Living with Danger

Chapter 23: Happy Ending

"One two three four five six seven,

"All good children go to heaven..."

It was a sunny August Saturday, and the Pack was at the park near the Den, playing. Draco was taking his turn at jumping the rope Aletha and Danger were turning, while Harry and Hermione waited impatiently. Remus helped Meghan throw a ball for Sirius to chase. Whether it went fifty feet or only two, the huge black dog bounded after it with the same enthusiasm, making Meghan clap her hands and laugh.

Draco missed his jump, and the rope tangled around his ankle. He quickly kicked free and jumped out. Harry took his place, and the game went on.

----------

She waited in line, biting her lip anxiously. They'd got through the M's and N's, they were into the R's, she'd be up any minute now, and Professor McGonagall would say her awful name, but she could even live with that if it meant it was her turn...

"Tonks, Nymphadora."

She gulped and walked forward, being extra careful not to trip. Delicately, she sat down, and the Hat fell onto her head.

"Well, well, daughter of Andromeda Black, are you? I remember her... bound and determined not to be a Slytherin, when I wouldn't have put her there in the first place, it was obvious she should be a Ravenclaw. You're pretty bright yourself, but oh, I see, you have your own ideas of your proper place... very well, I do try to satisfy all comers if I can... GRYFFINDOR!"

"Yes!" Tonks shot to her feet as the Gryffindor table cheered for her.

And promptly fell on her face.

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

"Weasley, Charles," Professor McGonagall read over the laughter. A red-haired boy sat confidently down as Tonks picked herself up and made for the table. The Hat took only a moment with him - he too was a "GRYFFINDOR!" Because of her fall, he and Tonks reached the table at about the same time. They looked at each other and laughed.

"Nymphadora, is it?" he said, sticking out his hand.

"No. Tonks. Please."

"All right, Tonks it is. I'm Charlie."

They shook.

----------

The Pack went to den-sleeping for a while in early September when Draco had a series of nightmares. He wasn't too keen to talk about them, but gentle questioning elicited the expected answers - he was trapped in the manor, and his father was chasing him and shouting at him, trying to hurt him. Den-sleeping didn't make the dreams go away entirely, but it put the adults in a position to wake Draco as soon as he started to show signs of a nightmare, and that helped a lot.

Soon after the Pack went back to sleeping upstairs, Hermione's birthday came, and was greeted with the pomp and circumstance suitable to the grand age of four. The boys sang her "Happy Birthday" with the edited lyrics so popular among children of all ages, prompting her to whack them both over the head with her new doll. Sirius denied teaching them the altered words.

The fall continued peacefully, as much as it could in a household with three four-year-olds. By Halloween, Draco was smiling on a regular basis, even laughing sometimes. His arrogance, after being almost insufferable through most of August, had slowly dwindled through September and October as he realized it got him nothing, and his timidity was being banished by the casual and loving atmosphere of the Den and the constant company of two boisterous children his own age. He was starting, if the word could be truly applied to any member of the Pack, to be normal.

He would never be like Harry, though. Harry seemed to have no fear and unlimited energy. From the moment he woke up to the moment he fell asleep, he was running somewhere, shouting and laughing, falling and getting back up. Draco was somewhat quieter, more interested in looking at things. Aletha had started giving him piano lessons, because, as she said, "He's ready. There's no set age when a child's ready - it's when he can sit still long enough to learn and he's interested." The sounds from the music room occasionally even resembled music.

Neenie was a bookworm, but had developed a mania for climbing. She could be found in the oddest places reading - curled up on a windowsill, squashed onto a bookshelf, and once, memorably, lying on the railing of the indoor balcony that overlooked both front rooms and was a portion of the upstairs hall. Danger almost had a heart attack when she came in from work, looked up, and saw Hermione balanced precariously on a six-inch-wide piece of wood over a one-story drop, totally engrossed in her book.

Meghan, like Harry, never walked when she could run, and seemed seldom to sit still, unless someone was reading to her or playing with her. She was a willing participant in Neenie's endless games of "den" with her dolls, being put to bed and woken up with the rest of the "cubs" every five minutes, and doing everything Hermione told her to without question.

"What is your secret?" Remus asked Neenie rhetorically after a frustrating round of "Why?" with Meghan.

----------

"...and in other news tonight - being in jail is unlucky. Being in jail and getting caught trying to break out is very unlucky. But being in jail, getting caught trying to break out, and being the only one caught out of a gang of 20 - now that's unlucky! Nicholas Cotton reports..."

Danger gasped as the camera zoomed in on a face she knew quite well. Still looks like a radish with a mustache... "Everyone, come in here! Look at this!"

There was an influx of people into the Whites' front room. Remus and Sirius took one look at the picture on the screen, of a furious man stuck in a window which was just a bit too small for him, and began laughing. "Who is that?" Aletha asked.

"Harry's uncle," Sirius said, as Vernon Dursley tried to cover his face. "The one Remus and Danger cursed. Looks like it's still active. Quality work, Moony."

"Thank you, my friend." Remus gave a little bow. "I wonder what it's doing to Petunia these days?"

