"Mom?" Carrigan called through the house. I sat up from the leather couch in my study and looked around bewildered for a moment. I had fallen asleep with the book of Guardians wide open on my chest. I closed the book and slipped it under the couch so Carrigan wouldn't see it, then stood up straight off the couch. The study door opened, causing me to turn to it quickly, like a guilty child who had just been caught coloring on the walls.

"What are you doing up here?" Carrigan asked as she leaned into the room, her hand remaining on the doorknob. Her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail out of her red face. She looked warm to the touch, and sweaty, from her jog. I had no doubt in my mind that she had beat Benjamin home because she was annoyed with him.

"I was going to start packing," I said looking around the room. "We want to be out of here by the end of the week."

Carrigan nodded her head. "You're really making some head way," she said looking around the room and smirking. Of course, there weren't even cardboard boxes in the room, so she knew I was lying. "Have you figured out where we're moving to?"

"No," I whispered sadly. "Not yet. I think Gabriel is looking at flats in London today."

This comment caused Carrigan to frown.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"I just like living in the country. Where are Ben and I going to train if we live in a flat?"

"We'll just have to manage, Carrigan," I said. "In the first war, when your Father and I were together we lived in dumps most of the time. We even lived at Hogwarts for awhile because no where else was safe."

"Isn't this house protected by the Secret Keeper charm?"

"Yes," I whispered. "But Penelope knew where it was, and she knew it was under the charm. There are many ways to break those charms, Carrigan."

"Oh," she frowned. "Well, I guess I should start packing up my room."

"Yes, you should."

"What if we can't find a place big enough for all of our stuff?" she whispered.

"We'll find some place," I said easily. I hesitated for a moment before I asked my question. "Carrigan, why does Benjamin think you not returning to Hogwarts will help you control your powers?"

Carrigan sighed and stepped into the study. She closed the door tightly behind her and crossed her arms over her chest as he stared at me.

"He thinks that being at school, with my friends, leaves me unfocused," she said. "He thinks that because he learned to master his skills on his own then that's how everyone should do it."

I nodded my head slowly as I pulled books off the shelf and stacked them on my desk. I snapped my fingers and conjured some cardboard boxes. Carrigan sunk down into the leather couch as she sighed.

"He can be a jerk sometimes," she whispered. "Training and my powers is all he thinks about."

"That's his job," I replied. "Do you not like him anymore, now that you know he is your Guardian?"

Carrigan blinked and looked at me. "No," she said. "I don't like him anymore."

"Are you just saying that because you know it's forbidden?"

"Well it being forbidden means very little," she smirked. "Look at you and Gabriel. But, I'm not interested in Ben because he's harsher now. He's just not the same charming, flirty boy I met at the coffee shop. Voldemort's return has made him hard."

"War does that to people," I replied. "And as he is your Guardian, he is responsible for preparing you for this war. He pushes you because we don't know when the true fight will start and we all must be ready."

"I don't know," Carrigan shook her head. "Gabriel pushed me last summer and I liked training everyday. Benjamin…I don't know…it's harder with him."

"That's why he's your Guardian and Gabriel isn't," I said with a weak smile. "Benjamin is pushing your limits and is going to train you with powers that Gabriel couldn't."

Carrigan nodded. "I suppose…I don't like that my Guardian is a man," she said randomly. I paused for a moment, holding three books in my arms, to stare at her.

"Why?"

"I've never been reliant on a man for anything," she said mildly. "And now I have to be."

"You're not reliant on him," I said. "That is no the point of a Guardian. You learn everything you can from him and then you become a master of your own powers. If you fall in love with him, then your relationship as a student will become reliant. As two human beings capable of emotions, Gabriel and I love each other, but as a student and Guardian I am reliant on him…most of the time…because I did not master my own powers. You won't be like that, Carrigan. I know you won't."

She nodded her head slowly. "I'm going to shower and then start packing."

As Carrigan stood up there was a loud crashing sound from downstairs. We both looked at each other, frozen for a moment. I picked up my wand off my desk then quickly dashed from the study. I grabbed Carrigan's arm as we tore down the upstairs hallway.

"You stay here," I whispered sternly in her ear. She gave me a dirty look, which caused me to squeeze her arm more tightly. "Carrigan," I said her name with a warning tone.

"Fine," she hissed and stepped to the side, leaning against the hallway wall.

"Where is your wand?" I asked as another crashing sound erupted downstairs.

