"You look like you had a good time," Charlese said, just before she removed and pocketed her diamond ring. Romilly and Regulus smiled at her as they entered the throne room where Fae was waiting, lazing around and listening to some music.

She grinned, Fae-like. "Oh it was lovely, long walks in the woods, good meaty eats, bonfires and singing every night, brutally murdering that sick pedophilic bastard in cold blood. I had a marvelous time. How about you guys? Seems like the honeymoon is going well - you both look good!"

They were both dressed to the nines, Regulus and Romilly. He was wearing a casual suit and waistcoat that matched the shiny, metallic teal of Romilly's maxi dress. Both had their fair share of sparkly jewelry, on-point make-up, tidy manicures, and perfectly styled hair. The perfect picture of an elegant, stylish, happy couple. They suited each other and looked healthy and happy, especially Regulus. He'd been putting proper weight back on, his hair was back to it's shiny gloss and was beginning to brush his shoulders, and his eyes had that lively sparkle to them again.

Fae looked them over adoringly and admiringly, laughing when Romilly snorted and shoved Regulus playfully as he put an arm around his 'wife' and said, "Feeling good."

"Speak for yourself - I want a divorce, you're a useless husband," Romilly teased.

"Uh oh, trouble in paradise?" Fae joked.

Regulus rolled his eyes. "Something like that. My 'sweetheart' here is just pouty because we didn't find any new Horcruxes."

"None?"

"Not one," said Romilly, pout increasing. Fae almost felt bad that there actually were no Horcruxes to find. Almost. It was so cute that Romilly was getting fired up over this.

"Well, how many items did you cross off?" Fae asked.

Regulus chewed his bottom lip and counted them off on his fingers. "8?"

"Wow! Then that's great!"

"Great?" Romilly asked dryly.

Fae shrugged and smiled. "Yeah, you guys did awesome. I can't believe you found that many in just a few weeks. You guys should become treasure hunters."

Which hilariously kind of made sense. Romilly was used to tracking creatures and poachers while Regulus was well-versed with magical antiquities, dark markets, and high money shady deals. There were always trails and his family practically invented all the tricks in the book. Either way, Fae was truly impressed they'd gotten through so much of the list. They had always made a good team.

The tall blonde scoffed and flipped her hair. "Fat load of good it did, we aren't any closer to finding the last few Horcruxes."

"Assuming there even are more," Regulus said, playing devil's advocate because Fae knew he just loved to bicker with Romilly. Loved to argue in general, really.

"Of course there are, it fits the pattern," she argued back.

"But these four were the only ones he hid. As far as I know, he didn't check on any either that he might've hid before," he pointed out.

Fae, seeing her chance, jumped in. This was perfect. "Unless he couldn't," she said.

They both blinked at her. "What?"

The werewolf made a thoughtful expression. "Unless where he hid it was somewhere he couldn't easily get back into. Like Hogwarts?"

"You think there's a Horcrux at Hogwarts?"

"Remember how I used to train in that room? The Room of Requirement?"

"Yeah? So?"

Fae grinned and fed them her little white lie. "Well, now that I've been around all of the other Horcruxes, the feeling is becoming.. Familiar? I guess? There's a distinct trace and it's been giving me deja vu. I was thinking, the Room of Requirement's basic form is basically the Hogwarts junk drawer and I think he hid one in there."

Regulus chewed it over and came to a conclusion quickly. Fae always liked watching his brain work - the way he solved problems methodically and quickly. "Of course. He'd have access to an item of cultural significance and the perfect place to hide it. No one would ever suspect a thing."

Aha, score! Now she could get the Diadem without making them suspicious or confused.

And because Romilly liked to bicker with Regulus just as much as he liked to bug her, she said, "Okay, sure, but remember he needs to kill someone to split his soul? How's he going to get away with killing someone at Hogwarts?"

Shrugging, Fae said, "Probably easier than you think. A tragic accident, framing another student, or he could've taken the item over break, done the deed, and brought it back."

Regulus nodded in agreement. "So then we go to Hogwarts and ask the ghosts? Check the room?"

"I do believe so. It'll be fun, visiting Hogwarts," Fae said,

Romilly glanced between them both and then sighed. "Yeah, okay I'm down," she said, resigned. Then brightened up and hummed cheerfully. "I can see if Willoughby and Maestro are still there."

"That's the spirit," Fae said, laughing. Willoughby and Maestro were the two of her favorite house elves. Fae and Regulus had always liked them too - they perfectly guessed what treats they wanted and always asked them about how their families were. Turns out, they knew Kreacher.

"When are we going?"

"In September - when school is back in session and there's more people for us to blend in with."

"And what will we be doing in the meantime?"

"I'm so glad you asked," Fae said, grinning as she enlarged several crates beside the throne. Since she'd gotten done with Greyback early, Fae had decided to take a detour on the way back. The guys at the print shop had been surprised to see her. Also, very pissed when she ran a few more last second print jobs and informed them of what she'd been doing after hours for the past year. They weren't happy about her warning to close up shop for a while and disappear so as not to be targeted by Death Eaters soon.

Fae cackled at the crestfallen and deeply offended look on Romilly's face.

