Paige arrives at number twelve Grimmald Place by herself, dressed in new black robes Severus managed to grab for her earlier. Of course, he grabbed nothing but black clothing, saying that he likes it when she dresses in black.

Paige ascends the stairs to the Black residence, arriving late for dinner. She enters the home and immediately hears a cheerful roar of chatter coming from the room she met the Order the night before. She walks down the hallway and walks through the already open door of the dining area.

"Paige, didn't think you'd make it." Ripley says as he stands up from the very full table.

"Sorry I'm late." Paige says as the room quiets down and looks at her.

"Captain Asher, glad you could join us." Sirius says from the head of the table at the far end of the room.

"My apologies, everyone." Paige says awkwardly, hating being the focus of attention.

"Captain Asher, glad to finally meet you." A man with a friendly smile says. He stands from the table, dressed in deep royal purple robes. "Kingsley Shacklebolt, I'm an Auror for the Ministry of Magic."

He extends his hand for a handshake as Paige walks to him and shakes his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Sir. Looking forward to working with you." Paige replies.

"Nymphadora Tonks is another one of the Ministry Aurors." Kingsley says as he looks over at a younger woman with peachy pink hair sitting at the table.

She gives a small wave to Paige.

"And one of our top dogs Alastair Moody." Kingsley continues as he moves to the side to reveal a familiar older looking man with a wooden leg and a mechanical eye.

"Aren't you one of the Professors at Hogwarts?" Paige asks him. "I thought I saw you there last year."

"It's a long story. Short end of it is, no, I am no longer a Professor at Hogwarts." Moody replies gruffly.

"And these are my children." Arthur chimes in as he also stands up from the table.

He points at a pair of identical male twins with the same ginger hair as their parents sitting next to each other at the table.

"This is Fred and George. Good luck telling them apart." Arthur continues as the twins raise their hands in unison and give Paige the finger gun.

"And my lovely daughter, Ginny." Arthur says as he looks over to a young red-haired girl sitting next to Nymphadora Tonks.

"Dad…" Ginny groans as she blushes with embarrassment and slumps down into her chair.

"And my youngest son, Ron." Arthur says, ignoring Ginny's distain and looking over to another red-haired boy.

"So, you're an Auror from America?" Ron asks Paige.

"Yes, sir." Paige replies as she moves her hands behind her back to stand more professionally.

"So cool." Ron replies as he looks over at a brown-haired boy sitting in between him and Sirius.

"And Ron's friends, Hermione Granger…" Molly adds as she looks over towards another young girl with frizzy brunette hair. "And of course, this is Harry Potter."

Molly then looks over to the brown-haired boy next to Ron.

"Pleasure to meet all of you." Paige says as she looks over at Harry, his bright green eyes looking curiously at her. "I am at your service for whatever you need."

"Please, have a seat Captain." Sirius says to Paige as he waves his hand to the other end of the table, the only spot left to sit down.

Paige awkwardly walks to the end of the table and takes a seat. A grumpy looking house elf drops a plate of food in front of her before slumping away.

"Any news from the Ministry Kingsley?" Sirius asks him, finally drawing the attention away from Paige.

"Nothing new. The Ministry is still keeping a blind eye to the recent attacks that have been happening." Kingsley replies to him.

"Dumbledore has a new mission for us." Ripley whispers to Paige as the other end of the table continue with their own conversation.

"When and where?" Paige asks as she pokes some of the potatoes on her plate with her fork before sticking it in her mouth.

"We're watching a suspected Death Eater. Might take a few days, might take a few weeks." Ripley replies as he pokes his own fork onto her plate and takes some of her streamed broccoli.

Paige lowly growls at him for touching her food as he takes a bite out of the broccoli.

"We leave tonight. Sorry to cut your reunion short." He adds, looking at her concerningly.

Paige's appetite suddenly disappears at the thought of having to leave Severus tonight and knowing he must back to Hogwarts tomorrow.

"Just stay and have dinner, go pack your things from his place and meet us back here." Ripley instructs her, finishing the piece of broccoli on his fork.

