A/N:

I'm back, and once again apologising for the lateness in my updates.

I promise that no matter how long the updates will get to be, I will finish this story. So, in case you were worried, you don't have to be?

I've tried to be realistic with this, but getting into Dumbledore's head is impossible, so you might have to just go with it.

Anyway, you're not here for my notes, you want the story - so please enjoy!

In all their years of pranking the living daylights out of the school, Rose had never seen Dumbledore this furious. He didn't yell, or rant, or berate them for their idiocy. He didn't even expell them as soon as he had seen them. No. It was worse. Much worse. Infinitely worse.

He sat there.

In silence.

Staring at them.

Not a word of reproach or anger passed his closed lips. He sat there, examining them from behind his half-moon spectacles, radiating disappointment. Normally, the Marauders (as a whole) wouldn't have given a flying flobberworm about disappointing a professor, but this was different. Not only had they broken his trust, placed his students in danger, and opened up his school to criticism from the Ministry (if this were ever to get out), but they were also rather fond of Dumbledore. If the Marauders were the type to squirm uncomfortably, that would be exactly what they would have been doing right at that very instant.

Rose thought it said something about the gravity of the situation that none of the Marauders had yet dared attempt an explanation. Remus had tried, voice quiet and unusually subdued (even for him), but he had trailed off, sinking even deeper into himself as an expression of his shame and guilt. Peter couldn't even meet their eyes let alone Dumbledore's. He was sunk deep into a thoroughly uncomfortable chair, gnawing nervously on his fingernails and appearing to fervently hope that someone might take pity on him and have the ground swallow him up at their earliest convenience. James and Sirius were remarkably composed, ignoring Dumbledore, Rose, Remus, and Peter in favour of having one of their weird wordless conversations. Their eyes flickered with intensity, each clearly trying to put their point across with as much emphasis as it was possible to do without using words or any gestures whatsoever. As for Rose, well she was exhausted. Her body was protesting the night's activities, and was bringing back uncomfortable memories of those weeks in the Hospital Wing recovering from Bellatrix's not so tender attentions. Frankly, it was a case of something having to give, and Rose just couldn't take the tense silence another second longer.

"It was all an illusion, Professor" Rose spoke up, knowing that Dumbledore might not find James and Sirius (with their well-known hatred of Snape) credible. To their credit, both their jaws clicked shut, not even considering that the news might be better delivered by them as they had so obviously been planning. Rose kept her violet gaze on their Headmaster, trusting that he would be able to read the sincerity and the truth in her eyes. "We set it up. All five of us. Otherwise we'd never have even thought of letting James in there after Snape." Dumbledore gazed thoughtfully at her, some of the raw fury abating. Time to lay it on a bit thicker. "We've known about Remus for years, we don't give a flying flobberworm. But" here she smiled sadly at the shamefaced Remus. "We know the hatred and bigotry that would follow if Remus' furry little secret ever got out." Remus, still so guilty, but still so wonderful, squeezed her hand lightly, giving her the gentle prompt to go on. "I admit that there were definitely better ways that we could have gone about it, Professor. And perhaps we could have gone about it more gently for Snape's mental well being (not that we actually ever thought to give any consideration to that, nor do we particularly care even now). But the simple fact of the matter is that sooner or later, Snape would have tried to follow Remus into the Shack, he would have run into a furious werewolf who recognised an enemy intruder threatening his pack, and Moony couldn't have stopped himself from attacking. It's only werewolf instincts to protect what they consider to be their territory." James picked up the thread of the explanation with a thankful nod at Rose.

"Now, we all know that anyone with a working braincell knows that we despise Snivell- Snape, but we love Remus. Good Godric, he's our brother." It was a simple fact, one backed up by the automatic nods from the other Marauders. James cleaned his glasses, staring straight at Dumbledore. His hazel eyes had the intensity Rose recognised from Hogsmeade; raw and decisive, but also intent on doing what he knew was right. "Think what you will about our collective maturity, despite the proof of what we went through in Hogsmeade, but we could never risk Moony or his well-being like that. It would kill him if he thought he'd hurt someone, even someone as utterly worthless as Snape." He shrugged lightly, half-gesturing expansively at them all. "We're the Marauders, we have to look out for our own. There's no one else around who'll do it."

