Disclaimer: Yeah, I tragically don't own this

I told you that I'd keep up with this story! So there's definitely some tie in to Fire n Gold, so I really strongly suggest taking a look at it, even though what's mentioned in this chapter hasn't exactly happened in Fire n Gold (as of August 2015 when I'm typing this).

I took a few new perspectives and I really enjoyed it. Let's just say that Fudge is getting nervous

Read and Review!

Essie

But we're still standing, we're still breathing
We're still fighting, we're not leaving, let me see you
If you hear me, sing along
But we're still standing, we're still breathing
We're still fighting, we're not leaving, let me see you
If you hear me, sing along

~We're Taking Over, Bea Miller

Cornelius Fudge was not happy. He woke up this morning, got dressed, and Apparated to his office, like any other day. He smiled at his secretary, who winked at him, and then sat down at his desk to read the morning paper that appeared there every morning. That was when his good day ended.

The front-page headline blared THE RETURN OF THE GOLDEN ERA OF WIZARDING KIND, almost as if the editor of the Prophet was trying to mock him. This was not the headline he had signed off on; it was only supposed to say that the eldest Masters was alive, nothing more and nothing less. RHAEGAR MASTERS LIVES, that was all it was supposed to say. Fudge felt an uneasy twinge in his stomach. It was already happening. The Prophet was starting to dissent, and if the newspaper was slipping between his fingers, everyone else wouldn't be far behind.

Below the headline was a picture that had clearly been taken without the permission of its occupants. Both Blacks and Harry Potter were easily identifiable, even from a distance. He looked closer and there was Rhaegar Masters, sitting between his sister and another woman, presumably his wife; he was older, but definitively the same person as the 20-year-old man that had supposed to have died. There were two more heads full of the signature white hair in the picture too, two children, a boy and a girl. Fudge felt his stomach sink even further towards the ground.

No one had said that one of the kids was a boy. He had made a statement to the Prophet last night, in an attempt to control the outrage this would cause with many of the people, in many places, who believed that he was an inept Minister of Magic. He had welcomed them back, he had tried to be neutral, but he hadn't known that there was a son, a son that would carry on their family line.

At least Masters' pain-in-the-ass Auror sister would have Black's spawn; she would give the world no more Masters children, at least not in name. Many had wanted Danilynn to become Minister, yet she had refused, insisting that she was too young and was planning on becoming an Auror along with her friends and boyfriend, who had apparently actually her fiancé. She had been a constant thorn in his side ever since she was old enough to talk and he had worked under Daniel Masters. She had told him off repeatedly and spoke poorly of him to her father, married Sirius Black, joined the Auror Department (where she was practically untouchable under Alastor Moody's watchful eye) and she quickly rose through the ranks, earning acclaim from many for helping save the Wizarding World from Voldemort, somehow had gotten her husband released from jail, obtained custody of Harry Potter, and brought her brother back from the dead, complete with family and heir. All within ten years. She was a busy woman, Fudge had to admit.

But no matter how annoying Danilynn Black was, she was only annoying. But with her brother back, she would become very dangerous; much like her mother had been when Daniel had risen to power. Rhea Masters was not an easy woman to deal with, and he was not looking forward to having another on his hands; in life, she had had the capacity to strike fear into the hearts of many, including her own husband, if needed. The most disconcerting part was how the people would react. He knew that many still called him usurper and hoped that the day would come that the dynasty that had reigned over their people for so long would once again gain its strength and power. And now the Masters revival was front-page news. It didn't have to be on the bloody front-page, did it? Someone knocked on the door to his office.

"Come in." The Minister said. He looked up to see his wife in the doorway, "Crissy. What are you doing here?" She smiled tightly.

"Did you see the paper this morning?" She said and he nodded, "Alive…out of all the things you expect to read in the paper, that's not one of them. The Prophet has set up newsstands in the Atrium." Fudge's head snapped up to look at his wife.

"What do you mean 'they've set up newsstands'?" She shrugged.

"Like during the war. They're in the Atrium selling papers. People are yelling the headlines. I saw Sirius and Danilynn Black on my way through. People were stopping them to talk. The people still love their family." Fudge threw his hands up.

"Thank you, Christina! That's exactly what I need to hear right now!" He said sarcastically. She frowned at him.

"It is, you idiot. Everyone loves them and they will reclaim your place in the Ministry if you don't watch them. One of them is annoying and two is dangerous. A family, to boot, and you've got a major problem. I said everyone loves them; change that. Find something in the dark closet of the Masters family history and put it on every street corner, radio station, and newspaper." She said with a raised eyebrow and a not-amused expression.

