Chapter 127: Gloomy Christmas

"This just doesn't feel right." Arabella's voice was filled with emotions. "Stef should be here for Christmas. It is supposed to be a happy occasion." Christmas was next week and barely any festive mood could be seen around the magical community. Who knew what Voldemort might do?

"Belle, I know what you mean." Lily placed an arm around Arabella. Time flew and it was the first Christmas they were going to spend together as adults. Many things had happened ever since they graduated from Hogwarts. Birthday celebrations had toned down many folds to just a simple dinner with a cake and presents from loved ones. Holidays like Thanksgiving were also simple gatherings held at one another's house. The Marauders' way of celebration had not been around as far as they could remember. "There must be something we can do, to get everything back to those happy times." She leaned her head on Arabella's shoulder. Both of them were hanging out in Lily's bedroom.

"How could Voldemort even been in existence? Where's his retribution? What happened to the Nature's Law?" Arabella sighed. They had just finished work and hanging out together all alone. The guys were doing night duties for today and it could be quite lonely sometimes.

"My sentiments exactly. He might be someone powerful, but I believe there is greater power beyond." Lily commented. "And miracles can only happen if we believe strongly in something."

"Yes, I believe Stef will come back to us." Arabella said in a determined voice. Both of them were now lying on Lily's bed facing the ceiling

"Stef will be joining us once again before we know it." Lily repeated in a confident voice. But when will that be?

"Meanwhile let's try to brainstorm and see if we can think of anything to deal with this." Arabella said finally.

X

"Is there anything we can do?" James asked Edgar in a low voice as they walked along the dark areas in Diagon Alley. It was early evening but most of the shops were already closed for the day. At dark times like this, most people would rather spend their time with their loved ones than tending the shops.

"I really hope that Frank and Alice will be fine. They're still undergoing training. What could be the reason that the deatheaters pick them?" Edgar said monotonously with a tinge of anger.

It's the prophecy. It's either them or us. "I don't know. But most importantly, they will come back alive." James blurted out his thoughts without realizing what he just said.

"What?" Edgar turned his head and face James. "How did you know?"

"Huh? What did I say?" James was caught by Edgar sudden question.

"You said that Frank and Alice will come back alive, how do you know that?" Edgar narrowed his eyes and looked straight into James' soul, checking his honesty and truthfulness, and most importantly his identity.

"Take it as gut feeling if you like." James shrugged off. "Did you think I'm a deatheater who took the Polyjuice potion?" He said in a light-hearted manner.

"Yes." Edgar looked away and continued walking. "That happened about nine years ago." His voice was suddenly filled with sorrow. "I was like you now, just graduated from Hogwarts. At that time, he was not as powerful as now, but he already had a lot of deatheaters under him. Besides myself, there were two others, Alex and Jerald, both my friends from school who were from the same batch." He drank some water from his bottle before continuing, while remaining alert at little movements in the dark alleys. "For the next three months, many aurors, especially the more experienced ones, had been captured, tortured, and killed. At that point, no one has thought that he would send a deatheater to join as auror. But he did." He paused for a longer moment.

"And then?" James prompted Edgar to continue.

"Within those six months, most of the aurors were gone. I was captured, along with Alex, by those deatheaters, and we were under the Imperius Curse for one week." Sadness had filled Edgar's eyes by now. "But luckily, we came back to consciousness. We just pretended to be under the Imperious Curse. While I was snooping around for more information, I found out that Alex was doing the same thing. But at that point of time, our buddies were already gone and we don't know who we could trust."

I hope that will never happen to Sirius or Remus. James frowned as he thought about his most trusted friends.

"The last person we thought could be the one to bring down the whole Aurors Department was the one who did it."

"Jerald?"

"That's right." Anger was written all over Edgar's face. "He was the traitor who leak out the news where the aurors were patrolling, what our plans were and all our identities."

"What happened then?" James urged him to continue. After all, Sirius' father, or perhaps biological uncle, had been the Head of Auror department for several years.

"Most of the aurors were gone. Jason Black, at that point of time, was the most experienced auror became the Head of Department with support from the Minister himself." Edgar took a glance at James' reaction as he referred to his deceased father.

"It's okay. Do continue." James gave an assuring smile. They walked passed the Shrieking Shack, which was in total silence before continuing.

