a/n-Well, readers, you never thought this day would come, did you? Yes, this is us updating. Don't be too shocked. And don't go thinking we've abandoned you for six months, that's actually how long it took to write this entire chapter. On the same note, do i need a pen name wishes you all to know that typing this ginormous chapter nearly caused her fingers to fall off...over a period of six months. So you'd better enjoy it!

Disclaimer-Well, believe it or not, neither of us is J.K. Rowling. We are not her. However, we did make up Cathleen, Milo, Marcas, Merric, and Maxwell McKinnon. THEY are OURS!

Happy Reading.

Chapter Nine

"Marlene!" James cried excitedly, spotting the girl in question across the room. She was seated on a small stool in the corner with three red-haired boys sitting on the floor before her.

"James!" Marlene cried back, jumping up and running across the room, practically tackling her friend. "Happy New Year! How was your Christmas? Did you like my present? Did you miss me? Well, did you? Huh? Did you?"

"Happy New Year." James replied. "Quiet, but fun. Yes, of course, it was brilliant. I suppose I did, yeah…So, do you know what's up with this whole 'kid's only' room thingy?"

After having waited to see his friends for what he considered an unbelievably long time while his mother did her hair, James had arrived at the Ministry function with his parents, where house elves had taken their cloaks at the door. Right when the three of them were about to go into the ballroom, a quite harassed-looking young intern appeared out of nowhere to inform the Potters that the Ministry, in an attempt to be more 'child friendly' was providing an Underage Wizards Room for the event. The official story was that it was so parents wouldn't have to look after their children and would have more time to socialize. James, however, disagreed, and so did Marlene.

"It's a secret plot, of course." Marlene stated, as if this was obvious. "The ministry thinks that keeping us in this room will keep them safe. Obviously we've been to their functions before, but they must have heard about our wonderful, erm…academic endeavors at school, and now they're terrified."

"That's exactly what I was thinking." James replied with a nod. "Is Sirius here yet?"

"Nope." Marlene replied. "But my mother's completely obsessed with being on time for everything, so I've already been stuck in here for over an hour with my brothers!"

"Your brothers?" James perked up immediately, looking around, as if expecting one of them in particular to be standing right there. "Are they all here?"

"Only the young children." Marlene replied, suddenly grabbing the black-haired boy's arm. "Come meet them. I'm sure they'd love to meet you. Really, they can be quite charming."

"Are you feeling alright, Marlene?" James asked, looking concerned for his friend. "I thought you couldn't stand your brothers?"

"Nonsense." Marlene said with a dismissive wave of her hand, still dragging James over to the corner that she had previously been sitting in. "That's only when they won't listen to me."

"Mars!" What appeared to be the youngest member of the McKinnon family exclaimed when James and Marlene stopped in front of them. "We thought you were never going to come back!"

"Is that your boyfriend?" One of the other boys asked, before the youngest had finished speaking.

"Don't be ridiculous." The third redhead said. "You know what Sirius looks like. And she called him 'James' duh. That's not her boyfriend."

"How many times do I have to tell you Marcas?" Marlene demanded angrily, dropping James' arm and rounding on her brother. "Sirius is not my boyfriend! He is my partner in crime!" All of a sudden she turned back to face James, a smile appearing on her face. "Now, James, meet my brothers: Marcas, Merric, and Maxwell." She pointed to each of them in turn. "Young children, meet my friend, James."

"I don't suppose your brother Milo is anywhere nearby, is he?" James asked hopefully.

Marlene opened her mouth but could not reply because the youngest boy—Maxwell, suddenly burst into tears.

"Milo!" He cried. "Poor, innocent Milo! He was so young!"

"There, there, Max." Merric said consolingly, patting his younger brother on the back. "We all feel the same way."

"B-But…I just miss him so much!" Maxwell cried. "I want M-Milo back!"

"What are they talking about?" James questioned Marlene, looking alarmed. It was Marcas who answered him, however, promptly cutting his sister off as she opened her mouth to reply.

"They're talking about our brother, dear Milo." Marcas replied somberly. "He went out for a little fly after lunch…and…well, let's just say the Irish International Quidditch Team's recruitment of him was a bit premature. He had a horrible crash into a tree…and…well, he's no longer with us."

"Milo!" Maxwell cried again. "Poor, innocent Milo!"

