"Excellent…" Dumbledore twinkled. "I shall be off to speak with young William. If he gives an oath of secrecy, would anyone be concerned about telling him what we're doing? Not just an outline but the complete truth?"

"If he makes the oath. Sure." Sirius said. "And don't forget to speak to Snape. I still need to know why you trust him so much."

Dumbledore's twinkle faded a little, but he nodded. "I shall go to him directly and then to William. I shall return as soon as I can." He stood and Fawkes flitted from the owl stand he'd been roosting on, over to Dumbledore's shoulder. A quiet trill and the pair vanished in a burst of flames.

"Right, who's for hot chocolate?" Sirius clapped his hands.

"Me." Remus was the first to climb to his feet and head for the kitchen.

Nicholas Joseph Fury stomped into the elegant Victorian country house, followed closely by Phillip Jefferson Coulson. Neither were pleased to have been called halfway around the world by a panicked Andrew Carter, nephew of former director, Peggy Carter. Apparently, Peggy had gone out with a few friends, namely James Falsworth, James Morita and Timothy Dugan and the four of them had come back with very different ages.

Andrew greeted Fury in the entryway and pointed in the direction of an informal sitting room. After Fury entered the sitting room, he took two steps and froze.

"I didn't believe it." He muttered.

"It does sound a bit farfetched." A ten-year-old Peggy Carter allowed.

"A bit farfetched?" James Falsworth looked to be in his late teens or early twenties.

Timothy Dugan just grunted and Fury judged him to be in his late twenties or early thirties.

Fury looked at the third Howling Commando and frowned, judging James Morita's age was much harder, he guessed the Asian man to be somewhere between twenty and fifty, but narrowing it down to anything closer was going to be nigh on impossible. Even at eighty, he still hadn't really looked his age.

"What happened?" Fury asked.

"Spiked drink." Peggy replied.

"Reversable?"

"Not according to the medical experts that we've spoken to." Peggy said. Leaving out that as yet, Falsworth, Morita and Dum-dum were only under the temporary effects of a de-aging potion. It would all depend on whether or not Andi could get them the permanent version and whether the men would take it. They were more than happy to have new documents and if/when they allowed the de-aging to reverse, they could always say 'oh well, it seems the expert was partially wrong, see Peggy's still a kid, maybe it's only permanent on females'. Or some of the like.

"Motherfu-"

"There's another issue." Peggy took no notice of Fury's swearing.

"What now?" Fury snarled.

"We found someone."

"Who?"

"That would be us." Bucky entered the room with Sirius at his side.

"And I'm supposed to know who you are?" Fury snorted.

"Yes, you are." Peggy said. "Phillip? Who does he look like?"

Phil Coulson frowned but looked at the man, his frown deepened before his face went completely slack in shock. "Oh, dear god…" He whispered.

"Cheese?" Fury blinked at the man's expression.

"Barnes." Coulson whispered. "James Buchannan Barnes."

"What?!" Fury screeched. "You're trying to say that this… man… is Bucky Barnes?"

Coulson just nodded, barely aware of anything other than the man standing there.

"How did that happen?" Fury demanded.

"I was providing security to Mr Black, here, in the SSR building in Brooklyn, when the building shook and we fell into the archway that he was researching." Bucky shrugged.

"Carter?" Fury was asking a lot with just her name.

"As far as I can determine?" She said. "Yes, this is Bucky Barnes and Sirius Black. They were able to repeat a conversation that we'd had the morning of their disappearance. Plus, Barnes had the only weapon we were able to document as missing, serial numbers have been confirmed and it's in exactly the same condition now as it was then, no evidence of wear or aging. Both men were wearing the exact clothing and Black had with him a copy of his research that I'd viewed only that morning, with my signature under Col. Phillips', approving the next step of his research."

"Ironically enough, it was going to be sending items into the archway." Sirius said. This was all true, but without telling Fury and Coulson about magic, this was the closest they were going to get, to telling them what happened.

"If it's irreversible, what do you expect me to do?" Fury asked.

"We need new documents." Peggy said.

"Documents…?" Fury asked flatly.

