Hello, my favorite readers! I hope you guys are enjoying your summer and I hope even more, that you are going to enjoy this chapter as well.

As always, my biggest thanks to those of you who reviewed, you guys are what keeps me going! Please, let me know what you think, and if you have guesses on what's going to happen/or is happening, I would love to read them. :D And the same goes to Caroline's secrets!

I wish you all a great day!

Carolie watched Rabastan, as he was sleeping peacefully next to her. She herself couldn't sleep tonight.

She knew she should be worried about the encounter with the bunch of deatheaters, but she would worry about that in the morning. It was the moments she shared with Rabastan that occupied her mind now.

She loved him. After all the years, after all he had done, she still did. She was sure he knew it. Dumbledore knew it. The question she asked herself however, was whether he loved her at least as much as he adored the Dark Lord.

Until now, she thought the odds were not much in her favour. But what she felt from him today… He also cared a lot.

"Rabastan shouldn't worry that there's no Lestrange heir. From what I think, it's better to have no heir, than a child with your genes."

She replayed the memory over and over again. She saw the frozen face of her husband as Avery said those words. She felt the hurt he felt.

Should she tell him? She asked herself the same question over and over again. No. She promised herself she wouldn't risk her son's life. Their son's life. For now, he was better off without his biological parents, no matter how much his mother missed him. He was better off with a different family name.

He deserves to know. Her inner voice kept telling her. She hoped the time would come and she would tell Rabastan everything. The good and the bad. However unlikely that seemed.

Suddenly, her magic alerted her, there was a tiny shift in the room. And although Rabastan was still lying in front of her motionlessly, she knew he was now awake.

She smiled for herself, as she placed one of her hands to his cheek. "I know you're awake."

He slowly opened his eyes. "How are you not asleep?" he asked quietly.

She didn't answer and he kept studying her face. After a moment, he took a small strand of her hair, and played with it. "You're thinking about what Avery said," he stated quietly.

She closed her eyes for a second. He wasn't entirely wrong. She has strengthened her own shields before opening her eyes again and facing her husband.

"Was he right? Are you worried that you have no heir?" she asked carefully while she monitored his emotions.

He didn't answer immediately. "It's true that I have imagined spending all the years of our marriage differently," he started, "but I cannot take back the years in Azkaban. Although it would have been nice to come back to you and a child of ours."

Something stabbed Caroline right into her heart. He deserves to know.

"But things will be different this time. The Dark Lord is rising again, and there will be no more Azkaban for either of us. We can still make it work. The Dark Lord will give us his blessing for bringing more pure-blood children into this word." He sounded so sure of that, so hopeful.

"I wish nothing more than for you to be the mother of my children, Carol. Don't listen to Avery's bullshit. I want to be a father to our children. In the world we will build for them."

He was speaking the truth. There was nothing then pure honesty in the statement, and Caroline had to fight back the tears. Somehow she wanted that too. But the word they wished to build meant something different for each of them.

This time, it was Rabastan who came closer and started kissing her. She didn't pull away. The fact that they didn't share the same goals for the world didn't mean she couldn't love him, right? Because she was becoming more and more sure that despite the fact that she had finally chosen her side in the war, she did love him.

She pulled herself over him. "It's my turn now."

She kissed every inch of his body, took his pride first into her hands and then to her mouth, before she finally sat on the top of him and rode him to the edge. They moaned in unison as she rode them both to the edge, with Rabastan grabbing her breasts and her bumping on him up and down.

When she woke up in the morning, in order to get herself ready for work, he was still asleep. She carefully got up, put a housecoat over herself and got ready for work.

The day at the mind-healing department at St. Mungo passed way too quickly. She was just on her way to wrap her shift, when she heard a knock on her office. She frowned a bit. Director Spleen was at home already and she didn't know who else could want to talk to her now in the afternoon.

She tried to reach out with her mind magic, and froze in place as she met with quite strong mental shields.

She grasped her wand in her hand and prepared her own magic as she called, "come in!"

There was a man her age standing in the doorway, who gave her a look. "I am sorry, ma'am, are you healer Lestrange?"

