Their three guests all rose to greet them as Damon and Maya walked in. Damon kissed Narcissa's hand and shook Lucius' and Director Picquery's, whilst Maya and Narcissa embraced, and she smiled shyly at the other two adults. He waited for them all to be settled back down, before broaching the question foremost in his mind.

"Not that it isn't lovely to see you, but what brings you here out of the blue like this?"

Narcissa and Director Picquery shared a meaningful glance before the latter gestured for the former to speak. Narcissa turned her attention back to Damon, Maya, and Stefan, who were sitting close together on the couch opposite, with Maya sandwiched between the brothers.

"There's been a development." She paused, looking as if she was searching for the right words before continuing. "Sirius Black broke into Gryffindor Tower a week ago. He made his way up to the third-year boys dormitory."

The colour drained completely from Maya's face. That was Ron and Neville's dorm, and she hadn't had any letters from her friends in over a week. Which now that she thought about it was odd, she usually got at least one letter from each of them a week. Narcissa, seeing this rushed to explain.

"No one was hurt. Young Mr Weasley woke up, yelled, and alerted the house, and Sirius fled before he could be caught. They were just shaken up. I have letters from all of them for you, but I wanted to deliver the news in person."

Maya let out a shaky breath, feeling a mix of relief and anxiety. Damon wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to his side, while Stefan took one of her hands and squeezed it softly, offering comfort and support.

"My apologies, I should have said that first." Narcissa looked guiltily at the still shaken Maya, "No one was harmed, and although Sirius managed to escape from both Gryffindor Tower and Hogwarts unimpeded, Miss Branson and Mr Quinn were able to track him down and capture him afterwards."

"So, there's going to be a new trial?" Damon asked, remembering their conversation, from Christmas.

"Yes. But not yet." Director Piquery replied. "Given the questions raised by the original lack of a trial, the apparent threat that Mr Black held to an American citizen, and the… how do I put this delicately?"

"The fact that Minister Fudge response to the situation has been inadequate at best?" Lucius suggested.

"Yes, that. I… We, felt it was better to have all our ducks in a row before we pushed for a new trial."

"Which means what?" Stefan asked, curiously.

"There is an old law in Magical Britain, that was never rescinded." Lucius explained, "It states that a Head of House can offer sanctuary to any member of their house, even one who is charged or convicted of a crime, if they believe there is reasonable presumption of innocence, and reasonable concerns that the individual in question will not be given fair hearing by the current ministry."

"Meaning as Maya's proxy and as such the current De Facto head of the house of Black, I can grant sanctuary to Sirius if I believe both those things to be true." Narcisa said.

"And do you?" Damon asked, "I know what we discussed at Christmas, but do you believe those things to be true?"

Narcissa inclined her head.

"I do now." She glanced to Director Picquery, who once again gestured for her to take the lead on the explanation. "As I said, Miss Branson and Mr Quinn were able to track down and capture Sirius, but before I… before we did anything. We wanted to make sure we had all the facts."

"There is a potion, called Veritaserum." Director Picquery said, "That forces the drinker to tell the truth. It's not admissible in court but it is permissible to use for the purposes of interrogating suspects."

"So, kind of like polygraphs then."

"Yes," Director Picquery nodded at Stefan's question, "Veritaserum is more accurate than a polygraph test, a non-magical lie-detector test," she explained to Narcissa and Lucius, "but it's still not admissible evidence in court without independently verifiable evidence and permission granted by the ICW for its use. Which is very rarely granted."

Maya wondered why it wasn't allowed to be used in trials, but she didn't ask. It wasn't important right now, and she could always ask one of her professors for an explanation. Her Ethics professor also taught the High School law classes so she could ask him.

"Draco's godfather is a master potioneer and he agreed to provide the veritaserum so that I could question Sirius before deciding whether to grant sanctuary or deliver him to Madam Bones."

"And once Lady Malfoy had finished questioning him, she contacted me, and I obtained my own veritaserum testimony from Mr Black." Director Picquery said.

