Inter Arma

by Pitry

On James Sirius Potter's fifth year, the goblin war came to Hogwarts.

10. Waiting for Tomorrow

Chapter 10 - Waiting for Tomorrow

I'm sure you've heard by now. Dad's gone, too - he laughed about it and said his retirement didn't last very long, but I could see he's worried. Mum's almost hysterical. Dad kept on telling her that Harry's the best and nothing's going to happen, but she doesn't look too convinced. Looks like my Christmas turned out to be a disaster too. Things will probably calm down soon, though. Talk to you soon.
Colleen

Things didn't calm down. They spent most of Christmas day at the Burrow. Andromeda didn't show up in the end, but sent a owl with her apologies. The Malfoys had ended up staying in her house for the entire holiday - not a surprise, considering Teddy must have told them what had happened.

Al told James in whispers about the argument he had overheard between Dad and Draco Malfoy, and James thought that much like Colleen's mum, Draco Malfoy and his family must be scared to death.

It didn't matter that Andromeda didn't come. It wouldn't have been fun without Teddy anyway, and James knew that Teddy was with Dad - and with Ron. Hermione looked just as worried as Mum, and at some point, they went upstairs to talk about things without being overheard.

They went back to their home to sleep. His grandmother wanted them to stay at the Burrow, "Until things calm down, there's no point in you staying in that house all on your own," she said, but Mum said no. She didn't say why, but James knew - she wanted to be home when Dad got there.

There was someone home when they came back - but it wasn't Dad. James rushed upstairs because he heard noises coming from the bedroom, as did Mum, but the man there was unfamiliar. He had long, dirty blond hair, small beady eyes, and a huge nose. James was sure he'd never seen him in his life, and his mother's reaction had confirmed that she hadn't, either.

The man, however, seemed positive he had every right to be there. "Hi," he said behind his shoulder as he opened Dad's wardrobe and started shoving clothes into a bag.

"What's going on?" Mum said. Her wand was out, and aimed at the man.

He blinked in confusion, then said, "Oh!" and all of a sudden, he started to change. The huge nose shortened, drawing back into itself; the black eyes turned a greyish brown, the stubble was gone, and the hair, while still the same length, turned light blue. It was Teddy.

"Teddy!" James said at the same time as his mother, who added, "You scared me half to death."

"Sorry, Ginny. I forgot how I looked."

Now she looked at the bag in his hand. "Harry's not coming home tonight?" she asked.

"Sorry." Teddy shook his head, looking slightly abashed, as if he had done something wrong. "Things are a bit hectic... I'm sure it'll go back to normal soon."

"Yeah," Mum said quietly.

"Gotta dash, guys, Ron asked me to pick up some stuff for him as well," Teddy now closed the bag and put it on his back. He put his hand on Mum's shoulder. "He'll be back before you know it, Ginny," he said. Mum nodded, then shook her head, as if dismissing the whole situation.

"Go! Before he decides you took too long and takes it off your salary," she said.

Teddy laughed in response. "No one's taking a penny out of my salary. Hey, we're all on holiday overtime, I'll finally be able to afford that bike! See you, James," he said and rushed down the stairs to the fireplace.

Dad didn't come home the next day, either. They were supposed to go to Lysander and Lorcan's for Boxing Day, or at least, that's what he remembered Mum and Dad saying. Now, instead, Hermione came with Hugo and Rose. There was no respite from his worried family.

On one ridiculous moment he had written to Colleen and suggested he dropped by her house. The disappointing answer was that it would be better if he didn't. Her mother was too upset, she said, and they were going to her grandparents'. He crushed the note into a small ball and stared at the rain outside.

"James, we're up for a game of Exploding Snap, you're coming?" Lily peered into his room.

"No, I'm fine," he said and threw the paper into the bin.

"James, we're up for a game of Exploding Snap, you're coming?" Lily repeated, word for word. Not quite an innocent query then; he got the hint. "Yeah," he sighed and got up from his seat by the window. "I'm coming." He got bored of the game quickly, but it seemed the rest of them were a bit calmer when everyone was there.

By evening they had even more company. Instead of going to the Scamanders, Lysander and Lorcan showed up at their house, and Mrs Scamander entertained them all with stories about how she went hunting for Crumple-horned Snorcacks in the Scottish Lochs one time. It was the first time he saw his mother smiling in two days. If Dad just came back home now, he knew, everything would be alright.

The next morning he woke up and went for breakfast, only to find everyone already there - including Teddy. Teddy had a horrible gash on his cheek, and was bleeding furiously over the kitchen table. The small napkin he was holding to his cheek didn't help at all.

Mum's first aid kit was on the table, and she was looking for a potion to best stop the bleeding. James, of course, already knew them all, having been subjected to each and every one of them from the age of four onwards.

"Don't use the blue one, it stings something terrible," he said.

Teddy laughed, then twisted his face in pain. Blood started trickling down his hand and into his sleeve. "Hold still," Mum warned him as she took out a small green bottle, and used a few drops on the wound. The bleeding stopped.

"There," she said. "Good as new," and passed her wand over his cheek to close the wound.

"Cheers, Ginny, you're a live saver. Gran would have forced me to quit in an instant had she seen it."

"She's just worried, Teddy," Mum said.

"What happened?" James asked, in between bites of his toast.

"A run-in with some Death Eaters. Damn, they still remember their curses after all those years in Azkaban."

"Did you catch them?" Lily asked immediately in a hopeful voice, and was crestfallen when Teddy shook his head.

