"Due to the current climate in our society, Hogwarts will be playing host to a batch of Aurors. They will not disrupt classes and the most that you will see them is during Hogsmead visits. And speaking of Hogsmead visits, the next one shall be on December Eleventh this year," Dumbledore says and then sits down.

I glance at the newcomers we had noticed at the table. They all seemed to center around a single man. He had quite a few scars on his face, including one that looked particularly nasty and ran right through one of his eyes and continued down to his neck.

"So who do you think is the leader?" Lily asks.

"Black haired man," James and Sirius say at once.

"Why?"

I nod, "The others center their movements around him. Not obvious enough that everyone will notice, but enough that people who are observant enough will."

"Wonder what his name is," Remus says.

"We'd be able to tell if someone didn't lose our key going for a late night snack," Sirius mutters.

James rolls his eyes, "One mistake and they're all over you."

"Damn straight."

I shake my head and take off for my next class.

~*~AG~*~

I'm sitting in the Hogs Head with Sirius and Remus, laughing at a joke of Remus's when a scream cuts through the air. Glancing up, I see James sprinting into the woods.

"The hell?" The three of us stand and take off at a run, throwing a couple of galleons on the table each as we leave. Following the sound of James's yelling, we stop at the edge of the woods when we see what's happening. James is standing over Lily, who is on the ground shaking, and the both of them are surrounded by black robed figures.

I tap the two next to me and motion to use hand signals only.

Death Eaters.

Thank you for pointing out the obvious.

Shut up, both of you.

Yes mother.

I will kill you.

Anyway, what are we going to do about this?

"What do you want with Lily?" James yells, his fury clearly evident in his voice.

"We could smell her dirty blood. We wish to dispose of it," One of the figures calls out. The tones are feminine and entirely too familiar to me for my liking.

James shakes his head, "You even try to touch her, and I will make sure you regret it."

A crazed laughter sounds, and Sirius stiffens, "You will? But there is only one of you, and ten of us!"

As though we'd planned it, the three of us walk out of the forest and step up to stand next to James, our wands drawn. I can't help the smile that crosses my face at the thought of fighting these idiots and causing them some pain.

"Looks like he's not as alone as you thought Trixie," Sirius says.

The robed idiots laugh. This causes me to smile even more. This is going to be fun. Suddenly red sparks appear high above us, and the Death Eaters start attacking. Throwing a shield up in front of Lily, who is still injured from whatever had happened to her before being brought here, I start to battle a couple of the Munchies. It doesn't take me long to decide that Voldy had sent his low ranking toads. James and Remus have two of them down within seconds, while Sirius and I are playing with two of them each. Two of the Munchies are standing back and watching.

"Come on!" I shout, "At least make this difficult for me!"

One of the people I'm battling falls over at this time, unable to dodge the tripping hex I'd sent at them. I instantly stun and bind them. For once, I'm glad that father pounded it into my head to not allow an enemy the chance to attack you again. Focusing on the other robed idiot, he seems to take offense at my removal of his partner and starts to attack with new vigor.

"Avada Kedavra!" His spell is off mark and nearly hits Sirius, who barely manages to dodge.

I snarl in fury, "Bastard! Diffindo!"

As I cast the spell, a spell hits my arm and adjusts the aim enough so that the spell goes right through the man's neck. I grab my arm, hissing in pain as my eyes widen and I watch the man's head falls back and off his body. There's blood. So much blood. More than what had come from the dummies when I had warned Rowan off of using magic that he isn't, and hopefully never will be, ready to use.

A crashing sound in the forest causes the Death Eaters to disapparate, and a moment later the Aurors are lead into the clearing by the black haired man.

"Who sent up the red sparks?" the man asks, his voice is rough and he looks pissed.

"Me," Lily says from where she's seated. Her knee has swollen to twice its normal size and has turned purple and green.

The man nods. His team is already searching the area, but he casts a spell and when it comes back to him he calls them back. A few of them grab the two, alive, Death Eaters and disapparate with them. All except for the leader and another Auror gather around the dead Death Eater and begin to discuss what to do with the body. Meanwhile the black haired man and the other Auror gathers us all together.

"Who are you anyway?" Sirius asks, blunt as always. His eyes keep jumping to me and I want to tell him to stop.

