Note: Not the best chapter ever, but I promise things are about to get a whole lot more interesting! There isn't a whole lot else for me to say, except thanks very much to everybody who reviewed the last chapter! I know I say that in pretty much every Author's Note I write, but thank you very much, you really do make me smile!

Look out for a possible change of perspective in the next chapter! We had Tonks in Meet the Marauders...so I might go for Remus this time around...

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

10: Lies and Slander

Carrie spent the remainder of the day curled up upon the sofa in the drawing room with Teddy, pretending to play at Exploding Snap. Neither of them were concentrating on the game at all and after a while they simply sat, staring at the piles of cards rather blankly, occasionally reaching for another square of stolen chocolate.

Remus and Dora did not appear in the kitchen for dinner, and once she and Teddy had picked at their food for a while before returning to the drawing room, Carrie felt compelled to admit to her eavesdropping.

"I think," the muggle confessed rather slowly as she sat, head nestled against the youngest Lupin's shoulder as he set about snapping up the remainder of their chocolatey loot, "your mum and dad are...planning something."

Teddy offered her a raised eyebrow, holding out the chocolate to her as he said:

"I'm pretty sure my mum and dad are always planning something or other these days. It's sort of what they do in the Order, you know..."

"Something to do with me." Carrie elaborated, ignoring his offering so that she could sit up a little and turn to regard him seriously. "And...and Ted I don't think it's something very safe. Or even remotely sensible!"

"It rarely is." Teddy murmured, popping a square of chocolate into his mouth with a unconcerned smile. "I shouldn't worry about it if I were you, it isn't worth the anxiety..."

"Teddy," Carrie insisted, reaching to snatch the chocolate out of his hands so that he could no longer be distracted by it. "I heard them talking! Your dad was saying they'll end up in Azkaban for it!"

Teddy chewed rather thoughtfully upon his mouthful of chocolate before swallowing it, reaching to put a reassuring hand upon her arm.

"My parents can go shopping and get themselves thrown in Azkaban, Carrie." he pointed out light-heartedly. "All members of the Order are on the Ministry's Top Wanted list!"

"But it's not like that!" Carrie exclaimed, eyes widening in frustration at his lack of concern. "You didn't hear them! I mean it, Teddy, they're going to do something terribly foolish!"

"Who's going to do something terribly foolish?"

At the sound of Remus' voice from the doorway, Carrie very nearly dropped the chocolate that she was holding into her lap.

Teddy glanced over at his father to offer him a raised eyebrow as the werewolf leant against the door frame, arms folded across his chest.

"Well," Teddy told him as Carrie felt her cheeks flushing pink in embarrassment. "That all depends, really. Are you and Mum planning on getting yourself purposefully arrested any time soon?"

Remus sucked in a deep, considering breath, brow creasing thoughtfully. There was a long pause before he decided:

"Well, I can't speak for your mother but personally I'm rather enjoying life as a free man. Sorry to disappoint you. I know it would be far easier to steal my chocolate were I stuck on an oversized rock in the middle of the North Sea, but I'm afraid you're just going to have to deal with it."

Teddy sniggered. But Carrie did not feel amused in the slightest.

"Hermione tells me you two played hide and seek with a couple of Dousers this afternoon." Remus said, snuffing out Teddy's amusement within the blink of an eye. "Where precisely were you?"

Teddy frowned deeply, reaching to scratch the back of his neck with a puff of his cheeks.

"Merlin knows...an alleyway somewhere...I apparated there by mistake, it couldn't be too far from here I suppose..."

"What did it look like?"

"Big blue rubbish bins...white stone bricked walls..."

"The pavement?"

"Grey concrete...like everywhere else..."

"Any street names?"

"No..."

"What about the bins? Any writing on them?"

"Higgins' Waste Solutions Limited." Carrie found herself recalling, frowning as the words left her mouth. She had absolutely no idea how she had remembered such a insignificant detail...

She had been staring at the side of the bins, listening to the muggle's shrieks...

Carrie shuddered, only to be snapped from her thoughts when Dora's voice called:

"Sounds like the apparation point beside the Ministry's Visitors' Entrance to me."

