Thursday 8 May, 1997:
Harry stared out the window at the late spring evening sky. He was in the secret semi-circle room, skipping dinner in the Great Hall because he wanted to avoid as much human contact as possible. There was only one person he truly wanted to speak to, but he wasn't sure if she even really existed anymore.
He tried to imagine what Lena would have said to him regarding his duel with Malfoy the previous day. She probably would have been proud of how he had handled himself until he'd used the Sectumsempra curse. On that matter, she almost certainly would have berated him for using a spell for which he didn't know the consequences – especially in the middle of a fight.
The memory of Malfoy's blood seeping out of the gashes he'd inflicted on his rival made Harry shudder. It was the Darkest spell he had ever cast – not counting the failed attempt to use the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix at the Ministry last year. Had the Half-Blood Prince invented it? He'd tried to dissuade Hermione of the notion, but he still wondered...
The sound of the door opening startled Harry, his hand automatically reaching for his wand as he turned around. Seeing who was standing in the doorway, he blinked several times in surprise.
Eve Nyambura had a similar expression of shock on her face as she exclaimed, "Oh!" She gulped. "Sorry, I didn't realise..."
Harry stared at her. Eve's dark hair was out and curly, surrounding her head like a cloud. He could only recall having ever seen her hair in braids, but he supposed this was its natural state.
"How do you know about this place?" he asked, confused. The room didn't appear on the Marauder's Map, and he'd never told anyone about it, not even Ron and Hermione.
Eve bit her lip. "Lena mentioned it to me when I visited her in the hospital wing last year. I told her I wanted somewhere to do my work by myself, without interruptions, and she suggested here."
Harry had flinched when she said Lena's name. Now, he looked at her closely. She was staring at the ground, as if upset, and he wondered if she knew why he had reacted like that. He'd explained to Ron, Hermione and Ginny what had happened to Lena, but he wasn't sure if Eve and her friends were aware.
He began to ask, "Do you know–", but at the same time, Eve said, "Dumbledore told me."
"He did?" said Harry, a little surprised.
She nodded, looking up at him. "After she showed up at Mr Lupin's house. I think he was worried that she might turn up and try to..." She shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, manipulate one of us."
Harry's stomach twisted. Dumbledore had spoken to him too about Lena's visit to Remus, making it clear that this new version of her was not to be trusted.
"So, he explained to me what had happened to her, and I told the others the gist of it," she finished.
Harry tried to think of something to reply, but nothing came to mind. He wasn't sure whether he was supposed to comfort her or not; they didn't really know each other that well.
"I'll just go," said Eve suddenly, taking a step back. "You obviously want to be by yourself, I'll go to the library–"
"No, it's okay," Harry told her hurriedly, walking to the door. "I've been up here long enough, I should go and get some work done."
Eve didn't move out of the doorway. "I'm sorry you can't play Quidditch on Saturday," she said hesitantly. "I don't think it was very fair of Snape to..." She trailed off as Harry stopped in front of her.
He looked at her curiously. "You don't think I deserve it for what I did to Malfoy?"
"Do you?"
Harry opened and shut his mouth several times, again not sure how to respond. At last, he replied, "McGonagall thought it was justified."
"McGonagall doesn't have to share a common room with Malfoy," Eve countered quietly.
Harry frowned. "What do you mean?"
Eve appeared to struggle with her next words, before taking a deep breath, and saying steadily, "He's a bully. Not just to people in other houses, but to anyone in Slytherin who hasn't got a name from a well-known Pureblood family – and to Tiffany and me for having the gall to be friends with a Muggle-born."
A surge of anger rushed through Harry. "Has he hurt you? Because if he has–"
"We can take care of ourselves," she said hastily. "Thanks to the stuff you taught us in the DA, and Lena's mentoring."
He swallowed. "Right."
"But there are other kids who are afraid of him and his friends," added Eve. She sighed. "At least when Lena was here he was too scared to start shit. But since she graduated..."
After a long pause, Harry looked away from her. "I miss her too," he murmured. He remembered the first time Lena had brought him up to the room. It was the first time he had truly understood that there was so much more beneath her aloof surface. So much pain...
"The first time I met her was on the Hogwarts Express."
He turned around. Eve was leaning back against the door, which she'd let shut behind her.