The Auror turns his gaze to Sirius. I'd never noticed before, but he has two different eyes. One is a vivid blue and the other a medium brown of sorts.

"And what does that matter to you, Black?" the man asks.

Sirius straightens, "Since you so obviously know my name, I would rather not be at a disadvantage. Plus, it makes conversations go much easier to know the name of whom you are speaking with."

Some emotion flickers through the man's eyes, and he nods, "Alastor Moody. Now, tell me what happened."

"Ann, Remus, and I were in the Hogs Head enjoying some drinks and the relative quiet when we heard a scream. When we looked out the window, James was running into the forest. Deciding to follow him, we manage to keep track of where he went by follow not only the path he made through the forest, but also by the noise he made, especially when he started yelling

"As we reached the clearing, the three of us stop before entering and watch for a few moments. When it becomes apparent that the Death Eaters, who numbered at ten, were going to attack, the three of us ran out to help James. Lily sent up the red sparks and the Death Eaters attacked. Five minutes later, the Death Eaters disappear because they hear you and your Aurors crashing through the forest," Sirius says.

I notice that he doesn't say what happened to the decapitated guy. I hold back a shiver and keep my face as blank as possible.

"And what happened to him?" Moody asks, nodding to the dead Munchie.

Sirius shrugs, "I don't know, there was too much going on and I didn't see."

"Does anyone here know what happened to him?" Moody asks.

I'm about to speak up when Sirius catches my eye and gives me a look that I read as to meaning 'Don't say anything, we'll talk about this later'. I shake my head, glance at the dead man again, and turn away when I feel a flutter down my spine.

"I'm going to need your full names, if you don't mind." It's definitely a command rather than a question.

"Sirius Black."

"James Potter."

"Remus Lupin."

"Lily Evans."

"Annalisa Grimwood."

Moody nods. "Peculiar," he mutters, "Never would have thought such a group. Might be interesting." At this he seems to realise that we're still here and tells us to go back to the castle. James conjures a stretcher for Lily and we all follow him back to the castle.

~*~AG~*~

'WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING! Damn stupid, stupid, stupid girl! How could you think that way? You just killed someone and you enjoyed it? How fucking messed up are you? Guess you aren't that different from your family as you thought huh? If you can be so bloody mad that you enjoy killing someone, then who is to say that you wouldn't enjoy torturing someone? Granted, you already knew that you enjoyed causing others pain, but those were minor things, nothing worse than a broken bone which was healed in a few seconds. This is a whole other ball game. Bloody hell, you really are fucking messed up aren't you? So what happens next? Are you just going to sit here and pretend that everything is ok? That everything in your world is perfectly normal?'

"Ann?"

My thoughts are interrupted by Sirius as he sits across from me. His eyes show worry, but other than that his face is blank of emotion.

"Hey Sirius, what can I do for you?" I ask.

"I just want to make sure that you're doing alright."

I nod, "Madam Pomfrey fixed me up. Then again it was only a broken arm, not a big deal."

"You know what I mean. It would be understandable if you were freaked out right now," Sirius says, and rubs the back of his neck. I know it's because he's uncomfortable talking about feelings. Truth is, so am I.

"I am, but not for the reason you're expecting."

"Ok, then why?"

I give a slight smile before glancing down, "Trust me…you're better off not knowing."

"But-"

"NO! Sirius…no." I stand and walk away as fast as possible, blocking the ache that I feel and giving everything a mental shove away.

~*~AG~*~

We're all sitting at breakfast and Sirius keeps talking about a mega snowball fight he wants to have and it's all I can do to keep Remus from killing him. I grab a waffle, spread peanut butter on it, and then shove it into Sirius's mouth. His expression is hilarious and the Marauders laugh at him while I give a smirk.

"I was thinking of a silencing charm, but your way is so much more entertaining." Remus smiles with the complement.

"Thank you! Thank you! I'll be here all week!" I pretend to bow when a letter lands on my plate. Glancing at the owl, I notice that it's the family owl and not Fey. "Oh great, now what?"

I barely even pay attention to the black wax seal as I open the letter. "Annalisa, you and Rowan are o come home this year for the holidays. We have things which must be discussed and I refuse to write them within a letter, Father."

