When James and Sirius were both seated at the table, both facing the other, and with Douglas and Millicent at each end of the table, Douglas looked up from his morning paper. He had noticed James and Sirius walk into the room, and then continued to look behind them, at the stairs.

"Isn't Harrietta up yet?" he asked James.

James was silent.

"James your father asked you a question" Millicent said sharply.

James again was silent.

"Did you try to wake her?" Douglas asked.

James thought carefully about what it was he was going to say.

"I did knock on her door"

Douglas waved his hand at James, to say to continue.

"But she didn't reply"

"So did you go in?" Millicent asked.

"Yes I did"

Sirius throughout the conversation had simply stared at his plate, he was looking extremely uncomfortable.

"And was she in there?" Douglas asked impatiently.

"No"

Sirius looked up from his plate, and straight at James.

"Then where is she?" Douglas demanded.

"I don't know"

"Had her bed been slept in?" a worried Millicent asked, he face was growing more worried by the second.

James again thought long and hard about his reply. Sirius' face was growing all the more worried with every word from James. James suddenly started to feel bad about lying to Sirius about where Harrietta was.

"I don't believe so" James eventually replied.

"What do you mean you don't believe so James" Douglas said with his cheeks flushing with anger, and voice suddenly growing louder.

"It didn't look like it had been slept in" James answered, starting to sink lower in his seat.

Douglas took in a deep breath to calm himself before he spoke again, "When was the last time you saw your Aunt?"

"Last night"

"Where was she going when you saw her?" Douglas said, obviously growing tired of James not answering properly.

"I don't know"

Sirius finally found a voice, "I asked for my family not to be told of my whereabouts"

James sat up quickly and spoke, he wanted to try to calm down his friend, as well as his father, "She said she wasn't going to see your family"

Douglas looked like he was about to explode. "Where else would she go in the middle of the night!"

"I really can't say I know" said James quietly, yet again trying not to anger his father any further.

"Can't or won't" Millicent added in to the conversation.

"I can't say, because I don't know" James said firmly.

"James Godric Potter, you will tell us where your blasted aunt was going" Douglas said loudly, standing up from his chair. As he did so he knocked the table, and glasses fell over spilling their contents.

Millicent drew her wand and mumbled some sort of incantation James couldn't here to clean it all up.

"I don't know where she is" James said again sinking back down in his seat.

"You are lying James" Douglas yelled, "Don't lie!"

"He's not lying" a familiar voice said from behind James. Everyone looked around quickly to see Harrietta standing at the doorway.

"Where in blazes have you been!" Douglas demanded.

"Harrietta I asked you not to tell my family" Sirius said quickly, James couldn't pick whether he was angry or scared.

"Why would you go off in the middle of the night to the House of Black!" Douglas continued, "Of all the stupid things you could have done Harrietta that has to be the stupidest!"

"But I didn't go to the House of Black" Harrietta countered.

"Then where did you go in the middle of the night" Douglas asked, trying to calm himself down. Millicent and joined him at his side, and was looking just as insistently at Harrietta. James and Sirius were both still seated at the table, but James had turned his chair slightly, so he could also face Harrietta.

Harrietta looked at her brother defiantly, it seemed like she was debating to herself whether she should tell him what she'd been doing. Eventually she chose to speak; "I went to fetch some people who could help Sirius"

"Who in my family did you tell where I was?" Sirius asked standing up from his seat and walking around the table, closer to Harrietta. James had never seen his friend look as worried as he was at that precise moment. It caused James to stand from his seat, and walk over to stand beside his friend.

"Only me" a voice said from around the doorway. Harrietta stood beside to let another young woman through.

"Andromeda!" Sirius yelled happily as he ran towards the young woman, when Sirius reached her, he through his arms around her. James studied Andromeda closely, she was as tall as his Aunt, thereby only a few inches taller than James himself. Her hair was red, quite different to any of the other Black's James had met. It fell casually to her shoulders in curls. She was a similar frame to Sirius, strong yet slim, overall, it was easy to tell she was a relative of Sirius', James was just uncertain how.

James then realised that Andromeda was a name that Harrietta had used several days before, when she'd been saying how not all of the Black's were evil. James' father had said that she wasn't really a Black, and James was just starting to think about how muggles had been mentioned in the conversation, when a voice interrupted James' thinking.

