-From the desk of Cody-

Hello again, everyone.

So, since I overshared way too many details of my life for multiple years with you all, I figure I'll go into it again here. Sorry for going radio silent again. This pandemic caused a lot of bad habits to resurge in my life. But, I'm doing better again now. Got a new man in my life who I'm learning to let drown out the self-destructive voices in my head, and I got a new job at the beginning of the year with HEALTH INSURANCE that is gonna let me afford to get back on medication and on the right track. (Yeah, for my readers not in the US, health insurance is tied to your job, and if you lose your job, medications cost several times as much here as they do anywhere else, so good luck affording it.) I feel in control of things for the first time since March of last year.

To everyone who's messaged me - at some point, when I can mentally handle it, I will go through and respond to each and every message. Probably I'll do it a little bit at a time. Thanks everyone, for being there for me. I just hope I've been able to provide as much joy into the world as I've received from all this.

For those of you out there who would still be happy, after all this time (always?) to venture back into the world of the Global Revelation… I can't go ahead and promise you that I'll finish the Dark Revival. It's a huge commitment, and it's been a while since I've had the time or energy to devote to it. It was a lot different when I was writing it in college than trying to write it with a job. But this part I do promise: if I have the time and inspiration to do the story justice, then I will. Andy has shared a very similar sentiment about not having time to work on the Lily Potter story, although also notes that he feels like that world was inspiring him almost TOO much, and he was considering channeling those plot ideas into an original novel instead, or a TV series. Of course, if either of us ever do anything official like that, I would update you all here.

In the meantime, I've put together another lunar-eclipse-special! The last time I uploaded was a one-shot starring Exo, on the day of a real-life lunar eclipse that was the date of the Lunar Eclipse Festival in book 2. Well… guess what's happening in the next twenty-four hours? The lunar eclipse from book 4 is coming up, when Albus and Exo went to Moutohora to meet John Solomon! We based that lunar eclipse off a real date as well. So if you happen to be in New Zealand, maybe give Albus a warning, yeah? The eclipse will only be partial in the Americas and East Asia, not visible at all in the rest of Asia or in Europe or Africa, by the way.

So, to celebrate another lunar eclipse, here's another one-shot featuring Exo, picking up a couple of years after the previous one.

-O-

"Hand it over, Muggle," said the smug-faced man, emerging from an alley and twirling a wand in his fingers. The woman in front of him gripped her daughter's wrist firmly, and stood rooted to the spot in terror. But when the man cocked his head and clicked his tongue, the woman's eyes clouded over, and she let go of her daughter's arm. As the child started to cry, she walked mechanically towards the man, removed the bejeweled pendant around her neck and placed it into his hand, then walked away, leaving her child sobbing in the street.

The Aurors were stationed in a hidden bubble of magic, but Exo couldn't stay hidden any longer: The woman was about to walk directly into the oncoming traffic. He turned to James. "I'm moving in. Get the Muggles to safety. Could get ugly."

James motioned to two Aurors, who moved in to save the mother and daughter. He cast invisible walls in a perimeter around the entire area, and then put a hand on Exo's shoulder. "Remember, we can't give you backup on this. If it gets dicey, dip out of here. We tracked Mensaer down twice and we'll find him again if we have to."

Mensaer stiffened as Aurors appeared out of the darkness, grabbing the Muggle family and Disapparating. He looked around, not nervously, but alertly. Exo took a deep breath, shifted his entire body composition into pure silver, and walked out of the protected zone.

His weighty footsteps caught Mensaer's attention immediately. The man turned to face him, and let out an amused snort as he watched Exo's body glitter from the streetlamps reflecting off his silver skin. A ripple of energy passed over them, and he knew James had set up an Anti-Disapparition Jinx. But this serial killer wasn't known to run away from a fight. He'd already killed three Aurors who tried to apprehend him.

"What are you supposed to be, some kinda Marvel movie freak?" laughed Mensaer. He cocked his head to the side and clicked his tongue again. Exo felt the sensation of a pebble bouncing off his skull, but nothing more. He kept advancing on his target.