I roll my eyes and give a slight growl.

Sirius, who finally managed to get his jaws apart, frowns, "That's not good."

"What?" Peter asks. He's been oddly tired lately. I think the stress of upcoming NEWTs is getting to him.

"That growl."

"Oh. What happened?"

"Father wants Rowan and me to return to the house for the holidays. And there's no way of getting around the "request" either. This is going to be a long Christmas." I sigh and rub my eyes.

"We could kidnap you and Rowan and then put you in the Room of Requirement," James suggests. Lily rolls her eyes at him and hits him on the head with her napkin. "What?" he asks.

"Are you serious?" Lily asks, "No puns! That wouldn't work. For one, everyone knows that Ann could easily beat you in a duel. Sorry James, but you're more defensive than she is."

"Besides," I say, cutting off James's retort, "My parents, though idiotic supremacists, are not stupid. He applied a spell to the seal so that he would be informed when it was broken."

Remus nods, "I've heard of that, it's a pretty complicated spell."

I stand, "I've got to go tell Rowan. I'll see you in Defense."

They all nod and start to discuss something or another. I walk to the Slytherin table and chuckle when I see that Rowan and Regulus are in the middle of discussing a spell.

"No, no! You combine them and it will explode. Sorry Rowan, but unlike Sirius, I'm not bloody insane," Regulus says.

"I'll bet you are, just not as obviously," I say, causing the boys to jump. I bite my lip to avoid laughing at them.

Rowan glares, "Merlin Ann! Next time cough or something!"

I smirk, "So sorry."

"No you're not."

"Anyway, it turns out that father is requesting our presence for the holidays. I don't know what's going on, but he has some things that he wants to discuss with us." I sit opposite of Rowan. Hearing an 'eep!' next to me, I turn in that direction. One of the first years is looking at me with wide eyes.

"Hi!" I'm wondering what the kid's response is going to be.

"H-hi. You're a Gryffindor."

I glance down at my tie, "So it would seem. Just don't tell the people who are color blind, I have them believing that my tie is purple and gold."

The kid blinks, "What are you doing over here?"

"Talking to my brother. I'm Ann, what's your name?"

"Timothy."

"Nice to meet you Tim! You don't mind me calling you Tim do you?"

He shakes his head no.

"Awesome! Hey, try the waffles, they're always good."

Tim nods and goes back to his breakfast.

I turn back to Rowan, "So we've got to pack, and I'll talk with McWhiskers to get our holiday plans changed. Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of."

I grab an apple, "Fantastic."

Leaving the table, I bite into the apple and, as I savor the sweet tang, set out for McGonagall's office.

~*~AG~*~

"Ann, are you sure that you have to go?" Lily asks.

I finish clasping my cloak and glance at the red head in the mirror. "Yeah, don't worry. Nothing bad will happen."

"That's what you said last time you went home, and then you came to school looking like a battered skeleton. Granted, it was better than previous years, but still," Lily says, her eyebrows knitting together.

I laugh, "Sure I do. So don't open your present until Christmas, and don't kill James. You've been dating him and acting civil for too long now to hate him, so play nicely."

Lily frowns, "I wasn't joking about what I said."

"I know."

Grabbing my bag, I was leaving my trunk here because Rowan and I won't be at the house for too long, I place a shrinking charm on it and put it in my pocket. Once that's done, I don't have anything left, but glance around to make sure I have everything that I know I'll need anyway, give Lily a hug, surprising the red head, and leave the tower.

Sirius falls in step next to me and his hands are in the pocket of his trousers.

"I thought you'd be having fun in the snow."

A shrug, "The rematch snowball fight isn't until later. So what do you think your parents want?"

"I don't know. I hoping that this isn't a bunch of rubbish though."

"Just…don't get into any trouble…I've got a bad feeling about this," Sirius says.

"If anything happens, I'll be out of there so fast apparition will have to catch up." I smile.

Sirius gives a weak chuckle, "Just don't splinch yourself."

"Never." I find Rowan and adjust his scarf slightly. He gives a mock glare and grabs his trunk.

"Ready?" Rowan asks.

I nod and turn to Sirius, "See you when we get back."

To my surprise Sirius pulls me into a hug.