"He was the one who recruited and trained new aurors right from the beginning. Jason also implemented many welfare and safety precautions that we still use today. He's an amazing man. As everyone knows, the Black families are very arrogant and supported the dark arts. They could even be You-Know-Who's supporters. Jason was not like them and he proved all of us wrong. More than half of the new aurors were muggleborns and half-bloods. But he was also very selective in recruitment and made sure they pass many tests before they became certified."

"He's a wonderful guy. I've learnt many things from him too." James admitted.

"But he chose to step down from the Head Auror position after Mrs. Black – departure." James nodded as Edgar spoke. It was another usual night patrolling Diagon Alley. "In fact Moody would have been the first choice if he wasn't in such a terrible medical condition back then. Jason had always been the advisory role in this department but at that point of time, there were just twelve of us and we were all too green to the real world.

"Thinking back I should be around eight or nine when that happened judging from the way this sounds." James commented. "He should have been really stressful, but he didn't look at all stressed up as far as I could remember."

"That's another amazing thing about him. He never brings his work stress home to face you kids." Edgar shook his head and chuckled. "It's really tough to learn not to bring the work home. But we all suspect that he uses a time-turner." Both men laughed at the thought of Stefanie's father being at two places at the same time. "So he shared with us his secret potion."

"That sounds interesting." James grinned at the thought that a potion could reduce stress and forget all about work. "Sounds brilliant."

"Yeah, that's why he shared with us all. He said that just one drop into your mouth after work daily." Edgar chuckled. "And then after taking it for all these years, he told us that his secret potion was nothing but colored water."

"Colored water?" James asked. "How?" The two men made another turn and were nearing the entrance to Leaky Cauldron.

"It's not a secret potion at all. He lied to us about it for so many years." Edgar tilted his head to one side. "He was training us mentally to not mix the different aspects of life. Work is work. Home is home."

"I never knew that." James was surprised to hear that. "I don't think Sirius and Stefanie knew either." The next comment flowed out of his mouth subconsciously.

"Who's Stefanie?" Edgar frowned. "I never knew Jason had a daughter."

"Oh, that's his god-daughter." James added quickly. Oh no. Stef had ceased to exist in the present. "She came over and to play with us sometimes."

"I see." Edgar did not notice James' relief expression as they made a left turn. "What's that?" The two men rushed forward for a closer look.

X

"We need to get back to HQ now." Gideon said suddenly when he felt his wand vibrating in his pocket. Sirius nodded and both guys apparated back to the Ministry lobby. They saw several aurors walking briskly into the lift lobby and tried to catch up.

"What do you think has happened?" Sirius asked while running with Gideon.

"We'll know it soon enough." Gideon said without slowing down. Behind them they could see several other aurors following closely. It was ten in the night and there were not much crowd in the Ministry.

"Any idea what's up?" Sturgis asked as the aurors stepped into the magical lift to bring them up to the office.

"It must have been urgent for sure." Fabian commented. Jason, their previous department head, had created a paging service based on muggle invention to be used on the wand. All aurors' wands were charmed so that whenever there's an emergency, the wands would vibrate. If there's a message, they would apparate straight to the meeting point, if not, it would be the headquarters.

"Finally." Remus muttered as everyone dashed out of the lift and hurried back to the office. They rarely had this kind of emergency. And it was the first time for the four trainee aurors.

"Frank and Alice were found in Diagon Alley ten minutes ago." Alastor Moody was announcing. "They're at St Mungo right now. Deatheaters suspected to be around Diagon Alley, the eight of you search the whole place tonight." He pointed to where the majority of the group was standing. "Do not cause an alarm. We don't want to be in Daily Prophet's headlines tomorrow morning. Black and Gabian, you two will be going to St Mungo to ensure their safety."

"Yes, sir." The group replied once his instructions were given. The eight of them who were supposed to go to Diagon Alley stayed for a short discussion while Sirius and Gideon left the office and ready to head towards St Mungo.

"Thankfully they're alright now." Gideon said. "It could have been worse."

"That's true." Sirius replied. He already knew that Frank and Alice would be alright. Once they reached the lobby, they apparated towards St Mungo.

X

Hey,

Just to let you two know that F and A had been found.

J.

"Frank and Alice are found." Lily grinned. They were lying around in Lily's bedroom when James' owl flew into her bedroom. James and wrote in abbreviations as it was highly confidential and it was just a precaution in case the note ended in the wrong hands. "I'll go and see them first thing tomorrow morning."

"Thankfully they're fine. I know that we all know they're going to live, but still, it's a relief to hear good news." Arabella read the note once before putting it aside at the bedside table. "Can I spend the night here? It's quite boring alone in the room sometimes."

