Author's Note: Sorry for the delay! Work has been a bit hectic again as of late, but here is the next chapter! I hope everyone enjoys this just as much as I enjoyed writing it! I would like to thank everyone who reviewed this story. As for the people who asked about Andromeda's involvement with the Dark Side, well... maybe?! It is something that I am going to keep a bit quiet about for right now. I have the ideas for the next chapter in my head right now, and parts of it are pieced together, while the other bits are a little blurry. We all just have to wait and see! I am also included in this wait! :) But for now, please enjoy this next chapter!

"What's life without shaking things

up a bit?"

Molly shivers uncontrollably as she walks up the steps leading to 12 Grimauld Place. Ever since Sirius had passed, no one had wanted to ever use the house as a safe house, but without more options, it was still used every so often when special emergency meetings were called. Molly had never enjoyed visiting the place even when Sirius was alive. The heads of the house-elves who served the Noble House of Black adorning the walls of the staircase always caused her quite a bit of trepidation and Kreacher was always rude to everyone, but it was the portrait of Walburga Black that really bothered her. 'Did Sirius cast a charm to ensure that she stayed inside her portrait? I am sure that she has heard everything that was ever said within these walls and could inform that crazy bitch, Bellatrix on our goings on at a moment's notice. Is that how they were able to capture and murder several of the Muggle-Born members' families before we stopped using this place completely last week?' The witch muses as she walks around the abandoned house.

"Keep your wits about you," Moody hisses from behind her, causing Molly to jump.

"You scared me!" She exclaims as she turns around with her wand in her hand.

"Better I scare you than a group of murderous Death-Eaters, now stop pointing your wand at me and let's find the girl and be on our way."

A low moan comes from the next room causing the witch and wizard to hurry inside. Lying in a pool of blood on the floor, Hermione groans again as her eyes flutter open. She grips her stomach tightly and coils into a foetal position as her body starts to convulse. "George! Bring the potions in here!" Molly exclaims as she rushes to the young witch's side and starts to heal her.

"Are you mad, woman?" Moody asks incredulously as he tightens his grip on his wand. "Who knows what sort of game she is playing at!"

"You read the bloody Prophet, Moody," Fred says as he and his brother enter the room.

"She was under the Imperius Curse," George finishes as he quickly hands his mother the blood-replenishing potion from his dragon-skin jacket's pocket.

"And you are as daft as your mother then," Moody replies as he points his wand at the unconscious form on the ground. "Who's to say that Voldemort, Himself, didn't have the reporter post that malarkey in the paper? Just because she was friends with Harry and your son doesn't mean she can't change sides, Molly. We need to bring her in for an interrogation... maybe give her some Veritaserum to loosen up her tongue."

"Are you completely mad?" Molly questions as she elevates Hermione's head and pours the potion into the young witch's mouth. "You may have your suspicions, and I know that I have lost a child to her, but I have known Hermione longer than you have and she wouldn't do such a thing without being under some sort of mind control! She was always a wonderful young witch before they had been captured by the Malfoys and that bitch of a woman and I believe it had to be the torture she had endured that made her more susceptible to the Imperius"

"She may be innocent like you claim," Moody snarls with his wand still trained on Hermione. "But just the same, I prefer to proceed with caution."

"Constant vigilance!" the twins exclaim with a chuckle causing Ginny to smile slightly.

The youngest child of the Weasley family had stayed near the open door of the room, her mind musing on the ever-present darkness that had settled into their lives with the second rise of the dark and dangerous wizard. She knows that her family is in danger, has been in danger ever since the beginning of this all, so she knew she had to keep a "constant vigilance" as Moody so often put it, though her brothers thought it a joke. 'Now at least Ron knows it isn't a joke, though it is too late for him.' This wasn't a game as she had so often thought of it all when they would practise in the Room of Requirement with the rest of the D.A. Members. After the Battle in the Department of Mysteries, she knew it was not a game. She had almost lost her life and that of her friends that day and it changed her outlook on life.

Fearful of what might happen if she moved further into the room, she leans against the door-frame and waits as her mother continues to heal Hermione. Her hand resting lightly on the wooden handle of her wand. A light rustling sound further in the house distracts the young witch momentarily. Turning to face the corridor, Ginny peers into the gloom to discern what might have caused the noise that she had heard. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, and calming herself with the thoughts of it possibly being just a mouse slinking along the edges of the dust-covered halls, she turns back to the scene inside the room.

Hermione's eyes open wide as the potion's curative qualities course their way through her system. "I-i didn't think anyone would come," the young witch whispers as she blinks back tears.

"Do not think we would have left you behind," Molly says soothingly as she runs a hand through Hermione's bushy hair. "No matter what happened while under that vile curse, we knew you were somewhere underneath it all."

"Where's McGonagall?" the young woman asks as she glances between the faces that surrounded her. She hides a grimace of disdain when she notices Mad-Eye pointing his wand at her.

"We told her we would come for you," George replies as he kneels beside his mother. "With everything that has happened recently, she tires more easily now more than ever. McGonagall has really started to show her age!"

"George!" Molly chides as she turns to face her son. "Mind your tongue! This war has everyone a bit harried as of late! I'm sorry dear..." She turns her attention back to Hermione. "How are you feeling? A bit better now?"

A small smile graces the young witch's face for the first time since she had been roused by the group from near death. The smile's appearance went unnoticed by all but Ginny and what she saw within the smile unnerved her greatly. "I am doing much better now that you all are here."

In a darkened second story room, in a house on the other side of London, two figures argue in the ill-light coming from dusty, greasy, partially-curtained second story window. "Mother, what in Merlin's name were you doing back there in our kitchen? Why on earth did we have to take Minerva and Sybil as if we were common Snatchers? As your daughter, I have a right to know what is going on!" Tonks taps her foot against the hardwood floors causing a continuous hollow thunking sound that started to instantly grate her mother's nerves.