"Of course." Peggy replied. "Now, while I could have just spoken to Phillip, I felt that you needed to be involved. If you hadn't seen this, would you have believed it?"

Fury sighed. "No."

"No, you wouldn't have." Peggy agreed with him. "But now you have seen, you do believe. So… I want this off the books. Completely... Utterly…" The last two words were said in a hard, cold voice, belying her young appearance.

"I don't want to know." Fury headed for the door. "Coulson, you get to deal with it. Don't tell me. Don't show me. Put the paperwork in place and cover your ass. Delete any links to S.H.I.E.L.D., any at all. Nothing is to connect them to us." He paused. "Except you. Keep a contact number or an address, but don't tell me, I don't want to know. Have someone take you to a hotel, tonight. I'm talking the car and as you'll be here for a few days getting this sorted, I'm taking the plane, too. You can find your own way home." He stalked out of the room and out of the house, cursing under his breath, all the way.

"Yes, sir." Coulson said to the empty doorway, he sighed and crossed to a sofa. "I'll need some details, please. Miss Carter, you first. Who are we making you into?"

"I'm sure that you are aware that my children and their spouses are dead." She replied and Coulson nodded. "My daughter-in-law, Lydia, died as a result of injuries caused by childbirth. I want you to make documents that state that I am that child. Named after myself, of course, I have no intention of changing my name too much." She warned. "But a minor change must be there to support the story. So, instead of Margaret Elizabeth, I shall be Margaret Victoria. Born 1st of April 1986, after all, according to the medical experts we consulted, I am physically ten years old. Thankfully the dates are fairly close, Lydia died on the 3rd of April that same year."

As she'd spoken, Coulson had made notes in a small notebook that he'd pulled from a pocket.

"Yes, ma'am." Coulson nodded. "Margaret Victoria, born 1st of April 1986, daughter of Matthew Carter and Lydia Carter, nee…?"

"James, Phillip." Peggy said.

"Lydia Carter, nee James." Coulson kept writing. "What of schooling?"

Two hours later, Coulson laid down his notebook after repeating back the rough outlines of new identities for Peggy, Bucky, Sirius, Falsworth, Morita and Dum-dum.

Peggy looked at each man and each man in turn, nodded.

"Yes, Phillip, that will be fine."

"The last thing I need to know are addresses and finances." Coulson said. "Here in the UK and back home in the US."

Peggy looked to Sirius for an answer.

"For Peggy, Bucky and I?" Sirius replied. "Eleven Grimmauld Place, Islington, London will be our main postal address. The school where the Bucky and I will be working, is extremely private and all mail to the school goes via a Royal Mail Box in London." Sirius had bought the townhouse next door to where he'd grown up, specifically for getting and sending muggle post to and from Harry.

"And you gentlemen?" Coulson asked the other three.

"Put down my place." Dum-dum said. "I'm on the corner of Venting and Lucas Roads, Florida, Massachusetts."

"Let's alter that slightly." Coulson suggested. "What number Venting Road? Technically?"

"1432-1576 Venting and 821-974 Lucas." Dum-dum replied. "And I have a PO box as well."

"No, we won't need that." Coulson said. "I'll put Morita down on Venting and you on Lucas. And what of you Mr Falsworth?"

"Crab-apple Farm, North Kilphedir, Scotland." Falsworth replied. "Usually, I just put the Royal Mail Box address, but just to make it a bit different, I'll use the farm name."

"And death certificates?"

"Hold off on that, just yet." Peggy said. "Let separate them, say a month or so, gentlemen?" The three nodded. "Missing persons reports can be lodged by Andrew. He can say that the four of us went on a highland drive and never returned."

"I suggest altering that." Coulson said. "Perhaps it would be better for your brother, Michael, to state that he was aware of your visitors and was allowing you the privacy to reminisce together. That he came to see you, expecting your guests to have left but all their luggage was still in the guest rooms, your purse and identification were still in the house with none of you to be found. He knows nothing more."

