Hello again! Sorry for the wait. This chapter...is a bit of a filler, but it contains some important things. I enjoyed it, and I hope you will too.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

(Zosimos POV)
I searched all night for the caster of the curse. I even crossed my father a few times, and he just gave me a nod of approval before continuing to search. When dawn began to break I sighed and rubbed my eyes as Zorra and I traveled through the lane. Everyone who lived around here was just enslaved muggles. There was no one who knew magic, and even if there was, I don't think there was anyone who would know dark magic. Zorra snorted tiredly beneath me. "Alright girl, we'll get you home soon," I soothed. I patted her gently. "You did real good, staying with me all night." Zorra seemed to nod in agreement. "I just wish I could kill the person who dared curse my sister," I sighed.

At this point, we made it to some fruit trees that lined the lane and Zorra slowed down. "Fine, fine," I said, allowing her to grab some apples. I heard a tree branch snap and was instantly alert. I slid off of Zorra's back and drew my wand, walking slowly toward the source of the sound. Another tree branch snapped and I froze before approaching again, cautiously. When I rounded a corner, I saw a figure in the shadows, by a tree. I watched it closely, trying to judge what it was through the semi-darkness. I heard it breathing, and I finally decided that it was a person. The next moment, a little bit of light came through the branches above to the base of the tree, and I saw that it was a girl.

I wondered if she could have shot the curse, but as the light shone on her ripped clothes and dirt-covered body, I realized she was part of the lower class; muggles. I watched as she grabbed apples off of the tree and placed them in a basket. I leaned against another tree, thinking about how nice it would be to let my anger and frustration out on a muggle like her. She reached for some more apples, but they were too high for her. I realized she was quite short; I had to be at least a foot taller than her. She grabbed the lowest tree branch and pulled herself up, climbing the tree. I was impressed by the way the petite girl climbed with such ease. She was strong, despite her size. She grabbed a few more apples and then hopped down, placing them in her basket.

She looked up for some reason, and froze when she saw my silhouette against a tree. "Who's there?" she called out, standing up straight. I chuckled quietly and she narrowed her eyes despite any fear inside of her. "Who are you?"

I leaned forward and walked nearer to her, and a patch of early morning light fell onto my face. "Zosimos Riddle, at your service," I said sarcastically, giving a small bow.

Her face paled and she instantly fell to her knees. "M-m-my lord," she stuttered.

I chuckled darkly, and slowly walked toward her. She was trembling, which didn't surprise me. My sister and I were known for our cruelty to muggles. It was like a sport to us. I raised my wand, about to have a little fun, when I realized she could be useful. "Do you live around here?" I asked.

She glanced cautiously up at me, through a curtain of dark hair. "Yes," she said.

I twirled my wand in my hand and her eyes followed it, panic and a small sliver of something I couldn't quite place in her expression. "Are there any people of magical ability in this vicinity?"

I watched her think, noting that her eyes were a bright blue. "I am not sure," she finally said.

"Not sure? Do I need to jog your memory?" I asked. Before she could answer, I sent a light crucio to her. I knew it wasn't necessary, but it was entertaining to hear her scream. I released the curse shortly after I had begun it, and she panted, staring at me with wide, scared eyes. "Do you remember now?"

She swallowed. "There is an old hermit who lives in a cave not far from here. I do not know if he is magical, but strange things happen to those who venture too close. My brother claims to have seen sparks of colored light from the cave opening, but I do not know if he was trying to scare me or if he was actually being truthful." She then tensed, as if she were preparing for another cruciatis. She probably thought her information wasn't good enough, and in a way it wasn't, but it was all I had to go on.

"I suppose we shall find out together," I said finally, whistling for Zorra. As she approached, the girl stared at the unicorn in wonder. "You will take me to this hermit," I commanded, drawing her attention back to me.

She nodded and hesitantly rose to her feet. "As you wish, my lord."

