Sirius Black and James Potter knew they had a narrow escape from the pursuing Death Eaters. Each also knew there was going to be some fallout from the Ministry of Magic over the two policemen they left in the narrow side street. It wasn’t their intention to be chased by Muggle policemen. Their only thought was simple; to try to get away from the dozen or so Death Eaters who had discovered them spying on their activities.

Neither man tried to speak as they flew north to the outskirts of London. Sirius landed the motorcycle in the back yard of a small house. They both walked silently into the kitchen of the house. Simultaneously, each grabbed a bottle of Butterbeer from the cabinet before they sat down at the table. Still, neither spoke.

Only after drinking half the bottle of Butterbeer did they even look at each other.

“You know we are going to be in trouble over this?” James asked Sirius.

“Albus will take care of it. He has never let us down before,” Sirius said smugly.

“I don’t know,” James said. “I think we pushed the Secrecy Decree a bit too much this time.”

Sirius didn’t answer; he merely lifted his bottle and tipped it towards James before he finished the bottle.

James shook his head and likewise finished his drink. Setting the bottle down, he looked over at Sirius. “Well, Elvendork, I think our narrow escape calls for something stronger than Butterbeer.”

Sirius burst out laughing followed by James. Soon both men were laughing uncontrollably. They were laughing so loud, they did not hear the slamming of the front door.

As Lily Evans walked towards the kitchen, she could hear the laughter. Her temper already on edge was pushed beyond her control. Pulling out her wand, she quietly snuck towards the kitchen.

Knowing she only had one shot at this, she prepared to jinx both men. “Langlock, Langlock!” She hexed both men before either knew she was there.

James and Sirius did not even have enough time to draw their wands before being hit by the hex. They both looked at her with shock. Neither expected her to hex them when their guard was down, if at all.

Lily could see the shock on both men’s faces. That look alone was enough to take the edge off her temper. She murmured the counter-charm which allowed both men to be able to speak again.

“Lily! What did you do that for?” James asked.

“Good one, Lily. Never would have expected that of you,” Sirius said smiling at her.

“I want to know,” Lily said very slowly as if she was speaking to a child, “just what in Merlin’s name you two were thinking?”

“Well, Elvendork here-’ James’ words were cut off by a look from Lily as she raised her wand.

Sniggering, Sirius tried a different approach, he played dumb. “What are you talking about? We were just sitting here having a Butterbeer and sharing a few laughs.”

Lily looked from one man to the other. She found it very hard in that instant to keep her temper in check. James recognised instantly the flash of temper in her eyes. He knew he had only seconds to stop her before he and Sirius would find themselves victims of another hex.

Jumping up from the table, James rushed over to Lily. He grabbed her wand in one hand while he wrapped the other around her back and pulled her close to him. He then did the only thing he could think of to stop her, he kissed her.

“Well Prongs, that is one way to calm an angry woman,” Sirius said as he stood and walked over to the cabinet where he had a bottle of Firewhisky and glasses. He took out three glasses and poured them each a drink. He took the glasses to the table. After setting them down, he turned and grabbed the bottle. He sat down at the table, and set the bottle down with more force than necessary.

The sound echoed through the kitchen causing James and Lily to break apart. James whipped around holding Lily’s wand in front of him.

“What did you do that for?” James asked.

“I don’t know. I thought it was a good way to get your attention. It worked, didn’t it?” Sirius said with a smile on his face. “Now that you two have come up for air, would you like a drink?”

Lily and James each sat down at the table. James picked his glass up and took a sip. He turned to Lily and asked her, “Would you like to hear what really happened tonight?”

Before Lily could answer, Sirius asked her, “How did you find out anything happened? We only just got back here about fifteen minutes before you showed up.”

“I was at the Hogs Head with Albus discussing the plans for tonight’s meeting when he received an owl from the Ministry. It told him of ‘an incident’ involving both of you and a couple Muggle policemen. He left immediately to go to the Ministry to sort it out. I came here because I knew this is where you would go.” Lily looked at both of them waiting for their explanation.

“So that’s why we haven’t gotten an owl from the Ministry yet. Albus probably straightened it out. So there’s nothing to worry about just like I told you.” Sirius had a knowing grin on his face.

“I don’t know, Padfoot, I think we may have something to worry about. I’m not sure he can make this on go away.”

Before Lily could again ask them what had happened, there was a knock on the back door. Rising, Sirius went over and opened the door. Sirius didn’t speak, he just stood back and gestured for the man to come in.

Albus Dumbledore entered the kitchen quickly taking stock of the empty Butterbeer bottles as well as the three glasses which undoubtedly had contained Firewhisky.

“Having a party?” he questioned.

Neither James nor Sirius answered. “Would you like something, Albus?” Lily asked.

“No, I cannot stay long,” he replied. “I just came from the Ministry.” He gave James and Sirius a sweeping glance. “I am here to find out exactly what happened today. I then have to report back to the Minister as to why there has been a need to modify two Muggle policemen’s memories.” He looked at them expectantly.

Sirius felt like he was back in school. Though he, James and Lily had graduated a year ago, he still felt as if he had been caught doing some misdeed in the hallowed halls of Hogwarts.

“We were being chased by several Death Eaters, we were looking for a place away from Muggles to make our escape. We didn’t know those policemen would follow us down the alley.” Even to James’ ears, his explanation sounded like a poor excuse.

“How did you come to be chased by Death Eaters?” Albus asked.

‘We were out scouting around on my bike, sir, when we ran into a group of them. We had taken the bike so we would look like Muggles. We didn’t expect to find any of them.” Sirius wondered if his explanation sounded as bad as James’ did. And why, after over a year working for the Order, he felt compelled to call Albus, sir.

Albus looked from one man to the other. “I do not believe this is the whole truth. However, what you have told me should satisfy the Minister. I expect a full accounting of your actions at tonight’s meeting. Until then, it would be best if both of you remained in the house and out of trouble.”

Albus stood and walked over to the door. Turning he smiled and said, “I shall see all of you tonight. Please don’t be late and come together.” With that, he calmly strode out the door and quietly closed it behind him.

Neither man spoke as the silence spread through the kitchen. They also, did not look at each other.

James was the first to speak. “Lily, what time is tonight’s meeting?”

“Why? Trying to figure out if you two have enough time to go and cause some more trouble?” she asked angrily.

“Lily,” James pleaded, “we didn’t mean for all that to happen. It just…did.”

“You never mean for it to happen. That is the problem. When we the two of you realise you are not invincible? What will it take before it sinks in to your thick skulls, you could have died out there?”

As Lily’s voice broke, James realised there was something else fuelling Lily’s anger, fear. Turning to Sirius, he said, “Padfoot, give us a few minutes, please?”

As Sirius walked out of the kitchen, James pulled Lily into his arms. He knew her fears were justified. The sad part was, there was nothing he could say or do to alleviate her fears. Working for the Order was dangerous, just as it was the right thing to do, and he planned on continuing.

***

Sirius was about to sit on the couch when there was a knock on the front door. He went over and opened it.

“Moony, Wormtail, what are you doing here?” he asked as he turned from the door and went to sit down as he had been about to do.

“We thought we would come over and all of us could go to the meeting together,” Remus replied.

“And, we wanted to hear from you exactly what happened today. The whole story, the real story,” Peter said sitting down next to Sirius.

Sirius smiled. “I’ll tell you. James is currently trying to calm Lily down. She’s a bit upset with us.”

Sirius leaned back comfortably on the sofa and began his story, never once wondering how Peter knew something happened.

***

“So, there we were facing a dead end with two Muggle policemen behind us. It was a few minutes before we realised there were Death Eaters sneaking down the alley behind the policemen.” Sirus looked at his friends expressions. Peter looked excited but Remus had his prefect look on his face.

“Moony, honestly, with the Death Eaters behind those Muggles, what else could we do?” he asked defensively.

“Was it really necessary to not only blast your way out of there, but to fly off on your bike?” Remus asked.

“Well, at the time, it seemed the best course of action. We needed to get out of there quickly so…” he said and seeing the disapproving look on his friend’s face, sighed heavily.

“Okay, okay. So maybe we could have found a more subtle way of leaving, but at the time-”

“At the time, you were having too much fun to worry about secrecy,” Remus said knowingly.

Sirius grinned broadly. “I guess we were.”

Remus shook his head. “Next time, try to be a little more prepared,” he said wearily.

“I know we weren’t really in all that much danger, we did have the bike,” he said. “The true danger came when we got back here.”

“True danger?” asked Peter. “What do you mean? Did the Death Eaters follow you here?”

“No,” Sirius answered. “Lily found out what happened.” At the knowingly look from his friends, the three men started laughing. Each had been on the receiving end of Lily’s temper and knew she was not a witch to mess with.

“So, you think it is safe to go into the kitchen?” asked Remus.

“Why?”

“I don’t know about you Padfoot, but Wormtail and I have been busy all day and we haven’t eaten yet. We are hoping we can get Lily to make us something before tonight’s meeting. Aberforth isn’t the greatest cook in the world.”

This statement brought more laughter and the three men stood as one to go beg Lily to feed them.

Throwing an arm over the shoulder of each of his friends, Sirius thought, What more could a man ask for then to have best friends like these?

Abby rushed into her apartment. She was late getting out of work and if she didn’t hurry, she would be late getting to Lily’s. She was supposed to meet Albus there to give him this information before tonight’s Order meeting.

It would be so much simpler if she could just attend the meetings, but Albus thought it safe and more prudent if she wasn’t directly connected to the Order. Her friendship with Lily in school played the perfect cover for her to visit Lily often.

She grabbed jeans and a t-shirt to put on and changed quickly. Running a brush through her long hair, she was ready to go. Grabbing her wand off the bed, she turned and Apparated to the woods next to the cottage in Godric’s Hollow.

She knew the information she had overheard today could be important. She hoped James’ friend, Sirius Black, was not here. She didn’t want to talk of this with him around.

Perhaps that was the easy way out. Perhaps the right choice would be for him to hear this from her instead of second-hand from Albus. She hoped she didn’t have to make that choice.

She didn’t know why but Sirius Black always intimidated her. She got along fine with Remus and Peter, even enjoyed their company if they were here when she was. But even in school, Sirius made her nervous. She tended to stutter and do stupid things around him.

Well, they weren’t in school anymore. They were adults now and since Sirius was James’ best friend, she knew she would probably come in contact with him quite often. She had been lucky so far in that he wasn’t here when she had visited before. She only hoped her luck wouldn’t run out.

Abby walked to the front of the cottage and opened the gate. As she approached she saw off to the side, a motorbike. Her luck had just run out. Sirius was here. She stopped walking and thought about the choice before her.

She could just wait for Albus to show up and then talk to him in private, or she could do the right thing, the hard thing, and tell Sirius his brother was missing and presumed dead. She didn’t know which option to go with.

Abby knew the decision was not one she would even have to make. She knew what the right choice was and she always made the right choice. She would have to tell Sirius her news.

