Somewhere, But How?

Remus felt slightly bereft as he was left alone in his living room. He'd gotten his friends back, and it was amazingly exhilarating to know that three friends he'd thought gone forever, with one having apparently betrayed their brotherhood for power, were now back, and alive. True, the traitor was apparently now someone else, someone likely very dead, but losing Pettigrew really didn't hurt that much.

Remus flinched at that thought, recognizing it as one of the reasons Pettigrew had turned traitor, but he suppressed it quickly, shifting the once again sleeping bundle of Rhiannon from one arm to another. He turned his attention to gathering a bag for the shopping, and manoeuvring her into a comfortable position for carrying as he prepared for the trip out, distracting himself from the depressing thoughts of Peter and Sirius.

Once he got outside, he walked to the nearest market; ignoring the distance in favour of enjoying the exercise, and once he got down there, he was feeling much happier Rhiannon had woken into a complacent state of looking around curiously, but as more people began to show up, though, she quickly became a handful as she tried to keep watch on everything around her.

It was while he was trying to get her to calm down once more that he noticed two women watching him rather intently. One looked almost stricken as she merely stared, while the other seemed amused to see him struggling. They had two young children with them, both of whom were sleeping very soundly in baby buggies. The one who appeared older handed her buggy to the taller blonde and strode straight up to Remus. When Remus got a good look at her face he found himself taking a good step back before he stopped himself. She looked like a fierce hound, ready to take a bite out of him. Rhiannon was looking at her curiously, before she reached out for her, and crooned. The lady looked at her like she might a poisonous adder coiled to strike. Remus was about to apologize, when she spoke first.

"You're Remus Lupin. A werewolf, you were bitten when you were about six, and you were part of a group of friends called the Marauders. You were a Gryffindor at Hogwarts, and the girl belongs to your friends, the Potters. She probably showed up just last night, along with your old friends themselves. The same time as my two kids showed up." Her expression was changing now, even as Remus knew his own had shifted to stricken with shock. Rhiannon had, thankfully, chosen to lie back against his chest once more, sucking her thumb idly. The woman was now looking almost desperate, as though her world had been flipped upside down on her a bit ago, and it hadn't settled itself with her previous views. "My name is Louise Catar, and if my Sight is correct, and it hasn't been wrong yet, the father of my children is your good friend Sirius Black, who's been in the papers for weeks as a murderer. Would you please help me understand this, as I don't think I could ever have such a lapse of judgement as to bed the unstable man the papers depict."

Remus took a moment to calm his own breath as she watched him with the same intensity she'd had before, although it was now defined as someone who was grasping for understanding. The woman's friend came up to stand behind her, and was watching him with curiosity, even as she resettled the stirring young boy in his buggy. Finally, she just picked him up, and walked over. Ms. Catar jumped slightly as her friend laid her hand on her shoulder to draw her attention to the little girl in the other buggy. Ms. Catar quietly reached back to pull the girl out, and she focused herself on calming her. The taller, younger woman smiled at Remus, shifting the boy until she could stick her hand out in greeting.

"Hello, I'm Lyall Wolfgang. We both went to Durmstrang, and Louise is a tad bit desperate for answers at the moment. You seem to be out for some reason, how would you mind us coming along? Once we get back to your place, we can answer a few questions. I'm sure some extra hands would be appreciated for the little girl, hm?"

Remus blinked, and then smiled, shakily. "I'd appreciate that. Ms. Catar didn't seem the type to leave me alone anyways now that she's found someone to give her answers. You'll have to excuse me though; she's not the only person who just had their life flipped upside down."

Ms. Wolfgang smiled tightly. "I think yours may have been a little more pleasant than hers though. You haven't had to start rethinking the opinion of the general wizarding public's view of a man who doesn't seem to have any redeeming qualities from what everyone is saying. She's been rereading the papers for hours on end now, trying to find a redeeming trait."

Remus smiled. "You won't find that in public record, Sirius guarded himself well against those rabid creatures known as reporters."

Ms. Wolfgang snickered. "Smart man. And may I call you Remus? Mr. Lupin sounds plain stuffy, and, for that matter so does Ms. Catar. You may use our first names as well. I hate being called Ms. Wolfgang. I feel like I should start looking around for my mother or Mozart. And yes, I know it doesn't make sense to look for Mozart."