"Sure. I always love your company." Lily smiled. Christmas is about five days away. No one seems to be in the mood for this season. With muggleborns' families murdered, people captured, and fears in the wizarding community, this Christmas is going to be worse than the last one in Hogwarts.

"Say that to James." Arabella chuckled and made herself more comfortable in Lily's bed.

X

"How are they now?" Sirius asked the moment he saw James and Edgar around the hospital wards.

"Out of danger. They had been under Cruciatus Curses and suspected to be still in Imperius Curse." Edgar said. "The healers are still inside with them."

"Which part of Diagon Alley did you two found them?" Sirius asked again. "Knockturn Alley?"

"Where else?" James said. The hospital was rather misty and it was late in the night. The only voices they could hear were their own voices. The four of them paced around the various corridors just to make sure none of the Deatheaters had followed them to St Mungo. Edgar had even checked to make sure that the Healers and Mediwitches inside the room were actual medical officers and not deatheaters in disguise, just for precaution.

X

"Merry Christmas!" Lily said cheerfully to everyone in the ward. It was Christmas Day and she had been on duty all night. The five of them had a quick dinner with Mrs. Potter, Mr. Black and Remus' parents at the Potter's Manor before returning to work the night before. Moody had wanted all aurors to be in full force for the three festive days. They were only allowed to be home for two hours each day for a brief celebration with their families. James, Sirius and Remus had stayed long enough to have a quick dinner together before apparating back to the Ministry. "Here are roses for everyone." She beamed at all the pale but smiling faces around her.

"Merry Christmas to you too!" Alice greeted much more cheerfully than usual. She had been warded in St Mungo for a week since she was rescued from Diagon Alley. It had been a traumatizing experience for both of them and she was still having nightmares about her capture now and then. Frank was recovering in a much faster speed and would be able to be discharged soon enough.

"A rose for you." Lily handed a beautifully conjured pink rose to Alice. "You're looking great today!" She said encouragingly before moving towards the next patient beside her bed. Despite working for the entire night, all the healers and mediwitches had been getting into a more festive mood with all the decorations they put up in their wards. All the staff was wearing Santa hats while some of the patients conjured their own and wear them around too.

"Jess, that's a beautiful necklace on you." Lily gave her compliments and encouraging words as she move along the wards. "Ladies, see you all later." With that she moved out of the room and moved towards the next one. "Wow! Nice teddy Leena." She gushed as she started handing out pink roses.

X

"At least I'm glad that everyone is having a good time today." Remus commented to Gideon. The crowd outdoor was not significant but at least most of them looked happy. They were walking around Diagon Alley, talking and laughing, and yet remaining alert to any suspicious commotion around. Moody had told them that the Deatheaters might strike at crowded areas. Nearly all the aurors were on duty at any minute of the day at different locations, both magical and muggle communities.

"Let's hope it's alright this year. I don't know if you were aware, there's at least one deatheater's attack on every public holiday." Gideon told him in a low voice. Remus nodded.

"I've seen in the papers. But I just hope that this year would be different." Remus looked ahead, suddenly reminded about Stefanie.

"You okay?" Gideon waved his left hand in front of Remus' eyes. "You were spaced out for a second."

"I'm fine." Remus gave his most reassuring smile. "Just thought of someone."

"No worries. She'll be fine." Gideon smiled and they continued to patrol around. "It's important to be in constant alert right now."

"How did you know that it is a 'she'?" Remus asked in surprise. Did Gideon remember Stef?

"I do think about my fiancée at times like this too." Gideon blushed slightly at his confession. "It's normal. If you tell me you're thinking of a guy, I'll have to keep an arm's length from you." He laughed it off.

"You can forget about worrying about that. I'm straight, you know." Remus chuckled.

"Yeah, lucky for me." Gideon gave a short laugh before pointing left. The two men turned to a more deserted part of Diagon Alley to patrol.

X

"You look much better today." Arabella commented as she sat down beside Alice's bed.

"Thanks for coming." Alice beamed. Most of her family members had been murdered by the deatheaters in the last few years. All she had left were just friends from school and work, and Frank.

"That's what friends are for." Arabella assured her. "So how are things between you and Frank?" She asked in concern.

"We talk about getting married and everything. But you know how things are right now; it's like not the right time." Alice said, looking away from Arabella. "Honestly, I don't even know what will happen tomorrow. What if we get captured again?"

