Summary of last Chapter:

- Sirius tells Lily during the ride home on the Hogwarts Express that his grandfather expects her in his personal study, Lily dismisses it before a distressed James tells her it is often use to demand personal services from young muggleborn and halfblood women and that not following such an order could make you an outsider and a career basically impossible

- James begs his father Fleamont to take Lily under his protection but Fleamont refuses so Lily accepts reality and resignes herself to her fate

- In Arcturus' study she tries to take him out but before she can do so she is defeated by him effortlessly

- Breaking down she begs him not to rape her but he promises her he will do no such thing

Chapter 16:

Made a mistake and had the date as 5th June 1976 in last chapter. It has now been corrected to 5th July 1976.

5th July 1976, England, Black Manor:

„Well this is certainly a bit of a mess, my apologies Ms. Evans" said Arcturus to the young woman.

„I find myself curious though Ms. Evans I had specifically told you not to worry about this too much and yet you had a mental breakdown. What has my son told you to make you like that?" asked his fellow Lord, Fleamont Potter. Fleamont was only here due to his and Arcturus' common interest in the survival of the Marauders. In the wizengamot, Arcturus and Fleamont basically never saw eye to eye and Arcturus would certainly never call Fleamont his friend but they had a healthy respect for eachother.

„James didn't believe you Lord Potter" said Lily who by now knew how disrespectful she had been in the past to purebloods of noble status.

„But that's not important now, is it?" she asked „I'd love to know what you have called me for if it wasn't... well you know" Lily said stuttering in the end.

Both Lords looked at her apparently searching for something and finding it before Fleamont said

„Well Ms. Evans it is quite simple. Lord Black and I have a common interest in the survival of our sons and their friends. You are now the girlfriend of my son and since his happiness is important to me it is my duty to see to your survival." Fleamont motioned to Arcturus who continued

„Since you have become Sirius' friend recently that duty is mine aswell. You might be a muggleborn but I recognise talent and ambition when I see it. You Ms. Evans are exceptionally talented and you have showed no signs of squandering it. Now to why you are here. We want you to join the group called the Marauders in their yearly summer training sessions here in Black Manor. You seem surprised which I am glad you are. The four were not allowed to reveal that to anyone after all".

Lily was stunned by this revelation, James and the others had been training in Black Manor? No wonder she was currently unable to beat him in dueling where as she had trounced him in the quarter finals of Gryffindors dueling competition just 2 years ago! She knew that there was no way other than to accept this. The knowledge alone such an old house could give her... no refusing would not only look bad it would be the dumbest thing she'd have done in her life so far.

„Alright I accept, I agree that learning under a teacher you deem appropriatef for me will prove beneficial in my dueling skills" she said before raising an eyebrow „What will I be taught in though? And who will teach me?" she asked. She saw Lord Black give a few galleons to Lord Potter who grinned in satisfaction and stood up

„Splendid Ms. Evans, Lord Black here had doubts that you would accept but I knew you would." said Fleamont looking at the girl „What you will be taught in? That would be Charms. James, Professor MacGonagall and Professor Flitwick agreed that Charms were your strongest subject by far. Lord Black's cousin, Alphard Black has agreed to tutor you in Charms. He doesn't have a master degree in the subject but he might as well have from what I have heard and seen him do in dueling competitions in the early 60s. Now Ms. Evans any questions?" he said. Lily thought for a moment.

„Not to you Lord Potter, but I have a few personal questions for Lord Black. First let me allow to express my gratitude for this opportunity" she said bowing her head in respect to the two Lords who smiled at her adherence to pureblood customs.

„This is not needed Ms. Evans but greatly appreciated" said Arcturus and Fleamont agreed nodding

„Indeed. Now since I don't seem to be needed anymore I will take my leave for today. Thank you Lord Black for the wonderful lunch earlier" he said and after seeing Arcturus nodding, he left the room leaving Lily and Arcturus alone in the room.
„Hmmm Ms. Evans, you said you had personal questions for me?" he asked to which she nodded wanting to start with the first one. He held up a hand however.

„Ms. Evans, while personal questions are generally permitted, please understand that I will not every question you might have" Arcuturus told the young woman.

„I understand Lord Black... Uh.. Well I am just gonna start alright?... So uh I wanted to know something. Why are you helping me Lord Black? I can understand Lord Potter helping me, I am his son's girlfriend after all but why you? You said yourself that I am a muggleborn and I thought since you... uh are generally considered a...well a dark house you know? I thought that you would rather join Voldemort like Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black has in the past. No offense meant of course Lord Black, I am just curious" she said hoping she wasn't disrespecting the powerful Lord in front of her.