Decision made, she knocked on the door, praying it was Lily or James who answered.

~~~~~~~~~~

James and Lily were sitting talking quietly in the kitchen of their home when they heard the front door open then slam shut.

“Lily, come here, quick,” James said as he slid his chair back from the table.

Without questioning, Lily rushed over to his side. James pulled her down on his lap and quickly unbuttoned the top two buttons of her shirt. Sliding it off one shoulder, he pushed her head down into the crook of his neck.

“Just go along with me, okay?” James whispered in her ear as Sirius burst into the kitchen. He left his head down and began to kiss her shoulder.

“I can’t believe she would think I would have any idea!” Sirius shouted. “I mean, like I would have a clue as to…” Sirius’ voice trailed off as sitting down at the table, he took in the sight before him.

James raised his head from Lily’s shoulder just enough to turn it to look at Sirius. “I would have to agree with you there, you have no clue. How about coming back in an hour… or two?” James asked.

“Is that the only thing you two do? Every minute of every day, is that all you think about?” Sirius asked his voice betraying not only his anger but something James thought sounded like jealousy.

“Look, I don’t have time for this. No, I can’t come back. I need to talk to you now,” Sirius said.

James could feel Lily’s laughter as she kept her face buried in his neck. He knew she would not be able to hold it in much longer. Knowing he only had a few more seconds to tease his best friend, he tried again.

“Look, I get that. I am only asking for an hour. Come on, Padfoot, have a heart.” James tried to make his voice sound pleading.

“Fine, I’ll leave. Just because I need you right now…”



“Sorry, mate, you’re not my type,” James said with a perfectly straight face.

“You know what I mean. When you have time for me-”

“Oh, Sirius, that’s enough,” Lily said as she sat up. She stood and fixed her blouse as she walked over to the chair she had vacated so quickly a few moments ago. Sitting down, she said, “If you bothered to pay attention, my cup of tea is sitting right here. Until you stormed into the house, James and I were sitting here talking.” At the look on Sirius’ face, she burst out laughing. She was soon joined in her laughter by James.

Sirius looked from Lily to James and back to her. “You set all this up?” he asked.

“I did. I thought maybe you needed a lesson in manners,” James replied smiling.

Lily knew from Sirius’ face, he was not happy about being set up. Quickly she asked, “Now, Sirius, what were you saying when you came in? Who thought what?”

Sirius took a deep breath before beginning his story. “My mother sent me an owl this morning asking me if I knew where Regulus was. Apparently, he hasn’t been home in several days. Like I would know where that Death Eater is,” Sirius said coldly.

“Regulus is missing? This can’t be good,” James said.

Lily stood and walked over to make Sirius a cup of tea. As she was getting the cup out of the cupboard, Sirius realised what she was doing.

“I’d rather have a Firewhisky,” he said, flashing her his most charming smile.

“Not in this house, not at this time of day,” Lily told him as she placed the cup of tea in front of him.

Before Lily could sit back down, there was a knock on the front door. “That will be Abby,” she said as she walked out of the kitchen.

“Abby?” Sirius questioned.

“Abigail Sampson, one of Lily’s closest friends. You remember her, she was in most of our classes.”

Sirius thought for a moment. “Long black straight hair, light blue eyes, tiny?”

“Yeah,” James answered.

“Barely remember her,” Sirius said smiling broadly.

When Lily and Abby entered the kitchen, both men were still chuckling.

“Sirius, you remember Abby, don’t you?” Lily asked.

“Yeah. Hi, Abby, great to see you again,” Sirius said barely containing his laughter.

“Hi, Abby. What’s up?” James asked as Abby sat down.

“I have some news. Well, rumours really, but there seems to be some substance to them,” Abby began.

“Abby works for the Minister as an assistant,” Lily explained to Sirius. “Go on, Abby, what are the rumours?”

Abby glanced quickly at Sirius. “We have been hearing rumours about Death Eaters who are disappearing.” Again, she glanced at Sirius. “The latest being-”

“My brother,” Sirius said finishing her sentence.

“Well…yes. We started hearing about him not being seen about two weeks ago. Then two days ago, his mother… your mother,” she said looking at Sirius, “came in demanding to see the Minister. She wanted to know what we were doing to find her son.”

“My mother came to see the Minister?” Sirius questioned.

“Yes, she was quite insistent. She told the Minister that Regulus would never have stayed away from her this long. She said something had to be wrong.” Abby looked at Sirius, sympathy shining in her eyes.

“If he hasn’t been seen for two weeks-” James was cut off by Sirius.

“He’s dead,” Sirius said in a flat emotionless voice.

Lily reached over and taking his hand in hers, squeezed it softly. “Sirius, you can’t know that.”

“I know. I know because, one, he never would have been out of contact with my mother for this long, and two, because…” Sirius’ voice trailed off. “Because he is my brother and I can just feel it in here that he is dead.” Sirius’ free hand thumped his chest as he spoke.

James looked at his best friend. “Maybe he is just in hiding.” He tried to sound like he actually believed this, for Sirius’ sake.

Sirius just shook his head.

“Abby, what is the Ministry saying about it?” James asked.

“Two Death Eaters were arrested and brought in by Alastair Moody last night. They claim they don’t know his whereabouts. However, when they said this, they both laughed. The Minister believes he is dead,” Abby said the last word quietly.

Lily gave Sirius’ hand another tight squeeze and let go of it as she stood and walked to the cupboard. She took out four glasses as well as the bottle of Firewhisky, James kept in there. She poured only a small amount in two of the glasses, the other two she filled half way. She turned and put the half filled glasses in front of James and Sirius. The glasses containing the smaller amounts, she carried to the table and handed one to Abby, keeping one for herself.

Sirius gave her a quizzical look. Shrugging her shoulders, she gave him a brief smile. Lifting her glass, she drank the liquid down quickly. The other three occupants of the table followed suit.

There was another knock on the front door. James stood and said, “I’ll get it. Lily, come with me?”

Though she didn’t understand why he wanted her to go with him, Lily followed James into the living room. As they walked toward the front door, James said to her, “I think we should try to get Sirius to stay here tonight. Maybe you could suggest it. If I do, he may balk at the idea.”

“Why would he listen to me? I would think he would be more likely to think I was mothering him and leave because of that,” she said in a hurried whisper.

“Trust me, just turn those green eyes on him and he will agree to anything. I know I do.” James smiled at her.

“James-” Her words were cut off by another knock on the door. Opening the door, James was only slightly surprised to see Albus Dumbledore standing there. He had a feeling Albus and Abby had planned to meet her here, even though she didn’t say anything about it.

“Albus, come in. Can I ask why you are here?” James asked him.

“Abigail didn’t inform you I was stopping by, did she?” Albus smiled. “No, I can tell by your surprise she didn’t.” Albus smiled at Lily before asking, “I am wrong to assume Sirius is here?”

“He’s in the kitchen with Abby. She already told us about Regulus. Sirius got an owl from his mum this morning asking him if he knew where Regulus was,” Lily informed Dumbledore.

“He is convinced he is dead,” James said in a sad voice. While he was not in the least upset there was possibly one less Death Eater in the world, he did feel sorry for Sirius. Even though he hated what his brother had become, deep down, Sirius loved his little brother.

“As am I,” Albus said gravely. “Shall we join them?”

Abby didn’t know what to say to Sirius. She could only imagine part of what he was feeling right now. She knew he hadn’t been close to his brother for many years, but Regulus was still his brother.

“Sirius, I’m sorry.”

Sirius looked up at Abby. At first, she could tell he was staring at her not really seeing her. But then, as she tipped her head slightly to the side, the kitchen light sparkled in her blue eyes.

“You have beautiful eyes,” Sirius said. She could tell he hadn’t meant to say it by the surprised look on his face.

“Thank you,” Abby said surprised. “Sirius, I know we weren’t close in school, so you probably don’t know this but…” Abby hesitated. What she was about to tell him only a few people knew.

“My parents died when I was only ten. I was raised by my brother, who at the time was seventeen. He was killed last year by-” Abby took a deep breath. Though she didn’t blame the Aurors, they were only doing what they had to do, it still hurt. “He was killed while trying to escape being arrested by Aurors. He was a Death Eater.”

She could tell he didn’t know what to say. She hoped she wasn’t wrong thinking he wouldn’t judge her by her family or what her brother may have done. His own brother was a Death Eater. She had told him because this might help him realise that he wasn’t as alone in what he was feeling right now as he thought.

“Abby,” he said softly. “I didn’t know that. Thank you for telling me. I just don’t know…”

“What you should be feeling right now?” she asked. “That is perfectly understandable. Even though my brother…well, I can only imagine the things he may have done, I still love him and miss him. I miss the boy who raised me, who took care of me when there was no one else.” Abby reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes before they could fall.

Before Sirius could comment, the door from the sitting room opened and James and Lily walked in along with Albus Dumbledore.

“Abigail, Sirius, I am glad you are both here,” Albus said. “We have much to discuss.” He strode over to the table and sat down next to Abby.

“Sir, I have news about Regulus. His mother came to see the Minister demanding he do something to find her son,” she said.

“Yes, I have heard that,” he answered. “Do you know what the Minister told her?”

“The Minister was sympathetic, but told her there wasn’t anything he could do.”

“Tiberius Ogden is a good man; he isn’t worried about offending an old wizarding family,” said James.

“I’m betting my mother wasn’t too happy when she left,” said Sirius, his eyebrows raised at the news the Minister had refused to help his mother.

“No, she wasn’t. I believe her words were something to the effect that she would see him lose his job,” Abby said.

“Tiberius is not in danger of losing his job,” said Albus. “From what Alastair told me last night, the two Death Eaters he brought in could give no clear evidence either way as to the fate of Regulus.” He looked at Sirius as he spoke. “I know the Aurors have had no part in his disappearance.”

“He is dead,” said Sirius, his voice emotionless. His fist clenched in anger. “Even though he is dead, I still would like to know what happened to him.”

Albus Dumbledore studied the look of determination on Siruis’ face. He knew that look, and knew Sirius would stop at nothing to find out what had really happened to Regulus.

“Pads,” began James, only to be cut off by Sirius.

“Don’t, Prongs. This is my brother we are talking about, not just some random Death Eater. I may not approve of what he became, but...” he said, his voice trailing off at the end.

“Abigail, is there anything else you have learned about this?” Albus asked.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “No one is really too concerned about this disappearance. They all have the attitude of one less Death Eater is something to celebrate rather than worry about.”

Albus nodded. He knew this was the attitude at the Ministry. He also understood Sirius’ need to know, his need to find out the truth. He had an idea; the only issue was getting the two parties involved to agree.

“Sirius,” he began, “I think you do deserve to have an answer. If you will permit me, I have an idea.” He looked at Sirius for consent to continue. When Sirius nodded, looking interested, Albus knew at least he had one person who would agree with him.

“I believe you are the best one to perhaps unravel this mystery. It will not be easy and I am afraid to allow this plan to work, you will need help.”

“He has me, and I am sure Moony and Wormy will agree to help,” said James.

Albus shook his head. “No, the three of you are needed for other business. We cannot lessen our ranks by having the four of you away for any length of time.”

“He can’t go alone,” said James angrily.

“He won’t be. Abigail will be going with him,” Albus said and turned to Abby. He held a hand up to stop her immediate protest. “I feel with your position at the Ministry, you will be the only one who can get the information Sirius will need to begin his search.”

“Information?” Abby asked.

“Yes, you must go to Grimmauld Place and speak with Walburga and Orion Black. You will obtain from them any information as to what could possibly have happened to Regulus. Your position at the Ministry will be needed to gain entrance into their home.” Albus continued to look at Abby for agreement of his plan, and at her nod, he turned to Sirius.

“Can you think of anyone else who may have knowledge of your brother’s whereabouts in your family?” he asked.

“No one but Death Eaters,” Sirius said disgustedly. “While I don’t like the idea of her meeting with my parents, I will not allow her to put herself in danger by visiting any of my cousins.” He looked at Albus waiting for an argument.

“I completely agree. I, also, do not like the idea of her going alone to Grimmauld Place. However, we will do everything in our power to assure her safety. Her association with the Order is unknown; therefore her going on Ministry business will be safe enough.”

“We can watch the house, to determine when they are there alone,” said James.

“I still don’t like the idea of her going in alone,” said Sirius. “I know there was no other way to find out what my parents know. They will never consent to speak to me.” He looked at Albus.

Abby reached over and took Sirius’ hand in hers. “I don’t much like the idea myself. However, I think this plan will work.” She squeezed his hand gently. “You know I am the only one in the position to question your parents. I will be safe enough if I let them believe the Minister knows and approves of my being at their home.”

“Excellent,” Albus said smiling, his eyes twinkling. “I will arrange a meeting of the Order for tomorrow night and we can finalise plans.” He looked again at Sirius. “Everything will be done to keep her safe,” he assured him. “Now, I must take my leave. I will expect each of you at the Hogs Head at precisely eight tomorrow night.” He stood and nodded to them.

Lily also stood. “I will walk you out,” she said to him. They both turned and left the kitchen.

“Excuse me,” Abby said as she stood and rushed after them.

“Sir,” she called to Albus as he opened the door. He paused and turned to her. “Are you sure this is the best idea? If I do this, there is a very good chance my working for the Order will be exposed.”

Albus shut the door and sighed heavily. “Yes, that is a very real possibility. I understand if you are not willing to take that chance. If there was another way to get the information for Sirius…” he said.

“I understand,” she said. “Well, who needs a paying job anyway?” she said and laughed quietly. “I, of all people, understand what he is going through right now. There really isn’t any other choice I could make but to help him.”

Smiling, Albus nodded. “I will see both of you tomorrow night. Until then, please keep your men at home and safe.” With those parting words, he left the two women staring at the closed door.

“Lily,” said Abby after a few moments, “does he think Sirius is…That we are…”

Lily began laughing. “Yes, I believe he does.” She laughed harder at the look of disbelief on Abby’s face. “And if I know Sirius, it won’t be long before Albus’ statement is a matter of fact.”

Abby stared at her with a look that could only be described as horror on her face. “I don’t even know him,” she protested.

“Like that has ever mattered to him,” Lily said. “No, that isn’t fair to him. Honestly, Abby, Sirius is a wonderful man. He has grown up since his days of mischief at Hogwarts.” Seeing the look of disbelief on Abby’s face, Lily smiled. “Weren’t you the one who always told me to give James a chance? That he was more than just a Marauder?” She saw Abby nod reluctantly.

“Well, I’m telling you to give Sirius a chance. Forget all the stories about his carelessness with women. None of them were true. Well, most of them weren’t true. Sirius does not have a mean bone in his body. In fact,” Lily said dropping her voice to a mere whisper, “when it comes to a woman who he fancies, he becomes like putty in her hand.”

Lily looked at the clock. “Let’s go make our men something to eat. I am sure they are in there making plans of their own right now. They will need us to rein them in.”

Abby looked at Lily. She wasn’t sure how she felt about Sirius being referred to as her man. Part of her objected and objected strongly, but another part of her felt warmth and definite interest in the idea.

She turned and followed Lily into the kitchen, her mind debating on the wisdom of dating Sirius Black.

At quarter to eight the next night, Sirius, James and Lily walked into the Hogs Head in Hogsmeade. Sirius scanned the crowd for Abby.

â€�“She’s probably already upstairs, Pads,” James said, smiling.

â€�“Who?” asked Sirius, trying his best to sound as if he had no idea to whom James was referring.

James looked at Lily, who was trying not to laugh, back to Sirius. â€�“No one,” James said knowingly.

â€�“Okay, so I am worried about Abby. I don’t see why she couldn’t just meet us at your house. She could have come with us. I don’t like the idea she was going to try to get more information from the Minister,” he said.

Lily reached over and patted Sirius’ arm. â€�“I am worried about her, too. But, remember, she has been spying for the Order since she got her job. She is good at what she does.”

They walked through the nearly empty bar and up the back stairs to Aberforth’s private quarters. The meeting was set to be held there to try to keep Abby’s identity a secret.

As they entered the rooms, James saw Sirius visibly relax upon seeing Abby sitting with Albus. As he watched Sirius go over to them, he nudged Lily.

â€�“I think old Pads is interested in Abby,” he said.

Lily looked at her friend’s smiling face. â€�“I don’t think he is the only one interested,” Lily said, a worried look crossing her face.

â€�“The others should be here soon,” Albus said to them. â€�“I was just going over a few things with Abigail while we waited.”

â€�“I assume you have a plan worked out?” asked Sirius as he sat down next to Abby.

â€�“Yes, I do. Some of which has already taken place. However, I believe we will wait for the others before I discuss it. The others will also need to hear this information,” said Albus.

Sirius looked as if he was about to argue. To everyone’s surprise, he kept silent. Within ten minutes the small room had become quite crowded. First to arrive after James, Lily and Sirus was Alastor Moody, followed by Remus and Peter. Shortly afterwards, Benjy Fenwick and Caradoc Dearborn came in.

â€�“I believe everyone is here now,” said Albus standing. He looked at Benjy and Caradoc as he said, â€�“I am to assume Gideon and Fabian are now on the assignment?” At their nod, he smiled.

â€�“There is nothing to report,” said Caradoc. â€�“We watched all day and other than your owl coming and going, nothing.”

‘Good, good,” said Albus smiling. â€�“I believe I have worked out a reasonably safe plan for Abigail.”

â€�“Reasonably?” questioned Sirius.