Mensaer staggered backwards - finally nervous. He tried his tactic again, but Exo was unmoved. Mensaer turned to Disapparate, and when that failed, he started looking around for anyone else in the area.

"We've cleared the streets," said Exo casually, having closed half the distance and still advancing. "No one for you to puppeteer this time. Sorry to break it to you, but silver is remarkably good at repelling magic. If it can completely stop me from transforming into a werewolf, it's certainly gonna stop your pitiful attempts at controlling my mind."

Mensaer snarled, but Exo knew it was the snarl of a dog backed into a corner. Any previous time the law had tried to apprehend this man, he could sense their presence by sensing their thoughts. All he usually needed to do was cock his head and suddenly the police or the Aurors had their guns or wands on each other, or even became his personal bodyguards as he wreaked further havoc. But not this time: Exo's silver form was impenetrable by mental magic.

And as suspected, when Mensaer lifted his wand but struggled to think of a spell to cast, Mensaer was not a talented duelist. Why would he have needed to be? He did everything with his mind, he hardly needed to know how to fight. Exo walked straight up to the killer, who gasped as he struck James's invisible wall and could no longer retreat. Exo swung the back of his hand into Mensaer's face; the metal smash bludgeoned him against the wall and knocked him unconscious, and he crumpled to the floor. Exo slipped a collar around Mensaer's neck that would activate and electrocute him if he ever attempted mental magic. The collar flashed to show it was active, and Exo returned to his normal form, extracting his wand and Stunning the asshole for good measure.

James stepped out of thin air, and shook his head, chuckling. "Merlin, kid. That was like nothing for you."

"It feels good to help make the world better," sighed Exo, smiling. "Feels like I can help balance out the things my biological parents did. And it proves I don't take after them."

"Well, you might take after them in some way," said James, double-checking Mensaer's restraints and restraining him further. When Exo glared his way, James clarified himself. "In talent, I mean. Because seriously. They call it 'Inanimagus' for a reason. Not a single other person in this world can move like you do after transformation. Every former werewolf in the world has the same powers as you, but you are the only one who can outpace a snail when in silver form, let alone walk like a normal person! How the heck do you do that, anyway?"

"Well, sure, there's a lot of werewolves out there, but not a lot who have been werewolves from the time they were a toddler. I spent my entire life living through transformations that it was nearly impossible to control. I learned some amazing techniques that really helped me center myself, maintain agency over myself, when I was transformed. And they translated really well into this, actually."

James, satisfied that Mensaer was enough in custody, clicked a device in his pocket. Several Aurors reappeared instantly, took hold of Mensaer, and Disapparated. James punched Exo in the arm and grinned. "Well, that's great to hear that the pain wasn't for nothing, yeah?"

At the same time, James and Exo both turned and noticed that one of the Aurors hadn't Disapparated with the others. Instinctively, James's wand was out in a flash, and Exo reverted to silver. But the Auror held up her hands and giggled. "It's alright, boys. I was actually here to deliver a message for Exo. The twins want to see you."

"The twins?" asked Exo, blinking.

"He's not from the Ministry, you'll have to use layman's terms," said James. He turned to Exo, looking excited. "Lorcan and Lysander Scamander. Luna Lovegood's kids. They run the Brain Room in the Department of Mysteries and apparently they want to talk to you about something. They were actually asking me about you before this mission, they seemed really curious about what you can do. If it's about brains, maybe they've got another job that only you can do, being resistant to mind magic and all."

Exo shrugged. "The Department of Mysteries kinda creeps me the eff out, but I know Luna is cool, so I guess I trust her kids. Sure, I don't mind seeing what they want."

"Good for you! And if I were you, I wouldn't transform into silver while you're in the Department of Mysteries. They'd probably be tempted to dissect you."

Exo rolled his eyes; those days of the Ministry were over. Ever since the Abyssal Vortex closed, and no Devoctrices could ever be cast again, the Department of Mysteries had severely downsized and its operations were not as mysterious, given all of those secrets were already out and there wasn't much sense keeping quiet what everyone knew now.

