"What am I going to do with you child?" Severus asked in exasperation as he deposited Olivia in the bathtub and began stripping her dripping clothing off of her shivering body. "You are a magnet for trouble."

"I'm sorry," Olivia whimpered through blue lips.

"What were you thinking going out on that ice?" Severus asked as he finished undressing her and wrapped her in a towel, drying her off briskly.

"My scarf blew off and I was trying to get it," she said through chattering teeth.

Severus looked over to Dierna who was hovering near by, "go find a nightgown for her."

Dierna silently slipped out of the bathroom to do as she was told.

As soon as Severus had Olivia completely dry, save her hair. He got her into her nightgown and wrapped a quilt snuggly around her and carried her to the couch in the living room. He sat down with her in his lap and held her close, "are you feeling warmer?"

"Still cold..."

"Here, give me your hands," Severus rubbed her fingers brusquely between his hands, making sure the circulation was flowing, and reached down to do the same to her feet.

Olivia kicked at him as he started to rub warmth back into her small feet and glowered darkly.

"You keep that up," Severus told her sternly, as he reached for her feet again, "and I will make sure that your bottom is good and warm before I check to make sure your feet are starting to warm up."

Olivia started to cry and tried to hide herself in the folds of the quilt.

"Child, I am not all that angry with you," Severus said, thinking it was his harsh tone that had caused the tears, "just trying to figure out if you can go more than two days without getting into trouble."

"But you're really gonna want to send me away now! I'm too much trouble, you said so."

Severus sighed, "You are not too much trouble, and as I told you last night we would never send you away. You are my little girl and I..." he thought of Morgan's instructions, "and I love you too much to send you away now. You just have a tendency to scare me half to death. If it's not running away it's falling into partially frozen lakes."

"You're really not angry?"

"No. It would not be very fair for me to be angry with you. Unless you fell in the lake on purpose?" He raised an eyebrow.

Olivia, wide eyed, quickly shook her head no.

"Dierna, bring us the story book on the middle shelf over there," Severus said as he readjusted Olivia in his lap.

Dierna returned with the large illustrated volume and curled up next to her father on the couch.

An arm around each of the girls Severus opened the book and began reading, "once upon a time..."

When Morgan returned at lunch, looking for her husband, she found him and both girls fast asleep on the couch. Tears welled up in her eyes at the picture they made.

Kamen decided to blow off his afternoon classes. He was starting to have second thoughts about the Brotherhood and he wanted some answers. Since his father was occupied teaching classes he managed to slip into his office and floo to the Grigorian brotherhood headquarters.

"Kamen, what are you doing here?" Armand asked as he rose from his chair.

"I want some answers before I go any farther with this. I don't feel like we're accomplishing anything, and I'm not so sure I like the cause that you support. I don't think all this violence is necessary."

Armand nodded thoughtfully, "I understand how you might feel that way. But there is no backing out now. You are part of the brotherhood and I can't let you leave."

"What are you going to do if I decide I'm going?"

"Keep you here by force if necessary, obliviate your memory, the possibilities are endless..."

"Give me one good reason why I should stay. One good reason for going along with your brotherhood."

"I once felt the same way as you kid, but then I learned the truth. Come with me," Armand grabbed his cloak and threw a spare one to Kamen, "I'll show you why you should stay."

Kamen glared at the slightly older man, but grudgingly threw the wool cloak around his shoulders and followed him outside. "Where are we going?" he couldn't help asking.

"Not many know why this location was chosen for the Brotherhood this time around Kamen," Armand answered. "Headquarters move from time to time, whenever we feel we are needed we spring up again, always in a location well suited to our main target."

"What the hell are you talking about Armand?! I've seen enough to know that your brotherhood is primarily militant. Are you talking about a prime target, is this nothing short of a terrorist group?"

Armand sighed, "You ask hard questions kid. No, I would not say we're terrorists, nor are we a cult all into the brainwashing thing. The Grigorian Brotherhood dates back many centuries. Many prominent witches and wizards were members. Salazar Slytherin himself was head of the brotherhood at one time. Probably one of the greatest leaders we've ever had. He saved a lot of lives when the church really started trying to persecute the magical community."

