Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you recognize as someone else's.

A/N: Since it's been a while now since the last Harry Potter book came out, and this little world I created after the 4th one came out is no longer applicable, I'm going to be making references to the 5th, 6th, and 7th Harry Potter books in the rest of this story, for your amusement.

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Jen stood in her foyer, glaring at her front door, tapping her foot impatiently. Her traveling cloak was draped over one arm.

"Honey?" called George, craning his neck to see her from where he sat on the couch in the living room. "That's not going to make them get here any faster."

She shot a look at him, then focused back on the door. "I've seen Cadance get that look on her face," said Sirius to Remus. "Usually something blows up afterwards."

Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, James, Molly, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Remus, Sirius, and Wendy had gathered in Jen and George's living room, waiting to head to Diagon Alley for the family shopping trip. Cadance, Charlie, Bill and Cati were running late. Melinda, Chris, and Wyatt were in San Francisco, visiting Chris and Wyatt's family, but they were due back later that day.

"They're only 15 minutes late," said George to Jen. "Come sit down."

While James and Molly were joining them on the shopping trip, the four youngest Weasley grandchildren were staying behind with Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. They were in the kitchen with them right now, playing exploding snap.

Just then the door opened and the four they were waiting on walked in. "It's about time!" shouted Jen at them as they were barely through the front door.

"We would have been on time, but Cadance and Cati held us up," said Bill, rolling his eyes, as they all went into living room. Everyone else started getting to their feet, in preparation to leave.

"What took so long?" asked Sirius.

"We had to get ready," said Cati, pulling her robes back to reveal a knife and several pouches attached to her belt. "We're low on supplies."

"Are you serious right now?" asked George, pointing to her belt. "We're going shopping."

"What? Arthur said that Diagon Alley wasn't safe anymore!" said Cadance defensively.

"We're going to have a nice Death Eater-free day, remember?" said Jen emphatically. "If you two do anything stupid to mess that up…."

"Does it just have to be something stupid regarding Death Eaters?" asked Sirius. "Or will any stupid thing do?"

Because everyone going was able to Apparate, it took only a few more minutes before they were all congregating inside the Leaky Cauldron. Molly and James, newest at it, had wound up outside the bar instead of in it, but luckily they were close enough to the entrance that the muggles took no more notice of them than they did of the door.

Diagon Alley was not as crowded as it should be right before Christmas. The patrons hurried from shop to shop with their heads down, not making eye contact. A few whispered to their companions, stealing glances at the group. A light snow was falling and many people had their hoods up to protect their faces from the wind.

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said it got dodgy down here," said Cati to Arthur, glancing around at the home-made stands that had sprung up, manned by unscrupulous looking characters, many of whom started to disappear or fade back into the shadows at the sight of the Minister and so many Aurors, including the Head Auror, walking down the street towards them.

"You're not on duty," Ginny reminded Harry, as he turned to a man selling amulets, presumably to chastise him.

"We're never really off-duty," said Mr. Weasley, looking disapprovingly at another stand.

"Prioritize," said Bill. "Christmas shop with you family today, and when you get back to the office on Monday, you can look into cleaning up Diagon Alley."

"Why is Christmas shopping a priority?" asked Mr. Weasley.

"Because if Jen gets any angrier, it will be a bigger crises than some jerks preying on the fear of others," said Bill. Jen shot him a look and he ducked behind Charlie.

Cadance turned to Cati. "We should really go stock up on Death-Eater-and-demon fighting supplies," she said. "We're almost out of knives. I don't know where they all end up."

"Oh, they end up in demons," said Cati, nodding, as they started to break away from the group.

"Hey! This is the time for Christmas shopping," said Jen emphatically. "This is not the time for that kind of shopping."

"Oh, okay," said Cadance. She paused. "Hey, you know what you can get me for Christmas?"

"Let's go to the bookstore, dear," said Mrs. Weasley, catching Jen by the shoulder and leading her to Flourish and Blotts.

"Alright, Weasleys, we'll split up and meet at the Leaky Cauldron at 1:30 for lunch," said Mr. Weasley.

"Great. We're going to go to a store where they sell pointy things," said Cati, grabbing Cadance's arm and dragging her off in another direction.

Everyone split up and started going off to get their shopping done. Bill, Charlie, Harry, Ron and George found themselves standing where they were. "So…" said Ron, trailing off. "You guys wanna go to one store and get all our shopping done and then find a place that sells soft pretzels?"

"James, I don't know about this," Molly whispered to her cousin.

"Come on, aren't you a little bit curious?" asked James, looking around to make sure nobody was watching them. They were hovering near the entrance to Knockturn Alley.

"Sure, I am, but if we get caught…" began Molly, but James cut her off.

"Molly, we're 17-years-old. We're adults," said James, heading down the alley. Molly hesitated a second then followed with a look of resolve on her face.

If they thought the streets of Diagon Alley were crowded with unscrupulous-looking sales people, it was nothing compared to Knockturn Alley.

"Such a pretty little girl," hissed one hunch-backed old woman, with her hood up, appearing at Molly's shoulder. "Would the pretty little girl like a pretty little trinket to protect her from wicked enchantments?"

"Come on," said James, grabbing her under the elbow and shifting her to his other side, putting himself in between her and the old woman.

"Where to first?" asked Molly, to show that she was still game.

They looked around, taking in all the shops. "There," said James, pointing to their right.

A dingy little pub stood sandwiched in between an apothecary and a shop with animal skulls in the window. "The Bloated Toad," said Molly, reading the sign. "Alright, lets go."

They walked in. A knife was jammed into the door. James and Molly exchanged a look as they closed the door and noticed it.

On the wall opposite the door was the bar. They went to take a seat there, since all of the tables were full. The bartender made his way over and stood in front of them, not making eye contact. James and Molly took this as a sign that they were supposed to order.

"Two firewhiskies," said James ordering for them. The bartender went off to fill their order and James and Molly looked around the bar.

"Viv's going to be jealous," said James. "She's been trying to sneak off to Knockturn Alley for years and she's stuck at home playing Exploding Snap."