"Don't think about all these what-ifs, most importantly you two have each other now and today, that's enough to be contented with." Arabella told her. "Certain things are beyond our control and the circumstance which we're in right now is one of those."

"You're right. Maybe I shouldn't be so pessimistic about all these. When we were captured and being tortured by the deatheaters, I really didn't think that we could come back alive." Alice shuttered at the thought of what happened to her.

"What matters most is that you're alright now." Arabella held her hand. "And that there are still people around that cares for you."

"Thanks!" Alice smiled gratefully at her fellow schoolmate. "So how are the Marauders doing these days when they are not at work?" Alice had graduated from Hogwarts the same year with Lily and the Marauders but in Ravenclaw, while Frank was a year older from Gryffindor. All of them had definitely knew the Marauders from school at one point of time or another. Besides they were all in Dumbledore's Order together.

X

"Hey dude, all ready to rock and roll?" Sirius asked Frank the moment he walked into the ward.

"You bet." Frank grinned at the two men who just walked in.

"We're here to escort you home back to Mrs. Longbottom, which can mean Alice or your mother." Fabian added jokingly. Some of the other men in the ward heard his commented and laughed while Frank turned few shades redder suddenly.

"Let us do the heavy work." Sirius grabbed the bag that Frank just finished zipping up and ushered him to walk ahead. "Had a great rest?"

"Of course. Feeling much better and all gear up for more work." Frank commented. "We've to do something to stop all these." He frowned at the thought of his capture. "Shall we go over to see Alice?"

"Sure thing, we've yet to see her for a couple days." Fabian said. The three turned towards the female ward and some of the mediwitches were surprised to see three good-looking men walking in at the same time.

"Hey Lily, where's Alice's bed?" Sirius called Lily's from behind. It was easy to recognize Lily from her back view from her red hair.

"Oh, you gave me a shock." Lily smiled. "Feeling better?" She asked Frank as she led the three guys towards Alice's room.

"Definitely." Frank said honestly.

"Belle is inside with Alice now." Lily told them while she stopped outside the room. "Catch up with you guys later." Although it was Christmas day, most of the hospital staff was at work to prepare for sudden attacks.

"Hey Alice, your Romeo is here to see you." Sirius announced their entry into Alice's ward.

X

"Cheers!" The five goblets filled with butterbeer clinked together. They were having an early Christmas dinner at the Potter's Manor. It had been a long day of work for all of them except Arabella who was enjoying her holiday with Alice in the hospital.

"One more day of suffering and we can get some rest." Sirius commented. "Thankfully Moody bestowed the third day of Christmas as my rest day. I would have died if he gave it to someone else."

"Padfoot, thank you very much for reminding us that our off days are after yours." James rolled his eyes as he emptied the butterbeer in his goblet. "We can request for a switch, right?" He turned to Remus.

"Of course, our reasoning skills aren't that bad either." Remus grinned.

"Oh, no!" Sirius groaned. "You two won't do that two me. I need a break terribly. You know how tired it is to be patrolling in St Mungo, especially with all the beds tempting us to sleep." All of them laughed at Sirius' comment.

"Honestly, I never felt that way with hospital beds before." Lily shook her head. "Shall we hurry with dinner so we can get to open the presents?" It had been such a busy day for all and it was their first meeting together since their dinner the night before.

"Yeah, and back to work after that." James added. "Duty calls." The three aurors would need to get back to work after their two hours time-off while Lily would be resting for a few more hours before returning to work the next morning.

"Let's not think about work for now. It's just food and presents and Christmas!" Sirius said with unusual enthusiasm.

"That's right. Let's have another toast of butterbeers." Remus started refilling everyone's goblet.

"Cheers!" They continued their simple Christmas celebration for another two hours. Despite the light-hearted conversation and joy of the festive season, something was just missing from their life. It was the simplicity of life that they used to have.

"Bye, you guys take care." Lily and Arabella hugged the three guys before they apparated back to the Ministry at the front porch.

"You two have an early rest too." James said and gave Lily a kiss on her lips. "Take care."

"You too." Lily murmured as they broke apart. With three simultaneous 'pops' the guys disapparated off.

"Let's go." Arabella and Lily took one last look into the darkness before retreating back into the cozy hall.

"I can't help it but I was thinking of Stef throughout dinner, although no one mentions anything about it." Lily confessed. They were walking back to Lily's room since Arabella did not want to sleep alone in her bedroom.

"I think all of us were thinking of her. It's just that we don't want to say something to bring back sad memories for Remus."