Just some quick typo fixes :)

In the Light of The Dark

How to Raise Wolves

Chapter Twelve – Prophecies and Portraits

Amelia stalked through the ministry on a mission. Her face must have been a picture of the fury she was feeling inside, as several grey cloaks scurried out of her path as she stormed towards the lifts. Swatting a memo out of her face; she punched in her destination and the lift doors closed. It would seem that her temperament had scared all others away from boarding, as she was the only occupant of the cart as it started its descent towards the DoM.

Sirius's admittance of having not heard either of the Prophecies in full had left her ranting at him for at least an hour. Her insistence of him collecting both had left her with egg on her face, as Augusta shot down the idea with a scathing; 'Are you an idiot, not to see how him running into Dumbledore could spell disaster for the family?' She'd relented somewhat and informed them that she would collect both Prophecies herself after her shift had ended.

She'd been in a horrendous mood all day. Her team had barely interacted with her; knowing that she would chew them out for endless questions, and her boss had practically locked himself in his office, knowing that she wouldn't hesitate to chew him out for needless pestering. She knew that Barty was practically begging her to take his job, after the election, but taking her House seat had helped sow the seeds for her inclusion into the Caddington household. In all honesty, she'd been unsurprised when the head of the DMLE informed them that he was going to run for the Minister's spot, after Bagnold's retirement; but she conceded that he'd be a much better candidate than Fudge. The bumbling fool could barely fight his way out of a paper bag, much less take up the running of their government.

The lift shuddered to a stop and she took a deep breath before making her way towards the DoM offices. She needed to see Croaker; he was the only man in that department she knew that she could trust implicitly and that was the downside of taking her House seat. As the head of the DMLE, it would have given her complete access to certain parts of the DoM; the hall of Prophecies being one such area, but the benefits were still outweighing the negatives at the moment, so she pushed the thought to the back of her mind.

"You look like shit Ami." Was the man's greeting when she opened his office door after a smart knock. "Have you been in this mood all day?"

"I need to get into the H.O.P." Was her answer, ignoring her friend's, not so gentle ribbing. "I have two Prophecies to pick up."

"And, to who do these Prophecies pertain?"

"Harry Potter." She knew that it would be pointless and counter-productive to lie to the man in front of her, he'd just pick the truth straight out of her head if he thought he smelt bullshit. That was probably why she liked him so much, everything was either information or lies, and woe betide anyone who tried to sell him the latter. "There are two spheres in that hall, one referring to the events of Samhain, and one referring to Five children of power. I need both."

"You really are all business, aren't you?" He asked, getting up from his desk to pull down a large, moth eaten book. "And here's me thinking you came down here to see me." Her answer was a glare that had the corners of his mouth quirking into a smile. He opened the tome with a loud thump and ran his finger down the list of Prophecies, seemingly knowing what he was looking for, without having to probe her for more information. He paused half-way down the page and gave it two light taps as he hummed in thought. "The second one I can definitely help you with." He said, looking up and over his glasses at her. "The first however, may not be all it seems."

"How so?" He stared at her for a long minute before sighing and sitting back down into his chair. He gestured towards the visitor's chair for her to take a seat, and she did so, her previous mood melting away at the familiar surroundings of his dusty, book-lined and comfortable office. "We record all Prophecies thrice." He started. "You know this from your previous discussions with me. Once in the Hall's catalogue, once in the Head's office and once in that book." He pointed towards the huge manuscript which was still laying open on the end of his desk.

"Please get to the point." She answered with a sigh, rubbing her forehead as an ache flared behind her eyes.

"What many are unaware of, and what you did not learn from me if anyone were to ask; is that if there are irregularities with a sphere, it is recorded in my book, and in my book only."

"We already know that the Prophecy is a fake Croaker." She said grouchily. "That doesn't negate my need to retrieve it." Her friend's grey, bushy eyebrows had disappeared into his quite impressive hairline at that, and the usual twinkle in his amber eyes was back in full force.

"Well then!" He exclaimed happily, clapping his hands. "Let's go and get your Prophecies my child." He stood up and grabbed his cloak from the hook by the office door, as well as a spare visitor's cloak, which he passed to her. She put it on obediently, lifting the hood to cover her face, as per the rules of the DoM. She liked that about the Department; after being allowed access by an Unspeakable, you could walk around with impunity, and no one would be any the wiser of who you were, or what you were doing in the Halls. The cloaks shadowed your face, and most used whispers when transiting the halls, meaning that unless you made your presence known, you were practically indistinguishable. Only certain Unspeakables could tell their colleagues apart (Croaker was one of such a talent) and even then, it was usually not in their nature to point you out.