Maya wasn't quite sure she was following what they were saying. Damon and Stefan didn't appear to be either, given the furrowed brows and the questioning looks in their eyes.

"So, were you correct? The conclusions you mentioned at Christmas?" Damon pressed, willing them to finish their explanation.

"Yes and no." Narcissa admitted, a sad look in her eyes.

Director Picquery eyed her gently, and decided to finish the explanation herself.

"I questioned Sirius Black personally. Under veritaserum he told me that he was not the Secret Keeper for the Potter's, and he was also not the one who cast the curse that killed twelve non-magicals."

"Did he say who was responsible."

"Yes. Mr Black stated under veritaserum that Peter Pettigrew was responsible for both. According to Mr Black, when they were at Hogwarts together, he, Mr Pettigrew, Mr Evans, and Miss Potter became animagi. Which is an ability to shift into the form of an animal. Mr Black takes the form of a Grim, and Mr Pettigrew is able to take the form of a common brown rat."

"What about my mum and dad?" Maya asked.

Director Picquery smiled softly.

"Your mother Jasmine, took the form of a doe, whilst your father was able to take the form of a dog, a Newfoundland to be exact."

Damon brushed a fond hand over her head, and looked at Director Picquery.

"I'm guessing Black said more?"

"Yes, he did. The Potter's knew they were being targeted by Tom Riddle and his followers, so they went into hiding. Mr Pettigrew was their Secret Keeper. Mr Black stated that the plan was to make everyone believe that he himself was the Secret Keeper, so everyone would be looking to find him, and the Potters and Mr Pettigrew would be safer. Unfortunately, as it turned out, Mr Pettigrew had already thrown his lot in with the Death Eaters at that time and he revealed the location of the Potters to Tom Riddle."

She didn't need to tell them what had happened next, they all knew. Damon's grip on Maya tightened, as silent tears slid down her cheeks, grief for the parents she had never known, and never would thanks to Pettigrew and Tom Riddle.

"When Sirius Black discovered what Pettigrew had done, he went after him, cornered him, and attempted to capture him for trial. Pettigrew made a loud public accusation against Sirius, and then blew the street apart behind him, killing twelve non-magicals, before cutting off his thumb, transforming into a rat, and disappearing. That was Mr Black's stated testimony of the events of that day."

"Why has he been breaking into Hogwarts this year?"

"Mr Black believes that Mr Pettigrew has been hiding in his rat form for the last twelve, living with a family of wixen, who currently have five children attending Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry –"

"Scabbers?!" Maya exclaimed, partly incredulous, but mostly very skeeved out by the thought that Ron's, formally Percy's, pet rat was in fact a grown wizard masquerading as such.

There was no humour in the eyes of the Malfoys or Director Picquery, as they all nodded, faces incredibly grave. All the Weasley children, as well as the other boys in Ron's dorm had been carefully questioned, and none of them had said anything that made them think Pettigrew had done anything to any of them. But the thought still lingered in the minds of the adults, after all he could have easily obliviated them. Once Pettigrew was captured, he would need to be thoroughly questioned, and the children requestioned and examined for any signs of abuse or tampered memories.

"Who's Scabbers?" Damon asked, looking between his goddaughter and the three wixen.

"Ron's rat. It used to be Percy's rat, but then Percy got an owl when he became a prefect, and gave Scabbers to Ron. And Ron's been all upset this year, because he thought Scabbers was dying and Hermione's new cat, Crookshanks, kept chasing him, and then Crookshanks apparently killed Scabbers. But if Scabbers is really a man then…"

Damon and Stefan looked just as disturbed as the others now.

"We don't believe Mr Pettigrew is actually dead, we believe he faked his death a second time due to Mr Black's persistent attempts to capture him."

"The kids?" Stefan asked, looking slightly queasy.

"As far as we've been able to determine so far, Mr Pettigrew has not harmed any of the children in any way. Once we've been able to find him, he will be questioned thoroughly on that matter, I assure you."

"Good."

"When you said not yet, I assume you want to capture Pettigrew before you force a new trial?" Damon said.

