They hit the ground running with what Remus Lupin quickly deemed as a "super secretly stolen shenanigan sessions". He claimed he liked the alliteration. Really, Kingsley thought, Remus enjoyed the expression on his, Kingsley's, face whenever he got tongue-tied. Yes, Remus was a grown man who sat up late at night crafting ways to get a laugh out of folks. He sort of sat in the the background, the brilliance behind the act, and watched things unfold.
They had stolen the airwaves; this held true. They were thieves, yet they portrayed themselves as honest thieves among their tight knit group. At first, although he thankfully wasn't the financial backer behind this operation, Kingsley hadn't seen this working out well. He had been appointed the ringleader of their gang. Other than Remus and himself, the team included the Weasley twins, Lee Jordan, and Lee Jordan's mother. Patricia Jordan was a silent partner. She'd weaved this thing together and pulled the strings. Technically, she'd paid for the airwaves and forged the property rights.
Kingsley understood he wasn't going to jail. The three younger ones in the group, Lee, Fred, and George, probably hadn't even considered this because it hadn't crossed their minds. They weren't stupid, of course. They were young, though. They lived in the present. Remus, who had taken a step back from participating in active missions with the Order, took on the role as the mediator and got things back on track. Kingsley, a patient man, had things to do and loved sticking to his mental timetable.
This evening, they met in a forgotten shop outside of Tonks's parents' place. She was there. Patti Jordan, a thin, black woman, was also there. While she kept her mouth shut snd had no part in any of it, she attended the recording sessions. Kingsley had recently tied the knot with this woman. Despite the fact that she swung back and forth between her old and new surname, sometimes even going by her maiden name, he said nothing against it. It amazed him how she managed to keep her slew of identities straight.
Patti used to be an Auror. This was, of course, before the accident, and she'd paid for her ex-husband's carelessness with her sight. She spent a lot of time counting in her head nowadays as she got used to her new surroundings. Kingsley had been with this woman for years because he'd been her faithful, longtime boyfriend waiting on the sidelines. She was a devout Catholic who hands down did not believe in divorce. Kingsley was Catholic enough to respect this. He'd waited patiently for nearly two decades to be with her.
Kingsley and Patti were the last to arrive. They met at random locations and chose not to met at a scheduled time because it was harder for them to be tracked down. Although he was on the run for saying You-Know-Who's name, Kingsley still acted as top security for the Minister of the Muggles. After Mad-Eye fell, the Order chose him as their unofficial leader. He was a busy, busy man. Given the current state of them being in open wizarding warfare, everyone in the Order of the Phoenix operated in their nuclear groups. Kingsley kept ears out for everyone, a task he found extremely difficult given he never stayed in one place for more than a week, yet most of the pieces came together. Kingsley was no Mad-Eye Moody or Albus Dumbledore.
Although Patti had lost her eyesight and a prominent career, he loved her no less for it. She felt bad when he acted more like her matron than her husband. Kingsley didn't care. He really didn't. Lee Jordan, a young man Kingsley had to consciously remember was his stepson, showed his mother no sympathy and treated her like a regular person. He liked the fact that she was an easier target to pick on. Blind people, especially blind, neurotic folks like his mother, were good for a laugh. Lee knew how to read the room, so he veered on the side of caution.
"There's a step at the threshold," said Kingsley, offering her his arm. Patti guided herself with the walking stick. She'd been at this for less than a year, so the whole world was new to her. He'd say she saw it through new eyes, but she didn't. Remus loved that line. Patti, depending on the day, usually answered him with a small smile or a rude hand gesture. Lee opened the door, playing with some metal pieces in his hands. "Thank you."
"No problem. Mum, why would Gran send me a letter asking you for a good lawyer?" Lee jumped into his problem without saying hello. Kingsley found this to be a common thing and went along with it. Lee held an owl in his hand. He didn't feel like reading it to his mother, for it was easier to cut the fat away and get to the point.
