I don't own anything, save the plot and the OCs.

xoxo

9. Bad News

It was the highest achievement to hold a triumph over the Dark Lord. He was a formidable man and to beat him was a formidable accomplishment. Or so he thought.

Every single last Death Eater who had been in Azkaban at the time were tortured, and the ones in the lab, save Madison, were killed. Because they had let Romeo Kelley get away - and the young man held the secrets to everything. If he spoke to Dumbledore than the old man would know about Voldemort's achievement. Dumbledore would find out about how Voldemort had found a way to take all the power from dirty Mudbloods and put it into himself; so he could finally, once and for all, be called the greatest wizard to ever have lived.

This was why he needed to kill Dumbledore; only he was stopping Voldemort from dominating the world.

Voldemort looked around the room he stood in, assessing each and every person. 'Find where the Order are hiding.'

Everyone straightened, eager to please their Dark Lord; too scared to disappoint him. 'If you can't find them, don't bother coming back.'

The room erupted in shouts of: 'LONG LIVE THE DARK LORD!' before cracks rippled through the air as the Death Eaters hastily disapparated. They were all gone within seconds.

xo

Gellert sat opposite Dumbledore and smiled a painfully tight smile when he finished his brandy. Then he opened his arms in a gesture of welcome and warmth.

'Well, Albus, how can I help you? Bearing in mind that of course, I have been locked up here for a few decades and therefore probably can't do anything that you'd want of me, save perhaps-'

Albus smiled softly at the cheeky, childish friend he'd missed. Albus had been missing Gellert for so long. He blurted out the first thing he could think of, 'I broke your wand.'

All the colour left Gellert's face. 'My wand? The elder wand? The most powerful wand in all of existence and humanity? You broke that wand?' he wasn't smiling at his old friend anymore. On the contrary, he was frowning deeply. 'How?' he breathed.

'Voldemort conquered me. He broke my wand.'

'Is there a way to fix it?' pleaded Gellert, his eyes glistening with fury. When Albus shook his head, he roared in anger, jumping up with an agility an old man should not have had. 'He's a fool. He let's the idea of power get to him, he lets his arrogance get to him. Look what he's done. Destroyed the most powerful wand in the world. Simply because he thinks no one can have anything as powerful as what he has without him knowing about it.'

Albus placed a hand on Gellert's shoulder. He nodded sympathetically, and in a way, totally understood and agreed to what Gellert was feeling. It was how he felt the moment he saw his wand dissolve into the air and disperse with the wind. He had felt fury and disgust at the arrogant man before him.

'Why are you here, Albus?' Gellert asked softly, his bright eyes boring into Albus's and snapping the old Headmaster out of his reverie.

'Aren't I allowed to come and say hello to my friend?'

'Albus-'

'I need advice, Gellert,' he whispered. 'I think I've done something very wrong.'

This surprised Gellert. Albus never did things wrong; unconventionally, maybe, but never wrong. 'Wrong? Completely wrong? With what?'

'With Sirius Black.'

'But he's dead, right?' the prisoner asked, biting his lip in confusion. His eyes widened when Albus shook his head softly. 'Everyone thinks he's dead. They think he's a traitor.'

'He came back.'

'Well, surely that's not your fault, Albus. Maybe he was pretending to be dead or he cast a spell-'

Albus shook his head. 'No. He was dead. And now he's not. But that's not the worst of it. Gellert, after he returned, I helped him make a horcrux.'

The prisoner flinched and cast his eyes onto his old friend, staring angrily at him. 'Then there is nothing I can do to try and help you. It's up to you Albus.'

'What do I do though. How do I … what if he-'

'I don't know Albus.' The other replied forcefully. 'I don't know.' Just as he finished saying what he was saying, a blinding white light poured into the room.

She, the doe, butted her head, opened her mouth and began to speak.

xo

Remus was a very likeable man. He was kind, he helped whenever he could and he was very loyal; to his friends, to his little nephew Harry and his gorgeous godson SJ, and of course, to Dumbledore and all the professors now he thought about it; loyal because they had all protected him and his secret, and tried their hardest to give him a good education.

