Thanks to: Nikki graywood and Colin Creevey for reviewing!

Questions:

Why does Cassia worry about the Trace on Antonius? How on earth would they even keep track of it?
Not knowing exactly how it works she worries that 1) they took the Trace with them when they tried to evacuate so can still track it or 2) that having taken London, the Shadows now have access to the Trace and can track them

Even if they could, why would they focus so incessantly on a single boy doing underage magic when Hogwarts is gone and they have fifty other more important things to worry about?
Because he ran away to join a vigilante group

What does the Ministry think? Are kids no longer allowed to do magic now Hogwarts is caput or do they just not care about underage magic anymore?
The latter, for the timebeing they don't really care if kids do magic and have bigger things to worry about

The whole compartment – maybe even the whole train – lurched violently, Cassia was thrown out of it well out of his sight while Antonius himself and Hope were just flung like clothes in a washing machine. And then he didn't know, everything was just happening moving too fast. He heard his dog yelp, he felt pain as he was slammed into the compartment - or maybe the boxes, it was hard to tell – and bounced off it and outside then.

He felt the air slicing through him, he caught a brief glimpse of train compartments but it was too brief and too dark to tell anything as he was thrown down into the dirt. He bounced painfully off that, was aware that he was tumbling while train compartments fell around him like raindrops. A scream was torn from him as he felt his leg wrenched agonizingly, accompanied by a sickening crunching snapping sound.

Antonius lay there on his stomach in the dirt, trying to breathe through the pain. He could hear screaming but it sounded further off, he could hear more explosions but they also sounded far off. He couldn't see anything from where he was though, the faintest of blue lights provided some light but it wasn't close enough to illuminate much and the source was behind him. He could only see vague shapes that looked like train compartments, no sign of Cassia or Hope. He tried to move to look but couldn't, aside from the wave of pain it caused there was still a weight on him that had him pinned.

"ANTONIUS!" Cassia's voice yelled through the darkness desperately.

"CASSIA!" Antonius called back, feeling relieved as to speak she had to be okay.

He heard the scrabbling of feet from somewhere a lot closer than the screams and explosions, it was actually his dog not his sister he saw however as the giant mutt limped towards him and he again was relieved to know she was okay. For now. He reached out to Hope as best he could as she approached, also noticing a light out of the corner of his eye.

"ANTON?! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Cassia's voice shouted out once more, this time closer and coming from the direction of the light.

"OVER HERE!" Antonius yelled back again, trying to wave at the light.

It seemed to work as the light ran towards him, the light of a wand which was indeed being held by his sister. She was looking almost as battered as he felt, her clothes were torn in place and he saw a myriad of minor cuts and scrapes across her skin. Her left arm was also hanging in a way that didn't look very normal, she looked very concerned.

"Okay, okay," Cassia muttered, seemingly almost to herself as her eyes skimmed the situation, "I'm going to have to levitate the compartment off you."

"Are you sure you can levitate something that big?" Antonius wondered, worried both at that and the fact the weight on the pain that was his leg was a train compartment."

"I have to be. Wingardium Leviosa!" Cassia cried with confidence, twirling her wand.

Antonius slowly felt the pressure lift from his leg while his sister slowly raised her wand, her face a mask of intense concentration. Finally she flicked the wand and released the spell, it was followed by a whoosh and a loud thud as it was cast off. He glanced back to his legs and saw he was lying half on the track, his left leg was on the dirt slop off it and the right… Antonius resisted the urge to gag looking at the right. The right was on the track and it was bent, not on the knee like legs should bend but his shin.

"It's okay, you can lean on me for support and it'll be okay," Cassia decided, not looking as confident as she sounded.

"My leg is toast, I don't think it's that simple," Antonius pointed out as his sister tried to sling his arm around her shoulder anyway, "Cassia, I can't walk."

"Well hope then because you can't stay here," Cassia insisted, hauling him up anyway and he screamed in pain as the movement aggravated his tortured leg even though he was only standing on the good foot. He clung to Cassia, trying desperately to breathe through the pain before they jumped at a nearish explosion, "I'm sorry it hurts but we'll die if we don't move. Or maybe be captured. Convaris says she's attacking someplace else but there's random explosions going off for miles like she doesn't have control so I don't know if they're taking prisoners but either way is bad."