"Gran? I thought that would be obvious. Diana is your father's mother. She wants me to desperately help him on an appeal." Patti patted Kingsley's arm and sighed when he deposited her into a chair. She heeded Kingsley's obvious objection here because he had time to string words together, pointing out the obvious flaws in this request. She spoke softly, squeezing her husband's hand. "It's not that simple."
"What's not simple? Nathan performed Memory Charms on you until he permanently damaged you. He begged you to post bail." Kingsley waved to the others, trying not to appear rude despite his agitation. He didn't even know why they discussed her ex-husband anymore. "Patti, let him do what he wants. Don't help him. Why does it matter?"
Lee dropped his metal junk in a box. "He's my father."
"All right, I'm bowing out of this conversation," said Kingsley, holding up his hands in surrender. Nathan Jordan wasn't going to ruin Kingsley's first Christmas with his wife. Remus, reading a book off to the side, raised his eyebrows and appeared like he wanted to add his two Sickles in. "I don't even want to play this game today."
"I've told you, dear. Nate was my husband for seventeen. That's half my life! You don't just walk away from that." Patti turned to face him, her expression blank. Kingsley could tell by her expression that Patti wasn't even sure if she looked at him straight on. She sounded offended, her voice a little shaky. "I am glad it's easy for you."
"He's serving a sentence for committing domestic violence," said Tonks, taking Kingsley's side.
Since this whole ordeal, she'd never once wavered on her stance. She used to idolize Patti, a decorated Auror in her own right. She tapped the wireless and fingered connections she knew nothing about before shuffling papers. They weren't doing a Christmas broadcast. Kingsley had sat through Queen Elizabeth's address on the Muggle wireless earlier this morning as he sipped coffee. Tonks considered Patti a friend and spoke plainly with her. She'd dropped the flattery as they became more familiar with each other. Although she probably shouldn't do it, she knelt in the dusty floor.
"Patti, I love you, but I'm about to offend you. Get up, Dora." Remus dropped the book and walked over to help his wife off the floor. He placed a hand on Patti's shoulder. When she asked about the Weasley twins, Tonks said they were probably sleeping in before spending the holiday with the family at the Burrow. Remus, too, followed Tonks's example and took Kingsley's side on this. "I don't even know Nathan, and I don't want to know Nathan because I'd probably punch him in the face. You may feel sympathy for him, but you know better."
"You've been married for less than a year." Patti held up a hand, annoyed when Kingsley pointed out the obvious yet again. They, too, had been married for a short time,. "This isn't about you. It is about Nate. Why can't you understand that, Kingsley? I had a child with him. He was there. You don't just throw that away after signing the divorce papers."
"It wasn't a marriage!" Frustrated, Kingsley threw the line back at her that she'd told him time and time again during their affair.
"He can't pay legal counsel. They'll give him a public defender, but he or she won't care." Lee appealed to his mother. He was in a tight spot, caught between his mother and his father How do you choose? "Please. Do this for me, Mum. It's just a name."
Patti brought her fingers to her temple, a sign Kingsley had learned meant an oncoming migraine. It was another side effect of the damage. "Lee."
Lee held his ground. "Mum."
"It hurts?" Kingsley magicked a cold compress out of thin air. Patti nodded, moaning at his touch. He sighed, still grasping the basics of home care for his wife. He spoke softer, putting the Nathan Jordan never-ending argument aside for now. "You have to tell me what's going on in your head because I can't read your mind, Patricia."
Lee muttered under his breath, angry, and stormed out of the place. That would be an interesting conversation over Christmas dinner. Kingsley never wanted to be a father. He supposed, or at least Kingsley hoped, he acted more like Lee's sometimes friend than his stepfather. He wasn't there to replace Lee's father. Nathan might be a cruel, sadistic bastard in Kingsley's eyes, yet there was no denying Mr. Jordan loved his boy.
Remus, concerned, offered to run to the shop or apothecary for Patti. Both Kingsley and Patti shot down his offer, saying it was closed for the holiday. Kingsley, with his hands full, forgot to stock up on simple healing remedies in case her pain flared. It sounded bad, he knew, yet he dropped the ball too often when it came to his wife. With the Order, and the Ministry being shot to hell, and the Prime Minister of the Muggles, not to mention being on the run, Kingsley slipped somewhere.