----------

A knock sounded on the door of Petunia Dursley's flat. She yanked it open. "I told you, I'll pay when I..." She trailed off. "You're not the landlord."

"No, we're not," said one of the men in the hallway. "Social Services, ma'am."

"May we come in?" the other one asked, his tone making it clear that if she refused, they would come in anyway.

She let them in.

The visit didn't last long, and the men were very kind, but they made it clear what they thought of her, and her efforts to provide a home for her son. They were going to have to take him away with them, they said. For his own good. She could reapply for custody if she could ever prove employment for more than six months at one place, and residence at one address for the same amount of time...

After they left with Dudley, Petunia put her head down on her arms. He's someone else's problem now, she thought absently. Just as well, really. He was starting to act funny. Like the time when he was crying - I told him and told him to be quiet, and when he didn't, and I spanked him, one of the light bulbs shattered...

No more coming home early to take care of him. No more expenses for babysitters or day care. No worries about getting him into a school...this may actually be a good thing for me...

But slowly, spots of moisture began to appear on her sleeve.

----------

Draco looked around him. He was in a long, dark hallway, and he could hear footsteps at the other end, his father's footsteps, coming for him -

He looked down at himself. He was wearing red pajamas and holding a stuffed lion. He had never had red pajamas or a stuffed lion at the manor.

He smiled confidently. I'm at the Den. This is just a scary dream. And I can wake up... NOW!

And wake up he did. Not in his own bed, since he didn't have one - the three of them still slept in the two twin beds pushed together - but in his own home, with his brother and sister cuddled next to him, and his lion under his arm.

No more scary dreams for me.

He looked at the window. The light looked kind of funny. Almost pink.

He sat up carefully, then knelt up to look over Harry and out the window.

It's snowing! It's so pretty, all white like that...

Harry roused under him. "Hi," he said sleepily.

"Hi," Draco said. "Look, it snowing."

"Snowing!" Draco dodged as Harry snapped upright to look out the window himself. "It snowed! We can go out and play in it!"

"Play in it?" Draco asked.

Harry laughed. "You see." He tore out the door of the room. "Moony, Danger, wake up, it snowed, it snowed!"

Draco grinned and shook Hermione by the shoulder. "Neenie, wake up, it snowed."

"Snowed?" Just like that, she was awake. "Snowed?" She sat up, looked out the window, and gave a happy squeal. "Meghan can come and play this year, she's big enough now! We make a snowman, and we make snow angels - "

"We have snowball fights!" Harry said, bouncing back into the room. "And catch snowflakes on our tongues! Come on, we gotta get dressed an' eat breakfast afore we can go out!"

Draco wondered as he pulled on his socks what a snow angel might be, and how to make one. He was sure someone would show him.

That was what he liked best about the Den. There was always someone around to show him things.

----------

Charlie Weasley climbed into the Gryffindor common room and looked around for his brother. "Hoy, Bill."

"What's up, next-up?"

"Just wondering if you knew - does Dumbledore have any family?"

Bill shrugged. "Don't know. Why?"

"Heard him in the hall, talking to McGonagall. He said he'd be spending Christmas somewhere else this year."

"Huh. He usually stays at Hogwarts for the holidays. At least, I think he does. Oh well, not our problem. Term ends in a couple days, and then we're off home."

"Home." Charlie smiled. "Home with Mum, and Dad, and Percy, and Fred..."

"And George, and Ron, and Ginny," Bill finished the litany. "And then we spend the whole vacation wishing we were back here, where they aren't."

"So you say, big brother. So you say."

Bill gave his infuriating "I-know-more-than-you-because-I'm-oldest" smile. "Indeed I do."

----------

Lucius Malfoy had bad dreams every night now. But his dream on Christmas Eve was probably the worst he had ever had.

It was filled with images of his son. Draco nestling against Lupin with a sickeningly adoring expression, listening to a story... Draco watching intently as Black's woman pointed something out to him on a page... Draco throwing a ball for a huge black dog to chase after... Draco licking a wooden spoon covered in cake batter as Lupin's woman tidied up the kitchen... Draco running after the Potter boy and the Mudblood girl and Black's daughter, all of them shouting...

In every image, his son was smiling, or even laughing. The boy was happy. He had the audacity to be happy! Malfoys were not made happy by such plebeian things as having stories read to them, or licking cake spoons. Malfoys found their happiness in power plays, in crushing their opponents, in surviving politically when no others did or could.

But, as he was painfully reminded in every scene, his son was no longer a Malfoy.

"Draco Black." The woman's insolent voice echoed in his mind, tormenting him. "I rather like the sound of that, don't you? Draco Black..."

He snarled aloud, knowing the sound would be lost in the constant cacophony of Azkaban. You will pay, Muggle. For that, and for everything else, you will pay.

Even as he thought that, his dream changed yet again, annoying him still more, if that were possible.

How disgustingly sweet. Decorating the Christmas tree. I do not want to see this - which is probably why I am being forced to watch...

Indeed, Lucius was unable even to turn away or close his eyes. Unwilling, he watched the children walk with exaggerated care to hang ornaments on the tree while the adults strung lights and tinsel with their wands.

