Chapter 1
James paced around the room, waiting for his younger siblings to get there. They needed to talk and he had told them that, they had even scheduled a time that none of the three Potter siblings were busy and they could talk with no interruptions. A flash of light surrounded the room and Evita and Elian appeared.
"You could have used the floo" James reminded them. Elian waved his comment aside.
"What's this about? We kind of are busy with our jobs, you know?" Evita sat down. Elian sat down on the arm of the chair she was in. He did this a lot, thinking it made him look cool.
"Lily and I are going into hiding" James got straight to the point. Evita sat up, that got her attention.
"Is it because of You-know-who coming back? The aurors have it handled. You don't need to leave, James" Elian looked at his older brother. James shook his head.
"Elian, I have a child now. Lily is pregnant, I have a family to protect and we're in danger. I came to ask you two to be the Secret keepers. Only you two will know where we are and will be able to visit us" James explained. Elian and Evita couldn't stop looking at him.
"James, why us? I mean you have friends. Why not them?" Evita wondered. James regarded her.
"I have known Sirius, Peter and Remus for a while, but you two are my brother and sister. There is no one I trust more than you two. So, will you do it?" James told them. Elian put his left arm behind his back, affectively hiding the mark on his forearm. Only Evita knew of it, they hadn't told James yet.
"I'm sorry, but I can't. Evita will have to do it on her own. Now I have to get back to the Ministry, we have some loose werewolves and death eaters on the run that need to be brought in" Elian stood up. James did the same.
"Werewolves? Death eaters? Are you going to be safe?" James grabbed Elian's arm. The younger Potter brother gave him a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry James, I'll be fine. But Remus is part of the pack, I'm sure he was just doing it to get information on them, a spy but I'm not sure. I'll alert you if anything changes or any of the aurors, including me, might be in the slightest bit of danger" Elian squeezed James' arm and disappeared. Evita put her hand on James' shoulder. James looked down at her. He could see the twins were hiding something from him.
"Why did he put his arm behind his back?" James wondered. Evita gave a sad smile.
"That's not for me to tell. He'll tell you when he's ready but just know, its for good reason you don't know and he's not a bad person" Evita apparated out of the room after that. James looked at the spot she had been in. He felt something bad was about to happen.
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"When were you going to tell me?!" Marella spun around to face Regulus. Her little brother looked at her, remorse in his eyes.
"I didn't have a choice. Why can't you understand that, Ella?" Regulus pleaded with her. Marella shook her head. She turned back around and continued walking, hearing Regulus follow after her.
"Because you always have a choice Regulus. You could've said no. I know you could've because your strong enough, you just chose not to" Marella lectured. Regulus caught her arm.
"Marella, listen to me. Do I look happy to have this on my arm? Do you really think I would willingly choose to have this for the rest of my life?" Regulus stared into her eyes. Marella looked at him. She pulled away.
"I don't know you anymore, Regulus. As far as I'm concerned your not my brother, until you can prove your not on there side" Marella turned her back to him. Regulus stood there, feeling helpless.
"And what would you have me do? How could I possibly prove that I was forced to have this, isn't being a spy enough for you? I have been delivering messages to Dumbledore, alerting him to You-know-who's every move and plan. Do you even know how dangerous that is and how much it puts me at risk. And I'm not the only one, a few of the aurors have the Dark mark as well to spy on you-know-who" Regulus told her.
"There is a horcrux he will be hiding soon, retrieve it and destroy it. If you do this, I know where your loyalties lie" Marella spun around and walked off, leaving Regulus in the hall, alone.
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"You'll be alright, Remus. I'm here, the pain will be gone soon" Abigail leaned against the door, listening to her brother transform. It was a full moon once again. Abigail blinked back tears at Remus' cries of pain, knowing there was nothing she could do. She heard the growling and cries stop, Remus had transformed fully. The sound of his claws scraping against the floor traveled to her ears and she could hear small growls every once in a while. She slept outside his door that night and the next morning when she woke, she undid all the locks and entered the room. Remus was curled up in one of the corners, fresh scars on his body. Abigail gently picked him up and carried him downstairs, setting him on the table and begin cleaning his cuts. When that was done, she dressed him and took him to her room, so she could focus on her schoolwork while he slept.
