I was frowning deeply as I watched Carrigan get ready to go out. Gabriel and I were going to train with her out in an open area of woods on the edge of Hogsmeade. I thought it'd be beneficial for Carrigan to learn to define herself in the cold and snow. It was one thing to learn defensive skills in a sand pit, basement or classroom, but another thing to actually have to defend yourself outside in the elements. You had to take different factors into consideration—which I had failed to do that day on the ice with Sirius. I didn't want Carrigan to make the same mistakes I had, but I knew she had to learn on her own.

Carrigan was pulling on some of the new clothes that I had gotten her for Christmas; a black blouse, black died jeans and a black waistcoat with red lace details. What was making me frown was that she was also wearing the hip holster Gabriel had gotten her. I wasn't sure how I felt about my eleven year old wearing a hip holster meant to carry a knife. Along with the holster, Gabriel had gotten her a small six inch blade. The hilt of it was engraved with Carrigan's name, and then a small diamond was encrusted on the end of the hilt. Diamond was Carrigan's birth stone, and Gabriel got a certain amount of pleasure from being the first man to give Carrigan a diamond. I thought the entire thing was ridiculous—first of all the knife was gaudy looking and too expensive of a gift to give an eleven year old; secondly, the knife seemed inappropriate to give an eleven year old, even if it was Carrigan who was a phenomenal witch and fighter. I wanted to keep Carrigan as innocent as long as I could, while not hiding the truth from her in any way.

Gabriel had told me I couldn't have it both ways—I couldn't protect her innocence and train her for the potential war that would come if my Father ever returned. I couldn't tell her she was in constant danger because of her heritage and not train her for physical and magical battles. She deserved the opportunity to prepare herself and she was eager to learn.

"Ready Mom?" Carrigan asked standing in front of me proudly. She had pulled on her leather winter jacket, and stood before me with her hands on her hips. Her feet were spread wide and her chin up. She looked ready for battle. I smiled as someone knocked on the door.

"Yea," I said as Carrigan relaxed and crossed her arms over her chest. I opened the door of the hotel and smiled at Gabriel who came in, carrying a large duffel bag wit him. He placed it on the floor next to the door and I frowned again. "Are we going into battle?" I asked kicking the bag with my booted foot.

Gabriel shrugged and smiled at me. "Just want us to be prepared."

I nodded my head slowly and walked to Carrigan. I stood behind her and put my hands on her shoulders, smiling proudly. "What do you think?" I asked.

"Wow," Gabriel said beaming. "Carri you look just like your Mother."

"We've heard that before," I said moving away.

"Thanks," Carrigan grinned. She was very proud of her outfit, new shinny weapon, and looking like me.

"Here wait," Gabriel said opening the bag and pulling out a camera. "Get together again, we should take a picture."

I looked at Gabriel with raised eyebrows. "I swear, Gabriel, you're more of a family man then your persona lets on," I said as I pulled on my long leather cloak.

"Just get in together," he motioned for me to move back to Carrigan. I rolled my eyes and moved back to my daughter to appease him. I put my hands on Carrigan's shoulders as I stood behind her and forced a smile for the camera. Carrigan stood with one hand on her hip and the other holding my left hand on her shoulder. He even came over and took a picture with us, so that the three of us were smiling up at the camera from his arm length away. I'm sure they were beautiful pictures, but I thought it was ridiculous the way Gabriel was acting like our family patriarch. I'd get over my frustration when I got the chance to beat him up in the woods.

There had been a fresh snow overnight, and the sun was beaming brightly in the sky, reflecting off the white covered ground. When we walked outside the square in the center of the village was bustling with cheery people, all happy to still be celebrating Christmas a week after the fact. Children were running about with new outdoor toys, sleds, hats, mittens and boots. Snow ball fights were prominent as children played in the new snow. Parents stood by watching, shopping, and exchanging late gifts.

I put a pair of aviator sunglasses on to block the broad reflective rays, and led the way across the square, Carrigan and Gabriel talking quickly as they followed. I'm sure we were quite the scene as we walked through the peaceful village. People looked at us with confusion and worry. By this point, most of the villagers were used to Gabriel and me walking about with our weapons and leather on. They knew that we were the Aurors from the Ministry, sent to keep an eye out for Sirius Black. It was Carrigan who disrupted the notion of the traditional nuclear family. An eleven year old girl wearing tight black pants, black combat boots, and a black leather coat, with a six inch knife holstered on her hip was a little unnerving. I looked over my shoulder to see Carrigan smiling broadly. She was more then pleased that she was upsetting the social order of the small village around her. She was contradicting the social norm for her age and gender—and she was very proud of that.

Now I just had to make sure that she knew how to use that knife effectively. Any Death Eater that saw her would no doubt laugh, thinking it was all for show. Gabriel and I had to make sure that Carrigan could talk the talk of defense skills. She definitely could walk the walk; she had that down just by watching me do it for the last eleven years.