"It was after that whole thing with the Dementor," she continued, like she just needed to talk to somebody about it. "Erin started having this really serious panic attack. And then Lena came into our compartment. She was so... in control. So cool. The way she dealt with the situation..." Eve's lips formed a tiny smile. "I wanted to be just like her – the first time I'd ever really felt that way in my life. So when I was getting sorted and the Hat was tossing up between Ravenclaw and Slytherin, I just thought, 'Please put me in Slytherin. Please sort me into the same house as her.' Even though before that I had desperately hoped I'd be in any house but Slytherin," she added wryly.
"Funny, that's what I said when the Sorting Hat considered putting me in Slytherin," remarked Harry. "Any house but Slytherin. Because Hagrid had told me about the reputation, and I'd met Malfoy and couldn't bear the thought of sharing a house with someone like him."
"See, I'd heard about Slytherin's reputation too," explained Eve. "My parents went to Uagadou, a magic school in Uganda, so all we knew about the Hogwarts' houses was what people said. And everybody said that Slytherin was for people who hated Muggle-borns – which isn't me. Because," she vaguely gestured to herself, "I know what prejudice is."
Harry hated the way she said it so matter-of-factly. It was also a little strange to hear her talking so openly. She'd always been the most reserved of the four friends during the Dumbledore's Army meetings.
"But," she went on, "that changed when I met Lena. I thought that if she was in Slytherin, it must be the best house." She walked over to the armchair where Lena had always sat, and perched on the arm. She let her bag drop onto the seat. "Tiffany, Erin and I are all only children, and Bec just has one brother who's much younger than her. Lena was like the big sister we'd always wanted – she helped us, supported us, even if it exasperated her."
"Yeah," muttered Harry. "I know the feeling." He put his hands in his pockets and moved slightly closer to her. As he did, he couldn't help staring at her curls. 'Maybe she uses some kind of spell to braid it,' he mused. The patience it must have required to do it without magic... 'And Aunt Petunia always complained about my hair being 'unmanageable'.'
Eve must have felt his eyes lingering on her hair, because she self-consciously touched it.
"Your hair looks really good," Harry blurted out, not wanting her to feel uncomfortable. "I mean, the braids are cool too, but I..." He swallowed. She was now looking at him with raised eyebrows. But the words kept tumbling out of his mouth. "Before I knew I was a wizard, my aunt was always trying to make my hair lie flat and neat, but it never would, so one time she got the kitchen scissors and cut my hair so short that I was practically bald, except for a fringe which she left to hide my scar, but when I woke up the next morning it had all grown back." He said it nearly all in one breath.
"Wow," said Eve, after a few seconds. "That must have seemed really weird at the time."
Harry snorted. "Weird enough that I didn't think it was particularly strange when I had a conversation with a boa constrictor at the zoo." He ran a hand through his messy hair. "I guess all those times the Dursleys accused me of making strange things happen, they weren't wrong." He wandered back over to the window, and stared down at the grounds. "Just would have been nice to let me in on the secret too."
"It's so bizarre to hear you talking about your childhood," admitted Eve. "I mean, I read about you in books when I was a kid, and all the while you were living with people who didn't give a damn about you being 'the Boy Who Lived'."
"Yeah, well, I would probably be a bit of an arsehole now if I'd grown up surrounded by people constantly praising me for something that wasn't really my doing," he said, glancing back at her and shrugging. "Sometimes I wish everyone understood I was only 'the Boy Who Lived' because my mum died for me."
Eve smiled sadly, and replied softly, "She sounds like an incredible woman."
Harry looked down at his feet, worried that tears might form at any second. Yes, his parents had died as heroes. But what might they have become if they had lived?
He quickly wiped his eyes, and looked back up at Eve. "What about your parents?" he asked. "What do they do?"
"My mum is a healer at St. Mungo's, and my dad is an Ancient Runes expert," she replied smoothly, as if she hadn't just witnessed Harry's moment of emotion. "He does a lot of freelance work, so he travels quite a bit. I spent a lot of my childhood by myself."
"I spent a lot of my childhood in a cupboard under the stairs," said Harry, without really thinking.
Eve's eyes widened, followed by a burst of shocked laughter. "Sorry," she said hurriedly, covering her mouth. "It's not funny. I just... Merlin, that is some whacked-up shit." She paused. "I guess that sort of explains why you're so nice."
