“Yeah, and she even has Professor Snape smiling and being nice” George added, rolling his eyes as Fred and Ron smirked.

“That’s enough, all of you.” Molly said as she held onto her daughter. “Arthur, did you know about this?” he nodded slowly “And you didn’t think to tell your wife? They are my children too, I should have been told.” she replied, an angry edge to her voice. “Don’t you think we should have discussed this….

“I doubt he was permitted to say anything Mrs. Weasley” Raul said quickly, realizing how upset Molly was becoming. “I understand that the wizarding community is not overly fond of my kind. I am certain Albus asked your husband not to say anything to anyone regarding our presence.” Raul tried to hold in a chuckle when he saw the look of relief cross Arthur’s face.

“But who…or what do you eat?” Molly asked hesitantly, fearing the worse.

“Trust me m’am.” Hamish chirped up “there are more than enough death eaters to take care of our needs and the Garou’s. We had thought everything was under control until this afternoon. I’ve never seen so many of them at one time, they must have known Angel had left.” he added, shaking his head sadly.

“Were their any other casualties besides my sons?” Arthur asked, hoping for at least a little good news. “Did the death eaters attack any other student’s?”

Cash stepped to Arthur “Not among our side. Once Angel showed up it was pretty much over, I doubt many death eaters escaped alive, except that Malfoy guy. He’s as slippery as a greased rat, and almost as pleasant.”

“You actually saw Lucius Malfoy there?” Arthur asked, feeling his stomach turn. He had always known Malfoy was a death eater, but to have proof, solid proof, it was something he hadn’t ever expected.

“Saw him,” Cash growled, “that smeg stood there laughing as Gustavas tortured Harry and nearly killed him.” he clenched his hands into fists as he pictured the mocking look on Malfoy’s face.

Harry!!” Molly screamed, “Where is Harry, if anything happened to him, so help me I‘ll tear…”

“Relax mum” Ron pleaded, knowing far to well how protective his mother could be. “He went home with Sirius and Cat, he’s safe with them.”

Cash froze as he looked from Molly to Arthur, noticing neither of them seemed surprised to hear Sirius’s name, he asked “You know about Sirius I assume?”

“Yes, Albus told us at the end of school last year.” Arthur replied, “Although I’m still not entirely sure about him. I’m sure he is innocent, but all those years in Azkaban” Arthur shook his head, “It has to do something to a man.”

“It has, believe me, it has” Cash agreed as flashes of Sirius’s memories shot across his mind.

“I suppose I should see if anyone has found the Minister or his cabinet. They’ll need to be told about Malfoy, I trust you would be willing to testify to what you saw, uhm, Cash was it?”

“That may be a problem” Raul said as he walked to Arthur “Is there somewhere we can talk in private, it is about your ministry.”

After Arthur and Raul had left to speak privately, Molly turned to the children and sighed deeply, “What am I going to do with you?”

“Hug them and never leave them out of your sight again?” Cash suggested, smiling widely as the twins gave him the thumbs up. “Then again, maybe I’ll just shut up and let you talk to them” he added as Molly turned and narrowed her eyes at him.

Molly wasn’t really sure what to make of these vampyres, she felt as if she could trust them, but they were blood suckers, they may well turn on her and her children at any time, and there would be nothing she could do to prevent it.

“They wouldn’t do that mum” Fred said softly, “they saved our lives, they wouldn’t hurt us. Besides, if Professor Dumbledore trusts them, shouldn’t you?”

“Well I suppose so…. Wait, Fred how did you know what I was thinking?” Molly asked, suddenly shocked.

Ginny looked at Cash and spoke up quickly “Miss MacLeod’s been teaching us how to read minds in divination. Fred is one of her best students” she lied, hoping her mother would forgive her when she found out.

“Her best student? Fred?” Molly gasped. “I find that hard to believe.”

“Hey, she’s a great teacher” George chimed in, “Maybe dad should ask her if she knows what’s happened to Minister Fudge.”

“Uhm mum, is it alright if I show Roel and Hamish my room, we were talking about, uhm… some models I’ve been putting together.”

