"And you are sure they are gone?" Molly Weasley, usually happy to allow her husband or her sons to contribute to the Order meetings had, on this occasion, having not been there herself, felt she had to ask the obvious. "Can it be that they are hiding,that he is in hiding, like he was last time? Someone shielding him? Someone helping?"
In the living room of 12, Grimmauld Place, it was standing room only. All of the Order were there, Mrs Figg as well as Mundungus Fletcher, hovering at the back by the door as though, should an escape route be needed, he could use it.
"We have to convine the Ministry," Bill added. "I know that there were plenty of Aurors present, but you know the Fudge's ear has been bent by Dolores Umbridge."
Dumbledore surveyed the Order, his most loyal followers. So many had given up so much; so many had sacrificed loved ones, careers, friends, even their own lives. And they deserved the truth, which he had given to them. That is why, a week after the collapse of the veil's archway he had called a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix, to begin at eight o'clock sharp. It was now after 1pm, and there were still questions. He understood their concern: Cornelius Fudge would not believe it even if he had been there, which he had been, as the veil crumbled and vanished.
"We do not have to convince him of anything," Percy Weasley replied, pushing his spectacles up his nose. "Voldemort has gone; the Death Eaters are in Azkaban. Dumbledore has reported to them. If they choose not to believe us, then so what?" Percy looked around the Order. "Yes?"
"Er, yes," Bertie nodded, as astounded as everyone else that Percy of all people suggest to forego protocol.
"And you say Sirius was to go, but Cecilia went instead?" Arthur Weasley looked unconvinced, as he glanced weightedly at Sirius Black. "I realise, Dumbledore, that you have explained that his part was one of an act with the Death Eaters, but perhaps you were not standing where I was standing?" Arthur folded his arms and addressed Dumbledore with more determination now. "He vowed to carry out his blood deed in this very room and, from where I stood, it pretty much looks as if he did it."
Sirius said nothing, but lowered his chin, his black eyes boring into the side of Arthur Weasley's cheek. However, murmurs to that effect were being passed around from mouth to mouth. They too were there; they too had witnessed Cecilia's attack by a wizard who had marked her name six months before.
"If, as you say, you were playing your part, Sirius," Bathsheba asked, "and I do believe you, if you say you were," shw added, hastily, "then where is she?"
"Yes, where is she?" asked another voice. Mad-Eye Moody, his dynamic eye circling in its socket fixed momentarily on Sirius,and he tapped his cane on the floor. But Dumbledore had raised a hand, before indicating Tonks should speak.
"Hello, everyone," Tonks nodded, her hair a deep, black colour and fashioned, for the moment, into a rather trendy up-do, which she thought suited her. When she had everyone's attention, Tonks continued. "I wish to call silence for the memory of those who we have lost in the course of our battle three days ago. First," and then she gulped, looking across to Sirius, before steadying herself, "Remus Lupin, murdered in Azkaban for being a half-breed; Ted Tonks, my Dad, murdered as he defended his home; Nick Smith - " at this, Tonks whimpered, and closed her eyes, the tears that had filled them at the mention of Remus's name now uncontrolled rivulets down her cheeks.. Molly, who was standing next to her, took her hand and, with the other, took her shoulder.
"...Bertie Braddle, lost at the Department of Mysteries," Molly continued, reading from Tonks's list. "Sturgis Podmore, lost at the Department of Mysteries; Kingsley Shacklebolt, lost at the Department of Mysteries." She took a deep breath, then looked at her husband, before she added, finally, "Cecilia Frobisher, lost at the Department of Mysteries."
As one, or almost as one, the wizards bowed their heads, the names of those read out running through their minds, some closing their eyes, some looking away. As they stood there, Dumbledore added one more name to the list, his addition coming as a surprise to some, who jerked their heads in his direction.
"Lindvald Halen, lost at the Department of Mysteries."
