MAEVE NEEDED A MOMENT to collect herself after Charlus dropped the word equivalent of a dungbomb on all of them. After everyone's initial reaction, which consisted of questioning Charlus' sanity, she made her way over and sat down on her sofa. It had been one thing to participate in Charlus' earlier tricks to go against Fudge or even support Charlus in his attempts to fool Dumbledore, but kidnapping was a whole other story. And maybe she wasn't alone in her thoughts, because while Sirius looked ready to follow Charlus into war, Remus' expression showed hesitation.

"Charlus," Remus began after a moment, " I don't think you understand what you just said. You're talking about kidnapping Harry. Is this really the only plan you can come up with?"

"Of course not," Charlus answered, " but it's the only one guaranteed to work. I understand that it's not the nicest route to take, and in terms of legality, it is very much illegal. Which is exactly why I didn't want to you or Maeve actively in on it. I will completely understand if you two walk away right now. Go to the Ministry and report me, I don't care. Sirius and I will be long gone along with Harry."

Remus peered over at Sirius, who didn't appear to be upset at all. "Padfoot, come on, you have to understand that this is wrong. You're not going to agree to this, are you? You just got out of Azkaban, if anything, this is a one-way ticket back to prison!"

"I would never let that happen," Charlus interjected. "If anything were to happen, I am fully willing to accept the blame. Harry and Sirius would be fine-"

"You didn't understand anything that was said to you earlier," Remus countered. "If you get into trouble, Charlus, Sirius loses you and so does Harry. How will they be fine? You need to think of a better plan! Why not go to the courts and legally seek Harry in a custody battle?"

Charlus shook his head, visibly becoming annoyed as his body tensed up. "You don't understand, Remus. Dumbledore is not going to let Harry go from the Dursleys. He made that very clear when I went to go talk to him. He doesn't care that the Dursleys aren't treating Harry well, he has some sort of plan that requires Harry to remain there, no matter how much he suffers. I won't allow that. My nephew asked me for help, he asked me to come get him, and that's what I'm going to do."

Maeve finally recovered from her shock and stood up to approach Charlus. "Where are you going to go with him, Charlus? Sure, you can probably get him out of there, the Dursleys are only muggles. But after that? What's your plan? You can't bring him here, as soon as Dumbledore knows what's going on, Aurors will be dispatched to look for you. They know you're here and I think they will have probable cause to enter. Where are you going to go?"

Truth be told, Charlus had not gotten that far with his planning. He had told the others what he planned to do, but he still needed to work out some very important details. Maeve had brought up a very good point that he couldn't bring Harry back to the flat, so they needed somewhere to go. As he tried to think, he couldn't help but feel a dull ache throbbing away near the front of his head.

The throbbing was a constant reminder that Charlus was becoming sleep deprived again, and the additional stress wasn't helping in the slightest. He felt selfish sleeping, knowing that Harry was in trouble, but his body was working against him. The dull ache was getting worse and Charlus felt himself growing dizzy as he wandered over to the sofa and sat down. The others could only look on as he closed his eyes and remained still.

"You two could be more helpful, you know?" Sirius said as he faced the two of them. " You keep putting down his plan but really, what other solution do you have? Dumbledore is not going to willingly pass Harry over to him and more than likely, there's an agreement between the Dursleys and Dumbledore or they wouldn't have taken Harry in the first place. You're ignoring the bigger picture here, we're just trying to get Harry to safety."

"And Maeve pointed out the biggest flaw in your plan!" Remus replied. "Sirius, I'm not fighting either one of you for the sake of being difficult. I'm doing it because I care. I just got the two of you back, do you think I want to lose everything all over again? Because I don't! You don't want to go back to Azkaban, and I don't want to be alone. I understand the urgency over Harry's safety, but rushing the plan is only going to backfire. If kidnapping is the only way to get Harry away from the Dursleys, fine, but can we come up with a plan for after it happens and then talk about it?"

The scene fell silent once more as neither of them continued with the argument and Maeve took it upon herself to check on Charlus since he had become relatively quiet. She walked over and discovered that he had actually fallen asleep.

"Well, no surprise there," she sighed, " he's out like a light. I'm sure he's beyond exhausted, running around once again with little sleep. So, while he's actually resting, can we all work together to come up with a plan so Charlus doesn't feel obligated to do everything by himself? If we're actually going to go through with this, we need to find a place to go afterwards."

"Maeve," Sirius groaned, " Charlus doesn't want you involved. You have a career here, you're a Healer, you realise if you go through with this, you'll be on the run with us. Moony, the same goes for you. He's trying to give you all a way out."

