Marry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone. I'm sorry for the long wait, this year has just been crazy. Particularly in the first half of this year, I have had so much bad and good luck, they just seemed to pull on each other like some weird tug-of-war.

From finding a brother and sister duo of abandoned or runaway kittens on the second of this new year. I ended up keeping them and naming them Zorro and Gem. Zorro is a giant of a cat and such an attention seeking menace, that oddly, loves to play fetch with those little plastic bell balls. XD While Gem is still the size of a kitten. She is so quiet and just likes to sleep most of the time, unless it's night time and I'm trying to get her inside again. Then I have to play tag with her and try to catch her. XD

To crashing my car in the middle of the year, and right before I was about to start a new job! A job I was then told was cancelled by my job search provider, because it wasn't permanent. I did get a job in the end. It was just a crazy year. But I've also been so busy, and if I wasn't busy, I was super tired and needed some down time. When I did try to work on this chapter – in BloomOutOfSeason's words – my muse ran away from me… I have been trying to get it down for you, but like always, I've been stuck halfway through. I thank you for your patience with me and for your kind words. It keeps me going, trying to get this written down for you to read.

Heads up, I will be introducing a few OCs and 'not quite OCs' to fill numbers. The 'not quite OCs' are from the game Persona 5 – I had a chat with LunarCatNinja some months ago and it gave me some ideas. To try and clarify, I won't be using the game, just borrowing the characters and some small amount of background – but I have never personally played the Persona games and have only read the first seven chapters of the manga and am watching some game play online. So, while I am using the characters (mostly from what was on the wiki), I am also using creative license to change them as I see fit. Maybe it would be easier to treat them as OCs inspired by the game? As most will have their names changed to fit in with the fact that they will mostly be from Italy and not Japan. You have been warned. Please don't bite my head off.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. As always, a few things changed along the way from what I was originally planning and in my head, and I'm wondering if I'm biting off more than I can chew. XD I would have loved to contact 3 special people to have their thoughts before I posted this – acherongoddess, poorasdirt, OperaEagle IcelynLacelett – who have each offered to be my sounding boards, alongside my good friend GiuliaZ. Its great to have different people to bounce ideas to, because it allows me to see thing in different ways. But given the time of year, I don't want to have to possibly wait days for a reply. In saying that, I am thankful to each of you for the help you have given me. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

When Jamie and Dante returned home, it was late afternoon and the house was quiet.

"Winky?" Jamie called.

"Yes, Master Jamie?" she asked as soon she appeared.

"There wasn't any trouble while we were gone was there?" he asked as he looked around. Nothing appeared to be any different than normal.

"Oh no," Winkey replied, "No trouble Master Jamie. Little Master was mostly quiet, he did miss Master Jamie though." Jamie winced, at the mention of Teddy. He had been so busy lately, and something told him that he was going to be even busier in the near future. "The guests never left their room, and the older one only called upon Winky once, to ask for a small lunch and something to read." She explained.

"That's good. You may return to what you were doing Winky. Dante and I will be in my study." With a nod, Winky vanished with a pop.

Jamie paced a line through the room of the study as he thought about what he had learned, and what the three tiny flames within him meant. Meanwhile, Dante sat off to the side, occasionally looking up to watch, all the while writing notes and making plans. But finally, Dante had had enough.

"Will you stop your insistent pacing," He snapped as he put his notes on the side table. "We now know what the what the power within the Mafia is, and all you can do is pace like a lost child? We should be using this to plan ahead, and you should be finding out how you can train to use it! You are a Sky! This means others will covet you and chase after you like the rare jewel you are. You need to be able to protect yourself. Not to mention that we will need to get back at the Macchina famiglia for attacking you, or we will be seen as weak by the rest of the Mafia." Jamie was now looking at Dante in shock. Dante had never snapped before, and Jamie wasn't prepared for it.

"I have read the Laws of the Mafia," he picked up a nondescript, thin black book. The only one he had grabbed as an afterthought, and brought back with him, from the mansion, "We have a right to revenge, for being attacked with unfounded reasons."

"O-oh?" Dante smirked.

Jamie looked to Dante with a resigned look of regret. "But I don't want to attack anyone without reason…." he all but whined. "I already paid them back, didn't I? I killed them." You could hear the mixture of emotions as he spoke.

