January 3, 1979

"How am I supposed to seduce you when you won't pay attention to me?" Sirius joked from the doorway.

"What?" Calandra looked up.

"You haven't put that bloody book down for three days. What's got you so wrapped up?"

"I want to learn the Patronus charm." She said, flipping the page and tapping her wand against the book.

"Really?" Sirius seemed surprised. "Why?"

Calandra scoffed at him.

"You learned how to turn into a dog for fun, you've no right to judge."

"Fair enough, love." Sirius said, coming to perch on the arm of the chair.

"Alice was telling me about them. They're required for Auror training. They even use them to send messages." Calandra said eagerly.

"Useful little things, then." Sirius murmured, reading over her shoulder.

"They take the form of an animal. I wonder what mine will be." She said, handing the book to him.

"A fox, maybe." He winked at her. "Or a tiger, you're quite fearsome sometimes."

Calandra rolled her eyes and stood up. She flicked her wand toward a piece of parchment on the side table and it floated in the air. She cast a sticking charm to it and placed it on the wall. Calandra stared at the figure of a dementor on the page.

"OK." She said, taking a breath. "Read me the steps again, page sixty-three. I want to make sure I didn't miss anything."

Sirius flipped through the pages and read aloud.

"Patronus, blah blah blah.

It requires focus and concentration. One must imagine an experience of pure unadulterated joy. Well, that shouldn't be too difficult. Just think back to the night before last. You seemed pretty blissful to me."

"Sirius!"

"Only the happiest of memories will suffice for a corporeal Patronus."

"Alright." Calandra said turning back to the parchment on the wall. "A happy memory."

Her mind seemed to shuffle through memories. Her mother buying crisps at the supermarket, Alice braiding her hair, Sirius throwing snowballs at her. She focused on her memories and swished her wand through the air.

"Expecto Patronum!" she called.

Silver whisps shot out from her wand and vanished into thin air. She pursed her lips and focused her thoughts once more. Happy memories. Joking with Dorcas, laughing with Remus, watching Frank and Alice play exploding snap.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Silver wisps emerged from the end of her wand again. They hung in the air for a few seconds before disappearing. She shook her head. Her wand movements were correct, she pronounced the incantation right, she needed to focus more.

"Says here, many wizards are capable of producing non corporeal Potronuses with happy memories. The focus on one instance of pure joy is what separates corporeal and non-corporeal Patronuses." Sirius spoke up.

He snapped the book closed. "You've got to think of happier memories."

Calandra gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. She let her mind wander to happy thoughts. What made her happy? Her mother. No. Memories of her mother were so tainted with him. Alice, Sirius, Remus. Her friends. Flying. Painting.

The happiest memory. Pure joy. Her mind automatically went to the Malfoy's Gala. The inexplicable warmth that had filled her chest when Sirius had asked her to dance. He was like a beacon of light in that sea of darkness. She focused on that feeling and repeated the incantation.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Calandra opened her eyes to see the silver mist gathering at the end of her wand. It pooled and floated, forming a vague shape before sputtering out like the flame on a candle. So close. Sirius jumped up and down on the balls of his feet, nodding his head enthusiastically.

"You were so close! One more time!"

She nodded and closed her eyes again. Pure joy. Pure joy. Absolute happiness. Sirius kissing her in the moonlight. Alice singing along to a record. Leaving her father. Her mind paused. That feeling. That feeling of absolute freedom when she left. Alice had met her, had embraced her, had kissed her cheeks. She remembered that feeling. Like she was floating on air; seeing Alice so happy, knowing she'd never have to go back home, her life open to a future with endless possibilities.

"Expecto Patronum!"

She was almost scared to open her eyes. If that memory didn't work, she didn't know what would. She looked up and saw it. A silvery wolf floating in the air. A wolf? Calandra wondered what it meant. The wolf padded around her, nipping its head up in a playful motion. She reached a hand out to pet it, but as soon as she was a hair's width from touching it, the wolf turned and bounded circles through the air. It leapt up and, with its eyes on hers, dove straight into her chest.

Calandra staggered back. She looked over her shoulder, but the wolf wasn't there anymore. She looked down at herself, expecting to see silver on her clothes, but nothing shone. She looked over to Sirius to find him with his mouth hanging open, his eyes wide with wonder. He smiled at her and ran to her, swinging her up in his arms.

"That was amazing!" he said, laughing. "Absolutely incredible!"

He spun her around and set her back down.

"You're one hell of a witch, Cal."

...

January 28, 1979

Diagon Alley was bustling that morning. Shoppers scurried up and down the streets, clutching their bags and chattering away. Calandra shrank the box of potion ingredients and stowed it in her pocket. She still needed to go to Flourish and Blott's to see if her order had arrived or not. She peered through the window of the shop, searching for a familiar shock of black hair. Sirius was supposed to meet her here. It was already past time for them to meet, in fact.

