A/N:

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"...The campaign brought honours and promotion to many, but for me it had nothing but misfortune and disaster. I was removed from my brigade and attached to the Berkshires, with whom I served at the fatal battle of Maiwand. There I was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery. I should have fallen into the hands of the murderous Ghazis had it not been for the devotion and courage shown by Murray, my orderly, who threw me across a pack-horse, and succeeded in bringing me safely to the British lines. Worn with pain, and weak from the prolonged hardships which I had undergone, I was removed, with a great train of wounded sufferers, to the base hospital at Peshawar. Here I rallied, and had already improved so far as to be able to walk about the wards, and even to bask a little upon the verandah, when I was struck down by enteric fever, that curse of our Indian possessions..."

Rose curled on her usual chair, eyes closed, breathing as calmly and evenly as she could. In the background, the fire crackled peacefully, offset by the lulling timbre of Remus' voice. She was more relaxed now than she had been earlier. Things had to be better than she had thought, especially since Remus was reading A Study in Scarlet. When he was upset, he tended to read heavier books, usually Russian masters like Anna Karenina, or Orwell's masterpieces. Sherlock Holmes usually meant that he was happy enough, and just looking to pass some time enjoyably - save of course for the night they learned about her father; Remus had needed the comfort then. Not that Rose would begrudge him reading whatever he wanted to if the news had been awful today, but Remus was a creature of habit and she didn't think that anything too serious had occurred. He wasn't reading Lord of the Rings, so she knew he wasn't depressed by what he had heard either, so she allowed herself to be cautiously optimistic.

Even as she sat there, letting the words of Dr Watson's first meeting with the madman that would change his life wash over her, the reality of the situation knocked insistently at the door of her little bubble of relaxation. Only a small portion of their suspects for Death Eater recruitment had been there at the library this afternoon, and arguably the worst of them weren't in attendance for what appeared to be the Regulus Black recruitment show. Mulciber, Avery, Rosier, Snape - all were otherwise occupied.

But what were they doing?

What if they were being as cautious as the Marauders would be?

What if the library party was a distraction just in case they were being watched?

And if so, what were the others up to?

Those four were among the most sadistic Slytherins still at Hogwarts, Rose shuddered to imagine what depraved ideas they could cook up, especially if they weren't being watched. She reminded herself that James and Sirius were out there doing their own surveillance, but that was no guarantee that they had managed to locate (although with the Map, they probably would have) or even eavesdrop on them. Wherever they were, James and Sirius had failed to respond to their Remus' message patronus, politely worded as it would have been. Rose kept focusing on the relaxation of the moment, trying not to follow any white rabbits down any rabbit holes - even if they happened to stare at pocket watches and then insist that they were going to be late.

Some time later - after Marlene had nicely asked Remus to keep his reading to himself - the door slid open with its usual whisper. Rose slitted her eyes open, having fallen closed while she was listening to the wireless (worryingly, still crickets from Voldemort and the Death Eaters - what was he up to?). Benjy and Caradoc strolled in, bickering companionably about their respective house teams chances in the upcoming Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw quidditch match next Saturday. Going by their windswept hair and ruddy cheeks, Rose guessed they'd just been out by the quidditch pitch, watching the Ravenclaw training session, or in Caradoc's case, participating in it. James had complained for weeks when McGonagall told him to be fair and let the Swots have the pitch for training. McGonagall had smirked as she'd reminded him that facing the nearly-unbeaten Gryffindor team, the Ravenclaws would need all the training that they could get. Rose didn't exactly disagree with that appraisal of the situation. During their match against Slytherin, Ravenclaw had got hammered, only scoring three goals (all of which were Caradoc's - ironically, he was their star chaser) while the Slytherins scored about ten and then caught the snitch. It had been disappointing, especially since their enforced break from school had let Slytherin close up the gap between their two teams - making it a very close battle for the cup this year. James, though a little irritated at their unbroken streak breaking, was now looking forward to the challenge of defeating the Slytherin team through tactics and skill in such close quarters. He was a bit weird, their Prongs, but they loved him anyway.