Dante just stared at Jamie as if he was a fool. "O-oh. What about the pain they caused our current guests? Saffron still hasn't woken up." Dante snapped.

At the same time another voice suddenly snapped from the doorway, "Ya idjit. If you want to survive in this world. You don't have a choice."

Jamie twisted around in shock at being overheard, to find Zander leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, clearly annoyed. "How long have you been eavesdropping?" Jamie asked, upset with himself, that he hadn't noticed Zander.

"O-ho?" Dante observed quietly.

"Long enough," he answered plainly.

Dazed and unprepared, Jamie blinked and asked the first thing that came to mind, "Do you normally just go snooping around a stranger's house?"

Glaring Jamie down, Zander spoke, "Idjit, then shut the door next time."

"Oh, I thought I did," Jamie blinked, shaking himself of the shock and straightening his back. "Look, even if I could take revenge," He turned to see both Dante and Zander on either side of him. "We don't know the first thing about them or their power base. They are so new that there wasn't even a book about them in the Drago's private study. How many men do they have? How much money do they have? Do they have any allies? What about businesses? And what about us? How can we," he pointed between the three of them, "hope to be enough to fight what could be one-hundred or more men?! Now do you understand?" Jamie ranted, his tone steadily getting deeper and louder, unconsciously clenching his hands in frustration. He didn't like to think about the fact that Saffron and Zander had been hurt because he didn't act quickly enough or that Saffron still hadn't woken up.

"Idjit," Zander muttered as he pushed off the door and walked away.

"O-oh," Dante gave a little laugh, with a knowing smirk, getting up from his chair and walking out the door, taking his notebook with him.

Jamie just stared dumbly at the now empty doorway, as if he had just missed some unspoken understanding between the two, that he wasn't privy to.

Jamie didn't see Dante or Zander for the rest of the day or that night and when he asked Winkey where they were, Winky replied that she didn't know.

"Zander told Winky that he had something to do and to please take care of his brother. And Dante told Winky that he will be busy for some time and to please not disturb him. So Winky did as they asked and leave them alone." She replied.

Since then Jamie hadn't seen or heard from them in over a week now and he was getting progressively more worried. He tried to distract himself by looking after and playing with Teddy, watching over Saffron, reading books from the Drago's study about the mafia and flames, and trying to train himself to access his flames with little success. He could feel it and poke it, but he wasn't able to bring it out and don't get him started on who he suspected his lightning and rain were and he didn't want to think about whatever was wrong with his mysterious storm guardian. But it was getting progressively harder to remain calm, most of all, because his gut was telling him that something was wrong.

Currently, Teddy was having a nap and he was sitting by Saffron's bedside, talking to him and telling him about anything and everything to distract himself.

"–finally the end was near. I was so afraid, anxious, nervous and excited and everything was just messed up. I was about to kill myself, so that everyone else could live–!" Jamie stopped when there was a sudden bang from down stairs. He whipped around to face the door, prepared for anything, when Dante appeared in the doorway. Leaning over, and clearly out of breath. When he finally straightened up, he could see that Dante, who liked to look his best, didn't look too great either. His hair was a mess and even a bit greasy, he had bags under his eyes and he looked over all tired and was likely hungry too.

He was about to speak when Dante, beat him to it. "It's done!" he exclaimed, clearly proud of something, as he clutched a pile of books and folders to his chest. Neither noticed the pair of eyes watching them from the bed.

"What's done Dante?" Jamie asked, both confused and worried. "Where have you been? Do you know how worried I've been? And where is Zander?" He clucked like a mother-hen.

"I have, with Sharpshooter's help and a lot of time and some money, compiled a list of all of the Macchina famiglia's holdings, businesses and properties. As well as a rough estimate of how many men they have." He exclaimed proudly, "We then proceed to plant seeds and create cracks within their source of income and cause them some trouble in the future. And what do you mean Zander is missing? Hasn't he come back?" Dante finished.

"He vanished a week ago, the same time as you did. I was hoping he was with you and Saffron still hasn't–" Jamie was cut off suddenly, by a much younger voice behind him, making both of them jump.

"What do you me Big Brother is missing?! You–" he pointed at Dante angrily, "come in here and interrupted the great story I was listening to, to tell me that you don't know where my Big Brother is?!"

