James couldn't decide whether to start laughing at what Sirius said or backhand him for getting him all worked up over a joke. He settled for pushing Sirius off the sofa, onto the floor with a shake of his head paired with a grin. There was a loud sound of a screech that echoed through the air as Sirius fell, but it seemed he wasn't going to "break character" of the solemn tone of what he had said earlier.

"What is wrong with you, Sirius?" James sighed as he leaned back against the cushions. "That wasn't even remotely funny. That's sick."

"No, what's sick is the fact that you decided to wear navy socks with black trousers," Sirius countered as he pushed himself up off the floor and brushed himself off, " but I wasn't trying to be funny, James. I'm actually trying to tell you something that might hold some truth."

There was a heavy silence that loomed over the room as James attempted to wait Sirius out, expecting his best friend to break at any given second and start laughing. However, as a couple of minutes went by, Sirius continued to stand there, not even a hint of a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips. There wasn't even a playful nature in his eyes which was usually the dead giveaway whenever Sirius was trying to pull off a solo prank.

Even if it did turn out to be a joke at that point, James wasn't even going to bring himself to laugh anymore because he didn't like the sinking feeling that was yanking at his stomach.

"Come on, Sirius," he whispered, a slight desperation in his tone for Sirius to claim that he was, in fact, lying about the whole thing, " an actual cult? You're trying to tell me that Renata and Adelmo are part of a cult? I thought you liked Renata and I thought you really liked Adelmo?"

"I do, James, that's not what's in question here, I still like them," Sirius replied, " but I've found some information that's pretty unsettling and I figured you had a right to know."

James found himself growing upset with the idea, just because it sounded utterly ridiculous that two of the nicest people, if not the nicest people, he had ever met were being accused of being in a cult.

"So, what cult is this? A cult for nice people who do nice things for other people?"

Sirius cautiously made his way back over to sit down, hoping that James wouldn't take to shoving him off the second time. So far, things seemed to have settled down as James was impatiently waiting for the information to be delivered with his arms folded over his chest. There was a defensiveness about his tone with the entire idea and Sirius didn't blame him, he just figured James needed to know what he did.

"Alright, so maybe cult might be a strong word for this," he began, " but I don't know what else to call it. Just listen to what I have to say and then you tell me if it doesn't sound like a cult to you."

"Fine," James grumbled, " go on."

He wasn't sure when Renata was going to be back, but he was sure he had time before she returned, especially with how fast Sirius was talking at the moment.

"You see, it started when Renata mentioned her school's name once and then Adelmo had mentioned too, a couple of times at work. I knew I had heard about their school before meeting them, but I just couldn't remember where and when. I brushed it off, thinking nothing of it, figured I had just heard it in passing because it's another magical school, right?"

James didn't say anything, instead, he gave a nod of his head, a sign that Sirius was supposed to continue and get to the point, sooner rather than later.

"Well, I was at Andy's house a little while back," he said, talking about his cousin, Andromeda Tonks," and I was telling her about you and Renata basically being fools about your feelings-"

"Sirius!"

Not exactly offended but more so embarrassed, James made a face at Sirius, who quickly scooted back on the sofa to avoid being pushed. It seemed everyone was basically going to know the story about how Renata and James had not acted quickly on their feelings, especially with Sirius around.

"I'm sorry, but I was just venting, nothing personal. And Andy agreed that you two sounded like you went well together. So, er, at least you have her blessing? Anyways, that's not the important part. I mentioned that they had both gone to the Accademia di Magia Crusca and Andy knew what I was talking about? Why may you ask? Because at one point, her mother wanted to send there instead of Hogwarts and that's when I remembered that my cow of a mother wanted to send Regulus and me there as well."

"Walburga wanted to send you to Italy for your schooling? Why? That doesn't make any sense, not with Hogwarts being closer."

"Because James, it's a school for the elite," Sirius informed him, " the best of the best go there and you know how my family was and still is all about elitism."

"I still don't know where you're going with this, Sirius," James scratched the top of his head, " so Renata and Adelmo went to a school where people were smart or considered smarter on the average? So? That doesn't mean they are part of a cult, Sirius, their mother is headmistress. I don't think it would have mattered if they were dumber than a sack of potatoes, they probably still would have attended the school where their mother worked."

