Hello again, today you can read chapter 5. I hope you will enjoy it. For any ideas or wishes how the story should continue, just write a comment with your thoughts.

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After Maxym had sneaked out of the hall and taken the cloak off again in the toilet, she took the lift upstairs. There she went back through the atrium to the fireplaces. She was lucky to be able to use a free fireplace right away and get back to the headmaster's office.

The flames diminished and she looked into the friendly face of Professor Longbottom. »Hello Maxym, did everything work? Did you find your way around?«

Maxym stepped out of the fireplace and patted her things down. »Yes, everything worked. Thank you again for letting me use the fireplace.«

»Of course. Were you able to answer their questions then?« the headmaster asked.

Maxym nodded. »Yes. They had many questions and some were provocative. But I think I was able to communicate my answers neutrally and honestly.«

»Very well. I expected nothing less from you.« The professor looked at the hourglass. »You're just in time for dinner, too.«

Maxym said goodbye and went to the great hall. There, most everyone was already seated at their seats. She quickly caught to the Slytherin table times sat down with Scorp and Al, as there was no more room at Katelyn's.

They both looked at her expectantly. »So?« asked Scorp.

»Was pretty good. Your grandparents seemed grateful.« She concealed from him that they were both caged.

»Of course they're grateful,« he defended her. »Anyway, Granny is,« he added quietly.

»Did you pick up anything else?« Al got excited and changed the subject.

Maxym looked around unobtrusively and noticed how close the other Slytherins were sitting to them. »Not here. Too many ears,« she murmured to them.

»I'll report it to the others that there's an extraordinary meeting,« Al whispered and Maxym thanked him.

»We have a lot to report too,« Scorp said and grinned at them. His sister did not press further. For one thing, they were not undisturbed. For another, she was too exhausted.

So she went straight to the dungeons after dinner, got ready for the night and was glad to be able to lie in bed after this day.

Her roommate arrived a little later and while she was removing her make-up, Maxym told her about the interrogation. »They were locked in cages. I mean, they were never nice to me. But no one deserved that.«

»How horrible and barbaric.« Katelyn shook her head in shock. »Was the interrogation bad then?«

»It wasn't nice. They were very provocative and indirectly implied everything to the two of them through their questions. First and foremost, the Voldemort thing.«

»Yeah, that's so bad. I mean, that was over twenty years ago. How long are they going to keep harping on that?«

»It seems to me that they only have two reasons and that's why they're arresting everyone,« Maxym speculated.

»What do you mean?«

»Well, either they arrest someone for having links with Death Eaters or else they are suspected of having direct links with reincarnates, as with the Potters. There are no other reasons left.«

Katelyn thought about those words for a long time before replying, »You're right about that, really. And the inspectors do the dirty work.« She fell silent and looked down.

»I'm sure your father is fine. He's tough.« Maxym knew immediately what her best friend had been thinking of.

»He is, but Azkaban is a cruel place and he doesn't deserve that.«

Maxym got up from the bed and went to her friend, who by now was sitting in her bed herself, and hugged her. »It will all work out, believe me.«

»Aren't you worried?« Katelyn looked at her friend. There was nothing judgmental in her voice just pure curiosity.

This time it was Maxym who thought long and hard. Was she worried? Was she afraid for her biological father? She honestly did not know. But she did know that he was innocent of the charges and that he had been unjustly imprisoned. This injustice made her angry and was one of the reasons she was in the Rebels.

»Won't you reconsider and join us?« she therefore asked her friend, not answering her original question.

»With your Rebels?«, Katelyn raised her right eyebrow sceptically.

»Yes, that way you can do something and not sit here waiting for others. I'd rather be someone who takes action than someone who just sits on the sideline.«

»And you really think you can make a difference?«

Maxym shrugged. »I don't know, but at least I can say we tried. What will come of it in the end, no one can predict.«

»I'll think about it.« That was the end of the subject. Both girls, after Katelyn informed them of what Maxym had missed in the afternoon, went to bed and quickly fell asleep.

The next morning they were fortunately able to sleep in as it was Saturday. After breakfast together, Katelyn surprisingly went to study. When Maxym asked, she only answered that she had to catch up on some things for the exams and she wanted to surprise her father with a good grade.

Maxym walked alone into the Slytherin common room. In one of the cosy armchairs near the burning fireplace, Scorp sat reading a magazine. Maxym couldn't make out the title, but could bet it was about Quidditch. He looked up as she dropped into the armchair opposite him.

»Ah, there you are at last. I've been looking all over for you,« he complained.

»I can see that.« His sister pointed at the magazine.

Scorp waved it off, put the magazine on the table that stood in front of the fireplace and rose. »Come, the others will be here in a moment.« With that he walked towards the exit.