Remus nodded quickly, and Lyall tapped Louise's ankle with her toe. "Louise, lets go. Once we're back at Remus' house he's said he'll catch us up on your boyfriend." Lyall ducked Louise's swat at her head and then turned to place the young boy in his buggy, as Louise did the same, grumbling the whole time about boyfriends and murderers. Once they had everything together, they both followed Remus.

OOOOOOO

James and Lily were not in any mood to be polite as they apparated out, and they'd both aimed for Petunia's living room. They appeared beside the couches with hardly a sound, but no one was in their immediate vicinity. However, they could each hear a child wailing from upstairs, and Lily recognize her sister's voice as she screamed, apparently at the child.

"Would you just stop being such a freak? If you were only normal you'd have a place, but no! You have to be just like that freak of a sister I had, and that horrible man she married! Don't you keep crying; I'm not done with you yet! I won't be having you doing anything strange in my house, so –AH! Look what you've done!"

Lily didn't take even a moment to think about what her sister was saying; she just tore up the stairs with James a step behind her, his face livid enough to match hers. Once at the top of the stairs, Lily and James heard someone gasp down the hall, from what appeared to be the bathroom. Petunia stuck her horsy face out the door, and paled to a dead white as she saw her sister. Amusingly, Petunia's hair was a brilliant red shade, the same shade as Lily's, when it was normally blonde. However, James and Lily weren't in the mood to be amused. Both were fuming.

James recovered enough composure to speak first. "Petunia, where is my son?" His voice was a pained growl. Petunia twitched, mouthed the word 'impossible' and then shook her head. "He's in here, I was just changing the little … boy, when you two decided to just invite yourselves in. You don't have any manners, do you?" She snapped. Her outrage had overrun her shock as she came back onto ground she knew, rather than the impossible ground of the sister she'd been told was dead appearing in her house.

Lily growled, not even trying to speak normally, and she shouldered past her sister, into the room with her son. She stopped in the doorway. James was about to go to her, when she broke into a shriek. "JAMES! Get over here!" He jumped, and pushed to her side, and nearly lost control when he saw his son.

Seeing their child with his ribs in clear relief, and faint bruises marring his arms from being grabbed and dragged around roughly in a real situation simply let James and Lily's already strained nerves snap. Waking up from being dead in two worlds to find someone mistreating their child was not something they would stand for. James drew his wand before he even began to think, and cast a spell he'd learned quite well for pranks on Petunia before he moved in to care for his son. Lily was already crooning to him, cradling him in her arms warmly. James looked at the mess of a nappy his son had worn, and felt his anger grow once more. That had clearly not been changed for far too long; he wasn't surprised that his son was crying right then, nor was he surprised that his son had struck Petunia with accidental magic. Gently, James touched Lily's shoulder before he stepped back out into the hallway as his wife tended their child.

"Petunia …" James glared down at Petunia, who was presently squatting terrified on the floor, transfigured into a bulldog. "I'll let you know something Petunia. I am most unhappy with what you've done right now, and let me tell you, had what I heard only been the worst of your treatment, I'd leave you like this, with the spell one that would probably wear off eventually. But to see evidence that my son was dragged around, and ignored, and that you didn't care for him properly … I'm sorely tempted to kill you right now."

Petunia cowered as James spoke, terrified. As he threatened to kill her, she reacted as any terrified, submissive dog might, and widdled on her pristine white carpet. James merely watched her, his wand trained on her now much smaller form, and he didn't move until Lily came back out with Harry.

The sight of his son, small, undernourished, and clingy, pulled James' eyes to him alone, and he took a moment to touch him and reassure himself that he was with his child once more. Lily stared down at her sister with unadulterated hate in her eyes, and she smirked at how low her sister was now.

"Aw, Petunia couldn't keep herself in control? She had to go pee-pee on her carpet. Poor thing." Lily's voice was painfully acidic, and Petunia looked stricken as Lily mentioned her urinating on her carpet. She stepped back to look at the yellow stain, and she screamed as loudly as a dog could, horrified.