"We were close, but no luck this time. Actually, that's kind of why I'm here. James, Harry said you actually got to see one of the Death Eaters that wasn't in Azkaban before everything started?"

Lily and Al looked at him surprise. He hadn't told them, of course. He knew Dad didn't want him to share it with anyone. But now he just nodded.

"He asked me to see if you can identify that Death Eater."

James thought for a moment. He remembered the goblin, with his beady and unkind eyes. He remembered what he talked about with Lorcan and Lysander and Colleen, he remembered how the Hog's Head looked like, although that wasn't hard as it was mainly dirty. He remembered the tattoo on the Death Eater's hand. But he only had the vaguest recollection of the Death Eater himself. He just didn't think the man was important enough at the time. "I don't remember," he said at last.

"It's alright," Teddy said. "I brought some pictures, to try and see if you can identify anyone."

"I don't know," James said again.

"Hey, it's worth a shot, no?" Teddy asked, and James had to agree that yes, it was.

Teddy brought out a book, full of pictures. They were, apparently, all Death Eaters. "We didn't take out the dead ones," he said apologetically.

"It might turn out that someone you thought was dead isn't so dead after all," James completed the sentence, and Teddy nodded. "Exactly," he said.

James went through photograph after photograph. They were all old photos, must have been at least twenty years old. All the people in the photographs seemed unpleasant, and leered at him.

There were a few women there - apparently, they didn't bother taking them out as well, even though the wizard he had seen was definitely a man. James didn't pay them much attention, until he came by a photograph that looked disturbingly familiar.

"Er, Teddy," he said quietly and pointed at the photo.

Teddy looked for a moment, biting his lip. "They really look alike, don't they," he said, and James allowed himself to breathe. It wasn't Andromeda. Of course it wasn't, he thought to himself, don't be a fool. Dad would never have allowed Teddy to grow up with Andromeda had she been a Death Eater.

"It was her sister," Teddy explained. "Bellatrix Lestrange." And then, after another pause, "Harry thinks she's the one who killed my mother."

In a different day, James might have made a flippant comment about Teddy's family. But between the memories of this Christmas and his own nervousness, he didn't really feel like he could comment.

Instead, he tried to put Bellatrix Lestrange out of his mind and concentrate on the other photographs. Most of them didn't look right. They had the wrong hair, or a nose so big that he was sure he would have noticed, or something sinister about them. That was the point, he thought - that wizard didn't look sinister, just nervous.

"But what if I'm wrong?" he asked Teddy. "What if I'm going to dismiss someone because his hair has gone grey in the past twenty years or because he didn't look as evil now as he did then?"

Teddy shrugged. "Then we'd be exactly where we started and no harm done."

"And what if I identify someone who turns out to be the wrong one?"

"Then we'd have a wild goose chase for a bit. James, trust me. Don't worry about it, alright? Just point anyone who might look to you familiar."

In the end, James ended up picking four different photographs. The people in them didn't look similar at all, and James looked at Teddy apologetically when he compared the four of them. "They don't even look alike," he said, "sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Hopefully one of them will lead us to the right track."

"Yeah."

"Anyhow - "

"You have to go."

"Yeah."

"Teddy? How's Dad?"

"Busy," Teddy sighed. "And he's making sure all of us are busy, too." He laughed, and James allowed himself a laugh, too. "You'll see him in no time," Teddy promised. "A day or two, at most. I'm not supposed to tell you this, but we're pretty sure we've got their trail. Your dad's the best, James." Teddy's eyes lit up. It was obvious he thought of Dad with nothing short of admiration. "The Death Eaters who gave me this, they were trying to get Harry too, they were using some really nasty curses. This is nothing compared to what they threw at him. Nothing could touch him. You should see him in action - well, you shouldn't, you're way too young for that," he amended, then smiled. "But he's the best. This will end in no time at all."

James had heard this once too many, and snorted in disbelief. Teddy just laughed again. "Honest. Harry and Ron are already following up a trail - again, don't tell anyone, especially not your mum, alright? She'd kill me if she knew I told you and not her. Next time you see an Auror, it will be your dad. I promise."

But the next time James saw an Auror, it was Teddy again. It was two days later, and he woke up in the middle of the night. He wasn't sure what woke him up, and so he lay in bed in silence, thinking perhaps it was a dream. But no - he could hear someone walking downstairs. Dad's back! That was the first thought that came to his mind. He checked the time, and it was the middle of the night, after 1 a.m. - just like him, too, he thought to himself, but couldn't feel a grudge. He rushed down. The door to Mum and Dad's bedroom was also open, and there was nobody in the room - a good sign.

But when he went down to the kitchen, it wasn't Dad's voice, speaking in a low, fast tone, as if afraid to be overheard. For a moment, he thought it was Ron - but then he walked into the kitchen and saw Teddy's blue hair, his head bowed next to Mum's, holding her hand.

"What's going on?" he asked.

Mum jumped. She didn't even hear him come down. Teddy looked at him. He was a lot paler than he was the last time he had been there, and looked a lot more tired, as if he didn't sleep at all those past few days. He wasn't cheerful at all.

Mum looked tired, too. James was shocked to see her, hurriedly wiping a tear from her cheeks as she tried to hide it from him.

"What's going on?" he asked again.

Teddy bit his lip. Mum looked away.

"Did something happen to Dad?" None of them answered. "Look, I'm not a kid anymore, I'm old enough - you said so yourself," he turned on his mother. "If something's happened to Dad, I want to know!" He knew he was probably looking ridiculous, standing there barefoot and in his pyjamas and demanding to be treated like an adult, but he didn't care.