"There's more?" Regulus asked.

"Ugh I thought I'd never have to see another one of those again," Romilly whined.

"Don't worry about it - I'll handle the papering this time. And there are some special editions here too," Fae said.

"Special editions?"

"Ta da!" she said, holding out her newest designs.

"When did you even get the time to do that?" Regulus asked, voice awed and expression amused as he looked them over.

"Found a few extra days before meeting you back here. Greyback lost his shit earlier than I planned."

"Of course."

"And in terms of the Horcruxes, we can keep chasing down those last few just in case, but we really need to switch gears to figuring out how to destroy them," she decided.

Romilly grinned and listed off options. "Explosive force, corrosive chemicals, brute strength, destructive spells, de-cursing spells, the possibilities are endless," she said excitedly.

Regulus looked just as thrilled at the idea. "I suggest we start with further research on Horcruxes then. See if we can't dig anything up there."

"And where are we going to find information on Horcruxes?" Fae asked, curious.

"Well I would search the House of Black but that's not really an option right now. Plus I really don't want to see or deal with my mother for another decade at least. So…"

"So?"

"There is little you can't find in Chetham's Library in Manchester."

Fae beamed and got ready to leave immediately, despite Romilly and Regulus' requests to take a day to rest, they had just gotten off the road.

Manchester was about four or five hours away if they took a fancy train with an expensive luxury car all to themselves again. But Fae was eager to spread her zines as thoroughly as possible, so she cheerfully insisted on renting a car and stopping through every major town they came across and then some. Thus, getting to Manchester went from a four hour train ride to a six day long trek which resulted in them killing off three Death Eaters and getting two more sent to Azkaban.

For the first day or two, Fae truly had fun just exploring different towns, sprinting through them as fast as she could and leaving her zines in every bookstore, cafe, grocery store, corner shop, gas station, record store, thrift shop, and likewise on the way while Romilly and Regulus enjoyed their time shopping or drinking wine and laughing at Fae's antics.

But then she started to get bored. And a little sad. Because Remus would've loved this. Remus had loved this - a new town every few hours, new discoveries to find and new adventures to have. This led her to caving a bit and writing Peter, checking in and asking how everyone was doing. Fae nearly cried with happiness and from laughing so hard when she heard about how well the werewolves were doing, and how Remus had decided to deliver her tapes. Oh, how clever and vicious her darling could be.

She was less happy to hear about the fallout, the increased attacks on the Order and the equally explosive building destruction, whether that building was important to the Order or not. Fucking dicks. That just wouldn't do. She'd known Voldemort wouldn't be happy after losing Greyback, and she guessed probably all other werewolves in that pack. Fae knew that someone had to deal with consequences, but it sucked that she couldn't take it all on herself.

Hmm. Actually. Come to think of it. She was back in the UK. To remain hidden, Romilly and Regulus could always go on to Manchester and she could meet them there. Fae grinned and explained the plan to her lovely companions almost as fast as she could think of it. It would be incredibly risky, inviting trouble like that. But she couldn't just do nothing while Voldemort terrorized London and they really were all quite capable, dangerous, and free to run anywhere at any time. It would be fun.

Romilly and Regulus thought she was crazy. They also decided they were sticking close to her and would just stay in the shadows or the crowds, watching her back and fucking up a few Death Eaters of their own if they got the chance. Fae couldn't have all the fun after all and Regulus was still pissed at Higgins for calling him Baby Black all these years.

First they had to get Voldemort's attention. She didn't want to risk Peter getting called out for sending his Death Eaters to an ambush. What Peter could do, on the other hand, was let her know where a few special someones were located so she could attack first, and then lead any others on a merry little chase.

As it happened, they got to save some lives too, which made Fae feel pretty good. It was a tricky thing, knowing she was saving lives, condemning lives, changing futures. Essentially, she was playing God, which was a decidedly not cool thing to do, but she had no choice. She had to save her family. And she knew that she couldn't save everybody, like her parents or the Prewetts. And she was personally killing lots of people who might've had better futures, and some who definitely weren't better in the future, but still.

Go hard or go home is what she'd decided long ago. All in, full-time commitment, risk it to get the biscuit. She was wrecking the future, quite possibly making it way worse for all she knew. But it felt good to know she was saving a life, even if she ended one at the same time.

In this particular instance, she saved the life of Lily's Maid of Honor and the Godmother to her sweet nephew - Marlene Mckinnon. She saved the lives of her whole family, who had been in hiding and suddenly attacked by Wilson Travers and Rubin Rowle. Travers and Rowle had the whole lot of them bound in the living room. They would be torturing the family members to get information out of their target, Marlene in this case. Once they had what they wanted, they'd set the whole house ablaze with the family inside, Regulus told her. Yeah, not happening.

So caught up in their bravado and making the kids scared, playing up their 'evilness' for maximum effect, they didn't notice the vines creeping down the walls and sliding under the carpet. Their screams were beautiful as they were hoisted into the air upside down whilst Regulus and Romilly disarmed their wands from their hiding places.