"How far is it from here?"

"It is about a 45 minute walk."

I internally shuddered at the thought of letting a muggle like her touch me, but I wanted to get there soon. I mounted Zorra and harshly thrust my hand out to the girl. She stared at me in fear, and then disbelief. "Come on, I haven't got all day," I snapped. She immediately grabbed my hand and swung up behind me. Zorra snorted, and I patted her. I stiffened as I felt the muggle's arms slide around my middle, but said nothing. I urged Zorra forward, and we set off at a brisk trot.

For a while, we said nothing, and I tried to forget the fact that a muggle was touching me. I noticed she smelled like pine trees and dirt. About ten minutes later, we came to a fork in the road. "Which way?" I asked.

"Right," she said. I noticed her voice was still shaky and vaguely wondered if it was from the cruciatis or the fact that she was touching the caster of the curse. Zorra veered right and we traveled on. After a few minutes, the girl got brave. "Lord…What's that feeling? That tingling?" she asked.

I was confused, until I realized she had probably never felt magic before. "It's magic," I said, deciding to answer.

A few minutes later, she spoke again. "Is the magic feeling from you, or your unicorn?"

Her voice sounded a little less shaky, and more curious. I didn't like that the fear was leaving her. "Probably both."

"Is it-"

"No more questions, girl, you're annoying me," I said, my tone harsh. She immediately shut up. The rest of the ride was silent, until we came to another fork in the road.

"Left, and it should be right there," she said, her voice quieter than before. I slowed Zorra down as we went left, and sure enough there was a cave on the left side of the lane, just visible through a line of pine trees. I slipped off my unicorn, not bothering to help the muggle down, and walked slowly toward the cave entrance.

"Get away from my cave!" The voice sounded old and croaky. I saw the shadow of the old man in the entrance of the cave. "He was my son! You took him! You can't take my cave, too! Come and try! Come on, kiddies, come on!"

"He's also suspected of being crazy," the girl said, now standing next to me.

"Shut up, and stay out of my way," I said, walking ever closer to the cave. She stayed by a tree, and I felt her stare on me.

"He's dead, and you will be too!" the old man shouted. "My cave will not die! Bah! My cave will not leave me like he did! No, no, no!"

I was thirty feet from the cave opening when he shot at me. I deflected it easily, and continued walking. He continued to attack, but even if he did hit me, it was such a weak curse that I would hardly feel it. I made it to the cave and sent a disarming spell toward him.

"Hey! Gimme back my wand, kiddie! You can't take my wand like they took him! You can't do that!" The man's voice was becoming shrill and when I rounded the corner he was pacing, a gleam in his eye. The old man was bent over, with an overgrown beard and a balding head. He looked up at me, and his expression softened. "You look like a nice boy, like my boy was. Until they took him away!" And then he was screaming again. I sent a stunning hex toward him and he fell like a rock. I doubted he was the one to curse my sister; his spells were weak, and he was crazy, but he was definitely of magical ability, however limited it was. I levitated him, and his body followed me back to Zorra.

I glanced at the sky and guessed the time to be about seven in the morning. Only then did my tiredness really begin to set in. I had been out here since late afternoon yesterday. The muggle watched me get back on my horse and bit her lip as if to keep herself from saying something. I was about to leave when the girl called out to me. "My lord?" I stopped and stared at her. She cleared her throat. "If you are going back the way you came-"

I cut her off, cruel laughter erupting from my chest. "You think I would take you home?" I laughed again as she ducked her head, her face red. "If I had had more time, I would've made you walk here instead of letting you ride with me. No, I will not take you home." I then rode away, still laughing.

When I finally got home, I handed Zorra off to the farm boy, and brought the old hermit inside. Inside the living room, my mother was giving Leilani a glass of water, and my father was sitting in the armchair across from them. They all looked up when they saw me. "I doubt this is the caster of the curse, because he is insane, but he is a wizard nonetheless," I explained.

