August 26th, 1994

Sirius, Bill and Charlie had gone back in to the woods to look for Hollyn an hour ago, and I had spent the entire time they were gone pacing in front of the tent. Arthur had shepherded the kids back in to the tent to try to get some rest, but Harry had stubbornly refused. He had spent the entire time sitting on the ground in front of the tent, but when I gave a particularly heavy sigh, I heard him get up. He walked over to me and grabbed my handing; we stood there holding hands for the next twenty minutes, Harry sending me his support every so often by squeezing my hand.

It felt as if my heart was walking around outside of my body, being trampled on. I knew that I should be in the forest looking with Sirius, but I hadn't been able to make my feet move. I was immobilized by fear – a reaction I wasn't accustomed to; fear usually woke me up, jump-starting me in to action, not shutting me down. Right now, all I could do was try to stop my mind from coming up with ridiculous scenarios – all of which ended with Hollyn dead on the ground.

It was excruciating, sitting here not knowing what was going on. Had I sent Sirius off into a battlefield? Was I going to lose them both? Was Hollyn simply lost? So many thought were running through my head, and I remained grounded only by Harry, standing next to me strong and sturdy; he knew that I needed his support right now, and his strength was the only thing keeping me from falling apart.

"Addie!" Harry said sharply. My head snapped in the direction of the forest. I took off at a run, realizing that Sirius was walking out with his arm strung around Hollyn's shoulder. I reached them quickly, pulling Hollyn towards me and squeezing her to my chest. She was shivering, although the night was not cold, and I pulled her in the direction of the tents.

"Harry, get me a blanket please," I asked, somewhat dismissively. Harry ducked immediately in to the tent, waking the Weasley's in the process. He came back out seconds later, handing me the blanket. I draped it over Hollyn's shoulders, running my hands up and down her arms to try to warm her.

"What happened?" I asked, looking at Hollyn. She didn't look inclined to answer, so I turned to face Sirius. "Sirius, what happened?"

"Found her wandering around, disoriented. Confunded, I expect," Sirius explained. He knelt down next to me, taking one of Hollyn's hands in his own. "She told us she can't remember anything after being separated from the twins."

"Hollyn!" Ginny had exited her tent, drawn out by our lowered voices. Hermione followed after her, and both girls rushed over to hug Hollyn. Ginny burst in to tears, crying, "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Come on, Gin," Ron admonished sheepishly, tugging on Ginny's arm. "Give her some space."

"Ronald!" Hermione snapped sternly. Ron held his hands up in defeat, muttering "girls," under his breath. Hollyn wrapped her arms back around Ginny, holding on to her for dear life; her reaction was delayed and she was moving shakily. Her eyes were darting around like she wasn't quit sure what had happened or how she had gotten here.

"Come on, kids," Arthur said. "We're all very glad that Hollyn is safe, but she needs to rest. Heck, we could all use some rest. Let's all get a few more hours of shut-eye before heading back home."

"But, Dad!" Ginny protested.

"Now, Ginny." He said, leaving no room for argument.

Ginny was pouting, grumbling under her breath, but she got up from the ground obediently and headed towards the tent. She knew better than to disobey her father, who rarely ever enforced any sort of rule. "I'll stay with the girls tonight," I decided, speaking mainly to Sirius. He nodded at me, kissing me on the temple before reaching down to hug Hollyn once more. Hollyn responded, somewhat belatedly. Her eyes were glazed over and her motions were robotic – I definitely agreed that she looked as though she had been confunded. The question was…by who? What had happened to her in those woods? Why would someone confund her, but not hurt her in any way? What had she seen?

"Thanks, Dad," she muttered, under her breath. It didn't seem like she had really meant to say it, but I saw Sirius's eyes well up anyway at her use of the name. I patted him on the head affectionately, and he composed himself quickly before shifting in to his animagus form. He padded over as a great big dog and curled up just to the left of the girl's tent opening; he intended to sleep outside for the night, guarding our tent.

"Come on, Holly girl," I said, ushering Hollyn gently towards the tent. "Let's get some sleep."

I curled up next to Hollyn in her tiny camping bed, determined to sleep beside her the entire night. She fell asleep immediately, her tiny body curled against me as though searching for my warmth. I kissed the top of her head, willing my eyes to close. After a couple of hours, it became apparent that sleep was not going to come, so I quietly slipped out of bed. Hollyn adjusted, her tiny body burrowing in to the warm spot that I had just abandoned. I went outside, sitting down next to Sirius. He put his snout in my lap, and I ran my fingers through his shaggy fur, seeking out his warmth just as Hollyn had moments ago.