There was a large clearing in the woods on the outskirts of the village. As I looked out at the clearing the Shrieking Shack stood broadly in the distances at the top of a hill. I saw some kids playing outside the gate of the property, throwing rocks at the house, and pushing each other to the gate trying to get one of them on the property. The Shrieking Shack had been rumored to be haunted for years, since it was abandoned years ago. This of course was a ridiculous rumor, but it served a noble purpose. There was a tunnel from the grounds on Hogwarts that went to the Shrieking Shack. The tunnel had been made by Dumbledore when Remus began at Hogwarts. The crazed screams, cries, and shaking of the houses had been Remus transformed as a werewolf in the house. Remus would go to the house once a month, take a potion, and remain hiding in the house through the full moon.

"What do you want to start with?" Gabriel asked as he dropped the bag into the snow next to a rock. I turned and shrugged at him.

"You're the expert," I said.

Gabriel frowned slightly and gave me a steady look. We had agreed to train with Carrigan because we thought it would be essential to her protection and survival. Neither of us was living under the guise that my Father was dead; rather we were stuck with the assumption that he was currently very weak and would return to full power eventually. I had this fear especially because Voldemort had attempted a blood bond ritual on me that connected us to each other, and made Voldemort all the more powerful. He also had tried to connect my soul to his—which Dumbledore seemed to think hadn't worked because, as he put it, "I would know if my soul were permanently connected to Voldemort's." But if either of those two ceremonies had worked in the least bit, then it was safe to say that Voldemort was still crawling around the Earth somewhere because I was still alive. The point though, was that if Gabriel and I assumed that my Father was going to return to power, then Carrigan had to be trained to defend herself. Death Eaters had made a career out of hunting me; I imagined they'd do the same for Carrigan. But, despite our agreement and justification for training her, there was still concern about Carrigan being Gabriel's third student. Unfortunately there was no way of knowing their destiny; but I had to believe that fate would work out this time.

Gabriel and I were bound together, and I had a magically powerful daughter who needed to be trained. It would be a waste of Gabriel's skills to not have him train her, no matter what their destinies were meant to be. It seemed plausible that despite our forbidden love, Gabriel was still meant to train future witches or wizards. If he were meant to train anyone else he would have left me a long time ago to do so. I only hoped that Carrigan and Gabriel's relationship was not considered an unnatural one, and therefore deemed unfit by the powers of the universe.

I took a seat on the large rock next to the duffel bag Gabriel had thrown on the ground. Gabriel shook his head and I smiled.

"Go ahead and teach," I smirked as I motioned for him to begin. He rolled his eyes and shrugged then moved across the clearing to Carrigan. He took off his coat and told her to do the same. She followed directions easily, but as she turned her back to throw her coat on a near by tree he grabbed her arms, kicked her knees out from behind her and grabbed the shiny new knife from her holster, placing it against her throat.

I could see the side of her face and recognized the smart look in her eyes. There was no fear, which was unfortunate. If a Death Eater were pinning her down like that she should be fearful. But perhaps trusting Gabriel helped; she could keep a clear head and think her way out of the situation.

She needs to learn fear, Gabriel said to me with Legilimency. I grimaced and closed my eyes for a moment.

"Don't ever turn your back to your opponent," I heard Gabriel say. I opened my eyes to see that he had released Carrigan. She was getting up to her feet as she glared at him. She held out her hand for him to give back her knife and when he extended it to her, hilt first, she grabbed his wrist with one hand, the knife with the other. She stepped close to him, not being strong enough to pull his fully grown body to her small pre-teen one, and placed the knife against Gabriel's crotch. I smirked slightly. She may have no idea what she was doing, but she was feisty, which made me proud.

Gabriel froze the moment Carrigan's six inch knife touched the zipper of his jeans. He glared down at her and I knew in a moment the true fight was going to straight. Carrigan wasn't experienced enough to see that despite having a small blade to Gabriel's crotch he could easily step back and slap or grab her with his free hand. She only held one of his wrists—perhaps if she were a full grown woman she'd be able to hold him close enough that he couldn't get away, but that was not the case and Carrigan had to learn what she could do with her body.

Sure enough, Gabriel stepped back, grabbed Carrigan's arm with his free hand and lifted it up. He twisted his wrist that she had been holding and grabbed onto hers, switch the position of power in the fight. He twisted her body, forcing her to turn around and pulled her back against his chest. Her small hand still clung to the dagger and if Gabriel hadn't been careful when he turned her around she could have sliced half his face open, but that was also something Carrigan wasn't trained for. I bit my bottom lip as I studied them standing tall in the snow; Gabriel holding Carrigan against him as she squirmed steadily in his arms with the dagger in her hand. He was holding both of her wrists, with her arms crossed in front of her chest. I was impressed when Carrigan pulled her weight down, bending her knees and ducking down under Gabriel's arms. The motion caught him off guard and he released her wrists allowing her to completely escape him.

When they broke apart Carrigan threw her knife at Gabriel, who caught it and threw it back at her. I inhaled sharply as the knife flew by her and slammed into the tree behind her. I sighed and put my head in my hands as anxiety over took my system. Perhaps these training sessions were not something I wanted to sit in on.