Carrigan blinked and her wand appeared in her hand. She crossed her arms over her chest and continued to glare at me as I moved forward down the hall. I was sure once I was down the stairs she would follow me, despite my directions.

I crept down the stairs slowly, looking out at the foyer with my wand extended. My eyes fell on the destroyed sitting room, across the foyer, when I reached the landing at the bottom of the stairs. I sighed with annoyance. Furniture was destroyed, and boxes that had been packed for the move were spilled all over the floor.

The sound of breaking wood and wrestling bodies drew my attention to the dinning room. I advanced into the sitting room and looked to the back of the house. There, on my dinning room table, Benjamin had a man pinned down. He slugged the intruder across the face, causing a loud cracking sound to echo in the room. He conjured a knife in his right hand and turned, swinging his hand far from his body, to stab a man who was sneaking up behind him from the kitchen. The knife sunk into the man's shoulder, and he released a loud cry of surprise. Benjamin pulled the knife from the man's shoulder and turned back to the man pinned to my table. He slammed the blade into the man's chest, straight through the heart, and then turned, slugging the other man in the face. The man fell over into the kitchen and I stepped forward.

"Benjamin," I warned.

He paused, taking long breaths as he looked at me. I stopped next to him and looked at the man lying, and bleeding, on my kitchen floor. He looked to be knocked unconscious. Benjamin packed quite a punch.

"Bloody hell!"

Benjamin and I both looked up at Carrigan, who was standing on the opposite side of the kitchen, looking at the man on the floor with overwhelmed eyes.

"Carrigan," I said harshly. "I told you to stay upstairs."

Carrigan gave me a weak shrug, but her eyes did not leave the bleeding man on the floor.

"Carrigan," I said her name to get her attention. She looked up at me slowly. "Go upstairs, write to Gabriel that we need him to come home right away. Go. Go now." She nodded her head and dashed from the kitchen. I turned to Benjamin. "Take him to the basement, I can't carry him. Then you're going to come back up here and clean up this bloody mess. When that is done, you and Carrigan have to pack everything you can carry. We have to leave the house by tonight."

Benjamin nodded his head, without a word, and bent low to pick the man up off the kitchen floor. He grabbed the intruder's arm and pulled it over his shoulder, then lifted the man up with a grunt, so the man was hanging over his back. I walked forward and opened the basement door for him. He descended the stairs slowly with me following.

In the basement, I light some candles with the blink of my eye.

"Where do you want him?" Benjamin asked looking around the sandpit of a basement. The walls were blank, and the floor was covered in sand for traction. I had made the basement into a training room, just like Gabriel had in his house.

I snapped my fingers and a chair appeared. Benjamin put the man down in the chair and looked at me.

"Thank you," I whispered. He bowed his head and moved past me. "Benjamin," I called him back for a moment. He paused at the base of the stairs and looked at me. "You did well. Please make sure that Carrigan is ready to go by the time I'm done. And when Gabriel gets here, tell him I'm in the basement."

"Alright," Benjamin said. He turned away and marched up the stairs. I looked to the man that was sitting, slouched and unconscious, in the chair before me. I lifted my wand and bound his hands to the arms of the wood chair, and his ankles to the legs of it. I tapped my wand against my hand as I debated how to go about this. It had been a long time since I had interrogated anyone.

I flicked my wand at the man, to wake him. He stirred for a moment. His head rolled from one shoulder to the other and slowly his eyes opened. He sat up straight and tried to move from the chair, but quickly realized he was tied to it. He looked up, straight at me with a venomous glare.

"Hi," I said as I stood before with my arms crossed over my chest.

He was a middle-aged man, average height and weight with black hair and a beard. His left ear was pierced with a small diamond earring. I stepped forward and pushed up the sleeves of his shirt. On his left arm, I found exactly what I was looking for. A darkly inked skull with a snake running out of it's mouth. The Dark Mark.

"It's only fair you show me yours, Princess," he hissed close to my ear. I stepped back and slugged him across the face without hesitation. I didn't care for that nickname in the least bit.

"Don't call me that. You can already see mine," I said holding up my arm where a long white scar resided from my wrist to the inside of my elbow. It was results of a blood bond my Father had performed on me when I was sixteen. "Who are you?"

"Oh, we're getting serious fast," he said. I slapped him, causing him to grunt with discomfort. "Usually, I ask a girl to buy me dinner before she smacks me around a bit."

I rolled my eyes. "Who are you?"

"Does it matter?"

"You're right," I responded. "It doesn't. Why did my Father send you?"

"He just wants what is his," he retorted sharply.