My father nodded and started examining the old man. I made my way over to Leilani. "How're you feeling, sis?" I asked, squeezing her shoulder.

"Better," she said, smiling. I glanced at my mum and we shared a small smile.

"We'll lock him in the dungeons for now; we'll deal with him after we've rested," my father said. I nodded and my father took the old man down the hallway.

"I need to take a shower; I had to have some muggle girl show me where the crazy man was," I shuddered.

"What, did she touch you?" Lani asked.

I nodded. "It was quite a distance away so we rode on Zorra."

"Together? Ew!" Lani said, making a face. Mum took Leilani's empty glass and walked away, her face showing disapproval.

"Ew and you touched my shoulder!" Lani exclaimed, wiping it.

I laughed. "Give me a hug, sis!"

"No, stop it!" she said, laughing but edging away. I slowly reached for her, still laughing. "Don't you dare! I will kill you-"

"Children, grow up. Muggles don't have cooties." We saw that Mum had re-entered the room. She looked quite annoyed with us.

There was a long pause of silence, and then I spoke. "Still…I'm going to go take a nice, long shower." Then, I went upstairs, Mum tsking after me.

(Lani's POV)

A little while later, I remembered that I had wanted to ask Zosimos if he had found out anything concerning the blue-haired dude and Mum. I went to get up from the couch, but Mum shook her head. "Lani, you need to rest."

"I've been resting since I got hit with that curse," I whined.

"It's Dark Magic, Lani," Mum said sternly.

"So? I've been around it my whole life," I said getting off of the couch. Mum let me go, but her face was still showing worry. I ran up the stairs and down the hallway, knocking on Zosimos' door.

Zosimos opened the door, his hair still wet from the shower. "Come to thank me for trying to avenge you?" he asked, smiling.

I laughed. "You failed, since you didn't catch him. So no, but I do have a question for you." He turned and walked back into his immaculate room and I followed. "What did you find out about that blue-haired dude?"

Zosimos towel-dried his hair as he spoke. "He's seventeen. His parents knew Mum before she married Father."

I crinkled my eyebrows. "Who are his parents?"

Zosimos thought for a moment, trying to recall the information from his sleep-deprived brain. "I think it was Remus Lupin and some weird chick…Nymph-something Tonks-Lupin."

I shrugged. "Means nothing to me. Father didn't let me in on anything about Mum. He was pre-occupied too, with whatever he was doing in his library."

Zosimos lied upon his bed, his arm covering his eyes. "I searched all four-" Zosimos broke off suddenly and sat up, his eyes wide.

"What?" I asked.

"I searched all four libraries for the names Lupin and Tonks, but I didn't search Father's private library."

"Do you think-"

"It's worth a try. Let's go find out-"

"Whoa," I interrupted, pushing him back on the bed. He stared at me, confused. "You didn't get a wink of sleep last night. You stay here and rest; I'll go."

He rolled his eyes. "Leilani, you were cursed with Dark Magic, you're equally as tired."

I shook my head, walking to the door. "No, I'm not. Remus Lupin and something Tonks-Lupin?"

Zosimos sighed but nodded. "Good luck." He lied down on his bed once more.

"Get some sleep," I told him, closing the door. I quickly walked up another set of stairs, looking for my Father's office. As I walked, I thought about how much time I would have. Father had mentioned resting, and even when he was done resting, he was going to go down to the dungeons to interrogate the crazy old guy. It was pretty much guaranteed that he wouldn't be in his office now or anytime soon. Still, I knocked on the door to double check. Nobody answered, as I expected, so I turned the doorknob. It was locked.