"So young…" Merric said with a shake of his head.

James' jaw dropped. Milo McKinnon, without a doubt the best player in the whole professional Quidditch league was dead…because he'd crashed into a stationary object?

"James?" Marlene asked, waving a hand in front of his face. "James, are you alright?"

Sirius chose just that moment to enter the room, a scowl on his face and his younger brother in tow. After quickly scanning the room, however, his face lit up immediately as soon as he saw two of his best friends.

"Jamsie!" He cried, making a beeline towards them, pulling his brother after him. "Mars!"

"That's her boyfriend." Marcas informed Merric under his breath, but not so softly that Marlene didn't hear him.

"He is not." She stated vehemently.

"Oh yeah, sure…" Marcas replied, in a tone which suggested his beliefs about the matter currently at hand were anything but what his sister had just said.

"Mars!" Sirius exclaimed again, having just reached the corner that James and the younger McKinnon children were standing in. Now that he was so close though, he finally noticed James' unblinking, shocked expression. "What's wrong with Jamsie?"

"Milo is dead!" Maxwell cried.

"Then how come I saw him with your parents when I attempted to escape that crazy Ministry person and get into the ballroom?" Sirius asked, indicating over his shoulder with his thumb in the direction he had come from.

"You saw him?" James demanded, suddenly coming out of his daze. "He's not dead?" He rounded on Marlene. "Mars! How could you lead me to believe such a terrible and tragic thing about your older brother and one of my greatest idols? I thought the world was going to end!"

"Now James," Marlene said in a tone one would use when trying to explain the concept of why one plus one equals two to a very young child. "Let's not over-react here. You may recall that I didn't say a single word about my dear older brother's untimely demise. That was all the young children."

"Hello!" Maxwell said happily, giving James a wave, all evidence of tears gone from his face.

"But this is brilliant, Mars." Sirius said, cutting James off from whatever it was he was going to say next. "I didn't realize how far you'd come with the young children."

"Must you really refer to us in such a degrading manner?" Marcas demanded. "I'm only a year younger than you lot!"

"Are you really?" Sirius asked. "Excellent." He pushed Regulus towards Marcas. "Marcas, Reggie, you two are each other's new best friend. You're the same age, aren't you? No? Well, close enough…" He turned back to Marlene and James. "But back to what I was saying before, we can totally use this to our advantage!"

"Um…use what, exactly, to our advantage?" James asked, looking confused.

"The young children and their deceptive ways!" Sirius cried. He threw his arm out, gesturing towards the entire room. "All of them! It'll be a mass breakout! We'll be a swarm! Those Ministry people won't know what hit 'em!"

"Hmm…" Marlene said thoughtfully. "While that plan definitely shows some potential, I think we need to do something a bit more…well, big, I suppose, once we get to the ballroom. We can't let the Ministry down! We all know that they secretly look forward to all of the functions our parents have to attend with us in tow. This whole kid's room business is just them denying what they know is the truth."

"And the truth would be…" James prodded her.

"They want us to wreak havoc upon them!" Marlene cried.

"I don't think they do." Regulus spoke up for the first time.

"Well I think they do." Marlene informed him.

"But I really don't think they do." Regulus insisted.

"But I really think they do." Marlene said menacingly, taking a step forward so that she could better stare him down in a threatening manner. However, the effect was rather ruined by the fact that the nine-year old boy was just a tad bit taller than she was.

"Sirius!" Regulus cried, frightened nonetheless and cowering slightly. "Your girlfriend is scaring me!"

"Good grief, Reg, Mars isn't my girlfriend." Sirius informed his brother, looking insulted.

"That's not what her brother said." Regulus retorted. "I heard him say that she's your girlfriend."

"Marcas is a pathological liar." Marlene said smoothly.

"Wow…Mars…Moony would be proud." James said. "You just used a big word, and I think you used it right, too."

"It's my New Year's Resolution to be smarter than Moony, but in a better way." Marlene stated. "Now, back to this business of breaking out. Here's what I had in mind…"

Twenty minutes of intense planning later, it all got off to a very loud start, and the events that followed forever changed the Ministry of Magic's official views on family friendly events/policies.

BOOM!

