Previously: "I've been told we met before, although I was too young to remember. I'm Ted Lupin."
Chapter 12: Becoming Wizards Again
24 May, the city of Ruma, inside the Serbian Slums
Neville remembered a four-year-old Teddy Lupin, sitting on Harry's shoulders and plucking at his ears, as he steered his godfather like some riding pony, barrelling through Neville's barracks, leaving uprooted plants and broken pots in their wake.
When Harry'd got discharged, Andromeda hadn't had any more reasons to stay with the Resistance. She'd taken her grandson and moved him a safe distance away from the war. To Canada, wasn't it? Bill would know—he'd stayed in touch with the Tonks throughout all those years. At least, Neville remembered Bill travelling across the pond for Andromeda's funeral a few years back.
What were the chances that Ted Lupin was suddenly inside the Empire, talking to Neville in the middle of the Serbian Slums? Quite slim. What were the chances that an imposter with the rarer than rare metamorphomagus abilities would know to find Neville in the Serbian Slums and pretend to be Teddy Lupin? Even slimmer.
Neville decided to act as if he trusted the wizard's word for now.
"Let's get out of here," Ted repeated after Neville finally shook his offered hand. "We can talk more at Rusty's. Let me take your Max. I'll show you the way."
Neville frowned at him in confusion. "What's a max?"
"Right, sorry," Teddy mumbled and gestured at the motorbikes standing nearby. "That's how I named the bikes. They were my birthday present a couple of years back, and you see, there's this film- you know what, never mind. Let me drive one so I can lead you back."
Neville hesitated. "Can you change back?" He pointed at Ted's face that still looked like Neville's own. It was a bit disconcerting to talk to his perfect, three-dimensional reflection.
Teddy blinked. "Oh, sorry! I completely forgot." Even before he finished talking, his features turned into those of the blond young man who greeted them a moment ago. He tied his suddenly longer hair up into a knot with one practised move. "Can we go now? Everyone else left these streets ages ago."
Neville stepped aside from his bike and beckoned Teddy to take it. He sat down on the other one and Gregory climbed on behind him. Neville gave him an imploring look but he needn't bother—Gregory's eyes were already glued to Teddy's back and so was his wand arm.
They turned on the engines and roared their way through the still suspicously empty streets of Ruma.
The wards around Rusty's Lot recognised Teddy and let him through with no resistance—he had been keyed in. That, next to his familiarity with the place, was another proof in his favour.
He greeted Rusty as an old friend when they met him in the yard. The squib just grunted back in acknowledgement. When he turned his back to them, Teddy fired a quick spell after him. Neville and Gregory immediately had their wands trained at Teddy in response. They watched Rusty hesitate in his steps, only for the squib to carry on walking away from them a moment later, without even turning around, seemingly unharmed.
"Harry cleans Rusty's lungs every chance he gets," Teddy explained with his arms half raised, looking at the points of their wands nervously. "He smokes like a chimney but he's dead useful—we try to keep him alive as long as possible."
Neville put his wand back into its holster. "Give us a warning next time you decide to fling a curse at our host, please."
Teddy gulped noisily and then nodded. He made to walk into the front door of the house when Neville grabbed his shoulder to stop him. "Bill boobytrapped that door," Neville explained. "We're using the back entrance now."
"I guess Bill's here, then?" Teddy asked, suddenly nervous.
Neville nodded slowly, carefully examining the young man's face. "He thinks you're still in Canada, doesn't he?"
Teddy looked down at his feet and then nodded sheepishly. "I might have forgotten to mention the change of address in my last letters."
Neville frowned. "Did you have Harry smuggle those letters from Europe?"
Teddy nodded silently.
Neville shared a look with Gregory. "This won't go well with Bill," Neville predicted.
"He should change his face to normal," Gregory gestured at Teddy. "It'll be easier to explain."
"He's right, Teddy," Neville agreed. "If you want to convince Bill you're not an imposter, this will be the fastest way."