I took out my wand and pointed it at the doorknob. "Alohomora." Nothing happened. I searched the door for signs of magical protection, but nothing shimmered at all. I came to the conclusion that he must have a password, and if he had a password, it would be in parseltongue. I sighed; it was just my luck that my brother had inherited that and I hadn't. Perhaps if I pretended the doorknob was a snake, and employed my animal connection powers, it would do the trick. "Open," I said, using my magic. The doorknob jiggled. "Open!" I said again. The door slowly creaked open, and I entered, feeling triumphant.

I walked past my father's desk and to the section full of bookshelves. To my surprise, the more I walked, the longer the room seemed to get. My father had seemingly enchanted the room to look smaller than it was. There were books upon books on shelves upon shelves in this office and I rolled up my sleeves, clapping my hands. "Alright, Lani, let's see what we got," I muttered. I searched for a while, finding nothing but Dark Magic books, and then I came across shelves full of history.

My eyes widened at the pure amount of books that were on the subject. I ran my fingers over the covers, reading. "A Guide to the Past, Before and After the First Wizarding War, Before and After the Second Wizarding War," I mumbled to myself. I paused. Would Lupin's parents be in this book, or should I look for lineage books? Shrugging I grabbed this book, but duplicated it so that my father wouldn't know I had taken it. I walked down to the end of the shelf and saw a rather heavy tome. "Wizards and Witches of the 20th century: A-L" Lupin began with L, so I grabbed it, and looked for the volume that would have Tonks, just in case.

After this, I went back to the history section and grabbed A Guide to the Past. I figured if I did find something interesting about Lupin, I would need to look it up in a different book. These lineage books didn't usually give much detail if I remembered correctly from others I'd seen in the other libraries. I also grabbed five other history books; better to be safe than sorry. I stared at the pile of heavy books before me and shrunk them, putting the now tiny books in my pocket. I duplicated the ones I had taken as well.

I headed back to the door, when I noticed the ripped book on my father's shelf. Curiosity burned in me and I walked toward it. What was it? I reached out a hand but then froze. I could feel the wards around it. Why would Father protect a ripped up, useless book? Unless it wasn't useless. I wondered about its importance for a bit, but then decided I wouldn't get any answers currently. Maybe Zosimos would have an idea; I could ask him later.

I left Father's office and headed up to my room, passing Nagini on the way. I glared at her and she hissed at me as I walked up the stairs. "Stupid snake," I muttered, opening the door to my room. I sat on my large bed, enjoying the breeze from the open window. Unlike my brother's room, mine was messy and disorganized. The bed wasn't made, clothes were everywhere, books, parchment, and quills were scattered all over the floor, and that's how I liked it.

I opened the first lineage book, flipping forward. I stopped for a moment when I saw the name "Black". Something clicked in my brain. Scorpius' grandmother was a Black, wasn't she? I looked at the names, reading. Sure enough, "Narcissa Black-Malfoy" was there, right below… "Andromeda Black-Tonks". I froze. Then, I saw that to the right of this name was the name, "Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin." Quickly, I checked the other volume. I flipped a few pages and ran my finger down the line, but couldn't find the name Tonks anywhere. That must mean that Andromeda Black had married a muggle. I looked for anything else the other book said about Nymphadora, but it only said she was a known metamorphmagus, and below that, it mentioned her husband, Remus John Lupin, and her son, Ted Remus Lupin. It seemed Teddy, or Ted, had inherited his mother's metamorphmagus genes.

Then, I looked up Lupin's name in the other volume. Beside his name it said, "Known Werewolf." Interesting, I thought. Lupin was a metamorphmagus, and a half-werewolf. I had never heard of that combination before. I wondered if my father knew about this, then realized he probably did, being the all-powerful Voldemort.

I wondered if Scorpius would know anything about his distant relative. I decided I would make an excuse to see him and ask about it sometime soon. For now, though, I picked up the other books I had borrowed. I needed to know how Lupin's parents had known my mother.

A/N: So, there you have it. I'll probably update relatively soon because I know exactly what I'm going to have happen next.

Any guesses on who the crazy old dude is?

Also, Reviews make my life ;)