Dumbledore was silent for a long while, the tension slowly ratcheting up. It was worse than earlier. Rose could feel her skin start to crawl. And, judging by the look of the others, they felt much the same way. Finally, the Headmaster fixed them all with an x-ray gaze.

"I have your word that Mr Snape was never in any danger?"

"Not for a second" Sirius replied, resolute. "We solemnly swear." The other Marauders echoed him, truth ringing heavy in the air.

"There's a war on, Professor" Peter spoke up, wringing his hands in the only obvious tell of his nerves. "The unthinkable is happening every day. We always thought that Snape finding it about Remus was an unthinkable situation, but it wasn't - not really." Watery blue eyes flickered over to James, as if begging him to finish - more eloquently - the thought that he was trying to express.

"We can't control who lives and who dies out there" James began, a heavy note of solemnity in his voice. "But we realised we could control this small thing." A hand waved in a half-hearted gesture. "Were there better ways we could have gone about it? Probably. But could we have risked waiting and having the worst happen? No." James shook his head to reinforce his point. "Hogsmeade was supposed to be a fun day out, celebrating my best mate's birthday. The Death Eaters attacked, Rose was tortured, and we ended up in the Hospital Wing. It couldn't be prevented, and we couldn't have been protected. Bad things are going to happen at any time - all we can do is moderate what we can and prepare for the rest." Hazel eyes met grey in another wordless conversation. "Don't get us wrong, Professor" James said softly, turning back to Dumbledore. "We are not apologising for what happened. It happened. It had to. One way or another. Undoubtedly our choice wasn't the right one, but it's one we made together - and we'd make it again. However, we are taking responsibility for it. That's the adult thing to do." Rose caught a flicker of something in the electric eyes of their Headmaster and inwardly frowned. Maybe, just maybe Dumbledore was starting to understand that they really weren't children anymore - that he couldn't protect them from everything as he might once have done. Nobody could really. If that was, on some level, what all the Marauders themselves were thinking, James's next words confirmed it. "As Pete said, there's a war on out there. We're the ones who're going to have to fight it." With that, he sat back, the Marauders content to wait for their reckoning.

Dumbledore stared unreadably at them, regarding them with a solemn and impenetrable gaze. "While I could not in good conscience believe that you never meant Mr Snape to come to any harm, I can easily believe that you would never make Mr Lupin the instrument of that harm" he said eventually, peering at them over the rim of his spectacles. "In view of that particular consideration, I think it would be best to remove fifty house points each - yes, even from you Mr Lupin - and a week's detention each to add to your already impressive collection." A wry smile quirked the corner of Dumbledore's lips, Sirius already halfway out of his seat in astonishment. "Perhaps you consider this sentence too lenient, Mr Black?" Sirius apparently couldn't help but incline his head in agreement. "Hogwarts still owes you all a very great debt - and perhaps many times over - for all you have done, and suffered, in such a short space of time." His eyes didn't need to flicker pointedly to the bold scars on Rose's underarm, they all knew what he was referring to anyway. "As you yourselves have said, none of you are truly children anymore. But" here he held up a hand to forestall James's objections "if you all feel that strongly that you deserve to make some restitution, then consider your informal defence lessons more than payment enough."

"You knew about those?!" Peter's flabbergasted expression would have been pure comedy gold, but for the severity of the situation.

"Of course he knew about those, Wormtail" James rolled his eyes, a hint of admiration hiding behind the round frames. "He knows nearly everything." Dumbledore raised his eyebrow minutely at the rather tepid praise, the stag animagus apparently oblivious to the fact.