Kingsley covered her eyes with the cold compress after casting a Freezing Charm on it. He didn't have money to pay for potions or pain relievers at the moment anyway. "How bad is it?"
Patti didn't move. She'd never suffered from these until her optic nerve got shredded. Patti didn't follow a pain scale, yet she got pretty descriptive. "Remember when I told you it is like my eyeballs are on fire?"
"Yeah." Kingsley had bean afraid of this ever since they unintentionally weaned her off the recommended dosage. He supposed they could bargain with the black market. He paused, taking inventory of tangible goods he had on his person. He hated seeing her in physical pain. It was worse than Patti put on, no matter what she pretended. "I can steal stuff. Find Mundungus."
Remus cocked his head, interested. Kingsley rarely crossed the line. Patti reached into her robes, pulled out a bottle of generic acetaminophen, a Muggle remedy, and she fumbled with the child proof lock. She slapped the bottle into Kingsley's hand, giving up, and he unscrewed it easily. He checked the dosage, tipped two capsules into her hand, adding more when she sighed. Remus conjured a goblet and filled it with water.
Doubtful, Tonks rolled her eyes. "Does that even work?"
"Not really," admitted Patti, taking the pills in one swallow. Kingsley knew the fact that she was so good at this meant they relied too heavily on the dosage. "It temporarily takes the edge off."
"Say goodbye to your liver." Kingsley read the warnings by the feeble light before he pocketed the large pill bottle. "I will go to the market this afternoon."
Patti said no. She gave some poor excuse like they'd miss Christmas dinner. Kingsley cooked for himself, and his cooking skills were pretty sad, especially compared to hers. Patti, a self-taught chef, spent time in the kitchen for the pure fun of it. Of course, she had to retrain herself in about everything these days, and Kingsley highly doubted she'd get those master skills back. He'd watched her sharpen a set of expensive knives the other day, a feat that frankly scared him half to death, yet she'd somehow managed it with only minor cuts on her hands. They had been invited to the Burrow for dinner. Andromeda Tonks had extended them a second invitation.
Kingsley shared the knife story with Remus and Tonks, ignoring Patti as she inserted comments here and there.
Remus spoke up first. "That's dangerous, Patti."
"Walking out the front door is dangerous, Remus. I'm a forty year old woman. I know my limits. I am going to learn to cook again." Patti sighed when the pills finally kicked in. Part of the problem was they were in a new house. Appliances, ranges and all that were different. "I am blind, thank you, I am not dead."
"Yeah, but," said Remus, shutting up when Kingsley shook his head. There was little point in arguing with Patti Fetch or whoever she was when she got like this. He dropped the subject.
Kingsley knew it would be rude to cancel on the Weasley family at the last minute. He sometimes worked through Christmas Day while he sat around the house in his dressing gown without thinking about the special day. He attended Mass in the early morning, of course, but that's about as far as he went on Christmas. He'd attended Mass with his wife at dawn first thing this morning, and Patti said she wanted to go back to the cathedral this evening.
"Lee's going to be there with Fred and George." Patti dismissed the idea when he bought it up as an offhand comment. They would be heading back into London later that night to sit there alone and share private, individual thoughts with God. She lived for the holidays. Patti got to her feet. "We're going. I don't know these people, and you're not making me go alone."
Kingsley found this surprising. "How do you not know these people? Your boys have been vest mates for years."
"I don't know. I just came back here? All right, that's no excuse. I don't know!"Patti smiled when she heard Tonks's laughter. Patti was nothing if not brutally honest. "Be a good parent. Know your people. Do as I say, not as I do. Or did. I did precious little sometimes. I got lost in Paris on Christmas Day one year for the hell of it."
"Sounds like fun." Remus smiled at her as they walked out of the abandoned building. He offered her an arm, severely compromised by his self-consciousnesses in helping her. He overcompensated and hindered the progress.