At least I don't have to listen to them. Silence is golden - more so than usual in this instance...

He was astounded to see Lupin's woman levitate the star for the top of the tree into place. A Muggle who can use a wand? That's supposed to be impossible. Could she be a witch after all, but home-trained?

Black's woman began to sing - this, Lucius found, he could hear. It was "O Christmas Tree", and the rest of the unnatural group joined her, even the children. Even Draco.

Lucius groaned. No. Malfoys do not sing. They may play instruments in a dignified manner, but they do not do anything so primitive as sing.

Self-evidently, though, Draco did. Lucius took minimal comfort in realizing that the boy's voice was quite tone-true, and actually rather pleasant to listen to. If he must do it, at the very least he does it well.

Lupin handed Draco his wand, then lifted the boy onto his shoulders, telling him something. Draco reached out and tapped the nearest tree light with the wand. The lights sprang to life, illuminating the tree. Draco's face lit up as well, with pure joy, as the other children clapped and cheered.

Lupin lifted Draco down from his shoulders, but didn't set him on the floor. Instead, he held the boy on one hip, and Lucius had to watch his son - his son - sliding his arms trustingly around the neck of that disgusting, filthy, halfblood, Muggle-loving, werewolf, and resting his head on the creature's shoulder!

He lunged forward, unable to stop himself any longer, to snatch the boy away and beat some sense into him -

And he was awake, in his stinking cell in Azkaban, with the other prisoners screaming around him, and black despair in his heart.

If they can get so far with him after less than six months, what chance do I have? By the time the Dark Lord returns - if he ever does - Draco will be faithful to them, and forever lost to me...

He howled in misery, finally surrendering his dignity. No one can see me anyway. No one will ever see me again. I will be here until I die.

Death, at this point, might be desirable...

----------

Early on Christmas morning, Albus Dumbledore arrived at 71 Crozer Street, bearing a stack of gifts and a plate of scones. "Hogwarts has a new house-elf in its employ," he told the Pack. "One named Dobby, who told me the most interesting tale about how he was freed. He made these for you, and wonders if perhaps, sometime, he could come to visit his little master."

Danger took a bite and rolled her eyes in ecstasy. "He can come any time he likes, if he bakes like this. I may give up cooking."

"Don't do that, we'll all starve if you do," Sirius said.

"Yes, and you will start starving if I don't start getting help with the washing-up," Danger retorted. "That novel you're working on can occasionally wait until the dinner dishes are done."

Sirius flushed. "Did you have to bring that up?"

"A novel, Sirius?" Dumbledore looked interested. "I didn't know you wrote."

"I don't suppose you ever read Witch Weekly, Headmaster," said Aletha, "but Sirius has become a regular contributor. Under a pen name, of course."

Sirius was now as red as any of the Christmas bulbs and beginning to get some of the cubs' attention, which was quite a feat on Christmas morning with unopened packages under the tree. "Can we get to these before Harry dies of impatience, and discuss my work later?"

"If you insist," Remus said, hiding a smile behind the first present he held up. "This one's for Neenie - go to it, sweetheart."

----------

Nearly an hour and about an acre of shredded wrapping paper later, the children were ignoring all their new toys and playing in the large cardboard box one of them had come in. "Never fails," Remus said. "We should stop getting them presents and just get them boxes."

"Don't think I haven't considered it," Danger said ruefully.

Sirius, in the other room, was explaining to Dumbledore about his career as a writer, and how the short period romances of Valentina Jett had become an eagerly awaited feature in Witch Weekly, appearing every two months.

"And when they started paying, you knew you liked it," Aletha said with a chuckle. "So when they offered to publish a novel if you'd write one, of course you said yes."

"It's not like I have anything else to do, after all. Except raise the children, and that is a lot of work, but with the four of us sharing them, it still leaves me plenty of spare time. And you know I don't just like it for the money," Sirius growled, pushing Aletha playfully. "I like it because... because when I write, I can make everything come out all right. The good guys win, the truth is revealed, and there's always a happy ending."

"Are you saying everything hasn't come out all right for you?" Remus asked from the doorway, curiously rather than accusingly.

Sirius sighed, his eyes taking on a bit of the darkness of Azkaban, which they had never completely lost. "For now, it has. But you know as well as I do, our lives are precarious. One person sees too much, one of us makes one mistake, and it's over. We could be separated, forever, at any time." He gave a short laugh as Aletha slid an arm comfortingly around his shoulders. "I guess I hope if I write enough happy endings, I'll get one myself."

"I could use some help in here if you want Christmas dinner at any time approaching noon!" Danger called from the kitchen.

----------

Month followed month in the usual order, and life at the Den continued to be predictably unpredictable. No two days were ever the same - except in being happy. The knowledge that the world was looking for them, with no good intent, served to keep the fights among the adults few and far between.

The cubs, of course, squabbled as all small children do, but more amicably than most, taking and changing sides at a moment's notice and laughing about it all together a few minutes later. Meghan, as she had since she was old enough to notice, tried gallantly to keep up with the older three, going where they went and trying her very best to do what they did. Even when what they did was dangerous for her.