Barely a handful of hours later, Rose was awoken by the familiar hair-raising chords of Marlene's Banshees LP. On any normal day ending in 'y', Rose would be rather miffed to have been awoken to such a racket. Today, though, she felt too bloody relieved to even think of doing her usual morning trick (magically tossing said record out of the window with extreme and gleeful prejudice). Dumbledore hadn't expelled them. He had barely even punished them. Of course, one could argue - as Remus had on their long trek back to Gryffindor tower - that Dumbledore hadn't bothered because he knew that it would do absolutely no good whatsoever, but Rose just couldn't find a flobberworm to give. Their luck was, for once, holding out and she had a good feeling about this weekend. They were safe from Snape, there was no lessons (not that they actually ever went to them if they didn't want to), and they could be together. Rose caught herself smiling as she pulled her hair back into a French braid. Yes, this was a good day so far. And what could possibly go wrong?

Remus was already seated at the Gryffindor table, head predictably buried in a dogeared copy of one of their advanced defense textbooks. As she watched, he took a long sip of tea (Remus never touched coffee - Moony didn't care for it), and absently popped a piece of breakfast pastry into his mouth. After the morning they'd had, it was refreshingly normal. Rose grinned to herself as she joined the werewolf at the table, cup of tea and omelette already waiting for her consumption. "Peter still trying to find the right words to tell his mother that he's not going home for Easter?" Remus asked, a wry tilt to his smile.

"Oh yeah" Rose agreed. When she'd come down, Peter had still been sat at one of the desks in the common room, desperately scribbling excuses on a scroll of parchment that was more crossed out than not. "Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum still in bed?" Remus lowered his book, amusement shining in his pale green eyes. 'Come on' his look said 'you know better than that'.

"Padfoot and Prongs both agreed that it was best if we didn't know where they were or what they're up to."

"So, tormenting first year Slytherins again then?"

"Yep." Not for the first time, Rose was struck with the desire to slam her head off the table. As if last night hadn't been stupid enough, now those morons wanted to tempt fate?

"Are we the last sane Marauders left, Rem?"

"Oh Rosie" Remus sighed, favouring her with a particularly pitying look. "You are willingly dating Padfoot. If anything that proves your lack of sanity. And, I put up with all of you. We're all demonstrably insane." Rose cocked her head, regarding him over the rim of her mug.

"You think you're so funny, don't you?"

"Think. Know" Remus grinned brightly. "It's all semantics really." Rose rolled her eyes, holding back a smile as she threw a bread roll at Remus.

"Uh oh" James smirked, dropping down next to Remus. He threw an arm around the werewolf's shoulders, eyes dancing behind his glasses. "Lover's tiff?"

"Oh sod off, Prongs" Remus grumbled, pointedly shrugging off James' arm. "You say things like that far too easily. It's me Padfoot will kill if he thinks that's true."

"Aww, don't pout ickle Moonikins" James cooed, demonstrating the lack of sanity they were mentioning earlier.

"Don't worry, Moons" Sirius smirked, clipping James around the ear as he came to sit beside Rose. "I've been well warned - my possessive instincts are and I quote 'all well and good, Siri, I don't have a problem, but remember what I said, I don't go in for incest'." Remus took a long moment to process, looking almost as gormless as James did most of the time. Then, a wide smile broke across his features.

"Love you too, Rosie." Never one to be outdone, Sirius tucked a strand of Rose's hair behind her ear, and kissed her cheek.

"But not as much as I do."