"Hey, Callie!" she turned to find Frank Longbottom waving at her. "What brings you to Diagon Alley today?"

"The apothecary and the bookstore!" she smiled. "Is Alice with you?"

"No. She's helping my mother today." He made a face.

"I'm sure she's thrilled." Calandra laughed.

"Wedding planning has taken a bit of a backseat, here lately." Frank said.

"Training still intense?" she asked, stepping to the side so a hag could pass by.

Frank leaned in closer.

"They're pushing pretty hard. I've already been out in the field." He said.

"What? You've barely been in two years!" Calandra said.

"I know. They've waved the three-year training period before field work. If you've got a year under your belt and you're able, you're in the field." He said.

Calandra's mind raced.

"That means that Alice…" she trailed off and looked at Frank.

"Yeah." He said. "I know. She's top of her class, too."

A loud bang went off, down the street to their right, halting their conversation. They both jumped.

"Do you think that came from Zonko's?" Frank asked suspiciously.

"I don't know." Calandra replied peering down the street.

Another bang went off to their left, behind the robe repair shop and they saw smoke snake up into the air. All of a sudden, the streets filled with people running out of the shop doors. A huge explosion shook the street and the sound of people screaming surrounded them. Calandra saw flames in the window of the broom shop. A young man with blood pouring down his face stumbled out of the door coughing, and Calandra ran to him.

"We've got to help!" she called to Frank.

They had just reached the man when he fell to the ground in a heap. Calandra knelt down and felt for his pulse. Frank had his wand trained on him, doing a diagnostic spell. She looked up and saw Frank wince and shake his head. The young man was dead. They couldn't do anything.

Another explosion shook them. The ground rumbled. Frank lost his footing and fell against the bench outside the apothecary. Calandra held on to the side of the next building and reached an arm out. Frank grabbed hold and made his way to his feet just as the ground stopped shaking.

"I was supposed to meet Sirius here. I have to find him." She trembled.

Frank looked around. Flames licked upwards toward the sky. Smoke filled the streets and sparks shot through the smog. People were running in all directions and they could hear shouts getting closer.

"Come on!" he said grabbing her hand. "This way."

He turned and they ran down the street towards the shouts and the sparks. They passed groups of witches and wizards huddled against store fronts, trying to escape the mayhem. They were just crossing to the other side of the street when something exploded in front of them, causing rocks and pavement to fly up in their faces.

Frank pushed Calandra behind him as they skidded to a halt. Pebbles and other debri scratched against their face. Calandra coughed from the dust that rose up. Frank groaned. Calandra turned to him and saw him clutching his side, the seam of his shirt ripped open and a large purple bruise was already forming under oozing blood. She reached out to stabilize them when Frank looked over her shoulder. His eyes widened and he pushed them both toward the side. Calandra looked back and found herself staring at an alley full of masked figures. Death Eaters. She grabbed Frank by the waist and threw a shield charm up across the length of the street.

"GO!" she yelled towards the groups of people. "GET OUT!"

"Come on." She grunted as she hefted Frank up, watching the people scatter. "We've got to go."

Calandra ground her feet into the rubble and focused on the apparition point near St. Mungo's. She held tightly to Frank's arm and twisted. Nothing happened. She tried a different location, but still nothing. She couldn't apparate. Damn.

She pushed Frank to the side of the road and wedged him between herself and the shop fronts. The streets were deserted here. She saw shadows running toward them out of the mist and caught sight of a mask. She flung her wand over her shoulder and fired stunning spells and jinxes blindly. Frank was leaning on her more and more with each step and as soon as they made it to an alley, she shoved Frank in and turned around, facing the masked figures.

One was moving quickly towards them, a few others trailing farther behind. She shot an Impedimenta, but the Death Eater deflected it. The smoke was getting thicker in the street. She shot another curse and the Death Eater swerved, barely escaping it. She ducked back into the alley and cast a silent disillusionment charm over herself and Frank. Calandra pressed him up against the wall and turned back around just as the Death Eater stepped around the corner into the alley.

"Stupefy!"

The Death Eater dropped to the ground. Calandra grabbed Frank and flung his arm back over her shoulders. His breathing was getting heavier by the second and she knew he was having trouble standing. They made it down the street as quickly as Calandra could drag him. She ducked into another alley and rounded the corner behind the shop. Frank sucked in a sharp breath.

"Stop. Please. Stop." He begged.

Calandra eased him down to the ground and lifted Frank's disillusionment charm.

"I'll heal you." she said. "Then I'll disillusion you again. I promise."

Frank nodded and looked down at his side. The whole side of his ribs were purple and yellow with bruises. Blood was pouring from nasty scrape that ran the width of his torso. She was almost certain that he'd broken a few ribs but couldn't risk fixing them right now. Calandra ran her wand lightly across the scrapes and stopped the blood flow. She cast healing charms and held Frank's head up to look at his eyes. He seemed to be lucid.