"Yeah," said Harry darkly, "I was so nice when I made Malfoy nearly bleed to death yesterday."
Eve stood up. "I might not know exactly what went down between the two of you," she said, joining him at the window, "but I'm willing to bet all of my money that you didn't start a fight with him just for fun."
Looking out the window, Harry could just make out the spot where James and Sirius had tormented Snape after their Defence Against the Dark Arts OWL – just for 'existing'. He wondered if part of the reason he had confronted Malfoy yesterday was just because the opportunity to hurt him might present itself.
"If you knew how much we hate each other," he said quietly, not meeting her eyes, "you might not want to make that bet."
Eve made an exasperated noise. "Will you just look at yourself?" she told him, sounding annoyed. "You are literally staring out a window and brooding about your, your... inner darkness, like some hero in an old Muggle romance novel. Get over yourself."
A little shocked, Harry turned his head to her so fast that his neck made a small crack. "Excuse me?"
Her hands were on her hips. "You don't have the luxury to obsess over poor decisions," she lectured. "Yeah, maybe you screwed up yesterday. Everybody screws up. You might be the 'Chosen One'–" she made quotation marks with her fingers, "–but that doesn't mean you are immune from occasionally being a bit of a dick. So when you are, own it, learn from it, then let it go. There is an extremely powerful and incredibly evil wizard who wants to kill you and take over the world. Get some fucking perspective."
Harry stared at her, meeting the undaunted gaze of her dark brown eyes. She sounded so much like Lena, except for one major difference: there was not an ounce of hypocrisy in her words. Inside Eve, there was no conflict. Her speech wasn't carefully considered to get the response she wanted. She was completely adverse to bullshit, only interested in the truth. Absolute truth.
All of a sudden, there was a strange feeling in his chest, like a spark igniting. It was slightly frightening, but at the same time, sort of wonderful.
"You're kind of intimidating," he said, hoping she couldn't tell what was going on inside him. "For a Fourth Year."
She rolled her eyes. "Well, I'll be sixteen in September, so I suppose I'm a very old Fourth Year."
Harry chuckled. "Well, I'm a very young Sixth Year, so I guess that explains it." He gave her what he hoped was a charming smile, and not a maniacal grin. He felt, in his current strange state, the two were rather difficult to tell apart.
Eve's lips twitched, and she quickly looked away from him, fidgeting with the hem of her jumper. "Anyway, I need to get a heap of homework done, so I better head to the library–"
"No, you don't have to go," interjected Harry, speaking just as hastily. "Stay." Worried he sounded a tad too eager, he added, "If you like."
And he really hoped that she did. Because in that moment, there was nowhere Harry would rather be than in that room, standing next to Eve as the sinking sun cast an orange glow across Hogwarts.
It was only a couple of days after Lena's appearance at the house in Notting Hill that Remus learned of Bellatrix Lestrange's sudden mental incapacitation. Kingsley – in his role as an Auror – had been informed that Lena's mother had started to scream and hadn't stopped until her vocal chords were too damaged to make any noise. Her body was behaving as though it was under a constant Cruciatus Curse, which had not subsided even after she was forcefully sedated. The Healers who had been sent to Azkaban to examine her were at a loss. Remus was not, and although he didn't admit it out loud, he was relieved to hear this news. It confirmed that there was at least some part of his Lena inside the new woman.
He had been dreading full moons without her, but somehow, Moony seemed to understand the situation. Yes, he spent the whole night whimpering and howling, but he did not turn the frustration inwards. When Remus woke up in the morning, the wolf's misery lingered in his mind. It was strange to think that just three years ago, Moony had no real concept of what sadness and loneliness were.
But Remus was glad that he was not bed-ridden by self-inflicted injuries for days following a transformation, because there was so much work to do for the Order. Voldemort appeared to have redoubled his efforts of escalating the war, sending Death Eaters out for planned attacks on Muggle-borns and random Muggles every night. And without Lena, the Order was missing one of its greatest assets.
In the weeks following her visitation, Remus couldn't stop wondering where she was, and what she had meant when she'd said she was going to do 'so much more'. What was her plan, and why had she thought Remus would be so against it?
