Sweat was rolling down my skin as I gasped for breath in the basement. I was standing in a far corner of the room, with my hands on my hips as I stared out at Benjamin, who wasn't breathing hard at all. I felt so out of shape every time I trained with him. He was standing tall, just as sweaty as me, in his gym shorts, but looked calm and collected. He reminded me so much of Gabriel, it was frightening.

"Remember, I'm fifteen years younger then you," Benjamin smiled. "Give or take," he added when I looked at him sharply. I laughed lightly and shook my head.

"Why are you letting your hair grow out?"

"Really? You want to talk about my appearance?"

"Well, I don't want to talk about how much older I am then you," I said sharply.

"I need to change something," Benjamin said honestly after a silence. "My hair is something I can control. I can't control other things…"

I nodded understanding that he was referring to losing Carrigan. He had no control over that.

"I still don't understand why I can't find her," he said after another silence.

"I think that takes time," I replied. "You and Carrigan have a difficult relationship. She is a rebellious and disobedient student, and when you started dating Madison, it affected your relationship a great deal. It's hard to find someone when you're not very close to them."

Benjamin grimaced deeply. "Madison and I aren't together anymore. And Carrigan is…"

He stopped and looked up at me quickly. His crystal blue eyes revealed everything to me, without him saying a word. I bit my bottom lip and nodded my head. "I think it's a curse," I whispered. "You will always love her…as Gabriel will always love me."

"If I love her, why can't I find her?" he asked with frustration. "She could be anywhere—" he waved his arm, tattooed with the alchemist symbol for Saturn, out around him wildly. "She could be dead…"

"No," I said quickly as I stepped towards him. "No, Benjamin. You would know if she were dead. We both would."

Benjamin looked at me with sad eyes. "I'll never forgive myself if we don't find her, Cadence," he said sternly. "I'll never forgive myself for not being better to her."

I smiled slightly and patted his cheek with comfort. "You'll have your chance. Carrigan is a strong young woman. She comes from a bloodline of fighters and survivors. She's not going to roll over and take anything, no matter what Voldemort puts her through. She will come home to us, or we will find her."

Benjamin nodded his head in understanding. "I have to get to work," he said sadly. "I'll see you later."

I didn't say anything else as he moved to the basement stairs and left quietly. I frowned and looked around the empty basement as thoughts of Benjamin and Carrigan, together in the future danced in my head. I frowned with a grim expression. A few months ago, I had been told by a foreseeing centaur that Carrigan would have a child that I was meant to protect. Firenze warning confirmed the prophecy Persephone revealed to me years ago, that I was meant to protect a very magically and powerful child. I bit my bottom lip; if Gabriel and I weren't supposed to be together because of how destructive our child could be, I could only imagine how powerful and frightening Carrigan's could be, especially if Benjamin was the father of the child.

"Cadence?"

I turned with mild surprise as Gabriel descended into the basement. He looked around with a reminiscing smile on his face. I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Yea?"

"What were you thinking about?"

"Carrigan," I replied easily. Gabriel nodded as he looked at me. He took in my appearance—sweaty, dirty and dressed only in a sport top and shorts. "Persephone predicted I would protect a child in the future, a powerful child that would not have a Guardian. A few months ago, Firenze, the centaur who took up the Divination position at Hogwarts, told me that I the child I was meant to protect is Carrigan's."

Gabriel frowned as he approached me. "You hope that means she is alive and will come back."

I nodded as I looked up at him with pained eyes. He was close to me, his hands touched my bare hips as if to comfort me. He brushed my hair behind my ear as his pale green eyes stared back at me.

"Talk to me," he whispered gently. "We haven't really talked since it happened…I can't help if you don't let me."

I frowned and turned away from him, over-come with the emotions that he was pulling out of me. He was right. We hadn't really talked since that night in May when Sirius had died and Carrigan was kidnapped. He had tried to comfort me at first, then as I became more involved in searching for Carrigan (and ignoring everything else that was going on in our lives) he tried to lecture me, to pull me back to reality and stop me from acting recklessly. I still stood by everything I did. I didn't think I was being reckless. I was being aggressive; if that was what was necessary to find Carrigan, to stop my father, then fine. That's what was I was going to do. I didn't want there to be a third war—I was going to finish this and if that meant burning down the entire city in an attempt to destroy Voldemort and find my daughter, then fine. That's what I was going to do.

"I don't think there is really anything to talk about," I shrugged as I stared at the wall and not Gabriel. I felt him grow closer to me. He touched my bare shoulders gently, with just his fingertips at first, then his entire palms. He squeezed my shoulders as a reassuring sign of affection, but it did little to comfort or encourage me. "She is gone and I'm going to find her. That's all there is to it."

"I've seen you act like this once before," Gabriel whispered in my ear. "And despite everything you say, everything you tell yourself, I know you. You know I do. I know you're in pieces, Cadence. The only thing you can do right now to hold yourself together is to fight for her, to act reckless just like you did when you and Sirius broke up. I understand that, but please, you need to be careful."