"Listen, Frank." She said urgently. "I don't know what else might be wrong with you. I've done what I can, but we have to move. Can you walk?"

He nodded and gripped her arm, moving to stand up. He stood there testing his weight, then stepped forward.

"I can walk on my own." He said.

"Good." Calandra breathed a sigh of relief. "We have to go."

Calandra disillusioned Frank once more and grabbed hold of his robes so she wouldn't lose him. They skirted the back of the building and darted back up the next alley. She felt Frank lean out of the alley, checking the street, then she felt him nudge her arm forward. They made their way out of the alley and quickly crept up the pavement.

A stupendous boom rang out and they fell against the shop front. Calandra rose to her hands and knees and pressed a hand against her temple, trying to stop her swimming head and the ringing in her ears. Her vision was blurry. She knelt there, on the ground, until she could see again and stood. She felt around for Frank and finally grasped his pant leg.

"Frank! Frank!" she whispered. "Are you ok? Can you move?"

"Yes." He said. "We need to apparate."

"I tried already," Calandra said quietly, helping Frank to his feet. "We've got to get further away. There are anti apparition wards up."

"There's an emergency point not far up ahead. It's the spot where the trash bin is by the brick wall behind the Owlry." Frank rasped. "No one knows about it but Aurors."

He grabbed her hand and stumbled forward. They moved clumsily. Calandra's head was throbbing, and she couldn't get her ears to stop ringing. Dark figures moved through the fog in front of the shops across the street from them. They had just made it to the front of the Post Office when Calandra heard a familiar voice.

"Prongs! To your left!"

She shoved Frank down the alley toward the back of the Owlry and whispered to him.

"Get out of here. I'm right behind you. GO!"

She felt him pause, like he was about to fight with her, but she shoved him back.

"I promise. I'm right behind you. Go to Alice! I'm not leaving without him!"

"I'm bringing Aurors back. Get out as soon as you can." He breathed.

She heard him run down the alley, then there was a faint pop. She wheeled around and ran into the street, searching for Sirius.

"Pads! We've got to go! Four more are coming down the alley!" James's voice came from up ahead.

"We haven't found her!" Sirius said.

"Never thought I'd be playing hide and seek in the middle of a duel to the death." James said then cursed.

Calandra saw a bright flash of light.

"I have to- Damn!" Sirius shouted and more lights flashed through the fog.

Calandra could barely make anything out in the fog. She picked her way around the rubble and found James and Sirius in the middle of the street firing hexes and curses at Death eaters coming from the alley ways and the storefronts. She lifted her illusion charm and ran to them.

"I'm here!" she yelled. "Come on!"

Sirius spun around and fired a curse over her shoulder, dropping a Death Eater who popped out of an alley. James grabbed hold of their shoulders and started pushing them to the right side of the street. She cast the disillusionment charm on all three of them then jerked on James's collar.

"Back that way!"

Sirius grasped her hand and ran. James followed behind her gripping her robes tightly, firing hexes in all directions. They stumbled across the mess in the street and made it to the corner of the Owlry. She glanced to her left and saw a group of Death Eaters running up the street toward them. Calandra felt something wash over her and knew without having to look, that the charm had been lifted. She grasped both Sirius and James as tightly as she could and ran forward, looking for the garbage bin.

She shoved them around the back of the building. Calandra looked around desperately. There in a corner was a garbage bin, sitting right in front of a brick wall. She ran toward it, dragging both men with her. They were two steps away when James tripped, and they all went sprawling.

Calandra landed in a heap against the trash bin and Sirius skidded to a stop flat against the brick wall. James was all tangled up in boxes and crates. She heard footsteps pounding up the alley and flung her wand out.

"Levicorpus!" she shouted.

James flew up into the air. She flicked her wand and braced herself. James crashed into her. Her head smacked against the brick wall. She reached over and grabbed Sirius by his shirt front and jerked him toward her, sandwiching James between the two of them, and yelled.

"Don't let go of him!"

She turned on her heel just as a bright flash of purple light cut through the air. She felt searing pain fill her skull as her body began to pull through the air. She held her breath as they spun and a second later, she felt the pressure release and her ears popped. They fell in a heap in front of a forest.

She lay there, breathing heavily, as James untangled his legs from hers. Sirius jumped up and reached his hand down to her. James stepped in front of him and pointed his wand at her.

"How do you close the Marauder's Map?" James asked.

"Prongs! She just saved our arses!" Sirius moved to step around James.

"Mischief Managed." She said sitting up.

Calandra's head was splitting. She heard James and Sirius talking, but their words just jumbled in her head. She reached a hand up to the side of her neck and her skin felt white hot. Whatever curse they'd used, had grazed her. If it had hit her straight on, she'd probably be dead. She felt pulses of pain beneath her hand and gritted her teeth.

