It's unedited but I'll post a cleaner version later. Enjoy and review.

Chapter Seven:

            "You know what this place needs?"

            "A spa?"

            "Mini-bar?"

            "Hot men running around shirtless?"

"I still stand by my Mini-bar statement!"

Remus Lupin laughed as he collapsed into a couch in the Teacher's Lounge. Astra Sinistra and Roland Vector were huddled together in an oversized chair, smiling at him contently. In the far corner, McGonagall, Binns and Flitwick were playing poker and from the looks of it, Binns was cleaning up nicely. Another teacher was reading the Quidditch scores in the Daily Prophet and scribbling furiously on a notepad. Remus smiled. He had missed the Hogwarts Gambling Pool. Teachers at Hogwarts, contrary to popular belief, made up just as motley a group as the students. But, unlike the students, the teachers were united by one common love: gaming. They bet on everything and anything, from professional Quidditch games to possible love affairs.

"What does this place need, Remus?"

Remus turned away from his study of the bookie and shifted to Amissa Moon. She was curled into a chair near the door, with a book in her lap and a small, contained smile on her thin lips. He smiled at her, stepping back to take in the full image. She was a thin woman, pale and frost blond, with blue eyes that glittered with a precarious mirth.

In school, she had been known as the Snake Charmer, a Slytherin Illuminatti that seemed to be the female version of Silas Malfoy. Cold and just as teasing as Silas, Amissa had broken hearts within all houses- including his own. Sirius still moaned about her from time to time. But her legacy, he always secretly thought, had been somewhat fabricated because of her house. She seemed to him like a rambunctious girl who didn't know what she was doing half the time, always needing a minding or watching over. Severus had usually fulfilled that position, if he remembered correctly. So much so, that she had followed to him to Hecate upon her graduation.   And last Remus had heard of her, she was engaged to an older man. That was almost twenty years ago.

            Now, looking at her, she seemed to have grown up in that time. Remus shifted, forgetting why he had come into the room in the first place. "What?"

            "You asked us if we knew what this place needed. I don't know." She was smiling at him like if he was a silly child that amused her to no ends.

            He liked that nervous, self-conscience feeling he was getting around her, like if he was some lovesick student. "I…don't remember."

            That warranted another muted laugh. "I hope you're not like this with your classes."

            "Sometimes." He admitted, tucking his hands in his pockets. "On Fridays."

            "Welcome to my life."

            "Can I sit down?"

            "If you think you can manage without someone else's help."

            He sat across from her, ignoring the bookie and Flitwick talking and teasing about a possible Remus-Amissa relationship. Right now, all he wanted to do was catch on old times. "Last time I saw you, you were dating a Navy."

            "Engaged, and you know they hate being called Navies." She closed her book. "Last time I saw you, you were Mr. Elise Astor."

            Remus smiled. Elise Astor, the Lady Werewolf, was once the most rich and influential werewolf in England. She made her condition public knowledge and made no attempt to be shamed or 'labeled away' as some curiosity. She had used her influence and wealth to unite the English werewolves, believing that she and others like her should be proud. He had met her soon after graduation and within six months, he had married her and joined her crusade.

            How could he have known then, that only five years later, everything would have been different?

            "After she died, I got into teaching. Been doing that ever since, for a while I worked at Holms College."

            "I heard you worked with Vargas to find the Wolfsbane Potion."

            "I was just a guinea pig." He shrugged off. He looked up. "What about you? Did you ever marry that Navy?"

            Amissa's smile faded just slightly. It was obvious that the wound was still fresh. "No, Sydney died on Day of the Dead. After that, I just worked at Hecate…became head of the Runic division. Then, Gideon asked me to come over here when Kaiya…"

            Remus looked away. His heart twisted in his chest. Yes, he knew something about fresh wounds.

            Amissa was looking down at her book, like a chastised child. "I heard something about a son…James?"

            "Riener James." Remus nodded. "He's staying with my brother-in-law."

            She smiled again. "I have a goddaughter that I took care of after her mother passed. It's hard being a single parent."

            "I just wish Kaiya would have seen him walk. She would have gotten a kick out have big he's grown."

            "I bet he looks like his daddy."

            "I hope he's not that ugly."

            She threw her head back and laughed. Those kind of thick, pearls of laughter that are contagious and made him smile despite the longing in his heart. She reached over and touched his leg. "I've missed you, Remus."

            He smiled at her. "I must say you're a lot prettier to look at then Severus."

            "Professor Lupin?" Angelo Malone was standing at the door of the Teacher's Lounge, head bowed and meek. Remus noticed that Amissa's eyes narrowed and watched the boy with snakelike caution. Angelo seemed oblivious to it. "Professor Lupin, the Headmaster has sent me to find you. You have a visitor in your office."

            He looked at Amissa questioningly before standing and moving pass Angelo. Amissa stared at the Malone for a long time, but Angelo merely nodded and walked away.