He was also worried about Dumbledore. Ever since last summer, he had been looking older and more tired, but now it was even worse. He and Lena had developed such a closeness over the past few years, a bond Remus had never seen Dumbledore share with anyone before – not even Elphias Doge, who was his oldest friend.
Most of the Order weren't fully aware of what had happened to Lena. They just knew she and Remus had been dealing with a dangerous situation in Svalbard when she'd become infected with a rare Dark magic that had changed her into something almost unrecognisable. He could feel their eyes on him during meetings, desperately curious to know all the horrible details, but they didn't press the issue. Even Snape seemed affected by Lena's absence, acting even more withdrawn than usual.
Molly kept asking Remus to join them at the Burrow for meals, but he always politely declined. It hurt too much to be around her and Arthur. They had been married for twenty-eight years. He and Lena had had less than four months.
He knew he should have probably spent more time with Maggie, but she filled his head with memories of Lena from better times, which he wanted to avoid. Besides, she had Oliver.
Instead, Remus threw himself into Order work, taking whatever missions he could – surveillance, protection, skirmishes with Death Eaters. At the end of June, Dumbledore sent a Patronus to him, asking him to assist the Hogwarts staff patrolling the school while he was gone for a few hours with Harry. Remus knew that everywhere he looked, he would be reminded of Lena, and for once, wished someone other than him had been chosen for this duty. But he did as he was ordered.
After all, it was just routine work. Death Eaters had never attacked Hogwarts before. Why would that night be any different?
Monday 30 June, 1997:
"Severus..."
The dark-eyed man walked forward, pushing the young Malfoy roughly out of the way. The other Death Eaters silently stepped back. As Severus gazed at Albus, his own self-loathing was etched onto his face. No doubt Harry thought the revulsion and hatred was intended for Albus himself. The boy would have no difficulty believing that Severus was betraying them, and that relieved Albus. Lord Voldemort had to believe it too. It was imperative he did not realise that Severus wasn't acting on his orders, but those of his greatest foe.
The poison from the cave, combined with the Death Curse that was still spreading throughout his body, was causing Albus a great deal of pain. But not for much longer. It was time.
Now, Albus could only hope that everything he had set in motion would play out the way he intended. If it did, then Voldemort would join Albus in death soon enough. And Harry... the wonderful young man he had become would make it through everything, free to live the next chapter of his life, one full of love and better days.
Yes, it was time.
"Severus... please..."
Severus raised his wand and pointed it directly at him. "Avada Kedavra!"
A jet of green light shot from the end of his wand, heading straight to Albus' chest. But before the Killing Curse could strike him, the green light stopped.
Albus blinked. The curse had not disappeared; it was simply frozen, suspended in the air, a little over a foot away from him. It was not the only thing on top of the Astronomy Tower that had stopped. Draco, Yaxley, the Carrow siblings and Fenrir Greyback were all as immobile as Harry now. Severus was as still as a statue, which captured the horror in his eyes that might otherwise have only been a flicker. Nor could Albus feel the wind behind him anymore.
"I could even stop time."
There was a pang in Albus' heart. "You wait until now to speak to me?" he said quietly. "The very last moment you can..."
"It doesn't have to be."
The voice came from somewhere to his right, and Albus turned to look at her. Lena was sitting cross-legged on top of the ramparts, balanced with a self-assuredness. She was glowing, bathed in moonlight, and watching him intently.
"I did tell you I was going to find a way to save your life," she continued. "Well, I found it. " She gestured around at the world where Time stood still. "All you have to do is accept my help."
Albus raised an eyebrow. "And the Death Curse?"
"I can cure you," replied Lena simply. "The Curse, and whatever lingering effects there are from the poison."
"You already know about that?" asked Albus, a little surprised.
Lena nodded slowly. "It's a fake, by the way. The locket."
Albus closed his eyes, his stomach dropping slightly. Of course it was. He should have realised it lacked the same dark presence the ring had, but the poison had stopped him thinking clearly. But that meant somebody else must have taken the real one...
"Who?" he murmured.
She shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I could find it if I wanted to." Uncrossing her legs, she jumped down and walked over to Harry. Despite the Invisibility Cloak covering him, she appeared to see him clearly.
"You can sense the Horcruxes," Albus realised aloud.
