The house was eerily quiet, with both children gone to Hogwarts and Ted at work. Eleven was so young to be away … Andromeda sighed, cleared the table, and tried not to worry about Harry.
Sirius was willing to lend a sympathetic ear, but they tended to feed one another's anxieties. He was also laying elaborate plans for his proposal to Reina Shacklebolt, and kept asking Andromeda's opinion on family rings and other wedding-related heirlooms. She'd already reminded him twice that she and Ted had eloped. Her own rings cost ninety quid at a Muggle antique shop.
She'd just summoned a pair of gardening clogs when the Floo flared green and Severus Snape lunged out, scattering ashes all over the rug.
"Severus! What on earth are you doing?"
"Harry's been attacked," he said, freezing her heart. "He'll live, but he's badly hurt and we must go straight to the infirmary. I don't trust Dumbledore not to alter the children's memories, and possibly the adults' as well …"
In October of her second year, Nymphadora fell down the Quidditch bleachers and fractured her skull. Andromeda would never forget the sight of her daughter, pale and still on a hospital cot as Madam Pomfrey cast spell after spell.
Worse than Dora's bruised face was her hair — not pink or purple, not those damned silly Hufflepuff stripes, but the brittle dead brown of old leaves. To her terrified eyes it seemed as though Dora's vibrant hair had died, leaving the rest of her to fade away like a Muggle photograph.
Andromeda Tonks relived that moment as she saw her son.
Her first confused thought was that he'd gone fire-walking. The soles of his feet were burnt and flaking. The sheet was pulled up and coiled, too snakelike for comfort, so she untwisted and smoothed it. His heart was beating and she could feel him breathe.
Her own breath shuddered as she straightened, turning to Dumbledore.
"Tell me what happened."
"Voldemort attempted a return," the old man replied. "Sadly, Professor Quirrell succumbed to his influence." He gestured to a sheet on another cot, pulled up over a misshapen lump. Andromeda had no desire to look underneath.
"Severus?" she asked quietly, keeping her eyes on Harry.
"The spirit appeared to be some miserable remnant of the Dark Lord," Snape replied. "Miss Foy trapped it in what she assures us to be an inescapable prison."
He made brief eye contact and added: "I will vouch for her."
Miss Foy was perhaps twenty-five, Andromeda estimated, but her grey hair marked her out as a trained exorcist. She looked exhausted, hands trembling with adrenaline.
"The Potters and Blacks are in your debt, Miss Foy."
"Thank you, Madam Tonks," the younger woman said. "Your son was very brave."
"It's Andromeda, please. And I'm afraid I've not yet been introduced to the children."
"Miss Hermione Granger, first-year Ravenclaw," Dumbledore said. "Miss Daphne Greengrass, same. Mr. Draco Malfoy, first-year Slytherin. This is Harry's mother, Madam Andromeda Tonks."
She met their eyes in turn. "I'm very pleased to meet you. All of you."
Narcissa's son looked deeply confused. Merlin knew how his father had slandered her, Andromeda thought.
"Where's Mimi? Was she not with him when — when he was attacked?"
"Madam Pomfrey had to put Harry into a healing coma," Miss Foy answered. "His familiar was naturally upset and had to be removed, along with my own familiar who was causing trouble. The Bloody Baron agreed to supervise them in the dungeons."
"Mimi saved Harry from Quirrell," Miss Granger chimed in. "She was magnificent. Your familiar was very brave too, Miss Foy."
"She has her moments," the exorcist agreed. "You would have been proud, Madam Tonks — sorry, Andromeda. Harry was able to expel the spirit, or I should say the remnant of Tom Riddle's spirit. It went in through his feet, as you've likely noticed … they can leave rather nasty burns. I've seen it before in cases where two spirits, or souls if you prefer, are fundamentally opposed —"
Andromeda cut her off. "May I speak with you privately, Miss Foy?"
The exorcist glanced at Snape (not Dumbledore, Andromeda noticed), and he nodded slightly. He hadn't put away his ebony wand.
"You can use the back office," Madam Pomfrey offered.
The back office turned out to be a glorified supply closet. Miss Foy blinked as Andromeda cast a privacy ward, layered with charms to prevent eavesdropping.
"I trust Severus Snape," Andromeda said. "He's a friend of the family. I don't trust Albus Dumbledore farther than I could throw him, and I especially don't trust him to act in my son's best interest."
Miss Foy looked concerned, as well she might.
"I'd like to have Harry transferred to St. Mungo's, and I need your opinion on whether that will cause him any further harm."
"You should ask Madam Pomfrey," she replied immediately. "I'm not medically trained."
"Madam Pomfrey's loyalty is to Hogwarts, and by extension to Albus," Andromeda said. "What does this kind of possession do to a person? To a child? Could it cause any further harm to move him?"