Benjy caught her gaze, nodding simply and making a face that suggested they ought to walk the match, then claimed one of the more comfortable couches and carried on heckling Caradoc about his team's awful performance at training. It appeared that the Ravenclaw team hated getting wet even more than they had this morning. James would be thrilled. In fact, Rose sometimes half expected the reason that he had been so keen to keep Benjy in the team was because of his friendship with Caradoc - the perfect insight into the opposition's practice sessions. Every edge was one that James was willing to consider. Rose grinned at a squawk of offense from Caradoc, glancing over in time to see his mouth drop open unflatteringly. He gave Benjy the finger and carried on passionately defending his house team from the well-timed insults of his best mate.

"Hail the conquering heroes!" James called, emerging into the room with a brilliant grin. Sirius followed him, casting a furious glare over towards both Remus and Marlene. He clearly wasn't pleased by their decision to spy on the Slytherins themselves, but they knew that going in. Rose offered him a slight nod and a smile, not apologising in the slightest for their decision. She was glad they did it, even if they had only been following a diversion, which she wasn't entirely sure that they hadn't been. James dropped to lay on one of the couches, hair ruffled as if he had been running somewhere. "I hear you've had a productive day so far."

"Now where did you get an idea like that?" Marlene smirked, leaning against one of the magical windows. There was a teasing gleam in her eyes, but also a warning that she wasn't a child and she wasn't going to stand for their hypocrisy.

"From Remus" James tattled cheerfully, not looking miffed in the slightest. "I'm glad you took that initiative. It's one of the reasons why we got you lot involved in this with us - after you demanded to be, that is." He shrugged, managing not to fall off the couch while he did so. "We can't be in so many places at once. We can't keep tabs on all of those shifty snakes if they break up and meet in smaller bunches. But all of us together can." James grinned proudly. "And you discovered something, which I didn't doubt for a second that you would." He crossed his legs at the ankles, trying not to look too eager. "What did you discover?"

Remus held up a warning finger, wagging it from side to side. "Not so bloody fast, Prongs" he said softly, voice echoing through the room. "We've been waiting in here for the past-" he glanced at his watch "-hour and forty seven minutes. What in the name of Merlin's favourite brand of dish soap kept you?"

Sirius wandered over, casually claiming a couch in a similar move to James. "You weren't the only ones out there keeping an eye on that lot, Remus" he replied smoothly. "We caught up to Mulciber, Avery, Rosier and Snivellus in the dungeons." Sirius smirked wickedly. "Not that they knew we were there, which was perfect for us and not so good for them."

"So" James began, now sitting up so that he could lean forward to face them all. "We'll show us ours, if you'll show us yours."

"Nobody wants to see yours, Potter" Lily retorted reflectively. "And you aren't ever going to see mine."

Sirius barked out a laugh, clutching at the arm of the sofa with his free hand so he didn't fall off.

Rose covered her mouth with her hand, torn between laughing or feeling mortified for her embarrassed sister. "He meant it as an expression, Lily" she giggled, going for laughter. James's stunned expression was just too tempting not to laugh at. "But I love your timing."

"For the love of Merlin, would someone say something?" Lily demanded, glaring pointedly at Remus. She knew all too well that James was too stunned to speak, and Sirius was going to milk this for everything he could until someone stopped his fun. Sirius held up his hand, silently warning Remus not to utter so much as a peep until he had recovered his breath and teased James for all he was worth.

Remus clearly decided to be magnanimous, ignoring Sirius' warning in favour of being nice to Lily. He cleared his throat, giving James all the warning he could that he was about to speak. "At about ten or eleven o'clock this morning, Alice, Emmeline and Hestia came into the library, where I was attempting to finish off a couple of essays." James waved a hand, beet red but already bored of Remus telling them things that they could easily infer for themselves. It was a weekend, Remus would be in the library doing boring things like homework; he was predictable like that. Remus scowled at him, but deigned to continue. "Alice told me that they were on the lookout for any of our suspicious Slytherins, and asked me to let them know if any of them came into the library while I was there. Naturally, I agreed."

"Meanwhile, the rest of us were stood outside the Slytherin common room where absolutely nothing was happening that we could tell" Marlene interrupted, just in case either James or Sirius were wondering what they had been up to. Peter (sitting in his usual chair after a less than successful date) had already been informed of this much.

"Recklessness" Sirius muttered under his breath, yet it was somehow audible to the entire room.

"I prefer insouciant" Remus agreed easily. "But I imagine you both were being far more reckless, so you can quit that right now." Sirius scowled at him, but waved his hand to tell Remus to continue. "As I was saying" Remus continued, pointedly glaring at Sirius. "I agreed to keep an eye out for anything suspicious, and they went out to check the grounds."