The Auror held her hand out; Exo took it, and they Apparated directly into the Brain Room. Exo smiled again; it was a sign of different times, if any Auror could Apparate right into the Department of Mysteries. Ten years ago that would have been impossible, even for Ministry workers, and if you had somehow managed to do it they probably would have tortured and interrogated you.

"Exo!" said one of the twins. They were both stationed at a desk near an empty tank, and waved him over. There wasn't a floating brain to be seen anywhere in the room, and it had been decorated with floral wallpaper. Much less creepy than the Brain Room that Teddy had described to him. "Glad you were available to chat. I'm Lorcan, this is Lysander."

"Hi," said Exo, strolling over. Lysander wordlessly conjured a chair for Exo, and nodded to him.

"We'll get straight to the point," said Lorcan. "Given that we called you here directly after your successful operation neutralizing Mensaer, you've probably at least partially guessed what we want from you. We've been studying an odd phenomenon that's been occurring up north. It's affecting people's minds. Hence our involvement."

Lysander, again silently, Summoned a bulletin board from the other side of the room. The board had some locations marked, some dates written by those locations, and pictures of some familiar faces in the corner. One was Draxler Cordot, one was Pyron, and the other two were…

…his parents?

Contrary to Lorcan's assumption, he now had absolutely no clue what the hell was this about.

Lysander tapped the board with his wand, and four thin red threads popped out of the marked location at the center of the board, stretching out and pinning themselves to the four pictures. There were two dates next to that location; one of them flashed blue, and the frames around Cordot's and Pyron's pictures turned blue. An earlier date flashed green, and the frames around his mother's and father's pictures turned green.

"This entire village was abandoned during the Shadow days," said Lorcan. Exo nodded, knowing that the "Shadow days" was referring to the time when the Man in the Shadows was in control of the world.

Lorcan continued. "The inhabitants of this town suffered horrible depression that descended on them all at once. It was so severe that there were several attempted suicides. None successful, but the village was evacuated before it could get that far. We thought it was an organized attack on a Muggle town by extremists, but it was the only occurrence of its kind. And there were some wizards who lived there, too, and they were affected just as severely."

Lysander flicked his wand, and Exo's father's picture floated off the board and moved above the town, hovering there.

"In fact," said Lorcan, "the Department of Mysteries was heavily researching what was happening there, on the command of the Man in the Shadows. The reason why they were so invested in finding out what was happening there is obvious in retrospect, now that we know your father was involved. They were desperate to figure it out - and to cover it up - because this was the village where your family used to live, Exo. In this village is the house where your mother died."

Exo took a deep breath to calm himself. He didn't like the memories this was going to bring up.

"Whatever this was, even if it wasn't connected to your parents - which, by the way, we still don't know if it is - your father must have feared that any unusual situation occurring there could be attributed to him, and that it might cast a light on him at a time where he was trying to keep his machinations a total secret. So they buried the files on this case, buried the evidence, and scrubbed the village right off the map! It was, for quite some time, Unplottable, and unable to even be spoken about or remembered by the people who used to live there. You were only a few weeks old when your mother was killed, so you probably wouldn't remember it anyway, but even if you were old enough to remember, you wouldn't have been able to bring the name of the village to your mind until a few days ago. It wasn't be able to be spoken aloud until we put it back on the map as part of this case last month."

Lysander gave his wand a few more twists, and his father's picture floated back down, replaced with the pictures of Cordot and Pyron.

Lorcan beamed. "And what day did all this begin? It began on the day Pyron was reconstructed by Albus, which was also the day that Cordot and Pyron both died. Fascinating, right? The first theory we considered was that one of them placed a spell or something, and that it was broken when they died. That's a spectacular coincidence, then, that this spell happened to be placed in a village where the Man in the Shadows ended up living. Or perhaps it's not a coincidence at all - perhaps your father chose that village because of some secret connected to Cordot or Pyron, given his interest in ancient lore. Or perhaps Cordot knew that your father would be living there one day! After all, he had his fingers in everything.

