A quick trip to Diagon Alley was what Ashlynn had promised Sirius, just a quick trip to pick up a few items for Aludra's birthday party. Of course that was what she had told Sirius, what she hadn't told him she was meeting her new sister in law, Narcissa Malfoy. Why she felt the need to see the women who had married her brother was beyond her. Narcissa had written a letter to her announcing the birth of the new Malfoy son, Draco. She had probably not been expecting an answer, but she had gotten one. Two days later she had invited Ashlynn to meet her here in Diagon Alley for a spot of tea.
Now they were meeting up in Diagon Alley. She wondered why she was doing this at all. She was nervous as she stepped foot into The Afternoon Tea shop, where Narcissa already sat with a pot of tea. Next to her in a sliver pram laid the blonde baby. She sighed and glanced at the Malfoy heir had been not been born too long ago. He looked like a smaller version of Lucius.
Narcissa smiled at her sister in law and she held out her hand towards the table. "Please sit Ashlynn." She said with a smile as if she owned the place. That was the first lesson a pureblood daughter was always taught, 'No matter where you are, act as if you own the place.'
Ashlynn sat down and smiled at her. "How are you today Narcissa?" She asked her own training from her mother kicking in.
"I'm very good, thank you responding to my invitation for tea." Narcissa said as she began to pour the tea. "I wish we could have done this at my home I do adore my tea set."
Ashlynn forced a smile and said. "I believe your talking about my mother's tea set. I'm glad to see someone is using it."
Narcissa smiled and nodded. "I believe it's the same one. Why didn't you bring the darling Aludra? I so would have liked to meet her." She sounded sincere but Ashlynn still felt like this was a set up.
"In the troubled times I like to keep her safe." Ashlynn said with a small smirk. "I see you have no qualms about bring your child out in these dangerous times."
Narcissa smiled as she picked up her cup of tea and sipped. "Draco is perfectly safe with me. Would you like to hold him? He is your nephew."
Ashlynn shook her head no. "He's sleeping let him sleep, but I have to ask was it a long birth?" She asked as she sipped her own tea.
"Very it was a thirty-six hour labor, but all worth it in the end. Lucius was so happy to have a son. How long was your birth with Aludra?" Narcissa asked.
"Fourteen hours, though my mother said boys were always harder then the girls." She said with a small smile. "I was very lucky to have Sirius by my side for the whole birth, and he's such a doting father." Ashlynn almost grinned when Narcissa winced at the mention at Sirius being a doting father, she knew that Lucius would not be one, no Malfoy was.
"So how old is Aludra now?" Narcissa asked with a smile.
"She is almost a year old walking and talking a bit." Ashlynn said with a smile. "How old is Draco?"
"Two months old." Narcissa said with a small smile. She paused and then sighed. "Ashlynn I have to ask you something."
Ashlynn looked over at her and nodded. "What is it?" She watched as Narcissa's pureblood façade faltered.
"Are you happy with the choices you made? I mean running away from your marriage with Rabastan?" Narcissa asked.
Ashlynn nodded as looked over at her sister in law. "I'm very happy with my choices, Sirius is a wonderful husband and we have a wonderful life together. I knew what I wanted Narcissa; as soon as I saw him I knew I needed him in my life. Rabastan was my father's choice; Sirius was mine so I followed my heart. Why do you ask?" She asked with a sigh.
"I just don't know if I made the right choice with Lucius. He's never home and when he is he's locked in meetings. There is only going to be one child for me as we don't even share the same bedroom." She said with a bit of a frown.
Ashlynn sighed as she looked over at her. "Malfoy's don't marry for enjoyment Narcissa; they marry because they have to." She said with a frown. "I gave up the name Malfoy; I turned my back on all I knew so I could have the chance to marry the one I wanted. If I had married Rabastan I would be in the exact same situation you are in. You wanted the Malfoy name and the power that it comes with, now your reaping what you sowed."