In the end, it was Teddy who answered. "We lost contact with him. And with Ron."

"When?"

Teddy bit his lip again. "A couple of days ago." Right after he was there, in other words, promising James that he'd see his father in no time.

James sat down at the table. "What happened?" he asked, more quietly now.

"We got some information about where the Death Eaters might be hiding. It wasn't a very reliable tip, and Harry was afraid it was a trap or something. He didn't want all the Aurors to go there without some concrete evidence. Even if it wasn't a trap... could have turned out to be just someone innocent, you know? He didn't want to send everyone there before we were absolutely sure. So he and Ron went on a reconnaissance mission, just to see what we're up against."

"And?"

"And we haven't heard from them since."

Mum wiped another tear.

James just stared at Teddy, hard. "What are the chances that they're..." he didn't want to say it. "Could something have happened to them?"

"James, Harry's the best, and he's even better with Ron at his side. If it were anyone else, I'd be worried, really. Two days is a long time, yeah. But with these two... Your father and uncle have been fighting together since they were your age. They did some impossible things together, you don't know half of it. They're going to be alright. I wouldn't lie to you about that, okay? You trust me?"

James hesitated, then nodded.

"Then trust me on this. There's nothing Harry and Ron can't do together. Nothing. And they've been fighting dark wizards for years. They know what they're doing. They'll be alright."

"But you're looking for them?"

"Yeah, we're on the clock, scanning the whole forest where they were last seen, the nearby villages, the lot. They'll get to us before we'll get to them, though, you'll see."

James stared at his hands for a moment. "What could have made them lose contact?" he asked finally.

When he raised his head, Teddy looked taken aback. "Well?" he asked.

"I don't know, James," Teddy admitted. "It's not like them."

"So something could have happened to them!"

"Look, it could be something as silly as losing their wands. And then they're stuck walking home."

"Oh, come on, how often does someone lose their wand?"

Teddy smiled now. "You'd be surprised. Someone disarms you, you dive looking for your wand in the wrong direction... next thing you know, the fight's over and you're without a wand. It happens more often than you'd think."

James nodded, without much conviction. Teddy got up. "Walk me to the door?" he asked.

"Okay."

"Ginny," Teddy said, holding her hand again. She wasn't crying anymore, just looking at him with a determined look.

"I'm fine, Teddy, really," she said.

"Sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. If you need anything, anything at all, just let me know, okay?"

She laughed. "I was going to say the same thing to you," she said.

"Good. I'm dying for one of Molly's cakes. Come on, James."

They stopped at the door. Teddy put his hand on the handle, but then talked to James. "Don't say anything to Al and Lily, James," he said.

"'Course I won't!" James said, his voice slightly too loud, then he lowered it again. "I'm not stupid, you know. They'd freak out."

"Yeah." Teddy smiled and made to open the door, but now James stopped him. He wanted to ask the question, but didn't want to ask it near Mum.

"Teddy," he said, and his voice shook slightly when he talked. "What are the chances something's happened? That they didn't just lose their wands or whatever?"

"There's always a chance, James," Teddy said, his voice just as quiet as James's. He, too, didn't want Mum to hear, James realised. "It's a dangerous job."

"So they could be hurt."

"Yeah." Teddy looked now right at James. "But I wasn't lying earlier. Anyone else, I'd have assumed the worst by now. Not with your dad, though. He knows what he's doing. He fought Death Eaters when he was fifteen, and from what I gather, he was quite good at it already then, alright? Now I really gotta go. See you soon."

He hugged James and left.

James didn't want to go to sleep. He went back to the kitchen. Mum was sitting at the exact same spot, her head in her hands.

"Mum?" he asked, and she raised her head. She wasn't crying, he was relieved to see.

"Hey, James. Want some tea?" she asked, as if she realised he was looking for an excuse not to go back to sleep yet.

"Sure."

She touched the kettle with her wand. It started whistling almost immediately, and she poured him a cup of tea.

"Man, I was I was seventeen already. I hate not being allowed to do magic outside school," he said.

"Just two more years. You've managed fifteen already without doing magic at home."

"Not true," he pointed out. "Remember when I was eight?" She laughed. He didn't know how to control his magic then, of course. No kid at that age knew. And whenever he had a fight with Al back then, things would break and smash. It drove his parents mad.

"I don't think I've ever seen a kid with so much magic bursting all over the place," she said. "Al and Lily weren't half as bad as you were."

"I'm special," he declared, then drank a bit of the tea. "Is there any of Grandma's cake left?"

"Go and check."

"Ah, the days I'll be able to use magic..." he said in resignation.

She snorted. "You'll find it's not really fun when you have pieces of cake smeared everywhere," she said.

"I'll just be more careful than you." She raised her eyebrows in doubt, and the both of them laughed again. He cut her a slice, too - she didn't ask for any cake, but he thought she could do with some. She ate it without comment.

He thought of what Teddy said for a moment. Dad and Ron did some impossible things together when they were fifteen. And wasn't that what Mum had shouted at Dad on Christmas eve? "Mum?" he asked carefully.

"Mm?" she said with a mouth full of cake.

"What was Dad like, when he was my age?"

"Just as stubborn as you are," she said.

"Come on."

"I didn't hang out with them at school too much, James. It was mainly Dad and Ron and Hermione together all the time."

"Still. It's not like I don't know what Roxanne or Hugo are like."