â€�“Yes...reasonably. As most of you are aware, Grimmauld Place has many charms and protections on it. It would not be possible for someone to show up there uninvited.” Albus waited for the murmurs to die down.

â€�“I sent an owl this morning to the Blacks, requesting a meeting tomorrow for Abigail. I used the pretence of her gathering more information about Regulus for the Minister. In the note, I implied with more information, perhaps a search could be done.” He looked at Sirius expecting him to interrupt.

â€�“I intercepted the owl and the meeting is set for noon tomorrow at Grimmauld Place. Caradoc and Benjy have been watching the house since this morning and now Gideon and Fabian are there.”

â€�“They can’t possibly be watching the house, they can’t see it,” said Sirius angrily.

â€�“No, no, they can’t. However, they are watching where the house should be,” replied Albus.

â€�“What good it that? You know as well as I do someone can enter the house without ever being seen from the street. We have no idea what Abby could be walking into.” Sirius stood and began pacing around the room.

‘Sirius-”

â€�“No, Abby. Don’t even say it. This is too dangerous. I can’t let you do this, not for me,” he said.

â€�“Pads,” James said, grabbing Sirius’ arm as he walked passed, â€�“we all can see it. We can go and watch the house.”

â€�“Peter and I will leave right now,” said Remus. â€�“We will stay until you and Prongs come in the morning.” He stood and went over to Sirius. Reaching out, he patted him on the shoulder. â€�“See you in the morning,” he said as he turned towards the door, Peter following behind him.

â€�“Wait,” called Sirius. â€�“We don’t know if he has added any other charms since I left. It is possible you can’t see it now.”

â€�“There is a test,” said Albus. â€�“Give Remus the address. If it has been protected by a new Fidelius Charm, then you won’t be able to tell him. Though you are not the original Secret Keeper, Remus already knows the secret. If a new charm is in place, you would be bound by it now thereby not allowing you to divulge the address.”

Sirius smiled. â€�“The address is number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.”

â€�“Guess we will still be able to see it,” said Remus. With a quick wave, he and Peter left.

â€�“Now that that little bit of business has taken care of itself, let us continue,’ Albus said as he looked at Sirius pointedly. â€�“Abby is to meet Orion in front of the house tomorrow. Once she is inside, it will be imperative to keep a closer watch on the house.”

â€�“Caradoc and I will be there,” Benjy said.

â€�“James and I will be there,” said Sirius. â€�“I wish there was a way…”

â€�“No, Pads, you can’t. It would jeopardise everything,” said James, quickly guessing his friend’s thoughts.

â€�“You don’t know what my mother is capable of, you don’t understand. Even it just being my parents there, she will still be in danger.”

â€�“It has to be just her, you know that,” James said.

â€�“No, I can’t allow it, I won’t allow it. Not for me, there has to be another way. They can’t possibly have any information we need anyway,” said Sirius.

Abby had heard enough. Standing quickly, she looked down at Sirius. She took a deep breathe to try to calm herself.

â€�“Abby-” Lily’s voice was laced with concern and worry.

Abby held her hand up to Lily to stop her. She knew what could happen if she let her temper loose, but she knew she had to put a stop to Sirius and his attempt to protect her.

â€�“You can’t allow? You won’t allow? Who in the bloody hell do you think you are, Sirius Black, to decide for me what I do? I’ll have you know, I have been working on the inside for the Order without you ever even knowing since graduation-”

â€�“The Ministry isn’t Grimmauld Place,” Sirius said, cutting her off.

â€�“Oh, and spying and slipping inside information without anyone knowing has been a piece of cake?” she asked. â€�“Hanging around at the ends of dark corridors, listening as Aurors bring Death Eaters in, listening at the door to closed meetings the Minister has,” Abby said.

Taking a deep breath, she continued, â€�“For the record, I don’t give a Godric’s damn what you think about me doing this. We need any information, no matter how slight the chance of it helping is. I am doing this, with or without your approval.”

â€�“I don’t want you to do this. They won’t help anyway,” Sirus said.

â€�“Didn’t I just say, I don’t care what you want?” She pulled her wand out of her pocket in a move that was so quick, no one had the chance to react. â€�“ Silencio!” she shouted.

â€�“Now, if you wouldn’t mind, please listen while I repeat, again, I DO NOT care what you want. I don’t think this is a waste of time, and I am going to go and talk to your parents. If you object so strongly, then stay at home and perhaps… just perhaps, someone will fill you in on what I find out.” Abby turned and walked to the door.

Stopping with her hand on the knob, she looked back at the assembled company. â€�“I apologise that you had to see my temper. Albus, I will speak with you tomorrow after I leave Grimmauld Place. I will let you explain the rest of the plan. I am going to leave now before I do something else.”

Silence reigned for several moments after the door closed behind Abby. It was broken by Alastair Moody chuckling in the corner of the room.

â€�“That girl would make a good Auror,” he said.

â€�“Wow,” James said.

â€�“You don’t know the half of it,” said Lily. â€�“I have seen her temper in action and I am shocked she was able to control herself so quickly.”

â€�“You’ve seen her worse than that?” asked James, shock clearly written on his face.

â€�“Oh, yes-” Lily was interrupted by the sound of someone stamping their foot.

All eyes turned towards Sirius. Albus pulled his wand out restored his voice. Sirius immediately started towards the door. Lily, realising his intent, jumped up and stood in front of him.

â€�“No, don’t. Let her calm down. I don’t think it is a good idea right now for you to go anywhere near her,” she told him.

Sirius looked down at Lily. He reached out and lifted her off her feet and set her aside. â€�“She hexed me and I will not stand aside and let that go,” he said.

â€�“She could have done a lot worse to you,” Lily said. â€�“Trust me on this, let her be.”

Sirius bent down and kissed Lily on the cheek. â€�“No, I don’t think I will,” he said. He walked to the door whistling. â€�“Prongs, I’ll stop by later or if not, then I’ll be at your place early in the morning to relieve Moony and Wormtail.” He walked out the door and closed it gently behind himself.

â€�“Well, that was an interesting turn of events,” said Albus, his eyes alight with mischief. â€�“Shall we carry on, then?”

*****

Sirius realised by the time he got outside, he had no idea where Abby lived. And the only three people he could ask were upstairs right now, probably having a good laugh at his expense.

He knew he should not even be considering finding her, at least not until he calmed down. The smart thing to do would be to go home and forget all about Abigail Sampson. He began walking down the street trying to think of who he could ask about where Abby lived. He never claimed to be a smart man when his temper was up.

It was either a stroke of luck or fate intervening when he spotted Mary MacDonald walking into the Three Broomsticks. Smiling, Sirius hurried after her.

No, he thought, I have no common sense when I am angry.

*****

Abby stormed around her apartment muttering to herself. She had been home for half an hour and was no calmer than when she Apparated into her apartment. She was even madder at herself for losing her temper than she was at the arrogance of Sirius.

Hearing a knock on her front door, Abby went to answer it, hoping it wasn’t Lily. She wasn’t in the mood to listen to her friend defend the obnoxious git. Opening the door, she took one look at the man standing there and slammed the door in his face.

The door immediately opened and Sirius pushed his way into her apartment. Her temper, which still wasn’t under control, raged through her like wildfire. She drew her wand but Sirius was faster. He pulled the wand from her hand before she could even raise it.

â€�“I think not,” he said calmly. â€�“You got me once, it won’t happen again.”

â€�“We’ll just see about that,” she said as she lunged for her wand.

Sirius reacted instantly. He grabbed her around the waist and tossing her over his shoulder, carried her into the sitting room and dropped her unceremoniously onto the sofa.

â€�“Stay and don’t say a word,” he told her gruffly. â€�“I’m not quite in control of my temper yet, and trust me, mine is worse than yours.”

Abby sat silently glaring at him as he paced around her small sitting room. Her mind catalogued every move he made, waiting for her chance to retrieve her wand.

â€�“I know you think I was being an overbearing jerk. It’s just I know my parents. I don’t think it is necessary for you to put yourself in danger when I know you aren’t going to find anything useful out. If they knew anything, my mother would have told the Minister. She would do anything for Regulus.” Sirius looked at Abby as he continued to pace.

â€�“It isn’t that I don’t think you are up to it, that you can’t handle yourself, but…” He let his voice trail off as he stopped in front of her.

â€�“You think just because I am a woman, I can’t handle myself,” she said. She saw the truth of her words in his eyes even as he opened his mouth to deny it. Her temper once again exploded.

In a lightening quick move, she lunged at him, knocking him backwards and pulling her wand from his hand as he fell. She jumped to her feet and stood over him with her wand pointed at his face.

â€�“My brother taught me how to defend myself,” she said. â€�“He wanted me to never have to worry about anyone taking advantage of me. He taught me well.” Smiling smugly, she twirled her wand in her hand.

In a move that was just as fast as hers, Sirius had her flat on her back, under him, her wand once again in his hand.

â€�“Never take your wand off your enemy,” he said. â€�“It could very well be the last thing you ever do.” Sirus watched the emotions cross her face. He could see her anger turn towards herself for letting her guard down.

Chuckling at the distress he saw in her eyes, Sirius Black did something neither one of them expected… he bent his head down and kissed her.

“I hate to say this, Padfoot, but you were right. We have no more information now than we had before Abby met with your parents,” James said.

“No, we don’t. Abby took a huge risk and for what? We still don’t know a damn thing,” Sirius answered. Standing, he went over to the cupboard and opening it, reached up to take the bottle of Firewhisky out. His hand hesitated on the bottle.

Sighing heavily, he left the bottle where it was and slammed the cabinet door closed. Turning, he saw James’ raised eyebrows.

“Don’t give me that look,” he said as he sat back down at the table. “I’m just not in the mood to go a round with Lily over it.”

Laughing, James asked, “Are you afraid of my wife?”

“Of course not,” said Sirius quickly, a little bit too quickly to be believable. “No sense in upsetting her when I’m hoping she’ll make me dinner.”

Both men looked up as Remus walked into the kitchen.

“What’s wrong, Moony?” asked James as he saw the look on his friend’s face.

Remus glanced at Sirius as he sat down. “Heard a few rumours,” he began, “about Regulus.”

Sirius straightened in his chair. “What rumours?” he asked.

“The latest rumour circulating is your brother wanted to leave the Death Eaters-”

“No one leaves,” said James.

“Not alive anyway,” said Sirus.

Remus nodded. “The rumour is Voldemort either killed him himself, or had someone do it.” Seeing the look of resignation and sadness cross Sirius’s face, he rushed to explain. “There is no concrete proof of this. The only thing I was able to find out is he was acting strange for about a week or two before he disappeared.”

James looked thoughtful. “What could have happened?” he asked.

“I was told Voldemort had Regulus do something for him. A couple days later, Regulus started acting very strange. Next thing anyone knew, Regulus is gone and no one dares question it.”

“How did you get this information?” asked Sirius.

Remus smiled bitterly. “Sometimes my ‘condition’ comes in handy. I’ve made a few useful contacts over the past few months who pass information on to me.”

“Only Death Eaters would know this. You’ve been hanging out with Death Eaters?” Sirius asked suspiciously.

“No, but with others of my kind. Some of which are friendly with Greyback so they hear things,” Remus said defensively.

James could sense something in Sirius’ voice and attitude towards Remus. He knew the frustration over Regulus was taking its toll on him.

“Are Lily and Abby still talking in the sitting room?” James asked Remus to try to diffuse what could turn into a fight.

“No, when Lily let me in, they were on their way upstairs. It looked like Abby had been crying,” Remus answered.

Sirius growled and pushed back from the table. James reached over and grabbed his arm, shaking his head. “No, let Lily handle it. She will make sure Abby is okay.”

Sirius shook James’ hand off and stood. He looked towards the doorway into the sitting room and turned away towards the cupboard. This time there was no hesitation as he pulled out the bottle of Firewhisky and three glasses. He poured a generous amount in each and set one in front of James and Remus. He picked his up and downed the amber liquid in one shot and then refilled his glass. He grabbed the bottle and sat back down at the table.

“Not worried anymore about Lily feeding you?” asked James jokingly.

“Nope,” said Sirius, “she is probably going to kick me out of the house when she finds out what I did to Abby last night.”

“What did you do?” asked James.

“Before or after I threw her on the floor and kissed her?” asked Sirius.

Both James and Remus looked at Sirius with shocked looks. “Just tell me you didn’t throw her down just to kiss her,” said James.

Sirius laughed ruefully. “No, I can honestly say when I threw her down, kissing her was the last thing on my mind. That sort of just happened.” He looked at his friends and smiled before saluting each of them and downing his drink.

James reached over and grabbed the bottle of Firewhisky before Sirius could refill his glass again. ‘Ogden’s is supposed to be enjoyed not gulped down like pumpkin juice,” he told him.

Sirius shrugged and grabbed Remus’ glass, downing it before they could stop him. Remus looked at Sirius. “Well, Prongs, guess we should have seen this coming,” he said, humour lacing his voice.

Nodding his head, James began to chuckle. “Yeah, eventually it had to happen.”

“What are you two going on about?” Sirius asked, his words starting to slur slightly.

“I just never expected it to happen so fast, though maybe with his past, it is judgement coming back to bite him,” said Remus.

“Could be,” answered James.

“’Ello, I am sitting right here,” Sirius said, waving his hand in front of them. “Care to enlighten me why I am the butt of this joke?”

Laughing, both men looked at him and then at each other. Remus shrugged his shoulders at James.

“Padfoot, my old friend, you have finally fallen in love,” James said. Seeing the look on Sirius’s face, he burst out laughing again.

It was at that moment, with Remus and James both laughing hysterically and Sirius looking totally bewildered that Lily walked into the kitchen. She quickly spotted the bottle on the table and her anger spiked.

“Well, isn’t this just cosy?” she asked. “Abby is upstairs crying her eyes out over not being able to help Sirius and you three are down here getting drunk.”

She walked over and grabbed the bottle from James. Opening the cupboard, she took out two glasses. “I think Abby needs this more than any of you do.” She turned and marched out of the kitchen.

Sirius reached out and grabbed James’ glass and drank the contents. He looked at both of them. “I am not falling in love with Abby…” he said and then he put his head down on the table and began snoring.

“Never could hold his liquor,” said James, shaking his head.

“Always was good at denial,” added Remus.

*****

Upstairs, Lily took a deep breath before opening her bedroom door. She had to calm down if she was going to ever find out why Abby was so upset. She knew it was more than just the fact she hadn’t gotten any useful information from the Blacks.

“I think,” she said as she walked into the bedroom, “you need some of this.” She held up the bottle. “I liberated it from the idiots downstairs.”

She poured a bit into each glass and handed one to Abby. She watched Abby take a sip and sighed. Sitting down next to her, she looked into Abby’s eyes.

“Now, tell me what is really bothering you,” she said gently.

Abby looked down at her glass. Lifting it to her lips, she drank the entire contents much as Sirius had done downstairs. “Sirius kissed me,” she said.

Lily had to fight to hold back the smile. She had a feeling this was what was bothering Abby. However, if she found out Sirius had been callus with Abby’s feelings, she would make that man’s life hell.

“Tell me what happened,” she coaxed.

Abby took a deep breath and told Lily everything. “…And then, he just gets up and walks out the door as if nothing had happened. Lily, what am I going to do? I am in love with Sirius Black.” Abby began crying again.

Lily put her arms around her friend. She didn’t know what how to feel about this. On one hand, Sirius and Abby were made for each other; anyone could see that. On the other… On the other she didn’t know if either was good enough for the other.

“I can’t be in love,” said Abby. “Love doesn’t happen just like that. I, mean, we have only spent at best a couple hours together? No, no, it is just…” Abby’s voice trailed off.

Lily didn’t say anything. She knew love could happen that fast. Once she stopped pushing James away, hadn’t love filled her heart almost instantly? Of course, maybe she had always loved him and her fighting him off was a defence mechanism.

“How could this happen? I don’t even know him. Lily, do you remember in school every time he was around, what happened?” Abby asked.

Lily thought back to their days at Hogwarts. “You were never around him much, that I remember,” she said.

“No, I wasn’t. I avoided him as much as possible. James, Peter, and even Remus, I was fine being around. But whenever Sirius came around, I always did something stupid,” Abby said. “Do you remember the Potions class where I spilt the entire contents of our cauldron just after he walked by and said hi to me?”

Lily laughed. “Yes, I do. Professor Slughorn was very understanding about us not turning in our assignment on time,” she said.

“Or the class where we were turning animals into teapots then back again. He merely walked by us on his way out of class, and I knocked my teapot onto the floor trying to transfigure it back into a mouse,” Abby said. She sighed heavily and looked down into her empty glass.

“I can’t believe I haven’t done anything stupid in these past few days. Unless you count losing my temper and hexing him a stupid act,” she said. She looked up at Lily.

“The reason I think you haven’t done anything stupid now is because you are not the same shy, timid girl you were in school. You’ve grown up, Abby. We all have,” Lily told her.

“He always made me nervous. He still does, but now, it’s different. I don’t know how to explain it. And now, I really want to help him, help him find out what happened to his brother,” she said.

Lily reached over and patted Abby’s hand. “We all want to help him. You are the one who is in the position to help him the most. James, Remus and Peter would help, they would go to the ends of the earth to help him, but they are needed for other things. I can’t take off to help him…not now…” Lily let her voice trail off, a soft smile on her face.

Abby looked at Lily. Perhaps it was just a woman’s intuition, but she knew instantly what Lily wasn’t saying. She looked down at the untouched glass of Firewhisky in Lily’s hand and then back at her face.

“Lily, you’re pregnant!” she exclaimed.

