Hello! Early post today and really long one, but I couldn't wait to get it out. Besides, I figured I owe you a couple of early posts.

I'm missing a Beta now, if anyone feels up to it? Just send me a message with mistakes you find, and I'll correct them quickly.

Anyway... thanks as usual so much for reviewing, Guest, Blue Luver5000, elyjayne, MyNightWish, creelluka, another Guest, lizy2000 , Senyuu and Cae-Leigh Anne! I love reviews, who doesn't?

Around about now, there's going to be a lot more James/Regulus without Emma, so hope you don't mind that!

Emma had pondered the Dark Lord's words all the way back from Hogsmeade. It felt like a load had been lifted, her mind free of the shadow of her father's opinions. She had proof now, that Charles was wrong. She hadn't realised how much weight his words had carried until now.

She chatted and laughed with Lucinda and Helen, promising to sit around the fire and gorge herself on sweets like the good old days in third year. After all, this was the last year they could do so. She had a feeling that sweets wouldn't be at the top of her to-do list upon graduating.

When she got back, she found her fellow Death Eaters hanging around in the Great Hall, seemingly killing time before the evening meal. In reality, she knew that they would have carried the Dark Lord's words to heart, devising a plan with which to separate the student body and identify the threat. It wouldn't be all too different from recruiting fellow Slytherins to their cause, though they would have to proceed with more caution. After all, only Slytherins would keep the secret to heart.

Emma could only imagine what a Gryffindor would do with the information, especially a hot-head like Marlene McKinnon.

'Emma,' Rabastan called her over, waving an arm.

As if she hadn't noticed them already. There were only two or three groups in the Great Hall, though technically it should be used as a study hall. Rabastan's voice echoed throughout the room, sending a ripple across the enchanted ceiling. Emma glanced up – it looked as though they'd be in for a storm that night.

'We've made a list of possible suspects, seventeen and over who could have already joined up,' Alecto said almost as soon as Emma sat down. She motioned towards several rolls of parchment. 'There's no point in checking the lower years; by the time they're old enough to do any damage the fight will already be over.'

Emma gave a short nod, slipping into the role of Quidditch Captain without even realising it. She scanned the shortest list.

Sirius Black – known sympathiser

Marlene McKinnon – grounds for action

Mary McDonald – Mudblood

Lily Evans – Mudblood

James Potter – known associate of Sirius Black

Remus Lupin – known associate of Sirius Black

Peter Pettigrew – known associate of Sirius Black

'These are all Gryffindor seventh years,' Emma said, looking up at Alecto.

'They're the most likely candidates,' the redhead replied with a shrug.

Emma forced her bubbling annoyance to recede into the depth of her stomach. She wouldn't protect James by being defensive, instead she'd use cool cunning – the way a true Slytherin would. Knowing that she would never be able to pull off Regulus's impenetrable mask, she adopted a frown of concentration.

'We can cross Lily off already,' she said, picking up the quill and drawing a line through the name. 'The Dark Lord has informed me that her lineage is in fact pure.'

'I knew you would try to... wait, what?' Alecto had already taken a defensive magic stance in preparation of Emma's anger. Instead, she was at a loss for words. Emma took the opportunity to plough on.

'The others will be investigated, of course, other than Sirius Black, who will have to be monitored. Rabastan and I will take care of that. Regulus, you find out anything you can in the rumour mill. Alecto, I trust you'll find a way to dissuade the younger students from joining, especially the Ravenclaws who will calculate which side they would gain the most from joining,' Emma paused, glancing at a second sheet of parchment. 'Quirrel seems like a good start. "Interest in Defensive Theories of the Dark Arts", however no one knows the reason behind it.'

'He's been bullied for a while,' Regulus chimed in. 'We should inform him of the practical uses of the Dark Arts in these situations. I'm sure Barty would love to help out, he's in his year.'