"We can't get very far," Antonius said through teeth gritted against the pain as Cassia tried to take a step, moving sending shockwaves of pain through his leg even though he tried keep it still.

"Convaris says there's a farmhouse not too far from here, we can hole up there."

"Cassia, I can't," Antonius insisted, feeling tears of pain roll unwittingly down his cheeks as Cassia had them hobble on.

"You can, you're already doing it. Come on, we're almost there."

"We've barely even started moving!"

"And the first step is the hardest, come on!" Cassia urged, forcing them to keep going regardless.

And so they moved further from the sounds and the wreck, the sounds becoming more distant but Antonius was barely aware of that. All he knew was pain, his leg felt unbelievably raw and every step jostled it – no matter how careful he moved, although Cassia was forcing them to move so quickly didn't help – renewing the agony.

He had no idea how much time passed or how long they moved, it had been going dark anyway and either the Shadow Master's darkness remained the whole journey or it faded when it should already be dark but either way it was dark. The only light was Cassia's wand in his face which was annoying but seemed to help keep him awake, banishing the dark specks that sometimes danced around his vision when the pain was bad. It felt like an eternity, like he was trapped in this methodical torturous pain.

The only other things he did notice was the cold, the cold only worsened and by the time they reached the farmhouse he was shivering violently. He was also tired, so tired that Cassia could've dropped him and he was sure he'd be asleep the second he hit the ground. She'd been speaking to him he was sure but he hadn't really been listening, it was going in one ear and out the other because paying attention was hard. He was sure she'd told him they'd arrived too but it wasn't until she banged on a door right in front of his face that he really noticed.

"HELLO?!" Cassia yelled at the silence as she hammered her hand into the door, making him aware the first time they'd either moved far enough from the attack to not hear it anymore or that it stopped, "Hello?! Is there anybody home?! We were attacked and we're injured, we could really use some help!"

Silence.

"I don't think anyone's home," Antonius croaked and realized how thirsty he was.

"Alohomora," Cassia cast instead, waving her wand at the door and he heard it click open.

"Dad really taught you that spell?"

"He said I'd probably never need it but it was useful to know nonetheless just in case," Cassia answered before kicking the door open, making him anxious again as it occurred to him this was someone's home.

"So now we're breaking and entering?!" Antonius hissed at her.

"I did knock," Cassia pointed out as if that justified everything while she barged in, taking Antonius with her.

Cassia hauled him through a door on the left which led to a quaint living room, there was a massive old fireplace opposite a television with two large striped couches placed in between the two. She led him over to them and laid him down on the right one, he felt a flood of relief as he could finally stop aggravating the extension of pain that was his leg.

He sunk into the comfortable couch, his eyes flickering from sleep before he was jostled abruptly awake by a roar of flames. He opened his eyes to see Cassia had just lit the fireplace up with her wand, his frozen body welcomed the warmth.

"Don't go to sleep yet, we have to do something about your leg," Cassia told him, gesturing to the bloody mess he'd rather not look at so instead he looked at Hope who was sniffing everything in sight excitedly.

"Why? We're not doing anything about your dislocated shoulder," Antonius countered tiredly, just wanting to sleep.

"Is that's what's wrong with it?" Cassia wondered curiously, looking at her limp arm, "That's the thing you can just pop it back in the socket, right?"

"Right but I wouldn't recommend it since we don't know- Hey!" Antonius was forced to change his sentence as Cassia grabbed her shoulder and shoved at it, crying out in pain as she did so, "We don't know what we're doing, you could make it worse!"

"No, I got it," Cassia said through gritted teeth, looking pain as she tried again except this time twisting it slightly and there was a pop as it seemed to slot back into place. She rubbed it while moving it slightly, still looking in pain, "Still hurts but I got it."

"Or you made it worse! Are you mad?!"

"Maybe but I'll take the risk, two arms is better than one and I have no idea how soon we can get healing," Cassia answered, breathing heavily for a minute, "So now your leg."

"You don't know anything about medical care!" Antonius protested incredulously.