James turned as she did so, and he brandished his wand again, speaking a long incantation. When he finished, a pale yellow light settled over Petunia. When it disappeared, nothing seemed any different. She was still very definitely a scrawny Bulldog, with red splotches on her cream coat. She was also very bony and thin. Lily glanced at James curiously.

"Permanent transfiguration. It will take a lot of work to change her back. Actually," James cast another, shorter spell, and then grinned. "Now it will take just as much work to notice she's not supposed to be a dog."

Lily's grin was just as vindictive as his. "Perfect. Let her live as a miserable dog. She deserves no better, do you Petunia?" Lily fished her wand out of her pocket and conjured a cheap plastic flea collar with 'Petunia' marked on it in what seemed to be a child's writing, using a marker. Petunia looked horrified, but Lily handed Harry to James and summoned the dog back over to her so she could snap the collar on. It was much too loose, but it wouldn't slip over her head anytime soon. Lily stood up and smiled at her sister's horror. "Poetic justice. She'll be one odd dog though."

James snorted. "She deserves nothing better."

"What about her husband, and son? He's as bigoted as she is, and her son will need somewhere to go. I think he's still here." Lily commented.

"He's surprisingly quiet. I'd expect him to be a screamer."

"He is … He may be at daycare, or over at a friend's. Hey, Petunia." Lily crouched down to the level of the dog in front of her. Petunia flinched back, but Lily grabbed her collar. "Is … Dudley, I think is his name. Your kid, is he at a friend's?" Petunia nodded, frightened. "When should he be back?" James waved his wand over her head, and when Petunia made to bark in outrage, her voice issued out.

"How am -. AHH!" She screamed as she heard herself talking while still a dog. It was five minutes before Petunia subsided, and sullenly answered their questions.

It appeared James and Lily were in some luck at the moment. Vernon was definitely as bad as Petunia, but she was almost eager to say that Vernon and Dudley were mostly responsible for the bruises on Harry. Vernon had often hauled him about, and had almost thrown him into the closet when he didn't want to deal with him. Petunia had told him repeatedly not to, but he had yet to stop. Dudley, however, would make a point of poking and pinching his cousin. Vernon was coming home for lunch that day, to spend time with his wife, and Dudley was due home at noon, which was now quite near. For this, Lily wore a glamour to look like her cousin, and had forced her friend's name from her. When the doorbell rang, James made sure he was out of view, and that Petunia knew to not draw attention to herself. She'd been stripped of speech now, and she was horrified enough at being a dog that she hadn't needed much enforcement. Her only complaint had been to beg them not to hurt her son. They'd reassured her Dudley would come to no harm, and it had needed no cajoling for them to meet it. They could never hurt a child. But magic meant punishment didn't need to hurt …

"Mrs. Polkiss!" Lily greeted, hating the voice charm that made her sound like her horrid sister. "Thank you so much for taking Dudley, did he have fun with Piers?" Lily was horrified at how round her sister's son was, but she masked it easily as she made small talk with the neighbour. Fortunately, she already knew Vernon was coming home that afternoon for lunch, so she hadn't needed to tread around an excuse to send her away. In fact, Vernon arrived just as Mrs. Polkiss had asked, so it had been short work to send her off. However, Lily had had to let Vernon kiss her cheek as he came in. She immediately decided on his fate as he did so, and she stepped inside quickly, scrubbing her cheek viscously once she had shut the door, and darting into the living room.

"That was disgusting! Petunia, how you managed to pick such a horrible husband, I will never know!" Lily dropped the glamour and locked the door before she quickly conjured a handkerchief to wipe her face with. Vernon hadn't said a word since Lily had turned away and started talking, and Dudley had been put to sleep by James, along with the additional punishment on him once he was inside. Lily sat next to her husband, and let him hug her close as she looked back to watch Vernon try and comprehend what was going on. James' smile was not comforting him.

"Have a seat, Mr. Dursley. It's very nice to see my brother-in-law once more. I'd almost suggest that we should get together more often, but my opinion of you is in rather dangerous territory at the moment. However, my wife, Lily, already claimed punishing you for your callous treatment of our son as I got to deal with Petunia." James sat back, hugging Lily and Harry close as he finished, enjoying Vernon's horror-stricken face.