"Story?" Jamie mumbled in shock, while Dante just stared. "How long have you been awake?" Jamie asked, breaking the small silence.

"Long enough." He boasted, "I woke up days ago, but asked the nice lady to not tell you, because I wanted to hear the rest of the story. And when I asked her about Big Brother she told me that he asked her to look after me. So– so I thought I could trust you, because Brother would never leave me!" he was yelling by the end, clearly very upset.

It was like watching a slow-motion film, as Jamie's expression went from confused, to shocked, to annoyed and a range of other emotions. "Winky!" he finally yelled.

With a quite pop, Winky – appearing as a human maid – appeared around the corner of the door and rushed into the room. "Master Jamie is asking for Winky?" She asked.

"Winky, why didn't you tell me when Saffron woke up?" Jamie asked, clearly upset.

"Master Jamie did not ask for Winky to tell him exactly when young Saffron first woke up. And after Winky told him that Zander ask Winky to watch over him while he was gone, young Saffron begged Winky not to tell Master, so that he could hear the end of Masters great story." Winky explained while wringing her hands. She looked at the ground in despair, "Is Winky in trouble?" she asked, look up at Jamie through the hair of her disguise.

Jamie could only sigh, "No you're not in trouble Winky. So please don't punish yourself. I should have asked you to tell me." He ran his hand through his hair, clearly stressed.

"What about Big Brother?!" Saffron yelled, sitting up in his bed, still distressed.

"I don't know Saffron, but don't worry. I will find him." Jamie proclaimed with conviction as he tried to reassure the boy.

"I want to help! He's my big brother!" he yelled, as if he thought he would be ignored.

"How can you help?" Dante sneered, clearly not impressed by his whining.

Saffron cheeks puffed out, and his face turned slightly red in anger at the slight, "I may not be able to fight like big brother and I get sick easily, by I'm a whiz with technology," He argued.

Dante opened his mouth, most likely to aggravate him more, when Jamie cut in, "A whiz with technology? In what way?" he asked, clearly intrigued.

"I'm not good at explaining," he began, looking down and fiddling with his bed sheets, "But I like to play with things when I can, see how they work and if I can improve them or use something with something else and I fix most computer problems. As well as hack into places. So long as their firewalls aren't too strong, like the Vongola's are." He stared up at Jamie before looking away. "Not that I've tired, their security is too good." He whined.

Jamie didn't reply straight away, deep in thoughts. 'What could they do…? Where was Zander?' But eventually he broke the slice once more, "I need more time. We need to plan ahead and find resources and even possibly help. Saffron if we do use your help, what would I need to get you? And don't worry about the price. Make a list and in a few days, when you feel up to it, we will find the time to see what the Dragos left behind, before we go shopping for the rest."

Saffron's face lit up at not being ignored because of his age, as he eagerly nodded his head.

"Winky, make sure you help Saffron with anything he needs, while I plan. Dante, clean yourself up, eat something and rest. Then we will talk." Jamie ordered as he was about to leave.

"I know where we can get some help!" Saffron called at Jamie's back, before he left the room, making him turn around.

"O-oh? You do?" Dante asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, I do," he replied. "Where we lived before, we weren't the only unwanted children of the Mafia families. There is a ton of us hiding and making do down there. Some of them might not be able to help or want to, but we all look out for each other. We're all we have." Saffron explained.

Dante looked like he was about to turn the idea down, but you could see the lights turning on in Jamie's eyes.

"How soon do you think you could go outside?" Jamie asked, knowing that the other homeless children and young adults, wouldn't believe him, but they might believe Saffron. It wasn't even about getting help or future men and women for his family. It was simply that he couldn't stand to leave them out there, when he could help them.

Saffron was up in a second, jumping out of bed and chucking a pair or jeans and a random green top on. "I'm fine now." He said with an eager smile, "I just wanted to hear the end of your story, so I pretended to be asleep." He finished as he pulled a pair of shoes on.

Jamie only raised an eyebrow, with a smirk. Even if he was a bit annoyed inside. While Dante looked ready to yell at him.

"Winky, help Dante while Saffron and I go scouting." He ordered as he grabbed Saffron's elbow and began to lead him out of the room.