"I know you're not supposed to have bones sticking out of you! And I know people can bleed to death!" Cassia counted readily and Antonius did become acutely aware of the dampness around his lower leg, "I'm pretty sure if you haven't lost a lot of blood already you will if we don't do something. We can just put it back in and bandage then it'll be fine until we can get you real medical care, simple."

"I don't think it's that simple and I'm pretty sure you're supposed to clean the wounds before you bandage them anyway."

"Well that's easy, we can do that. I'll go look for the stuff."

"Cassia!" Antonius protested as she made to leave, "I don't think this is a good idea and it's stealing."

"Well what do you think is a good idea, huh?!" Cassia snapped back at him, "All you do is complain, at least I'm trying! You'll die if we do nothing so if you're not going to say anything useful then shut up and let me help you!"

Antonius fell silent, finding nothing to say or add as she left. No wonder his friends had kicked him out of Gray, even Cassia thought he was being annoying. He lay there and listened to the soothingly crackling of the fire, finding his eyes sliding shut again. Everyone would be better off if he never woke up…

"Hope, no! This is not your drinking water!" Cassia's frantic cry snapped his eyes back open to see he'd returned with some supplies, including a bowl of water that Hope was trying to drink. Cassia managed to keep it out of her reach though and put it on a side table beside the couch, leaving Hope to go lie down and sulk, "I'll get you something in a minute, we have to fix Anton's leg first."

"Oh great," Antonius groaned unhappily.

"Come on, I put my shoulder back so putting your bone back shouldn't be that bad," Cassia insisted optimistically but not thoroughly convincingly as she knelt by his wounded leg, "So… are you ready?"

"No," Antonius muttered and squeezed his eyes shut.

He felt a painful pressure as she put her hands on his wounded leg, he gritted his teeth and tried to brace himself while he heard her take a deep breath. It hurt. So much. He screamed, he screamed uncontrollably as agony tore through his leg as Cassia shoved the bone back inside the limb. He wasn't entirely sure he didn't pass out from the pain as he lay there shaking, failing to blink back the stream of tears.

"There. It's okay, it's all over now," Cassia was saying and he flicked his eyes back open to see his leg was… flat again, she was now gently cleaning the blood off his shin with a damp cloth. The warm water was refreshing at least even though it still hurt, thankfully not as bad as when she was setting it.

"Just don't do it again," Antonius breathed, earning a glance from her and noticed Hope was now lapping up water from a different bowl of water.

"Like I'd ever want to do that again, if you could not drop another train compartment on your leg then I'd be pretty happy with that."

"You and me both," Antonius sighed and looked at his wounded leg she was cleaning, he swallowed, "So… how bad do you think the damage is?"

"I don't know, I don't know anything about medical care," Cassia answered with a shrug as she wrung the bloody rag back into the bowl of now bloody water, "But it has to be better than it was."

"Yeah," Antonius admitted as she started bandaging his leg, "Do you think the owners are going to be mad when they come home and find you've used their bandages?"

"Well they're on vacation for two weeks, if they even make it back we'll be long gone by then."

"How could you possibly know that?" Antonius wondered in bewilderment.

"They have it marked on their calendar in the kitchen, Mary and Todd Chamberlain are pretty good at keeping that up to date. They have 'church' marked every Sunday so I think they'd be fine sparing the bandages eight years out of date that they have, pretty sure their god commands it."

"You're really… thorough," Antonius pointed out, not sure whether to be impressed or concerned.

"Well part of being an Auror is investigation so I gotta be, especially if I'm going to be good enough to be Head Auror," Cassia answered as if it was obvious while she continued to bandage his leg, for some reason he thought it looked off.

"You still think you'll do that?"

"I don't think, I know. I'm Cassia Motherfucking Ashain, remember that name."

"But your middle name is Skye…"

"Not when I legally change it to Motherfucking when I come of age."

"But you can't change it to that!" Antonius protested incredulously, "Why that of all things? Why not something normal? Do you really want them to be introduced as Cassia Motherfucking Ashain when you're standing at the altar on your wedding day?"

"Yeah, if the guy doesn't laugh then I'm marrying the wrong guy," Cassia answered as she finished bandaging, "Well there, it's done. I'll see if I can find some blankets and we can sleep here on these couches for tonight."

