Thanks for the reviews, thewrittenword87, LizziePixie-Aiko, xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx, Written Angel, CharlotteBlackwood, and HandsomHolly! You guys are the best.

Review pleeeeeease? We're almost done!

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

CHAPTER 103

July 17th, 1981.

I remember the day well; it was warm…as any other mid-summer day. Anastasia wanted to play outside, Sirius took her to the park. She couldn't be seen with me, no one could…

I couldn't be seen at all.

I thought that my life couldn't get worse after being confined to my home and losing my clientele.

But it did.

Rumors…they are such vicious things. Now that the Ministry had been infiltrated, propaganda and paranoia increased. The newspapers began reporting about how muggle born witches and wizards stole magic, creatures too! But the worst was a headline I had seen a few months prior with my photograph.

"RUSSIAN SPY WANTED." It read. "100,000 galleon reward."

The article proceeded to talk about how I was responsible for the deaths of the great Ivanoff family in Russia, and how I had taken down the Russian government. I was "a threat to everything they hold dear."

They said that I was going to take down the English Ministry…

The article listed me as Audrey Dalio, not Audrey Black. I was quite lucky…I had feared that Sirius' safety would be compromised. Hell, who am I kidding? Our safety had been compromised all along. Instead of targets on our backs, we now had them on our heads…mine even had a price now! How grand!

These headlines had thrown the Order into another debate, the famous "How are we going to run Audrey's life now?" debate. Albus strongly advised splitting up the family, and now there was fine print news as his evidence. The only reason I had to argue back was Anastasia. I couldn't leave her with Sirius.

I just couldn't.

Just after seeing her husband and daughter off, Audrey decided to practice. Playing her cello had been the only thing keeping her sane for the last few months. It was an escape.

"Hey." Sirius said, coming into the room. "Dumbledore's calling for us to go to the Hogshead."

"Why?" Audrey asked, giving her husband a confused look. His expression mirrored hers.

"He didn't say…I'm not sure what's going on. He just said come immediately and to leave Asia with Edgar."

Audrey put her cello down and walked towards her husband, she grabbed his hands.

Poor Sirius looked so tired…he had been taking on more and more night watches.

"You okay?" He asked quietly, pressing his forehead to hers.

"I don't know." Audrey said in a barely audible whisper. "Something feels wrong…but I don't know if that's truth or if it's anxiety."

This war was wearing us down, we could see it in each others faces.

"I'm hoping that it's just anxiety rather than truth." He replied softly, she nodded in agreement.

Crack.

The couple jumped, right into battle positions. Even though there were only three other people who could apparate into their home, they were still on edge.

"Calm down! It's just me." said Edgar, holding his hands up.

"What's the first thing you said to me after my daughter was born?"Audrey said, her hair was standing up.

"Hisoka and I will protect her as long we are breathing." Edgar said quietly.

Audrey relaxed and hugged her mentor.

"Ed, what's going on?" Sirius asked, waving Dumbledore's letter.

"I…" Edgar began, looking between the couple. "I can't say."

"Why can't you say?" Audrey asked, frantic.

"Just go." Edgar's voice shook. He shooed them away.

Sirius and Audrey exchanged a look and disapparated.

The Hogshead was quiet, not a single patron in the bar. Aberforth lead them to the back door they had frequented so many times in the last few months. It was one of a few Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix.

The main room was silent, the table was empty. Audrey looked around, perplexed. Sirius was about to ask Aberforth a question when he just pointed to a portrait on the wall. The frame opened, revealing a small hallway to another room. Muffled cries were heard…the couple tensed and slowly walked through the door.

Audrey tripped backwards when she saw them lying there, her eyes traveled to the corner of the room, to the very last cot where her friends gathered.

The McKinnons.

Audrey was too overwhelmed to speak, she let out a cry. Remus looked up from Marlene and hurtled towards Audrey and Sirius, nearly knocking them backwards.

There were no words among us…we knew that this war could tear us apart, but I think we all had tried to convince ourselves that it wouldn't happen. I know I did…I wanted to believe that my friends and I would come out of this horrible nightmare alive. Our children would grow up safe, they would play together, and go to school together. We would all grow old together…but that was just a dream now.

Audrey made her way to her best friend…Marlene couldn't be dead, she was the toughest witch Audrey knew.

It was then that I remembered how fragile human beings are…she was a rose, she had her thorns, but she was so vulnerable.