Considering the rather late night and lack of sleep that they all had, the Marauders for once deigned to sprawl in the Gryffindor common room with their fellow students. Peter, for all the good it was doing him, was still hunched over his letter, now somewhat desperate in his quest to find the (unfortunately non-existent) words to inform his mother of his decision to spend their spring holiday in London without incurring her Gorgon-like wrath. Remus sat near him, occupying another desk while sketching something that looked remarkably like the exterior of their Diagon Alley home as it would have been in the days it was a respected chocolatiers. And Rose, for her part, was curled up on one of the armchairs, watching James and Sirius terrify some impressionable firsties with false tales of the terror that lurked within the Forbidden Forest. Marlene stalked past them and huffed, rolling her eyes at the unrepentant duo. Catching Rose's eye, Marlene directed her footsteps towards the fireplace, something not entirely welcome hiding in her midnight blue eyes. When the blonde beauty was seated opposite her, Rose recognised the emotion as a particular kind of worried suspicion masked by a thin veil of anger. Her suspicions were confirmed with the first words out of Marlene's mouth - not a friendly greeting by any stretch of the imagination. "What the Salazar did you five do to Snape?" Marlene hissed, her voice managing not to go past the two of them. "It's all over the school. He's in the Hospital Wing and you lot were seen leaving Dumbledore's office before sane people even leave bed!" Remus looked over, a frown briefly crossing his features. Rose shook her head slightly. She had this, besides Remus already felt bad enough about this without getting lectured by Marlene.

"Marauder business, Marley" Rose replied, keeping her voice level and calm. "Snape was poking his - to quote Peter - abnormally large nose in where it didn't belong. We corrected that behaviour."

"He's in the Hospital Wing!" Rose rolled her eyes, deciding to channel the lack of repentance that her cohorts terrorising the firsties were demonstrating.

"He's not in St Mungo's, I don't know what your problem is."

"Rose, you're getting out of control" Marlene warned, looking almost concerned about them. "First you all traipse into Hogsmeade whenever the whim takes you, which led to you all going head to head with the Death Eaters, then you strung up Bertram Aubrey like he's some sort of puppet, and I don't even want to talk about victimising the whole of Hogwarts!" Seeming to realise she was close to yelling, Marlene took a deep breath. "And now you put Snape in the Hospital Wing." Marlene shook her head. "We're supposed to be the good guys, Rosie."

"We are the good guys, Marls, believe me."

"Just be careful" Marlene sighed, resignation weighing heavy in her voice. "It'll do none of us any good of you lot get expelled."

"Dumbledore expell us?" Rose bit back her smirk. "What kind of miscreants do you take us for?" Marlene crossed her arms, an almost Lily Evans-like aura appearing around her. Rose instantly pitied any children Marlene brought into the world (Lily's kids were already doomed - poor things would inevitably be Potters, and that came with a whole laundry list of reasons to need therapy).

"Well, if you're not in any kind of trouble-"

"I didn't say that, Marls" Rose interjected, utterly unable to help herself. "I specifically didn't say that." Marlene, naturally, ignored her.

"If you're not in any trouble, then why is McGonagall standing in front of the Portrait Hole, and looking at you like she'd rather be anywhere else?"

"What?" Rose blinked at Marlene in confusion. McGonagall turning up in the Common Room was akin to Bad News on an apocalyptic scale. But no, Marlene was right. McGonagall, resplendent in her typical emerald robes and the Thin Lips of Doom™, was standing in front of the portrait hole and was staring unhappily at Rose.

Almost independently from herself, Rose realised she had drifted over to stand before their beloved Transfiguration professor. "Miss Evans" McGonagall greeted stiffly, too stiffly by far. Either she was in trouble (which Rose doubted, considering the lack of the rest of the Marauders singled out with her), or something Very Bad had happened. The next words out of McGonagall's mouth confirmed it. "Come with me, quietly." A quick glance confirmed that James and Sirius were still blissfully unaware of anything wrong (Sirius smoking out of the window and James loitering by the girls dorms as if hoping Lily would somehow materialise and agree to go out with him - his chances were, frankly, appallingly low, not least of which because Lily was in the library), but Remus' green eyes were fixed on her, every piece of him ready to spring into action if that was what Rose required. He was a good friend, far better than she honestly deserved. She shook her head slightly, rolling her eyes towards McGonagall in the hopes that that would be enough to reassure him. Rose could still feel Remus' intent gaze on her back as McGonagall led her towards her office.