“Shh,” Lily said, a look of guilt crossing her face. “James doesn’t know. I haven’t had the nerve to tell him, yet.”

“How long have you known?” asked Abby.

“Almost a week,” Lily answered. “I know, I know, I have to tell him. Maybe I’ll tell him tonight.”

“I think you should. Let’s go tell him, now,” said Abby.

“No, I don’t think this is a good time,” said Lily. “I’ll tell him later.”

Coming slowly awake, Sirius tried to figure out where he was and how he had gotten there. Without opening his eyes, he listened to the sounds around him. He could hear voices from what he thought might be another room. They were muffled slightly and soft.

He thought he might still be at James’ and Lily’s. The last thing he remembered was sitting at the kitchen table drinking…Firewhisky.

“Well, damn,” he said quietly, “it got me again.”

“I’d say it did just that.”

Groaning at the laughing tone in Abby’s voice, Sirus opened his eyes. “How long have I been out?” he asked, not really wanting the answer.

“Oh, not too long… just long enough for Lily to get pregnant,” she answered. Giggling at his confused reaction, she rushed on. “Well, I guess that’s not exactly right. I mean, she was already pregnant, we just didn’t know. But, we do now.”

Sirius was still confused but he was also amused by Abby’s flustered ramblings. It reminded him of something…

“You always rambled when I was around. You never said what you meant the right way,” he said.

At Abby’s blush, Sirius chuckled. “So, Lily’s going to have a baby. Imagine that.” He sat up slowly, shaking his head as if to clear it. Sniffing the air, he realised he smelled something cooking.

“Lily’s cooking?” he asked. He stood up and felt only a momentary pain shoot through his head. He thanked whatever divine power that kept him from suffering any true after-effects of Firewhisky.

He turned and went into the kitchen. Sirius quickly took in the scene before him; James sat with Lily on his lap talking quietly. Remus sat looking at the both of them with what Sirius thought looked like jealousy.

Going over to them, he scooped Lily off James’ lap and into his arms. He looked down into her eyes and whispered, “I guess you didn’t tell him it’s mine, did you?”

Though he whispered, he made sure his voice was loud enough for James to hear. James laughed, however Abby, who had just entered the kitchen, stood shocked. She looked from Lily, who was still in Sirius’ arms, to James then back to Sirius and Lily.

“Well, isn’t this interesting,” she said. “At least now, I understand why you had a guilty look on your face when you said James didn’t know.” Abby shook her head in disbelief, turned and walked out of the kitchen. Before any of them could react, they heard the front door slam.

“Damn,” said Lily. “Sirius, put me down. I have to go after her.”

Sirius gently set Lily on her feet but held onto her arm. Looking towards the door, he said, “No, I’ll go.”

James reached out and grabbed Sirius’ arm before he could move away. “I think it may be best if I go. After what we saw of Abby’s temper the other night, it could be dangerous for either of you.” James chuckled at the look on Lily’s face.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” he said to her as he stood. He gently ran a finger down the side of her face before following Abby out of the kitchen and house.

*****

“Abby, wait,” James called to her as he started down the hill.

Abby slowed her steps but didn’t stop. She should have known one of them would come after her. She hadn’t wanted to Apparate home because as soon as she slammed the door, she realised she had probably overreacted. She had decided to go for a walk before going back to apologise for her temper.

“Abby,” James began when he caught up with her, “Sirius was only teasing.”

Abby gave James a small smile. “I realised that as soon as I walked out the door. It seems my temper got the better of me…again.”

James smiled. “Well, that is easy to understand when it comes to dealing with Padfoot. Come on, let’s go back. Dinner should be ready soon.”

Abby sighed. She knew she didn’t have much choice. But if there was one thing she hated worse than losing her temper, it was having to apologise for it when she lost it for no good reason.

As they walked back up the hill, she said, “So, you are going to be a daddy.”

She watched as a huge grin spread over James’ face. She could see the love and pride clearly but she could also see fear.

“You’re worried, though, aren’t you?” she asked gently.

“Terrified,” James admitted. “Not just about becoming a father, but…” James’ voice trailed off.

“You’re worried about the war, right?”

James nodded. “I can’t stop fighting, but is that fair to Lily…to the baby?”

“James, you love Lily and Lily loves you. She wouldn’t want you to stop fighting. She understands you can’t. You have to do the right thing. Making this world safe for your child to grow up in is not something to give up on just because it would be easy,” Abby said.

Abby could see James considering what she said. She was shocked to realise they had reached the front door of the cottage while they had been talking.

“You know,” said James as he reached for the doorknob, “I am quite enjoying watching you take on Sirius. Most of the girls he has dated just went along with whatever he said. I think it is good for him to have someone stand up to him. I also think it confuses him and he is feeling a bit uncertain where you are concerned.”

“He just brings out the worst in me. I’m not sure that is a good thing,” Abby said.

“Trust me, it is.” James opened the door and Abby confused over James’ comments followed him inside.

As they entered the kitchen, Sirius looked up at them. Abby could see he was waiting for her to say something. It was strange to her to see the look of uncertainty on the face of Sirius Black.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I know I overreacted. I don’t know why I did, but…”

Sirius stood and went over to Abby. He looked down at her face and put a finger on her lips to stop her from talking.

“Rambling again, Abby,” he said chuckling. “I am going to have to figure out a way to stop you from doing that so much.”

“I was not rambling, Sirius Black,” she said as she pushed his hand away. “I was merely trying to apologise. But since you don’t want to hear it, you can leave.” Abby stormed over to the table and sat down. She was determined not to lose her temper again.

Lily smiled at Abby. “It’s okay. I know you didn’t really believe I would ever be with…that one,” she said pointing to Sirius.

Abby laughed at the look of shock on Sirius’ face. Her temper cooled instantly. She saw Lily stand and watched as she swayed. She jumped to her feet but before she could do more than reach out her hand, James had caught Lily as she fell.

Abby followed closely behind him as he went into the sitting room and placed her gently on the sofa. His face was ashen as he looked down at her.

“What’s wrong with her?” Sirius asked, worry lacing his words.

“She’s pregnant, that’s all,” said Abby. “Go get flannel and run it under cold water. James, go get her a blanket out of the cupboard.” She chuckled as both men rushed to do as she instructed.

“What can I do?” asked Remus, concern lacing his voice.

“Go get her a glass of water,” she told him.

Going over to Lily, she sat down next to her. She saw she was beginning to wake up. “Shh, just lay still,” Abby told her. “You just fainted. I expect your little one didn’t like the tension in the room.”

Sirius came back, the cloth in his hand dripping water everywhere. Abby shook her head and took the cloth from him. Standing, she went back into the kitchen to wring out some of the water.

As she pushed the door open, it hit Remus who was coming from the kitchen carrying a full glass of water. The glass tipped and poured all down Remus’ shirt.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Remus,” she said.

“Its okay, Abby. Don’t worry about it,” Remus said reassuringly.

Abby gave him a small smile and went over to the sink to wring out the cloth. She grabbed the towel sitting on the counter and tossed it to Remus.

Grabbing it out of the air, Remus chuckled. “I don’t think this will help much,” he said. He began unbuttoning his shirt. “I’ll just go and grab a shirt of Jam-”

His voice broke off at Abby’s gasp. Glancing down at his chest, he quickly pulled the sides of his shirt together. His chest was a mess of scratches just beginning to heal.

“Wha...what happened?” Abby asked, her voice shaking.

“Full moon, two nights ago,” he answered and turned away. He rushed out of the kitchen and without saying anything to anyone in the living room, walked out the front door.

When she returned, James had Lily’s head on his lap, the blanket tucked securely around her. Sirius stood by the couch, looking as if he was as scared over this turn of events as James was.

“Where’d Moony rush off to?” asked Sirius as she approached the couch.

“He...I...” Abby tried to find the words to explain.

“Spit it out, Abby,” Sirius said.

“When I was going in to the kitchen, I hit him with the door. The water he was carrying spilled down his shirt.”

“So, he rushed out of here because his shirt got wet?” Sirius asked incredulously.

“No, he was going to get a shirt from James but when he unbuttoned his shirt...” Abby’s voice trailed off as she shuddered.

Sirius looked at James; understanding shown in both of their eyes. “I’m thinking his chest was all scratched up, right?”

“Yes, and I didn’t think...I asked him what happened,” she said in a small voice.

“Don’t worry about it, he’ll be back,” Sirius said to her.

Abby nodded and walked over and placed the flannel on Lily’s forehead before turning to Sirius. “Let’s go finish getting dinner ready. I think Lily needs to rest for a bit.”

Sirius nodded and followed her into the kitchen. “Is Lily really all right?” he asked.

“Yes. Fainting is normal when you are pregnant. I think she has been doing too much lately, too. Let’s get dinner finished so she can eat. Then, I think we need to go and leave the happy couple alone. I think maybe we should go and look for Remus. I feel so bad.”

“Don’t,” said Sirius. “Remus knows you didn’t mean anything with your question. In fact, once he thinks about it, he will realise you asked because you forgot he was a werewolf.”

“I hope so,” she said as she went over to the stove to check on the dinner Lily had already started.

“Umm, Abby,” Sirius said, hesitation in his voice, “I don’t know the first thing about cooking.”

Abby smiled. She had guessed as much. What would the great Sirius Black know about simple household stuff? “Well, you are about to learn because if you think I am going to take care of all the cooking while we are on our mission, you are sadly mistaken.”

For the next hour, Sirus Black learned more about making a meal than he ever wanted to.

By the next morning, Abby knew she couldn’t let what happened with Remus go. She got dressed hurriedly and Apparated to the woods behind James’ and Lily’s cottage in Godrics Hollow. She planned on asking James to help her to find Remus.

As she started walking through the woods towards the back of the house, she saw someone leaning against a tree. Drawing her wand, she approached the stranger carefully. As she drew closer, she realised it was Remus and that he was sound asleep. At least she hoped he was just sleeping.

The thought he may be injured ran through her mind, and she rushed to him and dropped to her knees in front of him. She reached out a hand to shake him awake.

The next thing she knew, she was on her back with Remus’ wand pointed in her face and his other hand around her throat squeezing, painfully.

“Remus,” she choked out as she tried to pull his hand from her throat. She felt the pressure momentarily grow stronger, before he released her. Her hands went automatically to her throat in an effort to rub the soreness away.

“Godric, Abby, I’m so sorry,” Remus said as he reached down to pull her to her feet. The force of his pull overbalanced her and she fell into his arms. He reacted instantly and wrapped his arms around her to keep her from knocking them both to the ground.

Neither saw the man just inside the tree line watching them. He turned and walked away without revealing his presence.

Abby laughed softly. “Seems you are again the victim of my clumsiness,” Abby said to him as she stepped back.

“Abby, I’m truly sorry. You startled me and...and...” Remus turned away.

Abby reached out and grabbed his arm and turned him back towards her. “Remus, it is perfectly understandable. You didn’t know who was shaking you. I should have thought, but when I saw it was you, I got scared something happened to you.”

Remus nodded his understanding. “I guess I pushed myself a bit this month, with everything going on with Regulus. I’m still not quite myself,” he explained.

“About that,” Abby began, “I am sorry about my careless question last night. I didn’t think...I mean, I guess I forgot about you being...being a-”

“Werewolf?” Remus finished for her. At Abby’s nod, Remus smiled bitterly. “Well, at least that makes one of us who can forget.”

Abby reached out and wrapped her arms around him, drawing him into a hug. “You know none of us care about your condition.”

“Are you sure about that?” Remus asked. At Abby’s questioning look, he continued, “Never mind. Doesn’t matter anyway.”

“Of course it matters. Who? Who has a problem with it?” she asked, anger evident in her voice.

Remus looked down at Abby’s face. Shaking his head, he repeated, “It doesn’t matter. Were you on your way to Lily and James’? Or leaving there?”

“Actually, I was going there to ask James where I could find you. I wanted to apologise for last night,” she said. “What were you doing out here, anyway?”

Remus lowered his head, a soft blush of embarrassment showing on his cheeks. “As soon as I walked out the front door, I realised I had taken a page from your book and overreacted. I decided, like you did, to take a walk and then come back and apologise. I sat down over there to rest for a few minutes, and I guess I fell asleep.”

“Well, it probably isn’t a good idea to follow my examples,” she said teasingly.

“Probably not,” he agreed seriously. “So, Lily was okay after I left, right?”

“Yeah. She is just doing too much,” Abby answered.

“That’s what I thought. I remember when my aunt was pregnant with my little cousin, she was always fainting.” Remus looked towards the house sniffing the air. “Smells like Lily is cooking. Think she will feed me after I ran out on her last night?” he asked.

Abby smiled. “Oh, I’m sure she will. She knows it was my fault you left so quickly.”

“Stop blaming yourself. It wasn’t you; I am just a bit oversensitive sometimes. Let’s go see if we can get some breakfast from her.” Remus pulled back out of her arms that were still around him and throwing an arm over her shoulder, lead the way out of the woods.

*****

Sirius slammed the kitchen door so hard, the glass in it shattered. Lily screamed and dropped the bowl she was holding. James jumped up and whipping around, held his wand pointed at Sirius.

“Sorry,” Sirius said as he waved his wand at the glass in the door, repairing it instantly. He stormed over to the table and dropped into a chair.

“Where’s Abby?” Lily asked. “I thought you said you were going to wait in the woods for her to show up.”

At Sirius’ growl, Lily raised her eyebrows and caught James’ eye. He motioned with his head for her to leave them alone. She turned the stove off and slipped quietly out of the kitchen.

As the kitchen door slid silently closed behind her, James looked at his best friend. “What’s up, Pads? Did you two have a fight again?”

“Fight?” Sirius laughed mirthlessly. “Nope, no fight. Would have been kind of hard to fight with her draped all over Remus.”

“Abby? Remus? What are you talking about?” James asked confused.

Sirius sighed heavily. “I was just entering the woods to go to the spot we use to Apparate, and what do I see? Abby and Remus locked in an embrace. He had his hands all over her,” Sirius said bitterly.

James let out a sigh similar to Sirius’. “Let me guess, you didn’t let them know you were there. You didn’t ask them what was going on; you just turned and stormed away.”

“Of course, I left them alone. I...it...they...” Sirius shook his head and stood up. As he began pacing around the kitchen, he tried to put his thoughts into words. “I just never thought... one of my closest friends and Abby...I thought we had something, but I guess I was wrong,” he said.

“Pads, I am sure there is some logical explanation for what you saw. Remember the night I came home from that mission and found you holding Lily on the couch?” James asked. When Sirius nodded, he continued, “I believe my reaction was similar to yours, but...but I gave you a chance to explain. And it was innocent, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, it was. I should have waited to tell her about the Prewetts until you came home,” Sirius said apologetically. “This is different though. I know it is.”

At that moment, the kitchen door opened and arm in arm, laughing, Remus and Abby walked in. They both instantly broke off the laughter at the look on Sirius’ face.

Abby rushed over to him. “Sirius, what’s wrong? Has something happened? Is it about Regulus?” she asked in a rush.

At the furious look from Sirius, Abby backed up a step. She looked from Sirius to James.

“I don’t think anything happened, Abby. At least not in the way you mean,” Remus said. “I think Sirius has a problem with me and you.” He looked at Sirius and raised his eyebrows. “Just spit it out, Padfoot. What’s the problem?”

Sirius stared at Remus incredulously. Could he really not know? he thought to himself. Could he be that stupid?

“Oh, I don’t know. What could possibly be wrong?” he asked snidely.

Abby looked blankly between Sirius and Remus. Remus suddenly smiled. “Oh, I think I know what is wrong,” he said. “I think old Padfoot here happened to be in the woods a few minutes ago and saw something he assumed to be something else.” Remus looked at Sirius questioningly.

Remus looked at Abby and then back at Sirius. Sirius didn’t say anything. Remus walked over closer to Abby and stopping in front of her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

“If I am not mistaken, Padfoot here saw you and me in the woods.” Looking over at Sirius, he asked, “What did you see? When she stumbled and I caught her to keep her from falling on her face, or when she was consoling me because she thought I was upset over her question last night?”

“That is what has you so angry?” Abby asked. She pulled away from Remus and stalked over to Sirius. Remus turned and sat down next to James.

“Five galleons on Abby,” he said quietly to James.

“No way. I wouldn’t take Pads on this,” James whispered back.

Abby shot them a furious glance before turning back to Sirius. “I cannot believe you. You are angry because of something you saw and took all out of context. You didn’t even ask us what was going on. You just believed one of your best friends could do something like that to you. You believed I would do something like that?” Abby drew a deep breath. “For your information, though I have no idea why I am justifying your asinine behaviour with the truth, I startled Remus. I came upon him sleeping against a tree and didn’t think. I just ran over and started shaking him.

“Needless to say, he reacted as I expect any of you would and I found myself on the ground. He realised immediately it was only me, and pulled me up. I, of course, lost my balance and fell forward. He managed not only to catch me, but keep both of us from crashing to the ground, again.” She moved closer to Sirius as Lily came into the kitchen.

“I explained about last night and I upset Remus again. Far be it from me to offer comfort to a friend, whose feelings were hurt by me. Now, I am going to sit down and perhaps Lily will be so kind as to give me some breakfast. You, Sirius Black, are going to walk out that door and come back when you can be civil and apologise.”

Sirius opened his mouth, but Abby forestalled him with a pointed look. Sirius closed his mouth and walked out the kitchen door, closing it gently behind him.

