Chapter 8:

Harmony and Remus sat in Ace's office, just after handing in their letter after Sirius'. Kiki and Harmony were holding Bianca, who was very jumpy. Sirius and Remus were talking quietly on the other couch in the office. Ace read the three notes, side by side as Severus stood leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "He makes the same demands in all three letters before making some comments about the children. They seem to be giving Lucius a run for his money, probably regretting his course of action. But we know they are still fine." Ace picked up his magnifying glass to see if the ink held any clues. "Though Kiki is the only wife he insults."

"He hates me," Kiki said, never letting go of Bianca. "I'm a Gryffindor who married way out of her league—a Slytherin. But I'm not hurt. The feeling's mutual." She finally let go of Bianca and moved over to her husband. Without a word, he folded her up into a comforting embrace.

Sirius moved and took over the embrace to calm down Bianca. She let him guide her out of the office. "If anything new pops up…" he began. Ace nodded. Sirius smiled and picked Bianca up so she didn't have to worry about walking straight. Remus took over Bianca's abandoned spot and grabbed his wife's hand, bringing it up to his lips so he could brush it gently.

"You guys may want to leave. There's nothing much I can tell you right now," Ace said. "I'll pass the letters over to my team so they can sort this out into the evidence pile. Kiki, you can stay behind to brief me on your other case." The others nodded. Remus and Harmony left, followed by Severus after a good-bye kiss to Kiki.

Remus and Harmony made it to the Hogsmeade apparition point. She was anxious to get back to the castle since they had left Alida with Minerva and Albus while they brought the letter to the Ministry. Remus, however, had worked something out with the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress for a couple hours longer. "Come on," he said, taking Harmony's hand and pulling her towards Madame Rosmerta's.

"Where are we going?" she asked before realizing. "Remus, what about Alida?"

"She's fine. Albus and Minerva agreed to this," Remus said, enfolding his wife. "It's just lunch. You and me so we can relax."

"I'm not relaxing until Jamie, Lily and Rawlins are safe in our arms," Harmony said. "But I guess lunch with you won't hurt." Remus smiled as his wife let him lead her towards the restaurant. But first she stopped him right outside and planted a passionate kiss on Remus.

"What was that for?" he asked once the two separated for air and he was able to speak.

"For being a loving husband who cares deeply about me," Harmony replied before entering the tavern. Remus smiled and followed her in.

Eden burst through the Ministry wards to find the Auror department. At this point she was able to walk the path in her sleep. And even avoid all the obstacles that would stumble upon her way. She pushed her way against wizards and witches on missions. She got in a full elevator. It was her, a couple of ministry lawyers and a bunch of flying interoffice memos. The elevator stopped on her floor and she walked over to her husband's office, clutching an early printing of the Daily Prophet. Bianca received it to review her column, make sure it was the way she submitted it. She was over at the hospital for Arden's check-up when it arrived. She immediately handed it over for Eden to bring to Ace. "Don't show Kiki," the columnist warned.

Eden adjusted her son on her hip as he played with his teddy bear. Eden and Ace usually left him with his paternal grandparents. The Michaelsons loved the time spent with little Maxim, but with their older age it became harder for them at night and they requested that their little grandson was out by dinnertime. Ace and Eden didn't mind; if either had to stay late, the other would pick up Maxim to take care of them. If both were needed, they had a large support group to fall back on. But now, Eden needed to talk to her husband. And prevent someone on his team from hexing or killing Evelyn Wita.

"Hey, Eden," Tonks said, smiling at her future sister-in-law. "What brings you here?"

"Unpleasant news," Eden replied. "Can I leave Maxim with you? I don't want him around when his father explodes."

"Sure. Is it Wita again?"

"You bet." Eden handed her son over to the Auror. "Now, Maxim, be good for Aunt Dora. Mama and Dada will be a little while, okay?" Maxim nodded and showed off his teddy bear to his aunt. Eden smiled and headed towards her husband's office. She opened his door and closed, bracing herself for the storm to follow.

A few minutes later, Ace opened the door. "Kiki, you'll want to come in here. Now," he called out to the departing Auror. She looked confused but came in anyway.

"Was there something wrong with my report?" she asked, tossing her stuff on an abandoned couch. She took a seat next to Eden and across from Ace.

"Before I give you anything, you have to promise not to go on a murderous rampage," Ace said.

A dark look crossed Kiki's face. "Is it that Wita Witch?" Ace nodded. "I can't give you any guarantees," she said. "But I'll try."

"Good enough to me," Ace said, handing over the newspaper.

