Actions and Consequences Part 1

A/N: As much as things can be changed by making different decisions ... some things cannot be changed.

(_)(_)(_)

May 1977

In February, Arcturus got a letter from Regulus. Arcturus brought the letter to the Alliance and let them read it, as its contents would inevitably, eventually, affect them.

In the letter, Regulus explained how he'd been approached just before curfew by a number of Slytherins from Dark families. They'd chosen their time and place well. As Regulus was in Hufflepuff, he didn't have any of the other Alliance children with him (they were all in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw). While Regulus did have a few friends in Hufflepuff, he had fewer than most due to his difficulties and months-long absence when he'd been hit by his mental instability. This mean he'd been making the journey to the Hufflepuff common room alone.

The Slytherins had made it plain that Regulus would be joining the Death Eaters, or unfortunate consequences would ensue. The consequences, while suitably vague, had been just specific enough to rattle Regulus - as had doubtlessly been the intent. Regulus had lost no time informing the Alliance children the next morning, and had apparently sent the letter at the same time. The kids' response was swift, vicious, and decisive.

Two days after they approached Regulus, the perpetrators were found gagged, bound, and stunned, dangling head-down from ropes dangling off the Astronomy Tower. While they were found close to lunchtime, no one had any idea how long they'd been strung up. They had last been seen at dinner the night before, and their absence at the breakfast table had started the at first desultory search for them, as it had initially been assumed they'd merely slept in or the like. It wasn't until they hadn't been found in any of the likeliest places that the search for them had been put in high gear. They could have been attacked at any point after dinner and before breakfast, and put into place at any point prior to their being found.

Removed from immediate peril, woken and examined, the group proved to have no spells on them save a stunner each. Everything else that had been done to them had been done without the aid of magic. Interestingly, other than a few small bruises that had likely been due to them collapsing after being stunned and the difficulty of binding someone who was unconscious, they hadn't been physically harmed, just scared out of a decade's growth. They were either unable or unwilling to identify who had attacked them, when and where.

Despite his best efforts, Dumbledore couldn't figure out how it had been done, never mind who had done it. This despite Dumbledore targeting the Alliance children as the likeliest perpetrators, even if he didn't know or care why the perpetrators had been strung up like sides of beef. Of course, the adults hadn't taken that lying down. Yes, the kids were guilty of this. Cedrella was even willing to agree that they might have gone too far this time. But Dumbledore did not know that. He had no proof.

The whole mess had, at least, revealed a problem they hadn't known existed until then. Regulus couldn't have been the first pureblood kid to have been approached in that manner. The 'join or die' tactic was ... worrying, to be blunt. It meant Voldemort was getting desperate. Desperate people did crazy, desperate things. And this would be on top of Voldemort's already established lunacy when it came to his actions and plans. If he actually had plans at all, that was.

Unfortunately, there was little to nothing the Alliance could do about the situation. They had no way of knowing who was being approached or who would fall prey to those sorts of tactics. They'd just have to deal with the fallout. Which included dealing with their errant children. The kids went home over Easter break as usual, and were greeted by very grim-faced parents and guardians. They were separated, and forbidden contact with each other for the duration of the break. From there, punishments (and remonstrations) were applied according to the various adults' usual discipline patterns.

Cedrella was not at all convinced that they'd gotten through to the kids, but they'd at least tried. She didn't blame them for wanting to strike back, but there were lines you shouldn't cross, and this particular stunt had come dangerously close to crossing them (if it hadn't actually crossed them, that was). None of the adults was going to tolerate the kids becoming bullies or worse in the pursuit of 'justice'.

A few months later, they all found out just how desperate and crazy Voldemort truly was.

In the normal course of events, no one with sense or sanity would ever have risked the wrath of *any* Alliance by attacking one of its members, no matter who the Alliance consisted of. The Black/Potter/Weasley Alliance ... was far more formidable than most, both politically, magically and in sheer numbers. That said, Voldemort was, as they had all noticed, crazy as a shithouse rat and thanks largely to the Alliance's actions, getting more desperate by the day. It was inevitable that he do something ... extremely stupid.