“So, any chance of getting breakfast?” Abby asked.

Lily smiled and then began laughing, James and Remus joined in. There was a soft knock on the front door, and Abby looked towards the living room, fury evident on her face.

“If he thinks just walking around the house is long enough, he is sadly mistaken,” she said as she stood. She stormed out of the kitchen amid the increased laughter of the remaining occupants of the room.

As Abby pulled the door open, she was already yelling, “If you think for one minute, you self-absorbed, arrogant, obnoxious git, that just walking around the house was time enough for me to calm down, you are sadly mistaken. I swear to Godric, if you don’t turn around and find someone else to bug, I am going to turn you into a flubberworm.” She pulled her wand out and as she raised it up, her eyes fell on the man standing at the door.

“Oh, Peter. I am so sorry! I thought you were Sirius,” she said embarrassed.

“Right at this minute, I am very happy I am not Padfoot,” he said smiling. “Just what did he do?” he asked.

“He...he...Oh, it doesn’t matter. Come in, James and Lily are in the kitchen with Remus,” she told him as she stepped back from the door.

“So, where have you been hiding?” she asked. “I haven’t seen you in ages.”

A look of something that to Abby seemed suspiciously like guilt crossed Peter’s face. Before she could respond, Peter said, “I’ve been busy. Order work, you know.”

Abby nodded. As they entered the kitchen, Abby saw Lily at the stove frying eggs. The smell of just cooked bacon scented the air.

“Abby, Sirius, take a seat. These will be ready in just a few minutes,” Lily said without turning.

“Only half right, Lily. That miserable, lower than a slug’s belly son of a-”

“Hi, Peter,” said Remus cutting off Abby’s tirade. Remus laughed at Abby’s huff of annoyance. “Abby, while I agree with you on many of the characteristics of Padfoot, he is not worth the aggravation. He was just being his usual-”

“Stupid, conceited, egotistical self,” she supplied and then she smiled. “You are right though, being mad at the pompous prat isn’t good for the digestion.”

The room was filled with laughter. “I can’t believe you were able to come up with so many words to describe Sirius,” Lily said as she placed the platter of food in the centre of the table. “But, then again, you always were good at adding extra description to your assignments in school to stretch them out.”

At Abby’s look of shock, the room once again filled with laughter. It was that laughter that Sirius walked into.

“Well, isn’t this a cosy little gathering,” he said.

As Abby opened her mouth, Lily spoke up quickly. “Sirius, sit down and eat. Abby, let it go. While you were justified in being angry, enough is enough.” She turned and grabbed another plate for Sirius and set it at the empty seat next to Abby.

Abby stiffened when Sirius sat next to her. She looked across the table at Peter. “So, Peter, can you talk about what you were doing for the Order?” she asked.

“Nothing special,” he answered. “I was just doing some scouting of possible locations that could be Death Eater hangouts.” At his words, all eyes turned towards him.

“Find anything probable?” James asked.

Peter hesitated a bit longer than Abby thought he should have before answering, “No, I couldn’t find anything.”

“Did you check out that flat on the western side of London we were told they were using?” Remus asked.

Peter nodded his head. “Yeah, nothing.”

“Really?” asked Remus. “Last time I was over that way, I saw Malfoy and Mulciber heading into that house.”

“I didn’t see anyone around. Maybe they moved somewhere else. Maybe they saw you and knew we were on to them,” Peter said.

Abby looked at Peter. She had the strangest feeling about what he was saying. It was as if he was trying to cover something up. She shook off the feeling. He wouldn’t lie about something like that. Not Peter, never Peter, she thought.

She looked around at the rest of the occupants of the table. Sirius was eating and not looking at anyone in particular. James and Lily seemed not to notice anything unusual about Peter’s statements.

Remus’ face, however, showed confusion and he seemed to be trying to work out if what Peter had said was possible.

Before anyone could say another word, there was a knock on the front door. As Lily stood to go and answer it, everyone began grabbing the remaining food on the platter. Shaking her head, she left the kitchen.

She pulled the door open to see Albus Dumbledore standing in front of her. “Albus, what a pleasant surprise,” she said as she stepped back to let him come inside.

“My dear, I hope I am not interrupting anything?” Albus asked.

“Hey! That is Lily’s food,” came Abby’s voice from the kitchen. “Do you want your baby going hungry?”

“She knows the rule; leave the table, lose your food,” James answered. “You want her bacon?”

“Sure, why not?” Abby replied laughingly.

“Peter, I wanted that toast,” Remus said. “Steal Sirius’. He never eats it anyway.”

“I do so,” Sirius countered. “Take Lily’s; James doesn’t need it.”

“Ah, it seems I have interrupted your breakfast,” Albus said. “Is there something you would like to share with me?” he asked, innocence in his voice, but Lily could see the twinkle in his eyes.

“I’m pregnant,” Lily said. “I just found out yesterday.” She saw the smile on Albus’ face, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“OY! Abby, that hurt,” Sirius’ voice rang out.

“Touch my food again, Sirius Black, and I will do more than tap your hand with the fork. I’ll stab it all the way through,” she threatened.

“I see Abby and Sirius are still at each other’s throats,” Albus said chuckling.

“You should have been hear about an hour ago when they were really going at it. On second thought, it is probably better you missed it,” she said.

“They remind me of someone... Who could it be?” Albus asked. His smile and knowing look made Lily’s face flame red in embarrassment.

“Would you care to join us? I can make more food, I am sure by now there is nothing left,” she said.

“No, my dear, I have already eaten this morning. I actually came hoping to find Sirius here. I am glad everyone is here.” He looked down at Lily. She could see worry and something else she couldn’t identify in his eyes.

“I am afraid I have some bad news to share with Sirius-”

“Regulus?” she asked quietly.

“No, not Regulus. I am afraid I must inform him of his father’s passing,” Dumbledore replied. He reached out and grabbed Lily’s arm to steady her when she swayed. “Perhaps we should go into the kitchen and you should sit down,” he said as he turned and began leading her through the sitting room.

As they entered the kitchen, all heads turned towards them, and Lily saw five pairs of guilty ridden eyes look at her before focusing on Albus.

“Albus, what brings you here?” asked James.

Albus didn’t answer immediately, as he led Lily to the empty chair next to James and patted her arm as she sat down. He turned and looked at each of them before focusing on Sirius.

“I am afraid I have some distressing news,” he began. “Sirius, I received and owl this morning informing me of your father’s passing.”

There was silence around the table as everyone looked at Sirius. Abby reached out and laid her hand on his shoulder before quietly saying, “I am so sorry.”

There were words of condolence from all around the table, but Sirius sat unmoving, staring down at the table. When he finally looked up, Abby was shocked by the look on his face. There was grief, but something Abby thought looked like excitement.

When he spoke, his voice was gruff. “I don’t have much time, I need to...”

“You need to what?” asked Abby. She had an idea where this was going, and she wasn’t happy about it.

“I need to get to Grimmauld Place. If Regulus is alive, he will be there,” he said as he stood.

“Padfoot, wait,” said James. “Let’s think about this for a minute. Sit back down.” When Sirius didn’t move, James shook his head. “Padfoot, sit!” he ordered firmly.

Sirius growled, but sat back down. Abby wasn’t surprised. When they were in school, there had been occasions when Sirius would decide to do something and only James’ quick command could stop him. It was almost as if his Animagus form had control over him and the order to sit broke through whatever he was doing.

“Now, Albus, what do you think? Do you think Sirius should go to Grimmauld Place?” James asked.

“Yes. However, I don’t think he should go alone,” Albus looked around the table.

“I will go with him,” Abby answered quickly.

“No, my dear, that isn’t a good idea,” Albus said gently. “We need to keep your association with Sirius and the Order as much of a secret as we can for as long as we can.” He looked around the table. “I think it should be Peter who goes.” He held up a hand to forestall the objections.

“James, you are the most obvious to go, however, since Sirius ran away and straight to your house, you would not be the best choice. Remus, unfortunately, your affliction while not well known, is known by some. Lily-”

“I’m a Mudblood, not the best choice in a house of pure-bloods,” she replied.

Albus smiled. “True, but that was not my reasoning. You are basically one with James, and in addition, you cannot put yourself in any dangerous situation at this time. And I do believe this will be dangerous. No, Peter is the only logical choice.”

Abby could see Sirius was thinking over what Albus had said. She didn’t like the thought of him going there, but at least he wouldn’t be going alone. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Sirius nodded.
“Now-” Whatever Albus was about to say was cut off by a tap on the kitchen window. Albus walked over and opened it. A plain brown barn owl flew in and held his leg out to Albus. Albus removed the note attached and the owl flew back out.

Albus unfolded the note. “Excellent,” he murmured. Turning back to the group sitting expectantly at the table, he said, “Abby, this is a note from the Minister. I sent him a note this morning suggesting a Ministry representative should attend. He doesn’t feel comfortable attending as he would not help Walburga when she came to him about Regulus. He decided he is going to ask you to attend in his place.”

Abby nodded. “When is the funeral?” she asked. She didn’t look at Sirius. She knew he was going to object to her being there. She didn’t want to argue with him, not now.

“The funeral is set for the morning. I would suggest you go home and reply to the owl I am sure the Minister has sent you. He does state that you are on vacation and he hopes to be able to reach you.”

Abby stood. “I will go and send my answer back. As soon as that is done, I will come back here. I know there are plans to be made.” She leaned down and tipped Sirius’ face up towards her. “I will be back soon,” she whispered to him as she placed a quick kiss on his lips. Sirius merely nodded. This close to him, she could plainly see the pain in his eyes and knew he was trying to hide it.

No one spoke until after Abby had left. Lily stood and began cleaning up the kitchen. Albus sat in Abby’s vacated seat. Still no one spoke. It was as if everyone was waiting for something, but no one knew what.

“Someone needs to watch the house,” said Sirius quietly. “Though I doubt Regulus will show up even if he is still alive...”

“I have sent Caradoc Dearborn and Frank Longbottom over already. I also have news concerning Frank and Alice,” he said mysteriously.

Lily turned quickly from the sink. “Is Alice all right?” she asked.

“Yes, yes,” replied Albus. “In fact, she is as well as you are.”

It took only seconds for Lily to understand. “Oh, that is wonderful,” she exclaimed. “I must send her an owl.” Seeing the confused looks on the men’s faces, she laughed. “Alice is also pregnant,” she explained. As the understanding crossed each face, Lily turned to Dumbledore.

“Will you stay for a bit?” she asked.

“Yes, I think we have many plans to make. This could be a wonderful opportunity to gather some information,” he answered.

“My father’s funeral is an opportunity to gather information?” asked Sirius angrily. “How wonderful he could accommodate the Order by dying.”

Everyone froze and looked at Sirius, identical looks of shock on their faces. Lily paused on her way out of the kitchen.

“You know what?” he asked, but didn’t wait for an answer before rushing on, “I think I will just leave you to make all your plans for spying. I’ll be back later and you can let me know what I am supposed to be doing when I should be mourning my father.” Sirius stood and stormed out the back door.

“What in the bloody hell was that all about?” asked James.

“I don’t know,” answered Lily. “Which of you is going to go and bring him back before he does something stupid?”

Remus stood. “I’ll go. I think it is really me he is upset with; might as well give him a shot at me.”

“No, Remus, I don’t think that is a good idea,” said Lily. “He may hurt you and then he would regret it.”

Remus smiled ruefully. “He can try.” Remus didn’t wait for any further objections. He left through the kitchen door, closing it softly behind him.

Remus didn’t even know where to begin looking for Sirius. He hoped he hadn’t gone too far. Pulling out his wand, he murmured, Homenum revelio towards the woods. The spell revealed the presence of someone not too far into the trees. Walking quickly, Remus went after Sirius.

Remus spotted Sirius ahead of him standing looking at the spot where he and Abby had been a few hours ago. He began walking a bit less quiet as not to startle Sirius. Sirius whipped around, wand drawn upon hearing someone approach.

“Go back to the house, Remus. I’m not really in the mood to deal with you right now,” Sirius said as he turned his back on Remus.

“Too bad,” said Remus. “Want to tell me what that was all about?”

“Like you care,” replied Sirius. “Go back to the house; I’ll be back later.” Sirius started to walk away.

Remus quickly caught up with him and reaching grabbed his arm and swung Sirius around to face him. “Just say it...Say what is on your mind,” Remus said.

Sirius looked down at Remus’ hand still holding his arm. He reached up and slowly removed it. He then looked Remus straight in the eyes. “Don’t push me, Moony. Now is not the time.” Sirius began to turn away.

Remus once again grabbed his arm, only this time, Sirius turned and swung his fist out. He connected with Remus on his jaw. Remus stumbled back but didn’t fall. Shaking his head, he looked at his friend.

“I warned you to leave me alone, but you have to keep pushing me,” Sirius growled. “You really want to know what is bugging me?” he asked. “You! That is what is bugging me. How could you make a play for my girl?”

“Whoa, your girl? I am going to assume you mean Abby,” Remus said. Seeing Sirius nod, he continued, “Does she know she has made it to your list of girls?” Remus taunted. He knew he had to get Sirius angry enough to get him to admit his was more upset over his father’s death than he let on.

Sirius didn’t think, he just stepped forward and swung out his fist again, this time catching Remus in the chest. Remus once again stumbled back, but still didn’t raise his own fist to defend himself.

“I mean, she would probably like to know. She doesn’t seem to like you very much these days.” Remus looked pointedly around. “Wasn’t thinking much about you this morning,” he said thoughtfully.

“Are you telling me she was thinking only of you, werewolf?” Sirius said meanly. “Somehow, I don’t think you are her type.”

Remus was shocked at Sirius’ words. He knew Sirius often spoke and acted without thinking, but to say something like that... Remus took a page from Sirius’ book and said, “Well, her thoughts were more on me than on you. She is quite cuddly, isn’t she?”

Sirius growled and threw himself at Remus. Both started swinging and their fists found each other more often than they missed. Normally, Sirius would be hard pressed to hold his own against Remus, but the fact Remus was still recovering from the full moon, put them on more even ground.

Within a few minutes, both were bloody and covered in dirt from when their fight landed them on the ground. Neither was willing to call a halt, both just kept fighting. Remus had just landed a particularly hard punch to Sirius’ face when he felt himself being thrown backwards. As he was flying through the air, he saw Sirius also flying back.

He landed against a tree and didn’t have the strength to look for his wand. He just raised his head, knowing if a Death Eater stood there, he was dead. But instead of a Death Eater, he saw a very ticked off Lily.

“Just what in the name of Merlin do you two think you are doing?” she asked. “Best friends fighting like a bunch of hooligans. I am ashamed of both of you.” She turned on her heel and strode away.

Remus looked over at Sirius. Sirius smiled at him and then winced. “Somehow I don’t think Lily is going to heal our bruises,” Sirius said as he got gingerly to his feet. He walked over and extended a hand down to Remus.

“I’m sorry about the werewolf crack,” Sirius said. “I don’t know why I even said it.”

“It’s okay,” replied Remus. “I got in a few low blows myself.” Smiling, he threw an arm over Sirius’ shoulders as they began to walk slowly back to the cottage. “Think Lily will even let us in the house?”

“Godric, I hope so. You are a mess,” Sirius said laughing.

“Well, you don’t look so presentable yourself,” said Remus, looking Sirius up and down. “You best hope Abby isn’t back yet, or we will both be in trouble. Think about it, Lily and Abby...” He let his voice trail off and shuddered.

“Maybe we should Apparate to my place and clean up before we go back?” asked Sirius.

“Too late, mate,” said Remus and he nodded his head to the pathway in front of them.

Standing there was Abby with Lily right beside her. Neither witch looked happy.

“See what I mean? Idiots, both of them,” said Lily to Abby. Abby nodded solemnly. Turning she went back towards the cottage without saying a word. Lily smiled evilly and followed behind her.

Remus and Sirius looked at each other. “Should we...” began Remus.

“Don’t know, guess so,” replied Sirius. “Maybe James will save us?”

“Not likely,” answered Remus. “Shame we are so afraid of a couple little witches, isn’t it?”

Sirius nodded and began walking, albeit slower, towards the cottage. They entered through the kitchen door, carefully and slowly. Neither knew what was waiting for them inside. As they looked around the kitchen, they realised neither female was to be seen. They both let out sighs of relief before approaching the table.

“I wouldn’t relax just yet,” said James. “They have only gone to write a note to Alice. They won’t be long.” Seeing the twin looks of fear on his friends battered and bruised faces, James started laughing.

“Any chance one of you can help us out here?” asked Sirius. He looked at James, then Peter and finally Albus. Each shook their head in turn. “We are going to have to beg them to help us, aren’t we?”

“I doubt begging will help. They are both pretty ticked off right now,” said Peter. “If I were you, I would make a break for it, while you can.”

“If either of you so much as stands up, it will be the last time you stand for a long time,” came a voice from the doorway. Remus and Sirius each took a deep breath and prepared for the worst.

Lily was followed into the kitchen by Abby. Neither spoke or, for that matter, even looked at Sirius and Remus. Lily walked over to the sink and she pulled out two clean flannels and after wetting both of them, turned and tossed them to Remus and Sirius. Abby sat down at the far end of the table away from both of them.

“I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t get blood on my tablecloth,” she said. She went over and sat down on James’ lap as there wasn’t an empty seat for her. James wrapped his arms around her and whispered something in her ear.

“I am perfectly calm, James. Though if you side with those two, I won’t be for long.” She looked at him and smiled sweetly.

“Look, what happened out there was...” Sirius looked at Remus for help.