Paige looks down at her food, trying to think how she's going to take another bite with the growing nausea inside her. Ripley grabs her hand under the table as he takes another piece of broccoli from her plate.

"I know it sucks. Just try and eat what you can." He says quietly to her.

Paige nods and pokes another piece of broccoli and shoves all of it in her mouth as she tries to focus on her chewing and not the cascade of emotions her body wants her to feel.


Paige apparates on Spinner's end after she was done with the dinner. She looks down at the end of the empty street, an eerie fog lingering over the houses. She slowly forces her feet to carry her down the deserted street and towards Severus' house at the end.
She opens an old creaky gate to the side of the house and walks down a tight alley to get to the back of the house. She walks up concrete stairs to a back door and knocks. She only waits a few moments before Severus opens the door for her.

"You weren't there long." He remarks as he steps aside to let her in.

He shuts and locks the door behind them before following her from the small room off the kitchen and into the kitchen.

"I have to leave. Tonight." Paige says to him bluntly, wanting to just rip the band aid off.

"You have a mission." He replies as he looks down at his feet.

"Yes. I don't know how long we will be either."

"How much time do you have before you have to leave?" He asks her as he picks his head up to look at her.

"They are already waiting for me." Paige replies, the pain of having to leave him hitting her harder than she imagined.

"I put all your other clothes in the bedroom." Severus says as he grabs her hand and starts to lead her towards the bedroom.

Paige allows herself to be pulled to the bedroom without resistance. Her body running on an auto-pilot mode she couldn't' turn off. He lets go of her hand when they enter the bedroom and heads the closet. He pulls out a small black bag from the top shelf and hands it to Paige.

"I put your stuff in the top drawer." He says as he looks towards the top drawer of an old wooden dresser.

Paige doesn't move as she fights her autopilot to just get her stuff packed and leave. She looks up at Severus who is now looking back at her.

"I…wish we had more time." Paige manages to get out, unable to think of anything else to say.

Paige clutches the bag in her hands tighter, trying to fight the sadness wanting to wash over her.

"We will have our time." He says to her calmly. "This is only temporary."

"Please be safe while I'm gone." Paige whispers to him quietly as he leans in close to her.

"Anything for you." He replies before kissing her.


Paige is lying underneath a bushy shrub on top of a grassy hill under the cover of night with her night vision on. Her and her team have been following a man named Avery for almost two weeks now, tracking his every move, noting down who he talks to and watching his residence at night for anything suspicious. Dumbledore had told them that he claimed to be under the influence of the Imperius Curse after he-who-must-not-be-named fell from power after the first war.
It's Paige's night to do watch as Bobcat, Ripley, and Hernandez sleep nearby in the woods in a tent that is guarded by charms and enchantments so they wouldn't be discovered.
She watches as the last light in the house goes out. Paige checks her watch and looks back towards the house.

"Little late for bedtime." Paige thinks to herself after seeing it was just past two o'clock in the morning.

"Yes, unusual. He usually would have gone to bed hours ago." Otakemaru whispers in her ear.

"I wonder what he was doing up so late?" Paige comments as she continues to look towards the house.

"It's a shame Yankis decided to keep his job. Would have been nice to have an extra man on the team to help with the watch." Hernandez says out of the blue from behind her, making her jump.

"Damnit Juan, will you tie some bells around your damn neck or something." Paige replies as she tries to steady her heart rate.

"Sorry, I couldn't sleep so I thought I would come keep your company." He replies with a soft chuckle.

"Sure, pull up some grass and get down here." Paige says with a smirk as she looks back towards the house.

He lays down on his stomach next to Paige. He waves his wand over his face, giving himself night vision.

"He just went to bed. Out of the ordinary for him to go to bed this late." Paige comments as Hernandez finishes up getting his night vision ready.

"That's odd." He remarks as he looks over at her.

Paige could see him looking at her through her peripheral vision.

"What?" she asks him without looking at him.

"Nothing." He replies, looking back at the house.

Paige sighs and looks over at him.

"Just tell me." Paige says insistently.

Hernandez hesitates before answering her.

