Disclaimer: Anything you don't recognize is mine, other wise, it's JKR's

SO this chapter just came to me and I really like it. It's going to be a pretty big turning point in the plot for a little while, until this whole Minister ordeal gets straightened out.

Read, Review, and Enjoy,

Stars.

We're only here for a season
I'm looking for the rhyme and reason
Why you're born, why you're leaving
What you fear and what you believe in

Why you're living and breathing
Why you're fighting it and getting even
Let's go headed down the open road unknown

And we find what we're made of
Through the open door
Is it fear you're afraid of?

What are you waiting for?

~Love Alone is Worth the Fight, Switchfoot

Dany woke up the next morning worried. They were going into work today, her face had just been on the front page of the newspaper, and she was sure Fudge would be out for her blood. She rolled over to see that Sirius was already awake and from the look on his face, had been for a while. She smiled at him tiredly and said,

"Time for work, huh?" He nodded and kissed the top of her head. She could feel his breath on her scalp and hair and really had no desire to move ever again. Sirius sighed and said,

"Dan, no matter what happens today, we're still a family and we're in this together. You know that right? For better or for worse." She smiled and pulled herself out of bed,

"I know…I have a feeling that today is definitely going to be an interesting one." Sirius sighed and put a hand over his face,

"I have a feeling that you're exactly right." Thirty minutes later they were standing at the fireplace, wondering if they really wanted to go to work today. It didn't matter Dany thought to herself; they had to. Moody was already pissed that they both took a day off for a family emergency yesterday and Dany was quickly running out of sick days to use. Besides, it would look like a sign of weakness of neither of them showed the day the story run. They glanced at each other one more time and stepped into the fireplace together and said,

"Ministry of Magic, Atrium!" They both vanished in the green flames and moments later were spit out in the heart of the Ministry of Magic. It didn't take long to notice that people were staring.

And people were really staring. Everywhere she looked they were staring at her, sizing her up, wondering if it was true; was Rhaegar Masters really alive? Has the Golden Boy of Wizarding England actually returned as a grown man with a wife, son, and daughter? Dany was used to the staring, and so was Sirius, but neither of them particularly enjoyed it. There were newspaper stands in the Atrium today, something highly unusual in peacetime. During the war, it was the only way Ministry workers ever knew what was going on in the outside world; they had never gone home. Dany hadn't seen paper stands in the Atrium since the fall of Voldemort. A young boy, an intern probably, was waving a paper in his hand and yelling, "Rhaegar Masters, alive or hoax? Read it here in the Prophet!" His shouting quickly stopped when Dany glared at him and snapped at him that there was no hoax. His shouts quickly turned to "Rhaegar Masters spotted alive! Read about it in the Prophet!" Sirius snickered at the fearful kid. He was probably only seventeen or eighteen and terrified of being fired.

Halfway to the lifts, a woman in about her seventies grabbed Dany's forearm. She stopped with a jerk and Sirius drew his wand,

"Sirius, don't. Put it away." Dany said quickly. He reluctantly put his wand away but continued to eye the lady with distrust. Dany looked at the woman and saw no malice or ill intention in her face, "How can I help you?" She asked softly. The woman smiled and said,

"Bless you, Child. Bless you and bless your brother. Is it true; what they're saying?" Dany nodded silently, taken aback by the sudden turn of events, "Good, good. I'm glad; and I'm not the only one that feels that way, either." She pulled Dany close and whispered in her ear, "There are more of us than you could imagine." She released the younger woman, who pulled back to stand next to your husband. The old lady kissed her on the forehead and walked away with a broad smile on her face. Dany looked at her husband.

"Well, that was…" Sirius said slowly, like he wasn't quite sure what he had just seen. Dany wasn't quite sure what had happened either.

"Weird?" Dany prompted him, as they stood motionless in the middle of the Atrium.

"Very." He muttered, "Come on, let's just get to the office before some old guy tries to kiss you too." They started to walk again and Dany laughed and took his hand, something that they were careful to never do at work. Married at home, partners at work.

"Scared that I'll leave you for someone twice your age? I mean normally women marry old guys for their money, but that's rather irrelevant seeing that we're both rather well off." Dany said casually. Sirius rolled his eyes,

"I don't think 'rather well off' really covers our financial situation, Dan. We technically have never had to work a day in our lives." She shrugged absently,

"True. But what would we do with ourselves if we didn't work? I think we'd drive each other and Harry crazy, honestly." They got on the lift and just before the door closed, a man in his forties got in.