'Good,' Emma nodded. 'As for -'

'Wait a minute,' Alecto cut through, impatience bleeding into her tone. 'You can't investigate your brother. You're too close. Besides, who gave you the right to commandeer this operation?'

'I'd rather like to know that too,' Rabastan leant back into his seat, folding his arms.

'I was going to suggest that Rabastan investigate James,' Emma smiled sweetly at her former best friend. 'I'll take on Remus, as most of the younger Slytherins now believe I have a crush on him, by no small means thanks to you.'

She took a moment to glare at Rabastan, who in turn looked unapologetic. Savouring this petty victory, Emma felt a smirk creep across her face as she said her next words.

'As for who gave me the right? Why, my dear Alecto, Voldemort himself.'

Emma was positively radiating with excitement for the next couple of weeks, planning strategies and calculating possible opponent weaknesses along with Rabastan. By contrast, Regulus seemed even more reserved than usual.

Usually, Emma didn't mind his taciturn ways, but she had begun to feel like the silence was awkward. She couldn't read him the way she was used to, becoming shy whenever he glanced her way. Try as she may to curse her stupidity out of her brain, she couldn't help it. As a result, she spent most of her time avoiding his gaze, all the while staring at him from a safe distance, trying to puzzle him out.

'Emma! Hello?'

Rabastan shot a Stinging Hex at her.

'Ouch!' Emma exclaimed, rubbing at her arm. 'What was that for?'

'You weren't listening,' Rabastan shrugged. 'What was I supposed to do?'

When no response was forthcoming, he carried on.

'You haven't scheduled a Quidditch practice in ages, and the first match is coming up. Maybe we should spend more time on that and less on a wild goose hunt for Order of the Birds members.'

Emma's shoulders sagged a little. As far as they could tell, there wasn't a way to see how these potential members were all meeting up. She was certain Sirius was a part of it, but even camping outside the Gryffindor dormitories with the Cloak every night had yet to yield results.

Alecto had taken the plan a little excessively to heart, and the rumour mill of Dark Arts being practiced at Hogwarts had started up again. Emma had thought that they were finished with that along with Avery, but it seemed like Alecto had thrown caution to the winds.

That's not fair, she chided herself. She couldn't let her personal feelings cloud her judgement. Their broken friendship had been grudgingly patched up again, but both girls knew that there was now a gulf between them. I just can't trust her.

While it was true that most Slytherins had a slightly scary side to them – their willingness to do whatever it takes rivalled almost the bull-headed Gryffindors – it was usually kept under control. Rabastan, for example, whilst unabashed at using the darker side of magic, had managed to devote the maniacal side of his personality to hunting the Dark Lord's opponents during the holidays. At school, he kept it to pranks and their new project.

Alecto, on the other hand, seemed to have developed a taste for ruthlessness to the point where she was disappointed if the student joined their side. As Regulus had suspected, Barty had managed to cheerily point Quirrel from Ravenclaw to a stack of books on the milder side of the Dark Arts. After that, it was only a matter of inserting a few... more interesting... volumes into the pile.

Barty himself had proved to be a great asset, using his powers of imitation to almost creepy levels. Emma was sure that the Dark Lord would induct him for his seventeenth birthday. It helped that it would be a slap in the face to Barty's father, the Head Auror. Somehow, Barty Crouch Sr. seemed to be one step ahead of them all the time, managing to capture or kill no less than ten Death Eaters and ruin countless of the Dark Lord's plans.

'Emma!' Rabastan said in exasperation. 'You're doing it again.'

'I haven't forgotten,' Emma replied. 'I'm just thinking. Why don't we give it a rest for now, then, pick it up at the weekend? I'll schedule a practice for Friday evening, which should give us plenty of time to think of a new strategy.'

Rabastan harrumphed, clearly not satisfied, but knowing that he wouldn't get a better answer from her. He rolled up the scrolls, placing a different warding charm on each one. Try as they might, they hadn't been able to replicate the security of James's Marauders' Map. That had been one thing Emma hadn't been willing to steal from her brother. Leave him some security, she thought. Just in case.