The chaos that ensued in the Underage Wizards Room (Which was only being monitored every so often when the hassled intern showed up with a new child in tow, anyway) allowed Marlene the chance to slip out and sneak into the ballroom. Once there, it appeared that no one had heard the rather loud result of the detonation of one of Sirius' Christmas presents.

As soon as she entered the room, this one full of adults and a few older Hogwarts students, Marlene quickly began scanning the crowd. Her eyes finally rested on one woman in particular who was just leaving a knot of people who all appeared to favor the Slytherin shade of green. As luck would have it, the woman began heading right for the doorway and entrance to the ballroom, where Marlene was currently standing.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Marlene asked as the woman approached.

"Oh, hello there." The woman said kindly, though looking a bit surprised. "Can I help you, dear? You know, you're the first child I've seen here all night. I thought this was supposed to be a family event."

"It's simply awful, ma'am!" Marlene exclaimed. "The Minister's intern-people made all of us poor, innocent children go into one room, all by ourselves and all together. We've got absolutely nothing to do and no adults supervising us. And there are some scary older kids in there who're trying to take charge and boss us around! It's simply awful! I only just managed to get past those mean interns—they're standing guard outside the door—because I need to find my parents. The mean kids made my poor, innocent little brother cry!"

The woman's mouth narrowed into a thin line at this seemingly convincing pronouncement. "They're probably all destined for Slytherin, the lot of them. Why don't you show me where this room is, dear, and I'll get everything all sorted out in no time."

"But the intern-people!" Marlene cried. "They'll see me with you and then they'll tell the Minister, and he'll probably get mad at my parents, and, oh, things just won't turn out well at all."

"Why don't you wait here then, dear, and I'll go by myself." The woman suggested.

But Marlene shook her head. "It's too complicated to explain how to get there. It's a miracle I even made it back here."

If possible, the woman pursed her lips even tighter so that they now resembled a very thin line, if that. Then, suddenly, her eyes lit up.

"You said the Minister's personal office arranged all of this?" She questioned.

"Yep." Marlene said with a nod.

"Then I know just the thing we need to do, young lady." The woman said with a conspiratorial smile.

Fifteen minutes later…

"You there!" A voice demanded imperiously. "What are you doing here?"

The loud voice made the intern—who was just leaving the Underage Wizards Room looking slightly more singed than she had before entering it—jump about a foot in the air. Turning, the intern came face-to-face with none other than the wife of the Minister of Magic.

"M-Mrs. Leach." The intern squeaked out.

"Yes, that's my name," She said, "But you haven't answered my question yet. What, exactly, are you doing down here? The party is upstairs. You have no reason to be here right now."

"Er…your husband…uh, that is to say Mr. Leach, the M-Minister, assigned me down here for the duration of the evening." The intern managed to say.

"Doing what?" Mrs. Leach snapped.

"W-Watching the children." The intern said.

Mrs. Leach's eyes widened and her mouth narrowed. "You're telling me that you're the one who has all of the children? Get out of my way!"

Terrified, the intern leapt to the side, allowing Mrs. Leach access to the door. When she opened it, it was to reveal a room that appeared a bit hazy and contained a lingering smell of smoke in the air. It was also full of miserable-looking children.

"Oh, you poor dears." Mrs. Leach said, her face softening immediately. "How would you like to come upstairs to the party?"

"Can we really?" James demanded excitedly, his mind once more on a certain quidditch star.

"Of course dears." Mrs. Leach stated. "I want all of you to come upstairs with me." She pursed her lips once more. "I'm going to need to have a long conversation with that husband of mine about this."

"Thanks, Mrs. Minister's Wife." Sirius said brightly, once more dragging Regulus after him. "It's been getting a bit stuffy down here."

Mrs. Leach led all of the children back up to the ballroom, but stopped just short of the doors, which had since been closed.

"Now dears," She began, turning around to face all of the young, eager faces, "I want you all to have as much fun as you possibly can tonight. In fact, just go wild and do whatever you want to do. No one gets in trouble tonight!"

"Whatever we want?" Marcas questioned eagerly.

"Whatever you want." Mrs. Leach confirmed, before turning back around and throwing the doors to the ballroom open with a loud bang!

"Nobby Leach!" She hollered at the top of her lungs as the children gathered in the doorway around her. "You come here right this instant!"

As one the group of adults turned to see what the commotion was all about. An opening appeared in the crowd and the Minister of Magic, Mr. Leach, stepped closer to his wife.