"Sorry, sorry. Where are you two headed?" Dany and Sirius dropped each other's hands and wondered if the man had bothered to actually look up to see who he was talking to. Sirius answered dryly,

"Auror Department, Level Two." The man punched Level Three and then looked up at them for the first time since getting on the lift. Dany watched his eyes flick to Sirius; they widened and moved directly to her face, once realizing who the other man in the lift was.

"You…you're Danilynn Masters. And you're Sirius Black." Dany didn't bother to correct him on her last name. Why add fuel to the publicity fire? Dany nodded,

"Yeah, I am…I'm sorry have we met?" She asked, hoping that she hadn't met him and just forgotten. The man shook his head,

"No, we've never met. At least not since you can remember. I worked as an intern for your father, you and your brother were probably only 5 and 2 at the time." Dany raised her eyebrows, but shook his hand. This day was getting stranger by the second.

"Well, it's nice to meet you. Where do you work now, if you interned for my father?" She asked him politely,

"In Law Enforcement. I left the Minister's direct command when Fudge cam into power, that buffoon. You should know, anything you or your brother needs in Law Enforcement, I can help. I have a good position there and am friends with the head of the Department." Dany nodded again and smiled charmingly,

"That's very kind of you…" She trailed off, prompting his name,

"Joseph. Joseph Flagler." He said.

"Well, that's very kind of you Joseph. I'm sure my father greatly appreciated your work, when he was alive." As the doors opened to Level Three, he whispered to them both,

"I am with your family, and I am not alone. We all want to bring your brother back into power. Allies are closer than you think." He raised his voice, "Nice to meet you two. Have a nice day." He left and Sirius threw his hands up in the air as the lift continued down to Level Two,

"What the living fu—" the doors opened again and people looked at him, in the middle of his outburst. He put his hands down and they got out of the elevator and hurried down the hall before anyone else could stop them to declare their allegiance with Dany's family and to tell them there were more people than they thought thinking the same thing. They walked into the Auror Department and everyone fell quiet immediately. Some of the older Aurors shook Dany's hand as she smiled at them and said that yes her brother was alive, and yes he was looking to come work for the Ministry again. The younger crowd looked astonished, like they didn't know what to think. She saw Parker and Simmons both vanish quickly, she assumed to go get Moody.

Sure enough, not five minutes later, Alastor Moody came out of his office and said,

"Danilynn Black! I should have your damn head for not telling me your brother was alive all this time. I went to his funeral! Hell, I mourned him and your parents! Are you going to tell me that your bleeding parents are alive too?" Dany shook her head,

"My parents are really gone, Alastor. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I wanted to but no one could know Rae was alive, not until it was safe for him to come back. Not even Sirius knew. Lily and James never knew either. It's nothing personal, honestly. I was planning on taking that secret to the grave if I had to. If I went, there would be no loose ends, no one would ever know to seek out Rhaegar and he could have a normal life." Moody shook his head faintly,

"Damn, I'm just glad to hear that he is alive. How did he get out? I went to your house the night of the raid; the fire the Death Eaters set, no one was getting out of that." Dany shrugged quietly,

"The Death Eaters didn't set the fire, I did. I found a Death Eater young enough to be my brother and burned him beyond recognition once Rae was gone. I set fire to the house to make sure there were no survivors, so no one would be able to identify the dead except me. I identified my parents' bodies and the Death Eater as Rae. No one ever knew. Not until now." Moody shook his head.

"That means…it was you who killed those men just outside the wards?" Dany nodded and Sirius looked around to see the entire Department watching keenly.

"Yeah, it was me. Why? Who did you think it was?" She said, with curiosity. Moody shrugged,

"We never knew. Some people suspected you, but most people didn't know what to say about it. Three men, Death Eaters, escape your house that night, only to be cut down by persons unknown? It was quite the point of contention in the Department for a while as to who killed them. It was a mystery we couldn't quite crack, which doesn't happen very often. I've got to say, that wasn't at all up to your normal caliber of Death Eater disposal." Dany shrugged again,

"We were in a war, my brother had just fled England, and my parents had just been murdered. I was seventeen and terrified. So forgive me for not making the worlds cleanest kills, Alastor." She said dryly to her mentor. Some of the Aurors in the room shifted awkwardly. Dany knew why. They didn't kill, not anymore. Some of them, like Parker and Simmons, had never actually had to. As great as that was, Dany thought to herself, she wasn't quite sure that someone could be considered an Auror until they'd been forced to take life; it showed your character real fast in a multitude of ways, how you reacted, how it happened, and who it was all exposed a person's nature. She honestly didn't know if some of the recently inducted had the stomach for it, which was worrying. Now, they all looked at her like they had quite forgotten that she had been a part of the war that they had all been too young to participate in.

