When Ted arrived at the gates of the graveyard, Louis awaited him on the other side. Through the wrought iron bars, the gangly, blond boy held his wand aloft, the lighted tip shinning into Ted's eyes.
"If you're really my brother-in-law, Ted Lupin then name my sister's favorite sweet," Louis demanded, his voice high-pitched with nerves.
"Fizzing Whizbees."
Lowering his wand, Louis unlatched the lock on the gate and pulled it inward to allow Ted's entrance. Ted had barely stepped inside when he found himself wrapped in a stiff hug.
"We knew you'd make it back. James arrived here less than an hour ago. Al showed up too," Louis chattered.
"How's Victoire?" Ted asked as Louis led the way up the gravel path that wound between the plots to their stone cabin on the opposite edge of the graveyard.
"I think she understands why you went, Ted, and why you left her behind."
Louis's assurance did not unbind the knots of guilt in Ted's stomach.
Their voices sounded unreasonably loud against the still night. Humid heat soaked the air. Firebugs played between the gravestones as they always did at the end of the summer. When he and Victoire lived in Godric's Hollow, during the early days of their marriage, they often went to the park in the village on nights like this to chase firebugs and make wishes on their orange and yellow glow. People called him Teddy then.
The door to the cabin flung open before they reached the front step. James and Albus hovered in the doorframe, but Victoire rushed up the path, pushing past her brother to reach Ted.
Despite the worry wrinkling her brow, Victoire looked as young as she did the day they'd first kissed on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters when he'd dropped her off for her last year at Hogwarts, but lines had aged Ted's face twenty years. Grey strands had even begun to fleck his teal hair. He had once been told that the men in his family aged young.
"Ted, you had us so worried. What happened? Where's Uncle Harry?" Victoire asked, her eyes frantically searching his face for answers.
"Did Dad not come back with you? We thought you'd be together," James spoke up before Ted could answer.
Ted dared a glance over at James and Albus. In James he saw a mixture of Harry's black hair and Ginny's long nose, but Albus looked exactly like his father, down to his green eyes. Albus alone of Harry's children inherited those green eyes. The longer Ted looked the more his words coagulated in his throat. Before he could speak again he had to turn his gaze to Victoire.
"About an hour after sunset Harry sent word out to the Order. Someone assassinated the Minister," Ted explained. When he'd received the news he'd left without telling Victoire.
"Kingsley? Dead? I don't believe it," Victoire breathed.
"They attacked the Ministry tonight," Ted continued, "Whatever they were. We still don't know. They moved like shadows, making them next to impossible to fight. We did what we could to hold them off until we evacuated the Ministry."
"Where's Uncle Harry?" Victoire repeated her previous question.
Again Ted found his gaze straying over to Albus and James in the doorway. "We should go inside. I think we could all use a drink."
James withdrew into the house without further prompting and Louis followed, but Albus hung back on the front step until Ted reached his side.
"It's all happening again, isn't it?" Albus murmured.
Ted could only nod. All was not well.