Something felt odd. The man's mental shields were up. Just the fact that they were existing, was odd, yet alone on such a level, that was far above a beginner.

She pushed her magic further as she answered, something felt familiar. "I am. How can I help you?"

The man looked at her nervously, before he turned, closed the door and then waved his hand with some complicated movements that Carol didn't even recognise.

"Hi, Caroline."

Gone was the nervous look. The man in front of her was smirking at her confidently, with no hint of anxiety, confidence radiating from him.

Carol's heart was beating in her chest, as she assembled her own magic. She knew her standart magic would be useless, so she focused all her power into the one area she felt confident in.

The man's mental shields were solid. But not solid enough. It took Carol less than thirty seconds to get past them. A time the man could easily use to just disarm her if he wanted. But he hasn't done so.

But the moment she got past the shields, she knew. She knew the mind. Knew the man. Caroline withdrew from his mind and focused on the man in front of her.

"What are you doing here," she asked much more calmly than she actually felt, "Augustus?"

The man gave her another smirk, before waving his hand in several complicated matters again, until he stood in front of her in his true appearance. Augustus Rookwod.

"Less than a minute. Impressive. How has no one figured it out yet?"

Caroline stood passively in front of him, carefully judging his every move so that she could react quickly enough in the case of need.

"What are you doing here, Augustus?" she asked again, her voice sounding much braver than she actually felt.

"I kind of liked your performance yesterday. Found it really interesting," he said smirking, with his eyebrows raised. Caroline pushed harder. Somehow, she didn't feel any hostility from him. Just curiosity.

"I am happy you enjoyed yourself, Augustus. However, if that's why you came to see me here, in the daylight, when anyone can see you, I find it terribly reckless." She prayed she was wrong and he hadn't figured it out. But she knew she wasn't wrong on this one.

"Your distrust of my abilities is an insult to my intelligence, Caroline. Do you forget who you are talking to? I am an Unspeakable." Caroline knew that. Augustus was easily one of the smartest men she knew, capable of doing things with his wand she could only dream of. Very few she knew could match him.

"You were an Unspeakable." Her voice was hard. They stood in silence for a moment, until the man in front of her started laughing.

"Merlin…," he laughed again. "Now I can see how you bewitched him so much. After Azkaban, I thought it was just his pride, when he was so desperately trying to finally find you. But now I see. You changed, our little Caroline."

Caroline didn't give him an answer. Instead, she kept on searching anything in his mind and thoughts that could appear as a threat.

"How long have you been a legilimens?" Good. He didn't get it all.

"It's been a few years," was Caroline's reply.

"I would think so. It looked like a damn professional work. Although, now, considering your job, it kind of was, right?"

It looked like he spoke more to himself so Caroline didn't offer him an answer. He hasn't come there with bad intentions. He was just curious.

They both stood in silence, none of them offering anything to say. And while Caroline guided her own shields, she also focused on the man in front of her, hoping she could sense the threat should he chose to pose it.

At least a minute passed.

"Is there anything else I can do for you, Augustus?" she asked calmly and raised her eyebrows.

The former Unspeakable just smiled at her. Or smirked. She wasn't really sure.

"I can't believe I'm actually saying it, but as much as I opposed the idea before, I must say, I agree with Bella now. The Dark Lord will welcome you in his service."

Carolie did not let any of her muscles flinch, as she replied. "And it will be my honour."

Augustus laughed this time. "I am sure it will be."

Once she got home, she reached out with her magic to check whether anyone else was there, but it seemed she was alone.

"Wixie!" she called, and her loyal house elf appeared right in front of her.

"How can Wixie be of service?" her tiny companion asked while bowing deeply.

"Do you know where Rabastan is?" she calmly asked her elf, who always seemed to know everything about her masters.

"Master Rabastan, Master Rodolphus and Missis Bellatrix are currently at Malfoy Manor, Madam," Wixie answered in her high-pitched voice.

A meeting. Caroline frowned at that. Their meetings were getting more and more frequent and was sure a big plan for an important mission was long in the making. And it was getting real very very soon.

