Thanks for your patience! Here's the next!
"I still don't understand why we can't just change the future," Sturgis, swinging his cup of coffee haphazardly.
"We've been over this Podmore…" tried to explain Maya.
"Well, that's only if you've tried, right? What about the rest of us?"
Maya's body was warring with itself. Her eyes felt heavy and her brain sluggish, but the caffeine running through her veins was urging her to stand and pace about the room. They'd been at it for hours… cataloguing events and deaths, figuring out who else to bring into their circle, and trying to decide upon an overall strategy. The room was getting frustrated, and Podmore's comments weren't helping. Maya had enough.
"All right then Podmore, give it a go," Maya goaded. She tore a blank piece of parchment out of the stacks of notes flying about the table and started to scrawl a few words out.
Lily Evans will die on October 31, 1981.
"Go ahead, send it off to whomever you choose," she badgered, waving the parchment in his face.
"Don't mind if I do," said Podmore, reaching to grab the letter out of her hand. He flourished the paper about, making a show of folding it neatly and sealing it with his wand. "Might I borrow a house elf?"
"Poppy!" Maya called, waiting patiently. Poppy arrived with a snap at her side.
"Miss," Podmore addressed Poppy, "would you mind ever so dearly-"
CRACK.
A stud in the shelving unit hanging above Podmore's head ruptured, splitting off a portion of the top layer of wall and sending a cascade of china raining down towards his head. Moody, ever vigilant, whipped his wand out and shot out a silent spell towards the mess. The charm barely stopped a vase from cracking Sturgis over the skull. The room stared at the spot while Podmore breathed heavily.
Maya took a bite of tea cake. It wasn't worth her breath to say she told him so.
"Okay then, ix-nay on the changing the future." Podmore sat back down and picked up a random stack of pages. "Run through the preliminary list of major deaths, then."
There was a rustle while the table members shuffled papers to locate the correct list. It was Professor Dearborn who lifted a sheet and declared, "Here."
Bones, Edgar et. family
Fenwick, Benjy (presumed)
McKinnon, Desiree et. family
Meadowes, Dorcas
Potter, James
Potter nee Evans, Lily
Prewett, Fabian
Prewett, Gideon
Professor Dearborn paused hesitantly before naming each of the victims in the room or who had family in the room. "That's it for now."
Some saves would be easier than others they knew. Additionally, not every death had made the cut.
"It's like World War II, you see," Edgar Bones had explained.
"You sound like an old coot, Edgar, prattling on about old muggle wars," her father had chortled at his old friend.
"No, no, hear me out," he continued. "The Nazis-"
"What in Merlin's left ball sack is a not-see?" asked Podmore. Maya's mother wacked him on the head with a rolled up chunk of papers for the language.
"N-A-Z-I. It doesn't matter. The bad guys. Anywho, the Nazis had this machine they called an Enigma. The Nazis would take a secret message, put it into the Enigma, and it would pop out on the other side coded. Only another Enigma machine on the other side could decode the message."
"So you're saying we need a coded message system?" Moody interrupted.
"No, let me finish dammit," Bones snapped. Moody threw up his hands in a "don't shoot" gesture.
"This British guy, Turing I think his name was, is hired by the good guys to figure out how to decode the messages. It takes a while, not quite sure how long…" Bones paused to think. Monty rolled his hands forward in a gesture for him to continue the story. "Ah, right. Doesn't matter. Anyway, he figures it out, and just before an attack on one of their boats. What they realize though is that they can't stop the attack!"
"Well why the hell not?" Podmore and the rest of them had all gotten sucked into the story.
"I'll tell you why not! Because if they stopped the attack, then the Nazis would know the British cracked the code!"
Podmore stared dumbfounded, as did most of the rest of them. Desiree, however, looked like a lightbulb had gone off above her head.
"They would stop using the machines," she explained. "These nah-zees or whoever, they would know the machines weren't safe and would transmit messages some other way. The work would have been for nothing."
"Exactly!" Bones exclaimed, excited someone had understood. Then the mood took a sudden turn from delight to dread as one by one they realized the implications of Edgar's story.
"So what you're saying is, we can't save everyone or Voldemort," a hiss of breath came from somewhere in the room at the name, "will know something's up." Maya was frozen at the thought. Damnit.
