There was still snow on the ground despite the warm weather at the beginning of April. It had been nearly a month since I had made it out to see Sirius. I was afraid after so much time he might not be at the Shrieking Shack anymore; he might have found a new place to hide because of his lacking trust in me. Gabriel and I walked through the snow on the forest floor of the woods between Hogsmeade village and the Shrieking Shack slowly at nearly six in the morning. Gabriel had insisted on getting up that early and coming out to see Sirius. He didn't think we should wait any longer to speak with him and traveling in the early morning would be more discrete then later in the day.

The last month had been hell for me. I had gone through five new partners since Gabriel and I were reassigned. I drove the other Aurors nuts—no one wanted to work with me—and Scrimgeour was starting to grow impatient with my childish behavior. He was threatening to bench me, like he had Gabriel. I had told him, in a rather heated argument a week ago, to go ahead and bench me. It wasn't like I was doing anything productive switching partners each week. At least, that's what I told Scrimgeour. Truthfully, because of the switching partners I was able to focus a great deal of work on investigating Peter Pettigrew at home. While Gabriel was just as concerned with finding Pettigrew, he was not as enthusiastic as I was. We had gotten into an argument about it last night.

"You're going to lose your job at the Ministry!" Gabriel yelled through the kitchen.

"I'm not going to lose my job!" I retorted. "I'm getting my work done—"

"You're not doing any work," he interrupted. "You're acting like a child to scare off every new partner Scrimgeour assigns you. Soon he's going to assign you to someone who won't take your crap and you'll be stuck with them."

"That's fine," I said crossly. "I'm getting work done here. That's what really matters."

"Yes, finding Pettigrew is important, but what are you going to do when you lose your job?" Gabriel said coming to me.

"Gabriel," I said looking up at him very seriously. "I'm not going to lose my job. I'm too important of an asset to the Ministry for them to fire me. The same goes for you. Besides, when we catch Pettigrew, I'm sure the Ministry will be thrilled."

"You're being arrogant, Cadence," he said harshly as he leaned against the kitchen table. "And it's not like you. You're becoming consumed with finding Pettigrew. I don't know how thrilled the Ministry will be when we find him because you're going against orders and making life hell for everyone in the department."

I shrugged and turned away from Gabriel. "I warned Scrimgeour that I would only work with you. He brought this on himself."

"Cadence?"

I blinked and looked up at Gabriel as snow flakes fell off the tree above us onto his face. I frowned slightly and pushed my hair out of my face. I had been reflecting on the argument from yesterday and how Gabriel was probably right. I shouldn't act like such a child at the office. I should try to work with whoever Scrimgeour assigned to me.

"Yes?"

"You looked out of it," he said as she we stopped in front of the gate of the Shrieking Shack.

"I was just thinking you're right about work," I whispered looking down at my hands. "I'm just mad at Scrimgeour for reassigning us, benching you and giving me a new partner. It's not fair—"

Gabriel took my shoulders and turned me to face him. "I love you," he interrupted. "And if that gets in the way of our job then its better we're not partners."

I shook my head. "Did you ever stop to think that it's our love that makes us so good?"

Gabriel smiled and stroked my cheek. "We don't make the rules, Cadence. We just have to follow them." He leaned down and kissed my forehead. I pulled away from him with a small smile and hopped the fence.

"Since when are you one to follow the rules, Gabriel?" I questioned looking over my shoulder. The question made Gabriel smile and he followed my lead, jumping the fence, then tracking through the snow after me. He caught up to me as I turned the corner of the house, heading for the back entrance. When I looked over my shoulder at him, I saw that he was melting our tracks from the snow behind him. I frowned slightly, I should have thought of that. We didn't want anyone to know we were here.

When we reached the back porch, I climbed up over the railing and onto it. Gabriel followed and we slowly approached the back door. I turned to him suddenly, running into his chest. He looked down at me with raised eyebrows; his eyes were a twinkling dark green that day. They made my heart skip a beat as I bit my bottom lip.

"Maybe you should wait out here," I whispered. "Remember what happened the last time you two saw each other."

"Yea," Gabriel nodded. "And I'm kind of itching for a rematch."

"That's my point—"

"—I didn't come all this way just to stand on the back porch as you talk to Sirius!" Gabriel hissed in a harsh whisper. I gritted my teeth and rolled my eyes.

"Fine," I said. "But you'd better control yourself. We didn't come all this way for you to beat the crap out of him."

I wiggled the handle of the backdoor and found it unlocked. Gabriel moved around me and held his wand tightly in his hand. He nodded his head and I opened the door for him slightly, he went in first, wand raised and I followed, closing the door tightly and quietly behind me.

"Put your wand away," I whispered. He shook his head at me. "I'll lead. Sirius won't murder me…"

Gabriel agreed and allowed me to lead him through the house to the front room. The room was still covered in dust, which made me sneeze as we made to mount the stairs. Gabriel raised his eyebrows at me and I shrugged. My sneeze alarmed Sirius upstairs because a large black dog came barreling down the stairs at us. I recognized it instantly as Sirius in his dog form. He jumped onto the wall and bounded off of it, over my head and onto Gabriel, tackling him to the ground.