Carrigan was not like me. When I had started training with Gabriel, I didn't want to. He had to motivate me by making me angry, picking on me and knocking me to the ground. Of course, at the time he was still a Death Eater and he was supposed to be training me to be one also. That explained my resistance and his cruelty. Carrigan was motivated and eager. She wanted to be the best at everything; she'd ask Gabriel to show her moves, ducks, punches, kicks and other defensive skills over and over again so she could memorize every detail. Her attention to detail allowed to her catch on fast, but also cost her. She was a perfectionist and had a hard time imagining how to use her skills creatively, individually.

"You're predictable," Gabriel said catching her ankle three days later when they were training again. Carrigan had made to kick him, but he caught her and squeezed her ankle tightly so she couldn't pull away.

"So are you!" Carrigan snapped back. "You'll just flip me like you did two days ago."

Gabriel pushed her leg back towards her, causing her to fall back into the snow with a soft yelp. She felt flat on her butt and jumped up instantly, frustrated that he had throw her so easily in a new way.

"You can't be predictable, Carrigan. People know who you are because of your Mother. They know I trained her and they will assume that she and I trained you. That is your greatest weakness. You can't let anyone know who trained you," Gabriel said as she made to punch him. He blocked it, forcing her arm under his. She made to punch him in the jaw, but redirected the punch into his collar bone, jugular area. Gabriel chocked when she socked him and stepped back, releasing her arm. She kicked him in the stomach, knocking him back again and then jumped, catching his arm and forcing her weight on his knees. She stood taller then him only because she used his body as a structure and slammed her elbow down into his already injured neck. Gabriel grunted as he collapsed under Carrigan who toppled with him, but caught her balance and landed on her feet. She wobbled a bit a first, but squeezed her muscles and stood up tall. Gabriel lay on the snow below her sighing deeply.

I stood up and moved through the mostly trampled snow to Gabriel. I clapped Carrigan on the back as she smiled broadly.

"That was not very predictable," I said as I extended my hand out and helped Gabriel up. Carrigan brushed her messy brown hair out of her face and embraced Gabriel tightly around the waist.

"I didn't hurt you too bad, did I?" she questioned looking up at him with dark midnight blue eyes. I bit my bottom lip as he smiled down at her and brushed her hair out of her face.

"No, you couldn't hurt me, Carri," he said with a soft laugh. "You know you'd make an awful Death Eater."

"Thank you!" she said cheerfully. She broke free of Gabriel and started to walk away. "Can we keep going?" she asked facing us as she walked backwards in the snow.

"No," I said. "It's almost dark."

Carrigan heaved a sigh and turned around looking for her coat and holster that she had thrown irresponsibly into a bush. I looked up at Gabriel who looked at me with tired eyes. I frowned slightly and reached out, touching his cheek.

"Gabriel Quintin," I whispered. "Is it possible that you are getting too old for this?"

Gabriel forced a smile as his chocolate brown eyes stared down at me. "No," he whispered touching my hand that rested on his cheek. He brought it to his lips and kissed it gently. "You keep me young."

I smiled; of course he'd say something ridiculous and romantic like that.

"You know that kind of charm doesn't work on me," I whispered.

"Doesn't stop me from saying," he shrugged.

I let him kiss my fingers a few more times before I pulled away and moved across the clearing to the large rock that I had been sitting on. I began to pick up the various weapons Gabriel and Carrigan had been practicing with and put them in the duffel bag he often carried out with him.

"Gabriel?" Carrigan's voice said softly from somewhere close to me.

I glanced at her, and did a double take. She was running across the clearing to Gabriel who had fallen to his knees in the snow. I turned sharply and raced after Carrigan as she screamed Gabriel's name again. When she reached him she caught his shoulders as he fell to his side. His body weight was too much for her and collapsed under him into the snow. I skidded to a stop and knelt down next to Gabriel who lay on my screaming frightened daughter. I grabbed Gabriel's arms and pulled him off her off, laying him down on his back on the ground. Carrigan knelt next to me.

"Mom, mom, what's wrong?" she question as her voice quivered.

Gabriel's eyes were shut, but his eye lids were moving rapidly—he was in a state of REM. I bit my bottom lip and turned to Carrigan.

"You go to straight to Hogwarts—"

"But Mom—!"

"STRAIGHT TO HOGWARTS CARRIGAN!" I yelled harshly over her voice. Carrigan shut her mouth immediately and nodded her head as she bit her bottom lip. She jumped up. "Take the bag. Tell Dumbledore what's happened."

"Where are you going?"

"St. Mungo's," I responded.

I watched for a moment as Carrigan dashed away from me to grab Gabriel's duffel bag. I could see her running away from us in the clearing and once she was out of site I turned my attention back to Gabriel. His body was beginning to convulse—abruptly his eyes opened and to my horror they were creamy white and silver. I had never seen eyes like that before. I closed my eyes and lay against his chest as he continued to shake, pressing my body to him as I concentrated fully on St. Mungo's.