"We are only scouting and getting an idea of possible people we can help, and if any of them are your close friends, then we will approach them. Do not go far from me, and if there is any danger, I will bring us straight back here." He glanced at Saffron knowingly, "Since you were so keen to learn about my life – when I thought I was venting to a sleeping boy – I don't have to explain to you about magic, do I?" Jamie explained, as he led them to the front door.

Saffron's eye widened slightly, realising that he may be in trouble for that later. "No, and I won't tell anyone. I promise." he answered, while trying to hide his fear.

"Good," Jamie replied. Worried about telling too many about magic, but wanting to be able to trust others. "I trust that you won't." They stepped outside, and Jamie turned to face Saffron. "We are going to apparate, close your eye and hold your breath. You ready?" Jamie asked.

Saffron nodded and closed his eyes as he took a breath. A second later, they vanished with a crack.

Moments later, Jamie and Saffron appeared on the edge of the forest, by the by rundown slums. It was as the same as Jamie remembered, the only difference was the clearly destroyed shack, where he first found Zander and Saffron. It was just another one of seemly many abandoned towns around Italy. But this one also happened to play house for many homeless children, teens and young adults.

Before they entered, Jamie tried to think about what he knew of the area, but sighed when he realised he didn't really have much to go on. It was an old village, built on the side of a hill and surrounded by a forest, that was creeping in, much like devil's snare would in a dark cave. The walls were cracked, and some crumbling and buildings were, overall, rundown and decrepit and it generally wasn't a place that was safe for people to live in, much less children and teens.

Trying not to think about how this could go wrong, Jamie took the lead as they cautiously made their way into the maze, that was a hub of many lost and unwanted children and the odd adults in the mafia world. They trod carefully, keeping their eyes and ears peeled for any sort of activity in the area. Every now and then Jamie would hear a slight shuffling or a scuff of a shoe, and spot the odd moving shadow or a flicker of light, but if the children of the slums were one thing, it was that they were good at staying hidden.

As they walked, Saffron told him about the area and the people.

"Most of us here are children and teens. Brother was one of the oldest– He stayed back for me..." He sounded so sad as he spoke of Zander staying because of him.

"Only the real idiots hold grudges or fight each other here – it's the only way we can survive. By sticking together and helping each other. Especially when they come–" Saffron tensed and looked away as he suddenly cut off. As if he wasn't meant to speak of them – whoever they were. But Jamie didn't get to ask, as they suddenly stopped at one particular door.

Saffron didn't wait for Jamie's orders or give him any warning, as he chucked the door open and ran in, call out names.

"Leonardo–! Elena–! Arend–!" he looked around in the dark room to the small house. "Where are you? It's me, Saffron!" he continued to call out as he ran through the rooms. Jamie didn't have much choice, but to follow Saffron, unless he let something happen to him.

The house was small, with two stories and while it was dirty, it was also clearly lived in. There was make shift furniture and in some cases, pieces that were either second hand, or left behind by the original owners.

Suddenly there were footsteps from the stairs, and someone called out, "Saffron! What how?" It was a boy in his late teens, he was tall, with visible muscles, and a messy head of short blood red hair. "But– but the shack–? We thought you were dead…" He trailed off in distress. It was then that Jamie noticed two more that were behind the redhead. Both were about the same age as the other, a slim girl with shoulder length brown hair and honey brown eyes and a tall boy with short purple tinted grey-black hair and rusty brown eyes.

It was the last boy that seemed to notice Jamie in the doorway first, pushing past the other two teens and yanking Saffron towards them by his arm and out of Jamie's sight. Saffron seemed to be too shocked to react to the man handling at the time.

"Who are you?" he growled out the question once Saffron was hidden behind the other two teens.

"Arend wait! He's with me–" But the teen, Arend, didn't seem to be listening as he glared at Jamie, crouched low and ready for action. The other two were also far more alert now, but their stances were closer together, guarding Saffron.

Jamie stepped into the room with his hands up in the air, "My name is Jamie Sinclair and I mean you no harm." Jamie started, trying to think what to say. "I was the one that saved Saffron and his brother Zander–"

"And where is Zander now?" Arend cut him off.