"Yes. Miss Branson had some suggestions on that front, so we're allowing her to take the lead on that, meanwhile Mr Black has been granted sanctuary by Lady Malfoy, though that is being kept need to know as long as possible. We're hoping to capture Pettigrew before releasing any information. I'm working closely with Madam Bones on that front, since she understands the implications, and our reservations about Minister Fudge's ability to correctly do his job."

"So, what now?" Damon asked.

"Nothing changes on the personal front. We can force a new trial without Pettigrew, but proving Sirius innocent would be more difficult. Even once he's found innocent, Sirius will need serious healing, any prison, but most especially Azkaban, takes a heavy toll on a persons mental and physical heath and Sirius will need time to recover from that. And even once he does, you have custody of Maya, Damon, Sirius could try to challenge that, but he would lose, and most likely alienate his goddaughter in the process, and believe me when I say I will be making that very clear to my cousin."

Damon relaxed slightly at that, and Maya loosed a little sigh of relief next to him, his biggest worry dealt with he turned to Director Picquery.

"Given that there is no longer an active threat against Miss Potter from the wixen world, I believe we should review the security arrangements. Perhaps we could discuss it on Monday? That way Commander Graves, Director Calhoun, Special Agent Blye, and Special Agent LaSalle could be present as well."

Damon nodded.

"That works for me."

"Good. Well, I guess we'll take our leave, and I'll see you on Monday."

Everyone stood up, Narcissa and Lucius turning down Damon's offer of a room for the night, and after goodbyes were exchanged and Narcissa had handed Maya a stack of letters, the three of them left.

"So suddenly, she's in the running for Mother of the Year just when I'm trying to avoid her the most." Caroline complained to Bonnie.

"So, what did you do?"

"Well, I was a bitch which is par for the course with us… Do not repeat that word Cosmo."

Maya grinned at her, but nodded, she was not going to risk being grounded, not even to tease Caroline about swearing in front of her.

"Here comes Elena," Bonnie said, lowering her voice, "Ready to tell her yet?"

Caroline bit her lip and shook her head, before sending a sunny smile in Elena's direction.

"Hey Elena,"

"Hey Care, Bonnie," Elena smiled at her friends, then at Maya, her voice turning sickly sweet. "Kon-neech-eee-wa Maya. Erm Oh-gen-kid-eee-soo-ka?" She stumbled over the words, and didn't even try to inflect her accent so it would sound more accurate.

Caroline turned her face away and stifled a giggle at the look on Maya's face, Bonnie shook her head slightly, biting her lip to stop herself from laughing.

"Kon'nichiwa, Elena, watashi o akachan no yō ni atsukau no wa yamete kudasai. Sore ni, anata no akusento to hatsuon wa saiakudesu!" Maya replied flawlessly, smile as sweet and fake as Elena's tone had been. Hello Elena, stop treating me like I'm a baby. Also, your accent and pronunciation sucks!

Elena smiled, back at Maya, incorrectly assuming from the smile Maya bore, that she had been complimented.

"Okay, Cosmo." Caroline said, eager to distract the thirteen-year-old from whatever forms of torment she was imagining raining down on Elena. "Ready to do some painting?"

Maya accepted the paintbrush that Caroline held out to her, and began painting one of the posts of the veranda. Caroline joined her, and Bonnie and Elena started on one of the other posts. The three older girls, conversed, Bonnie and Caroline careful to keep the topics on the light gossipy side, avoiding anything that touched on vampires. Maya noticed suspicion in Elena's eyes though, and after a reached out with her legilimency and lightly scanned her thoughts.

"… Stefan's been distant this week…Caroline's been weird this week as well… Caroline and Bonnie are hiding something…Stefan's so hot… Pity Damon's such an Ass…"

Maya pulled back and sent a glare at Elena, until Caroline nudged her questioningly, thankfully Elena didn't seem to notice anything, and Maya went back to painting.

