For any French speaking readers: Je me rends compte que les traductions du texte français ne sont pas littérales. Je les ai écrites employant l'argot anglo équivalent pour donner la même signification.

Also, for my non-British readers: Scouse is a dialect of English spoken in Liverpool.

Chapter 28

As they approached the base of the steps to the front door of 94 Westphalia Avenue, Remus felt the pressure on his arm suddenly change as Edwina unexpectedly stopped. He turned back towards her and saw that she was looking up at the front of the stately townhouse in front of them. He slid his hand around her shoulders again and asked gently, "Are you ready to go inside, Winnie?"

"I…I don't know."

"Aldebaran is waiting for us, love."

Remus was somewhat relieved to see the distant look in her eyes disappear as she looked at him and asked, "If I want to leave, if I don't want to stay at some point, may I go? Will you take me home?"

Remus cleared his throat worriedly and responded, "I will take you home, yes, but I will have to return. Aldebaran needs me in order to finish this."

Edwina had turned away from him again and was looking back up at a window that Remus realised must correspond with her old bedroom. "You…does that mean you will be gone long?"

"I think I will have to be gone most of tomorrow. You know I will return before tomorrow night, however." Edwina looked puzzled, so Remus reminded her gently, "I need to be certain that I am secured inside the room before the full moon, Winnie."

Edwina's eyes widened and her mouth formed a surprised "Oh."

"Aldebaran has already contacted your great-aunt. She is waiting up for you if you want to go there tonight."

Edwina shivered and said softly, "I wish you could be there."

Remus awkwardly stroked the hair that hung down her back and said gruffly, "Aldebaran cannot handle this by himself, Winnie, and he shouldn't have to."

Edwina suddenly straightened up and started walking purposefully through the dark and up the stone steps towards the imposing black front door. Remus began to reach for his wand to undo the locking spells that were on the door, but Edwina had already raised her own wand and traced a lazy circle around the handle. The door flew back on its hinges allowing Edwina to walk through. Remus followed her and closed the door firmly behind them.

"Aldebaran?"

Remus was surprised to hear the steely tone of Edwina's voice, but not displeased to see that she had decided to face her father with determination. "They are in your father's former study, Winnie."

Remus followed Edwina down the dark hall, both of them holding their lit wands aloft, so they could see well enough to walk. Once again he moved to reach around Edwina to open the door for her, but the door flew open at the flick of her wand. At first Remus could only see three wizards dressed in dark travelling cloaks, all of whom had their wands extended towards the far wall of the dimly lit room. The men had apparently turned their heads in surprise at the loud noise of the door banging against the wall. Yet almost immediately the two wizards on the left, who Remus did not know, seemed to realise that no one was watching their prisoner, so they turned back to face the far wall. The third wizard, Aldebaran Shipley, took several steps forward towards Edwina and said in a voice that was surprisingly gentle considering the fierce scowl on his face, "Are you ok, Dolly?"

Remus saw Aldebaran's eyes momentarily glance at him, so he nodded brusquely before Aldebaran turned his full attention back to Edwina.

"I am fine, Aldebaran. Hello Fabian." Edwina gave a tense smile to the tall wizard with the short, thick dark hair, who turned and nodded in greeting at Edwina.

Aldebaran spoke quickly as he gestured briefly at the other wizard, who had a very hooked nose and long white-blond hair, "You remember Etienne Tavoillot, don't you Dolly?"

Edwina looked incuriously at Etienne Tavoillot, who only turned around briefly to nod to Edwina before immediately returning his attention to the far wall. She said tonelessly to Aldebaran, "Let me see him."

Without waiting for Aldebaran to respond, both Fabian Lefevre and Etienne Tavoillot moved apart, so that Edwina and Remus now had a clear view of the man who was kneeling on the floor of the room. Edwina pushed past the two young wizards who were guarding her father and said angrily, "Bring him a chair." She turned to face her cousin and asked trepidatiously, "He is not armed? You are certain?"

Aldebaran merely snorted at such an obvious suggestion, so it was Tavoillot who responded in an almost impenetrable Burgundian accent, "No, we 'ave shecked 'eem ve-ery well, I zeenk. 'Ee cannot 'arm you, Madame Lupin."

Edwina extended her hand to her father to help him rise from the floor and said coldly, "I want you to explain it to me Father, explain how you could do this. I want to know how you could ever have betrayed me so."

Wolfred Leighton, who had not taken his troubled eyes off his daughter since he had first seen her enter, opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"Attention, imbecile, il faut le libérer du charme!" (You idiot, you have to release him from the spell!)

In response to Aldebaran's command, Etienne Tavoillot tapped his wand on the top of Wolfred Leighton's head and said angrily, "Terminez!" before looking back at Aldebaran with a very sour expression.

Wolfred Leighton coughed and massaged his throat before he said, "I wanted to protect you, Dolly. I tried to keep you out of this. I never meant this to hurt you, little one."

Tavoillot hissed through his teeth, "Eh ben, j'en ai entendu assez, moi. Peut-on le tuer, cet espèce de salopard?" (Right, I've heard enough. Can't we just kill this bastard?)

Aldebaran looked equally nauseated as he pushed the requested chair towards Wolfred Leighton, since Remus had already pulled one forward for Edwina. As he shoved the abnormally hunched, shivering body of Wolfred Leighton into the chair, Aldebaran sneered, "I have already told you Leighton, give her the truth or we shall extract the answers for her."