Lily looked distinctly predatory as she leaned into his arms. She didn't speak as she drew her wand and vanished his clothes, although she did flinch at the sight of him nude. She then grinned at his horror, and tossed a pillow at him. He caught it, and disappeared. Lily smiled in satisfaction, and leaned back, yawning.

James looked between where Vernon had previously been and his wife, surprised. "You didn't mention that!"

"Oh, didn't I? I had something better in mind, and my signature in everything is now gone. His worst punishment won't even need my intervention. We can go back to Remus' now, after we send a note to the authorities that there's a child alone in a house, and the parents are nowhere to be found."

"But what did you do? Where did you send him, and how can you be so sure of what's going to happen?"

Lily smiled at James, and he stepped back, unnerved at the ferocity. "Why, James, what do you think Lucius will do when a wizard-hating muggle is portkeyed naked into his front hall?"

It was James' turn to raise his eyebrows. "Oh." He returned to his grin in moments, and bowed to Lily. "I concede the greatest punishment to you, Lils. You have outfoxed me."

"That's darn right James! Now, the nasty boy-child … can't hurt a kid." Lily murmured.

"Oh, that was simple. 'Duddikins' here, can no longer stomach sugar or fat in high quantities. Not quite sure how the muggles will see that, but he'll miss his favourite foods, and he might just get healthy. But he'll probably be miserable for a good while. Good enough?" James answered. "He'll also sleep with no ill effects until someone finds him. I'm not going to have a kid die because no one can get anywhere in proper time."

Lily touched James' arm and smiled into his face, real gratitude in her eyes and the most pleasant expression she'd worn all morning. "That's wonderful James, and I'm very glad you did that."

James merely smiled back, uncomfortable. "Yeah, well, he's the same age as Harry. As miserable as he seems now, he's not grown up yet, and you met his role model. At this age, you can't run out of a chances to improve." James quickly conjured a letter with a set print, sending it to the muggle police saying that 'a concerned citizen' worried that Number four Privet drive was abandoned, and that the parents weren't around and the child was alone in the house. James simply left the dog out, and that Karma would do with her what it would. He sent it, and Lily hugged him before they both apparated back to Remus' house, just outside his front door.

Once they arrived, the first sound that greeted them was a child screaming. Multiple children actually, screaming happily to what must have been the amusement of multiple adults judging by the laughter. James and Lily paused to look at each other, before James shrugged and knocked on the door. Remus answered it, laughing madly. It took him a short time to calm himself enough to speak.

"James, Lily, my apologies. When I went down to the town to get the items, I ran into two young women, who had two children of their own. The mother of those children immediately got into my face about them, as the kids had showed up rather unexpectedly. Much in the manner Rhiannon did. Rhiannon also apparently recognized her, and well …" Remus glanced back inside, and his grin twisted with amusement. "They weren't exactly going to let me leave the town without them either. Come on in, I'm sure they'll be happy to meet you." Remus then noticed Harry in James' arms, and he gasped. "What the Hell did they do to him? Harry!"

Harry looked up at Remus and smiled, reaching for him. James smiled, and handed him over before he moved inside, followed by Lily.

"He's a little delicate, Remus, as Lily's sister Petunia felt he didn't deserve proper attention. He's been neglected, and her husband felt that the child of 'freaks' didn't have any feelings, so he was apparently rather rough with him, not to mention their bully of a child, Dudley. He should heal pretty quickly." James answered, as they moved into the living room.

Once inside, James felt his head swim as he looked at the children on the floor. The scene shifted to a home he connected with the small blonde woman, with the three kids all roughhousing much as they were now. Once his eyes cleared, Lily was holding his arm as he leaned against the doorframe, and the small blonde he felt he recognized was eyeing them with apprehension.

"James, are you okay?" Lily asked. She brought him around until she was looking him in the eyes.

"I'm fine, Lily. I just … zoned." James wasn't quite sure what to say about the visions he was having, but he certainly didn't want to worry Lily. They had enough to worry about.

"Hmph." The short, blonde leaned back in her chair, still taut as a piano wire, but slightly more calm. "Well, if I'm not the only person seeing things, I guess I have less to worry about. James Potter? Auror of high renown; considered Sirius Black a brother, and a stag Animagus nicknamed Prongs. Your children are Harry James and Rhiannon Maltese, your wife is Lily Marie Evans, who's that pretty redhead muggleborn on your arm, and you recently transfigured Petunia Dursley into a bulldog."