"Just a little surprised with you and that Professor getting back together." He says with a smirk. "It's honestly a miracle you even dated someone in the first place, I have to admit I thought you were untouchable in the dating world."

"Yeah, well I guess some things change." Paige replies, not really wanting to discuss Severus right now, the pain of missing him still eating her up inside.

"So why did you decide to forgive him?" He asks her, still pressing the Severus thing.

"What are you getting at Juan?" She snaps at him, not wanting him poke into her personal life.

"Just saying I wouldn't have forgiven him that easily."

"Oh, for what reason would you not have forgiven him?" Paige asks with a raised eyebrow.

"I think you're too good for him Paige to be honest with you." He says, looking into her eyes through her night vision. "I know he was a Death Eater. I've seen the mark. I just don't want to see you get hurt emotionally or heaven forbid physically."

"Thanks for the concern, but I can look after myself." Paige replies as she looks back towards the house.

"What if he's still a Death Eater and against us Paige?" He asks her seriously, getting her to look back over at him. "You'd literally be feeding him information from the front lines to report back to… you know… him."

"I could say the same about Jack." Paige replies, trying to defend Severus.

"He doesn't have a big ugly Dark Mark on his arm like your professor now does he?" Hernandez points out.

Before Paige could reply she looks back over at the house and does a double take as she notices a dark hooded figure walking towards Avery's house. They were walking in the pitch darkness with no troubles at all as they continue to approach the house. Paige looks over at Hernandez and sees him also watching the figure.

"Do you think we should try and get closer?" Paige asks Hernandez.

"Yeah, it would be nice to try and get a name of his late-night visitor." Hernandez replies.

"We follow the forest to the back of the house, then we try and get as close as we can from this side." Paige says as she points at the forest surrounding the neighborhood.

"Ready when you are Captain." Hernandez says as he readies himself to stand-up.

They both slowly get up from their positions from the hill and sneak back into the forest, all the while trying to keep an eye on the approaching figure. They lose sight of the mysterious person as they move to the woods behind the house. They exit the tree line and move to the back of the house. They could hear the person knock on the front door of the Avery house. As they move to the side of the house to get closer to the front door, they see a light turn on from the upstairs bedroom. They crouch near a few bushes that are planted along the side of the house close enough to hear their conversation. Paige could hear the front door open.

"You're late. I didn't think you were coming tonight."

"I had to shake some people following me. Pesky Order members have been breathing down my neck non-stop."

"Yes, I'm surprised I haven't seen any. Come in for a drink Lucius."

"I don't want to be here longer than I have to. I'm just hear to report back to the Dark Lord regarding your progress."

"Um, yeah. Um just t-t-tell him t-t-that I'm close to getting the information."

"You better not disappoint the Dark Lord; you know he's already displeased with you and already questioning your loyalty."

"I understand."

"Good. I'll be checking back with you in a few days to give another report to the Dark Lord."

"Of course, thank you for stopping by Lucius."

Hernandez suddenly loses his balance in the crouch he was in and steps back into the bush, causing the leaves to rustle. Paige quickly looks back at the front of the house and sees a light turn on. She looks back at Hernandez who nods at her, knowing what they must do. She closes her eyes and her body shifts and morphs into an orange fox. When she opens her eyes, the light is now in front of her. she prays that they didn't seem them turn into their Animagus form.

"It's just some scrawny foxes looking for food or something." Lucius says with a scoff. "Should I exterminate these vermin for you?"

He points his illuminated wand at Paige, leaving her like a deer in the headlights.

"Stop. I don't want to draw any attention this way." Avery says as he picks up a rock from the ground. "Go on, get. Get out of here."

He throws the rock at Paige, missing her by a few inches. She suddenly feels her body un-lock and her and Hernandez skirt off down the side of the house and towards the back, out of sight from Lucius and Avery.
They hide under a thorn bush together, waiting to see if they would chase them or not.
They stayed still and remain in the bush for about two minutes until they could hear the small crack of someone apparating and the sound of the front door shutting. Paige and Hernandez, still as foxes, crawl out from under the bush, and run to the tree line of the forest. As soon as they pass the tree line and out of sight from the house, they change back to their normal self. Paige leans against a tree, trying to calm herself down from almost getting caught.

