A/N: For storytelling purposes, this takes place in between book 4 and 5, so Voldemort has just returned. Also, even though Bellatrix never joined the Death Eaters, the Longbottom's were still tortured for information by Barty Crouch Jr and some other random Death Eaters. I know this story is a little strange but I really love it so I hope you do as well!


"We're going to need more people if we plan on taking Voldemort and his merry band of psychopaths on," Sirius Black said, leaning back in his chair and looking around at the three other people in the room. Since his escape from Azkaban the previous year, he had made it his primary goal to see the Order of the Phoenix back up in running. Truthfully, there wasn't much more for him to actually do. He was still a wanted man and he didn't dare leave Grimmauld Place unless absolutely necessary. That's why he sat here now with the only three people he could trust at the moment. He needed all the help he could get.

"It's a little hard to do that when most of our old friends are dead," Remus Lupin sighed, reaching out and grabbing the photo of the original members of the Order that was sitting in the middle of the table between them, sliding it in front of him and beginning to point out various people in the moving photo, "James and Lily are gone. Frank and Alice have a permanent residence in St Mungo's Janus Thickey Ward. The entirety of the Bones family was slaughtered. Dorcas, Marlene, the Prewett twins are all dead. I believe Emmeline is still alive, but I haven't seen her in years. And Peter…well…"

Sirius nodded, a fowl look on his face at the mention of their former friend. He turned his attention to the other two people who sat to the left of him, "What about you two? Do you fancy joining us this time around?"

Andromeda Tonks looked up from the photo, looking at Sirius for a moment before turning to her husband, who was seated beside her. They seemed to communicate silently with each other for a moment before she turned to answer her cousin, "We're not really fighters, but we will lend any sort of support you need."

Ted nodded his head in agreement. He hated that this was all happening again, especially considering that his family had barely escaped with their lives the last time. In truth, he wanted no parts of any of this. It was dangerous to be in open rebellion, to not only society's most powerful people, but also to the ministry itself. Though in hindsight, there wasn't much of a choice for him. He was a muggle born wizard married to a pure-blooded witch from the oldest wizarding family in existence. He tried to keep listening to the conversation at the table but he couldn't help his thoughts from drifting back to everything that he had to go through the last time. Particily, to a moment towards the end of the war, when he wasn't sure who he could really trust.

It was a cold winter evening, just days before Christmas when the Tonks' were forced to flee their home. They had been tipped off that an attack had been planned and they had to leave if they wanted a chance at surviving this war. The plan had been to leave in the dead of night and travel on foot to a safe house. The forest would work as a solid cover so they wouldn't be spotted by any snatchers.

Ted adjusted his scarf, trying to keep his face from freezing as he trekked through the falling snow. His wife and young daughter were in front of him, looking quite tired either from the walking or the lack of sleep, he really couldn't tell. Ahead of Andromeda, to her left was Lucius Malfoy, who had yet to really speak to them. He just continued walking, every so often, turning his head to look for any sort of movement in the distance.

"Mummy, I'm cold," little Nymphadora whined, her teeth chattering as she spoke.

Andromeda looked down to the toddler in her arms, stopping for a moment to wrap her blanket even tighter around her, "I know, baby. We're almost there. Just a little further."

From behind them, Ted heard the crunching footsteps of Rodolphus Lestrange come to a stop. He turned back to look at the tall brunette, watching as he cupped his hands around his mouth and let out a loud howl. Off in the distance, to his right, he heard something respond with a howl of its own and then something on the other side responded in echo as well, until there was a surround sound of howls.

Rodolphus dropped his hands and noticed Ted looking at him strangely, "We're okay, but we should really keep moving."

Ted nodded and took a few steps towards his wife, placing his hand gently on her lower back and ushering her forward. They only took a few steps before they heard the whimper of a large dog on their left. Lucius immediately stopped and held his hand out for them to stop as well. They stood there in silence, just looking around and listening as if waiting for something to happen. Ted reached for his wand, preparing himself to defend his family should something try to attack them. Suddenly, the creature let out a few short barks from further away and Lucius waved, signaling them to continue walking.

After another hour of walking through the dense forest, they finally were out of the trees and into a small clearing with a cottage just a few feet in front of them. As they approached, Ted noticed out of the corner of his eye, a large black wolf approaching them from the right, it's glowing yellow eyes fixed on the family.

"Look, Daddy! A puppy!" Nymphadora screeched with joy.

Ted looked to his daughter, noticing her head turned to the left, where a white wolf was emerging from the tree line, also walking towards them. It wasn't as big as the black one, but it looked equally as menacing. Before he had time to react, the white wolf took off in a run towards them. It was incredibly fast, making it's way through the layers of snow like it was nothing. As the wolf drew closer, it suddenly turned it's attention to Lucius, taking a massive leap and lunging at him. Ted closed his eyes in fear, preparing himself to hear the screams of pain, but instead he heard only laughter.