"Be careful," he murmurs in my ear. When he lets go, he has a smile pasted on that would fool many. He waves as we exit the school. I can't help but smile at him, hoping that he'll relax, and wave back.

Climbing into the carriage, I wait for it to start moving while Rowan watches the snow falling. As the carriage finally begins to move, I sigh and look out the front window and look at the Thestrals. When I had first seen them, I was shocked and a little curious, but I knew that they would have become visible after…well…after I killed that guy. Voldemort is only becoming stronger. If the whispers that can be heard from certain groups are correct, then he is more of a threat than people think. It's not that he's commanding a large group. It's that he and his followers are ruthless and that the Ministry is practically doing nothing.

"Ann, what are you staring at?" Rowan asks.

I jump, breaking from my thoughts, "Huh? Oh, the Thestrals."

"The what?"

"Thestrals, they're the creatures that pull the carriages," I say, "Unless someone sees another person die, then the horses remain invisible. It's a pity you can't see them. They have their own beauty to them."

Rowan blinks, "You've seen someone die?"

I nod.

Rowan, knowing not to push the subject, nods and starts talking about something he had heard the older Slytherins talking about. Apparently not all of them were getting ready to join Voldemort. Unfortunately, quite a few of the younger students were being bothered to join when they could.

"Has anyone asked you?" I ask.

"No, they don't think that I'm a good fighter," he says, giving a grin. I smirk, knowing that he's better than other people think because he had me train him how to fight. It was either that or watch as he tried to learn how to use Dark Magic on his own. Lesser evil dictated watching my brother make a fool of himself against a shadow warrior.

"If they try, remember that castration spell I taught you."

"What if a girl asks?"

"Aim for the chest, it'll work the same way."

Rowan shudders, "You're vicious."

"Just a little bit." The carriage stops and the door is opened from the outside. Alastor Moody nods when he sees who is inside.

"The Grimwoods, good, I've been expecting you."

I nod and step out of the carriage. The moment my feet touch the ground I get a prickle on the back of my neck and scan the area more completely than I normally would. Rowan, who has also climbed out, notices my behavior and raises an eyebrow. I shake my head and narrow my eyes. Placing a hand on his shoulder, I start to move him to the apparition point while continuously keeping a look out. I send out a bit of magic, searching to see if I can find the disturbance. Around one of the houses, I can feel something that's a miss, and when I glance there, see a black cloak. Warnings flash in my head, and I push Rowan to the ground when I see a wand come out.

"Get down!" I shout, placing a shield over the both of us and blocking the spell. I send a group of spells at the assailant and pull Rowan up by the arm and start running to the exit. Best to just get out and let the Aurors do their job. When we reach the apparition point though, it is being magically blocked. When I have to block more spells, I realise that I don't have time to take down the anti-apparition wards.

"Get out of here Grimwood!" Moody shouts.

"Working on it!" I snap. I block another couple of spells and notice that there are more Death Eaters arriving.

"Damn, damn, double damn!" Trying to figure out a plan, I see the Thestrals and start running back to them. Rowan follows, blocking spells on one side, while I block the other. By the time we make it to the carriage, one of the Thestrals has been killed by a stray spell, and the other is going nuts.

Rowan works at calming it down, something that he finds rather difficult as he cannot see it, while I work at cutting the poor beast from its harness. Once that's done I help him onto the creature's back.

"Go to the shrieking shack, I'll meet you there!" I say.

"Ann be careful!" Rowan says before taking flight.

Spinning around, I block the spells that are heading in my direction and narrow my eyes. I don't have time to get into a fight right now. I scowl and cast some spells at the Death Eaters, trying to get out of this without losing too much time. Mother and father are going to be pissed if I'm too late, and I'd rather not deal with them when they're angry.

"Grimwood! What are you doing? Get out of here!" Moody shouts.

"I'm trying! Bloody hell, you'd think that I mean to get into fights with these people!" I send a stunner at a munchie, and then notice that another one is about to curse Moody from behind. Sending a spell at Moody, I knock him out of the way before knocking the robed idiot out. Finally seeing an exit, I take off at a sprint, casting spells over my shoulder at the people trying to follow me and ignore the yelling of the black haired Auror. I will admit it, I enjoyed knocking him away. Bloody man has been keeping a close eye on me since meeting me and I don't like it one bit.

