Lal felt no small measure of satisfaction at the title of the Daily Prophet after exposing Peter and Sirius.

Sirius had been given a slap on the wrist, cleared of all charges and Fudge was already trying to toady up to him after she made a 'small' suggestion about how to spin it in his favor so he wouldn't sweep everything under the rug like last time.

Peter, on the other hand, was occupying Sirius' old cell, this time complete with animagi wards considering his form. He even had magic-restraining manakles on him, to further insure he didn't escape.

Naturally because of how long he had been in Azkaban, Sirius wasn't allowed to properly 'meet' his goddaughter until she was out of school. He had to undergo mandatory therapy, all at the Ministry's expense.

Amazingly, the old dog had the sense to go to muggle therapy, rather than rely on mind healers.

Best of all those damn dementors were removed from the school, though by this point most of the students had gotten very proficient in casting the patronus charm. Much to the delight of Flitwick, a number of them could now cast a corporeal patronus.

All in all, a rather successful year, even if she was bored to death for the rest of it.

Though perhaps the best part was the fact she 'convinced' Snape not to expose Lupin.

"You want me to what?" said Snape in disbelief.

"Prank him for once. As in leave dog toys and other subtle reminders he turned into a wolf once a month... or you could go the other route and pretend he's a woman and you're merely showing concern about 'that time of the month', since he's been 'hiding' his real gender for years after a traumatic experience," said Lal with a straight face. "You should see the look on his face when I brought up that 'time of the month' when he tried to talk to me and how I was suitably understanding while going into far too much detail about a biological process that has absolutely nothing to do with him."

Snape stared at her, before an evil grin appeared on his face.

That sort of thing would drive Lupin up the wall. He'd either learn to live with it, or resign just to get away from it all.

"As for Sirius...well, I have a photo album of humiliating pictures while he was stuck in his animagus form and several videos of him being forced to undergo the de-worming treatment. Imagine the fun to be had seeing his expression when you bring that up, especially since it was his own 'pup' that did it to him."

"How did you avoid being put into Slytherin?" asked Snape seriously.

"I focused more on the merits of which guns would look best in my armory and their rate of fire. The hat mistook me to be a gun-obssessed witch, rather than a sneaky bitch who isn't afraid to manipulate others," deadpanned Lal.

Lal was somewhat looking forward to summer vacation this year. Sure, it would be the last year she could see Cole at the summer camp, but she would also be spending a week with Sirius who was given temporary guardianship depending on how his psyche evaluation went with the Ministry's mind healers.

Of course that was also heavily dependent on how they reacted to one another, but honestly at this point she mostly just needed an adult to sign any legal documents and make it look like she was being cared for. In reality she was highly independent and didn't actually need a minder to survive.

By this point it was fairly obvious she had been sorted in the wrong house by anyone with half a brain. All one had to do was look at what she had accomplished and they would see she had expertly maneuvered the 'older, wiser adults' around her into doing what she wanted, rather than the other way around.

Too bad Remus decided to leave when the year ended. Partially to get away from Snape who was driving him batty, but mostly to care for Sirius who needed at least one friendly face around him. Someone had to be the responsible party.

Sirius took one look at his goddaughter and smiled tiredly. The therapist was doing wonders for his mental imbalance, even if he had to take a special prescription to stay on an 'even keel', in his words. Fortunately the man was a muggleborn, so Sirius didn't have to hold anything back about magic.

"Hi Sparkles!" chirped Lal wickedly, causing Remus to snicker over to the side.

"...You are pure evil," said Sirius flatly.

"Hey, I was nice enough to help get rid of all those parasites you picked up in dog form and didn't neuter you. Besides, consider it twelve years of payback for not taking your duty as godfather Sirius-ly," deadpanned Lal.

Sirius stared at her, before he let out a bark of laughter.

"Fair enough. Then again any woman capable of dominating a freaking Cerberus into following basic obedience commands without hesitation is someone who doesn't really need much supervision in the first place."

