This one's a little longer, working on 64!

Reviews are appreciated!

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THIS, EXCEPT FOR ANY CHARACTERS YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE. JK ROWLING IS JESUS!

CHAPTER 63

"AUDREY!" Sirius roared.

A second later, Teagan came running with a large bucket; followed by a banshee Sirius assumed was her mother. There was a small elderly man carrying another bucket, and then a veela.

"Where's Audrey?" Teagan yelled, over the roar of the flames.

"She went into the fire!" Sirius exclaimed, taking one of the extra buckets that Teagan bought.

The fire was far too intense, and I felt my stomach tying into knots for the first time in two years.

It bothered Sirius that Teagan didn't seem to be affected by the fact that Audrey had just went straight into the fire.

From inside the ring of flames, Audrey yelled for help.

My mother, was trapped inside of my father's workshop, the flames engulfed everything. Her face was pressed against the small window.

My heart was threatening to jump out of my throat.

Audrey looked for something to smash the window with, but there were no rocks to be found. Everything was burnt or burning.

"Stand back!" Audrey yelled to her mother in banshee.

I punched the window out, I had no other choice.

Airleas stuck her head through the window, gasping for air.

"Mama! What has happened?" Audrey asked, grabbing her mother's arms and pulling her through the small window. She was lucky her mother was so skinny.

Airleas could barely breathe, and she shook her head as the two fell to the ground.

My mother had burns all over her body, and cuts…nothing made sense.

Outside of the fire, more and more residents in the surrounding area came to help put out the fire with whatever they could. Buckets of water, wands, anything.

Werewolves, veelas, banshees, vampires, goblins…they all showed up.

Sirius watched, amazed. The fire had gone down a little bit, but it was still blazing. Through the large crowd came a booming familiar voice.

"Watch yourselves!"

Isaac Dalio came bursting through the crowd followed by Albus Dumbledore.

"STAND BACK PLEASE!" Dumbledore shouted. Sirius was amazed that they had all looked at the Headmaster the way that his students did.

Isaac looked enraged and Sirius felt this was probably the worst possible time to be visiting. He watched as he contorted his hands to resemble claws.

A large gusting wind came from behind everyone, knocking several over, including Sirius. Isaac had incredible control over it. He was isolating the fire with such ease, something his daughter could not do when she tried.

The fire began to die out, between Isaac's control over the wind and Albus spraying a large jet of water from his wand.

With the wind, the smoke cleared rapidly. And everything was clear now.

Audrey was lying on the ground, next to Airleas. Both were covered in soot.

The end of Audrey's hair was still on fire. The majority of the crowd rushed over to them.

Sirius managed to squeeze to the front with the help of Teagan. Albus and Isaac crouched over the two. Audrey's mother was in terrible shape.

"Is she alright?" Sirius asked, alarmed.

"She will be alright, Mr. Black." Albus replied calmly, gently running his hands over some of Airleas' wounds. There was a large gash across her forehead.

Teagan put out the fire that was burning at the end of Audrey's hair.

"Thanks, Teag." Audrey coughed, sitting up.

"Thank you, all of you." Isaac stood, looking around at his neighbors. "This means more to me than you could ever know."

There were shouts of "Anytime" and "Always" as the crowd dispersed. Leaving just Tara, Teagan, and Catherine.

"Let's move her inside." Albus suggested, conjuring a stretcher and carefully placing Airleas onto it. Isaac walked in stride with the headmaster, followed by the two banshees and the veela. Sirius and Audrey brought up the rear.

"Sirius, love. I can walk." Audrey insisted, trying to wiggle out of his arms.

"You inhaled a lot of smoke." Sirius argued, as they made it into the house. He set her down on the stone counter in the kitchen. He placed his hands on her thighs, looking at her.

Her right hand was all bloodied up and torn.

"What did you do to your hand?" He asked, concerned.

"I punched the window out." Audrey wheezed, slightly dizzy. She leant her head on Sirius' shoulder. "It was the only way I could get her out…the flames were too high near the door."

Perhaps I really had inhaled a lot of smoke…

Sirius nodded, running a hand through her hair.

"I cannot believe part of your hair actually burnt off." He mused, trying to lighten her mood. She laughed and then began to cough.