"Really? You don't think we should keep moving?" Antonius wondered in surprise, as much as he wanted to rest he wasn't sure it was for the best. They did want to rejoin Gray as soon as possible, they still had to save Sebastian and the others left behind and he wanted to help, "The Shadow Master did just attack."

"Like I said, she attacked someplace else and the explosions were just far reaching then we moved even further away than that. If she randomly appears and attacks where we are, it's just as likely as if we're moving and there's nothing we can really do about it. I think we're better off just getting some rest for now, the road to Plymouth just got even longer so it doesn't change much to sleep for the night."

"I guess that makes sense, I… I just don't want to slow us down," Antonius admitted unhappily, trying to keep his eyes open again.

"You're not, the Shadows are," Cassia insisted firmly, he still felt somewhat bad but nodded all the same as that was also true, "Do you want anything?"

"Water would be nice," Antonius muttered meekly but his throat did feel parched.

She nodded and left, leaving him with the snoring Hope and Antonius found his eyes closing again. He felt very beat and warmth of the fire was very relaxing, it brought to mind home with his dad back in Hogwarts. He wasn't sure if he was just thinking or dreaming as it came to mind being young, cuddled up to his dad by the fire because he didn't feel very well. He felt safe there, he wanted to be with his dad.

"Here," Cassia's voice said softly, pulling his heavy eyelids back open to see she was putting a blanket around him, "And your water is on the table beside you."

"Thanks," Antonius offered and sat up a little to reach for his drink, gulping down the cool water while Cassia lay on the couch opposite him and pulled a blanket over herself. He finished his drink and lay back down, pulling the warmth blanket over himself and gazing over at his sister. He felt lucky to have her, "You know for everything, you're pretty amazing."

"I know," Cassia yawned sleepily, her eyes already closed and he felt himself slipping too, "I'm Cassia Motherfucking Ashain."

"Come on, Bertie, eat up," John Avery was urging Michael's little brother gently, "It tastes good, see Orous likes it."

Orous Knox froze mid-chewing as Bertie's hazel eyes glanced to his right at Orous sitting beside him, John would decide to drag him into the conversation when he'd just shoved the last of his cereal into his mouth and couldn't speak but had to kind of nod instead. Bertie was extremely anxious he'd learned and when they'd switched the channel off the old rock videos Lysel only insisted on watching every waking second to check the news, hearing of the continued attacks by the Shadow Master had sent the kid into a panic attack. They'd spent ages trying to calm him down, ultimately needed to give him a Calming Draught and he was still somewhat afraid and put off eating his breakfast.

Why was this even Orous' problem? Because of his bad back he was forced to sit to eat and the couch beside Bertie had been the only available one, there were too many people in this one muggle house. Varanian was only starting to move people to the new base now which wasn't big enough anyway, that was why Orous and his twin were going home today. They'd still be involved – they didn't have their licenses yet because of their July birthday but they were perfectly capable of apparation so traveling to Gray wasn't an issue, that July birthday was almost upon them so they were practically of age so no one could say they were too young either – just not sleeping in the same place.

"Lysel! What have I told you?!" Michael snapped as he stalked into the room in a fury, the tall werewolf with wild brown hair and mismatched eyes had had a very short temper of late. He snatched up the remote and lowered the volume of the television, "Keep it down, if I can hear it from across the hall it's too loud!"

"But it's my favorite," the toddler whinged, the golden eyed young werewolf kneeling in front of the screen as usual.

"Sick people need rest over there!"

"Maybe the music would of help them get better," Lysel suggested innocently, Michael answered with a glare and handed the remote to Latimer as the pockmarked teen walked into the room.

"Keep that away from him."

"Erm… sure," Latimer muttered in reply but Michael was already storming off, "Who am I keeping it from?"

"Ron," Lysel lied effortlessly and Latimer handed him the remote.

"Well here, don't let Ron have it for… some reason," Latimer handed it off.

"Yessir!" Lysel agreed and ran off back to the television, cranking the volume back up.

"So Orous, are you ready to go yet?"