They left the little office and headed towards the double doors at the end of the corridor and she caught herself holding her breath as they stepped into the revolving room that made up the bulk of the DoM. It was unusually busy that afternoon, the doors were fixed in place, as dictated when there were several members of staff within the chambers, and a higher than usual number of black cloaks were bustling from one door to the next.

"They seem busy." She whispered to her colleague, who simply hummed in response as he steered them towards the Hall. She had always admired him for being able to tell the eight non-descript doors apart, and they always ended up in the place they needed to be, even though she couldn't always tell you how they had managed to get there. It was an odd part of the ministry, where neither time nor space seemed to make any sense, and where you left, often questioning reality. She loved it.

"I must remind you not to touch them." Croaker whispered to her as they stepped through the door to the Hall, and were greeted by the pale blue light of the ever-burning torches. "Only I may lift them down for you." She nodded and followed him through the rows and rows of faintly glowing orbs. She marvelled at them, as she had done twice before when visiting for a case, and her respect for the man in front of her grew. Croaker knew these shelves like the back of his hand, always knowing instinctively where he needed to go, and she found herself wondering if he spent his free time down here, reading the tags of the shelves. "There are far too many for that." He whispered, picking the thought from her head with an ease which had first unnerved her. She had always assumed that he was a natural occlumens and he'd never denied it, leading her to believe as such. "But my considerable number of years, and my quite ingenious logging system makes them easy to navigate if you know what you are looking for. Now here we are." They turned into a row and he walked a little way down before grabbing a pair of sliding steps and pulling them towards where she was standing, near the end. He pulled down a smaller than expected orb and passed it to her carefully, watching as she tucked it into the bag which she had brought for this very purpose.

Once the first orb was secure, they set off again through the stacks; much further into the hall, until she could no longer see the entrance.

"The whispers of the Five span way back before my time here." He whispered to her. "This particular orb is one of only a few that hasn't dulled with the years, in fact, it has started getting brighter and bigger as of late, which tells me that the Prophecy in question is becoming more active." It was her turn to hum in response and he chuckled at her opacity. "I will respect your privacy on the matter my child, but the word of this particular orb's collection will not stay silent for long. I am one of three keepers of the Hall, and we check these particular orbs almost daily. Its collection will spread."

"Nothing escapes this Department Saul." She replied candidly. "As long as I'm not hearing about it in my coffee break, I do not mind that it becomes common knowledge down here. You are looking busier than usual, and with the death of Harry Potter and the disappearance of the Dark Lord, your colleagues have much more on your plates than the collection of an old Prophecy."

"Your naivety charms me Amelia. I have been here almost a century, looking after this Hall and its contents. Of all of my duties, it has got to be the most important part of my job. Believe me when I say that the collection of this orb is the most exciting thing to happen to this Department in at least a century and a half. How many orbs do you think are created each year?"

"A couple of dozen?" She answered with a shrug. "Thirty?"

"In the last three years we've seen on average; the creation of almost one hundred Prophecies. That has to be the highest count on record, and we have put it down to the war, and the fact that magic is becoming more unstable. In the last year alone we've seen the creation of thirty-five new orbs, which is the highest count for a single twelve-month period in our history." He stopped them both before a series of dusty, wooden shelves. They had clearly entered the part of the Hall which most didn't see; the part where the Prophecies were over a century old. The roof was lower here, creating an almost cave like appearance compared to the rest of the hall, and the shelves were low, rotting and covered with cobwebs and dust. The place was littered with cracked, dull and dusty orbs, most of them grey, or barely glowing, and one particular sphere had turned black, causing Croaker to pluck it from the shelf, almost absentmindedly and drop it into his pocket. "When these Prophecies were spoken into being, the hall was lucky to see five of these things a year. On average we see that number of spheres collected from the main hall. We haven't seen a collection from this section in over two decades and the number of dead Prophecies has been only growing in number." He gestured to his pocket and the black orb he'd plucked from the shelf.

They set off again through the low shelves until they came to one of the biggest bloody spheres, she'd laid eyes on that day. The orb was glowing brightly, and she thought she could see faces through the mist swirling in it.