She wondered if Lily Evans had noticed the change in Slytherin behaviour towards her.

'Aren't you going to tell him then?' Rabastan was asking.

Emma followed his line of sight. Merlin's beard, just what I needed. Rabastan had caught her staring at Regulus – the one time she had actually been thinking about something else.

'Tell him what?' she asked, as coolly as possible.

'That you need to patrol, of course,' Rabastan replied, stretching like a cat. He nodded towards their fellow seventh year. 'Unless you think staring at him will make him remember.'

Emma rolled her eyes, secretly glad that he hadn't guessed at some ulterior motive. Why would he? a rational voice asked in her mind. You've been friends with Regulus for years, it's not like Bast's going to know that something has changed.

Soothed by the thought, Emma stood up, but not before she caught Rabastan winking at her from the corner of her eye. She cocked her head in puzzlement, but he only laughed and sauntered off to tease Lucinda. Still wondering about his behaviour, she made her way to the fireplace. As Rabastan had guessed, Regulus was deep in thought, his eyes watering from staring into the flames. A small frown creased his brow, and Emma wondered what he was thinking about that would break his stony expression.

'Regulus,' she said.

He started.

'We're patrolling tonight, remember?' the words seemed to come out awkwardly, forced.

If he noticed anything, he didn't show it and they left the toasty dungeons behind to scour the castle.

They hadn't got far before Emma felt the need to break the silence. It felt ominous, constraining instead of companionable.

'So, did you find anything out about McKinnon? Does she want revenge against what the Dark Lord did to her father?'

At first, Regulus didn't reply. It was a change from Rabastan's near constant chatter. Unexpectedly, he bit the side of his lip, clearly unhappy.

'Do you mind just not talking about that cursed mission for two hours, please?' he asked, his voice strained.

'Oh,' Emma said, blinking in surprise. 'Um... sure.'

They carried on for a little while, Emma not daring to broach another topic of discussion.

'Do you really think Lily's an orphaned Pureblood?' Regulus asked, as they climbed the stairs from the Entrance Hall.

'I don't know,' Emma replied honestly. 'But why would the Dark Lord lie about it? Why wouldn't he just tell us what everyone else does, that she's a fluke or that she's stolen her power?'

'Do you believe that?' Regulus challenged.

'Of course not,' Emma scoffed. 'But it would explain a lot. Why, what's changed for you to ignore everything you believed in up until now?'

Including me, her mind added pathetically.

'Do you really need to ask?' Regulus asked unhappily.

'I do, actually,' Emma replied. 'I feel like I can't understand you anymore. When my mother died, you didn't let me blame myself, or our cause. You did nothing wrong, Regulus, it was all Sirius's fault.'

'Sirius wasn't the one to turn the wand on my father,' Regulus replied in a low voice.

Emma didn't know how to reply to that. Short of telling Regulus that his mother was a complete psycho and that Bellatrix was too, she couldn't say anything. She felt that it would be inadvisable to say even that, since it would be implying that Regulus possessed the blood of the maniacs, too. She was saved by his next words.

'The thing I don't understand is... why did the Dark Lord kill him? My father was always a strong supporter. He's forgiven things in the past, so what made him so mad that time?' Regulus said the words slowly, ponderously, as though he had been turning them in his mind for a while. 'Why did the mention of blood anger him, when blood is what we fight for?'

Emma tentatively took his hand, feeling guilty for the rush of pleasure it brought her to feel his warmth again.

'Regulus,' she said gently, concern written in her eyes. 'What the Dark Lord did... Well, it seems like he was trying to put your father out of his misery. Allow him a peaceful death. No one could survive that amount of torture.'

Regulus set his jaw, as though he wanted to argue, but said nothing, instead entwining his fingers with her own. She willed her strength to flow through the link, feeling helpless. So that's what has been on his mind all this time? An explanation?