Molly snorted. "Are you kidding me? She and Godric and Rowena were just waiting for everyone to leave so they could play poker. Apparently Helga took all their money last week and they're trying to win it back."

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" interrupted a voice from behind them. They turned around on their bar stools to see three black-cloaked figures had walked up to them. Their hoods were up, and their faces in shadow.

"Death Eaters," whispered Molly.

"Looks like we've found some lost children," said the one on the right. "They look familiar, don't they?"

"Looks like some of the Minister's grandchildren," said the one on the left. "But what are they doing all alone? Unprotected?"

"Well, they're hardly children," said the one in the middle. He reached out and touched Molly's hair. She flinched. James hopped off his stool and slid in front of her, knocking the man's hand away, and drawing his wand. Molly drew her wand and pointed it at the man over her cousin's shoulder.

"Let's go, Molly," said James, reaching behind him and grabbing her arm. She slipped off her stool and stayed close to him. "They can't do anything to us here."

"You're out of the safe zone here, kid," said the one in the middle, pulling a mask out of his robes and putting it on his face. The other two did the same. "You're in our territory now. Nobody's going to help you." The young wizard and witch looked around and sure enough, a table full of demons in the corner were getting to their feet and leering at them. Two wizards and a witch, at another table, were doing the same. Everyone else was ignoring the disturbance, including the bartender.

"Now, drop your wands," said Death Eater in the middle, pointing his wand in James' face. "You're coming with—" He stopped abruptly and a strange, pained look crossed his face. He fell forward suddenly, landing at James and Molly's feet, a knife in his back. The Death Eaters and demons turned around, and through the gap between the two out front, where the now-dead Death Eater had stood, James and Molly could see Cadance and Cati standing in the doorway wands drawn, looking angry.

With the focus on Cadance and Cati, Molly and James lost no time in stunning two Death Eaters out front and two of the other wizards from the other table, before diving out of the way as one of the demons turned on them. Cadance and Cati, meanwhile, were engaging with the demons.

James and Molly crawled under the bar until they reached the table that was occupied by the wizards they had stunned. The witch was about to fire a spell at Cadance. James hopped to his feet and pushed the table into the witch, causing her spell to go awry. She turned her attention back on the two younger adversaries.

Before she could cast a spell, however, another demon, who looked like a large human with dark, exotic looking skin, that was sitting at the table next to them got up and brought his fist down, hard, on the top of the witch's head, knocking her unconscious. His two companions, who looked similar to him, stood up and flanked him, as they turned to face the demons fighting Cadance and Cati, while James and Molly exchanged a confused glance.

The demon who had taken out the witch sent a fireball at one of the three remaining demons, who promptly caught fire and was reduced to a pile of ashes before their very eyes. The other two demons stopped fighting to glance at their attacker, and then disappeared in a wisp of smoke.

"James. Molly," called Cadance, her face stony. They scooted out from behind the demons and went to stand before their aunts.

"Are you alright?" asked Cati. They nodded, avoiding eye contact.

Cadance and Cati turned to the demons who had stepped in to help, as the approached them. The one who had intervened first was clearly the leader and he reached Cadance and Cati first. "Thank you," said Cati, sincerely. The demon reached past her and pulled the knife out of the door.

"You left your calling card," he said in a very deep voice. He handed it to Cati. "I got your message."

"Cadance, these are the Scorpion demons. This is Brutus, their leader," said Cati, passing the knife to her. She put it in her belt. "They wanted to kill Melinda this summer while you were gone."

"They what?" asked Cadance angrily.

"I took care of it," hissed Cati.

Cadance eyed the lead demon warily. He nodded once at her. Cadance and Cati shifted their focus back to their nephew and niece, who finally met the gaze of their aunts.

"Molly didn't want to come," said James, speaking up. "It was my idea. I had to talk her into it."

"I could have said no," said Molly.

"May I inquire as to what you were thinking?" asked Cadance, quietly. The disappointment was apparent in her voice.

"We were thinking… that we're adults now," said James.

"You've not behaved like it," said Cadance.

"And it's pretty bad when you have Cadance and I commenting on your maturity level," said Cati.

"Cati," hissed Cadance.

"How did you find us?" asked Molly.

"Those Death Eaters followed you here, and we followed them," said Cati. "I think its safe to say that you two would have been accosted whether or not you snuck away to Knockturn Alley."

"But did you have to make it easier for them?" asked Cadance.

"They followed us?" asked James.

"Yes, presumably to attack you when they had a chance," said Cati, casually.

"How long were they behind us?" asked Molly.

"Well, we saw them follow you from Quality Quidditch Supplies to the menagerie, then to here, so sometime before that," said Cati. "There were more of them. Two stayed out front to guard the entrance. We took them out before we came in. That's what took us so long."

Cadance looked down at her watch. "We need to be going," she said. "We have to meet everyone at the Leaky Cauldron any minute now."

"What about them?" asked James, pointing to the Death Eaters, four stunned, one knocked unconscious, and one dead.

"We can tie up the live ones," said Brutus, speaking up. "You can send someone to collect them."

"Thank you. We'll contact the Ministry as soon as we get to the Leaky Cauldron," said Cadance. She turned to James and Molly. "Come on. It's time to leave." She and Cati ushered their young niece and nephew out the door in front of them. Cati hung back to shake hands with Brutus.

"You know where to find us," said Brutus, before Cati slipped out the door as well.

"Aunt Cadance. Aunt Cati," said James. "We are so, so sorry." Molly nodded in agreement. Cadance took a deep breath and her face softened.

"We know you are," said Cadance. She gestured down the street, indicating that they should keep moving back towards Diagon Alley.

"Those demons?" asked Molly, as they started walking. "They helped."

"Demons are creatures of opportunity," said Cadance. "They'll align themselves with whoever they perceive to have the upper-hand, or whoever will be more likely to kill them if they do not. Obviously, the Scorpions think that Cati is more likely to vanquish them than the Death Eaters. They stepped in to help because they were afraid of her."