She, Sirius, Lily, and James should have been too young, but Dany was very close to Moody and had convinced him to expedite their acceptances and training, as long as they could pass everything at the end. He had reluctantly agreed, hesitant but allowing them to become full Aurors less than a year after they graduated Hogwarts, due to the speed they completed their training. By eighteen, they were out in the field, fighting and killing Death Eaters. Moody interrupted her thoughts suddenly.

"My God. Rhaegar." Everyone turned around to see Rhaegar Masters standing near the entrance of the Department, somehow managing to slip through the Ministry unseen. Moody brushed by Dany and unceremoniously hugged the younger man, "Good to see you, Son. Good to see you." Rae hugged him back and Dany smiled. Rhaegar had always liked Alastor as much as his sister had, if not more so.

"Hey, Alastor. Sorry I've been gone for so long, I had some business to take care of." Moody let go of his Godson and realized the entire Department's jaws were somewhere near the ground at this point.

"Your sister told me. Would it have killed you to send word that you weren't actually dead?" Rae looked rather abashed and Sirius snickered and whispered to Dany,

"Damn, I forgot how much he gets on your brother's ass about things." Dany laughed quietly and nodded in agreement. She had forgotten too, honestly. The Potters had been her Godparents but Alastor Moody and a deceased friend of her mother, Florence Miller, were Rae's Godparents. Needless to say, Alastor Moody felt very, very comfortable yelling at his Godson for not behaving the way he should. Alastor backed off from his Godson and Kingsley Shacklebolt was the first to approach him.

"Hey, I just wanted to say that your sister is my mentor in the department, and if you're anything at all like her, I'm glad as Hell you're back." Kingsley said earnestly. Rhaegar shook his hand with a big smile. Dany exchanged a look with her husband that said 'I told you this is where he was supposed to be'. Sirius rolled his eyes, agreeing despite himself.

"Thanks, I'm glad to be back. How bad is she? Sirius said she's a real pain in the ass, too." Both men laughed and Dany threw her hands up,

"Hey, I'm not that horrible! And besides you wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for me, Shacklebolt." She pointed out, feigning annoyance. Rae raised and eyebrow,

"You're Shacklebolt? Kingsley, right?" he nodded in confirmation, "Well, from what I hear from my baby sister, you've got a lot of potential. She certainly only has good things to say about you." Shacklebolt smiled at him and looked at Dany,

"That's awfully nice of you, Black. I didn't know you wrote home about me." Dany rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah, yuck it up." She grumbled. Everyone chuckled a little and the tension of having a man thought to be dead in the room vanished. People came up to him, smiling and shaking his hand. A couple of the older Aurors that remembered him gave him hugs and were finally able to give their condolences for the loss of his parents.

People started to matriculate over to Dany and Sirius, once they greeted Rae. She heard things mainly like "He seems like a great man" and "If he wants to be Minister, I'm totally okay with that, honestly". Dany caught her brother's eye and he smiled a bit, reminding her of her father when he had been lecturing the Wizengamot on the actual meaning of justice. This hadn't been just a 'let's go see where Dany and Sirius work' trip. This had been a political move, in a big way. He wanted support from the people, particularly people inside the Ministry.

It wasn't a bad idea, Dany thought her herself. He was personable, smart, charismatic, and had a good memory for names and faces. She saw him ask for a person's name and then look at their face hard for a brief second, trying to memorize it. Then it would pass so fast most people didn't even see it. Everyone likes a leader who knows the people they're leading, their father used to say. Rhaegar had apparently taken this adage to heart. Dany was snapped out of thoughts again today, this time by Sirius jabbing an elbow into her ribs. She looked up and smiled at a woman she didn't recognize; she must work under Moody.

"I'm sorry, this is so embarrassing, but have we met?" The woman smiled and shook her head,

"No, we've never met, although we all know who you are. I'm Gwen, I just started last month." Dany shook her hand and smiled again. She noticed a little girl trailing her,

"Is that your daughter?" Dany asked quite suddenly. Gwen looked behind her and said,

"Mary, didn't I tell you to stay in my cubicle?" The girl nodded, knowing she had been caught somewhere she wasn't supposed to be. Gwen turned back to Dany, "I'm sorry, I know she isn't supposed to be here, but my husband and I just can't afford good childcare for both our kids. It's just too expensive, so she comes to work with me, her brother is too young for anything but daycare." Dany waved her off,

"Oh, I have no problem with it. I love kids. It's Moody you have to watch out for; but don't let him fool you, he loves the little ones too." Dany said as she smiled and crouched down to be eyelevel with the girl,

"Hi, Sweetheart. What's your name?" The girl, no more than four or five, smiled shyly and said,

"Mary."