Marlene and her family were untied and then Fae shepherded them out, laughing at Marlene's expressions of exasperation when she repeatedly asked questions about where Fae had been, what was she doing here, what was she doing, what was she thinking, and Fae just dodged them obnoxiously. Oh, I was taking a stroll down the road, I do so love the hills. I thought I'd drop in, see if you had any ideas for Harry's first birthday, what do you get a one-year-old that's badass, but safe-ish? While she was here, she was thinking she may as well take out the trash, but it was going to get rough, so they should head into town for a bit. Maybe call the authorities? There was going to be a fire.

Marlene eventually had to be knocked unconscious and left with her family so she'd let Fae go, but she'd be fine. Hopefully, the family could go into hiding again and stay safe until the end of the war this time. Harry should have his parents, his Godparents, his aunt, and all the people in the world to love him.

As for Travers and Rowle? Fae carved up their chests, just flower drawings this time. Then they burned alive in the tool shed. All that fire had Fae craving marshmallows, so she led her friends out of town and to a nearby wood to camp for the night. Fae made smores and shared them, licking her sticky fingers as she delightfully danced around their fire. Regulus refused to dance with her until her hands were clean, although he probably ate more s'mores than she and Romilly combined. Not hard since their blonde bombshell was strangely pensive.

"How do you even know how to find them?" Romilly eventually asked.

Fae froze as Regulus said, "You didn't know? Fae has another spy under Voldemort's nose - a spineless creep who's even more forgettable than I am. Fae caught him ratting out her brother and blackmailed him into helping her."

"Oh? Who is it?"

Fae gestured frantically to Regulus not to say shit, but he did not catch it in time. Fuck.

"Peter Pettigrew."

There was silence and then Romilly exploded, screeching, "THAT LYING, COWARDLY, DESPICABLE PIECE OF SHIT!"

Sighing, Fae buried her face in her hands. "Way to go Regulus."

"Oops."

After Romilly got done raging and throwing things and cursing Peter with every creative insult under the sun, Fae started to talk her down. Yes, Peter betrayed them, but we've always known he was a weak, sensitive sort. Voldemort targeted him for a reason and had needed him for a lot, so who knows how far he went to get Peter into the Death Eaters.

And besides, ever since Fae called him out, Peter had basically become a double spy. He wouldn't dare betray anybody on their side now, not with Fae knowing about him. And by 'betraying' Fae when she asked, he was still in good favor and now was helping the Order turn the tides back. Informing them of potential raids, or pointing out suspicious figures tailing their members, or keeping them from getting into a bad battle with little to gain. Not to mention, doing every little thing Fae asked.

"I guess Peter isn't so useless after all."

And Fae realized, he really wasn't. Not that she'd ever found him useless, but she was truly and sincerely surprised by how much she could say he was doing to help since she'd left. He had said he was going to try and she supposed he really meant it. Fae didn't quite know how to feel about that.

"He's still a bloody turncoat and he'll get his, but yeah. I suppose he's alright."

Well, Regulus wasn't wrong.

They took out Elizabeth Mathers next. She'd been the closest Death Eater to respond to the scene that Fae, Romilly, and Regulus left behind. Fae had, to her friends' dismay, wandered back into town the next morning, just long enough to be seen. Then she took a cab to the next town, winking at Romilly and Regulus as she passed by. They met her, and nearly threw her in the river in the next town, and obediently hung back, playing the role of honeymooning couple again while Fae wandered the town shamelessly, idly scattering her zines and waiting for her prey. It was hilarious watching them try and be cute or affectionate with each other all day and it kept Fae extremely amused until Ms. Mathers finally showed up that night.

Elizabeth Mathers chased Fae through the night and into a dead end alleyway, thinking she'd won. Her wand had been raised for a Cruciatus, only to be set ablaze by a quick spell from Regulus, where he lurked in the shadows on a balcony behind her. Then Romilly, who had called dibs on this one, dropped down between Fae and Elizabeth. Smiled and tossed her pretty blonde hair. Cursed her and laughed as Elizabeth's skin started peeling itself off her body, leaving her a bloody, dead mess in a few minutes.

"Ew, Romilly, gross! Did you have to pick that one?" Regulus whined, going a bit pale.

"All for you, sweetheart. Studying anatomy is essential for a healer, no? Look, what lovely tibias!"

They got two more the next day. By sheer stroke of luck, or unluckiness, Avery and Gibson of all people strolled into the town they'd been spending the night in. Regulus had shaken her awake, having been alerted to their presence thanks to the taboo spell. Fae had found them quickly, watched them alongside Romilly and Regulus. They were the same bumbling morons from school. Just two idiots press ganged into the club by their fathers most likely, and high on the idea of being some big, strong, dangerous, evil Death Eater despite never actually doing anything all that vile.

The three of them shared a look. Romilly insisted they get theirs for calling her Eleanor for years, but Regulus wanted to show them mercy. Fae agreed. But she couldn't just let them go free, after all. Even harmless as they were, they may come back to hurt someone she cared about one day. So they played a little prank, for old times sake. Avery and Gibson fell asleep in a hotel room, half-drunk and hyping each other up about definitely finding that 'Damned Fae Potter' tomorrow and 'showing her'. They woke up to their hotel room having been turned into a greenhouse, the trees and plants sprouting and stemming from their bodies, growing from beneath their skin, coming out of their nostrils and mouths, vines and flowers wiggling out from their fingertips which were no longer fingers and no longer had functioning magic receptors. Wands snapped and facing a one-way ticket to Azkaban for pompously, stupidly, using the Imperious curse on the hotel owner for free room, food, and booze. Precious little dumbasses.