James blinked at her, and scowled. "You're Louise Catar. Your kids are Kieran Dirk, and Cassiopeia Lily, a name chosen by Sirius, and you went to Durmstrang and own a large manor a few kilometres to the other side of town. It has extremely high security as you are widely known as a skilled seer. But somehow I don't think you're too surprised I know this, as I just happen to remember something from what appears to be a timeline that differs from ours only slightly."

Lily was eyeing him worriedly now, as were Remus and the second woman, one he didn't know.

Louise was slightly surprised he knew as much as he did; he didn't appear to have the Sight, but somehow she wasn't sure whether she'd have preferred that he have it rather than what he apparently had to allow him that knowledge. Finally she blinked and scowled.

"Well, can you tell me the biggest question I have on my mind right now?" Louise snapped.

James chuckled. "Doesn't take a Seer to figure that out. If your kids are Sirius Black's, but you don't remember ever knowing him well enough to think he's worth it, and with the papers dragging his name through the mud with apparent reason, I think you're wondering just how you either had such a lapse in judgement, or how he's innocent." James watched her suppress a surge of emotion, and grinned. "Sirius is innocent. He suggested we make a bluff with a different friend being made the actual secret-keeper while he take the attention. He also suggested that we keep it quiet. Pettigrew was the secret-keeper, and he most likely framed Sirius for the murder of himself, those muggles, and us. Sirius would never have been so clumsy as to kill others aside from Pettigrew. Sirius is innocent of all charges, Louise. You have excellent judgement, which has not lapsed." James' reassurance left Louise wearing a rapidly cracking mask. He wore a serious face as he delivered the last lines, and let it settle in. He then quirked a small grin. "And, if you are indeed so similar as to what crossed over, I believe you have connections which may be very useful to us. We need to break into Azkaban and get Sirius back out, as I greatly doubt they'll trust us, particularly after what we just pulled."

Louise darted her glance over to James as he finished. "And what makes you think I have connections who would even consider breaking into Azkaban?"

"Well, the lady I remember had excellent connections with the Hodges', who know many people who would love such a challenge."

Louise scowled thoughtfully at James. Lyall was eyeing him as well, and Remus and Lily were wondering where on earth he'd pulled all this information from. Louise finally smirked.

"May I borrow an owl, then? If any of you have one." Her question was greeted with most of them shaking their heads. She glowered. "Gee, fun. You're all well equipped."

James snorted. "Sirius was the one to own an owl. I hadn't wanted a familiar, and Lily had a cat."

Louise rolled her eyes. "Then may I use your floo? I trust my friend to be discrete with your secrets, so if I may mention you people he might just get curious enough to risk it.

Lily was nervous, but James calmed her with his hand on her arm. "I'm sure he wouldn't want to break someone undeserving out of Azkaban, so naturally he'll need a good answer. I'm sure it would be fine. Lily, any objections?"

"If it gets Sirius out of that Hell, I'd agree to just about anything. And I want to talk to you, James." Lily scolded.

James nodded mildly, and Remus showed Louise to the floo, pausing only to tell James and Lily that they could use his guest room if they desired to converse. Lyall stood before they left, approaching them cautiously.

"I'd noticed we were never introduced; my name is Lyall Wolfgang. If you don't mind, I can watch Harry for you while you speak. Then, Lily, you won't need to hold back any while scolding you. Remus should be back in soon, and I'm watching the rest of the kids anyways. I'm sure he'll be good; I've always had a hand with kids."

Lily eyed James a moment, before gently transferring Harry to Lyall. "Thank you; we'll have to talk sometime, but first I do need to give James a good talking to. Thank you very much."

"We'll be just down here, with Rhiannon and the others." Lyall assured her, and she returned to the couch as Lily pulled James upstairs.

Once Lily had closeted James into the room, she placed a few privacy charms, and rounded on him.

"James, how did you know all that about her? You can't even read tealeaves, and you think divination is a bunch of lies! You don't have anything even remotely resembling the Sight, and you just knew about her house, her kids, and her school! How did you know?"