"Pay no mind to its size." He said, catching her horror. "It just demonstrates how many of those with the gift have Seen it."

"That doesn't make me feel any better, surprisingly." She replied dryly. He chuckled at her and lifted the orb off of its pedestal, needing two hands to carefully balance the quaffle-sized sphere. She opened her second bag and felt the weight of the orb on her shoulder as Croaker carefully placed it inside.

"It will be safe for you to handle when we leave the Hall, but only those to who it pertains will be able to activate it." She nodded and the pair of them made their way back through the shelves, arriving at the door much sooner than she'd anticipated. It seemed like no time at all had passed until they were sitting back down in his office, sipping mugs of tea, and she was once again left questioning the schematics of reality.

O_o_O_o_O

Arcturus and Melania greeted Remus warmly as they stepped through the Floo, and he soon found himself playing host once more, to the Lady Black when Sirius pulled his grandfather to one side. He made sure to take the long way around to the family lounge, picking up a commentary of the changes they had made to the manor in the week that they had been there.

It had been four days since they had all pledged themselves to his Mate, and in that time the Grangers, Tonkses and Amelia had all successfully moved in (with much help from the house elves of course). Amelia had brought a single elf with her from the Ossuary, and Remus remembered Flip's relief to find that it wasn't the 'disrespectful' Rot, but a female nanny elf by the name of Morana, who had to that point been helping Amelia raise Susan.

"I am to believe that Narcissa and Lucius are joining us tonight." Melania said serenely; cutting off his explanation of how they had been able to move some of the landscapes from the library to the main part of the house.

"They're already here." Remus replied, stopping them at the end of one of the many corridors that linked the rooms together. "They arrived over an hour ago, and there have been no problems other than Narcissa's light ribbing of her cousin. It is Sirius's intention to move them into the manor in the future, we are having to learn to adapt to each other's presence, and we do so, knowing that it will ultimately benefit the kids. They are our main priority here, and Draco is one of our future wards. We are trying to build a good, solid foundation for them, and if Andromeda can have no problems with her sister, then why should we?"

"Well said Remus." The Lady replied, eyeing him in respect after his not-so-short, defensive rant. "I meant to merely inquire on whether you'd told the elves of Lucius's aversion to fish though, I wasn't questioning what your intentions were." His light blush gained a soft laugh from his companion and he called on Peachy to inform her of the last minute changes to dinner.

"Peachy bes knowing this from Flip anyways Master Moons. We bes having everything in hand for Master Argus." She popped away to more delicate laughter from Melania.

"We can't get our elves to call him anything but Peacock either." She explained. "I believe he takes it all in his stride." She took his arm and they continued their way through the manor, reaching the lounge just behind her husband and Sirius.

"We wondered where you had disappeared to." Sirius greeted with a lopsided grin.

"Your mate was giving me a wonderful view of the changes he's been making to the manor. I must say that the Turner landscape of my mother's looks much better in the drawing room than it did in the Library. I never liked the fact that the wall in there was full of those landscapes. I've often thought that the portraits would be much better served in there." Melania replied with a smile, kissing Sirius on the cheek as she went to join her husband. "Are we all ready to hear some Prophecies then?" Sirius nodded and joined his mate in leading his grandparents into the already full family lounge. Narcissa, Alice and Augusta were occupying one of the settees, seemingly deep in discussion, Frank, Dan and Ted were on another, whilst Emma, Andi and Amelia were keeping the five youngest children company on the large, soft rug.

"Where's Lucius?" Was the first thing out of Sirius's mouth as he surveyed the room.

"He's taken Nym up to the bathroom." Andi replied, waving off her cousin's obvious concern. "She was adamant that her new Uncle Lucy was going with her."

"That's going to stick." Remus muttered to Melania who promptly burst into giggles again. He patted himself on the back for having relieved the growing tension in the room, after his mate's blunt question, and took her arm, leading her over to the ladies on the far settee. She joined them with a thankful nod to him, getting her greetings out of the way before launching herself into a conversation about some recent research she'd undertaken into the Longbottom name. By the time he'd turned to leave them Arcturus had joined the men on the other settee and he and Sirius were beginning to look like spare pricks at a wedding. He knelt down onto the rug with Amelia, Emma and Andi, leaving his mate to glare at him and take the armchair closest to the rest of the men.

"How are you holding up?" Amelia asked, bouncing Harrison on her knee.