"Yes," said Lena, lightly touching Harry's concealed face. "Magic that Dark, I see it now. I can feel it from miles away. That's how I knew Helga Hufflepuff's Cup was in my Gringotts vault."
"The Cup?" said Albus sharply.
She glanced over her shoulder at him. "I destroyed it. Right in front of him." She laughed softly. "He was so afraid..."
The relief he felt upon learning that one more Horcrux had been destroyed was tainted by a new worry. "Did you tell him about the ring?"
"Of course not," answered Lena, fully turning to him. "And he's much too arrogant to realise that it's not because of my new power that I knew what he'd done to his soul."
"So why..." Albus paused. "You did it to punish him."
Lena shook her head. "Not punish. I just wanted him to understand."
"Understand that you are more powerful than him now?"
"Partly," she admitted. "But also to know what it feels like to be under somebody else's thumb. To owe them your life simply because they can take it away any time they feel like it." She walked over to Draco, inspecting his frozen expression of fear. "You know, right before that first time we spoke, after the whole Chamber of Secrets incident, I told Lucius to prepare himself for Voldemort's return. I said he should consider his options, for Draco's sake. But he didn't listen."
"Lucius always was a coward." He said it not as an insult, but as a matter of fact. "But there are worse things to be than a coward. Not many, but a few."
Lena looked at him knowingly. "Like thinking your superior intellect and power puts you above others? That it gives you the right to act in 'the greater good' – no matter the cost?"
The echo of Gellert's words made Albus flinch. "Is that what you do now?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady. "Act in the name of a greater good?"
"Yes," said Lena bluntly. "But unlike you and Grindelwald, I actually have the ability to see what that is... and make it happen."
"But you have not done it yet," Albus pointed out. "Which means you, at this moment, do not have all that you need. And that is why you are really here. Because you need me."
Lena smiled wryly. "We really do know each other better than anyone else," she remarked, and came closer to him. "You're right, there is something I want to know."
"I have no interest in trading information for my life."
"And I have no interest in holding your life hostage," she retorted. "It's yours, regardless of whether you tell me or not." She gently put her hand against his cheek. "And I didn't just come here for information. You mean much more to me than that." She closed her eyes for a moment. "Yes, Voldemort taught me much. His mentorship formed me into who I am. But so did yours – and you did it without trying to instil obligation to you in me." Her eyes opened. "You were a better father to me than he ever was. And I do owe you far more than him. That is why I want to give your life back to you."
Albus met her gaze calmly. "I do not want my life if accepting your help is the price."
Lena didn't move for a moment. Then she slowly drew back her hand. "I understand," she said quietly. "Hecate attained her power via methods that go against your principles, and you do not want to benefit from it. I respect that." She smiled sadly, taking a step back. "I respect you." She breathed out deeply. "So I will let you go."
He inclined his head. "Thank you." He paused, before finally telling her, "I know that right now, you think this version of yourself is better than who you were before. That is not true. You only took the Orb as your heart because at that moment, you already were better. And I know there will come another time when you must be as courageous, and as kind, as you were then. I believe, with all my heart, that when that time comes, you will be that person again."
She stared at him for a long moment. At last, she whispered, "Aren't you afraid of dying?"
Albus smiled. "Perhaps under different circumstances." He remembered that day at Dunraven Bay, when he and Lena had sat on the rocks, watching the sunset. He could still feel the way she had held his hand to comfort him. "But you are with me, Lena. In my final moment. And that makes all the difference."
This was met by silence, as Lena continued to stare at him. Then a single tear fell from her eye.
Time restarted. He could no longer see her, but he knew she was still there. The Killing Curse struck its target, and Albus Dumbledore reached the end of his brilliant, tragic and extraordinary life.
Friday 4 July, 1997:
It was the most beautiful summer's day. On the Hogwarts' grounds, hundreds of chairs had been set out in rows beside the lake. They were all facing a marble table, upon which lay Dumbledore's body, wrapped in purple velvet. To Remus, it seemed like every member of the British Wizarding community was in attendance at the funeral.
He was sat between Tonks, whose hair was a subdued dark brown, and Arthur. Harry was sitting with Ron and Hermione a few rows behind them. It was hard for Remus to not keep looking around at him. When he had walked into the hospital wing on that night, to inform them of Dumbledore's death, there had been an unusual look is his green eyes – a quiet, unshakeable determination. Dumbledore had left him a mission, and Harry wasn't going to tell anyone about it, except perhaps Ron and Hermione.