"He was stubborn. He got into trouble all that year, we had this horrible teacher, Harry was always in detention with her."

"Dad? In detention?" What glorious news!

"Yeah," Mum laughed. "Spent just about that entire year in detention - and the next, and that one was really annoying because by then we were dating, and instead of spending time together he was stuck in detention!"

"Next time he says anything about me getting myself into detention - "

"You'd do well to remember that you're a Prefect and he wasn't," Mum pointed out.

"So you started dating when you were in the fifth year?"

"Yeah. But just towards the end, most of that year I was dating Dean Thomas - "

James spat half of the tea in his mouth and almost choked on the rest of it. "Professor Thomas? Colleen's dad? You dated Colleen's dad?"

"He's a great guy," she said in a whimsical way. "And very good looking. He looked even better back then."

"Ew, Mum!"

"What? Don't tell me you thought your dad was the first man I ever dated?"

"No, but - Colleen's dad? That's disgusting!"

She didn't answer. He took it as an invitation to ask more. "How come Dad was already fighting Death Eaters when he was my age?"

She shook her head. He kept on staring at her, until she said, "It's a long story, James, and things were - "

"And things were different back then. Yeah, yeah. How come Teddy can know this stuff and I can't? He's not that older than I am!"

"He's seven years older than you."

"It's not that much."

"Really?" she raised an eyebrow. "Seven years ago you were eight years old. And we wouldn't have had that conversation."

She sounded annoyed, but not annoyed enough for him to stop. "And now I'm fifteen, and if seven years is a lot of time, then that's a lot older than eight."

She snorted. He kept on staring at her. Eventually, she said, "It's easier, for your dad. To talk to Teddy. A part of it is because feels like he owes Teddy, because of Remus and Tonks, and a part of it is just because he's not Teddy's father."

"Yeah, he's his godfather!"

"It's different. It's not the same kind of responsibility. Harry's..." she considered her words for a while. "You don't know what it was like back then. And he doesn't want you to know. And sometimes he doesn't want to remember it himself, you know? It was a bad time, for all of us, but for him more than anyone. It's not because he doesn't trust you, James. It's because he doesn't know how to tell you all this."

James opened his mouth to speak but the hour did its part, and despite himself, he yawned. It must have reminded Mum of the time. "Go to bed, James," she said.

"Yeah," he stifled another yawn and got up. "You're going to sleep, too?"

"Soon."

"Mum... you heard what Teddy said. It'll all be alright."

"Yeah," she said. She didn't bid him goodnight.

-X-

They spent New Year's at Hugo and Rose's house in London. Their grandparents were there, too - their Muggle grandparents, who brought them a bunch of Muggle gifts. The five of them sat together, trying to figure out what each of those gifts actually were.

"That's a computer game," Hugo said with certainty about one small, rectangular box with colourful drawings on it.

"Could be a BluRay, though, couldn't it?" Al asked, and James couldn't help but thinking Al had no idea what BluRay was. He certainly didn't have a clue.

"Nah, they know we don't have a telly," Hugo said.

"What's that?" Lily showed another gift. They all looked at it thoughtfully for a moment.

"It's another computer game?" Al asked dubiously.

"Can't be," Hugo said. "They don't come with their own screen."

"Mini-telly?" Rose suggested.

"Are you kidding? Mum will kill them, she told them a thousand times she doesn't want a television in the house. 'Sides, it's too small."

"Could be a computer," James suggested. He was running out of ideas.

"No keyboard. Also, it isn't large enough."

"A mobile phone?"

"Too large."

At that moment, their grandparents walked into the room.

"Granddad, what's that?" Hugo raised the unknown object.

"It's a tablet," his grandfather said.

The five of them looked at each other, trying to pretend his words made sense.

"I'll ask Mum what it does," Hugo whispered, and put the mysterious 'tablet' on top of the pile.

They had finished with all the presents - and were deep into the process of trying to bake something in Hermione's Muggle oven - when they heard the familiar noise of someone entering the house through the Floo. Hugo stopped with the flour in his hand, listening for an indication of who the new arrival might be. He needn't have bothered - Hermione's cry of "Ron!" was heard through the entire house. The five of them put everything down and rushed through the door and into the living room.

"Dad!" Hugo and Rose shouted at once.

"Hey, guys," Ron said, and let go of Hermione only for long enough as to give his son and daughter a hug. Lily and Al also rushed forward, but James stayed behind and studied him for a moment.

Ron was filthy. Despite the change of clothes Teddy must have brought him, like he took for Dad, Ron's clothes looked like he had stayed in them for a week - in a forest. He was full of mud and soot. His red hair could just as well have been brown, with all the dirt that was stuck in it. He clearly hadn't shaved all the time he was away - his stubble was already a beard. There was a wound on his cheek, too, one that looked a few days old.

"Ron, thank God," Hermione kept on saying. James realised she was sobbing.

He felt a hand on his shoulder - Mum.

"Ron," she said, and he smiled a huge smile. "Hey, Ginny!" he said and hugged her, too. And then Hugo jumped in for another hug.

"You smell like hell."

"Yeah, I need to take a long bath!"

"But where have you been?" Hermione demanded.

Ron looked at her in confusion. "My wand was broken, I had to stop pursuing them. I had to walk all through that damn forest until I found some village - and even then, I had to start looking for houses that looked like they had wizards in them, so I could use the Floo back here. I should have called you, I know. If it would have taken me any longer to find a wizarding family I would have. But by the time I was anywhere near civilisation I thought it's better to just get here as soon as possible, you know?"