"You still haven't answered my first question, what is the point of all this?"

"Our purpose is simple, to destroy anyone who is a threat to the magical community as a whole. Stop." Armand held out his arm to stop Kamen dead in his tracks. "This is our destination."

Kamen looked across the field to a bleak manor house, "where are we?"

"Draco Malfoy's headquarters. Look."

Kamen squinted as he tried to look, unfortunately into the glare of the setting sun, "what am I looking at?"

"Hanging from the trees, this is one of our minor reasons for wanting to destroy these forces..."

Kamen brought a hand up to shield his vision; he could make out something dark and bulky hanging from the trees. He was still trying to figure out what it was when the sun dipped behind the manor, allowing him to see. His eyes went wide in shock as his face paled. He felt the bile rising in his throat, but did nothing to stop it. He feel onto his knees as he retched up what was left of his lunch from that day, "who are they?" he finally managed to choke out.

"Muggles." Armand stated calmly as he continued to watch the disemboweled bodies swaying from the trees. "They have taken muggle-hating to a whole new level. Muggles authorities are starting to notice the disappearances. We've managed to keep ourselves separate for so long, Malfoy, with his plans to revive Voldemort, is out to destroy all of that."

"What does that matter?"

"You've seen how muggles treat us. Always looking for an excuse to condemn and destroy. They never quite seem to get it right, most of the burnings they succeeded with were actually muggles falsely accused of witchcraft, or children from magical communities who had not yet been trained. Recently there has been less interest in persecution, and I intend to keep it that way. We are better off being separate from the non-magic world. Malfoy's and ultimately Voldemort's plan is for complete domination. They'll start with the magical world and move on to the non-magical."

"We can't stay hidden if they do that..."

"No we can't. That is why they must be stopped. We are protectors of the people; we cannot fail them in this."

Olivia spent the time after dinner contently coloring, sharing Severus' desk with him. The fall into the lake that morning seemed to have hardly fazed her. Once she was warm again she had burst right back into her usual energetic mode.

Morgan smiled slightly as she looked into Severus' office, seeing her husband, whom she thought looked adorable in his reading glasses, not that she could ever tell him that, bent over a stack of essays he was grading, with Olivia across from him with her crayons. "I think it's about someone's bedtime," Morgan said, breaking the silence.

Olivia looked up, a pout quickly coming into place, "nooo... it's too early!"

Severus pulled out his pocket watch, "it's just after 7, and I believe we set bedtime at 7:30 for the rest of the week as part of your punishment for running off."

Morgan tried desperately to fight a smile at the storm cloud gathering across her daughter's face, "come on Olivia, if you get ready for bed quickly we'll still have time for a story before lights out."

Olivia looked between her parents, hoping that one of them would give in and grant her a reprieve. Finding no hope in it she sighed, and looking as one being led to the gallows, took Morgan's hand as they headed back to their living quarters, "I still think its mean to make me go to bed early," she mumbled.

Morgan did smile at that, "sweetie, that's what happens when you misbehave, there are consequences."

"But I fell in a lake today! Shouldn't that mean that I'm too distraught to be sent to bed early?"

"Wouldn't that have made you more upset and tired you out so you would want to go to bed early?" Morgan countered.

Olivia frowned as she tried to work out that line of reasoning, but all too soon found herself in bed and the lights being turned out.

Once Morgan was sure that Olivia was out for the night she slipped back into her husband's office where he was still bent over his papers. "How much more work do you have to do tonight?"

Severus glanced up from the stack of parchment to his wife, "more than I care to think about."

"Alright," Morgan gave a small sigh, "I think I might just turn in early myself, I've been dragging a bit lately."

Severus removed his reading glasses and set them aside as he frowned slightly at his wife, "come here Morgan."

Morgan crossed the room to stand at her husband's side, not minding at all when he pulled her down onto his lap.

"Care to tell me what is on your mind?"

Morgan leaned her head against her husband's shoulder, "I just want to be held."

"You are worried about something."