"Is something wrong, dear?" He asked, his gaze darting to the children and then back to his wife's angry face.

"You better believe there is." She stated. "And don't you think any sweet talking is going to get you out of this one! Why on earth were these children made to be cramped up in that room all by themselves away from everyone else here?"

"We're, uh, trying to let their parents be free to socialize with their children encumbering them." Mr. Leach said slowly, quite terrified of his wife still.

"You mean you want to be to spend as much time as possible just with these fine members of our magical community just so that you can talk your way into them giving you as much money as possible for your re-election campaign, don't you?" Mrs. Leach demanded.

"Erm…no?" Mr. Leach replied, but it wasn't entirely convincing of him.

"I'm so disappointed with you, Nobby." Mrs. Leach said with a shake of her head. "I think you've emotionally scarred each and every one of these poor, innocent children for the rest of their lives."

"I agree." Regulus muttered under his breath, and Sirius smiled at his brother encouragingly.

"That's the spirit, Reggie!" Sirius murmured quietly, so as not to distract from the spectacle that was the leader of Great Britain's magical community and his wife. "Go against authority."

"I'm afraid these children simply must not be allowed back into that room." Mrs. Leach continued. "So I've brought them all up here to join in the festivities. I expect better from you next time, Nobby."

Many of the children gave a great cheer at this, and at least half of them made their way over to the buffet table as the adults broke out into excited chatter, gossiping about the events that had just occurred.

It all might have worked out just as Mrs. Leach had planned it to, too. However, she soon became caught up in various conversations and was thus unable to slip out of the ballroom unnoticed. She had been in the middle of discussing why, exactly, she thought her husband shouldn't be re-elected to office with his main competition when she suddenly began to shrink, and her hair began turning a rather bright shade of orange. In no time at all, little Marlene McKinnon was standing where Mrs. Leach had just been, practically drowning in the woman's dress robes.

"Uh-oh." Was all Marlene could say. "This wasn't supposed to happen."

And, just as Marlene's luck would have it, her parents happened to be standing just behind her at that exact moment.

"Marlene Mackenzie McKinnon." Cathleen McKinnon stated dangerously, her eyes glinting as she took in the sight of her only daughter. "What on earth is going on here?"

"Um…"

"It's not her fault Mrs. McKinnon, honest." Sirius said, suddenly appearing from nowhere, his younger brother still in tow.

"Yeah, we helped her with the plan." James said, right behind his best friend, the three youngest McKinnons close behind him.

"You did what?" Walburga Black had chosen that exact moment to approach the Minister's wife. "And I suppose you've dragged your brother into all this nonsense, too. You're in so much trouble now, boy!"

"But mum! I was just trying to promote inter-wizarding-family relationships and expand dear, sweet Regulus' worldview!" Sirius protested as his mother led him away, her hand clutched tightly around his arm.

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Mrs. Black." Mr. and Mrs. Potter had come over to see what this new commotion was about. "No broom for the rest of break, James."

"But mum! I was just trying to break down barriers and spread anti-segregation propaganda in the form of a mass demonstration!" It was James' turn to protest.

"And you're to stay in your room until it's time for you to get back on that train, missy." Mrs. McKinnon said to Marlene. "And don't even think about trying to sneak the owl into your room, or about asking your grandfather to break you out." (1)

"But mum! I'm your only daughter! Punish the boys, they've corrupted my innocent mind!" Marlene insisted.

"Hey!" Marcas, Merric, and Max protested all at once.

Midnight came not long after, and with it the departure of the Blacks, McKinnons, and Potters. Once they had left, the Minister poured himself a drink and collapsed at a table in the corner. Perhaps they shouldn't have put all of the young miscreants in one place. Yes, there was one thing that was now quite clear to the Ministry officials: the Nursery—ahem, the Underage Wizards Room was a complete and utter failure.

And where had his wife gotten to?

a/n-now go review and tell us how happy you are that we updated. or, you could take the less traditional approach and tell us how much you dislike it when some of your favorite authors actually update their stories (the nerve of them). Either way works, really, as long as there is reviewing taking place.

(1)-An-Jelly-Ca wants everyone to go read her story Amorevolous which is all about Marlene and her grandfather, and which do i need a pen name enjoyed reading very much and therefore recommends to everyone!