"Thanks, Sirius," I whispered against the top of his head. Sirius looked at me, his big brown puppy dog eyes staring in to mine with far too much intelligence for an animal. It was as though he were asking me "for what?" with just his canine expression.

"For finding our baby," I said simply. I didn't say anything else; I didn't need to. He knew from the weight of my words how much Hollyn meant to me – and I knew how much she meant to him. He had done it as much for himself as he had for me. My heart swelled with love for this man; a man who had found out he had a daughter eleven years after her birth, but who had fallen right in to being a father as if it were as natural as breathing air. The night was warm and quiet, almost relaxing after the stress of the night. I put my head down on top of his, and felt my eyes begin to flutter closed, just as the sun started to peak out above the trees.


September 1st, 1994

"Harry looked okay, right?" I asked Sirius, handing him a glass of wine. We were cuddled up in front of the fire, fuzzy blanket on our lap and a cheese platter on the coffee table in front of us. We had determined that we were going to enjoy the kid free house, but so far all we had done was talk about them.

"I think so. I told him to owl us straight away if his scar hurts, or if anything strange happens." Sirius accepted the glass of wine, taking a sip and thinking while he swallowed. "And Hollyn seemed okay right? She was so quiet last week."

"She'll be fine. Ginny promised to owl me if she notices her acting odd at all. Fred and George promised me they'd cheer her up."

"Can't think of anyone else better suited for the job!" Sirius chuckled. "Those trick wands of theirs are a right riot – they're going to sell like crazy at Hogwarts."

"They remind me of you and James. If you two had even half of their brains, you could've taken on Zonko's!" I teased. Sirius snorted indignantly, but wrapped his arm around my shoulders anyway. I settled against his chest, taking a sip of my own glass of wine. I flicked my wand at the wireless, letting the sweet sound of Celestina Warbeck fill the living room.

It was an extremely comfortable…five minutes. Just as I was starting to feel content, warmed by Sirius's embrace, the floo lit up and Remus stepped out.

"Did you hear?" He asked jovially, walking in to the living room and dusting off his robes, not even checking to see if we were decent.

"Right, we weren't doing anything," I sighed in exasperation, mostly joking. I sat up slightly, leaning away from Sirius in the process. Sirius protesting, pulling me back against him roughly.

"Sorry!" Remus chuckled, although he didn't look apologetic at all. "It's just all terribly excited and you two can canoodle anytime. Oh, do you think they'll let us go watch?"

I looked at Sirius over my shoulder to see if he had any idea what Remus was talking about. Sirius made a face and shrugged his shoulders; he was just as lost as I was.

"Oh, also, you're almost out of firewhiskey at the loft, but I brought over your bottle of '84 for us to drink tonight," Remus added casually. He flopped on to the ground next to the coffee table in front of us. He slammed the bottle down on the glass and used his wand to summon three rocks glasses from the bar cart. He then started picking at the cheese that I had laid out, cheerfully putting together a stack of cheese on top of a cracker.

"What are you going on about, mate?" Sirius asked as he accepted his glass of firewhiskey. He looked at his two hands, one clutching a wine glass and the other firewhiskey. He looked at me to judge my reaction, and although I had been looking forward to our quiet, romantic night, I nodded in defeat. Sirius whooped in glee, and drowned his glass of wine before sipping at the firewhiskey appreciatively. "I won't mention the fact that we agreed you could stay in our loft, not drink us out of house and home, but you brought over my favorite vintage so I can't be too mad. Now will you please tell us what the fuck you're talking about?" Sirius was sipping on his firewhiskey like a glass of fine wine; while he had just thrown back a glass of fine wine like it was a glass of firewhiskey.

"You two really don't know?" Remus paused, glass halfway to his mouth. "It's all over the news! Merlin, what do you two do all day?"

"This!" I exclaimed, gesturing to our comfortable sitting position exuberantly.

"Remind me never to settle down," Remus replied smoothly, shaking his head. He reached in to his overcoat pocket and pulled out a newspaper, slamming it down on the table in front of us.