"I'm not finished!" Sirius sang obnoxiously loud to get James to stop interrupting him. " When I'm talking about elite, James, I'm talking about the selection for this school is very closed off. Only a certain amount of students are permitted to go, it's only likely that you will be able to attend if your family has gone to the school, that's it. No outsiders."

The more Sirius went on about Renata's school, it didn't sound as charming as she had made it out to be sometimes. He remembered the story about them holding Astronomy class outside, resting in hammocks to look up at the stars and fill out their charts. But the way Sirius was describing it, it was losing its charm fast and James didn't find himself feeling very envious about her attendance.

"That's why my family couldn't send us there," Sirius said, " they wouldn't take any monetary bribes or anything of the sort. According to Andy, her mother was furious that they had turned them away, not even bothering with an explanation, it was just a flat out no."

"Maybe they don't take students from outside their country," James pointed out the possibility, " I mean, they aren't the only one to do that. A lot of the smaller schools limited themselves to only natives of their country."

"That's fine and all, James, but like I said, you can only get into this school by the means of the family, with a no outsider policy, doesn't that sound a bit frightening to you? It's a school, why is it so reserved for certain families and such? That sounds like a dream come true for my family and how they view the world. Imagine if my family and all the families that they consider to be part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight were the only ones that attended one school. Wouldn't that read awful to you?"

James had to admit, it didn't sound very pleasing, but Renata and Adelmo didn't sound like they came from the same type of family as the Black family tree or those that associated with them. There were several families part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight that did not practise in the prejudice ways. Still, the thought of all members of the Black family, the Rosier family, the Malfoy, and a few others attending one school didn't sound like a pleasant place to be.

"And if that wasn't weird enough, I found out more information as I continued to do my own research into the matter."

A few folded papers that appeared to be articles were pulled from Sirius' pocket as he unfolded them and placed them in between him and James. Looking down, there were articles about seemingly major accomplished wizards and witches, that were all smiling brightly for their photos. Right away, James seemed to notice a picture of Adelmo that was possibly a couple of years old, the headline reading something along the lines of St Mungo's welcomed one of the youngest and renowned Healers of all times to their healing family.

"What am I looking at here, Sirius?"

"The Alumni of Crusca," Sirius said, " all of these people attended the school and all of them went on to achieve great things."

"I don't see how that's a bad thing-"

"James, this is only the tip of the iceberg," he continued, " these are just a few, but there have been so many other students. And every single one of them without fail has gone on to become one of the following: a Healer, an Auror, a teaching profession within the school, or become a member of their government. Nothing else."

"How could you possibly know that?" James rolled his eyes. "Besides, you're wrong, look at Renata, she's none of those things-"

"She's the only one, James. Trust me, I looked into it and those associated with Crusca have gone on to brag that they have all gone on to these job positions. Remember when I said that it is limited to those families, you look back to the family members of all these witches and wizards here, you're going to see that they hold one of the positions I just mentioned. Look at Renata's family, what do they all do?"

If he recalled properly, they knew that Adelmo was a Healer, their mother was the Headmistress of the school, and their father was a representative of the International Confederation of Wizards.

"Healer," Sirius started counting off on his fingers, " teaching, member of government, and what was Renata going to be?"

There was a hard lump developing in James' throat that he found difficult to swallow. " An Auror," he squeaked out, " she was going to be an Auror."

Glancing down at all the other articles, James started reading over them, there was a witch that came from a family of Aurors, another Healer that had come from a long line of Ministers and teachers. There definitely seemed to be quite a pattern that Sirius had stumbled upon, or rather dug through to find.

"Is this where you've been the last few days?" James asked him quietly. "Digging up all this information?"

"It wasn't my intention to just go snooping around for information, but there's one more piece that I think you should know about. A lot of them have been in the papers for their achievements, but a lot of them have been in the papers for other things as well. I only brought a few with me but..."

Digging into another pocket of his robes, Sirius pulled out a few more articles and handed them over. James opened a couple of them up to see that the headlines didn't read as cheery as the last ones.

"Witch kills her entire family?" James muttered as he recognised the picture of the witch that he had just witnessed in one of the other articles, an Auror. "Healer jumps from bridge-...Sirius, what the hell is all of this?"

"A lot of them went mad," Sirius said, "there's a lot more, sure some of them went their whole lives just fine. But a lot of them went mad, James. They tried to hurt themselves, some tried to hurt others, some were successful, some weren't. But that's why I needed to bring it up to you. You can see why I think there's some cult activity going on now, right?"

"It can't be true."