She raised her wand and cast her Patronus.

"I am safe. James and Sirius are both with me." She said clearly and told the wolf to go to Frank.

"You hurt?" she asked them.

"No." they both shook their heads.

"You are." Sirius stepped forward. "Your face is scratched to pieces. Sit still and I'll heal it."

She shook her head and pulled her hair back.

"Neck's worse." She mumbled. Sirius studied the wound as James started talking.

"I need moonwater." Sirius interrupted, cursing. "They hit you with dark magic."

James's head shot up and he quickly knelt beside them, eyes drawn to the place on her neck that was pulsing.

"If I try to heal it without removing the curse it'll turn inward." Sirius muttered.

"I've got some," she said digging in her robes.

She pulled out the box from earlier and gave it to Sirius. He resized the box and dug through the parcels and vials. He pulled the cork out of the vial of moonwater with his teeth and dropped a drop on her neck.

Something that sounded like a hiss emitted from the curse wound and a faint tendril of smoke curled up into the air. As soon as the smoke drifted up, blood started pouring out of that part of the wound.

"Damn." Sirius gritted. "I can't do it. It's too close to her veins."

"Arteries." Calandra corrected automatically.

Sirius clenched his jaw, not even bothering to roll his eyes like he normally would. James trained his wand on Calandra's neck and nodded to Sirius.

"I'll heal as you go. She'll bleed out otherwise."

Sirius held the vial over her neck and started slowly dropping the liquid over the curse. Each drop burned and hissed, and the acrid smell of smoke filled her nostrils. She didn't feel any blood dripping down her neck, though. When she glanced up at James, she saw that his jaw clenched tight and sweat was dripping down his forehead.

The throbbing and pulsing pain slowly faded away, and Calandra felt her head clearing. She felt Sirius's hands on her neck and breathed a sigh of relief when there was no pulsing pain.

"Stay still," Sirius said, "I've got to heal your face."

James stood up and watched Sirius work.

"What happened?" she asked as Sirius patched up the cuts and scrapes on her forehead. "I was waiting on you outside of the apothecary and Death Eaters just started blowing things up."

"We were just coming out of Gringotts." James said. "Death Eaters flooded the street. We're not sure why they were there."

"We saw them. They took Gambol, the advisor for the Minister." Sirius said waving his wand across the left side of her face. "I don't know if they got anyone else. We need to let the others know."

James nodded and said, "When you're up to it, we'll head back and call a meeting. Moody will want to know about this."

"Frank's bringing Aurors to Diagon Alley." Calandra said, wincing as a deep cut closed up above her eye.

"There probably won't be any Death Eaters left when they get there. They were disapparating all around us." James shook his head.

"We'll go to the safe house and let everyone know. We can take it from there. You know they'll call a meeting." Sirius finished his healing charms and ran a hand through her hair. "How'd you know Longbottom is bringing Aurors."

"I met him while I was waiting for you." Calandra said. "We were together when everything happened. He got hurt and I tried apparating him out, but it didn't work. He told me of an Auror apparition point, and we found you guys on the way."

She rubbed her face with her hands.

"I told him to go and he tried to stop me, but I told him I'd be right behind him. He promised to get Aurors and I came to get you two."

Sirius looked furious. He opened his mouth.

"No!" James cut across him, his voice firm.

Sirius rounded on him and James shook his head. "You know you would have done the same. None of that. You don't get to blame her for getting us out of there."

Sirius was silent. Calandra looked at James; she'd never really seen them like that before. Sirius finally nodded and wrapped Calandra in a hug.

"Come on. Let's go."

James gave the address and spun on his heel.

Sirius and Calandra followed suit and landed in a small kitchen.

"We're safe here." Sirius said, planting a kiss on her temple. "I'll go contact Moody."

Sirius walked toward the hall. James leant against the sink and Calandra swung up to sit on the counter; there wasn't a table or chairs in the room. She rested her head back against the cabinets and closed her eyes.

"Thanks, White." James said softly.

She opened her eyes to find James looking in her direction.

"You were right beside Sirius. You could've left with him before that curse. But you got me out, too." James swallowed.

"Did you really think I'd leave without you?" she asked incredulously.

He didn't meet her eyes.

"James," she hopped off the counter, "I love you. You're practically my brother. You are Sirius's brother. I'd never leave you behind."

James's throat bobbed. He pursed his lips.

"I'm so sorry." He said. "It'll probably scar."

"I'm fine." Calandra said. "I'll take as many scars as they can give me if it means keeping you all safe. Don't pretend like you'd be any different."

"I just….." he started then crushed her into a hug. "Thank you, Cals."

She patted his back.

"Thank you." he repeated.

"Anytime, James. Anytime."