Remembering her guilt in her own mother's death, she decided that it wasn't up to her to judge his grief. She would speak to Lily on Monday, find out about the adoption. Surely Lily would know by now. She couldn't remember James saying anything about it, but then again, she hadn't exactly paid attention to her brother recently.

Regulus still hadn't let go of her hand, and she was unwilling to break the contact first. Involuntarily, she squeezed his palm, an instinctive act of reassurance. Sneaking a peak at him through her lashes, she couldn't help but wonder what he thought of her now. Had she disappointed him in reminding him of the truth? Did he feel just as strange as she did now, to be holding hands? Surely he knew by now about her aversion to contact. Did he just think that she had replaced James with Regulus, in a brotherly way?

A blush rose to her cheeks as she scrunched up her nose in disgust. Surely Regulus knew that she would never have done... that... with James. She suppressed a shudder of horror at the thought, trying to banish it from her mind.

The movement alerted Regulus, who quickly slid his hand out of her grasp in embarrassment.

'Sorry,' he mumbled.

The trouble was, Emma didn't know what he was apologising for.

They were patrolling the second floor corridors when – against all odds – James came careening towards them, a wild look in his eyes. His hair was even messier than usual, his robes haphazardly thrown on.

'James!' Emma exclaimed.

'No time to stop Ems!' he called, rushing past them. 'It's a matter of life and death.'

Regulus raised an eyebrow, cool as a cucumber. Emma supposed that she shouldn't be that surprised, since her brother was a renowned prankster. But there was something different this time. Emma still knew her brother enough to know that something was very, very, wrong.

A blood-curdling howl interrupted whatever Regulus was going to say.

'The full moon,' Emma breathed, connecting the dots. 'James, what have you done?'

The two Prefects rushed after her twin, catching up with him in the Entrance Hall. James had stopped, panting. He looked as though he had raced all the way down from the Gryffindor tower.

Emma wasted no time in bombarding her brother with questions.

'James! Tell me what's happening. You're not seriously thinking of going out there alone are you?' she asked, but stared hard at him, trying to convey the rest of the message: Not without Sirius and Peter to help you.

'It's Sirius. He's really messed up this time, but I can't stop. Much as I hate the git, he can't get eaten.'

The girl frowned. That wasn't the response she had been expecting. Regulus, though, hadn't a clue about the situation at hand. He had only understood one thing, and that made his blood run cold.

'Where is he?' he asked. Anger flashed across his face, only to be unseated by worry. The two emotions warred across his features, showing the inner conflict.

'In the... Gryffindor Tower,' James wheezed, but before he could say anything else Regulus had set off back up the staircase. Emma turned to go after him, but James caught her arm. 'It's not... Sirius. It's Sirius's fault. He... told Snape... to go and see what was beneath the Whomping Willow... on the full moon.'

'What was beneath the Whomping Willow,' Emma repeated, a horrified expression spreading across her face when comprehension dawned. 'Is that -'

'Yeah it's Moony. Stay here.'

'No, I'm coming to help you. Alone against a werewolf? Besides, with you, I trust Severus as far as I can spit: I'm not leaving your safety in his hands.'

'Emma, you can't! It's dangerous for humans!'

'There must be a teacher around somewhere,' Emma cast her eyes around, before noticing the silent plea on her brother's face.

He didn't want Remus to pay for Sirius's mistakes.

James kept his vicelike grip on her arm until a second howl tore through the night. His face whitened, and his attention was concentrated elsewhere. The pressure receded.

'Humans can't go out tonight,' he said faintly, his voice distorted. When his eyes rolled back into his head, Emma realised that he was going ahead with his plans.

'Well I'll just have to learn quickly then,' she retorted.

If I survive this, I'm going to kill that boy once and for all, she thought viciously, and concentrated harder than she ever had before. A stag appeared out of the corner of her eye, but she ignored it, trying to find the magic within her veins.

