"Wwwooowww…this is a really tiny town." Alice said after a few minutes of silence. Moria shrugged.

"There are only 100 people give or take, and since its fishing season there are a lot less of the men here." Moria explained off-handedly. She then grabbed her trunk and proceeded to walk down the path. The others looked at her a bit, almost confused at how cold she was to her home. She looked over the shoulder.

"You guys coming?" she called out. Hurriedly the others ran to follow her, dragging their own luggage with them. It only took them several minutes to reach what they presumed to be Moria's home.

In comparison to the other houses of the town, this one looked ancient. Ivy vines grew on one side of the house, covering it with leafy green ferns. Buds had seemingly followed suit onto the ivy, blossoming to reveal beautiful flowers. An ancient looking porch stood valiantly in the front, the white paint peeling off of the banisters from its long battle against the elements. Several rocking chairs and coffee tables had been strategically placed on the porch, protected by the mesh that covered the spaces between the poles. However from the main part of the home, the ancient look disappeared.

It looked as though several parts of the house had been added on. In comparison to the older smaller part of the house, the extensions of the house had a cleaner coat of paint on them, and while there were plants and even ivy growing on them, it was not to same degree as the front of the house. It stretched behind the original house several feet before rising to a second story. Like the original, it was made out gray stone though due to its recent creation the stone had yet to wear down and gave it a newer look. Behind it, attached to the opposite wall, was what looked like a greenhouse, adorned with more ivy wrapping up the walls, though like the newer addition was not as much, though flowers had joined the ivy. The yard was filled to the brim with gardens and plants, and two chimneys stuck on the roof.

"Bloody hell."

"Moria….this is your house?"

"Geez, how many siblings do you have?" Sirius finally asked. Moria glanced at him with a short smile.

"I don't have any." She replied softly. Sirius looked at her, but before he could as another voice entered the scene.

"Oh! Moria you didn't tell us we were going to have visitors!" a slightly rough, yet soft voice called out from somewhere in the jungle of gardens. Seconds later a form exited, holding in their hands several flowers, potatoes and cabbages.

The person who stood in front of them was barely taller than Moria. Light brown-blonde hair was tied behind their head in a low ponytail. A large-bibbed hat had been situated on their head while loose clothes they were wearing were covered in dirt smudges and grass stains. Their blue eyes looked at them in some sort of confusion.

"Wow…is that Moria's aunt?" Alice whispered to Lily. Lily shrugged.

"I guess…I mean it could be one of her uncles' wives too." Lily added. Moria groaned and then glared at the person.

"Uncle Mitch, what did I tell you about dressing like that? You look like a girl!" she spat out and Lily and Alice looked at her in shock.

That was a guy?

"Oooohhh! You're no fair Mori! I don't like to wear my good clothes when I'm gardening!"

"Could you at least choose tighter clothes then?! People mistake you for a girl all the time! I don't think Mike likes it when guys whistle at you!" Moria argued out. Mitchell sniffed in annoyance.

"Well anyways, Moria Althea Prescott…" He stated with a teasing sniff, before glancing at the group "…and apparently friends, come in. The others are waiting."

"Others?" Remus finally managed to ask, not sure whether to laugh at the argument or be slightly disturbed that most likely everyone thought Mitchell was a girl at first. Mitchell looked at them confused.

"Didn't Moria tell you? Plus me we have 3 uncles and 1 aunts for Moria." Mitchell explained and Moria's face grew more and more mortified.

"What?!" Lily squeaked out.

"My grandparents were busy okay?!" Moria spat out then rushed past her uncle, her face a bright red, the others followed.

"How the bloody hell are we all going to fit in this place?" Alice asked Moria as she continued to drag her trunk.

"Have some faith in me

"Plus the eight of us that's twelve." Lily explained.

"I know that." Moria retorted, rolling her eyes. "Geez. I already solved that problem. You guys can stay in my room. Granted I'll have to put up a curtain to separate the guys and the girls." She said.

"Your room is probably tiny, M! How the bloody hell do you expect-!" Sirius began to ask as Moria opened a door.

On the other side of the door was what had looked like a green house on the outside. Instead it was a bedroom, curtains covering the glass panels mostly, but still emitting enough light for the room. Chinese lanterns were strung on the top of the roof. A lofted bed was situated on the far wall, and the floors had been carpeted. Moria looked at the stunned faces with a bored expression.

"You were saying?"

"Uh…never mind."

"Sweet Merlin, do my daft ears deceive me? Do I hear little Moria?" a deeper voice called out. Moria rolled her eyes.

"Hi Uncle Martin." She called out as a man walked up to them. He looked at the group with some confusion but smiled nonetheless. He looked more like Moria even in built but seemed to show more emotion than her.

"Ah, I see these are the guests Mitch was talking about. Pleased to meet you all." He said smiling before rubbing Moria's hair, ruffling it. She blushed embarrassed.

"So…is everyone in the living room?" she finally asked. Martin grinned and nodded.

"Why don't you all bring your stuff in there? We'll get the spare beds set up later." He said. Moria sighed and looked at her room.

Home sweet home.

"Bloody hell. No wonder Moria doesn't talk about her family. I'd get a headache just trying to describe them." James groaned out. Despite herself, Lily laughed in agreement.

Martin Prescott apparently was the eldest of the four and apparently a teacher, Mitchel Prescott was the second oldest and a 'stay-at-home dad' of sorts. Madge Prescott, was the aunt of the family and stay at home fashion designer, normally hanging out with Mitchell in the local market, and finally there was Monroe Prescott, the third uncle. He had arrived there a bit later as he was a fisherman and had just come back with the day's catching's. When he saw them he barely spoke two words to them.