The muggle blinked to see the witch appear at Remus' side, faded looking copy of the Daily Prophet in hand, a dumpy, mumsy looking witch's face emblazoned upon the front.

"Here." Dora murmured, holding the paper up for the werewolf's inspection, and there was a long pause as he squinted down at whatever article she was pointing at upon the front page.

"That'll be it, then." Remus decided. "We'll...tell them in the morning." Then, as if there had been no distraction at all he looked back over at Teddy, rather is if Carrie wasn't there at all as he said: "Did you recognize either of the Dousers?"

"Titus Goyle." Teddy recalled, nose wrinkling in distaste. "I didn't know the other one."

"Excellent." Dora murmured, though Carrie didn't really see what could possibly be excellent about it, and then the witch suggested: "Why don't we all sleep on it? See if anybody comes up with any ideas about this strange muggle they had hold of. Then we can...call another meeting." She shot Carrie the briefest of glances that made the muggle's face go from pink to scarlet, and with that both she and Remus turned on their heels and continued on downstairs.

Practically throwing the chocolate into Teddy's lap, Carrie hastily got to her feet and hurried after them, stopping just atop the stairs that they were descending.

"Dora! Remus!"

She watched, a few stray butterflies fluttering in her stomach as the pair paused to turn and look up at her questioningly, and for a long moment she failed to find her voice.

"I...um..." She frowned in an attempt to think of what to say and when she found herself unable to do so she instead dashed down the stairs, reaching to fling her arms around them.

The witch and wizard exchanged a glance before both reaching to put an arm around the muggle, and as she buried her face in Dora's shoulder, Carrie hugged them with all her might.

She had meant to tell them she was sorry, just in case a hug wasn't quite enough. She had meant to plead for sense and rationality, beg them not to do whatever it was that they had planned.

But Carrie didn't say a single word. She was never quite sure why her voice had entirely failed her at that precise moment in time.

But what she did soon know was that she was likely to regret her silence for the rest of her life.

She was awoken next morning from her position sprawled upon the sofa beside Teddy by raised voices.

Carrie frowned deeply at the pain in her back as she reached to stretch her arms, the movement rousing the sleeping wizard beside her and they had barely exchanged a sleepy glance before they heard stomping footsteps upon the stairs and they turned to glance out of the door in time to see Ron come to a halt upon the landing, one hand still gripping the bannister until his knuckles went white.

"HERMIONE? HERMIONE GET DOWN HERE..."

"Ron for the love of Merlin stop shouting!" Dora's voice demanded from the floor below, and Ron spun around to scowl down the stairs at her, face flushed with anger.

"STOP SHOUTING?" He cried, one hand balling into a tight fist. "Are you bloody mad? I NEED SOME BLOODY BACK UP DOWN HERE! HERMIONE? GET OUT OF THE BLOODY BATH! YOU WON'T BLOODY BELIEVE THIS!"

"You're going to wake the children up." Carrie just about heard Remus point out from the floor below.

"Exactly!" Dora said as Hermione appeared, hurrying down the stairs, still in her dressing gown with her hair in a towel. "And besides, we're not asking for your OPINION, Ron, we're just telling you how it is!"

"What's going on?" Hermione asked breathlessly as she came to a abrupt halt at Ron's side. "What in Merlin's name is all the fuss about?"

Ron pointed an accusing finger down the stairs, arm quivering with fury as he announced:

"TONKS SAYS THAT SHE AND REMUS ARE GOING TO..."

"IF YOU FINISH THAT SENTENCE RON, I'LL HEX YOUR BLOODY MOUTH SHUT!"

"Dora..."
"I will, Remus! What the bloody hell does he think he's doing, shouting the odds?"

"Well I'm not the only one shouting, am I? Seriously, Hermione, they're absolutely mental, the pair of them! Well I'm telling you now, I won't have it, it's...RIDICULOUS!"

"Oh! Well forgive us, won't you Ron? We didn't know we had to ask your PERMISSION..."

"Dora!"