"Actually two somethings," Morgan elaborated, "Viviane and Dierna. Viviane feels guilty about Stefan's death. And Dierna... she's not taking it well at all. There are no tears, she's just stopped functioning."

"Our daughter is tougher than you think, she will be fine eventually."

"It's gotten warmer out, hard to believe that May is here already," the woman offered conversationally.

"If you can't contribute to what we're doing, then you can just stay out of this!" Malfoy snapped.

The woman smirked as she tossed her blond hair over her shoulder, "since you're stalling, I figured I might as well help you stall a bit more."

Malfoy all but snarled at her, "I am not stalling; I am simply trying to make sure that this is done properly. We have not waited years to bring Voldemort back to botch it all up by using the wrong dose of Quintessence. You should know that better than anyone."

"Yes, but it does not mean that I do not see how scared you are. After all, this is one of the most powerful wizards ever, probably with his heart, or lack thereof, set on vengeance..."

"Macnair, get her out of here!" Malfoy growled, "I do not need some fool woman hanging over my shoulder while we do this."

"I'll leave on my own," the woman said smoothly, wrapping her cloak around her shoulders, "it's time I got back anyways."

Dierna hugged her knees to her chest as she sat on the cool stone tiles of the astronomy tower. She still insisted to herself that Stefan couldn't really be gone; it just wasn't supposed to happen that way. They had so many plans, so many dreams...

She muttered an expletive she had picked up from her father as she shifted on the hard floor. As much agony as it seemed to come with she found herself wishing that she had her little sister's talent of Sight, then maybe she could no for certain.

She stared blankly ahead as dark clouds gathered overhead, not noticing as a cooler wind swept over her. She didn't notice when the first raindrops started to fall, spotting the stones around her with small dark circles.

"Dierna, come inside," Nick said as he joined her.

"Why?"

"Because it's raining you silly git and you've been sitting up here for hours."

"Me and Stephan used to sneak up here; we'd watch the stars move across the sky..."

"Hon, come on down. You're going to miss dinner if you don't hurry, and you've already missed enough meals lately for me to worry. You lose much more weight and you're going to be in no condition to play in the Quidditch match next week. It's our last one of the season..."

Dierna sighed, "I'm not really hungry Nick, if I want something later I'll go down to the kitchens."

"Alright..." Nick hesitated uncertainly, "will you at least come inside?"

Zach knocked at the door again and frowned slightly when he got no response. He tried yet another time, and was about to try the handle when the door swung open.

"Zach," Eva turned several shades paler, "I'm so sorry, I completely forgot about the time and I fell asleep..." she trailed off as she looked up at him guiltily.

"It's alright," Zach assured her with a smile, "I was just starting to get hungry so I thought I'd come find you."

Eva's look brightened a bit, "come in, I'll change quickly so we can leave. Verzeihen Sie mir?"

Zach shook his head, "I have no idea what you asked but you look so guilty over such a little thing as falling asleep that I'm going to take my chances and say yes."

Eva beamed at him, "ein Moment mal," she said as she slipped out of the room to change. She reappeared a few minutes later demurely dressed in a light shade of blue, more than happy to take the arm that Zach offered her, "so, where are we going?"

"Out..."

Eva batted at his arm with her free hand, "that's not what I meant."

"There's a nice restaurant in Hogsmeade I thought I'd take you to," he frowned, "Alberto had a message too... said I should take you birding..."

Eva immediately turned brick red.

"What?"

Eva shook her head, "Alberto would say that..." she brought a hand up to her burning cheek, "have Alberto explain it to you... I'm not sure I want to."

"That bad?"

Eva nodded, "perhaps we should talk about something else..."

The rest of the night went smoothly, with Zach finding himself more and more attracted to the blond woman at his side as the night wore on. By the time he escorted her back to her chambers he was more than a bit reluctant to release the hand he had so boldly managed to hold for the walk back. "We'll have to do this again..." he paused, not quite wanting to end this yet.

"Ja, it was fun..."

"Well, goodnight," he took a step back.

"Guten Nacht," on impulse Eva took a step forward and pressed her lips to his for a split second before dashing for the sanctuary of her rooms.