"Voldemort looks down on demons," said Cati. "He sees their magic as inferior, like House Elves, or vampires, or werewolves. The demons that join Voldemort only do so because they think they have no other choice. They'd avoid him if they could."

They were just turning into Diagon Alley now and they were running a bit late to meet everyone. By the time they reached the Leaky Cauldron, they were 15 minutes late.

"Is this going to be a habit with you guys?" asked Jen as they walked in the door. Everyone was congregated in the front room. Ron and George were helping the bartender push some tables together for lunch. "Where have you been?"

"We took out some Death Eaters in Knockturn Alley," said Cadance.

"You two were in Knockturn Alley?" asked Ginny angrily, looking to James and Molly.

"They were with us," said Cadance, speaking up before James or Molly could. This seemed to pacify Ginny a little. Molly and James shifted guiltily. Cadance shot them a look.

"What were you doing in Knockturn Alley?" asked Charlie, eyeing her suspiciously, which was understandable considering he knew that all the ideas that Cadance and Cati ever had that required a trip to Knockturn Alley had not ended well for any of them.

"Chill, Charlie, we weren't buying anything," said Cati, rolling her eyes. "We followed the Death Eaters."

"Yeah, that's better," said Bill sarcastically.

Just then the door opened and Brutus walked in, holding the arm of the young female Death Eater that he had knocked out earlier. She looked quite surly. He walked up to Cadance and Cati, pushing the girl in front of him. "She woke up and was quite talkative," said Brutus, without preamble. "I thought you might like to hear what she has to say."

"Ah, Ms. Smythe," said Cadance, eyeing the Death Eater. She was a few years older than Melinda, and Cadance had taught her at Hogwarts. She was one of the ones that had been broken out of Azkaban earlier that year.

"Hey, isn't he a Scorpion demon?" interrupted Harry, peering at Brutus intently.

"Yeah, sorry, this is Brutus," said Cati, pointing at him. "He's on our side."

"Didn't he want Melinda dead earlier this year?" asked Harry skeptically.

"Yeah, he's sorry," said Cati.

"Let's just put it this way," said James, stepping in. He pointed at Brutus. "More scared of Aunt Cati than he is of Voldemort."

Bill leaned forward in between Cadance and Cati and held out his hand to Brutus. "Welcome to the family," he said with a smile, as they shook hands. Cati smacked Bill's arm and scowled at him.

"Is there something you'd like to say to us?" asked Cadance, turning to Smythe, who was still being held firmly by Brutus. She was scowling. Cadance matched her expression.

"I want a deal," she hissed. "I'll tell you why we were sent here, but I want to go free."

"You're not going free," said Harry, stepping forward and shaking his head.

"Then I'm not telling you anything," she said obstinately. "And you'll be sorry."

Cadance kicked a chair over to Brutus and he forced her into it. Cadance flicked her wand casually and Smythe was bound to the chair. "You're not very intelligent," said Cadance, shaking her head. She leaned in close and said in a low, threatening voice. "Those other Death Eaters heard you telling Brutus that you wanted to talk to us. An entire bar full of people, most of whom are more likely to be on Voldemort's side than on ours, heard you say that. You want us to let you go? Where are you going to go? Lord Voldemort does not forgive; Lord Voldemort does not forget. He will find you and he will kill you. We are your only chance."

Smythe glared murderously at Cadance, who stared her down. Smythe broke first. "We were supposed to follow the young ones and attack them," she hissed. "Get them away from you, so that you'd be occupied with looking for them."

"Wait a second," interrupted Ginny. "Are you talking about James and Molly?"

"Yeah, we were supposed to follow them," said Smythe.

"You two said that you followed the Death Eaters," said Hermione, turning to Cadance and Cati. They exchanged a glance.

"Mom, the Death Eaters followed James and I. Aunt Cadance and Aunt Cati saw and showed up to save us," confessed Molly. Cadance and Cati winced and slapped their foreheads.

"You two said that they came with you to Knockturn Alley!" screamed Ginny at Cadance and Cati.

"Actually," said Cadance holding up one finger and recoiling a bit, "I believe I said that we were there, which is true."

"We'll discuss this when we get home," said Harry angrily. "All four of you will be punished."

"You can't punish us!" exclaimed Cati.

"Uh, yeah I can; it's in your contract," said Harry.

"Enough!" exclaimed Mr. Weasley, stepping forward. "The next person who speaks without permission does not get pie after Christmas dinner. I mean it!" He looked around as if challenging someone to talk. Nobody did. "Continue Ms. Smythe."

"We were supposed to follow the little ones and attack them to keep you occupied with the search," said Smythe.

"Distract us from what?" asked Mr. Weasley.

"A jailbreak," said Smythe.

Mr. Weasley turned back to his family, with wide eyes. "Since we lost Azkaban, we've been locking up prisoners in the Department of Mysteries," he said, quickly. They all stared at him. After a beat, Mr. Weasley rolled his eyes. "I give you all permission to talk!"

"They're taking advantage of the fact that the Ministry is less-crowded on the weekends," threw in Harry.

"I think this is the first weekend in 6 years that we've all had off; when none of us are in the office," said Ron.

"They knew that we requested off for this shopping trip," said Cadance. "We have to get to the Ministry."

"Only Harry and Arthur have clearance for Apparation when not on-duty," said Remus, as everyone started putting on their traveling cloaks. "The rest of us will have to use the visitor's entrance. It's only about six blocks away."

"We'll meet you there," said Mr. Weasley, turning on his heel and Apparating out. Harry nodded and did the same.

"Brutus, you take her back with the others and wait for someone to come for them," ordered Cadance, before turning towards the exit that led to muggle London.

Meanwhile, half of the family was already out of the door and was starting down the street, getting looks from the muggles who were doing their Christmas shopping in London. "We're Christmas carolers!" exclaimed Sirius at a lady who looked at his strange clothes as some of them stopped for oncoming traffic.

Everyone reached the visitor's entrance to the Ministry, which was as ignored by muggles as the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron. Ron, Hermione, Jen, Fred and Remus had already crowded into the phone booth and Remus appeared to be fighting with the disembodied voice. He was holding the receiver to his ear and shouting.