"NO! WHO DIED AND MADE HIM MINISTER? If we want to do it, well it's up to us! It's got NOTHING to do with anybody else!"

"Just you wait until the others get here for the meeting! They'll be having none of it either!"

"IT'S NOT UP TO THEM!"

"DORA! Come on, let's just...let's ALL calm down!"

As a heated silence descended upon the house, Carrie heard yet more footsteps above and a new voice called:

"What's going on down there?"

Ron's grip upon the bannister instantly tightened again as he looked up towards the ceiling and bellowed:

"GINNY! YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS, IT'S BLOODY MAD..."

A furious shriek sounded from below and Remus' voice cried:

"Alright! Enough! Come on Dora, upstairs..."

"I could bloody kill him!"

"Shhh. Upstairs."

Carrie and Teddy both stared as they watched Remus march Dora up the staircase, her hair a furious shade of red. As Remus gave her a firm push towards the second set of stairs, Ron reached to lay a firm hand upon the werewolf's arm.

"Remus," the red-haired Auror murmured as Dora stormed up the stairs and turned up a third flight. "Tell me this is a joke."

"If it were a joke, Ron, people would be laughing." Hermione pointed out, frowning deeply in confusion, and Remus made to follow Dora, only for Ron's grip to tighten.

"Remus...!"

For a long moment the two wizards simply stared somewhat defiantly at one another before Remus finally said:

"This is no different than any of the other missions we've had these past few weeks. And we've enough effectively orphaned children to be getting on with without adding any more to the list."

He turned and set off up the stairs, leaving Ron's hand to fall back to his side with a sigh.

"This isn't the same at all!" Ron protested to the werewolf's retreating back. "It's a completely mad idea and it's not worth the risk! For Merlin's sake, Remus! At least now she has you and Tonks to look after her! What'll she have after this?"

Remus paused atop the stairs to glance back down with a small shake of the head.

"We're not her parents." he said simply, and with that he disappeared up the next flight of stairs.

"BUT YOU ARE TEDDY'S PARENTS!" Ron shouted after him, ignoring the warning hand that Hermione placed upon his shoulder. "WHAT ABOUT TEDDY? WHAT ABOUT YOUR SON?"

"Come on, Ron." Hermione suggested, expression wary. "Let's have some breakfast before the children wake up...if they managed to sleep through all of that. The others will be here soon, I'm sure we can all sit and talk about...it, whatever it is. And you can tell them about the muggle, too! You know, I really think you're onto something there..."

As the thankfully more hushed conversation drifted off into the distance, Carrie chanced a sideways glance at Teddy to find him staring at the now empty landing with a deep frown upon his brow.

"I told you they're up to something." Carrie mumbled, and Teddy reached to run a considering hand through his hair before he mumbled:

"Well...whatever it is, we'll just have to trust them."

"Ron doesn't." Carrie pointed out, but he merely leaned to press a kiss to her cheek.

"That's his problem." the young wizard murmured, and with that he got to his feet and headed for the bathroom.

Carrie went up to her room, where she found a selection of her clothes had been left folded upon her bed. She vaguely wondered when they had been put there, she hadn't noticed a bag at all when Dora and Remus had returned with the terrible news the day beforehand. She pushed the door shut behind her and wandered over to perch upon the edge of the bed, gazing dismally around the dim room before she caught sight of a photo in a frame upon the bedside table that had not been there before.

It was the family portrait that usually stood upon the chest of drawers in her sitting room back home.

Carrie reached to pick it up, looking down at the smiling faces. Her father had been late home from work that day, she recalled, her mother had been in a panic because she thought they would miss their appointment with the photographer...

A mere fifteen minutes or so after the picture had been taken, Thomas had spilled a cup of coffee down his freshly dry-cleaned suit. Carrie and Timothy had laughed hysterically and before they knew it they had started a war across the cafe table, bombarding Thomas with screwed up paper napkins. Mrs. Winters had been utterly livid.

Why can't you just behave yourselves? Carrie remembered her complaining furiously. Why can't you all behave like normal human beings?

