Hey everyone,
So sorry, but this chapter won't be focusing on Rosie and how she's doing or what happens to her after the girls relieve her of her pain. Instead, I am going to focus on something equally important. The actual backstory of the parents of the Gang and the squad and how some of them actually got together and got married.
You interested?

Venquine1990


Chapter 38
Backstories Galore

3rd of November 1993
Great Hall, Hogwarts
James' POV

Everyone seems really worried for the Rosie woman, yet I know that my friends and I – the ones that had been caught and whose deaths had been faked – have trouble feeling that concern because Rosie, for various reasons, confuses us. And as the doors close on her, my youngest, his older self and the other three, do I decide to take action.
"Albus?" I ask and like so many times since I came back do I notice the man's eyes light up as he looks at me and I definitely feel the same way as he asks: "Yes James?""We both know what the next chapter is about, don't we?" I ask and the man sighs as he says: "Yes James. Do you think we should go over it now?"
But I shake my head and say: "I only brought it up, because I might have some idea on how to lighten the mood before then – or at least until Rosie comes back." And while I again wonder which Rosie we're dealing with here, does Albus seem happy with this chance and he asks: "That's wonderful, my boy. What exactly do you have in mind?"
Yet it's Reg that answers: "Something we've been wanting to bring up for a while now. We just wanted to get used to not being three inches tall and being back with our loved ones first. But maybe now is a good time to clear up how some of us – like Sev and I – got together?" And instantly we have the attention of the entire hall.

"I got to admit, even I wonder how you got our mother convinced to accept that you want to – no offense – bond with a Half-blood." Sirius then says and Lily, Reg and I share a look before Reg says: "Well, there you have the first problem, Sirius. It wasn't our mum that was the problem; it was Sev's who proved the obstacle in our way."
This shocks both my partner and Reg's and Severus asks: "What on earth? I mean, I can get why my dad would be an issue being what he was like, but – my mum?" And we share another look before Severus sighs and says: "So even my memories of my own family are fabricated by that blasted spell. Ain't that just peachy."
Yet this makes some students look at him shocked, yet makes Lily and me smile at him as that is a catchphrase he often used before all this went down and I turn to Reg as I ask: "Want to do the honors?" And the slightly younger man nods, yet in his eyes I can tell that Rosie and her mystery is also on his mind.

"Sev, you need to know that we got all of this out of your mother just before she officially accepted us. As you know, your mum is from a Pureblood family named Prince. Yet the Princes – like the Blacks – aren't as crazy in being Pureblood Supremacists as that murderer was." And this seems to shock everyone in the hall.
"Unlike what the MMB has made you think, it seems. Blacks definitely believed that Purebloods were supreme, but they also believed that it was the Purebloods' duty to get Muggle-raised Half-bloods and Muggleborns to accept that, upon their letter, they ought to take their role in the Wizarding world with honor, pride and duty.
Yes, they detested either of these if they tried to make the Muggle world seem supreme to the Magical or tried to change too much about the Magical world, but only if any of those who tried had already been in the Magical World for a long time, not if they only tried it in their first year or out of a sense of homesickness or something.

The Princes weren't much different, though they made one mistake. They tried teaching your mother what made her important as a Pureblood at age four and tried to teach her how to be a Pureblood bride at age twelve. Needless to say it turned her very much against her family and made her run away just before she graduated.
She moved herself into a community where her family didn't have any say in her life or the community in and of itself and there she met your father. However, she never cared for your father, Severus, not really. She confessed to this just as much as everything else when we confronted her before we got together.
She Confunded him into marrying her and made a self-made potion that was attuned to her – ahem – period, making it so that, because she married during her monthly cycle, she got pregnant right after. However Severus, you need – need – to believe me when I say, she confessed to care less than nothing about either you or your father.

She believed that marrying a Muggle and having a Half-blood son would be perfect revenge against all her family taught her, but she was wrong. Your father was welcomed at private parties and offered the finest of Firewhiskey and you were the apple of your grandmother's eye. And your mother? She didn't take kindly to that.
She also didn't like that your father, while an addicted drunk, was morally strong enough to never drink in front of you. Whenever something happened that made him reach for a drink, he would take the offered Firewiskey and lock himself up in either the bedroom he shared with your mum or an office he made for himself.
And remember, her upraising had made your mother very vengeful and highly cynical. Not to mention she thought she had created a potion to cure her of the teachings of her parents and keep strong in her beliefs. The truth was, she created one that badly affected her mental state the more she took it, which she did every month.