"WE ARE HERE BECAUSE DEATH EATERS ARE GOING TO ATTACK! CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?" he shouted.

There was a pause, then the female voice echoed through the phone booth, loud enough that those outside the phone booth could hear it, too. "I'm sorry, sir, but the Ministry is not open on the weekends," it said melodically. "The reason you have presented is not a valid reason for entry after hours. Have a nice day!" There was an audible click.

"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM, LADY!?" exclaimed Remus. Ron, with some difficulty, took the phone from Remus as he raised it over his head, apparently about to bang it against the side of the phone booth.

"It's a recording, Remus, it's not a real person!" exclaimed Ron. He hung it up then quickly picked it back up again and held it to his ear.

"Good afternoon. I'm sorry, but the Ministry of Magic is closed for the weekend. If you are an employee seeking entry for a work-related reason, please press 1." Ron punched the number, hard. "Please state your name and your reason visiting after hours, and your admittance status will be reviewed."

"This is Ron Weasley. I, er, left my wife's birthday present on my desk and I have to pick it up," said Ron.

There was a pause and then the voice said. "Request granted. Good luck, Mr. Weasley." Then, suddenly, the five in the phone booth began to sink out of sight.

"We'll meet you in the lobby," said Remus, as they disappeared. As soon as they were out of sight, Sirius stepped inside and picked up the phone as Mrs. Weasley, Cadance, Cati, Bill, and Charlie crammed in behind him.

"Good afternoon. I'm sorry but the Ministry of Magic is closed for the weekend. If you are an employee seeking entry for a work-related reason, please press 1."

"Bill, your elbow is in my side!" shouted Cadance.

"Please state your name and your reason for visiting after hours, and your admittance status will be reviewed."

"My back is itchy!" exclaimed Cati. "Something's tickling it. What is that?"

"Stop moving!" shouted Charlie.

"I'm sorry, sir, but the Ministry is not open on the weekends. The reason you have presented is not a valid reason for entry after hours. Have a nice day!" Click.

"Ah! What's poking me!" exclaimed Bill.

"OI! I'M ON THE PHONE!" exclaimed Sirius, placing the phone on the cradle and picking it back up.

"Come on, guys!" shouted Ginny, stomping her foot, impatiently.

"Good afternoon. I'm sorry, but the Ministry of Magic is closed for the weekend. If you are an employee seeking entry for a work-related reason, please press 1."

"Hold them still," said Ginny, pointing at Cadance and Cati through the glass. They were shifting and fidgeting and it looked like people were going to start talking again. Bill and Charlie promptly grabbed their wives.

"Please state your name and your reason for visiting after hours, and your admittance status will be reviewed."

"This is Sirius Black and I have a page-a-day calendar on my desk and I want to rip off today's page, so I don't have to rip off a bunch when I come back on Monday," said Sirius.

"Request granted. In the future, Mr. Black, try ripping off the pages for Saturday and Sunday when you leave on Friday. Have a nice day!" They started to sink out of sight, leaving behind Ginny, Wendy, James and Molly.

They stepped into the lobby of the Ministry, to see Remus, Jen and Fred staring at the elevators. "Where are Ron and Hermione? Where are Harry and Arthur?" asked Sirius, as they climbed out of the phone booth. Remus pointed at the elevator door.

They stepped forward to see that someone had magically marked on the door "DEPARTMENT OF MYSTERIES."

"Harry left us a note," said Remus. "Ron and Hermione went to back them up. We waited for you."

"The Minister of Magic went running into a place where Death Eaters were attacking?! Is he insane?!" exclaimed Cadance. "We don't let Ministers do stuff like that! He could get killed! Setting aside the deep personal loss we would all feel, it would mean that we have to come up with A NEW MINISTER! We don't have time to break in a new Minister!"

Wendy, Ginny, James and Molly stepped out of the phone booth just then. "What's going on?" asked Ginny.

"Your husband—our Head Auror—took your father—our fearless leader—off to fight Death Eaters, without fully knowing the situation or waiting for back-up!" exclaimed Cadance.

"What are we going to do now?" asked Ginny. "What's the plan?"

"Well, we pushed the button," said Remus, pointing to the lit "down" button on the wall. "But the bloody elevator is running slow." He jabbed the button a few more times.

"We've been trying to get maintenance on that for weeks," said Sirius, nodding at the elevator.

"I just don't see how the Wizarding World can depend on us to protect them when we can't even get from one floor to the next," said Remus, casually. Suddenly the elevator doors opened with a ding.

"Alright, we're going to have to take two trips," said Cadance. "Pile in."

"James, Molly, I want you to go back to Diagon Alley and use Floo Powder to go home," ordered Ginny, as they tried to slip into the elevator.

Immediately they started protesting. "Mom, come on!" exclaimed James.

"We're 17-years-old! We're of age!" exclaimed Molly.

"We are two years younger than Melinda and Chris!" exclaimed James.

They turned to the rest of their family. Remus, Sirius, Wendy, Jen, George, and Mrs. Weasley were in the elevator. "I'm not weighing in on this. I lost this battle 20 years ago," said Mrs. Weasley, pushing the 'close door" button. "We'll meet you down there!" she said, as the doors closed.

There was a pause, then Cadance, reluctantly, said, "Ginny, they're young but they're good." Cati nodded in agreement, as she pushed the down button to call another elevator.

"You can't fight it anymore, Gin'. They're adults now," said Bill.

"It seems I'm out-voted on this," hissed Ginny.

"Ginny, we've been over this," said Cadance. "When you were their age, you were doing the exact same thing."

"It seemed different," said Ginny.

"Ask your mother, and she'll tell you its not," said Cadance.

The elevator door opened and they hurried in, slightly cramped. "Going down," said Cati, pushing the 'close door' button.

"Be prepared for anything when these doors open," said Cadance to James and Molly, pushing the button for the bottom floor, which housed the Department of Mysteries. "And if things get too intense, you get yourselves out, do you understand?" Molly and James nodded. "I mean it. If any of us tell you to leave, you better do it, and I don't want to hear a word of complaint."

