February 3, 1979

Althea groaned, rubbing a hand over her swollen, tired eyes. A lot had happened since November. In December, Althea and Remus had gotten married in the ceremony of Althea's dreams, although it was a quiet intimate affair with the only guests James and Lily, Dumbledore, Sirius, and Remus's father. She had worn the most gorgeous gown of white, and she would never forget the look of adoration in Remus's eyes when he first saw her. It had been a pleasant, understated ceremony, something that Althea and Remus had no problems with. After two pleasant weeks away from Britain, on the island where he had proposed to her, they had to reluctantly leave their little bubble of happiness and return home to combat You-Know-Who once more. Once home, Remus had been sent on a five-day mission to recruit some werewolves and other creatures for the Order or at least to make them start doubting Voldemort – he was successful in that and for a time the newlywed couple were left alone.

That all changed in January when Gideon contacted Althea and asked for her help. That was the day when everything changed, and it seemed that the war grew more intense. Althea, Gideon, and Fabian headed for a remote section of Britain where it was rumored sympathizers to Voldemort's cause were to be gathering but the village they had arrived in was deserted and completely void of life. In a split second everything had changed as they were set upon by Death Eaters; the three of them had managed to get away, although horribly bruised and beaten. When Remus found out he had been furious, and rightfully so since Althea hadn't given him any inkling that what she was doing with the Prewetts was dangerous (to be fair, she hadn't quire realized the magnitude of danger). Remus had immediately informed Dumbledore who had scolded the trio, but also commended them on their quick thinking and intuitiveness, and warned them not to do something that dangerous again.

The following weeks had been silent and void of activity from both the Order and Voldemort (Dumbledore had been insisting that members of the Order refer to him by his chosen name, because, 'Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself' which was the last thing he wanted). For Althea it was a little easier to do, but for Peter, and a few other members including Lily it was much harder. He had sewn fear too deep.

Althea grimaced as she passed by a small mirror in the home that she and Remus shared (they had finally gotten their own place away from the Potters, something that Althea was grateful for as there still was a little tension between her and Lily), and had moved into a small, modest house in Muggle London. They figured it would be safer for them here, as they didn't believe that the Death Eaters would think to look for them in Muggle London. It was hiding in plain sight, and so far, it had worked spectacularly. They had managed to live undetected, and avoid the Death Eaters.

But for how long would it last?

Remus stumbled into the house, snowflakes resting in his hair and on his dark jacket. He had a sheepish look on his face as he saw Althea looking at him with no small amount of curiosity and nervously he ran a hand through his tousled looks.

"Dumbledore wanted to speak with me," Remus informed her. "He had news."

"What kind of news?"

"Bad news." Remus wrung out his hands nervously, "The Death Eaters are hunting for you. They want you dead as soon as possible, Thea. There's even a bounty placed on your head, and on mine simply because my activities came to light and because I am affiliated with you."

Althea winced. "And now what will happen?"

"We keep hiding. But Dumbledore told us to be extra vigilant."

"Of course."

Althea should have known that the solution would to be staying hidden, because there was simply not other solution that would ensure that she and Remus would keep their lives. Taking the conflict with Voldemort out into the open was a surefire way to get killed, and Althea rather liked living. Althea wrapped her arms around Remus once he had drawn close enough, burying her face in his shoulder and inhaling the familiar woodsy scent that was unequivocally Remus.

"I'm scared, Rem," she whispered, her arms tightening around his waist while his arms simultaneously wrapped tighter around her shoulders. "This peace we've established seems entirely too fragile, doesn't it? Like, at the next moment it could come crashing down on us and we'll know that it was nothing but an illusion."

Remus sighed, running a hand up and down her back soothingly for a few moments. "It's okay to be frightened, Thea. But you shouldn't let it control your life, and you shouldn't let it consume you and cause you to become pessimistic. There is always hope, Thea. Dumbledore believes so, and so should we."

"Your faith in Dumbledore is commendable, really, but what if he doesn't quite know what he's doing when it comes to this situation?" Althea questioned her voice tight with worry and doubt.

