've got to stop them!"

"Some of us should go after them while the rest go on ahead and see if we can find where they took Cel." James said. "That way-"

"Hold it!" Nick interrupted. "You all have already gotten more involved in this than you should have." "But-"

"No buts, Alexandra. Now listen-if you insist on trying to help, stay here and watch the Death Eater while I intercept Moody and the others. Once I send them in the right direction to find Cel, I'll come back to watch him until someone can come and take him into custody. After that, I want you all to go back to James's-his parents will be frantic when they realize you're all gone."

The teenagers exchanged glances, already knowing what they were going to do. Ally sighed and nodded. "You're right...we'll let the adults take it from here."

"Good girl." Nick said, squeezing her shoulder. "And don't worry-Cel's going to be alright."

They waited for a few moments after he left, to be on the safe side.

"Right." Ally said, waving her wand toward the Death Eater. "What should we do with him?"

"Stun him, tie him up more thoroughly, and lock him in a closet somewhere?" James suggested.

"Sounds good to me..."

"Um...guys, should we really be doing this?" Peter asked. "Maybe we should just let the Aurors handle it..."

Sirius turned to him, looking slightly impatient. "Wormtail, last year we all swore that if Voldemort wanted to get to Cel, he's have to get through all six of us, right?"

"Right..."

"Well, did you mean that promise or didn't you?"

"I...you're right. I meant it."

"Alright then. Let's go kick some dark wizard ass!"

A.N: Okay, I have a firm grasp of what's going to happen next this time, so newness should be soon. But then, with my track record, maybe I shouldn't go saying things like that...

Oh, and as for the end of OotP...no spoilers, don't worry!...ALL I'm going to say is...

We'll SEE about THAT, JK!

(huffs off in a cloud of self-righteous fangirlishness)