He was handing out blankets and sheets to the rescued. They were safe now. And food was being made for them at that moment.

Lily ran to Remus and started pulling his arm. Her pretty face was wracked with desperation and grief. 'Come, Moony!' she cried. Tears started pouring down her face. 'Come on-'

'Lily?' he asked. 'What's wrong?'

'It's Voldemort! He's …' she gasped, covering her mouth, and then after a shaky breath, she continued, 'you won't believe what he's doing.'

'What?' he asked desperately.

She ignored him and carried on pulling Remus through the room, and into another one, where there was only one person. He was lying on the makeshift bed, breathing heavily and cradling his arm.

'Romeo,' Lily breathed, 'it's Lily.'

The other man muttered something unintelligible, but they didn't care. 'I've brought you a blanket,' she said as she bent down and wrapped it around him. Lily had dreamed of always being a healer before the First Wizarding War broke out. By that point, it made sense to just devote all her time and energy into helping to defeat Lord Voldemort.

But she was still very nurturing and cared deeply about helping people. Maybe it was the mother side within her, or maybe it was just that she liked helping people.

Lily smoothed Romeo's light brown hair and said softly under her breath, though her voice did shake, 'Do you think you can tell my friend what you just told me about Voldemort?'

There was a long pause, lasting at least two minutes, before the sick man tiredly opened his mouth and explained to Remus all that he explained to Lily, but in more detail this time. The colour steadily left Remus's face. When Romeo finished his story, Remus thanked him, ran a hand through his hair and left the room.

Lily followed Remus, her eyebrows creased with worry. She couldn't read him, which was a first since she could read him all the time, even more so than she could read her own husband. She followed him to the room he was staying in with the Prewett twins, and cried out in shock when she saw him calmly packing his clothes.

'What are you doing Remus?' Lily Evans Potter wasn't a fan of dumb questions, but it just seemed like one of those necessary times. Where a stupid question was simply required, and therefore allowed.

He didn't even look up and said to her plainly, 'I'm going to find Sirius and James and help them track down the rest of the horcruxes. And then I'll help them kill Voldemort.' He said it so calmly, so quietly she almost didn't believe what her ears were telling her.

'You're going to find them? Then I'm coming with you.'

Surprisingly, Remus offered up no protest.

xo

A patronus ripped its way through the house. A beautiful doe, with gorgeous eyes and a lithe body. 'James,' Lily said, 'me and Remus want to meet you. In an hour, be at the place where I told you I was going to have Harry. Don't bring anyone else. Just you and Sirius. See you soon, love you.' Then the doe ducked her head and disintegrated into the air, her rays glowing as she left.

Sirius looked up at his best friend and raised an eyebrow. 'Prongs...'

'I know what you're gonna say, yes it's risky, but we have to. Emanuelle,' he said to the pretty Italian, 'do you think you could change the way we look again?'

Within fifteen minutes, they were unrecognisable, save the peaking tattoo protuding from Sirius's top. He winked devilishly at his girlfriend. 'Like the nose piercing?' he asked.

She shrugged, and showed them that clearly, she was not in the mood for joking. 'Do you have to go?' As she said this, she walked towards him and looked up at him through the parting in her hair. He nodded before swallowing harshly. 'Yeah.'

'Be careful.'

'I will,' Sirius replied, kissing her forehead and stroking her cheek. 'You be careful too.'

'I'm always careful,' whispered Rose, leaning up to kiss him deeply. Then they broke apart and she smiled sadly at him. 'I'll see you soon.'

He bent down to pick his son up off the floor and kiss him briefly on his cheek before placing him back down on the ground, where he wanted to be. SJ loved moving around; Sirius could picture him in twelve or thirteen years being in Gryffindor and playing chaser or seeker on the Quidditch team. 'Come on then Prongs, let's go.'

James looked at his son, who he had just said goodbye to, and smiled when he saw his best friend bending down to swiftly place a peck in Harry's hair.

