Number Twelve was silent and dark when I returned to it at four in the morning. I carefully mounted the stairs and held my breathe so not to wake any of the pictures. When I arrived in the bedroom that Gabriel and I shared, I was surprised to see a candle lit and him moving around the room getting dressed. He stopped when I opened the door and walked in. I froze at the sight of him. He was standing by the trunk at the foot of the bed half naked, with only jeans on. In his hand was a long sleeve black shirt, which he was no doubt about to put on. Instead, he threw it on the bed and marched straight to me.

"What did you tell me next to my mother's grave?" he asked. The tone of his voice was rough, filled with worry but also fury.

"That I love you," I said instantly as I looked up at him.

His eyes had changed color since our fight. They were now a gleaming shade of grey that made my heart skip a beat. It didn't matter what color his eyes were, they always made my knees shake and my heart flutter. Gabriel was what made me shake and flutter. He always had been.

"Where have you been!?" he practically yelled as he grabbed onto my arms and pulled me against him. He shut the door behind me and embraced me again, holding me tightly to his chest, as if he were afraid he had lost me when I walked out after our argument. He kissed my forehead, then lifted my chin and planted gentle, tender kissed on my lips. I stood on my toes and returned his affection with more passionate, tongue-playing, kisses. He smiled against my lips and pulled away abruptly, looking at me with scolding concerned eyes.

"Well?" he questioned. "Where were you?"

"I'm so happy I didn't have a father like you when I was younger," I said pulling away from him and kicking off my shoes. "I would have never had any fun."

"Cadence," he said my name delicately as he rubbed his face. "I was about to come out and look for you. It's four in the morning! Carrigan is leaving for Hogwarts today! What the hell were you doing?"

"I'm cheating on you," I said matter-of-factly as I undid my pants and let them drop to my ankles. I stepped out of them and kicked them away before pulling off my long sleeve shirt. Gabriel came up behind me and pulled my body against his, pressing me forward and almost bending me over the bed. He pulled my hair over my shoulder and playfully, seductively bit down onto my neck. He proceeded to kiss me as he lured me into the bed, laying me down on my stomach and seducing me from behind.

"I'll never believe you when you say that to me," he whispered in my ear as his fingers pulled at my black cotton underwear. I couldn't help but smile as he started to pull my underwear down, letting me feel a thick bulge in his pants press up against my butt. I rolled over underneath him; despite wanting him all over me so bad, we had things to talk about.

"Alright," I said seriously. "I broke into the community records building in the village we lived in."

"You really know how to kill a mood," he said sorely.

"You wanted to know! You could have left it alone and finished seducing me," I shrugged easily and smiled because I turned his argument around on him.

"Fine," he sighed as he moved to lay down next to me. I quickly grabbed the covers and pulled them over my naked body because it was chilly in the drafty room. "Why did you break in to Muggle records building?"

"I was doing research."

"Really? You're going to keep being allusive like that," he said sarcastically.

"Maybe you're just not asking the right questions," I responded with a clam tone. Gabriel wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against his body, engulfing me against his big frame and broad tattooed arms. He laid his head on the pillow next to me and remained silent. When I glanced at him, I noticed his eyes were closed. "Alright, I was looking into Benjamin's family."

"Why?" he seemed surprised.

"Because, I found something while I was going through Penelope's stay room at the Crouch's house," I said. "She must have stayed there while my father and Pettigrew stayed at the Riddle house."

"What did you find?"

I moved on the bed and reached for my pants which were lying on the floor near the trunk. I picked up them up, as my body laid across Gabriel's, and dug into the front pocket. I fished out the locket that I had found in Penelope's nightstand drawer and held it out to Gabriel. He sat up and took it from me, looking at it curiously with raised eyebrows.

"A locket?"

"Open it," I advised. Gabriel did so and looked at the two pictures, still with raised eyebrows. "This looks an awful like Benjamin, don't you think? I think the baby is Benjamin and this man is his father."

"Why would Penelope have this?"

"There are two possibilities," I replied as Gabriel looked into my eyes. "Either Penelope Talon was Benjamin's mother, or she stole this from his mother."

Gabriel stared at me as the silence fell around us. He looked back at the pictures in the locket and studied them more closely. "They do look like Benjamin. So, what did you find at the community records building?"