Teddy shrugged and with that, his features instantly morphed into an entirely different face that seemed slightly familiar to Neville. Teddy was young, barely twenty-one if Neville didn't miscount. He looked his age—a recently matured youth, barely grown into his strength. He would probably be considered good-looking, with that sharp bone structure and his mane of auburn hair, Neville mused, wondering how much of that was genes and how much was his metamorphing. Looking at his eyes which had now turned bright green, a colour strikingly reminiscent to that of his godfather's, Neville was confident Teddy was altering even his natural look. Remembering Tonks and her variety of hair colours, it was probably what every metamorphomagus tended to do.
Watching him closely now, he noticed a strange pattern to Teddy's coat. "Your pyjamas are showing," he pointed at the shoulders where the brown of the coat faded to green and blue polka dots.
Teddy swore softly. He flicked his wand twice, first to undo the botched-up transformation and then to do it again properly. "I was really in a hurry to get here," he looked up at Neville apologetically, almost like in an expectation of a scolding.
Neville just shrugged his shoulders. He beckoned Teddy towards the back door. "Let's go."
They found Bill in the kitchen, hunched over the magazines they had discovered in one of the bedrooms.
"Bill?" Neville called to get his attention. "Look who we've found outside."
Bill looked up from his readings, instantly alarmed. He froze mid-motion when he saw Teddy standing behind Neville.
It took him a while to start moving again and when he finally did, it was only to slowly fold his magazine and place it down on the table. Leaning back in his chair, he calmly stated, "You're supposed to be at university in Toronto."
"Hello, Uncle Bill," Teddy greeted sheepishly, ignoring Bill's opening statement.
Bill sighed. "Your grandmother sacrificed a lot to keep you safe from this place."
"I did go to university as Gran wanted," Teddy replied. "Lasted the whole of three months before I realised it wasn't for me. I decided to try being a proper wizard for a change. I know she'd understand."
"You could have gone to us," Bill implored, some emotion finally breaking through his calm mask. "I know Fleur and the girls would love to have you. You could have apprenticed in China with Victoire. I'd happily pay for your studies."
Neville marvelled at his cool but now he remembered Bill had brought up three teenage daughters.
"I appreciate you saying that, Uncle, I really do. And I know how much Victoire loves China. But that's her calling, not mine. This is where my family comes from, this is where I'm home," Teddy argued, staring at Bill with intense eyes. "And as much as I love your family, Harry is my own."
Bill grimaced at that. "Did Harry put you up to this?"
Teddy snickered. "Ha! He was categorically against it. I didn't give him a choice, though—I told him I'd be crossing the Curtain with or without his help. I'm glad he did decide to help. Alone, I suspect I would have botched it as much as you lot did."
Neville frowned, hearing the clear jab at their capture at the Curtain Crossing. It was only Harry's swift actions that helped them from certain imprisonment and worse. Teddy obviously heard about that.
"The Empire is a dangerous place, Teddy," Bill kept insisting. "You would be much safer on the other side of the Curtain."
"But my magic was stagnating there," Teddy argued. "And this place isn't that dangerous if you don't have every soldier in the army searching for you. I even did a year in Hogwarts, Bill—Hogwarts! The place where my parents grew up, the place from the stories I've been hearing my whole life! Imagine that!"
Teddy's eyes were ablaze when he said that.
"I've registered my wand under a different name and changed my face and that was it—I was just another wizard from the Outcast who decided to go against his parents' views and returned to the Wizarding World. I was welcomed. I've never been hunted, never ever been suspected of being close to Harry Potter, or the Resistance."
Teddy took a deep breath and finished, "I have a good life here, Uncle. I'm happy."
Bill let out a long, shuddering sigh. He got up from his chair and slowly approached Teddy. "Don't lie to me again, Teddy," he said. "I can't say I would have supported your decision but I'd like to at least know which continent you're on."
Teddy nodded. "I prefer Ted now," he said meekly.
Bill raised his eyebrows. "Do you? Well, I guess I'd first get to know the man my friend grew into and then judge for myself. Come here, you big ball of fluff."
He grabbed Teddy in a quick hug.
"Why didn't Harry tell us about you?" Bill asked when he let go. "We were on a road for weeks and he didn't mention you!"