Jamie sighed, "That is why Saffron led me here..." Jamie began, "Zander and Saffron's shelter was blown up, because I was suddenly being attacked by two hitmen from the Macchina famiglia. I took them out shortly after, and quickly pulled the two brothers from the wreck. I felt bad for them. They were hurt because of me, so I took them to my home to heal. But Zander got it into his head that he is indebted to me. A week ago, he asked my maid to look after Saffron and took off. We haven't heard from him since and I can't explain it, but I have a bad feeling about this. Right before Zander vanished, I had an argument with my PA about taking revenge on the Macchina famiglia. He wanted me to take revenge for the attack on my person and I don't really care to. But Zander was eavesdropping and sided with my PA, Dante. Shortly after, they both vanished for the last week. Dante just returned today and then I found out from my house-keeper, that Zander has gone to spy on the Macchina famiglia to try and repay me." Jamie sighed.

"Something is wrong – I can just feel it. But I won't be able to do whatever has to be done alone as just one person and two others. Saffron said I might find help here." He finished lamely.

Saffron finally managed to push his way past the three teens to Jamie's side, "And that's why we need your help. Please help us find Zander!" he begged with large watery eyes.

"Zander's in trouble?" The girl asked, stepping up beside Arend and glancing sideways at her two friends.

"We don't know for sure Elena. But Jamie says it's been a week and he's worried and I trust him. He could have left us to die, but he didn't. He gave me and Zander a big room to share, with two beds and new cloths and fresh food every day! He didn't have to do any of that." Saffron glanced at all three teens, now standing side by side, "Please help us."

Arend looked like he was about to speak, when the redhead spoke. "I'm in, if you really do need help. Zander would never leave alone Saffron this long."

It was easy to see the second that Saffron's eyes lit up with hope, "You're the best Rossi!" Saffron said as he shot forward to hug the teen.

Elena looked at Arend and then Saffron and Jamie, "I'm in too. We're all we have, and we always help each other."

Arend seemed like he wanted to disagree, but wasn't about to leave his friends with a stranger, "Fine." Arend stared straight at Jamie, "But if you're lying, I'll make you regret it."

"You won't regret it," Jamie started.

"Good," Arend grunted.

"Thank you. I would have anyways, but in return I would like to help you too. If you will let me," Jamie finished as he looked around the room that these three called home. "Are there others here?" He began, "How many would you say? And what ages?"

Arend stared at Jamie with mistrust, while the other two kept silent. Saffron looked on in confusion, not fully grasping the mistrust in the air between the two groups.

"Why do you need to know?" Arend finally replied.

"I just–" realising that this was going to be an uphill battle, Jamie momentary closed his eyes with a sigh, "I didn't have the best childhood. I wasn't homeless, but my relatives made sure I knew how much they hated me. So, if I can help you, I will. I understand if you don't trust me though."

Resting his hand on Saffron's shoulder, he turned halfway to the door, "I think it's time we go now Saffron. Nothing else will happen today. I'll be in touch soon, to see how you might help me when I find out where Zander is."

While Arend kept a tightly blank expression, the other two looked as though they wanted to protest something, but Arend kept them silent with a look. Saffron again looked between the two groups, before waving goodbye to his friends and following Jamie out the door.

As they were shutting the front door, Jamie could just hear Elena speaking, "Why did you let Saffron go with him?! He'd be safer here–!"

He knew he would help them, whether they liked it or not. There was just no way he could leave children on the street, shelter or no shelter.

It was as they were coming to the edge of the hamlet, that they met a peculiar old man. He was an elderly man, with a long nose, dark eyes and a bald head with white hair on the back and sides and wore a patch worked, threadbare grey suit and yellow shirt.

"They told me there was a stranger walking around," he spoke, with a suspiciously knowing look on his face and a glint in his eyes.

"You should be careful how you treat them. You wouldn't want them to get their hopes up for nothing right?" The old man asked before walking past them. He paused as he passed by Jamie's shoulder. Their eyes met from the corner of their sight.

"Watch out for the greater good…"

Jamie blinked, and suddenly it was like it never happened, as he started walking. 'He was hearing things, right?' Stumbling slightly as he thought. "Ah, whatever…" he mumbled and kept walking.

In England, six friends met often in a shared wing of Zabini mansion – that they each had a room in if they ever needed it – to discuss life, among other things.

After the war, Harry vanished, as they suspected he would. It saddened them, that he left them behind, but they understood that he would need time. It helped that Luna was able to tell them that they would meet up again soon.