"That a man, by the name of Thomas Snow married a local woman, Genevieve Callahan. They were both Muggles," I said quickly with some excitement because I felt like I was onto something, even though it wasn't what I was first investigating. "There was a news article clipped to their marriage records, in the article it said that it was Snow's second marriage. It also mentions that Snow moved to the village after the mysterious disappearance of his first wife and their son. I found housing records that say Snow and his second wife moved out of the village ten years ago, just as Benjamin told us."

"Where do you go now?" he asked. "It's a dead end, if anything it provides more questions then answers."

"No, because now I know who Benjamin's father is," I said quickly.

"What makes you think he doesn't know who his father is?"

"He said he didn't know. I don't think he ever got the chance to look into it. He moved out here to figure out this lead, but he met Carrigan instead and thought he could help her control her powers. I think when he started talking and caring about Carrigan he forgot about finding out who his parents were. Tomorrow, after we take Carrigan and Benjamin to the station, I want to go to the London library, see if I can find some public records on Thomas Snow. He was a Muggle, they should have files on him."

"What if Penelope is his mother? What then?"

"What do you mean? Does it matter?" I questioned.

"How are you going to tell him?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Let's find out if I'm right or not."

Gabriel nodded his head slowly and handed the locket back to me. I closed it and put it around my neck, so not to loose it. Gabriel eyes remained on the locket as it hung around my neck, down between my breast. He gave me a weak smile, but I could see that he was worried.

"What's the matter?"

"You said that Guardian blood was genetic?"

"According to the book Dumbledore gave me it's just a theory, yes," I nodded.

"If Penelope was Benjamin's mother," he spoke slowly. "That would imply that she was a Guardian as well, since Thomas Snow is a Muggle."

I nodded my head. "So?"

"That proposes a whole new amount of mysteries, Cadence," Gabriel said. "Brings to question a lot of things concerning Divinity since Penelope is the one who seems to have lead the projects on her."

I frowned seeing his point. "If Penelope is a Guardian, is it possible that she is really Divinity's Guardian and not you? But then, who is your next student? Guardians usually have three or four students over their lifetime."

"Or have they been removed from the path," he suggested as he gently touched my stomach. His eyes locked with mine before he spoke next, "Like other people in our life."

I frowned deeply and leaned forward to kiss him, hoping that my lips would comfort his woes. I wasn't quite sure why he was so worried about his guardianship, but if he was truly concerned then I felt I should be too.

"Let's get some sleep," I whispered. "We'll have to be up in four hours."

Sleep came quickly for me once we laid down in each other's arms under the comforters. But when I woke at ten twenty one and noticed that Gabriel was not in the bed, I assumed that he had not slept well. Something about what I had discovered and purposed about Benjamin and Penelope had severely shaken him.

Downstairs a few hours later, Number Twelve was in complete bedlam because everyone was running late. When I arrived in the foyer, dressed in tight black pants, a plum blouse with black corset vest over top, and unzipped combat boots, Carrigan caught my eye in the sitting room. I moved past the Weasley twins and Molly who were arguing and took a seat next to Carrigan on the couch. She looked at me with a smile.

"Wondered when you would get up."

"Didn't plan on waking me?"

"I was about to," she said easily.

"Where is Gabriel?"

"Said he would meet us at the station," Carrigan said curiously. "He seemed…bothered…by something."

"Well we did have a fight last night," I responded deciding it was best to keep what I had learned about Benjamin between Gabriel and I for now. Carrigan looked at me closely with squinting, studying midnight blue eyes. She brushed her brown hair out of her face and shook her head.

"You're lying," she replied.

"It's no lie that Gabriel and I fought last night."

"Fine," Carrigan said looking at me sharply. "But that's not why he's bothered. Something else is bothering him."

"When did you become so perceptive?"

Carrigan gave me a charming smile and tapped her temples with in her index finger. "For about a year now. Although, I can't hear your thoughts right now…I can hear Benjamin's, but I bet he's letting me in. I can also hear Remus', Tonks', Hermione's and Ginny's at this very moment."

"All at once?"

"I listen to each one individually," she shrugged. "The point is they never put up walls."

"What about your father?"

Carrigan frowned slightly. "It doesn't take telekinesis to read him like an open book."

"He still hasn't come down?"

"He has," Carrigan nodded. "He's going with us."

"Excuse me?" I questioned sharply with wide eyes. "Has he completely lost his mind—?"

"No, it's still well intact, thank you very much," Sirius said appearing in the sitting room. "I will be going in my dog form, in case you're concerned."