Miss Foy now looked uncomfortable. "No further harm, no, but I would advise against moving him at this point. Aside from any physical trauma, Harry's soul was ... crowded, for want of a better word. It needs time to resettle and feel safe again. I would suggest having his familiar guard him, give her a chance to break down any remaining soul magic while he's in a healing coma."
Andromeda felt as though her mind had snagged on a spike. "What do you mean by that? Mimikyu can't affect souls, she's a boggart."
"I assure you she is not," Miss Foy said. "I call my familiar a banshee, but that's just because I don't have a better word. She is unique, at least to this world, and so is Mimi. Am I right in saying that Harry found her during a time of great need?"
"Many familiars meet their owners —"
"Extreme need, then. Not skinned-knee kid stuff, but the kind of thing you hate to even think about. That kind of need."
Andromeda nodded stiffly.
"Dree came to me on my eleventh birthday," the exorcist said. "We'd hoped for so long that I was just a late bloomer. We went through all the motions, cake and presents and happy wishes, and when the day was done I still didn't have my Hogwarts letter.
"I was the first Squib in generations. I adored my father and I saw how he couldn't even look at me. I was up on the roof, watching for the owl that would bring me my letter, and when the alley clock struck midnight I'd already made up my mind to jump. I told myself that my magic would kick in at the last second, but in my heart ... I knew it wouldn't. I was in despair."
She smiled softly. "And then Misdreavus came to me. She was hiding in the shadows by the chimney … I thought she was a baby ghoul, at first. It was like she was born just there and then, or took a step through from some other place just to meet me at that horrible moment. She helped me save myself."
"Mimikyu appeared from the shadows," Andromeda said after a moment's pause. "Harry told us. He was locked up, and she found him."
"Dree refused to leave my side," Miss Foy said. "She screamed at anyone who even looked at me funny, including my father, and got us both into all sorts of trouble. That winter, Dree helped me expel two ghosts from my uncle's tavern. At thirteen, I apprenticed to a senior exorcist and went on adventures." She smiled, but it looked painful. "I was just glad my father loved me again."
Andromeda could sympathise.
"To answer your question, Madam Tonks, my recommendation is to leave Harry here, unless the coma persists longer than a few days. In that case, if you have the resources, I would set up a private room at home."
"Is that very likely?" She tried to keep her voice from shaking.
"The interaction of actual souls or soul remnants with living hosts is not well-studied. Harry may need a day to heal, or a month, or even longer. I wish I could pin it down, but this simply doesn't happen very often."
"Can the soul remnant be destroyed?"
A shadow fell over the younger woman's face. "Not by me. There are very few ways to destroy souls. And they fight like hell."
"Dumbledore will insist."
"Dumbledore can go fly a kite," Miss Foy said crisply. "Voldemort's spirit is damaged, trapped, and fast asleep. It's also no longer on me, and if he plans to chase down Misdreavus and fetch it, well. He's welcome to try."
###
When the two women made their way back to Harry's bedside, the other children had gone and Severus Snape was engaged in a staring contest with the headmaster.
"Miss Foy is a professional, and you approved her engagement," Snape said. "Surely Hogwarts' budget can stand the strain."
"I take gold or check," Griselda said, just to amuse herself.
"Naturally, Miss Foy, you deserve payment for services rendered," Dumbledore said (a touch pompously, in her opinion). "However, there is the matter of Tom Riddle's soul …"
"Industrywide standards and practises," she snapped, enjoying herself. "Exorcists are required to direct and oversee the disposal of any and all corporeal or ectoplasmic remnants of expelled souls or spirits. The average wizard is simply not equipped to deal with these Category 9 substances properly. The jolly old BEPPO would have my head."
"Board of Exorcism Practitioners and Paranormal Operatives," Snape supplied.
When Griselda raised her eyebrows, he added: "Grave shroud, freely given, is used in a few specialty potions. I've corresponded with the Board on occasion."
Andromeda looked absolutely lost.
"It's not important, Madam Tonks," Griselda reassured her. "The soul remnant will remain with me, Headmaster Dumbledore. There's no recourse. I will gladly give you the Floo information for BEPPO headquarters. Dree and I will be going now."
She pressed Andromeda's hand. "Please contact me any time and I'll do my best to help. Professor Snape, I will need an escort back to Hogwarts once a day to check on Mr. Potter's status."
Severus nodded, looking bored.
"I'm sorry, Miss Foy," Dumbledore said, sounding truly regretful. "I cannot allow you to leave Hogwarts without destroying Tom Riddle's soul fragment."
He waved his unusual-looking wand. Green sparks flew as the fireplace was sealed shut.
Snape grabbed Griselda's arm, pulling her behind him and Andromeda. Both of them raised their wands. Madam Pomfrey raised hers, too, setting a protective shield between Harry and all of the other adults in the room.
There was an electric pause, the unnatural stretched-out hush just before the first flare of spellfire.
Dree and Mimi chose that moment to fly in.