And at the notion that her family were in any way abnormal, Carrie had sniggered into her hot chocolate because really, what with the Lupins living next door, her mother really didn't know what abnormal truly was!

Carrie smiled fondly at the memory, reaching to wipe a spec of dust from Timothy's forehead. Her brothers were due back from holiday later that day. She wondered what sort of message the Order had left for them. There's such a thing as magic and your parents have lost their minds...you should probably go and stay at your aunt's house...

She would have to ask later, Carrie supposed. Perhaps she might go and see them, wherever they ended up. It would be a relief to see them, to have her big brothers around.

Carrie reached to put the photograph back down before turning her attention to her clothes. She got as far as picking out a pair of jeans and a t shirt before slumping back upon the blankets, staring up at the ceiling. How long she lay there, thinking, wondering, worrying, she wasn't sure, but she vaguely heard the stampede of footsteps as the children went down for breakfast, the water in the shower ceasing to flow and Teddy leaving the bathroom. She supposed she ought go and have a wash herself before anybody else commandeered the shower, but she was much too lost in thought.

What did Ron know about the strange muggle? What precisely were Remus and Dora planning? What were the Order going to do with her parents? Where would her brothers go?

THUD!

A bright flash of green light lit up the gap beneath the bedroom door and Carrie instantly sat bolt upright in surprise, just in time to hear a voice announce:

"And you're DEAD!"

Sliding from the bed and up onto her feet, Carrie hurried over to the door, pulling it open just in time to hear Teddy complain:

"They're not going to use Killing Curses, that's ILLEGAL, Dad!"

The turquoise haired wizard was lying upon the dusty floorboards, flat upon his back, reaching to rub a pained elbow with one hand.

"Rule Number One!" Remus announced from his position halfway down the staircase to the right, his wand drawn and pointing in an uncharacteristically threatening manner at his son's chest. "Never assume anything! Now get up!"

With a grunt, Teddy reached to push himself up into a sitting position, and was about to rise to his feet when Remus gave his wand a sharp flick and a jet of blue light shot forward, striking Teddy in the chest. As his son crumpled to the floor again with a groan of protest, the werewolf merely announced:

"Too slow, Theodore. Get up."

"Is this really necessary?" Teddy asked with a wince as he sat up again, and Remus walked down the last few steps as he offered:

"Well you can either have me knock you over a few times now, or you can have the Dousers have a try. And believe me, their hexes are good for more than a couple of bruises."

With a heavy sigh, Teddy rose to his feet, wand raised.

"What if I beat you?" he asked with a grin, only for the smile to be wiped from his face when a fresh attack sent him skidding backwards into a wall. His eyes widened as he was yanked upwards, feet dangling rather comically just above the floor.

"If you beat me," Remus told him, wandering rather lazily forward, flicking his wand upwards a few inches and causing Teddy to slide further up the wall. "I will be immensely proud." And with that he gave the wand a sharp swipe downwards and Teddy once again fell to the floor with a shout of protest. "But we'll never tell your mother." he decided as an after thought, frowning at the very idea.

Teddy staggered to his feet again, only for Remus to stride across the landing, coming to a halt just before him, wand jabbing him in the neck.

"That's not fair." Teddy pointed out irritably, only for his father to give a rather dark chuckle.

"Life isn't fair, Ted. What are you going to do about it?"

"Um..."

"You'll have to think faster than that."

"I could...I could knee you in the groin?"

"Go on then."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

Carrie shuffled forwards just out of the door to see an odd scuffle occur, only for it to end abruptly as Teddy was send stumbling sideways into a corner.

"Rule Two." Remus said as he took a few steps backwards, wand raised again. "Never be predictable!"

With a scowl, Teddy planted both feet firmly upon the floor, wand again raised.

"Well that's not very good." Remus observed, causing the metamorphmagus to glance down at himself searchingly. "You're stuck in a corner. What are you going to do?"

"Um..."

"Not fast enough!"

"I don't know, Dad! What do you think I should do?"

"I think you shouldn't get yourself pushed into a corner in the first place."

"But if I do?"

"If you do...you're going to have to rely on being a very quick caster. Or at least hope that the enemy is slower than you. Slow them down, distract them...morning Carrie!"