Alice took up the thread of the discussion while Remus had a drink of tea. "We were heading towards the Forbidden Forest when a silver wolf patronus appeared out of nowhere." She laughed a little, recalling how startled they had been by it. "I can't wait to learn that, by the way."

"You'll get there" James assured her, now openly curious about their discoveries.

Alice blushed a little, not exactly used to support - her parents were the hands off type. "Remus told us to get up to the library, and we hightailed it up there as fast as we could. When we got there, Regulus Black, Kentich, Higgs, Nott, and Aster Fawley were gathered at the table in that hidden alcove by the Restricted Section."

"What were that lot doing in the library?" Sirius growled, already seeming to sense that something was definitely going on here. Something that he wouldn't like. "Besides Reg, I don't think any of them can actually read. The House Elves do it for them."

"Let the lady finish her story, Pads" James chided, turning back to Remus. "I take it you sent a patronus to Astra and the others as well?"

"But of course" Remus agreed, hardly even seeming offended by the idiotic question. "I asked them to come, they came, and we all went back into the library to continue our surveillance."

"And to cut a long-winded story short?" Sirius interrupted, no longer in the mood for play-by-plays.

Remus raised his eyes to meet Sirius', sadness and concern swimming in them. "Regulus put the pressure on Fawley to officially but secretly join their cause. Apparently he has a little following of like-minded and weak-willed pureblood friends that Regulus would just be so happy to see turned into metaphorical cannon fodder."

"Voldemort has Regulus recruiting the lower ranks?" Marlene gasped, unable to believe her ears.

"Voldemort has nothing to do with this" Sirius laughed bitterly. "This has Lucius Malfoy all over it." He got to his feet, pacing to the well-hidden liquor cabinet. "What better way to gain favour than to show him exactly how many disciples to the cause were recruited because he ordered it so?" Sirius bit out another bitter laugh, tossing a finger of Firewhiskey back. "Reggie's just the pawn he chose to make his will happen."

"You already knew that Regulus was going to volunteer his services" Marlene began tentatively. "Is it really such a shock that he's doing so now? When we're already doing the same, but for the opposite side?"

Sirius shook his head, tossing back another mouthful. "Not a shock, Marlene" he said, voice hoarse from the burning liquor. "That stupid little git has been waiting to get himself killed like this since he was knee high to a sodding bowtruckle. But that doesn't mean that I don't have the right to be bloody pissed off that the git has chosen this path!"

"Family" Rose offered sadly, for some reason thinking of her father now more than ever. "Can't live with them, can't check 'em into Azkaban or St Mungo's."

"Godric, I wish we could" Sirius replied, setting the bottle down at a frown from James.

"It would make things easier sometimes" Lily agreed, possibly the only other person in the room that could have said that without incurring a sarcastic remark from Sirius. As it was, he smiled just a little sadly at her and inclined his head.

"Sometimes" he announced gravely. "It can hurt just as much to have one as not."

Rose raised her mug of tea in unspoken salute. Sirius had been gently referring to the shitstorm with her family as well as his own. She knew that the prospect of losing one of the only father figures he'd ever had (properly) at the same time as his brother was running towards a future Sirius couldn't protect him from was hurting Sirius badly.

Remus gave the solemn silence time to sink in and dissipate a little, his eyes fixed to the same page he had been reading when James and Sirius had finally graced them with their presence. The dog animagus was once again sprawled on his couch, the bottle of firewhiskey within easy reach, and a half full tumbler held loosely in his hand. His eyes were fixed at some point in the distance, unfocused but for the steady burn of anger that warned any and all not to mess with him right now. Remus set his book to the side, taking in a deep breath. "Prongs" he began tentatively, clearly knowing better than to try Sirius in this mood. James glanced up, a questioning frown on his face. "I don't suppose that you two had any luck with the Faithless Four in the dungeons?"

James's mouth hung briefly open, surprised that they hadn't already told them. "On the contrary, my good man" James replied brightly. Too brightly but nobody was going to judge him for it. "We had some luck for a change."

"It wasn't luck, Prongs" Sirius cut in, sounding almost bored. Rose severely doubted that he was bored - it would be hard to be so when he was that furious - and it meant only bad things that he was sounding so distracted right now.