Cedrella and Septimus had been enjoying a quiet lunch together when Septimus abruptly lurched out of his seat and swung around. His wand appeared in his hand and he looked half a second from hexing the crap out of someone on sheer instinct alone. A second or two later, an expression of sheer murderous rage twisted Septimus' face. It was an expression Cedrella hadn't seen since the war.

"Septimus? What on earth?" She asked.

It took Septimus a few seconds to calm down enough to be able to answer her. "Something's bad wrong. Alliance." He said.

Cedrella's confusion cleared up at least a little. Alliance oaths came with an alert system - magic itself letting the members know when one of the allies was in danger. The members of an Alliance couldn't always be in each other's presence after all, which made it possible for a member to be attacked without the rest of the Alliance being there to back them up. While Cedrella was a part of the alliance by marriage, she wasn't part of it by blood, and thus didn't get the warning. The only way a by-marriage member of the Alliance would get that warning of danger was if an Alliance had been put in place previous to the death of the Head of the family, they were Lady of the family and acting as Regent until their son was ready to take his place as Lord.

Less than two seconds after Septimus had spoken, a crying, shaking, miserable Jinx appeared. Cedrella didn't even need him to say anything to know what had happened. There could only be one reason Jinx was so upset. Septimus clearly understood the implications as well, because the expression on his face went back to murderously enraged.

"What happened, Jinx?" Despite the expression on his face, Septimus' tone was gentle.

"Master and Mistress be going to Alley to shop." Jinx sniffled. "They is being hit from behind by ... " He sniffled again, the expression on his face saying he didn't want to say what he had to say. "by killing curses. They is not even knowing they is in danger. Jinx is not even knowing!" Jinx wailed.

Which explained how Charlus and Dorea had ended up dead. If there'd been any warning at all, either they or Jinx (or even another of their house elves) would have been able to fend off their attackers. There was no way to defend against someone unexpectedly whipping out their wand and AK'ing someone. Especially in the crowded, busy environs of the Alley.

Cedrella throttled the grief that tried to well up. Now was not the time. She'd grieve later. Septimus suddenly cursed. "Jinx, you need to make sure James is protected. If Charlus and Dorea were killed ... "

Jinx's eyes went wide in horror.

"Jinx." Cedrella said quickly, wanting to catch him before he left, her voice slightly shaky. "House elves tell who is who by their magic, right?"

Jinx nodded.

"Can you tell from a spell cast on ... " She didn't get any further than that, because Jinx nodded. He also at least started to catch on to where Cedrella was going with that question, because misery was starting to transform to rage.

"Find them." She commanded. Normally, it wouldn't work. House elves didn't usually take orders from someone not their family. But Jinx had latched on to all of the elder Marauders and their wives. Not only that, but Cedrella was giving Jinx an order he probably badly wanted to get, right about now. "Find them after James is safe, and bring them to us. Damage them as much as you like, but they have to still be alive when they get here."

Jinx blinked out without another word. Cedrella did not pity whoever he was hunting. Not in the least. The best part was that by the laws that dealt with Alliances ... the members of an Alliance could do anything they wanted to whoever killed or injured a member of the Alliance and the Ministry couldn't do or say anything - not without risking magical (and other) consequences themselves.

"I need to get hold of Harfang. If Voldemort was willing to attack one of us ... if he has any brains at all, he'll target the rest of us. Because he has to know we'll do our utmost to kill him for this." Septimus growled. "The faster he gets rid of the rest of us, the safer he'll be. Or so he'd think."

Cedrella could only nod. "Not that they weren't already." She said. "But Voldemort just made himself and his people enemies of the Alliance. He declared war on us."

She knew that even if Voldemort somehow managed to wipe out the Potters and the Longbottoms, who had the lowest population of the three families, he'd never wipe out the Weasleys. And despite what Voldemort probably thought, as long as a Weasley existed, they'd be driven to do whatever it took to take Voldemort and his people down. That's how Alliances worked.

Septimus shot her a look. "He's not going to like how this plays out." He growled. "Not at all." Then he left to go call Harfang.

