New chapter
Finally, it looks like the situation is getting better in many countries. I hope that you are all safe and healthy. We are all dealing with this lockdown and it is hard. Hopefully, we can all go back to our normal lives soon.
Laladomin8 welcome :)
Lucasvongamez welcome :)
mvk12 welcome :)
nikkistew2 welcome :)
huffledorcrackhead welcome :)
The Sweetest Things welcome :)
toritam welcome :)
JocelynHayley welcome :)
And finally for this week ZzZamZzZ welcome :)
xx,
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Thursday 9th of July 1998
Three weeks had passed since Hermione and Harry had moved in with Andromeda, baby Teddy and Kreacher at Grimmauld Place. What they all thought would be the beginning of something new and good, turned out to be quite the contrary. It had nothing to do with living together, it was because of what had happened the day that they had moved in.
As Harry had feared that afternoon had ended on a disastrous note. It had not been because of a fight between his two best friends even if Harry wished that Hermione and Ron had fought instead of what really occurred.
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Alicia and Charlie had ended up at St Mungo, badly injured after trying to catch the three Death Eaters that were still on the run. Audrey had been injured too and taken to St Mungo as well, however a broken leg seemed like nothing compared to Charlie and Alicia's injuries.
Dean, Seamus and Neville had found them after getting a SOS from Charlie. Unfortunately, they had arrived too late to catch the Death Eaters. Once more, they had already vanished.
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Since that day, everybody was worried, worst terrified as it seemed like they were impossible to catch. Somehow, they were always finding a way to escape. They were very powerful wizards and Dolohov's skills, when it came to silent spells or using his own deadly spell, were serious problems.
Kingsley was desperate. With his best aurors out of service, he had been spending most of his time out of the office. He had been moving heaven and earth to find them but till that day he remained unsuccessful. Indeed, since that day everytime that the Death Eaters were spotted somewhere, they were gone before someone arrived, as if someone was informing them so they could run away.
It was something that Kingsley was trying to avoid to think about as much as possible even though the idea that someone had infiltrated the Ministry was not letting him sleep at night.
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At least, Alicia and Charlie had finally come back to work at the beginning of the week. Trials that had been postponed due to Kingsley's absence had all been rescheduled for this week too. Since Monday, Death Eaters and other groups of Voldemort's supporters were, massively, sent, on a daily basis, to Azkaban.
Kingsley with the help of Percy, Bill and Harry, who had been temporarily named Junior Head of the Aurors Department to help Audrey while Alicia had been resting, had tried to understand what had happened that afternoon.
Alicia had been in coma for a couple of days with no memory of what had happened during the fight when she awake. She could remember fainted, an explosion and seeing her two mates fell but nothing else.
Actually, none of them remembered what had truly happened, not even Audrey. Like Charlie and Alicia, she had been found unconscious on the ground, few miles away from Plymouth's black market but Dean, Seamus and Neville had been able to awoke her before to take her to St Mungo.
Kingsley had called the best Healers of the countries to try to restore the memories of the three aurors but nothing worked. Healer in Chief Thomas went further than the others and concluded that their memories of the fight had been magically ripped off from their brains. Kingsley forbade him to spread his diagnosis around as the last thing that he needed was people gossiping and babbling about it.
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Saying that all this situation was frustrating was an understatement. Kingsley had so much on his mind. He had wanted to share his doubts, specially the ones about that time turner theory with someone but it was not easy. He was still very much afraid of having someone spying on them and he did not know who he could really trust.
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However, a couple of days ago, he had finally shared them with Percy. They were both working late on the sentences of the trials of the day, one of them was Greyback's and the other one was Yaxley's, when Kingsley who could not take it anymore, shared his theory with Percy.
Percy taken aback did freeze for a moment. He knew what Kingsley was thinking as Andromeda was still playing on both sides. Nevertheless, Percy had not expected to get a heart to heart with the Minister. Not knowing what to do without betraying Hermione and Fred, he spent most of the conversation nodding or agreeing without further ado.
