Cult Potter
Wanda: Whew! It's so good to be on summer break!
Tyene: If it were just a few degrees cooler, I'd agree with you.
Wanda: Now all I need to do is write a bit more, spend a weekend at Great Wolf Lodge, and go to a beach, and I'll be the happiest, shiniest girl around!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Chapter 25: Summer Vacation
"The Time Turner project...volunteer for a year round experiment sponsored by the Department of Mysteries. Special care required...only certain people will be selected. 'I heard about it from Hermione, I thought you'd be interested.'" Edith read off of the pamphlet had been clipped to Ginny's most recent letter. "Time travel device... That sounds fascinating."
Remus chuckled, knocking back another mug full of coffee before glancing over at her. "You've heard about that? I thought you'd find that interesting."
"...I think I'll submit an application." Edith said, striding towards the Floo.
"Using a Time Turner is incredibly stressful, Edith!" Remus warned his goddaughter. "You should keep that in mind."
"If I only use it for studying." Edith responded, tucking her dark red hair away from her eyes. "C'mon, Remus. I'd get all the rest I could need, more time to spend with my friends, more time to learn, more time to do everything I could want."
Remus looked surprised. Edith shot him a small smile before asking, "You only thought to use it for studying, didn't you?"
The werewolf had the grace to blush. "It was that, or allow your father to drag me into time-travel pranking. I don't think Professor McGonagall would have ever forgiven me for that...or Professor Snape, for that matter."
"I heard all about that." Edith remarked, her pen scraping against the page as she wrote. If only the school would allow it, she would never use quills at all. Those things were nonsense. "The professor certainly has a lot of unpleasant memories about that."
"He told you?"
"I asked about my mother; he was the only person who really knew her before I met you. He told me a lot, and gave me some pictures that Hagrid hadn't had access to. Between that and what you told him, I got a good impression of what happened back then."
Remus winced, nervous that this had affected Edith's good opinion of him and Sirius. "Yeah...we were young and foolish back then."
Surprisingly, Edith just giggled and smiled at him. "Everyone's made mistakes in their lives. Sirius said that you were usually the one reigning in their worst instincts."
"In retrospect, I wish I had done more." Remus admitted, cutting up the pancakes and moving them onto the two plates. Sirius was currently at St Mugos for his weekly therapy, so he had eaten already. Just three days and he was already looking leagues healthier than when he had been named a free man. Edith, meanwhile, had slept in once again, having taken another street searching night several hours earlier.
This time, she had located many homeless individuals she had seen before while wandering the streets as a younger child. Having bought several Tardis-tents by mail order, Edith handed them out to the ones who knew her face, while arranging for ambulances to pick up those too sickly for her to handle alone.
"You were the Gryffindor Prefect at the time, right?" Edith inquired lightly.
"Yes," Remus said with a sigh. "I suppose I was afraid that if I came down too hard on them, they wouldn't want to be my friends. I'd been alone most of my life, so that fear usually got the better of me whenever I could be convinced it 'wasn't that serious'." He gave Edith a slightly pleading look. "It's not something I'm proud of."
"Everyone has something they regret." Edith responded, her green eyes flickering slightly at this. With a click of her tongue, she finished off her letter and summoned Missy. "Deliver this to the Department of Mysteries for me, please. It's for the Time Turner Project."
"Absolutely, Mistress Edith." Missy chirped before vanishing with a crack.
"Those two elves really like you," Remus noted, referring to Dancia's house elf Dobby who was often seen around the house. His eyes flicked over to the clock. "Edith, shouldn't you be heading for the park now? Miss Greengrass's letter said the meeting would be in ten minutes."
Edith swore and leapt to her feet. "Language," Remus chastised her with a smile.
"Har har. I really need a wristwatch!" Edith said before sprinting out the door. Tristan let out an amused bark before chasing after her.
~At the Park~
"So you got here without much trouble?" Edith asked Daphne, Astoria and Tracey after sitting down on the bench. The warm sunlight soothed her skin and made the entire park seem to glow. This was one of her favourite places to be, no matter what the weather was. There was a swing set nearby, which Luna was trying out. Given the blonde girl's smile and laughter, it was a hit. Ginny was looking around curiously, while Sally and Hermione kept an eye on Luna.
"Well, we got a bit lost initially," Tracey admitted, looking a little embarrassed, "but Sally found us before too long and set us straight." She let out a small sigh before giving Edith a super interested look. The streets in this place are so full of things to look at. Video games, books..."
"If you hadn't been so worried about showing up on time, you'd probably still be back in the heart of London, pawing your way through Victoria's Secret." Daphne noted teasingly. Tracey blushed slightly and glared at her friend. Daphne raised her hands defensively before saying, "I can hardly deny my own fascination. Mundanes certainly have clothes going for them."
Edith chuckled, looking around. "Where's Hannah and the rest?"
"Ron's holding up Hannah's group because he's super interested in the muggle toy shops." Ginny explained, looking both amused and fond at the comment. "He said he wouldn't be too late, he just had to get a better look at some of those things." her smile took on a teasing note. "I think he wants to bring a video camera to the Quidditch World Cup."