"He didn't?" Teddy asked before mumbling, "I guess that should have been obvious. Ehm- if I have to take a guess, I'd say he just wanted to avoid this conversation," Teddy gestured between Bill and himself. "That man hates confrontation. I mean, I've seen him face twenty-odd men at once without even flinching but mention feelings, and he runs for the hills."
Bill rolled his eyes. "Don't I know it. But that doesn't give him the right to keep things from us."
"Well, he sent me here now," Teddy shrugged, sitting down at the table. "The moment it was safe to approach you, he asked me to help you out. And it wasn't a minute too early, either. Otherwise, you'd have been bringing hell onto the slums right now."
Neville frowned at that exaggeration. "We were just checking the situation. I don't think we would have interfered," he argued. Meeting Bill's confused face, he described the situation in which they had met Teddy half an hour ago. And the convenient timing of his arrival.
"So you were sent to keep us in check?" Bill asked, sounding irritated.
Teddy resolutely shook his head. "No. The original plan was to meet you before tonight's dinner so I could go with you to Popovic's. Harry didn't want you to face the two of them alone. But I woke up to a message this morning, asking me to come right away to stop Neville from doing something stupid. I got here as quickly as I could."
"A message from whom?" Bill asked. "From Popovic? Merlin knows his goons have been following us everywhere."
"God no, I have nothing to do with that old git. It was Harry who told me to hurry over."
"Harry? Is he watching us, too?"
"Of course he is," Teddy simply answered. "Do you think he would leave you completely unprotected here?"
When it was clear Teddy wasn't going to expand on that, Bill huffed in frustration. "How is he doing it?"
Teddy shrugged. "If Harry didn't explain, I can't tell you much." He did look apologetic about it, though.
Neville knew they would be checking for tracking and spying spells later.
Bill took another deep breath. "You work for him, then?" he asked resignedly. "Partaking in his smuggling activities?"
"For Harry? No. I work for the Army. Speaking of which—my shift starts in about half an hour. I need to go back to Berlin. I'll be back in time for dinner."
He got up from his chair and made for the door. Bill reached for his arm to stop him. "Wait a minute there—you work for the Army?"
Teddy nodded. When he noticed Bill's frown, he hurried to explain. "I'm just a tech guy, the lowest of the ranks. There's no chance I'll ever get out of the office to see some action. There's no need to worry about me."
Bill evidently did. "Is Harry making you spy for him? Is that why you've joined the army?"
Teddy opened his mouth as if to answer but nothing came out. He closed and opened it again but with the same result. He shrugged helplessly, silently staring at Bill.
Neville recognised that behaviour and Bill obviously did too; they had both seen it countless times before.
"He did, didn't he?" Bill snarled. "He made you join the Army to spy for him and then he made you swore a secrecy oath not to tell anyone about it!"
Teddy shook his head vigorously and tried to speak up again. "I never ratted anything about work to Harry." He smiled in victory when that actually came out. He carried on, "The oath… is about something else that's connected to your questions. I really have to go now."
His face started changing into the blond guy again. He tied his hair into a bun in one practised move. "If you have to mention me, people here know me by the name Andrew Howell. Best to use just Andrew in the slums. I'll be here tonight to join you for dinner."
He turned to the door and made to leave just when Sadecki walked in. The two wizards stopped in their tracks just shy of colliding and stared at each other in surprise.
"Howwie?" Sadecki breathed out in disbelief.
"Sadecki," Teddy nodded curtly. "I figured you'd be around." He turned back to the kitchen, effectively dismissing Andrei. "Later," he said to Bill and Neville and marched around Sadecki and out of the room.
Neville raised his eyebrows at Sadecki. "How do the two of you know each other?" It didn't escape his attention that Sadecki knew Teddy by his fake name.
"We were in Durmstrang together, for our military training," Sadecki absentmindedly answered, still in shock. "What the hell was he doing here?"
Neville looked at Bill, beckoning him to decide how much to reveal.
"He's a friend of Harry's," Bill said after a short hesitation. "He didn't seem to like you that much," he prompted.
"No, I suppose he wouldn't," Sadecki admitted. "I was one year ahead of him," he said and paused as that would be enough of an explanation. When they kept staring at him, he carried on. "I guess I wasn't particularly nice to him. We weren't really supposed to, not to the newbies, and especially not if they were just half-bloods or the tech-rats."