"We promise," said Molly.

"Oh shit!" exclaimed Cati, smacking her hand to her forehead.

"What?" asked Bill.

"We forgot to grab that knife that you threw out of that Death Eaters back in Knockturn Alley," she said.

"See, this is why we have to keep buying them," rebuked Cadance.

"You threw it!" argued Cati.

"Where are the ones that we just bought?" asked Cadance.

"Leaky Cauldron," said Cati. "We left everything there to run off and fight Death Eaters."

"Yeah, but why did we buy the knives?" asked Cadance, pointedly.

"To fight Death Eaters," said Cati, grudgingly.

"Hey, none of that," said Charlie, to Cadance. "Do you remember what happened the last time you brought a knife to fight Death Eaters at the Ministry?"

"Uh, I believe I killed three Death Eaters with it," said Cadance. Ginny clicked her tongue in disapproval. "Hey, they started it! And I didn't bring that knife, I pulled it out of your brother's chest and used it to avenge his death."

There was silence for a few seconds in the elevator, as everyone remembered the last time Death Eaters had attacked the Ministry. Thinking of Percy's death reminded them of the stakes. Just then the elevator came to a stop and the same disembodied voice that had annoyed Remus and Sirius said, "Department of Mysteries," as the doors opened.

"Heads up," said Bill casually, as a spell flew into the newly-opened elevator, causing everyone to duck a little as they slipped out o the elevator and into the battle.

The Aurors who had been on duty upstairs were there, along with everyone from their group who had come down before them, as Cadance, Cati, Bill, Charlie, Ginny, James and Molly joined in. It appeared as if the Death Eaters had succeeded in breaking out their friends from the holding cells, and had been making their way to the elevators to escape when they ran into resistance. They were now trying to fight their way out.

The front room of the Department of Mysteries, where the elevators opened up, was much like the Auror Department. It was a sea of cubicles, where the employees worked. Through a door in the back were the holding cells, file rooms, and a maze of secret rooms.

It was in between the cubicles that the battle was taking place. Cadance noticed Moody expertly handling two very skilled Death Eaters at once, and realized that he must have been on duty when the attack started. She made her way over to him. "Never a dull day at the office, eh, Mad-Eye," she said conversationally, taking on one of his attackers.

"You don't need to sound so glib about it," barked Moody.

"I don't think I was going for glib," said Cadance. "I don't think I even know what it means." She found her opening and stunned the Death Eater, then turned to another one. "Have you seen Harry and Arthur?"

Moody stunned his Death Eater, then pointed off to their right. "Over there," he said.

"Let's keep an eye on our Minister," said Cadance. "Last time Death Eaters infiltrated the Ministry, we lost one." Moody nodded, then stunned another Death Eater.

"Heads up, Cadance," came a voice from the side. Cadance turned and ducked, just as a spell flew over her head and McGonagall backed up next to her, fighting a Death Eater.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing here?" asked Cadance angrily. "Who's watching Hogwarts?"

"The alarm went off, so Severus, Bob and I came," said McGonagall, blocking a spell. "Don't worry, we left Albus and Merlin to look after it."

"Come on!" exclaimed Cadance, stamping her foot. "If you die, I have to be the Headmistress! Why is it that everyone who's in charge is being reckless today!?"

"Why is it that her Royal Highness of Recklessness is the one who keeps pointing that out?" asked Sirius, as he walked by in pursuit of a Death Eater.

"You'll pay for that one later," said Cadance, pointing her finger at him.

Just then, the elevator doors opened again. Cati and Ginny were nearest to them, and they whirled around, pointing their wands inside, but then lowered them as Melinda, Chris and Wyatt stepped out, wands drawn.

"Hey, here's a question," said Melinda, as they joined in the battle. "Why is it that while we're sitting at Aunt Jen's, watching my rather young cousins involved in a rather serious poker match with the Founders of Hogwarts, a demon who once wanted me dead showed up to drop off the shopping bags that my family had left at the Leaky Cauldron when they ran off to the Ministry to fight Death Eaters?"

"Because your family left shopping bags at the Leaky Cauldron when they ran off to the Ministry to fight Death Eaters," answered Cati.

"Cati, stop being glib," said Cadance.

"No, not quite right," said Moody. "That was more like nonchalance."

The Death Eaters had begun falling back to the rear door of the department. Only about 10 remained in the battle, the rest of them being incapacitated in some way.

"Is there any other way out of the Ministry?" asked Wendy, as four or five Death Eaters slipped through the back door.

"I don't think so, but this is the Department of Mysteries," said Cadance. The rest of the Death Eaters were following their comrades.

Harry turned around to them and started shouting orders. "We've got them cornered. If too many people go after them, it'll be too confusing. I'll take the Aurors from the Order of the Phoenix and follow the Death Eaters further into the Department of Mysteries. I want the rest of you to stay here and move these Death Eaters into the holding cells. Let's go!"

"Bye, dear," said Cati, high-fiving Bill as she ran off to follow Harry.

"Stay close to your uncle Bill or your Uncle Charlie but, do NOT go near Uncle George," said Ginny, pointing at James and Molly.

"Hey!" exclaimed George.

"No, dear, she's right," called Jen over her shoulder, as she slipped through the door, which Harry was holding open. Ron, Hermione, Cadance, Cati, Melinda, Chris, Wyatt, Sirius, Remus, and Moody had already gone through.

"Let's go, Gin'!" exclaimed Harry, as she was the last one. As soon as she was past him, he closed the door. The room was large, and along the left and right walls there were filing cabinets. On the wall opposite, there was a door, which Harry had directed everyone through.

This room was even larger than the last and it had about 20 rows of filing cabinets that extended from floor to ceiling. There was another door on the other side of the room. Harry silently motioned half of them in one direction and the other half in the other, and they quickly and efficiently moved up and down the rows, to see if any Death Eaters had hid in there.

"Clear!" exclaimed Ron when he hit the end of one side.

"Same!" called Sirius from the other.