"Oh, it was! You want to learn a language fast? Get immersed in the culture and get lost. Complete sentences earned me food from a homeless man. I think his name was Daniel." Patti enjoyed her freedom because she was a free spirit. Mad-Eye had used that to his advantage. "I took the said homeless man to a restaurant and ate bouillabaisse with him. He called me Merry."
"What?" The three others said in unison, completely thrown off by this small details.
"No idea. Your guess is as good as mine." Patti took Kingsley's hand when he walked over to her other side. He took her hand and pressed it to his lips, kissing it. It was going to be a quiet first Christmas. He finally had his woman by his side.
He could have hated the whole situation with Nathan Jordan and simply pretended the problem didn't exist. In fact, part of him, whether Kingsley felt sane or not, wanted to do just that. He knew this was a horrible way to phrase this in his head, yet Patti was his problem now. She'd been his problem for the past twenty years. Kingsley loved her. When did this happen? He didn't exactly know because there was no magical moment; the fireworks didn't spark or there was no romantic moment that stood out clearly in his mind. It happened.
Was it wrong to have an affair with a married woman? Yes. Forget his faith. On so many levels, Kingsley was in the wrong the moment he stopped acting with this woman. Should he have cleared the air with Patti's son before he asked for her hand in marriage? On second thought, yes, maybe he should have made a good faith gesture. Lee stood in at their wedding. Well, it was more a hurried appointment with a priest who had been half Kingsley's age than an actual wedding ceremony. The priest was a boy, not an altar boy, yet a boy nonetheless. Kingsley couldn't sleep thinking about this as he'd recited the traditional Muggle vows. They'd been lucky to find a priest at all. He'd thought of the boy priest throughout the damn ceremony and rather ruined it for himself.
Kingsley remembered his wedding as he pulled Lee into the kitchen at the Burrow. They had left the table in the middle of the dinner right after George asked his brother to pass the parsnips and made some quip about selective hearing to his twin brother. Kingsley actually consciously knew he could not and would not defend Nathan. Lee didn't say much during the Christmas dinner, which both Patti and Kingsley expected. Kingsley excused himself, saying something about grabbing Patti's dessert and prepping the coffee.
He went through the motions of making a pot of coffee without magic. Lee stood by the counter and bit his tongue. Kingsley bided his time, not really sure where he wanted this to go. Who exactly was in the wrong here? He didn't know how to answer this.
"What do you want from me?" Lee perched himself on the countertop and watched some dishes, pots and pans, wash themselves.
"Nothing." Kingsley adopted his usual calm tone and slipped right into the demeanor. He relaxed his shoulders. He decided on the truth and got to the point because dinner would wrap up soon, and Molly wasn't really known for giving her guests privacy. He still had no idea where to start, yet he plunged right into the deep end as he poured water into the percolator. "She's not a fling, Lee. I knew that from day one. Your mother means the world to me."
"I know that." Lee seemed to calm down a little, although this probably had nothing to do with the compliment. He sounded annoyed, almost like he'd expected this conversation. He lowered his voice, determinedly not meeting Kingsley's eyes. "I know he treated her like she was worthless. I mean, I didn't know it was going on, but something felt off."
Kingsley put his foot down about this really quick. "It wasn't your fault."
Lee nodded, no longer on the defensive. "I hear my mum was this excellent, decorated Auror, you know? I mean, I met Moody in my sixth year, and I couldn't help but felt honored or something that he was going to be my teacher, too."
Kingsley couldn't help himself and corrected him automatically. "That wasn't Mad-Eye."
"Yeah. Why couldn't she stop it?" Lee helped himself to a bottled beer because he was a longtime family friend. Molly had invited her guests, few in the main, to make themselves at home. Lee took the advice to heart. Kingsley guessed Lee had been here before because he knew where stashes were hidden.
"Jordan wiped her memory, Lee, so she didn't know it was happening." Kingsley could have gone into great detail about this. On the surface, he understood perfectly well why Lee wanted a simple story. He wanted a neatly wrapped present. Perhaps he wanted his parents to get back together. "Patti had no reason to believe she wasn't happy."