Fudge looked at his wife with mild surprise. She was a lot of the reason that he had risen through the Ministry. He had no eye for politics. He was charming enough, when everything was scripted, and liked people, but he just didn't know when to stab someone in the back. She stood to leave and said, "And tell your whore secretary that she's fired or I want a divorce." She left without another word and her heels could be heard clicking down the hall, until she was swallowed by the hoards of people going about their daily activities.

He decided that he would make the fact he was well aware of what was happening very obvious and made his way down to the Auror Department to talk to the Blacks themselves. As the Minister walked out of his office, and towards the lift, people were staring and whispering,

"He's alive…I always hoped…I remember the days of Daniel, you were too young, you'll see now…just as great as his father and grandfather…" When he reached Level Two, the whispers were now loud conversation. The closer he moved towards the Auror Department and Law Enforcement, the louder and more radical the talk became; these were the friends of the Blacks and of Alastor Moody, they all loved Danilynn Black and her brother. No one even seemed to notice him, and no one bothered to lower their voices as he passed.

"Honestly, the Ministry hasn't been the same since Daniel…It's about damn time…Dan should have been Minister…I guess we know why she refused to take the spot, always knew her brother would return…with the Blacks and Masters united we'll have real leadership again…brilliant move on her part, moving up in the Auror Department, waiting for her brother to come back…I told her Fudge was a bleeding moron, but I suppose we get the best of both worlds now; a Masters as Minister and a Masters in the Auror Department…" The feeling of invisibility set in on him for the first time since he had become Minister of Magic. He finally, mercifully, reached the door to the Auror Department.

He opened the door and most people fell silent, a radically different response than the people in the halls. Alastor Moody looked out from his office to see why everyone had fallen silent. Danilynn was talking to a few people, a smile on her face, standing beside her husband. They looked like they were made for power. Black and Masters are two very powerful families and now both the bloodlines lived. Fudge noticed that everyone had stopped talking except for the people talking to the Blacks; they didn't seem to care or notice that they were the only people speaking.

"I'll be sure to tell him, I know that they will all thank you for the warm wishes. He's very excited to be back, and my sister-in-law, niece, and nephew are just ecstatic to be in England for the first time, as well. They're very nervous about everything that's going on…Rhaegar wants to keep his kids out of the public eye for as long as possible, reasonably." The two men and woman all nodded and the two men shook her hand, she hugged the woman, and then they all shook hands with her husband. One of the men stopped before walking away.

"Dan, my brother works under Ludo Bagman, and between you and me, I might be able to get a few of the newest models of training brooms before they come on the market for the little ones. And for Harry, of course. If that boy is anything like James on a broom, start training him now and he might go pro." He said and Sirius smiled at him kindly and clapped him on the back.

"Joshua, you might just be my new best friend." He said and the man smiled and they both thanked him graciously for such a generous offer. Once the couple was alone, Fudge finally caught their eyes. It had taken too long for the Minister to get the attention and respect he deserves, he thought with a puff.

Nevertheless, Fudge raised an eyebrow at them and the Danilynn sighed with an eye roll. She said something to her husband and walked towards him. She stopped a couple feet away from him.

"Cornelius." She said with a very political cordiality.

"Danilynn." He offered to shake her hand and she stared at him like 'you've got to be joking'. He retracted his hand awkwardly and said, "I saw your brother has returned. I just came down to give my congratulations." She still looked skeptical. "I read he has a wife and two kids?" She frowned at him now.

"Rhaegar's family is none of your business, Cornelius. Do not presume to make that mistake again, because this is your only warning." She said tightly and Fudge recognized that look; he had seen her father wear it when people would question about his children and wife.

"Danilynn, you may have been born with a silver spoon in your mouth, but I am still Minister. Do not think you can speak to me like that." She raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Because I think I can. If you threw me in jail, who do you think the people would side with? You don't want a civil uprising on your hands; and don't think I don't know why you're here. You don't scare me." She hissed at him. She pulled away and a couple of men walked up to him on either side.

"Dan, would you like us to help the Minister remember where his office is?" She raised an eyebrow at Cornelius Fudge as if to say 'I told you so' and nodded briefly to them both.

The two men walked on either side of him and said nothing.