Maybe humor was a bad idea.

Tara came into the kitchen.

"She'll be fine, Audrey." She spoke in English so Sirius didn't feel left out. "She's restin' in the other room."

She conjured a long bandage and looked at Audrey's hand. Shaking her head, slightly amused.

"You used your right hand."

"So I could still play cello." Audrey replied. "I didn't think of it when I punched out the window, but I guess it was instinct."

Tara cleaned and bandaged her hand.

"Thank you, Tara." Audrey spoke, her head still resting on Sirius' shoulder.

"Let's get her to the sofa over there." Tara said, looking at Sirius. He nodded and picked Audrey up with ease.

Audrey sat up on the sofa, still wheezing. Tara started running her hands through Audrey's hair.

"It must've been a cursed fire, it burnt your hair. Hair like ours never burns."

"It wasn't fiendfyre." Audrey breathed.

"No." Tara shook her head. "It wasn't, but it was dark magic of some sort."

As Tara ran her hands through Audrey's hair, the singed ends began to repair themselves and regrow. Sirius' eyes widened.

"Bet you didn't know we could do that." Tara winked, chuckling. She began to braid the front part of Audrey's hair, then tied it into a bun.

"Thanks, Tara." Audrey said, resting her head again on Sirius' shoulder as he sat down. Tara exited and went to the other room to check on Airleas. Teagan walked in.

"Well, this was a rude awakening after Montpellier." She said, sitting on the chair across from the couch. Audrey nodded.

"Where's Chantal?" Sirius asked, realizing the veela wasn't there.

"She's still in France." Teagan replied, as she walked out of the room. "Staying with her father and her boyfriend."

"Sven was there?" Sirius was surprised. Audrey nodded.

"He was coming to visit Chantal anyway, and she decided to surprise both of us."

"How is he?" Sirius asked, genuinely curious.

"He's alright, he's got this dead look in his eyes…" Audrey lamented.

I didn't blame Sven…I think we all were a little dead inside, I knew I was.

Sirius nodded, understanding what she meant.

"St. Petersburg is not what it used to be…" She said, looking out the window at the burnt trees. "This place isn't either."

A few moments later, the Headmaster joined them and sat in the chair across from them.

"Audrey, I need to know everything that's happened since you arrived home." Albus said, looking at them from his half-moon spectacles.

Audrey sucked in a breath. "I came home through the woods, I saw Sirius. I lead him inside assuming that my parents were inside. No one was here, and there were no notes, no indication that they had left, no signs of a struggle, nothing. I then smelled something faint, something was burning…and then we came outside…"

Sirius watched the Headmaster's eyes twinkle, he was thinking about something.

"Isaac tells me that you and your mother were in another incident earlier this summer." Albus began. "Can you describe to me that incident?"

Audrey nodded, sitting up a bit and taking her head from Sirius' shoulder. She seemed to be regaining her strength.

"I was upstairs, packing and getting ready to go to James' and I heard something fall downstairs. I thought it was nothing, until my mother hissed. Men from St. Petersburg were in our home. They…they asked her where I was. But she lied, and said I wasn't there. She wouldn't let me come downstairs; there were a lot of them… I could smell them; I could hear their hearts beating. They attacked her, and she sent my things to James' and then instructed me, in Banshee, to get Papa and leave."

Albus nodded, piecing things together.

"Albus," Audrey said.

I was always so surprised that she addressed him by his first name.

"Who did this to my mother?" She asked, her eyes turning from yellow, to black, back to yellow again.

"I do not know, Audrey." Albus replied. "Your father and I are trying to figure that out…but we have our suspicions."

"Are they russkiĭ or are they angliĭskiĭ?" Audrey's eyes narrowed.

"I suspect that they are Russian." Albus nodded. "But with all of the attacks going on in your community, we cannot be too sure."

"We're waiting until Airleas wakes up to hear her account of this." Said Isaac, joining them. Audrey nodded.

"Papa, where were you?" Audrey asked, looking at her father with blue eyes.

"I was far across the clearing, with Mr. Taylor, helping him rebuild his home."

Mr. Taylor was a werewolf that had constantly been denying the men that showed up at his door. Asking him to join them, to join him.

