It's been quite a long time since I've written anything, but never fear, I have not abandoned this story. Life has just been somewhat crazy the last year. I had taken a second job working at a semi-professional theater…and worked 10 shows in as many months. Then I had a ACL tear, a move and a business trip all within six weeks.

This chapter is an epilogue of sorts for this installment of the Young Order series. I had originally intended for the fourth story in this series to cover the Young Order's adventures over the summer with Severus' aunts, the Prince Treasures. However, my muses are screaming at me to move the story along. So I'm going to skip Perterra and move on to Amatae Acervi. Amatae Acervi is going to be different from anything I've tried before…an epistolary-style story. For those who are not familiar with this style, it is a story written as a series of documents. I will be using letters, journal entries and newspaper clippings to tell the story. As I said, it's something I've never tried before, but I think it will help me grow as a writer. Because of the style I will be using, the chapters will likely be fairly short…probably along the lines of the chapter size of my Thrice Defied series, for those of you who have read my other stories. Hopefully this will mean more frequent updates for my readers, but I can give no guarantees. However, I plan to write several chapters written before I start posting.

I am also currently working on a one-shot companion piece to the Young Order series that has a working title of Barny Weasley and the un-Malfoy. The idea of what happened to Barny Weasley and why he wasn't at Bill's wedding has always fascinated me. So I decided to have a little bit of fun and create a story for him…a story that also partially explains the feud between the Weasleys and the Malfoys.

And now that I've written a long author's note…on to the final chapter of Octo Secui…

Poppy kept her patients in the infirmary for three days before allowing them to leave with their families. As soon as they were free to go, Severus sent his sons to Grimmauld Place with Cissy. Reg, Halle, their younger children and Audrey went with them. The others were planning to follow as soon as school was finished for the year. Halle and Audrey would be supervising Harry and Draco in taking their end of year exams and would be sending them on to Hogwarts to be graded.

"Can I call you Mummy?" Siri asked Cissy one night as she tucked him into bed.

She smiled and brushed the hair from his brow. "Of course, sweetheart. Now go to sleep." She kissed his brow and stood to leave.

"Mummy," he called as she neared the door.

"Yes?"

"Cap's real name is Regulus…is he my brother Regulus?" the little boy asked, hugging his Padfoot.

Cissy came back to sit next to him. "Yes. He's your brother Regulus."

"Did Poppa not adopt me 'cause he was missing?" She nodded. "Is he gonna adopt me now?"

"You'll need to ask him, sweetheart. Go to sleep."

"But…if he adopts me, then I'll be Sirius Orion Snape and Draco will be Orion John Snape. We can't have the same name."

She sighed quietly. "What would you want your name to be?"

Siri considered it for a moment. "Sirius Severus Snape."

Cissy smiled and him. "I think he'd like that name very much, Siri. You can tell him about it when he gets home. But for now…go to sleep, little one."

The day of the wedding of Severus and Cissy dawned dark and rainy. "I guess it's a good thing you didn't plan an outdoor wedding," Harry told his father. He and his brothers were in Severus' room at Grimmauld Place, charged with keeping him away from his bride. It may have been her second wedding, but the women were determined to do things as traditionally as possible.

Severus was sitting on the bed, leaning against the headboard attempting to read while Siri bounced on the bed beside him. "If we had planned an outdoor wedding, we could have retned a tent. Siri, stop bouncing."

The little boy giggled. "But it's fun! And there's nothing else to do. Draco won't let me play with Frank."

"That's because you keep trying to pick him up by the tail," Draco said from where he was stretched out on the floor reading the Daily Prophet with his ferret draped around his shoulders.

"He doesn't stay still," Siri protested.

"If he doesn't stay still, he doesn't want to be held. Pop have you ever heard of something called a Zippophone?" Draco asked.

"Not that I recall," Severus replied.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"Something the Americans have come up with," Draco answered. "It's a tiny Floo that can only be used for talking and fits in your pocket."

Severus looked up from his book. "That could come in handy with all the trouble you two get into."

"We're not that bad," Harry protested.

Severus put his book aside. "You two have started behaving better, I will agree. But trouble always seems to find you. I would feel a lot better knowning that you could reach me if you two run into trouble. I'll ask Halle and Reg to look into them for me. Right now, you boys need to hit the showers. We have a wedding to get ready for."

"Do we have our something old?" Audrey asked from where she sat in the room where the women were getting ready for the wedding. She was due any day now and the others had wouldn't let her do anything but supervise.

Andromeda Tonks finished securing her sister's hair in an ornate hair clip. "This hair clip has been in our family for several generations and was worn by every Black bride, until Bella and Cissy because I took it with me when I left to marry Ted. It's time that it is returned to the family."

"Something new?"

"The boys gave me a locket this morning with a picture of the three of them," Narcissa said with a smile.

"Something borrowed?"

"She borrowed shoes from me," Halle replied from where she was brushing Ana's hair.

"And something blue is your dress," Audrey said, refering to the pale blue dress Narcissa had chosen to wear for the occasion.

"And a sixpence for your shoe," Hermione added, stooping down to drop the coin in one of Narcissa's shoe. "This is a Muggle tradition."

"Thank you, sweetheart," Narcissa replied. "Well…I think we're ready."

"You look beautiful," Andromeda told her sister.

Narcissa and Severus waited in the hallway outside Remus and Audrey's room. Audrey had gone into labor during their wedding and they didn't want to leave on their short honeymoon until after the baby had come, as Remus and Audrey had asked them to be godparents a few months before. Hermione waited in the hall with them, while everyone else waited downstairs for news. "Are you ready to be a big sister?" Narcissa asked the younger witch.

"Yes ma'am," Hermione answered with a smile. "I always wanted a brother or sister. I can't wait."

"You'll be a wonderful sister and a big help to Audrey," Narcissa said, putting an arm around the girl's shoulders. "And since you are the big sister to our new godchild, I think it would be alright for you to call us Uncle Sev and Aunt Cissy."

"I'd like that," she replied.

A moment later Remus came out of the bedroom with a small bundle in his arms and a big smile on his face. "Hermione…I'd like you to meet your little sister." He placed the baby in her sister's arms.

Hermione smiled down at the baby. "Hello, baby girl."

"Does our goddaughter have a name yet?" Severus asked.

"Well," Remus replied. "Since we all love to read, at first we decided to go with a name from classic literature. But once she was born we decided that we already have one daughter named after a Shakespeare character, why not give them both Shakespeare names. So we named her Helena Mariana Lupin."

fin

AN2: Zippophones are loving borrowed from the great Anne Walsh.