"The second theory we considered is similar: We have considered the possibility that Cordot placed a spell on this town to be activated once Pyron was reconstructed. Because after all, isn't that what he did to the Pandoran Catalyst? The Pandoran Catalyst only resurfaced when Pyron appeared, having been enchanted to only return to the world once it was needed to defeat Pyron. Perhaps this was also enchanted to be connected to Pyron. Why? For what purpose? Well, it's difficult to find out, because whenever we send anyone to study the town - no matter how extensively we prepare and protect them - they fall into depression. We have to extract them using Muggle robots, because we can't get too close ourselves, and they're too far gone to motivate themselves to leave."

Exo nodded, and he could see where this was going now.

"So of course, given that you've just proven yourself impervious to mental attacks, we wondered if you would consider helping us out. And not only do you have that benefit, but silver has also proven across history to resist many other magical and supernatural effects beyond mental magic. Even so, we would send you in via a Muggle vehicle, which will autopilot itself out of the village if you start to feel the effects. And who knows - you knew your father better than anyone, and you were privy to a lot of the secrets of Cordot through knowing Albus and his friends. Maybe you'll pick up on something that we've missed."

Lysander enchanted a few binders to fly Exo's way; he grabbed them from the air and opened them up, viewing a wealth of details of this case. Exo was impressed. Lorcan and Lysander weren't too far out of Hogwarts, but they were running this operation quite well.

"I'd be happy to help," he said.

"Are you certain?" asked Lorcan. "We know that it could be difficult for you, given the connection to your father."

"I'm a much stronger person than I used to be," said Exo. "Whatever happens, I can keep my focus on the mission."

"Thank you, Exo," grinned Lorcan. "We look forward to working with you. The mission will be put together in the next couple of weeks."

Lysander nodded to Exo and the Auror who brought him here. She extended her hand; Exo took it, and they Disapparated.

-O-

Exo stared up into the bright sun as the truck rolled slowly into the abandoned town. It was odd; he'd seen enough movies to feel like haunted abandoned towns were best explored at night. Though he supposed it did make sense to do it in daylight, and wondered why people in horror movies preferred to put themselves in supernatural situations in the dark.

Lorcan's voice crackled into his headset. "Okay, do you notice anything out of the ordinary immediately?"

"Besides the fact that it's abandoned? No. And can you actually lower the volume that you're speaking? When my ears are silver, they echo a lot more than usual, so you're pretty loud."

"Sure, sure," said Lorcan, yet without actually honoring Exo's request, or maybe he was just one of those people who didn't really realize how loud they talked. "Well, let's have you check out your old house first. The radius of where people are affected near this town isn't constant, and isn't a straight line, so it's hard to tell where the center of the event would be. But if we had to approximate, it looks like your old house could be pretty close to the center of the action. Remember the extraction plan if things go awry."

"I got it."

The truck rolled up to a house like any other on the block. He didn't remember it, not even distantly; but as Lorcan had said, he was only a few weeks old when his mother had been killed by Aurors during the Dark Revival, and his father had moved him and his sister into the house where his sister would be killed by Fenrir Greyback. Honestly, what kind of parents…

He stepped out of the truck, adjusting his headset and the Spectrespecs that the twins had given him. Cracking his silver neck and knuckles, he started walking up the front steps. Confidently, he stepped through the door.

But he lost his confidence as he heard soft noises from the house that should have been empty.

He backed out instantly, and got ready to jump back into the truck. "I heard something."

"Give us a moment," came Lorcan's reply.

There was a brief delay, and then he reported back. "There are no living entities inside that house. We just triple-checked. But I'm not going to tell you to think that it must have been the wind. What did it sound like?"

Exo furrowed his brow with a metallic crinkle, trying to conjure up a memory of the noise. "It sounded like… someone inhaling, multiple times. Or a bunch of people inhaling."

"That's odd. We had people in here before, even in that house, and they never reported hearing anything. Not that I'm doubting you!"

"Metal ears," said Exo. "Picking up on more sounds, I think. Since my skin isn't soft when I'm silver, it doesn't muffle any noises. I might be able to hear things that other people can't."