"I had to keep the Black line pure; I see that you and Sirius have kept the Black line pure even if he's been blasted off the wall." Narcissa said softly.
"Sirius could've been a muggle and I still would've loved him! He feels the same way about me Narcissa. We didn't marry so we could keep the Malfoy and Black lines pure we married for love. Our daughter will be brought up by both of us not a nanny because mummy and daddy are too busy being good purebloods." Ashlynn whispered angrily.
"You don't believe in keeping the lines pure? Ashlynn all purebloods need to believe that. The Dark Lord has the right idea!" She said in a high voice.
Ashlynn rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I thought you were smarter then that Narcissa! I had hoped that you would be smarter then Bellatrix." Ashlynn sighed and stood up "I should be going. Thank you for tea." With that she nodded and left the small tea shut allowing the door to slam behind her.
A face emerged from behind a daily prophet; he quickly folded the paper and followed Ashlynn out of the tea. Caradoc Dearborn had followed Ashlynn since he had spotted her in Diagon Alley without Sirius, he had meant to talk to her about something but once he spotted her sitting with Narcissa Malfoy he had slipped in to over hear the conversation. Of course the two witches were seated so far away from him that he had heard very little of the conversation been the two. Ashlynn had left pretty quickly after Narcissa had said something.
He heard the tea shop door open and see Narcissa rushing out the shop after Ashlynn's retreating back. The sliver pram bounced behind her quickly apparently it was charmed. Narcissa grabbed Ashlynn's arm and forced her to turn around as Caradoc blended into a group of shoppers passing by.
"I just wanted to say this." Narcissa said with a small frown. "Don't take day trips like this anymore, and take care. We may not see each other a lot, and you maybe a blood traitor but I know it would kill Lucius to see his sister die. Please be careful." With that she turned around and took the pram in her hands before making her way towards a café. Ashlynn shook her head and made her way into a small toy shop, not even noticing Caradoc.
Fabian and Gideon Prewett ran into the clearing after Antonin Dolohov, Alastor Moody was following behind slowly. Fabian smiled when he saw Antonin had trapped himself in a dead ended circle room. "Good job Dolohov! You trapped yourself." Fabian cried just as the door slammed shut.
Antonin began to laugh as four others came out of the shadows all pointing wands at the two brothers. Quickly they went back to back and began circling. "You should've joined the dark lord as your lives would be spared today we need every pureblood we can get." Antonin said with a smile. "Would you join him?"
Back to back Fabian and Gideon knew that this was the end but they would not go quietly. Holding out their wands they quickly began to defend themselves. Waves of colors flew across the room.
Outside Moody did all he could do get into the room as he watched the Prewett brothers fight, and die like the heroes they were. Fabian was the first to fall a killing curse to his chest made him crumple to the ground in slow graceful way. Gideon turned to watch his brother fall, his own wand falling from his hand. His face was one of grief as a death eater hurled another killing curse at Gideon, with nothing to defend himself he closed his eyes and knew that he was about to join his brother in death.
All five Death Eaters quickly vanished and the curse on the door was released. As quickly as he could Moody made his way into the room and quickly grabbed hold of their bodies before apperating back to Hogsmeade.
The Order of the Phoenix was called to order by a very glum looking Dumbledore. "Ladies and Gentlemen I am sure you have all realized that we are missing two of our ranks. I regret to do my duty now as Fabian and Gideon were taken away from us earlier today." He said softly. A gasp went through the gathered members as Lily reached out for James. Sirius put his hands in his head. "They fought bravely and went down fighting like the heroes they were according to Alastor." Dumbledore said. "So let's have a few moments of silence to collect our thoughts and then continue with our meeting as Fabian and Gideon would want."
After a few moments Dumbledore raised his head and said. "We have to move on before the hour grows too late." He said softly. "There has been a reported number of Death Eaters out recruiting, we have to curtail this effort and step up our own efforts. Does anyone have any ideas?"