He refused to believe it, he refused to believe that Renata and Adelmo had come from some cult-like family. However, since the idea had been placed into his head, he couldn't help but think of everything that Renata had told him that just seemed so out of place. The fact that she wasn't able to attend Quidditch matches, or how she and her brother had been placed in a classroom during the summers, the way they didn't have bedtime stories.

James just assumed they had a terrible childhood that lacked in having fun, but he was beginning to actually fear what Adelmo and Renata had truly been through.

"I very well could be wrong, James, but after I started uncovering all of this, I figured you had to know about it. Maybe it's all coincidental, maybe there's something at the school that we don't know about that would just give an explanation to make it sound less horrible."

"Renata is living proof that some students didn't follow the tradition, even if they wanted to initially," James said, "I mean, she's not an Auror, so it can't be said that every student went on to do that-"

"Yes, but she also has a blood phobia. Did she ever tell you when the blood phobia started?"

"Uh, I think she mentioned that it happened when she was in her Auror training, it was the entire reason why she was dismissed."

"Sounds rather odd that it just popped up out of nowhere, doesn't it? She never mentioned the blood phobia affecting her when she was younger. So did she just randomly develop it in her adulthood, just as she was getting through her training? Sounds suspicious, doesn't it?"

"Are you suggesting that she's lying about the phobia?" James questioned with the defensive tone returning right away. "Because Renata wouldn't do that-"

"No, James, I'm not suggesting that she's lying-"

Suddenly, the front door opened and the two men jumped as they were completely started by the sound of Renata returning. They both appeared pale in the face and Sirius quickly collected the articles to hide back in his pockets as she came into view. Unlike James and Sirius, she wore a cheery expression on her face as she entered the living room where they were sitting.

"Sirius!" she greeted with a smile. "I didn't know you were coming over today. It's good to see you. Where have you been?"

"Uh, around," Sirius said, "you know, wherever the wind will take me."

She went to reply but as she looked at the two before her, her smile faded almost instantly as she read their faces.

"Are you two alright? You both look a bit peaky."

James shot a look at Sirius not to make mention of anything as they needed to confirm what they were learning was true before they threw it in Renata's face. He had a feeling that there was a lot wrong with the entire scenario and while he was afraid of what they were going to uncover, he really wanted to make sure they had all their ducks in a row before they acted on anything.

Quickly forcing a smile on his face, James leaned over the back of the sofa to greet her and Sirius took that as his cue to leave.

"Wait, Sirius, where are you going?" Renata asked as Sirius started making his way towards the door.

"You two have the flat to yourselves with Harry off at a slumber party, do you really want me around?" he asked with a sly grin developing. "I can think of far more entertaining ways for you two spend your evening-"

"GOODBYE, SIRIUS!" James blurted out as he and Renata were turning new shades of red that would be begging to take the place on an artist's palette. With a resonating laugh, Sirius bowed and then left the flat.

Something still felt off about the atmosphere after she returned but Renata chose to ignore it as she and James were left together. Harry had been ecstatic about spending time with Ron and the Weasley family, she only wished that Neville had been able to go but Augusta had declined for the evening, claiming that the trip to St Mungo's had worn Neville out for the night and that he just needed rest.

"So was Harry alright about you leaving him there once he realised that you weren't staying?" James asked, trying to break the silence. "You are the life of the party after all."

"He didn't even notice I was leaving, didn't even say goodbye because he and Ron were too busy playing with all the toys that Harry had brought with him. I think you could leave him there for a whole month and he wouldn't even notice, just as long as they are allowed to play."

"I don't know whether I should be proud or if that should hurt my feelings."

"You shouldn't dwell on it at all," she said, " after all, he'll be back tomorrow."

The house was considerably quieter without Harry running around requesting things or filling in the silence with noise. And even though James' mind was swimming with the information that Sirius had brought to his attention, he didn't want the evening to be ruined. He still wanted to cook Renata dinner, he still wanted to share in a nice evening with her.

"You should come over here," he said to her, lifting up one of the childhood books from earlier, "and finish reading."

Renata walked over with a little smirk on her face as she stood close to the back of the sofa. "Are you actually going to let me finish the book this time, Mr Potter?" she questioned it as she reached for the book.

Suddenly, James grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her over the back of the sofa to rest on top of him after he lured her in by the power of children's literature.

"Maybe, we'll see. I still have to get you back for earlier, you know."