"Abi?" Remus sat up, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. Abigail stood up and went over to him.
"I'm here, Remus. I'm here, you got through it again. I'm so proud of you" She smoothed his hair down. Remus looked down at his arms.
"These are new" He gently brushed his fingers against the cloth around his arms. Abigail grabbed his hand.
"Don't touch them, they'll scar even worse if you pick at it" She warned. Remus dropped his hand. He looked around the room, an expression of confusion. He probably didn't remember any of what happened the entire night.
"Where's mum and dad?" He looked back at the older girl.
"Remus, you ask this every time. You know where they are" She reminded him. Remus nodded.
"Right, mum's old house. Guess I was just hoping it was different this time" He swung his legs over the side of the bed. Abigail stood up, taking his arm.
"I know, maybe it'll change soon" She knew that was a false hope. Their father would never change and their mother was helpless against him, leaving children under the age of eleven alone was the worst thing a parent could do, even more so when one turned into a werewolf every full moon and the other had no idea what to do when that happened.
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"You are to be married at once. I will not hear a word against it, is that understood?" Lucius looked down at Avaritia.
"Of course" She kept her eyes down, knowing that if she looked at her father, it would be seen as disrespect. Lucius turned away from her and walked to his desk.
"You may go now:" He dismissed her. The young girl couldn't get out of there fast enough. She bumped into Draco along the way. Both siblings stopped walking, waiting for the other to pass.
"What was he wanting to talk to you about?" Draco wondered. Avaritia looked away from her.
"I have an arranged marriage, with your best friend" She answered. Draco was surprised, he expected something worse.
"Blaise? But he's still in school and your.. not?" Draco pointed out the obvious.
"I know that. And I don't like it, but father always gets his way and there's nothing I can say about it. Trust me if I had the choice, I'd call off the entire thing and turn our family traditions around, make them better" Avaritia walked off, going to her room to think about the arranged marriage. If she only had the choice, she felt she could make their traditions better, not marry adults with children to continue the bloodline and give children of the Malfoy-Black name the choice to marry who they wanted. A sudden voice interrupted her thoughts.
"What is the Malfoy princess sulking about now?" Avaritia turned her head slightly to glare at her cousin. Occasionally he would visit, along with his brother, but that was rare.
"You know, sometimes you choose the worst times to visit, Regulus" She informed him. Regulus gave her a small smile and moved closer.
"My apologies. I sensed your distress and thought you might need help. Make it quick though, Myles will be waking up in an hour and he doesn't like when I'm not there next to him" Regulus sat down.
"I have an arranged marriage. With Blaise Zabini" Avaritia answered. Regulus gave her a sorry look.
"Ooh, that's terrible for you. And what do you think about it?" he wondered.
"I hate it. If I could back out, I would but father is used to getting his way and I have no say in my own future" Avaritia complained. Regulus moved over to her.
"Do what I did then. Fake your death and run away to the muggle world" Regulus suggested.
"But I want to do something. I want to make a difference" Suddenly she got an idea. Regulus noticed the look on her face.
"How did you destroy a horcrux?" She turned to her cousin. Regulus got up. He couldn't, and wouldn't, allow his niece to go down the same path he did and risk her life,
"No way, its too dangerous" He shook his head. Avaritia gave him a wide eyed look, hoping it would work.
"But you did it" She stated. Regulus paced around the room, thinking. He knew his younger cousin wouldn't stop until she had her answer but if he told her, then she would follow through and find a horcrux, putting herself at risk.
"And I almost died. If it weren't for Sirius and James, I wouldn't be here right now" Regulus reminded her. Avaritia looked at him desperately.
"Please, Reggie. I want to make a difference" She begged. Regulus knew he would regret giving in. But he still sat down and told her everything he knew, what the horcruxes were and where they were being hidden. As he was finishing, he told her one last thing.
"Bring a second person with you. Make sure you have someone with you to destroy the horcrux if you can not. And make sure someone knows what you are doing so they are there to rescue you if needed. I'll always regret that I didn't tell someone where I was going and almost lost my life because of it. And be careful Ava. If He finds out about this, he'll kill you on sight" Regulus left after that, leaving Avaritia to make her plan.