"So, have either of you ever met this great man you seem so fond of? The mighty Masters bloodline. You two are too young to remember it, yet you defend her and her brother, you risk threatening the Minster of Magic, committing treason, for her. Rhaegar Masters is not the man he is talked up to be." Fudge said. One of them scowled and the other replied to him.

"If he's half the person his sister is, he'll still be twice as good as you, Minister. But that's what scares you, isn't it? This is probably your worst nightmare; being forcibly escorted somewhere by your own employees. You don't know your own people; this is just the start." They gestured to the lift and he got on, with nowhere else to go, he decided to take a walk in the Atrium. He doesn't know his own people? He'd show them. The lift started to move up and the faces of Parker and Simmons slipped out of sight.

He reached the Atrium within a minute. This was a part of the Ministry he hardly ever visited as most of the higher-ups simply Apparated into their offices. He remembered how strange he had thought it was that Daniel Masters always insisted on Flooing into the Atrium with everyone else. He would always stop to buy a paper and talk to people along the way; the entire process usually took over half an hour. One day Fudge had asked him why he did so and he had answered, "A Minister has to know his people before they can know him. It's a good way to show solidarity, especially in times like this. Besides, I'm no better than they are; why should I get special treatment?"

Looking at the Atrium now, Fudge was reminded about why he hated it. There were so many people. It was overwhelming and made him anxious. People noticed him after a while and began to stare as he walked from one end of the great room to the other, but no one acknowledged him. He noticed, sloppily written in what he quite hoped was red paint, and not blood, above one of the fireplaces was the word Invictus. Fudge's blood ran cold; it was already starting. No one had been lying to him when they had said that the people wanted that family back. As he stood there, a woman with her daughter walked by and caught sight of the word that was still dripping paint onto the ground. She smiled with what the Minister could have sworn were tears.

"Invictus, indeed." The woman said. The little girl pulled on her mother's robes.

"Mommy, what does it mean?" The woman smiled at her daughter's question..

"Mary, that is the Masters family motto. Invictus means unconquered." The little girl, Mary, brightened at this connection.

"Masters? Like Dany?" Her mother nodded in confirmation, "Oh, she's so nice! Isn't she, Mommy? Mommy, isn't that the Minister?" The woman looked up and made eye contact with Fudge.

"Yes Sweetie, it is." Fudge smiled at her curtly and Mary moved towards him, curious.

"You're the Minister of Magic?" He nodded at her.

"I am, indeed. Is there anything I can help you with?" He asked her, trying to be nice, wondering if this is how the same family had kept power for so many generations. Mary shook her head.

"No, I was just asking. Yesterday I would have asked if you could help me go to school, but I don't need to do that anymore." The Minister looked at her curiously,

"And why not? Surely not so much has changed since yesterday." The girl smiled at him largely.

"It has! I met Dany Black and she told me that she would pay for me and my brother, his name is Joey, to go to school! She's really nice Minister; did you know that? Her bro—"

"Mary! Leave the Minister alone! I'm sure he has many important things to do." The girl's mother snapped at her. Mary was beckoned over by her mother, who said something to her too quiet for Fudge to hear. Mary nodded vigorously and walked back over, this time more rigid and looking rather like she was performing an unpleasant chore. Fudge was quite offended for some reason.

"Thank you for talking with me, Minister, but we really have to go." She started to walk away.

"What were you going to say?" He asked her. The young girl's eyes flickered, and he could tell she knew exactly what he was talking about.

"I forgot what I was going to say. I'm sorry, but it's time we leave." The young girl said as she took her mother's hand and they vanished into the Floo. A man appeared next to him; it was Alastor Moody.

"Try as you like, Minister, your people skills are bloody awful when they're unscripted. Good luck keeping everyone in line." Without another word, Rhaegar Masters' Godfather vanished back into the crowd of faceless people that Fudge could almost feel himself slipping into, as he seemingly instantaneously fell back into obscurity.

Silently, he walked back to the lift and made his way to his office. He stopped and told his secretaries to get him the editor of the Prophet.

"Get me the editor of the Prophet. Now. She has some answering to do." She nodded and Fudge went into his office and waited for the editor to Floo in. It took about five minutes between when he had asked for the editor to when she stepped out of the fireplace. Janie Dorian looked rather disturbed at this turn of events.

"Minister Fudge, what can The Daily Prophet and I do for you?" He looked at her critically.

"Ms. Dorian, you know I receive the paper every morning, correct?" She nodded.