Sirius didn't even spare a look at his Mother and her foul dirty house elf. He didn't want to acknowledge them. Just because they were protecting his family didn't mean he had to suddenly be best friends with them. They were nasty, cruel people, and in Kreacher's case, a dirty creature.

Sirius couldn't even relate to them. And in a year or two, if he was alive, and his mother gave him back the millions of galleons she stripped from him, it didn't mean anything; he wasn't going to suddenly grovel at her feet the way she wanted him to. He would thank her, because it was what Blacks did. But he would never trust her again, never fall for her tricks again - and most importantly, he would never love her again.

They didn't apparate because they didn't have licenses and weren't about to go and lead the Ministry to where they were. Because as large as people thought London was, it really wasn't when it came to being a witch or wizard. The Death Eaters would find them in a matter of minutes, really.

James explained to Sirius that the place was outside Piccadily Train Station. They took a train themselves because the station was right near Grimmauld Place, or rather, fifteen minutes away. When they finally arrived, they charmed the ticket barrier, walked through and impatiently waited for their train.

James was overcome with excitement and anticipation; he was going to see Lily, finally. It may have only been a few days but it seemed like a lifetime for him.

xo

'The Dark Lord is angry. Within the week, he is going to charge into Hogwarts and murder the students until either you face him or you return the Mudblood prisoners. Prepare yourself Dumbledore. He is not going to be lenient this time. He is angry, very angry. I think some of those prisoners hold knowledge that is very valuable to the Dark Lord. Make your choice quick.'

Then, Snape's doe vanished slowly, her beautiful eyes twinkling bright till they too, finally withered away. Albus stared, open mouthed, at the place where the patronus was before he finally turned to Gellert.

'What do I do?' he asked his oldest friend.

Gellert stared at his empty brandy glass, and as if by magic, which it probably was by, the glass refilled. Gellert knocked it back and then licked his lips.

'You can do three things. Either return the prisoners. Let the students die. Or, and if you ask me, and I offer only my most unbiased opinion, this is the best plan;:you let me out and we round up a group of wizards and witches to help protect the students and evacuate them for good.'

'You?' Albus asked, raising an eyebrow. Surely this was a joke. He voiced this belief. But then he looked into his friend's eyes and saw he wasn't joking. Gellert smiled widely when Dumbledore replied softly after a long moment of hesitation, 'When was the last time you held a wand?'

'A very long time ago.'

'Do you think you can wield one?' Albus asked gently, looking at where the doe had just been. He couldn't believe he was even considering this but what other options did he have?

Gellert shrugged. 'It's not something I can forget, is it Al?' His voice had taken on a more teasing, playful quality, as though talking about the potential death of hundreds was something to talk so calmly about.

Albus passed his wand to Gellert, whose mouth fell open in surprise. 'Cast a spell.' Albus ordered him shortly, the colour slowly seeping back into his face.

Without a pause, Grindelwald waved his wand and fire burst from the tip of the wand, forming a bird; and at closer inspection, Albus picked it out to be a phoenix, his phoenix.

'How is Fawkes?' the prisoner asked, raising an eyebrow as he transfigured the closest chair into a tiger, who roared and stalked towards them ever so slowly. A moment later, the gorgeous tiger became a small budgie, tweeting and chirping as it flew gracefully around the little furniture there was in the room.

'Gellert,' Albus said sternly. 'Are you serious about this? Do you really think you should come? Because once you come, you can't return here. I won't bring you back if you try to become a dark lord again. I'll kill you next time Gellert, and I really don't want to have to do that.'

'Kill me?' the other replied, a smirk on his face and laughter in his voice. 'You would never be able to kill me Albus. You care about me too much.'

Albus was glad he didn't blush like the foolish schoolboy he felt like he was at that moment. He bit his lip. 'We'll just have to see about that, won't we?'

xo

James hugged Lily tightly and kissed her forehead. 'I missed you.' He said, running his hands through her long red hair, glimmering a shiny golden red in the street lamp light. He couldn't believe her and Remus had been able to tell it was him and Sirius, despite the fact that they looked totally different. Apparently, it was in the way Sirius stood and the way James fidgeted that was totally recognisable, even in different bodies.