"I will state this out right now...there is no way in hell I am living in Grimmauld place. Not unless you get a proper elf to clean it and do away with that damn portrait of your bitchy mother," deadpanned Lal.

Sirius stared at her.

"How do you know about the London Townhouse?"

"How good are your Occulmency shields?" she shot back.

Sirius had the feeling he was going to be in for a real shock by the end of the week.

He would be right.

Time travel, ancient curses, soul fire, the mafia...

He was glad his pup insisted on sharing her rather large stockpile of mundane booze by the end of it, because he had needed it by then. Never mind the fact that Lilac...or rather "Lal Mirch" had felt so paranoid about sharing the truth that she insisted on secrecy vows and a specialized fidelius to hide the information.

Considering what she said about the Vindice, which Remus surprisingly knew about, it was understandable.

"Why does it not surprise me that you've had contact with the mafia...which famiglia did you deal with?" asked Lal.

"None. I was acting as an informant for someone called 'Viper'," said Remus.

"Wait...you know how to contact that miser?" said Lal in shock.

"You know Viper?" said Remus at the same time.

"Hooded cloak, odd markings on their cheeks, likes strawberry milk and is a miser that charges for damn near anything?" said Lal. Remus nodded, though he hadn't known Viper liked strawberry milk. "I know them. Is there any way you can contact them for me?"

She might as well catch up on the rumors before she went near the underworld. It wouldn't take much to activate her flames, though she was waiting to do it since it meant the Vindice would be watching her.

"I can try, though it might be expensive."

"If you find them, I'll pay for a basic information packet on all the relevant rumors," said Lal. "I've mostly stuck to France when I leave the country."

"Why are you going to France?" asked Sirius.

"Summer camp. I've managed to avoid dealing with the Dursleys by arranging things so that we spend as little time around each other as possible. Vernon and Petunia were highly agreeable to the concept because it meant they didn't have to deal with magic after I turned seven."

Sirius, however, had a nose for blackmail.

"Oh really? I bet you have another reason for wanting to go," he said, eyes gleaming.

Lal flinched.

"I am not discussing my summer plans with you, you damn hound dog!" she snapped.

"Look, it's only for six weeks. You can tease her properly when she gets back, or you could go pick her up from camp when it's over," said Remus.

"You too?" said Lal irritated.

"You set Snape on me with ammunition," said Remus flatly.

"You're the idiot who was too cowardly to reign your idiot friends in! He has every right to hate you two after the hell you put him through! If it wasn't for James, he never would have lost my mother's friendship!" snapped Lal.

Seeing the shocked looks on their faces, she glared at them both.

"You thought I didn't know about that, did you? Snape told me what really happened to sever his friendship with my mother. James had pushed him too far and the peer pressure of being a half-blooded Slytherin who was friends with a muggleborn Gryffindor caused him to say something he never meant to my mother. Then James swept in and 'convinced' Lily to date him," she told them bluntly. "I am not my father... I do not tolerate bullies of any form and I will use you both as target practice if you piss me off to much."

Sirius shivered in fear.

"She means it Moony. She has more muggle guns than I've ever seen in my life and enough ammunition to set both our tails on fire...the booze she brought out earlier was just a small amount compared to the massive stockpile she has."

Remus paled at that.

"How did you get muggle guns? I thought they were illegal in England!"

Lal rolled her eyes.

"Gold will get you anything, especially if you manage to track down an American arms dealer who can get you contacts all too willing to sell 'decommissioned' weapons," she replied. "So long as I have the gold, they have the toys."

Sirius shivered...he had seen what she considered "toys" and what she could do with them. He had never found muggles more terrifying.

Lal felt herself unwind at summer camp. Here she was free to be her own person, so long as she held back on the 'Alpha bitch' side of herself.

Sirius had gone into shock shortly before she came back to France when, during one of Remus' bad nights, he saw Lal openly pile drive Moony before using a bit of killing intent to exert dominance on the wolf.

Remus hadn't bothered to take the potion, since he was having trouble finding a supplier of Snape's skills and it was hellishly expensive. However Lal had assured him that she could in fact transform like Sirius.