"Indeed." A voice, not heard as yet in an Order meeting, spoke the word clear and true. She had loved her cousin and been devastated by his loss. It had been Sturgis who had put her in contact with Dumbledore, and where the whole plan had begun with the last Timesmith. But it had been Lindvald Halen, as known as Aloysius Lupin, the grandfather of Remus and Caelius, who had been the catalyst. Without him, Tabitha knew she, and the other verson of herself, would never have collected the memories needed to trap the three most evil wizards of all time. Of all times.
Though not a member of the Order, Tabitha Penwright also lowered her head, her pale blonde-brown hair catching the light of the sun,
"However," Sirius sat up, his back resting against the fireplace, his voice low, defensive. "Cecilia should not be mourned, for, despite what some may think - " he threw a defiant look back to Arthur, "I did not murder her. Dumbledore, I want that put on record. Indeed, it was in my atonement for my...rashness towards her at the Yule Ball that I took on your offer to assist in the way only I could: to infiltrate the Death Eaters and pretend I was one of them."
"Yes," Dumbledore said, holding up a hand to the crescendo of discussion that was starting up came to an abrupt halt. "Sirius Black is not guilty of murder. He did not kill Cecilia Frobisher, we just do not know where she is."
"But, I heard him say the words!" Benjamin Wergs declared, his mouth open, aghast. "Are you meaning to tell me sk her life in a long facade in order to defeat Voldemort and have Sirius pretend to do it?"
"To eliminate Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked, "of course, wouldn't you?" When Benjamin said nothing, Dumbledore turned to their guests. Ron, Harry, Hermione, Neville and Luna all raised up a hand. "Well done. You were all very brave."
"Especially you, Harry." Sirius shifted in his seat as he focused his grey-rimmed eyes on his godson. "To take an experimental potion which could have killed you took nerve. Your father would have been proud."
The room fell silent. Harry shifted uncomfortably, then said, as if he ought to say something, "Thank you, Sirius."
"And now what?" asked Benjamin Wergs. "What is to be done now? And what happened in the Department of Mysteries?" Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley exchanged glances. They had been discussing this very topic since the beginning of the meeting four hours before. Can it really be that he didn't understand?
"The plan that we put in place, that has been in place for decades, was carried out, Benjamin, and- "
"Yes, I know that!" replied Benjamin, testily. "I know what I saw, what happened there. But, what I don't understand is why – what caused it all to happen?"
"Physics," replied Dumbledore. "Physics with relation to magic."
"What?!" he exclaimed, shaking his head. "What I mean is - " Benjamin broke off, though, when he saw Tabitha Penwright's hand in the air. Dumbledore nodded towards her. Tabitha, her pale face blushing as she began to find the words in her head to explain.
"I am no Order member, it's true," she began, taking the floor in front of them all. The children shifted forward, keen not to miss anything from the most unpopular teacher at Hogwarts. "But, I am sworn as a Reciprocator. Only a Reciprocator can do what we did, Albus Dumbledore," she added.
"Indeed," agreed Dumbledore. "I was the last Reciprocator. In order for Tabitha to fulfil her part she needed classified information." Tabitha looked uneasily at Dumbledore before continuing.
"Thank you, Professor," she nodded. "It is a little complicated and, at first, involved me locating myself in the alternative reality that Aloysius Lupin knew to be the one which was just right. The "Goldilocks" reality."
"Goldilocks Reality?" Ron exclaimed, "What do you mean, "Goldilocks Reality?""
"It means," explained Tabitha, patiently, her eyes alive as she told of her task, one several decades in the planning and which she herself had been selected by Aloysis Lupin. By what criteria, she had never asked, but on being approached by Dumbledore, she had always told herself it was because of her own ability to solve mysteries almost by accident, because of, not in spite of, her weak magical ability. It had been this which had spurred her on, given her confidence where she had lacked it all her life. Her ability to delve where strongly-magical wizards had failed, had given their lives was a privilege, and she had put up with Dolores Umbridge knowing that her mysteries were always there, answering to her. She had been sworn in as a Reciprocator and, in doing so, had vowed to tell no-one of what she was doing, or about to do, not even Vincento, who now lay dead on the cold floor of the Department of Mysteries, or Gregor, the Head of the Department, who was astonished when she had explained to him what she had done to rid them of Voldemort.