"Through there," said Harry, pointing at the other door, opposite the one they had come in, and they all headed for it.

Cadance was the last one through. What the hell?" she asked, looking around, once she got into the room.

First, this room was much smaller and almost every inch of it was covered with ornate mirrors of different sizes. Second, there were no doors, and when she turned around she noticed that the one she had come in through had disappeared. And finally, though Cadance was the last one through the door-that-was-not-there-anymore, only Jen, Wyatt, Ginny and Sirius were there with her.

"I freaking hate the Department of Mysteries," said Cadance. "Too many surprises." There was no response from anyone, and Cadance noticed that they were each staring curiously into a different mirror. Cadance focused in on one of the mirrors to see what was holding their attention, when she froze.

She could see herself in the mirror, but the room behind her was black in the mirror, though there was plenty of light in the room itself. And then suddenly, she could hear her own voice in her head, saying words that she knew she wasn't thinking.

"You killed someone today."

"I did it to save Molly and James," she said, countering the voice.

"You don't even feel bad."

"No, I don't."

"Don't you see what you have become? What you've been for years? This isn't the first time you've killed someone. You brought that up yourself today. And THAT wasn't the first time you've committed murder."

"Not murder," said Cadance, arguing with herself.

"Call it what you need to, so you can sleep at night, but you know what it is. Your uncle never resorted to it. Never needed to. There's darkness in you. You can't hide it anymore. It's the same darkness that drew Katherine, your ancestor and past life, to Salazar Slytherin. That same desire for power is in you, and you're not afraid to kill to get it."

"You're wrong."

"How can I be wrong? I'm you. I'm your own thoughts. How can I be wrong about you?"

She was snapped out of her reverie by a sharp bark. She whirled around, to find the source of the noise. Sirius, transformed into a dog, was in the middle of the room, barking his head off. Resorting to his Animagus form had helped when he needed to keep his head in Azkaban, so he did it again now. Cadance looked around and she noticed that both Jen and Ginny had their wands pointed at their reflections, but whatever they were trying had no effect. Clearly, magic had no effect on the mirrors. Wyatt was sneering at his reflection and his hands were balled into fists.

And she could still hear the voice—her own voice—in her head. "You can run, but you can't hide, because you can't hide from yourself. You may be able to trick yourself into thinking you're not bad, but you won't be able to convince yourself that you're innocent."

Cadance pointed her wand at her own reflection in the mirror, firing a spell at it. It hit the glass, but did nothing. Cadance looked around, then twirled her wand and a beaters' bat appeared floating midair. She grabbed, and swung it, hard, at the mirror. It shattered.

Suddenly, glass was raining down on all of them, as all of the mirrors shattered. Cadance, Jen, Ginny, and Wyatt threw their hands up to cover their head, and Sirius put his head on the floor and covered it with his paws.

"Everyone okay?" asked Cadance, turning to look at everyone. They nodded. Sirius picked himself up, shook the glass out of his fur, and then turned back into a human.

"What was that?" asked Jen, with a pained look on her face.

"The Department of Mysteries," said Cadance. "Stay on your toes."

Jen still looked upset and Sirius, the least shaken of all of them, grabbed her face and made her look at him. "What you heard… it wasn't true," he said, locking eyes with her. "It's just a trick of this place. You have to pull yourself together because we need you now." Jen took a deep breath and nodded. Sirius let go of her face and looked around and the other three. "The same goes for you." They nodded.

Just then, one of the largest mirrors swung out, and as it swung out, it turned into a door—the same door they had used to get into the room. They whirled around and pointed their wands in that direction, but lowered it as the rest of their group entered, with Cati out front.

Cati did not look amused. She looked at the broken mirrors on the wall, the broken glass on the floor, then the bat in Cadance's hand. "That's nice!" said Cati, sarcastically. "What makes you think we need 7 years of bad luck?"

"Shut up, Cati," said Harry, pushing through. There wasn't enough room in the tiny space for all of them. "What happened here?"

"Um… the mirrors suck," said Cadance. "It's a long story, we really don't have time. Where did you guys end up?"

"Some big room with cuckoo clocks," said Harry with an eye roll. "It took us forever to find the door. It was hidden. How do we get out of here?"

"Do you think we would have stuck around to smash the mirrors if we knew how to get out of here?" asked Cadance.

"If the door turned into a mirror when we closed it, then one of these mirrors must swing out into a door as well," said Wyatt, speaking up.

"Probably here," said Ginny, grabbing onto the frame of the mirror directly across from the entrance to the room. It was nearly as large as a doorway. It gave way and turned into a door as she pulled it out.

"Do you think the Death Eaters are having as hard a time with this as we are?" asked Ron, as they started climbing through the frame into the next room.

"Probably," said Remus.

"Probably not," corrected Moody. "Augustus Rookwood was here. I took him out. He used to be an Unspeakable. He must have told them a thing or two about getting around down here."

"I'll take that, thank you very much," said Cati, pulling the bat out of Cadance's hand. She hit it against her palm twice before climbing through the frame herself.

"Not a good idea!" shouted Wyatt, pointing at Cati, as soon as she entered the room, which was large and round and had two other doors.

"Something you're going to have to deal with in this family," said Ron, patting his shoulder twice.

"I didn't marry into this family," said Wyatt. "I'm not related."

"That's what you think, mate," said Remus, throwing an arm around his shoulders.

"Which door, Harry?" asked Hermione. "Do we split up?"

Harry hesitated. If they split up, they'd be more vulnerable when they ran into the Death Eaters. Could they hold them off until the other half of their group reached them, without anyone getting hurt?

"We don't have time for this, Harry," said Cadance impatiently. "You need to make a decision now."

"We'll use our Sorceresses to communicate between the two groups," said Harry, looking at Cati, Cadance, Jen and Melinda. "We split."

"I've never been good with telepathic communication," said Jen, putting her hands up defensively.

"Me neither," said Melinda, nodding in agreement.

"Cadance and Cati can do it, if they're not too far away," said Sirius, pushing Cati towards Harry, who was on his way through the door on the left. Sirius grabbed Cadance's arm and dragged her through the other door, as everyone began to split up.