Sometime after it all ended, the aurors had suddenly appeared at Hogwarts and tried to round up all the Death Eaters, including Draco and annoyingly Blaise, who was never one to begin with. Because, you know, they had to try and look like they were a part of the war effect and such.

The stupid gits, were thankfully then wholly chewed out for their incompetents and cowardice by the many hurt and angry witches and wizards that had fought and lost to defend the light side. Which gave the six friends time to gather and run to the Goblins, to seek political shelter while they proved both Draco and Blaise's innocents.

It wasn't by any means quick, but thanks to the Goblins, Draco and Blaise never had to set foot in Azkaban prison. The only disappointing part was that it also proved to put more of a wedge between them and their families. All but Blaise's mother Aminta, Draco's mother, Narcissa and Luna's father Xenophilius. It hurt, but they had each other.

Xenophilius Lovegood had lost most of their respect and Luna's love, when he sold Harry out in the middle of the war. Even if they were conflicted about it, because he did do it out of love for Luna. Luna on the other hand, was not ready to forgive him yet. He was one of the few that wasn't against them after the war.

Mr and Mrs Malfoy had been on a steep downward drop from the moment Harry and Draco had become friends. That was when Draco realised he didn't have to be a copy of his father and that he should have had the right to choose which side he wanted to be on. Among the many other reasons that came to light with time. Such as the fact that Lucius almost killed his son in their second year, and that Draco was forced to be a death eater as punishment for his father's choices in life. Narcissa wasn't a completely lost cause, but she wasn't forgiven, either for her choices and attitude in life. Thanks to his father having been in prison and their crafty Goblin allies, Draco was able to take his place as Lord Malfoy. He then moved his mother to a small house in France, and left her with her possessions, her dowry and a monthly payment to get by.

Augusta Longbottom threw a fit when she found out her worthless grandson was defending two dark wizards wanted for being Death Eaters. She went so far as to try and cast him out of the family, but by then, Neville had already claimed his title was Lord Longbottom. While he didn't throw her out of the family, he did take away any power she had, and like Draco, only left her with basic necessities.

Molly Weasley's reaction was perhaps the harshest of them all. She was grieving for the death of her two youngest and took all her grief and anger out on Fred and George for always having to be different. She screamed at them, and all but cursed them and eventually with Percy's help, she seemed to turn the rest of the family on them too. It didn't help that Draco was a Malfoy, and so it the Twins were eventually thrown out of their family in all but the final binding way. Thankfully the Twins had their shop and everything they owned was in their home already. Thanks to the Goblins they were able to take up the title of Lords Prewett. Something they could do because of a clause in the Prewett charter and the fact that they were twins.

Aminta Zabini became their rock in many ways. Surprising all but Blaise, by offering them support and becoming a mother to each of them. She also made up a wing of the Zabini home, giving them each a room and bathroom and a shared living room, so that they could stay there whenever they needed to.

But now, the group of friends were having what had become their weekly gathering since the end of the war.

One by one, they appeared in the shared living room, and said hello as they each took a seat around the coffee table not far from the fireplace. They gathered as friends, but also with a purpose. Finally settled, they turned as one, all looking to Luna.

"I still cannot see much of anything. However, the rivers seem to be finally flowing forward again and soon many will begin to be swept up in its current," Luna sighed, "More than that, I do not know. Although, I believe that Blaise has something to say," Luna finished. Causing Neville to look at her in confusion and Blaise to raise an eyebrow with a knowing look, as if she had just confirmed that the sky was blue.

"I wasn't sure if what I had felt was right at first," Blaise spoke calmly. "Now it seems, my instincts were right. It would seem," he drawled, knowingly, "That at least I, will need to go to Italy soon."

"Yes, and Neville will go with you. I will join shortly afterwards, to help calm the storm," Luna cut in with a knowing smile. Blaise quietly raised an eyebrow, but accepted her decision.

"Italy?" Neville wondered.

"How about you explain, so that we can all understand, Blaise?" Draco snapped from his armchair.

Blaise rolled his eyes, "I was about to, if you had waited five seconds Draco. I was just trying to think of the best way to explain it." He sat for a second, as he gathered his thoughts, before he finally spoke.