With difficulty, Maxym also stood up again and followed her brother. »The meeting is on now?«

»Yep, that's why I was looking for you. Al has some errands to run, he'll be here soon too.«

That explained his absence, but Maxym wondered why the two of them were acting so conspiratorial. It was she who had the information, wasn't it? »So what happened while I was away?«

»You're about to find out.« Scorp didn't let on any more than that and continued walking towards the Room of Requirement.

While the Malfoy siblings were walking to the Room of Requirement, the Potter brothers were already on their way to the Whomping Willow. They walked extra detours, turning around repeatedly and being careful that no one followed them. The main body of inspectors had left the castle grounds after Ted's arrest, but every now and then one of the men trudged through the corridors, hoping to find someone on the run. But so far they had no luck and James as well as Albus would not do them the favour of helping.

When they were sure that no one had followed them and was watching, they went through the secret passage by the willow to the Shrieking Shack. There, the cloaking spells were active again, but as soon as the marauders realised that familiars were coming, they dissolved the spells.

»What are you doing? Why are you here? This is far too dangerous? You could be caught with us and be co-accused.« Remus was visibly incensed by what appeared to him to be reckless behaviour on their part.

However, James defended himself. »You're lucky we're coming. You won't get any information without us.«

Knowingly, James Senior and Sirius looked at each other. Their friend was right to be upset with the boys, but young James wasn't wrong. They were closed off from the world by their hiding place and current status, and could hardly get information without putting themselves at risk. »We are very grateful to you, but we don't want you to put yourselves in danger,« James Senior tried to mend fences.

»We're not putting ourselves in danger after all. We already know what to do. We are not children anymore,« Al said sternly. »We should be trusted with more.«

»Why are you guys here? Did something happen?« asked Lily, skilfully steering the topic in another direction.

James nodded. »Scorp's sister, Maxym came back last night and has info on Ted's trial. I thought you'd surely want to be there when she reports back.« He pulled out the map of the marauders as well as the invisibility cloak. Maxym had returned the cloak to Al the previous evening. »With the map and the cloak, it may be easier for you to get into the castle. We'll all meet in the Room of Requirement. It would also be safer to hide there than here.« James wrinkled his nose.

»The little one has a point. The Room of Requirement has always been my choice,« Tonks spoke up.

»We've discussed it before, haven't we? It's even more dangerous in the castle,« Remus said, looking lovingly at his wife.

»It's just as dangerous here, but the children wouldn't have to sneak out,« Sirius objected.

»That would mean they'd be helping us, and we can't have that.« Remus was alone in his arguments, for James Senior was also convinced by the idea.

»The way I see it, we can't stop the children from doing it and so we might still be able to protect them.« At the word protect, he heard a snort from his grandson, which he skilfully ignored.

»Can you manage to sneak into the castle in the next hour. All is still quiet and there are hardly any inspectors around at the moment. Many of the students are in the library or in Hogsmead,« Al summarised.

»Good, then in an hour in the Room of Requirement.« Sirius and the others were already packing up as Al and James left the cabin again and headed back to the castle.

When James and Al got to the Room of Requirement, all the Rebels were already seated at the large round table.

»There you are,« Rose complained, drumming her fingers impatiently on the tabletop.

»Sorry, but we still had to let certain people know,« Al said conspiratorially, winking at her.

»Are we getting any more members?« asked Colin.

»Something like that.« James sat down next to Maxym at the table. »We'll have to wait for them though, they want to hear the story of Ted's trial as well.« And so the students waited for almost a whole hour. Elizabeth and Magenta kept complaining about why they had to wait so long, but none of those in the know were forthcoming.

Then, when the door opened and the marauders came into the Room of Requirement, everyone's breath caught. »Why, it's Sirius Black. And James and Lily Potter. But why? Here?« stuttered Melania.

»You're supposed to be on the run, aren't you?« asked Dominique.

Behind the three of them, Remus as well as Tonks came in and all five of them walked towards the table. »We're on the run too, but it's a misconception that you have to be on the move all the time,« Remus explained with a smile.

»You've got quite a troop together there,« Sirius said appreciatively.

»Sure. Like I said, we're not sitting around.« James Junior moved up and introduced the Rebels one by one. When he pointed to Maxym she was particularly scrutinised. She was uncomfortable with so much attention and just nodded at the strangers. Then Lily introduced the marauders, but more out of courtliness, because everyone except Maxym already knew the marauders. They were legends, after all.

The room, true to its nature, had already expanded the table and allowed more chairs to appear, and the marauders sat down in the small group.

»But how did you find us?« asked Colin.

Tonks leaned forward. »We didn't find you at all. You found us, or rather James, Albus, Rose and Scorpius found us.«

Albus helped explain. »We discovered their hiding place by accident.«

»So you've managed to do what the inspectors have been trying to do for weeks and that too by accident?« Incredulous, Elizabeth shook her head.