“Yeah, models” George took over, “They work on models too, they might be able to give us some tips.” they smiled and blinked endearingly,

“Oh alright, just be careful, and if I hear any explosions…”

You won’t mum” Fred yelled as Hamish and Roel dashed to their sides as the twins and Ron led the way.

Cash grabbed Hamish by the scruff of his neck as he made his way up the stairs. “No pranks, no jokes, no mishaps.” he says sternly “Do you understand me Hamish, Roel? Don’t do anything you don’t want me to find out about, and make sure the twins stay out of trouble as well. Anything happens to these children and it will come out of your hides.”

“Yes, Sir” Hamish and Roel said in unison “Ginny, come on, let the adults talk” Roel added as he motioned for her to join them. Ginny looked to her mother, who sighed deeply and nodded for Ginny to join her brothers.

“Wicked” Ron gushed, “You can read mum’s mind. This is going to be so much fun.”

Fred gave an unsure half-smile “Yeah, fun….uhm, Hamish?” Fred asked hesitantly, “How long will this last? I mean, will I be able to read her mind for the rest of my life?” He felt his stomach churning with the very idea

Hamish smiled kindly as he slipped his arm under Fred’s to help him along “Nah, probably not. And you couldn’t read her mind the whole time could you? Only when she got really upset or frightened, right?”

“Yeah, how did you know?” Fred asked, feeling suddenly tired as he tried to climb the steps. He leaned gratefully against Hamish who was smiling knowingly at him.

“Same thing happens to all of us. The blood has a lot of…Hey, Roel, what did Angel call that again?”

“Hidden liabilities” Roel replied as he lifted Ginny onto his shoulders, smiling brightly as she giggled at him.

“Right, hidden liabilities. Besides making you stronger it also increases any…latent abilities you might have.” Hamish explained as they walked along. “Chances are that somewhere inside of you is the ability to read thoughts, the blood found this power and released it. Now whether it will remain after the blood is absorbed is another matter entirely.”

“So you think its just temporary then, in a few days I’ll be normal again.” Fred asked, feeling much more relaxed than a few minutes before.

“Well, seeing as how you never had it before, and you could only hear her when she was frightened, probably not.”

“What does her being frightened have to do with anything?” George asked as he came alongside of them. “Gheez Fred, you’re not looking good.” he added as he slipped his arm around his brother’s other side, helping Hamish with Fred.

Hamish smiled kindly at the twins, they were such good kids, and judging from everything he had learned about them and their parents in the last few minutes, they had to be one of the missing clans, he could feel it. “Anger and fear are very powerful emotions, they can added a lot of power to a thought, or spell, or action. If you were catching everyone’s stray thoughts, it might be a different story, but in this case….”

“Aw phooey,” Ron said glumly, “It would have been great if you could read mum’s mind forever. No more of her sneaking up on us and catching us with filibusters, and we would know when she wanted us to do chores and de-gnome the garden and just stay out of her way.”

“Yeah, well trust me Ron” Fred sighed “You do NOT want to know what goes on in mum’s mind. Positively frightening that was. I never want to do that again.”…..

Cash sighed as he watched the children dash up the stairs with Hamish and Roel, turning back to Rick and Angus, Cash said “Why don’t you two go ahead back and help Albus. I’m sure he could use it right about now.”

“Well, you certainly seem to have a handle on them.” Molly said, looking at Cash and smiling gently as she waved goodbye to Rick and Angus.

Cash shrugged his shoulders and grinned, “I come from a big family, I understand how important discipline and love are.”

“Really, a large family you say?” Molly inquired, wondering if he knew she had three more sons not at Hogwarts. “How large is your family?” “Depends on who’s counting,” he laughed “Needless to say, my sisters have all passed on now, but I still watch over all their children, and their children, and their children.”

“Well what about this Miss MacLeod? Is she one of their children?” Molly asked “And do you want any tea?”

“Yes, please.” Cash replied, “And Angel…Miss MacLeod is my twin sister’s great-great-great-whatever-granddaughter” he explained as Molly’s eyes grew wide.