"Yes. Yes, that would be better." Peggy nodded. "Would you explain it to him? His Alzheimer's will likely allow him to accept that as fact. His son, Andrew, is be the one we should be keeping in know." She gestured to the patio where Andrew was visible, reading a magazine.

"I'll interview them, myself." Coulson said. "What of your finances?"

"Wills… Margaret Elizabeth Carter left everything she owns to her only grandchild and namesake, Margaret Victoria Carter. If it can be processed quietly, I'd much appreciate it."

"And for the gentlemen?"

"Much the same." Falsworth said. "Leaving it to my grandnephew Montgomery Falsworth." He handed over a number of envelopes.

"My grandson, Tim Dugan." Dum-dum said.

"My great grandson, Lucas Morita." Morita added.

"Phillips ordered Barnes' army pay closed out and left in the care of Howard." Peggy said. "Someone's going to need to talk to Anthony about it."

"We can provide documentation to show that Buchannan James is James Barnes' grandson and request Stark transferred back to the family. A photo will back that up, a slightly different haircut, along with the documents we'll put in place, should be enough to convince Stark." Coulson made a note. "And you Black?"

"Mine's already been seen to." Sirius replied. "My Will was activated when I had been missing for three months. It went to Alphard Black and his family, the family solicitor is a close friend of mine and, while quite shocked to see me turn up after all these years, he's ready to go ahead with transferring everything to me, once I have a legal identity."

"I'll get it done, either tonight or by close of business tomorrow." Coulson assured them. "I am assuming that you three will be staying in England for a while?" When they nodded, he went on. "I'll get passports, travel docs as well as entry and work visas stamped before I return. Shall we say… 8pm tomorrow evening? That way if any of you have concerns or feel that I've missed a document, I can correct it before the end of the week."

Bill Weasley looked around at the garden that the portkey given to him by Professor Dumbledore, had deposited him in. Lush and green with bright flowers dotted here and there. He had no idea where he was and he was a little nervous about it.

"Wotcha, Bill." Tonks greeted him from a nearby gate in a hedge.

"Tonks." He said. "Care to tell me what this is all about?"

"Nope." She shook her head. "Not without an Oath of Confidentiality."

"And what will the Oath say?" Tonks handed over a slip of parchment and Bill carefully read it. "That sounds fine." He nodded. "Are you the witness?"

"Yep."

"All right." Bill produced his wand and quickly, and carefully, made his Oath.

"Brilliant." Tonks beamed. "This way, then. Come and meet the crew that's going to take down old snakeface."

Bill blinked and shook his head before following Tonks into the elegant manor house. Down a broad hallway and into a grand ballroom to be greeted by a humming Luna Lovegood who was dancing with Neville Longbottom, the two using the twirls and spins of a waltz to avoid the beams of light being thrown at them by Alastor Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"Hiya, Bill." Harry Potter called from his position on the other side of the ballroom, where Hermione Granger was trying, and failing, to teach the young seeker to waltz.

"Hey, Harry. Hey, Hermione, how're your toes?" Bill laughed as Harry stumbled yet again.

"Sore." Hermione sighed.

"Give it up, Mione." Harry grumbled. "You know I can't dance."

"No Potter can." Remus Lupin wandered into the room. "I warned you. Fly? Like birds. Dance? Like drunken dragons. Thankfully, it doesn't stop them from moving well, when fighting. Duelling? They're not too bad. But once they start fighting? That clumsiness all goes away."

"Aye, I remember Fleamont fighting with some of Riddle's Inner Circle in the first war." Moody grinned. "Moved like liquid lightening, he did."

"Then what's the point of me giving poor Mione sore toes?" Harry demanded.

"Honestly, Harry." Hermione huffed. "Everyone should know how to dance."

"Except Potters." Remus chuckled. "James used to fall over sideways every time he tried. Nothing Lily did, helped either."

"Mostly?" Kingsley ignored Remus. "Distraction, until Bill got here."

"Why am I here?" Bill asked.

"We've got a horcrux to deal with." Moody said.

"A horcrux? Really…?" Bill whined. "I though it might be something challenging."

"Oh, it's challenging alright." Harry snarled. "It's in my head."