"You are not big enough to be sliding down the banisters like that!" Sirius scolded her one day, plucking her off the rail, where she was sitting at an alarming angle. "You come upstairs with me and play where I can see you."

Meghan made a face. "No fair." It was one of the first phrases she had ever said.

"Yes fair. I'm your father, and I say so, therefore it's fair. Let's go."

----------

Sirius, in dog form, lay across three beams of sunlight in Aletha's front room, snoring lustily. Harry beckoned Hermione and Draco into the room. Meghan followed them, her baby hands wrapped around two bottles she had taken from the fridge on Harry's order.

The junior pranksters went to work.

----------

Sirius awoke and sniffed.

I smell ketchup.

Someone snickered nearby.

I also smell mustard.

Someone else laughed aloud. There was the sound of a photograph being taken.

I don't like this.

"Padfoot," said Remus' voice quietly. "You fell asleep in the sun. That made you hot. Therefore, you were a hot dog. And certain inhabitants of this Den took advantage of that." There was a pause, as Sirius heard what he could now identify as Danger's giggle. "You're going to need a bath."

Sirius opened his eyes and looked at himself. He was almost completely covered in condiments.

Well, at least they have spirit. The children had drawn the Gryffindor lion on him in ketchup and mustard. And look on the bright side - they could have used mayonnaise. I hate mayonnaise.

With these thoughts to cheer him, he stood up and Apparated into the bathtub, where he nosed the water on and began rinsing himself off.

But I want those pictures destroyed.

----------

Exams were over. Tonks lay by the lake, feeling extraordinarily good about life, since, for the first time in a month, she had nothing in particular to do...

"Look, they're here again," Charlie said, pointing out the family crossing the grounds. "They come a lot, don't they? I wonder if they're relatives of Hagrid's."

"One of them's a friend of my mum's," Tonks said, rolling over to have a look. "The black woman. Ms. Freeman, I think. And the others are her neighbors, I don't remember their names..."

One of the little boys, the black-haired one, tugged away from the woman whose hand he was holding and started running. Tonks watched him go, and something stirred in her mind. Being a Metamorphmagus, she was used to seeing her own face under all different colors of hair. But why am I thinking about that?

Something about that boy's face made her uneasy. As if she'd seen him somewhere before, and he had looked somehow different - his hair had been a different color, perhaps...

"Tonks? You all right?"

"Fine."

"They're about my youngest brother's age," Charlie said, watching the other two of the bigger children run after the first one. "Ron. Maybe they'll be in his year. When he's at Hogwarts. We'll have left by then. What do you think you want to do when you leave?"

Tonks shrugged. "Don't know. You?"

"Something outside, that's for sure. No desk jobs. I hate being indoors." He looked at her keenly. "I can't see you on a desk job either. You're a more active sort..."

The discussion lasted a good half-hour and almost drove the little boy with the annoyingly familiar face from Tonks' mind. Almost, but not quite.

When she got back to her dormitory, she pulled out a box from under her bed. In it, she kept things she almost never used - like her family photo album. She flipped it open and started looking. She had no luck, until she found the wedding picture of her mother's younger sister, her Aunt Narcissa, side by side with her haughty pureblood husband, Lucius Malfoy...

Of course, they weren't side by side any more. In fact, Lucius was almost entirely out of the picture, and Narcissa was just barely visible on the other side. Clearly, whatever their feelings had been at one point, they loathed one another now. Tonks prodded Lucius in the back with her wand, and was rewarded with a glimpse of his sneering face before he ducked back under the frame.

A glimpse had been enough. He was a dead ringer for that little boy on the lawn. Except for the hair, which could be easily changed with a simple charm or potion.

Did I just solve one of the wizarding world's great unsolved mysteries? Did I just find Draco Malfoy, The Boy Who Disappeared?

And if I did - what do I do now?

She bit her lip - then did what any smart girl would do.

She wrote her mother.

Dear Mum,

I think I saw your nephew today. He was running around with your friend Ms. Freeman and her neighbors and their little kids. He was with them that day in Diagon Alley when you bought me my stuff too, only they called him Reggie. They charmed his hair black, but it's him. What should I do?

Love from

Dora

The answer came the next morning, by return owl.

Dearest Dora,

Do nothing. Especially say nothing, to anyone. You are a very bright girl to see so much, but some secrets are not meant to be told. Does he seem happy with them? Please let me know.

With love,

Your mother

Tonks pulled a quill from her bag and scribbled a reply on a scrap piece of parchment, right at the breakfast table.

Mum -

He looked just fine. He was running and playing like any other kid. And I won't tell anyone.

- Dora

Sending it off with the rather disgruntled post owl, she smiled to herself. So now I have a secret. Wonder how many other people know?

Wish I could tell Charlie. He'd think it was really cool.

----------

Valentina Jett's novel Happy Ending was published in July, to critical acclaim. "A fresh new voice, with an understanding of the trials of human life," one review said. Another called it "well-crafted and a touch wistful, eventually achieving the status of its title in a fully believable way."

But the one that got the Den in an uproar read: "The author's female characters are well drawn and realistic. She clearly knows the truth of being a woman."