"Oh, Ron!" Hermione said again, still sobbing, and hugged him a third time.

"Mum, it's alright," Rose mumbled, looking at her little brother with incredulous eyes. "He's here."

"But how come Harry didn't tell you we got separated?" Ron asked once Hermione let go of him.

The room went absolutely still. James's heart sank. Can't be, he thought. No.

"What?" Ron looked from Hermione to Ginny to James, and back all over again.

It was James who found his voice first. "Dad's not back yet," he said.

Even through all the dirt, he could see see Ron had gone as white as a ghost. He looked for a moment at Hermione, who was no longer sobbing, but nodding slightly. "I need a wand," he said. She handed him her own. He turned on the spot and disappeared without another word.

Mum just sat down on the nearest sofa, looking completely stricken.

James went back home with his mother not long after. Hermione wanted them all to stay, but Mum said she preferred they went home. Maybe Dad will be there, she said, even though she didn't sound too convinced. Hermione held her hand for a moment, then they both hugged.

Al and Lily wanted to go with them, but James told them not to. "There's no point in all of us sitting there doing nothing," he said quietly as Mum gathered her stuff.

"We want to go!" Lily insisted.

"Lily, Mum will just be more nervous if you're there. Really. Please, stay here with Hermione?"

Hermione, who had stopped helping Mum find her things and walked towards them, nodded. "I was just going to suggest the same thing. James, I think you'd better go back with Ginny... it's not such a good idea to leave her on her own. But you guys are staying here."

Lily pursed her lips. Al looked like he was going to start shouting - or crying - or both.

"Guys, please," Hermione said. "You're not going to stay here all the time, I'll talk to Molly, we'll all go there tonight, alright? Ginny, too."

"If anyone finds out anything..." Al started

"We'll probably hear before they do," Hermione pointed out. That was the only thing that could convince Al. He nodded. Lily, who saw now she was defeated, stomped angrily towards the sofa and sat there with her arms crossed, but didn't argue anymore.

"Don't worry about her," Hermione told James quietly. "I'll cheer her up."

"Hermione... if you guys do hear anything before we do..."

"We'll let you know," she said.

Staying at home proved no better than staying with Hermione. Mum sat in the living room with a book, but her eyes didn't move and she didn't turn the pages at all. James sat next to her. He wanted to try and talk to her about something funny that would keep her mind off things, like the night Teddy was there. But nothing came to his mind. They just sat there in silence.

An hour and a half after they got home, there was a knock on the door. They both jumped. Mum rushed to open it, but it wasn't Dad, nor was it Ron. It was the Minister for Magic, accompanied by Teddy.

"Hi, Ginny," the Minister said in his booming voice.

"Kingsley," she said. Her voice was steady, and she was looking straight at him, as if challenging him.

"Can we talk?" he asked her.

"Sure."

They went upstairs. James wanted to follow them, but Teddy grabbed him and shook his head. The two of them went back to the living room. Teddy sat down on the sofa, but James refused to sit. He stood in front of Teddy, his arms crossed, not unlike Lily's when she heard she was staying with Hermione.

"What happened now?" he asked. "What's he telling her. Is Dad..."

Teddy shook his head. He looked harassed and worried. His hair wasn't his usual teal, but black and sombre. For some reason, it just made James more nervous. "He's just telling her what we know, James." He wasn't talking anymore about how Dad was the best and how he wasn't worried.

"Which is? What do you know?"

"I can't tell you that."

James could feel the temper rising in him. He had to bite down the anger, or he would have started shouting at Teddy. He knew what Teddy would say then - that he was acting like a kid, that this was exactly why he wasn't being told anything, that he couldn't be trusted. That was what Dad thought anyway, wasn't it?

The resentment rose in him again. They were never told anything! And now Dad was missing and he was still not told a thing and the urge to start shouting was getting stronger and stronger and he didn't care if it made him childish.

He took a deep breath. Even if shouting was the answer, Teddy wasn't the right address. That really would be childish, he knew - Teddy had only been an Auror for four months or so. He probably didn't know everything himself, and even if he did, it wasn't his decision anyway.

He sat down next to man who had always been like a big brother to him. He thought of Teddy's parents, who had died before he even got to know them, murdered by Death Eaters, before he asked his question. "Is Dad alive?"

"Yes."

"Do you know for sure?"

"Yes."

"How?"

Teddy shook his head. "I can't tell you, James. I'm sorry. But he is alive. And he's going to stay that way."

"Have the Death Eaters got him?"

Teddy didn't answer. James discovered he couldn't sit down after all, and jumped to his feet, pacing around the room. Teddy would have said no, he knew, if his guess was wrong. Which meant he wasn't wrong, even if Teddy couldn't confirm. That Teddy didn't try to lie to him was a small comfort now.

"How can you know for sure he's alive? You don't know how the Death Eaters are working!"

Teddy bit his lip for a moment. "Because Harry is the Minister's right hand man. He knows everything there is to know about the Ministry. They're not going to kill him."

James started protesting, but Teddy continued. "They're not going to kill him as long as they think he can give them information about the Ministry. That's how long he's got. As long as it takes for them to realise he's not going to give them what they want. That's at least a couple of days yet."

These words didn't make James feel any better.

"James," Teddy spoke quietly now, "we're - the Ministry - we're doing things we're barely allowed to do. Kinds of magic we'd never usually even think about. Just to get your dad back. In fact," he smiled a small smile, "if Harry knew what we were doing, he'd probably start shouting at all of us that we're mad and irresponsible and what exactly are we thinking. He'll probably do it anyway, once he gets the chance, if I know your dad at all. But that's not going to stop us. Alright?"