Neither of them expected the wolf-side of Remus to accepted Lal as his new Alpha so easily. Then again she had dominated an almost fully grown Cerberus before she was even twelve. She always knew Remus was more of a Beta...it explained why he was so quick to follow James.

As far as Moony was concerned, Lal was his Alpha and Sirius was another Beta. He was happy being part of a proper pack again, even if he had to put up with the one known as "Fluffy".

It was almost a shame it had to end...she rather enjoyed this place. Or to be more specific, she enjoyed being around Cole.

He was an idiot who reminded her painfully of Colonello, just without the fear of getting into trouble for dating a subordinate. Perhaps if they had met in different circumstance she could have fallen in love with him, but he would always be one of her students in her mind.

Which was why she was rather disappointed tomorrow was the last day of camp.

"Missing school?" teased Cole in Italian. He was so happy someone else spoke his native language that he tended to use it more than French or English.

"Maybe I'm going to miss a certain idiot who drives me crazy, but still has my back," she shot back.

Cole's grin widened. He knew she cared about him, but she was so closed off when it came to romance that she had trouble admitting she liked someone that way.

"I might have a way to fix that. It's a pity you won't give me your phone number," he replied.

"I don't have one. And the school I go to is incredibly closed off, so it's nearly impossible to reach a post office save for once a month, if I'm lucky."

Cole reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small box.

"If this is an engagement ring..." she started in warning.

Cole snorted.

"Maybe later...we're both too young for that sort of thing to be taken seriously without a contract or something," he replied.

He opened the box to reveal a necklace. It wasn't a fancy one, nor was it openly cheap. It was made of white gold and had a small heart with a piece of ruby in the center.

"What is this?"

"Consider it a promise. I know this is your last year here, and I'm too old to come back as a counselor. However I want you to have this as a reminder that no matter how long it takes that I will find you again and this time, we'll go out on a proper date."

Lal had a not-so-secret addiction to the series "Once Upon A Time", and Cole's words sounded eerily reminscent of Prince Charming's words to Snow White. Specifically the line "I will always find you".

She didn't even realize she was crying until she felt Cole hug her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't upset me. It's just no one's ever cared enough about me to say something like that...and actually mean it."

Lal had been alone for most of her life, and had kept Colonello away the first time because of the overwhelming guilt that he had taken the full brunt of a curse meant for her. She couldn't bear the thought of ruining his life like that.

For as long as she could remember, everyone in her life had put themselves and their own agendas first, with her as the afterthought if that. After having to deal with that for the first nineteen years of her life, she had come to accept that no one actually gave a damn about her personally unless it was to use her. It was simply safer to keep everyone away to avoid the heartache.

Cole continued to hug her, and once she had calmed down put the necklace around her neck for her. Her hands were shaking a bit too much to do it properly.

"I promise that once I graduate school I will come looking for you, no matter how long it takes. My grandmother can just deal with it," said Cole.

"Your grandmother?"

He looked a bit sheepish.

"My family has certain rules about guys dating women outside the established bloodlines. Then again it's for safety reasons so I can get why, but it's such a pain in the ass."

There was also the special training that all men in his family had to go through, because of what their bloodline contained. He didn't mind that part, but he did hate the fact that it was a necessity. The last thing he ever wanted to do was to kill a member of the family for going rogue.

"I should probably warn you that my godfather is picking me up tomorrow."

"Your godfather?"

"Long story short, he was illegally incarcerated in an insane asylum for twelve years and no one caught it until he broke out. By the time anyone realized what happened, someone dug up the old records and realized that he didn't belong there in the first place," she admitted sheepishly.

"Yikes," said Cole with a wince.

"He's made it clear he wanted to meet the 'actual reason' I kept coming back here, rather than stick close to him. So he'll be picking me up, or his friend will."

As it turned out, the one to pick her up was Remus. Apparently Sirius had experienced a relapse and was unfit to be around normal people for a while.

Right now he was sleeping off the medication and the booze, and wouldn't be coherent until the day after.