She hugged Marlene to her chest and sobbed, she felt Remus join her.

I felt so sick…

You would think, that after witnessing this so many times in the last few years that I could handle it but I just couldn't… They were expecting child, Marlene was due this month. They were supposed to live a good long life. My heart tore for Remus, he did not deserve this.

They stayed in the room for ages it seemed, James and Lily left after a while. Remus paced around the room, while Audrey sat with Marlene. She went through stages, she'd cry, calm down, and then cry again. There were small tremors running through the floor, they were perfectly in sync with her cries.

"I think it is time to say good bye for the night." said Albus.

Sirius had no idea when he had arrived, he hadn't been paying attention to much. Audrey's tremors became more pronounced, Albus made his way over to where she knelt, he patted her back. The floor was still shaking everytime she sobbed.

Something peculiar had happened in the next few seconds, Sirius watched as Dumbledore's hand traveled up his wife's back. It swept through her long, thick hair and landed on her neck.

Remus seemed to notice as well, he glanced at Sirius.

Remus caught on a lot quicker than I did…

Audrey straightened up, she became very tense and rigid. She tried to stand up, but she swayed while she looked at Albus in shock. Her arm reached out to him, but she fell, the old man caught her with ease.

"NO!" Remus shouted angrily, charging towards the old man. Albus blasted him back into the wall.

Before Albus could speak, Remus cut him off.

"SHE'S NOT A MONSTER, FOR FUCKS SAKE! THAT WAS UNNECESSARY AND CRUEL!"

"It had to be done, Mr. Lupin." Albus said in an uncharacteristically stern voice. "If she cannot control her grief, then I will control it for her. Those tremors are not only a threat to her exposure, but ours as well."

It was at that moment that I finally understood the man Albus Dumbledore was. I thought the war had changed him, but it had just brought out a part of his past that he seemed so eager to hide. A side that his brother, Aberforth, sarcastically hinted at from time to time.

"She shouldn't have to control her grief." Remus spat angrily, he looked at Sirius for back up.

I was in such a shock from the day that I hadn't processed what had just happened.

Albus gently laid Audrey on the floor.

"What did you do to her?" Sirius' voice shook, as he knelt next to his unconcious wife.

"He tranquilized her. As if she were an animal." Remus spat.

I knew what he had done. But it just didn't click, Albus had always seemed to care so deeply for her. He was so protective when we were in school, but I now understood what Audrey had meant during the days that followed the massacre at St. Aleksander's…

"How long have you been asleep?" Marlene asked.

"Er, about two and a half days." Audrey shrugged again, taking a seat next to her best friend. "It wasn't my choice."

"What do you mean?" asked Sirius. Hisoka had made it seem that Audrey had slept of her own accord.

"I was injected with a form of tranquilizer." Audrey said quietly. "I got a bit vicious…I was feeling quite…vengeful."

"Are they allowed to do that?" Lily whispered, incredulous.

"They aren't to a human student, but when it's someone like me, I pose a danger." Audrey replied, a little annoyed. "It's the same thing that they use in St. Mungo's when they do operations on magical creatures."

Sirius noticed Remus shiver for a second; a memory must have stirred him. He could see Remus knew exactly what Audrey was referring to.

"They could have let me go home with my parents, but because everyone thinks they have more of a right to run my life than I do, I've been confined here." Audrey's eyes went red for a moment.

"But…well…Karl and I, we saw Hisoka yesterday. And she led us in here, but she wasn't supposed to, she said we couldn't say a word because you were in a light sleep."

Audrey gave a cynical laugh. "She's an excellent liar isn't she? Rather charming at times. That tranquillizer is strong enough to put a giant to sleep, and kill a human on injection. My sleep was temperamental, but I can assure you my body was deadweight, I was incredibly drowsy."

If he weren't our only hope for this war, I would have strangled him.

"I will see you both at the meeting tomorrow." Albus said, before dissapparating.

Remus, looking appalled, turned to Aberforth.

"Has your brother always been-"

"An insensitive arse who never thinks or considers anyone around him? Yes." Aberforth answered, as the three men looked from Audrey to the McKinnons.

Aberforth turned to Sirius.

"He's going to try to split up yer' family again, best be prepared for an argument when that arises tomorrow."

Sirius nodded, picking up Audrey.

"I'll be back, mate." He choked, looking at his heart broken friend. "I'm going to go and bring her home."