"I am aware, and I thank you for your patronage. But what does this—"

"So would you like to explain what exactly this headline is doing on the front page? I don't remember approving it and last time I checked, everything that the Prophet prints has to be approved by the Minister." He snapped and she froze for a second and he got the impression that she was attempting to think very quickly on her feet.

"I…well, the dramatic effect just wasn't there with the headline you approved. It just seemed too, well, mundane of a way to release that news. We didn't have time to have you reapprove it; you don't let us contact you after 7 every night. Naturally we would have asked you if you were available. No time of day is too late for the Prophet; during the war we used to stay up all night working. Of course we didn't have to have anything approved, but still we worked tirelessly to keep the public informed of the war and announcements that Minister Daniel had been making."

Fudge narrowed his eyes at her words. It was almost imperceptible, but she had made a jab at his new rule that everything must be approved. The Masters family had been adamant supporters of the Freedom of Press Act passed so long ago, no one quite remembered when exactly it happened; almost as soon as he came into office, Fudge had started trying to repeal the Act, and after long months of campaigning in the Wizengamot, he had succeeded.

"Of course, but did I make myself clear that if you wish to change something, I must approve that change? If it was too late at night, you should have waited until the next day." He said and Janie narrowed her eyes and he saw her jaw clench slightly

"Minister, I understand, but the people must be kept informed of the truth, and in this, time is of the essence. I did not follow the rule, but I am also not sorry for it." He raised his eyebrows at her.

"Excuse me?" She straightened up.

"I do not regret what I did. What I do regret is allowing myself to be controlled for so long. Minister Daniel never insisted that we be approved. As a matter of fact, he insisted that he not know the headlines until they had already been distributed. I will not stand for this manipulation any longer." She said rather loudly. There it was again: the constant comparison to Daniel Masters. Minister Daniel did this and Minister Daniel didn't do that.

The longstanding tradition of the Masters family to be addressed by their first names had always rubbed Fudge the wrong way. Before Minister Daniel there was Minister Ethan and before him was Minister Charles and there was supposed to have been a Minister Rhaegar. Fudge had been dreading working under Rhaegar Masters, someone who was younger than him by at least ten years, right up until his apparent death; he was brash and, unlike his father, didn't bother hiding the fact that he greatly disliked Fudge. The women insisted on the same familiarity. Before Lady Rhea there was Lady Catherine and before her was Lady Danilynn, who was Danilynn Black's namesake. The people had insisted on at least putting Minister or Lady in front of their first names, despite protests from the family regarding any kind of formality.

Even the children of the family were treated with respect and admiration. He remembered the young Masters children being at work with their family; and even as children that weren't school age, almost everyone would stop, smile, and say, "Miss Danilynn, Mister Rhaegar, is there anything you need?" and any given person in the Ministry would be more than happy to assist them. He had struggled to get anyone to call him anything other than just plain, old "Fudge".

"Janie Dorian, you're dismissed from the position of editor of the Daily Prophet. I want you out of that office by the end of the day." The woman, who despite being nearly 45, put her hand on her hip and rolled her eyes, seeming like a young woman dumping her boyfriend,

"Save your breath Fudge, I quit." She snapped. He raised an eyebrow at her and instead of Flooing out of his office she walked out the door with a flip of her brown, slightly grey, hair.

Janie Dorian, instead of being rather put out she had just lost her job, felt incredibly liberated. She walked down the halls of the Ministry completely unemployed and completely uninhibited. Her feet took her to her destination of their own accord and before she knew it, she was opening the door to the Auror Department. A couple people looked up.

"I'm looking for Danilynn and Sirius Black. Do you know where they are?" She asked two men who were walking by the door. Neither of them looked particularly friendly.

"Who's asking?" One of them asked.

"My name is Janie Dorian. I'm an old friend to the Masters family. I just quit my job at the Prophet. Well, actually Fudge tried to fire me for running the headline from this morning and I quit." They both looked at her with raised eyebrows but shrugged. One of the men called across to a woman a few cubicles down.

"Tara, you know where Black and Masters went?" She looked up.

"They're out on a job. Nothing too big. Should be back within the hour." She responded. The men both looked at her curiously.

"What did they get called out for?"

"Moody sent them all the way to freaking Ireland to deal with a couple of whackos practicing dark magic on Muggles. I think he just wanted them out of the Ministry for the rest of the day. This Department is like a damn circus today." She answered.