There was a little tufty-haired man in plain black robes speaking at the front, but Remus paid barely any attention to him. Instead, he watched the merpeople who had surfaced in the lake, and the centaurs who had lined the Forbidden Forest's edge. There were no tears in his eyes now, he had wept them all before he came, alone in his bedroom. Well, not completely alone – little Mortimer had quietly sat next to him. Remus had left him with Tizzy, who had declined his invitation to come to the funeral too. House-elves, she told him, did not do well at funerals. The grief of so many humans was too overwhelming for them.
And then he saw her. She was standing far back, near the walls of the castle. For anyone else, the distance would have been too great to confidently identify her, but Remus knew it was Lena. And she must have known he was looking at her, because he could feel her gaze upon him.
Then several people screamed, drawing Remus' attention back to the front. The little man in black had sat down, and bright, white flames had erupted around the marble table; higher and higher they rose, obscuring Dumbledore's body. White smoke spiralled into the air and made strange shapes. The fire vanished, and in its place was a white marble tomb, encasing the table and the body.
There were a few more cries of shock as a shower of arrows soared through the air, falling far short of the crowd. It was the centaurs' tribute; they turned and disappeared back into the Forest. Likewise, the merpeople slowly sank back into the green water and were lost from view.
Remus was one of the first to get to his feet. He muttered apologies as he sidestepped to the end of his row, then strode towards the castle. Lena didn't move; she just watched him, waiting for him to join her.
She wore a lightweight, not-quite-knee-length, black coat, left undone at the front, revealing a white button-up shirt and black trousers. Her feet were not bare this time, wearing plain black heels, and her hair was neatly coiled on top of her head. She looked like a perfectly respectful funeral-goer.
Remus stopped a few feet in front of her, and indicated to the white tomb. "Was this part of the plan?" he asked quietly.
Lena was slow to reply. "Not mine," she answered finally.
He eyed her warily. "But it didn't shock you."
"No."
Remus shook his head disbelievingly. "I don't understand–"
"I know you don't," she interrupted, with a quiet sort of firmness. "And that doesn't matter." She gazed around at Hogwarts. "There's so little left that does."
"Then why are you here?" said Remus through gritted teeth.
She looked back to him. "Because this is one of the things that does."
Remus closed his eyes, breathing deeply as he tried to remain calm. At last, when he opened his eyes again, he asked, "Why is it not enough for you? Me, you, our friends, our house, our whole lives? Why don't you want to fight for what we already have, when it's all we need?"
She stared down at her left hand, fiddling with her wedding ring. Remus subconsciously touched his own.
"When you look at something," she began, "you see it as a whole. I see every single atom that it is made from, and I can move them. Tear them apart, and reassemble them into something better. Something perfect." Her eyes found his again. "I was always trying to fix things, improve them, when we were together. Why do you find it so hard to believe that's what I'm trying to do now?"
"Nothing is truly perfect, Lena," Remus told her. "That's one of the things everyone has to learn to accept in life."
She tilted her heard to the side, smiling faintly. "Because perfection is impossible? Oh, Remus, how many times have I told you – the impossible is just what is yet to be possible." She moved slightly closer to him. "And I finally have the means to make it so."
Remus had been unnerved by Lena plenty of times, but he had never been truly frightened of her before, not even when she had lost control at 12 Grimmauld Place. But he was scared now. This creature that wore Lena's face and shared her memories was so beyond his understanding – human understanding. Her perspective was unfathomable. And she was unstoppable.
"You're looking at me like I'm a monster again," said Lena softly. "But I swear that everything I am doing is out of love. For love. Does that sound like the machinations of a monster?"
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
Lena sighed. "Just as I said, you can't under–" She broke off, looking at something over Remus' shoulder.
He turned around, trying to see what had distracted her. Finally, he found the source.
It was Harry, standing by the edge of the lake. But he wasn't alone. He was holding the hands of Eve Nyambura, looking down into her eyes, speaking seriously. The expression of her face was equally solemn, and intense, as she looked back at him.
