The concert was in full swing by ten o'clock. Serena managed to make her way onstage at one point to grind with the lead singer of Mystic Acid, and even managed to steal a kiss before she rejoined her friends on the floor.

"What do you think now?" William shouted over the noise.

"I love it!" Sophia grinned back at him as he pulled her close to dance as the music picked up.

"Buy me a drink," Dierna demanded as she pulled Nick over to the bar.

"Whatever you say, oh demanding one," Nick acquiesced good naturedly.

"So, when are you going to make your move?"

"Excuse me?" Nick looked at his friend incredulously.

Dierna rolled her eyes, "you know, with the girl you have a crush on... I want to see you with someone."

"And I want to see you home right now young lady," Remus laid a heavy hand on Dierna's shoulder and spun her around to face him. "Where are the rest of them?"

Dierna paled by several shades and nodded her head to the crowded area in front of the stage.

"I'll be right back," Remus said darkly, "don't move from this spot."

Dierna clutched Nick's hand as she waited for Remus to return, "We're in sooo much trouble..." she murmured.

Remus returned moments later, with the rest of his charges, plus Celeste in tow, "Miss Markham, I was not under the impression that students who remained at Hogwarts over the holidays were allowed to leave the school."

"I'll see her back Professor," Nick inserted before Celeste could answer, dragging her out with him, wanting to get away from any ugly scenes that might follow.

It was a rather subdued group that followed a very irate Remus back to the Snape residence. He ushered them inside and barely refrained from slamming the door shut. He was responsible for these children, and he was furious right now. They had been warned about the increasing threat the dark forces were becoming, and yet they had gone off, by themselves, at night. He tried not to think of what could have happened to them.

"What the hell are you wearing?" he decided to forgo his initial concern at the moment.

The three girls turned pink, their leather pants and skimpy tops didn't leave much to the imagination.

"I can't imagine that your parents would approve. Nor would they have approved of your being at that concert tonight," he continued, getting into the pace of his lecture, "and I would like to remind you that they gave me permission to deal with you as I see fit. And that does include you Sophia!" he kept on as the novice tried to interrupt him, "don't you dare try to give me any of your 'women don't have to listen to men' ideals, I am in charge here."

"We're sorry Lupin," Serena was the first to try and appease him, "we didn't think that..."

"You're damn right you didn't think. I want all of you in bed now! Even you Dierna, no late night wanderings for you tonight."

"Yes sir," Dierna quickly agreed. She had never seen her head of house this upset before, and she decided that in this state he could probably rival her dad on the 'scary when angry' scale.

"Upstairs now!"

There was a scurry as the five teenagers made a dash for the stairs, none of them wanted to provoke Remus any further.

"I think you handled that very well Remus," Minerva remarked as she joined her colleague in the entryway.

Remus ran a hand over his face, "thanks for coming on such short notice, I couldn't leave Willow here on her own."

"Not at all. But if you don't need anything else tonight I think I'll be on my way."

"Sure you won't stay for a cup of tea Minerva? It's the least I can do after disturbing your night."

Minerva seemed to consider it for a moment before agreeing, "I would like that Remus. By the way, you'll make an excellent father. I hope your priestess fully appreciates that. That little display would probably even have Severus impressed."

Remus gave a low chuckle, "good to know that I can play the strict father figure when I need to. How are the boys?"

Minerva smiled as they headed into the kitchen, "fine, just fine. Edward and his wife are moving to Austria in a few months. Henry just accepted a job teaching in America. And all the grandchildren are growing up so fast..."

Remus and Minerva talked companionably for awhile over their tea. The werewolf had a great amount of respect for the headmistress, and she was a wonderful conversationalist when she was in the right mood.

"Remus?"

Remus turned around and frowned to see Dierna standing in the doorway, "I said no nighttime wanderings, do not make me escort you back up to bed."

"I'm sorry, but Willow had a bad dream and woke up crying, it didn't wake anyone else up, but I thought maybe you should come up..."

"Of course," Remus stood up and started to usher Dierna back upstairs.

"One moment Remus," Minerva said as she set her mug aside, "I would like a word with Adelaide if you don't mind."

Remus nodded and headed upstairs by himself.

"Yes Professor McGonagall?" Dierna looked to the headmistress expectantly.

"Sit down Adelaide," Minerva waited while the girl took a seat, "I was wondering if you have given any thought to your future."

"Ma'am?"

Minerva looked over her spectacles at the girl, "you're disciplinary record has not been very good this year, I would hate to see that get in the way of a student as talented as you are. Come next year you could have any number of research groups, potions based ones in particular, knocking at your door, if your school record is relatively clean that is."

Dierna smiled, "point taken Headmistress. I'll try to stay out of too much trouble."