"We're okay." He replied softly. "We had a feeling something larger was happening, this prophecy doesn't change that."

"I'm a nervous wreck." She admitted, glancing towards Susan. "I scared everyone off yesterday when I went to collect the bloody thing. It's lucky that Croaker is made of stronger stuff than my Aurors, I was in a right mood all day."

"You always give them hell." Remus said with a grin. "What's new?" She glared at him, poisonously and he chuckled at her expression. "Whatever happens tonight, we're all in this together. I don't know what that thing is going to say, but I've been doing some research into the Black and Bones lines. Your last Black relative was almost four generations ago. Your great-great-grandfather's sister married the only son of Elladora Black and an unnamed male of the Prince line. The last direct descendent of them would probably be Severus Snape, and I don't think we have to worry about him being mentioned in this thing. Apart from that, I cannot find a direct Black descendant for Susan. I think she's safe."

"That makes me feel somewhat better, but the thought of any of the little ones being in danger upsets me enough for me to be scornful of this bloody thing's existence."

"I know. But remember we're all here to help them. That's why we're so grateful for you moving in."

"It was the least I could do for Susan and for you and Sirius. I can't imagine what you two must be going through right now. To know that you will end up having all of these Five children as your wards, and knowing they will be put in danger must be chewing on your insides."

"We're doing alright, all things considered. I know that Sirius has calmed somewhat since the other night. Letting him know that our support was always going to be there, and be unwavering has humbled him to the fact that he doesn't have to do this alone."

"There are many things that you can describe Sirius as Remus." Andi piped in from where she was helping Athena and Neville stack blocks up for Susan to knock them down. "But humble is certainly not one of them." That drew a laugh from Emma and subsequently Athena, and before they knew it, they had five laughing children on their hands as they tried to rein in their own hilarity.

O_o_O_o_O

'The One with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…'

"So, we know that the version you gave to me last month was the complete and unabridged version." Arcturus said once the voice died from the sphere. "I had wondered if there was more."

"So did we." Sirius replied, his voice steady. "If we'd known that it was the whole thing, we wouldn't have asked Amelia to risk collecting it."

"You didn't ask." She muttered. "I insisted because both of you are knuckleheads."

"Now, children let's not argue." Melania piped in with a sing-song voice. "At least we know that our intelligence is correct. I suggest we take a listen to the second orb before making any judgements on whether the trip was necessary." Remus nodded and took the larger orb out of its bag, placing it on a stand on the floor. Four of the five younger children looked at it with huge eyes, before turning to each other and babbling away angrily. It didn't seem to matter how much coaxing the adults tried, none of the four were ready to put their hands anywhere near the thing.

"Perhaps it requires all five of them?" Narcissa said after ten minutes of angry shouting from the kids. "We should start to look into the identity of the last child before picking this back up." Sirius groaned and dropped his head into his hands.

"Why can't anything just be simple?" He asked in a despairing voice.

"Because it's your spawn we're dealing with." Lucius sneered from the back of the room.

"Behave Lucius." Narcissa rebuked. "Draco is as much a part of this as Harrison is. This isn't Cousin Sirius's fault."

"That makes a change."

"I said behave!" She snapped sharply at her husband, the temperature in the room dropping at least a few degrees; despite the fire.

"At least we know who wears the robes in your marriage." Ted said with a snort, earning him a glare from his own wife. "I'm kidding." He responded, holding his hands up.

"Curse the ferociousness of the Black women." Lucius muttered to him lowly, before both of them cracked up, much to the disapproval of their wives.

"As entertaining as it might be to watch your wives disembowel the pair of you; we're here for a reason gentlemen." Arcturus rebuked. "Please try to focus."

"Yes, My Lord." The two men responded in unison, glancing at each other as they did so.

"So, what happens now?" Emma asked softly.

"We will have to park this discussion until we've located the last of the Five." Remus replied. "I'll start looking into it, first thing in the morning."

"If you would permit us to stay the night, I can help you with that." Melania replied. "I know this library better than I know the one at the Black Manor. I'll be able to find you the family grimoires in less than half an hour."

"You are welcome here any time." Sirius replied quickly. "There's a spare room on the third floor, next to the library on the left. It's the one just down from Augusta."

"Then I think we better bench this discussion until the morning." Arcturus replied. Remus internally winced at what he knew had to leave his mouth next, but he couldn't in best faith leave the Malfoys out of the discussion. He just hoped his mate and the Longbottoms would forgive him.