Lily smiled and pulled her hood up. 'I missed you too sweetheart, but can we please get out of here. Some people back there were giving me and Remus worrying looks.' She said, kissing his cheek and taking her husband's hand. They walked past the pair of friends, Sirius and Remus, who were in the middle of punching and grinning at each other.

'Come on,' said Lily impatiently to the boys, cocking her head. 'Let's get out of here.' Soon, it was the four of them, walking curtly through a dim, deserted street. 'There's a small bed and breakfast two minutes away. We'll go there and stay for the next few nights.'

'And plan,' interjected Remus. Lily nodded.

When they got to the bed and breakfast, it was James who booked the room, in that frustratingly calm voice of his. The bed and breakfast wasn't the prettiest thing, but it was certainly clean and spacious. The threadbare carpet had dark patterns on it, and there was a lot of furniture; chairs, sofas and bookcases cluttering the reception.

'Two beds please.' James said, pulling out his wallet and taking out the wad of Muggle cash he kept on him. And after spending so much time with Lily, he knew how to use Muggle money too; unlike Sirius, who was blissfully ignorant and handed out fifty pound notes for something that was worth thirty pence.

The woman charged James before placing a key in his hand and explaining some of the rules to him; common rules like no rowdiness and no drugs as she took them to their room. It wasn't overly large but it wasn't small either. There were two large beds in the centre of the room and a small bathroom door on the other side.

'I can't believe you did it.' Sirius said proudly, 'You broke into Azkaban right under Voldemort's non-existent nose. You did it, you saved them. How many were killed?'

'Twelve if we're counting Death Eaters, but only three people from our side.'

James sat down beside Lily on the bed, and pulled her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her. 'How did you get in?'

'We transfigured ourselves and swam. They would never think people would swim through, it was easy. The hard part was fighting the Dementors. And the other cell units, you know, like Moody's group encountered some Death Eaters, so they were fighting a lot too.'

'But it was successful.' Sirius interrupted. 'That's all the matters, isn't it? That it was successful and we didn't lose too many people.'

'I don't think it matters how many people were killed, they were still killed. And besides, we were too late. Voldemort's found a way now, he's been experimenting on Muggleborns.'

James's head snapped up and he stared resolutely at Remus. 'What's he been doing?'

Remus swallowed harshly and licked his lips. Remus pulled out a chair from the small round dining table in the corner of the room, flipped it around and sat on it. He rested his chin on the back on the chair and sighed. Running a hand over his face, Remus looked up and stared each of them in the eye.

'Lily was treating a man called Romeo, not much older than us, I think he was in his Fourth Year when we were in First. During the rescue, he'd been up in the new part of Azkaban Voldemort has made. There are people there who are … doing things to the Muggleborns.'

'Doing what I think he's doing?' whispered Sirius.

Remus nodded. 'He's successfully managed to find a way to get the power out. You were right, he's been thinking about it for a long time.'

Both Marauders paled considerably. James's hold on his wife tightened and Sirius's fists curled into big, balled fists.

'I told Dumbledore. I told him he needed to act fast. And now look!' shouted Sirius, 'Voldemort's found a way! He's found a way to do it and it's too late for us now.'

'I know,' Remus whispered, 'None of them survived, save one. Romeo Kelley. He was sort of the experiment within the experiment. Voldemort's found a way to do it now, and if we hadn't come that day, Romeo would be dead and powerless, and so would a few other Muggleborns. Lily had been treating him when he told her all of this.'

They all turned to Lily, who had been silent up until now. She winced and then looked at Sirius. 'Padfoot,' she said, 'we need to kill Voldemort now. Before he's too powerful and it's too late.'

'I agree.' He replied, eyes following a strand of crimson hair floating in the air. 'But how?'