"Excellent. Well, given what you've described, I might have an idea, but you might not like it."

Exo nodded. He dragged his foot in the dirt, and sighed; he clenched his fists. "Are you thinking it could be a ghost of my mother?"

"It's a possibility. But, that wouldn't explain why the incidents only started occurring after Pyron. We'll keep brainstorming over here. If you feel safe, you can keep investigating."

Exo stepped in through the door again. He took several deep breaths before he walked any further than the doorway. When he did, he heard the noise again, distinctly. What may have been drowned out in any other town by the sounds of traffic, or conversations, or wildlife, was unnervingly clear in this house, in this village devoid of even bugs and birds. Shuddering breaths. Sniffling. Someone - a person in this house - was crying.

Lorcan had said there was no "living" person in this house. But that didn't mean there couldn't be a dead one.

Exo steeled himself - or, well, he was already metal - and walked further.

In the case files, he read that the fatal duel had taken place in the master bedroom of the house, so he headed in that direction. He walked through a hallway, lined with pictures of another family that must have moved in after the house was renovated following the duel. It seemed so perverse, that such a tragedy could have taken place here and another family just… moved in and started living. Or actually, it was no tragedy. His mother had been one of Gallen Ingot's fiercest supporters. Her death was not something to be mourned. If that was really her in this house, where did she get off crying about it? Like she was wronged or something? Like her death wasn't the direct result of her actions, and an appropriate punishment for them?

But as he passed a hall mirror, he saw the reflection of his new silver form, and he took one more calming breath to center himself. He had come so far since they controlled his life and inflicted the consequences of their evil upon him. He wasn't defined by them anymore, and he wouldn't let them affect him. He resisted his father enough in life. He wouldn't let his mother torment him in death.

He walked up the steps to the second floor, which crunched under his weight, and for a moment he was worried they wouldn't support him. But he took the last few steps fast, and made it up. He turned to the right, following his memory of the house's blueprints. And he stepped into the master bedroom.

He didn't see anything at first, though the sniffles were louder here than they were downstairs. But when he lowered the Spectrespecs, he almost gasped aloud.

"Exo?"

"It's my father," he whispered to Lorcan. "He's a ghost. Only a vague shape. But I recognize his beer gut."

His father's quivering, sobbing form was sitting on the end of the bed, shaking his head, which was in his hands. He was silver like his son, and ethereal, like a billowing cloud slowly distorting. But something was… off. Something besides the fact that he was a ghost. His mannerisms, the way he carried his body, didn't match how Exo remembered him. They were slightly off. Like someone was impersonating him. But who would have been impersonating his father as a ghost?

At hearing Exo's voice, he turned his head.

"Who are you?" he asked, in such a soft whisper that Exo probably couldn't have heard it as a human. "What are you doing here?" He looked at his hands. "What… What am I doing here?"

"Your father?" came Lorcan's soft reply. "A ghost of your father… Did one of his clones die here? Or return here after his death?"

"I don't know," said Exo. "But he can hear me. I… I'm going to talk to him."

"Be careful, Exo."

Lorcan's voice echoed back out Exo's ear, and apparently his father's ghost could hear it. He stood up, suddenly transforming from a pathetic hunched figure to a tall, imposing shape. His silvery form rippled, and turned to the dark gray of ominous storm clouds. He advanced on Exo, and the door to the bedroom slammed shut behind him. The curtains flew about as if there was a strong wind, and items began to fly off the shelves.

"Did he say Exo?!" roared the ghost, towering over Exo as he was backed against the door. "Where is my son? Where is my baby? Where is my daughter, where are my children?!"

"It's - It's me!" cried Exo, for lack of any other response. "I'm your son!"

The room stopped quaking, and the curtains fluttered down and were still. Helio's ghost staggered backwards, and he fell onto his backside on the bed.

"No," murmured Helio, shaking his head. "No. My son was just born."

Exo turned to speak as softly as he could into his microphone for the twins. "He's talking as if he just died."