Remus whipped his wand in several circles around Wolfred Leighton's knees as he harshly enunciated, "σχοινιά", causing several thick black cords to wind themselves around Wolfred Leighton's legs. Remus then dropped his wand to his side and growled, "Explain it to her, Leighton. She deserves to know."

Aldebaran, who had taken Remus' place behind Edwina, tried to press his cousin gently into the chair behind her, but she resisted. "Did you kill Mum?"

"I didn't mean for her to die, Dolly. I pushed her away from me, but the stairs were there, so she fell down them before I could catch her."

Edwina sank into the chair and leaned back into Aldebaran, who had placed his hands on her shoulders, as she asked weakly, "When did this happen?"

Wolfred Leighton reached out his hand and put it on his daughter's knee, "You weren't there. It happened when you were with him." Wolfred Leighton jerked his head toward Remus and continued, "Dolly, I am sorry. I don't really regret your mother's death, although I know you think I should, but I truly didn't want you to be hurt. Unfortunately it had to be this way."

Edwina choked back a sob and said, "You didn't have to kill her. And you knew that it would be horrible for me when you took away my memory, didn't you? You must have known how frightening it would be for me. Why would you do that to me?"

"I wanted the best for you, Dolly. I know you think you love this creature, but I will never accept that you are living with a monster defiling you. There can be no real life with a werewolf, my dear. You will never have anything you deserve."

"That is not an answer!" Edwina could feel Aldebaran was going to say something, so she looked up and said, "No, Aldebaran, please." When she was sure that Aldebaran was not going to interfere, Edwina turned back to her father and waited for his response.

After several moments, Wolfred Leighton said forcefully, "It is the answer, Edwina Sagitta. I wanted you to see him for what he really is. No memory of whatever disgusting lies he told you. No recollection of any of the lures he cast out to convert you to his filthy lifestyle." Wolfred Leighton held up his hand to stem the comments, which he could see that Aldebaran and Edwina were about to make, but his gaze was locked on Remus. The animosity burned in Wolfred Leighton's eyes as he seethed with hatred toward his son-in-law. However, the depth of feeling was more than matched by the intensity of loathing that Wolfred Leighton and every other wizard in the room could see reflected in Remus' face.

"However he convinced you to think you were in love with him, I erased that. I hoped to undo the damage he had done to you, Edwina. Once you woke up and realised that you were in a werewolf's bed, I knew you would come to your senses. The Ministry would have annulled the marriage at your request and you would be free again. I wanted you to have something better." He made a gesture to indicate that Edwina should be quiet as he continued, "I thought that I could never be more ashamed of you than when I found that you had married this disgusting creature and sentenced yourself to the same squalid life he leads. But I was wrong. When Wilfred told me that you had gone back to the dirty beast, I realised that you were not the daughter I thought I had raised, Edwina Sagitta. I tried to save you from yourself, child."

Edwina sat staring at her father for a full minute before she turned to Remus and said shakily, "I think I have heard enough."

Aldebaran leaned down and spoke to his cousin, "Do you want to go home, Dolly?"

Edwina shook her head and continued to look at Remus. "What do you want me to do?"

Wolfred Leighton began to speak, but was interrupted when Fabian Lefevre recast the silencing spell on him. Then Lefevre spoke to Aldebaran and Etienne Tavoillot, a mild Liverpudlian accent betraying that his favourite curses were more probably in Scouse than French, saying "Je crois que la dénouement arrive, mecs. La cousine, elle doit décider, hein, Aldebaran?" (I think that it's time, mates. Your cousin needs to make her decision now, right Aldebaran?)

Edwina stood up unsteadily and took a deep breath before looking at her cousin and saying, "I asked, what is it that you want me to approve, Aldebaran? You want me to say that you should go ahead with your plan?"

Aldebaran looked at the sickly, florid face of Wolfred Leighton, who was struggling against the sticky black rope that was still binding him to the chair. "I think so, yes. Remus explained what we are going to do?"

"Yes. I don't like it, but I like the idea of turning Father over to the Ministry even less. I think that you are right. We should keep this within the family. It was my mother and your aunt, so we shall decide."

Remus asked gently, "You are sure, my love?"

Edwina turned to him and said in the most fragile voice that Remus had ever heard her use, "I don't know, Remus, but I see no other way. You think it is fair and Aldebaran agrees, so I will accept it."

"There is no turning back, darling."

"I know. But I won't have Father put in Azkaban and I won't have him killed." Edwina turned to her father and said softly, "Father? Please, look at me."

Wolfred Leighton stared up at his daughter with furious eyes. Edwina touched his face and said, "I do still love you Father. I hope you understand one day that you were wrong." Edwina abruptly turned to Remus and said in an almost hysterical voice, "I must go. Take me away from here."

Remus folded her in his arms and looked up at Aldebaran, "Nevin House. I'll be back soon."

Aldebaran lit the fire in the grate as Remus reached into the crystal jar on the mantelpiece to grab almost a whole fist full of floo powder.

As soon as the remaining four wizards were left alone in the room, Etienne Tavoillot asked angrily, "Merde, pourquoi ne pouvons-nous pas le mettre hors de sa misère, cette belette fétide?" (Damn, why can't we just put this bastard out of his misery?)

Aldebaran laughed cruelly and said clearly enough that Wolfred Leighton could not miss his words, "No, Etienne, that would be missing the point, wouldn't it?"