“What happened out there was my fault,” said Remus. “I was trying to help and I guess I pushed the wrong buttons.”

Sirius laughed, and then groaned. “Yeah, I’ll say you did. But, thanks anyway, for trying.” He rubbed his ribs where one of Remus’ punches had bruised a rib. “You know, you’re pretty strong for a bookworm,” he said jokingly.

“Well, you don’t exactly punch like a girl, either,” Remus replied. Both men began laughing and groaning at the same time.

“Oh, for Merlin’s sake,” muttered Abby as she stood. She walked over to them and drew her wand. Both men flinched back from her. She began waving her wand at each of them in turn and most of their aches eased. The blood pouring from their various cuts began to slow as she turned and went back to sit down.

Albus smiled, and said, “Well done, Abby. Now, if we could please continue?” He looked around the table. “What I meant, Sirius, was this is an opportunity for Abby to do what she does best, listen to conversations unobserved. Perhaps, she can get some information on your brother that will help you. I sincerely doubt you and Peter will be there long enough to uncover anything.”

“I don’t want Abby spying in a house full of both Death Eaters and Voldemort supporters,” said Sirius. He heard the growl come from Abby and knew he did it again. “Abby, it isn’t like I don’t know you can take care of yourself, but-”

“But what? Need I remind you, I was raised by a Death Eater? I think I know what they are capable of. Perhaps, you thought I was kept away from all of it? Well, I wasn’t. Not only was my brother a Death Eater, but... but...I was...” She stopped for a moment as if steeling herself to admit something horrible. “I was trained and recruited to be one, too! And believe me when I tell you, their training techniques make any of the battles you have been in look like child’s play.”

Abby didn’t look at the shocked faces around the table, so she didn’t see the look of understanding and compassion on Dumbledore’s face. She focused on Sirius. “From the time I got my first wand, I was taught things they never taught us at Hogwarts. I have been on the receiving as well as the giving end of two of the three Unforgivable Curses. I have even performed the killing curse on a few occasions. If I needed to defend myself or someone I loved, I wouldn’t hesitate to use it again. If not for my brother’s death, I would probably be a Death Eater by now.”

She looked around the table. When her gaze met Albus’, he smiled at her and winked. She realised her outburst wasn’t news to him as it was to everyone else. She felt better knowing he knew and hadn’t judged her.

“Now, any more objections to Abby doing a bit of spying for us?” asked Albus. His voice seemed to break everyone free of their trance. Lily stood and rushed to Abby’s side, leaning down, she wrapped her arms around her friend.

“Oh, Abby, I didn’t know. I hope you know I still love you, no matter what,” Lily said quietly.

Abby nodded at Lily and Lily went back to sit with James. It wasn’t Lily she wanted reassurance from. She looked at Sirius, but couldn’t figure out what he was thinking. As the talk around the table resumed with plans and ideas for the funeral, Abby sat and watched the silent Sirius. He didn’t look at her, and he didn’t join in the plans around the table.

“That’s how you knew how to heal our aches and stop our bleeding, isn’t it?” Sirius said finally. Though his voice was quiet, it stopped the conversation around the table.

Abby nodded. “I learned quickly how to do healing charms. I needed to be able to do something to continue to fight back, just because you are hurt, the training doesn’t stop.”

Sirius looked at Abby before standing. “Can I talk to you in the other room?” he asked. At her hesitant nod, he turned and walked out of the kitchen. Abby got slowly to her feet and followed him.

Sirius walked across the sitting room and stood by the front window, looking out. He knew Abby stood behind him, but he had to say what was on his mind before looking at her.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked. “Never mind, why would you tell me?”

“I...I didn’t tell anyone,” she said. “Not even Albus, though, I think he knew. He seems to know everything,” she said and let out a small chuckle. “Besides, I did tell you about my brother.”

“Oh, yeah, that. You told me he was a Death Eater, but not that you were...you were...one, too,” he said angrily.

Abby gasped. Is that what he thinks? That I was a Death Eater? she thought frantically. “I was never a Death Eater. I guess I was more of a play toy to them,” she said.

“You used the Unforgivable Curses, all of them. If that doesn’t make you one, then what does?” he asked.

“I may have used them, but not willingly and I never used the killing curse on a human,” she said in a small voice. “When my brother was killed, I got away as fast as I could from that life.”

“Once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater,” said Sirius. “You don’t just walk away.”

Abby was hurt, but she was also furious. How dare he judge her by something she had no control over? She never judged him because he was a Black. Going over to him, she grabbed his shoulder and attempted to turn him around. When that didn’t work, she moved to stand in front of him.

“Now, you listen very closely, Sirius Black. I was not nor was I ever a Death Eater. You of all people should realise just because we were raised by people with those beliefs, that doesn’t mean we become the product of them. Those ideals killed my brother, and would have killed me had I not escaped when I did.” She looked him straight in the eyes.

“I need to know right now if you can put this aside. I need to know before I fall any deeper in love with you.”

Sirius stepped back half a step, shock clear on his face. Abby’s eyes began to fill with tears and she turned towards the door. She had to get out of here. It was clear Sirius didn’t feel the same way and she needed to escape before he said it out loud.

Sirius grabbed her arm to stop her. Without saying anything, he bent his head and began kissing her. Abby reached her arms around him to draw him closer and he gasped in pain. She quickly pulled back.

“Sorry,” she said. “I guess I missed a rib or two?”

“Or three or four,” Sirius answered. “So, you love me, huh?” he asked grinning.

“Maybe, depends on why Remus hit you,” she said. She hadn’t meant to tell him she was falling in love with him, but it was too late to take the words back now.

“Ah, it was nothing, just a disagreement on whether you preferred being my girl or a werewolf’s.” Sirius laughed at her shocked expression. “I think it is safe to say, you like me better.”

“Not at this moment, I don’t. You actually called him a werewolf?” she asked, the last word coming out in a whisper.

“Ah, come on, you love me. Besides, I wouldn’t have if he didn’t keep going on about how you wouldn’t like being one of my girls, and how cuddly you are.”

“Let’s get something straight right now. I will never be one of your girls. I, damn well better be your ONLY girl.”

Sirius smiled and, pulling Abby closer, bent his head again to kiss her. He murmured against her lips, “You are the only girl for me, don’t ever doubt that.”

*****

Lily let the door slide closed quietly as she turned back to the table. “I think, mind you I only think they will be okay. It seems our Mr Black is kissing our Miss Sampson.” Lily took the seat Sirius had left empty.

“I must be going,” said Albus. “Remus, James, if you would relieve Caradoc and Frank in an hour, I will send Gideon and Fabian along around dinnertime.” At the nods of agreement from the two men, Albus turned towards the door to the living room before turning back. “Perhaps, it would be better for me to use the kitchen door,” he said.

Everyone laughed. James looked at Lily. “Any chance of getting some lunch before we head out?” he asked sweetly.

“You just finished breakfast a couple hours ago,” she said, but she stood and went to get out some stuff to make him something to eat.

As she gathered the fixings for sandwiches, she heard the kitchen door swing open and wisely kept her back to the room.

Sirius was smiling when he entered the kitchen holding Abby’s hand. He knew they still had things to work out, but at this moment, his whole world centred on the woman holding his hand. He sat down and pulled her onto his lap. He looked over at Remus.

“Well, Moony, to ease your worry, Abby is my only girl. I fought, but-” His words were abruptly cut off by Abby’s elbow connecting with his ribs; his very sore ribs.

“Ow, that hurt,” he complained. Abby giggled.

“I know this is a stupid question, but, Sirius, would you like a sandwich?” Lily asked as she turned around.

Sirius looked at Lily with pleading in his eyes. “If you would be so kind,” he said.

“Lily, would you like some help?” Abby asked as she tried to stand. Sirius’ arms tightened around her.

“No, I can manage,” she said. “Besides, I think Sirius would rather keep you where you are.” Lily laughed as Sirius nodded and Abby blushed.

“Okay, so what’s the plan?” Sirius asked. He looked at James as he asked his question though he knew anyone of the others could answer his question.

“Remus and I are going to relieve Frank and Caradoc in about an hour. Then Dumbledore is going to send Fabian and Gideon along around dinnertime to relieve us. We will keep an eye on the house to see who comes and goes.”

Sirius shook his head. “You know as well as I do that my mother will probably allow relatives to use the Floo Network so you may not even see anyone. I wonder...” he stopped and looked at Remus before continuing, “Do you think the protective charms are still in force with my father...gone?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I guess it would depend on the wording of them. From what you have told us about your father and his charms, I would say they would still be in effect,” Remus said.

Sirius nodded. He smiled at Lily as she placed a plate in front of him. “So, what is the plan for tomorrow?” he asked picking up half the sandwich and holding it out to Abby. He didn’t see the shocked looks on his friend’s faces as they watched him giving his food away.

“The service is at the house. It is set to begin at noon. Abby should get there a few minutes before you do so she is already in place when you arrive. Albus suggested she arrive around half past eleven and then you and Peter about quarter to.” James looked at Sirius.

“I don’t like the idea of her being there alone for any length of time. But since my visit is likely to be short, she will be there alone then anyway,” Sirius said. “I doubt any of us will find out anything of use.”

“I have to try,” said Abby. “Even though we may not hear anything concerning Regulus, perhaps I can overhear something useful for the Order.”

“Don’t put yourself in any danger trying to get information,” said Remus. “I doubt they will be discussing anything of importance anyway.”

“He’s right,” said Peter nodding. “It isn’t going to be a meeting of Death Eaters.”

Sirius looked at Remus. Abby could see he was confused as to why he seemed so sure there wouldn’t be any information to be gotten. Before he could comment though, Lily placed a plate of additional sandwiches in the centre of the table taking the empty seat next to James.

For the next several minutes, the room was quiet while they ate. It seemed strange to Abby after the breakfast they had shared this morning. When the plate of sandwiches was emptied, James and Remus stood.

“Lily,” said James as he drew her to her feet, “why don’t you go and rest while we are gone?”

Lily didn’t answer; she just leaned into his embrace. Neither said anything else, they just shared a gently kiss and James nodded once to her. He looked at Sirius, Abby, and Peter. “Make her rest and stay close,” he said to them.

“Not going anywhere,” said Sirius. Sirius and James shared a look that spoke volumes to Abby. It was as if they were reading each other’s mind.

“I’ll make her rest,” assured Abby.

James nodded and he joined Remus by the back door. “We’ll be back soon,” he said before he turned and walked out the door behind Remus.

Lily reached to pick up the plates from lunch. Abby hand shot out and stopped her. “No, you made lunch, Sirius and I will clean up. You go lay down,” Abby instructed her. Abby heard the gasps Sirius and Peter gave and looked at them questioningly.

“Shouldn’t have said that, Abby,” said Sirius. He leaned back in his chair away from the table and looked at Lily.

“I think I will do just that,” said Lily as she turned and walked out of the kitchen, leaving both men gaping at her.

“What?” said Abby, seeing the shock on their faces.

“Lily doesn’t stop when James is on a mission,” said Peter. “I can’t believe she didn’t bite your head off for suggesting it. Her normal routine is to clean the house from top to bottom without sleeping. One of us stays here with her if we can when she has to stay behind. I was here once when James and Sirius were on a mission. They were gone for thirty-six hours and she didn’t sleep...not at all.”

“I remember that mission,” said Sirius. “When we got back, Lily had painted every room in the house. All the furniture was rearranged.” He laughed deeply. “It was about midnight when we got back. The lights were out in the living room. James came in first and fell over the sofa. Not knowing what happened, I rushed in behind him and did the same landing right on top of him.”

“Lily and I were in the kitchen. I had convinced her to have a cup of tea, which I snuck a bit of Firewhisky into, when we heard the crashes. We rushed into the living room to see those two sprawled on the floor in a heap,” Peter told her as he, too, began laughing.

“What made it even funnier is usually Lily rushes to James and they go all lovely dovey, but she just stood there laughing and said, ‘James, your an idiot’,” Sirius said. “He began sputtering about the furniture being moved and just as he stood, Lily launched herself into his arms.”

“Which caused him to fall back into Sirius and the three of them fell again, this time with Sirius on the bottom,” Peter said, finishing the story.

Abby saw Sirius wince at the memory and rub his ribs. She burst out laughing. She could picture the scene perfectly in her mind from their descriptions. After a few moments, she said, “I am going to check on Lily. You two clean up this mess.”

She left the kitchen and Peter looked at the dishes on the table then at Sirius. “Bossy little thing, isn’t she?” he asked, laughter still in his voice. When Sirius nodded solemnly, Peter again burst into laughter.

Abby knocked softly on the bedroom door. “Lily, can I come in?” she asked softly. There was no answer, so Abby opened the door slowly. There sitting on the bed crying was Lily. Abby rushed over to her side and dropped to her knees in front of her.

“Lily? Sweetheart, what is wrong? The baby?” Abby reached out and grabbed one of Lily’s hands in hers.

Lily shook her head. “No, it’s just...I just realised having a baby now-”

“Lily, having a baby now is the best thing. It shows faith and hope for the future,” Abby argued quickly.

“But-”

“No buts. Is it dangerous? Yes, but we all have something to look forward to. Your baby gives us even more reason to fight. Not that we needed more reason, but still...”

“What if something happens to one of us? Who will take care of the baby?” Lily asked, her voice laced with fear.

“First of all, nothing is going to happen to you or James.” Seeing Lily’s look of disbelief, Abby continued, “Okay, so realistically, it is possible. But, even if the worst happens, do you honestly think anyone of us would turn the baby away?”

“No, I know you wouldn’t. I’m being silly, aren’t I?” asked Lily with a small smile.

“No, you are not silly. I would imagine every mother has worries such as yours, and right now...” She let her voice trail off. Neither women needed to have the words spoken; neither knew if any of them would survive the increasing threats to their everyday life.

Lily smiled and wiped the remaining tears from her face. “I guess I should go back down and clean up from lunch. You need to get going,” Lily said as she stood, “and Abby, please be careful. It may not be a meeting of the Death Eaters, but there will probably be plenty in attendance.”

Abby nodded before answering, “I will. I told Sirius and Peter to clean up down there.” At Lily’s grimace, Abby stood and walked over to open the door. “Guess we should go and fix the mess they made cleaning up lunch?” she asked.

Lily laughed and then nodded. The two women left the bedroom, arm in arm and headed downstairs to see how big of a mess the two men made doing a simple chore.

*****

Sirius closed the door behind himself and Peter. He hated waiting in the shadows of the small park across the street for a full half hour after Abby entered the house alone. He glanced around and wasn’t surprised the house hadn’t seemed to change much in the years since he last stood in this foyer.

“Master Sirius!” came a gravely voice. “Yous shouldn’t be here. Yous don’t belong here. Mistress is upset enough, you must go. You must go now.” The house elf began pushing at Sirius’ legs, trying to get him back to the front door.

“This is a memorial for my father, I belong here as much as the next person. Now, go and do something but you are not to tell my mother I am here.” Sirius pulled away from the house elf and began walking up the stairs past the mounted heads of past house elves. Peter trailing behind.

He didn’t hesitate but went directly into the Drawing room where he knew his mother would be. His eyes quickly scanned the room and spotted Abby standing off to the side talking to Lucius Malfoy. He didn’t let his gaze linger on her lest he draw attention to the fact he worried about her being so close to a probable Death Eater.

He walked towards the sofa where his mother was sitting. As he looked at her, he realised how old she had gotten in the years since he had seen her.

“Mother,” he said simply. He was prepared for her to start screeching at the sight of him, however, he wasn’t prepared for her first word.

“Regulus?” she said before she looked up hopefully. Upon seeing it wasn’t her youngest son, her face burned red with fury. “YOU!” she screeched. “How dare you come into this house? Get out, GET OUT NOW!”

Every head turned in unison to stare at Sirius and Walburga. Sirius merely smiled and nodded politely to those around the room.

“I have come to pay my respects to my father,” answered Sirius softly. “Whether you approve or not, I have every right to be here as anyone, more than some...” He let his voice trail off meaningfully as he looked around the room.

“Mother, I would like you to meet Peter Pettigrew. Pete, this is my mother, Walburga Black.”

“It is nice to meet you ma’am,” said Peter politely. “I am sorry it is at such a sad time for you and my condolences on your loss.”

Sirius could tell his mother was shocked by the polite tone and respectful manner in which Peter spoke. He hid a smile at her temporary loss for words.

“Pettigrew, Pettigrew...Is your mother Constance Deverill?” asked Walburga.

“Yes, ma’am,” replied Peter, his voice still sounding very respectful. “I take it you knew my mother?”

“Yes, boy, I did. I was in school with her, good family, pureblood, all Slytherins,” she said as she looked at Sirius with disgust. “Your father, I don’t remember him from school.”

Sirius knew what was coming. This was where his mother found out that Peter’s mother married a Muggle. He knew her politeness was about to end. He stole a quick glance at the spot he had last seen Abby standing and his heart rate increased in panic when he saw the spot empty.

“Mother, where are my lovely cousins?” he asked quickly, hoping to forestall the tirade that would come with the revelation of Peter’s parentage.

“Your cousins are around, possibly down in the kitchen. Not that you really want to see them, or they you,” she answered snidely.

“Ah, but it has been so long,” Sirius said. “I thought maybe we could talk about what they have been doing lately.”