"Its tomorrow's," Eden said. "Bianca gave it to me. I thought Ace should see it. And you too."

"WHAT?" Kiki's yell was heard echoing down the hall.

"Uh oh," little Maxim Michaelson said, leaning against his Aunt Dora and Uncle Riley.

"Uh oh is right, little guy," Riley replied, sharing a look with Tonks.

Narcissa Fudge decided she had enough of avoiding the children. They deserved to have some sort of motherly influence while Lucius kept them here. She sighed as she wondered why her current husband was so willing to get messed up with her former. It had been six years since Voldemort was defeated and this was her first time back in England. Corny appeared before her the night of the Final Battle. He told her they were now in trouble since Voldemort didn't win and they had to flee. She loved the French coast the minute she arrived and didn't care to come back, except when Draco gets married.

And now she was in England and shacking up with her former husband and his new wife. Who personally annoyed the hell out of the Fudge woman. It was clear to her that Lucius had settled when he got to Canada, believing he was separated from his family forever. She often daydreamed that one day, she and Lucius would walk in on Fudge and Jolene cheating with each other (she had seen the looks exchanged between the two). Then Lucius would drop to his knees and say that he was out of his mind from missing her when he married Jolene, leave her and re-marry a newly divorced Narcissa. Then they would re-unite with Draco and live happily ever after.

Of course, she right now had to see how bad these seven really were. She had run into all their parents over the course of her life and knew how they could be, so it wasn't hard for her to believe Lucius' descriptions of them. She reached the door and took a deep breath. In her hands was a pile of old children's books. The oldest three were six years old so she was certain they could read, especially since Lucius always complained about Samantha Snape's high intelligence. She knocked once and opened the door.

Six of the children were sound asleep in the bed while one was still up. Judging by the dark hair and eyes, it was clear this was Severus and Kristin Snape's eldest daughter. Narcissa walked in carefully. "It's okay," the little girl said, looking up. "I'm the only light sleeper in the group, Mrs. Fudge."

Narcissa smiled to cover the awe. "Well, I'm guessing you're little Samantha. Do you go by Sam?"

"Yes, ma'am," the little girl answered, eyeing the stack of books in Narcissa's arms. "What are those?"

"These are some books I found that I thought you guys would like to keep yourselves occupied while Lucius has you here," Narcissa explained, pushing the stack closer to the young girl.

Sam eyed the books with a wary eye. "Are any of these dark arts related?" she asked. "My parents don't like us looking at that stuff. Any of our parents."

"Don't worry, none of these came from this house. I doubt there are any children's books at all here. I sent out for them and I made sure that they were not dark arts related stuff. Can't rouse suspicion," Narcissa explained. She watched as Sam opened the top book and read the title page. She smiled and nodded.

"Where are we?" the little girl asked. "We can't look outside and we want to know if we're still in England."

Narcissa smiled. "Why, of course we're still in England. In fact, we're in—"

"Narcissa!" Lucius stormed in and grabbed his ex-wife's arm. "You never learn! You're always running your mouth!"

"You're paranoid! They're little children with absolutely no way to contact their parents. They're not going to ruin your little plan if I tell them where we are."

Lucius dragged Narcissa out of the room before turning back on Sam, who was sitting at the table with her hands clasped on top. "What did my ex-wife give you?" he asked.

"Nothing, sir," Sam answered. Lucius sniffed in disgust and left to continue yelling at Narcissa. Once Sam was certain he was off the floor, she picked up the books from where she had stashed them under the chair. Lucius was so upset, he didn't bother looking there for any hidden items. She smiled and opened the first book.

"I should throttle that little wench!" Kiki said, pacing the parlor of the dungeons. Severus and Albus sat on the couch, watching her while Minerva followed behind her in attempts to get her to sit down and calm herself. Eventually, Severus stood up and scooped Kiki into his arms before depositing her in the nearest chair. When she made to get back up, he threatened to tie her to the chair and take her wand away. She stayed put, curling up in the chair with her arm extended so she could hold Severus' hand for comfort. "Can I sue for libel?" she asked in her small voice.

Albus chuckled. "I don't know. I think malicious intent will be hard to prove. But I'm sure Bianca's already twisting someone's arm to write a retraction. If she isn't, the editors will be hearing something from Carl and me," he said. He took another look at the article and shook his head. "The Prophet has hit a whole new low."

"I'll say," Severus replied, now stroking his wife's hair. "Those claims are atrocious. The fact that she is alleging that Kiki was spying as an Auror for me when I was pretending to spy for Voldemort is horrible enough, but the fact she spells out that we are behind the kidnapping of our children and our best friends' children."