"Do not dwell on the 'what if' situations, Thea. It will drive you crazy," Remus scolded her, but kept his voice gentle so as not to raise her ire or make her feel as if he was belittling her concerns. "There is no shame in worrying, but if we begin to question everything, including Dumbledore, then we are falling right into what He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, has planned. He sews discord, Thea, and He wants us to doubt Dumbledore." Remus took a deep breath and then continued, "Dumbledore is not all-knowing, but he is wise, and he has lived longer than us. On this, I would trust him, because, I think without Dumbledore, the Wizarding World would have already fallen. Don't you think?"

Reluctantly, Althea nodded her head.

"Then trust in him, Thea." He stepped away from her, making a frown briefly cross her face. "You used to trust in him."

"I know," Althea whispered, wrapping her arms around her middle, her eyes watching Remus as he stepped toward the bookshelf in the living room. "But, I'm scared, and when I'm scared I'm irrational. And for the longest time, I haven't felt anything but scared."

"Dumbledore, knows what he is doing Althea. We only need to trust him," Remus whispered, earnestly looking into her eyes.

Reluctantly Althea nodded, leaning against Remus who gently circled his arms around her waist. She needed to trust Dumbledore, she knew that, but it was hard to think rationally when she was scared. She was so scared that Voldemort would ruin everything that she had built with Remus. She didn't want to lose her husband; her cheeks flushed a little, as they always did, when she thought about Remus actually being her husband. Dumbledore, surely knew what he was doing.

He had to.

Althea kept her head bowed over the textbook that she was reading, as Aubrey wrote about the newest spells that she had created. Aubrey was jotting down the important steps, like the names of the spells, their incantations, and the wand movements that went along with each spell. Althea, on the other hand, was reading about spell theory. Again. Aubrey sometimes allowed Althea to participate in spell creation, but more often than not she wanted Althea to read about the theory behind spell creation so that when it came time for Althea to make spells on her own, she wouldn't royally screw everything up.

"How is everything going with Remus?" Aubrey asked, conversationally. Previously, the only sound that had been made before was the sound of her quill scratching on the parchment, and the sound of Aubrey turning the pages in her book.

"Perfectly fine," Althea answered. "We're surviving, and that counts for something, yeah?"

Aubrey hummed. "Life has to be about more than surviving, Althea," the older woman said. "If life were only about surviving, then you wouldn't be with Remus. Hell, none of us would probably be in Britain."

"Maybe so," Althea agreed. "But surviving is all I can do right now."

"I am certain it is not all you can do," Aubrey teased.

Althea didn't answer her. There was a CRACK! and both Althea and Aubrey dropped, the latter also dropping her pen. Lily smiled sheepishly at them, an arm wrapped around James's waist and standing beside James was Remus who was staring at her apologetically because things, admittedly, were still tense between Lily and Althea. Lily looked radiant, wearing a nice long-sleeved dress with knee high boots. The color of her dress was a shade of green, which coincidentally matched the shade of the shirt that James was wearing. Those two were so irritatingly cute, that it was annoying. Remus stepped toward Althea, giving her a brief kiss in greeting before wandering around Aubrey's abode, staring at the different trinkets lining the shelves.

"What are you doing here?" Aubrey asked, gesturing toward Lily and James. "Remus I can understand, since his wife is here. But why are the two of you here?"

"We're here on business," James answered instead of Lily, because the latter was looking dumbstruck at Aubrey's rather brusque attitude. "Dumbledore said you may have a new batch of spells ready for us."

"I always have a new batch of spells," Aubrey said with a roll of her eyes. "You should be more specific." She sighed, "Are they offense? Defense? Healing? Be specific please.

"I believe he requested the offensive," Remus piped up. "Of course, he means to hide those away. For the Order, he would rather like the healing spells. We assumed that you would still be working to compile a lengthy list of defensive spells."

"You presumed rightly then," Aubrey huffed. "Take the damned spells to Dumbledore and get out. I can't have you distracting my student."

"Of course," James said, shooting a look toward Remus, and tugging Lily forward as Aubrey produced the list of spells that they so desperately wanted. "Thank you."

"Get out," Aubrey quipped.

As the three Disapparated, Althea tried in vain to hide her gleeful smile. From the way Aubrey glared at her, she wasn't very successful.