« I am sorry for bothering you with my ideas Percy. It is late, you should go home. »
« Oh no, no, you aren't bothering me. I am just shocked. » explained Percy
Kingsley chuckled, who would not be shocked...
« Can I ask you a question. » asked Percy nervously
Kingsley nodded
« Why haven't you taken Mr Lovegood's special time turner yet. If you are so convinced that they need it. » exclaimed Percy who was really desirous to get that answer
Wasn't Mr Lovegood's special time turner, the key? Apparently, for Kingsley, it was not.
« Because they need McGonagall's time turner first. I guess that they are looking for this answer, we all are, aren't we? It is the real mystery » answered evasively Kingsley
Percy nodded oddly. He wanted to tell Kingsley that soon this would be over, that soon the time turner would be destroyed. Yet, he could not tell the truth specially now that Hermione had finally agreed to destroy the time turner after Luna's full moon party.
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Luna to cheer up the girls had decided to host a big full moon party with the girls at her house on Friday 10th of July. Reluctantly, Hermione had accepted to go. Indeed, she was not really looking forward to spend the night with Padma, Parvati, Lavender, Angelina and of course Luna's oddities but she needed a good excuse to flee from Grimmauld Place at night and spend the all night out.
As Andromeda had forbidden her and Harry to sleep elsewhere as long as Rookwood, Lestrange and Dolohov were still on the run, she had not been able to spend a single night with Fred since she had moved to Grimmauld Place.
Fred had no problem to bring her home way past curfew but they really needed a full night out to destroy the time turner. They needed a safe place to burn it and they could only do it during the night.
Hermione had tried to convince Andromeda to let her spend just one night out to destroy the time turner, insisting on the fact that Andromeda had been pushing her to take this decision but Andromeda had not budged. Everytime, she was replying that they could perfectly do it during the day, that there were a lot of places where they could go to perform the fire curse safely...
Hermione did not have the guts to argue with Andromeda.
She had tried another excuse, which was pretending that she was ready to have sex with Fred. She had explained that she did not want her first time to happen with Harry or George sleeping next door. She was naming George to be sure to take the flat off of the illegible places where Andromeda could suggest that it could happen safely. Again, Andromeda did refuse reminding Hermione that she could use plenty of spells to be sure to do not be heard or disturbed. Turning crimson, Hermione had gone upstairs frustrated and embarrassed. She had not lied about her feelings, she really could not think about doing it with Harry or George sleeping few meters away.
In fact, whenever she was making out with Fred on the couch either at home or at the twin's flat and someone was interrupting them, she wanted to hide herself under the couch. Having a steady boyfriend was still new to her and she was still adjusting to this situation like when George or Harry or worst Kingsley were catcalling whenever they were catching them. She did not like the teasing either. What she and Fred were doing was their private business.
She was very secretive when it was coming to her private life so allowing Fred to spend the night at Grimmauld Place or spending the night with him at the flat to do it, the first time, her first time, was not an option that she would ever consider.
The worst was when she was picturing what breakfast would be like. She did not know what would be worst, George smirking and dropping little sentences to make her blush or breakfast at home with Andromeda, Harry and Kreacher trying to look as normal as possible when it would truly be awkward as hell.
Fred had agreed. Since Hermione had moved in with Andromeda, he was really understanding the words parental control. Actually, the worst for him was having dinner at Grimmauld Place when Kingsley was there too. Fred really had the sensation that Kingsley was watching them. He could swear that he had seen Kingsley frowning when he had tried to slip his hands under Hermione's top.
Hermione's house was safe and it was the place where she knew she would feel at ease but the floo network had been temporarily suspended in all the empty houses, safety measures...
In other words, this party was the first excuse that she was having in weeks to escape from the house to destroy the time turner and perhaps later do it too because lately she could not take the idea out of her mind...