I nodded my head slowly. "His blood?"

"He's not interested in you, anymore, Princess—" I slugged him in the face again, breaking his nose.

"Bitch!" he hissed as blood surged from his nose and down his face.

"I told you not to call me 'princess.'"

The man glared at me with dark brown eyes. "I'm not going to talk."

"No," I smirked. "I think I'm going to make you scream."

I conjured a dagger and stabbed his good shoulder without a second thought. The man released a yell of agony and anger.

"Your Father would be proud."

"No," I retorted. "He wouldn't. And I'm not really interested in making my Father proud. Tell me what he thinks is his."

The basement door opened, and quickly footsteps descended the stairs. Gabriel appeared in the basement in his grey suit, looking concerned. His eyes moved between me and the Death Eater in the chair. He studied the man carefully as he approached me.

"There's no point," he said to me with his eyes still on the Death Eater. "Your Father wouldn't entrust anything with him. He's just a messenger fulfilling orders."

"Gabriel Quintin," the Death Eater said with a bow of his head. "It is good to see you again, you bastard."

"Shut up, Hekley," Gabriel retorted harshly. "I'll take care of it."

"No," I responded, knowing that Gabriel meant he was going to kill Hekley. "Send him back to my Father. He is a messenger after all. We should use him to send a message."

Gabriel frowned but nodded his head. He took the dagger from my hand. "As you wish."

I nodded my head once and moved away form him, heading for the stairs. I marched straight up them and didn't look back as Hekley's screams could be heard behind me. I closed the basement door tightly and moved through the house to the second floor. I knocked on Carrigan's bedroom door and opened it without waiting for a reply from her. She was standing over her trunk, filling it with her clothing. She looked up at me.

"I don't know what I can leave behind," she whispered standing up looking flustered. "I've packed all of my school things—but I like all of my clothes—"

"Just pack what will fit," I said as I approached her. I touched her wet hair softly, she must have taken a quick shower after writing to Gabriel. "We'll go to your Father's house until I can find a safer place for us. Gabriel and I will come back tonight for anything else that we can't get now. We just need to leave soon, Carrigan."

Carrigan nodded her head, but I could see in her midnight blue eyes that she was scared. I lifted her chin to look me in the eye. She frowned, so I pulled her into my arms for a hug.

"It's just real," she whispered. "I've been wanting to fight for so long, but now…it's real and I don't know if I can."

"Of course you can," I said. "You're an excellent witch. You're powerful, strong and smart. You will be more then able to fight, Carrigan. It's just as real now as it was then."

She nodded her head and pulled out of my arms.

"What were you doing to that man in the basement?"

"Asking him questions."

"So, torturing him?"

"No," I whispered carefully. "Just…persuading him to answer me…" I cringed because it was a horrible way of twisting the truth.

"Just call it what it is, Mom," Carrigan said.

I sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just trying to keep you safe."

Carrigan nodded her head, but didn't look me in the eye. "I'll be ready in a few minutes."

"Alright," I said understanding that she no longer wanted to discuss the issue with me. I turned on my heel and exited the bedroom. I closed the door tightly behind me. Benjamin was stepping out of the bathroom, heading for the guest room where he had been staying. He looked clean, freshly showered, and blood free. He paused to look at me.

"How is our girl doing?" he asked.

"I don't know how to read her anymore," I replied with a weak smile. "She's reached that age that even I can't tell what she's thinking or feeling."

"She knows what you're thinking and feeling though."

"Yea," I said with a smile. "That's really not fair."

"My bag is packed."

"Will you see if Carrigan needs help with anything else?" I asked as I opened my study door. "I'm going to finish packing, then we'll head out."

"Gabriel is…?"

"He's in the basement," I replied to Benjamin's incomplete question. He nodded his head and turned, disappearing into his bedroom. I went into the study and looked under the couch for the book on Guardians. I pulled it out from under and stood up straight with it, then exited the study. I went into the bedroom and threw it into the trunk that sat at the foot of my bed. I then proceeded to pack my clothing into the trunk.

Fifteen minutes after I started packing, Gabriel came into the bedroom. His suit coat was removed, and waist coat unbuttoned. His shirt and hands had bloodstains on them. I frowned slightly as I looked him over. He gave me a weak smile and came to me.

"Are you alright?"

"Of course," I said. "Benjamin took good care of them before I could even get downstairs. What did you do to Hekley?"

"Your Father will be receiving a message," he whispered. "That we don't plan on bowing down to him. And that we are very protective of Carrigan."