"Good," Minerva stood up, "now then, it is late and I must be going, and you had better get yourself back upstairs before we are treated to another display of Professor Lupin's temper," she added dryly.

"She's been sleeping for hours now."

"Good, she needs it," Sianna sighed as she took a seat, "its time she went home Kalliope, I've seen what I need to."

"Might I ask what it is you see in her?"

Sianna gave the other priestess a half smile, "the same thing as you. She will make a powerful seer once she is fully trained. Her place is among us, she should be a priestess."

"That might prove difficult, her parents..."

"Won't want her to leave, I understand that. But we must work something out. Every year we seem to get farther and farther away from the tangible world here in Avalon. You have faired better in Greece, more people still cling to the ancient ways there, they still respect the rites of the goddess. We need someone to restore Avalon to its former glory."

"And you believe that Nimue is the key?"

"Latis certainly did," Sianna furrowed her brow, "but she needs to be trained... if only we could be certain her parents will agree."

Kalliope smiled, "I'll let you discuss that with them, that is one storm I do not want to be caught in the middle of. But, as we are agreed on what needs to happen I think we should both find our beds. The child and I will leave tomorrow, but we will be in touch, this isn't over yet."

"Goddess willing it will be over soon though, before things go too far."

"Goddess willing, and for all of our sakes. The season of death is already upon us, how many will we lose before the spring?"

Sianna did not answer, but both women were thinking the same thing. If things continued along this line, the spring they were hoping for might never come again.

Viviane paced nervously, waiting for Stefan to return. "It's been too long," she muttered to herself, "too long, I should go after him... what if something happened?"

She continued to pace and kept up her one-sided conversation for another twenty minutes before she reached for the portkey that would take her to where Stefan was, maybe she could grab him and get them both out without any further incident. But just as she was about to curl her fingers around the bottle Stefan suddenly appeared, slumping to the floor as he dropped his own portkey.

"Sweet Circe Stefan, what happened to you?" she gasped as she knelt next to him on the floor.

"Malfoy... furious..." Stefan managed to get out, "going to attack... don't know when... or where... but soon."

"You need to get in bed now," Viviane commanded as she helped Stefan to his feet, mentally going through the lists of all the healing potions they had on supply, he looked like he had been hit with a train.

"No... have to report first..."

"Dammit Stefan do what I tell you, or you're not going to make it into next week! You can't keep going like this..."

"I'll do what I have to... to stop Malfoy," Stefan hissed before he collapsed.

"Is there a reason we're the only ones eating breakfast this morning Willow?" Remus asked the little girl across the table from him.

"They don't want to eat with you."

Remus' eyebrows shot up, "and why is that?" he felt vaguely guilty about pumping the four year old for information.

Willow shook her head vigorously, "I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"'Cause last time I said one of the words they used I had to stand in the corner for five minutes, Mama wasn't happy..."

Remus nearly choked on his tea as he fought back a wave of laughter, he envied Sirius. He was tempted to keep this little one for himself, "I guess they're not happy with me for being the bad guy last night huh?"

Willow nodded, giving the werewolf a sympathetic look, "they won't let me be with them either, they said I'm too little." She pouted as she played with her milk glass.

Remus hid his smile as he took another sip of his tea, "so Miss Willow, it appears that the two of us are being exiled. What shall we do today?"

Willow's face instantly brightened, "will you read to me out of my book?"

"Of course," Remus smiled as Willow was instantly bolted out of her chair, "finish your breakfast first, and then we'll read out of your book," he told her.

"Sev?"

"Hmmm?" Severus looked down at his wife. He was sitting on the bed, with her sprawled across his lap, getting her back rubbed.

"Do we have to go out again tonight?"

"Of course not, we will do whatever you like. Are you feeling alright love?"

"Mmmm..." Morgan relaxed further as Severus' sure hands kneaded her back, "just tired. And I just want to be with you today, no distractions, just you."

"It's still early; did you want to do something this afternoon, or just lay around all day?"

Morgan rolled over and looked up at her husband, "take me to the Louvre for a couple of hours?"

"With pleasure," he brought her fingertips up to his lips.

Morgan closed her eyes and sighed, a flicker of pain crossed her face. "I wish..."

"Don't Morgan," Severus knew exactly what she was thinking, "dwelling on it will not make it better."

"But I can't get it out of my mind, sometimes I'm fine, and then sometimes the bitterness just seems to consume me," her hand drifted down to her midsection as she bit her lip.

"I think we'll skip the Louvre today love. All I want to do this afternoon is hold you close and tell you how much I love you."

Morgan crawled up to rest her head on her husband's shoulder, "thank you Sev, but I do want to get out for awhile."

"Are you sure?"

Morgan buried her face against him, "yes," was her muffled reply.

Severus wrapped his arms around her and held her for a long time, neither of them talking, just taking comfort from each other's touch.