Because of this – and she confessed to having done it before she had you – she grew to believe that you should be punished for her horrible upraising. And when your father didn't do that and didn't prove to be a disgrace in your grandparents' eyes, your mother felt that he had – ugh – that she had no more use of him."
"She didn't." Hermione gasps and Reg nods as he says: "She Confunded him into drinking himself into an early grave. However, your dad, at first, fought the Confundus and managed to lock himself into his self-made office before he succumbed to it, instead of giving into it right in front of you like your mother wanted.
Your mum hated this, so she completely sealed off the room, saying if he wanted the office to be his grave, she would make it so. We wanted to get what remained of him out of there, but – we never got the chance." By now I notice that Severus is drinking heavily from a large vial and Albus looks worried as he asks: "Severus?"
"Pain-relief potion, Albus. I really want to disbelieve everything Regulus is saying because it sounds even worse than what I thought was my childhood, do his words activate that peachy MMB. The Pain-relief makes it easier for me to hear the rest. And no, girls, I prefer using methods I have grown used to over the years."

At this the three younger Grass, Fire and Water Elementals nod, none of them looking insulted or anything and Severus asks: "Then what happened?" And Reg sighs as he says: "Well, all this happened just before you turned four and for the seven years after that, you saw your grandparents less and less and less and less.
In the end, your mother only allowed them for your eleventh birthday, but – after that. Anyway, during those seven years she tried to make you humble and timid, so you would go to Hufflepuff, which she believed would be another stain on the reputation of the Prince line, even though her own grandfather was a Badger himself.
However, you ended up in Slytherin and – the next five years pretty much went the way you probably remember them to have gone. You had your reasons to hate the Marauders and they had their reasons to hate you. Though most of those reasons really were based on preconceived notions and ancient grudges, not personal reasons.

This all lasted until you all had your DADA O.W.L. where you had that one big fight which almost ended your tentative friendship with Lily here –." But at this Severus turns to Lily and asks: "We didn't grow up only a few blocks away from each other, did we? I wasn't the one to introduce magic to you, was I?"
And Lily shakes her head as she says: "We bonded over classes and liking to hide ourselves away in the Library when the more rowdier students went wild, but those same notions did make it hard for us to really be friends – at least until that event after the O.W.L. when Reggie here proved us all how petty we were being."

At this Severus sighs, but then he turns to me and asks: "There is still one thing about that day that I don't get. If you were meant for B-Sirius here, why were you asking Lily out that day?" And here my sons also look at me strangely, yet I shake my head as I had already expected this question and say: "Glad you asked.
Look Severus, you now remember that my mum was the one to inspire you to take on Reg as your partner and that this happened over a summer after we all started becoming tentative friends. Allow me to put it all into context. From first to Fifth we were rivals, competitive and stupidly stuck in the ways of our notions and whatnot.
In Fifth, Reg finally made us realize how stupid we were being and we ended the day with proof that we really could be friends. But our OWLs made it so that we postponed the chance for this happening until the summer after, where we met at one house of each – sorry – Pureblood family every week and spent that week there.

Then, in Sixth, we grew close enough that Siri and I admitted to being in love with each other and that we admitted to what we were doing. Yet you guys had all actually started the same thing, either because you respected Remus for his efforts or because you cared for him and wanted to help him through his tough times.
By the end of Sixth we were all Animagus. That was the year Frank graduated and used his Auror program to get us registered and that summer was when mum convinced you to admitting to your own feelings for Reg. From there on out, Siri and I, Alice and Frank and you and Reg inspired the rest and Lils and Remy followed you guys.
Gid and Fab also followed you guys, but they were already graduated and kept it secret as they had gained a reputation where it was shrouded in mystery how they could work so well together and they benefitted from that back then, because we were in times of war. And of course Luc and Cissy were already married by then."
Severus nods and I say: "I knew since I was in Third that I was bi-sexual and because I didn't want to risk my friendship with my dearest friend, did I try my hardest to push myself to preferring the opposite gender over my own. Yet we can all see how that turned out." At which Sirius happily and lovingly pulls me close.

"So that explains Regulus and me, but what about Remus and you?" Severus then asks and John is actually the one to answer: "Mum did already tell us a few days ago." Before his brother smirks and says: "But I guess she can give us a bit more detailed backstory." Yet then they chorus: "As much as she wants to, of course."
And it's obvious that they mean Halloween and how badly the memory of that hurts and terrifies their mother even now. And while I had heard from Harry that the twins had the role of Guards in the Gang and the Squad, do I now truly see evidence of that as they both sound dead serious and even with a hint of threat to their tones.
"Anyone trying to get Lily to talk with definitely get these two on their backs, if not their elder brothers." I think and then Lily sighs and says: "Considering what we read about in the first few chapters of this book, I guess it's only best that I clear up the history between me and my – heh – former family, I guess."
And this makes me look at her as I know that, even now, years later, she still hates how she has been forced to call the Evans line that, even if being married to Remus has made her life easier. Others also look concerned, yet also confused, yet it's Harry, my own baby boy, who looks most troubled as Lily starts to talk.