'We find out where the other horcruxes are. Dumbledore thinks that Voldemort hasn't had the chance he's needed to make all the horcruxes he wanted to, but he might still have up to four. Once we track all the horcruxes down and destroy them, we work on killing Voldemort and repairing our world.'

Sirius nodded just as James answered, 'Well, we'll need Dumbledore then won't we?'

'I can't believe he's found a way to do it, to strip a person of their magic.' Sirius said quietly, 'I mean I knew he was trying to do it. But I never thought he'd actually be able to.'

'Romeo is the only one, out of four of them, who survived. But that's only because the magic wasn't taken from him. They were getting ready to take it from him, but they decided to do the more drastic and troublesome prisoners first before taking Romeo's power.'

Sirius took his wand from his pocket, waved it and conjured stationary, things like sticky notes; large sheets of paper, pens and markers and a large white board that he attached to the wall.

'We should start to plan then. Because I'm not turning twenty three and having Voldemort still on this earth. My son isn't going to turn one with Voldemort still on this earth.' Sirius said curtly. He tossed pens to Lily and Remus. 'Write down everything you know that could help. I'm going to write everything Dumbledore has told me about horcruxes. Potential ones, where they could be; important places to Voldemort etcetera.'

Suddenly, their attitudes changed. James made them tea (because he was so good at making tea) and contributed to their notes: 'You're forgetting Hogwarts, Sirius. He'd definitely have at least one in Hogwarts. It was the most important place to him.'

'James, you got the blade?' Lily asked, and when he handed it to her, she admired it. 'We could use this the whole time. It saves us a lot of hassle.'

There were nods of agreement. 'Alright,' said Remus, 'I think there's a trend between the things Voldemort might turn into horcruxes. They're either part of his childhood or they're all related to the Founding Four; cups, diadems, necklaces. Which means one of the already made horcruxes is bound to be in Hogwarts. We should go there first. Look for it in a place Voldemort would trust, somewhere no one can go. He's not going to leave it somewhere anyone can access it, this is part of his soul we're talking about-'

'The Room of Requirement!' James shouted. 'Oh my god, how could we not think about it before?! The Room of Requirement! A place he's bound to have discovered, wasn't it Dumbledore who said years ago to us that he thinks we, like Tom Riddle, are some of the only students to have ever discovered even half of Hogwarts' secrets?'

They all looked up in shock, even Lily, and stared at him. It was Remus who spoke. 'You remembered something Dumbledore said to us when we were fifteen?'

The bespectacled Marauder nodded almost nervously. 'Yes. Why?'

'Nothing, it's just a very un-Prongsy characteristic,' replied Remus.

'Okay, so a potential place-'

'Not potential, a definite place is the Room of Requirement. We also need to look around the Slytherin dungeons. You never know, it could be there,' interjected James. He took a pen from beside Sirius and stood up, walking towards the white board.

'Name me every good hiding place you can think of that relates to Voldemort. Any place he might have affiliation with.'

A good while later, when they'd written everything James had wanted them to write, Lily sighed angrily. She was mumbling to herself under her breath, annoyed and pissed off to say the least.

'We need to find Dumbledore,' said Lily. 'He'll know what to do-' as she said this, there was a loud, rippling crack and the room was blinded by a bit of light.

Then there was chuckling.

'-could have warned me Albus, I could have hurt myself … or something.'

'Yes, well you haven't.' Albus said irritably, then he looked around the room at the petrified group of four. They were frozen and all had their eyes glued onto the frail, thin man standing beside Dumbledore, dressed in flimsy clothing with matted hair and a wicked smirk.

'Grindelwald?' asked Remus, staring at the old man and blinking once or twice. Then he looked up at Dumbledore when he was sure it was the ex-Dark Lord. 'Professor, you've either lost your marbles for real this time, or he's imperiused you.'

Albus shook his head patiently. 'No, I haven't and no he hasn't. But I need your help.'

'We were just talking about you Professor,' said Lily, 'we need to destroy the horcruxes now. We need to kill Voldemort now. He's doing terrible things, he's found a way to take the power from one person and put it into another.'