And then it happened. It was an odd sensation: she could actually feel the fur growing on her face, but it seemed like the room got larger rather than herself getting smaller. The senses all rushed to her at once: everything had turned to shades of grey, the area directly in front of her in sharper detail than she had ever seen before.

Disorientated, she concentrated on the one sense that overpowered the rest: The smell of fear on a teenage boy. She followed stag-James out of the door and padded down the steps on black paws. The motions came as naturally as walking – evidently, the hard part of the process was over.

To the great amusement of some part of her mind, she had a tail, which she could curl around herself like a fluffy red blanket. Instinctively, she sat down. The Great Hall was nice and warm, compared to the snowy exterior. Maybe she should stay. Why would she want to go somewhere danger was?

The stag stomped its foot down, we don't have much time! Her human mind regaining its senses, Emma trotted after her brother. She watched in admiration as James lowered his antlers, rushing through the branches of the Whomping Willow to press his hoof against the base of the tree.

It was easy to dart through the frozen branches after him, quizzically sniffing around the area James had pressed. Some sort of hidden button revealed itself, coated in magic. Meanwhile, James re-transfigured himself into a human – it wouldn't do to have Snivellus find out all of their secrets.

'Trust you to become a fox,' he said, patting her head. 'Stay here and keep a lookout. Bark if Moony comes out before we do: Sirius is smart enough to put two and two together. If we come out, stall the wolf until we reach the castle: he'll probably think you're some kind of cousin, but after that run. He's dangerous and don't forget it.'

A long while passed before James emerged again, dragging a pallid Snape through after him. Emma yawned, her tongue lolling over her canines, before she loped off into the woods – a real fox would have been scared away by humans. James was glad she had the sense to imitate one, at least.

'He's a werewolf!' Snape gasped, foxes the last thing on his mind. 'How could Dumbledore let a werewolf in? I'm going straight to the headmaster's; he has a right to know.'

James shot a worried glance towards where the fox was hiding in the shadows, but he couldn't risk letting go of Snape and having the whole school know. He hoped that Emma would know what to do when the time came. Besides, he was more at risk than she was right then.

Before the two boys had even reached the castle, a loud howl ripped through the grounds. James shook his head, wondering at the solidity of the Hogwarts walls. The howls were only audible when Moony was out and about, and even then only on the ground floor, perhaps the second if a window was open. He had no time to reflect, however, because it seemed like Remus had picked up on their trail. James picked up the pace – and this time he didn't have to drag Snivellus with him.

. A large humanoid wolf came sniffing out of the tunnel, turning its head this way and that before noticing the humans. It - he - let off another howl, and seemed prepared to leap in their direction, when the fox desperately nipped at its heels like a little terrier. She backed away, waiting for the werewolf to turn, and then bit it again, bounding off in the direction of the Forbidden Forest. Dear Merlin, I hope this works, she prayed silently, willing it to follow.

James breathed a sigh of relief when they entered the castle. Snape shook his arm free of James's grip and noticed to his disgust that Sirius Black was standing there too, along with his brother. Both Black brothers had their wands out, though James wasn't certain that was to do with the Snivellus situation.

'I'm telling the headmaster,' Snape said immediately.

Sirius opened his mouth, presumably to tell the Slytherin that Dumbledore already knew about Remus, but James shot him a look, talking over him loudly.

'Sirius can go with you,' he said. 'Regulus is a Prefect, so he should probably the both of you up.'

A cacophony of expressions crossed Snivellus's face, but he seemed to think the better of it. With a disdainful curl of the lip, he whirled around, cloak flapping about him like some kind of oversized bird as he stomped up the Entrance Hall steps.

Probably thinks he can get Sirius expelled too, James thought, turning to go back outside.

'Are you mad?' Regulus asked. 'You're going back out there?'

'Yup,' the Gryffindor replied, popping the "p".

Before Regulus could use his power as Prefect to stop him, he ventured back out into the dark outdoor world. Besides, I'm Head Boy, James thought with satisfaction. A Prefect can't boss me around.