'Huh,' thought Remus, a little surprised. On that fateful night, Eve and her three friends, along with Neville and Luna, had been the only members to answer the call of Dumbledore's Army's Galleons – apart from Ron, Hermione and Ginny, of course. It now occurred to him that maybe the Fourth Year girls hadn't just checked their Galleons by chance. 'I wonder how long that's been going on?'
He glanced back at Lena, who was still watching Harry and the girl she had once mentored. Evidently, she had been unaware of the relationship too. And now, as Remus studied her, he was sure he saw a sadness, or perhaps regret, in her eyes that hadn't been there before.
At last, she shifted her gaze back to him. "There isn't any point in us discussing the matter further," she said, her tone more businesslike. "Everything is going to change, because it must. I just wanted to see you, speak to you, one last time before it happens."
"I thought we'd decided not to say goodbye to each other."
Lena shook her head. "It's not goodbye. It's just... things will be different the next time you see me. We will be different. And that's not sad. It's just closing one door, and opening another."
"So, that's what this is?" asked Remus, a little bitterly. "Closing a door?"
"Yes," whispered Lena, reaching a hand out to touch his cheek. But Remus took a firm hold of her wrist before she could make the contact.
"Then close it," he said quietly. "Don't stick in a foot to keep it open so you can reach back through the gap."
He let go of her hand, and Lena retracted it, touching the spot where he had held it.
"I wish your last memories of us wouldn't be like this," she said, sounding like she was fighting back tears. "But I suppose that's part of the price I have to pay." Half-smiling, the last thing she said was, "I love you, Remus. No matter what."
Then, once again, she disappeared before his eyes, leaving Remus to wonder what world he would wake up to the next day.
A flash of lightning in the sky briefly illuminated the Lestrange Estate in the darkness of the night. The following rumble of thunder was nearly drowned out by the relentless pouring rain and the howl of the wind.
Inside the enormous stone house, in the hall she had once used as a garage, stood Lena, surrounded by all the materials she needed. After her visit to Voldemort, he had wisely withdrawn any methods of surveillance from around the estate, so unlike Hecate, there would be no witness to the magic she would perform tonight. And also unlike Hecate, Lena would succeed. She would not only achieve everything she wanted, but live to see it.
In her hand, she held one of the crystal bottles she had obtained from Circe's vault. It contained the blood of an ancient, long-dead creature called a Moirai – better known today by the moniker of a 'Fate'.
There had been three Fates, and they were sisters. They had been worshipped as gods by Muggles – as Muggles were wont to do. The popular tale was that they controlled the threads of all mortal lives. Clotho, whose blood was in the bottle, was the sister who had spun the threads.
It was an ingredient that Hecate had sorely missed, as were several other items that Lena now possessed. There was water from Urðarbrunnr, a well that Scandinavian witches and wizards had used thousands of years ago for the purposes of Divination. The Book of Thoth lay open, revealing symbols that were required to maintain control over the colossal power she would need to unleash tonight.
And in the centre of it all was the Mirror of Erised. Its prior location was the information Lena had sought when she had spoken to Dumbledore before his death. Realising he would not willingly impart the knowledge to her, she had taken the opportunity, while touching his cheek, to look through his eyes and see into his mind. In too much pain, he had not noticed her intrusion, and she had found what she was looking for: the Mirror stood in his private chambers at Hogwarts, covered by a white sheet. So she had brought it back with her to the Lestrange Estate. And now, after several more days of preparation, she was finally ready.
Outside, the lightning flashed again, and the thunder rolled. The streams, rivers and lakes of the Yorkshire moorland were overflowing, the rain flooding the land.
Like a great flood, sent to reset the world. To rid it of evil, and make it a better place.
Lena drew in a deep breath, and stepped in front of the Mirror. It was Time.
Saturday 5 July, 1997:
Remus woke up with an indistinct feeling that something was not right. There was a dull ache in his head as his eyes fluttered open. He simply lay there for a minute, staring up at the ceiling. Then, with a small groan, he pushed himself up and looked around the bedroom. The curtain had been left open a crack, and sunlight was streaming through.
He glanced at the clock. A quarter-past-eight; later than he'd been getting up recently. Swinging his legs around so he was sitting on the bed's edge, he paused and frowned. He could have sworn he'd heard a noise, coming from somewhere in the bedroom, but he couldn't think what it was. So he stood up, stretching. But he still couldn't shake the feeling of... wrongness.