"Or both," he added softly a moment later.
Oh boy. Neville translated everything Sadecki was saying in his head and asked. "Did you bully him?"
Sadecki shrugged. "As I said, it was expected of me."
He paused for a second, his brows furrowing. "Did you say he was a friend of Harry's?" He frowned when they nodded.
"I guess I owe him an apology, then."
They scanned the whole house, the yard, their clothes, the various vehicles and even the street in front of the Lot for spying charms. They didn't really expect to find any as they would be rendered useless around Annie. They checked for muggle devices, too. But they didn't find anything suspicious.
Harry might have charmed the teenagers who kept following them around and who were the only ones to see Neville and Gregory rush towards the raid. Or he had informants among the muggles. In either case, there was not much they could do about it other than sulk and try to sneak around under disillusionment charms next time they would go out.
Two hours after Teddy left, Neville was standing in front of a conjured mirror, looking dubiously at his reflection.
He had a rich green suit-robe on, with a bear fur draped over his chest. His shoulders and arms looked puffed up in the sleeves, making him appear more muscular than he really was. His skin was tanned and had a golden hue to it; his hair was shiny, twenty inches longer and tied into an impeccable braid.
"Explain it to me again," he started slowly. "How exactly is this going to make us blend in?"
Sadecki was standing next to Neville, carefully inspecting his handiwork. He sighed in exasperation. "Wizards like to look their best. Wizards can use charms and potions to look their best. Wizards do use charms and potions to look their best," he summed up in clipped tones. "The wizards who don't care about appearances are the ones who don't need to care. They're either on top of the social ladder or at the very bottom of it. In either case, they attract attention. If you don't want to attract attention, you follow the fashion."
"And this is the fashion?" Gregory asked dubiously from the corner of the room. He was sporting a similar look to Neville's, looking very uncomfortable in his own deep purple robe.
Sadecki shrugged. "As long as it hasn't changed in the four weeks we spent away from civilization, then yes, this is what your ordinary up-start wears for an afternoon in a spa town."
"I don't see you or Lupin wearing pigtails," Gregory grumbled.
By now, they explained to Annie and Sadecki who Teddy really was.
"We are soldiers."
Neville touched the fur across his shoulder. It had a very fake feeling to it. "How long are the charms going to last?"
Sadecki looked unsure for the first time. "I don't know. I never had to conjure any of this before," he admitted awkwardly.
Neville recognised this as one of the moments Sadecki felt uncomfortable for his upbringing in affluence. It made Neville chuckle every time it happened. They really couldn't care less.
Although it did say a lot about how poorly the lad thought they lived on the other side of the Curtain. Neville remembered Bill's priceless collection of pharaohs' crowns decorating his entrance hall, and chuckled some more.
"Well, what did you get for your Transfiguration NEWTs?" he asked Sadecki after a moment's pause.
"An E," Sadecki answered automatically. "Why?"
Neville nodded to himself in satisfaction. "An E means that your conjuration lasted at least for eight hours, otherwise they would deduct points. Well, as long as the requirements haven't changed since our time in Hogwarts."
"Eight hours is good enough," Bill assessed. "I'm planning to be done in less than four. Let's get going now."
He was also clad in colourful silk and fake fur and sporting a well-waxed goatee. Neville made a note to himself to show this memory to Fleur when they got back. She would have a good laugh at her husband's expense.
After the forlorn atmosphere of the slums, the shine and brightness of the magical centre of Budapest overwhelmed them at first.
The sun was out on a cloudless sky, reflecting off the polished marble of the city as well as off the see-through waters of the Danube river flowing through the centre.
There was no smog nor noise pollution Neville had always associated with big cities. Instead, there were magical loops in the air above the river and riders on brooms racing through them. There were no cars or roads, just paths, and walkways to stroll on for one's leisure. There was a lot of magical flora, too. He stopped to admire a whole alley of blooming dirigable plums bushes for a moment before he remembered he was here on a mission. He took a deep breath, shook off the haze of his bewilderment and started walking.