"As you know, Sev and I didn't grow up closely together. I was raised no different than any other, every day, average Muggle and I didn't know I was a witch until I met Minerva, just like most other Muggleborns. She introduced me to the Magical World, though it was in my trip to Diagon Alley that I met both Alice and Severus.
Severus, I cared for and I promised to sit with him for the train ride as I could tell he had double-sided feelings over leaving for Hogwarts – later, Sev – and Alice was her usual Hufflepuff self and took me in like an older sister. Which was a good thing, considering how my own older sister refused to even acknowledge I had left."
At this the woman sighs and Harry asks: "So the MMB didn't change anything about Petunia, huh?" Yet Lily sighs again and says: "It did, Harry. It mellowed her out. She was a lot nicer to you than she was to me after I found out I had magic." This actually shocks the boy, yet the Gang and the Squad seem less shocked about this.

"It all started in the first few years after my first trip to Hogwarts. Whenever mum and dad told Petunia that I was coming home, whether it'd be for Christmas or the summer holidays, she would schedule something with them that made me have to cancel my trip home or made them incapable of picking me up.
I spent more and more time out of the house, away from my own parents and, by the time I was in my Fourth, I felt like a friend visiting older friends or like a goddaughter meeting their godparents for tea or a meal. And my parents, who were unfortunately a little simple-minded, just didn't seem to notice what Petunia was doing.
Then my father died, just before Christmas in my Fourth and – and Petunia – she had mum hold the funeral long before she herself actually sent me the news that dad was dead. She made mum believe that my OWLs were in my fourth and that I'd be spending Christmas studying for them, even though this wasn't true.
I – I didn't hear my father had died until – until Petunia proved how cold-hearted and cruel she actually was. She sent me the invitation to his funeral – through a wild Black-feathered owl that she knew was usually used by Death Eaters when threatening family members – on Valentine's Day, a month and fortnight after the funeral.

And when, when I wanted to come home to grieve, she told me it would hurt mum and that she wouldn't let that happen. That she'd call the cops on me and say I was someone who wants to hurt an already grieving family. And she told me this not once, not twice, but three times over that year, even when the year ended.
Yet I – I believed that she wouldn't be able to convince mum as well as she always did dad, so I came home anyway, telling her and the police she actually called that I would do a personality test and donate blood to prove this is my home and that I just wanted to see my mum. I had to put up a show, just to get into my own home.
Yet even then, Petunia kept pulling mum away, kept taunting and telling me I was but a stranger, that I wasn't welcome. And because I couldn't believe that mum wouldn't help me get over my dad's loss the way I was sure she did Petunia months before, I just left, wanting comfort and help and believing I couldn't find it there.

That was the last time I saw my mum. She herself died of accidentally walking straight into a Death Eater attack not three months later and Petunia actually got the police of another city to guard the funeral, a set of police that didn't work with personality tests or blood donations. So even my show wouldn't get me in that time.
I – I couldn't be at either funeral and – and I never got to see their graves either. On New Year's Eve of that same year, that – that monster went and raided the graveyards all across Magical England, burning every last grave of parents of Muggleborns to induce fear and heartache with them. And Fiendfyre – destroys all."

By now Lily is crying and whimpering in heartache, her voice having left her as she had been near-whispering the last bit and there are many other eyes that are leaking or shining with tears and many of the younger years are being comforted by those a few years above them, while Lily herself has Remy and both her twins surrounding her.
Yet while Remus had gone to pull her closer upon hearing how Petunia caused for a bridge to grow between the parents and their daughter, does the woman only now seem to realize that she is in his lap and she smiles at him through her tears as she says: "However, in the year that followed, my life got turned around for the better.
As Reggy told us, it was in our Fifth year that all those rivalries and that other stuff ended and – it was in that same event that I told you all what happened between my family and me. That was what made us end up all sitting together, all of us close together and just talking about anything and everything until way after sundown."

"Ah, the vague memory that I got when Severus and I first discussed that fateful day." Albus mumbles and Lily nods as she says: "Exactly and Remy, more than any of the rest of our group, became really protective of me. In the year that followed I really got to know all of them and, like said, in the year that followed I told the truth.
Of how I knew that Remus was a werewolf and how I was trying to become an Animagus and all that. Only, while I stayed away from home after that, even though I didn't send anything to Petunia as an indication that I still considered her family, even though I proved her that I had accepted her desire to push me away, it wasn't enough.