"Is there something you're not telling me, dear?" Aletha said when she'd recovered from her five-minute laughing fit.

"Look, everyone, a medical miracle," Remus said, scooping up a slightly startled Meghan. "First baby ever naturally conceived with two mothers!"

"Come off it," Sirius said, grinning himself.

"These people are going to get a big surprise one of these days," Danger commented. "A really big surprise."

"You said it, not me," Aletha said with a naughty smile.

----------

Chapter 24: Curiosity and What It Killed

Severus Snape would have been perfectly happy to stay in his beloved dungeons for days, weeks, on end. But the Headmaster had the house-elves under his command, and in the summer they would only deliver two meals a day to his living quarters. If he wanted a third, he had to emerge and get it from the kitchens himself, or eat in the Hall with the rest of the faculty.

During the school year (which, he remembered with distaste, would be starting again soon), the ridiculous rules were even tighter. Only one meal a day would be delivered, and even that was frowned upon. And house-elves had a way of letting one know, ever so subtly, when they were displeased. It was never anything one could put one's finger on, but the soup, say, would be just a touch too salty, and if one sent it back, it would return too watery; or the salad would have no dressing, and the horrendous miniscule creature would apologize profusely and proceed to drown the lettuce with goo. And so on.

And so it was that he was coming up from the dungeons in search of a late lunch when he saw Aletha Freeman crossing the entrance hall, talking to a little boy whose hand she was holding. Her other hand had a lead wrapped around it, connected to the collar of an enormous black dog.

Does she have nothing better to do? I see her here almost every other week. Ministry Liaison or not, that is absurd. And always with these other people tagging along.

The other people in question were behind her, a man and woman gazing adoringly at one another, each with another child by the hand - no, the woman had two, the smaller of which belonged to Freeman if he wasn't mistaken. He stopped to observe them.

They appear to be about my age, but I have never met them that I recall... they could be immigrants, home-educated, or non-magical. The third is improbable, considering the anti-Muggle security on this school, so it is likely one of the first two...

And I thought I had trained myself out of curiosity. Here I am, exhibiting it again. Clearly, I need more self-discipline.

Snape started for the hallway which led to the kitchens.

He had gone only a few steps when something hit him in the back, knocking him to the ground and winding him. He twisted over onto his back, gasping for breath -

And the thing started licking him. It was the gargantuan dog Freeman had been walking. It must have pulled the lead from her hand.

"Padfoot!" Freeman shouted, running towards him. "Come here! Bad dog! Come!"

The dog paused, looked at her, then turned back deliberately and gave Snape one more enormous lick, thoroughly coating his face with a repulsive slime of saliva. Then it - minced was the only word possible - over to Freeman, who backhanded it on the nose. "Bad dog. Bad Padfoot. If you ever play a trick like that again, I'll have you neutered!"

The dog whined and lowered its head.

"That's better." Freeman looked over at Snape, who had pulled himself into a sitting position and was attempting to dry his face with his sleeve. "I'm terribly sorry, Professor. Are you all right?"

"I will be perfectly fine, Madam Freeman," Snape said through his teeth. "Please try to control that... animal of yours better in the future."

Of course she named her dog after Sirius Black, he thought bitterly, picking himself up off the floor as Freeman and her flock of followers headed for the open front doors. I should have expected that.

I wonder where he is now. Two years since the sighting in Diagon Alley. With Harry Potter in his arms, no less. Is he taunting us, I wonder? That would be very like him, would it not...

----------

Remus maintained a straight face all the way across the grounds and into Hagrid's back garden, where he sat down on the back steps, looked at Sirius, and started laughing uncontrollably. Sirius, for his part, rolled ecstatically on his back, paws waving, emitting a high-pitched noise that sounded like a cross between a gleeful whine and a howl of joy. Aletha leaned weakly against the wall of Hagrid's hut, unable to stand upright.

In between giggles, Danger explained what Sirius had done to the bewildered Hagrid, who promptly joined in the laughter, drowning everyone else out for a moment or two. "Licked his face!" he guffawed. "Yeh'll need a drink after tha', I think!" He filled a bowl for Sirius out of his water barrel, who lapped it up gratefully.

The children silently communicated bewilderment. It had been funny, but not that funny. Adults were strange sometimes.

----------

The Pack had come to Hogwarts for several reasons - to have lunch with the Headmaster, of course, and to say hello to Hagrid, but Aletha had also brought a number of official documents with her, some of which were intended for Minerva McGonagall, and although she had dropped these off with the Deputy Headmistress, she had accidentally left one upstairs, in Professor Dumbledore's office.

Of such accidents are stories made.

----------

Late that same evening, Minerva sighed, checking through the parchments Aletha had dropped off. I thought they were sending me a copy of that new decree about animal-to-human transfiguration. They were certainly very flattering in the letter - "world authority" and "lend your expertise".

Perhaps Aletha merely forgot to bring it with her. Or it got lost in the shuffle of papers. She asked her great-grandmother to check and see if, by any chance, it was on Dumbledore's desk, and in a few moments had her answer - it was.