"There are quite a few spare rooms, if you would also like to stay the night." He said, addressing Narcissa, rather than her husband, as Black family custom dictated. "We can have one of the elves get one ready for you if you wish."

"As tempting as that offer is, I'm not sure the rest of your household are ready to experience my husband's early morning temperament." Narcissa replied graciously. "Thank you for making it however, and we will definitely take you up on your offer of hospitality at a later time." Remus dipped his head in acknowledgement of her refusal, pleased to catch Arcturus nodding his approval at him as he turned to glance at his mate. Sirius looked resigned more than angry, Augusta seemed a mixture of pleased and proud and Frank looked as though he'd swallowed a wasp. At least they didn't seem angry.

O_o_O_o_O

"Couldn't sleep?" Alice asked, shuffling into the library in her dressing gown and slippers. Remus shook his head, turning the page in the manuscript on his lap. Harry was next to him, curled into his side and his thumb in his mouth, looking completely at peace, and the picture of innocence. "Me neither." The young woman replied, dropping down onto the armchair opposite, Neville balanced on her shoulder.

"Has he been grouchy?" Remus asked; looking up at her, noticing the boy for the first time.

"Ever since we showed them all that bloody sphere." She replied with a groan. "He's been babbling away to himself all night, and a little tantrum just before bed caused quite the light show."

"Harry's been the same."

"So has Athena if the screaming from Emma and Dan's earlier is anything to go by. I believe Andi had to intervene."

"At least Lucius and Narcissa will be suffering as well then." Remus said with a grin. "I could quite believe it when Narcissa told me that Draco can be grouchy at the best of times. I expected a rebuttal from Frank earlier when I offered them a room for the night."

"Frank knows that they will eventually move in. I believe if you ask him what changed his attitude, you'll end up with some made up crap about doing it for the kids. It took me a single evening and a rather nasty hex before daddy learnt his lesson."

"Dear Circe that's more information than I ever wanted Alice!" Remus almost shrieked, being mindful of the two slumbering boys. "Keep your dirty games to the bedroom!" She fell about laughing at the huge blush spread across his cheeks and he realised that he'd been had by the young woman in front of him. The confirmation that they were safe had breathed some life back into the Longbottoms and Alice had been practically glowing with happiness for the last few days.

"You should see your face." She choked out before falling about in another bout of hysterics.

"I now fully believe what Lily used to say about you." He grouched. "You are a menace in your own right. The spawn of Morgana. The bane of mankind. The curse of Hogwarts. The list could go on all night." Alice wiped her tears of laughter away and stood up from her chair, lifting Neville back into her arms.

"I'm going to warm some milk." She said, dumbing the boy onto the settee, next to Harrison before smacking a kiss on his cheek. "Watch the children for me and I'll get you a mug." He watched her go, a scowl on his face, but his heart a little lighter than it had been three hours ago. Maybe he could believe that they could all get through this together.

O_o_O_o_O

Minerva sighed as she sipped her whisky and flicked through a bunch of essays. The nights were growing ever colder in the castle, and even with her fire lit, and a knitted shawl around her shoulders, the chill had started to set in her bones. Perhaps she was getting too old for this game. Perhaps the events of the last few weeks were telling her that it was time for her to retire. Perhaps it was the whisky going to her head, despite the fact that she'd been nursing a single glass for the past three hours. A knock on her chamber door startled her out of her musings and she checked her pocket watch; growling to see that it was almost midnight. If this was a student, she was going to be handing out detentions until Christmas.

"Good evening Minerva."

"Filius." Her shock must have showed on her face because her friend chuckled at her obvious shock.

"May I come in?"

"Of course, please excuse me, I was just grading papers."

"Sir Wallace told me you were still up." Her friend said, nodding towards the portrait above her fireplace as they took a seat on the settee. The medieval knight looked somewhat abashed at that and he bowed his head towards the pair.

"Forgive me, my Lady." He said. "Sir Marshal requested to know if Master Flitwick was able to contact you." Minerva nodded at the portrait and turned to her colleague.

"What couldn't wait until morning?" She asked, summoning a bottle of whisky and pouring her friend a measure.

"It is a delicate subject." Filius started, shifting nervously.

"Out with it Filius before I decide to go to bed." The scot snarked, her patience at its end.