Walburga looked at her son. Her heart broke just looking at him, her baby, her first born. His resemblance to Regulus was disconcerting. Sirius had grown in to a fine looking young man. For a moment, she wished things could be different. She wished she could merely ask him to find his brother. Sirius always had a way of finding Regulus when he was hiding.

“You need to leave,” she said quietly. “It isn’t safe for you here...just go, please.”

Her words were spoken so softly, Sirius wasn’t sure he had heard them correctly. He looked into his mother’s eyes and saw the sheen of tears. He nodded and bent down close to his mother so his words would not be overheard.

“I will find him, Mother. I promise, and I’m...I’m sorry,” he whispered. He stood and nodding to Peter to follow him, walked out of the room without looking back. As he strode down the stairs, he worried about where Abby was and what she was doing.

In the Entrance Hall, he glanced at the closed Dining room doors, wondering if anyone was in there. He began to walk towards them, when a movement from the shadows stopped him cold. Abby was standing hidden in the deep darkness next to the doors. She shook her head slightly and gave him a smile.

He gestured to her to follow him and saw her shake her head. He gave a resigned sigh and turned towards the door. He only hoped to make it out of the house without another run in with Kreacher. The house elf would surely give Abby’s location away and her life could be in danger depending on exactly what was being discussed behind the closed doors.

He rushed out of the house and across the street to the park to await Abby. He hoped she would not stay much longer but he knew she wouldn’t leave if she thought there was information to be gained by staying.

“Peter, go back to James’ and let everyone know I am still alive,” he said. “I am going to stay here and wait for Abby.”

“I think I should stay with you,” Peter said. “If you have to go back in there, you can’t go in alone.”

“Go and report in, then if you insist, come back and stand watch with me,” said Sirius, weariness evident in his voice. “If Abby comes out before you get back, we’ll wait here for you so you don’t think something happened.”

Peter nodded and strode into the small cluster of trees. Sirius heard the faint pop of someone Apparating. Within five minutes, he heard several more pops from the trees and drew his wand. He stepped back slightly into the shadows. What he saw coming out of the trees made him smile.

Not only was Peter back, but James, Remus and even Lily were with him. He shook his head and put his wand away. He didn’t call out a greeting knowing that voices carried.

“Abby still in there?” whispered James when he was close enough.

Sirius nodded gravely. “I am starting to get worried. The plan was once I left, she would get out of there. She has five minutes and I am going back in,” he said softly.

Remus nudged Sirius and nodded towards the door of Grimmauld Place. Abby was coming through the door followed closely by Lucius Malfoy. They strode down the steps and stood talking on the sidewalk. Sirius could see Abby smiling at Lucius and watched as Lucius bent down and kissed her on the cheek before going back up the steps and into the house.

James and Remus each grabbed one of Sirius’ arms to stop him from rushing across the street. They watched as Abby turned and slowly walked towards them.

As soon as she was close enough, Sirius’ dangerously soft voice said, “What in the hell do you mean by letting that Death Eater kiss you?”

“Sirius, come on, we need to get out of here. Then you can-” James words were cut off by Abby. She held a hand up to forestall what he was going to say.

“No need to worry, James. Even if Mr Black is too blind to see that we are all in a very dangerous position, I’m not.” She smiled sweetly at them. “I will meet you back at your house. I have to make a stop first.” She took a step back getting ready to Disapparate.

Sirius reached out and grabbed her by the arm. “Where do you think you are going? To meet Malfoy?” The last word came out in a harsh tone.

“Where I am going is none of your business,” she said angrily. She pulled free of his hold. She turned on the spot and Disapparated.

Sirius didn’t think, as he saw her turning, he reached out again and grabbed hold of her arm. He held tight as the darkness squeezed them. When they landed behind the Hogs Head bar, he let her go and she crumbled to the ground. Looking down, he saw blood pouring from her arm where she had tried to pull it away from him.

Sirius reacted instantly, he bent down and scooped Abby up in his arms. He strode quickly through the backdoor of the Hogs Head and went upstairs to the room Aberforth kept for Order use. He laid her gently on the sofa.

“Abby, come on sweetheart, wake up.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realised it was probably better if she stayed unconscious.

He ripped her shirt open and pulled it gently off her. Looking down, he felt his stomach roll. He took a deep breath and looked around for something to clean the blood away. Not seeing anything handy, he pulled off his own shirt and tied it tightly around her arm.

“I’ll be right back, sweetheart,” he told her as he bent down and kissed her cold cheek.

Sirius rushed from the room and down the stairs. He skidded to a stop in front of Aberforth who was standing at the end of the bar. Aberforth pressed a glass of Firewhisky into Sirius’ hand. He downed it before attempting to speak. “Abby’s hurt,” he said quickly. “Splinched herself, she’s bleeding badly.”

Aberforth nodded and turned to go into the backroom. He didn't even question the fact Sirius was standing in his pub without a shirt on. Sirius stood unmoving waiting for him to return. When Aberforth came out, he put a box into Sirius’ hands.

“I’ll send word to the others,” he said. “You go take care of your lady.”

“Madam Pomfrey,” Sirius choked out.

“Yes, yes, I will send for her and my brother. You get back upstairs before someone questions why you are standing here without a shirt and covered in blood.” Aberforth pushed Sirius towards the stairs.

Sirius nodded and rushed back up the stairs. He barged in the room to see Abby in the same position, looking even paler than she did a few minutes ago. As he approached the sofa, he noticed his shirt was soaked in blood.

He dropped to his knees and looked in the box. He pulled off the shirt from around her arm and pressed a towel to her arm. He took several deep breaths hoping Madam Pomfrey arrived soon. His head snapped up when he heard her moan.

“Abby, honey, just relax. Madam Pomfrey is on her way and she will fix you up in no time,” he told her. With his free hand, he brushed her hair off her face.

He turned to look as the door opened and he saw Madam Pomfrey coming through the door followed by Dumbledore. She came over to the sofa and nudged Sirius aside. He stood and sat down at her feet.

“Pick up her feet and put them on your lap,” Madam Pomfrey instructed. She began working on Abby’s arm. She pulled out a bottle of potion and dripped some of it on the wound. Waiting a few minutes, she poured more on.

Sirius watched as the wound slowly closed. It took quite a while but eventually the wound was healed over. Madam Pomfrey began cleaning up the dried blood on Abby’s arm.

“She’ll be fine,” she told Sirius. “She just needs some rest.”

Sirius let out a deep breath. He would never admit it, but this was probably one of the few times in his life he had been scared out of his mind. His head turned again to the door when it opened. He wasn’t surprised to see the other Marauders and Lily striding through the door.

“Is Abby okay?” asked Lily as she rushed across the room.

“As I was just telling Mr Black, Miss Sampson will be fine. She just needs some rest. Mr Potter, will you and your friends take Mr Black downstairs and get him something to drink? Miss Evans...oh sorry, Mrs Potter and I will take care of Miss Sampson.”

“No, I am not leaving her,” Sirius said.

“Sirius, Poppy is right. Let’s go downstairs and you and Peter can fill me in what happened tonight.” Dumbledore gently lifted Abby’s legs and James pulled Sirius to his feet.

"Here," said Peter as he threw his overshirt to Sirius, which James caught, "you'd better put this on before you do downstairs. Maybe you should wash your hands off too."

Sirius looked down at his hands, it was only then he realised the amount of blood that covered him. "Give me a minute?" He walked into the bathroom and cleaned himself up. When he came out, he caught the shirt James fired at him.

"Prongs, maybe I should stay here," he said looking down at Abby.

James and Remus each took one of his arms and led him from the room. As they settled in a back booth, Aberforth brought over a bottle of Firewhisky and five glasses. He placed them on the table and returned walked back behind the bar.

Dumbledore began questioning them as to what happened and who was there. Peter did most of the talking. Sirius kept glancing at the stairs. It was about a half hour later when Madam Pomfrey finally came down. Sirius stood quickly and rushed over to her. At her nod, he raced up the stairs.

He came to a quick stop outside the door of the room. He didn’t want to burst in and alarm either Abby or Lily. He opened the door slowly and stepped inside. Abby was still unconscious though on the bed across the room. Lily was sitting in a chair next to her.

Seeing Sirius, Lily stood and walked over to him. “She is sleeping now. Madam Pomfrey gave her a potion when she woke. She will probably sleep through the night. I am going down to see if Aberforth has rooms for us for tonight.” She patted him on the arm. “You get some rest. I’ll check on both of you later.”

Sirius just nodded absently to Lily and went over to the bed. It broke his heart to see Abby lying so helpless. He knew it was his fault. If he hadn’t grabbed her arm as she was Disapparating, this wouldn’t have happened.

He very gently climbed into bed next to her and pulled her into his arms. She moved slightly to rest her head in the hollow of his shoulder and sighed in her sleep.

“Shh, it’s okay. You are going to be fine, just get some rest,” he told her softly. He kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes, thankful she was alive.

*****
Four days later, Abby and Sirius were standing in her apartment arguing once again over Abby going back to work. The argument had started when Abby had come out of the bathroom dressed for work.

“Abby, don’t be ridiculous,” snapped Sirius, “you can’t go back to work yet. It’s too soon after-”

“After my accident?” she questioned. “I feel fine. I have felt fine for the past two days. If I have to stay in this room for another day...” She let her voice trail off. “Look, I can’t continue to pretend to be sick. Someone is going to catch on if they check St Mungo’s and find out I haven’t been there. I haven’t been to work since that day; don’t you think that looks a bit suspicious?”

Sirius sighed. He knew she was right, but he just couldn’t help the feeling in his gut that going back to work was dangerous for Abby. He just had no way to make her understand that without her thinking he was being overprotective.

“Fine,” he said resigned, “go back to work. But I want a promise from you.” He waited until she nodded her head for him to go on. “I want you to promise me any sign that something isn’t right, that anyone is suspicious of you, you leave immediately.”

“No one has any reason to suspect me of anything,” she said. Abby watched as Sirius moved to stand in front of the door. “Oh, like that would stop me,” she said snidely. “I can Apparate, you know.”

“Not without your wand,” he said casually as he held her wand up.

“Sirius Black, you are the most infuriating man I have ever had the pleasure of meeting,” she said. “Fine, I promise if anything seems off, I’ll leave. There, you happy?” Abby knew if she tried to get her wand back before agreeing with Sirius, she would be late in getting to work. For once, she didn’t give in to the impulsive behaviour that more often than not, got her into trouble.

“No, I’d be happier if you stayed right here,” he said. He walked over to her and gave her her wand as he drew her into a tight embrace. He leaned his head down and kissed her.

The kiss started out gentle but his worry and fear for her safety turned the kiss desperate. After a few moments, she pulled back and looked up into his eyes.

“I can take care of myself,” she reminded him. “Please, understand, I need to do this. You and James, you two go off fighting Death Eaters. I have to do this. It is the only way I can help.”

Her tone of sadness finally broke through Sirius’ desperate need to keep her under lock and key. He understood what it was like to want to help, to want to fight and not be able to. Hadn’t he felt that way his last year at school? he asked himself.

“If you go and get yourself hurt, I will never forgive you,” he said simply as he let her go. She smiled, patted his face and walked out the door of her apartment.

The fact that everyone fell silent as Abby entered the room and walked to her desk gave Abby her first clue that something was wrong. Shaking off the sensation, Abby sat and looked down at her desk. Normally, if she missed a few days of work, there would be files piled high for her to go over. Today, the lack of them rekindled the sense of unease down her spine. The only thing on her desk was a piece of parchment. Picking it up, she carefully broke the seal and read the note:

Abby,

Please come to my office when you come in.

Tiberius Ogden
Minister for Magic

Abby knew without any doubt that this didn’t bode well. This simple command was not to give her some new assignment. She knew her work for the Order had been discovered or was, at the very least, suspected. Sighing, she stood and walked to the Minister’s office and knocked on his door. At receiving the command to enter, she braced herself for whatever was to come.

*****

Twenty minutes later, Abby was standing outside the door of the office of Albus Dumbledore, having just knocked. Hearing his voice bidding her to enter, she opened the door and walked into the room. The anger that she felt as she left the Ministry was still flowing freely through her veins but she kept a tight rein on it, as this was neither the place for it nor the man who deserved it.

â€�“Abigail, please sit,” Albus said as he indicated the seat in front of his desk.

As she walked forward, she noticed that on his desk there were already a teapot and teacups waiting. Forcing a smile, she sat before she spoke. â€�“It looks like you were expecting me.” She didn’t even wonder how Albus knew she had been fired from her job.

â€�“Yes, I knew you would come here first when you left the Ministry,” Albus replied as he stood and poured the tea. â€�“I am sure you would rather something stronger but alas, I believe tea is best for what ails you right now.” Smiling, he picked up his cup and sat back down. â€�“So, I would imagine the reasons for your termination of employment from the Ministry were, shall we say—”

â€�“Bullshit,” Abby cut him off. â€�“Sorry, but they were. He gave me some excuse about cutting down on secretarial staff to be able to hire more Aurors to fight against Voldemort.”

Dumbledore nodded. â€�“Well, I wondered how he would justify it. Do you know if anyone else in your department has been let go?”

Abby shook her head. â€�“I honestly don’t know, but I didn’t see anyone missing this morning when I got there. Somehow, I think it was just me.” Abby turned her head to look out the window. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She blinked her eyes rapidly, willing them back.

â€�“Abigail, we always knew it was only a matter of time until your job with the Ministry would end. Frankly, I am quite surprised it has lasted this long. You have done so much to help the Order while you were there. Now, it is time for you to move on and there is even more you can do now.”

Abby turned back to see a smiling Albus. â€�“What do you mean?” she asked, confused.

â€�“First of all, Remus came to see me last night. I had planned on going to see Sirius and you this evening along with James and Lily to tell them of this, but now I can tell you. He has heard a rumour, mind you, it is just a rumour, but it seems to have some substance to it.”

â€�“Regulus,” Abby whispered.

â€�“Yes,” Albus said. â€�“It isn’t good news; however, it is a lead as to some of the things Regulus was doing in the last weeks he was seen before his disappearance.”

Abby sat and listened to the story Albus told her. She sat so quietly, never interrupting even though she had dozens of questions running through her head. When he finished his story, she sat stunned and didn’t even know where to begin. She knew that Sirius would want to immediately go and check everything out and she had the same reaction. But to rush out without a plan, that was a very bad idea.

â€�“I think we need to have a meeting, all of us. Sirius, James, Peter, Remus and Lily and have you tell them just what you told me. If James isn’t there, there will be no controlling Sirius. He will just rush out and that will mean trouble. If the story comes directly from Remus... I don’t know, there’s something going on lately with Sirius and Remus, it’s...well lately it’s as if Sirius doesn’t seem to always trust what Remus says or does. I just can’t figure it out.”

â€�“Yes, I have noticed a tension there, too,” Albus said. â€�“It comes and goes, and it worries me but right now, Sirius is dealing with so much with Regulus and his father just dying. Let’s deal with Regulus, and then we can deal with the boys’ squabbles. Godric knows, they have been having them for years and they have always passed.” Albus smiled and stood. â€�“Now, I suggest that you go home to your man and I will send an owl out for everyone to gather at James and Lily’s tonight. How about we say at about eight?”

â€�“That sounds fine. We’ll see you there,” Abby said as she stood. As she moved from the desk, she was surprised when Albus drew her into a hug.

â€�“Remember, losing your job at the Ministry is a good thing,” he said to her gently. â€�“It means you are now a full time member of the Order of the Phoenix.” Chuckling, he let her go.

Smiling, she turned and walked to the door, opening it, she turned back. â€�“Oh, Sirius is going to love my new job!” As she shut the door behind her, she could hear Albus laughing.

*****

She Apparated into her sitting room and was surprised that Sirius was nowhere to be seen. She could smell something cooking and called out for him. She saw him coming in from the kitchen and smiled.

â€�“You’re home early,” he said, an edge in his voice.

â€�“Yeah, problem with that?” she asked suspiciously.

â€�“No, not at all. Umm, why don’t you go and take a shower and change into something more comfortable while I finish making dinner. It’s not quite ready yet,” he said quickly as he glanced back at the kitchen.

â€�“Sirius, what’s going on? First of all, since when do you cook? And why are you acting so nervous?”

â€�“Look, just because I wanted to make you dinner means something is going on? Listen, I just need a bit more time before it is ready. You’re home early, so go and take a shower and by the time you’re done, it should be ready.”


â€�“I say there is something besides dinner going on. Hell, you didn’t even kiss me and you keep looking back towards the kitchen. Who’s in there, huh?” Abby asked as she strode forward trying to push past him.

Sirius grabbed her quickly and bent his head to kiss her, but she was too quick for him and wriggled out of his arms. She rushed into the kitchen and stopped short to see Lily standing at the stove smiling.

â€�“Hi, Abby,” Lily said pleasantly.

Abby didn’t answer. She just turned and marched back into the sitting room. â€�“You have Lily cooking our dinner?”

Sirius stood just where she had left, a sheepish look on his face. Abby could hear a soft chuckling coming from the kitchen. This only fuelled the pent-up anger that had been building in her since she walked out of the Minister’s office. She knew it was unfair to unleash it on Sirius, but at this moment, there was very little she could do to stop herself.