"Sirius!" I screamed as I dropped the backpack I had slung over my shoulder. "Sirius, stop it!"

In the blink of an eye, Sirius transformed from his dog form to a human. He was on top of Gabriel, pinning to him the ground. Once he was completely transformed he slugged Gabriel clean across the face. I dived forward and grabbed Sirius' collar, pulling him off of Gabriel. I threw Sirius against the wall and pointed my wand at him.

"Why'd you bring him here?" he sneered.

"Enough!" I shouted.

Sirius rolled his eyes and shrugged, lowering his hands and leaning against the wall. I turned, confident that Sirius had given up on the fight, and went to Gabriel, helping him up. Gabriel was looking at Sirius with loathing, making my skin crawl. I felt like I was nineteen again—caught between Sirius and Gabriel who constantly fought over and about me. I bent down and picked up the food that had spilled from the bag. I shoved it back in and threw it at Sirius.

"Here," I snapped. "You still look thin."

Sirius sighed, but said nothing, and mounted the stairs. I looked at Gabriel who still looked angry.

"Well," I whispered. "I guess that could have been worse."

"Yea," he nodded fixing his shirt. "I could have killed him."

I rolled my eyes and mounted the stairs to follow Sirius.

He was in the bedroom, sitting on the floor next to the bed eating the food I had brought him. He looked up at me, noticing that Gabriel was trailing behind and gave me a very ugly glare.

"Why did you bring him?" he questioned. "I have no interest in working with both of you—"

"I know that you hate him," I said sharply. "Because you feel that he has replaced you, threatened your masculinity or whatever—but you have to get over it, Sirius. We need his help. I've been reassigned at the Ministry, Gabriel has been benched. I have a new partner and I'm not going to be able to hide something like this from them, it's too risky. Gabriel is going to be looking for Pettigrew more then I am."

"I already know where he is," Sirius said standing up. "Forget it, I don't need either of your help—especially his."

"I'm here now," said Gabriel walking in. "Not that it will stop you from insulting me."

"If you were any other man, I'd ring your neck, Gabriel," Sirius said harshly. "You're a bastard and a liar—"

"Enough!" I snapped. "You do need our help, Sirius, because I know you well enough to know that when you catch Pettigrew you're going to kill him—"

"He destroyed my life!" Sirius yelled. "You're damn right that I'm going to kill him."

"That is not going to prove your innocence," I said glaring at him. "Gabriel and I will catch him. We'll go to Hogwarts right now and speak with Ron Weasley. We will take Pettigrew to the Ministry, then I will personally come to get you once it is proven you are innocent."

Sirius studied me for a few moments and nodded his head.

"Fine," he said. "Better get to it then."

I sighed and nodded. "Alright," I whispered and turned grabbing Gabriel's coat. "Let's go."

We descended the stairs and when we reached the bottom I looked up at him with a sharp glare. "Hold still." Gabriel didn't say or do anything. I took hold of his shoulders and Apparated out of the dusty living room. As we disappeared from the Shrieking Shack I saw Sirius' figure standing at the top of the stairs, watching us. My vision blurred and I closed my eyes tightly as our bodies were squished together and then pulled apart as we landed on the dirt path in front of the Hogwarts gates. I opened my eyes and sighed, catching my breath.

Gabriel pulled away from me and opened the gates allowing me onto the grounds. He closed the gates as I started to make my way up the gravel path to the castle.

"We'll have to speak to Dumbledore, first," said Gabriel once he caught up to me. I nodded my head to acknowledge his statement but kept walking. "Cadence," he said my name softly as we entered the castle. There were students bustling about and the entrance hall and Great Hall.

"Yes?" I asked looking at Gabriel for a moment. I kept moving through the crowd of students who had stopped and parted to form an aisle for Gabriel and me to walk down. I looked at them with raised eyebrows as we walked by and realized that they weren't staring at Gabriel so much as me. I pushed my hair over my shoulder and looked around.

Young kids were looking at me like I was the plague. I frowned slightly and looked at Gabriel, trying to ignore the prying eyes. He was looking at the students just as confused as me. Out of habit, Gabriel gripped his wand tightly in his hand and pushed his cloak back with his left hand to put a hand on the hilt of his knife. His actions made me smile slightly.

"Gabriel, they're a bunch of kids," I said touching his hand. He blinked at me.

"Don't doubt anything, Cadence," he said as we reached the steps. I looked over my shoulder with raised eyebrows, wondering what could possibly be going on to make the students stop and stare at us like we were leppards.

Once we were up the stairs I remembered Gabriel had said my name when we came in. "What were you going to ask me?"

"Hm?" he asked looking at me. He had been looking over his shoulder as I spoke. "What?"

"What were you going to ask me when we got here?" I asked.

"When are you planning on telling Sirius, Carrigan is his daughter?" I frowned and gave him a sharp look with my emerald green eyes. We had never discussed telling Sirius that Carrigan was his child; we had only discussed how he assumed she was Gabriel's. "He has a right to know," Gabriel said before I could answer.