"Does he look like he's ready to go?" his biological father Roman answered for him as Orous desperately tried to swallow the cereal, Roman seemed to have been trying to spend time with him even though now was not the most ideal time, "His mouth is still full."

"Well try hurry, the sooner things get less crowded the sooner we can actually do something about the Shadows," Latimer pointed out as he turned to leave, Bertie tensing at the mention of them when he'd been just about to take a mouthful of cereal off John.

"Damn it, Latimer," John complained irritably but he'd already left, instead the eldest of Michael's siblings - Agnes - was running in while Orous finally swallowed the lump of cereal.

"Orous, I need to know something really, really, really important," Agnes said to him, the half of the poor kid's face still capable of making expression looked concerned, the other half was just a mess of horrific claw scars.

"What is it?" Orous asked worriedly while John went back to comforting and coaxing Bertie to eat, not sure what it could be.

"I need to know what Hugo's favorite color is," Agnes told him in a tone of the utmost seriousness, he tried very hard not to look at her like she'd gone crazy even though he felt like she had.

"Um… why?"

"Because I'm helping give out the food to the injured and I don't know what bowl to bring Hugo since I don't know what his favorite color is," Agnes elaborated as if it was a real problem.

"I really don't think he cares what color bowl his cereal comes in."

"Yes but I need to make it special for him, he's injured and deserves the best treatment. You know? And that includes the color of his bowl being his favorite, or at least one that he likes. What- What if I pick a color he hates? He'll think I'm a terrible person."

"I'm pretty sure he wouldn't think that," Orous insisted in confusion, "I don't know what his favorite color is anyway."

"Well you're no help then," Agnes complained and stalked off.

"Mummy likes lilac," Lysel offered readily but Agnes shook her head dismissively.

"That doesn't help me."

"But she's injurned too!" Lysel called after her as Agnes continued out.

"There you go!" John cried happily and Orous glanced back to see Bertie had finally taken a spoonful, Orous swore this was the most he'd ever heard John speak, "It tastes good, huh?"

"Okay breakfast is finally done," Crystal announced with relief as she came in the room from the other side, Michael's mother and the former Death Eater both immediately froze at the realization they were in the same room, "Did I say finally? I meant nearly."

"No its okay, I have to uh…" John stammered out, leaping to his feet and trying not to look at Crystal while she tried not to look at him, "Go check on the… hallway because of the… wallpaper."

"Sounds important," Crystal nodded while John fled out the other door like a dragon was chasing him, Orous had no idea what was with them but they were avoiding each other like their lives depended on it.

"It wasn't even a coherent sentence," Roman pointed out incredulously as Crystal took John's seat the other side of Bertie.

"It sounded fine to me," Crystal lied lamely as she took over trying to coax Bertie to eat.

"Then I think you should have someone check your ears."

"Roman," Orous sighed, earning a glance from the muddy brown eyes.

"What? If she thinks that was a coherent sentence she misheard and could be a problem with her ears so it should be looked into."

"I finished my breakfast," Orous said instead to change the subject, deciding to not explain what had clearly gone over Roman's head.

"Oh good, I'll take your bowl out for you," Roman offered, standing and coming over to take it while Orous stood.

"I got it."

"Your back is still healing! You have to take it easy," Roman insisted fiercely, snatching the bowl from him.

"It's a bowl," Orous pointed out incredulously but Roman was already leaving with it.

Orous sighed to himself and stood, heading out and passing Michael angrily returning to probably complain about the volume again. Yes, Orous would not miss the excess time here, if anything he was looking forward to only being here when necessary for the war. They still needed to figure a way to save those left behind in the heavily fortified Hogwarts and the attacks… well, at the very least they could help the survivors of these attacks. By all accounts the Shadows actually weren't taking over the places they were destroying and enslaving humanity, the Shadow Master was just raining destruction down upon the populace then storming off. She was pissed, Orous didn't know all the details but she was enraged. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, especially when that woman was as powerful as Sal.

"Orous!" a very welcome voice called and he turned to see his girlfriend, Lily Potter, leaving the dining turned hospital room to come over to him. She had warm brown eyes behind oval glasses she despised and had almost shoulder length red hair that to her chagrin was as untamable as her brother's, he thought it was cute though and that she was very beautiful, "I'm glad I didn't miss you."