Cadance and Sirius were joined by Remus, Jen, Melinda, Chris, and Wyatt, while Harry and Cati were joined by Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Moody. Through the door on the right, Cadance and Sirius's group ran through three more rooms of filing cabinets.

In the third filing cabinet room, Cadance made them pause, before she opened the door into the next room. "Do you hear that?" asked Cadance, putting her hand up, to silence everyone. "Voices."

"We go on three," said Sirius quietly, one hand on the doorknob. "One…"

"Two," said Cadance.

"Three!" Sirius pulled the door open and it hit the wall with a bang as they rushed in, with their wands raised. The room they entered was round, with three other doors. The Death Eaters were crowded around the one on the far right, apparently trying to open it. It was clear they were disorganized.

Whoever had been leading them must have been taken out earlier in the battle, and whatever plan they had had was falling apart. Most of the Death Eaters bolted for one of the other doors in the room. "Call, Cati!" exclaimed Sirius, as they started firing spells at the retreating Death Eaters. "I'll cover you." He stepped in front of her, as a few of the Death Eaters started firing back.

Cadance focused on a spot on the wall and pictured Cati's face. "Cati!" she screamed inside her head, projecting her thoughts. "Cati!"

Cati had been waiting for it. "On our way!" Cadance heard her voice in her head.

"They're coming," said Cadance, firing a spell over Sirius's shoulder. The Death Eaters had begun slipping through two of the other doors in the room, abandoning the 3rd door they had been trying to get open.

"Split again!" exclaimed Sirius, starting across the room as the last Death Eater slipped through one of the doors. As soon as he got close, a spell came flying, seemingly out of nowhere, and blasted him off his feet.

"There!" shouted Melinda, pointing at the third door.

"Protego!" Cadance shouted, pointing her wand in that direction. A shield charm erupted in front of them. "Follow the Death Eaters. I'll take care of our invisible friend."

Jen started to protest, but Sirius cut her off. "Melinda, Chris and Jen go left. Remus, Wyatt and I will go right," said Sirius, pointing at the doors.

Cadance quickly sent the message to Cati. "They split again. Through the first two doors in the fourth room you come to from where we split."

The left door was closest, so Jen, Melinda and Chris made it through quickly. Remus, Wyatt, and Sirius were about to go through the door on the right when Cadance was suddenly knocked backwards onto the floor, but not by a spell. She called out in surprise. The three wizards turned to look at her, just as she reached for her wand but was stopped as if someone had stomped on her hand. She called out in pain again.

"Help Cadance; we'll take the Death Eaters," said Remus, to Sirius, before darting through the door in pursuit of the Death Eaters. Wyatt was on his heels.

Sirius was already running towards Cadance. "Homenum Revelio!" he shouted. Suddenly, two Death Eaters—one witch and one wizard—appeared in the room. The wizard was standing by the third door, still trying to open it. The witch was standing over Cadance, who was still on the floor, with her foot pinning Cadance's wrist to the ground, and her wand in her face.

"Brearley," spat Cadance.

Sirius fired a spell at Matilda Brearley, before she could get her revenge on her former teacher. Her attention diverted, Brearley barely had time to duck out of the way. Cadance took advantage of the shift in balance to pull her wrist out from under Brearley's foot. She reached forward and wrapped the fingers of her other hand around her wand and pointed it up at Brearley's face. "Expelliarmus!" she shouted. Brearley was thrown backwards, her wand blasted out of her hand.

Sirius grabbed Cadance's hand and pulled her to her feet, both of them pointing their wands at Brearley.

"Protego!" shouted a voice from the side. A powerful shield charm erupted in front of Cadance and Sirius. They looked to where the other Death Eater had been. Sirius had ignored him in his rush to save Cadance. The door now stood open. "Matilda, let's go!"

Brearley retrieved her wand and ran through the door, just as Cadance and Sirius started to make their way around the shield. The other Death Eater lowered his wand, as he disappeared through the door himself, causing the shield to come down anyway. Cadance and Sirius were in pursuit, reaching the door just before it closed on them. They slid into the room.

This room was different from all the others they had been in. They had entered at the top of an amphitheater, which led down into a pit. In the middle of the pit was a stone dais, with a stone archway on it. A tattered curtain was hanging in the archway. This was the destination of the two Death Eaters, who were darting towards the dais, holding hands. Brearley's companion was muttering under his breath as they reached the archway. It glowed golden all of a sudden, and he and Brearley darted through it, and disappeared. Cadance and Sirius slid to a stop in front of it.

Cadance took a deep breath and prepared to follow, but Sirius grabbed her arm and stopped her. "No! It's dangerous!" exclaimed Sirius.

"It's a curtain!" argued Cadance.

Suddenly, the archway stopped glowing, and Cadance and Sirius somehow knew they could not follow the Death Eaters anymore. "I don't know why, but I just have a very bad feeling about it," said Sirius, very gravely. "It's like I know that if I go through that curtain, I'll die, and I can't let you do it either."

"Unbelievable!" exclaimed Cadance, throwing her hands in the air. "Sirius Black, the fearless Auror, the elusive prisoner of Azkaban! Outwitted the Ministry, evaded Dementors, survived Voldemort… KILLED BY DRAPES!?"

"Come on, Remus and Wyatt are off following four or five Death Eaters by themselves," said Sirius, hitting her arm and darting back up the tiers of the amphitheater.

The door had closed behind them, and they found that they couldn't open it when the reached it. Sirius cursed under his breath, when he tried to open it with magic and it wouldn't work.

"It took our Death Eater friends a while to open it. It's not going to just open with Alohamora, Sirius," rebuked Cadance, rolling her eyes. Suddenly they heard someone on the other side of the door. They stiffened and looked at each other, then breathed a sigh of relief when the person spoke, and they recognized the voice.

"It's still locked," said Jen, presumably to whoever was with her. "Where else could they have gone?"

"Jen!" exclaimed Sirius and Cadance at the same time, pounding on the door.