„No offense taking Ms. Evans" he replied and she deflated in relief „Hmmm how to explain? It is true that House Black is a dark house. Considering the Dark Arts we might possibily even be the House that uses the Dark Arts the most. I can see your displeasure and can somewhat understand but it is as it is. Our reputation is mostly earned aswell, the Black Alliance in the wizengamot is generally considered as the Dark Moderate faction. Don't forget the following however Ms. Evans. Just because someone uses the Dark Arts doesn't mean he or she agrees with what Voldemort is doing. The fact is that a muggleborn could technically become more skilled in the Dark Arts than Bellatrix for example but even then I cannot see them joining the death eaters whatsoever. A halfblood? Maybe. But not a muggleborn. As to why I am indirectly helping you Ms. Evans is that I quite frankly do not like Voldemort. Whatever that man is hoping to accomplish with what he's doing, it cannot be saving the pureblood way of life. You must have seen the headlines in the Daily Prophet right? I do not want to know how many pureblood families have gone extinct already due to his actions, how many are close to dying out because of him or how many more he will take down in the future. Voldemort is an extreme danger not just to Magical Britain but to Magical Society as a whole. His repeated attacks on muggles has started to threaten the Statute of Secrecy and it is only a matter of time before the ICW starts to intervene in the matter. There is also one simple fact. Blacks do not bown down to anyone, not to Dumbledore, not to the Ministry and certainly not to some self proclaimed Dark Lord." Arcturus said passionately giving Lily more questions than answers.

„But then why are you not fighting against him? You said yourself that Voldemort is a danger to the world so why aren't you trying to stop him? I may not know a lot about House Black but from what James told me, your house is generally placed amongst the most powerful houses in Magical Britain. Surely you would be able to help in his defeat Lord Black" said Lily.

„If only it was so simple Ms. Evans.. if only.. unfortunately, it isn't. I am sorry to say but you might want to start looking for accomodations outside Britain. Yes you heard me right... I don't believe the Ministry (or Dumbledore for that matter) will be able to stop Voldemort in his tracks anytime soon. Not even with Minchum's efforts. Not now. Maybe like 5 years ago, when Voldemort had only a very small amount of influence in the wizengamot but not anymore." he said sighing with a expression that signaled his unhappiness at the situation. Lily thought about that for a moment before an idea came to her.

„Hmm I know this is unconventional but the situation seems bad enough so why... why doesn't the ministry use guns to take the death eaters down?" she asked and became annoyed when he laughed.

„Hah I appreciate your concern Ms. Evans but what could these long sticks that take what a minute to reload really accomplish against dark wizards? Even if we overlooked the hit to our pride as wizards that would be, anything muggle can't accomplish what magic cannot accomplish, it's as simple as that" said Arcturus waving his hand dismissevely which frustrated Lily.

„But muggles have even landed on the moon Lord Black!" she said with a raised voice.

„Utter hogwash Ms. Evans! Do not lie to me young lady, it's impossible to ever reach the moon not even with magic" he said with narrowed eyes.

„But they have Lord Black! I know you are generally unaware of the muggle world but this is ridiculous. Lord Black, seeing that you are still not believing me I formally invite you and other members of your family to the muggle world. I will be your guide of course. Do you accept?" Lily asked Arcturus bowing to him in respect to his position. Arcturus was amused at the proposal.

„Hmpf why not? The last time I was in the muggle world was shortly before I joined the war against Grindelwald. And seeing that I still have two weeks before the next meeting at the Wizengamot yes I do accept. I await you in two days on the 7th July in the entrance hall of Black Manor. I wish you a nice day Ms. Evans and I look forward to our little adventure"

7th July 1976, England, Leicester:

Arcturus, Melania and Orion were speechless as Lily lead them through the muggle city known as Leicester. They had dressed in what they had assumed was appropriate muggle fashion but they knew that fashion had to have changed massively during the last few decades. They knew that there were far more muggles than magicals in Britain but they could have never predicted that there were more than 300.000 people in this city alone. To think that Leicester was only the 10th largest city. And all of these advancements!

The buildings, the horseless carriages, everything! But what had hurt their pride the most were the books on sciences, major inventions, and space travel.

'To think that Ms. Evans was right when she claimed that the muggles had landed on the moon.' Arcturus thought with dismay. It may have not been the British but the Americans that accomplished such a feat but they were muggles nontheless.

What worried them even more was a giant book on Military History of Muggle Europe since an event the muggles called World War One.

'These Nuclear Weapons... One bomb capable of destroying a whole city...' he thought. Arcturus knew what bombs were of course, he had been in his 30s when the Germans had bombed London in the early 1940s and knew the damage they could cause.

'But this is on another level entirely. And then the fact that there are more than 20000 of these damned things on the planet. 20000! If they decided to ever use them they'd ruin the whole planet! Luckily it seems that they know that themselves and only 2 were fired so far and that was around the time when Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald'

But it wasn't just these Nuclear Weapons. Tanks, Jets, Carrier Ships and even their Infantry Weapons. All absolutely lethal. The muggles' ability to wage war was brutal and worryingly effective.

'We wouldn't stand a chance against them if it wasn't for spells like the Imperius.' he thought dismayed at the stagnation of Magical Britain. The thought that only an unforgivable was standing between them and potential destruction by people everyone believed to be absolutely harmless didn't sit right with him, oh no it definetely didn't.

„And here we are. Orion, Arcturus, Melania, I welcome you to my home!" Lily said happily as they approached their home. Petunia wasn't home fortunately, Lily didn't want that confrontation to happen, thank you very much.

**End of Chapter**

Characters in this chapter and the amount of chapters they have appeared in so far:

- Lily Evans (4)

- Arcturus Black (10)

- Melania Black (2)

- Fleamont Potter (2)

- Orion Black (7)