"As my daughter, you have the right not to question me!" Andromeda snaps as she pinches the bridge of her nose. The pressure building behind her eyes since their hasty retreat from their own home causing white-hot spots to form before her eyes. "If I tell you what is going on, would you stop that infernal racket with your foot?"

Tonks stops tapping her foot and stares down at the floor. The past several days have been a whirlwind of emotions for everyone, but she realises it should not have gotten to her to act as severely as it had. It had caused her to incur the wrath of her mother, who was never one to turn quick to anger, yet when she was mad, the true Black form, that she has tried so hard to cover, could be on display for everyone to see.

"Thank you," Andromeda murmurs as she steps away from the window to sit down upon the mouldy coverlet that encased a saggy, water-logged queen-sized mattress. The English weather hasn't been kind to this abandoned building and as the seasons passed, so had much of the shingles deteriorated though the magic within the edifice's walls remained strong. "Do you know where we are?" the older witch asks her daughter. Tonks shakes her head slowly as she continues to stand near the window. "We are currently in Phineas Black's home. He ran here after he was blasted off the tapestry and it is where he spent the rest of his days in exile when he was not under the protections of Hogwarts. The protections encompassing this home kept the rest of my family from finding him until his final days."

"Why..."

"Why are we here?" Andromeda asks, finishing her daughter's sentence. "Where else could we go if anyone else had happened to hear the prophecy that Sybil spoke? The Order... well, let's just say that they will not help us with this situation and we have only one other place to go."

"I am confused, mother," Tonks says as she finally moves from the window to sit beside her mother. "What is going on? What was Professor Trewlaney going on about in our kitchen and why did we have to incapacitate Minerva?"

Andromeda sighs as she hears thunder in the distance. Rain starts pounding against the mottled roof causing rivulets of water to course through the ceiling down onto the floor in the room. "It is time to tell you a secret I have harboured for over thirty years. A secret I had hoped to never reveal to you, but I guess the time has come to change my perspective on a lot of things." Turning to her daughter, she reaches for Tonks' hand. "I need you to take a Secret Keeper's Oath and an Unbreakable Vow."

"Mother... I..." Tonks starts as she tries to pull her hand from her mother's grasp.

"It is too late to turn back, Nymphadora," Andromeda says as she looks sadly into her daughter's worried eyes. "You already know too much as it is and you are in too deep. It is time to face the darkness that lives inside us both."

Bellatrix paces back and forth in front of the roaring fireplace in her quarters in Malfoy Manor. Her patience wearing thin. "Maybe you should try to sit down and relax," Severus drawls from his seat by the enormous bookcase that lined the longest wall of her rooms.

"It is taking too long! We should have heard from her by now!" the dark witch exclaims as she continues her pacing.

"Relax Bella, the Dark Lord has faith in what she is doing, so why can't you?" Snape says as he stands up from the chair and places a hand on the witch's shoulder.

"I do have faith in her..." she replies as she stops and sighs. "It's just that she is alone with them! I can not take this any longer Severus! What if they do not believe the ruse and attack her before giving her a potion to revive her? You were not careful with your hex!" Bellatrix reaches for her wand and trains it on the wizard beside her. "Why did you hex her so forcefully? You could have killed her!"

"We had to make it believable, you know that. Now lower your wand Bellatrix." Severus puts his hands out in front of him to show her he is not armed. "Molly and her children went along with Moody to Hermione's location so she will be fine."

"WHAT?!" Bellatrix exclaims as she grips her wand tightly causing sparks to fly from the tip. "We need to go now! They will kill her!"

"Enough!" Severus snarls through clenched teeth as he grabs her by the elbow and pushes her towards the chair he had recently vacated. "We have made her story credible and with the Weasley woman and her brood there it will increase her chances of survival. We can not just storm in there without knowing for certain that she has lulled them into the trap. Moody will be the one that needs the most convincing by her. Remember, Our Lord wants them all brought back alive, so we have to be careful in how we do this. And since this is a matter of utmost secrecy, we can not bring anyone else with us on this mission." Bellatrix opens her mouth to protest, but Snape continues. "Molly will allow her past experience with Hermione override her feelings of grief, that is why the idea of an Imperius Curse was spread out to the masses. Most people do not know that she was merely a pawn in Dumbledore's scheme to keep the two boys from being killed right away. She was the brains of the outfit and she was forced to be friends with them. No one ever knew that except for the Dark Lord, Dumbledore, and myself."

The witch sighs and nods her head in understanding. "I know all of this, but it is just the fact that she is there alone with them that makes my blood boil. Also, how do you know who went to "rescue" her? She hasn't sent word, otherwise I would have known about it. Who has given you this information?"

"That is another secret in which Our Lord has entrusted me with. You will learn soon enough who it is and why it was kept a secret. Just know that I wasn't the only spy placed within the Order to retrieve information."

Bellatrix opens her mouth to speak when an image appears in the seemingly empty portrait over the witch's desk. "It is time," the picture of Walburga Black states before turning her back to the room to head back to her original picture at 12 Grimauld Place.

"I am surprised that your idiotic cousin never banished his mother from her portrait after they decided to use the house as a meeting place." Snape states as he stares at the empty portrait. His left eyebrow raised in mild amusement.

"I am too actually, but he never knew that Aunt Walburga had gave us a portrait. He thought that his mother only had the one that is in the house made. Why else would she have used a sticking charm on her portrait if not to spy after death?" Bellatrix smirks as she heads towards the fireplace to activate the floo. "You heard what she said, Severus..." She cackles as the green flames jump higher in the hearth. "It is time."