"As powerful as Andromeda may be, how exactly is she going to help Sirius?" Douglas demanded starting to wave his arms around. James noticed that he had calmed significantly when he'd seen Harrietta, but his waving of arms, was a sure sign that he still wasn't at all happy. Even so, James suspected that a lot of his father's anger had been at not knowing whether his sister was safe, and not so much because of what she'd quite obviously done, though what she'd done was still reckless.

"She's here for comfort" Harrietta replied, "Alistair here is here to help" Harrietta again stood aside from the doorway, to let someone else walk in. This was a person James recognised easily; it was Alistair Moody, an old friend of Douglas'.

"Alistair" Douglas greeted him warmly, "What are you doing here?"

Alistair looked Douglas straight in the eye and replied, "Harrietta has convinced me that speaking to young Sirius here, could be quite helpful"

Douglas scoffed a little, "This is hardly something for the head auror; this is simply a case of a very cruel family"

"A very cruel family who have been associating with some particularly unsavoury types of late" Alistair replied not losing a beat.

"Why would you be worried about that? The Black's never associate with savoury sorts" Douglas scoffed.

James sneaked a quick glance at his friend; Sirius seemed to be taking the insulting of his family better than James would have. "Don't tell me my sister here has you involved in her strange scheme?" Douglas asked nastily.

"It's not as strange as you may believe" Alistair responded, "In fact, I think she's on to something"

"She's got you believing that there's another Dark Lord rising?" Douglas laughed. James noticed Harrietta scowl at her brother.

"I'm not the only one who is listening to her" Alistair replied, stopping Harrietta from speaking "Albus Dumbledore read her last report, and now he's listening also"

Douglas paused, and a completely different look came over his face; "That is different" Douglas said quietly, most of the color had drained away from his face, "Maybe I should listen to it then"

"You mean you haven't even read your sister's report?" Andromeda asked clearly shocked. Andromeda was still standing beside Sirius, with her arm placed around his shoulders, it was more a 'big sister' pose than anything else, and Sirius looked calmer than James had seen since he'd arrived.

Harrietta rolled her eyes quite clearly to emphasise her point; "He wouldn't listen and refused to read it" Harrietta responded looking straight at her brother, "Still thinks I'm 16"

"I'll listen to you now" Douglas said quietly, walking back over to the table and sitting down"Dumbledore was one of the major players in the downfall of the last Dark Lord"

Alistair laughed an uncomfortable laugh"He was the one who caused it you mean"

"Yes that's exactly what I mean. He was the one to convince my father what was happening"

Harrietta looked shocked, this clearly was something she'd never known, James had never heard this before either, and made a mental note to read his book more carefully.

Douglas sighed and stopped his sister from saying anything, "I'll explain that later, why don't you tell us what you know so far"

"First James and Sirius should leave the room" said Millicent. James looked around at his mother, he'd gotten so caught up in the conversation, he'd almost forgotten she was there. He was shocked only for a moment that his mother wasn't going to let him hear Harrietta out, then he remembered that this was the woman who didn't want him reading "The fall of Grindelwald". No matter what, James wanted to say, he knew that what Harrietta had told him the first night he was home, was a very limited version of events. James wanted to know about it all.

"But Mum!" he complained.

Harrietta looked straight at her sister in law, "Sirius plays a large part in all of this" she said slowly, "He needs to stay for you to hear what he has to say. And James needs to know as well"

"You can't tell me what my son needs to know" Millicent said sharply, voice slowly rising into a yell.

"Milli" Douglas said warmly, "Sit down please dear, I think that if what Harri has been suggesting is happening, James will need to know about it"

"What do you mean what Harri has been suggesting?" Millicent demanded.

Doulgas sighed; he'd only slightly been listening to what Harrietta had been trying to tell him. It was obvious that the fact that both Alistair Moody and Albus Dumbledore had been listening to her, had shook him up. "Something about the rising of another Dark Lord, if this is what's happening, James needs to know"

Millicent grumbled, but reluctantly sat back down at her seat at the able. Harrietta took her usual seat beside Sirius, and Alistair sat down beside James.

"Now begin Harrietta" Douglas said once everyone was seated, "You have our full attention"