"Oh come on! I wanted to knock you in the snow! You're no fun!" Ted opened his eyes to see the wolf gone and the newly married Narcissa Malfoy was in it's place, her arms wrapped tightly around Lucius' neck as he held her securely in his arms, her feet dangling just above the snow.

"I'm stronger than you, love," Lucius teased, giving her a quick peck on the cheek, "Plus, you're not very sneaky. I watched you run out of the woods." Narcissa kept the playful pout on her face as her husband lowered her safely to the ground.

"What did you see out there?" Ted turned back to where the black wolf was, only to see Bellatrix Lestrange now tucked under her husband's arm as if appearing out of thin air.

"Oh, I just stumbled onto a campsite, but I checked it out and it looked to be old, everything was covered in snow and there wasn't anybody there or any footprints to track," Narcissa answered as Lucius took off his thick winter cloak and draped it over her thin shoulders to keep her warm.

"It's good no one was out there," Rodolphus said, looking around the perimeter of the area, "We should still probably set up some wards to keep this place hidden in case someone does come by."

The other's seemed to agree and walked off in different directions, set on getting to work right away. Ted, still in shock, turned back to his wife, leading her into the cottage when he saw his daughter start to shiver again. Once inside, Andromeda quickly searched through the small amount of rooms, looking for a bed to lay Nymphadora in.

"You didn't mention your sisters were here or that they're animagi." Ted whispered as they found an appropriate room and Andromeda began to tuck their child into bed to keep her warm.

"Well, you were nervous enough when I told you Lucius and Rodolphus would be escorting us here. I didn't want you to be too freaked out," Andromeda said in a hushed voice, pushing him out of the room so as not to disturb little Nymphadora's slumber.

"I think I had good reason to be nervous. Those people are dangerous, Andy!"

"Those people are my family." she hissed, reaching out to take his left hand, holding it up for him to see the gold ring on his finger, "And yours as well, in case you forgot."

He sighed, pulling his hand away from her, "It's just that, they're not nice people are they? Lucius was a prat in school, Rodolphus and his brother used to terrify practically everyone that walked by them, and Bellatrix and Narcissa turned on you when you married me. Not to mention they weren't that great before that. I mean, Bellatrix wasn't afraid to practice dark magic out in the open and Narcissa was so snooty, she barely gave anyone the time of day."

"You don't know them, okay," Andromeda said, walking over to look out the front window to see her sisters and brother-in-law's putting protective barriers all around the property, "And my sisters didn't turn on me. We always kept in touch, they just didn't want to risk anything by leaving, which I understand. Besides, they were nice enough to help us out now when we really needed it, is that enough for you?"

Ted walked up behind her, pulling her back against his chest as he watched the others outside as well. As awful as they might have been at school, they seemed to be at least a little different now. They all were going to great efforts to help his family on a last minute notice so he felt like he should at least give them the benefit of the doubt. "I guess you're right," he leaned down and whispered in her ear, feeling her lips beginning to form a smile, "I am grateful that they're here."

"We can probably convince Moody and Kingsley to join if we show them the memory of Pettigrew escaping. We probably won't convince the ministry itself, but we might be able to get them back on our side," Remus suggested.

Sirius hummed in agreement, "And perhaps we can convince the Weasley's to join as well. Harry seems to be quite close to their son so they may want to help out."

"What about Andy's sisters?" Ted blurted out, suddenly brought back from his memories and looking up to see Sirius and Remus' confused faces, "I mean, they helped me and Andy before so maybe they'll help out the Order now."

There was a brief moment of awkward silence before Remus decided to answer, "Well, the Lestrange's never took a side during the first war so we may be able to reach out to them, but Lucius Malfoy is a marked Death Eater. He claimed he was under the imperius curse at trial, but we all know that was a cover."

Andromeda shook her head, "No, I was still in contact with Narcissa when that happened. Lucius had turned spy. He was forced to take the mark to protect his family, but I'm almost positive he passed information along to Dumbledore."

Sirius thought on this for a moment and then leaned forward to lean his arms on the long table, "I'll check that out and if it's true, we can reach out to them. Bellatrix and Rodolphus would be nice to have, they both were good duelists. I'll speak with them and hopefully I can convince them to join. We can draw straws on who has to talk to Malfoy."

Andromeda giggled, "Oh come off it, he's not that bad! Plus, you'd be going to talk to Narcissa as well and you can't possibly have anything against her."

"Narcissa isn't bad, but Malfoy's probably infected her with his massive ego by now," Sirius teased, causing the others to laugh as well. In truth, he was kind of excited at the prospect of his family being together again. He had a lot of good memories with his cousins growing up and after so many years away, he was interested to know how Bellatrix and Narcissa had changed since childhood. He just hoped they hadn't changed so much that they had finally bought into all the pureblood propaganda that was shoved down their throats and forgotten who they truly were. But he guessed only time would tell.