***Note the jump forward in time.

***I want to warn everyone that the story gets pretty dark from here (I mean you probably knew that.)

From the playlist:

Love and War - Fleurie

The Water is Fine - Chloe Ament

Blood / Water - grandson

This Ship is Going Down - Tommee Profitt

Chapter 40 - Blood Is Thicker than Water

April 25th, 1981

She could not remember at what point she realized that she'd gone from being a child to being a soldier.

The transition from girlhood to adulthood and active duty in a war had felt so seamless. She supposed she could identify the shift around the time she finished at Hogwarts, but even that chronology seemed inexact. It felt like she'd been fighting even before that, though maybe not with spells or curses. Perhaps childhood had ended the very first time she had to ask her mother what the word "mudblood" meant.

She didn't understand why she'd only just realized the discrepancy in the timeline - she'd been involved in this war for years now. Even at twenty-one, she still felt like a child sometimes; but she wasn't a girl anymore. Her friends were getting married and having babies and dying, and little girls should not have to reckon with losing their lives on a daily basis. Nobody had prepared her for it all, not really. She had a sneaking suspicion this revelation was dawning on her friends as well.

The house was too quiet. She hated when the house was this quiet. When Remus was gone, it gave her entirely too much time alone with her thoughts.

She checked her watch. Not quite ten.

Lily and James, of course, had grown up very quickly thanks to parenthood; but after Harry's birth, they'd decided to take a hiatus from active duty in the Order of the Phoenix. They traded off coming to meetings for updates, but both of them stayed far away from the field. Save for minor errands or occasional visits with little old Bathilda down the road, they'd barely left the house at all in the last year. Those who knew the Potters well knew they did not make the decision to step away lightly - in fact, the secluded maternity leave had been mandated by Dumbledore, who seemed to have a particular concern for both the Potters and the Longbottoms after the birth of their boys. Emmeline figured he just had a soft spot for babies. Dumbledore was the headmaster of a school, after all.

Since Frank's mother was able to help with baby Neville, he and Alice were able to continue their work for the Ministry in some capacity; but the Potters stayed home. Regardless, both couples employed the use of nearly every protective charm under the sun to keep themselves safe.

Emmeline felt fortunate to live near James and Lily, and she visited them as often as she could between the bookshop and night patrols for the Order. All of their friends pitched in to "bring the party" to the Potters, which James assured them made the confinement more bearable. When Remus was home, he came to visit too - though he'd never quite figured out how to act around the baby, which never failed to amuse Emmeline. Harry was getting so big. Soon, it'd be his first birthday. That sweet boy was just about the only thing that could make her forget the outside world.

She checked her watch again, getting up to pace in the dark. She'd grown accustomed to leaving all the lights off at night. Five past.

After Harry was born, Sirius did quite a bit of growing up, too; because if James was doing something, then so was he. He'd told James that he wouldn't have to face fatherhood alone, and boy had he meant it. He became a self-appointed guard dog for the Potters. Literally. Since August, when he wasn't assigned to a patrol - and on top of all the time he already spent with them - he'd spend a couple nights a week sleeping in their front yard in his animagus form, "just in case." James had even joked about building him a dog house. When Emmeline really thought about it, she knew Sirius had been forced to grow up a long time ago, even if he didn't always act like a grown up. His experiences with his own family made him determined to give Lily, James, and Harry everything he had and more. In her opinion, he seemed to be taking his role as godfather a bit too seriously, but he insisted he was happy to do it and that it helped him sleep better at night. Marlene must've been a bleeding saint.

As for Marlene; well, she refused to let growing up make her any less fun, even with the war going on. She and Emmeline had been tackling their new responsibilities as heads of the doting auntie club together. They mustered what little leftover energy they had into making sure Lily felt supported in her new role, since she and James had no other family around to lend a hand. Marlene in particular always wanted to make sure that Harry's childhood resembled something along the lines of normal, and had been planning his birthday party for months.

Emmeline hadn't seen a lot of Peter, but then again, they'd never been particularly close. He hadn't volunteered for any patrols in a while, especially since James couldn't be out with them. The Potters had mentioned that he was pretty anxious with everything going on. Emmeline couldn't blame him for wanting to steer clear of it as often as he could - for wanting the chance to grow up. They could chat when she saw him later tonight.