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As for Fred, he had tried to understand why Hermione was insisting on destroying the time turner at night, not that he openly agreed with Andromeda but he was definitely bewildered by his girlfriend's attitude.
For Hermione, it was just too dangerous during the day. Besides, they were busy during the day as they were still working hard on that potion to reverse the effects of the polyjuice. They were getting there, few samples had worked over the last few days but they still needed to work on it.
It was true, they were busy, Fred could not argue against that, moreover he really wanted that Potions' Master title that Kingsley had promised them. He wanted it to rub it all over his mother's face. It was childish and certainly not the best way to resolve his multiple issues with his mother but he did not care.
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They had been planning everything for days now, everything was set up. On the following day Hermione would leave the shop before 6pm. She would join Ginny at the Burrow and together they would go to the Lovegood's. Fred would pick up the time turner before to close the shop with George. He would spend the evening at the Burrow with his parents and brothers. He would leave after midnight to pick up Hermione and they would fly on Brigitte to the Forest of Dean where they would finally get rid of the time turner for good and why not do something else.
Fred did not want to raise up his optimism but Hermione had implied it several times so he had granted himself the right to think about it.
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They had a bit more than 24 hours to wait, they were very confident, their plan was going to work. What could possibly happen in 24 hours anyway. Certainly nothing bad enough to disturb their plan...
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Friday 10th of July 1998
It was the end of the afternoon and Percy was, in his office, busy writing down the list of time turners that they had collected. He was writting down which one should be examined and destroyed first.
After his conversation with Kingsley, the Minister had apparently done a lot of thinking as he had ordered Alicia and Audrey to bring the special time turner to the Ministry right after the full moon party. Yes, they had been invited too.
Kingsley, evasive as always, had told Percy that it could not wait any longer and that any advantage must be taken. Percy had agreed and accepted the extra work gladly. He was hoping that it would help him to forget about the fact that Audrey had turned him down again, for the third time in a row, in one week.
He just wanted to have a coffee with her to be sure that she was ok. She was acting oddly since the attack. Percy had many doubts. Lately, he was even thinking that she was the spy...
Of course, she had not showed up at the blind date organized by Fred and George, not that Percy had too much hope at this point of the story but still, it had surprised him. The Audrey that he thought that he knew would have come...
Evidently, what was bothering him the most was the fact that it seemed that the witch had grown a soft spot for Charlie...
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At least Charlie did not seem to care that much about her but he was not doing anything to push her away either. Percy did not want to feel like Ron. He had tried to speak with Alicia but Alicia had told him to get lost when he had mentioned his brother Charlie. Actually, since they had come back to work, Alicia had asked to be paired with another team. She had been paired with Harry and Ron while Bill was now working with Charlie and Audrey.
Percy,confused, had confronted his brother. Surely the weird attitude of the two witches must had something to do with his brother. Charlie had not liked the accusation and they had ended up in a fight that could compete with Fred and Ron's fight.
Charlie had even moved temporary with the twins. He did not want to deal with Percy at the Ministry and at the apartment that they were sharing. His life was too complicated at the moment and Percy's hare-brained ideas were just too much.
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Indeed, Charlie was trying to understand why he had slept with Alicia, a woman, about two weeks ago but with Percy and his drone about how something was wrong with Audrey were not helping him at all to understand what he had done and why. He had never slept with a woman before, he liked men but this night with Alicia had confused him.
He wished that he could blame the alcohol, medicine and the current situation but that would be lying. He did not know what to do. He had taken a bad decision, without knowing, which was avoiding Alicia. He was Weasley man after all and they were known to do not be always on point when it came to women.
Alicia was furious of course but her rage was stirring him, his desire for Alicia was growing.
He had been trying to figure out what his problem was for the last two weeks. He still had not found the solution however he had discovered something else and that something was what was leading him to Percy's office in that moment.
He owed his brother an apology, there was definitely something wrong with Audrey.
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I guess it is pretty clear what will happen in the next chapter. Would love to hear your thoughts about what is coming.
Xx