"Aloysius needed to find a dimension when there was no Lord Voldemort, where an Albus Dumbledore had never defeated a Gellert Grindelwald in 1945, who had been working together, who were growing impatient to attempt to lead wizards as a superior group of citizens to live above and away from non-wizards. He found one and I and the Tabitha Penwright there worked together, though apart, on our own sides of the veil.
"Dumbledore and Grindelwald were allowed to see that somewhere beyond the memories was physical, tangible access to a place where all that they held dear, suppression of non-wizards, supremacy of magic, existed, and that Lord Voldemort had endeavoured to bring it about, and was again, endeavouring to bring it about a second time. Their desire to gain power meant they could not ignore the existence of Voldemort, and the appearance of Cecilia underscored their objective." She looked at Dumbledore, who gave her the briefest of nods, bedfore continuing.
"I banked on this, for I know Dumbledore, the Dumbledore from the reality Aloysius chose. He is me, a product of what I may have become if I had made different choices eighty years ago."
"So, we carried out our own parts, the other Tabitha and I. But we needed someone with a link to both realities to go across, in order to initiate the events that would precipitate in Gellert Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore attempting to use the Veil."
"So a trap then? A kidnapping?" Mad-Eye Moody stepped forward, his voice speaking for them all.
"Indeed." Dumbledore nodded, slowly. "Sirius, here, long ago volunteered to go. It would have been, for him, a suicide mission." Sirius lowered his head, but said nothing.
"At the last minute," Dumbledore continued, "and after discussing the plan with Severus, he and I hit on a change of plan. If Cecilia Frobisher went, not only would she be able to return, unlike those with strong magic, according to the Universal Link – the "W" gene, which though Tabitha, I am sure she will not mind me saying, does possess, but is, shall we say, temperamental and can be "switched on and off". This would then buy Cecilia time to work on the potion." He looked over to Tabitha, who nodded.
"And so, when Grindelwald and Dumbledore appeared, in search of Voldemort, Tabitha – the other Tabitha, and I were able to break the entrance to the world of souls in both our realities. All three of those abominable wizards are trapped, and will be for all eternity." There was silence for a good few minutes while everyone at the Order meeting thought about this.
"How do you know they will stay there?" asked Bill Weasley, after a time.
"Because, of Aloysius Lupin. His meddling with time, for all his great intentions, almost resulted in catastrophe. For him, at least, it is a life sentence, his age diminishing should he re-enter a universe."
"But Voldemort," pressed Bill. "And Grindelwald and Dumbledore. They are the most powerful wizards who have ever lived. Won't they figure out a way to escape?"
"A good question," nodded Dumbledore. "You have heard of string theory?"
"Vaguely," Bill nodded.
"Imagine a ball of string with surfaces touching each other," Dumbledore began. "Well, this ball has been given to the cat, who has scratched at it and bitten it, pulled little shreds off it, and generally made the once very long strand of string into a matted, tangled mess. Even if it was ever unscrambled the fibres would be damaged and the original long strand deformed and broken. What Tabitha, and her counterpart in the other reality did was to tangle time irrepairably."
"That's not the same as saying they can never come back," Molly Weasley asked, over the muttering. "They may come back.
"It's the closest thing," said Tabitha. "The first wizard to make a horcrux is back there and he has been trying for nearly 3000 years to return. But there is nothing for him to return to."
Silence began its unsteady reign as the Order wizards considered this barely comprehensible explanation. At its coronation Arthur Weasley asked, "But how...how did all this get organised?"
"Tabitha...?" smiled Dumbledore.
"Well," nodded Tabitha, blushing a little as she tried to continue, "It wasnt me, or rather, it was. Not my consciousness, not my body and mind that had experienced the same experiences. So I will call her "she". She asked for the Head of the Reciprocators; she demanded to see Caelius Lupin. I knew neither of those names so I approached Gregor. Within five minutes she was speaking to Albus Dumbledore. Then she left. I didn't know what that was all about but, looking back, I know now that I had initiated it, and I had pre-arranged my first contact with the other reality me.