"So who do we save?" asked Podmore.
"That's a good question," answered Dumbledore. "That's a very good question."
/
Juniper turned to scarlet and bronze as the leaves changed in earnest. Maya tucked the long arms of her sweater over her hands in a comforting gesture as she walked past the pumpkins growing larger by the day. Her prefect badge shone brightly, reflecting sun beams off her tan corduroy skirt where she had pinned it so as not to pull the threads of her cashmere turtleneck.
A few weeks had passed since the Order meeting. They had worked into the early hours of the morning, discussing who to save and how to do so. They'd hit a sticking point when they realized they'd have to bring more people into the loop to continue making plans, and paused to allow the members to do some reconnaissance work. Maya reminisced as she walked across the grounds.
"A solicitor to falsify records. A ministry contact to actually switch those records. A researcher to come up with a host of ways to fake deaths," Dumbledore listed off.
"Phee and I will take care of that," Maya's father had offered. "A retired mediwitch and a retired potioneer, you won't get much better of a team than that."
"Right. Then Moody will take care of passing along the Auror files, as well as recruiting and training for fighting down the line. Caradoc is in charge of logistics for when we actually save someone. Sturgis has a handle on records and communication. Arabella will keep her ear to the pulse in the muggle world. Edgar will be in charge of coordinating what will happen to our friends after their death has been faked. And Desiree…" Dumbledore trailed off awkwardly.
"It's all right, dear," Desiree assuaged. She looked at Maya and gave her a wink. "I'm the money."
Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Right. Then that leaves Maya."
The room had looked at her expectantly.
"While you're at school, it will be difficult for you to do much. However, as plans unfold we will find more for you to help with, especially once you leave school. For now, you must focus on adding to those notes of yours. Any detail, no matter how small, may be important."
Maya nodded, not fully satisfied, but glad to at least be involved in the proceedings. It was enough for the moment that the ball was rolling on all of this. She could survive on providing information and attending Order meetings until a more serious role came along for her.
"We'll take the time to do some research on our potential victims, as well as those who can fill in the empty roles. Is there anything else missing before we adjourn?"
"Actually, yes," Maya interjected, realizing something. There was one role they were forgetting, and the person who filled it in her time was an angsty teenager with a chip on his shoulder and of no use to them for some years. "We need a spy."
Maya continued to think about the empty inner-Order roles that still needed filling as her feet crunched through the dry grass and fallen leaves. She reached the front gate just as Professor Flitwick began to call names for permission slips for the first Hogsmeade trip of the year and thoughts of the Order fled her mind. Being one of the prefects handling the morning shift as promised, she walked straight to the front of the line to hand the professor her signed form.
"Thank you, dear," the man said, grabbing her form and ushering her through the gate to grab a trolley by herself. Pandora had stayed back to wait for the late-riser Rommy while she did rounds, and the three of them planned to meet up for lunch when her shift was over.
"Hold the… oh, hi Maya," puffed Remus, struggling to catch his breath after running for the carriage.
"Diamond," she greeted, holding the door open with her elbow so the thestrals wouldn't start to trot away. "Fancy us grabbing the same ride."
"Right, about that," he said, breathing normally and following her into the cabin. "Ryan came down with the flu, he asked me to fill in for him last minute on the first shift with you today," Remus explained, referring to the Hufflepuff fifth year prefect supposed to accompany her.
"You know you just want to spend more time with me," Maya teased, winking. Remus spluttered at the overt flirting.
"Diamond, relax," she reminded him as she plunked down in her seat. "We talked about this on our rounds last time."
"Right," Remus responded, putting a pointer finger to his temple.
She couldn't help it, it was just too fun getting under his skin this way.
The two sat in comfortable silence, watching the school fall further and further behind. They'd patrolled together each Tuesday following their first encounter, and Remus was starting to - well, not relax in her presence, but certainly be a bit less tense about it. Things with her brother were still a bit tense, and it was strange to think Remus was the Marauder she felt most comfortable around these days. It was a short ride to the village, and the carriage let them off at the outskirts in the same place it did every time. The two began to stroll idly towards the center of town, not having much to look out for yet at they seemed to be a couple of the first students there
After an hour or so outside the village was filling and Maya could feel the hair on her arms starting to press up against her sweater. She rubbed her hands together and blew on them.