And so, in Sixth, she actually wrote me a letter – again one she sent off with the same owl – and there she proved me how little she cared for my world. She had met her current husband and had actually told him of my world, even though there was no more relation between us and though she knew it was against the law.
It scared me and made me fear that she could get me in trouble with the law – even though I hadn't done anything that had enticed her to do so. It was night and I was dazed, so, without anyone noticing, I left the dorm and even the common room. And because I was so dazed, I didn't realize the state of the moon – until I was outside."
Everyone gasps at this and I nod at this as I say: "I know we said that we hadn't gone to join Remus until we were all transformed and this is true. However, everything that happened that night made me incapable of successfully transforming. However, Moony proved this not to be a problem and the next morning, we woke up together."

Here Lily, now with a loving smile having replaced her tears and her whimpering, runs a soft, loving hand down the rubble that is stuck to Remus' face as she says: "You were just the sweetest thing that morning, Remus, worrying over me for hours on end and throwing all these loving compliments between your worried exclamations.
And of course Severus, Frank and Lucius being – well, Severus, Frank and Lucius – they threatened you so much you feared them more than you feared Greyback coming after any of us. Naturally, I – being who I am – didn't take kindly to that. After all, what girlfriend accepts her friends traumatizing her beloved boyfriend?"
This makes the three in question turn a little red and shake their heads yet then I decide to just bring up the one thing that still worries and confuses me. And while the person in question has silently snuck back inside and gone to sit between my two boys while we were all hearing Lily's tale, do I say: "I guess that leaves one last thing."

Yet then Sirius asks: "How we got together?" But I roll my eyes and say: "No, because that is hardly a story worth mentioning. Dad noticed how I was being stubborn, how I was actually blind to the few times you gathered your courage and tried to flirt with me and locked us both in my room until I would open my eyes to these facts.
All he did was say no grandkids, have fun. And then he left us for several hours, making sure to have a House-Elf bring us lunch and dinner, but – yeah. That happened." At this a lot of the older students are laughing hard and Sirius himself is red like a tomato with his hand in the back of his neck as he says: "Yeah, not it. So what is?"

And I sigh as I turn to the woman in question and say: "You, Rosie. You're a conundrum to all those that were freed from that doll house.""Really, why?" The woman asks shocked and Reg answers: "Your looks – and your character. They resemble two people we knew who had been in your year when we went to Hogwarts."
The woman looks curious and Reg turns to Severus as he says: "As you recall, your mum really didn't care one bit about either you or your dad. But whenever her parents would aggravate her to a certain point, she would often live out that aggravation on your father – and one of those times ended up with her being pregnant again."
This shocks the man and he asks: "Wait, I – I have a –." And Lily says: "A sister. One you yourself named Rosie. She did have a longer name, but that was your nickname for her and you were practically her world growing up, so she didn't want to be called by her full name, not even by students at Hogwarts that hated her.

And I got to say, Rosie, the way you treat the kids is like seeing a younger, female Sev – no offense – at work on them as he treated his sister the exact same way ever since she stepped her first foot on Hogwarts soil. But, while it may sound strange, you – you look too much like Sev's sister for us to believe you are her."
"Because the MMB managed to change so many?" Rosie asks shocked, while I can now hear a lot of students mutter about how stupid they feel for not seeing the similarities, yet Reg says: "Because there was a girl in our year who really adored Sev – like really adored him – and thought you unworthy to be his sister.
She actually mixed potions with curses and charms and even before she was halfway through her own Second, she looked as much like Severus like you do now, while you grew more and more into a gorgeous beauty that was recognized as the beauty of one of the Prince Line. And trust me, Rosie, we did not like her."

"So where's the problem here? I mean, so she looks like this one girl who was a right witch. What's the problem about that?" Ron asks and I answer: "The problem is that, for her own twelfth birthday, this blasted little witch convinced her parents to change her name. And three times a guess what she changed it into."
And while it isn't said, is it obvious by the shocked looks on the faces of most of those around me that they already know it. And while I don't like it, do I look at Rosie, trying to convey how I feel about this through my gaze at her. How badly I want her to be Sev's sister, but how much her looks make me wonder if she really is.


Let it be so.
Okay, I'm not going to lie. When I decided to write this chapter, I also decided that – like with Destiny's Saying and Fate's Finale – I would go back over all of the previous chapters and edit this story. I am not going to edit the CR content from before chapter 28 – sorry, but that is simply not possible – but I will edit a lot.
So yeah, it looks like this year is going to be the year of editing and changing. I plan to have all three stories edited and changed – perhaps even a whole rewritten version posted – sometime before Christmas. Also, YES, Reading for Life and Reading the Myth will be this year's Christmas gift to all you loyal readers.
Excited, yet,

Venquine1990