He waited a moment and then nodded slowly. "No one has the heart to do this at this moment, I understand this. Does anyone have any other news?" He waited for their headshakes and nodded. "Then I will take my leave feel free to stay as long as you wish and grieve together."
As soon as Dumbledore was gone Sirius stood up. "I'm going to get Ashlynn she cared a lot for the Prewetts." He mumbled and began to make his way out of the great hall when Caradoc called out to him. He stopped and turned as he watched as Caradoc made his way towards him.
"Can I talk to you alone for a moment?" Caradoc asked.
Sirius nodded slowly. "Yeah I was just headed up to get Ashlynn why don't you come along?" He suggested with a smile.
Caradoc nodded and was silent for a few moments as they climbed the first set of steps, finally after turning a corner to the faculty rooms Caradoc touched Sirius' shoulder. "Can we talk here? I'd rather not discuss this in front of Ashlynn." He said softly.
Sirius turned to him and nodded. "Sure what is up Caradoc?" Sirius asked.
Caradoc sighed and looked down at his hand as he shifted nervously. "Yesterday I was in Diagon Alley doing a bit of shopping and I saw Ashlynn. I was about to talk to her when she slipped into The Afternoon Tea shop." He began.
"Okay?" Sirius said it was a bit odd that Caradoc was reporting Ashlynn's movements to him. He knew that Ashlynn had been to Diagon Alley, and it didn't surprise him that she had stopped by a tea shop.
"Well I was about to just ask her for a cup of tea and when I walked in I saw she had already met up was someone. That someone Sirius was Narcissa Malfoy. Now I thought maybe she was just being pleasant but then she sat down and had a discussion with her!" Caradoc cried unhappily. "After a half hour or so Ashlynn stormed out of the tea shop and Narcissa raced after her. Narcissa warned Ashlynn about something."
Sirius nodded slowly. "Thank you for this information Caradoc. If you will excuse me I'm going to speak to my wife." He said and then quickly turned on his heel. Caradoc nodded and walked back to the Great Hall.
Sirius flung open the door to the apartment to see his wife just exiting the nursery where he was sure their daughter slept peacefully. Ashlynn smiled at him and said. "The meeting was over pretty quickly wasn't it?" Sirius slammed the door shut and glared at her. "Sirius, what is wrong?"
"Don't play dumb with me Malfoy." He said in a low threatening voice. "You were spotted the other day speaking to Narcissa!" Ashlynn gasped when Sirius called her Malfoy and her mouth fell open when he mentioned her speaking to Narcissa. "What were you telling her? Who the people within our ranks are? Where to find them? How to kill them?"
Ashlynn shook her head and looked at her husband. "Do you really think I'd betray you or the Order? Plus how am I supposed to know anything anymore? I don't attend meetings; I don't see anyone besides the Potters, and the Longbottoms. Yes I had tea with Narcissa. Yes it was stupid but I had to know that my life there was over! I had to make sure I did not long for the pureblood Malfoy way of life." She said softly.
"Lies all lies!" Sirius screamed. "You were betraying us! The whole time James was right and here you were lying to me! Pretending to love me! You wear his mark! You killed someone for him you bloody Death Eater scum!"
Ashlynn glared at Sirius and her eyes filled with tears. "I'm nothing what you say I am. I'm a faithful wife to you and I have never lied or betrayed you. My love for you is real always has and will be." She said through her tears as her grip on her wand tightened. She raised it at Sirius and cried. "Stupefy!"
Once Sirius hit the floor she raced into the bedroom and packed a few things for her and Aludra. If Sirius wanted to accuse her of betraying the Order and not loving him she wasn't going to stay here. She when she would rather be somewhere she knew she was loved. She picked up the sleeping child and quickly and silently through the darkened chambers of Hogwarts slipped out and down the path to Hogsmeade. Once there she quickly turned on the spot and with a slight pop was gone.