Cade remained in his father's office, even though he wanted to go with Ryan to the hospital wing. He knew there was nothing he could do; Madam Pomfrey would examine him and decide the best course of action. As soon as everyone had left the office, his father went after Regulus, who had taken the twins to the infirmary. Cade could see that Ryan was in shock, meaning that everyone had seen his thoughts, of course he was in shock.

When the blond boy wanted to leave as well, he was stopped by his father, who asked him to come to his room because he had something to discuss with him. Now, Cade was sitting on a large, soft chair in the room, waiting for his father to make tea. The boy observed the man's movements and could tell that he was quite agitated.

"Did I do something?" Cade asked, breaking the silence.

He was aware that he hadn't done anything, that is, unless you count the prank they played on Orion that morning. But there was no way he could know about that—they had been careful when they carried it out. Besides, Remus had never really gotten upset when he talked about pranks, probably because he had been a prankster himself in school. The only time Cade saw him truly angry was at the start of second year when he arrived at Hogwarts with Harry and Ron in a flying car.

"No, Cade, you haven't done anything. I wanted to talk to you about something else."

Remus handed him a cup of tea and then took a seat in the chair next to him. Cade could hear his heart pounding, and he realized it was a sensitive topic. He put the cup aside and took Remus's hand in his own, causing the man to look slightly surprised.

"Dad, I can hear your heartbeat, and whatever this is about, it seems to be a very important subject. I won't be upset, no matter what it is."

"It's about your mother," he began.

Without meaning to, Cade let out a growl from his lips—it wasn't one of the easiest subjects to approach with him.

"I know you don't like me talking about her, and I'm not thrilled about it either. Please listen to me, though; it's not as much about her as you might think."

"Alright, Dad, sorry for growling earlier."

"It's okay; I know you didn't mean to. Alright, you know very well that I've never hidden from you the fact that Josephine and I didn't plan on having you, that you were an accident. But for me, you were the happiest accident, and you know very well that from the moment I found out you were coming into the world, I was thrilled to have a child. Jo, on the other hand, gave up any maternal rights the second you were born, and to avoid any conflict, she left for her pack in America."

Cade felt his heart shrink to the size of a flea. He had heard this story twice before—once by accident when Remus was talking to Regulus, and the second time when his father told him directly. However, he still couldn't understand how a mother could do that, and he had sometimes wondered if maybe he wasn't good enough.

"Do you want us to stop for a bit?" Remus asked. "Your eyes have changed color, and you're squeezing my hand quite hard."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to," Cade said as he pulled his hand away and looked up at the ceiling.

He took several deep breaths and thought of a happy moment—something he had discovered helped calm him down when he was losing control. That, and digging his nails into his skin to ground himself. When he felt calm enough, he made eye contact with his father again and gestured for him to continue.

"Later, Josephine signed away any parental rights and went on her way. Now comes the harder part for me, because I'm not sure how you'll react, and I don't want you to hate me."

"Dad, no matter what, I could never hate you. You're the one who stayed and took care of me all these years. I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, Cade. Alright, so, Josephine and I were never anything serious. Before her, I was with someone else—the great love of my life and the only person I truly loved. After seeing what kind of person Jo was, I broke up with her while she was still pregnant with you. We had already decided that you would stay with me and that she would leave me a contact for when you needed to learn how to control your powers properly. Not hers, don't worry."

Cade knew he had inherited his American werewolf powers from her. From what his father had told him, the British werewolf gene usually wasn't passed down, but the American one was. They had known he would have powers even before he was born.

"While Jo was pregnant with you, I fell in love again with my first love, and we ended up back together."

"And who is this person, whose name and gender you're avoiding mentioning?" Cade asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Sirius Black. He's the man I fell in love with, and with whom I wanted to build a family. Sirius loved you very much from the moment he saw you, and he still does—of that, I have no doubt. I want you to understand that after you were born, Sirius adopted you, and we wanted to become a family, the three of us."

Cade didn't know what to say. His heart, which had been the size of a flea just a few minutes ago, had swelled with the news he had just heard. He had always wanted to see his father happy, and now, finding out that he had been happy and that he had another parent, a silly smile appeared on his face.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I wanted to, but I kept putting it off. Now that Sirius has escaped from Azkaban, it was inevitable that I would have to tell you. I didn't want you to find out from someone else. I want you to know that if we manage to prove that he and Hazel are innocent, Sirius will want to have a father-son relationship with you and will probably want to move in with us—if that's something you want. If not, you just have to say the word, and I'll tell Pads that we'll take it slow."

Cade got up from the chair more abruptly than he intended, which startled Remus a bit. He approached his father's chair and hugged him, feeling his eyes fill with tears.