Sadecki had been right. Their ridiculous clothing did make them fit into the crowds of wizards strolling the banks of Danube like a flock of colourful peacocks. The three of them apparated to a designated apparation point just off from the main shopping street and went their separate ways soon afterwards. Bill and Gregory broke off to shop and eavesdrop, whilst Neville's task was to gather intel of a different kind.
He spotted a wizard standing right at the edge of the bank. He was busy painting the opposite side of the river on a canvas floating in the air in front of him. He would do. Neville approached him.
"Good day, sir," he addressed him with the poshest accent he could muster.
The wizard looked up from his painting and inclined his head in a silent greeting.
"I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of where one could find some peace and quiet from this mayhem? A library, maybe?"
The man turned to him fully, with more interest now. "Your first time in Budapest, good sir?"
Neville nodded, pulling up a frustrated face. "Yes. I have been here for mere hours and the thought of more spa treatments is already too much to bear. The missus might enjoy it, but I have escaped the clutches of the bathhouses in hope for some solitude."
The wizard was nodding in sympathy now. He pointed across the river, at a colossal building of many sleek windows, columns, and spirals, and an impressive dome presiding over it all. "That's the Parliamentary Library. You can get lost there for days without seeing another living soul."
Neville carried in his pompous manner and clapped his hands in excitement. "I like the sound of that very much." He bowed slightly in gratitude. "Obliged to you, sir. Have a good day, sir."
The wizard was not exaggerating. The library was immense. And hard to navigate in.
Neville quickly realised that the building wasn't originally designed to house a library, noting the stark contrast of the rather dull bookshelves scattered through grandiose chambers. The place was most probably built by muggles and only recently usurped and remodelled by wizards with as little care for book cataloguing as for preserving the original decor. After several minutes of pointless wondering, he headed back towards the entrance hall and approached the counter there with a new plan.
The receptionist behind it quickly scanned his appearance and put on a fake smile. "Are you lost, sir?"
Neville realised his clothes probably weren't as inconspicuous here as among the holiday strollers outside. He faked even a bigger smile himself. "I'm looking for your section about magical fauna. If you point me in the direction of magical tobacco especially, I'll be most obliged to you."
Luckily, there weren't many newly published books on the topic. He managed to find what he was looking for fairly quickly and returned to the counter with a book in hand.
"Can you help me one more time, good sir?" he asked the clerk. "I've found a mention of a gentleman here, a wizard called Gregory Goyle who managed to breed my favourite type of tobacco. Alas, there was not much information on the man itself. I was thinking I could peruse some newspapers from that year. Certainly, there will be more said about that marvellous discovery there. Can you please point me to your archive?"
The clerk led Neville through enormous halls and lobbies to a chamber filled with newspaper issues. Looking at the shelves upon shelves filled with papers, Neville faked a troubled expression and glanced down at his watch.
"My wife will be finishing her treatments soon. And I so hate leaving my questions unanswered," he started. "Say… if I were to copy the relevant papers to peruse at my leisure at home, would that be a problem with your fine institution?"
As Neville hoped, the clerk provided him with the copying charm allowed in the library. The moment he left, Neville quickly located the year 2002, the year when the Curtain spread across Europe and cut the Resistance away from the happenings in the Wizarding World.
He opened his bottomless pouch and started working.
"Annie? Where are you?" he shouted three hours later when he got back to Rusty's Lot. "I need to unload the pouch."
Her voice carried from the kitchen a moment later. "You're good."
Neville nodded to himself and entered the house, aiming straight to the only unoccupied bedroom. Whilst they were gone, Annie moved any possible surface they could spare into the room, and Neville began to place the stacks and stacks of copied newspapers on top of the various shelves and tables. He ended up putting several piles on the floor anyway, trying to keep them as organised as possible.
"I'm done," he called to Annie. A minute later, she appeared in the door, looking with wide eyes at the high stacks of paper. The moment she joined him, the enchantments on his skin and clothes gave in. The robe and fur changed back into his real jacket and trousers, his hair and beard got shortened into their normal unruly length. Last but not least, the glow on his skin and the illusion of his wide shoulders disappeared. He sighed in contentment when the consistent itching finally stopped. "Thank you."