"Ghosts will do that, yeah. The mind perceives time differently when you're dead - which is lucky for ghosts, so they don't go insane, what with being around for all eternity. But, why is your father talking like that? It was your mother who died when you were young. As far as we knew, your father didn't have clones yet when that happened."

Exo looked at his father, and saw something he'd never seen before: a flood of emotion from a father figure. Helio had been a soulless villain, and his adoptive father Dalton Desulgon was just plain soulless, though not a villain. But here, he was seeing his father experience grief, and horror, and loss, and… despite everything, he was feeling pity for the man.

But how could he forgive his father for what he'd done - even if this ghost was from a point in time from before he did it?

"Your son is a grown man," he said, before he could stop himself; his old Hogwarts-era anger flaring up. "And you had him nearly killed by a werewolf to save your own hide. But he outlived you in the end."

"Exo," came Lorcan's stern voice, "provoking a ghost is generally not a great idea…"

"What?" whimpered Helio from the bed. "You're… you're stark raving mad. What are you talking about? Where are my children? They're in danger!"

Exo scoffed. "Of course they're in danger."

"My wife has them - please, you have to save them!"

At this, Exo paused. "What?"

"My wife, she…"

Helio looked at his hands, which started to tremble. "I think she killed me."

Exo whispered into his microphone again. "Did you hear that?"

He only heard Lorcan breathing on the other end, for a moment. Then Lorcan said, "Is there any chance he's right?"

"What? Aurors killed my mother that day. My father survived. That's what happened."

"Well, we know that, but is that the whole story? Is there possibly some part of this that we don't know that happened before or after? This ghost of your father really seems like he - sorry, what?"

"I didn't say anything."

"No, not you, Lysander is saying - oh. Oh."

There was a pause.

"Lysander asked if your mother might have… switched places with your father when the killing blow was struck that day."

Exo looked his father deep into the eyes. Was that possible? It would explain why his father's ghost was here. Did his father perhaps have a clone with his wife that day - and his wife swapped bodies with the clone? Did that mean - was his mother still out there?

"What do you remember?" he asked his father. He didn't know if he could expect an honest answer, but something about this situation felt… different from the father he'd known all his life. Again, besides the fact that his father was a ghost.

"I… she… I don't…"

"Focus, Helio," said Exo, putting on the most serious voice he could muster. "You said your children were in danger."

Helio's eyes - or the glassy orbs where his eyes would be if he'd had a body - widened. "My wife… she… they came to take her away. I think I had known for a while. What she was. But, when they came, she did something. Something with her hands. So fast. I felt like I was being torn in half. And then… I've been here. I couldn't move. So long. Waiting. Worrying. I still don't know where my children are. Suddenly I could move again. But I couldn't leave the house. Can't save them. Can't stop her…"

The wave of misery that washed over Exo did not affect his mind, but he could feel it as powerful as hurricane winds. His father shook, clenching his fists - that was something that Exo often did when he was more upset than he could communicate with words. Instead of lashing out, he turned inwards, trying to draw blood from his palms, using physical pain to distract from the emotional pain, trying to keep it all in so no one would see how much he was struggling. He recognized it happening in his father now. His father had fooled the world, but this would have been a performance even beyond any he had put on before.

"Exo."

He'd almost forgotten he had the earpiece in. He nearly jumped out of his silver skin.

"Exo," repeated Lorcan. "We're going to have you perform a ritual that the Department of Mysteries developed during the Shadow Days. It's still a secret - so swear you won't reveal anything that happened here today."

"I can't do magic," Exo said. "Not while I'm silver. That's the one big drawback."

"This isn't exactly magic," said Lorcan. "It's a ritual. We're calling it Priori Devoctrum. And I suspect you could cast this ritual even while silver."

Exo's brow rose. "Does it do exactly what it sounds like?"

"Yes. We'll be shown a history of the Devoctrices that took place at this location, just like Priori Incantatum could show you a history of the spells that a wand has cast. Step out. Head back outside the town limits for now."