"Fuck that was close." Hernandez says as he bends over and puts his hands on his knees to try and steady his own heart rate.

"We should get out of here before they decide to scout out the area." Paige says to him as she pushes away from the tree to stand herself up again.

"I agree. They might re-think what two foxes were doing over by the house." Hernandez says as he stands up straight.

They both run to the tent where Ripley and Bobcat are sleeping. Paige enters the tent and kicks Ripley's foot.

"Rip, wake up. We have to go." Paige says to him as she kneels beside him.

He doesn't move. She starts to shake him to get him to wake up.

"Hm? What? What's happening?" Ripley asks as he rubs his eyes and sits up.

"We have to go." Paige says sternly.

"Why? What's happening? Is he going somewhere this late at night?" Ripley asks as he looks at his watch.

Hernandez kicks Bobcat's foot to get him to wake up.

"What's going on?" Bobcat says as he jerks awake.

"Shhhh." Paige says in a hushed tone. "Pack up, it's time to go."

"What's happening Captain?" Bobcat asks as he pushes his blanket off his body, still trying to wake up.

"I'll tell you everything once we get out of here." Paige explains as she starts to grab her gear and throwing it in her bag.

She waits until her team finishes packing up their belongings before all of them step out of the tent. She points her wand at the tent, and it starts to disassemble and folds neatly to be carried. She grabs the tent and stands in a circle with her team.

"We're heading back to Headquarters. Everyone ready?" She asks them.

They nod their heads and then they all disappear out of the forest, leaving no trace of them ever being there at all.


Paige and her team apparate back to number twelve Grimmald place after leaving the Avery residence. They quickly ascend the stairs, unlock the front door, and enter the house. Paige notices that a light is still on at the end of the hall. She slowly leads her team down the hall, trying to be silent in case anybody was sleeping. As they enter the room, she notices that Sirius is still awake reading with stacks of books cluttering the table.

"Captain Asher, I didn't expect you guys back tonight." He says as he looks away from the book he's reading.

"We were almost compromised, thought it was wise to get out of there while we were ahead." Paige replies as her and her team walk deeper into the room.

"Paige and I saw someone coming towards the house, so we went in closer to try and hear what they were saying to Avery." Hernandez informs Sirius and the rest of the team.

"Avery called the man Lucius. Does that name sound familiar to you?" Paige asks Sirius.

"If it was Lucius Malfoy then yes." He replies as he stands up from the table.

"He said something about Avery getting the Dark Lord information and he better not mess up because he's already pissed off with him." Hernandez adds.

"Sounds like it could have been Malfoy. At least we know now for sure Avery is working as a Death Eater again, even if it's just because he's in fear for his life." Sirius says to them as he starts moving around books on the table looking for something.

"So how were we almost compromised?" Ripley asks Paige and Hernandez.

"I made a noise by accident which drew their attention. We had to transform just to blend in. Lucius wanted to kill us but thankfully Avery didn't want any unnecessary heat on him." Hernandez replies to Ripley.

Sirius stops looking for what he was looking for and focus' on their conversation.

"Lucius also knows that he's being followed." Paige adds. "We didn't want him re-thinking what two foxes were doing randomly by Avery's house."

"Foxes you say?" Sirius replies with a smirk. "Cunning creatures foxes."

"Yeah, Hernandez and I both can turn into foxes." Paige confirms.

"Let me guess, Bobcat over there can turn into… a Bobcat?" Sirius says with a chuckle.

"I can transform into rabbit sir." Bobcat says to him seriously.

Paige tries to suppress her smirk.

"How unexpected." Sirius replies, a smirk still on his face. "Well, I'm sure you are all tired. The rooms upstairs are set up for you guys."

"Oh man, it's going to be so nice to sleep without those damn bull frogs croaking all night." Ripley comments as they turn to leave the room.

"Captain Asher, would you mind staying back for a quick chat." Sirius asks her.

"Of course, sir." Paige replies as she closes her eyes, just wanting to lay down in a bed.

