• 1-2-A Day with Aunt Petunia
• 2-The Future Apprentices
• 3-The Tower and Snape
• 4-Twists, Turns, and Murder at the Ministry
• 5-True Heir, or more commonly, the Lineage Potion
• 6-Brewing and Surprises
• 7-Morning Post and other problems
• 8-Research and Remus
• 9-Conversations
• 10-Holding the Castle
• 11-Moons
• 12-Division in the Order Ranks Revealed
• 13-Chapter 14
• 14-Before the wedding
• 15-The Wedding
• 16-Chapter 17
• 17-Fallout Begins
• 18-Ministry Mandates
• 19-Political Machinations
• 20-Chapter 21
• 21-Chapter 22
• 22-Lineage Books and Fudge
• 23-Chapter 24--Surmisings and Summons
• 24-25- Viper
• 25-Bonds and Complications
• 26-Early Morning Musings
• 27-Dumbledore Returns
• 28-Mrs. Parkinson's Funeral
• 29-Karkaroff, Elves and other Headaches
• 30-Chapter 31
• 31-Of Headmasters and Headaches
• 32-Visions and Divisions
• 33-34- Potions and Desperation
• 34-Chapter 35
• 35-Chapter 36
• 36-Chapter 37

Aisling looked over the group as she stalled for time to think of somewhere to begin. Some way…

It had been so long since she had been around a group of people this large. Though there were less than a dozen of them, the barrage of their auras was blinding and distracting. Her "gift" had only gotten stronger over the years. That she hadn’t gone insane was a bit miraculous. Aura Seers invariably went mad, at least the most powerful ones.

"Mum said in her diary that you saw something in her aura and freaked." Harry said shortly.

Her attention turned to Lily’s son. He put up a good mask but the riot of his aura told another story. Pain, rage, distrust, exhaustion. So much….

"MORRIGAN!" Severus bellowed.

Aisling closed her eyes against the draw of the powerful auras of the assembled group. She could still feel the the auras but the distraction of the hypnotizing color of them was gone.

"Yes. That was the first time I had seen anything like that in someone’s aura. I’d always been able to see colors now and again." Aisling said carefully.

Severus leveled a glare on a scowling Draco and a slightly sneering Harry. Neither boy seemed to be inclined to patience for Aisling’s explanations. Severus wasn’t either but knew Aisling well enough that she was not going to be hurried at all. Neville was frowning. Tonks looked decidedly skeptical. What bothered Severus the most was the stonily blank face of Zabini. Morrigan was his aunt, his gift mother. Lovely. Just what he needed was another ready to go off the proverbial deep end. As if the disturbingly calm powder kegs that were Harry and Draco were not enough, now Zabini could be added to that list by the look of it.

Severus turned his glare on Remus who wasn’t paying attention to Morrigan but watching Severus with a disturbing intensity. The potions were doing their job. He received similar ‘reminders’ of where his loyalties should lie every time he was summoned for information on the goings on of Hogwarts. Voldemort wanted it very clear who owned Severus, and very clear what lie in wait for those who were out of his favor. That he had not been killed outright at a summons yet was only a mark of his usefulness as a potions maker and what little harmless bits of information he passed on that Voldemort saw as more than what they were. The Dark Lord found pulling the wool over Albus Dumbledore by having a spy in his ranks something of a coup. It was Severus’ greatest terror that he was not the only spy. He was fairly she whe wasn’t. Then there were the children of Death Eaters within the school and not all of them were in Slytherin contrary to popular belief. The damned werewolf with his propensity for fussing was going to drive him mad long before Dumbledore and Voldemort managed to get him killed one way or another with their schemes.

"Well, what did you see?" Harry demanded shortly.

"Potter!" Severus barked.

"Death." Aisling said flatly. "Hers, others around her. Different ways, different times. Just Death… and the Slytherin crest and a Rowan branch I didn‘t recognize at the time…"

Harry studied the strange woman a moment then nodded. If whatever Aisling had seen was anywhere near what he saw in his visions through the link with Voldemort, that would be enough to freak out an eleven-year-old. "Could it have been changed or do we get the ‘everything is set in stone’ crap."

"Nothing is set in stone until it happens." Aisling shook her head.

"Why the runes?" Harry demanded.

"That was the first time I saw something. Not the last. Eventually there were things in Cissa and Alice and Severus’ auras, too. Remus’ and Malfoy’s and Black’s and Potter’s. A few others as well. Voldemort was making his rise then, to full power by the time we finished school…"

"And so why the runes?" Draco echoed Harry’s demand.

"Mostly protection. I only know the spells I used on Blaise and the binding spell."



"Binding Spell, Morrigan?" Severus demanded.

"Lily, Alice, Cissa and I performed the spell ourselves when we were fourth years. We made it a hereditary spell along the line of the firstborns. The Bind we made was an Alliance Bind."

"Later, Harry," Seamus murmured.

"The spells we cast back then would have prevented Cissa’s child from taking the Dark Mark. Lucius already had the Mark by then. I had seen enough to know Voldemort would be a threat to our children. The Binding was Fealty and Allegiance primarily; it would keep Cissa’s first born at least from getting the Dark Mark unless my first born, Lily’s and Alice’s all took the mark at the same time."

Draco scowled. "And our own free will --"



"Draco!" Severus barked.

"He’s got a point." Harry scowled. "Things could be balanced different. That could have backfired badly."

"It was worth the risk," Aisling insisted.

"Not from where I’m sitting," Neville frowned.

"The world is going to end. Draco, Harry and Neville all agreeing on something." Millie muttered from the corner.

"Miss Bulstrode," Severus clenched his teeth as his back protested turning to glare at her. What had been on Avery’s whip that his potions were wearing off so quickly?

"Professor, wouldn’t a bind like that apply to any other type of binding to an extent…" Pansy frowned worriedly.

"Merlin!" Snape hissed. "Viper? How strong did you make the Alliance bond between the four of you? You three…"

"Technically, Potter and Zabini have already given their approval, they stood as witnesses." Draco said worriedly. "Longbottom, give your blessing now just to be safe."

"I formally give my approval on your marriage, Malfoy," Neville said grudgingly. "For the sake of Pansy’s little sisters not losing her somehow too because our mothers made this buggered up pact."

"Marriage?" Aisling asked confused, not daring to open her eyes and be caught by the auras again.

"You missed a few things in arranging our lives. Like the Malfoy Arranged Marriage Tradition and the spells involved in that." Harry sneered. "And the fact Draco and Pansy got married a couple weeks ago."



&qWe cWe could have bloody killed Pansy and not even have realized that we’d done it!" Blaise snarled at his Aunt.

"Circe," Aisling breathed.

"Actually this deserves more of a Fucking HELL!" Harry growled.

"Harry! Watch your language!" Remus glared at Harry then turned to Aisling "WHAT THE HELLS WERE YOU FOUR THINKING!"

"We were fourteen, Werewolf, we did the best we could with what we knew! With that first spell and the rest. It could have been used to Draco’s advantage and stopped the marriage before it had taken place." Aisling bristled as she defended herself and her friends.