"I already abandoned you all when you needed me most," Remus said, "I'm not doing it again. I may not be big on this idea, but you forget, James was my best friend too and Lily. If Harry is in trouble, I'm going to help in any way possible."

The two turned to Maeve waiting for her to tell them she wasn't going through with the plan any further.

"What? Do you expect me to believe that you three are capable of raising a child?" she said softly. "The three of you can't even take care of yourselves half the time. When I took the oath as a Healer, I swore to help people. And this group, it needs all the help it can get."

"Well, this whole scenario took a turn." Remus shook his head. "So, I guess what we're all supposed to do is come with places where we're going to go after we...kidnap Harry."

"I think...I think I know of a place where we can go temporarily," Sirius said, " don't hold me to it just yet. But if we can get there, it'll buy us some time after we get Harry. We can't make him wait much longer."

"While you work on that," Maeve said, "I think I know where we can go on a more permanent basis. But I need to contact some people first. No time to sit around, let's get going. Remus, you watch over Charlus."

Not waiting for a second longer, Maeve and Sirius dispersed leaving Remus to stand awkwardly in the centre of the room.

"And watch him do what exactly? Sleep?! I think he can manage!"

Sirius had made a promise to himself when he was younger, that he would never return to 12 Grimmauld Place, and yet, the entire time he scrambled for a temporary solution he could only think of one place to go. The home of his childhood was unplottable and only made visible to a handful of people, members of the Black family. And no one would suspect Sirius going back to a place that he hated so much in his adolescent years.

The problem was, his mother was still there and alive.

He felt foolish for even thinking his plan was going to work and he hoped that Maeve found success with her plan sooner, just in case. But as he arrived outside of the townhouse, part of him still hung onto a bit of hope. The same hope that he kept over the years, the little piece that hoped his parents would admit their wrongs and try to mend their ways. Of course, it was all wishful thinking, but he had to try.

His hand shook terribly as he lifted it to knock and after three hard hits, Sirius let it drop back down to his side. When the door didn't open up right away, Sirius figured he had wasted his time and turned to leave, only to hear the door open after he stepped down.

"Master Black has returned, Mistress will be pleased."

Kreacher had been the one to answer the door, much to Sirius' displeasure and judging by the strained voice the house-elf used, he wasn't exactly thrilled about seeing Sirius either. However, he kept a respectful appearance for the time being as he gestured Sirius to come in.

"Where is my mother?"

"Mistress is not feeling well, she is currently in bed. But she has been waiting for your visit."

"Waiting?" Sirius repeated. "What are you talking about? You know, never mind, I'll ask her myself."

Remembering where his parents' bedroom had been, Sirius made his way up the stairs. Despite not being in Grimmauld Place for years, he still remembered his way around. He passed the framed heads of past House-Elves that decorated the walls and headed directly towards his parents' room. He could feel the eyes of the portraits inside the home watching him as he walked along.

And when he finally reached the bedroom, he found Walburga tucked away in her bed, just as Kreacher informed him.

"Mistress is very sick, but still very wise," Kreacher said, appearing out of nowhere causing Sirius to jump. "She knew you would eventually come. Kreacher only feared that it would be too late by then."

"Sirius?! Sirius, is that you?"

Walburga's voice was raspy and even though he had only seen her just a couple of days ago, she looked worse than before as he entered the room further. Her eyes were barely open as she rested in bed, her body supported by pillows. She pulled one of her hands out from beneath her duvet and reached out to him blindly.

"Sirius, are you there? I heard your voice, are you there?"

He hesitated to touch her hand as she continued to reach around in the air. Moments later, he grabbed her hand in his and held onto it.

"Oh, you are here," she sighed in relief, " you're here. I knew you would come. You don't hate, do you? You can't hate me if you're here. I told Kreacher that you would come, but he didn't believe me."

Tempted to pull his hand away, Sirius didn't want his mother to think that he was there to simply forgive her for all the pain she had caused him. But her grip was already loose and her skin was cold and clammy.

"I don't understand you," Sirius whispered in the beginning, " you practically cursed my name the other day when you saw me, insulted my husband, called me a fool,  and now, you're happy that I'm here? Am I supposed to believe that after all these years, you somehow care about me? Even though you're the one who drove me to run away. And not once did you approach me afterwards to apologise or to even talk. You waited until I was out of Azkaban to approach me, why? Why?! Why now, Mother?!"

"Every day, the voice of your brother and father grow stronger, Sirius, and soon enough, I will be reunited with them in death."