After that, she disappeared again, not wanting to lead them right to their destination of Manchester. They had some studying and research to do.

The Chetham Library was outrageously huge. Luxurious and grand and spanning absolute acres. As the oldest library in the United Kingdom, it shouldn't have been surprising, but knowing something and experiencing something are two different things. For all that the architecture was huge and beautiful, it had nothing on the inside. Rows and rows of gorgeous dark wooden bookshelves, inescapably high ceilings, long winding corridors, warmth and hidden secrets every which way.

Fae left Romilly and Regulus to burning through a section of dark potions books, bickering over whether they should try to melt or dissolve the Horcruxes. Her fingers skimmed over the backs of the books as Fae went wandering, meandering through stacks and stacks and stacks, dark creatures, fiction mysteries, horror novels, cheesy romances, health and fitness, baking, graphic design, printing. She only stopped walking when she found a little sunny alcove, all the way down a long aisle of picture books, tucked into a stained glass window. Fae curled up in it happily with a few books of her own. It was too bad she couldn't read. All she could really do was slump over, lie down, curl up, and think of Remus.

He would've loved it here. They could've spent days in here and this alcove was just too small for two people unless they were completely intertwined. It was perfect. She could see him now, walking so fast that it was almost a jog, an excited smile lighting up his pretty eyes, his hand tight around Fae's so she would keep up, or not wander off without him. In her mind, she could see him sitting in this alcove, scrunched up over a book, a beautiful smile stretching his face as his mind took him away. She could watch him like that for hours. Could listen to him read every day of her life.

She missed him so much.

"There she is!" Romilly said.

Regulus shushed her, laughing, and then gave Fae a playfully stern look. "Uh. Hey. Were you going to make us do all the work?"

"You guys are smarter than me?" Fae said, trying to smile cutely and charm her way out of it. No luck. They rolled their eyes in sync and hauled her out of her comfy, warm alcove and spiraling sadness.

"Sweet, but no. Come on, lazy ass."

Fae giggled and tried to escape. Let them catch her and keep her close and 'bully' her into helping them research. She listened fondly as they excitedly talked over each other, showing her what they'd found so far.

They spent a week and a half in Manchester, laying low and giving Voldemort's pets a chance to gird their loins before Fae started hacking at them again. The three of them found quite a large multitude of options, but it was hard to tell what would work and what wouldn't. They couldn't exactly test it out on the Horcruxes.

"Well. We could always call out more Death Eaters. Test our theories on them," Regulus said thoughtfully.

"That's fucked up!" Romilly said. Then smiled and punched his arm affectionately. "I love it."

"Okay, but human bodies are super fragile and we're trying to destroy very hefty, cursed objects?" Fae reminded them. Not that she didn't want to kill off Death Eaters in horrifying ways.

They shared a look and shrugged. "We'll just have to be creative. It'll be fun."

"Causing intentional and direct harm to another person? Did the Death Eaters break you, or did we corrupt you?"

Regulus chuckled darkly. "You guys, hands down. And besides, if I'm going to be a Healer one day, I should get used to seeing stuff like this."

Nina Diederick was suffocated and then eroded slowly by a Sharpel Slovokian Poison Mist. Quick and fairly effective, although her armored jacket remained, as did her steel nails. Gorgeous set they were, and clearly durable. Fae wondered where she got them done, the ocean wave pattern was super pretty.

Helpful as it was, Fae was really sick of smelling that Dark Mark so they strapped a thick, tungsten gauntlet over his arm and then cast the Arctic Current Corroding Curse on it. Keir Leone bled to death after the curse melted through the gauntlet and then through his arm. They repeated it with a few other materials until all of Keir's limbs were separated and he was long dead. It seemed to get through anything and might've been a good option for Horcrux destruction until they tried testing it on a cursed necklace and it only fizzled and turned pink. Seriously, magic had the weirdest properties and rules sometimes.

Antonia Galletina burned via the Hungarian Bluefire Curse, but her jewelry and bones remained. And, strangely enough, her shoes. Regulus rolled his eyes. They were Hannsley brand shoes, the latest Vierra edition. Didn't she know anything? Romilly shrieked and tried to destroy them with a Thai Chili Dissolving Curse. Hannsley was a brand infamous for questionable practices regarding the dragon hide they acquired for their famous shoes, apparently. No luck with the Thai curse either, so that took two from their list and they sank the shoes in the river with a viking send off in honor of the dragon.

They even got Rabastan Lestrange. He died slowly, the Malaysian Metal Melting Acid took freaking forever to drip through the safe they'd stuffed him in, let alone actually melt the metal down. Melted human pretty good though, it only took about fifteen minutes of dripping through the small eaten holes in the top of the safe before he stopped screaming.