"Dumbledore then told me that if I were to be free of Umbridge then I should send a Dementor at a certain place and time to a village called Little Whinging. I scoffed. But his next answer convinced me. "She comes from an existence with no Voldemort, where muggles and wizards live in openness. She is attempting to alter the future to prevent two wizards taking political advantage." Then he mentioned a name I knew. I knew it because when I went beyond myself I had also encountered Aloysius Lupin."
"Why a Dementor?" demanded Molly Weasley. "To kill her?" Tabitha shifted from foot to foot.
"It has long been known that Dementors have the capability of altering time - condensing it, inflating it, bending it. Our department..." Tabitha cleared her throat, "...developed and exploited their potential. This time-altering ability has been controlled within an error margin of 0.05%. As you yourselves know, she did not die."
"So you can travel in time?" This question came from the back. Luna Lovegood, her eyes wide with amazement smiled at Tabitha as she asked her this.
"If time is viewed as a continuum, one long line of events in series, Luna. But Dementors can be controlled to use their...skill...to not only place an object or individual anywhere, but also anyWHEN. That, I am sure you will agree, is a mighty tool to have at one's disposal. They are used in Azkaban to keep the inmates in the time and place of their wrongdoing. This is why Voldemort was so desperate to win them to his side. And he, too, was obsessed with the veil, for he wanted to use them to get to the wizard he so greatly revered." At thus, Sirius shifted uncomfortably and looked away. "It is the prisoners' guilt, or their imagined guilt - " Tabitha glanced at Sirius, "and their ability to not escape, not the bars and locks, from it which is the true imprisonment."
"And so, a plan was formulated. I continued to pretend to be Umbridge's lackey while Dumbledore located a wizard prepared to risk his life to go Beyond and begin the process of joining the memories together by changing something in Joseph Black's memory. It had to be someone related to Black. Sirius was the closest person willing. From my understanding ge agreed to this on Boxing Day last year as a recompense for declaring Mrs Frobisher misborn. He would be kept safe by the Dementor's temporal time loop."
"OK," nodded Arthur Weasley, "I can see that. But how does it know it's doing that, rather than removing the soul? I've never heard of it before."
"Because it was developed by Aloysius Lupin, before his use of Salazar Slytherin's time-turner. Before this, he was Lindvald Halen. He had overreached his judgment in using his time turner, and inadvertently gave the rest of the time within his own timeline to the Dementors.
"I discovered this when Lindvald sought me out. We had been at school together, and knew of my, shall we say, fondness, for Gellert Grindelwald. I am ashamed to admit that there were moments, before I killed him, in this reality at l least, where I had second thoughts. You know that I took the boy Tom Riddle from his orphanage at the age of eleven?" There was a mutual mutter of assention to the statement. "Lindvald came to me because of both of these events and we discussed schemes whereby Grindelwald and Dumbledore – myself in another dimention – could be diverted to our reality for mutual destruction, which is what, ultimately, happened. Gellert never would work with anyone, and I knew Voldemort held him high esteem.
"When we changed the plan, I never did know whether it would work since Cecilia had gone instead of Sirius, but, clearly, it did. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
"What we didn't expect was for Mrs Figg to try to prevent this with her inert attempts, which caused Cecilia a little harm. She recovered and made her way here. We were having an Order meeting at the time."
"Never!" shouted one or two of the Order. Benjamin, remembering that Sirius had gone to the door during a meeting where the weather was most inclement pointed a finger accusingly at him.
"Yes," admitted Sirius, "she arrived here. It was the day that Dumbledore discussed our strategy of being at the Department of Mysteries."
"She insisted she went in my place," Sirius interrupted, getting to his feet and, for the first time in nearly five hours became an active participant in the meering. "She was concerned for Remus."
"I don't see how concern for Remus made a difference?" Molly asked. "He was in Azkaban, yes, and - "
" - he is dead," Sirius replied, savagely. "It was that she was concerned about. She wasn't thinking straight."
"Nor would I be after being Demented," Mad-Eye growled. "With her expecting and everything."