I doubt he'll mind if I pop up there and get it. She was on her way almost before she had finished the thought.

As she picked up the decree, she noticed a photograph half-covered by another sheet of parchment. A lighted Christmas tree and the edge of Dumbledore's favorite holiday robes were visible.

I wonder. Where did Albus spend this past Christmas? He almost never leaves Hogwarts at the holidays - the last time I remember him doing so was to visit his brother in jail, and that was years ago...

It couldn't hurt, just to have a look. One look.

Feeling an unexpected rush of lawbreaking spirit, she tugged the photograph free.

Two small children sat on Albus' lap in a rocking chair, with two others perched precariously on the arms of the chair. He was reading to them from a picture book. She noticed that first, and smiled.

Then she noticed the children's faces, and screamed, dropping the picture as if it were a snake.

"I say!" said a disapproving voice from the wall. "Some of us are trying to sleep here!"

"My apologies," Minerva said automatically, while taking another, disbelieving look at the photograph where it lay on the desk.

This cannot possibly be true.

But the boy on Albus' lap, pale-blond and aristocratic, the image of Lucius Malfoy, could only be his missing son, Draco. The girl beside him was certainly Aletha Freeman's daughter Meghan. And the black-haired boy balanced on the chair arm was unmistakably Harry Potter.

And I have seen the other girl somewhere - heavens above, I saw her today. She was with the people Aletha had with her. Along with two little boys...who could have been Harry and the Malfoy child, under glamours...

But everyone knows that Sirius Black has Harry Potter. How could Aletha Freeman possibly be involved with...

She gasped as previously unconsidered things locked together in her mind.

The ring Aletha wears - the ring she began wearing shortly after Black's escape - a wedding ring, no matter what she claims. And her child - supposedly adopted, but she bears a suspicious resemblance to her mother, except for her eyes, her gray eyes...

That dementor last year did not enter Aletha's house by chance. It was seeking Sirius Black!

She all but ran from the Headmaster's office, her mind racing. One thought came uppermost as she regained the safety of her own desk and chair.

I must know the truth. If Albus has in some way become unbalanced enough to permit this - this - atrocity - then I must know that, so that I can begin the necessary proceedings.

I must go to Aletha's home. But not like this. No, I must go in a form no one will regard, no one will notice...

And I have such a form at my command.

After all, who looks twice at another gray alley cat?

She quickly scribbled a note to leave on her desk.

Out, back later. MM

After closing and locking her office door, she stowed her wand safely away and transformed, since she made better time with four feet than with two.

As well, I am easier to overlook in this form. This is one errand I would rather not be seen going on.

She hurried from the castle and onto the path to Hogsmeade, her thoughts moving as swiftly as her paws.

Aletha and her friends always go to visit Hagrid after they have seen Albus. Does Hagrid know who they are? And if he does, why has he said nothing?

She sighed at her own obtuseness. Of course, Hagrid would reach with his bare hand into a dragon's mouth if Albus told him to. He would consider it an honor to share in such a secret. But I cannot think he would countenance any mistreatment of Harry...

Her mind darted onto a tangent. Aletha's friends. A man and a woman. The children are supposedly theirs. Who are they? What have they to do with this? Do I know either of them?

She recalled something from their brief visits to her office. The man never speaks. The woman does all the talking, to the children and to Aletha. Why would he remain silent?

Perhaps because if he spoke, I would recognize his voice?

He's not Black under a glamour, though. Black is a bit taller, and broader in the shoulders. No, this man is built more like...

Like Remus Lupin.

Who has not been seen since Black's escape and Harry's abduction, and whose voice I certainly would know.

She speeded up. She needed to know the truth, and she needed to know it now.

----------

The Pack sat on their front steps, watching the sun set.

Danger gave a sigh of pure contentment and leaned back against Remus' shoulder. Have I mentioned lately that I love you?

Only four times today.

Oh dear, I'm behindhand. I love you, I love you, I love you. There, that should bring me up to speed.

Remus laughed aloud. Have I mentioned lately that I love your sense of humor?

Yes, you have, but I always like hearing it again...

----------

A feline head poked around the corner of the house.

I would know that laugh anywhere. Quiet but earnest, just like the man himself. Lupin.

And that dog... Her eyes fixed on it, and she hissed. That dog is not a dog. Who did the transfiguration, I wonder?

----------

It is a truism among wizards and witches that one human in animal form, whether Animagus or transfigured, can always pick out another. Patrick the Plump, for instance, was a very successful thief, robbing fifteen stores in Diagon Alley on separate days and always vanishing before the Aurors arrived, until one day a young man whose Animagus form was a falcon took to the skies and noticed a certain fat pigeon who had a bit of a different look to him...

Of course, the noticing goes both ways. If the unfortunate Patrick had ever looked up, he would have been able to tell that the winged death descending on him from the skies was not really a falcon...

-----------

Sirius' head snapped up, and he looked quickly to one side. With a thunderous bark, he launched himself across the yard, chasing a gray blur which appeared from out of nowhere.

"What is that?" Aletha got to her feet, exchanging bewildered looks with Remus and Danger.