It wasn't all just fun and games and testing methods of destruction though. There was actually a point. It was like Now You See Me - Fae was setting up a series of shows, a bunch of look-over-here's while secretly getting ready to pop the lid on one hell of a finale. While it wasn't the 'finale' finale, it was an excellent conclusion to July's attempts at trying to hunt her down. To be fair, Fae had been planning this big show long before she'd thought of systematically taking out Voldemort's Death Eaters.

Today was the day. It killed her to be missing Bambi's first birthday, but she figured this would be a pretty good gift to him. And despite being on lockdown, as Secret Keeper she was able to send them an owl with her little gift so they'd get to see it too. Ideally, they'd see it on the news. Okay, they'd definitely see it on the news.

It wasn't every day that zines rained from the sky after all.

To the normal eye, these zines, distributed all over the UK and at least most major cities on the continent, were simple gardening guides. Planting and maintaining Bird's-foot Trefoil, Black-eyed Susans, Cypress, Dandelions, Black Roses, and Tansys. They covered every inch of London, falling from Romilly and Regulus' hands atop Reggie in the clouds.

Although flying on a dragon would've been cool, Fae had decided she wanted a front row seat. She stood in front of the Ministry, bustling at rush hour. Her scent was subdued just in case and the Invisibility Cloak hid her as she removed the ring on her right hand ring finger. The conduit. She inspected it, marveled its beauty, and then crushed it with a sharp grin, all teeth.

The illusion charms on the zines all simultaneously failed, all but the one keeping it hidden to a muggle's eye. The true headline revealed itself - HE WHO MUST BE NAMED HALF-MUGGLE: THE TRUTH ABOUT VOLDEMORT.

It had been so much fun to make these, to spill Tom Riddle Jr's every little dirty secret about his past onto pages for everybody to read. His heritage to a line of rich, asshole muggles and to a line of crackpot, laughingstock, dying purebloods who had once upon a time been great. The squib mother who died and left him in an orphanage. The revenge he took on the muggle half of the family and blamed on his magic half.

The way he touted the belief around that purebloods were supreme, that anybody with dirty blood should be annihilated, and yet he had some of the dirtiest blood of all. Not to mention, relying on those of 'dirty blood' to bolster him and support him.

There was a page dedicated to those too - just lists and lists of names. The ones Regulus had kept updated for the past few years - confirmed Death Eaters, Dirty Politicians, Suppliers, Known Supporters. Fae had designed it like a directory. People who had their name in bright red were purebloods, and the closer that color got to black, the more intertwined with muggle ancestry that person was. It was a fun little charm.

The Ministry for Magic was called out too. Fae had photocopied and added in plenty of family records, written confirmation of shady deals, photos of bribes to judges to keep arrogant Death Eaters out of convictions. She called on the Ministry to release the Gaunt family records and prove her right. To have a revolution within and rid their halls of people who looked after themselves and would abuse the law for their self-gain. They needed a brave, righteous ministry that stood up for its people and fought for them. For justice, equality, and fairness.

And then there were the special editions - calling out her favorites like Lucius Malfoy. Bellatrix Lestrange. Barty Crouch Jr. and Igor Karkaroff. The things they did, while standing atop society. Good luck standing up there now, while the crowds began to riot and tear down their pedestals now that the truth was out.

And the last page in each and every zine was a moving picture of Fae, winking and blowing a kiss. It said, in bold flowery letters, Happy Birthday to the Chosen One! (My Precious Bambi) Love, Aunt Fae.

There was pandemonium. Utter pandemonium. Fae had been waiting for this moment and just couldn't stay beneath the Invisibility Cloak. So she shed it and wore the bare minimum, her jewelry glamour as Isla Reynolds. And she strolled euphorically through London, feeling like Regina George after she'd set the Burn Book loose on a high school full of volatile teenage girls. Mayhem. Glorious mayhem. The Ministry was rushed, Death Eaters who had nonchalantly been leaving work were mobbed. She cheerfully wondered who would be taken off the list today.

Regulus and Romilly, level-headed and protective, swept her off the streets as soon as they saw her and allowed her to watch the rest from on top of the London Eye, which had long stopped moving in the chaos. She still didn't like heights, but at least it was easy to look out instead of down.

"And there goes his reputation," Fae declared proudly. Voldemort controlled people with fear, enemies and supporters alike. Well, he used to. Not anymore.

Romilly propped an arm on her shoulder, joined in her watching the chaos. "And at least 60% of his followers," she added cheerfully.

"And his little werewolf army is now your little werewolf army," Regulus said, taking his place at Fae's other side.

"With which your little boyfriend has successfully rallied to wreck his resources and suppliers," Romilly said.

"And we've obtained most, if not all, of his little trinkets of immortality."

"Yeah… shame we couldn't get the giants too," Fae said, sighing wistfully.

"Sorry Fae, I tried, but they are an isolated group. Frankly, I don't know how he even got them," Romilly said sadly, frowning.

Fae gave her a kiss on the cheek and giggled as she cheered up quickly. "Nah, it's okay. I think Tommy gets the point now," she said, wrapping an arm around both of her dear friends.