"Pettigrew knows that you're an unregistered Animagus, which means Voldemort knows and no doubt his circle of Death Eaters! You can't go out—"

"It's been decided," he said sharply as he pulled his maroon robe shut over his grey suit. He crossed his arms over his chest as he glared at me, with such a similar look as Carrigan it was frightening. "I thought you'd be happy that I was taking responsibility for my daughter and godson to see them off."

"I don't want you to be reckless though," I snapped. "A lot of people are putting their necks out for you to make sure you don't get caught. It'd be a poor way to thank them for it by being reckless and getting caught yourself."

"Stop!" Carrigan said sharply before Sirius could yell back at me. She had jumped up from her seat on the couch. Sirius and I both looked at her and then the floor like shameful children who were being scolded by an exacerbated mother. "I've had enough of you two. Mom, he's an adult he can do what he wants! Dad, she is just keeping your best interest in mind because she knows what its like to grow up without a father and she doesn't want me to do the same!"

She stormed away from us towards the front door where she snatched up her backpack and violently threw it over her shoulder. Benjamin appeared from the basement kitchen at that precise moment.

"Are you ready to leave?" she hollered at him. Benjamin raised his eyebrows at her in surprise and carefully took a bite of his toast before answer her.

"Yes," he replied.

"Can we go? My parents are fighting again and I'm afraid if I stay here I might blow something up."

"Absolutely," Benjamin said coming forward to pick up his bag. Neither of them took their trunks because Moody was taking care of the large luggage. He looked at me with questioning eyes as Carrigan opened the door.

"Wait right there, young lady," Sirius said with a calm voice but stern tone. "You can't leave here with out your guard—"

"Watch me," Carrigan fired back before storming out of the door.

"I'll keep an eye on her," he said quickly before exiting the house with his bag over his shoulder. I sighed and put my head in my hands.

"Thanks for that," Sirius mumbled as I moved past him. I stopped abruptly, turning to him with ice in my eyes.

"Don't you dare blame this on me, Sirius Black!" I yelled. "She's absolutely right, you are an adult and you can make your own decisions, but it's time you started to think about how your decisions effect other people, especially the ones you're responsible for and those who care about you!"

I snatched my cloak off the coat wrack and threw it around me, as I buttoned it I turned in the foyer, looking for Molly who was in the crowd of red-headed children who were preparing to leave.

"Molly, I'm heading out," I said. "I'll see the rest of you there."

"Very well," she said with a wave.

I tore open the door and moved quickly down the street to catch up with Benjamin and Carrigan. To my relief they were stuck at the corner of Grimmauld Place, waiting for the street light to change. When I caught up to them, Carrigan looked up at me with such a nasty glare I thought my face might melt off my skull.

"What did Gabriel get me for Christmas two years ago?" she questioned with a ruthless tone.

"The gaudy little dagger you have in your boot right now," I said motioning to the jewel encrusted hilt I could see stick out of her black leather boot.

She bowed her head and turned her back to me, looking out at traffic. Her hand dug into her bag and pulled out a pair of aviator glasses, which she promptly put on to block the daylight sun from her nighttime eyes. I frowned slightly as I looked her over from behind. She had put her black leather bomber jacket on once she left the house and was standing before me like a grungy rebel from the eighties. She had tight black jeans on, chunky combat boots, and a loose red button-up that fell over her butt and could be seen under the bomber jacket. Her hair was wild and loose, blowing in the calm fall breeze; when the light changed and she stepped out into the street to cross traffic, her hair billowed behind her like a curtain of rich chestnut curls.

I followed behind her and Benjamin carefully. I didn't want to put any pressure on Carrigan and push her aggravation over the edge. Benjamin looked over his shoulder at me as we walked, but said nothing. He looked unsure of what was going on and also perturbed that I had joined him and Carrigan.

She won't talk now, he said into my mind. I rolled my eyes and tucked my hands into my pockets.

"I wasn't going to talk anyways," Carrigan retorted sharply. I sighed and ran my hand through my hair with irritation. I hoped that whatever had crawled into Carrigan and died, making her the most irritable and miserable teenage girl ever, would soon leave her and make her tolerable again. I was tired of her disgruntled attitudes and prickly demeanor. Hopefully, being back at Hogwarts would relax her and allow her to focus on her studies and training. I frowned slightly as I walked behind my thirteen year old. It seemed like a foolish time for hope in that day in age where you didn't know who to trust or what waited around every corner.

Trust.

My mind raced with my past lessons in trust. I flashed from my parents, to Gabriel, to Penelope. Truly, the only person I could trust in this world was Carrigan because she was my own flesh and blood; but even blood can be betraying. I was a living example of that. Could I trust Benjamin to take care of Carrigan? To train her as a Guardian should? What if Benjamin is Penelope's son and I am making the same mistake by trusting him as I trusted her?