"Like you're surprised? This is the biggest news there's been since Harry destroyed Voldemort. I'm honestly more surprised that there isn't a queue lined up trying to talk to the power couple." A passing Auror said. The other three Aurors laughed in agreement and the passing Auror left as soon as someone waved him down. The two men looked at her and said,

"I'm Parker, this is Simmons. You can wait if you want; I'd say you can use my cubicle but there's one too many classified documents in there to let a reporter in, even a recently unemployed one. We can show you around, if you want." She smiled at them and shook their hands, trying to hide her nerves. She hadn't spoken to Dany Black since long before she had become Dany Black. Young Dany Masters had been probably thirteen or fourteen the last time the two had spoken. She honestly wasn't even sure that Dany would remember her.

"Sure, I'd love to see everything. Aurors have always fascinated me, honestly; but you all are a tad too secretive to talk to the press unless something colossally huge and dangerous to the public is happening." They both laughed.

"Moody's rules, not ours, sister. From what we hear, he got very secretive after Minister Daniel's death. Everyone thinks he's just trying to keep Fudge out of the loop and out of Dany's business." One of them said. She nodded. It was a wise move.

"That is a fantastic idea…Fudge is getting more paranoid by the minute. He's positive that he's going to be ousted by the end of the month." She said absently. The men looked at her.

"Would that really be so horrible? I'd like to have Minister Rhaegar in office one day; sooner rather than later would be preferable." Parker said. She smiled at him.

"No, that wouldn't be horrible at all. He's a good man; he was kind of a hellion as a little kid, but who isn't? I'd like to see him become Minister." Simmons smiled at her too.

"Well this entire department shares your sentiments, so you're in good company…this is the Simulation Room. It, well true to its name, simulates fights and allows Aurors to refine their fighting skills without actually killing anyone. You can get hurt as hell, but no one has ever died in there, well not that I'm aware of…Hey, Shacklebolt, do you know if the Sim has ever killed someone?" A man, presumably Shacklebolt, paused.

"No it's never killed anyone. Aurors aren't exactly expendable capital…who is she?" He said.

"Janie Dorian, said she's a good friend of the Masters'…Fudge just fired her for her…outspoken nature about her allegiances." Parker said hastily. Shacklebolt rolled his eyes.

"How do you know she isn't lying, you idiots? Seriously, you guys are going to end up dead one day…Sorry, Miss, but you have to leave—"

"Janie? Janie Dorian?" Everyone suddenly looked up to see Dany and who she assumed was Sirius Black walking towards them. Both Dany and Sirius looked relatively unharmed, if rather dirty. Both of them were in shirts, black jeans, and combat boots. Dany had her hair up in a ponytail and a thin cut on her cheek and Sirius had bruised knuckles. Dany smiled at the other woman warmly, "I am right, aren't I? I'd recognize that face anywhere." Janie nodded and smiled at her.

"Dany…last time I saw you, you were practically still in pigtails." She said and Dany laughed and shook her hand.

"I'd hug you but I smell like Death Eater hold-outs, sweat, and blood." She joked and Shacklebolt looked at her sharply.

"There are still hold-outs?" He asked and Sirius shrugged.

"There're four less in the world than there were a couple of hours ago." Simmons and Parker both raised their eyebrows.

"You know you're going to have to report that to Moody." Shacklebolt said. They both shrugged again.

"Alastor knew what he was getting when he recruited us. Besides, it's not like they were exactly being productive members of society." Dany said and then shifted gears and said, "Now, Janie, this is my husband, Sirius Black. Sirius, this is Janie Dorian; she was a good friend of my mom's, and she was always kind enough to be the one to run stories on my family when Rae and me were kids; she usually kept it nice. I'm assuming you've already met Parker, Simmons, and Kingsley." Janie smiled at Sirius and shook his hand.

"It was a full-time job, don't let her tell you anything different. I babysat sometimes, too…Sirius Black…Dany, this isn't the same boy that used to give you fits, is it?" Dany opened her mouth to say something but Janie grinned and kept going, "Oh, never mind, it was Rhaegar he used to give fits. Mainly because you had a crush as big as Dumbledore is old on him." The older woman grinned at her slyly and Dany looked mortified.

"Janie!" Parker, Simmons, and Shacklebolt started laughing uproariously as Dany's face turned red. Sirius, for his part, looked like his ego had just been inflated tremendously.

"When was this? When did little Dany Masters have a crush on me?"

"Don't you dare—" Janie ignored her protests and answered her husband.

"Oh, it must have started when she was…hmm, twelve maybe?" Dany put her hands in front of her face.