"Well, hello Mary, I'm Dany. That's an awfully cute puppy dog you have there." The girl moved closer to her, less nervous now, to show her the plush dog that she was clutching in her hands. The girl suddenly reached out and touched Dany's hair,

"Why is it silver?" Dany laughed,

"I'm not quite sure. I was just born this way, I suppose. Your mom said you have a brother?" Mary nodded and said,

"Joey is my brother. He's only two though. So he goes to daycare. I'm a big girl, so I have to come with Mommy to work."

"You certainly are a big girl. How old are you?" She smiled brightly,

"I'm five and a half!" Dany smiled at her and a idea suddenly struck her as she fell back into the rhythm of the charity that her and her mother had done so often when she was home on holiday.

"Well, Miss Mary, would you want to go to primary school when your brother is at daycare?" Mary nodded but looked sad,

"I do. But Mommy and Daddy can't afford it so I can't." Dany looked up at Sirius and said,

"Sirius, can you go grab some parchment and a quill?" He nodded and Dany stood up to talk to Gwen.

"Gwen, I'm going to give you the name of a magical daycare and primary school; it's where my parents sent me and my brother when we were children, it's one of the best in England."

"That's awfully nice, Mrs. Black, but we can't—"

"Afford it? I don't worry about the cost," She wrote something and paused, "I'm sorry, what are your kids' last names?" She raised an eyebrow by said,

"Tyler. Joseph and Mary Tyler." Dany nodded and kept writing. She finished and handed the letter to Gwen with a smile. She tore a piece of parchment off the bottom of the roll and wrote something else down. Gwen read the letter and looked at her, shocked and about ready to cry.

"This…I can't accept this." She said. Dany looked at her sternly,

"You can and you will, I insist. This is the school's name. It's William's School for the Talented and Gifted. That's code for 'magic primary school'." Gwen hugged her tightly and said,

"Thank you…thank you so much. I can never repay this. Your family…you are amazing people. I know what people speak about now, when they speak of the generosity and greatness of your family." Dany smiled, she had missed helping people who needed it. She had been serious when she had spoken to Shay about it; she wanted to resume the community service and she and her mother had so veraciously participated in. Dany leaned back down and said,

"Miss. Mary, it's been very nice to meet you. Be good to your mom, alright?" She nodded and touched a necklace around her neck. Dany looked down at the necklace that hung around her neck, "You like it?" She nodded and Dany waved her wand and a duplicate appeared in her hand, "Well here you go. You can have on just like it." Mary smiled and flew into her arms. Dany mouthed to the girl's mother 'it's just a replica, there's no real value'. Gwen relaxed; she had looked worried about handing her daughter something made out of gold and semi-precious jewels. Dany carefully removed the girl from her, "You should probably go now, I think your mommy has some work to do." Mary smiled again and said,

"Bye, Dany!" Dany stood up and Sirius asked her,

"Dan…What was on that piece of paper?" She smiled and said,

"It was a letter to the Headmaster of William's. We're paying for those kids schooling until they can go to Hogwarts." Sirius looked startled but grinned.

"You're amazing, you know that? I don't know what Daniel and Rhea did when they raised you two, but they certainly did something right." She leaned against her husband's shoulder and noticed that Parker and Simmons were watching her keenly, along with many other Aurors. Dany heard Parker mutter,

"Auror my ass. She's a bloody politician." Rhaegar looked over at his sister and grinned.

"Taking up Mom's mantle, Dan?" She laughed and said,

"I think so…I'm bringing your wife with me, just so you know." He shrugged and said,

"That will be good. She could use something to do. I think the kids might drive her crazy otherwise…I should go. You all clearly have work to do, and I've likely overstayed my welcome. It was nice to meet you all. Dan, you mind if I use the Floo?" She shook her head. Rae hugged Moody one more time and said, "I want you over for dinner, you hear?" before he vanished in the green flames. Everyone looked at Dany and Sirius with wide eyes.

"What the Hell?" Someone slowly said from the back of the crowd of Aurors,

"What the Hell, indeed." Sirius muttered to his wife. Dany smiled and said,

"Oi! Show's over. Get back to work before you're all on desk duty for the next month!" Everyone quickly dispersed, but Rhaegar Masters and Danilynn Black was on everyone's lips and minds.

Rhaegar had officially made his return to the public eye. He had just entered into the fight for the Ministry and there was no going back now, Dany thought as she sat in her office and began to address the paperwork in front of her.