Exo hesitated, looking at his father, who looked like a man who had lost everything. He turned and headed out, trusting Lorcan.

The truck took him outside the range of the mental effect - which they now understood to be a manifestation of Helio's sadness, guilt, fear, and every other emotion with which his untimely death seemed to have left him… if this vision were to be believed. Part of Exo feared that this was somehow another ruse. But Albus had destroyed his father in the Abyssal Vortex… Draxler Cordot had seen to that happening. Unless his father had outwitted the man who planned out all of modern history.

But this effect had only begun after Cordot's death. And Lorcan had said the Department of Mysteries was trying to cover it up while Wilcox was in power. Why?

One of his father's clones had died that day, killed by Pyron… Was this that clone he was seeing? Manipulating him in some way? But if so, what was the endgame here?

Outside the village, he met with the twins. Lysander stepped forward, turned his back to Exo and jerked his head in a "follow me" motion. He started working through the hand motions of a complex ritual, and Exo did his best to follow along.

"Wear these," said Lorcan, clapping two bracelets on either of Exo's hands. "They'll help guide your arms, but you'll still have to have the intention of the correct movements for this to work."

"Am I casting a Devoctrix? I thought that was impossible after the Vortex closed."

"Not all spells that require hand movements are Devoctrices. Many rituals do as well. But the Department of Mysteries did model this ritual after the Devoctrices, in an attempt to draw on and emulate their effects, for the obvious reason of successfully pulling off Priori Devoctrum.

After Exo practiced enough to feel the effects coming on, he leapt back into the truck, and was carried back into the empty town. Again the truck pulled up in front of the childhood home he did not remember, and he bounded up the stairs again. He stepped into the room and repositioned his Spectrespecs, and saw his father's vague form again.

"You again," uttered Helio faintly. "Did… did you find my children? Are they safe?"

Exo paused. This was an opportunity to see if this explanation was the right one… but if he took it, and he was right… this would be the last he ever saw of his father, just as he realized he may have gone his whole life misjudging the man.

But as he looked at his father, into his mournful eyes, he realized that interacting with these leftover fragments of his father would not be helpful to either of them.

"Your daughter is dead," said Exo.

"Exo, are you sure that's a good - whoa!"

Helio lifted his head to the sky, and screamed. The burst of grief that followed blasted the walls clean off of the house. The second floor collapsed onto the first, and they plummeted down a story, crashing into the living room. The headset Exo was wearing was overloaded, sparking and then shutting down.

Exo approached his father, still sitting on the bed that had just flattened the couch in the floor below. He bent down, with the sound of folding metal, and placed his hand next to his father's.

"But your son," he continued, "defied the odds. He grew up under the most extreme stresses one could imagine. And he emerged on the other side a strong and complete person. He made it. And he's me."

Helio lifted his face, still contorted in agony, and looked Exo directly into the eyes.

Exo took a deep breath, and reverted out of his silver state, back into his human form.

Helio's eyes widened. He stared into Exo's eyes, which so resembled his mother's; into his son's round face, which resembled his own; and he knew Exo was telling the truth.

And he dissolved into the afternoon light.

-O-

Lorcan rubbed the back of his head as he stared at the ruins. "Goodness," he said. "Well, at least the people who lived here after you no longer have any memory of this house, or they might've been upset to see it destroyed. But if the fact that we're standing here with no ill effects is any indication, I'd say you accomplished your mission with flying colors. And did you cast Priori Devoctrum yet?"

"I did. Right after he disappeared."

Lysander arched a brow at Exo and tilted his head, in a clear "What happened?" expression.

"My mom used the Splismetic Devoctrix. The twenty-third one, that my dad - er, that - that the Man in the Shadows kept secret for all that time. The one used to clone."

"She cloned your father?"

Exo shook his head. "That's not all that Devoctrix does. Cordot used it to split Pyron into three parts that were less destructive on their own. And, what my mom did… I think…" He took yet another deep breath. "You know how Lily Potter has been doing some research on the three realms? The First Realm being our physical world, the Second Realm being the Abyssal Vortex, and the Third Realm being kind of a realm of emotion?"