"So that makes Moria's dad the youngest right? Geez, when did her grandparents start having kids? When they were teenagers?"

"They did." Moria called out. "They got married when Grandma Mairi was sixteen and Grandpa Mungo was eighteen. My grandma's family was furious. Uncle Martin was born a year later." She explained.

"Question…why does our family have all names that start with M?" Remus asked turning over on the cot that he had been assigned.

"Dunno. Just been like that forever. They say I'm the only one that can continue tradition." Moria said.

"Why just you? You have 4 uncles and 1 aunt."

"Uncle Martin's family died before I was born in a bus accident, Aunt Madge can't have kids even if she wanted to, Uncle Mitchell is interested in men, and Uncle Monroe has a long-distance relationship but he worries more about the family then actually settling down." Moria explained.

"Geez. Sucks to be you." Sirius called out. Moria snorted in agreement.

"I don't think she's told them about it…about any of it." Mitchell whispered out glancing at the shut door of Moria's room later that night. It was silent, the teens already asleep from the long journey.

"Would you?" Martin asked looking up from the novel he was reading.

"I understand her hesitance. But she can't continue to move one when she's holding everything back. She's been doing that for too long." Madge said placing a cup in a cabinet.

"Well…we'll just have to help won't we?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry…the weather here can change pretty quickly." Moria apologized as the rain poured down on them. Thankfully they had all brought a raincoat or umbrella with them so they were staying relatively dry.

"At least it's not as bad as when DeVane caught us in the woods. I thought he was going to shoot us!" Alice cried out, remembering the old, gruff man who ran out at them when they were hiking screaming about devils. Moria had calmed him down and sent him away like a small child, though it didn't mean that the boys hadn't nearly tried to beat the guy up for scaring the bloody hell out them.

"DeVane has had some issues since he was younger. He claims that devils stole his wife away when in actuality she just ran off with another guy. Nothing can really stop th-" Moria began to say but was cut off by a loud shriek. They all looked towards the pier and saw all the women now screaming and pointing at the grey, turbulent water. They all looked and now saw the situation.

A child had been playing too close to the end of the pier and had gotten swept off it. The little girl was now struggling to stay afloat as a current pulled her farther from the shore.

"Oh no." Sirius murmured out as the girls squeaked in panic. While yes they were wizards and witches in training, they were unfortunately still not of age yet and even if they were, there were too many muggles around for them to do anything.

They were stuck.

Moria quickly searched around and found what she was looking for. A long cord of rope, long enough to reach well over where the girl currently was clinging to a rock. But she needed to go quickly, she wasn't sure if the girl would last and be able to hold onto the rock for much longer. Even during the summer the waters could be cold.

"Damn it, think we could swim there?!"

"Not fast enough. I could go into my ani-!" Sirius began to say but stopped when a blur of brown hair raced past him and towards the edge of the dock. It took him a second to realize who it was, and it was a second too late to stop her.

"MORIA!?" Lily finally shrieked out as Moria dived off the pier. Her body entered a large wave as it pounded back to the watery surface. At first there was nothing. Then with an explosion of water Moria's head burst from the surf and then began to swim with powerful strokes toward the girl. She had to ignore the feeling of needles and glass shards tearing at her flesh. A little girl's life depended on it. Finally she made it to the rock the now sobbing girl was clinging to.

"Hi Sweetie. Let's get you back to your m…mother." She managed to say and realized she was getting colder. Didn't really help that she had stripped off her garments till she was in her bra and her shorts that she had put under her pants, but she wouldn't have made it that far if she hadn't. The little girl sobbed loudly and launched her small form to Moria wrapping her tiny shaking arms around her. Moria then began the long struggle back to the pier, ever so often having to cling to the girl as waves threatened to shove them down and tried to drag them away.

But the rope she had wrapped around her waist held firm much to her relief. Score one for rope. She began to feel her fingers growing numb and her body getting colder. Her body seemed to be becoming slower and heavier and the little girl's body was becoming limp and her sobs quieter. It took her a few minutes to understand what was happening to both of them.

They were succumbing to hypothermia.

"B-bloody…h-hell! She stuttered out. Numbly she reached up towards the wood of the pier but her hand began to slip back in. That is until a larger hand enveloped hers and hoisted her out of the water. Gray eyes stared at her angrily as her bare, numb feet touched the soaked pier.

"Have you bloody lost it!?" Sirius hissed out angrily as the others, the mother of the child, and several villagers raced over, the villagers wrapping the child and Moria in several blankets.

"M…Maybe…C…Can I have s…some c…clothes p...please? Moria stuttered out. It was then he realized that she was only standing there in a bra and sports shorts. Blushing he stepped away. She turned to receive yet another blanket.

Sirius, who had been trying not to stare, was now staring as were Remus, James, and Frank. Alice and Lily glanced at each other knowing what they were now staring at with shocked expressions.

Scars.

The crisscrossed, almost in the shape of mesh fence lines crossed her back paler than her skin tone, painfully more seen with her goose-bumped flesh.

"What the hell…" Sirius murmured out but before anyone could ask, Moria was rushed away, apparently to be taken to the local doctor and be checked for any signs of hypothermia. Martin walked up, a strange look on his face. He glanced at the boys and saw confusion and complete horror in their faces. In the girls there was only confusion. He sighed and then motioned towards the house.

"I think it's time we talked."