At the sound of her name, Carrie jumped. She hadn't been aware that Remus had even noticed she as there, indeed his eyes were still glued to Teddy.

Teddy glanced past his father to offer Carrie a small wave...

SMACK!

"OUCH! For the love of Merlin, Dad! That HURT!"

"Never take your eyes off the target, not for a single second! Dueling isn't a game, Teddy."

"This isn't a proper duel, Dad."

"It would be if you were taking it seriously!"

"You're starting to sound like Mad-Eye."

"You're lucky he isn't still here. If he was, you'd be a dancing ferret by now. CONCENTRATE!"

An abrupt explosion of spells lit up the hallway and Carrie backed off a few steps, blinking against the flashing lights, only for them to end abruptly, Teddy stumbling into the wall again as he barely managed to keep hold of his wand.

And quite suddenly a hand enclosed around her wrist and Carrie found herself pulled out into the middle of the landing, a wand jabbing her throat.

"Now what are you going to do?" Remus asked, as Teddy's eyes widened at the sight of his hostage.

"Um...well...nothing."

Carrie was about to snigger, when Remus nodded approvingly and said:

"Exactly. It's not worth the risk, Ted. It is important to realise when you're beaten. Push these people too far and losing will be all the more dangerous. If you have to surrender, do it calmly and agree to go quietly. That way they'll have no reason to do you any more harm."

As she was released, Carrie shuddered, only to jump at a sudden crackling sound and she had barely spun around towards the source of the noise when there was a flash of purple and Remus crashed forwards onto the floor with a hiss of pain.

"SPACIAL AWARENESS!" Dora's voice barked as the Auror marched down the stairs towards them. "Be aware of what and WHO are around you! Don't let yourself get flanked!" She came to a halt beside her husband's sprawled form, eying him with a small frown. "Alright, love?" she asked conversationally, and the werewolf grunted:

"Never better, darling."

"Great." she said, smiling brightly. "I'm going to go and make a cup of tea, d'you want one?"

"No thank you."

"Alright then. Morning, Carrie love!"

And with that, the witch continued on down towards the ground floor, leaving her husband to drag himself stiffly back onto his feet as he called after her:

"You'll leave Ron alone, won't you?"

"Sorry, didn't catch that!" she called from the floor below, and as Remus reached to rub an aching shoulder with a frown he muttered:

"No, I don't suppose you would."

In the brief interlude between duels, Carrie made a run for the bathroom.

She was washed and dressed in time to arrive down in the kitchen and find Molly and Arthur sat drinking tea with Ron, Hermione, Minerva McGonnogal and Ginny. She went to pour herself a cup of tea and was just beginning to wonder what she would have for breakfast when she turned round from the teapot to spot the Order members around the table all looking at her. As soon as she turned, however, they all appeared to be very interested in their teacups.

"Well," McGonnogal announced as Arthur reached to give Molly a firm tap upon the arm for staring a moment too long. "That's a very interesting theory, Ron. In fact I'm sure there's something to it."

Carrie was pretty certain that when she had first entered the room they had been talking about the Headmistress' current search for a new Arithmacy professor for the new school term in September, and not Ron's theory at all. When she caught them staring a second time once she had retrieved the milk from the fridge, the muggle was also certain that she was not imagining things at all.

They feel sorry for me, she thought, blushing a little at the thought. They're all thinking: poor little muggle...

She decided at that moment that she didn't fancy a cup of tea at all. Instead, she took it upstairs to Hestia.

When she arrived at the top of the house, reaching to knock carefully upon the door, Carrie was not graced with an answer and when she reached to push the door open a crack so that she could peer inside, she found that Hestia was fast asleep. The muggle let out a small sigh of disappointment as she slipped into the room and tiptoed towards the bed. She had rather fancied sitting and having a chat with the cheery, frizzy haired witch, get away from the chaos of the rest of the house, the pitying stares...

Somebody had already brought one cup of tea up some while earlier, but it had grown cold. Carrie reached to pick it up and replace it with the fresh cup, and as did so she spotted that whoever had brought the old cup of tea had also left Hestia some reading material.