Fifteen past.

And of course, she could not prevent her mind from drifting to thoughts of Remus. He'd grown up ages ago, ages before any of them had by virtue of his furry little problem.

Thanks to some well-crafted lies and diplomacy, he was presently across the sea with the werewolf clan in Albania again; but this trip seemed to drag on much longer than usual. Despite having spent the better part of a year trying to turn off the bit of her brain which constantly worried about him, she couldn't help but wonder: if he was ripped to shreds somewhere in the woods of Eastern Europe, would anybody know? Would anybody tell her? Or what if something happened to her? Would he show up and find her gone again?

They'd buried Remus's mother last November. Poor health had plagued Hope Lupin for much of Remus's adult life; something which he felt entirely responsible for. In the end, her heart had given out. Remus was gone on a mission at the time of her death, and so when Lyall showed up on the doorstep, it was Emmeline who heard the news first. Three days later, Remus came home to find that he was motherless. Since then, he'd carried the extra weight of yet another thing for which he thought he was to blame, no matter how many times Lyall assured him his mother's heart problems were "genetic." The Lupins had moved around a lot in Remus's youth and kept few attachments in order to keep his condition a secret, so the funeral was quite small. Lovely, but small.

Lily had been the first of them to lose a parent back in fifth year at Hogwarts when her father was killed by a drunk driver. Emmeline came next; in seventh year, her father got caught in the crossfire of a Death Eater's curse at a rally. Then when Lily's mother passed away after they left Hogwarts, Petunia had not let her know until after the funeral. According to Remus, Sirius's father's death in the summer of '79 had been met with such seeming apathy from him that it was as if he'd died ages ago. James lost both of his parents in one go last April. Now, Remus had to reckon with the sting of losing a parent - just another thing that forces you to grow up too soon. It felt like life was coming at them all much faster than it should have.

Twenty-five.

It didn't help that the war seemed to be getting worse. The Death Eaters were growing bolder, and even more ruthless as violence in the muggle population increased exponentially. In response, Order movements had shifted in the last year, and became more focused on routine patrols and small scale operations so that they wouldn't have to contend with all-out assaults like the Minister's estate or the train. Mad-Eye was responsible for single-handedly populating entire cell blocks in Azkaban, and yet it still wasn't enough. The rest of the Ministry hadn't been quite as effective in this department as of late - Alice and Frank complained that the Auror Office was having to beg people to enroll in the training program to make up for their losses. Every day of the last year had teetered dangerously close to a collapse of the wizarding world as everyone knew it, and freedom from Voldemort's total reign required constant work towards the fight for justice. Many worried that, after years of resistance, the fighters were growing weary.

But at ten thirty, Emmeline pulled her boots on.

…

"C'mon...c'mon…" It was nearing midnight and close to freezing, so Sirius's frosted breath coiled around the words as they left his mouth. He pressed his back up against the cold steel of the shipping container as flat as he could, but even underneath his leather jacket, his skin did not thank him for this.

"It's pure baltic out here," Marlene complained shivering. They hadn't expected it to be so cold.

"We were supposed to get a signal ten minutes ago," Dorcas whispered through chattering teeth. "Should we call it off?"

Gideon shook his head. "No, just give them a bit more time."

It had been a long while since the Order mounted an operation of this scale, and it was putting everyone on-edge.

"I thought Remus was meant to be in our group," Sirius asked, turning to Marlene.

"He was supposed to be in Ed's group, but he got held up on something for Dumbledore."

"Look!" whispered Gideon. He was pointing off to the left down a row of containers where the faint glow of a lit wand could be spotted about a quarter mile away. Edgar's signal.

In turn, Gideon raised his wand and lit his signal. "Now we just wait on Dedalus."

They stared intently off to the right at the rendezvous spot for the final group.

"Give him a minute," Gideon reassured them.

"...Maybe someone should go check on them," Sirius suggested.

"We're not moving until we see that light."

"What if something happened?"

"Black, if you move from this spot you could jeopardize the entire operation-"

"Your brother's over there!"

Marlene grabbed his arm. "Sirius, shhh-!"

Dorcas stepped away from the container wall. "Both of you, stop it!"

They all fell silent when off to the right, the third group finally signaled.

Everyone froze as Gideon peered around the container's corner to wait for Alastor's final signal.

