Time Interned
Repercussions, an Epilogue
The ear-slitting shrieks were too much inside the tiny sitting room. Harry loved The Burrow, he really did, but it was not equipped to handle so many children simultaneously, not by Harry's standard. He didn't know how Arthur and Molly had managed to raise their seven rambunctious children in such tight quarters. As he escaped to the kitchen, he found his answer; the Weasley men were sitting at the table, sipping firewhiskey and listening to a Quidditch recap on the Wizarding Wireless.
"Pull up a chair, Harry," Arthur instructed while Charlie poured him a drink. "First one off to Hogwarts is always the hardest; it gets easier with each one."
"Cheaper, too," Charlie winked. "Gotta love hand-me-downs."
Ron made a face, "Easier for you, maybe. Tonks is into everything looking all punk and patched. She tears up Teddy's clothes on purpose!"
During his school years, Ron had suffered most from the passed-down wand and pet. If he had his way, each of his kids would never know anything but brand new. His daughter, Sienna, had a new wand, new robes, new books and even an owl so new it could barely fly. His wife, Rose, thought he was being a bit too extravagant with his money. Like Ron, Rose knew what it was like to have very little; her family had been stigmatised by her father's condition, but after the war things got better. The wizarding world became less prejudiced, and Rose could put her considerable talents to good use.
In her case, it helped that she had been essential to Harry during the war, and, even as the child of a werewolf, she was sought after by the Ministry and offered a job in whatever department she chose. Even growing up wanting and rolling in Galleons from her job, she was not nearly as prone to throw her money away as Ron was. Her mother had been very practical despite being French, and she learned that thrift and moderation made their earnings go a long way.
Still, she did enjoy pampering her daughter just as much as Ron did.
"Ignore him," Charlie smiled. "It gets easier. Sending Arty off to school was much worse than Teddy."
"Doesn't seem any easier," Harry commented into his glass. Albus was being just as loud, if not louder than James was. He wanted to go through every single book and try on every robe, hat and glove; he, Ron and Charlie's children were filling the sitting room with their school supplies.
It would take the rest of the week to sort out which robes belonged on which child and which books belonged in which trunk.
Little Lily Potter and Hugh Weasley, who still had a couple years before they got trunks of their own, were digging into Harry's old trunk to play dress up. Ginny and Tonks thought it was the cutest thing they had ever seen and were taking enough photographs to blind everyone in the room. While Harry thought his daughter was the most precious thing on the planet, he had seen it all once already.
"Daddy!" Lily ran into the room, followed by Tonks and her camera. The woman tripped on a chair leg, but managed to keep herself upright long enough to snap a photo of Harry holding the little girl in oversized Hogwarts robes.
"Look what I found!" Lily pushed a yellowed letter into her father's face. He craned his head back to be able to make out the words.
"To the Honourable Mr Harry Potter?"
"What's honourable?" Lily asked.
"It's something your daddy isn't," Ron commented. He got a kick under the table for it, too.
"Honourable is someone who always does the right thing," Harry told her.
She tipped her head to the side and looked at him, "Are you honourable?"
"I like to think so," he smiled. That was good enough for her. She jumped out of his lap and ran back to the sitting room to tell all the older kids that her daddy was honourable.
"So, Honourable Harry Potter," Ron grinned. "What's that letter about?"
Harry looked at it. The paper was thick and expensive. The seal was still solid, even though it looked like it had been sitting around for some time. He did not recognise the writing or the letter, yet it had been in his old school trunk. Remembering how high he had been on Voldemort's hit list, he didn't trust the letter not to be some long-delayed attempt on his life. He waved his wand at it, but nothing happened.
"It's clean. Open it," Ron poked him. "I'm dying to know who would have the nerve to call you honourable."
"Git," Harry muttered, but prised the wax from the paper and opened it. He scanned the page and his eyes fell on the author and the date written at the bottom of the page. His brow knit together above his glasses and he read the letter properly. His eyes grew wide. The men around him didn't say anything. If his reaction was any indication, the letter was more serious than the address would indicate.
Harry read the letter three times before he set it down and hurried to join his wife and children in the sitting room.
"Oi! Where you going?" Ron called.
"I'm missing it," Harry said and disappeared through the door.
"Who sent it?" Arthur asked, curious to know who could have written a letter to make Harry so eager to be with his children.
Ron shrugged and opened the letter and read the signature, "Sirius Black⦠March 1977?" He passed it to the others. "Was it Hermione, you think?"
"Must have been," Arthur said. "She wrote that she was going back, didn't she?"
The door open and Tonks managed to walk in without stumbling on anything. She stole her husband's drink and was shocked that Charlie didn't protest. "What's going on?" she asked, worried.
"Thinking about Hermione again," Charlie said.
"Ah," she nodded. She remembered Hermione, Harry's smart friend. The girl had disappeared in their sixth year and Tonks had been one of the Aurors brought in to investigate. There was no evidence of coercion or dark magic, so it was dropped. The case was still officially unsolved.
However, all the Order members knew that Harry received a letter via Muggle mail that summer giving him a full and proper explanation.
Even though she left Remus's name out of the letter, they all suspected that the man's very clever French wife was really Hermione without her memories. George, more than anyone, loved pointing out that Ron was married to Lupin's kid, and therefore would have married his friend's daughter. Magic and time travel aside, that was just wrong in Ron's opinion and he ignored the idea entirely.
"Still don't know why she went back," he muttered.
"Of course we do!" Tonks insisted. "That Remus Lupin was a handsome bloke. I would have back in time for a bit of that action."
"Oi!" Charlie protested and pointed at himself. "Husband right here!"
"I know," Tonks leaned in and kissed his cheek. "And I love you, Charlie. I'm just saying Lupin was hot, even for an old man."
"Oi!" Arthur protested. "Old man right here!"
Tonks laughed and gave her father-in-law a kiss on his cheek, too.