He chuckled gleefully, and was rewarded with a cold gust of wind freezing his teeth. Immediately, his cheerful mood evaporated.

Where are you Emma? he thought, changing into a stag and rushing to the Whomping Willow. The tree had by this time reset itself, but the tracks were visible. The branches wouldn't erase them unless somebody came too close to the trunk. He could see neither sign nor sight of his sister or Moony, but he recognised the werewolf tracks leading towards the forest.

His hooves thundered through the thicket, his antlers removing twigs and branches from the vicinity of his face. He didn't stop until he found them, playing some sort of cat-and-mouse game. He joined in, head-butting Moony gently, and soon the werewolf had calmed down to his usual self on their nightly escapades. Only the scent of human blood had the werewolf enraged. As long as Moony was well-fed before he turned, he was as docile as a puppy.

Perhaps not the best metaphor, James, he thought, remembering the days when Padfoot was like a puppy. Even the memory of his friend's boundless energy made him feel tired to the bone.

Still, the twins stayed with Remus until he started to transform back, at which point James led his sister out to the Quidditch shack. It was the twilight moment before the first rays of sun hit the horizon. James never ceased to wonder at the way the half-light transformed the forest. He quickly switched to human, only to realise that the fox was looking at him bemusedly.

He realised that it had been Emma's first transformation and coached her on how to turn back: it was the easiest part of becoming an Animagus.

She didn't look like she had been hurt apart from a couple of scrapes and bruises, but she did look exhausted. He could admit that he was used to missing out on sleep once a month, but he knew that this wasn't just from last night. In the morning light, he could see the huge dark circles in her eyes, standing against a too-pale complexion. One, he realised, he was all too used to seeing in the Slytherins recently.

'Are you alright?' he asked, worriedly.

'Fine,' she replied, brushing him off. 'Why are we at the Quidditch shack?'

'Well usually Sirius and I pretend we've gone out flying before breakfast as an excuse,' James explained sheepishly. 'Peter's small enough to slip back up to the common room unnoticed.

'Right,' Emma said, then groaned. 'I actually do have Quidditch practice today. If only I could get out of it.'

'But you're the Captain!' James pointed out indignantly. It was not a position to be taken lightly, in James's opinion.

'Yeah, I know, but I just don't have time for it really,' Emma sighed, sitting on the extra Bludger chest.

'But you love Quidditch!' James gave his twin a long look. It scared him the way he couldn't read her the way he used to. He sat on the normal Quidditch box, taking care not to squash the Quaffle area. 'What's wrong? What aren't you telling me?'

'I'm just tired, James,' she looked at him through half-closed eyes. It did look as though she was about to drop off. 'I thought I'd found a routine with the O.W.L.s, but the N.E.W.T.s are so much harder, and then I have Prefect duties, and Quidditch practice, and...' she trailed off.

'And?' James pressed.

He also had N.E.W.T.s and Head Boy duties and Quidditch practice. He knew that his sister thrived on pressure as much as he did himself. It was what made them such good Quidditch players. There had to be something else.

'And it's exhausting, that's what.'

She put her head on James's shoulder, and they stayed there for a moment in silence. James was about to get up when he realised that his twin had fallen asleep. Typical Emma, he thought fondly. If only I could ask Regulus, I bet I could get him to tell me what's up. But Sirius would never forgive him for talking to his brother.

He had seen his friend's barely suppressed hatred the night before: the brothers had probably gotten into another fight. If James ever had the misfortune to call Regulus Sirius's brother, that hatred turned to James himself. His family had disowned him, so he disowned them. James didn't blame him.

Regulus made no secret about being a fan of Lord Voldemort and treated Muggleborns with just as much, if not more contempt than the psycho Lestrange. But for some strange reason, he was James's sister's friend. She was probably the only reason Regulus didn't insult James like the other Gryffindors, even bordering on friendly when they had been paired up in Transfiguration. Maybe James could convince him that Emma needed her brother.

After all, it was only the two of them now.