Annie just smirked at that, not looking up from the precariously piled up newspaper. "Well, I guess I won't be bored here any longer," she commented dryly.
Neville patted her shoulder in sympathy. "Are the others back, too?" he asked.
"Yeah, drinking tea in the kitchen."
Bill and Gregory also looked their normal self again when Neville joined them.
"All good?" Bill asked.
Neville nodded. "All's good. And you?"
Bill passed him a steaming cup of tea. "Yeah, everything went fine. We've found several restaurants and tea houses we can easily come back to for some more eavesdropping. What's more, it seems that it's quite common for a wizard to move his household to the spa houses for an extended holiday. If we rent a house for a couple of weeks, we could mask Annie as our servant and let her follow us there. Muggles are only very rarely transported by magical means—she could travel by car to join us there and then travel further into the Empire later."
That sounded like a promising draft of a plan they would ponder much upon later. Neville nodded in satisfaction and asked further. "And the shopping? Did you get the supplies?"
"We bought the robes but we had less luck with the groceries. Apparently, only house elves or servants shop for these."
Neville sighed. "Canned beans it is then. Or have you found a magical takeaway? I don't know how much more of Sadecki's goulash I can take."
They talked more about their possible stay in Budapest until it was time to get ready for their dinner with Popovic.
Sadecki once again agreed to hold the fort and guard Annie whilst Bill, Gregory and Neville would go out socializing. It was the three of them that Teddy found pacing outside the Lot when he finally arrived, half an hour after they were supposed to leave.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he shouted from afar when he ran towards the gate to the Lot, sporting his blond top knot look again. "It was mayhem at work today and I couldn't get out earlier."
He turned to the boy standing with his bicycle just outside the gate. The muggle had been watching them nervously the whole time they had been waiting for Teddy to turn up.
"Go tell your boss we'll be there in five."
The boy immediately left.
They piled up into the jeep with Teddy behind the wheel. He swiftly took off, driving them through the maze of huts at a quick pace. He expertly navigated the streets, cutting the corners uncomfortably close with practised ease.
He very quickly noticed their tense mood. "Are you expecting an ambush at any moment?" he taunted cheerfully. When he got only wary looks in response, his smile disappeared. "You are, aren't you? Well, let me calm you down here—Popovic would rather shoot half of his own men than alienate Harry. There will be no violence tonight."
"Are you saying this is just a mere social call?" Bill asked dubiously.
Teddy frowned. "Well, not exactly. I guess Popovic will be looking for some leverage over Harry. But he'd never harm you." He paused for a second, glancing at Bill next to him. "What do you know about the man?"
Bill took a moment to answer. "He's trafficking muggles to wizards. Harry has dealings with him, too—he sells him the goods he smuggles through the Curtain. And he warned us to be wary of him."
Teddy was listening intently, frowning at most of what Bill said. "Well, that's not entirely untrue but…it's not as bad as you think. I don't know why Harry didn't explain further but I guess that's why he sent me here now. Well, okay then."
He slowed the car to a crawling pace. "Popovic isn't in the slave business anymore, although it's true that's how he rose to power. Other bosses had access to coal, water or timber—Popovic didn't have any of that when he started. He did have his uncle though, and through him, he could do business with wizards, buying food and other supplies from them. And he paid with the only goods he had an abundance of—people. Highly trained and willing servants are worth a lot of gold. At least Popovic says the girls and boys did it willingly because they knew their sacrifice would feed many families for several years. I choose to believe him, no matter how much I detest his practises. He's harsh, and he can be deadly practical but he's not cruel. It was only because of his actions that these people survived." Teddy let go off the wheel to gesture broadly to the huts they were passing.
"Anyway, that's all in the past. Now the only wizard he deals with is Harry. Their deal is simple: Harry supplies everything Popovic orders and as long as he does that, Popovic won't trade with slaves. He's kept his word so far; Harry would know if he broke it. Harry asks for the occasional favour, too, like registering our wands or looking after Rusty's Lot. It's an incredibly good deal for Popovic and his people; he can't really refuse to do anything Harry asks. That's why he's so miffed with the situation and that's probably why they've invited you for dinner—he's hoping you would provide anything he could later bargain with. So try to keep your mouths shut about anything sensitive. But I'm positive he's not going to do anything that would endanger his business with Harry. Not when he relies on it so much."