"Dad, I would never want to stand in the way of your happiness. I've wanted for a long time to see you happy. Sirius Black makes you happy—I heard your heartbeat when you talked about him—and I'd like to get to know him better, considering he wanted to be there for me when Josephine wasn't."

"I'm glad to hear that," Remus said, hugging him tightly.

"I'd like to ask you one question," Cade began.

"Anything."

"If I call you 'Dad,' what should I call him? 'Daddy'? Because I guess it might be confusing to call both of you 'Dad.'"

Remus had a grin from ear to ear; he hadn't expected a reaction like this from Cade—he had expected him to be more confused. Cade had inherited his empathy, and it was very easy for him to read people.

"Whatever you want. You can even call him by his name until you get used to him, and when you feel ready, you can call him 'Daddy.'"

***

Cade shared what he had discussed with Uncle Moony, and he hadn't expected it, but he was happy for Uncle Moony—he deserved the best. Soon, one of Ryan's favorite subjects became Healing and Defense Against the Dark Arts. In a short time, "Defense Against the Dark Arts" became the favorite subject of most students. He hated Divination with all his heart, while Celestine seemed to adore it and was always excited when they had that class. The potion Madam Pomfrey had given him after the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class was taking effect now—he could sleep much better and didn't feel as agitated.

The schedule had become increasingly hectic, and the brunette had spent more of his time doing homework. Among other things, he also offered to help Cedric with Potions. At first, the sandy-haired boy resisted, saying he didn't want to add more to Ryan's schedule, but he eventually accepted.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," Cedric said. "I've never understood Potions, and Snape isn't exactly the kind of teacher I could ask for explanations from. I don't know how you get it."

"Even before I started at Hogwarts, I was passionate about Potions. I was always fascinated by the books my dad had in the library about them, and since he saw I liked them, he let me read them. By my first year, I already knew the material by heart and was ahead of everyone else by a few years. But I never wanted to show off about it, and I only answered in class when I was asked. I didn't want to give Snape any more reasons to hate me."

"I don't think he hates you," Cedric said. "He's just grumpy by nature. Maybe if you'd been sorted into Slytherin, it would have been different."

"I find it funny you say that. The Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin, but it changed its decision, saying Hufflepuff had more to offer me."

"You definitely fit better here anyway. I can't see you as a Slytherin, plus I wouldn't get to see your pretty face every day if you were in that house."

"Do you realize that guy just flirted with you, right?" Flo said, appearing out of nowhere.

Ryan felt the blood rush to his cheeks, making them suddenly very warm. Cedric Diggory just told him he was pretty? Yes, he did, but why did it make him feel like he had just received good news? A silly smile appeared on his face.

"I like being in this house too; if I weren't, I wouldn't get to see you as often," Ryan said, trying to ignore his burning cheeks.

"And now you're flirting with him," she said. "If you two want to be gay, go ahead; I'm just pointing out the obvious."

Ryan noticed that Cedric's cheeks had also taken on a slightly pink hue, which made him smile. Both of them were silent, not knowing what to say next, but then Jessica entered the common room, breaking the silence.

"We're going to Hogsmeade for Halloween!" Jessica shouted excitedly. "I can't wait to see what's there. We're going to get the same prank stuff that the Weasley twins have."

Chul approached and rolled his eyes; he didn't like pranks, but he loved helping his friends with them. Plus, if he hadn't put his mind to work, they would have been caught much more often.

"Diggory, you didn't hear anything about pranks," Jessica said, seemingly noticing him for the first time. "Anyway, if you don't have proof it's us, you can't give us detention."

"Just don't get caught again, Lestrange," Cedric said amusedly.

Jessica headed to her room while playfully sticking her tongue out at Cedric, which made the boy laugh. The brunette could be extremely childish, but also very dangerous when she wanted to be.

"I've always wondered if Jessica has something against me," Cedric said, finishing the last Potions problem.

"She would have told you to your face if she did, so don't stress about it. That's just how she is."

***

Halloween had seemingly crept up unnoticed, and now all the third-year students were excited about the prospect of going to Hogsmeade. It was only natural—they had constantly heard from the older students about how beautiful and fun it was to go there, and all the things there were to do. Of course, this is what they wanted to experience now.

Ryan met up with the rest of the group at the castle's exit. Jessica seemed quite upset, as if something had happened, and the others were looking at her in confusion.

"What's wrong? Why the long faces?" Ryan asked as he approached them.

"Nothing," Jessica muttered, "I just had a fight with Henry, that's all."

Henry was the brunette's younger brother, a very smart boy who was in Ravenclaw. Last year, he had been caught in the Chamber of Secrets with Ginny, Ron's younger sister. Harry and Ryan had saved them from there. Still, he couldn't understand what they could have possibly fought about, but it wasn't his business.