"The what?" Edith asked curiously.
"Oh, you haven't heard yet?" Sally's eyes lit up. "It's the finale of the Quidditch season! It'll be the biggest event in the wizard world since the Tri Wizard Tournament! There will be people from all over the world attending to see it!"
A shout caught their attention. It was Ron, Hannah, Flora, Hestia, Neville, Susan, Colin and Cho, having just turned the corner and overheard the talk of the World Cup. Ron, sure enough, was carefully holding a video camera in his hands. Colin had shown him how to wrap the leather strap around his shoulders, but he was still a bit nervous about it getting damaged. Neville was still looking all around him with awe, trying to take in every detail.
"The World Cup is awesome!" Ron enthused. "Dad's taking me and Ginny, I've been asking about this since I was five." He smiled at his tutor and friend. "You should come along, Edith! It'll be like nothing you've ever seen before, even the bouts at school."
"Hmm." Edith meditated on that for a moment. She had figured on spending all her time at home, but she couldn't deny she found the Cup interesting...besides, Sirius had been a Quidditch fan, he'd probably want to go. She'd ask him when he returned from the day's therapy. "Sounds like fun, considering how it's been hyped up for me."
Cho beamed. "Oh, that's wonderful! I don't have to kidnap you to bring you along after all." Despite her dainty appearance, Cho adored Quidditch had had been on the Ravenclaw team ever since the start of her second year.
Edith blanched slightly while Hermione chuckled; as Hannah sat down on the redhead's left the group's bookworm dug through her bag and pulled out a newspaper. "Edith, I was wondering, would you happen to know anything about this?"
The Girl Who Lived leaned towards the headline and smiled. "Miracles at the Hospital – Doctors at loss for an explanation. Twenty six in critical condition mysteriously healed." On the front page was a picture from the hospital, with the families in the midst of celebration. "Oh, I don't know – do we know anything Hannah?"
Hannah pressed one hand against her mouth to stifle her giggles. "Maybe," She said. "You should have seen Nick's expression when I told him what I knew."
"Is that good or bad?" Ginny asked as laughter spread through the group of friends.
"He wants to learn to heal too, now." Hannah explained with a fond smile. "He wants to be able to bring people miracles too. That's what he told me."
"That is so nice," Susan said warmly. "He's a good kid, Hannah."
"Always was." Hannah noted. "Nick felt pressured to be a warrior and a fighter, but he was always a bit quiet and gentle. I think he'd make a great healer."
"How old is Phoenix, again?" Edith asked. She hadn't met the boy officially, but they had been introduced over the phone. He sounded nice.
"He's seven." Hannah responded. "Seven and adorable. He likes to think he's more mature and intelligent than he really is."
"Like Flora," Hestia said teasingly.
Flora threw her arms in the air. "You're only a minute older than me! We're twins! When are you ever going to let that go?!"
Ron and Colin both snickered a bit at this. Flora shot them a look that could melt glass, causing both boys to spend a second trying to hide behind each other. Luna giggled at the scene from her swing, along with Hermione.
"I wish we had done a bit more," Hannah said, "but we would have needed more hands to spread the work across."
"You already did a lot." Flora responded. "Those people are going to remember that for years to come. The good will from healing the critically injured among the population is and has always been staggering."
"Well, once I'm sitting in the Minister's chair at the heart of Magical London, I'll have all the hands I need." Edith said with a small smirk. Ginny nodded in agreement. "Of course, at first I'll have to deal with our own internal problems. Once I know everything possible, I'll turn to your aunt, Susan."
Susan nodded. She had spoken to Edith multiple times about ensured support from the useful branches of the Ministry, including the DMLE run by her aunt Amelia. She knew that under the right circumstances, Amelia would be more than happy to throw her hand in with the Girl Who Lived – she hated being stifled by Fudge and unable to truly protect those who needed assistance.
"Did you get my letter including the Time Turner Project?" Ginny asked her best friend slyly.
"Yes, indeed I did. I submitted my application just before I arrived here." Edith responded, leaning back against the bench. "There's so much I can and plan to do with it. Have any of you also submitted to the project?"
"I did," Hermione said. "I found it when I was browsing some Ministry applications with Blaise." At the group's surprised and curious looks, she flushed. "What?" She asked defensively.
"Nothing," Cho said, suppressing her smile. Hermione and Blaise had been spending a lot of time reading together, thanks to shared interests. It was a pity that Hermione's troubles with social skills meant she wasn't understanding the looks Blaise occasionally threw her way.
"I submitted," Ginny volunteered.
"So did we," Daphne added, nodding towards her younger sister. Astoria grinned. "I have this sense we won't be using it for school work?"
"Oh, god no." Edith chuckled, though Hermione pouted slightly at that. "That wouldn't be very inspired, would it? No, I have different ideas, and I'm glad to share them with you at a later time. Now, how about we head back to the house and see about getting those Quidditch tickets?"
End Chapter
Time Turners are severely underused. Plot points aside, there are a lot of different ways you can use them. This is also Edith's first encounter with the Department of Mysteries, so there's that too.
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