Charlese and Kent checked into the best hotel in London that night. Isla met them upstairs and then they partied hard. Champagne galore, dancing, and falling asleep together, giggling madly over their fun little game of coming up with the most creative and funny way a Death Eater had been killed by the public that day.

Days passed with the magical world in upheaval. On the run, it was hard to know exactly what the impact of her actions brought. How many supporters had changed their mind about serving a 'mudblood' and took off. At least, Fae was pleased as punch to see the headlines about how Lucius Malfoy, after having been outed, had been arrested by the ministry. He'd escaped and ran off to Europe, leaving his family behind to deal with the aftermath. At least, he tried. Fae was all too happy to hunt him down and end him herself. Who knew what kind of person Draco Malfoy would grow up to be, beside a loving mother who was a cousin to her brother, and without an asshole of a father. She couldn't wait to find out. Maybe he and her nephew might actually end up friends.

"So what's next?" Regulus asked.

"Laying low for a bit. Go to ground and let him jump at shadows while he tries to recover from this. We can do some more research and testing on our way up to Hogwarts, take some time to celebrate Romilly's birthday," Fae decided.

His dark eyebrows rose speculatively. "Aha, celebrate Romilly's birthday?"

She shrugged. "What? We've been working hard lately and our little bombshell here deserves some fun. I'd say I deserve fun too, but after watching Voldemort's reputation crumble like an old cookie, I don't think I've ever had so much fun in my life. And Regulus, you get to blow money on extravagant things and spoil your wife, so its a win-win."

"I guueeesss," he drawled, playing reluctant, but Fae could see the flicker of thoughtfulness across his face.

"Can we go to Loch Ness?" Romilly asked excitedly.

"What, so you can find the Loch Ness monster?" Regulus asked, giving her a teasing smirk.

"She's not a monster, you heathen!"

"Yes, we can go to Loch Ness. I know just the place. But first, I gotta meet up with some friends," Fae said, laughing.

"Uggghhhh, not your loverboy."

She jinxed the left side legs off Romilly's chair and sent her careening into Regulus.

For all that Remus had become strong and become a commander of a pack of werewolves, he was still woefully unprepared to be yelled at by James and then absolutely dragged by Peter.

He and Sirius had been home, Peter visiting and the three of them in a daze caught between staring in horror at the zines falling from the sky, completely blindsided by the information in it, and laughing their asses off because only Fae would do such a thing. It was sweet of her to wish Bambi a happy birthday.

Although it made him wonder and feel a little sick inside. Just how long had she been planning this? It explained all the late nights and all those times she was so tired after work, but these were specifically for Harry's birthday and with the way it lined up… she must've been planning this for more than a year. Maybe even two. How did she know?

"Wow. I can't believe she did this," he said, awed.

Sirius snickered. "You can't? Really?"

Remus grinned. "Okay, I can. This is. Wow."

And then a third voice, one that did not belong to any of his werewolves, spoke up and startled them. "Yeah, it's really something isn't it."

Sirius, Peter, and Remus turned glacially, fearfully slow to see James leaning by the back door and then they gaped. Remus' stomach dropped. Oh boy, he did not look happy.

"JAMES! Mate, what are you doing here?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, you know. I just got this in the mail from Fae and I wanted to come see what's new," he started casually, holding up a zine. And then became very pissed off very quickly. "Like why my sister is calling out The Dark Lord personally? Why she's been missing for two months? Why is she wanted in ItaLY foR CAUsInG A NatiONal PaNic?!"

"James, calm down, we can explain!" Sirius said.

"Oh really?"

Sirius looked from him to Remus and back a few times. Then stuttered, "It's..well. It's Fae?"

Which, to be fair, yeah. It was Fae. Very on-brand for her, unfortunately.

James completely blew up. "YOU LET MY BABY SISTER RUN OFF TO FIGHT DEATH EATERS!?"

"I DIDN'T LET OUR SISTER DO JACK SHIT - SHE LEFT WITHOUT TELLING ANYONE ANYTHING," Sirius yelled back.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU GO AFTER HER THEN?"

"What, you think Remus didn't search the whole bloody continent and over the pond for her?"

And oh great, now Remus was in this too.

"Well, clearly he didn't look hard enough because she's still not here!" James said, whirling on Remus.

Remus snarled, offended. "Or trust me, I know! I would circle the globe to find her!"

"Then why aren't you doing that!"

"Because if Fae doesn't want to be found, then she isn't going to be found, not even by me!" And he had tried. He had wrecked the Thunderbird and himself trying. It wasn't fair for him to be mad, certainly not more mad than Remus had been.

"The Death Eaters found her!" James pointed out.

"Yeah, and then she ripped them to shreds! She wanted them to find her," Peter said, joining in to his surprise.

"How can you be so sure?"

Peter didn't have an answer for that, but Remus did. Sort of. "I'm not! But we have to trust that she knows what she's doing!" Because what else could he do?

"That's not enough!"

"We have no choice! That's all we can do! Have faith in her and have faith in each other, like she asked. That's it." And he absolutely hated it. He supposed he could understand now, how she could get careless because, alternatively, doing nothing was the absolute worst. Unbearable. Remus had never imagined himself leading werewolves into battle against a Dark Lord and an army of pureblood assholes, but it was truly a hell of a lot better than crying on Lucrecia's cafe's floor and eating every chocolate thing he could get his hands on.