A minute later, Teddy stopped the car in front of Popovic's workshop. "Let's go eat!" he cheered rather forcefully.
There was no one on the street when they got out of their car, although Neville could feel eyes watching them. No matter Teddy's assurance, he was on his guard. He knew Bill and Gregory were, too.
Popovic the wizard met them at the door. He was his usual polite self, not commenting on their delay. "Come in, come in. The meal's ready," he said instead.
They were ushered into a dining room upstairs. Popovic the muggle was already sat at the table when they entered. He nodded at them silently, his face set in the same frown Neville remembered from their first meeting. Apparently, he didn't care much for decorum.
The meal was a simple one, red lentil soup with spinach. The conversation was stilted. The Popovics obviously knew Teddy. They exchanged few polite words but then the room fell silent again. For someone who invited them over, their hosts certainly didn't rush to entertain them.
It wasn't until a servant girl came in to take their plates away that someone spoke.
"What's with all the teenagers?" Bill asked, looking at the young girl. "I haven't seen you employ anyone older than twenty."
"The young ones were raised in this world," the muggle answered readily as if they were waiting for them to ask a question the whole time. "They don't remember the good times. Their parents do and they wallow in the past. They'll never adapt as well as their kids have."
"Did they get any education at all?" Neville asked, watching the young girl for a sign of understanding. She didn't show any. "I mean—can they read? Do you have anyone teaching them?"
"Yes," Popovic said. "We might not have schools but we have many teachers with many university degrees between them."
Popovic nodded at the girl. "Helene is fluent in five languages. She can recite Shakespeare from memory. She knows geometry, chemistry, and quantum physics."
Bill raised one eyebrow, exchanging a quick look with Neville. "And all of that just to impress her master during pillow talk?"
Neville winced at the tactless question but he understood what Bill was doing, trying to provoke a reaction.
The girl hesitated for a second but then she just turned and left the room without any further response to Bill's words.
Popovic didn't look insulted, either. "She was never trained for that purpose," he stated calmly. "That type of training was abandoned years ago."
"Why then? Why teach her all of that in a place like this?"
"We don't have any land to farm. No factories to work in. No materials to craft from," Popovic listed. "But we have our minds and our knowledge. So we teach the young ones. Helena can also read notes and play the piano although she's never touched a proper instrument. She can write codes and algorithms although she's never seen a working computer. Anything to store off the idleness. Idleness breeds unrest. Lack of purpose breeds depression."
Popovic was very forthcoming with information tonight, Neville observed. He suspected the muggle would soon start asking questions of his own and hope they would feel like reciprocating. He decided to test how far they were willing to go.
"There was a raid this morning," he stated. "You didn't protect your people."
That finally seemed to break the calm facade. The muggle's eyes narrowed but his tone didn't change. "You are wrong. I protected most of my people. Only the dying were left behind to be preyed on. The rest ran away in time to survive another day, and the wizards were none the wiser."
"You have a plan in place for raids," Neville surmised. "How do you get to decide who dies as the diversion and who runs away?"
"I don't," Popovic said simply. "People decide themselves. There are many who've given up on life. I merely ask them to make their death useful."
"How did the rest run away?" Gregory asked. "The streets were empty when we arrive but we never saw anyone leaving."
For the first time, Popovic hesitated with his answer.
Teddy stepped in. "The huts that you see from the streets are hiding courtyards and other buildings behind them. And there are the tunnels, too. People say that you can cross Serbia from west to east without stepping out onto the surface. It's also where they hide in winter. But you'll never catch a muggle admitting it to a wizard. It's their most guarded secret and the most fragile, too."
"Humans have always been good at surviving," Popovic the wandmaker spoke up. "We share the ability to adapt, muggles and wizards alike. That's what muggles did here; they adapted. Wizards still believe the slums are a place where muggles go to die. There's no reason to let them know we found ways to survive even here."
The conversation died after that.