Cedrella watched him go, more than a little worried. Right here and now, Septimus, like herself, was pushing grief aside. If, in his case, the grief had even hit yet. But sooner rather than later, the fact that Septimus had lost a man he regarded as a brother even before the Alliance had been sworn would set in. That wasn't going to end well.

For that matter, Harfang was going to get hit too. Not to mention Callidora. Dorea might only be a cousin, not a sister, but they'd been closer to her than they'd been to most of the rest of the family. When reality finally sank in, they were all of them going to be a mess for a while.

And oh. The kids. They had to tell the kids. Cedrella almost cringed as that thought hit. James would be an even bigger mess than Septimus and Harfang would be. It would probably be best to arrange for James to miss school for a month or so. He'd need that long just to get a handle on his grief, never mind having to take his place as Head so young. At least he'd have Septimus and Harfang to lean on when it came to that end of things, and his friends for the rest of it.

She'd best deal with that end of things while Septimus hunkered down with Harfang. She was woman enough to admit having things to do would allow her to defer her own reaction to this for a while. Besides, she sincerely doubted that Dumbledore would let James out of school without an argument. She could use a target for her anger right about now, and better Dumbledore than some unfortunate, innocent party. She headed for the floo.

"Hogwarts Headmaster's Office!" She barked after she threw in enough powder for a floo call.

It took about a half a minute for Dumbledore to come around to the floo.

"Lady Weasley. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

"No pleasure, Headmaster." Cedrella said. "We've just received word that Charlus and Dorea were killed in the Alley. I've little doubt that Aurors are headed to Hogwarts even as we speak to inform James. I would much prefer he hear such news from family than complete strangers."

To his credit, Dumbledore actually looked upset by the news. Whether he actually was or not, given how much a thorn the Marauders had been in his side since their school days was debatable, but he managed to at least appear sad. For a wonder, he didn't even attempt to temporize.

"Of course, of course. Please come through."

Cedrella pulled back, added more powder, and stepped through into Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore looked quite curious when Septimus didn't come through as well.

"Septimus went to warn Harfang. Whoever killed Charlus and Dorea will be after the rest of us as quick as they can." Cedrella explained.

Dumbledore looked like he wanted to remonstrate with the remains of the Alliance to act temperately, but he knew better. "Of course." He called a house elf, and asked them to tell whichever teacher he was with that his presence was required in the Headmaster's office.

Cedrella reluctantly approved of the tactic. James and the other kids had been summoned in like manner so many times since they started Hogwarts that James would think nothing of it.

While they waited, Cedrella decided to iron out James' leave from school. If an argument ensued, it would hopefully be done before he arrived, and at least she wouldn't be having to wrangle an intransigent Dumbledore while trying to comfort a doubtlessly distraught James.

"James will be leaving Hogwarts with me." Cedrella said. "He will need time to grieve without having to worry about school assignments and such. He will also need time to assume his place as Lord Potter and get used it."

Dumbledore again looked like he wanted to argue, but kept his mouth shut. This time, Cedrella suspected it was because he suspected that Cedrella would rip him to shreds. He wasn't wrong.

James walked in a couple minutes later, saw her, and sighed. "What do they think I've done now?" He wanted to know.

Cedrella sighed. "Come sit, James." She said.

Something in her tone or expression must have been off (hardly surprising, given the circumstances), because James obeyed without comment, his expression going from irritated and put-upon to concerned.

"There is no easy way to say this, James." Cedrella said. "But you parents were killed less than an hour ago in Diagon Alley."

James' face went a pasty white and he started to tremble. The glance he shot Dumbledore's way made Cedrella suspect that James was doing everything he could to not fall apart in front of someone he neither liked nor trusted.

"Come, I'll be taking you home. We can send one of your elves for your things later." Cedrella said, getting to her feet and more or less pulling James to his as she went. James just nodded mutely and followed her lead. Cedrella turned to Dumbledore.

"The other children will collect his assignments." She said. "Callidora will likely wish to inform them of this later today." She'd have to. The kids would notice James' absence and get twitchy. "I will inform you when James is ready to resume classes."

With that, she pulled them through the floo.