"Patti." Lee said his mother's first name like it was a completely foreign concept. Lee placed his hands in his pickets and eventually picked at the scraps of turkey on the large serving platter. Kingsley had once heard this referred to as filing in the corners. "You really love her?"
"I do." Kingsley smiled at him. Although Lee didn't specifically come out and ask why, he, Kingsley, elaborated a little. Husbands and wives told their significant others they loved each other every day. He might still be in the blissful honeymoon stage, yet he had a list. "She talks in her sleep whenever she's worried about a charge. She snores and wakes herself up. We're both Catholics who attack the faith with dark humor."
Lee knit his eyebrows together. "I don't follow the Church."
"Okay." Kingsley shrugged this off. He'd questioned his faith at Lee's age, too, and it was Lee's decision on whether or not he wanted to return to the faith. Kingsley fingered the Christian cross around his neck. He'd received it from his godfather, his uncle, on his confirmation. Kingsley unhooked the clasp and felt the chain of the necklace slip through his fingers. He played with it and studied the wedding band on his left hand. "I have to sell this to get pain relief for your mother."
Lee came up with an easier answer. "You're wealthy. You buy expensive Muggle suits. I bet you have loads stashed away in a Gringott's vault."
"Gold can be tracked." Kingsley rather liked that the kid had a good head on his shoulders. He held the necklace to the candlelight. "This ought to be enough for decent generic solutions. And the name you wanted. Prudence Edgecombe. She's a good, fair counsellor who will hear you out. I'll pay her legal fees."
"You'd just give that away?" Lee shifted as Kingsley conjured a container of jewelry cleaner and erased years of damage. "I'm not of the flock of the faithful or whatever, but I know that's no mere trinket for you."
"It's jewelry," said Kingsley, taking out his earring and cleaning it, too, though he replaced it in his ear. He wasn't a philosophical man, despite the fact that he was a faithful one. He replaced the lid on the cleaner and tucked it away into a drawer. "There will be times in your life when you have things, and there will be other times when you literally feel you have nothing."
Lee stopped him there. "Mum told you that."
"Yes." Kingsley smiled at him, pleased he'd picked up on the saying so quickly. He walked over to the kitchen door, stopping Molly before she came in from the dining room. "Wait a moment, please."
Molly backed out without saying a word. Lee went back to the legal reference; Kingsley dropped a powerful name and offered to foot the bill without hesitation. "Are you serous? Thank... thank you."
Kingsley shrugged his shoulders. "You're family. You're my stepson. Consider it a Christmas gift."
Kingsley found Patti's chocolate mousse and light chocolate cake. He pocketed his cross, thinking he'd start with a high bid. He hated that Nott supposedly recorded a record of pureblood families. Kingsley's name was on that list; it might work to his advantage for once and place weight behind his name. When he carried the dessert into the dining room, Lee carried the serving bowls.
Kingsley wished to go to the black market alone, although he'd make it back in time for evening Mass. Before he sat down, he heard Arthur Weasley compliment Patti on the cake. Smiling, Kingsley wondered what Fleur would have thought about this take on an authentic French recipe. Molly pursed her lips, apparently thinking along the same lines, although she took a second slice. Patti possessed a handful of talents. She understood food. Kingsley was somewhat of a health nut. He called off all bets when it came to this dessert because it was his favorite. It went well with a cup of coffee. Kingsley realized, a little too late, he'd forgotten the brew.
"I love this thing," he said, savoring the last bite. He didn't turn Patti's half-eaten dessert down when she pushed her plate towards him.
"I know." Patti laughed when he actually licked his fork. When he leaned into her, she smiled, kissing him. She said something in flawless Parisian French that Kingsley didn't understand a word of her nonsense, but Arthur asked Patti to speak with his daughter-in-law. She paused, blushing a little as she got comfortable around the family. Lee snorted into his half-empty wine glass. Patti, unabashed, kissed her husband passionately this time. She landed on a sumple translation. " I love you, too."