"I already read the article on Arthur – bunch of rubbish that is. Rita Skeeter is actually worse than her mother, Mara – remember when she wrote that article on Sirius and I that we had only married to piss off his family, and that he was actually in love with Marlene? Utter rubbish!" I complained, reminiscing on the reporter who had consistently wrote disparaging articles about me during me time with Puddlemere.

"Not that." Remus turned the page impatiently, and I read the title of the article he had flipped to.

"They're bringing back the Triwizard Tournament?" Sirius cheered. He clinked his glass with Remus. "Wicked! Merlin, I wish they would have brought this back while we were there – imagine one of us the Hogwarts' champion?"

"Your heads couldn't have possibly handled getting any bigger," I chuckled cheekily. "Imagine how James would have acted if he'd actually had a reason to be so arrogant?"

Both Remus and Sirius laughed, agreeing with me, before taking off trying to guess what the three tasks would be. It was a pleasant evening of firewhiskey, laughter and good company.

"So Remus, how are you doing?" I asked, several hours later. Sirius had fallen asleep on the couch, mouth open. For once, it appeared that the alcohol had caught up to him; both Remus and I had slowed down a while ago. Remus looked over at me from his place on the armchair.

He looked tired all of a sudden. "I'm okay." He said it in a tone of utter exhaustion. "I'm sorry I haven't been around much."

"We understand," I shrugged him off. "You've always had a hard time, I just hope Sirius and I have been able to help."

"You've always helped. More than you even realize. You know that I knew you and Lily knew about me for years before I said anything? Like years. Probably right from the time that you figured it out."

I nodded my head. I hadn't known that he had known until that night in the common room, when he had drunkenly told us that he had known for years, but I hadn't realized how early he had known. "Yeah. Lily slipped up one time, slipping me a chocolate frog one day early – before I'd really started to feel any of the effects. I knew she knew that I was about to start feeling sick, so I figured that she had caught on to the cycle."

"Why didn't you ever say anything? I mean, before we started dating Sirius and James? You could still have talked to us about it, " I asked quietly.

"I trusted you. The two of you never told anyone, not even Sirius or James – I knew you'd never tell anyone if you wouldn't even tell those two. Plus, it was nice having two people who knew, but never treated me any differently. It was nice having two friends who knew everything, but that I didn't have to talk about it with."

I let that comment sit for a minute, the silence comfortable. "When Sirius found out that I knew about you, he was…touched. I think that's the reason we got together when we did," I admitted. Remus turned to look at me sharply.

"I never knew that," Remus said. "I knew that Sirius loved you for years before he admitted it to himself. He used to stare at you when you were with Jase. Look, we all hated Jase," he chuckled. "But none more than Sirius. He used to seethe any time you two were together, and then he would get defensive as hell when we would bring it up. He was in denial for years."

"Sirius was the first person to ever make me feel comfortable at Hogwarts. And even now, after eighteen years together, he is the only person in this world that can make me feel safe in any situation," I said sappily, the firewhiskey loosening my tongue.

"How have the two of you been doing? You know, since everything happened?"

"We're good. He's adjusted…remarkably well, given the circumstances. And seeing him with Harry and Hollyn?" I trailed off, a ball of emotion suddenly forming in the back of my throat.

"What's it like?" I hummed, indicating that he should clarify. "Being in love."

I looked over at him, a tender expression of my face. "You'll find it one day and experience it for yourself," I assured him. "It's the most incredible feeling in the world. He gave me the two greatest gifts of my life – his love and my children."

"I'll never fall in love," Remus contradicted me. "I won't do that to someone else."

I knew that there was little I could say to Remus. He had believed that he was destined to a life of loneliness ever since he was a boy, despite all of our insistence that it wasn't true. He was lovable, and he was capable of having a family without infecting them with lycanthropy, despite everything that he believed about himself. I could only hope that he would find the girl one day, soon, who would take the decision away from him. That he would fall so deeply in love, that he wouldn't be able to stop himself from taking the jump.


October 31st, 1994

It was always Halloween. Something bad always happened on Halloween. I woke up with a pit in my stomach that I carried around with me all day. Sirius had some business to take care of at the Ministry regarding the Department of Magical Law Enforcement – neither of us were entirely sure what it was about, but he had gotten an owl from Amelia Bones, the new department head, requesting his presence at an 11AM meeting.