"Can hardly believe it's late October already," Remus remarked, noticing her chill. "Feels like the first couple of months flew by."
"Actually, I sort of felt like the first week of school dragged on forever," Maya said, reminiscing on the never-ending days of depression she waded through at the start of the semester. "But you're right, things have finally started to speed up considerably."
"Care for a hot drink?" Remus inquired. "I'm sure the Three Broomsticks will be crowded enough at this point as an excuse for us stopping by."
"Brilliant," Maya responded, gesturing for him to lead the way.
The two prefects entered the pub, pressing through the crowd of bodies who all had the same idea.
"Butterbeer?" Remus asked.
"Hm, a bit early for that… perhaps a cider?" she requested.
Remus held up his fingers to flag down the woman holding court at the bar. Distracted by the rest of the students, she walked right by him.
"Damn," he swore, stretching his arm out a bit further.
An older student Maya didn't know the name of brushed by her to reach the bar too, inadvertently pushing her too hard and sending her sailing into Remus' unprotected side.
"Oof," let out Remus, the air leaving his lungs at the impact. The two of them fell sideways into a barstool, Remus wrapping his arms around her to prevent her teeth from getting clocked by the edge of the table.
"Oy!" Maya heard someone shout.
"You okay?"
Maya opened her clenched eyes to see the outstretched hand of the Head Boy.
"Yeah, thanks," Maya said, taking the proffered appendage and gladly being hoisted back to her feet. "This is your fault, you know. You're the one who asked me to patrol first today," reminding him of that conversation they'd had on the Hogwarts Express.
"Speaking of, how's that boyfriend of yours doing?" It was not at all subtle.
"Not my boyfriend anymore, as it stands," Maya answered, cognizant of how good-looking the man was and thinking a little shameless flirting couldn't hurt. Kingsley shot her a smile worth 20 galleons.
"Alright there, Diamond?" The other teen was back on his feet and dusting himself off. "Shall we continue?"
"Uh, yeah, I think I'm good," he answered, awkward as ever.
"Right-o. See you around, Shacklebolt."
"Potter?"
"Hm?" She turned back to give him her attention.
"Maybe you'll see me at Madam Puddifoots for some late lunch when you're off duty?"
"Maybe so," she answered, winking and backing out of the pub.
"You're making that face again, Diamond. What's up your arse?" Maya knocked shoulders with the stiff-standing boy waiting for her outside. The two began to lap around the village once more to patrol.
"Nothing," he murmured.
"C'mon, just tell me," she teased.
"It's just. Kingsley's a ponce." Fiery red shot up the boy's cheeks. Maya pretended not to notice.
"Yeah, but he's a cute ponce," she shrugged.
/
"Is that for me?" Maya asked. She'd decided to ditch her friends so that she could instead sit across from the Head Boy at an entirely too-frilly table around 2 o'clock when he knew her shift was done. The girls had taken no offense, but had rather encouraged the meet-up.
"Uh, well, either is… I didn't know what you liked."
"Butterbeer works," she said. It wasn't her favorite, but it was fine.
Kingsley said nothing in return, and the two settled into a somewhat-awkward silence. They both looked down at their menus. Shortly thereafter the waitress came by to take their orders, and there was nothing left to distract the two of them from each other.
"I didn't know if you were going to show, to be honest," Kingsley admitted. The man rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Um. Well, I'm here," she said, then let out an uncomfortable giggle. "So. How's the auror exam training business?" It was the only thing she could think of that she actually knew about him.
"Good! Really good. A lot of work, though."
"I remember you saying something about others having 'advantages'," Maya questioned. She tore a piece of bread from the center loaf and began to munch while he spoke.
"Yeah, just meant some people with family members in the Ministry or Auror Department already. You know how it goes," he explained.
"And you don't?"
"My father is an ambassador to the British Ministry from the Burkinabe Ministry of Magic. I was born and raised here, hence the accent, but my whole family is from Uganda. I'm actually the first to attend Hogwarts instead of Uagadou," he answered.
"Why not become an Auror in Uganda then?" she asked.