Audrey nodded.

"Please do not take offense to what I am about to say." Isaac began, holding his hands up in surrender. "But when did Sirius arrive?"

"Are you implying…" Audrey began, giving her father a dark look.

"I am not. But it doesn't mean that someone might have followed him here."

"He arrived when I did." Audrey replied, calming down.

"It was someone from home." Said a calm voice, Airleas had limped into the room, leaning against the wall. Some of her cuts had been healed by Catherine, the burns were bandaged up.

It was the first time I had ever seen my mother so vulnerable, and it frightened me.

"They were looking for you." Airleas said, looking at her child with such sorrow.

"What happened?" Albus asked.

"They trapped me." Airleas said quietly. "They threatened me, saying that they had already had Isaac. I didn't know where Isaac was…"

Isaac nodded, apologizing in banshee.

"They told me... vasha dochʹ budet smotretʹ na vas gorit."

"Your daughter will watch you burn."

"Well they were wrong." Audrey muttered, her eyes turning black with hatred.

Later in the afternoon, Albus left the cottage, saying that he had some Hogwarts business to attend to. Sirius watched as Isaac and Audrey prepared dinner, they spoke quietly in Russian. He couldn't tell if they were arguing or just talking to each other.

I had an uncomfortable feeling that they were talking about me. Though, anyone who wasn't familiar with a language and was in the presence of it's speakers could feel the same way. Seclusion.

Airleas came into the room, joining Sirius on the couch.

"Don't worry." Airleas said. "That's normal for them…they're not talking about you. Well, they were…Isaac is just saying that it is not wise to put a human in danger. Especially with your family situation."

The Dalios knew of my mother disowning me, and my strong opposition of their values. I believe that was the only reason Isaac had trusted me with his daughter.

"I wasn't in much danger, honestly." Sirius replied. "Walburga would be happy if I died the fire."

"I am sorry you were born to such cruel people." Airleas said, fluffing his hair. "It is unfortunate."

Sirius nodded, thanking her.

The dinner wasn't as awkward as I had thought, despite all of the day's events, and the previous circumstances in which I had met Audrey's parents.

"So, that muggle motorbike outside…?" Isaac asked, looking at Sirius. He grinned.

"Right. I didn't get a chance to tell you about that." He said, looking at Audrey who raised a brow.

"James and I were browsing a junkyard in the next town over, and we found it."

"And you've been fixing it up, how?" Audrey asked.

"Well, it's technically illegal." Sirius said thoughtfully.

"So are we." Isaac said, looking at his wife and daughter. They burst into laughter.

As the evening went on, the mood seemed to lighten.

Sirius wasn't allowed to sleep over, my parents feared for his safety. After all, we were already targets, and for defecting from his family and their beliefs, Sirius was too. We couldn't endanger him. Albus had informed Henry and Elly Potter of what happened, and Henry showed up to apparate with Sirius and his bike. I was lucky enough to be granted a few minutes of privacy with him before he left.

"I'll see you soon." Sirius said, his forehead pressed against hers. Audrey nodded, kissing him.

"I'm so sorry."

"For what, Russia?" Sirius asked.

"For everything that's happened today." Audrey sputtered, looking at him. "This wasn't my ideal day to have you here."

Sirius grabbed her head and kissed her. "It's fine. I'm glad you're back in England." He smiled, she smiled back.

After a few words with Henry, Audrey bid farewell to the two.

"Sad that he's gone?" Isaac asked, leaning up against the doorframe.

It was times like then when I marveled at how all knowing my father seemed…

"A little." Audrey replied. "But I'm more embarrassed than anything. I put him in such danger today."

"It's not your fault." Isaac replied, looking out into the forest. "Plus, you'll be seeing him again in about a day and a half."

Audrey raised an eyebrow, looking at her father.

"I am sending you to Henry's early."

"Why, Papa?" Audrey asked, though she had a feeling that she already knew.

Isaac ushered her inside and closed the door behind them.

"It is not safe for you here, my child. It would be better if you stayed hiding in plain view, with the Potters. Posing as a human. You are much safer there and at school than you are here. Tara is sending Teagan away as well, Chantal is not returning." Isaac said.

It was a harsh reality, and the beginning of a bloody war.