He left the bedroom and made his way downstairs, stopping every now and then to look around, trying to figure out what was making him feel this way. But everything appeared as it should in the house at Notting Hill.
'Maybe it was something you dreamed,' he told himself. 'And you forgot what it was, but there's a lingering after-effect... yes, that's probably it.'
He went through the living room and into the small dining room that connected to the kitchen. And there, sitting at the table with one leg tucked underneath her while she browsed the Daily Prophet, was Lena.
She looked up at him with a smile. "Morning, sleepyhead."
Remus stared at her. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt with a picture of a dragon printed on the front, and her hair was in a messy bun. And she was looking at him with blue-grey eyes.
"You're..." he began, then stopped. She was what?
The smile slipped off Lena's face. She put down the newspaper and stood up.
"Sweetheart, are you feeling all right?" she asked concernedly, coming over to him. "You're looking a bit peaky, and your next transformation isn't for another two weeks." She felt his forehead with the back of her hand.
At her touch, Remus closed his eyes for a moment. Why did it feel so odd, yet so familiar?
"You don't feel feverish," murmured Lena, drawing her hand back. "You're not hung-over, are you? I didn't think you had that much to drink last night."
Last night. Remus wracked his brain trying to remember what had happened.
"Or is the funeral still on your mind?"
Remus blinked. "Funeral?"
Now Lena looked even more worried. "Yes, darling. Albus Dumbledore's funeral at Hogwarts yesterday morning. We both went."
Images flooded his mind. Hundreds of witches and wizards seated by the lake, the Centaurs at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the formation of the white tomb...
Remus shook his head slightly. "Of course. Sorry, I'm just feeling a bit... off."
Lena gently stroked his hair back. "Do you need to go back to bed?"
"No, I... I'll be all right," he assured her, resting his hands on her waist. Merlin, it felt so good to touch her. "Maybe a bit of breakfast will help."
"There's half an omelette in the frypan," she told him, lightly running a hand down his chest. "You might need to reheat it."
Before she could move her hand away from his chest, Remus caught it and stared at the gold band on her ring finger.
He had put it there, he remembered. Just over six months ago. At their wedding.
"Not having second thoughts, are you?"
Her teasing voice made him glance up. There was a hint of curiosity in her eyes.
Remus smiled, and raised her hand to his lips. "Marrying you was the best decision I've ever made," he said, and kissed her hand. As he did, the sense of wrongness began to fade.
Lena laughed softly as he let go of her hand. "You soppy old romantic. Sit down, and I'll fix you a cup of tea."
She went into the kitchen, and Remus sat down. But just as he was reaching for the Daily Prophet, there came a loud knocking, making Lena pop her head back out.
"Is that someone at the front door?"
Remus nodded, standing back up. "I'll get it."
He walked backed through the living room to the house's entrance. But a few feet away from the front door, he stopped.
'Something still doesn't feel right,' he thought, frustrated. He looked up at the ceiling, thinking about the noise he'd thought he had heard in the bedroom. 'What was it? I swear I've heard it before...'
There came another firm knock at the door, this one a little longer. Whoever it was, they were getting impatient.
Remus shook his head again. What was with him this morning? He grabbed the key off the front table and inserted it into the lock. Just as he began to twist it, the knocking started again.
"All right, all right," muttered Remus, and yanked open the unlocked door. But upon seeing who was standing on the doorstep, his eyes widened in shock.
"Finally," said James Potter, smiling broadly. "Took you long enough."
Who saw that ending coming? I'm genuinely curious.
A big thank you to the reviewers of the previous chapter :) And thank you, Littlecosma001, for replying to my query about music, I really appreciated your answer :)
So, regarding the Harry/Eve thing - it's something I've been considering ever since I introduced her character, but wasn't sure how people might feel about that pretty significant deviation from canon. To be clear, I have no problem with Harry and Ginny as a couple in the books, but somehow, my version of Harry with Ginny just never felt right to me. But yeah, this is definitely something I'd like to hear your thoughts on, readers (and, of course, anything else about this chapter).
Anyway, that brings us to the end of the Half-Blood Prince segment of the story. Thank you for reading this far, and I hope you stick around for the rest. So until next time, when we begin the seventh and final section of To Be Human, cheers!