When he didn't answer, Teddy asked again. "Alright?"

"Yeah," James said quietly, and sat down.

Teddy stayed with them even after the Minister came down with Mum and left the house. James thought he'd leave with the Minister, but Teddy said he still had a couple of hours, and spent the rest of the time telling jokes so ridiculous that even Mum ended up laughing, even though her eyes were red and puffy and her laughter sounded more like hiccups.

He volunteered to stay and wash the dishes in the kitchen for a bit, which James thought was rather odd, because Teddy hated doing the dishes. When he insisted on going up with James to pick stuff for everyone before they went to the Burrow for the night, the Knut finally dropped.

"Teddy," he said quietly, trying his best to sound unconcerned as he shoved some of his pyjamas into his backpack, "you're not by any chance assigned to protect us or anything, are you?"

"Why are you asking that?" he asked with such an air of indifference that James knew he was right.

"Teddy..."

"It's a shot in the dark, but we don't want to take any chances," Teddy admitted.

"Why would they go after us if they've already got Dad?"

Teddy scratched his ear uncomfortably. "Your father's a symbol for a lot of people, James. You know that. The way these people operate..."

"So what, we're a symbol now too just because we're his family?"

"James, these people escaped prison and after more than twenty years, instead of running off to some far away country where they can't be found, start killing people again. What does that tell you about them?"

"That they're stupid?" James suggested, but Teddy shook his head.

"They're a lot of things, but don't underestimate them and think they're stupid."

"Then what? What's the point? No one believes in them anymore, Voldemort is long gone, what's the point?"

"What indeed..." Teddy said quietly.

"D'you think they'll try to do something to us? To get Dad to tell them stuff?"

"I think nothing's going to happen," Teddy said with such resolution that James didn't ask again.

They finished packing in silence, except for the times Teddy picked up an exceptionally ridiculous shirt for Al or Lily and James had to tell him they'd never wear it in a million years. Then Mum called them from downstairs, and they picked up the bags and rushed down. James was to go with Teddy straight to the Burrow through the Floo network. Mum said she will Apparate to Hermione and Ron's house in London to pick up Lily and Al.

They all met at the burrow some fifteen minutes later. Grandma already knew they were coming, and did her best to talk and talk and talk, James rather thought not to give them the chance to think too much. Soon Mum got there with Al and Lily and Grandma called them all for dinner and insisted that Teddy should stay, and then Hermione showed up as well with Rose and Hugo. George and Angelina showed up after dinner with Roxanne and Fred, who was back home after last six months in Brazil, and the Burrow became its regular hectic mess. It had its benefits, James knew. They didn't have time to be worried. It wasn't until they were all sent to sleep in the various rooms of the house that he had time to himself.

Even then, he still couldn't show how worried he was. He was sharing a room with Al, and he didn't want to give his younger brother any hint of what he knew. He was being a hypocrite, he knew - he was now doing to Al the same thing that almost made him shout at Teddy a few hours earlier. But thirteen, he decided, was a lot younger than fifteen.

Most of the next day was spent at the Burrow. They wanted to play Quidditch in the back yard, but Al all of a sudden got a headache. Al's timing couldn't possibly be worse - Mum needed cheering up, and besides, they almost never got the chance to see her play. James knew that even then they wouldn't really see her play, simply because none of them was a match for her. He tried to get Al to join them by teasing that he was just afraid of the cold and the snow, but it didn't do much good. If anything, Al just became more stubborn and unresponsive. Eventually, he gave up, and he and Lily ended up passing the ball on their broomsticks

He did get his wish a couple of hours later - Angelina and George showed up again, and they tried to organise a little game, James and Mum versus Angelina and George. It was one hell of an education for James - he had never been in a game this fast, even though there were only two players on each side. Mum, of course, didn't really need him to get past George, but Angelina scored their side their fair share of goals - and got past James every time.

It was almost fun - almost, because Dad was in everyone's mind. And when Angelina and George started reminiscing about some game they played during school and ended up mentioning both Dad and Uncle Fred, everyone became so, so quiet. And then it was already getting dark and cold

It wasn't long after they all came back into the house that Mum declared they're going back to sleep at home tonight.

"Ginny, stay tonight, no point in you staying there all by yourselves," Gran tried to say, but Mum shook her head.

"I'd really rather just stay at home, Mum," she said.

"Do you want me to come with you? Or Hermione, maybe?"

"No, it's alright, besides, the zoo here needs you."

Hugo and Rose started protesting being called a zoo, but Grandma just shushed them off, and the four of them departed through the fireplace back home.

James didn't realise at first what was different. There was light in the living room, but he thought they must have forgotten to turn it off when they left. Mum was so nervous and had so many things on her mind, that turning off the light really was the last thing she'd think of. Then there was the sound, like water running in the pipes, but he didn't pay it much attention, either. In fact, it wasn't until he went to take off his shoes and put them at the entrance that he realised what was different. There, next to the door, where they usually were, he saw a pair of boots that wasn't there before, covered with mud.

"Mum!" he called.

Mum was in the kitchen; Grandma had given them the usual amount of her delicious food, and Mum told Al to help her put it all in place. They hadn't been to the door yet, hadn't taken off their own shoes yet.

Now, she rushed to the door from the kitchen. "What is it?" she asked.

"Dad," he said, and pointed at the boots.