Paige opens her eyes again and turns to face Sirius. He goes back to searching for something on the table while the rest of the team file out of the room without Paige.

"Kreacher!" Sirius yells suddenly, causing Paige to jump slightly.

The grumpy house elf from earlier appears in the room in a blink of an eye.

"Where is my coffee cup?" He asks the house elf.

"Wherever you last left it, sir." The house elf replies sourly.

"Just bring me another cup. Captain Asher, a cup of coffee?" He says as he looks over a Paige.

"No thank you. I'm good Sir." Paige replies.

Kreacher snaps his fingers and disappears from the room.

"You're up late. Don't plan on sleeping Mr. Black?" Paige asks him now that they were alone.

"For the love of god, please just call me Sirius." He replies in frustration as he moves stacks of books from the table to a large hutch in the corner of the room.

"My apologies. What would you like to talk to me about?" Paige asks him.

"Severus left something for you." He says to her with a smirk as he turns to face her.

"He did?" Paige asks, her drowsiness fading slightly.

"Wait here." He instructs her.

Sirius walks to another door on the other side of the room, opening it and then exiting the room.

Paige bites her bottom lip as she tries to wait patiently for him to bring something back for her from Severus. Kreacher suddenly pops back into the room, causing her to jump again. The house elf sets a tray with a small coffee pot, a coffee cup on a saucer and two small containers that Paige assumed was cream and sugar, on top of the table Sirius was reading from. Without a word he glances over at Paige before snapping his fingers and disappearing again. Sirius returns to the room with a rectangular black box.

"He left it a few days ago, you weren't back obviously, but I agreed to give it to you when you got back." Sirius says as he hands her the box.

"Thank-you." Paige replies as she looks down at the box.

"You're not going to open it?" He asks her with a smirk.

"In front of you?" Paige replies with a smirk of her own. "Not a chance."

"Afraid of what you might reveal to me, knowing what's in the box?" He asks as he steps closing to her.

"Uh, no. I'm pretty sure it's nothing…" Paige replies as she clutches the box close to her chest, like he was going to steal it from her.

"If you think it's nothing, then just open it." Sirius presses her.

Paige looks down nervously at the box in her grasp, then back at Sirius.

"I would rather not." Paige replies nervously.

"Oh, come on, Captain Asher. I've been guarding this box with my dear life; I should at least know what was in it the whole time." Sirius says in a half joking half serious kind of tone.

Paige looks hesitantly at him before giving into his peer pressure to open the box. She places the box on the table and lifts the lid. Paige could smell Severus' scent as she sees black material filled the box. She pulls it out and realizes that it's his cloak.

"That's it? A cloak?" Sirius says dumbfounded. "Such a romantic, Snivy."

Paige clutches the cloak tightly, so immensely happy of the gift he left for her.

"I'm going to head to bed, if that's all you needed me for." Paige says to Sirius quietly, his scent already causing a wave of calm to wash over her.

"Everything alright Captain Asher?" Sirius asks her.

"Yeah, just really tired." Paige replies and she starts to walk towards the door to the hallway. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight." Sirius replies to her in a confused tone, unsure if she likes the gift or not.

Paige leaves the room and walks down the hallway. She walks up the spiraling staircase heading upstairs, her drowsiness finally catching up to her as her feet feel heavier and heavier climbing the stairs. She sees Ripley waiting for her at the top.

"Just wanted to make sure you were good." Ripley says concerningly to her as she reaches the top of the stairs.

"I'm good." Paige says with a smile.

"Good. Your room is to the left. If any other female Order members show up and need a place to crash, you might have company, but for now you get your own room." He replies as he nods his head to the door on the left.

"Thanks." Paige says before she yawns.

"Okay, go to bed." Ripley says as he pushes her gently towards her bedroom.

"Night." Paige mutters as she walks in a trance like state into the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

She flops down on one of the four beds in the room, closet to the door. She doesn't bother taking off her boots or anything else, she just throws the cloak over herself like a blanket and as soon as her head hits the pillow, she falls asleep. The nights of restless sleep finally catching up to her, and his comforting scent lulls her into a sense of security.