For the first time since sitting down Kingsley's expression soured. Her question must have somehow been tactless.
"I'm British. I've lived here my whole life, and have barely ever been back to Uganda except for a few weeks over summer holiday to visit family. I'd rather stay here."
Shit. Yeah, she was an ass. Not to mention, he probably thought she was implying he wasn't good enough to get into the British program without family ties. It was a shockingly thoughtless Pureblood thing of her to say. Maya played with the napkin in her lap. She wondered when she had so badly forgotten her Muggleborn roots. Hermione Granger was a fish-out-of-water with no family name to exploit who bigots tried to tell to go back to her own kind. It wasn't the same, not at all, but it was a sharp reminder of who Maya used to be beneath the role she played.
The uncomfortable quiet was interrupted by the food arriving. Realizing they both had to get through the rest of the meal despite Maya's mistake, both attempted to re-relax. Thankfully, Kingsley came up with the next conversation starter.
"How has Professor Dearborn's research fellowship been?"
Oh man, it was weird.
"Really interesting," Maya said, trying to think of how else to describe it. "Honestly, it's such an odd bunch of students."
"Yeah, Marlene mentioned." Right, she was Head Girl. It figured they would talk.
"The topic is captivating, though…" she began, launching into a brief explanation of what Caradoc had described to them. In her mind, she was reliving the strange sequence of events.
/
As the notice on the door prompted, she and the other four students gathered in Professor Dearborn's office that following Wednesday at lunch time. There were five writing desks arranged in semi-circular fashion facing the main desk at the apex of the room. Each had a large, hovering chalkboard behind it. Maya chose the one all the way to the right.
Professor Dearborn was already sitting in his seat at the head of the room as they filed in and chose spots, waiting patiently until they were settled. Maya didn't have time to study the other students as she would have liked as he jumped into things right away.
"Welcome," he greeted. The students responded in kind.
"I want to start off by letting you know this is not a class. This is a research fellowship. As such, you'll notice you have your own desks. These will be permanently set out for you to use at any time, providing you are also adhering to school policy of when you can be out and about. You may store research and school materials in them. That door there," he paused, pointing to a door off to the left, "opens to a second, smaller office setting. If I need to have a private conversation, I will take it in there."
"Additionally, you are not students in this room, you are fellows. Fellows do not raise hands, they engage in conversation and debate. They take bathroom breaks without requiring permission. They are entrusted to exemplify maturity and to learn and succeed without childish hand holding, understood?" The students all nodded vigorously, excited to get started.
"Good. Now, what can you all tell me about wizarding bonds?"
The room blinked, staring at Professor Dearborn. Was he not going to tell them what the research project was about first before diving into a random lesson?
When the professor didn't expand upon his question, Marlene McKinnon broke the silence to answer.
"There are three types," she started. Professor Dearborn stood to write the answers in chalk on the board behind him as she finished answering:
Wizard-to-wizard
Wizard-to-magical creature
Wizard-to-object
"And why don't we have wizarding-to-muggle bonds?"
Barty Crouch jumped in. "Harrifan's law. 'The magic in me sees the magic in you'. Magical bonds are a two-way magical street. Both sides of the bond require magic to latch onto. It's why certain magical maladies such as Dragon Pox can't affect muggles."
Professor Dearborn wrote down shorthand notes from Barty's answer under the first list.
"Subtypes?"
Maya answered this time. "Based on the way the bond is formed. There are five types."
"Name them," Dearborn commanded.
Most of the students began to jump in at this point. Dearborn continued to scratch out the correct answers as they were said:
Familial (Natural & Adoptive)
Marriage
Vow
Debt
Blood
The student in the room most silent until this point was Regulus Black. Though stone-faced like a true Slytherin, Maya guessed it was bothering him. The teen was a full year behind the next youngest person in the room, and three years behind the oldest. He was starting with some disadvantages, and it showed.
The room went around and around, making notes on magical bonds. Finally as they started to slow, Dearborn asked the last question.
"How do you break an unbreakable bond?"
The room was understandably stumped.
"You… can't?" posited Dorcas Meadowes. "It's unbreakable."
"Except for Merlin's Theory," Regulus mumbled next to her. It might have been his first oral contribution to the group.