In the distance by the water's edge, he saw a tiny beam of light.

"Move," he ordered.

The group peeled off around the container and began running towards the river. As she ran, Marlene turned her head and saw Edgar's group on her right, but to her left, there was nobody.

"Stop!" she urged, slowing to a halt and pointing to where the other group should have been. "Something's wrong."

Sure enough, only two out of the three squadrons seemed to be proceeding as planned.

"Damn it all," Gideon cursed.

"I'll go back and check on them," Sirius offered again. Both Emmeline and Peter were supposed to be in the missing group.

Gideon had already turned back towards the containers. "We'll both go. Meadowes and McKinnon, you two stick to the plan."

Sirius grabbed Marlene by the chin and pressed a kiss to her lips, sending her off with Dorcas before running after Gideon.

When they again reached the rows of shipping containers, they maneuvered through the maze in the vicinity of where they'd seen the supposed signal, wands drawn.

"Dedalus signaled, they've got to be here somewhere."

Gideon turned to look at Sirius, but his eyes focused on something past him. "That wasn't Dedalus."

Sirius spun around just in time to duck out of the way of a jinx from the masked figure behind him. Gideon blocked the attack, but didn't see the second Death Eater at his own back, so Sirius darted past to cover him.

Moments later, Sirius felt himself being pulled by the collar as Gideon dragged him through another corridor and into a sprint. "What've they done with Dedalus and the others?!" he hollered.

"I don't know, but we've lost the element of surprise! We have to get back and tell the rest of the group!"

"What about the missing company-?"

"No time!"

They skidded around a corner and had the dock in sight - but not for long. Suddenly, one of the shipping containers stacked atop the maze was propelled down into their path. The massive metal container landed with an earth-shattering crash and nearly flattened them.

"This way!" Sirius motioned for them to head down another lane, but again, a shipping container was thrown down to block them.

Upon more careful inspection, Gideon noticed masked Death Eaters walking along the top of the maze. "We're being herded."

The pair kept running, changing direction to try and outrun the maze-makers, but were continually thwarted in their attempts to get back to the dock. To make matters worse, curses began raining down on them, further complicating their escape plans. They had to cast shield charms overhead as they ran.

They were able to round a corner and lose the attention of the Death Eaters for a brief moment. "Wait! In here!" Gideon hissed as he yanked Sirius into a nearby open container.

Inside the steel vessel, the pair was greeted by pointed wands.

"Fabian?!"

"Gideon!" the twins whispered simultaneously.

"Lumos." When his eyes adjusted, Sirius realized they'd found the missing group.

"Sirius!" Emmeline stood from her place next to Dedalus and ran into Sirius's arms.

"Emmie, thank Merlin..."

Peter emerged from a shadowy corner in the back of the unit. "Were there any chasing you on the ground?"

"Not recently," Sirius exhaled, approaching Wormtail to embrace him before leaning up against the wall to catch his breath. "Won't be long before they come down here looking for us, though."

"We never made it to the signal point," Emmeline explained, motioning back to Dedalus. Blood was dripping down the side of his leg onto the metal floor. "We were intercepted by a patrol. It was too risky to send a Patronus."

"He isn't fit to apparate, and whoever spotted us called for reinforcements, so we've been stuck in here," Fabian continued.

"One of them must've caught on and given us a fake signal," Gideon concluded. "Which is why we have to go - the others could be walking into a trap."

"How many did you count outside?" asked Peter.

"Dunno," said Sirius. "Four, maybe five?"

"What about Dedalus?" asked Emmeline.

"You lot go, I'll be fine here!"

"We're not leaving you," she assured him rather sternly. Sirius and Gideon got the impression that this had been a point of contention before their arrival.

Gideon strategized for a moment as he looked back at the door; slightly ajar, and letting in one small sliver of moonlight.

He turned to his brother. "We've taken on five before, right?"

"...Not all at once," Fabian replied, an intrigued smile creeping across his face. A challenge.

"What are you suggesting?" asked Sirius, coming away from the wall.

"A diversion," said Gideon, sporting a similar smile. A challenge indeed.

"...What, just the two of you?"

Emmeline shook her head. "Absolutely not."

Fabian turned his attention to Dedalus, assessing his leg. "Pettigrew, do you think you could give Dedalus a hand with a side-along? Take him back to the safe house?"