The twenty minute walk to King's Cross station was uneventful and quiet. Benjamin, Carrigan and I stood on Platform 9 ¾ waiting for the others to arrive. The dark scarlet steam engine was already in the station loading students who were set to return to Hogwarts. Carrigan was standing next to me, leaning against a brown brick pillar and staring at the portal that lead back to platform 9. I could see in her eyes that she was still frustrated with Sirius and I, but she was also worried. She was worried that Gabriel would miss her leaving. Benjamin was sitting on a bench with his eyes closed, as if he was trying to meditate and prepare himself for the experience he was about to endure.

As if on cue, Gabriel walked through the portal between platforms 9 and 10. Carrigan stood up straight and smiled joyfully at the sight of him. Benjamin opened his eyes and looked in Carrigan's direction, as if he sensed the sudden change in her mood. I relaxed at the sight of Gabriel because behind him followed the Weasley's and the rest of the guard that was protecting Harry as he traveled to King's Cross. Gabriel must have met them on the way to the station. Sirius came bounding up the platform towards us in his dog form, making my stomach flip with uneasiness. If anyone sighted him…anything could happen…

"Good morning," Gabriel said causing me to blink and take my eyes off of Sirius who was sitting in front of Carrigan. She had knelt down next to him and was patting his head and rubbing his ears.

"I forgive you," I heard her say.

"Hi," I said as I turned to look up at Gabriel. "What is your daughter's name?"

"Jennifer," he replied easily. "And our son's?"

"Caspian," I said sullenly. Gabriel wrapped an arm around me and looked at Carrigan, who was standing and moving away from Sirius. Harry was standing next to Sirius with a sad expression on his face.

The whistle of the train blew, announcing that the train would be pulling out of the station in a few minutes. "Everyone get on, quick!" Molly bellowed at her children as they jumped onto the train after speedy good-byes.

"I thought you were going to miss us leaving," Carrigan said to Gabriel as Benjamin came to stand next to her.

"I would never," he beamed as he pulled her close and kissed her head. "Have a good term. Study hard and listen to Benjamin. He knows what you need more then anyone."

"I seriously doubt that," she replied glancing at Benjamin, who looked indifferent to the comment. "But I'll do my best."

She pulled out of Gabriel's arms then stepped over to me. Gabriel shook Benjamin's hand and clapped him on the shoulder. I noticed that he pulled the young man aside, I'm sure to quietly threaten him about Carrigan's safety. Carrigan looked up at me with displeased eyes. I raised my eyebrows at her with curiosity.

"I'm sorry about earlier—"

"It isn't that," she replied instantly. She looked over her shoulder at Benjamin who was still talking to Gabriel. "You didn't have your defenses up as we walked here, Mom."

"Oh," I said breathlessly because I knew what she was referring to.

"I trust him," she said. "Even if you don't."

I nodded. "You still have to be careful," I replied. I pulled her into my arms as the whistle blew again and kissed her forehead hastily. "We're strong girls, Carrigan."

"The strongest," she said firmly as she pulled way and ran for the train that was starting to move away from the platform. Benjamin was on her heels. Harry waited in the open door for them; he held out his hand for Carrigan, who grabbed it and he pulled her up. Benjamin jumped on behind her and disappeared into the train car while Carrigan and Harry remained in the door. I walked with the train as it made to exit the station, waving quickly to both of the children I was responsible for.

"I love you both!" I called as the train picked up speed. Harry met my eyes with his emerald green one's and mouthed that he loved me too. I stopped running as the train took off and Sirius followed it, chasing after Harry and Carrigan until the train turned a bend out of the station.

I stood on the platform, suddenly feeling very alone despite being surrounded by close friends, fellow members of the Order of the Phoenix, Gabriel and Sirius. I was alone because Carrigan, the light of my life, was gone…on her own adventure and trusting her own instincts. I frowned as Gabriel put his hands on my shoulders and squeezed them slightly. This had been a hard summer for everyone, but especially Carrigan and Harry. It was over…but I felt the hardships were just about to begin. I had sent them off with an incomplete good-bye. I didn't even get to hug Harry before he boarded the train. My stomach was in knots as we all stood, watching, until the train completely disappeared around the corner.

I glanced at the people around me, wondering how many of them I could truly trust. How many of them would have my back in this upcoming war.