I didn't say anything as my hand held his on my shoulder. I rested back against him and took in his words. He kissed my forehead and engulfed me in his arms, holding me tightly against his hard body. He was right. He was always right. I felt young and stupid again in his arms. Gabriel had a way of taking me back to when we were both younger…when we were more passionate and lost because we were hiding our feelings from each other.

"We will find her, Cadence," he whispered. "We'll find her together. I don't want to lose you too…"

"I'm sorry," I said as tears entered my eyes because he had finally broken me down. He had finally broken through all my walls and I was going to let him in. "I'm just scared and angry. Everything I have been afraid of since she was born is happening and I don't know how to handle it…and Sirius dying like that…the only way I can get up in the morning is to shut down…to be indifferent to everything else…to only care about finding her. It's the only way I can function. I don't know if I can go back to the Ministry. I don't think I can focus on anything else."

"I know," he said as he kissed my head. "I know you're scared. I am too. But obsessing isn't going to help…"

"If it was Jennifer," I whispered as he held me tightly. "What would you do? When it was me who was kidnapped, what did you do? You've been through this more then once…what did you do?"

Gabriel didn't answer right away. I knew why he didn't. He was going to say that he would spend all of his time looking for Jennifer, and that he did spend all of his time looking for me. How could life just go on when such an important part of it was missing? That was my point. I couldn't just pick up and keep going without her—yes, I would keep going, but I was going to keep going so that I could find her. I wasn't going to stop looking, go to work and focus on other things. No, the only responsibility I had was to my daughter. She was my number one priority. It didn't matter what anyone told me—Gabriel, Kingsley, Benjamin, Scrimgeour or even Dumbledore. Carrigan came first; the rest of the world and the war against my father could go to hell.

"Just remember I lost her too," Gabriel whispered in my ear before kissing it. I turned to him in his arms and looked up at his soft, pale green eyes with pleading dark emerald ones. "I don't want to loose you too because you're running around the country half-cocked with a death wish. You're not alone in this, Cadence. I am here for you as your husband and Guardian."

I forced a smile at him and nodded in understand. "I wonder if this is something I have to do on my own," I said very slowly. Gabriel seemed surprised by the notion, but nodded his head.

"I have to get to the office," he said as he looked me over again. "I do think you should consider taking Scrimgeour's offer, just because it will give you more resources." He pulled me into his arms again and kissed me passionately on the lips. There was desperation and passion in his kiss. I kissed him in return, wrapping my arms around his broad shoulders as I stood on my toes. As we shared our love for each other, I realized that he wasn't afraid of losing me to death, he was afraid that what had happened would end our marriage…that somehow we wouldn't survive Carrigan's kidnapping.

His fear was justified. It had been two months since she had been taken and I hadn't talked to him about it. I hadn't shared my fear. I hadn't sought his comfort. We hadn't made love…

I kissed him quickly, urgently as guilt washed over me. I had no intention of losing Gabriel to anything. I had lost too much already. I kissed him in return in hopes to reassure him that I was not going anywhere. I was not going to leave him. He was the one constant thing in my life and I did need that. He may not have realized how much he helped me over the last two months because I didn't talk to him, but he kept me grounded.

I pulled away, leaving my hands on his cheeks and my body against his, then spoke. "I'm sorry that I have not been here for you in all of this."

He smiled at me as he stroked my hair back. "We're both here now," he replied. "That's what matters. I love you, Cadence."

"I love you, Gabriel."

He smiled and stole another kiss from my lips before he released me completely from his arms. A chill took my body when he let go of me. I frowned slightly and watched as he left the basement, bidding me good-bye one last time before he completely disappeared from sight.

When I was alone, I sat down on the sandy floor of the basement with my legs folded beneath me. With my hands resting on my knees, I closed my eyes and concentrated all of my energy on Carrigan. Part of my daily routine was to try and connect with her via her telepathic powers. Carrigan and I had always shared a rare bond that allowed us to communicate mentally. In the past, when Carrigan was in danger she was able to call for me with her mental powers. I would hear her calling in my head, like I heard Gabriel when he used Advanced Legilimency to communicate with me. But for the last two months, Carrigan had not called and I had yet to reach her when I meditated.

Benjamin had asked a good question earlier when we were training. Why couldn't he find her if she was his student? He had found her two years ago simply because he was drawn to her, why wasn't he drawn to her now in her time of need? But why had it taken Gabriel long to find me when I was the victim of Voldemort's kidnapping plots?

It just took time, I finally concluded.

My meditation was interrupted by the sharp ringing tone of the doorbell. My eyes fluttered open with surprise. I was not expecting visitors. I didn't move right away to answer it, and grumbled as I stood up from the basement floor. I dusted off my butt as I dashed up the stairs, heading into the back laundry room. I closed the basement door behind me. When the brown door snapped shut, it disappeared into the red painted wall. Gabriel had enchanted the door so that it could only be found by those who lived in the house.

I moved through the laundry room towards the kitchen. As I made my way down the hall towards the foyer of the house, the doorbell rang again, annoying me somewhat.

"I'm here!" I called as I reached the door. I gripped my wand tightly in my right hand as I opened the door and looked, with true surprise, out at Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter. They were the last two people I was expecting to see on my doorstep; and I certainly did not expect either of them to ring my doorbell more than once.