They headed toward Hogsmeade, led by the professors who were reminding them of what they were and weren't allowed to do. After they arrived, the professors left them to enjoy themselves, and the seven of them decided to go to the Three Broomsticks for a warm drink, considering it was quite cold outside. They all sat down and started talking. Cade didn't seem quite himself, most likely because the full moon was approaching, making it much harder for him to control his powers. After some time, a blonde woman with features resembling Chul's and a man who somehow exuded anger entered the pub. Ryan wasn't sure how, but the man looked a lot like Jessica.

"Oh no," Jessica said, looking at the two as they approached. "Chul, bad news."

The brunette seemed very agitated and appeared to have completely forgotten that their friends were also at the table. The man seemed to be searching for something with his eyes, and when he spotted the two, he approached their table.

"Bad news? Is that how you refer to your father, Jessica?" the man asked with a superior tone.

"Leave the girl alone, Ares!" the woman said. "Jessica was referring to the fact that we bring bad news, which is partially true."

"What are you doing here, Mom?" Chul asked.

"Athena and I came to tell you that we want you to be at the demigod camp during the Christmas break, like the other demigods in the school," Ares said.

"Wait a minute—Athena, Ares? Demigods? Camp? You're demigods?" Celestine burst out, confused.

"We'll explain later," Jessica said quickly. "And fine, Dad, we'll be there."

"What do we have here?" Ares said, "A Seer, an American werewolf, and a gifted one. Interesting friends you've got, Jessica, very interesting. Anyway, see you at the camp during the break! Let the other demigods know too."

The others at the table were stunned into silence. Ryan made eye contact with Harry and Cade; he couldn't say he was upset—if they had hidden this, they surely had a good reason. After all, they themselves were hiding a few things from their friends.

"We're going to need an explanation," Ron broke the silence.

"Yeah, sure. Let's get out of here, and we'll explain," Jessica said.

They all left the pub and went to a more secluded spot so the brunette could explain.

"Okay, so I assume you've heard the stories about the gods of Olympus," she began. "What if I told you they're real and that they really enjoy having kids with mortals? It's very dangerous for us to live in the Muggle world because monsters come to attack us out of hatred for our parents, and they take revenge on us. For our own protection, a demigod camp was created where we learn to control our abilities and fight with swords."

"Who are your parents?" Harry asked.

"I'm the daughter of Ares, the god of war."

"I'm the son of Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Henry is the son of Hephaestus, the god of fire."

"I'm sorry we weren't honest with you, but we didn't want to put you in danger. Please don't tell anyone. The fewer people know, the better."

"Don't worry," Cade said. "Sometimes we have to keep secrets even from our friends because we have no choice; otherwise, we'd put our loved ones in danger."

Ryan knew very well that the blonde was also referring to them; after all, the three of them were hiding a big secret that they couldn't reveal—not yet, at least.

"I have two questions," Ryan said. "First, how do you know Cora Evermore, Jessica? And second, Chul, I've always been curious—why is your hair green?"

"She's one of the supervisors at the camp and also Apollo's daughter. She was sent here to watch over the demigods at Hogwarts," Jessica replied.

"I was cursed by Aphrodite," Chul said. "That's why my hair is green. A demigod at the camp said I was more beautiful than her, and she cursed me because she said no one could be more beautiful than her. According to her, I can't be beautiful with colored hair."

"Well, you should know that she's wrong," Harry said, which made Chul blush.

After that, they all headed back to Hogwarts for the Halloween feast. The food was delicious. Ryan looked over at the teachers' table. Uncle Moony seemed happy and cheerful, as usual. He was having an animated discussion with Flitwick, the Charms professor, and with his dad. Ryan's gaze traveled along the entire table until it landed on Snape. Was it just him, or was Snape staring at Professor Lupin more frequently and intently than normal?

This made Ryan wonder if Snape somehow knew about his "hairy problem" and if that was why he was staring so intently. Cade was nowhere to be seen at the Gryffindor table; Ryan knew it was because he still couldn't control himself during the full moon and had to go to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade. His species of werewolf was different from his uncle's because Cade could learn to control himself and could reveal his werewolf side whenever he wanted. He usually controlled himself pretty well, but on full moon nights, he would lose control and would show up at school with golden eyes and claws out.

The banquet ended with an entertaining program presented by Hogwarts' ghosts. They appeared from the walls and tables, forming a shimmering line. Nearly Headless Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor Tower, was particularly successful with his performance of his semi-beheading. After the banquet, Ryan and the others wanted to head to their rooms, but they barely got there before they had to turn back because Sirius Black and Hazel Meadowes had tried to enter the castle.