I smiled lightly. "Thank you."

Gabriel nodded. "Where do you plan on going?"

"Grimmauld place," I responded. "We can stay there until we find a place of our own."

"Alright, but we can't travel by fire. Your Father will send more Death Eaters back. We should probably clear everything out that we want and burn the place ourselves. We don't want to leave anything behind that they can trace."

I frowned deeply.

"We can't take everything with us to Grimmauld place. We don't have a place to send all of our things."

"Only take what we need," he shrugged. "You go to Grimmauld place with Carrigan and Benjamin. I will stay here and take care of the house."

"But—"

"It has to be done, Cadence," he said sternly. I sighed with aggravation and turned on my heel, pacing away from him.

"I thought I was done living on the run," I said angrily.

"I'll send the boxes we have packed to your old house in Maine," he said. "You didn't sell it, right?"

"I still own it," I said. "Like Dumbledore said."

"Alright," Gabriel said. "That's where we'll send the stuff until we can find a place of our own. I'll pack up the bedrooms and the study. We don't need anything else, right?"

"No."

Gabriel went to the bedroom door and opened it.

"Carrigan!" he shouted down the hall.

A moment later she appeared in the doorframe of our bedroom.

"Go send Hector to Hogwarts," Gabriel said quickly. "There won't be room for him at your Father's."

Carrigan nodded and turned without question to go downstairs. Gabriel came back to me, giving me a smile. My heart skipped a beat as he looked at me. No matter the situation, Gabriel could always lift my spirits with his charming smiles. His hands touched my hips before he leaned down and kissed my lips.

"Are you going to change out of your pajamas before you go?"

I smiled against his lips. "Yes," I said as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. There was a gentle knock on the open bedroom door that caused Gabriel and I to pull away from each other.

"Cadence," Benjamin said. "Carrigan and I are ready."

"Alright. I just have to change, then we'll go."

Benjamin nodded and left the doorframe. I looked up at Gabriel with a sad smile. He brushed my messy brown curls behind my ears.

"All will be well. We're just moving a little sooner then planned."

"We shouldn't have waited this long," I said. "We should have gone as soon as Carrigan was attacked in that village a month ago."

Gabriel frowned, knowing that I was right.

"Get changed. I'll pack a bag of my stuff for you to take."

I nodded in silence and turned away, heading to the closet, where I stripped naked to change into some travel clothing. I pull on a tight pair of skinny blue jeans and a white long sleeve shirt. I put a black vest on over the shirt and found a long sleeveless cloak to match. Once I was dressed, I pulled on black leather boots that went to the middle of my shins, then exited the closet.

Gabriel had packed his bag from the clothing he kept in the dresser on the opposite side of the room. The bag was sitting on my trunk, and Gabriel was no longer in the bedroom. I picked up the bag and the trunk and dragged it from the room.

Downstairs, Gabriel was standing in the foyer with Carrigan and Benjamin. My daughter was tightly wrapped in Gabriel's arms, as if this was the last time they were ever going to see each other. Benjamin stepped forward to help me with the trunk, which I thanked him for.

"We'll Apparate from the porch," I said. Carrigan whispered another good-bye to Gabriel before breaking from his arms. She picked up her bag and slung it on her shoulder before grabbing the handle of her trunk and making her way outside. Benjamin took his bag and my trunk, leaving me to carry Gabriel's bag. I put the strap of the bag over my head, so it laid across my chest as the bag rested on my hip.

Gabriel pulled me tightly into his arms and kissed me firmly on the lips. I kissed him slowly in return.

"I'll be along tonight," he whispered. "Don't worry."

"I won't," I replied. "We'll be fine."

Gabriel nodded and stole a kiss from my lips again.

"Be safe."

"Always am," I smirked. He bowed his head and slapped my butt playfully, telling me to get on my way. I broke free of him and stepped out the front door onto the porch. Gabriel waited in the doorframe to watch us Disapparate.

I motioned for Carrigan to come close to me, then I wrapped my arms around her. Benjamin stood on the other side of me and put his hands on my shoulder, each of them holding a trunk in one hand as they held onto me.

"We're going to have to Apparate onto the porch at Grimmauld place. So get close and try to hold your balance," I said. I looked at Carrigan who nodded her head in understanding. I turned to look at Benjamin.

"Alright," he replied.

"Okay," I said taking a deep breath. I hated Apparating, let alone Apparating two other people with me. "Let's go."

I concentrated with all my might on Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, and hoped that when we arrived, Sirius Black could forgive us for calling unexpectedly.