"What was that?" Dearborn asked, whipping to face Regulus. Regulus cleared his throat.
"Except for Merlin's Theory, sir," Regulus stated again. Dearborn ushered him to keep going.
"Merlin's Theory: the only magic that cannot be reversed is death. Essentially, he thought that all acts of magic could be undone except for the killing curse. This meaning an unbreakable bond could still somehow be broken, we just haven't figured out how yet."
Maya stared at him in awe. She'd never heard of such a thing. Neither, it seemed, had any of the other students.
"Yes!" Dearborn hissed, turning to write "MERLIN'S THEORY" in all capitals at the top of the board and circled it three times.
"As an Auror, I catch criminals and throw them in jail. However, sometimes they've done irreparable harm in ways that I can't fix. One major example being bonds. Either by force or by subterfuge, criminals often engage others in harmful bonding processes that continue to affect the victim long after the criminal has been put away or is even deceased. Our research, in essence, is to find new ways to break these bonds."
Dearborn continued on to explain one of the most fascinating lecture's of Maya's magical career. Distraction, however, plagued her. Maya's chocolate brown eyes slide sideways to where the sleeves of Regulus' white button down were rolled upward to show an expanse of chalky, unblemished skin. She could see the echo of a future writhing skull and snake, inked in black upon the boy's exposed arms. As if sensing her thoughts, the boy looked up to meet her gaze. She quickly looked away.
Unbreakable bonds. Interesting.
/
"That's insane," Kingsley said when she was done with her tale. "I mean truly certifiable. What makes him think you can do this?"
Maya shrugged.
"I don't know. But I'm not going to question it."
"I wouldn't either. It's an amazing opportunity!"
The smile was back in Kingsley's face, and their conversation started to flow despite the earlier mishap. Once the initial awkwardness waned, she found he was an avid listener. Even rarer, he was also an intelligent person who could engage her nerdier sensibilities. The more they talked, the more Maya started to see the ponce-ness dwindle as he dropped his "Head Boy and Quidditch Captain" tough-guy persona. When his guard was down, not only was he attractive physically, she found she enjoyed his personality as well.
A purple shadow fell across the restaurant as the sun started to dip below the edges of the Hogsmeade rooftops. Maya and Kingsley suddenly realized they'd been pushing around left over food remnants for the better part of two hours. It was nearly 4 o'clock.
"Oh Circe, we should let someone else have our table," Maya realized, turning around to flag down the waitress. "Excuse me, can we have the check please?"
"And a couple of hot cocoas to go," Kingsley added. "For the cold."
He winked at her, and she giggled. He was charming the socks off her, and she was letting him.
It felt nice for a man to fawn over her. It was something she hadn't allowed much of since Viktor Krum, basically another lifetime ago. Fabian had been sweet and doting, but he never openly crushed on her. It was nice to feel that sort of attention again.
The waitress brought over their drinks in disposable cups, and Kingsley gently pushed her hands away to pay for it all. Before rising, Kingsley urged them to pause and open the caps of their drinks.
"My mum always made it for me this way as a kid." He grabbed the cinnamon shaker off the table and added a hefty dose to each hot drink. "A little bit of spice. Helps with the cold."
"Hm," Maya hummed, intrigued.
The two followed each other out of the store and down the darkening streets back towards the center of town. Maya clutched her cup in the hand further away from Kingsley. It surprised her when he took the bait and slid his hand down her forearm to entangle their fingers. Maya squished her lips together, trying not to smile.
"What now? Back to the castle?"
"I have one more thing I'd like to get before heading back, if you don't mind joining me for a few minutes."
"Not at all, lead the way."
Hand firmly grasped in hers, Kingsley shuffled them through the streets. Suddenly, he turned down an off-the-path alleyway leading towards the candy shop.
"What do you need from Honeydukes?"
Kingsley smirked at her but said nothing. Rather than continue on and exit the alley, he stopped them in the darkening shadows of the afternoon.
"Something sweet."
And he kissed her.
WHEW. We are FINALLY out of that first week of school slump. I am actively working on my pacing (see if you can spot the self-deprecating joke), as I noticed it had slowed to almost a halt. Hopefully things will move along at a fair pace now.
Thank you all for sticking with me. Here's hoping to me finishing another post soon!