Albus sucked in a breath and ran a hand through his hair. 'First, I think we should get Gellert changed into some more suitable clothing.' As he said this, Albus vanished his friend with a lazy flick of his wand and muttered a few spells under his breath. 'He's in the next room. I've conjured some clothes and soap for him.' He answered when confused expressions were boring into the side of his face.

'Professor, what's he doing here?' James whispered, standing up. 'You can't be serious, Professor. This is Grindelwald we're talking about. It's enough having one Dark Lord running around, but two? You're asking for something. Because when Voldemort finds out, he's going to do everything he can to get Grindelwald on his side. And we can't have Grindelwald on his side.'

Albus held up a hand to silence James. 'We need him. Without him, we have no hope of beating Voldemort. He knows the way Voldemort thinks better than almost anyone; he was Voldemort for a short time We need Gellert.'

Besides, Albus thought, I miss my friend.

It was one thing to have many people worshipping, following and listening to you. But when was the last time Albus had someone to be friends with? Friendship was such an important thing. Voldemort didn't have any friends. He didn't love anyone. Sirius had so many friends, he loved so many. Maybe this was why he could win. Because he could feel in ways Voldemort could never, would never be able to feel.

But Sirius would only if he didn't turn into what Voldemort wanted him to turn into; something cold and evil.

'Professor,' said James, 'do you think Voldemort would have given anything to his followers? Any horcruxes? Do you think he'd trust them enough?'

Albus sat down, his robes bellowing around him as he thought deeply. Voldemort didn't trust anyone completely, but he trusted certain people more than others: for example, he would trust Bellatrix more than say, a newer Death Eater.

'I think, to an extent, yes. He trusts some of them enough. But only some, I could count his favourite and most trusted Death Eaters on one hand: Severus, Bellatrix, Lucius and maybe Barty.'

'Snape would never give us a horcrux, maybe if it was the last one. But never if we still had three more to find. It would blow his whole cover.' Lily explained, shaking her head. 'Also, I don't think Voldemort would give anything to Barty he's too young. Maybe Bellatrix-'

'And definitely Malfoy, if we had to pick one,' James finished for her.

'So what does this mean?' asked Remus, worrying his lip as he looked at each of them. 'We go to their houses? We look for horcruxes? I think it'll be a bit obvious, not to mention bloody suicidal if we wander around their houses looking in their underwear drawers for little bits of dark looking jewellery.'

'Doesn't matter if it's suicidal,' Dumbledore said, 'because Sirius can sense when a horcrux is nearby, can't you Sirius?'

He looked up for the first time since the conversation began, and stared resolutely at Dumbledore, his silver eyes dancing.

'Yes.' He said quietly.

'So that means that you just need to stand outside the front door, don't you Sirius? And you can tell whether a horcrux is in there or not, right?'

Sirius nodded. 'Right.'

'Let me get this straight,' said Remus, 'Sirius is going to sense whether there's a horcrux in the house and if there is, he can find it? Is that even a proper plan Professor?'

Albus chuckled and nodded, his white beard twinkling in the dim light and his piercing blue eyes glimmering with excitement. 'Well, it's all we've got. Isn't that right Sirius?'

This time, Sirius grinned when he nodded. 'Yes.'

A/N: Sorry for the ridiculously long wait, I just wanted to say I can't believe I started writing this over a year ago. It seems like a few weeks ago if I'm honest. But anyway, thanks so much for the absolutely amazing feedback on the last chapter. I promise you a lot is going to happen in the next chapter, they might find a horcrux...

But I shall say no more! I got so awesome Guest reviews on the last chapter; I guess I totally forgot about the "contraception spell" and when I remembered quite a while back, I just thought to myself "well, there's never been a mention of it in the HP series, so why don't I mess around with it a bit" and I decided that the spell hasn't been invented yet or whatever. But initially, I totally forgot about the fanfiction creation of the spell.

As for the guest reviewer talking about SJ's hair, it will stay black, I promise. Thank you for the reviews by the way! I'm very grateful.

Please review! Thanks xxxxxx