Scorp came to his friend's rescue. »It wasn't hard. They don't get information in their hideout and they overheard us. They wouldn't dare do that to the Inspectors. So there wasn't too much chance at all.«

»What do you mean eavesdropping. You just blurted out secrets out loud,« Sirius justified his actions.

Remus raised his hand, silencing his friend. »Let's not dwell on that. The important thing is to find out what's going on with Ted, isn't it?« With that, he reached for his wife's hand.

»That's why we're here. Maxym, Scorp's half-sister was at the Ministry for questioning, so she was also able to attend Ted's trial,« James summarised briefly for the marauders. »Max, what can you tell us?«, James addressed her and all pairs of eyes paused on the young Malfoy.

She cleared her throat and, looking into james' loving eyes and taking courage, began to tell the story. »After my questioning, I was able to sneak into Ted's trial unnoticed.« That the cloak of invisibility had helped her to do so, she left out better. Not everyone knew about it and that was the way it was going to stay. The prowlers must have thought something of it.

»Why were you questioned then?« asked Lily.

Maxym, thrown off by the question, faltered briefly. »I...I was asked about my birth grandparents, Lucius and Narzissa Malfoy.«

»In the flesh?« asked Sirius now.

Scorp was her salvation. »My sister was raised by adoptive parents. My father had a brief affair with a Muggle and Maxym is their daughter. But for a half-blood from a pureblood family and being a Malfoy, it's not easy, so he wanted her to grow up somewhere else. But we've always kept in touch.« At that he grinned at her and she couldn't help but smile back. »Then when it all kicked off with the reincarnates and the persecution of former Death Eaters, he brought her to Hogwarts because she's safe here.«

»That explains a lot, but why did you have to testify for your grandparents?« echoed James Senior.

Maxym shrugged. »I don't know, but I imagine they wanted me to say something bad about them so they would have a reason to keep detaining both of them. It's no secret that they don't have a good relationship with my father anymore and disapprove of his lifestyle.«

»Yes, that's typical of these families,« Sirius said more to himself than to the round.

»Yes, but we're changing now,« Scorp defended his father.

Before this could get any further out of hand, James Junior took the floor again. »So what happened at Ted's trial?«

»I was there in time to hear all the charges. They accused him of working against the ministry,« Maxym reported.

»That's not hard to do these days. Anyone who knows and believes the truth is basically working against the ministry,« Dominique interjected.

»Furthermore, he is alleged to have spread misinformation in Auror headquarters and to have passed on confidential classified information,« Maxym continued. »He did have a counter-argument to each of these points, but it didn't matter to the Wizengamot.«

Remus nodded thoughtfully and Tonks clung to him. Maxym couldn't imagine what it was like to have one's own son arrested, and falsely too.

»And what about the defence lawyer Dad was going to send?« asked Al.

Maxym shook his head. »There was no one there except the chairman, some of the Wizengamot and Ted.«

»Some of the Wizengamot? Surely they all have to be present at a trial like that?« observed Sirius.

»No, there weren't many. More than at my grandparents' trial, but not all. I was told by a member of staff who showed me to the rooms that many hearings were being held at the time. On that day, there were apparently five at the same time.«

»The Ministry is mighty busy,« James Senior remarked. »Who was chairing Ted's negotiation?«

»Greg Broin,« said Maxym.

»The Grand Master himself? That doesn't usually bode well,« Melania interjected.

»How do you know that?« asked Remus.

»My father worked at the Ministry and felt that Broin was not a good candidate for the post of Wizarding Grand Master. He has nasty views about our society. Almost as bad as the Death Eaters,« she explained.

»What are his views?« Remus wanted to know more.

»He hates all purebloods and blames them for a lot of things, even those who can't help it, like the Weasleys.« She pointed at Rose and Dominique with a nod of her head.

»But we're not purebloods at all,« Rose said indignantly, crossing her arms.

»That doesn't matter in his eyes. As long as you don't have a Muggle in your direct line, you're pureblood,« Melania said.

»Well, that's a nice outlook,« Scorp interjected. »Also explains why only Maxym was invited to the interview and not me.« Maxym nodded in confirmation.

»And what happened to Ted?« You could clearly hear the fear in Tonks' voice.

»Ted did a great job of defending himself and was able to shoot down all the accusations, but Broin kept finding new accusations. When he got stuck with the charges, he accused him of being the son of a werewolf,« Maxym faltered briefly and looked cautiously at Remus. The latter, however, took it with dignity and only nodded gravely. With a quick sideways glance at James, she continued. »Then he blamed him for his mother being in the resistance against Voldemort.«

»Is that a crime now too?« Tonks was horrified and spoke up, her hair turning bright red and only Remus' hand stopping her from jumping up.