â€�“Abby, I can explain,” Sirius began, â€�“if you’ll just—”

â€�“I don’t want to hear your explanations, Sirius Black. Isn’t it enough that when we all descend on Lily and James she has to feed us? But you now have her come over here and have her cook, too? I know there are some things you can cook, you pretend you can’t you can’t cook, but guess what; Lily clued me in to the fact that you can. You could have gone out and picked up something. But no, you made Lily come over and cook.” Abby stopped for a second to take a breath.

â€�“Abby, I didn’t make Lily come over here. I just mentioned to her this morning that I wanted to make you a special dinner and she volunteered,” Sirius said.

â€�“Oh, so that makes it all better,” Abby snapped. â€�“You know what, forget it. I’ve had a hell of a day. I’m going to take a shower because honestly, it isn’t even you I am really mad at.” At Sirius’ shocked look, Abby chuckled. Turning, she headed towards her bedroom, and then she stopped and looked back at him. â€�“Oh by the way,” she said as she entered the bedroom and was closing the door, â€�“I’m now a fulltime member of the Order of the Phoenix.” Shutting and locking the bedroom door, she thought, There, let him stew on that for a bit.

***

An hour later, Abby came out of her bedroom and walked into the kitchen. The room was alight by candles on the table and Sirius was just pouring wine into the glasses sitting at each of their places. Going up behind him, Abby wrapped her arms around him and whispered in his ear, â€�“I’m sorry.”

Setting the wine bottle down, Sirius turned and drew her into his arms. â€�“Rough day, sweetheart?” he asked quietly.

Nodding, Abby felt the tears begin to flow. Sirius scooped her up into his arms, carried her to the couch in the sitting room, and held her while she cried. He didn’t speak but just let her cry.

â€�“I’m sorry,” Abby said. â€�“I honestly told myself I wasn’t going to do that and spoil everything you did.”

â€�“What happened, honey?”

â€�“I...I...dammit, the Minister has decided that my position is no longer needed at the Ministry due to, and I quote, ‘budget cuts’.”

Sirius cursed fluently, which made Abby smile.

â€�“So, as a result, Albus said that it was a good thing because now I am a fulltime member of the Order of the Phoenix.”

Sirius cursed even more fluently, which made Abby not only smile but start laughing.

â€�“Don’t even start with your objections,” she said. â€�“We have a meeting with him at James and Lily’s tonight at eight. A meeting which I think will make you very happy with my new job. No, I’m not going to tell you what it is about because, honestly, I am quite hungry and we are on a limited amount of time here if we are going to get to that meeting on time.” Standing, Abby reached down for Sirius’ hand and noticed he seemed distracted. There was something in his eyes, like he was trying to decide something, but he shook his head and the moment passed. Taking her hand, they went into the kitchen for dinner.

*****

It was a little bit after seven when Sirius landed his motorbike in the back garden of James house. Climbing off the bike, he held his hand out for Abby and, still holding hands, they made their way to the backdoor which was opened immediately by Lily.

â€�“Abby, it really was my idea to come over and cook dinner for the both of you,” she said before Abby could even say hello.

â€�“Lily, it’s okay,” Abby said smiling as she drew her best friend into a hug. â€�“I was just upset and well, let’s face it, I’m not known for waiting for explanations before I just lose my temper.”

â€�“So, does anyone know what this meeting is all about?” Lily asked. â€�“Albus only said we were all to meet here and he would explain when he got here.”

Sirius looked at Abby as they went into the kitchen and joined James at the table. No one else was there yet. â€�“Abby knows but she won’t tell me anything. Believe me; I’ve tried everything to get her to give me some hint. The only thing she will say is that I will be glad she is now a full time member of the Order.”


â€�“Wait. What? When did this happen?” James asked.

â€�“Today, right after I got fired from the Ministry. The reason I was given was budget cuts in my area so they could hire more Aurors,” Abby answered disgustedly.

â€�“Oh, Abby, I’m so sorry,” Lily said as she rushed over to wrap her arms around her. â€�“I know what your job there meant to you.”

Abby smiled. â€�“I hated that job. The only good thing was that I could gather information for the Order and now I can’t. That’s what bothers me.”

â€�“Well, don’t worry about that,” James said. â€�“There are plenty of other uses for your talents.”

This statement earned him a glare from Sirius. It may have turned into an argument if not for the knock on the back door and the entrance of Peter and Remus.

As they sat and talked about what Albus could possibly be coming over to tell them, Sirius noticed that Abby was not the only one not saying anything, Remus also stayed quiet during the discussion. Before he could comment on it or question him, they heard the knock on the front door. Standing, he said he would go and get it, knowing it would be Albus. He had several things he wanted to say to him before the meeting began, starting with making Abby a fulltime member of the Order.

Opening the door, he greeted his old Headmaster with as much respect as he could considering he was furious with him at the moment. â€�“Albus, come in. Everyone is in the kitchen, but I would like a moment first.” There, that sounded respectful, didn’t it? he thought.

â€�“I thought you might,” Albus said knowingly. â€�“Let me guess, you are quite upset right now over Abigail’s new position with the Order.”

Sirius nodded.

â€�“First of all, Abigail has been a member of the Order for many years now. Though her position has been, until recently, unknown to everyone except myself. In that position, she has performed many dangerous jobs and taken many risks that, had she been discovered, would have cost her her life. While she may see this as a new position, that being a fulltime member of the Order, she has always been such. The only thing that has changed is that she unfortunately is no longer able to work undercover in the Ministry for us. However, in hindsight, that position put her in more dangerous situations than most of the members ever have been in.” Albus looked at Sirius over his half-moon glasses waiting for more objections.

â€�“I don’t want her going out on dangerous missions,” Sirius said.

Placing his hand on Sirius’ shoulder, he said quietly, â€�“Son, unfortunately, that decision is not for either of us to decide. If you have not noticed by now, Abigail has a mind of her own and when it comes to deciding something like that, there is not a force in this world of ours that can change her mind.” With that, Albus smiled at Sirius and left him standing there alone in the sitting room to go into the kitchen.

The talk around the table stopped instantly as Albus entered the kitchen, all heads turned expectantly towards him.

Lily was the first to break the silence, â€�“Albus, please sit. May I get you something? A cup of tea?”

â€�“That would be lovely, my dear,” he answered.

Sirius entered quietly and took his seat next to Abby. At her questioning glance, he just shook his head.

When Lily had placed a cup of tea in front of Albus and resumed her seat, Albus glanced around the table. â€�“I know all of you, well, most of you are wondering why I asked you to come here tonight. I only ask you to hold you questions until I finish. What I am going to tell you is only rumours, but since I was informed of these last night, I have done some checking of my own.” His glance shifted briefly to Remus, a move that was not lost on Sirius.

â€�“I can tell you that from what I have discovered, there seems to be some truth to behind these rumours. Now, I am going to stress the fact that we need to form a plan before we rush to act on these rumours.” This time, there was no mistake in where his glance went, he turned his head and looked directly at Sirius.

â€�“Albus,” Abby began, â€�“I think you should just begin.” She could feel the tension running through Sirius and knew he was barely restraining his need for answers.

â€�“Yes, my dear, I think you are quite right,” Albus said. â€�“Last night, Remus came to see me and told me he had managed, through some of his contacts, to piece together some of the last known places Regulus was seen.”

â€�“What do you mean? When was this? When was he last seen?” Sirius asked quickly.
â€�“Sirius, please, give Albus a chance to explain,” Abby said as she placed a restraining hand on Sirius to keep him in his seat.

Sirius looked as if he was going to argue, but he took a deep breath and then just gestured for Albus to continue.

â€�“To answer your question, this was shortly before your brother’s disappearance. It seems that for some reason Voldemort had your brother bring your House-elf to him. Shortly after that, Regulus began acting very strange. While he had been a favourite of Voldemort, he was often missing from meetings and, though none of the Death Eaters thought it strange, Voldemort wasn’t pleased by his absence.

â€�“As of right now, we are unsure where he went during those times he was missing from the meetings. What Voldemort needed with a House-elf, even I have no idea and I cannot think of any way of finding out as, whatever it was, I would bet that the House-elf has been sworn to secrecy on it.”

â€�“So another dead-end,” said Sirius, his voice flat and despondent.

â€�“No, it isn’t,” Remus spoke for the first time. All heads turned towards him. â€�“I’m leaving tonight to go undercover and find out everything I can about where Regulus was and where he went. If there is something to find out, I will find it, I promise.” He looked at Sirius. â€�“I’ll do whatever it takes to help you to find out what happened to him.”

â€�“Why?” Sirius asked. â€�“He isn’t your brother. He’s just another Death Eater whose gone missing. As far as the Order is concerned, good riddance.”

Remus stood and pulled slowly unbuttoned his shirt. Slipping it off, he set it over the back of the chair as stepped back and turned slowly around. Clearly visible on his chest, back and arms were recently healed over scratches as well as scars from older bites and scratches. When he completed his turn, he picked up his shirt and put it back on. As he buttoned it, he walked slowly around the table to stand next to Sirius.

Stooping down, he looked directly into Sirius’ eyes, â€�“A long-time ago, a very scared eleven year old boy laid in a bed and listened as his dorm mates talked around him about how wonderful it was going to be now that they were finally at Hogwarts. The only thing he knew was that in three days, there was going to be a full moon and he was going to turn, again, into a monster.

â€�“He wanted nothing more than to join in their fun but he couldn’t. He could never get close to them. He couldn’t risk them finding out what he was.” Remus chuckled. â€�“Well, that little scared boy hadn’t counted on the three of you.” Remus glanced up and looked briefly at James and Peter before once again looking into Sirius’ eyes. â€�“Not only did the three of you find out my secret, you waited months, months before you even told me you knew. Then, then you go and become Animagus so you can keep me company, never once worrying about your own safety while teaching yourself how to do it, or the fact that I could have still killed you, even when you were in your Animagi forms.”

â€�“Hell, you could have eaten Peter in one bite,” James joked, which earned him an elbow in the ribs from Lily.

â€�“Not once did any of you ever turn your back on me, not once did I ever have cause to doubt your friendship or loyalty to me. So, you ask why I am going to do this for you? Because, Padfoot, you may not be my brother by blood, but you are my brother.”

The room was completely silent. Out of the corner of her eye, Abby saw Lily stand and go over to the cabinet. When she realized what she was doing, she went to help her. She helped her pull enough glasses out of the cabinet for everyone as Lily began pouring Firewhisky into each. Then they began placing them in front of everyone. Still no one spoke as Remus and Sirius still did not break eye contact.

Finally, Sirius picked up one of the glasses of Firewhisky and handed it to Remus then picked up his own. Without a word, he touched his glass to Remus’ and nodded to him; both of them smiled and downed the drink at the same time. Then they both slammed the glassed back onto the table upside down so hard the glasses shattered.

â€�“Ooops,” they said in unison and then began laughing.

â€�“That move got you both in hot water with Madam Rosmerta more than once,” said James as he too joined in their laughter. â€�“Neither of you ever learned to do it correctly. Shall we show them how it is done, Wormy?” asked James.

Smiling, Peter lifted his glass. Touching the edge of it against James’, they downed the contents and then both repeated the same move Remus and Sirius did of turning the glass upside down and slamming it on the table. Theirs didn’t shatter.

â€�“How’d you do that?” asked a stunned Sirius.

â€�“Talent, my boy, talent,” said James.

â€�“Oh, please,” said Abby, â€�“talent my backside. Lily?” At Lily’s nod, they both repeated James and Peter’s exact movements with the same results.

â€�“Okay, what’s going on?” Sirius asked, â€�“There has to be some trick or something. You hexed our glasses, right?”

Abby patted Sirius’ arm. â€�“No dear, no hexes, no tricks. It’s all in the wrist. I’ll explain it later. I think we should get back to the topic at hand, so to speak.” She stood and began clearing up the mess of broken glass. Unfortunately, as she was doing this, she managed to slice her the palm of her hand open. She realized she did this as soon as she did it, but no one else did. She moved quickly to deposit the broken glass into the bin and went to the sink to run her hand under the water to see just how bad the cut was.

Seeing the amount of blood pouring from her palm, she knew she could fix it, but she would need some Essence of Dittany and she didn’t know where Lily kept it. â€�“Lily, can you come here a second?”

As soon as Lily came over to the sink, she saw what the problem was. Being a smart witch, she knew better than to make a fuss. Reaching up, she opened the cabinet over the sink and pulled out the bottle labelled Essence of Dittany. Opening in, she waited until Abby pulled her hand from under the running water and then began placing it drop by drop on the open wound.

â€�“Lily, I’m feeling a bit woozy,” Abby said. â€�“I...”

â€�“James!” Lily yelled just as Abby began to fall. Luckily, James was quick and managed to catch Abby before she hit the ground. â€�“Take her into the sitting room. Sirius, she’s fine. She just cut her hand and lost a bit of blood. Just let me finish dressing it. She’ll wake up in a minute and...well” Lily smiled as she realized she was talking to no one as Sirius was already had followed James into the living room. Shaking her head, she gathered up the bandages and followed behind the men.

***

By the time Lily finished bandaging Abby’s hand, Abby was already stirring. As she came awake, Lily wasn’t prepared for her to come awake swinging. Before Lily could react, she found herself on the floor with Abby sitting on her chest with hands around her throat. The glazed look in Abby’s eyes told Lily she was in a very dangerous situation.

â€�“Abby,” Lily said, very softly, â€�“you’re safe. It’s okay. You’re here in my sitting room.”

It took a few more seconds for Abby’s eyes to start to clear, but slowly the pressure on Lily’s throat began to lessen and then finally Abby’s hands fell to her sides as she shook her head and looked down at her best friend. â€�“Lily?”

â€�“Yep,” Lily said and she smiled. â€�“Umm, do you think you could possibly get off me now? You’re not exactly a light-weight, you know.”

Abby looked down and realised she was sitting on top of Lily and jumped up so fast that Lily burst out laughing. Lily was slower getting to her feet and sat down on the couch and patted the spot next to her.

Lily’s laughter brought Sirius running from the kitchen. â€�“Abby, you’re awake! How are you feeling? Are you okay?” he asked in a rush of words.

â€�“She’s fine, just give us a few more minutes for me to finish with her bandages and we’ll join you in the kitchen.” Lily didn’t want to discuss what had just happened with Sirius there. Sirius didn’t look happy, but he nodded and retreated to the kitchen.

â€�“Now, before we go back into the kitchen, want to tell me what that was all about?” Lily asked gently.

â€�“I’m not sure,” Abby began but then stopped herself. No, she thought, I know exactly what it was. â€�“I’m so sorry, Lily. I didn’t hurt you did I?” At the shake of Lily’s head, Abby let out a breath she hadn’t even been aware she was holding.

â€�“It was, I guess, what you would call a flashback. When I would get hurt when they were training me to be a Death Eater, you patched yourself up. The only thing is they saw injuries as weakness, and injuries that left you unconscious, they would patch you up; however, they saw it as the perfect time to attack.” At Lily’s gasp, Abby smiled grimly.

â€�“I’m so sorry,” Abby repeated. â€�“I don’t often have flashbacks anymore. I’m only glad I didn’t have my wand on me. I can’t even imagine, I don’t even want to imagine...” She let her voice trail off.

â€�“Well, no harm done. So now, I think it is time to go back into the kitchen and reign in the plans that are probably running wild by now in there. I would imagine Sirius has already made plans to go off on his own search without waiting for more information.”

Abby nodded. â€�“Yes, I’m sure he has.”

Standing, they started to walk towards the kitchen when Abby stopped abruptly. â€�“Lily, the baby! I didn’t hurt the baby when I jumped on you did I?’

Lily smiled reassuringly. â€�“No, the baby is fine. He is safe in his little nest, don’t worry.” Taking Abby’s hand in hers, the two women went into the kitchen to join in the discussion as to what was to be done next in the search to find out what happened to Regulus Black.

***

â€�“Look, we can’t do anything until Remus finds out more information. Once he does, then we can decide what to do. If there are any leads, if Regulus was seen somewhere specific, we can go and check it out for clues as to what he may have been doing there,” Abby argued.

â€�“Abigail is right, Sirius,” Albus said. â€�“There is nothing concrete to go by in this information. There is no place to start looking. Even if you could get into Grimmauld Place by your own admission, your family’s House-elf isn’t going to give you any information, if he even could.”

â€�“Besides,” interrupted Lily, â€�“next week is Christmas. I think it is time we started planning for that. I know finding out what happened to your brother is important, Sirius. But we can’t do anything until we have something more to go by. So, for now, let’s just concentrate on something we can do.” She turned to James. â€�“James, we need a tree. Since Remus is leaving tonight, then I would suggest the four of you had better get your butts in gear and leave now to find us one.”

â€�“Yes, ma’am,” said James as he stood. He looked around at his best friends who just sat in their chairs. He looked back at Lily.

â€�“Marauders, MOVE!” she said sternly.

Abby watched as each of the other three stood so quickly their chairs tipped over. Each bent quickly to right them and they scrambled into coats and the four of them rushed out the door. Within a second, the door opened and James and Sirius came back in. James walked over to Lily to give her a quick kiss as Sirius did the same to Abby and then they again rushed out the door.

Suddenly, Albus burst out laughing. â€�“Now, why in Merlin’s name didn’t you have that power over them back in school?”

â€�“I have no idea,” she said as she too began laughing. Abby stared at the door for a few more seconds before she also joined in their laughter.