Ignoring the burning of the cold air as it enters my lungs, I keep running through the village, dodging around the various people out shopping, and try to get to the Shrieking Shack as soon as possible. I don't know if there are any more Death Eaters in the area, and I hope to Merlin that there aren't. When I get to the shack though, my worries are for naught and Rowan runs up to me and pulls me into a hug, babbling about how worried he had been.

"Come on, we're already late and you know how they get," I say. Rowan nods and grabs onto my arm tightly. I turn and disapparate from the area.

"About time you arrive you foolish girl! Go to your father's room and make sure that he does not need anything! His health has fallen since the fall," mother says.

I give a bow, ignoring the urge to slap her, and travel up to father's room. Something happened to him near the end of summer, and since then he's just been sick. Father says that he's dying, and I honestly don't doubt him. The man is also too stubborn to have a healer look at him and try to help him. I knock before entering the room.

"Hello father, how are you today?" I ask after bowing. I frown at the state of the room and cast several cleaning spells, nodding once they've done their job.

"Not horrible. There are moments where I fall into a madness, but I have yet to have any of those episodes today," father says. I can feel his eyes following me as I move around the room, working at cleaning it out and opening the drapes. The light causes father to look much worse than how he had appeared I the dark and I frown.

"Have you been taking any potions?" I ask.

"I have no need for them," father says, waving off my concerns, "Grab the book on rituals by Musatei cel Rau and bring it to me."

I frown, "I don't think you should be looking at Musatei cel Rau's book."

"Annalisa, do as I say."

"Yes father." I leave the room and go to the library, to the back section and pull out an old black leather bound book. Family legend has it that Musatei had bound this book in the skin of her sworn enemy, Niculaita Craiovescu. Of course, no one has ever proven or disproven this fact, but that the Grimwoods can be traced back to the 1500s is what impresses most of the pureblood families. The title of the cel Rau family, however, is still in Romania and I am nearly certain that, despite what many of the English side of our family says, we will not inherit that title for a long time, if ever. It's more likely that someone in our branch will inherit the title of the Magennis family, which is the Irish side of the Grimwoods.

Re-entering father's room I hand him the book. He motions for me to sit in the armchair by his bed and starts to carefully flip through the tanned pages.

"How are your studies?" he asks, eyes scanning the pages.

"Rather well. McGonagall says that I am definitely going to do exceedingly well in my NEWTs, so long as I keep up the work on my classes."

"Excellent. Are you still determined to become an Auror?" he asks, his voice betraying the anger he feels at my decision. Father does not believe that I should be going into such a field, especially when he saw how good I am at wards. He believes that I would be better becoming a master warder.

"Yes father, and no amount of complaining, threatening, or asking nicely will change that."

Father looks at me from the top of his book, "I have never asked nicely."

I smirk, "I know, but I figured that you were starting to become desperate."

There's a pause and then he laughs. It surprises me at first, but then I smile. As much as we have been at odds, understatement of the century here, I have really missed my father's laugh.

"I wish I knew where you gained that sense of humor," father says once he's stopped laughing.

I smile, "It's rather dry isn't it?"

"Dry but refreshing," father says, then he nods, "I have a ritual that I wish to do. There are some things that you'll need to buy, but they should be easy enough to find. Go work on your fighting and come back in three hours."

I nod, "Yes father."

Leaving his room, I frown. What is he thinking? Any ritual at this point can be hazardous to his health.

~*~AG~*~

I arrive back from Knockturn Alley to see Tessa and Bellatrix sitting in the lounge, discussing something in low tones. When I have to walk past the room, they turn quiet and watch me with nothing less than contempt. Rolling my eyes, I continue up to father's room, knock once, and then enter.

"Did you find everything?" he asks.

"Yes father," I say, "Though, I am curious as to why you wanted me to gather the ingredients for a ritual? If you even attempt to take part of one your health will only get worse."

"I am well aware of the consequences," father says, "Go do some studying or play chess with Rowan, I will call you back when I need you."

Bristling at his abrupt dismissal, I nod and leave the room. I know Rowan is probably in the library and will probably be very willing to play some chess or something and I'm really not in the mood to be alone at the moment.