“Great-great-great? How old are you?” She asked, then suddenly blushed as she realized how rude a question it was. “I-I mean…”

“No, its alright.” Cash assured her, tickled that she would be kind enough to worry about hurting the feelings of a vampyre “and to be honest, I stopped counting a while ago, I’m over two thousand, that much I know, but Angel could probably tell you better than I could. She helps to keep the clan’s history and lineage.”

“This Angel, is she an only child?” Molly asked, now more curious than ever.

“Angel?! Not a chance, Diedre, her mother, had four daughters and nine sons. Of course being the youngest, Magnus tends to be a bit more lenient of her and Shane.”

“Shane?” Molly repeated as she levitated over two cups and began pouring them tea.

“Her twin brother, she and Shane are twins just like I and Cathane were.” Cash explained “And to be honest, I‘m hoping your family will be able to visit mine sometime, I know you‘ll all get along splendidly. Its so rare to see a large, happy family like yours anymore. I thought mine was the last of its kind.”

He watched as Molly’s smile became wider and wider the more they spoke…..

“Mr. Weasley” Raul began,

“Please, call me Arthur. And take a seat, I heard the children go upstairs, so we should have a few minutes of peace before any explosions start.” Arthur sighed “Those boys of mine, I have no idea what to do with them at times” he added, grinning happily all the same.

“They are good boys, strong, brave, caring” Raul told him, “I would be proud to have them as sons.”

“I am proud of them, very proud. But I’m also worried.” Arthur admitted, “The Ministry has been hinting that Hogwarts would be closed since Albus could no longer assure the safety of the students. I’m afraid this last attack will only reinforce that belief. I’m sure Fudge and Malfoy will call an emergency session right after the holidays.”

“Malfoy may, but Fudge won’t.” Raul said darkly, his eyes flashing with undisguised loathing.

“What makes you say that? And didn’t you mention having some information about the cabinet members?” Arthur asked.

Raul nodded “Cash told you that Angel stopped the attacks, but he didn’t tell you how. Every one that attacked her son, with the exception of Gustavas and Malfoy….” Raul hesitated, he was still having trouble believing that such a kind person could have done so much damaged. “She killed them all, within minutes they were laid to waste. When Albus got to us, we were in the process of removing the bodies from the school. He recognized many of them….”

Arthur shook his head “You cannot mean, ..…even they wouldn’t be so heartless as to attack a school full of children.”

Raul hung his head “Albus identified several members of your Ministry, including Minister Fudge.” Raul held up his hands, motioning for Arthur to stay calm and quiet. “Please, listen to me closely, I have not told Cash the identities of these men. He is aware that several members of the ministry were involved, but he has no idea how high into the echelon the death eaters have risen.” Raul felt nothing but pity and compassion for Arthur Weasley at that moment. It was obvious that he was every bit as shocked and saddened by the revelation as Albus had been. “I am sorry that it had to be me to tell you of this. Albus wanted to come himself, but we thought it was best that he stay at the school, Minerva will handle most of the inquiries, but he insists that he himself deal with Malfoy.”

“What about you? Shouldn’t your clan be there protecting him and the others?” Arthur inquired “I appreciate you bringing my children, but you have more important things to ….”

“To me, nothing is more important than those children.” Raul insisted, his eyes becoming moist “I cannot explain to you how frightened I was when I thought we would lose them. I never should have allowed them to come with us. I should have insisted they stay behind in the tower to protect their sister and the other students.”

After several more minutes, Arthur and Raul finally rejoined Molly and Cash in the kitchen. Arthur simply shook his head and grinned when he saw Molly mothering the vampyre, who for his part was accepting it all with amazing grace. “Arthur” Molly said happily “Do you know how many nieces and nephews he has? They make our family sound tiny” she joked as Cash grinned happily, rising from his seat, he called for the others. “Do you have to go already?” Molly asked, thoroughly enjoying her talk with Cash.

“Yes, Molly, we have to keep an eye on the school, we’ve already been gone too long.” Cash said as he kissed Molly lightly on her cheek, causing her to blush softly. …….

Severus laid on his bed, staring up at the ceiling as sleep continued to evade him.