Kiki gave a wry laugh. "If they think we were in league with the Deatheaters, they wouldn't know the Blacks and the Lupins are our best friends. They will believe that Severus and I helped plan to take the five children while we have our children safely with us, but pretending to be suffering along side of our supposed friends," she said. Finally she stood up. "It makes me sick!"

"Join the club," Severus responded. "Good night, Albus. I think I should get Kiki to bed before Garret wakes up. With all this stress, if she doesn't get enough sleep—I don't want my wife in the hospital wing."

Albus nodded. "Good night. Don't worry. I'll have everything straightened out soon." The couple nodded as the man left the dungeon.

Remus couldn't sleep and he knew he should be. The school year was startng soon and he would need all his energy. Remus rolled over and smiled at the sight of his wife sleeping. He threw the covers back, making sure she was still covered, and slipped out of the room.

The nursery was only across the hall from the main bedroom. It was once again decorated in a lovely pale pink color and was dimly lit by one floating taper. A mobile was playing a gentle lullaby. The crib was by the large window since Alida loved to watch the birds during the warmer months. The youngest Lupin was sound asleep, pacifier in her mouth occasionally moving up and down. She had kicked off her pink blanket and was just laying in her small nightgown, clutching her teddy bear close. Her golden curls were spread out on the little pillow in the crib.

Remus leaned down and brushed his hand over her hair. The pacifier went up and down once as she rolled over at the touch. He gently picked her up and she squirmed around to become comfortable on her father's shoulder. Remus walked over to the rocking chair his mother had given Harmony after the twins were born. It had taken everything the two Lupins had in them to convince their parents not to come to Hogwarts. Of course, Janice Anderson still wanted some time with Lucius after he's arrested so she could hurt him for hurting her grandchildren.

The two rocked back and forth, Alida sleeping on as Remus tried to fall asleep. With the rocking, the warmth from his daughter's little body and the soft music, Remus soon drifted off to sleep. Harmony, having rolled over and realizing she was alone, found them little later. She threw a blanket over her husband and daughter before heading back to bed for the night.

Bianca tossed around in bed all night, nightmarish images of James and Giachi always in her dreams. She could see a dark, dank house amongst thorns. She walked through black decorated rooms and halls listening to her little boys calling for her. "Mama! Mama!" she always heard as she walked through. She would be haunted by two little boys always running through hallways beyond her reach the entire time. "Mama! Mama!" once again rang through the hallways.

"JAMES! GIACOMO!" she screamed sitting straight up in a cold sweat. She began crying as she curled her arms around her knees. A few seconds later, she felt two strong arms surround her as Sirius pulled her closer to his chest. Once she started crying on his chest, he began running a soothing hand through her hair. Her sobs soon calmed down and a knock came to the door.

"Come in," Sirius called, knowing it had to be his mother-in-law. Giacinta opened the door carefully and walked in with a glass of water in her hand. She handed it to her daughter before giving her a motherly comfort hug. With a kiss to the forehead, she was soon gone. Sirius smiled as he continued to hold his wife, who was sipping the water between hiccups. "There, you feel better?"

Bianca nodded and handed her husband the glass so he could place it on his nightstand. He shifted in bed so he was leaning against the headboard and she was leaning against him. Sirius continued to run his hand through her hair, gently detangling it as she traced circles on his chest. Once the hiccups subsided and a few more sips of water, she was ready to talk. "It was awful. It was like they were always out of my reach. Always running beyond me, calling for me," she said.

"Don't worry," Sirius replied. "Soon, they'll be in your arms and you can hear them calling for you in your waking hours."

A/N: Another week gone by! I had a production meeting today and I still have to do my Shakespeare and math homework. Sighs But thanks to all my reviewers:

cerzee: Jamie does rock and she is the most Marauderish of the bunch. But they all have the spirit in them. Sure, you can have a signed copy…

Roxy Black: Oh, when Bianca lets loose on Wita, the witch will never know what hit her!

SarahtheBardess: Wita vs. Tonks? I think we know who would win that battle! I'm glad I made you giggle last chapter. Don't worry, Lucius will see it and that will lead to the giant plot bunny I keep referring to. Sure…I'll let you know when.

Anyway, I'm having some friend problems. You know those people that need to be shoved out into the real world for a reality check? Yeah, and I wanted to do so here in where she does have two stories. She's the one I let borrow my characters, but now she's stalling, saying she's not a good writer. I'm torn between letting up on her or trying to stress this lesson to her. I guess I'll have to let her fall. Any help? Mac