I plop into the chair across from Rowan and put my feet on the table. He glances up and raises an eyebrow.

"When did you get new boots?"

"I've had these for a while, I just never wear them."

"Uh-huh. So father kicked you out of his room?"

"Yep, you?"

"Yeah. Want to listen to him and play some chess?"

I groan, "Fine. Not like it matters or not, I'd lose to you anyway."

"That's because I'm amazing."

"No, you're just damn good at chess."

Rowan tilts his head, "And the difference is?"

"Just set up the board you twerp."

Rowan sticks his tongue out at me and starts to set up the chess board after pulling it out. Once he had all the pieces set up we started playing. Soon enough, Rowan was beating me royally and I could only send my pieces off to their death. And it was with an odd foreboding when I noticed that my King and Queen were being protected by only my Bishops and a Rook. I watch as we play and Rowan manages to separate my bishops from each other and my rook from the others. Then he takes the Queen and the King. I stare at the pieces on the marble board, my mouth slightly open.

"Ann? Are you ok?" Rowan asks.

I start, "Hmm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just caught in my own world for a moment."

A bell sounds and I stand. As I pass Rowan, I ruffle his hair, "Clean up and check on dinner, please."

Striding through the hall, I enter into father's room and frown. The man is insane. He is out of his bed in his robes. He has some obscure ritual mostly set up, and nods at me when I enter.

"Excellent, I was hoping you would arrive quickly. I have some things which you must assist me with."

"Father," I say, "Wouldn't it be better for you to rest and do this when you are better?"

"What does it matter to you? I thought that you hated the family with a passion? What happened to despising me?" he asks.

I blink and pause before answering. Tell the truth, or lie? "Even though I completely disagree with your opinions, think that you can be one of the most vindictive people in the world, and would love to beat the bloody hell out of you, you are my father. I am from your blood. Therefore, as much as I hate you, I still wish for you to live."

Father watches me, a frown on his face and eyes boring into mine. I do not turn away. After a while, he nods and turns back to the book in front of him.

"Very well," he says, "Anna, draw a pentagram on the floor and within it, put the runes of jera, eihwaz, sowulo, othala, and pethro."

Nodding, I do as he says, the entire time trying to figure out what he is doing based on what I know about the runes. I can't figure out what it could be, and I think that's the part that worries me the most. Once that is finished, father has me set up a few other things. I start to walk out of the room when he calls me back.

"Yes?"

"You're so worried about me? Then why not assist in this?" he asks.

My eyes narrow, "This is not a two person ritual. I can tell, the runes are not right."

"Still, I find the need for you to participate in this."

I do as father directs, feeling the magic building within the room, and I cannot help but be surprised and worried at the same time. Surprised because I have never felt my father's full power. Worried because he is using so much when he is ill. If he uses too much, he'll end up killing himself.

"Omnes Magia, potest addidit suam, et reserare, Magiae et fortitudine, transierunt de familia, ad pertinent ad heredem. Mea tenebris angelus."

My eyes widen and I feel a wind whipping around, magic far more powerful than I would have thought circling around the room. My hair and robes fly around in the wind, but more impressive is my father. A dark blue, almost black, light is glowing along his skin while power shows within his eyes. His robes also fly around within the wind along with his hair, which is longer than I have seen it since I turned ten. He does not look sick. He does not look like he did just a few moments ago. He looks like the Head of the Grimwood family.

He walks over to me and places one hand on my sternum and the other on my right shoulder. It burns, but freezes. It's painful, but comforting. It's foreign, yet familiar. It is his magic, yet now it is mine.

When he pulls away we both fall to the ground. Giving a light groan, I manage to crawl over to my father and turn him onto his back. His breathing is shallow and he looks ten times worse than he did before he started the ritual. His eyes are now extremely shadowed and there's a sheen to his face. When he opens his eyes though, they look far younger than they have in years. He smiles when he sees me and motions me closer.

"I have written a letter for you. It is in the top drawer of my desk in the study." He then kisses my cheek and lays back on the ground. I stare at the man in shock and he smiles at me, closes his eyes, and doesn't move again.

"Father?" Nothing. "Father, if this is your humor it isn't funny." Still nothing. "Dad?"