"Alright" James allowed easily, compensating for the dark mood of his best friend. "It was good preparation and the relative ease of the Slytherins we were watching. Nevertheless, we got something." He tilted his head, briefly uncertain. "Possibly."

"How can you not know whether you've got something or not?" Frank asked, his honest confusion negating any of the more bawdy comments that one or two of them might have been tempted to make under better circumstances.

"It's... ambiguous" James frowned, choosing his words very carefully.

Sirius rolled his eyes, swallowing the final dregs of his firewhiskey and throwing the glass onto the table. "For Merlin's sake, Prongs" he growled, scrubbing a hand over his face in an attempt to control the hereditary Black family temper. When he removed his hand, he was as composed and calm as could be expected, even managing a slight 'dont worry about me' smile for Rose. Which was ridiculous, because of course she was worried about him. With Regulus doing what he was doing, and their lives turning into what they were, she couldn't help it - she was worried for all of them. Sirius read her worries in her face, smiling sadly and offering a hand in a way she knew she could ignore if she wanted to. She left her comfy chair and perched on the couch by his side.

"So" she chirped, hating how false the cheer sounded. "Why don't you think it's ambiguous, Siri?"

"Snivellus, Avery, Mulciber, Rosier" Sirius listed far more calmly than he would have done if anyone else had asked what could easily have been a stupid question. "Remind me, Rosebud, what are their best classes?"

"Well" she began, biting her bottom lip as she thought. "Snivelly's all but top in Potions, Rosier and Avery are very good at Defense, probably better at the Dark Arts portion."

"And Mulciber?" Sirius prompted, but that was where Rose drew a blank. She hated the Snake, but couldn't honestly say that she'd paid much attention to him beyond the gleeful hexing whenever they'd crossed paths in the corridors in earlier years.

"He's a solidly average student" Lily reported, always observant of Mulciber for Mary's sake. "He's definitely better than he pretends, especially in Dark Arts and Potions."

Sirius smirked approvingly, inclining his head towards Lily. "You take Magical Theory with Rosebud, right?"

"Of course" Lily agreed, confusion flickering across her eyes. Sirius had once been heard to announce that the class was an utter waste of time. He didn't see the need to understand how spells were formed in order to either make them up, nor use the things. Strangely, once Rose had signed up for the class, he hadn't repeated those opinions again.

Sirius smiled encouragingly, prompting Lily towards some conclusion in a way Rose had only before seen done by Remus and McGonagall. In another situation, Rose might have giggled - Sirius was teaching! "Come on, Lilypad" Sirius teased, something almost gentle about it - could it be that perhaps after so many years of enmity, he had started to actively like her sister? Rose bit back a hopeful smile. She truly wished it were so.

Lily tapped her fingers against her knee, almost audibly thinking. "Mulciber is in that class" she missed slowly. "But we don't know who's top and who might be failing. It's theoretical not practical."

"True" Sirius allowed, smiling a proud little half smile. "But we happened to overhear a certain bastard that should have been expelled bragging about the O he got on his last essay."

"Who didn't?" Lily smirked, sharing a conspiratoral grin with Rose. Caradoc chuckled, smiling a little proudly to himself - he was in their class too.

"With you two, it's expected" Sirius replied, the others watching the three of them curiously. "With Mulciber, it's something to be noted."

"Potions, Dark Arts, and Magical Theory" James recited, bringing the others back in to the conversation. "Taken together, what does that tell you?"

Marlene leaned forward, something tight about her mouth. "Worst case scenario?"

James inclined his head. "Is there anything else involving that lot?"

"If it were possible" Marlene said hesitantly. "I'd say some kind of dark arts cursed potion."

Dorcas scoffed, shaking her head hard enough to make her ponytail swing. "You can't combine a spell, even a curse, with a potion" she stated certainly. "It's impossible."

"No" Caradoc demurred. "It's just very unlikely."

"But" James continued, his Captain's bearing straightening his spine. "With Snivelly's potioneering talent, a dash of dark arts sadism, and enough knowledge of the principles of magical theory..." James trailed off, not needing to finish painting the picture for them.

"Oh Merlin" Mary breathed, shivering at the very thought. Rose had to completely agree with her. She couldn't even begin to conceive of what they might be up to.