"I just wanted to know how you were dealing after the news of the Potter boy." He replied quietly but kindly. "I know you were worried for the lad, and I can't even begin to imagine how you must be feeling." She froze at that. In the midst of the news coming from Caddington, and the fact that she was currently managing the situation with Dumbledore, she'd forgotten that she was supposed to grieving for a boy she knew was still alive. "So, he's not dead then." Filius said, when she'd taken too long to answer his question. "I suspected as such. You really don't make a very good actor." She got up from the settee and made her way over to stare into the fire. Of course, he'd known that something was going on. He was as astute as she was, how could she have been so stupid?

"Sirius Black has him." She said stonily, after a good long silence. "And, if I hear that bandied around the corridors you can believe that I will put your duelling record to the test." She glared at him with what she hoped was fire in her eyes. "That boy is not safe in the hands of Dumbledore, and if Albus were to ever find out that he is still alive, it would most certainly end in that boy's death."

"So your hatred for our Headmaster is real." He said casually, swirling his drink around in its glass. "I'm pretty sure that most of the student body is talking about the looks you keep throwing him at the breakfast table. You really must start being careful Minnie. No one will hear anything form me, and I shan't bring this matter up again but I strongly advise you to watch your actions." He downed the whisky and got to his feet. "Goodnight Minnie, I'll see you at breakfast." He placed the glass on the coffee table and made to leave.

"Filius." He turned to see his friend with tears in her eyes, looking like she'd aged a decade. "Thank you." He nodded and slipped through the portrait, making his way back to his quarters, unaware of the dark eyes that followed his departure.

O_o_O_o_O

"There you are." Alice said, passing him a mug filled with frothy, warm milk. "The elves told me you take it with honey, I hope that's okay." He nodded and took a sip, groaning at the comforting sweetness.

"I needed to ask you something." She said, wrapping her hands around her own mug and leaning forwards in her seat.

"Of course."

"I know that there are things Sirius hasn't told us, and I get why that is but…"

"Out with it Alice." Remus groaned. "I can't answer you if you're not going to ask."

"When Sirius was convincing Frank to move here, and join the family; he made a claim about the LeStranges…"

"They're in Azkaban." Remus said without a thought before pausing with a frown. "Wait, that's not right."

"No, it's not."

"But they were sentenced to fifteen years, they were arrested at the Arboretum."

"Then how are they, and Barty Crouch Jr, in the cells at Black manor? How come none of us can remember a trial? How come Amelia hasn't mentioned it? Surely if they had been arrested, Crouch Sr wouldn't be in the political position he is now."

"I know what you're getting at Alice." Remus said, a frown still on his face. "And I know that your reasoning is logical and true. But I remember Sirius telling me the same thing, a few nights after you arrived in Oxford."

"I thought it seemed odd that we'd not heard it from another source, but I put it down to it getting lost in all the news coming out of the Ministry, and the fact that we were stuck in Oxford for so long. But then last week when Madame Black appeared, it all came rushing back to me. Frank told me of the discussions he'd had with Sirius, and the fact that the four of them had been arrested, and I pushed it out of my mind."

"So did I..." The man admitted. "I'll ask him again in the morning. I'm fairly certain he wasn't lying when he told Frank that. He isn't the sort to lie to get what he wants. In fact, I'm not sure whether he's actually able to tell a convincing lie."

"Frank hasn't said anything yet, so I'm pretty sure he hasn't worked it out either. But then, Augusta was also in that meeting, and she's not one to miss anything."

"Something is definitely going on." Remus agreed. "If Sirius can't tell me what's wrong, I'll ask Lady Black."

"She seems fond of you."

"I'm just glad they're accepting of me." He muttered. "Arcturus knew from the outset that I was a wolf, I'm just glad that he's agreeable to my match with Sirius."

"What's become of that?" Alice asked. "I fail to believe that he hasn't had a discussion with Sirius about a formal courtship between the pair of you."

"He has. The lucky thing for us at the moment is that we are well out of the public's eye. In regards to the family side of things we are officially courting, with an engagement ring to come as soon as we step into society."

"Not even engaged and you already have a son." Alice said with a grin as she sat back into her armchair, the subject of the LeStranges dropped for the time being. "Now what a scandal that will make." Remus groaned, much to quiet laughing from Alice. His eyes turned to the now sleeping pair of boys at his side and decided that he wouldn't have things any other way. They were going to get through this as a family, for their children and for the future of their world.