"Last summer you wanted me to change her last name to yours so she'd be better protected from people staring at her like they just did when we got here," I snipped. "Now you want me to tell Sirius that she's his? Are you crazy?"

"He has a right to know," Gabriel repeated. "And it's not like he's a bad person. He was arrested for something he was innocent of and thrown into Azkaban without a trial. He didn't leave you when he found out—"

"He had already left me," I said quickly as I stopped in the hallway. "I don't know what I would have done if Sirius hadn't gone to Azkaban, but I promise you, Gabriel I would have had a very difficult time going to tell Sirius, who had just dumped me after being together for nearly five years, that I was pregnant with his kid."

Gabriel frowned at me and nodded his head. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "It was just something I was wondering."

"I'll worry about that later," I sighed. "When we catch Pettigrew and Sirius has the opportunity to be back in Carrigan's life."

He nodded appearing to accept the comment as reasonable. He patted my shoulder and turned, continuing down the corridor.

"What do you suppose that was all about in the entrance hall?" I asked once we were mounting another flight of stairs. "You don't suppose something happened with Carrigan?"

"I'm almost sure something has happened," he said glancing at me. "Why else would they stare at us, particularly you? Perhaps rumors of who her Father is have finally spread—"

"—like wild fire," said a voice.

I turned quickly, lifting my wand. Remus Lupin stood behind at the bottom of the staircase with his hands in the air.

"Didn't mean to startle you," he said meekly. I sighed and lowered my wand.

"Sorry, Remus," I said. "You shouldn't sneak up on us."

"Yes," he nodded with a calm laugh. "You'd think I'd know that by now."

I couldn't help but smile at my old friend as he mounted the stairs and joined us as the staircase moved, switching floors.

"Rumors of Carrigan have been spreading?" Gabriel asked once he shook Remus' hand.

"I'm afraid so," Remus frowned. "Since Black broke in last month rumors of Carrigan being his daughter began to circulate. I'm surprised it took this long for the rumors to spread. I thought the students would pick up on her parentage when she first arrived."

"I'm sure they did," I whispered. "They just didn't say anything about it till now."

"Carrigan has been dealing with it well," Remus said. "Reminded me of you, Cadence, from when we were in school. The things she's had to put up with are intolerable and she's landed a few detentions because of the fights that have broken out—"

"Fights?" I questioned quickly. "Why haven't I heard about any of this?"

Remus shrugged with sad eyes. "The Headmaster has been leaving campus a great deal, perhaps it slipped through the cracks."

"Unacceptable," I snapped.

"It is possible that Carrigan was told to write to you about it," Gabriel said looking at me with clam eyes. "At least we know she's fighting—"

"Of course she is! We spent the entire damned holiday training with her! If she's using her magic to overpower other students I'm going to ring her neck," I hissed loudly as we reached the seventh floor corridor.

"It is something you used to do all the time, Cadence," Gabriel reminded me. I rolled my eyes and began to march down the corridor quickly, intent on speaking to Dumbledore about Carrigan's harassment. Gabriel took my arm and squeezed it lightly.

"Let's not forget why we're here, Cadence," he said peering at me with those dark memorizing eyes. I sighed and nodded, remembering myself and why we were there to see Dumbledore. I may have to speak to him about Carrigan's treatment later.

I was surprised when I saw Harry Potter walking down the corridor towards us. He saw me and raised his eyebrows with surprise as we approached each other. His friends, Hermione and Ron were with him. I looked up at Gabriel and then back at the three friends.

"Harry!" I called as I approached him more quickly.

"Hi Cadence," he said looking at me with curious eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to speak to the Headmaster," I said quickly as my eyes fell on Ron Weasley who was standing behind Harry. "Ron, right?"

"Yes," he responded nervously.

"I was wondering if I could barrow your rat for awhile?" I asked easily.

"Scabbers?" Ron said confused. "Why would you want to barrow my rat?"

"We just need to see him for a moment," said Gabriel. "If you'll please?"

"Well he's missing," said Ron scornfully. I looked at Gabriel with nervous eyes and he wore a similar expression on his face. "Hermione's cat has been chasing him—"

"Ron!" Hermione said crossly. "You've lost Scabbers! Stop blaming Crookshanks—"

"Cats chase rats, Hermione!" Ron retorted. "And you have not stopped him—"

Hermione opened her mouth to respond as tears welled up in her chocolate brown eyes.

"Enough," I said quickly. "How long has it been since you've seen Scabbers Ron?"

"Since I was attacked by Sirius Black," Ron responded easily.

A dark hole of worry formed in my stomach as I stepped back from the three students. Remus was looking at me with curious eyes, matching Harry's; they were both wondering why I was so interested in Ron's pet rat. I looked up at Gabriel who looked concerned. If Pettigrew had been away from Ron for a month then it was completely possible that he had run far away from Hogwarts by now. I sighed loudly and cursed as I moved away from the students, heading back for the stairs. There was no point in seeing Professor Dumbledore if Peter Pettigrew was no longer on the Hogwarts campus. Gabriel and I were going to have to start searching else where—Pettigrew had a month's head start on us…he could have been anywhere at that point.