Damon scanned the park with his keen eyes. He spotted Stefan in a corner, chatting with Mason. Tyler was nowhere to be seen… and Caroline and Maya were absorbed in their painting project. Damon felt a surge of relief, knowing that the people he cared about were safe, or at least out of harm's way. He decided to look for Liz, hoping she had some clues about the mysterious accident that nearly killed Caroline.

He found her at the food station, busy unpacking cool bags and boxes. She looked tired and stressed, her blonde hair falling over her face.

"Hey Liz, need some help?" Damon offered, flashing his charming smile.

She looked up and smiled back, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"Hey Damon, that would be great, if you're willing and free."

"Always." He winked, trying to lighten the mood.

She chuckled at his joke, but it sounded forced, and there was a sad look in her eyes.

"Are you okay, Liz? You seem really upset." He asked, looking at her in concern.

She sighed and rubbed her temples.

"It's Caroline. We had a moment."

"Ah. Is there anything I can do?"

"No, Damon. Thank you. It's just horrible parental skills paying off in spades." She said, slightly bitterly.

"I'm sure that's not true. Her accident was only a week ago, maybe you're both just still a little shaken up by that and not handling it well." Damon replied, sympathetically.

She shook her head, unconvinced.

"Maybe. I don't know… she's just seemed different lately." She said, lowering her voice.

He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly.

"She could have died, Liz; I think it would be weirder if it hadn't changed her in some way." He said, softly.

"You're right, you're right. I dunno, maybe I'm just projecting, almost losing her like that. It scared me." She admitted, her voice trembling.

"It would scare any parent. Have they figured out what happened yet?" Damon asked, curiously.

Liz glanced around and seeing no one was close by, nodded, and whispered.

"Caroline's brakes were cut." She said, her eyes wide with fear.

"What?!" He exclaimed, displaying the appropriate amount of shock, even though he'd been expecting her answer.

"The mechanic who checked the car was certain it was deliberate, something about it being a clean edge. I've been racking my brains, trying to think who could do such a thing? All I can think of is maybe one of those vampires John Gilbert claimed wanted revenge on the Founding Families." She said, nervously.

"Is that likely? I mean cutting someone's brakes seems more like a human thing than a vampire thing to me." Damon said, sceptically.

"Caroline doesn't have those kinds of enemies! And John Gilbert's plan only uncovered one vampire, so maybe it decided it needed to be a little more creative than the usual throat-ripping. But John was attacked afterwards in his own home, so what if there are more around, looking to pick us off one-by-one, and Caroline was just their first target."

Damon gently grabbed Liz by the shoulders and held her still, hoping it would calm her down.

"Okay. Is there any evidence. Any evidence whatsoever, other than the fact that Caroline's accident was the same day John Gilbert said the vampires were going to attack, that this was vampires? Any evidence, that there are still vampires in town?" He asked, firmly.

She shook her head, defeated.

"Nothing. I've checked all the neighbouring counties, no suspicious deaths, no stolen blood banks, no unusual disappearances, no increase in missing campers, hikers, or hunters." She said, hopelessly.

"Okay. Then I think you might need to consider looking at people for a suspect. Humans can do horrible things too, Liz." Damon said, seriously.

"What am I supposed to do? I mean Caroline barely confides in me as it is! I can't just ask her straight out, 'hey have you pissed anyone off so much lately that they'd want to kill you', it would terrify her."

"Maybe just ask if she's noticed anything weird, anyone treating her differently lately" he suggested.

Already planning to do exactly that, along with telling her someone had cut the brakes on her car. After all Caroline was already very aware that someone had actually murdered her. Even if they didn't know the who or the how right now.

"You're right. I'll talk to her tonight."

"Okay. Well food's unpacked. Anything else I can help with?"

She smiled.

"Maybe the clean-up in the woods."

"I will get right on that."

"Thanks, Damon. For everything."

"You're welcome, Liz."

When the three of them got home that afternoon, they found Tyler in the kitchen chatting with Dobby. As soon as they walked in, he held up a smooth, translucent-milky-coloured ovoid stone to show them.

"I'm pretty sure this is the moonstone you mentioned. I'm also pretty sure my Uncle Mason wants it. I just don't know why."