Kalliope smiled as she peeked into the living room. Remus was sound asleep, with Willow napping in his lap, a book lying open on the seat next to them. She tiptoed across the room and gently kissed Remus until he woke up.

Remus' eyes flew open and he smiled, "welcome back priestess."

Kalliope settled down next to him, "where are the rest of the children?"

"We're being shunned at the moment."

Kalliope's eyebrows flew up, "what did you do to deserve that?"

Remus filled her in on the details of the previous night and watched as Kalliope's face darkened. He got the distinct impression that Sophia was going to feel the sharp side of her guardian's tongue in the very near future.

"When I get done with that girl..." Kalliope sighed.

"Have you seen my little sister Lupin, I have something from a certain Mr. MacNeill that I think she'll be wanting." Viviane leaned in the doorway.

Remus started to get up to greet his former student, but stopped, not wanting to disturb Willow. "I didn't know you were getting back today Miss Snape, or should I say the future Mrs. Bennet?"

Viviane smiled, "I like the last one much better, just a few more days now..."

"I'll leave you ladies to chat for awhile," Remus carefully stood up, lifting Willow with him, "I'm going to put this one in bed."

Viviane smiled at the priestess, "you'll have to forgive me for having marriage on the brain, its one of the side effects of an impending marriage, but I truly hope that you do marry Lupin. I've only heard wonderful things about you from my mother and Remus needs someone in his life."

Kalliope smiled at the younger woman, "I don't mind at all. I love Remus deeply, and will be very happy to be his wife, it certainly took him long enough to ask me," she thought back to the time years ago when Remus had been with her in Greece. She would have gladly married him then.

"I know Stefan sent something for me," Dierna bounded into the room and tackled her older sister.

"Oiy! Get off of me," Viviane growled, as she tried to dislodge her sister, "if you don't let me up you're not getting it."

Dierna instantly hopped back up and pulled her sister off the ground, "come on Viv, please..." she pouted.

Viviane laughed at her sister's puppy dog face, "fine, have it. But just so you know, he charmed it so that it can't be opened until Christmas."

Dierna groaned but clutched the small package to her chest anyways. Anything from her beloved Stefan was exciting, even if she had no idea what it was.

"Viviane," Kamen joined them and gave his sister a hug and a kiss, flashing her a smile, "would my favorite older sister, who technically counts as adult supervision, like to take me to Diagon Alley. It's rather important..."

"Mmmm-hmmmm.... I bet it is Kamen," she looked him up and down then shrugged, "sure, not my problem if you get yourself in trouble. Wanna come kid?" she asked Dierna.

"Nope," Dierna shook her head, "I have a charm to try and undo," she held up the package from Stefan, "and a certain professor to work my own charm on if I'm going to go out tonight."

"Don't count on it," Remus said as he joined the group, "you're going nowhere tonight."

Dierna tried her puppy dog eyes again, "Please Lupin..."

"No. And please Kamen, stay out of trouble in Diagon Alley."

"Hey, it's me! I always stay out of trouble," Kamen insisted.

"What do you think Albus? I hardly know what to do anymore..."

"I believe its time to reinstate the Order," the portrait of Albus Dumbledore replied as he reached for a lemon drop from the bowl on the desk in the painting, "between yourself and Arthur it should come together nicely Minerva."

"Why now?" the headmistress asked.

"I had a rather pleasant conversation with Eric this morning, we agreed it was best."

Minerva sniffed, "I don't know why you gave that sorry excuse to the wizarding world the other portrait of you."

"Because he is an excellent conversationalist, and a worthy ally. I believe that we will truly need his help in the months to come. We are facing war Minerva; we need all the allies we can get, do you realize that the Grigorian brotherhood has even been started again? We may receive help from them..."

"But if it can be stopped..."

"It will not. Sources indicate that an attack will be made, one that will set this off like a match to a powder keg. I would suggest bringing the Order here; I feel it will be necessary for the safety of the students."

"Whatever you say Albus, like I told you, I'm not sure where to go from here."

"Between the Order and Eric I think we may have a chance."

"I'll meet you in a couple of hours Viv; I have some business to attend to."

Viviane raised an eyebrow but only shrugged her shoulders and left her brother to take care of himself, she wasn't his keeper.

Kamen ducked into a dingy pub and slid into a booth across from a man a few years older than him, with coffee colored skin and ebony hair, whom he had met at the concert the night before. "I want to know more."

The wizard across from him nodded, "these are dark times..."

"And likely to get darker," Kamen said as he threw back a shot with a practiced twist of his wrist.

"So are you in? And do you realize what your loyalty entails?"

Kamen nodded and pushed a bag across the table that clinked with the sound of coins knocking together, "I'm in. The raven flies at midnight."

"And leaves a shadow across the moon."