"For Merlin's sake!" Remus, ever attuned to the emotions of the room, let out one of his famous growls. The ones that tolerated none of their self-pity, and demanded that they pull themselves together or face his wrath. "We are the spiritual, and-" with a glance at James "-literal descendants of Godric Gryffindor" Remus announced, snapping them out of their horror. "Bravery. Chivalry. Honour and loyalty. There isn't anything that they can throw at us that we can't handle."

"Trust me, Rem" Rose breathed, a deranged cackle echoing through her mind. "There's a lot they can do to us that we can't handle." She rubbed absently at her arm, feeling the prickling heat of pain rippling through the eight letters carved there. It brought back the feeling of the torture burning into her.

"The Unforgivables can't be translated into potions, not like that" Sirius stated firmly. "Mulciber was bemoaning that fact loudly and often."

Mary uttered a bitter, broken laugh. "They don't need a potion to cast an Unforgivable, Sirius" she said, her voice losing all emotion. "They can do that any time they like, inside the castle or out. With absolutely no retaliation from anyone in authority at all."

"It's true" Marlene snapped, angry not at them but the system. "Mulciber got a slap on the wrist for botching the Imperius, and Bellatrix got off scott free for the Cruciatus."

"That's only because none of us wanted the hassle of trying to get the Ministry to take the word of a muggleborn over that of a pureblood" Rose sighed, remembering all too well the arguments that had led up to Rose refusing to let Dumbledore take things further. Sirius had hated it, so had James and Remus - but they understood that it just would have caused more harm than good. Rose was a muggle born, a second-class citizen in the eyes of the wizarding elite. With the torture and the fact that they shouldn't have been in Hogsmeade anyway, they wouldn't have gotten a fair hearing no matter that they had truth as their complete defence.

"We can't change the system" James sighed, helpless if they went down this particular path. "But I do know that we won't just idly by and do nothing. Not if they try that on us, or any other student for that matter." He stared around at them all, and there wasn't a single doubt in Rose's mind that he meant it. "I won't stand by and let that go without comment, without retaliation. Not if it happens again."

Sirius saw the conversation going out of hand, and instantly stepped in to redirect it. "Listen to me" he demanded, glaring until all their eyes were on him. "I give you my most solemn vow, neither James nor myself heard any mention of any plans to use the Unforgivable curses." He held up his hand, stalling the waiting protest from Emmeline. "Now I know that our not hearing it, doesn't mean that there isn't a plan to make it so, but Snivelly and Rosier and even Avery are usually smart enough to make sure their arses are covered before anything potentially illegal could happen. Mulciber is stupid, but not stupid enough to risk whatever plan Malfoy has talked them into. He won't risk the loss of the Malfoy support for his family, not for momentary, petty revenge."

"So what are they up to?" Hestia asked, holding Emmeline and Mary's hands.

"Honestly?" James shrugged, the jumping of the muscle in his jaw the only outward sign that he hated not knowing. "We don't know. It seems they're still in the planning stages." He scrubbed his hand over his face tiredly. "We stumbled into a brainstorming session - stage one of Merlin knows how many."

"All we can do is watch and wait" Benjy guessed, pinching the bridge of his nose. For a moment he looked far too old to be walking the corridors of Hogwarts in the school uniform. "Why in the name of Merlin's nose hair did Voldemort have to sanction recruitment at Hogwarts?" His head dropped down into his hands, the next words out of his mouth slightly muffled by his hands. "We're too young to be fighting in a war."

"Yes, we are." Rose snapped her head up, surprised that the reply had come from Marlene of all people. Marlene did know how to sway people to her way of thinking, but in issues like this she had left it up to James to offer the pep talks thus far. Marlene leaned forward, blonde curls swaying as she moved. "But if we don't fight it, Benjy, how can we expect anyone else to?" She reached forward, pouring herself a healthy measure of Odgen's Best. "We're far too young to have to face what we are. Our innocence lies in tatters months in our past. But we are here! We are here and we are together. Voldemort's recruited his army, and we have ours, and we have said no more. This is our line in the sand." Marlene's midnight blue eyes burned with belief and determination, wild and fierce like they would all have to be. "Mulciber, Snape and their cronies will discover that. Let them try their worst, we need the practice."

Rose wished she could have Marlene's confidence. The Slytherin worst could be very bad indeed. The very idea of what a dark arts cursed potion could do, could be made to do, in the hands of those four - with Lucius Malfoy as the puppet master? It wasn't unthinkable, it was the stuff of nightmares. It would either be excellent practice or a horrific endgame.

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