Lily was curled in an armchair before McGonagall's desk, nose buried in a book (Rose's copy of The Phantom of the Opera, if she wasn't mistaken - and she wasn't), the crumbs of a ginger newt on her jean leg. She looked up at Rose's entrance, emerald eyes widening with surprise. "Rosie?"

"Hi Lil" Rose replied, speaking quickly so McGonagall wouldn't talk over them. "What's going on?"

"I have no idea" Lily murmured, talking almost as quickly as Rose. "I was in the library with Alice and McGonagall summoned me here. I thought maybe it was prefect business, or you lot had been up to something."

"Oh, we mostly certainly have" Rose agreed, unable to stop the smirk from creeping across her face. Oh Snape's face last night had been a picture. "But not, I think, to merit this."

"No" McGonagall agreed, her apologetic gaze flickering between the two of them. "I am afraid that-" Before she could get so much as another syllable out, the door burst open (exploded was more the term), and James and Sirius rushed in, swiftly followed by Remus and Peter. They looked determined enough to storm Azkaban, not just McGonagall's office. The brave, reckless idiots. Oh how she loved them.

"Cease this unlawful detention of our cohort!" James yelled, hand reaching up to ruffle his hair as he noticed Lily in the room as well. Prat, Lily's eyes seemed to say - although not as disgustedly as usual. In fact, she could almost be called fond.

"We demand our rights!" Sirius continued, not giving any of them a chance to get a word in edgewise.

"A fair trial!" James agreed, about ready to duel someone to get his way. Then again, he probably just wanted to impress Lily - as if he hadn't already tried and failed with that tactic before.

"We shall not be torn asunder!" Remus apparently felt compelled to add, Sirius flashing him the barest hint of a smile before he returned to staring intently at McGonagall. Rose decided that looking at him was far better than waiting for whatever McGonagall had summoned her there to say, even if the expression on Sirius' face was rapidly approaching the sort of stone cold fury that only Regulus or the rest of the increasingly batshit insane Black family usually warranted. McGonagall waited a moment, looking between the Marauders as if expecting them to say something else (they didn't), then she heaved a tired sigh.

"Indeed, it seems impossible to separate the five of you" McGonagall pursed her lips, but any fool could see that she was proud nonetheless. "Even when she is summoned separately from the rest of you."

"About that" Sirius said, his voice deathly calm. "Don't ever do that again." Six heads snapped towards him with perfect synchronicity, dull pain burning in Rose's neck from the suddenness of her movement.

"Sirius!"

"Not now, Rosebud" Sirius replied, keeping his steely glare on their favourite professor. He, in his own inimitable way, had read the situation in the few moments it had taken for McGonagall to speak. And, whatever it was, he disagreed with it. Wholeheartedly. Remus frowned at him for just a moment, accurately read the situation himself, then sat forward in his seat.

"Professor, start at the beginning, and if we feel we should leave, we will" Remus requested, fixing a stern glare on Sirius. "But" he stressed, the word the only thing stopping Sirius from laughing in his face (or punching it, it was hard to tell with Sirius in this mood) "if this is something we need to be here for, nothing in the world could stop us." Rose squeezed his hand, projecting all the gratitude she possibly could at him. Sirius, for his part, calmed enough to claim the arm of Rose's chair, projecting an air of stubborn intractability.

"Miss Evans?" McGonagall's tone made it very clear she was talking to Lily and not Rose - as if Rose would ever stop the lunatics she was friends with. Lily didn't even waver.

"Let them stay" she replied, favouring Remus with a smile. "They're Rosie's family." Peter nodded at McGonagall as if saying take that, and then promptly wilted back into his seat, hiding behind James as much as was humanly possible. It seemed that for once McGonagall was content to leave Peter's unusual insolence be, her eyes flickering between Lily and Rose before alighting somehow on both of them.

"Your father wrote to us last night, your grandfather passed away yesterday."

And so it continues...

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