"I'm just going to go hear her out!" Sirius had assured me, as he pulled on his robes. I reached out and adjusted his collar for him, running my hand down the front of his shirt. "She can't be as bad as Crouch, after all."

"I just am having paranoia about the day. Once tonight is over, I'll feel much better," I accepted dejectedly.

"You're being nuts," Sirius teased me. He kissed my forehead before turning and flooing to the Ministry.

I knew that Sirius was probably right. More than likely, nothing was going to happen today – just because Halloween had been terrible in the past, didn't mean that this year was going to be terrible. Everyone was safe – Sirius, Harry, Hollyn, the Weasleys – and for the most part, everything had calmed down since the World Cup. I just couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen tonight.

I decided that I couldn't sit around the house alone all day, so I went in to the bedroom to change out of my pajamas. As I was pulling a sweatshirt out of Sirius's drawer, something fell out onto the floor. I crouched down to pick up the small black box, opening it up to find a beautiful diamond band sitting inside. I ran my finger over it, the diamonds sparkling in the sunlight pouring in from the large window above our bed. It perfectly matched my wedding band, I realized. I smiled to myself, clutching the box to my heart and appreciating how wonderful my husband is. If he wanted to surprise me, I was going to let him, I decided as I put the box back where I found it.

I was in a markedly better mood when I stepped in to the floo, after leaving a note for Sirius telling him that I was going to Ellie and Lewis's. I stepped out of the fireplace into their cozy living room. Ellie was sitting on the ground, baby Louisa drawing next to her and Maxwell flying around in the corner on a baby broom that Sirius had bought for Louisa's first birthday – keeping up with the traditional first birthday present.

"Aunt Addie!" Max shouted, jumping off of his broom and rushing in to my arms.

"Hello Maxie!" I laughed, spinning him around and taking in his gleeful giggles. I put him down and he ran back over to his broom. "Hi Ellie," I greeted her, kissing her cheek and bending down to ruffle Louisa's hair.

"Hey, Addie," Ellie said with a smile. "Not that we're not happy to have you here but uhhh…what are you doing here?"

"Sirius went in to the Ministry and I have had a terrible feeling all day that something is going to happen, so I decided to come here and see my favorite niece and nephew." I flopped down on the couch, spreading out comfortably on the smooth leather.

Louisa started making a fuss, so Ellie pulled her into her lap, coddling her. "What does the Ministry want with him?"

"Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement called him in."

"Amelia Bones?"

"Yeah. Know anything about her?" I asked. Bones must be Lewis's boss after all – I knew that Barty Crouch had been ousted a while ago, but Lewis never really talked about Bones. Things had been running really smoothly at work for him, plus he had been moved up in the department, dealing more with interdepartmental legal questions than with actual cases.

"She's pretty fair. Sirius must know her from his time as an Auror – she's been in the department forever," Ellie said. "Should we get some lunch? I'm starving."

"Yes!" I exclaimed. "Oh we should go to the Leaky – I feel like I haven't been out in ages. Oh! I have to tell you about what I found this morning!" I told her all about the ring, and she started throwing out theories about what it meant.

"Maybe he has to tell you that he had an affair with a dementor in Azkaban, and this is his way of apologizing to you!" She guessed wildly as we sat down at our table. I shook my head at her ridiculous theory, but that only encouraged her to keep making crazy guesses. We spent the afternoon making up stories and having a great time; before we knew it, it was nighttime and the kids were crying, clearly tired.

"Oops," Ellie said, downing the rest of her butterbeer. "I guess we kept the kids out too long…it's well past Louisa's bedtime."

I checked my watch, realizing that it was nearly 9PM. "Shit," I cursed. "We didn't leave a note for Sirius or Lewis. He's going to be pissed at me."

We gathered our stuff, Ellie carrying Louisa and me taking Max by the hand through the floo. Both Lewis and Sirius were sitting on the couch, glaring at the fireplace when we got out.

"Eliana Jones, do you know what time it is?" Lewis asked, pretending to be mad and stern. He got up and stalked over to Ellie, putting an arm around her waist and pulling her towards him, kissing her temple. He had broken and was grinning against her forehead now.

"Oh, shove off," Ellie giggled pushing his chest. "Here, take Max up and I'll tuck Louisa in. Will you two be here when we come back down? We can have a nightcap?"

