Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter or any other character you recognize. The plot, any character you don't recognize, and any pranks mentioned are mine, ALL MINE! MWAHAHAHA! TAKE THAT, YOU EVIL LAWYERS:muse smacks me: Sorry about that.

Chapter 6: The Adamant Accomplice

It was a perfect September evening that was the end of a perfect September day, just like it'd been for the past few days. At the residence 345 Fisher Street (a very large white house with forest green shutters), four children – two boys and two girls – were running around in the backyard playing tag. At least, they were attempting to. It was rather hard when the chaser kept falling down.

It was a small surprise that it was the youngest of the four, a little girl with long, light blond hair in pigtails, a round face, and dark blue eyes just like her father's (one of the few traits she'd inherited from him). She was a good sport about her falling down, not at all deterred and actually quite liking it because it caused her siblings to come see if she was all right and therefore giving her a better chance to tag them (even though she was never quite fast enough to actually touch them).

All in all, the scene wasn't all that unusual, nor was the house, the car, or the rest of the street. However, when it came to the occupants, it was an entirely different story.

The first hint of the family's uniqueness was flying toward the children and their home that very moment: a handsome gray screech owl soared amongst the tree tops, outlined against the Lancashire sky. The little girl, having fallen down once again and had just happened to look up, squealed with delight. Pointing a pale four-year-old hand at it, she yelled in a slight lisp, "Look, look! I's an owlie!"

One by one, three other heads (all dark-haired and various ages) raised up to follow the owls progress.

"Wonder who it's from," said the second and last girl, who was also the second oldest child. Tucking behind her ear a few loose hairs that had broken free from her braid, she added, "It's probably for Mamma (!), seeing as Pappa (!2) doesn't like sorting mail."

"You know, I think that's Sirius's owl," said the youngest boy and second youngest child. "Its name is Prongs, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is!" said the eldest boy, who was Harry's age. "Wonder what it says."

"You think Mamma would tell us?" asked the little girl.

"Maybe," said the eldest boy. "Let's go ask! Maybe it's about us. Maybe Harry wants to meet us in Diagon Alley or something."

"I don't know, wouldn't he write it himself?" asked the eldest girl.

"Maybe it's about Hally-ween!" said the youngest girl excitedly.

"That's over a month away!" said the youngest boy, rolling his eyes. "Be reasonable, Sally!"

"I am being reasuble, Robert!" said Sally, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Cut it out so we can actually go see what it is!" said the eldest girl, frowning.

"Fine, then, let's go!" said Robert.

Neville, Matilda, Robert, and Aurora (or Sally, after her middle name Sarah) Longbottom rushed into the house, wondering what it was that their friend's godfather had written.

Inside the kitchen of the Lancashire home, a woman crouched by the stove. She had a round face, dark brown eyes that had a lively spark in each, permanently squared shoulders, and defined eyebrows that could lower to help form the obstinate unyielding expression the woman was famous for. Long arms that had a nicely-formed but calloused hand on the end of each, hair loose and blond and flowing in thick waves, the woman gave off an air of strength and steadfastness, as if she could stand strong at anything thrown her way and laugh in the face of danger (which she had actually done before, the danger being in the form of an infamous red-eyed Dark wizard). In short, the woman had presence, which was expected, since she was one of the best Aurors of the century.

Alice Longbottom opened the oven door to check on the chicken (it was by her insistence that the house elves allow her to do the cooking when she was home in time) while cauliflower and broccoli stirred itself in a pot filled with steaming water. Sticking her fork in the meat, she saw that it was not quite finished yet. Shutting the oven door, she looked up at the sound of wings coming in from the open window that was at the top of the very tall room.

"Why, hello there, Prongs," she said, holding out her arm for the handsome screech – the very same screech that her children had seen – to land upon, which it did so happily. "Got something from Sirius for me, or is it Severus asking for more mimbulus mimbletonia ointment?" The owl hooted once. "Oh, so it's Sirius?" Prongs hooted once more, and Alice nodded, taking the letter and adding, "I wonder what he's up to? Only one way to fi –"

Alice was abruptly interrupted by her four children: the eldest at nine, Neville; Matilda, second eldest at seven; Robert, the third child at six; and Aurora, or Sally, the baby of the family at four. Prongs, who seemed to be used to this type of interruption, didn't even twitch but looked at the newcomers with a stern look on his owlish face.

It was Sally – spitting image of Alice, with her long blond hair, freckles, pale complexion, and round face, but with Frank's blue eyes – who spoke first.