"Oh, thank God," she said. She grabbed the bannister for support, and James rushed forward, to make sure she won't fall. She was terribly pale. "I'm fine," she said and laughed, but there were tears in her eyes. "I'm fine. Just..." She didn't finish the sentence. Instead, she hugged James so tight. He didn't mind. He just hugged her back, holding tight to her. Dad was alive and well and home. When she let go, she smiled at him again and ran up the stairs, rushing to find Dad.

"What's up?" Al and Lily came in, too, and James just grabbed them both for a hug.

"Dad's back," he said.

They stayed there, at the entrance, sitting on the stairs and chatting in unending relief. For the first time in a week, they allowed themselves to be happy. Al was telling a bunch of really stupid jokes, which, James suspected, he heard from Teddy; Lily kept on babbling nonsense, talking for the sake of talking. After about half an hour, James had enough. For some reason, he started looking at Dad's boots. Perhaps it was because it was the only thing of Dad's he had seen for a week; perhaps simply because they were there.

They really were filthy - completely covered in mud. He could only imagine what Dad's clothes would look like - probably worse than Ron's. But the mud had a strange colour - parts of it were deep brown, others looked more reddish. A thought came to his mind - was it all mud?

He just reached with a hand to test the reddish substance on the boots, when someone said "Tergeo" from upstairs, and the boots were all of a sudden clean and shiny, as if new. He looked up, half in annoyance, half in relief.

Dad's hair was only half dry and already sticking up in all directions. His old lightning-bolt scar was visible even more than usual - for some reason, it looked a lot more red now than James ever remembered seeing it. There were a couple of other scars next to it - new ones, James thought. Underneath his eyes there were dark bags. He had a huge bandage on his shoulder, and was in the process of pulling up a jumper with obvious difficulty - he had to put down his wand on the bannister in order to put it on. But beyond all that, he was wearing a huge grin.

"Dad!" Lily jumped first and rushed upstairs to meet him half way. He was still struggling with the jumper, and had to stop in order to hug her, then said, "Hold on, hold on!", finished putting it on, and hugged her again. Al was next, and engulfed Dad in another hug.

Someone laughed - Mum, who was also sporting wet hair and was now in her comfortable house robe, was leaning on the door to their bedroom and laughing. "Let him breathe," she warned.

James stayed at the bottom of the stairs. By now, the excitement of seeing Dad again, of knowing he was alright, had passed. Now he was mainly angry. Angry with a week of being worried sick, angry with the past couple of days in particular, with everything Mum had been through. Angry, he realised, because Dad had the time to get home and shower, rather than rush to the Burrow and tell them that he was okay as soon as he could. Angry that yet again he was hiding things from them, even when they weren't about the past, but about the here and now.

"Hey, James," Dad said, not yet realising just how angry James was.

"Hi," James said coldly.

"So, anything interesting happened while I was gone?" Dad's voice was casual and light-hearted. If he noticed James's tone of voice, he pretended he didn't.

"Not much," James answered, trying to sound as indifferent as possible. "We were just sitting here worried sick for all that time without a scrap of news. How was your week?"

The words had an incredible effect, not just on Mum and Dad, but on Lily and Al as well. It was as if, all of a sudden, they remembered that they, too, had suffered all that week. James had expected them to say it didn't matter anymore now that Dad was back and to tell him to stop being mean. Instead, Al stopped hugging Dad and took a few steps back, and Lily looked uncertainly at her two brothers.

"My week was just brilliant," Dad said jokingly, trying to defuse the tension. It didn't work. Now Al walked all the way down to join James, and Lily took a few steps back, too.

"I don't think this is the time for this, James," Mum said quietly from upstairs.

"It's never the time, is it?" he answered. The door bell rang. He ignored it. "There's always some excuse," he continued, "some reason to pretend nothing's going on or act as if we're five year old or something."

The door bell rang again.

"No one's acting as if you're five years old but you now," Dad said, unable to hide the irritation in his voice. The door bell rang a third time. "Is no one going to get the damn door?" he said.

"No," was James's answer, and Dad just walked down to get the door himself.

"Harry Potter?" someone asked on the other side. They all stopped and listened now - who'd need to ask that question?

"Yes?" Dad asked. In his voice, James could still hear the anger.

"I am Detective Inspector Jones, this is Detective Inspector Smith, we need to ask you a few questions."

They all look at each other in confusion. Muggle police? What were they doing here?

"I'm sorry, this isn't a good time," Dad said. His voice changed - the anger was gone. It was completely unreadable now - and he could see his back, too, straight all of a sudden, tense. "Could you come again tomorrow?"

"I'm afraid it can't wait until tomorrow, Mr Potter. This is about a man called Antonin Dolohov - ah, I see you recognise the name. Then perhaps it will interest you to know his body was found, not far from here?"

All of a sudden, Dad reached with his left hand behind his back. The right one was still on the door handle, and there was no change in his demeanour, nor in his voice, but the left hand was now wide open, stretched back, then opened and closed in an almost snapping movement. James understood all of a sudden. Give me a wand.

Mum grabbed Dad's wand and rushed down the stairs to put it in his hand.

To the cops, Dad said in a pleasant voice, "Hold on a minute, I just need to - " then brought his wand forward and aimed it at the two of them. "Obliviate," he said quietly.

James stepped forward. He could see the two policemen now - they were big and tall and wore grey suits. One of them was holding a badge in his hand; the other - a photograph. And there was a strange, distant expression on their face.