"Ki'y!" Meghan exclaimed, running after her father.

The gray blur shot down the road and up the small ornamental tree in the two-doors-down-neighbors' front yard, where it resolved itself, in the failing light of dusk augmented by the streetlights, into a small gray cat.

Sirius sat down at the foot of the tree and growled at the cat. He looked back at the rest of the Pack and beckoned them closer with a paw.

"Something's up," Aletha said. "He wouldn't go after just any old cat like that."

Remus intercepted Meghan halfway down the sidewalk and took another look at the cat from his closer vantage point, while Meghan squalled and kicked at him, trying to get away.

Danger felt his surprise, tinged with worry and a touch of humor, reverberate through her. Dear Lord, it's got spectacle markings around its eyes.

And that means... Danger tapped Remus' memories, and was rewarded with an image of a stern-faced woman changing into a spectacle-marked cat - a Hogwarts Professor, no less, and the head of Gryffindor House, responsible for many of the Marauders' detentions in their school days. Oh no, and Sirius has her treed...

It's unlikely she's here by accident. She must know something. Tell Aletha what's up, would you?

Danger relayed the information, and Aletha sighed, looking torn between laughter and concern. "Cubs, go inside," she said quietly. "Now. And stay there until we call you."

Draco looked like he wanted to ask why, but Neenie and Harry got up without question, and after a brief moment Draco followed them into the Den and closed the door.

Remus was now standing beside the ornamental tree, his eyes approximately level with McGonagall's, Meghan in his arms demanding to pet the kitty now. As Aletha and Danger came down the sidewalk, McGonagall inched forward on the branch she was crouched on and delicately slid her head under Meghan's reaching fingers. Meghan squealed happily and patted McGonagall's head, in an enthusiastic two-year-old kind of way. The cat winced.

Remus caught Meghan's hand. "Gentle, Meghan," he said firmly. "Show me gentle."

Meghan stroked Remus' arm softly.

"That's right. That's gentle. Now you be gentle with the kitty."

Meghan started stroking the small gray head. It was made easier for her by McGonagall's fixed stare at Remus.

It's been a while since I've had one of these.

One of what?

The patented "Minerva McGonagall I-Know-What-You-Did Look of Doom". Though yours come close, my dear.

Decisions, decisions... should I hit you, thank you, or both?

Aletha was holding a hand-signal yes-and-no conversation with Sirius. After a moment, she made a brief series of signals to Remus and Danger.

They both think we should at least try telling her the truth. Input?

You know her, I don't. Your decision.

Remus nodded to Aletha and Sirius. "Nice to see you again, Professor," he said quietly. "Would you care to come inside and talk?"

The cat looked skeptical.

"No evasions," Aletha said. McGonagall turned her head to put Aletha under scrutiny. "No lies, no half-truths. We'll tell you everything that's going on, if you're willing to believe it."

The cat looked hard at each of them, then delicately stretched, yawned, and stood up, tail waving in graceful curves. With a last mistrustful glance at Sirius, she leapt to the ground and followed Aletha toward the Den.

That was easy.

But convincing her may not be. She's liable to curse us all if she feels threatened in any way.

I have an idea about that. Danger explained.

Good thinking. Remus dropped back to talk to Sirius, while Danger sped up a little to tell Aletha the plan.

Now all we have to do is hope she believes us...

----------

Minerva trotted up the front steps of the duplex, every nerve alert. Her original reconnaissance had shown only protective magics on the house - no wards against Apparation, no booby traps - but she was still deeply mistrustful of this.

But subtlety was never Sirius Black's strong suit. I assume it is he who is in control here, since he was apparently quite high in the esteem of You-Know-Who - oh, all right, damn you, Albus, in Voldemort's esteem.

Thinking of Albus' calm insistence that she use the evil wizard's proper name joggled Minerva's memory of a particular time when he had done so - a November night, when they had sat outside a prim house in Surrey together, waiting for the arrival of a little boy...

A little boy who was removed from that house not even six months later. Knowing what I know about those people, I cannot help but be relieved - unless, as I have feared ever since, he was taken from a bad home to a worse one...

The four people following her reached the steps. Lupin reached carefully over her head with his non-child-holding-arm and opened the door. "After you, Professor," he said politely.

You want me to enter a strange house first? You must be joking. Minerva shook her head.

"As you wish," Lupin said. He mounted the steps and entered the house, turning on a light within. Then he reached into his pocket and withdrew his wand. Minerva tensed - but he laid the wand carefully on a table just within sight of the door. "We mean you no harm," he said. "And to this we pledge our wands."

Aletha and the other woman likewise entered the house and disarmed themselves.

Minerva eyed the huge black dog balefully. If you make one wrong move...

But the dog bounded up the steps and into the house, rounded the corner of the door so that a passer-by would no longer be able to see him, then reared onto his hind legs and casually changed into Sirius Black.

Black, an Animagus! I knew he was good at Transfiguration, but I never dreamed he was that good!

Black, too, placed his wand on the table. "Our home is yours, Professor," he said politely.

Minerva hesitated for one more moment. This might still be some kind of trick...