"Is the letter for us, Mamma?" Sally said excitedly in her girlish voice. "Is Sirius inviting us to meet him and Harry and Remus and the vampire man at Diagon Alley wit' him? Only I hope that the vampire man isn' coming, 'cause he doesn' like me that much and 'cause he's scary and a vampire. Or is it about Hally-ween? I know it is, Robert says I'm not be reasuble, but he's wrong because he is a – "

"Let me read it first, Sally," said Alice patiently. "I haven't even opened it yet! And careful what you say about your brother."

Under the watching eyes of her children, Prongs still perched on her shoulder, Alice opened the letter and began reading it, her eyebrows slowly getting higher than any of her children had ever seen, a mischievous smile slowly spreading across her face. When she finished the letter, she was almost laughing outright.

'You haven't changed a bit, Sirius,' she thought.

"So?" Robert prompted, when his mother didn't say anything right away.

Alice seemed to snap out of it, and, still smiling that mischievous smile of hers, she said calmly, "I'm afraid that it's not about Diagon Alley or Halloween. It's just a very funny letter from a funny old friend who will never, ever change!" Turning her back lest they see her laugh, Alice managed to say to her children, "Please go wash up – dinner will be ready in five minutes. Neville, you're to wash first because I need you to watch the food for me; there's something that I need to do straight away."

"Yes, Mamma," said Neville, sharing confused looks with his siblings. Hearing them leave and taking the cauliflower and broccoli off of the stove (magic truly was a wonderful tool when it came to wanting to cook quickly), letting Prongs fly ahead since it seemed he was waiting for a reply, she practically skipped to the study her and Frank shared (Frank was still at the Ministry, although he would probably be home within minutes). Giving a girlish giggle that sounded a lot like Sally's, Alice quickly got out a quill that magically always had ink on the tip, ripped off a small piece of parchment, and wrote only one thing: What did you have in mind?

Still giggling, Alice tied the parchment onto Prongs's leg. Excitedly she watched him leave, feeling like she was back at Hogwarts.

"Sirius, I'll give you this – you know how to keep a girl young," she said to herself. Feeling cheerful, she cleaned up her desk (a habit she'd gotten from motherhood), then went to wash her own hands. After all, a mother must set a good example.

It was quite easy to get out of the house on a Wednesday morning: Harry was at school, ditto for Snape only he was at Hogwarts and wouldn't be back until late evening, and Remus was at the research office and also wouldn't be back until late. Luckily for Sirius (and unluckily for every other human being, according to Snape), it was his day off. Since all of Voldemort's followers were locked up in Azkaban (save for those slippery few like Lucius Malfoy who managed to worm themselves out of a sentence) and Voldemort himself was gone, there wasn't too much for an Auror to do (not that anyone was complaining).

Cheerfully, Sirius adjusted his robes, slipped on his boots, and grabbed some Floo powder. Throwing it into the fire that he'd started in the grate, he shouted, "The Leaky Cauldron!" A few unpleasant moments later, Sirius staggered out of the fireplace of a familiar establishment.

Scratching his rump, Sirius waved at the old bartender, Tom, with his other hand, then set off for the brick wall that separated Diagon Alley from the rest of the world.

The streets weren't as energetic as they were during the summer, seeing as the kids old enough to go to Hogwarts had all ready bought their things and gone off to school. There were, however, still a wide variety of people there, some of them Sirius recognized and who recognized Sirius.

"Oi, Sirius!"

"G'day, mate!"

"Ey, Sirius, old chap, how's it going?"

Sirius laughed and waved at them, shouting quick replies. He would've stopped to chat normally, but he was on a mission. Spotting the particular persona he was looking for, he made a beeline for Florean Fortescue's. Sliding into a table, he smiled widely at the woman delicately eating her lemon ice cream sundae.

"How you doing, gorgeous?" he said.

Alice smiled at him, swallowing a spoon-full of ice cream.

"Pretty good, Mr. Charming," she replied.

"Excellent," said Sirius, snagging a spoon full of Alice's sundae. "And how about those perfectly loveable kids? Still causing trouble, I hope?"

"Actually, they've been a bit more tame this week," said Alice. "Sally told us yesterday that she wants to be an Unspeakable and so she's wearing a hat like that Sherlock Holmes and has got the rest of the kids making up mystery cases up for her. Even Robert can't help but join in."

"Ah, well, even Bobbie-boy can't resist those cute little rosy cheeks," said Sirius, leaning back leisurely and winking mischievously at one of the waitresses. "And Frank? How's he holding up?"

"He's doing just fine," said Alice, taking another bite of ice cream. "He's become addicted to the Lord of the Ring books, so he's been going a long way into the past every night."

"Hey, don't be blaming him!" said Sirius, waving a hand in a mock stern tone. "Those books are addictive! I'm guessing you're both happy about work, right? I heard you solved a case recently; I've been off for the past two days so I never got the details."

