"Aurora? Aurora? …She's still asleep…What happened? …I don't know…the other portkey…not like this…Poison? ...Not Regulus…did hex Bishop… I don't know…in the water…did you see it?"

The voices ran together in a long line. There was a lot more murmuring that she couldn't make out. When her eyes finally flickered open, she could see it was still dark outside. A bright moon hung high in the sky – round and full –

She sat up abruptly. "Remus!"

"Woah," Lily said, catching her shoulder. "It's okay. It's okay."

Her head did spin, but it was nothing like before. She turned to Lily.

"Remus is fine," she told her. "James took him to a forest outside of town. Aurora – do you know what happened to you? Sirius said you just started screaming."

"I…I'm not sure," she said with partial honestly. Tentatively, she reached out in her mind to see if she still had a connection to Walberga. It was faint, but it was there.

"How do you feel now?"

"Much better."

"Good. You should get some more sleep. We have to leave for the station early in the morning."

"I need to talk to Sirius."

"He and Peter are outside," she said, shaking her head. "Looking for mermaids. Sirius swears he saw one when you two got back." She laughed.

Aurora smiled. "It's a good thing James and Remus aren't here then. They'd be concerned about dark magic again."

Lily turned to her. "No one thinks you are doing dark magic, Aurora. Not really. Remus…he's just cautious. And James…well, it's been a tense summer."

"They have good reason to be cautious." She exhaled slowly. "Lily, I'm worried about going back to school."

"You're worried?"

Aurora shook her head. "This party…the people there, they seemed so…normal. Nice, even. But, their parents are Death Eaters or they are Death Eaters." She paused cautiously. "There are Death Eaters at Hogwarts, you know."

Lily turned to look out the window to the night sky. "I know."

Aurora watched her closely. "Severus is one of them."

Her lips pursed and her voice was softer. "I know."

Aurora hesitated for another moment. "So is Regulus."

She turned back, her eyes wide.

"I haven't told Sirius yet."

They sat in silence for a long time.

"Maybe Dumbledore would let you change houses," Lily said, trying for humor.

Aurora smiled lightly. There had been a time when she had thought that Godric would offer, but he never did.

"It's who you are," he had told her.

Thinking of those words twisted her stomach. The pain showed on her face and Lily hurried her back to sleep.

She awoke again later to a rustling noise. Looking over, she saw that Lily had settled into an armchair and fallen asleep. Silently, Aurora stood up and made her way into the hall. Avoiding the squeaky boards, she found her way in the darkness to Sirius's room. The door clicked as she opened it.

Sirius was asleep in the furthest bed from the door. Aurora sat on James's bed and reached over to shake his shoulder.

"Sirius, wake up."

His eyes opened.

"We need to talk about Regulus."

Sirius sat up and turned the lamp on. He looked tired, beyond just lack of sleep.

"What about him?"

Aurora didn't answer right away. She wasn't sure how. "He's joined them," she said finally.

Sirius closed his eyes.

"But I don't think he really wanted to."

"Aurora…" Sirius sighed. "Reg is a good kid, but living with my parents…" HE sighed again. "How do you know?"

"It's a feeling?"

"Rory."

"I mean it. But not a vague feeling. It's the same feeling I had when they asked me to join."

He frowned. "They asked you to join already?"

"Sirius, I'm a descendent of one of the darkest families in magical history. Of course they asked me already."

"And you didn't want to," he said, thinking, "so you think Reg feels the same."

"I think he feels like he has to join." She looked at him meaningfully. "And family loyalty is something we both know about."

"Reg has always wanted to please our parents. Maybe he doesn't want to be a Death Eater, but he does want to please Orion and Walburga. And joining is one, easy way to do that."

"And you're willing to let him sacrifice that much of himself?"

Sirius looked at the floor for a long time. "I asked him to come with me, you know. When I left for the Potters."

She hadn't known that.

"He told me he would rather be an only child than betray his blood." He looked up at her. "He meant it, Aurora. I looked him in the eyes as he said it and he meant it."

"I believe he did."

"And you still think he didn't want to join the Death Eaters?

She thought for a long time, about a lot of things. Her family. Salazar. Time magic. "I think he's lost," she said finally. "And confused. And probably scared." She paused for another moment. "And I think, whatever he is doing, I'm not going to let him do it alone."

He stilled. "You aren't saying –"

"Whatever it is that you wanted to tell me about and James won't let you? Don't tell me."

"Rory –"

"No one knows what is going on, you've said it yourself. And we need to. I think I can find out."

"That's…it's…Rory, what you are talking about…it's…it's dangerous."

She nodded.

He shook his head. "You can't do that."

"I think I might be the only one who can."