"I wouldn't leave without saying goodbye," Orous assured her, encircling his arms around her and resting his chin on the top of her head, "How's Al?"

"Still no change," Lily admitted, remaining in the embrace and letting him rub her back soothingly. Her brother Albus had been badly injured escaping Hogwarts, he still hadn't woken up, "Hogan said he was doing better though, he popped by earlier to check on everyone. Said Al was stable now."

"Stable's good."

"It's not great though, it's not getting better and waking up."

"At least he's not getting any worse," Orous offered, trying to stay positive for her.

"Are you ready to go, Orous?" he found himself asked yet again, forcing them to break apart their embrace to see the speaker. This time his non-identical twin, the deaf Maurice Rivers who was clutching at the translator necklace which converted speech to words for him to read.

"I'll see you later," Lily told him, giving Orous a peck on the lips and he gave her a farewell hug, "Apparently there's breakfast so I should eat, be back soon."

"I will," Orous promised as Lily headed towards the kitchen, he turned back to his brother feeling kind of annoyed at the interruption. He actually worried a great deal about his relationship with Lily, her other brother James was a Shadow who had murdered his best friend – who was James' own cousin no less – and Orous was going to kill him as revenge. He worried how she'd take that.

"Did I interrupt your goodbye?" Maurice wondered.

"Yes."

"Sorry, I just really want to get going," Maurice offer apologetically, he'd also been injured in the escape which was why they'd had to wait until he was medically cleared to leave, "I'm looking forward to going home to Dad and I want put some protective enchant-"

"Yes?" Roman interjected, half-eagerly and half-nervously as he came over to them. Maurice looked at him with an unreadable expression, they had a kind of complicated past. In fact, Orous wasn't sure they'd even spoken in years.

"What do you want?" Maurice questioned shortly, the brisk tone skewering Roman's expression to solely nervous.

"You said my name."

"No I didn't."

"You did, I heard you say 'Dad,'" Roman pointed out and Maurice's blank face faltered to surprise for a second.

"Oh," Maurice blinked with his oceanic eyes, looking a little embarrassed, "I'm sorry, by Dad I was talking about Cade. I started calling him that recently and… well, he doesn't seem to mind."

"But… But I'm your Dad," Roman stammered out, looking hurt.

"Well Cade's been more of a Dad to me in the past few years then you have my entire life," Maurice snapped, unshed anger eating into his words which he seemed to regret or made an attempt to reign in anyway while Roman just looked even more hurt.

"I- I couldn't, the Shadows-"

"I know, okay?! I know you were forced to work for them, I know it's not really your fault, I know you had your soul scrambled and you've been going through a lot lately. I get it but…" Maurice cut him off readily and paused a little, Roman watching solemnly, "I don't know, I just don't want to talk about this right now."

"I understand," Roman muttered meekly, hanging his head and Maurice turned away.

"When you're ready, Orous, I'll wait outside."

"Okay," Orous said even though Maurice couldn't hear and had already walked off, he sighed and instead turned to Roman and gave him a hug. Cade had raised Orous from infancy and would always be his dad to him too but… well he liked Roman well enough, they'd gotten more time together in recent years and he felt for his biological dad, he still cared about him, "I'll see you soon, Dad."

"Thanks," Roman mumbled quietly, a weak sheepish smile on his face as they pulled apart, "Take care of yourself."

"You too. And let the others know we're off."

"Sure," Roman agreed, giving him a one handed wave as Orous headed out after Maurice who was indeed waiting outside.

"I'll apparate us," Maurice offered, extending his hand which was scarred by layers and layers of words from the Training Tower's blood quills, "No point risking your Trace unless we really have to."

Orous sighed and took his twin's hand, knowing there was no point arguing and he didn't have a good reason for wanting to apparate beyond simply desiring it anyway. Maurice apparated them to outside their house, an extremely new house actually since a few months ago their very dangerous, evil younger half-brother had decided to demolish it so they'd moved. It was a much larger house which was good considering Cade had just adopted an orphaned – by the same half-brother who destroyed their house and caused Orous' back injury no less - infant, he was also fostering the baby's brother and his girlfriend – who had bought the house with him actually - had moved in.