James sat on the guest bed, resting his head in his hands. "I don't know. I'm fairly sure it's from … wherever we got our lives back from, and where we got Rhiannon, and she got her children. She mentioned she hadn't had them before, and I'd have known if Sirius had had a steady girlfriend. He wouldn't have been anywhere near as willing to risk his life if he'd had kids, especially ones that young."

"I know, James, that's definitely self-evident. Sirius would've named you godfather of his children." Lily's eyes glinted slightly. "I'd have gladly been godmother, for sure. This would also mean that if Louise is Sirius' sweet, that Harry basically has a godmother now. She seems very nice."

"She does." James agreed. He eyed Lily with amusement. "You seem satisfied with a very vague answer for your first question."

Lily snorted. "You're a terrible liar, James. You were being as honest as you could be."

"Thanks." James drawled. "I'm so flattered at your confidence in me."

Lily gently cuffed the side of his face and sat down in his lap. "I do have confidence in you. But there are certain times when I want to double-check. You're an excellent prankster, so you can lie like a rug in regards to those, but when you're trying to keep something important from me, you're terrible. You get very nervous then."

James snickered. "Good to know I'm like a book to you. Is this the end of the lecture, or do you have something else in mind?"

Lily cuffed him again and stood up. "Now is not the time James. I want to be reunited with our children –with Harry, and Rhiannon. I don't know if they'll know each other or not, but propriety says we introduce them. And we never did get the names of the other two children, Louise's twins. Properly at least, you apparently already knew them."

Lily was now looking thoughtful, and James stood to walk behind her. Instead of hugging her, though, he instead began to tickle her mercilessly.

"James! Hah hah ha, hee! Stop it, James! Stop! Hah hah hah, this is unfair!" Lily finally twisted herself around in his arms, and began to tickle back, until they both overbalanced and fell to the bed.

"Well Lily, we're in bed now." James leered, looking her up and down.

Lily pushed him off her, rolling him off the edge of the bed. "James, we can do that later. Not now. We need to go talk to the lady you sent off in search of something; I don't know what yet and I'd like to."

James rolled his eyes and got up, pulling Lily into a kiss for long moments. Finally, when they stopped, James smirked, pecked her on the cheek and led her back downstairs. As they came to the door, James pulled her close and whispered in her ear "You owe me time tonight, though." Lily rolled her eyes and tickled him.

"I was about to say the same, dearest."

As they came into the room, Lily and James both stopped, staring at the two new strangers in the living room, who were sitting and chatting with Remus, Louise and Lyall. Both had black hair, the man's short and curly on his head, and the woman long and straight, reaching her waist. The man had Harry and Rhiannon both happily sitting on his knee and being bounced, and the woman held another child, a girl of about three or four with bushy black ringlets. The two of them were happily chatting with Louise and Lyall, with Remus adding in a comment or two. Lily was amused to note that while the two newcomers had the long couch, and Louise had claimed the rocking chair, Remus and Lyall had been left with his loveseat, and they were both quite comfortable on it, with Louise's twins using both of their laps for a nap.

As James and Lily came into the room, conversation stopped as the attention moved to the two of them. Louise popped to her feet, and stepped forward.

"Howard, Maxene, these are James and Lily Potter. James is the one who insinuated he was aware of our acquaintance, and although I am still not sure how he knew about it, I believe he has a worthwhile request. James, Lily, these are Howard and Maxene Hodges, and their daughter, Gwen. And as I believe my initial introduction was less than adequate in light of your assessment, I am Louise Catar, and my children are Kieran and Cassiopeia." Louise wasted little time after her impromptu introduction before quietly sitting down.

Howard and Maxene had smiled at the introductions, and nodded their heads, as they couldn't have gotten up without disturbing the children. Rhiannon had apparently gone back to sleep once more on his lap, but Harry was still awake, although he looked quite ready for a nap himself now that the bouncing had stopped. James came in first and sat down on the last available piece of furniture, the armchair, and then smiled at Lily. Lily smiled back, but remained standing.

"I believe we have something rather oppressive to discuss. Remus, do you not have a guest room you were preparing for the children, as they grew older? I believe it would be easy to conjure some beds for the children to nap in while we discuss our business, as I believe they would not be best suited to remain while we talk."