James deflated and buried his face in his hands miserably. "Why did she do this?" he asked brokenly.

Peter said, "For us. She did it for all of us."

There was a moment of silence as they all took that in. And then James, true to nature, perked up. "Well, you know what we have to do then."

"What?" Sirius asked.

James grinned, just like his sister. That grin Remus knew they used whenever they were planning some trouble. "We gotta step up our game! Can't have our little sister showing us up!"

Remus scoffed and grinned back. "Speak for yourself - I've become the commander of a werewolf army and I've been taking out suppliers and resources left and right!" he declared, squaring his shoulders proudly. Fae had chosen him, had given him something to do other than mope around, and by Merlin, he was going to make her proud. Make her smile when she came home.

James blinked owlishly. "You've what?"

Sirius laughed and tossed an arm around Remus' shoulders. "It's true. He was mopier than ever after Fae first left and then one day - boom! He became a bloody machine, exercising like a madman and getting all shredded, rallying all the werewolf allies he and Fae had made, leading them all to brilliant, horrifying glory. He's a changed man!"

Remus preened and Peter huffed. "No, he's just in love," he said.

And Remus lost all of his bravado, going beet red in an instant. What the hell Peter?!

"Oh, are we saying it out loud now? Did it finally happen? Lily's going to be so mad if it happened while we were on house arrest," James said, akin to a puppy discovering treats.

"I- uh- that is. I'm-"

"And there's our Moony," Sirius said, snickering.

Remus blushed madly. "It's. Fae and I aren't.. Together. Like that. Or, at all, currently. I suppose," he said. And the ache in his gut became quite noticeable again. What he would give to have her here, leading the werewolves with him. And to have her be his? Unthinkable.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Peter yelled, throwing his hands in the air.

"Pardon?" Remus said, blinking at him.

"I cannot be the only one who is tired of watching this song and dance and I refuse to watch it go on for another seven years, and that's if we don't all end up dead soon!"

"I-" Remus tried to say something, really, but Peter just steamrolled right through, continuing his mortifying rant.

"You two would literally go to war on the frontlines for each other and yet still neither of you have the balls to admit you're head over bloody heels in love with each other?" he yelled in Remus' face.

Remus blinked once. Twice. Gaped. Took a deep breath and swallowed sharply. Tried to get his suddenly racing heart under control. "You think she's in love with me?" he asked. Because he knew that he was special to Fae, in some way at least. They'd always been close and he wasn't stupid enough to think Fae didn't love him. But to be in love with him? That was. Oh. No, it couldn't be.

Sirius socked him in the shoulder painfully. "Mate, she tortured and murdered Fenrir Greyback for you."

"ShE whAT," James screeched.

Peter scoffed sharply and poked Remus in the chest so hard that he stumbled backwards, not that it was hard to knock him off balance in this instance. His legs felt very weak. He felt very weak and very squirmy and very faint.

"She would die for you, which is exactly what she is risking right now just so you can go to college before you're 30! And did she have to bring in the werewolves? Of course not! She did that to make having lycanthropy be more socially accepted and to ensure that it would never discount you from anything in life ever again!"

"I don't know if I would go...that far?" Sirius said, thoughtfully.

James chuckled. "No, she would."

"But I don't want her to die for me or change society or whatever! I just want her here! I just want her to be happy!" Remus argued. He was going out of his mind. Peter couldn't be right. That couldn't be true. But.. it made sense in a weird way. What better way to change the reputation of werewolves than to make them heroes. And if Remus had been the one people thought had done it.. Then. Well. No, she couldn't have. James had to be wrong. Peter had to be wrong. Fae would go that far for werewolves, of course, but not just for him. No way.

"And that's the fucking thing, isn't it! All she wants is for you to be happy, all you want is for her to be happy, being together is what makes you both the happiest, and yet you continue to date other people and pretend you are just best friends!" Peter said.

Remus frowned. That wasn't fair. Fae was the one who'd flirted with Celeste and almost married Kent. "Hey, I haven't dated anybody i-"

Peter cut him off. "That's not the point! You're both too scared to confess because you don't think your deserving and she's terrified of getting her heart broken again, rightfully so because you flirted with her all summer and then when you had sex with her, you left her and started dating the worst possible girl less than ten hours later and YOU FUCKING BROUGHT HER TO SAY GOODBYE TO FAE WHEN SHE WENT BACK TO HOGWARTS ALONE YOU FUCKING ARSEHOLE!" And when Peter swung his fist, Remus didn't bother to dodge. It connected and sent him sprawling to the ground.

Remus' heart broke all over again and he gazed at his friends pleadingly. Sirius and James looked so disgusted with him and genuinely sad at the reminder.

"You don't understand!" he said weakly, trying to explain himself. "I was-" Trying to do what was best for her. She deserved better than him. Surely they could understand that? He wasn't strong or confident enough for someone like Fae. He could never keep her attention forever or give her the life she deserved.

"A coward. You were a bloody coward," Peter said, interrupting him coldly.