"Yes," Peter nodded, ever willing to get out of a fight. He and Sirius helped their wounded comrade off the floor and placed his arm around Peter's shoulders, then the pair disapparated.

"Couldn't we all just apparate back to the signal point?" asked Emmeline.

"We don't know who could be waiting for us when we get there," Fabian reminded her.

"Then let me and Emmeline come with you, that will make it a more even fight!"

"No, Sirius, that will take too long," Gideon decided. "Once we lure the Death Eaters away, you two will have to get to the dock as quickly as you can."

Having no other ideas himself, Sirius turned to Emmeline in the hopes that she would have a better suggestion, but she nodded in agreement with the Prewetts. "They're right."

Fabian readied himself at the door, his brother close behind. "Wait a minute or two for us to clear the area. We'll see you after it's over."

"We'd better see you after," Sirius said with a concerned smile.

With that, the Prewetts nodded to each other, then bolted out of the metal container with wands blazing and voices raised.

After a few long minutes had passed, the Prewetts' shouts could no longer be heard from inside the container. Emmeline poked her head out the door. "...I think we're clear. Let's go."

Off they went. Emmeline ran after Sirius as he tried to retrace a clear path back to the dock. The frigid air burned their throats as though they were sprinting through a wildfire and not the freezing cold - yet they could not slow down.

Over the rows of shipping containers, they saw a faint orange glow over the water. It looked like the sunrise, but how could it have been? It was the middle of the night...

"That can't be good," Sirius remarked, picking up his pace.

After several minutes, they finally located a way out of the rows of containers - but when they had a clear view of the port, they saw that half a dozen cargo ships were engulfed in flames.

"We're too late," Sirius exhaled.

"We can still join the fight." Emmeline pointed to distant flashes of light exchanged between the wands of foes.

Sirius nodded in agreement, and though they were already exhausted, they pressed on.

As they ran, a cry from the maze prompted them to turn back around. A smoky dark mark had just been deployed into the sky.

"No," Sirius breathed, slowing his pace.

The Prewetts were still in the maze.

"No!" He began to shift his course back towards the containers-

"Wait, Sirius!"

But he stopped in his tracks when a group of Death Eaters emerged from the maze, headed straight towards them.

"We have to keep going!" Emmeline beckoned, staggering back to grab his arm and dragging him into a sprint.

When they reached a dirty old life ring by the water's edge, they snatched it up, tensing as they waited to be swept up onto the ship.

Emmeline opened her eyes, realizing that she hadn't moved. "...Nothings happening-"

"Godric damn it!" Sirius yelped, thrusting the ring off the deck. "We've missed the window on the Portkey!"

They stared at where it landed in the icy river, heaving.

"You think we could apparate?" Sirius wheezed.

Emmeline squinted out at the ship, shaking her head. "I can't even see where the deck is clear of the fire, it's too risky."

Swinging back around, Sirius checked to see how far off the Death Eaters were, then turned back to the ledge. "We can either fight, or we can freeze."

"I'd rather let the river take me and not give them the satisfaction," Emmeline decided, casting a bubble-head charm. Begrudgingly, Sirius followed suit.

They dove into the mouth of the Thames.

Stunned into momentary paralysis by the cold water, Emmeline's muscles were unwilling to propel her forward. She turned her head to Sirius, who was motioning for her to follow him underneath the eaves of the dock. She looked at him, baffled. The fight was in the opposite direction. He grew impatient and swam towards her to yank her under the dock with him, keeping his eyes on the water above.

It seemed that the Death Eaters weren't enthusiastic about the plunge either, as evidenced by muffled shouts from the surface above. They rained curses down where they thought Sirius and Emmeline might have been, but none could reach them under the eaves. Finally, one of the Death Eaters was flung into the water, and judging by the position at which their body had broken the surface, they'd been pushed. Emmeline moved her arm to cast a jinx, but was again stopped by Sirius. They were perfectly hidden under the darkness of the eaves, and if they stunned one Death Eater before the others dove in, it would give away their hiding spot. Emmeline realized this and steadied herself, hoping that the rest of the group would join their comrade in the water before her blood turned to ice.

After searching for the pair to no avail, the first Death Eater kicked up to the surface and spoke to the other four still standing on the dock. One by one, the rest of them dove in. Sirius held up his fingers and counted down. Three, two, one.