"We're intimately familiar with her work, with our being at the Department of Mysteries, yes."

"I think my mother ripped my father, and herself, into three pieces each." Exo shuddered, recalling the horrors he'd just witnessed in the Priori Devoctrum. "She tore my father's physical, spiritual, and emotional components apart from each other. Then she did the same for herself. And she… inserted her spirit and emotions into his physical body."

The twins gaped. Immediately, Lysander set to performing Priori Devoctrum again so that they could witness it themselves. Exo turned away - he couldn't watch it again.

"That would be… unbelievable," said Lorcan. "So… what we thought was his ghost… was it…"

"I think it was his emotions. Detached from a body, not knowing what had happened to his children. And the Man in the Shadows… was my mother in my father's body all along."

"He said he was Helio Wilcox while under Veritaserum, though. Is that possible, if that's what happened?"

"I don't know. Maybe she legally changed her name to avoid that kind of accidental giveaway. But kinda unprecedented, isn't it? Hard to know how she did everything she did."

Lorcan was silent as he watched the recreation of the Devoctrix that Exo's mother had cast, in Lysander's Priori Devoctrum. When it was finished, he sat down on the front steps next to Exo.

"I can't imagine what you must be feeling right now," he said. "But, if what we just saw really happened, then… you really helped your father. I think he's found a peace that only you could give him."

"Yeah." Exo wiped his nose with his sleeve and sighed.

"Most ghosts remain here when there's something they feel is still attaching them to this world. And they can only leave when that attachment is… gone, or resolved. You gave your father permission to leave. It was the right thing to do."

Exo nodded silently.

"Two mysteries left now, I suppose," said Lorcan, standing back up and looking around. "Firstly, if Helio died here all those years ago, why did the effects of his sadness only begin after Cordot's death?"

Exo contemplated for a moment, but he was surprised at how quickly a logical answer came up. "Well… Cordot was trying to orchestrate the fall of every Devoctrix scholar through the fall of my father - mother, I guess I mean. If Helio's spirit had remained here and wreaked havoc, my mother's plan might have been revealed. Then she wouldn't have been around to murder every other Devoctrix scholar. And Albus wouldn't have been able to close the Vortex and seal off the last Devoctrical villain with him. So maybe Cordot concealed the evidence - knowing that it was a better path for the world in the long run to allow my mother to get away with it for a while. And that concealment was only reversed when he died."

Lysander pursed his lips and nodded approvingly.

"That's certainly a strong theory," said Lorcan. "Okay then… one mystery left, I suppose."

Exo turned his head to glance at Lorcan. "Which is…"

"If Shawna tore apart their bodies, souls, and emotions, then I'm assuming what we encountered here was Helio's emotional presence. It explains why the effects on the surrounding people were strong emotional responses, given that it was a force of pure emotion that was exuding horrible grief. It's easy to explain what happened to Shawna's three parts - her body was left without her soul or emotions to make it seem as though she'd died, and she placed her soul and emotions into Helio's body. But Helio, I'm not sure. If Shawna occupied Helio's body, and his emotions were left here to fester… What happened to his third part? His soul?"

Exo shrugged. "I'd say answering that question is probably more in your department than mine."

Lorcan laughed. "True, true. Well done today, Exo. Do you need a lift home?"

"No, I've got one," said Exo, extracting a Portkey from a protected hidden pocket in his robes. "Thanks, though."

"Good seeing you, Exo. You take care."

"You too. Good luck sorting out the rest of this."

Lysander saluted Exo, and the twins began to extract tools to take measurements and record data. Exo activated the Portkey, taking him to Dodecus and Rebecca, and his heart began to thump faster as he landed, greeted them warmly, and asked for the lunar portal.

He hoped the twins' tools hadn't had time to pick up on the other thing that was currently in his concealed pocket - the thing that he had found after his father's emotions had dissolved away, floating gently in his place.

Because although it would have answered Lorcan's final question… he knew a certain someone up on the moon who had been looking for one of these for a while, and who might be able to make a lot better use of it.