"I think we have to go…" Sirius said with a significant look at Lewis. I looked at the two of them, confused. Now that I looked closer, while Lewis had been pretending to be upset, Sirius looked downright angry.

"All right," I said suspiciously. "Goodnight Lew, Ellie. Night kids!"

"Goodnight Aunt Addie and Uncle Sirius!" Max called back, while Louisa gurgled senselessly.

Sirius stepped in to the floo first, calling "The Three Broomsticks." As he disappeared, I looked at Lewis confused – why were we going to Hogsmeade and not home? Lewis shot me a look that clearly said he wasn't getting involved, so I decided to just follow Sirius and figure out what was going on.

"What's going on?" I asked after stepping out of the fireplace. He was shaking somewhat in anger standing waiting for me, and I was starting to feel almost afraid. "Are you angry with me because I was out late with Ellie?"

Sirius snapped his gaze to me, his brow furrowed in confusion. "What? Why would I be angry with you?" He asked, his tone gentle, but anger still evident on his face.

"Well I realized that we didn't leave a note when we went to the Leaky and we were gone way longer than I thought we'd be, I just didn't know if you were upset about that."

"Not at all," Sirius reassured me. "I would never be angry with you – you're allowed to do whatever you want to do."

"So what happened love?" His face darkened again as he recounted his story.

"Well I went to the Ministry and met with Amelia Bones. She's always been fair, a decent witch. She offered me my job back, as well as back pay for the years I was locked up. Told me that she was sorry for the way Crouch handled everything, and that she has been cleaning up his messes since he was ousted from the department."

"That's wonderful! At least someone at the Ministry has a good head on their shoulders," I interrupted him, latching on to his arm.

"Right, that was good – I accepted the job, by the way. Figured it's at least a way to keep my eye on things. Anyway, I was setting up my office, sorting through my files and stuff – did you know they actually held on to all of my stuff? I was there late, reminiscing and going through my stuff – I found a whole bunch of notes between James and I that I was rereading, when all of a sudden Ludo Bagman is walking through the office, gloating that Harry was chosen for the Triwizard Tournament."

"How is that possible?" My stomach dropped, knowing that this was the thing I had been dreading all day – this was what the bad feeling had been about. "How could this have happened?"

"I have no idea, but we are going to find out what the fuck is happening in this godforsaken school that Dumbledore is supposed to be protecting." Sirius was livid. He was marching down the path towards the castle, his hands stuffed in to his pockets and his eyes shining with anger.

"Okay, babe, let's both agree to keep calm." The look he shot me almost burned my eyebrows off, so I tried a different approach. "I'm just as angry with Dumbledore as you are, but Harry is probably already upset and scared. We can't add to that, okay?"

Sirius deliberated, muttering under her breath angrily. "Fine." He agreed. "But only while Harry is in the room. If he's not there, it's fair game. Agreed?"

"Agreed." I said. When we got to the gates, Sirius used the old Order trick and sent a patronous to Dumbledore, demanding a meeting with him. "What if he doesn't come?"

"He will." Sirius said shortly. Sirius was right; just a few short minutes later, we saw Minerva McGonagall coming down the hill to let us in to the gate.

"Mr. Black. Mrs. Black," she greeted us primly. Although she was trying to hide it, I could tell that she had been emotional before pulling herself together to come get us. "I'm sorry to see you under such…terrible circumstances."

"Us as well, Minerva," Sirius agreed. We began the trek up to the castle and Sirius asked Minerva what had happened.

"Well, the Cup worked as usual – picked a champion from Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, and Hogwarts. Then, just as we were all getting ready to head to bed, the Cup lit up again and Harry's name came out. I'm… so sorry. It's…terrible that this young man has been through so much already. He's lucky to have you two – he needs someone looking out for him. Merlin knows he needs all of the help that he can get." It was obvious that she was having a tough time expressing her emotions – Minerva wasn't known for wearing her heart on her sleeve.

"Thanks, Professor." I looked over at her, but her eyes were held firmly forward, pulling herself back together after her emotional outburst. "He's lucky to have you too."

"Fat lot of good it's done him," She sniffed. "Never in my life has a student of mine found themselves in so much danger. Not even you lot, and you gave me a run for my money."

"It's not your fault. Harry attracts the danger, not the other way around," Sirius consoled her. We had made it to the headmaster's office, and Sirius's eyes hardened. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we have an old man to go yell at."