Zach was left standing, a bit shocked, but pleased, in the hallway for several very long minutes afterward. He finally got moving again, intent on finding Alberto who had some explaining to do.

"Isn't it a bit late to be studying?"

William looked up as he stepfather joined him in the now empty library, and pushed the stack of books aside, "wasn't studying, just thinking."

"Then don't you think it's past time you were back in your Common Room for the night?"

"Sirius," William decided to take a huge chance, "what do you know about the Grigorian Brotherhood?"

Sirius' smile faded, "not very much, why?"

"Well... no reason, I was just curious."

"Curious my ass, there aren't many people who know about the Brotherhood so start talking."

"Come on Sirius, I just read about it in a book and was trying to fill in the gaps, there was no real reason why..."

Sirius had enough of talk and reached over to shove William's sleeve up his arm, and surveyed the Brotherhood tattoo in silence for several long seconds that felt like hours to William, "like I said, start talking. And you better have a damn good excuse for joining a secret society you know next to nothing about, especially when we tell your mother about this."

William reclaimed his arm from Sirius' grasp, "what do you care about all this?"

Sirius sighed, "I'm trying to understand is all. I want to be a part of your life William, you may not have chosen for me to marry your mother but I did. I've been trying to get to know you and be your friend, but you've made no effort whatsoever."

William felt vaguely guilty; truth was he hadn't been trying; not at all... he took a deep breath and told Sirius everything, even about Kamen's last solitary visit to Armand. By the time he finished he was having trouble meeting his stepfather's eye, "so... you angry?"

"Not really, just wish I had more answers for you kid. I don't know enough about this Brotherhood to judge whether or not I should be angry. However, there is someone here at the school I want you to talk to it about, he can give you some real answers."

"Who?" William looked up, clearly confused. He didn't remember seeing anyone he recognized from Hogwarts besides himself and Kamen at the Grigorian meetings.

"Dumbledore. I'll arrange so that you and Kamen can have a conversation with his portrait up in Minerva's office. I remember him commenting on the Grigorian Brotherhood once or twice, gave me the impression he knew something about them. I think he'll be able to answer your questions."

"You have done well Malfoy, very well indeed. I am pleased."

"That you my lord," Malfoy lowered his head in reverence, and partly because it was just a bit uncanny to look for an extended amount of time at that pale skin and those red snake-like eyes. "My one goal these many years has been to find a way to restore you, with that completed I am once again at your service."

"So very faithful, just like your father, let us hope you do not die as easily as he did. The traitor will of course pay for that, the loss of your father was a bad blow to our cause."

"I would like nothing better than to see Snape suffer."

"And you will get your chance. I guarantee it."

"Thank you my lord, that is more than I deserve."

Voldemort did not smile, but thoughts of malicious intent were already running through his newly restored mind.

Olivia, clutching Tristan, hovered at the threshold for a moment before making up her mind. Deciding that they probably wouldn't mind too much she took a running leap up onto the high bed and crawled up to lay down between her parents. It took her a minute to worm her way under the covers, but once she was there she snuggled up next to Morgan, bouncing a bit in the process.

"Is that absolutely necessary child?" Severus asked from behind closed eyes.

"Sorry," Olivia mumbled, a pout starting to form. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

Severus glanced over at the clock, "it is three in the morning child, what do you want?"

Olivia played with Tristan's ears, "I just wanted to know if we were going to do anything special today."

Severus closed his eyes again, "well, if you let me get back to sleep I have every intention of getting up in several hours and spending most of the day grading papers." He glanced over and in the light spilling in from the hallway watched Olivia's hopeful face fall, "unless it is someone's birthday, then I suppose something special is in order..."

Olivia's smile returned.

"However, unless you go back to sleep right now..." Severus didn't have to finish the threat; Olivia instantly closed her eyes, trying very hard to fall asleep.

When Morgan woke up several hours later it was to find a mass of black curls and a small head pillowed on her chest. She smiled when she realized that Olivia was lying horizontal on the bed with her feet pushing against Severus, who was about out of the bed.

"She's just as bad as you are about kicking me out of bed," Severus informed his wife.