It was the faded Daily Prophet that Dora had shown to Remus earlier that morning. Carrie recognized the dumpy witch pictured on the cover. She abandoned the cold cup of tea upon the bedside table and reached to pick up the paper, unfolding it carefully to examine the front page.

The pictured witch blinked up at the muggle, a timid expression upon her soft, motherly features. She rather reminded Carrie of Molly Weasley, though Carrie would never describe the Weasley matriarch as timid in the slightest. The woman was dressed in neat, rather plain looking robes, a logo of some description stitched upon one side and a name tag pinned to the other, though Carrie could not make out the words written upon it. She noted the date printed in one corner, seeing that the paper was a week or so old, before turning her attention to the main headline.

ORDER SYMPATHISERS BLIGHT MINISTRY'S HOSPITAL IMPROVEMENTS.

A mere two weeks after the Wizengamot passed emergency legislation to defend against the increasingly hostile interferences of the renegade Order of the Phoenix, the subsequent improvements that so many have welcomed at St. Mungo's Hospital have been undermined by hospital employee Griselda Gushweed.

Under new laws, all members of the Order are banned from receiving medical treatment at the hospital. Meanwhile any muggles brought to reception are transferred to a new, Ministry-run establishment more suited to their needs. All those entering the hospital are required to provide satisfactory identification before receiving treatment.

"Before the legislation St. Mungo's spent an unreasonable percentage of both it's budget and resources on caring for muggles." Ministry representative Roderick Mortell told reporters outside of the hospital yesterday evening. "But now that they can be dealt with somewhere else the healers and other staff are more able to concentrate on what is most important: caring for the Wizarding population. Waiting times have almost halved overnight and there are substantially more beds available for patients who might otherwise have gone without. This is a great step forward for St. Mungo's and we at the Ministry are very pleased with the progress being made."

But Griselda Gustweed, one of the hospital's Welcome Witches, strongly disagrees with Mr. Mortell's assessment of the situation. Indeed Mrs. Gustwood of Godric's Hollow disagrees so strongly that she has gone as far as to breach the Ministry's new regulations, when last week she was caught and formally cautioned for attempting to admit a muggle into a Spell Damage Ward. In a statement just outside of the Ministry of Magic this morning, having just attended a disciplinary hearing, Mrs. Gustwood claimed not to regret her actions in the slightest.

"What the Ministry has done to St. Mungo's is an utter disgrace. Banning anybody from receiving our help is beyond shameful and goes against everything that the hospital stands for. I don't care if muggles have somewhere else to go – if they come to us we should help them. As for banning the Order of the Phoenix, I've never heard of anything so awful in all my years. If the Ministry has so quickly forgotten all we owe to our heroes, then shame on them!"

Mrs. Gustweed went on to claim that many of her colleagues thought the same way as she did, however no other hospital employees turned up to support her at her trial. In response to her comments, the Ministry released the following statement:

"We fully understand Mrs. Gustwood's disappointment that such harsh measures have been taken against the Order of the Phoenix and it was a sad day in the Wizengamot for us all when we decided upon these severe measures. However it is important for everybody to realise exactly what this third Order stands for: these are no defenders of the people, they are nothing short of terrorists. Without the guidance of Albus Dumbledore the organization has grown corrupt and dangerous. It is a sad fact that fame and renown can go to people's heads and leave them to believe that they are above everybody else. It is shocking and upsetting that the Order, who were for so long a symbol of unity against the Dark Arts have degenerated into little better than the Death Eaters they once fought against."

The statement went on to report how in the past week the Order's behavior has grown steadily more dangerous and hostile. One particularly damning incident occurred on Tuesday, when five Order members, identified as Charlie Weasley, Hermione Weasley, Hestia Jones, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Lupin attacked Ministry workers in Portsmouth. The house of elderly witch and widow Emily Greenwood was set ablaze and two Ministry employees were hospitalized, one having been struck repeatedly with the unforgivable Cruciatus Curse. Though the Ministry was unable to identify which Order member was responsible for this particularly terrible act, they did speculate that such shameful behavior was becoming common practice for the Order.