"I'm trusting you to keep this to yourself. It's not a secret, but it's also something that most have forgotten o r choose to ignore. While it's known that Madre, Mother moved here from Italy, it's not very well know that Madre is a halfblood. My Nonno, my Grandfather - Emiliano Zabini, was a muggleborn. Nonno's family lived in rural Italy for a long time, but war and politics drove them to protect themselves and their neighbours. Today they would consider them criminals, but back then they were vigilantes. It was a matter of survival, rather than following the law. Despite how small the family was, they excelled at what they did. But when it was all over, and the dust had settled, they found that they couldn't leave the confines that they had created for themselves. So they moved forward and welcomed the world they found themselves in and soared."

"When Nonno was born, he found that he was different than the rest of his family – he had no skill in the family business. He tried his best fit in and be like the rest, but wasn't able to. Even so, the family still loved him, but Nonno became disheartened. Then he had his first bout of accidental magic. It was amazing! It wasn't like what the family could do, but it was unique and different, and the family celebrated, but also protected it as a family secret. When he was ten, he got an acceptance letter to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, where he met my Nonna, my Grandmother – Lysandra Doukas. The youngest daughter of a Noble and Pureblood family from Greece."

"Nonna's family didn't accept Nonno, and Nonna was disowned when they married shortly after finishing school. And while Nonno loved his family, he felt that he would never thrive in his family's world. So, they moved Britain and the rest of the family accepted his decision with understanding, making it clear that they would always be welcome."

"Once in their new home, Nonno decided to use what he knew, along with his family teachings to make a life for them. He was revolutionary and smart with his business choices, and began to create a name for himself and the Zabini family. Slowly surpassing several small pureblood families in power and wealth. However, as with most things in our world, there were those who opposed his less than pure background. Several families couldn't accept that a mudblood was doing better than them, and so they began to scheme. Nothing was ever proven, and no one was ever charged, but when Madre was five-years-old, Nonno was murdered in their home. It's believed to this day, by the family, that the only reason Nonna and Madre lived, is because they were out shopping at the time of the attack. Afraid for their lives, Nonna packed everything up and spiriting the two of them away to our family in Italy. Where Nonna learnt the truth about the Zabini family, and Madre grew up to learn every skill they knew and blossomed, where Nonno had floundered."

"When it was Madre's time to go to school, she chose to go to Hogwarts, where she was sorted into Slytherin and began her plans for revenge against the families that killed Nonno. With five years of extensive planning and training, no one ever realised that she wasn't a pureblood. As I'm sure you can gather from the rumours, it goes without being said that she married into each family that opposed her father. I was a happy mistake, and we were left with all the wealth those families coveted."

"Wait! This whole time, you mean to tell me, you're actually a half-blood?!" Draco exclaimed gaping at him.

Blaise shrugged, "Would it matter? If I married a pureblood witch and we had children, our children would be purebloods. Besides, haven't we already fought a war to abolish blood purity?" he mockingly raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Well," Draco blinked, "yes, but give me a moment. Our entire friendship in our childhood, was built on our status as purebloods."

Neville gave Draco a bemused smile and shook his head. Then he turned to Blaise, "So the reason you have to go to Italy has to deal with your Muggle forefathers?"

"Yes and no. You see, just like we have magic, there are others that have something else, something protected by Omerta." Blaise closed his eyes for a second, as he took a deep breath, before opening them. "From here," he paused, looking each of them in the eyes, "I'm going to need each of you to swear an oath that you will not tell another soul, without good reason. Or we will spend the rest of our lives in a prison that is as feared as Azkaban."

All but Luna were shocked by this, but their trust in each other was as deep as family, and so it only took them a moment to take it in, before they each swore to protect what they were about to be told.

"Omerta is much like the Statue of Secrecy. It protects a world similar to ours, but vastly different." Blaise began, catching each of their attention.

"A world like ours?" Neville innocently asked

"Yes. But also, nothing alike." Blaise replied. "When Nonno showed his first signs of magic, my family knew to keep it a secret, not because they feared it, but because it was different. It was a power they had never seen before, and in their world – in the Mafia – power is everything. In the Mafia, there are people who have a different kind of power to magic." He trailed off.

"And what power is that?" Neville asked timidly, but eager.

"Flames," Blaise smirked, as his hands lit up with crackling green flames. "Dying Will Flames."