"Oh my God…can I die now?" Dany asked no one in particular.

"Dan, we didn't start dating until we were sixteen…did you have a crush on me for five years?" Sirius said with a cocky grin. Parker, Simmons, and Kingsley were laughing so hard they were almost crying. She crossed her arms across her chest and her face was still obviously flaming red.

"…Maybe. Okay, don't judge! It's not like the choice of guys was abundant in Gryffindor, so I couldn't exactly move on. James was taken, so was Frank, so was Remus, and don't even get me started on what happened with Brady." She suddenly looked like she had swallowed something sour, but it quickly passed.

"So…that's a pretty long time. You still liked me when you had a boyfriend?" Sirius laughed and Dany still looked mildly uncomfortable.

"Yeah, Brady didn't really do it for me. And besides, I only liked you a little until like Fifth Year. Then puberty finished and what can I say? We all were hormonal and then you got real hot, real fast." She said, quickly regaining her normal attitude with a shrug.

"You know I still can't believe you kissed me with my face beat to Hell and back. When I was in a hospital bed." Sirius said absently.

"Hey, I wasn't the one who just blurted out that I was in love out of nowhere." She retorted with a grin.

"Okay, it wasn't 'out of nowhere'. You were trying to take the blame for my near-death experience with my parents and it was just ridiculous…and then it just kind of slipped out." Sirius said, shifting from one foot to the other uncomfortably.

"It was totally my fault. You had the shit beaten out of you by your own mother and father purely because you knew me." Dany said with an eye roll and everyone got the impression that this wasn't a new conversation.

"There wasn't anything you could have done. Seriously Dan, I was already whipped and nothing anyone could have said or done. Besides, your dad thought that it was wonderful when we started dating. And Daniel was never wrong; you should know that, Daddy's Girl." Parker and Simmons exchanged a look that said that they didn't hear about their superiors' personal lives very often. They also exchanged a grin at the Daddy's Girl comment. Janie looked at the younger woman sadly.

"Dany…I never got a chance to tell you how truly sorry I was to hear about your parents. Their deaths were tragic, yet it appears that they were not in vain; both their children survive." Dany smiled sadly at her.

"Thank you, Janie. I know how close you and Mom were; it couldn't have been easy on you, either…why don't you and Sirius get to know each other? I'll go fill Moody in." She smiled with obvious effort and Sirius watched his wife walk away, simultaneously mournful and desperate. Janie knew that look; her husband had used to wear it sometimes. It was the look of a man that knew that no matter what he did, he couldn't fix her completely. He couldn't patch her up with tape or magic and that hurt him, it hurt him more than anyone could imagine. Even after all these years, he still wanted to protect her from the agony of losing Daniel and Rhea.

"You can't protect her from everything, you know." She said gently. Sirius looked at her and sighed.

"The night her parents died, I was asleep. I was sleeping at the Potters' when all of a sudden, there's someone knocking at the door, banging really, close to 4 in the morning. James and I, we tried to go back to sleep but the people downstairs were too loud. We finally went down to see who it was, and God…if you had seen her, bloody and scared, clothes ripped to Hell with a knife in her hand that was soaked to the hilt in blood; if she had run into your arms crying, if she had begged you to fix her like she did that night, you would try to protect her from as much as possible, too." He said softly. There was a look about him that she had only seen a few times in her life; it was love, a pure love that could light up the whole damn room. She noticed distantly that Kingsley, Parker, and Simmons were still standing against the wall. The three of them awkwardly shuffled away, trying to leave unnoticed. Janie shook her head slightly and suspected that none of them had ever really put much thought into how exactly Dany Masters had become Dany Black.

"I can't understand, I think it's a man thing; my husband always said the same, actually." She observed and Sirius laughed slightly.

"He must be a pretty smart guy." She felt herself sadden at his words.

"He was, he really was." Sirius looked up with giant eyes.

"Oh God, I didn't know, I'm so—"

"Don't be sorry. It was a long time ago. Dany was only about fourteen at the time, it's why I stopped coming around their house; I was too sad to go anywhere near a family. Rhea and Daniel were so happy and it hurt me, it hurt because I would never have children, or see my daughter walk down the aisle to her husband; because my husband was killed in a raid, because my husband is dead." Sirius looked at her sadly, and Janie noticed the incredibly kind look in his eyes. For the first time since meeting him, she saw what exactly it was that Dany had seen in him when she had confessed to her that she had a crush on him.