Their spells flew through the water and stupefied their opponents before they even had a chance to register their presence. Dragged down by their heavy black robes, each Death Eater slowly sank towards the bottom of the marina.

Now that they were longer pursued, Sirius began swimming toward the fiery ships, but was stopped by Emmeline. She tugged angrily at his foot, pointing down at the bodies sinking into the depths. She'd already killed one Death Eater, and living with that had disturbed her conscience enough. Could they really just leave them all to drown?

Sirius had no qualms with this, but Emmeline insisted. Using a levitation charm, she lifted one of the sinking bodies up out of the water and back onto the dock. Reluctantly, Sirius assisted her until all five Death Eaters were safely on land. When the Aurors came to round them up, they'd be passed out awaiting their restraints. Together, Emmeline and Sirius swam undetected towards the ships.

No matter how much they swam, Emmeline never felt like her blood flow was doing a sufficient job of warming her up. They reached the closest ship after what seemed like forever, hoping that there was still a fight to be joined. Once they kicked up to the surface, both shivering violently, Sirius and Emmeline climbed up a metal wrung ladder onto the fiery deck. It wasn't long after Sirius set foot on the ship that he suddenly keeled over with a pained shout, clutching his ears with his hands.

"AGH!"

"Sirius!" exclaimed Emmeline. She knelt down next to him, frantically searching for the source of his pain. "What is it?!"

He let out a strained wail. "He's in my head!"

She could not remain at Sirius's side for long, as two Death Eaters were making their way towards them. There was only enough time to disarm one of the Death Eaters before a splitting pain shot through Emmeline's own skull. She sank to her knees, taking hold of her head.

Something was pilfering through her mind. She had no other way to describe the feeling. The Death Eaters didn't even continue their attack, they just monitored.

Emmeline didn't know what to do, nothing like this had ever happened to her before. One by one, the presence peeled back layers of her memory as if they were files in a cabinet. It moved so quickly and so efficiently, it was as though somebody was clicking rapidly through slides on a projector displaying the last year of her life.

She made some unintelligible noises, trying to figure out how to get whatever was in her head out.

Suddenly, there came a raspy, serpentine voice:

"Your cause is futile.

You fight in vain.

Mortal death will never be able to touch any piece of me;

but you will submit to it like a slave before the end.

The arrogance of your comrades will not go unpunished.

Your friends have thrice defied me.

Now, you will all pay the price of their insolence."

When the voice finally withdrew from her mind, Emmeline clutched her abdomen, fearing she was going to be sick. She was lifted up to her feet by Sirius.

"You okay?" he asked, his voice strained.

"How-…What-...How-" she sputtered, hunching back over, a mix of cold and nausea weakening her posture.

Sirius rubbed his face with his hand. "They just disapparated..."

Still doubled over, Emmeline twisted around. Sure enough, the Death Eaters that had been in their corner of the deck had vanished. "...What was-...What the hell just happened-?"

"What did he see? What did he see in your head?" he interjected.

Emmeline straightened her posture to look at Sirius.

She didn't think she'd ever seen him so shaken up.

"...I couldn't really keep track of where he was digging," she admitted, stifling a gag and noticing the other ships. "Sirius, the fires-"

"Did he find anything about James and Lily?"

Emmeline's focus snapped back to him.

"...What?"

"How much did he see?"

"Why would he be looking for-"

"Emmie, please, just- if there's anything you can remember…" he beseeched her.

Emmeline sifted through her fuzzy, tender mind trying to recall if any of the projector slides stuck out to her, or if there was any pattern to them. "...Dates, I think. He wanted to know dates…" But she couldn't place which ones or for what, and wasn't sure how Voldemort would be able to tell from rapidly viewing her memories in succession. It wasn't like she looked at the calendar every single day. "Is something wrong with James and Lily?" she pressed him.

All of the color had drained from Sirius's face.

His stupor was broken when Dorcas rounded the corner. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah, you?" Emmeline called, still eyeing Sirius.

She beckoned them forward. "Yeah, but Ed needs help putting the fires out, come on."

"Let's make it quick," Sirius barked, following after Dorcas and trying to regain his composure.

Emmeline caught his arm. "What was that about?"

"We don't have time," he said brusquely, retracting from her grasp and going after Dorcas.