And Remus shut up. They all did. Because Peter was right on the money. He'd been a coward. He'd gotten cold feet. Fae terrified him. Fae amazed him. Fae was everything. How could he ever hope to be enough for her? So he ran. Because he'd fall in love with her and struggle all his life to make her happy and one day, she'd realize he wasn't worth the effort, he wasn't enough for someone like her.

Peter sighed deeply. "Trust me, I know a thing or two about being a coward."

Then he knelt down and put his hand on Remus' shoulder, meeting his gaze sternly. "And here's the thing, you can't do that anymore. No, I've fucking had enough. Either you tell her how you feel and take a chance at making each other happy, or you tell her that you will never love her the way she wants and that you will only ever be friends. You back off and you let her move on, let her find somebody else who can make her happy one day."

Peter smacked his cheek lightly. "Make a choice and commit to it Remus, or so help me God I will kill you myself. What Fae did to Greyback will look like child's play compared to what I will do to you."

And Remus had never once been afraid of Peter. Not until now.

Sirius whistled low. "Wow Whiskers, why don't you tell us how you really feel."

Peter stood, shrugged, and smiled bittersweetly. "Fae is risking so much for us. She's so brave and is going so far and doing all these crazy, dangerous, insane things, just because she loves us. Is it wrong for me to just want her to be happy?"

Implying that he truly believed that Remus could make her happy. That Fae could be happy, forever, with him. Boring, nerdy, shy Remus.

Remus swallowed his pride, his insecurities, his doubts. And stood up. "You're right. You're right about everything," he said, voice shaking, knees shaking, body shaking.

Peter was right and it was the scariest thing Remus had ever acknowledged. He loved Fae with everything he had and he couldn't stand the idea that he was making her miserable by denying it. Fae deserved someone bold, confident, and true. So he would be so. For Fae, he would be anything. For her happiness, he would do anything. All this time, he'd been lying to himself. Fae had literally told him to his face so many times that being with him made her happiest and he hated himself for not believing it all these years.

Peter was right. This couldn't go on.

"Sooo…?" Sirius said.

Remus swallowed his nerves, stopped shaking, and committed. Committed to being the man Fae knew he was. Committed to being the man he knew he could be. The one that Fae deserved. The one that Fae loved.

"So I'll tell her," he promised. "The second I see her. You're right. We might not survive this and I'll be damned if we die and she doesn't know that I love her more than anything in this world and the next. That I've been absolutely mad about her since I was 15."

She should know that Remus had been hers since they'd first laid eyes on each other. That he would always be hers.

"All right!" James cheered.

Remus smiled softly. "And you're right that I hurt her. I hurt her terribly and she would be completely within her rights to not want anything to do with me. But I won't give up without a fight. I have to try," he said. He would always be Fae's, even if Peter was wrong and she didn't want him that way anymore.

James slapped him on the shoulder and wrangled him into a loving headlock. "Atta boy! Welcome to the family!"

Sirius snickered. "Ah, James, skipping ahead there aren't we?"

"Oh please, they'll be married before the year is out. I'm calling it now. Also? Dibs on Best Man."

"Married?" Remus squeaked, going tomato red again. Just the thought of marrying Fae… Marrying Fae. Being together, wife and husband. Forever. Going on adventures and reading books and cooking dinner and dancing and growing old together. Forever. "Me and Fae getting married? That would be…." he said, eyes going dreamy, entirely warm and melting like goo at the thought.

Peter flicked him between the eyes, just like Fae always did. "Hold your horses. We still have a war to win," he reminded them. Right. The war.

His expression had softened though, clearly he approved of Remus' choice and Remus was suddenly eternally grateful to him. For everything. Peter really was the emotional intelligence of the Marauders. The rock. Had always been. And he was definitely going to be Remus' Best Man. And maybe, just maybe one day, Remus would name a kid after him. Oh sweet Merlin, his thoughts were going too far. Kids. Thoughts of Fae singing to Harry and cradling him, looking at him with so much love. Thoughts of Fae doing that to their own child. Remus nearly fainted there and then.

"Since when were you so assertive? You're acting like a changed man, are you in love too?" Sirius asked, eyeing Peter thoughtfully.

"You know I've only ever loved you and all your slobbery ridiculousness," Peter replied, voice straight, but mouth twitching in a grin.

Sirius laughed raucously, grasped his chest dramatically. "Be still my heart. Watch it, Peter, or I really will fall in love with you."

Peter laughed and then smiled, somehow a touch sad and then suddenly brighter than Remus had seen in years. "I do feel like a changed man. Or, at least, changing," he said. "You aren't the only one who has always wanted to be more and is coming to the realization that it isn't really that difficult of a thing to do."

James smacked them both. "Alright guys, we're the Marauders! Surely we can wreck Mr. Riddle just as good as Fae, if not better."

"Well," Peter said, grinning Fae-like. "Now that you mention it, I do have a few ideas."

Remus watched them all, his best friends. How long had it been since it was the four of them? It felt good. He felt hope.

This war wouldn't know what hit it. They would win and Fae would come home. Remus would be hers. And just maybe, she'd be his.

A/N: Cheers ya'll. Hope you enjoyed this one - we're getting to the end soon!