»Apparently so. He's been looking for reasons, coming up with the wildest theories. He's opined that you broke laws during your time in the resistance.«

»And now he's being punished for that? It's not his fault, is it?« Sadly, Tonks slumped down and had to try hard not to start crying. Lily, sitting next to her, put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

»What he really wanted, though, was the whereabouts of you. But Ted didn't tell them anything.« Maxym was at the end of her tale.

»How could the boy give anything away, he didn't even know where we were.« Sirius shook his head.

»What was the judgement?« asked Remus in a brittle voice.

»Thirty-five years Azkaban,« Maxym said quietly, not daring to look anyone in the eye.

A hush fell over the table. No one said anything. The punishment was too cruel. Cruel for someone who was guilty, but inconceivable for an innocent man. Only the soft sobs of Tonks filled the room. She was sunk in her husband's arms, letting out her pain. Remus looked ahead grimly and fixed on a spot on the wall.

»I'll write to Father about it. There must be something he can do.« James was about to get up, but Maxym held him back.

»What should he do? Your father has no influence on these people. He himself has already come under their fire. Even the defence lawyer couldn't come to the trial.«

»How unjust can the world actually be?« Dominique spoke what everyone was thinking.

»The world is not unjust, only the people in power are.« Remus words were soft and his voice rough. »And I think it's going to get worse.«

»I'm afraid so.« Sirius agreed with his friend.

»What do you mean?« asked Rose cautiously.

»The arrests, the house arrest of many important families, that's all part of a bigger thing. There's someone or some group who have a plan and they're putting it into action.« Remus had regained his composure and was looking at everything very matter-of-factly. Anything else would not help his son.

»Yes exactly. That was the first phase. And we've got a lot more to come, I'm afraid.« James saw it the same way as his friend.

»All the more important that we do something about it. And now that we've found each other, we can work together,« James suggested, drawing new hope.

James Senior was about to object directly, but Sirius beat him to it. »Your grandson is right, Padfoot. We can't do this alone. We're on the run and our faces are glued to every wall. Trust me when I say there's barely anything to move.«

»So you're suggesting we admit them into the Order. Like you did Harry?« You could clearly hear that James Senior was not pleased.

Maxym looked questioningly at James Junior and he whispered to her, »Father, when he was our age, was as rebellious as we are. Only his group was called Dumbledore's Army. But his original goal was that he wanted to be accepted into the Order.«

»We have already explained to you that Harry was not meant to be accepted into the Order and he was always protected by us. But he's just your son and he did his own thing,« Remus defended himself.

Maxym was getting fed up with this. They couldn't be bothered with such arguments. »It seems to me that the entire Potter family is headstrong and their grandsons,« she pointed at Al and James, »have also formed their own group and will do something with or without you. All they can do now is decide whether to do it together.«

There was silence for a moment and James Senior looked dumbfounded at Maxym, but his wife smiled knowingly at them and patted her husband's arm. »She is right. The children have already banded together and just the tactile thing of them finding us before the inspectors does show us that help is at hand.«

James Junior was about to start and let his grandmother know that he was planning to do more than help, but the kick Maxym had given him under the table silenced him.

»Good, that's settled then.« Sirius wanted to move on to the next point. »We should urgently find out more about these plans and summarise our knowledge.«

Everyone at the table nodded and they made it their task for the next few days to pool all their knowledge.

Later that afternoon, Katelyn and Maxym were in their room. Katelyn was cleaning out her wardrobe and Maxym was sorting through her school things.

»I'm sorry,« Katelyn broke the silence.

Maxym looked up from her activity. »Huh, what? Oh no, did you sort out something my favourite dress?« She immediately ran to the wardrobe but Katelyn was already shaking her head.

»No, I'm sorry I didn't take you seriously.«

»Who didn't you take seriously?« Maxym was on the edge of his seat.

»Well, your Rebels. At least you guys are doing something.«

»We don't do that much either. But at least we're trying.« Maxym didn't want to belittle their work, but so far they had only managed to get Ted to Azkaban, albeit involuntarily, and find the marauders.

»I'm just sitting here, learning something, and my father is in Azkaban. I would so love to help him. But how?« Completely distraught, Katelyn flopped down on the bed.

»Does your father have any family or friends left to help him?« her friend asked, sitting down on the bed beside her.

»No, no one at all. Your dad is his best friend and he's sitting there,« Katelyn replied.

»Then we have to do something. Come and join us. The Rebels. We need someone like you,« Maxym tried to recruit her friend.

»I don't know if the Potter-Weasley squad will have me.«

Maxym waved it off. »They don't decide that. We don't have a leader or anything. Anyone who wants to join is welcome to. Just come along to the next meeting.«

»Thanks!« Katelyn hugged her friend. »You're a great friend.«

Maxym laughed. »If that's all.«