Neville looked around the room. The walls were bare, the old-fashioned tapestry faded into patternless grey, with a number of brighter rectangles in places where paintings probably used to hang. Helena came in again to serve tea. They stayed silent until she left.
"I met Albus Dumbledore once," Popovic the wandmaker said then.
Neville looked up sharply, meeting Bill's alarmed look. That came out of nowhere. Popovic seemingly didn't pay their reaction any mind and carried on. "He was in Serbia to give a lecture on that topic or another. I was too young to understand what he was trying to explain but I remember I managed to be impressed, anyway.
"It was only a few years before I got kicked out of my apprenticeship. I wasn't a very good student, mind you, so it didn't come as a surprise when Gregorovich grew tired of me. I didn't go back to wandmaking for many decades afterwards. It was only when I heard that Ollivander's was up for auction that I got interested in the craft again. I picked all my savings and went to London. Mine wasn't the highest bid by far but they decided to sell me everything, anyway. I suspect they found it humorous that the wands and tools of the greatest wandmaker should go to a meddler who couldn't even finish his basic training. Ollivander was a traitor after all. They probably regret the joke now, what with the shortage of wands and a surplus of wizards in need of one. Alas, the tools are mine now and in this workshop they should stay. I should treat them with the utmost respect as I've always admired Ollivander's work. As much as I've always respected Dumbledore's genius. I understand you knew both of them well."
Neville didn't look away from Bill, waiting for his reaction. Bill's eyes were furrowed in anger but he didn't rise to Popovic's bait, staying silent.
Popovic sighed. "I didn't wish to alarm you. We only wanted to let you know that we are aware of your true identities, Mr Weasley and Mr Longbottom. The connection between the Army's hunt for certain former Resistance members, your appearance and your friendship with Harry wasn't hard to make. We're confident we didn't raise any suspicion whilst looking into the matter. Your identities are safe with us."
Bill inclined his head to the side. When he spoke, his voice turned icy. "And what do you want from us to keep it that way?"
Popovic shook his head quickly. "You misunderstood. This isn't blackmail. There's nothing we ask of you. Quite on the contrary, if there's anything you can now ask of us given what we know, please, don't hesitate to do so."
Teddy chuckled from across the table. Neville glanced at him—the lad looked surprised and maybe a bit pissed off but he didn't seem alarmed. "It's not you they want in their debt, Bill. They'll be asking Harry to pay the bill later. Pardon my pun there. Anyway, the more favours you ask of them, the better for them. But I guess Harry must be fine with this if he hasn't stopped them from finding out. Come to think of it, even I expected worse from the two of you. This is actually acceptable."
He got up from his chair. "If this is everything you wanted to tell us, let's wrap it up here. The rest of us have a lot of catching up to do tonight."
The ride home was a short one. Teddy went back to his frantic driving and was cutting through the distance to Rusty's Lot in record time.
"Can we really trust them not to sell us to the Empire?" Bill asked.
"In this regard, yes, I'd say you can. There simply isn't anyone who would offer them a better deal," Teddy answered without hesitation. "I meant what I said there. If it wasn't so, Harry would have stopped them."
"How? Even if he was spying on them, you can't be sure he won't miss something. The wandmaker could block any tracking magic Harry sets," Bill argued.
"Hmm," Teddy looked sideways at Bill. "What exactly did Harry tell you about... well, about his life in the Empire?"
"Close to nothing," Bill replied tersely. "But we have our suspicions."
Teddy's eyes returned fully to the road. "Okay," he said with sudden purpose. "Let's get inside the wards and we'll find out how much of your suspicion I'm allowed to refute." He brought the car to a stop in front of the gate to the Lot and added softly, "Or surpass."
AN: Uff, this took a lot of energy to write, don't know why. I'm glad it's out. The next chapter is shaping up already so hopefully, it will be easier to finish (still a long way to go, though). At least Teddy is fun to write, a bit of fresh blood thrown into the mix. I hope you like his character. More on him in the next chapter, that's for sure. And on Harry as well, of course!
If you enjoyed reading, drop a line, please. That's your bit to drive this story further. Thanks ;)
As always, thanks to Dylan Pidge for proofreading!