Remus flinched. "My apologies, Lily, but the room has been recently filled with some rescued items. I was the only person for any of your personal effects to go to, so there's no more room."

Lily scowled, and made to apologize. However, Howard spoke first.

"My apologies for presuming to interrupt, but if none of you are averse to the suggestion, my wife and I have a large, secure home with plentiful room for the children and ourselves where we may hold this discussion. I understand you and your husband may be cautious of new people and situations at the moment, as you have recently been under much … confusion, but I extend my assurances that my wife and I can be most discrete with your affairs. If you desire not to, we will understand, but the invitation is there."

Lily glanced over to James, who was looking at the Hodges intently. Louise was shifting nervously, but Lyall was completely relaxed. Remus simply seemed slightly lost. Finally, Lily nodded to James, who took his own time before standing.

"I would like two questions answered first, so as to understand if our conversation has any point. Would you be willing to take our word for a man's innocence?" James stated.

Howard eyed him calmly, withholding all emotion from his face. Finally, he leaned back into the couch, his posture completely relaxed, and completely alert, ready for anything. "It would depend on how well you knew the man. A brother; a best friend; an acquaintance …"

"I considered him a brother, and I trusted him like one."

"Then yes." Howard's answer was short, but imbued with honesty. "You're next question?"

"Would you be willing to tackle Azkaban?"

Howard fell dead silent, no longer holding onto a false look of comfort. His eyes pierced James like daggers, and his face was a study of concentration. "That … is a very worthy question." His expression faded into contemplation for a time, until Maxene sighed and jabbed him with her elbow. She gathered up her daughter in her arms, shot her husband an amused glance, and looked at James with a bright smile.

"You got him completely distracted. That means it's a definite yes. If you chose not to come with us, he'll probably have someone break in anyways to kill a few Death Eaters just to prove it can be done. Now, getting someone out alive … that's something even more complicated. Almost as bad as trying to prove innocence to someone on a witch-hunt. Would you like to come along then? Gather your kids, I'd love the company, and give my husband his space. He's going to be very distracted for a good while, and then you can start working out details once he gets his head back out of that cloud."

James blinked, and eyed Maxene strangely as the others each went to pick up a child, Lily to Harry, Remus to Rhiannon, Lyall to Kieran, and Louise to Cassiopeia. Finally, he got his mouth working again.

"You'll work on this? You believe me? I was dead not two days ago, and already you're working to help me." James demanded, before he bit down on his tongue.

Maxene's only response was to raise her eyebrow. "You'll have to explain the 'dead' part there sometime, but the first parts are all we're interested in." James was still frustrated, and she turned to look him over. He fidgeted, and when she finished, she was smiling oddly. "You hadn't a clue what you were getting into when you asked Louise about us, did you? You were simply looking for some card you hadn't seen yet that might offer a better answer, weren't you?" James flushed, but she cut him off before he could protest. "Well, dear, you got us. We'll work at anything, and the more impossible it seems, the more we'll try and find a way. You don't dare a Hodges to try and have them back down. They'll work long and hard, and then they'll try everything half myth and legend that they can pull off if conventional doesn't work out. You asked for our help, and Azkaban is supposed to be impossible to breach. You asked us to do the impossible, and now we're sure as hell going to try."

James, and most everyone else in the room were speechless. Howard had finally stood up, and though he still seemed half-dazed, he quietly asked Remus for where the floo fireplace was, before strolling into the room and flooing away with hardly a word. The others followed him into the room, most looking at Maxene in surprise. She finally raised an eyebrow at the all, with a scolding expression for their staring. They each subsided, and she took on a lecturing tone as she continued.

"The floo address is unlisted, so you'd have to get it from me or my husband first, although it's not fidelius. We're under the address 'occidionis', and please don't say that with a wand in your hand. It's been that address for years, so I don't know where it began. Now, James, would you be so kind as to take Gwen with you. My sister-in-law should be there, her name is Barbara, and she looks much like Gwen. I will stay here to make certain you each get through safely. And watch that you get off at the right stop. 'Occidionis' mind."

James took Gwen from Maxene, and stepped up to Remus' fireplace, grabbing the floo powder off the mantelpiece and tossing it in. With a carefully enunciated 'Occidionis', he was spinning away to the Hodges' manor.