"Cadance! Sirius!" exclaimed Jen. "Are you alright?"

"We're fine, the door is just locked. You need to go after Remus and Wyatt!" exclaimed Cadance.

"The fight's over! Everyone's fine!" shouted Jen. "I've got Wyatt with me now. Cati would have tried to contact you telepathically, but she's a little busy taunting the Death Eaters with her freedom."

Sirius looked at Cadance strangely. She shrugged. "She likes to do that," she said. She turned back to the door and said, loudly, "Go get Bill! He'll be able to get us out in a snap."

"Hold tight!" They heard the sounds of two sets of footsteps hurrying away.

Cadance heaved a sigh, and then she and Sirius sat next to the door, leaning their backs against the wall. After about 30 seconds of silence, Sirius said, "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"No," said Cadance, looking at him strangely. "Why?"

Sirius paused. "When I turned into a dog, back into the mirror room, it broke my concentration from my mirror, which was my intention," he said. "Once I wasn't focused on myself, I was able to hear… everything else."

"You could hear the mirrors?" asked Cadance. "I thought it was just in my head."

"So did I, until I turned into a dog," said Sirius. "I don't know if you realize this, but you're the only one who talked back."

"Oh really?" asked Cadance.

"I just wanted to make sure that you weren't arguing with the voice because you were trying to convince yourself of what you were saying," said Sirius. "You listen up, because I'm only going to say this once, Cadance Rose DiGenova Dumbledore Weasley. You do not have an evil bone in your body. Sometimes the right thing to do doesn't feel like the right thing to do and that makes it harder. But you do what you have to do, not for yourself, but for others. Do you understand me?"

"Sure, Sirius. I get it. Thanks," said Cadance. She paused then said, "Out of curiosity, what did you hear when you looked in the mirrors?"

"That it's my fault that James and Lily are gone," said Sirius. "That I killed them."

"That's not true at all," said Cadance.

"Oh, it's absolutely absurd," said Sirius, very matter-of-factly. Cadance and Sirius both started chuckling.

After they had stopped, Cadance cleared her throat and then said, "I know you feel responsible for that, Sirius. You shouldn't. You did the best you could with the information you had. That's all any of us can do."

"I know," said Sirius, nodding.

Cadance paused again, then asked, "What about everyone else?"

"Ginny was beating herself up about letting James and Molly come. Wyatt was telling himself that his White Lighter powers should have been able to sense that something was wrong today. And Jen is concerned that she won't be able to protect her children; that she's not good enough, she's not strong enough, and no matter how hard she fights, they're doomed to die."

"No wonder she took it so hard," said Cadance, pensively.

"Yeah," said Sirius.

There was a pause, then Cadance said, "Thanks, Sirius… you know, for helping me out back there."

"Anytime, kid," said Sirius, punching her shoulder. "Overall, I'd call this a victory. All those Death Eaters came in and only two got out."

"We'd better ask an Unspeakable what that arch is," said Cadance. "Since the Death Eater's used it to escape." She paused, then a look of dawning his her face. "Together. They escaped together. They cast a disillusionment charm on themselves and let the others get rounded up, then they escaped together. He cast a shield charm so that she could escape, too. He could have let her go and gone through the door on his own, but he saved her."

"Looks like some Death Eaters are capable of loving someone besides Voldemort," said Sirius.

"That's a nice change of pace from some of the others," said Cadance. "Like your cousin Bellatrix. I'm pretty sure she's having sex with Voldemort."

"Ew," said Sirius, his face screwed up in disgust. "You've got to be kidding."

"I did spend most of the summer undercover," said Cadance. "I'm pretty sure I saw her right after they did it once, too. She came out of the room and her hair was all crazy…"

"No, it usually looks like that," interrupted Sirius.

"Still, we should probably take her out the next time we see her. We don't want a bunch of little Voldemort's running around," said Cadance.

"Eh, she's probably barren," said Sirius dismissively. Cadance snorted. "What? There's no way her uterus is hospitable."

Just then, the door swung open. "That was quick," said Sirius, as he got to his feet then offered Cadance a hand and pulled her to her feet.

Framed in the doorway was Major Frank Brown. He held up a large brass key. "Jen came to get Bill to open the door, but it tends to be quicker when you have the key," he said.

Jen pushed past him and came into the room. "What the hell?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips and looking around. "How'd you end up in here?"

"Followed two Death Eaters," said Cadance. "They disappeared through that arch." She pointed at it, and turned to Brown. "What the hell is that, Frank?"

"That's classified information, Cadance. You know I can't tell you," said Brown, shaking his head. Cadance took a threatening step towards him, and Brown jumped backwards. Sirius grabbed the back of Cadance's robes and rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Cadance, we'll just go tell Arthur and he'll make sure someone takes care of it," said Sirius, grabbing her by the arm. All four of them went back to the front room of the Department of Mysteries, where everyone else had returned. They were still moving Death Eaters to the holding cells.

Sirius and Brown went to where Mr. Weasley was standing with Harry and started explaining to them what had happened in hushed tones. Cadance and Jen went to stand with Charlie and Bill.

"Is Cati still taunting Death Eaters?" asked Cadance.

"Nah, she finished," said Bill. He pointed off to the right. Cati was standing in the aisle between two rows of cubicles, showing James and Molly some of the finer points of office bowling with a very large rubber band ball. She caught sight of Cadance and started heading back towards them.

Snape walked by, holding a younger Death Eater by the ear. "I hope that you're happy with your life choices, Mr. Auxeley," he was saying.

Cati crossed his path. "Hey, Uncle Sevie-poo," she said casually.

Snape stopped and turned to Auxeley, his face blank. "I want to switch sides," he said.

Cati shot him a disapproving look. "Not funny," she said. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, then skipped off to Cadance, Bill, and Charlie. Snape rolled his eyes then tugged on Auxeley's ear and pulled him off to the holding cells.

"Hey, Jen, what were you saying about having a nice Death Eater-free day?" asked Cati, putting her arm around Bill.

"Shut up, Cati," said Jen, rolling her eyes.