"The Order of the Phoenix came into contact with Unforgivable Curses frequently during the War," the Ministry statement reports. "Not only that, but a number of members have been senior figures in the Auror Department for many years. These people have an understanding of these curses far beyond the norm."

The Ministry also spoke out against Mrs. Gustwood's complaints about the treatment of muggles, insisting that they were not losing out in the slightest and that the new streamlined system was doing wonders for the Wizarding community...

"Ridiculous, isn't it?"

Carrie gave a small jump, glancing up to find Hestia peering up at her, a vague smile upon her thin, chapped lips. "Unforgivable Curses my arse! It's not Tonks' fault she can reduce a grown man to tears at thirty paces with those stinging hexes of hers! The moron should've learnt how to dodge properly!"

Carrie managed a rather uncertain smile as she reached to put the paper back down upon the table.

"I um...I brought you some tea." she said, gesturing vaguely in the steaming beverage's direction, and Hestia offered her a grateful grin, only to yawn widely.

"How are you today?" Carrie asked her, and the witch let out a heavy sigh as the muggle reached to pick up the tea.

"Sore...they tell me they're running out of triple strength pain potions. Remus says had he known he wouldn't have downed two last full moon. That's ridiculous of course, can't have him off his feet too long, the man's got work to do!"

As she carefully held the cup up to the witch's lips, Carrie swallowed a lump in her throat.

"He certainly does." she agreed dismally, and after taking a few sips, Hestia let out another sigh as she recalled:

"We're lucky to have as few injuries as we do. They're brutal, the Ministry's Dousers. Every time they take muggles it's like Queenswood all over again but with the roles reversed."

"Where is Queenswood?" Carrie wondered, reaching to snatch up a tissue from the bedside table as a stray few drops of tea dribbled down the witch's chin. For a moment Hestia paused, vaguely embarrassed as the muggle mopped up the mess, before she recalled:

"It's a village in Kent...always been very popular, there have been wizards living there on and off since the Middle Ages. Not too busy, you see, they've only got a couple of shops and a pub...nice place, Charlie says. He used to have a girlfriend who lived there, when he was at Hogwarts...didn't last long, he told me once, what with his ongoing prank war with Tonks. Girlfriend got jealous or something, thought the two of them had some sort of insane love-hate relationship going on. Laughable really...can you even imagine them? Charlie and Tonks an item? Ha! Anyway the muggles extended the railway from London out to Queenswood, so it's started to get busier these past ten years...no wonder there was so much trouble!"

There was a long pause as Hestia drunk some more tea, before the dreaded subject finally arose and Carrie felt her stomach twisting into knots.

"I heard about your parents." Hestia said, voice suddenly uncharacteristically soft. "I'm so sorry, it must be awful."

"Mmm." Carrie mumbled, shifting her feet uncomfortably, and Hestia's fingertips brushed feebly against her arm, a vain and struggled attempt at comfort.

"You've got all of us, you know." the witch murmured. "You've got the Order. And Remus and Tonks and Teddy, they'll always be around for you."

"Remus and Dora are...planning something." Carrie said, gaze upon the witch suddenly piercing. "Do you know anything about that?"

Hestia frowned deeply, biting a lip in thought.

"That would depend..." she mused. "Has it to do with the muggles in Swansea?"

"No. It's something to do with me, something they think they are obliged to do for me." Carrie explained, before out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of the newspaper again. "And something to do with that newspaper article."

There was a long pause as Hestia struggled to turn her head to gaze considerately at the newspaper, before she sucked in a slow, deep breath and muttered:

"Well they've got balls, I'll give them that."

Carrie's eyes widened and she leant forward a little, heart beginning to race in her chest.

"What? What do you know?"

Hestia pulled a face.

"Well, nobody's said anything to me about it, so I can't say I really know anything." the witch said as the muggle leant forward even more. "But if I know Remus and Tonks...which I reckon I do pretty well..."

"Yes?"

"I'd say they were going to try and smuggle your parents into St. Mungo's."