            "I'm sorry for keeping you waiting. I wasn't expecting company." Remus said, opening the door. "What can I do for you?"

            The visitor was sitting at his desk, with his boots on the desk. The man was powerfully built that was barely concealed under his dark blue shirt and black pants. Light brown hair, colored with blond and gray was pulled into a ponytail that reveal his wide blue-green eyes which were resting Remus' frame. The man swiveled in the chair to face Remus fully. "Hello, brother."

            "Ezra." Remus replied, frowning. "What's wrong? Where's Riener?"

            "Safe." Ezra assured him, standing. "He's with Bram and Eddie. Don't worry."

            "Why are you here?"

            "I've come to tell you that we're renewing our alliance with the Dark Lord." Ezra said, placing his hands on Remus' shoulders. He looked into Remus' eyes with love and pure devotion. "I've come to bring you home."

            Becka Stallens inhaled on the cigarette and watched Kiernan. Malone was shuffling on the balls of his feet, studying the Compound and stepping back every few moments as if he feared the Aurors would come and return him to Azkaban. Becka was chewing on the butt of her cigarette, desperately trying to acknowledge the information she had just received.

            A few steps off, a small blond girl was playing among the willow trees. She was holding her hand aloft, watching as a spider crawled over her fingers, searching for an escape. The girl looked no older then five but there was age in the way she watched the spider through her blue, almond-shaped eyes.

            "Are you certain?" Becka asked suddenly.

            Kiernan turned away from the girl. "Yes."

            "I have to get back to England, then. There's no other way to prevent this." She looked up. "Contact Isaiah, and tell him St. Michael wants to meet. He can contact me through you."

            "What are you going to do?"

            "I refuse to believe that Jack the Ripper has just disappeared."

"Her villa in Calais is abandoned, there's no body, no evidence that she ran. She's just…gone."

"See if you hear Lucius or one of the upper Death Eaters talking about her. She had to have gone somewhere. As for the Werewolves, I can't sway them, but there might still be hope for the Vampires."

            "There's other talk, Becka, among the Death Eaters. They're saying Voldemort has become obsessed with Harry Potter and Dumbledore, that he'll try a full attack on Hogwarts."

            "That's suicide and Voldemort knows that."

            "Maybe, but if he can't destroy them both now, he'll never have another chance for them to be together. Time's working against him and Voldemort knows that. He's giving all power to Mordred, concerning dealing with the Aurors."

            "What are they planning that could involve all this? There's more to this then Mordred's revenge his father or even Voldemort's grudge against Potter" She mused, "This doesn't make any sense."

            Kiernan's eyes were on her. "I think you know." Becka looked up with a calm curiosity that only served to confirm his suspicions. "You found it, didn't you? What you've been looking for all these years. You found it."

            "Keep your voice down."

            "You found the key." He said, fiercely. "What Voldemort has been chasing all his life...I didn't you ever would. Eoin said you couldn't but you have, haven't you?"

            "I'm not sure." She answered, truthfully. She was looking at the little girl play. "But I got to play this out, Kier. I can't explain it…but I think what's at stake is more then just the lives of Potter and Snape. It's more important then all our lives, or even this foolish war we're fighting. This…this is about life and death itself."

            "You don't have to do this, you know." He whispered, "No one will blame you if you walked away."

            "I can't explain it. You'll just have to trust me!"

            "How can I trust you if you won't even let me know what you're after!

            "Just have faith in me and know that I'm doing this for everyone."

            "No, you're not. You're doing this because you're afraid."

            "Believe that if you must." It took everything in her to remain silent at that moment. She wanted to explain it but how could she when she didn't even understand.  " I have to go."

            "Go now, and I won't be here waiting for you…"

            "Then I'm sorry." She whispered, turning and walking away. She could feel his dark eyes on her, watching as she left. She wanted to turn back, wanted to explain but could not. Not without risking more lives then those that had already been lost. So she did what she had too. She made no sound as she turned and walked away.

            "You don't understand, Kiernan neither did Eoin." She answered, pulling out a lighter and looking at the child. "I've lost too much to Death, too much in finding this…I can't give it up now. It's all that I am."

            "No, it isn't."

            "Maybe," She allowed. "But I still have to follow this through."

            "For Billy's sake?"

            "For all their sakes." Becka reached into her coat and pulled out a wad of money, pushing them into his hand. "Stay safe, alright?"

            "Don't get sisterly on me…" He said with a grin.

            She forced up a laugh. "I know, I know. I don't have the practice…but still. I want to keep you around for a few more years." She glanced at the girl. "I better get back, she needs her nap."

            Kiernan watched as Becka disappeared under the willow tree branches to the child, lifting the girl up in her arms with a care he had never seen her exhibit before. There was a deliberation to her movements that she only used when dealing with the dangerous and deadly but the tenderness that shown in her face hearkened back to something old, and long thought forgotten.

            Perhaps, he mused, she was healing.

            He could hope, after all.