She couldn't risk contacting Severus or Dumbledore, not when she wasn't sure when exactly her husband would be coming home. She decided to go to her lab instead, and prepare some of the potions she needed. The time always passed quickly in there and it was not like she had a lot to do at the manor. And potions… somehow, making them had become the one activity that made Caroline feel completely and utterly relaxed.

She sighed as she entered her lab and thought of it. As the guilt took over. She never really liked potions, since Slughorn never really deemed her important enough to pay her any attention and it was actually Severus who taught her most of what she knew.

Again, the feeling of guild came over until she was able to push it away. It felt somehow scary that Narcissa, of all people, knew about her affair with him. She was aware there were some rumours - there was a time when they really spent a lot of time together.

But Severus's heart always belonged to one specific person. And that person only. And Caroline knew - from all things she had seen in Severus's memories and thoughts, when she was teaching him the art of mental magic - that she could never compete with Lili Evans. Nor with her memory. And if she ever thought she had some deeper feelings for Severus, they were long gone as well.

Her husband was in Azkaban for what she believed was eternity, sentenced for a crime she deemed unthinkable. It didn't matter that she never joined the ranks of the Dark Lord, that she fled her husband and his friends so many months before his downfall. She was a Lestrange. Wife of the man who tortured the Longbottoms to the insanity. Who ruined the lives of two people who had a toddler in their home. Everyone hated her. She was hurt. And terribly alone. And Severus… He was in a similar place. His guilt over Lili's death was eating him alive and he himself struggled to find anything to bring him at least a bit of joy.

They soon found comfort in each other. But they never went public. It was never about holding hands, or kissing on the forehead. They were both miserable. Both alone. Severus's love dead. Her love serving life sentence in Azkaban.

Her mind was wandering away, as she carefully prepared all the ingredients she needed and brewed the potions with experience of someone who has done it a thousand times already.

She considered telling Rabastan several times, but decided against it. There was no point in her telling him. In him knowing. She and Severus were done. She still considered him a friend, but they haven't shared a bed in several years and she was sure they never would again. But Merlin, the guilt was getting more and more to bear every day. And it was because of Rabastan.

During the time she hadn't seen him, she persuaded herself that her husband was a thug and brute. That he couldn't be capable of love. But the more time she spent with, the more she understood why she fell in love with him in the first place. And on those occasions she dared to infiltrate his mind a bit deeper, she knew he was, indeed, capable of love. Not that he would say it, because she only heard him say those words twice in her life. But it was there. Small and fragile. And she knew it. Just as she knew, that despite the things he's done, despite all that was standing between them. Her feelings were similar.

When she woke up the next day, Rabastan was already up and she could feel some tension from him. She waited a bit, not sure whether he would talk about it or not and then broke the silence.

"Is everything alright, Rabastan? You seem awfully on edge."

Her husband sent her a look but then decided to give her an answer. "Sorry, darling. We're going out today."

A mission. Now she understood. And she also knew she didn't want to know more. Because if she knew, she would feel obliged to warn somebody or do anything else. And she couldn't afford that.

"Ahh," she said instead, "take care then." Take care of your soul. But she didn't voice her last thought aloud. No matter how much she wanted to. They parted ways with a passionate kiss on the lips, Caroline hoping that when she came back home, her husband would be back, with his soul in the same state as it was when he left in the morning.

At work, she was so focused on her duties, that her thoughts didn't really have time to wander anywhere. But at some time, she started to have this weird feeling. Like something wasn't right. She shook her head in order to get rid of it, but it was still there.

After about half an hour, the feeling became so strong, she locked herself in her office and decided to clear her mind. That was, when she felt the emotions. Fear. Panic. Furry. Emotions that weren't hers.

Her own heart started racing. These aren't the emotions of anyone in her ward either. Nor St. Mungos. She glared at the wedding ring on her finger. She knew the footprint these emotions bore. They were Rabastan's.

She took a deep breath, grabbed her wand and casted one more look at the beautiful piece of jewellery. She hadn't used the goblin-made ring in such a way in more than fifteen years.

Sle closed her eyes and took another breath, before focusing on her husband and apparatted. And although she tried to prepare herself for any alternative, she most certainly didn't expect to end up at the Ministry of Magic.