Orous wasted no time in striding over to the door, his gait a little wonky but he was very determinedly not using his cane in the hopes people would stop obsessing over an injury he was pretty much over. He knocked on the door to let them know they had company but also unlocked it since he had a key, he went in with Maurice just as Cade was coming into the hallway. Cade was tall and lanky with a head he kept shaved but blond eyebrows betrayed his hair color, he was a muggle firefighter but he was the best stepdad Orous could've asked for.

"Orous! I'm so glad you're okay, I heard about what happened. I was so worried," Cade offered in greeting, relief flooding his face and he pulled Orous into a hug the second he saw him. Breaking apart only to spot Maurice and gave him a hug as well, Maurice hugged him tightly, "And Maurice, of course."

"Is Tabitha okay?" Maurice asked as they pulled apart and it occurred to Orous for the first time Cade's girlfriend may have been in danger, they didn't live in London but Tabitha worked there as a Healer in St Mungo's.

"Yeah," Cade nodded and signed his answer with his hands as well while backing up, gesturing into the living room where Orous heard a shriek of childish laughter. He peered in and saw the witch was with the baby Caradoc, playing with him and whatever she had done was making him laugh with delight. The foster boy Amadeus was sitting alone on the couch, the mute watched them silently with a blank expression. The three dogs they had hurried over to greet them, tails wagging and Orous petted them briefly, "Just barely though, they were evacuating and she got the last Portkey out with Harry Potter."

"Lily's dad made it then," Orous observed and Cade glanced at him, something in his expression giving him pause, "What?"

"Did you hear about what happened to Ginny Potter?" Cade asked, signing as he spoke for Maurice to not have to use his necklace. They both shook their heads, "She was killed by Cel Rooke, he was a Shadow traitor. He murdered her before freeing the Shadow Master, tried to kill his own son too who she was babysitting. Tab said Harry had been sitting with him the whole time when everyone was evacuating."

"Great," Orous sighed sadly, "How do you tell your girlfriend her mother died?"

"You just have to be honest," Cade offered while Amadeus wandered over, Cade gave the little boy a kind smile, "Hey Amadeus, you remember Orous and Maurice? They were there the day I got you."

'Yes,' Amadeus signed with his hands.

"He knows sign language?" Orous wondered in surprise.

"I'm teaching him," Cade answered simply before looking back to the boy proudly, "Well done, Amadeus."

Amadeus shrugged and wandered off, he was a weird kid by all accounts but he'd also been a through a lot. Even before his parents died, they had not been kind people if the scars they'd left on their own children were anything to go by.

"He doesn't have a lot of self- confidence, we're trying to work on that," Cade explained, giving a sympathetic glance after the boy before turning his focus back to them, "Anyway, it's good to have you back… Will you be staying?"

"What do you mean?" Orous wondered in confusion.

"Come on, just because I'm a muggle it doesn't mean I'm completely stupid," Cade pointed out, continuing to sign for Maurice to follow along although Orous wasn't sure where Cade was going, "I suspected it even before everyone was saying Maurice Rivers and Gray evacuated the majority of Hogwarts saving hundreds of lives while the Headmaster surrendered without trying, then you've been gone days while most everyone who evacuated was home the same night. I know you're both Gray and that that's where you've been."

"You're not surprised?" Maurice inquired curiously.

"Honestly, I'd be more surprised if you weren't by this point," Cade explained and Orous exchanged a sheepish glance with Maurice, he wasn't sure whether to feel bad for being found out or proud that Cade had figured it out.

"Well we were going to stay here but help out with them still so kind of both."

"Okay," Cade nodded seemingly in understanding and acceptance.

"You're okay with that?" Orous wondered, glad but also surprised.

"Why wouldn't I be? I want you to be safe but the world's ending, nowhere is safe and Gray's pretty much the only hope we have so…" Cade explained, trailing off and ending with a shrug, "Plus you're both practically of age, you're old enough to make up your own minds and I respect your decisions."

"Thanks, Dad," Orous offered, smiling in gratitude and giving Cade another hug.

"I'm a muggle and all so I'm pretty useless but… if there actually is anything I can do to help, let me know. We're in this together."