Then she heard the sound of pattering feet.

A little boy, his hair blond and tousled, ran into her line of sight, straight to Black, and hugged him around the waist, which was as high as he could reach. Black smiled and picked him up, and the boy turned inquisitive green eyes on her.

My God. I know those eyes.

Almost against her will, she stepped forward into the house, and the strange woman reached behind her to shut the door.

----------

Upon returning to his office, Professor Dumbledore noticed a piece of parchment lying on the floor, where it had not been when he had left. And a certain photograph lay exposed on the desk, where it had been hidden before.

"Who was here while I was gone?" he asked the portraits sternly.

Half a dozen voices volunteered that it had been Minerva McGonagall, that she'd come for a copy of something that had been forgotten, that she'd pulled out the picture from under the parchment hiding it, that she'd seemed very agitated by it...

"Yes, I have no doubt she was," Dumbledore said grimly. And I have no doubt she is by now investigating the matter herself...

----------

The instant the door was closed, Minerva retransformed, drawing an amazed "Ooh" from the child in Black's arms, and drew her wand.

"What is going on here?" she demanded.

"I win," Lupin said, grinning at Black.

Minerva blinked. "Win? Win what?"

"We had a bet on. I said you'd get us at wandpoint first, then ask what was going on. Sirius said you'd ask first." Lupin looked highly satisfied. "So now he has to do the dishes for three days."

"Oh, now wait just a second," Black protested. "One day is all I bet."

"No, you said three," the strange woman put in. "I distinctly remember you saying three."

"You did say three," Aletha said, chuckling. "And you wouldn't want to break a promise, now would you, Padfoot? Not setting a very good example there."

Black glared at all of them, then sighed. "All right, fine, you win, three..."

"Three what?" asked the little boy.

"Three days I have to do the dishes, Harry. Moony just suckered me into it."

"Moony," Harry scolded. "Not nice to sucker Padfoot."

"That's right," Black said, looking vindicated.

"Too easy," Harry finished.

"That's ri - hey!" Black dropped Harry to the floor in outrage as the other adults laughed.

"QED, Padfoot," Lupin said, shaking his head.

Black groaned. "I can't win."

Minerva stared at them all, baffled, her wand dropping to her side. It was a dialogue she had heard many times before. Never quite in these words, of course, but it was exactly the style of joking banter that the four boys who had styled themselves the Marauders had always used. And it was impossible to reconcile with her current image of Sirius Black - traitor, murderer, kidnapper...

Something is wrong here.

"Professor," said Aletha quietly. "Would you care to sit down?"

"Yes," Minerva said frankly. "Yes, I think I would like that very much indeed."

"Would you mind unglamouring the children?" the other woman asked as they all found seats.

"Children?" But then she saw the other little boy and the little girl, peering down between the bars of the balcony railing overhead.

"Come on down, you two," Lupin called.

"Yes, the boys are both beglamoured. Remus is as well, if you wouldn't mind..."

Minerva flicked her wand at the three wizards as a chime sounded from the other room. "Excuse me," Aletha said, standing up. "That's the fireplace."

The little girl with the brown bushy hair - who rather closely resembled the woman Minerva didn't know, she noticed - climbed into Lupin's lap, as the other boy, now obviously Draco Malfoy, claimed Black's. Harry, dark-haired again and looking startlingly like his father, was cuddled next to Black, and Meghan sat at his feet, absorbed in a small and brightly colored toy that made clacking noises as she turned it over and over. The older three children were eyeing Minerva curiously, as if she were something they'd never seen before.

But it is not fear. They are not afraid of me. And they are certainly not afraid of Black.

"Something is very wrong here," she said quietly in frustration.

"Indeed," said a voice she knew quite well, but had not expected to hear, startling her into a small jump.

Though considering what brought me here, perhaps I should have.

"Professor!" The little girl slid quickly to the floor and ran to Albus Dumbledore, hugging him around the legs. "Be welcome in our Den," she recited when she let go.

"Be welcome," the boys repeated from behind her, giving little bows, then each solemnly extending a hand for Dumbledore to shake. Meghan dropped her toy and came over, beaming at Dumbledore, and he lifted her up, placing her on his shoulder, where she giggled and held onto his hair for balance.

"The only thing wrong, Minerva, is the story you know about Sirius Black and the Potters, which is wrong almost in its entirety," Dumbledore said, seating himself and placing Meghan in his lap after disentangling her. "I assume you want an explanation for all of this, and my involvement in it."

"I do," Minerva said fervently. She looked away from Dumbledore's eyes, ostensibly to take a look around the room, but really because - well, because he knew. She could see it in his face; he knew what she had done, and how she had found out where these people were.

And she also knew he would never mention it, to her or to anyone. She would simply be included in this secret, as if she had a right to be, as if these people had chosen to tell her instead of having her invade their life.

And that is one of Albus' greatest weapons. The guilt of others. He simply allows them to punish themselves for wrongdoing, as much or as little as they choose...

There are days I hate him for it.

She shook her head slightly and prepared to listen to what she was sure would be a close-to-unbelievable story.

But with this cast of characters, I will be surprised at almost nothing.