"I didn't know!" protested Sirius as several members of the Order, Tonks included, shouted to him their denouncement at his action. "Dumbledore wanted me to convince her to go, so that she could, as you heard, have the time she needed. She wanted to make a potion for Remus too," he added. "Not only wanted to, was in the process of making one."
"However," Dumbledore interrupted, "my premise that she had enough time for Harry's potion turned out to be correct. I explained to Sirius that if the plan worked, this would end the blood deed by safely discharging its threat. I banked on Mrs Frobisher gaining a little residual magic and that would be enough, should a wizard decide to use the blood deed curse to cancel out the effects and end the threat. The best way to do that was to have Sirius play up to his family name and appear to turn cloak on us all."
"You did that very convincingly, I must say," said Arthur Weasley, coldly.
"That's a lot of assumptions, Dumbledore," Mad-Eye added.
"So, where is she now?" asked Molly. "If she is alive, as you say, Dumbledore."
"Good point. Your brother murdered her mother and sister, Tabitha, on the assumption that it would bring him closer to Cecilia, who, Voldemort believed, knew a lot more than she did about space-time through Mysterious Mythology and he intended to use it to get to Grindelwald before destroying her. Cecilia may nor be alive," Dumbledore added, gravely. "Severus is now searching for her.
"So where is Mysterius Mythology?" asked Ben Wergs.
"I have it. Or rather, the other Tabitha did, taken from Septimus Lupin right before they Went. I am sorry, I was wrong over many things."
"Then you were in good company," said Minerva kindly. As everyone began to speak at once, no-one had heard the door, or the person who had entered and slid in amongst the Order.
"So, I propose this to be the last meeting of The Order of the Phoenix. You have voted in private at the start of this meeting when you arrived this morning whether, now Voldemort has been eliminated we should change our focus and found a new organisation to promote wizard-muggle co-operation and peace, that is, to continue, to all intents and purposes with the Reciprocators."
"Without putting a dampener on everything," Mad-Eye Moody interjeted, "Dumbledore, what is it that the Order has gained? What is its legacy? Because from what I can see - " he swivelled his dynamic eye to the front, "we have gained nothing."
"We have gained a wizard gone for good, who was terrorising our world," Arthur Weasley replied. "And deeper understanding of our place in the world?"
"True," Mad-Eye conceded. "But I cannot see a need for an Order, nor Reciprocators."
"Yes, Alastor," Dumbledore soothed. "I do believe muggles and wizards will always find a way to reciprocate knowledge and understanding a fraction more openly from now on without our help."
"And mistakes will be made!" he shot back.
"Of course. But, our descendents will be in a position of slightly less ignorance than we were in the past."
"What about Fudge?" asked Percy Weasley.
"Oh," murmured Dumbledore. "I don't think even he will stand in the way of this considering what we have already done. And Harry is well." He looked across to Harry, who had listened silently through the whole of the meeting.
"Yes, I am fine. Madam Pomfrey said so," he added. "And the healers at St. Mungo's."
"And now, as a result of the elimination of Voldemort, he no longer needs the blood protection of his Aunt. He has chosen to live with -"
"- with me, here." It was the first time that Sirius had smiled the whole of the day, and this time it was wide and broad, and intended only for his godson.
"And so," Dumbledore flicked his wand. A piece of parchment arrived into his hand. The anonymous votes had been tallied, "I take my leave from all members of the Order of the Phoenix. And I do hereby - " at this, he raised a white, bushy eyebrow, " - disband Order of the Phoenix." He folded the parchment. "It has done its job. We have worked tirelessly for the end of Voldemort and we finally have it. It only leaves me to praise your tireless, unending work, to which we have lost loved ones in the cause of fellowship and of peace. Friends, I thank you."
There was silence for a few moments, which was suddenly broken with applause, loud and enduring. Dumbledore accepted the accolade with gracious silence.
When it subsided, and the former members of the Order began to take their leave, Arthur Weasley raised a hand.
"A question occurs, Albus," he said, thoughtfully. "Who is Septimus Lupin?"
From behind them, the figure who had joined their meeting stepped to the front. "I would like an answer to that too," said Remus.