All of a sudden, one of them shook himself up, as if from a dream. "I'm sorry to bother you, Mr Potter. Thank you for your cooperation," he said, and the two of them left.

Dad closed the door and leaned on it for a moment. He looked exhausted.

"What was Dolohov's body doing near here, Harry?" Mum asked.

Dad shook his head, then went to the fire. He stood in front of the fire, threw some of the powder in, said 'Auror Office', then again - "Seamus".

A moment later someone appeared in the fireplace - Seamus Finnigan, Trishana's father. "I thought Kingsley told you to take sick leave until the end of the week? I know for a fact he told us not to let you work." He sounded impatient, almost annoyed, when he said that.

Dad rolled his eyes. "I know. I'm not working, this just can't wait."

"Can it ever?"

Dad ignored him. "You said Dolohov got away."

Finnigan's face darkened, and he was clearly angry when he spoke next. "He did get away."

"Muggle police just came knocking. They found his body not far from here."

Finnigan swore, then opened his mouth to say something, but Dad cut across him. "Get the Obliviators there now, and make sure they question anyone who was here before they wipe their memories. Also, I want to know who cursed him."

"Look, Harry, I don't think this is necessary - "

"I want to know how he died," Dad didn't even let him finish the sentence. "Check the body and check the wands if you have to, okay?"

For a moment, it looked as if Finnigan was going to refuse, but at last he said, "Okay."

"Alright," Dad said.

"Get some rest, will you," Finnigan said, then went through the fireplace back to the Auror Office.

"Sorry about that," Dad muttered. Mum, however, was almost glaring at him. "What was Dolohov's body doing near here?" she asked again.

The door bell rang.

Dad swore, and went to open the door again.

"And what do you want?" he said with such hostility, that could be heard throughout the entire house.

"Now, now, Mr Potter," said someone - a woman. James didn't recognise her voice. "Aren't you going to let me in?"

"No," Dad said, rather rudely.

"I think you'd want to," the woman said again. They walked into the room - the woman first, her head full of platinum blonde curls, her green eyes darting around the room. "Oh, and this must be your family! How wonderful!" she said.

Dad came in just behind her. He didn't look pleased at all. "You're not going to talk to my family, Rita, and we're rather busy, so whatever you came here for, please just say it and leave."

"My, my," she said in mock concern. "I'm here to get your official comment on a story we're running, Harry."

He snorted. "You mean, your latest rubbish. The one story I'd like to read is how you ended up being the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Prophet."

"Wouldn't you just," she smiled. Her smile looked insincere to James, but Dad didn't comment, and she continued. "This story, however, is about the Death Eaters who escaped from Azkaban."

"Ah, in that case, you should write that they've been apprehended and are transferred back to Azkaban as we speak, under maximum security. Feel free to add that the head of the Auror Office says that with quite a lot of satisfaction."

"I'll be sure to let my readers know, Harry," she said, her smile still wide. James understood now what she reminded him of - a shark. "That's not the story we're running, though."

"That's the story you should be running."

"Do you want to write it, too? I could just sign my name to it and it would be off to print."

"I'll be happy to sign your name for you on it as well." His words sounded like a joke, but James knew his father well enough. He wasn't really joking.

"I'm sure you would. In the meantime, our story is actually about how the Death Eaters didn't escape because the Auror Office messed up in the first place, you'll be happy to hear."

"Oh?"

"Apparently, the goblins orchestrated the whole thing."

James couldn't help but admire his father, even for just a little bit. There was no change in him at all. "That's the first I hear of that," he said in the exact same tone as before.

"Is it? My sources tell me you were the one who somehow came up with that information, out of the blue."

"Your sources are wrong."

"How can you tell? Maybe they're right and you just haven't figured it out yet."

"Your sources are wrong. Who are they, by the way?"

She ignored the question, and instead offered a new one of her own. "And how about those rumours that the goblins attacked Hogwarts again on Christmas Eve?"

"Also wrong."

She laughed. "Is that the Auror Office's official comment?"

"Yes."

"Well, I'll just leave now. Don't worry, you can read all about that in tomorrow's Prophet," she said, and turned to leave.

But then Dad called her name. "Rita," he said, and she turned around, a victorious smile on her face. "Don't print that story."

"Free press, Mr Potter. You can't tell us what to print."

"Don't print the story," he repeated.

"Or else?" she said. He didn't answer. She laughed. "Goodbye, Mr Potter."

Dad was already halfway to the fireplace when Mum said, in a voice much sharper than usual, "It can wait, Harry."

"I'm sorry, Ginny, I need to - "

"It can wait."

They stood and stared at each other for a while. Finally, Dad nodded. "What's for dinner?" he asked.

They ate dinner in silence. Dad tried to start a conversation every once in a while, or made a joke, but James refused to talk about anything but the last week, and eventually Dad gave up altogether. By the end of dinner he was already yawning loudly, and not long after he fell asleep on the sofa. His wand, which he had been clutching all night long, fell to the floor with a clunk.

James got up to his room, and did not come down again until he went to sleep.

He woke up once, in the middle of the night. At first he wasn't sure what woke him up, until he realised there was some light coming in through the door. Someone had opened it and was standing in the doorway.

He didn't need to turn around to know who it was. Dad. For a moment, the anger and frustration of that entire day - that entire week - came back to him, and he started turning in bed. Then he heard Dad's voice. "It's okay," he said in a familiar whisper, "go back to sleep."

The door closed again, leaving Dad on the other side. James stared at the wall a long time before he fell asleep again.