"The case was about a Cornish family whose belongings kept disappearing," said Alice. "It turned out to be the bloke next door; loved the tea set and the lamps a bit too much; they were antiques, though. Needless to say, there won't be any block parties involving those particular households any time soon. Anyway –" Alice put her spoon down and entwined her fingers. "– enough with the small talk. Time to discuss what we came here to talk about."

"I feel like I've been arrested," said Sirius jokingly. "No wonder they call you the Adamant Alice Longbottom! You don't give them a chance to lie!" Alice smirked.

"What can I say, I'm a woman of business," she said, flipping her hair back and adopting a haughty expression. "No sense beating around the bush, in my opinion. Back on subject, nevertheless. What's your plan, Sirius?"

"Well," said Sirius, stretching the word out. "I wasn't quite sure, really –"

"Sirius, I've known you since we were children," said Alice, raising her eyebrows, half-exasperated and half-amused. "Not once have you ever just suggested an idea without having at least half a plan in mind. I've given you three days, you should have it all planned out by now."

"Now that you mention it," said Sirius, studying his nails, "I might have an idea for my idea."

"I thought so," said Alice. "Before you tell me it, though, tell me about Heather so I can tell you if it's stupid or not."

Sirius told her, in detail, about the first meeting and about how she seemed to connect with Remus, and that Remus seemed to like her and that his ears turned pink when Sirius mentioned that Heather seemed to like him (Remus couldn't hide anything from Sirius).

"I see," said Alice. "Well, she seems like a nice girl. We'd probably get along real well, if I ever met her, and so would Remus. Are you sure he blushed when you mentioned she seemed to like him?"

"Of course," said Sirius. "He can't hide anything from me, much to his no-doubt dismay."

"Well then, now that I've got a characterization of Heather you might as well tell me the plan," said Alice. "First thing is first, though." Something had been tugging at her mind for a while….

She strode determinedly to the counter, head raised high and a hand reaching to the side of her where her wand was located. Sirius watched, eyebrows rising, curious about what she was going to do. Habit had him reaching for his own wand, just in case it was an emergency.

Alice deliberately locked her jaw and, suppressing a smirk even as she pursed her lips, gazed imperiously at the now nervous-looking girl on the other side. Apparently, either by the bearing or by the crest on Alice's robes, she had recognized who exactly was standing in front of her, a hand on her wand side.

There was a moment of suspense, as the girl waited with baited breath, wondering if there was any possible chance she would survive this still employed...

"Two lemon sundaes, please," said Alice sweetly, pulling a couple of galleons out of the pocket that was underneath her wand and slapping them on the table.

Sirius couldn't help but stifle a laugh. Same old Alice – it was just like her to make a person sweat for no reason but her own amusement.

"Oh, and dear," Sirius heard Alice say, "would you get my friends over there –" she gestured, with a flourish, at a few witches she'd known from her Hogwarts days, "– a refill for them? I know they've only been waiting for ten minutes, but it would mean oh-so-much to me. Thank you." Alice smiled falsely, as the girl blushed and quickly handed Alice her sundaes.

"And you say I'm a meanie!" said Sirius when Alice came back, holding a lemon sundae in each hand. "Blimey, I'm nothing compared to you!"

"Well, she deserved it," said Alice, sitting down and generously handing a sundae to Sirius. "The little witch has been lounging behind that counter for twenty minutes even though there are people who need a refill, including me and my dear compadrés over there, and tables to be cleaned. Glad she doesn't work in my division – be fired in a snit, if she even managed to get through training, I can promise you that."

"What can I say, it's not easy working under the Adamant Alice Longbottom," Sirius drawled, his voice in the same supercilious tone his father had talked in (!3). "I daresay, from experience, that it takes guts, bravery, steadfastness, power –"

"Oh Merlin, now I've got your ego going," Alice groaned. "Can you hush it up for a moment and tell me what you have in mind?"

"Fine," said Sirius sulkily; and he told her.

The secretive smiles on both Sirius's and Alice's faces unnerved everyone that saw them for the rest of the day.

(!) Seeing as how I don't know if it's spelled this way or not, you should know that the kids say it like "Muh-ma."

(!2) Once again, I don't know if it's spelled like that or not, but they pronounce it like "Puh-pa."

(!3) I decided to make Alice Longbottom the Head of the Magical Law Enforcement instead of Amelia Bones. Amelia Bones is still in it, though – you can imagine her as a sort of advisor or something, and Frank is a vice head of department (after all, can't have one Longbottom without the other now can we :D).

Bit of a short chapter, but I introduced about five different characters, now didn't I? How did you like Alice? I'm liking her more and more as I write her; she's just so funny! At least in my opinion.

I'm so happy to be updating quickly! Alice has got me all wound up so I wanted to quickly get her introduced so the ball could get rolling.

Hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to read and reply!

JeanieBeanie33